Poll: So Valve broke HL1...

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Not a fan.

They might have their - proper - reasons, but it's shit like this that makes me go rogue.

It's no secret that Valve is trying to move as far away from Windows dependency as possible. This is just one step in that direction.

I don't mind cutting ties with Satan. It's the lack of a proper solution that annoys me and boggles whatever is left of a sane mind and functional intellect.

Well, when your product is 66% Satan and you want to cut all ties with Satan then you can't just leave any shred of that 66% there.

Do not forget just how much is built around software copyright court cases. Valve can't make a claim of "Requires no Microsoft technology!" when its very first flagship title requires Microsoft technology to run 66% of the time.

Aye, as a full-time Windows 8 hat0r, I understand the urge to cut out the putrid pound of flesh and Ctulhu tentacle parasite. However, if you cut out 66% of Satan's/Stan's/Microsoft's code, have at least 40% of a proper replacement ready, not ruin my gaming experience by sending performance down to the 5fps shitter. It's just not a very nice thing to assume that everyone is sitting on piles of money wrapped in i7 bacon entitlement.

What really bothers me, though, is the fact that they change and break something I bought (several times), without giving me a proper, official and legal alternative. That stinks, methinks.

 

[bafrali]

Valve are busy fellating Linux for some stupid reason or another, this probably fits right into their plan.

But of course, on these forums VALVE CAN NEVER DO WRONG, EVER.

Yeah, Newell had a massive freakout about Windows 8 last year, didn't he?

Eh, whatever. Valve's a game retailer. They're easy to ignore these days.

Oh hai BhaalSpawn. I see that you are still making claims without reason to back it up

How could you tell it was him?

Well avatar was a dead giveaway. Then there was the anti-Valve propaganda disguised as smug indifference. And there was the remark about Gabe Newell's state of mental health. Just like once I told him: He is too predictable.

 

[DoPo]

he didn't say he had a laptop outright in the OP. he said the word laptop yes, but "the problem i have is on a laptop" he did not. however i did not read the thread so shame on me anyways i guess.

also it's hl1. what matters is that it plays and if the frame rate isn't like an xbox 360 trying to play the PC version of crisis.

Dude

Now, I don't have anything against OGL per se, but my intel integrated can't handle OpenGL for shit, and I am stuck with 5FPS (playing sven coop, which requires OGL or D3D). Why do I care? LAN-parties on laptops...

Why would he bring up LAN parties on laptops if he had a problem with a desktop PC? What logical reason would there be for that? Because when the game lags he randomly keeps thinking of different platforms and circumstances? Yes, it's not outright "I have a laptop and when I use it to have a LAN party with other people" but it's pretty clear that's the meaning.

And it matters because 5-10 FPS is just awful - quite visible stuttering and slowdowns, it's even worse when you have to play the game with somebody else. 50-60 FPS is fine, 30 FPS is OK-ish, although some people do have problems with that, 15 for an action game is borderline before it's really bad, below it it's really bad. Try this [https://frames-per-second.appspot.com/] - set the FPS to 5 or 10 and remove the motion blur. Compare it with, say, 30.

 

[Auron]

but my intel integrated can't handle OpenGL for shit,

I can't possibly imagine how old it must be if it stutters on HL1, perhaps it's time to get a new one(laptop, card or whatever.)

 

[faefrost]

Just to play Devil's Advocate... has anyone actually asked Valve about the change? I mean before we all go off on another raging internet witch hunt? It might be a programing or technical mistake, or there may be some actual valid reason for the change? Who knows? As a general rule developers don't do something like this just to be dicks?

 

[Spitfire]

I don't own the original Half-Life on Steam, but I do own Counter-Strike, which runs on the same engine, and to me it shows that D3D and EAX are still available.

 

[Connor Lonske]

he didn't say he had a laptop outright in the OP. he said the word laptop yes, but "the problem i have is on a laptop" he did not. however i did not read the thread so shame on me anyways i guess.

also it's hl1. what matters is that it plays and if the frame rate isn't like an xbox 360 trying to play the PC version of crisis.

Dude

Now, I don't have anything against OGL per se, but my intel integrated can't handle OpenGL for shit, and I am stuck with 5FPS (playing sven coop, which requires OGL or D3D). Why do I care? LAN-parties on laptops...

Why would he bring up LAN parties on laptops if he had a problem with a desktop PC? What logical reason would there be for that? Because when the game lags he randomly keeps thinking of different platforms and circumstances? Yes, it's not outright "I have a laptop and when I use it to have a LAN party with other people" but it's pretty clear that's the meaning.

And it matters because 5-10 FPS is just awful - quite visible stuttering and slowdowns, it's even worse when you have to play the game with somebody else. 50-60 FPS is fine, 30 FPS is OK-ish, although some people do have problems with that, 15 for an action game is borderline before it's really bad, below it it's really bad. Try this [https://frames-per-second.appspot.com/] - set the FPS to 5 or 10 and remove the motion blur. Compare it with, say, 30.

you have a point, and agrueing over this is dumb and off topic.

on topic, i agree with what you've said about frame rates for games, but you don't really need a amazing one for a game like hl1, nor do you need it to not look like shit because it's almost 15 years old and by that determination already looks like shit

 

[Stryc9]

In a weird move from valve, they are fiercely updating the first (yes, that old poo) half-life.

"What did they fix?!" you ask, "What new features we got?" you cry.

Uh, none. They removed D3D. They removed EAX.

Only two options remain in the video rendering department - software (uh...) and OpenGL(UH...!)

Now, I don't have anything against OGL per se, but my intel integrated can't handle OpenGL for shit, and I am stuck with 5FPS (playing sven coop, which requires OGL or D3D). Why do I care? LAN-parties on laptops...

And this is why I don't like Steam. first they force us to use steam's auth servers, and now THIS? Come ON!

VALVE, WHAT THE FUCK?


Discussion value: What do you think of such moves? (also the question in the poll, escapist ate it)

I say it's being an asshole. Were it a fresh buy I would definitely demand my cash back. I think it is definitely wrong to downgrade a game - even as old as this - just to satisfy some 'policy'. Fine, don't add DirectX to new games Valve*, but why downgrade purchased copies?

What next? "Multiplayer has been dropped in new build"?



*oh right, you don't make games anymore.


EDIT: it seems it happened almost a year ago... still, haven't heard about it till now.

You can find a copy on disc somewhere, try second hand stores, depending on where you live you should have next to no problem finding a copy. You'll be free of Steam's screwed up copy completely.

 

[jehk]

Not really surprised. DX is going the way of the Dodo.

 

[Rad Party God]

I have a 2004 HP laptop and I can perfectly play Half-Life 1 in OGL at 60 fps in 1280x800.

What was the complaint again?.

Also, Valve did so to give the game a better compatibility with Linux, take that as you will.

 

[DoPo]

on topic, i agree with what you've said about frame rates for games, but you don't really need a amazing one for a game like hl1, nor do you need it to not look like shit because it's almost 15 years old and by that determination already looks like shit

Well, "over 10 FPS" should not be considered amazing by any stretch of the word. It'd call that "playable" myself. And I still like how HL looks - I too do LAN parties and we play it, along with Quake 3 and other games. Yes, it's not ultra mega photorealistic but it doesn't have to be, also it looks adequate. I don't see why the attitude of "it doesn't need to look better, since there are other games that look better". That's just a very bizarre thing to say - if something has a defect, should we not mind because something different works better?

 

[Weaver]

They're clearly doing this to push OGL for Linux and Mac adoption (D3D is not available on any other platform but windows).

 

[Something Amyss]

Valve did it, so it's good.

I can't wait to find out EA did something similar in a week or so, so that I might rage about how horrible it is.

 

[DoPo]

I have a 2004 HP laptop

I'm sorry but I just have to say this - a 2004 HP laptop? That's an absolute damage sponge, man. I hope it doesn't have a huge armour class, otherwise it would take hours to take down.

I'm here all week, folks!

 

[Sable Gear]

Just download Black Mesa and play that.

There is no COOP for Half Life 2. Also, I don't own HL2. Neither do my buddies with whom I play. Furthermore, Source games are more demanding than their GoldSRC counterparts.

I'm not sure I understand the second point of your rebuttal. You don't need HL2 to download and play Black Mesa, you just need the Source Base SDKs (2006 and 2007) which are free from Steam's Software store. I can sympathize with a computer's limitations, though. BM runs pretty well on my machine, it's only a year old and not a gaming laptop by any means.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Am I glad i found the Sierra/Valve Anthology for a couple of euro's (no steam required). This is one of the reason's why I don't use Steam since '11.

You stopped using Steam in 11' because in 2013 Valve was going to remove EAX and D3D from Half Life?
Are you a time traveler?

 

[[REDACTED]]

I have a 2004 HP laptop

I'm sorry but I just have to say this - a 2004 HP laptop? That's an absolute damage sponge, man. I hope it doesn't have a huge armour class, otherwise it would take hours to take down.

I'm here all week, folks!

*Wipes away a tear*

That was... beautiful. Thank you.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Am I glad i found the Sierra/Valve Anthology for a couple of euro's (no steam required). This is one of the reason's why I don't use Steam since '11.

You stopped using Steam in 11' because in 2013 Valve was going to remove EAX and D3D from Half Life?
Are you a time traveler?

I stopped using them due to the mandatory updates and braking HL2 with the engine port. In this case it seals the case of never using Steam anymore, Valve seems to start to loose the focus on developping anyway.

 

[Bad Jim]

I have a 2004 HP laptop and I can perfectly play Half-Life 1 in OGL at 60 fps in 1280x800.

What was the complaint again?.

That some people have buggy OpenGL drivers that deliver terrible frame rates even on new computers because they are BUGGY. These buggy drivers also show display errors like flickering, tearing, textures not being drawn, z buffer errors etc. Many of these people paid for the game on the understanding that it would work with their DirectX drivers which were not buggy. And now it doesn't.

You savvy??

 

[Kopikatsu]

That's bullshit. I hate Steam's policy of forcing you to update, even if it doesn't benefit you you. Not to mention the stupidity of updating a 15 year old game to take functionality AWAY from it!

Shogun 2's 12GB patch still irritates me. I'm growing increasingly impatient with Steam. The sales and the fact that my friends use it are the only good things about it.

GOG and GMG generally have better sales than Steam, despite giving you a Steam key most of the time. So there's another thing against them.