Do i have to have half life 2 on my pc to play aftermath

[TheLastFreeMan]

I know this might be a stupid question, but do i have to have half life 2 on my pc to play aftermath.

 

[Solver]

Yes. That's how all expansions work, you must have the original game in the first place.

 

[AfternoonLemon]

Counter-question - why would you want to play Aftermath without having played HL2?

That is, unless you have played the single player campaign, but dont have it on Steam... :upstare:

 

[unex]

Yes. That's how all expansions work, you must have the original game in the first place.

Wasn't Blueshift available as stand-alone some time after it was released? Don't remember exactly..

 

[Solver]

Maybe, but Blueshift wasn't like normal expansions. It modified the engine of HL1, which is why Blueshift wasn't available through Steam, and it was, in fact, a stand alone game in that it didn't use assets of the original HL, IIRC. Most expansions aren't like that, though.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

erm...all HL games were originally played as stand alone games, without steam. Counter Strike used to be loaded up from desktop. 1.3 ftw! But yes all those games worked on steam because they were mods of the original HL. Blueshift used a modified version of the HL engine, which was a modified quake engine i believe. So it wouldn't work on steam (damn you gearbox). It's sorted now, but yes, BS needed HL, it was an expansion still.

 

[Solver]

Err, I meant that BS was totally stand-alone, technically, while OpFor needed HL1. OpFor actually installed into the HL1 folder, while BS does run standalone.

And I just checked the requirements of BS and it doesn't list a copy of HL1 as required. I think it can be ran standalone... and it certainly used to be in a separate folder for me.

 

[Eejit]

Are you sure that you have to have HL2 installed to play Aftermath, wouldn't a steam account with a registered HL2 key but w/o the game installed work?
I think it could, if Valve wanted to give us that option.

 

[Solver]

Valve could make it so then, yes. However, AM will surely use a lot of HL2 files, which is why it would need to have HL2 installed (of course those files can be included in AM itself, but that will make it way bigger). The files would be all the models of enemies and NPCs, the sounds (hundreds of them), etc.

 

[Epsi]

Aftermath would just load the HL2 caches as a starting off point, so even if you didn't have HL2 installed when you installed Aftermath, you'd probably end up with most of it anyway...

 

[AfternoonLemon]

I'd imagine you would need platform.gcf (15MB), source engine.gcf (140MB), source materials.gcf (1GB) etc etc, but would not need half-life 2 content.gcf (861MB)??

 

[-smash-]

How'd it work with the Doom 3 expansion?

I think you only need the original game if it's a multiplayer game.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

I doubt you need Half Life 2. This is more of an episodic content, and a lot of old models won't be used.

 

[Solver]

This is more of an episodic content, and a lot of old models won't be used.

Models for Alyx, Barney and the other characters. Models for the Combine soldiers, elites, antlions, headcrabs, whatnot. Models of building interior elements, such as the many shelves, crates and other stuff there was. AM is going to use a ton of HL2 models.

 

[diluted]

Well, you don't need Half-Life 2 to play Lost Coast, so I think it's likely that Aftermath will be standalone as well.

 

[kupocake]

Due to the nature of Steam, I'm pretty sure that you won't need HL2 to play Aftermath. You can buy each Source game individual from all others at the moment as far as I can tell (though you'd have to be crazy to do so given how much it'll set you back).

As for why someone wouldn't have HL2 PC but would want Aftermath, isn't that obvious? There's an X-Box version of HL2. Though what they're doing buying that over the PC version is anyone's guess.

 

[boglito]

Due to the nature of Steam, I'm pretty sure that you won't need HL2 to play Aftermath. You can buy each Source game individual from all others at the moment as far as I can tell (though you'd have to be crazy to do so given how much it'll set you back).

As for why someone wouldn't have HL2 PC but would want Aftermath, isn't that obvious? There's an X-Box version of HL2. Though what they're doing buying that over the PC version is anyone's guess.

I agree that Steam = Perfectly possible to buy HL2:A without actually owning HL2, no matter how much HL2-content is actually used in HL2:A. The only reason why HL2:A should require HL2 is financial. EA may be that evil, but I kinda doubt VALVe is. *cross fingers*

If I'm right it is another glorious victory for steam, if not ... well, let's hope I'm right.

.bog.

 

[TheLastFreeMan]

Counter-question - why would you want to play Aftermath without having played HL2?

That is, unless you have played the single player campaign, but dont have it on Steam... :upstare:

I never said i haden't played half life 2, as someone already mentioned i own the xbox version.

 

[Jintor]

Hmm. I *think* you *won't* need HL2 on your PC to play Aftermath, just the source engine...

...although I'm not exactly sure.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Models for Alyx, Barney and the other characters. Models for the Combine soldiers, elites, antlions, headcrabs, whatnot. Models of building interior elements, such as the many shelves, crates and other stuff there was. AM is going to use a ton of HL2 models.

When I said old, I meant such things like the stuff from the airboat and coast levels, Nova Prospeckt, all those things we know aren't going to be in Aftermath. Should of been more specific

 

[Eejit]

Ok basically the answer is we don't know what Valve will do, but it could be available w/o HL2 if they wanted it to be.

 

[Lou]

Maybe, but Blueshift wasn't like normal expansions. It modified the engine of HL1, which is why Blueshift wasn't available through Steam, and it was, in fact, a stand alone game in that it didn't use assets of the original HL, IIRC. Most expansions aren't like that, though.

Blueshit was basically a cheap version of Half Life, clearly not made by the team that made Opposing Force. Why/How did it modify the HL (Quake II?) engine?

 

[Epsi]

The HL engine is based on the Quake, not Quake 2 engine, but it has many substantial differences.

Anyways, they apparently changed the map format, or something. To get Blueshift into Steam, they had to put a switch into the engine that would use the different map format when Blueshift is running.

 

[-smash-]

Well, you don't need Half-Life 2 to play Lost Coast, so I think it's likely that Aftermath will be standalone as well.

Erm... You do need HL2 to play TLC...