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HL2 starts preloading tommrow?

I'm pretty sure the CS:S Beta begins preloading for CS:CZ and ATI voucher owners. And they can play the 18th. And on the 18th, Half Life 2 starts preloading.
 
LordJezo said:
What does preloading mean?
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It downloads to your computer, but you can't play it yet. It's one way to spread out downloading for everyone, although a lot of people will start ASAP.
 
dudewth said:
It downloads to your computer, but you can't play it yet. It's one way to spread out downloading for everyone, although a lot of people will start ASAP.
Click to expand...


i don't think i'd like that very much. "here's 5 gigs that you can't have back until X day, and if you attempt to crack it, we take it, if you delete it, you lose it."
 
HL2 starts preloading on the 17th. CS:S beta for CZ owners/ATI coupon holders starts preloading on the 16th and goes live for them on the 18th.
 
I'll belive it when it starts downloading, same for CS:S. I'll just about guarantee some "server trouble" or whatever they can cook up.
 
Sanitarium said:
I'll belive it when it starts downloading, same for CS:S. I'll just about guarantee some "server trouble" or whatever they can cook up.
Click to expand...

care to wager your 6800gt on that? :p
 
The game *itself* won't be downloaded to your computer, as it isn't DONE yet.

What they are 'preloading' are game materials - textures, sound effects, music files, maybe even some levels - that have been 'development locked' and no more work will be done on them, period.

That doesn't even mean the engine ITSELF is finished yet, just the art. Which is fine, really, as the art is the largest part of any game, bar none. Starting getting that on client PCs months in advance is a very smart of Valve, as it reduces the 0-day server load substantially. I mean, imagine if they released the game and you suddenly have several million people downloading 5 gig a piece all at once! Would kill ANY server farm!

Instead, spread that 5 gig of art and music, etc over a few months...and the load is much more manageable. When the game itself is 'done', that's just a few mb executable and a dozen or so mb-sized DLLs.

IOW, 'preloading' is nothing to get excited about, it's just a way for Valve to get more PR and try to keep everyone believing the game is nearly done and will be out 'any day now'. The final build of the game core itself is probably still months off.

(OTOH, those folks with the leaked alpha will almost certainly be able to make good use of these new resource files...would be interesting to see what comes of THAT)
 
dderidex said:
The game *itself* won't be downloaded to your computer, as it isn't DONE yet.

What they are 'preloading' are game materials - textures, sound effects, music files, maybe even some levels - that have been 'development locked' and no more work will be done on them, period.

That doesn't even mean the engine ITSELF is finished yet, just the art. Which is fine, really, as the art is the largest part of any game, bar none. Starting getting that on client PCs months in advance is a very smart of Valve, as it reduces the 0-day server load substantially. I mean, imagine if they released the game and you suddenly have several million people downloading 5 gig a piece all at once! Would kill ANY server farm!

Instead, spread that 5 gig of art and music, etc over a few months...and the load is much more manageable. When the game itself is 'done', that's just a few mb executable and a dozen or so mb-sized DLLs.

IOW, 'preloading' is nothing to get excited about, it's just a way for Valve to get more PR and try to keep everyone believing the game is nearly done and will be out 'any day now'. The final build of the game core itself is probably still months off.

(OTOH, those folks with the leaked alpha will almost certainly be able to make good use of these new resource files...would be interesting to see what comes of THAT)
Click to expand...

you think they'd preload files on the users systems and let them sit there taking up space for months? thats pretty cruel ;)
 
Xtasy0 said:
you think they'd preload files on the users systems and let them sit there taking up space for months? thats pretty cruel ;)
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So was the year long delay. :D
 
It's not going to be sitting on EVERYONE's computer for "months" anyway.

What, do you think tomorrow everyone will get the 5 gig of art downloaded?

How does that help reduce the '0-day' server load? It doesn't, it just moves it forward, which is probably worse.

The 'preload' start will likely just be a few hundred megabytes a day to a different percentage of the steam-running population each day until all 5 gb is downloaded to everyone. I expect the pre-load process *itself* to take weeks at LEAST to finish, or else what's the point in doing a pre-load at all? The only sensible reason for it is to spread the bandwidth usage out, and the only way to DO that is to...well....spread the downloads out!
 
I believe you some of you may be wrong about this.

I expect the game to be released in no more than 60 days.

And I believe the number of people pre-loading HL2 won't be in the 'millions'.

Doom 3 pre-sold an estimated 2 million copies, none of which were downloaded. I think that most people would rather have a physical game than a downloaded one, and so only about 30 or 40 percent will download it.


I feel it's a very smart move for Valve to do this.
 
Ok so can I buy Half Life 2 now and get my preloading started when it starts? I would rather buy the game online in a download form. I installed Steam a few days ago and now I want to buy my Half Life 2 game. They selling yet?
 
no the only way you can start preloading it is if you have the cupon or have CS CZ or something.
 
also keep in mind, you will be able to get the collectors edition too on steam. steam is a good option, valve gets more money out of it too, and its nice to see more $$ go to the developer :cool:
 
I still dont get this preloading thing..

So some stuff is getting downloaded from Valve? Where does it come from? Do you decide if you want it or not or is it just forced on you? Does it get sent via that Steam thing? Does this concept of preloading happen often?
 
I will just wait until it is done, and go to the store and buy it.

I hate steam, so, I guess I will always be playing the orig version of hl2 all the time :rolleyes:
 
doh-nut said:
HL2 starts preloading on the 17th. CS:S beta for CZ owners/ATI coupon holders starts preloading on the 16th and goes live for them on the 18th.
Click to expand...
You win the prize for being the first correct participant in this thread. In fact, you win a complimentary CS: S preload starting today :D
 
LordJezo said:
So some stuff is getting downloaded from Valve? Where does it come from?
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From Valve
LordJezo said:
Do you decide if you want it or not or is it just forced on you?
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You decide.
LordJezo said:
Does it get sent via that Steam thing?
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Yes.
LordJezo said:
Does this concept of preloading happen often?
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When a new game comes out. It will automatically update the games you already have on steam without you asking to keep everyone on the same page, but you only preload games if you want them.
Tony Montana said:
how big will HL2 be?
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Gabe Newell said:
Since Half-Life 2 is ~2 GB (or 16 Gb) over the wire, we can serve up about a person/second with a complete copy of the game. These are idealized numbers - the real capacity planning numbers are quite a bit lower.
Click to expand...
 
gumplunger said:
And CS: S would start preloading on the 16th.
Click to expand...

correct, cs:s preloads today for ati hl2 coupon holders/cs:cz people, on the 18th they get to play cs:s and on the 17th hl2 starts preloading.
 
i think its also a play to reduce piracy. Imagine over 100,000 people d/led d3 before it was even released(because people couldnt wait). Valve decided to get HL2/CSS on peoples machines atlease in part early. I think its a great idea.

I have a few questions though. I am not a coupon holder, can I preload? Can I pay for it over steam? When you say it goes live the 18th is that when people can start playing?
 
Chomp said:
Doom 3 pre-sold an estimated 2 million copies, none of which were downloaded. I think that most people would rather have a physical game than a downloaded one, and so only about 30 or 40 percent will download it.
Click to expand...

Yeah... until release day when the other 70% realizes that their retailer hasn't shipped their preorder yet but they could be playing the game in an hour if they buy over Steam, hahaha
 
Perhaps you had a bad experience with say... BEST BUY.


I have HL2 pre-ordered with free overnight shipping from gamestop, and I expect them to deliver just as the did on time with Doom 3 :D
 
Chomp said:
Doom 3 pre-sold an estimated 2 million copies, none of which were downloaded. I think that most people would rather have a physical game than a downloaded one, and so only about 30 or 40 percent will download it.
Click to expand...

I dont believe Doom 3 could be dl'ed so I dont see how thats a valid point? But then again...technically speaking over 50,000 copies of the game were dl'ed before the game was released via warez ;)
 
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