Questions a plenty...

[Messiahknot]

Hiya. Just got this game, and my god :O -- what a game it is! Probably made the single greatest first impression on me for any game I've ever played. I have a few quick questions though. And yes, before you suggest so, I did do a search, but the results were not exactly what I was looking for. Alright, here we go

1. Is there anyway to take screenshots, without replacing the previous shot taken. Is there a comand you can add to the config file that creates a folder for screenshots?

2. Is there anyway to kill teammates/allies? It may be an immature thing, but some of my favourite moments from HL1 was saving with a brigade of NPC followers, and killing them in a manner of different methods (explosions being the favourite :cheese: ), then simply reloading to continue playing properly. I was a *little* disapointed when I played out the same scenario in HL2 to no effect. Is there a config command or mod that allows this?

3. In Steam, when your updating a game, is there anyway of checking how big the update is (in MB)? This can be an issue for dial-up users like myself (don't laugh :bonce.

4. Is there anyway to enable bots in HL2:Multiplayer or CS: Source ( I have yet to play CS, still updating...)?

5. I know this is probably a stupid and overly hopeful question, but is there any glimmer of hope that i can play either CS:Source or HL2:Multiplayer over the net on a dial-up modem?

Thank you in advance for helping me out (If you choose to do so).

 

[Unimita]

1. Is there anyway to take screenshots, without replacing the previous shot taken. Is there a comand you can add to the config file that creates a folder for screenshots? If I remember right, F12 or F11 does it and puts it in your HL2 Steam Folder somewhere. It should say on your control configuration screen.

2. Is there anyway to kill teammates/allies? It may be an immature thing, but some of my favourite moments from HL1 was saving with a brigade of NPC followers, and killing them in a manner of different methods (explosions being the favourite :cheese: ), then simply reloading to continue playing properly. I was a *little* disapointed when I played out the same scenario in HL2 to no effect. Is there a config command or mod that allows this? Unfortunately, not. A lot of people are disappointed with this, so it's not just you being weird .

3. In Steam, when your updating a game, is there anyway of checking how big the update is (in MB)? This can be an issue for dial-up users like myself (don't laugh :bonce. Not to my knowlage, nope.

4. Is there anyway to enable bots in HL2:Multiplayer or CS: Source ( I have yet to play CS, still updating...)? I don't think HL2: DM has bots, but CSS does, when you go to make a server the option is there. There's also various console commands to add them with too.

5. I know this is probably a stupid and overly hopeful question, but is there any glimmer of hope that i can play either CS:Source or HL2:Multiplayer over the net on a dial-up modem? Yes, but you'll need to find a server which is probably in the same country or at least as near as possible. Not impossible, but it might be laggy.

I think I got everything right, I'm sure I'll be corrected soon enough if not .

 

[Messiahknot]

I think I got everything right, I'm sure I'll be corrected soon enough if not .

You have been extremely helpful, thankyou. *bows*

Oh, and regarding online play: I assume it would be best if i scale the graphics back right? I never played online before

 

[Steven]

Yes, but you'll need to find a server which is probably in the same country or at least as near as possible. Not impossible, but it might be laggy.

Yeah you play with 300 ping on a server in your own city, it's even better if a lovely little pop up comes that can't be deleated or located and was probably installed by another family member. Yes I have tried ever sigle free adware program, I'll just deal with it by never buying from these companies, not like I'd buy such pointless rubbish anyway.

 

[Unimita]

No problem MessiahKnot. Depending on your computer you may or may not need to. 512K Broadband is going awfully cheap nowadays, unless you're in a place where you can't get it.

Er, I take it you've got something going wrong theSteven?

 

[Solver]

Dialup modem = low speed. And, ping is not speed.

Ping is the time it takes for you to communicate with the server, roughly speaking. Connection speed is how fast you can download stuff. There is a huge difference. On dialup, you can download at, say, 7 KB/s. Pings are very low times, typically under a second. A good ping is under 200, that is, under 0.2 seconds. Pings such as 1 second are huge.

Your connection speed is NOT directly linked to your ping. For example, if there is a server in your city, you'll have a great ping to it no matter what connection you have. However, once you are actually IN the game, connection speed matters too, because the game needs to constantly download and upload data about the map and players. Usually there's not a lot of data, but with a low connection speed, you would do better to stick to low-playercount servers, as 64 player servers have quite a bit of data going back and forth.

 

[Messiahknot]

No problem MessiahKnot. Depending on your computer you may or may not need to. 512K Broadband is going awfully cheap nowadays, unless you're in a place where you can't get it.

Er, I take it you've got something going wrong theSteven?

Yeah Broadband hasn't arrived in our area yet . Oh, and i just had a check of the servers through Steam showning only Australian, non password, not full servers. Whats with latency? Is higher better?

 

[Solver]

Lower latency = better.

Under 100 = great. 100-150 = good. 150-200 = not bad.

 

[Messiahknot]

Damn, all of them are 230+!

 

[Steven]

Dialup modem = low speed. And, ping is not speed.

Ping is the time it takes for you to communicate with the server, roughly speaking. Connection speed is how fast you can download stuff. There is a huge difference. On dialup, you can download at, say, 7 KB/s. Pings are very low times, typically under a second. A good ping is under 200, that is, under 0.2 seconds. Pings such as 1 second are huge.

Your connection speed is NOT directly linked to your ping. For example, if there is a server in your city, you'll have a great ping to it no matter what connection you have. However, once you are actually IN the game, connection speed matters too, because the game needs to constantly download and upload data about the map and players. Usually there's not a lot of data, but with a low connection speed, you would do better to stick to low-playercount servers, as 64 player servers have quite a bit of data going back and forth.

I know, I just got caught up in the trend.

 

[Messiahknot]

When i checked out the Steam servers, I tried a search with CS:S as the only game. I removed all other search preferences, but no servers were found. Instead i got "Could not contact master game server to retrieve server list". Is this because the CS:S update is still in process?

 

[kupocake]

1. Is there anyway to take screenshots, without replacing the previous shot taken. Is there a comand you can add to the config file that creates a folder for screenshots?

Screenshot is actually F5 (the buttons are listed under "controls" in the option menu if you ever forget). AFAIK, Half-Life 2 numbers the screenshots as it goes, preventing overwrites. They get placed in your Half-Life 2 folder somewhere.

2. Is there anyway to kill teammates/allies? It may be an immature thing, but some of my favourite moments from HL1 was saving with a brigade of NPC followers, and killing them in a manner of different methods (explosions being the favourite :cheese: ), then simply reloading to continue playing properly. I was a *little* disapointed when I played out the same scenario in HL2 to no effect. Is there a config command or mod that allows this?

Sources for a mod i've never tried: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fr...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

You strange person you

3. In Steam, when your updating a game, is there anyway of checking how big the update is (in MB)? This can be an issue for dial-up users like myself (don't laugh :bonce.

You could calculate it yourself I guess. Sure calculating stuff is a chore, but Dial-up is all about killing time and twiddling thumbs . Find what 100% of the stuff is (CS:Source is currently 1337mb big), and work out how much you've got left in percentage and then mb. Not sure if "Disk Usage" in Steam is how much the game takes up when fully downloaded, or how much it currently takes up though. You could always broadband connected chums how big the complete game is everytime you want to update I suppose.

Please treat yourself to a Broadband connection if your phone lines are capable of supporting it. In the UK at least, Dialup is roughly the same price as ADSL 512k once you've got all the initial upgrading costs out of the way. It may be different for you, but I should imagine it's actually not.

 

[Messiahknot]

Thank you kupoartist. Regarding the friendly fire mod, has anyone here tried it? Any bugs of such? I don't want to ruin my game irreperabley.

 

[kupocake]

Thank you kupoartist. Regarding the friendly fire mod, has anyone here tried it? Any bugs of such? I don't want to ruin my game irreperabley.

No I haven't tried it, but even if there were bugs you wouldn't be installing anything that will permanently stop you from playing the non-FF version. Be prepared for some pain in the later chapters though. The friendly AI gets in your way quite a bit. One good reason for FF actually. You can execute your people for incompetence.

 

[Unimita]

Told you I'd be corrected soon enough .

In theory you couldn't damage your game irreperabley, but you would need to reinstall if something went horribly wrong (which sounds like it would be a problem with 56K).

To Solver, I would've said that it would make a big difference depending on your connection speed. I ain't going to be able to play across the world with a 56K, but with my 1MB I can manage it. But I suppose it depends on just what data is sent by the server, especially MMOs, which, presumably, a lot of things need to be updated from the main server.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Not sure if anyone's said this but it might be a good idea to right-click on the games you want to play, go into properties and disable 'keep this game updated' otherwise it's a pain having to download stuff every time you want to play.

 

[Solver]

To Solver, I would've said that it would make a big difference depending on your connection speed. I ain't going to be able to play across the world with a 56K, but with my 1MB I can manage it. But I suppose it depends on just what data is sent by the server, especially MMOs, which, presumably, a lot of things need to be updated from the main server.

Not really. It does't matter if you're playing across the world, it matters that you get more or less data. Although, of course, since modems go through phone lines, these are typically worse than optical cables, thus, yes, there will be some effect on distance and connection type.

MMOs definitely need to send a lot of data. So would even HL2 with some 64 players. That's why a game such as Battlefield 2 is unplayable unless you have broadband.

 

[Unimita]

So the theory is that it wouldn't lag, but in reality it does due to other factors?

 

[Solver]

Dialup is all about theory . For instance, dialup is supposed to run at 56 kilobits. In reality, you always connect at a significantly lower rate. Line noise and many other factors will almost always reduce dialup to something like 32 kilobits.

 

[Cole]

Dialup is all about theory . For instance, dialup is supposed to run at 56 kilobits. In reality, you always connect at a significantly lower rate. Line noise and many other factors will almost always reduce dialup to something like 32 kilobits.

Actually, not really.
In reality Dial-UP can reach speeds up to 7Kilobytes a second. Now due to Government Bandwidth Restrictions it tops at 5.6 Kilobytes a second at a steady rate.
Now if you have a half decent ISP and a half decent modem you should be able to download at least at 5.4Kb/s. Thats my average download rate. I have a local isp, and a U.S. robotics internal modem.
So only if you have a crap ISP or a horrible cheap $10 modem will your rates top at about 4 Kilobytes.

 

[Solver]

Uhmm, yes, that's what I said. Dial-up CAN reach speed of up to 7 Kilobytes (56 kilobits). However, it will not. The maximum governmental allowed rate is also optimistic. There is line noise, and in countries other than the US, you also tend to get at least partially analogue lines, as opposed to digital, which further deteriorates speed.

So I am in a backwards country... but when I used to have dialup, it was around 3.5 - 4 Kilobytes, that's 32 kilobits. Oh, and congratulations on living in the US, it at least makes dialup tolerable (sort of) .

 

[Beerdude26]

But the good thing is, CS:S and HL2DM only require about 3-5 KB per second download and upload \0/ (Happy guy with arms in the air)

So all you need to find now are some local servers and you're set

And you can go to the "HL2 & Other Valve Games Help/Support" subforum if you need help with anything