Orange Box/Steam Frustration

[ForSure]

i havent even bothered again , ill try later when i play it .....
finished episode 1 earlier on , awesome episode now for no 2 )

 

[TonyA]

Still can't get the game going despite having the receipt and cd key, keeps on telling me that cd key is incorrect. Have updated steam thought, just can't regsiter the game. Help

 

[Eltorro]

Howzit Guys, I would just like to know. Do you really have to update steam everytime you want to play single player. I have installed the game, it gives me an option to play the game, but as soon as i start the game, it goes and updates. Bloody hell, is Half-Life a game that was not fully developed? Does all the files not reside on the DVD?

I have heard rumours about an off-line mode that allows you to play the game without updating, but how do you enable it? Does anyone out there know?

Thanks,

 

[detritus]

There is an option to tell Steam not to keep your game updated, should be fine for single player games. Or you can choose to run Steam in 'offline' mode, but I think it still has to go online now and then.

 

[icyrus]

Howzit Guys, I would just like to know. Do you really have to update steam everytime you want to play single player. I have installed the game, it gives me an option to play the game, but as soon as i start the game, it goes and updates. Bloody hell, is Half-Life a game that was not fully developed? Does all the files not reside on the DVD?

I have heard rumours about an off-line mode that allows you to play the game without updating, but how do you enable it? Does anyone out there know?

Thanks,

To get steam to run in offline mode, start it without and internet connection of any sort being active and it will ask you if you want to run in offline mode.

Be aware though that you will have to go online with steam from time to time to reauthenticate.

 

[Eltorro]

Thanks Guys, really helpful.

Another issue i just picked up. All the games load quickly except for Half-Life 2. Ep.1, Ep.2, Portal all load fine and quick. HL-2 has been loading for almost 30min and still nothing. It also puts my monitor on standby mode, switches it off basically. I have tried re-installing the game, still the same. I have validated the game cache & the game itself via steam, steam says 100%.

Have any of you ever experienced this before? Is this normal for HL-2 to do?

Thanks,

 

[detritus]

puts my monitor on standby mode

That can happen if a app/game tries to use an unsupported video mode, like too high a resolution or refresh rate. Which is odd because HL2 etc have always run in 1024x768 60hz or so before I set it up to how I like it.

See if you can find the HL2 config files and change or remove them, or run a verify of the game file cache.

 

[Glordit]

Try Restarting steam, then...

Go to games
Right click on Half-Life 2, go to properties, General, Set Launch options.
add the line:

-width 800 –height 600

This will force it to launch at 800x600

Also make sure that your monitor is set to the Refresh rate that you are running the game at, eg if you run at 75 make sure the game is running at it too, as sometimes it crashes due to a high refresh rate *I still don't know why*

-refresh 60 or 75 *note monitor must be at the rate you are setting at game at*

 

[Eltorro]

I have tried what you proposed but this is what i get now.

"Model models/props_trainstation/bench_indoor001a.mdl not found and models/error.mdl couldn't be loaded"

What in the blue blazes!! What does this mean, has anyone got a clue? And when a click on "OK" this is what i get...

"The instruction at 0x241f94f7 referrenced memory at 0x0e54f41c. The memory could not be read."

The weird thing is that the other episodes loads and plays fine on 1024x768

PLEASE Help!!

 

[StevenC]

Yeah, the updates really suck for us. An excellent series of games, bogged down by crappy Steam with their once a week updates that arent really needed.

If I ever want to replay the game (especially Portal), I have to wait for Steam(ing pile of *****) to do its thing. Even the "offline mode" and "dont automatically update" options are a massive lie, as you still need to be online and it still checks for updates.

I would recommend getting a cracked version from one of those cool friends of friends that always have them, but that is if you only want to play HL2 and Portal. If you want TF2 to play online, then you gonna have to struggle with Steam. The games are really good, and worth the cash, but not worth the struggle with Steam. I dont know if you can play on SGS with a cracked version, and I wouldnt recommend trying.

 

[Eltorro]

All i wanna do is play the games that have been leagally bought and paid for. Is that too much to ask? I paid for it, it is my property, mine i tell you!!! Why in the Blue Blazes can it not work!! My machine is way over minimum spec. Why all the frustration then? I have had this game for two weeks and still i cannot play it.

Someone HELP!!!

 

[Glordit]

I have tried what you proposed but this is what i get now.

"Model models/props_trainstation/bench_indoor001a.mdl not found and models/error.mdl couldn't be loaded"

What in the blue blazes!! What does this mean, has anyone got a clue? And when a click on "OK" this is what i get...

"The instruction at 0x241f94f7 referrenced memory at 0x0e54f41c. The memory could not be read."

The weird thing is that the other episodes loads and plays fine on 1024x768

PLEASE Help!!

Well atleast it is trying to load, you have verified the cache, have you tried a de-frag?

Also check that your RAM is okay, I would be able to play CSS/DODS for hours and when I tried GW or Ep2 it would freeze up I found out that one of my sticks of RAM was bad

 

[Browser]

Since you have a legal purchased copy of it, why not try get the other version, it doesn't require "Steam" or an internet connection.

Personally I don't know why people buy products that can be de-activated, and made completely useless at any time.

 

[Threepwood]

I've also got the PC-DVD retail version.

When I installed it most of the data was copied from the DVD, and I had to do about a 50Mb update. I noticed that you should only play it from the user account you installed it with, that gave me a few issues. But other than that I've had no problems.

As soon as the initial update was complete I set it to not download updates, then put Steam into "Offline" mode, this prevents it from trying to download more stuff, but you can't play on-line multiplayer in off-line mode.

The only problem I have with it is even when it's in Offline mode, Steam still transfers a bunch of data all the time!
Really crappy when your capped like most of us. So what I did was set my connection speed to 56k (modem) this prevents it from transfering as much data, for when I need to be "Online"

 

[Glordit]

I've also got the PC-DVD retail version.

When I installed it most of the data was copied from the DVD, and I had to do about a 50Mb update. I noticed that you should only play it from the user account you installed it with, that gave me a few issues. But other than that I've had no problems.

As soon as the initial update was complete I set it to not download updates, then put Steam into "Offline" mode, this prevents it from trying to download more stuff, but you can't play on-line multiplayer in off-line mode.

The only problem I have with it is even when it's in Offline mode, Steam still transfers a bunch of data all the time!
Really crappy when your capped like most of us. So what I did was set my connection speed to 56k (modem) this prevents it from transfering as much data, for when I need to be "Online"

Eish... I am going to have to re-install steam when I get my new PC, I hate it casue it take about 3 days to install and update on my 64 K@k internet... thast even if it does not decided to crash and start back at 33%

I suppose there is no way to run it off my older HDD

 

[Threepwood]

Eish... I am going to have to re-install steam when I get my new PC, I hate it casue it take about 3 days to install and update on my 64 K@k internet... thast even if it does not decided to crash and start back at 33%

I suppose there is no way to run it off my older HDD

Do some googling, there is a way to back up your data files. I'm pretty sure you just copy your entire SteamApps folder. There's also a backup built into Steam, but apparently it's really slow. I did the copying the SteamApps folder thing, and I just had to do a little bit of downloading.

The real benefit of this I guess is that it's quicker than their built-in backup (as far as I understand it does some whole compression number that take a long time.)

Anyway like I said Google...

P.S> You could install it to your old HDD, but if you re-install windows later and pop that drive in, I don't know if Steam will still work.

 

[Voicy]

Thanks for the thread Eltorro!

Man I've been struggling my butt off! I bought the game and thought, since it containst alot of single player games - it would be awesome! After doing the whole steam thing, it told me games had to be updated before i could play. TF2 would take roughly 37hrs ???

I just dont see what the big deal is ... i mean the box contains TWO FRIGGEN DVD's !!! why all the updating?!? Anyway, it didn't even ask me for the 2nd dvd when i installed the games. I had to leave it running over night to get all the updating done- and it's only gone half way...

I did the "reinstall" thing now after reading the thread and it's asked me for the 2nd dvd now "phew" ... let's see if it works!

 

[Voicy]

hmmm ... much better. Now Team fortress 2 only takes 30mins to update.

Nevertheless...This is a really poor show from steam. Especially from what is said to be the greatest deal in recent gaming history.

 

[medicnick83]

Look on the bright side, once the game is updated via Steam, then the other updates are always small... and then of cuase 'it's done'
Personally, I fscking HATE Steam but these days, it seems, Steam (or like it) is the way to go.

 

[KillSw!tch]

The point here is that Steam "fixes" various bugs and exploits through the game. I can't imagine how full of hackers TF2 would have been if there was no updating. This week is Goldrush TF2 map release. Yay