It clearly states on the box that an Internet Connection is Required. If there are anymore posts about disabling the steam activation, its gonna be an instant ban from now on. If you dont like that Valve have implemented such a feature (and believe me, lots more games will follow suit now), then dont buy the game or wait a year or 2 and I'm sure valve will release some kind of patch.

So, did the Authentication process go well for everyone? I would have assumed that the Steam servers would have crashed under such a load. :p

My copy won't authenticate, and I have tried several times now. I can't even take it back to the shop for a refund, because of the serial key unlocking system. This is beyond a joke, and I will be writing to the developers and telling them what I think of their protection system. These guys must be stupid! They must surely have realised the amount of traffic they would receive on the 16th, and if they couldn't cope then they shouldn't have used this system. I don't think this method will catch on, as Valve have their own Servers to cope with demand (No use to me of course). If they think I'm titting about for hours trying to get a game I paid full price for too run, they've got another thing coming. This will be on E-Bay for £10 buy it now in an hour, or the bin, I'm not fussed. I just wish I had a machine gun and the protection developers stood in front of it!

Authenticated fine for me,retail version,though unlocking files took about 15 mins even on a 1mb connection.
Slight hiccup when I tried to enable offline mode,but after a bit of fiddling all OK now. :)
Outstanding game.Worth the fuss of online authentication.

Excellent news, noob. I'm sure the games a killer :cool:

Speaking of Authentication Problems, THIS might explain why foster (and others) have experienced problems activating the game.

how to enable offline mode?

log on in steam and click on remember password.

everyone bought half life 2 and tries to unlock it at the same time now , cant seem to login with my steam account >_< servers seem overloaded . anyway , i never played HL1 one so i wanna play HL source first , for the stories sake , anyone tried it ?

HL² retail version use SecuROM 5.03.06.0002

Game Title: Half-Life 2
Game Version: 1.0
Developer: VALVE
Publisher: Vivendi
Region of Origin: Fr (DVD Retail)
Protection: SecuROM 5.03.06.0002
Notes: scanned after activation

This is the Activation message i got!

"Your subscription to Half-Life 2 Retail Standard has not
been completed, because Steam is currently too busy to
process the transaction.
However, you can play Half-Life 2 Retail Standard in the
meantime, and we will get back to you with the results of
your transaction as soon as we are able to process it."

:rolleyes:
P.S: Forgot to mention it took nearly and hour to get to that message!

several people asked about the protection version.
 

Scanning -> C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\(REMOVED-FROM-POST)\half-life 2\hl2.exe
File Type : Exe, Size : 2002944 (01E9000h) Bytes
-> Suspicious MZ Header..
[!] SecuRom Detected - Version 5.03.06
- Scan Took : 0.796 Seconds

Um.. sorry Grumpy.. but don't you mean this message?
http://www.theinquirer.net/images/articles/hl2error.jpg

They did fix the problem (sort of), and authentication is working again.

No I meant the message i posted!! I copied it straight from my subscription page!! Damn I should have copied the message!! maybe its still in my history files! If so I will post it for you. ;)
Does anyone know how I can get my old activation message page back up so I can copy and paste the actual pic of what it says? If its appeared shouldnt it have a reference to it on my system? I thought it would be in the history but its not!! I dont want to actually try and re-activate it incase it does work and i loose the opportunity of saving the actual pic of what it says! Like 'Tipstaffs' link pic. My game still plays OK! :D

can i make a backup from my steam files i have made it but it is only 2,8gb or so

Hello Folks.

I wanted to buy HL2 but now i read in the forum, that i need an internet connection to install or activate the game. Is that true? Because at home i do not have any internet connection. I just want to play the single player mode. No ****ing CS or something. Is this possible without internet connection??