The full truth about the beta

[Kadayi]

I think it is quite good to have an informed discussion about the topic. People are staying off of spoilers and just answering the facts regarding the meat and bones of it (which is what interests most people).

 

[Chris D]

Yeah. Previously even that wasn't allowed, but let's be honest - it's not exactly illegal and providing major plot spoilers aren't revealed it can be an interesting read for people.

 

[Vegeta897]

Yes! This is exactly how I wanted this thread to turn out like. Thankyou everyone, keep those questions coming! Don't worry Chris, I won't reveal any specifics that weren't already stated by Valve. Another piece of information about the beta is that its 1.4 GB all zipped up.

 

[Joeyslucky22]

yeah its damn big, "lemmar" will be cool too I think lol little lammar...

Yeah in the beta, theres voice lip syncing that doesn't show up for ALOT of the dialog so thats another thumbs down on it.

But HL2 will deffinetally be awsome

 

[Fender357]

What about music..? Any?

 

[Shuzer]

What about music..? Any?

There's some, most of it seemed triggered in the E3 maps like we've seen in the Bink videos. Past that, there wasn't much music, a few tracks at most in some of the levels

 

[crabcakes66]

I still havent downloaded the leak......... the real thing will be that much better.

 

[Spiffae]

how good are the 3d skyboxes?

 

[Shuzer]

how good are the 3d skyboxes?

Not present? lol, well, whatever ones are there are pretty sucktastic, to say the least =/ The stolen build is so very plain, that's what scared me at first. Thinking HL2 was going to lack detail, but, looking back on that thought.. I know that's not true.

My best example was seeing the exact same map as the HDR video. Wow, what was there in the stolen build looked YEARS old. I got an exact comparasion shot looking out at the city for myself to see just how much better the HDR video improvements were (not talking about HDR either, just talking about how revamped the textures/geometry/etc was), and wow. It put all my fears to rest.

So, to sum it up, stolen build = plain. Some areas look great, most of it was plain.

 

[Yakuza]

Anyhow, I'd like to chime in on the topic here.

I'm alittle fuzzy as to why you say there are 15-20 maps, unless you're talking how many are linked together. There are over 70 .bsp files included in the stolen build.
In my experience, the few maps that gave anything away plot wise weren't horribly revealing. I guess it depends on the person, but, I didn't feel as though the game's plot was ruined for me. The stolen build didn't really connect, and most of it has nothing to do with the plot. There were a few things, however, that I wish I hadn't seen.

Regarding the weapons, 5-10 weapons is an understatement. There are atleast 15, probably 20 weapons you haven't seen or been told about. Most, I don't even know what look like (80% of the gun models were missing). I'm eagerly awaiting to see what all the weapons do.. certainly seems like a great array of weapons, the game will be loads of fun, definitely no lack of weaponry.

Monsters.. yeah, 6 or so sounds about right. As for being scared, I never got scared, per se, but.. there was one part in the stolen build that DID make me jump. This wasn't the same part that vegeta was speaking of, though. So, you can probably expect a few more parts in HL2 that'll make you jump (HL1.. headcrabs in the vents, anyone? ). Vehicles.. yeah, he pretty much covered it. Although, the one vehicle he hadn't seen, was simply a myth.

I completely disagree about the physics. They are buggy beyond belief in the stolen build -- there are numerous ways to crash the game without even trying regarding physics. Other things get you stuck, or just plain take your FPS to hell.

I agree, though, the stolen build was like a giant demo, but, too revealing. I as well wish I hadn't played it, but I have. Don't get it, it'll be so much a sweeter experience once you play the final product. That's not to say the game has been TOTALLY ruined for me, I'm very much looking forward to a fully functional, non-laggy, beautiful HL2.. whenever it comes out, I'll be pumped.

I don't have the stolen build anymore, but, not so much because of legal reasons, more so I needed the harddrive space I wasn't playing it at all by the time I deleted it, anyway.

Edit: I do agree, the lower portion of your third paragraph should be edited out, vegeta. There's no reason to mention that, it's a spoiler.

You know IMO, people who download and play the stolen build are supporting the actions of wich it was recieved in the first place.

What makes you any different then those who stole it. Your Sharing the spoils along side of them.
:rolling:

 

[Yakuza]

I still havent downloaded the leak......... the real thing will be that much better.

:cheers: :thumbs: :bounce:

 

[Shuzer]

You know IMO, people who download and play the stolen build are supporting the actions of wich it was recieved in the first place.

What makes you any different then those who stole it. Your Sharing the spoils along side of them.
:rolling:

I'd agree with you had this been a deciding factor as to whether or not I'd buy HL2. However, this is not the case. I was losing interest in HL2 at the time (although, I still had intent to buy it once it came out, looking forward to it now just as much as I was then), and, the stolen build revitalized my want for the game. Following playing it for forever and a day, all I did was find myself playing any of my other games saying "HL2 will be better than this!"

The HL2 stolen build, for me, was more of a "demo." It didn't do much for spoiling the storyline (I avoided the few levels that did that), I had great fun, and all it did was leave me wanting HL2 more.

As the months passed by since it was stolen, there's been nothing new on the HL2 front. The second I heard of the new screenshots in PC Gamer (2 shots and 1 concept art), I ran out and bought it. Since then, I find myself craving any bit of HL2 news, and am now finding all my other games boring; jaded for lack future technology. In the end, I regret playing the HL2 stolen build and wish I never had. I did, however play it, I can't go back in time. I try and spread the word to NOT download the build, it really has skewed my expectations for games. That's why, IMO, this thread is helpful (as well as my experience playing the stolen build being helpful). It quenches some people's want to DL the stolen build, also, it gives them something to talk about in an otherwise news-lacking time.

 

[eraser]

In the end, I regret playing the HL2 stolen build and wish I never had. I did, however play it, I can't go back in time. I try and spread the word to NOT download the build, it really has skewed my expectations for games. That's why, IMO, this thread is helpful (as well as my experience playing the stolen build being helpful). It quenches some people's want to DL the stolen build, also, it gives them something to talk about in an otherwise news-lacking time.

I totally agree. I regret downloading it, but I tell people not to download it, because you'll have a much better experience with the game if you don't.

You know IMO, people who download and play the stolen build are supporting the actions of wich it was recieved in the first place.

What makes you any different then those who stole it. Your Sharing the spoils along side of them.

But, I must say Yakuza, I hate it when all people try to do is bring down and make the people who played it feel bad. Which is exactly what you are trying to do.

 

[WhiteBoy]

If I could find a place to download this Beta, I am not sure if I would. Somdays I check this site atleast 4 times to see if there's a release date. Some are saying if you are more interested in how the game works you might want to download the beta. I am one of those people, but I don't want to become MORE addicted to HL2 as I already am...

 

[Yakuza]

I totally agree. I regret downloading it, but I tell people not to download it, because you'll have a much better experience with the game if you don't.



But, I must say Yakuza, I hate it when all people try to do is bring down and make the people who played it feel bad. Which is exactly what you are trying to do.

My point is, that it was this kinda attitude that lead to problem we are in now. I am not trying to bring any one down. Just stating my opinon on how I feel about those Harbor the actions of some bastard who got greedy.

I mean I can totally understand the pressure in doing it. I am dying to play HL2. But I wont allow myself to participate in downloading somthing that has been "STOLEN" from a group of hard working guys who's only intention was to create a kick ass game for us. And how do we repay them.


I mean if some stole a car and drove it to your house, would you take a test drive.

and seriously how the heck is this thread going to help. it only adds to the frustration to those who havent played the stolen source.

Believe me when I say I have come with in inches of downloading the source, but for the reasons I dont have nothing to do with HL2

 

[Shuzer]

My point is, that it was this kinda attitude that lead to problem we are in now. I am not trying to bring any one down. Just stating my opinon on how I feel about those Harbor the actions of some bastard who got greedy.

What was stolen was stolen, people who DL it aren't harboring criminal activities, they're curious, they try it out. I don't see the problem. It's not like you're copying and selling it (excluding the piracy market in foreign countries that we've been hearing about lol), then, I'd have a problem with it. I'd also have a problem if it was the full, working product, that'd just be screwing VALVe out of their well deserved money.

I'm not saying DLing the stolen build is a good, legal thing to do.. but, at the same time, I also don't believe it's a bad thing. If anything, the stolen build is free advertisement for VALVe (ONLY the stolen build, not the source code) more than anything else.

If anything, you should be on people's cases who DL the Source's source code, that's just wrong.

 

[Rafael]

Exactly, as long as people knows that the stolen build is a unfinished piece of software and don't help with the spread of the source code, I don't see any problem on it, that's is if they don't spoil the game to those of us who decided to do not download it

 

[Yakuza]

What was stolen was stolen, people who DL it aren't harboring criminal activities, they're curious, they try it out. I don't see the problem. It's not like you're copying and selling it (excluding the piracy market in foreign countries that we've been hearing about lol), then, I'd have a problem with it. I'd also have a problem if it was the full, working product, that'd just be screwing VALVe out of their well deserved money.

I'm not saying DLing the stolen build is a good, legal thing to do.. but, at the same time, I also don't believe it's a bad thing. If anything, the stolen build is free advertisement for VALVe (ONLY the stolen build, not the source code) more than anything else.

If anything, you should be on people's cases who DL the Source's source code, that's just wrong.

I am not even going in the direction of the money Valve could loose or has lost or whatever. Thats not my point.


Let me ask you this. If you met Gabe face to face and maybe some other members of valve, would you say "Hey guys, I have been playing that stolen source, and it has given me hope to play the final".

Realy the only person you were thinking about when downloading the source was yourself. Maybe its just me but I have a tendency to think about the people who got robbed.

Free advertisment for Valve ! who gave you such authority. Back to the car analogy. If I stole a car from a car sales lot, then took it for a joy ride, would you consider that positive advertisement. Maybe the maker of the car would give me a brownie for helping them out.

Maybe its because as an artist, I might see how I would be deeply hurt and upset if some broken into my private property and stole an unfinished piece of work, and to know that others were sharing what I had been working so hard on.

 

[Shuzer]

Let me ask you this. If you met Gabe face to face and maybe some other members of valve, would you say "Hey guys, I have been playing that stolen source, and it has given me hope to play the final".

No, of course I wouldn't. However, I wouldn't really mind slipping a question in regarding the stolen build, I'm sure he knows alot of his most loyal fans have played the stolen build in anticipation for the final game.

Free advertisment for Valve ! who gave you such authority. Back to the car analogy. If I stole a car from a car sales lot, then took it for a joy ride, would you consider that positive advertisement. Maybe the maker of the car would give me a brownie for helping them out.

The only problem with that analogy is.. the stolen build isn't a physical object. The stolen build can be copied infinitely without loss to VALVe, while a car being stolen from a car lot would be a loss to the car company. Plus, with a car, if it's incomplete, it's likely not to run.
Playable leaks that don't give away much of the game give companies free press. Do you think HL2 would have been talked about as much had it not been stolen? No, I don't. I'm sure alot of people had never heard of HL2, until it popped up on major news sites detailing its theft.


..let me ask you this, what has VALVe lost as a result of the stolen build (ONLY the stolen build, I'm not including HL2's source theft)?

It's like I said, DLing such a thing is neither good nor bad. It's really a decision to be left up to the person, IMO. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, I wish I hadn't played it as much as I did. The best I can do is discourage people from playing it now.

 

[Non-Sequitur]

Let me ask you this. If you met Gabe face to face and maybe some other members of valve, would you say "Hey guys, I have been playing that stolen source, and it has given me hope to play the final".

I think you're mixing up the source code with the "beta".

Most of us who downloaded and played just the beta only wanted to play what we'd seen in the E3 preview. I really don't think it lessened anyone's appetite for the full game to tell you the truth. It's the leak of the source code that was the real problem.

 

[mrchimp]

Can somone do some random checks on the time stamps of the media, like when were they last modified and when were they created. What I really want to know is at what point in time this was the current build?

 

[Chris D]

I'm not sure that would work would it?

The files were all in a RAR so wouldn't that mean they'd have the same date/time stamp as the RAR?

 

[mrchimp]

Good point there creation/last chnaged date might be the one when they were uncompressed, but it's still worth checking especially as that is not true for some archive types.

 

[CreedoG]

disclaimer: I've never seen/downloaded/played the stolen build, so i'm hopelessly clueless.

ok, I don't know if this breaks any rules, but what about the mp side of things? I heard that some group got HL2 MP working on a lan, steamless. (Heard here, in fact). But, is the MP just Half-Life 2 in an mp setting? Or is it CounterStrike 2? or is it Counter-Strike: Classic (just redone in the hl2 engine). Does anyone know? Will I be banned for this question? (I hope not )

 

[CrazyHarij]

But anyway, 2 of these monsters made me rip off my headphones and flip on the lights I got so freaking scared. It was the most dramatic moment I've ever experienced in any game. No joking here.

Hot damn!! I'm not gonna DL the beta , but whoa mama the game is gonna be funny if even a beta version gets you scared!

 

[Shuzer]

disclaimer: I've never seen/downloaded/played the stolen build, so i'm hopelessly clueless.

ok, I don't know if this breaks any rules, but what about the mp side of things? I heard that some group got HL2 MP working on a lan, steamless. (Heard here, in fact). But, is the MP just Half-Life 2 in an mp setting? Or is it CounterStrike 2? or is it Counter-Strike: Classic (just redone in the hl2 engine). Does anyone know? Will I be banned for this question? (I hope not )

The only multiplayer in the HL2 theft was the ability to connect to peers with one flat shaded model on the single player maps and run around with quite alot of lag. Basically, there was no multiplayer in the theft.

 

[eraser]

Can somone do some random checks on the time stamps of the media, like when were they last modified and when were they created. What I really want to know is at what point in time this was the current build?

I could be off a little, because I deleted it back in October, but I think the date on the files were around the 27-28th of September.

 

[Letters]

I could be off a little, because I deleted it back in October, but I think the date on the files were around the 27-28th of September.

That can't be right...

 

[eraser]

That can't be right...

Yeah, it's probably just the date it was compressed into RARs on.

 

[Chris D]

The files are actually between September and October for the content files. I personally don't think this is the case. If it says the date e3_techdemo2.map was created/modified was the 17th September, but there's textures missing and parts of it, then it's hardly true is it?

And if it is the date it was compressed to RAR on then it means the files were clearly stolen and .rared up BEFORE 26/09/03 - making it impossible for it to be that days build that was stolen.

 

[Alec_85]

Let me ask you this. If you met Gabe face to face and maybe some other members of valve, would you say "Hey guys, I have been playing that stolen source, and it has given me hope to play the final".

Actually, I think they would just say that they are pleased you liked it & want to ask for your opinion about it. From what I've read from VALVe, I truely believe that would be the way they would react. They seem to deal with life that way

 

[Chris D]

I would have much rather none of this ever happen. I in no way condone the release of the stolen build. Playing it isn't as bad really, because if anything it will just make you yearn more for the game. It's certainly not a substitute for the real thing when it comes out and therefore Valve won't have lost any sales from its leak. They'll be ok.

 

[mrchimp]

The files are actually between September and October for the content files. I personally don't think this is the case. If it says the date e3_techdemo2.map was created/modified was the 17th September, but there's textures missing and parts of it, then it's hardly true is it?

And if it is the date it was compressed to RAR on then it means the files were clearly stolen and .rared up BEFORE 26/09/03 - making it impossible for it to be that days build that was stolen.

or there's the possibuility the hacker simply didn't get chance to download all the content and thats why there are bits missing. But I doubt that very much, it just doesn't add up.

 

[Chris D]

It's no excuse for geometry of some levels to be missing, general coding errors and things happening differently.

It's a pre E3 build that's been leaked.

Let me put it another way. If THAT's all they had on the 30th September, we're not seeing it until at least Q3 2004

 

[eraser]

If it says the date e3_techdemo2.map was created/modified was the 17th September, but there's textures missing and parts of it, then it's hardly true is it?

You're right. Lol, I guess that slipped my mind. :bonce:

 

[mrchimp]

I'v never actually played the beta so I can't make a proper judgement, but I'v got a good feeling it's comeing out in April and that the beta isn't an indication of anything.

 

[niddhoggr]

i don't see how it's a spoiler, I mean common sense would tell you that sooner or later you would see the last of the hydra...

 

[Vegeta897]

Okay, what's with the notion of CS2 being the MP of Half-Life 2? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! Then what would we do if we wanted to play just regular HL2 MP?

And about the Compile dates and stuff, I really think that the build they stole was an OLD build, one that they had on a machine that they just didn't update. That would make ALOT of sense if you ask me.

 

[mrchimp]

The hacker apparantly said he had a newer build and that he was going to release that aswell but never got round to doing it

 

[Shuzer]

The hacker apparantly said he had a newer build and that he was going to release that aswell but never got round to doing it

That was a lie/rumor.. anon addressed that as an untruth in one of his release nfos