Half Life 2 won't load now...

[packet_loss]

Greetings,

I have been playing HL2 for a few days now, and all in all I would have to say that I've been lucky by not being afflicted by the numerous problems that seem to be commonly occuring.

This one I haven't seen yet. Yesterday the game worked. I was playing, the patch was released. I downloaded the patch, then played some more. I turned off my computer at night. Today, when I went to play, it won't work.

Here's what's happening. I open up Steam, and it connect's without any issues. I tell Steam to launch HL2, a window pops up telling me it's preparing to launch Half Life 2. I wait and wait, then the window disappears, my mouse cursor changes to the hour glass and I can see my HDD light is solid. Then nothing. The cursor returns to normal, and my HDD light turns off. In all it lasts about 30 to 45 seconds from the time I tell it to launch. There are no error messages, Steam continues to run normally. I even checked my Windows Event Viewer to see if any error messages were logged and there are no error's logged.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[mongoloido]

you have the dvd edition?

 

[packet_loss]

No, I have the bronze CD edition. And yes the 1st CD is in the drive.

I have also tried the CD in both the CD and DVD drive. Doesn't make a difference.

 

[jord]

Yeah I'm getting something similar.

If I'm lucky it gets past the loading part (when you first launch it) but when I'm playing it, the game is monsterously laggy and when I reach a loading point it locks up.

 

[mongoloido]

No, I have the bronze CD edition. And yes the 1st CD is in the drive.

I have also tried the CD in both the CD and DVD drive. Doesn't make a difference.

This was an issue for the DVD edition right from the get go. Most people who suffered that problem were able to fix it by updating the firmware of their DVD drive. Perhaps updating the firmware of your CDROM drive would help... Truth to tell, I still have this problem from tiem to time even after updating my DVD firmware. Usually a restart fixes me up.

 

[packet_loss]

Alright... I have updated the firmware on my drives. Still no difference. I have restarted several times. No difference. I have also reloaded my ATI drivers, even tried going back versions. Nothing seems to have worked so far.

Any other suggestions?

 

[mongoloido]

You could always try the standard Steam fix. Sometimes Steam will update and you'll wind up with a corrupt bit of information that mucks things up. Whenever I run into a problem with a Steam game, I do the following:

Shutdown Steam

Go into the Program Files/Valve/Steam folder and remove the ClientRegistry.blob (you can delete it or create an oldblob folder to put it in)

Restart Steam

The .blob file is Steam's way of checking to see what updates you already have for HL2. If you start up Steam and it can't find the file, Steam asumes you have none of the updates, creates a new ClientRegistry.blob, and reinstalls every update to date.

It may or may not help you, but it will at least help you rule out a corrupt patch.

 

[mongoloido]

BTW: Does your CounterStrike Source run for you? There have been a few odd occasions where I've had to get one of the other games running before I could get HL2 to run... I know none of this is the magic bullet you're looking for, but I'm no guru. I'm just running through the list of ideas that have helped me and some others in the past to get things going.

 

[packet_loss]

BTW: Does your CounterStrike Source run for you? There have been a few odd occasions where I've had to get one of the other games running before I could get HL2 to run... I know none of this is the magic bullet you're looking for, but I'm no guru. I'm just running through the list of ideas that have helped me and some others in the past to get things going.

I appreciate your, and everyone else's help so far. I tried running CS:Source and that didn't work either. Neither game is loading when I tell it to. I haven't tried deleting that .blob file yet because I'm on dial-up and it takes for ever for Steam to update. I'll probably do that and start the update again when I go out tonight. Should be done by the morning.

Thanks again everyone for your help so far... it's appreciated.

 

[dude]

I had the same problem, but not when the DVD was in the drive. I know steam+valve have made it their goal to make HL2 the biggest pain in the ass to emulate in any way...but anyways when I used GameDrive to emulate it I get the "Preparing to play Half Life 2" then it just stops but doesnt give the "Emulation software detected error". Does anyone have any idea how to get HL2 and Source to work w/o a DVD?

 

[packet_loss]

Problem Fixed.

 

[mongoloido]

Problem Fixed.

Yippie! What did you do to fix it? Inquiring minds want to know for future reference.

 

[doomed - uk]

Fixed how?

 

[RISEN1]

You could always try the standard Steam fix. Sometimes Steam will update and you'll wind up with a corrupt bit of information that mucks things up. Whenever I run into a problem with a Steam game, I do the following:

Shutdown Steam

Go into the Program Files/Valve/Steam folder and remove the ClientRegistry.blob (you can delete it or create an oldblob folder to put it in)

Restart Steam

The .blob file is Steam's way of checking to see what updates you already have for HL2. If you start up Steam and it can't find the file, Steam asumes you have none of the updates, creates a new ClientRegistry.blob, and reinstalls every update to date.

It may or may not help you, but it will at least help you rule out a corrupt patch.

Probably by doing this.

:angry:

 

[Pestul]

So that .blob file only registers *updates* to the games? I was worried that if I deleted it, it would assume none of the games were installed and try to get them again.. not that I have the same problem this person was plagued with, just wondering for future reference as well.

 

[LordGary]

Locking up on blurry loading screen

The first time I installed the game it worked. However, it locked up upon save game feature. I tried running it again and get the blurry loading screen. It locks up and I hear some beeping and two errors come up. I cannot see what they are. I hit escape and it kicks me off the screen. I've tired waiting for 45 min. on the loading screen and nothing still happens. I've even reinstalled the game and tried turning off my sound card. Same thing happens. Someone suggested copying same files from the Bin directory to the Half-life directory. I've tried this no effect.

Windows XP service pack 2
Pentium 4 1.8 Ghz, 512Ram
Integrated audio SoundMax Digital
Integrated Video Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV
Directx 9C

I've tried slowing down directx sound acceleration to the lowest setting. No effect. All drivers are up to date. Odd thing is Counterstrike works fine. No flaws there.

This game needs a patch

 

[doomed - uk]

So that .blob file only registers *updates* to the games? I was worried that if I deleted it, it would assume none of the games were installed and try to get them again.. not that I have the same problem this person was plagued with, just wondering for future reference as well.

Deleting that file is what Valve themselves recommend, as it sorts itself and scans to see what you have already and this often fixes stuck downloads.

You can also just rename it, which is an alternative Valve suggest. Just stick an "~" at the front of its name is their actual rename suggestion.

 

[dev1nsan]

I'm having the same ever since the update was released. I'm not too good with computers, can someone tell me how to delete this .blob thing or rename it. I went into programs, valve, steam, then it gave me a choice to launch steam-user agreement-or uninstall. Where do I go to delete .blob or rename it?

 

[teebeebee1]

i cannot get anything to work I just deleted the clientblob file, no dice, i have yet to play this game once and i've had it since saturday

Bitter beer face :sniper: ----------Half Life 2/Steam