Steam -- something I actually like about it

[Inky]

Today, for whatever reason, I was wanting to re-install Half-Life 2. Well, my CD's don't work for whatever reason, and so I decided to download Steam, and hope that I can get HL2 from steam. Guess what? I'm installing it right now, and not CD's required!

[Albert]

This is something they changed after HL2 was released. Initially you needed the CDs in order to play the game, if you bought a CD copy. Whereas people who purchased it via Steam did not (obviously) need a CD. Enough people complained about this that they eventually updated HL2 so it no longer requires the CD.

 

I do agree it is nice being able to download the game via Steam after you've purchased a CD copy of a game, but I do not like many other aspects of Steam. This includes the inability to sell your game after you've finished it, which I think is pretty lame. Nor could you even loan the game to a friend to try out after you're done. This would be akin to not being able to loan a book to a friend, donate the book to a library, or just sell the book. This basically destroys the used marked for any games released on Steam. Great for Valve, but terrible for consumers. Even better for Valve since they did not lower the price of HL2.

 

I really got burned by this since I cannot play HL2 on my current computer as the game stutters too frequently that it's pretty much unplayable. I spent too much time trying to either solve this or work around it, that I finally gave up. Normally I could at least sell the game to someone else and recoup some of my cost, but basically I got shafted $50. So Valve can kiss my ass and I surely won't be purchasing any of their games in the future.

 

..Al

[Inky]

Still stutters for me too. Eventually I hope to get a good video card, but until then I'm stuck with my Intel onboard video.

 

One thing I totally forgot about HL2, is the totally long load screens. Good lord!

[Albert]

Still stutters for me too.  Eventually I hope to get a good video card, but until then I'm stuck with my Intel onboard video.

 

One thing I totally forgot about HL2, is the totally long load screens.  Good lord!

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I've actually swapped out just about every component on the machine I use for playing PC games (pretty much all I use the computer for), and HL2 still stutters. Given the huge number of posts on the Steam forums about stuttering when HL2 came out, I believe this is an inherent problem in the engine that affects a large number of machines. So don't assume that getting a new video card will cure the stuttering. I was able to get rid of the stuttering by changing all the video and audio options to their lowest settings, but who the hell wants to play a game like that? Totally unacceptable, considering I can run games like Doom III at much higher settings without any problems at all.

 

..Al

[Inky]

I keep wanting to try a hacked version of HL2, but I feel funny about putting hacked software on my PC

[Mindfield]

I suppose that was handy -- the one thing that bothered me about installing HL2 was that it had to spend bloody ages decrypting the CD data after it had installed. Fortunately it only had to do that once.

 

I was lucky in that I bought my copy of HL2 open-boxed off a retail reseller on eBay (knowing full well that the CD key could be used) figuring that if it didn't work I could always crack it. I got lucky though and the key was unused, so -- bonus. CIB Deluxe DVD edition with T-Shirt for $20, all nice and legal.

[+remowilliams]

I suppose that was handy -- the one thing that bothered me about installing HL2 was that it had to spend bloody ages decrypting the CD data after it had installed.  Fortunately it only had to do that once.

969096[/snapback]

Valve can lick my nuts.

 

I will never forget waiting for HL2 for sooooo long, then running home with my purchase and getting f*ed up the ass by Steam. It was TWO FRIGGING DAYS before I could play the game I had gone and bought a copy of at the store. Never again. Worse than those motherf*ers Starforce and Safedisk - gee isn't it fun to actually buy software and then get scewed for paying for it by not having it run right or at all, instead of pirating it and playing it with ease on day one. Yay!

 

They can rot in hell.

[Albert]

I will never forget waiting for HL2 for sooooo long, then running home with my purchase and getting f*ed up the ass by Steam.  It was TWO FRIGGING DAYS before I could play the game I had gone and bought a copy of at the store.  Never again.  Worse than those motherf*ers Starforce and Safedisk - gee isn't it fun to actually buy software and then get scewed for paying for it by not having it run right or at all, instead of pirating it and playing it with ease on day one.  Yay!

Oh yeah, I remember that also--I couldn't connect to their stupid servers after getting home from the store either. Another good reason to avoid Steam-based products.

 

They can rot in hell.

969112[/snapback]

I concur..

 

..Al

[Artlover]

gee isn't it fun to actually buy software and then get scewed for paying for it by not having it run right or at all, instead of pirating it and playing it with ease on day one.  Yay!

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Ironic, ain't it.

 

To that end, I've played it. <looks left> <looks right> Steemless.

 

I never even bothered to finish. Lost interest after a few hours, then deleted it. The sawblade gun was cool as hell. Other then that, just another limited forced direction task oriented FPS.

 

I think I'm just not a big FPS type of guy. Besides the original 1990's pc versions of Castle Wolfenstein & Doom, and Halo, I've disliked just about all of them in the end.

[cryptik76]

I loved HL2. I didn't have Steam troubles, though, because I preordered it on Steam, so about 4:00 am on the release date I woke up, it took 20 minutes or so to unlock, and then I started playing.

 

The best thing about Steam is that, when I bought my laptop and installed Steam on it, I could download all the games I already paid for instead of finding the CD's. So I started Steam and immediately downloaded Team Fortress and Counter-Strike. No pain.

[Gregory DG]

I never had a problem with the whole process... I had gotten Steam a few days before HL2 came out and got the CD version when it was released. Everything worked perfectly fine for me. And I'm running a older Radeon 9700 Pro with 128 meg. I even downloaded the "Lost Coast" update and have been replaying HL2 with the new lighting enhancement.

 

The only time it studders for me is after a section loads. It'll freeze up/studder for a few seconds (as if memory is being moved around or something) then resume and play as normal. I thought I read where the studdering had something to do with the sound card and/or speaker setup. I've got a SoundBlaster Audigy 1 with a pair of cheap speakers + subwoofer. The settings I chose in Steam was just for a set of desktop speakers.

 

Steam may suck, but HL2 is definitely worth the trouble.