I'm a complete novice, please point me in the right direction

[aaronfinucane]

Hey all

So I'm totally new to this online gaming thing. I downloaded HF2 from the Steam website and now wish to meet with a friend online to play.

Problem is I havn't the first clue about how to do this.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a step by step guide of how to meet and play a friend online?

thanks

aaron

 

[Beerdude26]

What the hell I can't find an online tutorial :|
Well, guess I'll have to create one, then

First question, do you have Steam?

 

[aaronfinucane]

Hi, yep got steam

 

[Beerdude26]

Alright. Do you know your username and password?

 

[Roland Deschain]

Start an online game through steam (CS, HL2M, etc), find a nice server (probably one that says NOOBs welcome), right click that server, get it's IP address, give that IP address to your friend (he can search for it) and you can thus be both in the same server.

Also, you can create your own server and tell you friend your IP address and he'll be able to find you.

 

[aaronfinucane]

Alright. Do you know your username and password?

yep, a ok with that.

 

[Beerdude26]

Well, just log in, go to the "My Games" tab, and follow Roland Deschain's advice.

Oh, and look for some kind of options in Steam, you'll have to change your connection speed for optimal online play.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Well, just log in, go to the "My Games" tab, and follow Roland Deschain's advice.

Oh, and look for some kind of options in Steam, you'll have to change your connection speed for optimal online play.

I think hes fine with playing HL2 beerdude, he was just asking how to meet up with a friend on a MP game server.

As the other guy said Aaron, search through the server list by using the filters at the bottom. Changing the ping of the server (you want the lowest possible for a lag free server), the map you want to play, country its in etc. You don't need to fill these in, just if you want to play something specific. Click refresh once your happy with the filters.

Once you have a list of servers in front of you, find the one you want, the server name will tell you a bit about it sometimes. Once you've found the one you want to play on right click it and select properties. You'll see the server name, ping, amount of people on the server, and the people playing. There will also be an IP address. Copy this IP by highlighting it and right clicking and selecting copy (or control + c) and paste this IP address to your friend. He can go to his server list, go to the favourites tab and click 'add server'. He can then paste the IP into his favourites, and the server will appear. He can then join the server you have found, and you can play together.

I hope that helps.

Also you may notice the 'friends' system which is still down at the moment. Once thats back up, you can add your friends to it (like adding a contact on msn) and when they are playing a game, it will show them online and the server they are playing in, which you can just follow once its working. But till then use the other way, which isn't hard really. Any other problems just give us a shout.

 

[Lord Raisin]

It's so easy. Even a caveman could do it!

 

[Barney Fife]

It's so easy. Even a caveman could do it!

Hey.........NOT........COOOOL!

 

[xombine]

It's so easy. Even a caveman could do it!

I don't have much of an appetite, thank you.

Man I can't wait for Valve to fix that Friends network.:frown:

 

[Shakermaker]

Another solution is to download Xfire. It's a bit like MSN for gamers. Join can just simply click the 'join' button when a friend is playing on a server. link

And when you get Xfire, put your name down over here.