Half Life 2

[thrashaholic]

I recently bought Half Life 2, today in fact. My friends have been very praising of it graphically and story-wise, and from the look of the screenshots it does seem very good. But, I have also heard nasty stories about installation and CD-Keys and all that, in that once it's installed on one computer it can't be installed and played on another.

I was wondering if there was any truth in these stories, because if there is I shall refrain from installing until I update my computer (soon). Also other general information about it would be welcome too (tips, opinions etc.).

[TosaInu]

The installation on one computer isn't true, thankfully. What is true is that you have an unique cd-key. That is used to create an unique account at Steam. You can install your copy on as many PC's as you 'want'. But you can only play at one at a time, because Steam checks with copy/unique key is being played, also single player.

So installing now, buying a new computer tomorrow, again next week and again next month isn't a problem. Well, not for Steam anyway.

Have fun.

[Byzantine Prince]

What TosaInu said is true. That's the great thing about vALVE games, you can play them anywhere as long as you have the CD-Key. If you go to any gaming cafe you'll find that CS and HL are already installed in every comp, which is pretty unique if you consider every other game uses a CD to activate it.

[Beirut]

I would have bought it but this business with having to connect to the Steam site to verify the authenticity of your CD every single time you play, even solo, is ridiculous.

I ain't buying it. Not the anti-piracy concept nor the game.

[TosaInu]

I agree Beirut, I didn't like that system for that reason either.

And I still don't. It's my computer and I want to be in charge of when a patch is installed, where I want to save the update exe and Steam is just some memory leaking monster. Yet, I played the Half Life 2 demo, just like I played Doom3 demo. Doom3 wasn't great in my eyes, Half Life2 was a must have for me.

There's a way to play without Steam verification, legal. Haven't tried that myself, so I don't know how it works. Could be that you authenticate once and get some sort of cookie in your system to allow future SP games.

[Efrem]

There is an "offline" mode for steam.There are instructions all over the place.

[Conqueror]

Turning the offline mode on is kinda confusing, but it can be done. I sorta did itt by accident. HL2 is a nice game but not the kind that you'd want to play through more than once. As for multiplayer, I'm still waiting for good mods to emerge. I tried the CTF mod which was decent but not my kind of gameplay.

[Navaros]

just to add my experiences with STEAM:

when i bought the Half Life Platnimum Pack, i could not enter my CDKEY into STEAM. STEAM would not accept it even though i entered it perfectly

after some research i came to the conclusion that this is actually a common phenomenon. what happened was, a warez kiddy generated my legitimate CDKEY and then used it to create a STEAM account. thusly leaving me royally shafted and unable to use the CDKEY which i myself had paid for

you think in situations like this, the game makers would side with the paying customer by default and not the warez kiddy, right?

wrong.

in order to be able to get your CDKEY back, you must mail the envelope it came on (because Valve is too cheap to ship the game on jewel cases) to Valve at your own time and postage expense. and not only that, there is a $10 - 15 USD (not sure the current rate but it's way too darn high!) "service charge" to claim ownership of the CDKEY that you already paid for! you have to send them a check or money order in that amount along with your CDKEY envelope, else they won't give your your CDKEY back

i have had this happen to me personally. and obviously it happens to a whole whackload of STEAM game users, because Valve developed a whole "policy" around this situation. although i use the word policy loosely because really it is extortion/robbery rather than a policy


for this reason i now boycott any product that uses STEAM and encourage everyone else to do the same

[TosaInu]

That's very nasty Navaros. I got about the same with a Novalogic game, I don't recall anymore which solution support had, but I could change my copy with another one in shop after I explained.

The tricky part for Steam is: who to believe? You and I know that we are legal customers, but how should Steam check that? You could think about supplying yet another ID code with the copy in case a warez kid generated your CD-key (and such an approach is used by some software), but that's not a real solution either when some script can generate such codes as well.

Shop owners got a serious problem as well: how to check a customer didn't burn a copy and returns his legal copy?

Using warez isn't just hurting the software industry, it's hurting fair customers as well.

I also have games which didn't require any sort of code at all, almost decent games too.

I'm starting to think (long time already), that software protection is a lost battle anyway. It won't fight warez, illegal copies of Windows XP were available for $1 in the Far East before Microsoft shipped it. But it definately hurts, frustrates and disappoints legal customers. Steam is one example, the nosy registry stuff for games is another.

[KukriKhan]

I've read some horror stories online, but haven't experienced bad stuff from vAlve/Steam personally. Neither has my son, who bought HL2 first.

If you play like me, in CounterStrike: prepare to die often, until you learn to move well. I strongly suggest re-mapping the "crouch" key from Ctrl to the Q button, and study the weapons assortment ahead of time (you have to buy them quite quickly). In HL2 main game, you can spend a lot of time going down 'wrong' hallways/alleys, etc., until you realize there's nothing to interact with. I really enjoyed the earlier parts of the game, where the story is still developing.

The guys above are right: Steam sucks your resources heavily and is stingy in returning them when you exit.

[thrashaholic]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm glad to hear that multiple installations are fine, but some of this business with STEAM seems worrying (sorry to hear about what happened to you Navaros).

[Fragony]

A little warning, don't do the patch because it contains massive spyware. If you refuse to install the spyware you can't update your game, nice.

[Colovion]

A little warning, don't do the patch because it contains massive spyware. If you refuse to install the spyware you can't update your game, nice.

There is no spyware in Steam. After spending a good amount of time on the Steam forums when this scare-tactic was out there it's hilarious to hear that it's still prevailent.

[Taurus]

The Steam system is what put me off buying the game. In fact I was so hyped up about buying it about 2 or 3 months before it came out but when I heard about the Cd-Key steam thing etc. it just put me off completly.

I am positive that the publishers and designers have lost an awful lot of previous Half-Life gamers due to this problem, because I do see it as a problem.

[lars573]

There is no spyware in Steam. After spending a good amount of time on the Steam forums when this scare-tactic was out there it's hilarious to hear that it's still prevailent.

That's not wholly correct. Instead of spyware that steals inforamtion about your computer and net connection and such. They ask you straigh up in serveys for it, you can ignore them. But they do them every quarter or so.

[Taurus]

Does anyone know of any other games that use a similar system so that i know to avoid them too please?

[lars573]

So I guess your never going to play Half-life again are you? I only know of one game that isn't a half-life derivation that is going to use steam. I forget the name though. I think that Valve wants to become a publisher and steam is it's bit for that goal.

[[DnC]]

The installation of HL2 was a real pain in the ass!! It has to use the internet to finish the installation which took a really long time. After some initial problems trying to install HL2, it took me about 1,5 hours to install the game! The verifiation or whatever it was that required internet itself (perhaps certain things like updates were downloaded) took about 30 minutes. First game in a long time I had such trouble to install and taking ages in the process itself. It was however an enjoyable game, except for the racing levels which were kind of a drag. But the more you get to the end the better it gets.

That's very nasty Navaros. I got about the same with a Novalogic game, I don't recall anymore which solution support had, but I could change my copy with another one in shop after I explained.

The tricky part for Steam is: who to believe? You and I know that we are legal customers, but how should Steam check that? You could think about supplying yet another ID code with the copy in case a warez kid generated your CD-key (and such an approach is used by some software), but that's not a real solution either when some script can generate such codes as well.

Shop owners got a serious problem as well: how to check a customer didn't burn a copy and returns his legal copy?

Using warez isn't just hurting the software industry, it's hurting fair customers as well.

I also have games which didn't require any sort of code at all, almost decent games too.

I'm starting to think (long time already), that software protection is a lost battle anyway. It won't fight warez, illegal copies of Windows XP were available for $1 in the Far East before Microsoft shipped it. But it definately hurts, frustrates and disappoints legal customers. Steam is one example, the nosy registry stuff for games is another.

The shop (Dynabyte) I usually buy my games at has a "if the game has a cdkey and the gamepackage is opened (the plastic seal is removed), then it cannot be returned for money back nor exchanged for another product of the same value or more" policy. I once bought a game I wasn't very satisfied with and couldn't return it for another game because of it. The reason given being piracy.

[Taurus]

So I guess your never going to play Half-life again are you? I only know of one game that isn't a half-life derivation that is going to use steam. I forget the name though. I think that Valve wants to become a publisher and steam is it's bit for that goal.

Thanks

[Dorkus]

Nothing wrong with Steam, imo. It's a perfectly valid method for them to sell their software, and is probably the wave of the future. I'm just happy that one company FINALLY decided to sell its software directly via the net.

On the other hand, in substance, HL2 is not, in my opinion, a very fun game. There are apparently some interesting weapon designs in the SP game (grav gun?), but I was too bored to get to that point -- there's a lot of aimless meandering at the start of the game. Moreover, MP is a big disappointment for most of the CS community. CS:S is simply filled with bugs, and the netcode has serious issues (in particular, with bullets not registering, and strange recoil issues).

So I don't think Steam should be a serious put-off -- gameplay, however, might be (depends on how demanding you are of your fps's)

[Dorkus]

The shop (Dynabyte) I usually buy my games at has a "if the game has a cdkey and the gamepackage is opened (the plastic seal is removed), then it cannot be returned for money back nor exchanged for another product of the same value or more" policy. I once bought a game I wasn't very satisfied with and couldn't return it for another game because of it. The reason given being piracy.

I didn't realize there were ANY stores that allowed returns for mere dissatisfaction...

It's really quite annoying, especially given that gamemakers seem to be far less willing to release demos nowadays. I've wasted a few hundred dollars in the past year or so on games that I've played less than an hour (combined).

Thank god there are companies like CA that still pump out quality product!

[[DnC]]

I didn't realize there were ANY stores that allowed returns for mere dissatisfaction...

Well I didn't tell them it was because I wasn't satisfied. A bit dishonest indeed, but games still cost quite a lot when they're new. I made a mistake, therefore I wanted to exchange it for another game. They'll still have their money and I hopefully an enjoyable game.

[Bob the Insane]

I didn't realize there were ANY stores that allowed returns for mere dissatisfaction...

Speaking to the staff in a Game store in the UK (before I moved over to the US) shortly after they dropped there 10 day exchange policy for PC games I found it was not really the retail so much as the pulisher that is causing this issue. A lot of returned PC games have CD Keys and as such can not simply be resold (as the previous owner may have retained the CDKey), especially given the rise of MMOs where a credit card may be tied to an online account which may in turn be tied to the CDKey...

The publishers will not reimburse the retailers for returned games, only faulty ones.