View Full Version : HalfLife 2
its out!
share your thoughts
HL2 is anover-rated piece of crap IMO
the whole STEAM process is BS which should be illegal
i was unable to use my HL1 CDKEY because a warez kiddy generated and registered it on STEAM. in situations like this, Valve sides with the warez kiddy rather than the paying customer who is SOL
HL2 does not even come with jewel cases (for the boxed Retail version) - just useless papers envelopes like the HL Platinimum Pack came in. all in all, it's a huge ripoff by an extortionist company
lol
well i havent bought it yet, my bro has, i dont see too much special about it, save the SP mode.
but time will tell
Somebody Else
11-16-2004, 21:55
Aargh aargh aargh!
Got the game today.
After much trouble, managed to get it installed.
Now, the game chooses not to recognise the disc. So I can't play. I had to take it out, and clean it several times during installation. This is very tiresome. Anyway, anyone hears of a no-cd whatsamacallit, do tell.
i know of a good nocd site, ill pm you
Got it. ~:)
Installed it. ~D
CAN'T PLAY IT! :furious3:
I can't get my account registered with steam. I get to the screen where it asks me to pick a special question in case I lose my password and then I get a 200 error that referenced some winsock problem. I think Steam's registration servers are getting hammered and that's why so many people are having problems.
This is ridiculous! Valve requires you to log in with Steam before playing the game? I bought the cds so I wouldn't have to go through with this! What about people who don't have internet access and want to play HL2 whenever they please? What if you're on a trip and want to play a bit on your laptop?
Absolutely inexcusable. :furious3: :furious3: :furious3:
Somebody Else
11-16-2004, 22:55
Makes one want to take a crowbar to certain people...
The Tuffen
11-16-2004, 22:58
I have to say i won't buy Half life 2. I was tempted to buy a DVD drive so that i could play it (as well as Far cry).
I think its a stupid that you are forced to login to steam before you can play it. If i buy a game i expect it to be playable straight out of the box without having to logon to the internet.
ShadesPanther
11-16-2004, 23:23
Its quite simple really.
1.WON rocked.
2. Valve didnt like it rocking
3. Decided to create their own version thing called steam. (similar to sorry of Punkbuster/Valve anti cheat problem)
4. Steam launched to wave of errors
5. Popularity low with most people still playing on WON
6. WON shut down
7. Steam finally quite stable
8. HL2 coming out..better make it require steam.
9. outrage on most forums (even the mild mannered org ~:eek:)
SUMMARY: Steam is like communisim, good in theory, just won't work in real life.
I didn't really have that many problems but then I had steam installed already. Maybe to do with setting up new accounts on avery busy steam.
Ok, after nearly one and a half hours I finally created a new account and validated my CD key. Steam is currently in the process of 'unlocking my files'.
The bad thing is each time you want to play HL2 you have to log into Steam and have it check for updates. There is an offline work around for this, and it is provided by Valve!
http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=213&p_created=1094245645&p_sid=w5EUEGqh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0yNTAmcF9wYWdlPTE*&p_li=
How To Make Steam Offline Mode Work
last edited 09/03/2004 02:05:09 PM by qUiCkSiLvEr
Special Note:
If a game says "100%" but "Not Ready" for offline play, it may be because the purchase process for that game (cd-key or cc purchase transaction) has not yet completed. You need to wait for that to complete before playing offline.
Two Scenarios:
1. My friend has no Internet connection, how can he set things up so he can play offline?
2. I want to be able to play at a LAN party and they won't have an internet connection there, how can we all play offline?
Answer:
There are several ways to do this that will work for players without Internet access as well as for LAN Parties where there won't be internet access.
Note:
You have to be online somewhere at least once to perform all of the following steps.
The first step here is to perform the latest update and capture it. This is very important to make sure you get the latest content and bug fixes. Everyone that will be participating at the LAN event must have the latest update!
Easiest way
Bring the computer that will be playing offline to an available internet connection at a friend's house, school or perhaps business. Log into the account and do all the updates, make sure it all works.
Then "exit" (do not log out!) from Steam, go to the Steam folder and make a copy of the clientregistry.blob file (just in case). Write-protect the copy (mark it Read/Only).
Physically unplug the computer from the internet, start up Steam and let it fall back into offline mode. Make sure the computer will play both Listenserver (LAN), client and the single player ok, then exit from Steam again.
Not sure I undertand...
You install the game, then you have to register online to get a CD key so the game will play?
And you're saying there's a flaw in all this so you pay your money, register online and still can't play? Is that the deal?
Doesn't sound too great. Sure won't buy it until this is cleared up.
discovery1
11-16-2004, 23:51
Valve's solution involves lugging a tower full of sensitive(and heavy) parts around so we can play? Stupid is'nt the word.
Somebody Else
11-17-2004, 02:18
Well, after a semi-fix involving spit and my dvd drive's optical reader, two blue-screens and an attempted reinstall foiled by a complete lack of ability of my dvd drive to read the disc - spit or no.
I shall wait until I either get a new computer, the game comes out on cd rather than dvd, or HL3 comes out. It seems this game is not to be for me.
ElmarkOFear
11-17-2004, 03:36
Somebody Else: I bought my game at EB Games and it was on cds. Not sure where you got the DVD version.
What they forgot to tell you too is that Steam isn't the only copy-protection they have for the game. It also uses SecureRom2. If it detects any virtual-drive software installed on your machine it will require you to do one of three things (depending on what software you have):
1. Turn off the virtual-drive software before launching HL2. This is what I had to do and I have GameDrivePro installed.
2. Uninstall the virtual-drive software before you will be able to play.
3. Reformat your hard-drive to get rid of the registry entries for your Virtual-drive software.
I am curious as to what will happen if Steam goes under financially? Will nobody be able to play Valve's games then? Also, if you decide you do not like the game or get bored with it and want to sell it back to EB Games as a 'used" game, then the person who buys it won't be able to play it since Steam already has the Cd-Key registered for your PC and in your name/password. So, if you happen to see HL2 in your neighborhood "used" software bargain bin . . DO NOT BUY IT! You will not be able to play unless you happen to know the person who sold it back and have their username/password.
Good question. If the Steam goes under, than millions have useless cds sitting on their shelves. As for me, I refuse to purchase a PC game costing 50 dollars. I remmember when it was around 40 for a brand new release, and I just can't accept the gaming industry pushing as far as the market will hold.
discovery1
11-17-2004, 04:48
just saw sone videos. i hate how objects float infront of freedman when he holds them.
ICantSpellDawg
11-17-2004, 05:22
i love copy protections when they fail
up with file sharing
down with digital tyrrany
Somebody Else
11-17-2004, 08:20
Got the dvd version in the Oxford Virgin Megastore.
I think the main problem for me is that my computer is too shoddy to be able to cope. And I think my dvd drive has managed to scratch the disc already.
Somebody Else
11-17-2004, 08:34
It appears I may have a work-around. Despite my dvd drive being as useful as sunglasses to a bat, I might just be able to get this game reinstalled, and playing.
My main problem is getting the dvd drive to recognise the disc. However, as I completed the whole Steam authentication thing, I thought up the cunning idea of downloading it via Steam. 231 minutes to go...
Now is this every copy of HL2 that has this stupid non-working online registry thing, or just some special DVD (or something else) copies?
Bob the Insane
11-17-2004, 14:53
eek! So many with problems...
Personally I had purchased via steam and preloaded via steam (and have been play CS:S for a while now too over steam)... So, being in the UK, at a little after 0800hrs Tuesday morning I fire up my machine, start up Steam and there appears the unlocking HL2 screen which takes about 20mins to perform its task!!
After that it is straight into the game 1280x960 and High settings all round and it looks and plays brilliantly...
It is not the "second coming", it is a FPS with a great story, large and realistic environments that in places really are almost photorealistic... It is definately HL2 in that it plays in the same style as HL with similar puzzles and set pieces. It has the surprize attacks, the enemy soldiers, the monsters the physical puzzles (which are seemlessly intergrated with the physics in the game) and you are always running out of ammo...
It is also a great demo of the Soruce engine showing a huge range of believable enviroments of various scales... It is 100% linear but only rarely are you aware because of this pacing and design of the story and I have not yet come across a map with poor or invisible boundries...
If anyone says there is an issue with the gfx it is because they are comparig the views to RL and not to any other game... The texture technology is simply way ahead of anything else out there, though the next generation of the Unreal engine seems to be using similar technology...
While the game is obviously made up of maps they are excellently designed giving the impression of a very large, detailed and seemless environment. An illusion true, but an expertly performed one...
As I said it is just a game in the end so if you were expecting a life altering experience you will be disappointed but it do think it is the best story driven FPS yet released and it does seriously raise the bar on what to expect on screen for future realistic graphics style games...
Bob the Insane
11-17-2004, 14:57
Now is this every copy of HL2 that has this stupid non-working online registry thing, or just some special DVD (or something else) copies?
All copies, it works like this (I think)....
You can by and get HL2 in one of two manners:
1. Get steam and steam account, perchase game via steam and download (I preloaded it prior to release). Once it is downloaded it will be unlocked by steam and will be read to play.
2. Buy game in the shops, install... Now correct me if I am wrong but it will also install steam and prompt you to create a steam account will it not? It will then authenticate your version of HL2 and activate... Once this is done you can in theory configure steam to run offline and you can continue to play HL2 without ever going onto the internet again.
Somebody Else
11-17-2004, 16:55
Right... now, I spent the last 7 hours downloading this thing via Steam - which it seems I can due by virtue of my having bought the game.
AND YET I STILL NEED THE CD TO PLAY!!!
Which my computer now kindly regards as a blank cd...
Got the game a few hours ago, my problem is that it restarts everytime i play.,
When i load a Counterstrike server it restarts when tis done!
When i load singleplayer it restarts when its almost done!
im frustrated as hell, any idea what might be the reason for all the restarting? :embarassed:
Crazed Rabbit
11-17-2004, 20:36
So, you need to connect to Steam each and every time you want to play?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!
And they couldn't just stick with the good old WON servers. No, they had to use Steam, invalidating all my HL cd keys.
Crazed Rabbit
The Tuffen
11-17-2004, 21:43
: I bought my game at EB Games and it was on cds. Not sure where you got the DVD version.
As far as i knew it was only available on DVD-ROM
Sounds like a lot of people are having problems with HL2
ShadesPanther
11-17-2004, 22:49
apparently it is cds in USA and DVDs in Britain (maybe Europe.. can anyone confirm?)
I'm sure you could get a friend to maybe convert it to cds for you if you are having trouble and it is your game then it should be ok
The Tuffen
11-18-2004, 12:03
I don't have HL2 and prob wont buy it.
Why have they released it on dvd only here? They should give people the option of both DVD and CD versions. I don't have a DVD drive and at the moment don't see any reason to buy one for only 2 games that require one at the moment (the other being FarCry).
Hello,
I saw HL2 in shop yesterday for about $60. There was a warning by the shop that this game could not be returned no matter what (I can grasp this). But this was the reasoning: HL2 requires activation and once activated on a PC it could never be activated on another. Is this discouraging buy, copy, install, refund clients or is it really that strict? It's sad if it were the latter. I purchase HL2, decide for myself it's a great game but that my system needs a serious upgrade to play it how I want, or better I need a complete new system. I won't be able to play this game then. Quite discouraging.
Repeated online checking for legality to play a SP game is not nice either.
Who can enlighten me here?
Bob the Insane
11-18-2004, 18:16
Hello,
I saw HL2 in shop yesterday for about $60. There was a warning by the shop that this game could not be returned no matter what (I can grasp this). But this was the reasoning: HL2 requires activation and once activated on a PC it could never be activated on another. Is this discouraging buy, copy, install, refund clients or is it really that strict? It's sad if it were the latter. I purchase HL2, decide for myself it's a great game but that my system needs a serious upgrade to play it how I want, or better I need a complete new system. I won't be able to play this game then. Quite discouraging.
Repeated online checking for legality to play a SP game is not nice either.
Who can enlighten me here?
Don't know about the USA but in the UK standard consummer rights apply and if the produce is faulty (i.e. disk is scrached or broke) or not fit for purpose then they have to take it back...
It is not really any different to the MMORPGs out there, think Planetside or EverQuest...
Repeated online checking for legality to play a SP game is not nice either.
In particular for this point, Half-Life to is only activated when installed, it does not have to be activated again unless you uninstall and reinstall it (I think)... If you are not uninstalling you definately only have to active it the once...
Thanks Bob the Insane,
Yes, I guess you can return it when physically damaged. And software incompatibility is often working too. It seems as if the shop expected extra irregularities with this popular title and took pre-cautions or just are as confused as I am ~;) As far as I know we don't have a trial period for software in The Netherlands.
Activation is a one time proces I think, how about CD-key verification? And what if I get a new PC? It's possible that they have a database that refuse activation on new hardware, in fact some companies already do that. ~:(
This sounds like a non-game. An ignorant exercise in pissing of the paying customer.
What braniac stayed up all night figuring this one up?
Sounds like grounds for a class action suit. :charge:
spacecadet
11-19-2004, 00:10
Steam unlocking and registration problems aside, the game is the real deal. It lives up to the hype unlike Doom 3 and certainly Rome TW. Its graphically the most amazing game yet and plays (so far) every bit as well as Half Life 1. Counterstrike source is also as fun as youd expect ~D
ps yes it is DVD only in the UK (or steam download ... ~;) )
Kraellin
11-19-2004, 04:39
well, if i'm reading all this correctly, this is NOT a game i'll be buying. it's bad enough i have to 'activate' windows with microsoft. i'm NOT going to extend that to games. i can only imagine how many folks that have gotten this thing home and realized they cant play it because they have no internet connection. and like tosa, what if my machine changes hardware, or i get a completely new machine? next thing you know k-mart will start requiring me to register the shirts and pants i buy there.
i guess when you're sitting in an office of a game company with a oc 192 connection and sitting on several billion dollars worth of assets you can afford to alienate your paying consumer base with this sort of paranoid, oh-my-god-we'll-get-pirated sort of thinking..... completely silly.
so, sorry, not jumping through those hoops. and i really hate saying this....oh wait, i'm a moderator.... never mind ;)
K.
Crandaeolon
11-19-2004, 10:43
In ye olde days, original versions of games used to have _better_ functionality than pirated games with modified (ripped) game files. The pirates often removed movie and music files to decrease download times, and these heavy modifications made it difficult, if not impossible, to install patches later. Now it's the opposite; copy-protection schemes hinder performance, decrease stability, affect the user's installed programs (virtual drive software) or just generally annoy the user. (Though, it's still easier to install patches on a non-cracked installation of a game, but not by all that much.)
The Securom fiasco with Morrowind was the first one to really slap me in the face; retail MW checked the CD's authenticity repeatedly in the middle of playing the game, resulting in periodical slowdowns. Sometimes it crashed during the check. Using a cracked exe improved the game's performance and increased stability, while it should IMO be the other way around. Bethesda fixed this later by removing the in-game checking; however, I've heard that other developers still use the in-game check in their games.
These online activation schemes seem to be the latest rage. Microsoft did it and got away with it, so we can too! Yay! ...in a singleplayer game? WTH? I guess it says on the HL2 box that internet access is required to play the game... :rolleyes:
/end rant
On topic: I gave HL2 a spin and it is, admittedly, a very good new generation shooter. It's linear, but the levels are tightly designed and scripting is well done, much better than in the original HL. The setting is a believable post-apocalyptic world. There's a lot of satisfying combat, sometimes with allies. Defense missions. Large open areas. Gunships to shoot down. The AI feels decent, but relies heavily on scripting as usual.
Doom 3 failed in both the oldskool and new-gen departments and ended up being a tech demo with horror elements. (Painkiller is probably the oldskool king at the moment.) I haven't played Far Cry (~:confused:), but I think HL2 is the best new-gen shooter right now. Let's see if the opinion holds all the way to the end...
ShadesPanther
11-19-2004, 18:46
good news on the anti-piracy front
Clanbase have an interesting news article
Valve released pirated Half-Life 2 versionHalf-Life 2
by: Killerman - Comments (45)
When azzkiker of HL2Files forwarded a Bittorent-link, of a pirated warez version of Half-Life 2, to Gabe Newell of Valve Software, he claims that Gabe had replied with the following:
We're running a bit of an experiment. We're keeping track of the accounts that do this and will be shutting them off.
So it seems like Valve Software have released an illegal version of Half-Life 2 as an experiment. If azzkiker is right the people using this version will have their accounts deleted and will be banned from Steam.
http://halflife2.filefront.com/news/HalfLife_2_Pirated_Warez_Version_Info;13907
wow...that's good to know, this games sounds like a deliberate attempt to piss gamers off before we reach the promised land...
HL2 is definately more than just a game :dizzy2:
After a few days of trying to install it, i finally got it. Then when I load the game, i have to put my graphics settings on the lowest possible settings. It now looks like Half Life 1, just with crappy gameplay and steam.
Theres a steam update out that might help:
http://www.half-life2.com/news.php
jeffreyLebowski
11-21-2004, 00:09
Steam aside (Which I agree is annoying.), this game is pretty damn sweet. It actually takes you a while to realize how many options you have thanks to the physics system... And once you get the gravity gun... well lets just say that it's like having The Force in gun form. Picking stuff up and winging it around, dropping stuff on people, flinging sawblades around, it's pretty cool. I've been having a blast, and the graphics are pretty ridiculous. This is, of course, if you can get the game to install and run. Hehehe.
ShadesPanther
11-21-2004, 00:37
It now looks like Half Life 1, just with crappy gameplay and steam.
Obviously it wont run that well on a 4+ year old computer.
I agree about the options like throwing radiators and sawblades at people. There are also quite a few hidden areas behind objects and things under them which is pretty cool.
Obviously it wont run that well on a 4+ year old computer.
I agree about the options like throwing radiators and sawblades at people. There are also quite a few hidden areas behind objects and things under them which is pretty cool.
Download the Steam update! It really helps. I can now run the game at 800x600 now. It looks great.
Sasaki Kojiro
11-21-2004, 23:45
...and half the people in my doorm have a pirated copy. Apparently you can fool steam into letting you download it for free. So much for security measures.
ShadesPanther
11-24-2004, 13:23
Valve banned over 20,000 illegal Half-Life 2 users
by: Lennie - Comments (46)
A week since the launch of Half-Life 2 and Valve today revealed through their forums that they have banned over 20,000 people from Steam for attempting to pirate Half-Life 2 with the CD-Key 5J52E-FVKXV-882FQ-YJXRQ-DOD98.
Additionally, the thread revealed that Valve is working on a securROM fix for owners of the CD and DVD editions of the game who are unable to play due to overzealous copy-protection.
seems to have been quite a success.
Valve worked fine for me.
I work (Saturdays anyway) now, so why shouldn't I pay for a game? And Steam seems to be a good idea to me. Beats having crappy copy protection like with Far Cry and the like anyway. Plus I don't need to bother going down to the shops anymore at all. Yay!
Colovion
11-29-2004, 01:55
I missed this thread.
I love HL2. I never played HL1, so I guess that may influence my rating of it. I'm assuming that my playing of MTW before RTW made me expect more from RTW - not so with HL2. I love going into games and movies totally fresh with no expectations whatsoever.
Steam is a wonderful idea, and I've yet to have any problems besides 2 hours on the release date when the servers went down. Once they work out a few bugs with it I'm sure that it'll become another industry standard.
I can't wait till DOD:Source comes out, let alone the new skins/maps in December for CS:S.
I spent two weeks doing nothing but playing Half Life 2 (when I wasn't working). I have to say it's incredible. If you like First Person Shooters, I don't think you can go wrong with HL2. The "activation" process goes like this, if I am not mistaken.
Install the game.
Install Steam, if you don't have it already.
Create a Steam account, if you don't have it already.
Log in to Steam.
Register the CD key through Steam. This begins the unlocking of the game files.
Once the files are unlocked, you can play.
The CD key is permanently registered to your Steam account. And since Steam is owned by Valve, it won't fail unless Valve does. I can't say for sure, but I don't expect there will ever be activation problems in the future for you, unless of course you forget your login name and password to your Steam account. If you build a new computer, just install Steam and the game onto the new system, log in to your existing account, and start the game. It should unlock the files again automatically. It will still probably take 15-20 minutes.
Colovion
12-02-2004, 23:12
I was browsing some HL2 forums - some guy went to a bunch of different retailers to do a survey. It seems that most retailers - 5/8 - didn't know that you need an internet connection to "unlock" the game and begin playing it. In almost every case there weren't even stickers on the boxes warning customers that you need internet - even to play the game offline you need to go and unlock the game before you can go offline to play it.
I notice that the majority of the complaints are coming from people who have been looking forward to the game for a long time. Myself, I realized it was coming out in 2 days, bought my copy over Steam, and I was homefree from there. I never have experienced any problems beside the obvious server lag or inability to connect during the rush times when tens of thousands of users are hammering the servers trying to download the latest Update. Overall, I'm not the least bit upset at VALVe.
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