First of all, Eldaron, are you using the same e-mail address for Steam this time as you were last time? If so, you SHOULD be able to download all of the normal HL games just like before.

However, if that isn't what's wrong, don't fret, they come with your ATI coupon anyway. To imput the ATI coupon (And get access to all teh normal HL games, Counter-Strike: Source beta, and the Half-Life 2 preload), just load up steam, wait for it to update fully, go to browse games, and then hit "Register products I already own" button on the bottom left hand corner. Type in the ATI key there and you should be good to go.

This comment was edited on Oct 19, 2024, 06:06.

Hey Gabe, maybe you wouldn't get pelted with so many questions if you got off your fat ass and allowed certain sites to post a "How It Will Run On Your Shitty System" guide, like they did for Doom 3.
Or maybe you just don't really want anyone to see how crap your game still is?

Well, Counter Strike: Source runs very well on my brother's PC (which is weaker than mine).

But those DOOM 3 benchmarks that came out were on the gold-version (or very, very near gold) of DOOM 3.

Half-Life 2 probably isn't there yet. My guess is, it won't be out until October. Once it goes gold, they have to worry about stamping the CD's, which takes a while. That's why a game normally goes gold a month or 2 before hitting the shelves.

Sure, there's Steam, but I'm pretty sure they signed agreements out the a$$ that they wouldn't release it on Steam until the CD's were on the shelves.

So, once it's gold (or yellow-ish), I'm sure Gabe will release something to the tech-sites for benchmarking.


"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you."
-Fry, Futurmama

I got a Radeon 9800XT and got this coupon thing with it.
But how can I download the packs? I got some kind of cd-key with the coupon but I can't download the packs anywhere nor can I enter the key! How can I let STEAM know I'm one of those coupon holders?

I don't understand STEAM.
The first time I installed steam I could play Counter Strike.. all those Half Life add-ons and half life itself!

The second time I installed steam (uninstalled it because of computer change), I could only play that pathetic "Gordon's *whatever*" 2D game and have to BUY the games I once HAD for free!
Was this a divine BUG or something?

Plz.. can someone help me.. and EXPLAIN it

THanks,
Eldaron

ps: if you want you can personally E-Mail me. v_poppelier@hotmail.com


Thanks again.

Is anyone else out there annoyed that every gaming website seems to always benchmark using the top 5% hardware although sales of budget hardware comprises a huge amount more of market share? Noticed this trend yet again with Doom3 and HL2 benchmarks. I've got a 9500 Pro and AMD Mobile 2500+ and I hardly ever see gaming websites using this technology (3 yrs old+). Does anyone know of websites that cater to the more budget minded consumer and not people that can blow 400 USD every year for a new video card?

But...THAT MAKES NO SENSE!

:o,
Ray

-----
HAIL ALL PLANET ZYGON...ER...THE RAY MARDEN OF THE BLUE'S NEWS.
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=ray_marden
I love you, mom.

Is it already time for the mighty Chewbacca defense?

Exactly. There has been minimal development time on CS:S.

Also note that this is just CounterSMACK: Source and not CounterSMACK 2.

I will not even bother trying to guess when that will come out, but they are two different things.

Throwing a nail grenade in the thread,
Ray

-----
HAIL ALL PLANET ZYGON...ER...THE RAY MARDEN OF THE BLUE'S NEWS.
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=ray_marden
I love you, mom.

I suspect a lot of this has to do with the fact that the CS:S beta doesn't really seem to display much at all of what the Source engine is capable of.

Exactly. There has been minimal development time on CS:S. The thing about Valve, they have proven themselves time and time again that they will continue to upgrade existing products. So in 6 months after release we might see new models or even improvements to the maps.

Also what needs to be considered is that Valve is creating real world settings, something close to what we are used to seeing in life, or even regularily on tv, etc. With that we subconciously know what we should be seeing and when it's missing we may not notice it but its just going to not look right. Doom 3 was an all metal science facility on Mars, not really something we see very often and when we do its always someones version of what that setting might look like. So it's alot easier to fake it and impress with the surroundings, fill it with pipes, cables and computers that we really have no idea what they are there for, etc.

So it is simply going to be harder for Valve to "Wow" the public because we know what brick walls and houses look like on earth. The best they can do is create what seems to be a lived in environment and hope they create the illusion correctly. In my opinion this is a lot harder to do convincingly, and to me it looks like they have succeded.

Far Cry outclass Half Life 2? Sorry but not going to happen. Maybe you should play the CS:Source beta before opening your idiotic mouth.

I know graphics are subjective and all but do you honestly believe CS:S looks better than Far Cry? CS:S looks good, there's no doubt about it. Call of Duty also looks good and no will argue that either. There just simply isn't that "WOW" factor that you got the first time you played the Far Cry Demo or when the camera pulls back from the computer monitor and you get your first view of Doom 3 in action.

I suspect a lot of this has to do with the fact that the CS:S beta doesn't really seem to display much at all of what the Source engine is capable of. I'm sure Half-Life 2 will have that wow-factor that is eluding the CS:S Beta. If not I'm sure HL2 will still be a blast to play, just not as pretty as Doom 3.

I agree somewhat with Tumbler. I'm sure the game will rock but it has been outdone engine wise already in most ways. It uses Havok, which while modified quite a lot, has been used extensively in many games already, and that was supposed to be the one major feature in the engine.

Doom3's 'physics' aren't as good as the havok engine in so far as boxes tumbling and debri flying or what ever, because it uses it's own proprietary physics engine. However it's physics engine isn't JUST falling boxes and such, it's very innovated 'ragdoll' physics which is better then any before it, and it's sound engine, which is also quite amazing and very innovative.

The HL2 vids still look quite awesome and I'm sure the game will rock, maybe even be better then Doom3. But in terms of the technology of Source, it is good, but it's been outdone IMHO.

Course if people remember back when Doom3 was first shown, a lot of people insisted it was pre-rendered graphics. Id have to prove to them that it was real time, hehe.

As to the fact that steams survey shows more poeple are using low end nvidia cards then high end ati cards. Thats because most people cannot afford a top end graphics card. That and really the FX5 series of nvidia cards were initially quite disappointing. I agree with this and I'm an nvidia fan But that still doesn't dispute the fact that valve delayed the game originally because they realized how many people who were using steam were using nvidia cards. Especially the lower end ones.. which were severely lacking in frames at the time. If like 400 out of the 550k people using steam are going to get terrible framerates in your game, you have a problem.

Also it might be interesting to note that the nvidia deficiencies in the source engine are no longer such a bad case. Evidence of this can be found in troika's new source based game Vampire: Bloodlines, which is displayed on nvidia FX5 series cards and running very smoothly. How each card will fair in terms of performance though.. we'll have to wait and see. I'm sure it will be ATI though as they are lining valves pockets.


This comment was edited on Aug 20, 00:01.

I'm passing on this game. It just looks like another tech demo with a story line. SOSDDFPS With the added garbage that comes with Steam they can keep it.

I have to agree with sponge, although I expect to enjoy the game I don't expect it to be anything more than more of what made half-life so great. The amazing properties of their source engine have been implemented in several excellent games already (Far-Cry, Doom3, Painkiller) so the wow factor is gone, and seeing CS:S really crushed my hopes. That particular game is nothing more than a port with prettier graphics and cans that move around. Whoop tee do. Those Amazing half life video's looked pretty nice way back when they were released, but today they look behind the times...and the game still isn't out yet...

HL2 is not a modified Havok engine, it uses the Havok engine for physics, that's it. And Havok has just been dropped in and modified to work with HL2, its been recoded up the ass to exceed the ability of the havok engine. It is a revolution as far as physics are concerned because they spent the extra time to make them unique so you can manipulate the environment that will affect the game.

Far Cry outclass Half Life 2? Sorry but not going to happen. Maybe you should play the CS:Source beta before opening your idiotic mouth.

And as usual Tim is showing how stupid he is with his uninformed comments.

BTW, the smoke in CS:S is awesome.

In terms of cracking Steam, it's been done already. There's a generic unprotect tool floating around the interweb.

And sponge, ehh, half of the games used for your comparison aren't even out yet. Before you make judgements like that, it may be worthwhile to, oh, I dunno, actually play them. kthxbye.

CSS IS PHOTOREALISTIC OMGLOLFOFLFOL!!

I swear some of the posts in this thread have actually pissed me off at the sheer stupidity and fanboyism.

Anyway, HL2 is a modified Havok engine. It's really nothing special, it was just one of the first games to use it - at least it would've been were it released in time. Painkiller has *just* as much physics potential, it's just they treated like how it should be - an addition, while Valve made it an integral part of the game. Half of the physics in HL2 are just creative uses. Not a bad thing, however not some revolution that people are making it to be.

As for the engine itself, HL2 is kinda stuck in a void in my mind. Indoor, Doom3 without a doubt. Outdoor, Far Cry and Tribes Vengance outclass HL2. The most exciting part was the physics, but that has lost it's novelty in the year delay.

Anyone remember the leaked HL2 beta? ROFL, the masses were messed up there - dropping a barrel on your head would inflict 10-20 pts of damage, while dropping a watermelon would fatally wound you.

Yeah, that statement struck me as odd too.... HL1 was based on the Quake engine, but HL2 is built from scratch.

So you’re saying Valve would license this game engine that is loosely based on Unreal technology to another developer?

Say what? What does Unreal have to do with.. well. ANYTHING related to Valve?

This comment was edited on Oct 19, 2024, 06:05.

But c'mon guys! It'S STEAM! WHOO! Look at it go! Let's all watch it write to the drive!! Isn't this great?!? Look, more data was just written!!! WHOOO!!!!! GO STEAM GO!!!

You're too young to be this cynical

Hey Gabe, maybe you wouldn't get pelted with so many questions if you got off your fat ass and allowed certain sites to post a "How It Will Run On Your Shitty System" guide, like they did for Doom 3.
Or maybe you just don't really want anyone to see how crap your game still is?

Just speculating.

Creston

"HL2 pre-loading" just doesn't have the same ring as "HL2 gone GOLD!".

dynamic lighting? how much dynamic lighting can you have on a desert map under a cloudless sky at high noon?

lol! I agree. It reminds me of the DM maps from Quake 3 - they were quite plain compared to what the Q3 engine could really do ya? Watching the VST, the lighting seems very good to my eyes, specially 'round the flames around the transparent guy part.

(outdoor) night time maps - oh yeah!

Come to Graceland CS:S 24.24.216.59