Save Ferris

I just got a PC for my living room. It came with HL2 (free on 'steam'. Does anyone know how to play it offline?) and it looks GREAT on a 60" screen.

BUT

Before I get too far into it, should I play HL 1 first?

Joe Molotov

I wouldn't say you have to Half-Life first, but you do run into several characters from the first game and there's also several references to the "Black Mesa Incident" that would be more clear if you had played the first game. There are sites out there that have put together Half-Life timelines, so you could probably just read the first part of one of those to get up to speed.

tbird2340

Half Life 1 was one of the best games I've ever played. I would recommend playing it because once you do and then go to play Half Life 2 you will see how much the graphics have improved (jaw dropping). I'm not 100% but I don't think you can play it w/out it first connecting to Steam.

Save Ferris

I was playing it and unplugged my lan just to see and it gave me an error.

Neitzl

I believe once you register, you can play in Offline Mode. I'm not exactly sure how you go about doing this, but it's there.

From another site:
Is an internet connection required for HL2 single-player?
A: Yes, every user will need to log on to Steam over the Internet to "authenticate" for the first time after installation. Once this is done, the game can be played in "offline mode" without need for any internet connection in the future. However, you will need to connect to Steam to receive patches and updates.

Birrman54

as long as "Don't save account info" is NOT checked (in Settings), it should give you an option when you first start Steam to run in offline mode. I believe it will only give you that option if an internet connection is not present, and it has already been authorized.

birrman54

Centurion

This is correct. Everytime you start up your PC, it will ask you if you would like to play in 'Off-line mode' or log into the Steam network.

Nifty03

Like they said, you can play in "Offline Mode", but you have to have a valid Steam account. Best to install (or Start) the game when you are online, sign up for Steam (If you haven’t all ready) then wait for all of the downloads (there will be a bunch). Then I had to play through the first couple of save points in the game before it would actually play offline. Took me about two hours, but I’m on dial-up still. If you right click in the Steam list of games it will tell you if it is ready to be played in offline mode.

Save Ferris

It eventually worked! I would be pretty annoyed if it wouldnt work offline lol

xmiyux

What do you guys think of requiring all this suff from Steam? Do you see any benefits to it? Because as an outsider who doesn't play the game it seems like an enormous pain the the behind... enough to where i don't think i would want to play it on the PC. Is there somehting that makes it worth it? (i'm referring to the Steam service... not the game itself which is supposed to be awesome)

jeffdsmith

Sadly, that day is coming...

Joe Molotov

Well, it's can be annoying trying to get the game instaled at first, since all the files have to be decrypted. On broadband it might take about 30-40 minutes to install, but on dial-up it can take over two hours.

Once you get past that, there's really nothing to it. You can setup Steam to automatically log you when you bootup Windows and then it runs invisibly in the background, so there's no need to log into Steam whenever you want to play. All new updates are delievered automatically whenever Steam logs in. It's no big deal, although it would start to get annoying if every new game started requiring you to use their own special service to play their games. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.

And in response to your last question, there is one positive aspect to Steam. If you install HL2 on your home computer and then decide you want to play it at work, all you have to do is log into Steam on your work computer and Steam will actually download the game to your machine. You can have it installed on as many machines as you want, you can just only be logged in to one at a time. This can also work for if you delete the game and then lose the disc.

sfsdfd

...unless you choose to play Half-Life: Source. in which case the improvement is merely surprising instead of stunning.

- David Stein

Corvin

Really? I thought the graphical improvements were slim-to-none, and that the overhaul merely included the Source engine's better physics. I take it this isn't true, then?

sfsdfd

I think the graphical improvements include things like higher-resolution textures. It's pretty surprising to see screenshots of the original Half-Life and think, "Wow, I never realized the graphics were so horrid."

- David Stein

Ketamine

Other than physics and improved water effects, it is pretty much the same game. There is a mod out there where they are updating the game to improve the graphics of the HL. I will look it up a little later for those who are interested.

Baron Of Hell

Just saved city 17 and now I'm off to disneyland unless it is full of ant lions.

I'm not really sure the ending made sense. It was nice and all but now what. What will happen to Gordon. What will the Combine soldiers do now that thier leader is dead, well the human leader is dead. What is stopping the aliens from coming back. Are their other cities that need savign like cith 1 to 16.

All in all a good game but it needed a real ending.

BeanDip0001

It is good and bad. But I really think if you're one of those people in the dark ages who doesn't want an Internet connection (yes they're still out there) there should be some sort of system for you to play offline with no steam at all.

Also steam running in the background is almost as bad as bit torrent running in the background. At least with some home networking hardware. It doesn't use bandwidth throttling so it isn't going to cut way back or stop when there is an update and you're using your connection for something else.

A couple things that make steam worth the trouble are they can and will shut down all the cheap asses that won't buy a legit copy and just want to steal the shit. Microsoft is getting to that point also so I can't wait till they start shutting down the cheap people who won't buy legit. That fact right there makes using steam worth it to me.

And there is the thing about if you install on your home computer and then have another computer somewhere else that can play the game you can log onto steam and put it on that one too and then play. This is one of the best ideas IMO.

Anyway to end my RANT steam is a pain in the ass, but in the big picture it is a needed pain in the ass.

END RANT

Baron Of Hell

Without steam I probably be selling my game now or trading it but I can't do that now. I'm sure that is why the price has dropped yet. I should got a pirated version when I bought and just played that until it was time sell the store bought copy. I think I'm done with all things steam powered.

gorgo99

You don't have to let Steam run in the background. I only turn it on when I need it. And yes, you need it for the initial registration, but after that you don't have to be connected to the net to play.

sdcrym

Did you remember the name of the mod? I'm thinking of playing through Half life again before I start HL2, and this would make it less tedious, I would think.

gorgo99

I assume this mod is something other than HL: Source?

msdmoney

Anyone have a link to playing half life 2 without connecting to steam every time. I was going to show my brother the game this weekend, and our internet connection was down so I couldn't play. It kept trying to connect to steam for an update. I wasn't very happy.

jaeufraser

I think he's thinking of this one:

http://www.blackmesasource.com/

But it's not done yet, do we just have to wait. Hopefully they actually finish it.

Ketamine

Yeah, that is the one.