# PC gamers, it's our turn : Half-Life 2!!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409 "2004-11-12T17:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/101 "2004-11-17T23:16:13Z")
I’m actually a little shocked that there aren’t more dopers here gushing, or at least complaining, about the game. This is a pretty major event in FPS gaming history, people! ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/102 "2004-11-17T23:24:12Z")
Well, this thread helped convince me to buy it. I’ll let you know what I think - that is, assuming I ever can finish the download. Question - can I stop and restart the download without having to redownload all the stuff I’ve already got? The first 15 minutes of my download from Steam rocked, and now it looks like it’s completely stopped. I’ll be on the “complaining” list if this thing takes me all night to download. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/103 "2004-11-17T23:28:18Z")
Yes, the Steam download is a progressive download. Maybe try quitting the Steam app and restarting it. This is what I had to do on release night in order to prompt the activation. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but the whole Steam process has been painless and bug-free for me. I’d recommend it to anyone. Back to the game! ---
**Author:** ![velveeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/13edae/32.png) [@velveeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velveeta)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/104 "2004-11-17T23:51:45Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > I don’t believe that this is true. Buying the retail version is basically like buying the steam version, but having the content files installed via cd rather than downloaded off steam. I may be wrong, but that was my understanding. Well, I’m someone who bought the retail version and this was, without a doubt, the most assanine install method I have ever seen. When you spend $60 on a game, you expect that you are walking out of the store with the entire game, right? Eh eh. So I install the game off the CDs and I think I’m home free. Nope, now I have to register. Well, that doesn’t work because the Valve website is swamped. Go figure. That part doesn’t seem to matter though, but now I have to create a Steam account. THAT takes 15 minutes because the Steam website is swamped. Okay, that’s done. Cool? HELL NO. Now it tries to register the CD key and, of course, can’t do it because Steam is swamped. It’s ok, it says it will do it later, and I can still play. YOU MEAN I CAN FINALLY PLAY?? Nope, now it starts downloading more files from Steam and unlocking them. This takes another 45 minutes. Finally, it finishes after 2 hours - and instantly crashes. I think I finally got to play for about 30 minutes last night before I had to go to sleep. This morning I tried to play and it told me that since it had never registered the CD key, I couldn’t play it. I almost had an aneurysm. It did finally get through to the server, but the install was such a huge pain that I may never buy another Valve product. It left a very bad taste in my mouth and the whole checking with the server every time you play reeks of spyware. The game itself is fun, but I have sound stutters and the long load times are very distracting and pull me right out of the game - seems counterintuitive considering they specifically left out cut scenes because they wanted it to be more immersive. I’m sure I’ll be raving about it soon enough, but right now I’m still pissed about the install. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/105 "2004-11-18T00:01:56Z")
> [@velveeta](#): > > Well, I’m someone who bought the retail version and this was, without a doubt, the most assanine install method I have ever seen. When you spend $60 on a game, you expect that you are walking out of the store with the entire game, right? Eh eh. So I install the game off the CDs and I think I’m home free. Nope, now I have to register. Well, that doesn’t work because the Valve website is swamped. Go figure. That part doesn’t seem to matter though, but now I have to create a Steam account. THAT takes 15 minutes because the Steam website is swamped. Okay, that’s done. Cool? HELL NO. Now it tries to register the CD key and, of course, can’t do it because Steam is swamped. It’s ok, it says it will do it later, and I can still play. YOU MEAN I CAN FINALLY PLAY?? Nope, now it starts downloading more files from Steam and unlocking them. This takes another 45 minutes. Finally, it finishes after 2 hours - and instantly crashes. I think I finally got to play for about 30 minutes last night before I had to go to sleep. This morning I tried to play and it told me that since it had never registered the CD key, I couldn’t play it. I almost had an aneurysm. It did finally get through to the server, but the install was such a huge pain that I may never buy another Valve product. It left a very bad taste in my mouth and the whole checking with the server every time you play reeks of spyware. > The game itself is fun, but I have sound stutters and the long load times are very distracting and pull me right out of the game - seems counterintuitive considering they specifically left out cut scenes because they wanted it to be more immersive. > I’m sure I’ll be raving about it soon enough, but right now I’m still pissed about the install. Sorry for your hassle. Like pilot141 I bought through Steam and actually had absolutely no problems (though some did). People keep talking about: “the whole checking with the server every time you play reeks of spyware” (as you put it), but frankly I don’t get it. It is required to connect to Steam _when it’s installed_, but where do you get the fact that you have to connect every time? As previously mentioned, there is Offline Mode. Also, **velveeta** could you confirm whether you must have the CD/DVD in the drive every time you play? Just out of curiosity ---
**Author:** ![velveeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/13edae/32.png) [@velveeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velveeta)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/106 "2004-11-18T00:50:48Z")
> [@Jayrot](#): > > Sorry for your hassle. Like pilot141 I bought through Steam and actually had absolutely no problems (though some did). > > People keep talking about: “the whole checking with the server every time you play reeks of spyware” (as you put it), but frankly I don’t get it. It is required to connect to Steam _when it’s installed_, but where do you get the fact that you have to connect every time? As previously mentioned, there is Offline Mode. > > Also, **velveeta** could you confirm whether you must have the CD/DVD in the drive every time you play? Just out of curiosity A lot of people have complained that they can’t get it to play offline. I have mine set to save my info to my PC, yet it still logs onto Steam every time. I’m actually far more peeved that I bought the retail version and it’s not the entire game. I’m getting a new PC soon and that means I have to go through all this hassle again. And, no, you can’t play without the CD in the drive. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/107 "2004-11-18T01:41:59Z")
I’ve put off purchasing the game until I hear a bit about how it runs on systems of varying power. Can some of the players talk about that? What kind of processor power and vid card are you using, and how well does the game run? ---
**Author:** ![Nurobath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a88e57/32.png) [@Nurobath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nurobath)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/108 "2004-11-18T02:04:21Z")
Well, I have an Athlon 1700+ (1.4GHz I think), 512MB RAM, ATI 9800 Pro. I’m running everything on high except for water at medium and everything is nice and smooth. Not even a high end system and it runs great…I run at 1024x768. AA is off at the moment but I’ll see how things work with it turned on later. ---
**Author:** ![velveeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/13edae/32.png) [@velveeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velveeta)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/109 "2004-11-18T02:17:52Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > I’ve put off purchasing the game until I hear a bit about how it runs on systems of varying power. Can some of the players talk about that? > > What kind of processor power and vid card are you using, and how well does the game run? I have a P4 2.4 GHz running XP with a Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4200 and 512 MB of RAM. I don’t have near enough RAM, but the kind I need would cost $400 for another 512 MB. This system is about 2 years old, and is about to be replaced. It falls under the recommended system requirements to play the game, but I have noticed quite a bit of stutter especially when transitioning to new areas. The sound will stutter occasionally as well. I also have long load times between areas. The graphics look fine and the game plays smooth for the most part. I haven’t had any crashes since the initial install. I have a new PC coming soon with 2 GB of memory and a RADEON X800 XT so I doubt I’ll see these problems on it. I can’t wait. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/110 "2004-11-18T02:17:58Z")
Ok, I’m searching the Steam forums and support FAQs, but nothing is solving my problem, hoping maybe one of you has run across the same thing. It appears I downloaded the game (HL2) fine - the little dialog box said “complete” (or whatever) and the button to “Play game” was available. However, every time I try to play the game, the following happens: My screen resolution changes to 800 x 600, and then HL2 hangs. I can alt-tab to other windows, so it’s not hanging my computer, just the game. When I ctrl-alt-del to get to task manager, HL2 is listed as “not responding”. The only way I know how to run the game is through Steam --\> Play Games. This happens every time, whether I have other programs running or not. Anyone have any idea what’s happening? ---
**Author:** ![antisuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@antisuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antisuck)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/111 "2004-11-18T02:24:56Z")
An important point that I don’t think has been mentioned yet, for the people who are concerned about Steam needing to contact the authentication servers every time you play: yes, there is an “offline” mode that bypasses this but that option is not available from the normal Steam menu. In order to switch to offline mode, you must start Steam with your internet connection entirely disabled (either disabled from the control panel/tray icon, pulling out the ethernet plug, etc) and only then is the option for offline mode presented. [http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std\_adp.php?p\_faqid=121](http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=121) It’s almost as if the option is presented only as an emergency fallback position for people who lose their internet connectivity for some reason, but clearly some people would be more comfortable not having Steam attempt to phone home at all once the game is installed and running. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/112 "2004-11-18T02:33:30Z")
Sorry you’ve had such a hard time vel: while in the minority it seems, your kind of issue should never happen for any game. As for stuttering: another common problem (though not one I’ve had) try either dialing down your sound or texture quality a notch. Also try typing “cl\_smooth 1” (without quotes) into the command console (which you need to enable in the advanced options on the keyboard menu). Also try turning off system restore on the HD you have HL2 installed on, or try turning off fast writes on your graphics card (both have worked for others). One thing about HL2 is that it is VERY memory/CPU intensive: moseso than most other games. There are a TON of different sound files that all need to be stored in memory, and if it can’t keep up, and has to pull them from your HD, or if your HD is heavily fragged or slow for some reason to get the ON to the memory, it can stutter. Steam automatically tries to log in EVERY time you start it up, because it is looking for updates. Offline mode just means that you CAN play if your computer has no net connection, not that steam won’t try to find one. Their support site is pretty helpful: [http://steampowered.custhelp.com/](http://steampowered.custhelp.com/) Mach: Can’t help you on the moderate system thing. 🙂 But I have heard that it scales very nicely: better than Doom3 or Far Cry. It’s important to have lots of memory and a good CPU though, because of the demands of physics and sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/113 "2004-11-18T02:42:08Z")
> [@antisuck](#): > > It’s almost as if the option is presented only as an emergency fallback position for people who lose their internet connectivity for some reason, but clearly some people would be more comfortable not having Steam attempt to phone home at all once the game is installed and running. That’s exactly what it’s for: an emergency fallback or for LAN games. It’s built assuming that users will want patches and updates to steam and stuff so that when we all start playing HL2 online, we’ll all be updated at the same time and there wont be any mismatch between clients and servers like there was with HL1. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/114 "2004-11-18T02:45:30Z")
vel, also check here about the stuttering issue: [http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=34538&page=2](http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=34538&page=2) ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/115 "2004-11-18T02:54:03Z")
Heh, seems people have already firgured out how to get Multiplayer running. Of course, you have to use user-created maps, and it’s buggy as hell, but heh, awesome. Here’s a picture, it’ll last longer. [http://www.halflife2.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12265](http://www.halflife2.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12265) ---
**Author:** ![velveeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/13edae/32.png) [@velveeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velveeta)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/116 "2004-11-18T02:56:59Z")
Thanks for the tips, **Apos**. I already have the sound and textures turned down to medium and I’m only running at 800x600. I have a high speed drive that’s not fragmented so I really shouldn’t be seeing this much stutter. I’ll try running “cl\_smooth 1” and see if that fixes anything. I guess I’ll just have to buy that new computer. Somebody twist my arm. 😃 (The one I’m using right now was purchased because I bought Warcraft III and couldn’t play it. Oh the horror.) ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/117 "2004-11-18T03:00:46Z")
It should work fine: your computer is NOT low end by any means. Brutus: I found more improvements to HL:S 3d skyboxes. Check em out: [http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=85547](http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=85547) Cool beans! Hopefully we should see HL:S re-textured by fans soon and someone might even be able to get some of the HL2 or Bleu Shift models into HL:S ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/118 "2004-11-18T03:02:48Z")
It should work fine: your computer is NOT low end by any means. Brutus: I found more improvements to HL:S 3d skyboxes. Check em out: [http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=85547](http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=85547) Cool beans! Hopefully we should see HL:S re-textured by fans soon and someone might even be able to get some of the HL2 or Blue Shift models into HL:S ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/119 "2004-11-18T04:16:31Z")
Well, I finally managed to get the game started, and…WOW! It’s frickin’ beautiful, and intense. I’m heading to bed, but did get to the part where the teleporter malfunctions (don’t think I’m giving anything away). I have a higher end machine, and I’ve only encountered a few glitches - a couple times, when it’s really hot 'n heavy (like the aforementioned teleporter sequence), if I move my mouse the whole thing hangs for about 5 seconds with looping sounds. But that’s only happened three times so far. I just hope that these remain pretty rare occurences. Of course, I’m running at pretty much max settings: 1280 x 1024 resolution, with all of the texture/alias/etc graphic settings at default (which, when I checked, seemed to be set to “high”). But I must say, running at these settings the game is stunning in its detail. Just stunning. And even though I’ve barely started (just past the stage of the teleporter malfunction) this is one bloody intense game. When you’re on the run…you feel like you’re on the run. I’m scurrying about going “shit shit shit” just feeling like someone’s chasing me in real life. And this is on “easy” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409/120 "2004-11-18T08:58:04Z")
You should really try to figure out what is making your sounds loop. The game stays pretty hot and heavy, and you’re gonna want it smooth as butter, even if that means dropping the settings down a notch or so. How much RAM do you have? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gamers-its-our-turn-half-life-2/274409.md?page=7)