That is not normal behaviour.
It should look like it always did and show a game title.

If it is doing the multi-game 2 hour thing then it will say there is more than 1 game idle now in the line that says "## games left ot idle, # idle now."

But even with that line it's very uninformative. I created a thread recently with that request in hopes jshackles sees it and adds some more context to whats going on.

Honestly I think the whole program needs some more information being given the the end user when they run it for the first time. Like explaining what the new multi-game idle is and that it will void any chances to get a refund later if you so choose. It basically needs a "New User" tutorial :)

I had this same problem though as you where it's apparently doing nothing. It didn't even show me as in any games. I was using the setup.exe version downloaded from http://www.steamidlemaster.com/.

I have switched to using the portable version and have no major issues anymore.

@Misha

I think you are misunderstanding what IM does now with it's new features.

IM does NOT idle more than 1 game at a time to get card drops. It never has and never will as jshackles is fully aware that doing so only causes the drop times to go up.

What IM does now is if it detects you have games under the 2 hour time it will group them together in a mass idle (up to 30 games at a time) to get those to the 2 hour mark so they are eligable for card drops. It is supposed to do this and when they hit the two hour mark it is supposed to close those games and then start it's normal one game at a time idle process. I'm not sure but I do not think it is doing this properly. I know it did not seem to work for me.

You say one was over the 2 hour limit so that means the other 2 where under 2 hours?

If thats the case IM was getting those two games to the two hour mark before it is supposed to run any game that was already over two hours in single game mode.

But like I said I had an issue where after all my games where over 2 hours IM never switched to it's normal single game idle process. This also appears to be the same issue you had. If I did not restart IM it would have idled the 6 games I had under 2 hours indefintally.

If you have games on your account under the 2 hour mark it will run IM in "multi-game mode" until all the games in your account are over the 2 hour mark. During htat time the chances of a card drop are pretty slim due to the fact that multiple games are running simutaniously.

Once all games reach the 2+ hour mark IM should switch back to the normal "single game mode" and work as normal to get you your cards. In my experience so far IM has not left multi-game mode on its own and required me to restart IM.

So with the way IM is designed right now it will not get cards for you until all games are listed at 2+ hours. Maybe there should be an option to skip the multi-game mode.

In the end IM has zero control over when cards drop. That is something that is triggered on Steams end. IM just tricks the Steam client into thinking a game is running. If Steam shows that you are in a game then IM is doing all it can to cause cards to drop. If you have a game that IM is running and are not getting cards even though you Badge page says you have card drops IM is not responsible for those cards not dropping.

@LeeExMachina...

That is incorrect.

Running IM WILL add game time to your game. While you may not be downloading and installing the game the game client does not know that. All it sees is appid ### is "running".

If IM did not add gametime then you would not be able to use it to get the game to the required 2 hour playtime to allow thh game to drops cards. It would also not be able to get the card to drop be cause the only way for cards to drop is for the game to be running. While IM may "simulate" the game is still technically running according to the client and a running game adds playtime.

As MakoSipper said the previous number was wrong.

Something changed and caused IM to incorrectly calculte remaining card drops and possibly games as well).

The recent 1.0 update has fixed this issue.

There is no real simple way to do this with Idle Master.

You can Idle any game you want with IM but it will require you to do it manuall for each game you want to idle time in.

There is a program called SAM that will allow you to idle any game you want as far as I know.

ZERO ENOUGH ...

your posts are unnecesary and you where already asked by jshackles to keep it civilized.

Coming back to point fingers and name call again is not civilized.

Reporting the possibility of Malware was the right thing to do just in case there was an infection on jshackles end. Thankfully it turned out to not be the cause of it AND Electric found his issue before it became a bigger issue.

Yes.

As far as Steam is concerned you are actually playing the game.

Do you think you can make like a pop out window or something that lists the game(s) it is idling to the two hour mark?

They way it looks now makes it look like the game is idling multiple games at once with no explanation as to why.

"15 games left to idle, 6 idle now." does not help explain things.



Also I HIGHLY suggest a warning message for first time users explaining that IM is about to idle games to the two hour mark and voiding the possibility of people getting refunds on these games.