There are some rare games on Steam that won't register the time that you've had them running on your computer. This problem stops players from getting trading card drops, and prohibits them from writing reviews.

If your copy of Pacific Storm won't register a play-time of more than 1 minute, then this guide will tell you how to increase your registered time.

When Steam recognises your play-time, then you will be able you to get drops of trading cards for this game from Steam.

Also, having more than 5 minutes recognised play-time on Steam will enable you to post a review of the game (if you have less than 5 minutes recognised play-time, then Steam will not allow you to post a review).


(If this guide is useful to you, then please rate it upwards.)

1) Open the Pacific Storm folder in your computer
- In your list of Steam games, right-click on Pacific Storm
- Choose "Properties";
- Click on the "Local files" tab;
- Click on the "Browse local files" button.

Or you could go to the folder via Windows Explorer.
On my computer, the file path is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Pacific Storm

2) Delete the folder named "bin".

3) Start the game; even though it will not run, it will give an error message - leave the message alone (do not click "OK", or otherwise exit the programme), and Steam will then recognise the subsequent time that the error message is up for.

That will give you enough recognised time to write a review for Steam (i.e. a minimum of 5 minutes), as well as enable the randomised trading card drops (as the card drops are random, it could take a while to get your 3 cards - I would suggest that you try running the "game error" for a while on several different days).

I restored the "bin" folder from my computer's "Recycle Bin" and the game then worked fine again.
However, I cannot guarantee that it will work on every computer - if it doesn't, then you may need to uninstall the game and then reinstall it (although, if you have a number of saved games and/or screenshots that you want to keep, then I suggest that you back them up first, just in case).


Acknowledgement:
Thanks to SzK for the information re. deleting the "bin" folder.

Whilst the game will allow you to take screenshots in Pacific Storm, the screenshots won't appear in your Steam screenshot management system (at least, they didn't in mine).

However, your screenshots do appear in a folder in your Pacific Storm game folder.

On my computer, the file path is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Pacific Storm\screenshots
So, the file path should be the same on other computers, or in a similar location, at least.



For example:

Game times not registering on Steam is a rare problem, but it has happened with the following games which I own:

BioShock Infinite [3 minutes recognised]
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/8870/BioShock_Infinite/

Echelon [1 minute recognised]
--- Delete the folder named "Data" to get more minutes recognised.
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/311080/Echelon/

Pacific Storm [1 minute recognised]
--- Delete the folder named "bin" to get more minutes recognised.
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/11250/Pacific_Storm/