View Full Version : Half-Life 2 - what on Earth.....?
Doctor Sinister
27 Dec 04, 18:36
This is ridiculous.
Here's my current chain of events in my attempt to play Half-Life 2 which was a Christmas pressie:
1) Installed HL2.
2) Requires Internet connection to register a Steam account.
3) Cannot register a Steam account until it's updated Steam.
4) Three attempts, two disconnects and 90 minutes later, am able to create a Steam account.
5) Attempt to logon to Steam.
6) Requires update to Steam. Another one. Why?
7) Two attempts and one disconnect later, update acquired.
8) Files require decryption. This takes one hour.
9) Attempt to play game.
10) Servers too busy.
11) Tried again ten minutes later.
12) Servers too busy.
13) Tried again ten minutes later.
14) Unable to play until game has been updated. This will take at least an hour.
Am I missing something here? I actually have to be ONLINE to play a single-player game??!?! I don't WANT to be online when I'm playing games. in fact, with my connection, I CAN'T be online.
I hope whoever bought this for me still has the receipt. :laugh:
Dr. S.
Welcome to the frustrations of thousands :D. The first offline game that requires you to have internet to play it! If I remember right, you can set STEAM to offline mode and then you can play it offline...try disconnecting from dial-up and then starting steam, it may ask you if you want offline mode...which then you dont have to download all the updates.
In theory you only have to be online to have it validated.
Patrocles
27 Dec 04, 18:58
This is ridiculous.
Here's my current chain of events in my attempt to play Half-Life 2 which was a Christmas pressie:
1) Installed HL2.
2) Requires Internet connection to register a Steam account.
3) Cannot register a Steam account until it's updated Steam.
4) Three attempts, two disconnects and 90 minutes later, am able to create a Steam account.
5) Attempt to logon to Steam.
6) Requires update to Steam. Another one. Why?
7) Two attempts and one disconnect later, update acquired.
8) Files require decryption. This takes one hour.
9) Attempt to play game.
10) Servers too busy.
11) Tried again ten minutes later.
12) Servers too busy.
13) Tried again ten minutes later.
14) Unable to play until game has been updated. This will take at least an hour.
Am I missing something here? I actually have to be ONLINE to play a single-player game??!?! I don't WANT to be online when I'm playing games. in fact, with my connection, I CAN'T be online.
I hope whoever bought this for me still has the receipt. :laugh:
Dr. S.
I feel for ya, man. I was surprised when I read that an internet connection is REQUIRED for offline single-player campaign. Technically speaking, I haven't had any problems connecting with Steam and playing online and offline. However, the requirement for internet for offline play has dampened my enthusiasm for any and all Valve games.
Doctor Sinister
27 Dec 04, 19:31
OK, I'm finally in the game!!
I have to say, I'm pretty blown away by how amazing it looks...
Now to deactivate this damned Steam thing...
Dr. S.
OK, I'm finally in the game!!
I have to say, I'm pretty blown away by how amazing it looks...
Now to deactivate this damned Steam thing...
Dr. S.
Just wait till you get to the lab...I think that was the best part of the game for me....it really brought together the facial and NPC animations, the graphics, and the physics in one scene.
Just wait till you get to the lab...I think that was the best part of the game for me....it really brought together the facial and NPC animations, the graphics, and the physics in one scene.
Yeah, cause the game is such a tech demo. :D
By the way, keep an eye out for a lot of other companies look at Steam as a publishing solution. At least one other developer, the makers of an MMORPG called Pirates of the Burning Sea I believe, is going to use Steam to distribute their game.
There are a number of useful features in steam for developers, for one piracy prevention, also it makes the game easier for developers to patch as Steam is developed to easily update the user's game automatically (these are all the things you kept having to download).
Yeah, cause the game is such a tech demo. :D
:dead: That was a shot below the belt! :p
As you already know, our opinions of the game are different:laugh:.
Dr. S - don't let him phase you...it is a great GAME. The story is wonderful too! (you may want to read a synopsis of the HL1 story first)
:dead: That was a shot below the belt! :p
As you already know, our opinions of the game are different:laugh:.
Dr. S - don't let him phase you...it is a great GAME. The story is wonderful too! (you may want to read a synopsis of the HL1 story first)
I never said the game wasn't good. :p I said it failed in a lot of ways, there is in fact a difference.
chrisvalla
28 Dec 04, 11:55
ACK! I have dial-up still too... oh well, not on my 'buy now' list... I'll pick it next summer or so.
I chose the complete download option (hate to change CDs).
It went flawless as far as the download was concerned.
However, that Steam software is just braindead. I have all my game data on a network drive and Steam refuses to install on a network drive. Well, chose the remaining space on the boot drive (although slower), and it said it needs 2 GB which I had.
Guess what, that is 2 GB without the games. So I had it installed and fixed to that drive and then couldn't download any of the games - although I had already payed for them :mad:
It too a movement of the Steam installation from Linux to greener pastures to correct that mess. Wankers. They just plain outright forget to think about this, don't allow you to move and it is a joke that they don't allow network drive installation to start from.
Doctor Sinister
28 Dec 04, 13:53
Madness.
My copy came on DVD-ROM. Complete with a DVD-Key. I mean, what's wrong with that? It works perfectly well for everyone else...
Dr. S.
Madness.
My copy came on DVD-ROM. Complete with a DVD-Key. I mean, what's wrong with that? It works perfectly well for everyone else...
Dr. S.
Well unfortunately, as the number of broadband connections increase, you're likely to see this become more and more common.
There are a lot of problems with steam, but I'll give Valve credit that they're the first to try and implement this kind of thing, which takes a lot of guts, and is going to involve a lot of trial and error and problems. Note: I rarely give Valve credit for much, but they were willing to take the risk and work to pave the way in a new area.
Ultimately, this kind of thing is good for gamers but very bad for publishers. A lot of major publishers would do well to work on their own versions of this technology because it removes a lot of overhead for game developers in that they can market their game without the costs of retail space and distribution.
I actually like STEAM. I just purchased the game off steam, preloaded it, and with a little download when the game was released I was able to play it. They just need to iron out some bandwidth issues IMO.
I actually like STEAM. I just purchased the game off steam, preloaded it, and with a little download when the game was released I was able to play it. They just need to iron out some bandwidth issues IMO.
To be honest, I think the bandwidth issues are minimal, but maybe I've just been lucky. Some of the best downloads I've gotten were off of steam (I've managed to download at 1.5MB/s off of steam from school). I rarely have issues with patches or anything like that off of steam, and in fact, I had little trouble validating HL2 the minute it was unlocked (it took 10 minutes maybe to do all the unlocking- which considering the number of people hitting the Steam Servers at once, I think that's more than reasonable).
To be honest, I think the bandwidth issues are minimal, but maybe I've just been lucky. Some of the best downloads I've gotten were off of steam (I've managed to download at 1.5MB/s off of steam from school). I rarely have issues with patches or anything like that off of steam, and in fact, I had little trouble validating HL2 the minute it was unlocked (it took 10 minutes maybe to do all the unlocking- which considering the number of people hitting the Steam Servers at once, I think that's more than reasonable).
Its not so much overall, but the day it was released, when they knew there would be a giant push...they still didn't have enough juice. I played it fine at 5 in the morning, but when I came back from school at 3 PM, it was too busy to even log on. And a lot of people had that problem. If it wasn't for that, I would say my STEAM experience has been flawless.
Its not so much overall, but the day it was released, when they knew there would be a giant push...they still didn't have enough juice. I played it fine at 5 in the morning, but when I came back from school at 3 PM, it was too busy to even log on. And a lot of people had that problem. If it wasn't for that, I would say my STEAM experience has been flawless.
Yeah, I know what you mean, but from a simple cost and technology standpoint, I don't know how much better it could have gotten to be honest. There is only so much hardware and lines they can put for it.
Full Monty
28 Dec 04, 17:18
I've got to say that my experience with Steam has been very smooth. However, I have read about others (not just here) who have had some serious problems. Valve are trying something new and Steam is obviously not working properly for everyone but it's a bold move and hopefully when other companies attempt similar schemes they will have learned from Valve's errors. 'Hopefully' being the operative word here :D
Panzer Meyer
28 Dec 04, 19:31
HL2 is great, but the **** you have to go through to play is horrible. I had problems too, who didn't. Valve is trying to implement this so that it reduces pirating.
The funny thing is, the day it came out, there were cracks for it. So, all it did in the end was cause heartache to the honest customers.
Anyway,
HL2 rocks, I beat it. But the experience was awesome. The physics engine is awesome. I found myself, number of times outnumbered, so I'd run into a room or a doorway and block it with my gravity gun piling up crap.
It's good times with the gravity gun.
HL2 is great, but the **** you have to go through to play is horrible. I had problems too, who didn't. Valve is trying to implement this so that it reduces pirating.
The funny thing is, the day it came out, there were cracks for it. So, all it did in the end was cause heartache to the honest customers.
Actually, I think they just disabled 30,000 STEAM accounts, and I think they disabled another 30k a bit ago due to illegal versions of HL2. It does reduce pirating.
Actually, I think they just disabled 30,000 STEAM accounts, and I think they disabled another 30k a bit ago due to illegal versions of HL2. It does reduce pirating.
What it does is give them easier control over it, they can actually cut people off for having the crack, whereas other developers have nothing once the game is cracked.
What it does is give them easier control over it, they can actually cut people off for having the crack, whereas other developers have nothing once the game is cracked.
Other devs don't know whether the game has been cracked a lot of times though, with STEAM they know.
Other devs don't know whether the game has been cracked a lot of times though, with STEAM they know.
Well, sure they do, they can find them just like anyone else. But they have no control after it's released. Steam gives control through the account.
Well, sure they do, they can find them just like anyone else. But they have no control after it's released. Steam gives control through the account.
They can't tell whether the game has been cracked or not. Can they track whether the program has a valid .exe or a no-cd crack? Some multiplayer games probably could, but a singleplayer game like HL2 w/o STEAM wouldn't be able to.
They can't tell whether the game has been cracked or not. Can they track whether the program has a valid .exe or a no-cd crack? Some multiplayer games probably could, but a singleplayer game like HL2 w/o STEAM wouldn't be able to.
What I'm saying is, game developers can easily discover whether or not their game has been cracked and people are playing for free - they look on the internet and find the no-cd cracks and on bittorrent and edonkey and see their CDs up there. They can't do anything about it. With steam, they can.
What I'm saying is, game developers can easily discover whether or not their game has been cracked and people are playing for free - they look on the internet and find the no-cd cracks and on bittorrent and edonkey and see their CDs up there. They can't do anything about it. With steam, they can.
Ok. I was saying they didn't know which actual systems had the cracks, and since they were singleplayer (and some multiplayer games can't do it) they can't restrict access to them.
I guess we are sorta saying the same thing...anyway, I think STEAM is great - I just hope they can keep the service up when demand is high.
Actually, I think they just disabled 30,000 STEAM accounts, and I think they disabled another 30k a bit ago due to illegal versions of HL2. It does reduce pirating.
That's the problem I have with steam. Ideally all of those 30k accouts used cracks or cheated somehow, but 2 of my friends got their accounts banned for no apparent reason. 1 went out and bought half life 2 and was then told he was banned and he had to buy it again. The other didn't even get half life 2. I bought him the original half life cd and cd key for 10$ so that he could play some mods with me. Yesterday he got an email stating that he had pirated hl2 and was banned. He never even had the bloody game.
Panzer Meyer
29 Dec 04, 12:48
There is lot of problems with steam still, it rips off the honest people, more often than the pirates.
The pirate verions allow you to play WITHOUT connecting to steam. So that you never have to connect. So then, steam would not even scan your system, and they would not know if you have a cracked version or not.
That's the problem I have with steam. Ideally all of those 30k accouts used cracks or cheated somehow, but 2 of my friends got their accounts banned for no apparent reason. 1 went out and bought half life 2 and was then told he was banned and he had to buy it again. The other didn't even get half life 2. I bought him the original half life cd and cd key for 10$ so that he could play some mods with me. Yesterday he got an email stating that he had pirated hl2 and was banned. He never even had the bloody game.
Interesting, I'm surprised this is the first I'm hearing of any of this actually. Quite a shame. :angry:
AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Boy was this a mistake. I just purchased it via Steam and its taking over an hour just to update it. What kind of crap is this...is it the first patch thats over 15 gigs in size!
Stupid...[mumble]...[mumble]...bollocks. :mad:
Doctor Sinister
02 Jan 05, 15:05
I have lost control over what my PC does and when I am using my 'phone line because of Steam.
I am unable to play the game without being connected to the net, which kind of puts me off playing it at all as it totally ruins the spontaneity of just clicking on a launch icon - and with my notorious connection, it's dodgy at best. Also, I hate being dictated to in this manner. Dammit, I'M the prospective Dictator here! I cannot aford to have my 'phone line unecessarily tied up in this fashion.
Finally, the other day I was told I needed a multi-MB upgrade and I had to click "NO I DON'T" five times before it let me proceed.
Right now I am about this [-] close to unloading the whole thing and sending it back with a formal letter of complaint and a demand for a full refund.
Dr. S.
I have lost control over what my PC does and when I am using my 'phone line because of Steam.
I am unable to play the game without being connected to the net, [...]
Steam has an "offline pay" feature. You need to be connected to activate your game, even if you bought the CD, but then you can do single-player without connection.
When I was looking in the menus I couldn't find that feature so YMMV :)
Good thing HL2 is quite a short game :D
Many people in Europe have non-question dial-on demand and pay by the minute and have ISDN so your phone is not blocked by the computer. They'll have a bad surprise on their next bill :)
When I was looking in the menus I couldn't find that feature so YMMV :)
If your password is saved, and STEAM doesn't find an internet connection when it starts, it should give you the option to start in offline mode.
Doctor Sinister
02 Jan 05, 17:04
If your password is saved, and STEAM doesn't find an internet connection when it starts, it should give you the option to start in offline mode.
Nope. It did it once and once only, and I thought "great", but ever since then it point-blank refuses to do anything if it can't find an active Internet connection.
Might this be because I'm playing with the DVD version?
Dr. S.
Might this be because I'm playing with the DVD version?
I doubt it would matter. Once it is installed and on STEAM, STEAM should treat them all the same way. I don't know why it wouldn't work again...
I'm not going to disconnect my computer from the Internet to get that stupid dialog. But I still have a right to initiate network traffic from my computer.
What are they thinking?
I'm not going to disconnect my computer from the Internet to get that stupid dialog. But I still have a right to initiate network traffic from my computer.
What are they thinking?
I would venture to say that most people with a broadband connection don't mind it...and Valve probably thought that most gamers who would buy the game would have broadband. I find it convienient. I just wish they had other options for non-broadband users.
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