HL2 Automtic Steam Opening

[jonathan_phang]

Hi all,

Sorry, you're probably alll sick to death of HL2 threads now, but i just started playing and was wondering about this whole activation thing. Will i be prompted to do anything? I've just started it after steam finished d/ling the files and after finding a screen res that woldnt crash then it works ok. How do i know if authentication has been passed? if im playing is that an indication that im ok?

Also, when i do open the hl2 desktop icon, steam opens first and i have to wait for my account to load etc. Is there a way to just open the game files. Surely valve dont expect us to connect to the internet just to open a game?

Cheers btw

JP

[ajbrun]

If you're playing you've definatly passed authentication.

Steam loading is a bit trick though I think. I eventually got mine to go away. First of all I stopped it loading at startup (in options). Then I opened HL2, and a message appeared saying you're not online, do you want to connect or stay offline. Just click stay offline.

That should be it - hope that made sense .

[jonathan_phang]

Thats odd, Ive never had that message. Maybe will try turning my adsl router off and see if that works then.

[directhex]

you don't need to be online to play hl2, simply disconnect, run hl2 (steam), and it'll play in offline mode. a game needs to be 100% downloaded to allows this

[jonathan_phang]

To be honest, the problem isnt with being online, as i have a router which is always connected to my adsl account, but to the fact that steam has to autostart before playing, wasting a bit of time waiting to connect to my account. Im stil downloading other apps so i dont want to have to keep switching between offline and online modes. I guess if theres no easy fix its only a couple of extra secs!

[ajbrun]

I'm pretty sure that steam has to start - just to make sure that the disk you're using is valid and legitamate. It should HAVE to connect to the net though.

[jonathan_phang]

I should hope that its valid and legit, as i downloaded it off steam after buying their silver package. To be honest, its not that big a deal. I guess they just want people to get used to having steam on all the time!