[DEFINITIVE] Half-Life 2 Thread


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okay, i've been too lazy to get all super excited about the HL2 release and all that but i have always figured that once it came out, i would buy it...now, i dont see the point in going out to a store to get it if i can just get it from Steam. now, if i were to purchase the gold package from there, i would be able to download all of the games listed there and i would eventually be shipped that collector's stuff listed there. would i ever get CDs of any of the games? would i need them? how would i have the CD-key? could i install the game on another computer at some point in the future?

i dunno, i guess i'm hesitant to pay a bunch of money and not even get an actual CD...but the more i think about it, the more it seems just fine...but i guess i'll post this thread anyways.

They will send you the Extra's .

No you wont get a copy of the CD's thats the downside, but considering you need steam to play HL2, theres really no need.

CDkey isnt needed, it will authenticate it when you purchase it ( or its supposed too )

Yes you can install the game on any PC. it uses steam, if you arent sure what steam is, its a content delivery system. so you can login from any PC, you use your email or a login, you just download a 600kb installer and you can have all your valve games right at your finger tips :) its a good system really, once you get over the "i dont have the CDs" i felt that way too until i reliased that in order to ever play it i would have to install steam. you cant install half life 2 on a pc without steam.

also, with the STEAM purchasing, Valve gets over 90% of the profit, whereas in stores they only get 10%. so you are supporting valve by buying online :)

You will never get any CD's or any CD Key's. You have to create a Steam account. What games you are allowed to play are tied to that account (either through entering a retail key, or buying the game through steam). Your account can be logged into wherever Steam is installed (of course they must have the games downloaded for you to play them).

You cannot turn off page files.  You can only turn off Windows ability to intellgently manage.  Your hard drive will ALWAYS be paged to even with page management off.

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All I know is by adding a 'real' page file on my system it 'cured' my CSS crashes?

Don't you think something as easy has adding a Page file is worth it to possibly cure a problem?

I don't have too much of a problem with the anti-piracy stuff, but I don't see how that can affect WHERE I want to install the blasted game... How can sticking it in a seperate drive/folder be a problem? :unsure:

Mind you, I also don't get why it has to unlock the files when I have a physical DVD of the game, bought & paid for... A pirate will have the same damn files so whether they're encrypted or not is irrelevant... It's the steam account which counts, right? The damn think took over 30 minutes to unlock (longer than the install!!! That's stupid!

Somehow I think valve may want to re-evaluate their validation process... Registering & activating is OK, even encrypting the files that you download kinda makes sense.. but encrypting the retail discs? Silly... just silly :no: :no:

Hey qiuckie quetion

I'm buying the standard retail version, can I downlaod DoD : Source and HL : Source for free?

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To my knowledge you must buy them, but so far u cant get them separate. To get hl source and dod source, u must buy the silver or gold package.

Its so hard sitting here in class looking at all of these screen shots. Im out in 30 mins and I unlocked it last night. I think I'll hit up Taco Bell on the way home and lock myself in my room for the next 26 hours since I wont have class until late tomorrow afternoon. :D

The industry will be moving away from folder/directory structure more and more in the future, especially as drive sizes increase. It will be the situation where its not really important where stuff is stored, but rather that it is 'just there.'

edit:

Oh, i forgot to mention, as the longhorn timeframe comes into play, we'll begin to see the major begining of a more abstract directory structure.

I think i'm gonna need to ditch my budget 9600 Pro 'EZ' and get a 9800 Pro... :)

Only 2 and a bit more hours till I can play this.. at least its already unlocked so I can play it as soon as I get home! God its been a long day waiting!

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