Question about Source, if I reformat my computer, do I redownload it from them? How does that work?

I've been holding off purchasing it because I'm torn between wanting a hard copy of the game. Will the various packages (Gold, Silver, etc) be available retail?

birrman54

If you reformat your computer and reinstall Source, you just log in under your username and it'll download all the games you have access to. Alternatively, you can burn your Steam directory to a DVD and then copy it back so you don't have to download everything again.

Likewise, Steam gives you access to the games on any computer with Internet access. So you can play it at home, at work, on the road, whatever.

The retail packages are somewhat different than the Steam packages. For instance, none of them contain Valve's back library (which isn't an issue if you don't want those games or if you already own them).

I didn't know that you could play it anywhere, that's pretty cool.

So retail won't include Half Life: Source, or DOD?

Is Half Life: Source the original game with revamped graphics? Or is it just the original. Either way, I haven't played it in a while, and I'll probably want to.

Looks like Silver for me.

birrman54

I'm curious to know what exactly is in Valve's back library, considering Half Life 1 was their first and only game, with everything else coming in the form of mods created by other people.

"Back library" meaning any old product that they have the rights too. So, you get (off the top of my head):

Half-Life
Opposing Force
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes
DOD
Ricochet
Team Fortress Classic

HL: Source, DOD: Source, and CS:Source are the same old games but they all use the new graphics engine. I bought the silver package which is $59.95. I figure HL2 will be $50 and that gives you the rest of the games for $10. Not a bad deal IMO.

when are they going to release system requirements? i had seen system requirements about a week ago, but i guess they have changed because gamestop, ebgames, amazon don't have it posted anymore.

Great article about the making of HL2

Cool stuff about the hacker. I hadn't heard the whole story yet. That guy was a total dumb ass to think he wouldn't get caught once he exposed himself. I'm glad everything worked out in the end. This should be a great game.

I never understood why people got so pissed about them missing the ship date. It was like people felt like the company owed them something. If they don't ship, then the company loses money, so it's not like they WANTED to delay the game. Then again, I never understood fanboys.

It's very easy to understand. You just gotta think back when you were a little kid and your parents told you that they were going to buy you something. You get all excited and get all of your hopes really high. Then down the road, they tell you that they'll buy you it next time.

Your heart has been wilted.

Do you throw a hissy fit? You gotta check out some of the gaming forums and see how people are cursing at Valve and what they wanna do to their mothers, etc, etc, etc. People are truly insane.

Just found this site which will tell you if your computer will play HL2 and all other games out there. Check it out. The good thing is that though my PC is out of date, it says my laptop will play the game so I am happy. New computer is in my future but may wait a little longer while I do some more research.

Windows game advisor

Bear with me, I'm an idiot. Last night I purchased the silver Steam package. Before I went to bed I preloaded Half Life 2.The question is:where does the downlaod go? My Steam/Valve folder is over 4 gigs.The SteamApps folder is 4.21 gigs.What I see when I open the folder is counter-strike source shared.gcf , half-life 2 content.gcf, and other files like that.

BUT, they were already there before I preloaded Half Life 2. So, I want to make sure that I have preloaded the game. I've looked all over for a MY GAMES folder just in case Valve made one somewhere on my PC.

So, can you help this poor idiot? Do I have the game preloaded?

Thanks in advance.

Load up Steam and open up the play game windows (the small window which shows you what games you can play on Steam)

Under Coming Soon you'll see Half Life 2. Right click on it and chose Pre-Loading Status. If you're still downloading it will give you a % done.

There will always be crazy people that can't be pleased...but with the HL 2 release date fiasco, a little bitching is expected. Gabe came out in March of last year and said that there was no doubt that the game would ship on September 30, 2003. No one told him to promise a solid release date. He could have been like id and just said "when it's done." Then, as the release date is approaching and he knows they won't make it, he continues to make public statments that back up the Sept. 30th date. People aren't mad that the release date was missed, they're made that Gabe lied. In hind sight, I don't really care. The game is coming out now, and I'm equally excited.

Did I through a hissy fit? No. Could Gabe have handled the situation better? Most definitely.

People on Gamefaqs (as always they could be wrong) are saying it doesn't rate your PC right if you have an Nvidia card and/or an AMD processor. HL2 is plugging ATI, so naturally if you have an ATI card, you score higher.

I have both and I was 12 bars from the recommended. This running an AMD 3000+ with 512RAM and a 128mb video card.

I was 2 1/2 bars from recommended, I am using a Intel 2.4, Nvidia 5900SE (128mb), and 512mb ram.

See that doesn't make much sense. I can see that your video card is better then mine, but the RAM and processors pretty much match up. So how can they say I am that far from recommended? I ran Farcry and Doom 3 on full graphics and had no slowdown.