Source Engine 2 is on YOUR computer!

[Varsity]

Sorta, kinda.

SteamApps/base source engine 2.gcf

If you desperately want to read a text file full of dashes pause and unpause the download for one of your Source games, which should be at 99% at the moment.

The first question to ask here is why the heck is it in a seperate GCF if Source was meant to be incrementally upgraded? I thought one of the big things Valve offered with the engine was that there would be no version breaks, that all past and future Source games would run on the same software foundation, that would be kept consistently up to date. If that's true, why have a seperate cache?

Perhaps we weren't supposed to get this. It's a useless GCF after all, and the download doesn't even start without manual intervention. It could be that this is a dev cache in which they are storing or going to store a private version of SE2 so as not to interfere with the public one.

 

[$kelet0r]

possibly because source isn't as flexible as Valve thought it would be?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Or perhaps it's just a second GCF for the Source engine, hence the numbering?

Or perhaps they want to beta test it like they did with Steam Friends and the last tools update?

Or perhaps people are reading too much into filenames...

 

[Varsity]

The source GCF isn't anywhere near big enough to warrant a second cache. But beta testing is a good thought.

 

[bigburpco]

So that's why it was upgrading?

 

[^Ben]

If they wanted todo a completly new map format that is the only time they would have to have a second version of the engine. Unless they had a legacy loader put into the new engine, but that would just make the code messy.

We will wait and see, probably just a beta test.

How did you get it anyway?

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Perhaps they are upgrading the pre-compiled versions and shipping them to replace the older product

shrugs shoulders/

 

[Varsity]

Unless they had a legacy loader put into the new engine, but that would just make the code messy.

What's so messy about "if map header is of type X, run method Y"? It would be ridiculous to do it any other way...

How did you get it anyway?

It just arrived there.

 

[conlich]

Grah! Stupid Update for CSS and all that. 0% since last night.

 

[Varsity]

Pause and unpause like I said in the first post.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

From hlcoder's list:

We have enabled a beta version of the Source engine. This ongoing beta
will allow you to test new engine updates with your system's
configuration. It also allows mod makers to ensure a new engine drop
will be compatible with their released games before it is made publicly
available.

To learn about the beta, please go read the Source Beta Engine page
here: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Source_Engine_Beta .

Please let us know of any issues you find with the new engine by sending
reports to this mailing list, or by joining the discussion on the Valve
Developer Community.

Thanks,
-Jason

 

[Qhartb]

Okay, the way it seems to me is that they are continuing to support complete back-compatability so that the Source engine in 5 years will still run HL2. It's just that in order to avoid problems like the over-bright water fiasco, they've wisely added an "opt-in" for minor Source updates. This way the people who like helping out Valve or just enjoy beta testing or bug-spotting can get the little updates and spot when and if stuff breaks. If it does, they can report it and go back to the ol' reliable non-beta source engine until Valve fixes things. The once the updates seem to work properly after prolonged exposure to all the beta users, the update can be applied to the non-beta version.

That's just what it sounds like to me, and if that's the case, I think it's a good idea.