paul catley

Just posting to say that my problems with HL2 (many missing textures, could not
proceed beyond Point Insertion playground) have been fixed

I reinstalled the game, validated it, and then the Evil Valve Combine... oh, I
mean our *benefactors*... spent around 6 hours downloading unknown content to my
machine (some of it overnight). Now it may be that the game was fixed as soon
as I reinstalled it, and that extra downloaded stuff was just some sinister
scanning software to watch my every move and transmit mind-altering radiation to
my brain, but I would never say that. Whatever it was, though, it's sure got me
thinkin' right, yessiree Breen... er, Bob.

I woke up this morning to see "Half-Life 2 Ready to Play" displayed on my
screen. I had to give it a go, so loaded up the playground and tried the
corridor. Hey, I'm through! Cool, and nice glass in that door. A rooftop chase
at 7am will really wake you up Very cool indeed, wish there was time to stop
and look around (would I actually get killed if I did?). I saved once I met
you-know-who and tried a new game. Hallelujah, I can see through the chainlink!
What's that thing pushing a sweeping brush? And Dr. Breen isn't wearing a pink
suit any more! Great, all my troubles are over

Had to stop there, but I'll start it all from the beginning again tonight and
really start enjoying the game Of course I can't speak highly enough of our
benefactors now, but I wonder how many other dial-up retail buyers will have
given up on it by this stage, if they've had the same problems and solution?

--
Paul
(Forgot to put on my tinfoil beenie this morning)

peter lykkegaard

Gordon Freeman never gives up, mark my word!!

- GF

paul catley

Just posting to say that my problems with HL2 (many missing textures, could not
proceed beyond Point Insertion playground) have been fixed

I reinstalled the game, validated it, and then the Evil Valve Combine... oh, I
mean our *benefactors*... spent around 6 hours downloading unknown content to my
machine (some of it overnight). Now it may be that the game was fixed as soon
as I reinstalled it, and that extra downloaded stuff was just some sinister
scanning software to watch my every move and transmit mind-altering radiation to
my brain, but I would never say that. Whatever it was, though, it's sure got me
thinkin' right, yessiree Breen... er, Bob.

I woke up this morning to see "Half-Life 2 Ready to Play" displayed on my
screen. I had to give it a go, so loaded up the playground and tried the
corridor. Hey, I'm through! Cool, and nice glass in that door. A rooftop chase
at 7am will really wake you up Very cool indeed, wish there was time to stop
and look around (would I actually get killed if I did?). I saved once I met
you-know-who and tried a new game. Hallelujah, I can see through the chainlink!
What's that thing pushing a sweeping brush? And Dr. Breen isn't wearing a pink
suit any more! Great, all my troubles are over

Had to stop there, but I'll start it all from the beginning again tonight and
really start enjoying the game Of course I can't speak highly enough of our
benefactors now, but I wonder how many other dial-up retail buyers will have
given up on it by this stage, if they've had the same problems and solution?

--
Paul
(Forgot to put on my tinfoil beenie this morning)

peter lykkegaard

Gordon Freeman never gives up, mark my word!!

- GF

mcgrandpa

Good deal Paul Glad you got it ironed out. Now you'll disappear
for a while See ya when you come up for air!
McG.

marshall

I use dial-up, and I never had that 6-hour download problem... thing is, I chose
*not* to download all the update material for CS:Source. If you did d/l that stuff,
that could well be what took so long. Just a guess, but like I say, I did exactly
what you did except for the CS:S d/l, and my whole time from online activation to
playing the game, was less than an hour.
-Marshall

paul catley

Hmm, that could well be it, as I did install CS:Source, mostly because I had
heard in here that there was a missing file from the retail edition of HL2, that
could only be fixed by installing CS:S too. I don't really intend to play it.
It may well be the case that my game problems were fixed purely by the
reinstall.

However, how did you choose not to download the updates? I was given no option
at all, Steam just began updating Half-Life 2 when it completed unlocking the
game (it didn't mention CS:S). Is there some way I can tell what was
downloaded? A file name or something? None of the SteamApp files directly
associated with CS:S have been updated today, but *all* of the other SteamApp
files were updated at precisely the same time this morning... but this was when
I played the game, not when it finished downloading.

Other than the 6 hour additional update, my activation was also around 45
minutes.

--
Paul

marshall

My memory ain't the best, and it's been a few days now (bad combo, for a
CRS sufferer), but I distinctly remember a point partway through that process,
where Steam listed the games that I had installed that needed updates (HL2
and CS:S, in my case), and there was a checkbox in front of each of them- I
chose to un-check the box next to CS:S, so only HL2 got updated.
-Marshall

paul catley

I haven't seen anything like that in Steam. However, I wasn't actually in the
room when the activation finished. Could it have offered me a choice, then
simply started when I didn't answer? I *was* in the room the first time I
installed the game, and was offered no such choice then.

I have just had a look at the right-click properties in the Play Games section
of Steam. CS:S is listed as "Do not automatically update this game". However,
HL2 says "Always keep this game up to date" I remember setting this to the
"Do not" option when I first installed. However, AFAIK I had no opportunity to
set it after I reinstalled. Could I have set it during unlocking? IIRC, I
didn't launch HL2 from Steam, I launched it from the shortcut, so I wouldn't
even have looked at the Play Games menu.

It still doesn't explain why I got a 6 hour update and you didn't. Would you
like to change that option and give it a try?

--
Paul

marshall

After I finish the game soon, I may do that. Won't be today, though :-)
I noticed that Steam got an update to it also, since I first installed it
on the 16th. Perhaps they changed that 'checkbox screen' part, with the
newer version of Steam that you loaded under? Dunno.
-Marshall