Downloading Half-Life 2

[Fastfly]

I was thinking about using steam to buy HL2 from the net isntead from buying it more expensive from a store. I was just curious how this works, Does the steam client download the 2 gigs of data from the web? What happens if it gets deleted from your computer, can you type into steam your info and redownload it whenever you want?

Edit: One thing, how do you think it would run on a +2200, 512ram, Geforce 4 ti4200 overclocked to about ti 4600 speeds?

[Yuanji]

if you buy it via steam, you are tying the game to your account. every computer you log onto steam with your account will essentially contain HL2 and all the mods you purchase. it will download a cache file and then slowly DL HL2 in the background. on cable, it took me about an hour to fully download it, a little more. buying the silver package is the most cost efficient way to buy righgt now. it would run fine on your machine. i believe the min specs are 1ghz proc, 256 RAM, and that vid card should work fine.

[Fastfly]

Do you think downloading it is a good way to go?

[Yuanji]

it definately is the way to go if you can. i bought retail and now i feel ripped off cuz people who paid 5 bucks more then me also are going to get, HL1 Source, DoD source, and the older games and can play w/o cds.

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Fastfly Do you think downloading it is a good way to go?

As much as people dislike STEAM, it's actually a very efficient program IMO - it works, I pre-downloaded HL2 on ADSL in just over an hour and a half, and you get to download the "Back Package" like HL, CS1.6, etc. with the Silver Package. I got the Silver Package - I think it's well worth it.

kram

[Yuanji]

Originally Posted by kram8806 As much as people dislike STEAM, it's actually a very efficient program IMO - it works, I pre-downloaded HL2 on ADSL in just over an hour and a half, and you get to download the "Back Package" like HL, CS1.6, etc. with the Silver Package. I got the Silver Package - I think it's well worth it. kram

i envy you kram i wish i had bought the silver package because now i will have to buy DoD source seperately from activision

[spyder003]

I hope they eventually make HL: Source available for separate purchase.

[carlmccut]

I have also used STEAM to download HL2. One good thing is that you can back up yout files to DVD or CD. Plus you get all of the patches and updated faster.

[kram 2.0]

As for graphics, I almost see no difference between HL with the older engine and Half Life with the Source Engine...they both look the same to me.

kram

[zip86]

Another plus of buying through steam is that it will skip the middleman (Vivendi in this case), which means more of the money goes directly to the developers instead of going through the publishers.

If this practice becomes more accepted, smaller developing groups (like valve when it was making the originial Half-Life) will be able to publish their work without the big publishing companies interfering.

It creates a stronger connection between the developers and the consumers instead of going developers>publishers>consumers. This is why Steam is a break through in game distribution. And this is why Vivendi sued Valve for distributing HL2 without them.

[wolfie]

Originally Posted by Fastfly I was thinking about using steam to buy HL2 from the net isntead from buying it more expensive from a store. I was just curious how this works, Does the steam client download the 2 gigs of data from the web? What happens if it gets deleted from your computer, can you type into steam your info and redownload it whenever you want? Edit: One thing, how do you think it would run on a +2200, 512ram, Geforce 4 ti4200 overclocked to about ti 4600 speeds?

if you do redo your computer you can download it agaiin. if you have to stop it will start from where you left off.

[wolfie]

but i have been trying to redownload it for a day and a half now. keeps saying servers are busy

[Moose on the Loose]

Anyone can download HL2 to their computer, but in order to use it you need a user account, and a CD-key : that's where the payment comes in Basically, you can download HL2 on any computer, but you'll only be able to access it via the CD-key Valve will send you.

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Moose on the Loose Anyone can download HL2 to their computer, but in order to use it you need a user account, and a CD-key : that's where the payment comes in Basically, you can download HL2 on any computer, but you'll only be able to access it via the CD-key Valve will send you.

I never got a CD-Key - when I purchased my package through STEAM, they just unencrypted it for me after purchase.

kram

[Yuanji]

kinda makes sense as you would need a CD for a cd-key wouldn't you?

[DragonNOA1]

Backup your Steam installs to a DVD so that you will not need the hour and a half download after a reformat. Easy to do by typing in: steam://backup/

[spyder003]

Originally Posted by DragonNOA1 Backup your Steam installs to a DVD so that you will not need the hour and a half download after a reformat. Easy to do by typing in: steam://backup/

The option is there even with the 5 CD version. When I right click on HL2 in steam and go to "Backup game files", it gives me the option to backup HL2. It can write 4 CD size files (640 MB) or 1 DVD size file (4.7 GB). Is there any reason to do this if I have the CDs?

[Yuanji]

Originally Posted by spyder003 The option is there even with the 5 CD version. When I right click on HL2 in steam and go to "Backup game files", it gives me the option to backup HL2. It can write 4 CD size files (640 MB) or 1 DVD size file (4.7 GB). Is there any reason to do this if I have the CDs?

archiving?