Steam

I know I should have looked deeper in the forums, but has the question of "can steam run offline yet?" has been answered yet? (if it is, direct me, im in a rush at the moment) I just found this out, my comp isnt always connected to DSL, and i need to test Hang-em-high without being connected. Or maybe there is a way to bipass it.

Sorry, not yet. I dunno what Valve's waiting on though, maybe HL2. But they said back in October they were almost done with the offline-Lan utility for Steam, but it hasn't been released yet :sad: . . . Keep waiting I guess.

Steam's FAQ has it right here

Maybe they're waiting on CS:CZ?

Maybe, all I can say for sure is, they're certainly waiting for something. Maybe they massivly altered some of the steam code at some point meaning they had to re-write the offline client all over again, nonetheless, it's their job so, they should be done or testing still or something like that.

I mean the point is really, we don't know what they're working on at the moment. They could be wrapping up new features of HL2 online or off, mid way through creating official mod set 2 (TFC2, DOD2, CS2, etc)

All I know is they'll release it when they're done, if you really think about it, this stuff is like their baby. I mean seriously, they've put 5+ years of their lives into it, they're not going to be satified until it's near perfection. And it's interface (Steam) is no exception to that.

Doesnt steam screw up your old wads?

Andrei said:
Doesnt steam screw up your old wads?

it doesnt "screw up" your .wad's it cache's every file into 1 file thats team can read. so none of them are readable & external. Nothing goes wrong witht hem, but you cant use them.

You can use them ... Nemesis wrote a tool for that ... it's called GCF-scape or something like that.

. . . without GCF Scape . . . (GCF Scape allows you to extract whatever you want from any GCF file, extract in this case means, copy out)

[EDIT]
Damn you Force! Posting the same response as me at the same time! lol
[/EDIT]

The fact that we need a third-party app to even use these resources is dissapointing, especially since Valve have always supported the mod community to it's fullest. With the cache system, they just plain denied access to the models, textures, sounds etc. that mod makers take advantage of all the time with. To be honest, besides offline support, I'd like to see some sort of internal GCF explorer, perhaps incorporate the new version of VHE into Steam, which could access the GCF files via it's own explorer. Not that I'm saying that Nem's tools are bad, I just find it dissapointing.

Meh, I'm in a ranty mood today.

Well, since i dont have steam, i wouldnt know anything about it. Tell me im not missing anyting big!

Nicer in-game fonts...that's about your lot...

It has potential, but without offline-play it's more or less useless to many people (especially 56kers, constant updates that take an age to d/l etc)

Well, if they're waiting for CS: CZ to be released for offline support, looks like we'll get it on March 23rd. CS: CZ has shipped now according to an official press release. Details are on planet half-life.

Andrei said:
Well, since i dont have steam, i wouldnt know anything about it. Tell me im not missing anyting big!

Well do you have a monitor that can support a resolution higher then 1600x1200? if you do then steam is for you, cause you can download the new version of HL and it supports a resolution higher than 1600x1200, it also integrates with all HL mods...... you can read what it does, you don't need me telling you what it is.

You are missing the best thing to happen to HL ever. Not only has the annoying minimize-and-lose-sound bug been quashed, but the thing allows HL to run error free on my computer. There's also the better server browser, so you never have to bother with Gamespy bulls**t ever again. Don't listen to the naysayers, they apparently have bad luck.

As for Valve 'hiding' the textures... you do realize that you always needed a third party program to open the wad files in the first place? The same goes with opening the .pak file that has all the sounds and models that shipped with the initial game. Now you can't change the wads and cheat on maps. I don't see what the big deal is.

Yak don't get me wrong I think steam is great, its user friendly, I can play online without having to download a modified map or whatever, and enabling the detaled textures makes the game look even better. Its just I don't care for the fact that you cant play HL ofline.

.....and that will soon be fixed.......(not to mention there is a hammer tutorial here on how to make it compilter maps and run them immediatly in steam :biggrin: , I'd put the link down, but I can't access the tutorials area right now for some reason)

Too bad im on a 56k.Let me see...right, if this thing has...i dunno, 50 MB, it would take about...4 days to download at maximum speed (and maximum speed isnt reached unless ALL xnet dialup users die all of a sudden).

What about the fog effect?

It seems offline play is finally appearing. Funnily enough, this co-incides with CS: CZ finally being shipped. details at the Steam website.

It's about damn time.

Kage_Prototype said:
It seems offline play is finally appearing. Funnily enough, this co-incides with CS: CZ finally being shipped. details at the Steam website.

YESSSSSS :biggrin: