I can't play HL2. Words cannot describe this.

V

Vegeta

Gawd
Joined
May 12, 2002
Messages
595
So I bought HL2 a few weeks ago after I beat Doom 3 so I would have a new game to play. I installed it, 5 CDs and all, only to find I had to update steam. OK well whateaver was needed fine. That took a good hour or so on dial up. OK so thats done, now I can play. Well I go through steam to launch the game and it says "Decrypting Game Files"... I think "Jesus... this is a little much"... So I let it do that. It seemed as it was downloading in 20% incriments, and then working with the hard drive. So about an hour later, it is done and I can finally play it. I play and was in awe of how great the game looked and played.

All throughout the past week though I have had problems. Not with HL2. It has ran great. I have had problems with Steam. So many problems that it has enraged me beyond the point of which my words can describe. I have this great game. It works just fine. My 2200+ and my 9800 run it just fine. But this one little program called Steam wont let me play it.

Every time I would go to start HL2 it would open steam and connect and all and then say the following:

"SteamStartup() failed: SteamStartup(0xf,0x12e0f4) failed with error 108: The local Steam Service is not running."

Which we be normal if I tried to start HL2 without steam... but it says this AS STEAM IS RUNNING RIGHT BEHIND IT.

I would just restart the computer or click on steam 10 or 15 times and eventually it would run the game. But I got tired of this and figured I would reinstall Steam from disc 1. So I did. And lo and behold now it gives me this error everytime, no matter what. Maybe it's my crappy ICS sharing over an old 10 base hub with 56K but its all I can afford.

I am at my wits end. I love HL2.. I had gotten to Ravenholm right before these problems ensued. But now I really don't know what to do.


I, along with what seems to be a lot of other people, are extremely dissapointed with Valve's inclusion of Steam. I bought the game, I registered the CD Key. I should be able to play it.

That reminds me. Right after I did the online CD Key registering I tried turning on Offline mode for HL2. It seemed to work but when i went to play it said 'This game cannot be run in offline mode'.... shoot me in the face, please.
 
Not trying to be a dick or anything, but have you tried contacting their Tech support, or tried posting this in Valves forums? You'd probably get more traction there.

I totally sympathize with you. It sounds extremely frustrating. I had stopped playing CS when it went to Steam because I had all sorts of trouble with Steam as well, mostly it causing my machine to spontaneously reboot within seconds of loading.

So I was very apprehensive about even buying HL2. However I downloaded the demo and it seemed to work fine, so I got the game and haven't had any problems with it. Apparently I'm one of the lucky ones, because I've heard countless horror stories like yours.

Best of luck.
 
I know EXACTLY how you feel, it took me 3 days before I could play my copy, and I have broadband where I can normally download in excess of 600k per second of servers like ATI and microsoft.

Fuck Steam :mad:
 
JethroXP said:
Not trying to be a dick or anything, but have you tried contacting their Tech support, or tried posting this in Valves forums? You'd probably get more traction there.

I totally sympathize with you. It sounds extremely frustrating. I had stopped playing CS when it went to Steam because I had all sorts of trouble with Steam as well, mostly it causing my machine to spontaneously reboot within seconds of loading.

So I was very apprehensive about even buying HL2. However I downloaded the demo and it seemed to work fine, so I got the game and haven't had any problems with it. Apparently I'm one of the lucky ones, because I've heard countless horror stories like yours.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, thats the other funny thing. You have to be "online" to access their troubleshooting. I had a friend that wouldn't connect and it was asking him to sign in to access troubleshooting. How the fuck are you supposed to log in for help if you can't register?

Valve troubleshooting is WORTHLESS
 
Congrats, you just met that horrendous monster called Steam. He will be turning your experiance to shit whenever you wish to play a game that uses him. Theres not much you can do about it, besides right hate mail to Valve.
 
Yeah, Valve is a pain to some people, but on the other hand it makes it more difficult to pirate and it also give you game updates automaticly, so sad that it had to make the magnum weak now.
 
weakER. it now takes a little more skill to get kills with it.
 
I had problems with steam too. The only thing that could fix it was reinstalling HL2 from the cd's. I have a feeling that if I had bought the game through steam I still would not be able to play it.
 
Actually, I downloaded HL2 through steam, but I didn't buy it. I then got the retail game for Christmas (the 5 CDs) and simply entered the CD Key without ever loading a CD in my drive. It went through that decrypting BS for about 20 minutes, but then I was able to play. Also oddly enough, the game box I got was one of the old school big boxes. I thought they stopped making those years ago. All I've ever seen are the new smaller boxes. However my sister, who bought the game for me, said that all she saw were the big boxes. Wierd huh?
 
You think that sucks? HL2 wouldn't even make it past disk 3 on the install. So I returned that shitty ass christmas present and pocketed the money. Valve and it's steam bullshit can blow me, I'll be playing UT2k4.

Sorry to hear another HL2 horror storry, I feel for you man.
 
I had not exhasted all of my options therefore I had not contacted their tech support (of which I dont hear any better of.)

I had Half life 2 installed on another hard drive before I upgraded to a bigger one a few days ago. I went back to that HD's steam folder and used that version of steam and it is working. I am going to try a reinstall and see if it works. I am not sure how this newly installed one got corrupted.

I find the whole thing overly complicated. And Am I the onyl one who it does not let play in offline mode? It would be much easier for me if I could play offline. I have to turn on my hub and other computer that has my modem in it and connect and everything before I could play.


I miss the old days of gaming.
 
Where are the usual my game works, Valve and steam rocks roll eyes here comments? :D
 
I have three things to say: you are entitled to play the game you buy, however if you don't give valve a chance to fix a problem that could be on your end, I dont think you deserve your money back.

Second: Welcome to the real world.
Third: Life is not a bed of roses and the world of computers is the same way. With the oogles of people installing HL2, there are bound to be people that have problems. You can't expect every single install to go perfectly. Just deal with it.
 
Steam works great for me. Not had any major issues, I bought on Steam when preload started.

BUT a friend of mine bought the game on CD and he too only has dialup. He had issues too. He thinks Steam is totally lame too and after hearing the shit that he has been through to get it installed and working I dont blame him.
 
works great for me.. never any problems at all..... stuttering are gone for me, except these 71.24's drivers i need to get rid of........ they suck ass because of the black artifacts they give me... grrrrr
 
JethroXP said:
Not trying to be a dick or anything, but have you tried contacting their Tech support, or tried posting this in Valves forums?
Click to expand...

Valve has actually managed to create a tech support "team" so incompetent that you'd actually have better luck going to other people for help. They seem to not care about individual customers; only if they notice a trend of mistakes will they say anything about it.
 
MeanieMan said:
The only person that needed to post here.
Everyone else, both the "mine works, it your fault" and "value sucks" crowds had no need or reason to post. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Not to be a prick, but he technically asked us to shoot him in the face, not send him to the tech support page that might actually fix his problem :p
 
LiquidX said:
Where are the usual my game works, Valve and steam rocks roll eyes here comments? :D
Click to expand...

Well, I HAVE installed two copies of HL2, and had both of them working quickly. However, I also know what it's like to feel like the only one with a bad tech problem.

Hate it for all you guys with Steam/HL2 probs. Haven't had any yet, but I still wish they had used a more traditional delivery/anti-piracy system.
 
I downloaded and played hl2 the day it was released, no problems here
 
JethroXP said:
Not trying to be a dick or anything, but have you tried contacting their Tech support, or tried posting this in Valves forums? You'd probably get more traction there.

I totally sympathize with you. It sounds extremely frustrating. I had stopped playing CS when it went to Steam because I had all sorts of trouble with Steam as well, mostly it causing my machine to spontaneously reboot within seconds of loading.

So I was very apprehensive about even buying HL2. However I downloaded the demo and it seemed to work fine, so I got the game and haven't had any problems with it. Apparently I'm one of the lucky ones, because I've heard countless horror stories like yours.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...
Valve has no tech support. Don't believe me? You try to find it.
 
nweibley said:
I have three things to say: you are entitled to play the game you buy, however if you don't give valve a chance to fix a problem that could be on your end, I dont think you deserve your money back.

Second: Welcome to the real world.
Third: Life is not a bed of roses and the world of computers is the same way. With the oogles of people installing HL2, there are bound to be people that have problems. You can't expect every single install to go perfectly. Just deal with it.
Click to expand...

Translation: If a customer has trouble because the program is bugged, it's his fault for buying it.
 
I hate the idea of Steam. Too much trouble if you ask me. Although I didn't have any problems with my copy. But taking 45 minutes to install a game is pretty rediculous.

When copy protection keeps the legitimate owner of a piece of software from using that software under normal circumstances, they've gone too far.

Be glad your not having to install crap like Maya, and 3ds Max. Steam's cake comparitively.
 
Triath said:
Yeah fuck america, I mean valve.
Click to expand...

lmfao, reminds me of that world police movie...

I would just like to say I bought HL2 retail (DVD) and it installed and updated flawlessly all in like 20 mins I think. Just to show that it is posssible for things to go right sometimes, although not very often. :D
 
i heard all these horror stories of steam but when i installed HL2 and Steam Dec 26th over 56k (was away from broadband) i only needed to be online mabey 30-40 min to do all the steam tasks before i could play in offline mode. I image if i would have been on my dsl connection it would have been more like 10-20 min. I hate the idea of steam but honestally it has worked perfectally for me thus far. *knock on wood*
 
i wouldn't mind joining the steam-hate parade. im really good at hating things and id probably enjoy it, theres just one problem though. steam has never given me problems to be pissed about. :mad:

except for the hardly-functioning friends list, which is sorta annoying i guess. think thats enough for me to hate steam? ok let me try.

Steam, you piece of shit! damn you! you are the downfall of gaming as we know it!

howd i do? can anyone offer me any possible critiques in my steam-hating method and technique? i want to bash steam with the best of them.
 
I'm so there dude.. I've never had a problem with Steam, and everything works great with all the Steam games. I dig the way it updates everything on it's own and so on.

But.. I'm totally feeling left out of the Steam hate parade. I mean, I know that Gabe intentionally went out of his way to hire incompetent programmers to screw it up, but apparently my machine isn't functioning correctly because it ended up working just fine anyway. I mean, Gabe is fat, so we have to hate him, and his company, and any game they produce.

I really loved the other thread that speculated on what would happen if Valve shut their doors, and how we'd all be screwed out of playing a game we bought.. assuming Steam didn't already shit on us and we can't play it anyway. I need tips on how to make shit up, just so I can say clever and witty things about how much Valve/Steam/HL2/Fat Bastard sucks.

But.. in the end.. my sig says it all I guess..
 
I didn't expect HL2 to change my life, thanks. What I did expect is that I could actually install/play the game.


Whoops! My bad, I'm asking too much again... gotta go easier on people whose programs don't run correctly...
 
Sarcasm is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, not obvious. Some of you need a bit of practice on this :rolleyes:

Steam is an excellent idea; making it mandatory for a fanbase as vast as that of Half-Life was a terrible idea. Combine those two thoughts and you have a polarized demographic that would sooner tear eachothers eyes out and skull-fuck them than concede on either point. You're no better for supporting Steam than the people who hate it.

The most perplexing part of all of this is why people insist that Steam is helping against piracy. It isn't helped nothing. Most major news sites were reporting it had been cracked within three days of release.
 
WickedAngel said:
The most perplexing part of all of this is why people insist that Steam is helping against piracy. It isn't helped nothing. Most major news sites were reporting it had been cracked within three days of release.
Click to expand...

There's a few tens of thousands of people out there who probably dont agree with that statement right now. lol
 
Yar. Anyone know if the Steam bans are tied to hardware at all? That would be awesome cuz Punkbuster now ties hardware to your ID so as soon as you get banned it bans you from all PB games. Unless of course you buy a new HDD.
 
The news reports weren't mentioning the fakes provided by Valve. They were reporting the Steam mimicks provided by sources called "Demonoid" and "Hoodlum".
 
WickedAngel said:
Sarcasm is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, not obvious. Some of you need a bit of practice on this :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
maybe.

WickedAngel said:
It isn't helped nothing.
Click to expand...

and this is where i say you need a little practice with basic english. yadda yadda yadda

WickedAngel said:
Steam is an excellent idea; making it mandatory for a fanbase as vast as that of Half-Life was a terrible idea. Combine those two thoughts and you have a polarized demographic that would sooner tear eachothers eyes out and skull-fuck them than concede on either point. You're no better for supporting Steam than the people who hate it.
Click to expand...

well we can both concede on the point that people like you are wasting your time writing destructive posts about steam that will help no one, instead of doing something constructive about it. or do you want to challenge that point?
 
and this is where i say you need a little practice with basic english. yadda yadda yadda
Click to expand...

That is what happens when you combine the sentences "It isn't helping anything." and "It has helped nothing". If you wish to criticize my simple error, perhaps you would care to go back and fix the punctuation errors that have riddled every post of yours on this forum.

I'll blame MSN on that one...being pestered by your girl is counterproductive to the thinking process.

well we can both concede on the point that people like you are wasting your time writing destructive posts about steam that will help no one, instead of doing something constructive about it.
Click to expand...

Get off your high horse, kid.

I have wasted no time. Letting people know about the faults of Steam is a service, regardless of whether you're too foolish to see it or not. There is nothing more constructive than warning a fanbase against a glitchy product. Steam's customer support is next to impossible to get a response out of. Do you think it would be more constructive for me to waste time emailing a random account of theirs to give them feedback that will never be read?

Your posts have been far from constructive. You've accused people of stealing, hacking, and cheating without any proof to back it up whatsoever. I then silenced you on all three points, showing that I have, in fact, bought the game and that a Steam representative helped me recover the account that was stolen due to their lackluster security (Proving that I didn't steal or cheat, since she helped). Instead of conceding, you change the subject and begin making ridiculous analogies to MMORPGs.

Congratulations. Your subjective opinions are about the weakest defenses that I've ever seen.
 
WickedAngel said:
That is what happens when you combine the sentences "It isn't helping anything." and "It has helped nothing". If you wish to criticize my simple error, perhaps you would care to go back and fix the punctuation errors that have riddled every post of yours on this forum.

I'll blame MSN on that one...being pestered by your girl is counterproductive to the thinking process.
Click to expand...

my lack of correct punctuation is just forum laziness, as is my lack of capitalizing the proper letters. conjugation of verbs takes no effort though, its just a quick brain process. but if what you have in the brain is not correct, then well, you know what happens.

WickedAngel said:
Get off your high horse, kid.

I have wasted no time. Letting people know about the faults of Steam is a service, regardless of whether you're too foolish to see it or not. There is nothing more constructive than warning a fanbase against a glitchy product. Steam's customer support is next to impossible to get a response out of. Do you think it would be more constructive for me to waste time emailing a random account of theirs to give them feedback that will never be read?
Click to expand...

letting people know the faults? all you are letting people know is that your experience with steam has not been good.. whether its your fault, your computers fault, or steams fault is still up in the air... realize that you are the minority and that there isn't going to be some uprising against steam.

WickedAngel said:
Your posts have been far from constructive. You've accused people of stealing, hacking, and cheating without any proof to back it up whatsoever. I then silenced you on all three points, showing that I have, in fact, bought the game and that a Steam representative helped me recover the account that was stolen due to their lackluster security (Proving that I didn't steal or cheat, since she helped). Instead of conceding, you change the subject and begin making ridiculous analogies to MMORPGs.

Congratulations. Your subjective opinions are about the weakest defenses that I've ever seen.
Click to expand...

the problem is, they have no proof to back up that they are not cheating, hacking or stealing. you see someone post in the steam forums about their problems with steam. woe is them, as everyone has pity for this legitimate customer. then a valve employee replies and tells them they've been trying to use fake credit cards etc. as far as im concerned, someone with a disabled steam account is guilty until proven innocent. whether or not you are the cause of your steam account being disabled is still up in the air. why would you admit on the forum that it was your fault anyway? it wouldn't be good for your cyber-ego. so of course it had to be steams fault.

my analogy to mmorpgs stands. the similarity is undeniable, and i only brought it up to show that if you can bitch about steam, you can bitch about mmorpgs. i wasn't even praising steam. just comparing other things to it. but of course you think if someone isn't bashing steam, they are steam fanb0ys eh? riight..

and yes i have been constructive mostly. i have invested in you wisdom that is beyond priceless. and you will thank me for it someday. :eek:
 
I got HL2 through Steam, took quite a few hours over the cable modem, but it all came through fine. I played it the day it came out and beat it 2 days later and have been playing it occasionally since and never had a problem with Steam. I've been playing CS:Source since I beat HL2 and I haven't had any problems with that either.
I also took the liberty of downloading all the games that came with my HL2 package and they all came through fine, just haven't played all of them, played half of HL1 but got sidetracked by CS:Source.
BTW, my system was a P3 945mhz with 1 gig of ram and 9600XT and HL2 and CS:Source played pretty good on it. I just recently upgraded to the P4 in my sig, less than 2 weeks ago. bought a mobo and ram from 2 members here.
this is my games list with Steam.
games.jpg
 
markt435 said:
Yar. Anyone know if the Steam bans are tied to hardware at all? That would be awesome cuz Punkbuster now ties hardware to your ID so as soon as you get banned it bans you from all PB games. Unless of course you buy a new HDD.
Click to expand...

I dont think so, I have activated my copy of steam on about 10 computers now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top