Can I dump Steam and keep HL2?

[Duke145]

I purchaced HL2 when I got a video card. I downloaded it through steam but now I want to dump steam and keep playing my copy of HL2. Is this possible?

 

[Yatta]

No. You will learn to love and cherrish Steam. Steam is your friend. Steam is good for you. STEAM STEAM STEAM STEAM!

Get used to it little Headcrab, because it's all you'll be hearing if you want to be a part of this community! NOW LOVE STEAM! LOVE STEAM NOW OR YOU SHALL BE BANNED! LOVE LOVE LOVE! STEAM STEAM STEAM! YAAAAARGH!

 

[Dr. Love]

Lol

Steam Suxors.....Invasive piece of garbage. HL2 won't start now. :cheers:

 

[EagleAndy]

Steam Suxors.....Invasive piece of garbage. HL2 won't start now. :cheers:

Someone doesnt love Steam

 

[wobjob]

*glazed look in eyes,cradling jar with freshly removed piece of brain*
Yes...i love steam...i care not that Half Life 2 is the most problematic game i've ever played....steam is goood.....it helps me.....i enjoy billions of errors coming up when i play HL2.....they're even more fun than the game itself......i love letting spyware watch me while i play single player games....i love steam....i love valve....i love....*Kill Mode Engaged* I WILL DESTROY ANY WHO CRITICISE STEAM,VALVE,OR ANY SUBSEQUENT TRADEMARKS OR LOGOS!!!!!!!*smashes through wall seeking vengeance in the name of the Almighty Gabe Newell*

 

[Duke145]

What if...

...I buy a copy from best buy or somplace like that and install it. Do I have to install Steam. Will the code I have on my coupon work on another copy of the game?

 

[Link]

No. There is no option to use HL2 without steam. HL2 has steam built into the way it works. It would be like trying to take out all the models or textures, it just wouldn't work.

There is no work around. At all. Even if you buy retail.

 

[dragonflyr]

funny stuff here.... wobjob LOL

yeah, be careful what you say 'bout steam. I'm half expecting people to show up at my house and throw rocks thru the windows cuz I hate steam!!

i don't know what the deal is with some of the Steam faithful around here ... they gotta be employees or sumthin'... cuz they are friggin obstinate and blind.

Steam SUCKS. period.
There have GOT to be better ways to protect against piracy. They are just using it as an excuse to beat the hell outta us with the STEAM agenda ... which is "take over the world".

 

[Shadow112090]

no. stop asking

 

[Link]

...cuz they are friggin obstinate and blind...

Yeah, we're the ones that are obstinate and blind. Don't worry about the fact that steam works flawlessly for 99% of the people that use it, and that those people find it an amazing peice of software, that saves them time and effort.

But never mind that, we don't need to tell you that, as your not the one being 'friggin obstinate and blind' now are you?

 

[dragonflyr]

Link ..

PLEASE, please tell me how Steam saves you "time and effort"??????

thx..

 

[Link]

1. When I want to play a game, I can use the steam browser instead of loading up the ASE. ASE was better than the original HL in game browser, but steam does everything I need.

2. Friends mode. Admitedly thats a bit shakey, but when it works its fantastic to join your mates (I use xfire instead atm tbh though)

3. Updates. I no longer have to hunt for a fast mirror for updates, they happen straight away, automatically and I don't even have to install them, they just go.

4. Multiplayer maps. Before steam the choise was - download maps at 4-5kbs with no real idea how long it would take (Other than that reletivley useless progress bar) or exit the game, find the map, DL it, unzip it, find the right folder to put it in, stick it in and restart the game. 9 times out of ten the map would have changed by the time you got back in anyway. Since steam I just join the server. Need the map? No problem, just wait and the steam will do all the work as fast as the connection will allow.

5. Makes life easy after a format. Fresh install? Easy, just download steam (all 600Kbs of it) and log in. Select the games you want to install (That you own and have on your steam account) hit install and go to bed. Better than staying up half the night downloading CS, DOD, DMC etc etc manually then installing them no?

I don't think I need to give more than 5, but I probably could think of more if needed. Anyway, with all those benefits, you can't say steam sucks with any hope of convincing people.

As a little side note, there are, on average, over 3 billion minutes of half life based games played through steam every month. Thats 30 seconds worth of steam happiness for every person on the planet. Give me an example of another peice of software that does that that is less buggy..?

 

[dragonflyr]

i guess if I was able to get broadband, Steam would be tollerable ... especially regarding multiplayer.

but ... for "offline" play and regarding the install, it just sucks via dialup.

all the other games I own I am able to update just fine on my own, thank you. I don't need any service for that. I can be at work and download patches, updates, maps, mods, whatever and slap them onto a cd and go home and install them.


installing games ?? "hit install and go to bed" ?? you're kidding, right? how about grabbing a few PAID FOR cd's and installing them and being able to play in, like, 10 minutes!?!

it just seems that all the loyal Steamers have broadband and don't worry about any bloated upload's and download's. they just do it. I had DSL at my old home, so i know how it feels to not be worried about huge downloads ... you just do it.

But now that broadband of any sort is not offered in my area, I am screwed when it comes to stuff like this.

Another thing ... the box says "internet connection required". okay, no big deal. It DIDN'T say, STEAM required, being online ANYTIME you want to play required, etc..etc..

That is my biggest complaint, for sure:
I PAID $60 for a game. I should be able to be sitting in a desert with a laptop and cd's and be able to install and play it. When I pay good money like that, I should not have to rely on any "online" service/install method/etcc to get up and running.

I think Steam took a lot of us by suprise. Now, add on some of the bugs in HL2, and you've just got a lot of pissed people who dropped $50-60 bucks on a game and all they are getting is aggrivation.

Basically, VALVe just manhandled it's customers. Making us jump thru hoops just to play the game. And then they release a buggy game at that. But ... what do they care, right? They're making billions.

pfffft... whatever... already to much time wasted on this bs.

 

[notagain]

It might be possible. If you got to a some bittorrent sites you can download a steam disabler. It's meant for the cracked version of half life 2 so it might not work but it's worth a try. Just back up your files first.

I refuse to give someone else control over my computer.

 

[Link]

i guess if I was able to get broadband, Steam would be tollerable ... especially regarding multiplayer.

but ... for "offline" play and regarding the install, it just sucks via dialup.

all the other games I own I am able to update just fine on my own, thank you. I don't need any service for that. I can be at work and download patches, updates, maps, mods, whatever and slap them onto a cd and go home and install them.

Fine. You asked how steam saves me time and effort. Which is less time and effort? Turinging on your computer and waiting a while or finding updates on the web, burning them to CD, taking them home and installing them?

installing games ?? "hit install and go to bed" ?? you're kidding, right? how about grabbing a few PAID FOR cd's and installing them and being able to play in, like, 10 minutes!?!.

Ok, so you write a back up batch file and burn it to DVD. You install steam and execute the batch and your good to go. Anyway, when I format a machine, I do it after work, giving me some 4-5 hours before I need to sleep. Now thats an hour for format and install (can be more for really big HDD's) another hour for windows updates (At least) which leaves 2/3 hours to install the rest of my crap, which isn't very long. At the end, when I come to install steam, I usually just want to go to bed anyway, so being able to click 'go' and leaving it is great for me.

it just seems that all the loyal Steamers have broadband and don't worry about any bloated upload's and download's. they just do it. I had DSL at my old home, so i know how it feels to not be worried about huge downloads ... you just do it.

But now that broadband of any sort is not offered in my area, I am screwed when it comes to stuff like this..

You have my sympathy on that one mate, BT took about 2 years to get thier arses into gear and enable broadband in my area, so I know how horrible it is

Another thing ... the box says "internet connection required". okay, no big deal. It DIDN'T say, STEAM required, being online ANYTIME you want to play required, etc..etc..

Do other games you buy say "You will be required to install the exe of this game" then? Because thats what it comes down to. Its a part of HL2, built in. Should games say "Warning - dll's will be installed with this game"?

That is my biggest complaint, for sure:
I PAID $60 for a game. I should be able to be sitting in a desert with a laptop and cd's and be able to install and play it. When I pay good money like that, I should not have to rely on any "online" service/install method/etcc to get up and running.

Why attack valve for this? Valve don't want to do this. They just want to make and sell games. However, they do this to live, so they need to do this to stop pirates. You don't like it? Take it up with the pirates.

Anyway, why arn't you banging down microsofts door? They make you activate to use your damn PC.

I think Steam took a lot of us by suprise. Now, add on some of the bugs in HL2, and you've just got a lot of pissed people who dropped $50-60 bucks on a game and all they are getting is aggrivation.

Basically, VALVe just manhandled it's customers. Making us jump thru hoops just to play the game. And then they release a buggy game at that. But ... what do they care, right? They're making billions.

pfffft... whatever... already to much time wasted on this bs.

Show me a game that had zero bugs at release. In fact, show me any software with zero bugs ever? Bugs happen, and you can only catch them if you test on every possible system. And you can't. Trust me on this, I'm a software tester. So you test it the best you can and patch when bugs crop up.

And valve will be working on patchs, they just take time. You write a patch and then you have to test the entire game again (Automated) to make sure you didn't break anything. Then you have to fix the thing you broke. It takes time and effort, which impatient people arn't prepared to wait for.

If you think valve are trying to screw you, well I can't make you change your mind, but I can tell you that you are wrong. If you have issues, tell valve and they will fix it in due course.

 

[Link]

It might be possible. If you got to a some bittorrent sites you can download a steam disabler. It's meant for the cracked version of half life 2 so it might not work but it's worth a try. Just back up your files first.

I refuse to give someone else control over my computer.

Sorry? Give who control over your computer? Uploading a few files to you is control?

I bet you unplug your webcam at night so 'the government' don't look in at you while you sleep, don't you?

 

[Darkchyld738]

While it is necessary to connect to Steam to install the game, Hijacks NoCD\DVD crack workd well, at least for me. My primary gaming comp is NOT connected to the web. I did connect it temporally to install the game and have enjoyed it off-line since. I've had not stuttering or audio issues and probley don't have the last patch that was released. I too don't like the concept that resulted in the creation of Steam and I WILL be very careful when purchaseing another game, anything from Valve is certainaly suspect. NO WHERE did I find that an internet connection was required untill I recived HL2. I think it was very sneaky and low of Valve. I could go on and on but I think my points been made.
DC

 

[DSDchemE]

It says that you need you need an internet connection in the minimum system requirements on the box, so don't say they didn't warn you.

Minimum Requirements: 1.2 GHz Processor; 256MB RAM; DirectX 7 level graphics card; Windows 2000/XP/ME/98; 5.5 GB of available Hard Drive Space; DVD-ROM Drive; Mouse and Keyboard; Internet connection required

Also, you don't need to be connected to the internet to play the game (just verify after installation to enable off-line mode).

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=52917

When will people start reading the stickied posts before replying with wrong information?