4 ms·

Is it possible to play it off-line though? I remember that was an issue when I got The Orange Box with Half-Life 2.

squeaky-clean 3y ago
The offline system for steam is way less glitchy than it was pre-2010. Like another commenter said though, you may need to be online the first time you launch the game.
- account42 3y ago
  There is also the Goldberg Emulator [0] if you don't want to rely on Steam at all. [0] https://mr_goldberg.gitlab.io/goldberg_emulator/ https://mr_goldberg.gitlab.io/goldberg_emulator/
cwkoss 3y ago
IIRC you should be able to download it and then put Steam into offline mode and it won't call home until you flip that toggle again... unless they changed how that works since I last fiddled with it. Might need to play once before flipping toggle off.
nolist_policy 3y ago
Its worth it for the assets alone, you can play hl with the open source xash3d engine.
- pacifika 3y ago
  What’s the benefit of doing that please?
  - fancy_pantser 3y ago
    It's a whole different engine that may have some advantages that make it worth checking out over or in addition to the updates Valve has made for this special release: improved performance (through a more efficient culling system, etc), support for modern features like dynamic lighting, use of HL mods on newer systems by providing compatibility fixes. The engine can also run other games and works on mobile devices with less common screen resolutions, but YMMV. For a while, it was a good fallback to the official game if you were having a problem with it on new or less-supported hardware, but with this anniversary release, maybe it is less "necessary" and more "cool" to use an OSS alternative engine.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Most engine reworks like that (Doom, Age of Empires, Heroes III, etc) offer significantly improved performance and scaling for modern computers. There are often other enhancements, too, including native support for Mac, Linux, etc.
    - account42 3y ago
      HL1 is already quite performant though and does have native support for Linux and Mac on Steam without needing third-party engines. Not disputing that engine replacements / source ports can be great (I work on one myself) but it's weird that there are three replies that sidestep the actual question: What does this particular engine replacement add over vanilla GoldSrc?
    - SXX 3y ago
      As one of authors of Heroes III one I could say Xash3D is amazing project worth to check for Source 1 game fans. Valve support for their old games is outstanding and they all have native support, great performance, constant updates. It's like extremely rare for old games to be supported that well.
  - Matl 3y ago
    bypassing Steam I presume?

The offline system for steam is way less glitchy than it was pre-2010. Like another commenter said though, you may need to be online the first time you launch the game.

account42 3y ago
There is also the Goldberg Emulator [0] if you don't want to rely on Steam at all. [0] https://mr_goldberg.gitlab.io/goldberg_emulator/ https://mr_goldberg.gitlab.io/goldberg_emulator/

cwkoss 3y ago

IIRC you should be able to download it and then put Steam into offline mode and it won't call home until you flip that toggle again... unless they changed how that works since I last fiddled with it. Might need to play once before flipping toggle off.

nolist_policy 3y ago

Its worth it for the assets alone, you can play hl with the open source xash3d engine.

pacifika 3y ago
What’s the benefit of doing that please?
- fancy_pantser 3y ago
  It's a whole different engine that may have some advantages that make it worth checking out over or in addition to the updates Valve has made for this special release: improved performance (through a more efficient culling system, etc), support for modern features like dynamic lighting, use of HL mods on newer systems by providing compatibility fixes. The engine can also run other games and works on mobile devices with less common screen resolutions, but YMMV. For a while, it was a good fallback to the official game if you were having a problem with it on new or less-supported hardware, but with this anniversary release, maybe it is less "necessary" and more "cool" to use an OSS alternative engine.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Most engine reworks like that (Doom, Age of Empires, Heroes III, etc) offer significantly improved performance and scaling for modern computers. There are often other enhancements, too, including native support for Mac, Linux, etc.
  - account42 3y ago
    HL1 is already quite performant though and does have native support for Linux and Mac on Steam without needing third-party engines. Not disputing that engine replacements / source ports can be great (I work on one myself) but it's weird that there are three replies that sidestep the actual question: What does this particular engine replacement add over vanilla GoldSrc?
  - SXX 3y ago
    As one of authors of Heroes III one I could say Xash3D is amazing project worth to check for Source 1 game fans. Valve support for their old games is outstanding and they all have native support, great performance, constant updates. It's like extremely rare for old games to be supported that well.
- Matl 3y ago
  bypassing Steam I presume?