How to install and play a retail game when Steam is required to play? [duplicate]
If the game came with a CD key, then instead of using "Add a Non-Steam Game", select the "Activate a Product on Steam" option. Enter the CD key when prompted, and one of a few outcomes will happen:
- The game will successfully add, meaning it is a valid CD key that's not been used before
- Steam will complain that it's not a valid CD key, which means it's not designed to be used with Steam
- Steam will complain that it's a valid key, but has already been used and is no longer redeemable. (Which means you got scammed on eBay)
If it doesn't have a CD key at all, then it's likely not a steam game, although the error message you mentioned would make me think it is a Steam version.
If the game isn't valid on Steam for whatever reason, it seems your only recourse would be to contact the seller for either a valid key, or a refund.
It sounds like you bought unpacked files for the game, without a key. Unfortunately, this is likely a scam. Additionally, trying to move extracted files and then play the game on a new system frequently results in issues (in my experience, at least). I'm hoping this isn't the case! Try and ask the seller for a CD key or Steam key. If they refuse to provide one, it's likely sham-town
You'll have to buy the game from Steam or a retailer. If you want to play a Steam version of a game, you will have to activate the game on your account. The files themselves won't run the game in many cases due to requiring the Steam client to be running.
Keep in mind that if the person already activated the key and just sent you the files, it won't work, and you will need a new key that hasn't been activated before.
Sorry, but you may be in for a problem. Contact PayPal immediately. I have been victim of this before.
Steam will not allow you to transfer rights for a game, so people buy the game and activate it with their own Steam account and it is permanently theirs whether they keep the disks or not. The activation code will not work for any other account, it gets permanently tied to their own. Calling Steam will not get it fixed. They don't care.
I paid $30 at a store for Half-Life only to find it won't work and that I could have bought it through Steam for only $10.
The only thing that the disk may be useful for is if you have a poor internet speed or cap which makes downloading the game impossible. Yet you would still need to download some substantial decryption keys to make the game playable and you would obviously require the Steam console itself.
Sorry to hear that you got scammed. Best of luck.