Wanting to try half life2 but questions about steam..

[necroshine67]

I'm wanting to buy HL2 but I've encountered the steam program with Dark Messiah, and it was a true head ache.
I got lucky and could play DM w/o steam, can you do the same with HL2?
and does counter strike source come with the game?
I'm also looking into FEAR, is it better than HL2?

 

[wingsofzion]

Fear and HL2 are two very different great games. HL2 is more sci-fi action than FEAR which is more of a very very dark premise horror game. Both games are GREAT and have thier own look and feel. I enjoyed HL2 cause it was a great mix of nice graphics and story. FEAR is the same but i loved the dark mood of the game and thier many scary moments it had. Both games also have good online counterparts (HL2 being the most popular) and both look really good. Another great game is PREY. The Unreal Engine makes that game look GREAT. It reminded me alot of HL2 because of the great story that complimented the game. These three titles are highly recommended.

 

[necroshine67]

Stranger Dark Messiah would white out on the opening screen, meaning when I would open the game I could hear it but all I'd see is a white screen..
After researching it I found a way to by pass the steam program and it ran fine..
my system is an AMD 64+ 3200 , OCZ Memory 2-2-2-5, and a X1900XT 512.

I've read nightmares about HL2 and steam where peoples cd keys were already taken..

I've played the Demo's of HL2, FEAR, Prey and Far Cry, and was impressed with all four..
I was leaning more toward HL2 due to counter strike source, because I'm a huge BF2 fan, but won't buy the new EA game due to the spy ware..

 

[necroshine67]

Stranger, TY for all your help, should I download it from steam or store purchase it? I believe it can be done both ways.
If I download it will I lose my cd key if I ever have to reformat and re-buy the game?

 

[Wolfy]

I don't particularly like HL2 but if you're not buying it cos of stuff you heard about steam then ignore it. DL steam and play the game.

PREY uses the Doom 3 engine to back up stranger.

 

[bfellow]

Problem with Steam is when the Steam servers are down, you can't even play single-player. I've tried and tried to play HL2 while offline and it doesnt work for me!

 

[robwright]

Sometimes I think Wolfy and I are kindred spirits, given our mutual love of Chronicles of Riddick. And other times, like when he writes he didn't like HL2, I feel like I don't even know him -- which I don't.

I love me some F.E.A.R. I even love the wee little expansion pack. Scary stuff, with excellent graphics and probably the best shooter gameplay going these days. But HL2 reigns supreme. Yeah, I'm a fanboy. Sue me...

As far as Steam issues go, I can honestly say that I've never had any issues with it, other than forgetting my password a couple times. When I switched PCs here in the office and tried played HL2 Episode 1 on a new system with Steam, the game would load with a black screen. But it was easy enough to find the right ATI drivers through Steam to make the game work.

 

[Wolfy]

I've detailed my complaints about HL2 extensively tbh. But in general it's just a game I don't gell with which is a shame given my love for HL1. FEAR by the way is also muck

 

[babybudha]

I'm wanting to buy HL2 but I've encountered the steam program with Dark Messiah, and it was a true head ache.
I got lucky and could play DM w/o steam, can you do the same with HL2?
and does counter strike source come with the game?
I'm also looking into FEAR, is it better than HL2?

What are your computer specs?

 

[cafuddled]

Ah Half Life 2, how I remember phoning in to work that morning saying I was not feeling well. Ah the memories of waiting till 8AM for the game to be officially released. Oh and how I loved the tension as the preloaded files where all unpacked before my eyes in a 5-minuet light show that seemed to take an eternity. Even better was the whole day I was playing the game for with out a break for food and the second day I phoned in sick so that I could complete the game two days after it was officially released.

The game defiantly hooked me and after I completed the game Counter Strike: Source kept me keen for many months afterwards. I even played the game a second time till completion, and it felt just as good as it did playing the first time. Every level of the game felt different and new and every encounter with an enemy got your hart racing giving you that mortal feeling of danger.

The game was good and it defiantly gripped me and many others, yet you cant make everyone happy. And that’s where people like Wolfy come in to play to show us how different people can be. But I am almost certain in saying this, as I would hope the big man would agree. If you are new to FPS gaming or just not very well experienced then Half Life 2 probably even now will grab hold of your insides and not let you go till you have seen that end game sequence.

[EDIT]

To note on Steam, the software was buggy as hell when it was first released but now it has became stable and very well maintained. The only thing I still have a grumble about is the speeds in which you can download the games at. Since I have a 10 meg line at home you would think a service that comes with a game you have to pay some good money for would let you download at a fast enough speed. But that does not seem to be the case, be prepared to be downloaded that game for at least 3 or 4 hours after you purchase it over steam.

Saying that if you can download the files else where as I believe you used to be able to do that might be a better option as I believe with a fast enough connection you can download the full game in about 20 to 30 minuets.

Oh and FEAR was good too, but then big Robo did not like STALKER so again you can keep everyone happy all the time. Don’t worry though I wont go in to what makes stalker such a good game here.

 

[GrandAdmiralThrawn]

Half Life2 is a great game, I've not had any real problems with steam, though I do find it annoying that I need to connect to their server just to play the single player game, seems kind of stupid to me.

 

[stromm]

Some info on Steam. No matter which "install" method you chose (CD/DVD or Dload), you MUST have Steam to play Halflife, CS, TFC, HL2, CSS, etc. Online.

As mentioned above, you can run in off-line mode as long as your LAN connection is not active. Not the same as if your internet connection is down. Just unplug your LAN cable from your PC.

I own the CD install version of HL2. About the only thing I used it for was the original install. Ever since then, when I reload my pc, I copy my recent DVDR backup of my steamapps folder (which contains the 8GB of maps I have for hl,cs,tfc,hl2,css) to my \games\steam\steamapps folder, dload steam, run the install, point it to d:\games\steam and let it dload the updates for my registered, transferred games.

That method get my Valve games back up and running without having to do a FULL dload of all my steam based games.

Getting back on track, I guess what I'm saying is that other than having to wait for your games to dload, there's really no difference between a CD/retail install and a "steam dload" install. The keys are the same.

Just make sure that when you create your steam account NAME, you use something you will want to keep for the rest of your life. You CAN'T change the account name, only the email address attached to it. So, if you think you might not want your future wife to see your login ID of csteenywanker, don't set it now.

 

[GrandAdmiralThrawn]

just do as i have had to do when my internet connection was playing up a while back, disconnect completely from the internet then log into steam and select the offline mode. as long as you have logged in before it should let you.

Thanks, I'll try that

 

[frsrblch]

I own the CD install version of HL2. About the only thing I used it for was the original install. Ever since then, when I reload my pc, I copy my recent DVDR backup of my steamapps folder (which contains the 8GB of maps I have for hl,cs,tfc,hl2,css) to my \games\steam\steamapps folder, dload steam, run the install, point it to d:\games\steam and let it dload the updates for my registered, transferred games.

That's a great idea! I'm gonna do that next time, because redownloading all that stuff is a bitch.

 

[babybudha]

I own the CD install version of HL2. About the only thing I used it for was the original install. Ever since then, when I reload my pc, I copy my recent DVDR backup of my steamapps folder (which contains the 8GB of maps I have for hl,cs,tfc,hl2,css) to my \games\steam\steamapps folder, dload steam, run the install, point it to d:\games\steam and let it dload the updates for my registered, transferred games.

That's a great idea! I'm gonna do that next time, because redownloading all that stuff is a bitch.

What frsrblch is trying to say - "Stromm......you diabolic!"