Half-Life 2 demo and Steam: Crap

30 Comments

• STEAM:
  
  
  
  good idea gone bad... a *LOT* of folks have been caught in the spat between Vivendi and Valve; make them both look bad to the folks who know whats going on.
  
  
  
  I wonder if Valve is going to try and dump Vivendi and just publish on-line?
  
  
  
  

• Jeff...I was so impressed I dropped Halo 2 when it game out...and played HL2 to completion...only getting back to Halo 2 a few days ago.
  
  
  
  

• ATI has more stable drivers? Ha! Sorry, but if Doom 3 runs fine, I'm not going to pin the problem on drivers. My card isn't over-clocked, and I've never had anything else crash on my nForce motherboard. HL2 didn't cause a massive system failure, it just died on itself (I could kill the process and move on).
  

• I had that stuttering problem with the initial release of the game, but the patches have corrected those for me. The load time is disappointing, but definitely not worth overlooking a pretty great game.
  
  
  
  I agree about Steam running at startup being annoying. You can kill it, it will start automatically when HL starts up.
  
  
  
  It seems like a dumb business move for them not to have updated the demo, though, since your experience is definitely not unique. I've heard that Steam will also include a user experience patch soon which will modify brain patterns of Steam users to not notice the load delay and stuttering issues. This may have other business benefits for Valve if it proves successful.
  

• Steam is junk. Had the game since Xmas and still cannot play. Anybody have any tips. Never can connect to steam. Haven't even seen the into yet. What a joke.
  
  
  
  Called Valve, Faxed Valve, Email questions to steam. Nothing. Followed all tech info. on the steampowered site. Nothing. We are still on dial up at my house, nothing else available.
  
  
  
  FYI
  
  Valve Software
  
  Phone 425-889-9642
  
  Fax 425-827-4843
  

• Steam is total ass, agreed. But my HL2 demo seems to work fine, without any lag but the graphics...
  
  
  
  Are totally MALFORMED. And I don't think it's a graphics card issue (though it is just the one that came with my Gateway laptop) because it's just the gamma and the character models. The screen is DARK as hell and the characters are all detail-less jet black automatons. Just black shadows walking and running back and forth. It looks like the game was dipped in crude oil. It's unplayable.
  
  
  
  I want to know: WHY? If it IS my graphics card then, well, I'm pretty much screwed as I can't upgrade my laptop. If it's something else... what is it?
  
  
  
  I'd really like to get this problem fixed since all my other specs are up to par.
  

• When I try to install steam it just freezes, it doens't say that it's downloading anything ... after an hour (high speed cable connection) I've shut the install program.
  
  
  
  Steam wasn't installed properly so I couldn't start it. But I was also not able to uninstall it since... That's getting on my nerves.
  
  
  
  This has not really encouraged me on buying the real game, just to find out that I'll have the same problem again.
  

• After reinstalling OF on a whim i was shocked to see that i had to get steams permission to load each new section, what a load of bollocks!!
  

• I played the game without any problem. The only bad thing is that I had to wait very long time to load for the multiplayer games. I got bored, and I uninstall hl2. I still have it with my other old cd. But the worst thing is that every other pc game is trying to do the same. They are trying to emulate it like steam. A big example is Battlefield 2, BF2142, and others that might come soon. That is why I am not going to buy pc games anymore. Before you can create your own server. Now you have to pay to create your own server. The worst thing is that you are using your pc as your server not their servers and you are paying for it?!!!! That is too much. Valve I respect what you did, but being with steam was a big mistake. That is why valve is not famous anymore.
  

• How do you get the game to work? I've never seen anything like this, i've had friendlier viruses.
  

• Bought Half life 1 anthology off of ebay, assumed i was buying the original game. turns out theres a sticker on top saying you need internet to register the game...nothing on the box other than that. fine, leave my laptop for an hour for it to load up steam, which the box did not say it required to play. steam cant load. absolutely useless. what is the point? its an 8 year old game, who the hell is going to pirate it and it was sold as the game no mention that i would need to log onto steam EVERY time i wanted to play it.
  

• dlamnie to jest najfajniejsza gra na całym świecie.HALF-LIFE jest to gra o rużnych zombi którym widać flaki jest to super.
  

• I must agree Steam is total bullsh*t
  
  Very long loading times and hassle to play.
  
  Finally I got HL2 to work without too much trouble, and it didn't stutter or freeze, and I must say the game is very good.
  
  I do get some problems playing online though. Sometimes it gives unexplainable errors, I have to re-validate everytime I push a button and loading times in which I could grow a beard, shave it and grow it again. All in all the Steam part is total junk, but the games are good running without any problems.
  
  Valve, I have three tips for you: DROP STEAM, DROP STEAM, DROP STEAM ....
  
  regards,
  
  Subhero
  

• How the heck do you uninstall the demo when done?
  
  And HL2 suck's i dont like it.
  

• Is there some number I can call, or some address I can mail to, give them a copy of my receipt and the serial or something and have them MAIL ME an actual copy of the game?
  
  I have frigging dial up. I did not pirate the game. I have a legal copy and even have my original store receipt.
  
  I paid 30 bucks for the game, and I friggin want to PLAY IT THIS CENTURY.
  
  This will be my last purchase from Valve, I'll tell your that...
  

• What a waste of time. I was absolutely blown away by the first version of half life, and it ran just fine on my old P1 166!
  
  Now in marches steam and takes the ease right out of the process. How long am I expected to wait while the "downloading updates" window sits there without even a progress bar to let me know it's doing something? Useless PR killing mistake in Valve's part...
  

• What's up with the decryption? mine freezes at 50% does it usually take ages? or is their something seriously wrong with the steam server? It's sad that people have to go through all this bs for the game to actually work. Hopefully someone fixes this problem fast other wise steam will lose alot of customers.
  

• Bah-hah, this is great stuff. Steam only sucks on it having to update constantly, and having to update the game before you can play it. I've had no real problems with steam though, just a little frustration here or there. But I plan on having valve games for a long time.
  

• Three years later...
  
  I bought the game as part of the Orange Box on Xbox 360.
  

• You are right Steam is just a pull sheat
  
  I bought the game then I couldn't install it on my computer becuase of the stupid steam.
  
  I have tried every thing but no way to make it. the only solution that they sujest is to use different net work. what the huck?
  
  so I have to go to starbucks to play the freaking game every it or move out of the campus to play it. PS
  

• you just lost a sale valve, not buying any of your games because of steam
  

• The first release I played was a hacked copy - No problems ran like a dream.I thought I would support this company an purchased the next release. Wasted hours of expensive bandwidth registering etc. What a waste of time - Never ever again. Nex t time I will get a cracked version. Much better for my sanity
  

• well i think that valve is realy cool so i dont know what your talking about
  

• should a pirated copy (on CD) require the use of steam? i don't see why it would, but my friend has a copy that works mainly ok, the only problem being the occasional error: "Node Graph out of date. Rebuilding..." After this it usually continues to function but may crash. Explanations/thoughts?
  

• HL2 is a good game yes...... but i think valve thinking steam will stop pirating is way off! STEAM IS WHY WE ARE PIRATING YOU IDIOTS GET RID OF STEAM
  

• Do you know what also sucks? YOUR FACE. We're only giving our opinion and our experiences... you see it as a rant, but its a critique of Steam's service. Heard of freedom of speech?
  

• Wow, this thread has been going for over three years, and the problems still exist. I just bought Portal for the PC. Well, several days ago, but I haven't been able to play it yet because Steam won't let me download the updates that I need. I have the disk in my computer, but I can't play it. Sure, I only have dial-up, but the box just says I need an "internet connection." If I needed high-speed, that should have been on the box. Steam just chokes my computer for ten minutes before giving me "Steam Error - This game is currently unavailable. Please try again another time." I'm searching forums for instructions on fixing this, but it sounds like there aren't any solutions. I will just have to wait to play Portal until I have high-speed, and hope that Steam still exists then. I will also be sure to never again buy a game from Valve or that uses Steam, and I will tell everyone the same.
  

• Steam rocks man. I buy everything through steam now.
  

• A good PC and internet connection does help
  

• All steam does is make loyal customers turn to downloading pirate copies like what I'm about to do...