So my dad is finally upgrading his 10-year old pc to something that is capable of playing half-life 2. He was a huge fan of the original and I'd like to get Half-life 2 up and running for him. The only problem is, he is on a dial-up connection and the whole steam/update situation is kind of daunting. Is there any way of avoiding having to sit for hours on end while steam does it's thing? I know you can play off-line, but only after verifying and updating the game. Any suggestions?
Half-Life 2 on Dial-Up?
- Thread starter weiv0004
- Start date
Not available where he lives. We'd have to go through a satellite provider, and from what I've seen they cost way to much.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking my only option is, but I was hoping there was an easier way. He doesn't exactly live close to me.
mobobuff
Lifer
- Apr 5, 2004
- 11,099
- 1
- 81
New Half-Life 2 player here. Just installed Steam and 4 games. Even on a 1.5MB/s connection it took about 4 minutes to finish updates, although I think the program caps itself at about 150KB/s. If you're thinking about finding a crack or work-around, this isn't the place to ask. Aside from that, the only thing I could think of would be to install it on the hard drive while it's inside a computer connected to a faster connection and then just put the drive in his machine. Or look into getting him DSL or a cheap cable service.
I must say, playing this game on a widescreen 1680x1050 LCD with a 8800GTS + E6600 is AMAZING! I wish I knew what was going on in the plot
.
Edit: NVM on ISP thing, I didn't post fast enough. I used to install satellite internet for DirecTV, and I think the prices have come down lately. Still kinda pricey though.
I must say, playing this game on a widescreen 1680x1050 LCD with a 8800GTS + E6600 is AMAZING! I wish I knew what was going on in the plot
. Edit: NVM on ISP thing, I didn't post fast enough. I used to install satellite internet for DirecTV, and I think the prices have come down lately. Still kinda pricey though.
I'm not looking for anything illegal, just wondering if it was possible to download updates and burn them to a cd, or if Valve had released any new updates that allowed play without an internet connection.
The drive swapping is an idea, but wouldn't really save me any time as I've got to drive the drive (hee hee) back and forth with or without the rest of the computer.
As far as you not knowing what's going on in the plot, have you not played the first game? It's definately worth picking up if you haven't. It might be quite dated by todays standards, but the story is still great.
Only the graphics are a bit dated, and wasnt that somewhat remedied with HL Source?
Absolutely one of the best games of all time.
My dad is in the same boat....the best thing to do is just let it run, update where necessary then-most importantly- play OFFLINE... you only need to connect to steam if you are updating or decrypting files. The best way (according to pops) is to connect just before you go to bed or work and just let it run.
When Half Life 2 first came out I thought there was an option you can check to play offline? Once you verified the game through steam you didn't have to connect again to play. You only needed to connect if you wanted to check for updates or if you wanted to play online. I'm not sure if steam still has that option, but check for it. If I remember correctly the rationale for that option was precisely for people who have a slow/dial up internet connection.
If you buy the game in-store and install it off the CDs/DVDs, it shouldn't be too bad to just download the updates for it.
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