How will HL2 update?

[Never{was}Clever]

As this game gets closer to it's final release, quite a few people are noticing some things haven't been accomplished in hl2's engine.

Valve has always been boasting about the flexibility of the Source engine. I wonder if Valve can update the engine through steam?

 

[brink's]

Thats exactly how they will update source.

 

[Absinthe]

Thru Steeeeeeeeeeeeeem

 

[PvtRyan]

As this game gets closer to it's final release, quite a few people are noticing some things haven't been accomplished in hl2's engine.

Valve has always been boasting about the flexibility of the Source engine. I wonder if Valve can update the engine through steam?

Yes they can, at least that's what they've told us. But I doubt HL2 is getting full engine updates with completely new features for Source, just stuff like the support for PS3.0 and higher quality textures for 512 MB cards.

 

[Never{was}Clever]

Well I was talking about adding dynamic shaddows to the game later, or tweaking the physics.. etc.

 

[brink's]

They could but I doubt they will, someone could mod it in easily I think.

 

[ferd]

That's why they mae steam....

 

[Mr-Fusion]

I wonder if Valve can update the engine through steam?

They've been updating the HL1 engine through steam for about 9 months now so logic would be screaming "Yes, they will update the HL2 engine through steam"

 

[Dead-Inside]

Umm... Obviously you can rewrite the engine yourself (Well to a certain extent at least) when you're going to create mods with HL2. So yes, they will update it through steam, and yes, they've already stated that they will be adding things to the engine via steam.

 

[crownest]

Well I was talking about adding dynamic shaddows to the game later, or tweaking the physics.. etc.

That is the reason why they make patches. All Half Life 2 offical updates will (i think only) be downloadable via steam.

 

[The Monkey]

Steam is your freind.

 

[kevinb456]

steam is great

i remember when it was first released everyone hated it (thats what i thought anyway) but now i really really like it (now thats most of the bugs have been fixed).

 

[Ch1cKeN]

Well, as far as my steam is concerned:

-"friends" still don't work
- words and graphics seem contracted if playing windowed if you ALT+TAB out

 

[Darkknighttt]

as far as my steam goes... friends practically never worked in the first place, it never cconnects it jus says signing in... for like 50 hours!!!!!!!!

 

[DvS]

Obviously, nobody mentions the reason a good 300.000 players can't really use it to it's fullest extent, it's the downloading.. I live in Iceland and we pay for bandwidth received from abroad(like a few other nations), like steam, that makes it bullshit for us to update and download games and updates off steam, an average CS player around here has maybe a 500mb download allowance for abroad traffic, and most exceed it by more than 500 just because of steam. And I can tell you, that costs alot when you round up a few months.

It's the only reason I'm not playing cs or hl right now.

 

[63]

Obviously, nobody mentions the reason a good 300.000 players can't really use it to it's fullest extent, it's the downloading.. I live in Iceland and we pay for bandwidth received from abroad(like a few other nations), like steam, that makes it bullshit for us to update and download games and updates off steam, an average CS player around here has maybe a 500mb download allowance for abroad traffic, and most exceed it by more than 500 just because of steam. And I can tell you, that costs alot when you round up a few months.

It's the only reason I'm not playing cs or hl right now.

Can you upgrade your account?

 

[kakagar]

That issue of managing the amount of info you can download is pretty shitty. Let's hope that this is solved, maybe if you email gabe about this issue he can send you cds or something, if you get a big group of people with the same concern. Something a la Cybercafe program they have were you can download the content or get it through cds.

 

[DvS]

Can you upgrade your account?

Everyone in Iceland and a few other countries abide by this restriction, and there aren't any upgrades that allow unlimited bandwidth overseas.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Is it because of a monopolistic company completely dominating the wholesale side of bandwidth? 500mg (a month?) is crazily stupid. That is not broadband.

Whatever ISP you are with seriously needs to have a look at what the rest of the world are doing. Or is just not financially viable for them to offer anything more?

 

[DvS]

Is it because of a monopolistic company completely dominating the wholesale side of bandwidth? 500mg (a month?) is crazily stupid. That is not broadband.

Whatever ISP you are with seriously needs to have a look at what the rest of the world are doing. Or is just not financially viable for them to offer anything more?

The thing is, that Iceland is an Island, and in order to get internet here, they put up a huge seastring, paid for by an ex government ISP. That ISP sublets the string use to a few other ISPs, but they all claim they're charging for foreign download to pay for the installation of the string, which is stupid.

I agree whole-heartedly, 500mb is jack shit, compared to the fact that I'm paying more than most americans for a worse connection... for the same amount of money I spend on my 1mbps connection here, I could get a 10mbit connection in sweden, unlimited traffic, 3 subdomains with 100mb webspace, and I could go on and on.

I ping 80 to the UK at best, and 130 at best to east coast USA, add this to frequent downtime, and you're looking at internet hell.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Well i feel your pain brother. I used to be on a 3gb a month connection for 10mbps cable. That's right 10mbps. Getting charged ~13.5 cents for every meg over my limit. The monopolising company has since loosened it's grip on the market. Now i have 32 gig a month with a different ISP.

It was like having a nitro on a ferrari that just sits in a garage all day.

Anyway....

 

[guise]

gabe newell is personally going to update each copy using the power of telekenesis

 

[Devilphish]

Obviously they will update HL2 through Steam, and they will even update Source in superficial ways through Steam, such as better shader support in the future. But they won't do major engine overhauls through Steam to update a game, like adding fully dynamic shadows to HL2. HL2 was designed around lightmaps. If they wanted to put a fully dynamic shadowing system in HL2, they would have to go back and redesign HL2 from the ground up. This would be a huge undertaking and would not happen. People have a habit of exaggerating the updating capabilities of Steam. They will deliver things like higher resolution textures and broader shader support over the next couple of years, but not something like a major fundamental change in the way the game is designed.

 

[Cybernoid]

Valve has always been boasting about the flexibility of the Source engine. I wonder if Valve can update the engine through steam?

Updating the engine is as simple as making a patch, as has been done for, oh, fifteen years or so.

 

[63]

Updating the engine is as simple as making a patch, as has been done for, oh, fifteen years or so.

Making a patch isn't "simple"..

 

[Big Fat Duck]

yeah i could really use a patch that updates hl2 shadowing system and adds dynamic shadow volume system even though that its not possible and im going to go shoot myself right now

 

[Fender357]

Obviously, nobody mentions the reason a good 300.000 players can't really use it to it's fullest extent, it's the downloading.. I live in Iceland and we pay for bandwidth received from abroad(like a few other nations), like steam, that makes it bullshit for us to update and download games and updates off steam, an average CS player around here has maybe a 500mb download allowance for abroad traffic, and most exceed it by more than 500 just because of steam. And I can tell you, that costs alot when you round up a few months.

It's the only reason I'm not playing cs or hl right now.

Alot of people complain about Steam and never have a good reason to complain. That right there is a damn good problem with Steam. But you have to take into account that Valve has to apeel to the masses. So people who have to pay by the MB kinda get screwed for now.
I'm sure it is something that once they get the time, they'll address the problem.

 

[Dreglor]

back to the subject,
they said that source is very modular meaning it proably it all sperated in dll so the real hw part is hl2.exe that just loads them all up and acts as a controller/checker
as far as bandwidth goes,
steam does suck your bandwidth when updates and you start to preload/install
this is expected how else you going to get an update with out downloading it, mail?
you can also stop or limit steam from using your bandwith thru the options
and playing cs/hl on steam or on won there shouldn't be any diffrence

if you don't like it deal with it complaing here won't help

 

[Cybernoid]

Making a patch isn't "simple"..

It's simple if you're a game developer.

 

[63]

It's simple if you're a game developer.

No it's not.. You have to find and isolate the problems, find out whats wrong and then find a way to fix it without conflicting with other components..

 

[DevgruSeal]

Steam. Thats why it was created. I personally think STEAM is getting quite annoying, but can be GREAT at some times..

 

[Cybernoid]

No it's not.. You have to find and isolate the problems, find out whats wrong and then find a way to fix it without conflicting with other components..

Yes, I think we all know that. It still doesn't change the fact that Valve patching HL2 isn't exactly revolutionary our out of the ordinary.

 

[63]

Yes, I think we all know that. It still doesn't change the fact that Valve patching HL2 isn't exactly revolutionary our out of the ordinary.

Don't change the subject.

You said making patches was simple, nothing about the patch distribution methods of Valve..

 

[Cybernoid]

You said making patches was simple, nothing about the patch distribution methods of Valve..

Yes, because making patches is simple. That's why every developer does it. I don't see why this is hard to comprehend.

 

[63]

Yes, because making patches is simple. That's why every developer does it. I don't see why this is hard to comprehend.

haha, so you're saying that the only reason developers create patches to fix their buggy products is because it's easy? Yeah, I suppose if it involved any actual work they would screw it..

Don't say something as stupid as "making patches is simple" until you have actually delt with it..

 

[DvS]

They can't be that hard to make though, Microsoft can do it But then again, they leave more security holes behind than they fix.

 

[Cybernoid]

haha, so you're saying that the only reason developers create patches to fix their buggy products is because it's easy?

Uh... no?

Don't say something as stupid as "making patches is simple" until you have actually delt with it..

Cry me a river.

 

[63]

Uh... no?



Cry me a river.

Thanks for that

The next time you lose an argument do the gracious thing and admit it.

 

[Cybernoid]

The next time you lose an argument do the gracious thing and admit it.

I'll keep that in mind if that should ever happen.

 

[oldagerocker]

dont fight kids. Have fun, go play outside with your barbie dolls and stuff (atleast until HL2 is released).
I dont think HL2 will be heavily patched, possibly tweaked for certain systems having problems, and Source updated every-so-often. The last thing Valve will want to do after release is make loads of patches!