'Official' Half-Life 2 Thread. Do Not Create New Threads (NO SPOILERS)

[JoyBoy]

Thread Closed until Further Notice. Opening New Threads will Result in an Instant Ban

Well, as the thread got jacked, might as well hand it over to Half-Life 2.

Update 1: No Discussion of Bypassing Steam Activation. This is for Obvious Reasons. Instant Ban!

Update 2: Retail DVD (Europe) is protected with SecuROM 5.03.06.0002 (Thanks solo3)

Update 3: For all you people that purchased the CD Version of the game, a CD2DVD Conversion Guide can be found HERE. NOTE: At this stage the original CD1 is still needed to play (Thanks Grumpy)

[Grumpy]

Looks like you are getting ready for the Halflife 2 threads BW!
Delete this (my) post when you are ready!

[munsterbuster]

**** on Half-Life 2. I want Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.

[cdkiller]

i bet the 2 first questions will be:

1.) can some1 please make a crack for this game
2.) is there a way to play hl2 without activating it with stream ???
heheh

[Luciel]

ive alredy reserved my copy, have u? more next week, same channel, same time... lol

[schlaufer]

cdkiller, you've forgot the basic question:

0) where can I d/l hl2

And imho the best thing about the HL2 release is, that they now finally can release Vampire 2.

[Katz]

Originally Posted by cdkiller

i bet the 2 first questions will be:

1.) can some1 please make a crack for this game

Won't the crack for CS Source's exe (used as "HL2.exe -steam -game cstrike") work for this game too.

[Dimensio]

I ran hijack's fix through a virus scanner, and it came out clean. Tested it, and it works.

Thanks, hijack!

EDIT:
Hijack's fix works for offline mode, also. I unplugged my Cat-5, launched hijack's replacement Steam launcher, went into offline mode, and played HL2 with no DVD in the drive for about 30 minutes without a problem.

[rebel9k]

Is there any opportunity to disable the steam activation? I dont have internet and only noticed when i installed the game that i need an internet connection to activate and play the game. very consumer unfriendly this valve people.

[t.foster73]

As I believe the key allows to to decrypt the entire game code. A fix for this will not be available on this site because it's Serial based, and thus breaks the rules. You'll have to look elsewhere for an activation fix (Indeed if one EVER becomes available). To me activation is a lot worse than Starforce. At least with Starforce you can install and play straight away. With this method you just feel you're leasing the game, which considering it can cost up to £40 is a bit of a cheek I reckon, and treats all legitimate buyers as thieves.

[kelemvor]

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

[JoyBoy]

Originally Posted by rebel9k

Is there any opportunity to disable the steam activation? I dont have internet and only noticed when i installed the game that i need an internet connection to activate and play the game. very consumer unfriendly this valve people.

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.

[t.foster73]

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!

[noob]

Originally Posted by JoyBoy

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

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.

[JoyBoy]

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

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