Am I a complete geek or what ?

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"At the time of writing, the crackers havent found a way around this"

 

You sure about this? I have seen several copies floating around the 'Net already.

 

"we are part of the problem. I'm sorry, but who here *hasn't* used a pirated copy of something ? "

 

Yes, and no. While I agree that pirating software is hurting the industry, I also think that many games are just too expensive (esp. in the West). Why is it that in Thailand they can offer games at 300-500 Baht, while in the West they are easily double or triple that amount?

If given the chance between a pirated copy for 150 Baht, or a legal version for 400 Baht, I chose the legal one. However, if faced with 1,500 Baht or so for a legal version, I will take the pirated copy.

 

Sanuk!

[gobbledonk]

Preparation

 

1. Decide whether or not you want to buy a new PC. I'm serious - having installed HL2 on my Athlon, I believe that I cant change too many components before STEAM will refuse to let me play the game - lovers of Microsoft will recognise the play. Great, isnt it ?

 

For the record, my own system looks like this:

 

Motherboard: AK77 Pro

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1700+ (1.47GHz)

Video: Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (128MB)

Memory: 512MB (PC 2100)

Sound: AC97 onboard

 

2. Dont expect to be playing the game in 20 minutes - it just isnt going to happen. Give yourself 2 hours, and plenty of coffee. Anything stronger is up to you, and you may well appreciate something 98 proof at various stages of the install.

 

3. Take a quick look around the Net for recent threads re problems - it may just be that you have a component which has problems that no-one has fixed yet.

 

4. Known problems:

 

a. By default, the installer will install Counterstrike:Source in addition to HL2 : if you deselect CS:S, you will have problems. Things like cant extract cabinet file : corrupt'.

 

b. If you dont *register* with STEAM prior to installation, your install will bomb with similar cabinet file errors. Really painful - trust me ....

 

5. If you can, reinstall XP (SP2 - see note below) and all the latest drivers, particularly motherboard and video card drivers. The initial attempt to run HL2 will boot you out if it detects that your drivers arent current.

 

6. You need Service Pack 2 for XP installed - I only learnt this via word of mouth, but I guess it makes sense.

 

7. Allow at least 5GB for the install, preferably on a drive that you can reformat. If you keep everything on a single C: drive, it may be time to learn about partitioning

 

Installation

 

1. Insert CD1, and you'll get the usual InstallShiled dialogs, attempting to install STEAM into the drive you have Windows installed on. Bad idea, IMO, as STEAM will be the conduit for all of your Valve games from here on in. Change the target to a drive of your choosing, preferably the drive you just reformatted. Mine was 'G:\STEAM'.

 

2. After it has installed STEAM, InstallShield will attempt to install HL2. *STOP* the install, start STEAM and register. STEAM should dock itself in your desktop tray, and you should be able to continue.

 

3. Restart the HL2 install (reinsert the CD or click on 'Setup'), and it should proceed to install the HL2 files into your STEAM directory (G:\STEAM in my case). Note that I couldnt see anywhere here where I could change the destination.

 

4. When you've inserted all 5 (!) CDs, the files will then be in place for HL2. Congratulations - you should be able to play in another half-hour or so !

 

5. Start STEAM, if its not running, and register your game. It will ask for the CD key, which should be on the dustcover of the first install CD (or in the box, or on a jewel case, or tattoed on Bill Gates butt) - very annoying, games producers.

 

6. STEAM will then embark on a tedious process where it spends 10-15 minutes unlocking your game files, only to tell you that its servers are too busy to accept your registration, and to try again later..... OK. that only happened once, but it may be motication to leave your install for another week or so.

 

7. After this is complete, get up and do a victory lap. You are now ready to start STEAM, click on 'Play Games' and select 'HL2' from the list of your games. Hooray - you havent fragged a single baddie, but you now feel ready to take on the entire world ! Who said games werent character-building ?

[gobbledonk]

Guys,

 

Something I grabbed from the STEAM site - may come in handy - would have posted the URL, but it was hideously long ...

 

Games freeze or crash with Looping Sounds

 

Question

My Games Crash with Sounds looping over and over, usually no error message

 

 

Answer

 

SoundBlaster Problems

If you have a soundcard (not a chip on the motherboard) what PCI slot is your soundcard plugged into?

 

SoundBlaster soundcards are infamous for not performing well on the lower slots (beyond slot 3 on most PCI buses). Other cards may also have problems. Try moving the card closer to the graphics card, or if it's already as close as it can get, then try moving the card down a slot or two.

 

On-Board Soundchips

If you have an on-board soundchip, there are several web reports seem to indicate there are problems with some on-board sound chip drivers causing this problem, here is one:

 

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-34588.html

 

For both onboard and PCI soundcards there are a few things to try and eliminate this problem.

 

Get the latest drivers for your motherboard and for your sound card

Make sure you have all the latest O/S updates installed from Microsoft (windows update).

Be sure to get the latest DirectX version installed as well.

Don't Run Both

If you have a sound chip on your motherboard and you upgrade to new PCI audio card, you must uninstall the old drivers and then disable the on-board soundchip in your BIOS settings before installing the new card.

 

Try Turning off the Sound

Try uninstalling all audio drivers and see if the game runs without crashing, you can also try disabling the sound chip in the device manager: right-click on the sound card and select "disable", you can re-enable it later once we see if it helps or not. On-board soundchips can usually be disabled in the BIOS.

 

In the game, you can also try:

nosound 1

in your game console (~) or:

 

+nosound 1

In you game launch properties and see if that has an effect.

 

I know it's no fun to play without sound, but try it for a while just to see if the problem is still there.

 

If the problem goes away then you know what is causing the problem.

 

Phone Home

If after installing all the latest drivers and O/S updates you still have this problem, you might try contacting your motherboard manufacturer and see what their recommendations are, especially for on-board soundchips.

 

DirectX Accelleration

You can also turning down or disabling the DirectX Sound Acceleration.

 

You do this by going to your start button:

Start > Run > DXDIAG <enter>

 

Then go to the Sound Tab and turn off hardware acceleration, then exit and run the game and see if there

is any change. If the problem goes away then you can go back and move the acceleration up a step at a

time until the problem starts happening again .. then reduce the acceleration one step.

 

Two last things,

1. in the game sound options, make sure that EAX and A3D options are UNCHECKED.

 

2. There are reports that some sound codecs can cause this problem, specifically:

k-lite mega codeck pack

[gobbledonk]

At the time of writing, the crackers havent found a way around this"

 

You sure about this? I have seen several copies floating around the 'Net already.

 

KS,

 

I'm sure that they are hard at it, but the forums that I have read claim that several of the 'cracks' are just the usual malicious shit which accompanies the release of any big game, and that one is actually being put out by Valve to trap would-be pirates. I dont know what to believe, but I just wish they'd get a no-cd crack out there - really ticked off at that final insult ....

 

Cheers,

 

Artie

[gobbledonk]

I also think that many games are just too expensive (esp. in the West). Why is it that in Thailand they can offer games at 300-500 Baht, while in the West they are easily double or triple that amount?

 

Cmon, KS - we both know the answer to that. Any corporation can only charge what the market will bear - here in the West, where we are all 'rich', they can extort ridiculous amounts from us.

 

Let me run the cost of a visit to the movies here in Oz for a family of 3 past you:

 

3 x tickets = 36.50 (Adults 13.50, kids 9.50)

Food and Drink = 20 (3 small cokes = 10.50, 'candy' 9.50)

 

For a quick trip to the movies (90 minute average), dad has just parted with around 1770 baht. Consider how many 'legal' PC games the family could have enjoyed in Thailand for that single outing. I know its an unfair comparison, but manufacturers will keep charging whatever they think they can get away with for as long as we keep paying, and I guess that will include the cost of chasing pirates through the court system.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"Any corporation can only charge what the market will bear - here in the West, where we are all 'rich', they can extort ridiculous amounts from us."

 

Yes, but wouldn't it make more sense to sell a higher volume at a lower price. I mean if I was a software company I would prefer selling 10,000 copies at $15, then 2,000 at $50. And I bet that many people feel the same like me, willing to pay a reasonable amount for a game, but not an extorniate one.

 

Sanuk!

[Guest]

 

Seriously excellent report on the install and parameters. Gamers sites should do so well.

 

My only comment is that if they are serious about wanting to prevent piracy, they better find a better way.

As KS says .. pricing is one part of it. H2 grossed more in it's opening weekend ($250 Million) than any blockbuster movie. That alone encourages 'Robin Hoods' to shoot at the 'Greedy Overloads'.

 

The necessity to go online to make the game run is a real screwup IMO. No doubt they could have used a feature such as they do in XP for 'activation' to make this happen. But I am sure this is much more instusive. Probably collects computer setup data, may even check for legit Windows copy, most likely installs a web tracker. MS is getting TOO invasive IMO. Its a game, that I paid for. No problem for them to insure I did pay for it, but the rest is very Orwellian. What about the dial up connections , or those without one. The vast majority of the world does not have 24/7 internet. No wonder piracy is rampant. Not only must I pay, I MUST have internet......... no thanks.

 

$$$ aside, I refuse to allow MS that kind on control, so I'll play something else, thanks just the same. (at least until Friar Tuck makes a clone )

 

Again, thanks for the excellent guide.

[gobbledonk]

Yes, but wouldn't it make more sense to sell a higher volume at a lower price. I mean if I was a software company I would prefer selling 10,000 copies at $15, then 2,000 at $50. And I bet that many people feel the same like me, willing to pay a reasonable amount for a game, but not an extorniate one.

 

KS, it does indeed make sense, and I believe thats part of it. If I can find 5 million gamers willing to part with $15 in Thailands 70 million-strong population, I'm laughing. Much harder to find 5 million gamers in Australia's population of 20 million ...

 

Economies of scale aside, I believe they will continue to charge $US50 for it whilst Little Johnny from Arkansas can guilt his mom into buying it for him. Thats the price on the STEAM site for the download version, so I dont think Westerners will be too thrilled to hear that its so cheap in Thailand. Makes a plane ticket look even more tempting ::

[gobbledonk]

I refuse to allow MS that kind on control

 

Hi LHL,

 

I suspect that we may have our wires crossed - M$ dont have any direct connection to Valve Software (as far as i know), the makers of HL2.

 

Billgatus is already rolling around in a whole new bathtub of gold courtesy of Halo 2 ($US125 million in first 24 hours ...), but I'm sure he'd love to get his hands on the details obtained by our STEAMing friends at Valve.

 

They are certainly copping it in the forums for the Big Brother antics, but (suprisingly) many gamers seem to be leaping to Valve's defense. Pretty hard to erode the loyalty that producing awe-inspiring games can induce in some.

 

My own attitude is that this is probably a sign of things to come, and wont be restricted to games producers. Imagine if the FBI could scan your hard drive while you applied for a licence renewal online ?? OK, thats probably not so hard to imagine. Gotta go - there's a knock at the door, and a helicopter outside my window

[Khun_Kong]

artiew said:

<snip>

 

I also appreciate the fact that HL2 does run on my machine, albeit with the occasional stutter. <snip>

 

Link to HalfLife 2 stutter problem

 

Too long to post copy.