25-11-2004 23:49									#151
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What's de-steaming?

	26-11-2004 00:48									#152
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Making it run without Steam .

	26-11-2004 04:37									#153
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Modern games shouldn't run on steam anyway.

	26-11-2004 04:50									#154
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by Asher I've got 1GB of CL2 DDR400 RAM on my system, and my HD is a SATA RAID0 setup. It is indeed a texture/sound loading issue, so it happens at the worst time -- like when you're being shot at, or you turn a corner on the airboat, etc. They're not sure why it affects only some systems, including many high-end systems, but they claim to be working on it. I thought the reason the loading times were so terrible was it was caching/buffering all this in memory.

I have the same setup as you and I do not have the stuttering problem. But I start the game without Steam.

	26-11-2004 23:46									#155
	Got spare money?

I have Steam and I don't notice any stuttering or loading problems. But then again, I got 2 gig RAM.

	26-11-2004 23:48									#156
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

HL never uses more than 600MB of RAM according to the performance profiling I've done. Even when you pass the "-heap=768" argument to allocate 768MB of RAM to the heap.

Something is broken, somewhere. It just doesn't affect every system.

This is one of the downfalls of PC gaming.

	26-11-2004 23:51									#157
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: This is one of the downfalls of PC gaming.

I agree. Usually there is some sort of user error involved when a game doesn't work right. With a console, you put the game in and it works. A PC often requires a skilled user with an optimized system to play a game at the fullest.

However, being a skilled user, I usually never have any problems. And the ability to mod games and to play on the internet (without having to pay anything extra) makes PC games superior, despite possible user-friendly issues.

	27-11-2004 01:36									#158
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

I really wish I was a skilled user, because then I wouldn't have this problem.

Oh, to be a community-college computer-games-diploma dropout.

	27-11-2004 06:38									#159
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

PC games are great and all, but there's almost always a ****ing problem, even if you're a computer connoisseur. A friend of mine got Disciples II and he loved it. But the game was unplayable because it was incompatible with the CD-ROM that came with his Dell.

	27-11-2004 15:10									#160
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quote: Originally posted by Asher I really wish I was a skilled user, because then I wouldn't have this problem. Oh, to be a community-college computer-games-diploma dropout.

Don't lose heart Asher. Keep trying and you never know what you can acheive, in time.

	27-11-2004 20:53									#161
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quote: Originally posted by Trajanus Looks like my gef4200+ amd2100+ won't be able to run this baby too smoothly.

Looks like my 16MB TNT2 and athlon800 won't be able to run this baby too smoothly.

At least by the time I can, it will be about 10$. By that time no one will be able to play it legitimately because they won't be supporting it anymore. I'll have to download one of the hundred cracks that'll be floating about by then.

	27-11-2004 21:00									#162
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

quote: Originally posted by Asher The whole game is about being immersive and impressive. When I have a big firefight in a room, and lights are hit and go out...it's impressive.

Yeah, especially if one shoots out your flashlight and it doesn't work for the rest of the game. Stumbling around in the dark, Man that's "FUN".

	27-11-2004 21:38									#163
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Your light sources are exempted.

	27-11-2004 23:47									#164
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Hey guys. Just bought Half Life today, awesome game...

Some of you guys have talked about de-steaming it. How did you do it?

I ask because some of my roomates and I would like to play it... not online, just single player and over the LAN. Obviously we only have one cd-key, so what would I need to do in order to not get banned from valve since this piece of **** makes you log in to play it?

Any advice? Thanks guys.

	28-11-2004 00:16									#165
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Can play in offline mode after you have it already with Steam, without even logging in, which is the fastest way to achieve that. Or, you can always extract the GCF files.

	28-11-2004 00:21									#166
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

quote: Originally posted by Solver Can play in offline mode after you have it already with Steam, without even logging in, which is the fastest way to achieve that. Or, you can always extract the GCF files.

How can I make it so steam won't log in? We all have permanent internet connections... I just want to make sure valve doesn't detect the same CD key running at the same time and bans me.

	28-11-2004 00:45									#167
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There was an offline mode option somewhere in Steam, and a good method to make sure is to block Steam with your firewall.

	28-11-2004 05:26									#168
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I got the game to screw up pretty good yesterday. Just after the lighthouse, when you are supposed to take the cliffside path, you hear a lot of fighting and that dropship flies off with your car. I wanted to see if I could stop this so I stacked up a bunch of boxes on the cliff path. I then walked out on the cliff to trigger the battle, and ran back in (using the boxes) in hopes to see what was going on.

Well, the dropship was MIA, and so were all the soldiers except the one that's supposed to shoot you from above when you're on the cliff. What I got instead was gunfire... no guns or people, just bullets flying from nowhere. Hooray scripted events .

This is almost exactly the same as what happens on the jungle level of Halo 1 if you ride that ship to the top of the level, then run to the entrance.

	28-11-2004 09:32									#169
	Got spare money?

Not sure if it will be of any help, but here's Gamespot's HL2 performance guide

	01-12-2004 23:56									#170
	Inflate your Upload Space

Deathmatch component for HL2 is out. Whoah. I don't like DM, as some of you know, but in HL2 it's all different thanks to physics. Two thumbs up to it.

	02-12-2004 03:07									#171
	Tired of ads?

Wow. I'm in Nova Prospekt, and I have to say,

spoiler(highlight to read): I loves me antlions! I'm probably weird, but I keep 'chatting' with them (= with myself, heh). I used to call them "girls" but now I'm calling them "boys" after they started to do some serious asskicking. The sound of one surfacing through the floor used to be that of terror and fright, now it is that of safety.

	02-12-2004 09:47									#172
	Got spare money?

quote: Originally posted by Solver Deathmatch component for HL2 is out. Whoah. I don't like DM, as some of you know, but in HL2 it's all different thanks to physics. Two thumbs up to it.

I like it, but it needs some better maps. In time I'm sure it's going to be awesome. For now, it is still pretty satisfying to kill someone by throwing a filing cabinet at them .

	02-12-2004 16:09									#173
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quote: Originally posted by BustaMike Probably not so well, but I bet it's playable. Processor speed and memory are definitely important, also. This is the first game I've seen where bodies never dissappear and marks stay on walls forever. If you crushed say a sink, then shot a piece of it, that piece would stay on the floor forever with a bullet hole in it.

800x600 medium quality, no AA, no AF
between 24 and 71 fps

I want one of those nice GF6600 GT for AGP

	03-12-2004 05:50									#174
	Full PM-box? Change here!

quote: Originally posted by JimmyCracksCorn How can I make it so steam won't log in? We all have permanent internet connections... I just want to make sure valve doesn't detect the same CD key running at the same time and bans me.

There has to be a way to disconnect your computer from the internet. That is the only way to get to offline, AFAIK.

BTW, I occaisionally get the stutter when connected to the internet. I don't recall ever getting it when in offline.

	03-12-2004 05:54									#175
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I am amazed by the graphics engine. I get 70-120 fps with 1280x1024, all settings high, 4xAA, 8xAF. The graphics are beautiful as well.

With Doom III, I probably could get 25 fps with the same settings. The AA really kill fps with Doom III.

Far Cry is a bit better, but even its performance falls off remarkably with any AA.

	04-12-2004 09:26									#176
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does anyone know where I can get the best price on this game? I'll be buying it for a christmas present.

	04-12-2004 09:40									#177
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quote: Originally posted by Asher I really wish I was a skilled user, because then I wouldn't have this problem. Oh, to be a community-college computer-games-diploma dropout.

Your hero Bill Gates is a college dropout

	04-12-2004 16:51									#178
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

quote: Originally posted by Dissident does anyone know where I can get the best price on this game? I'll be buying it for a christmas present.

Just shop around internet stores. It wont be outrageously cheap anywhere as it's a new and popular game, so I wouldn't expect more than a few dollars difference between the best stores you have.

	05-12-2004 05:00									#179
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

I just finished the game, and

spoiler(highlight to read): THIS IS NO WAY TO END A GAME! I mean christ's sake, they leave you completely hanging don't they! The enhanced (from now on called "Blue") Gravity Gun was very neat, probably one of the better weapons around, but the plasma balls and guards and computer consoles got a bit old. I would have loved throwing around cars like Dog. I'm going to replay this one one day once I find a cheat code that gives you the blue Grav Gun right from the beginning.

	05-12-2004 05:39									#180
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: Originally posted by DrSpike Just shop around internet stores. It wont be outrageously cheap anywhere as it's a new and popular game, so I wouldn't expect more than a few dollars difference between the best stores you have.

I just can't believe it was selling for over $50. They are part of the trend of new games raising their prices . I really don't want to pay over $50.