Topic: To Steam Or Not To Steam (Read 18193 times)

Burrito Al Pastor · « **Reply #220 on:** May 26, 2010, 04:21:17 PM »

The patchnotes claimed that, in addition to achievements and the cloud and such, HL2 and Episode 1 have "graphical improvements". Anybody have any idea what that actually entails?

Detonator · « **Reply #221 on:** May 26, 2010, 05:30:12 PM »

Quote from: Burrito Al Pastor on May 26, 2010, 04:21:17 PM

The patchnotes claimed that, in addition to achievements and the cloud and such, HL2 and Episode 1 have "graphical improvements". Anybody have any idea what that actually entails?

I played around a little bit, I think they updated the Vortigaunt models to more match the ones they used in Episode 2. Haven't noticed anything else.

Mothra · « **Reply #222 on:** May 26, 2010, 07:50:17 PM »

Vance's rear is now dynamically rendered

Detonator · « **Reply #223 on:** May 26, 2010, 08:18:46 PM »

Eli's I hope

Brentai · « **Reply #224 on:** May 26, 2010, 08:22:54 PM »

They probably just slapped the latest build of Source engine onto the older games. Which means a slightly better flashlight, and that HL2 no longer runs at 60fps with full settings for me.

Bartz Has Bite · « **Reply #225 on:** May 29, 2010, 01:53:56 PM »

Other visual additions were motion blur and the new blood effects from ep2. I also think the antlions were cleaned up a bit but I have no reference pic to know for sure. Also, were you always able to change the FOV in HL2?

Burrito Al Pastor · « **Reply #226 on:** May 29, 2010, 01:57:16 PM »

Well, I think you always could change it by console, but do you mean that there's an option for it now in the settings?

Bartz Has Bite · « **Reply #227 on:** May 29, 2010, 02:16:50 PM »

Yeah there's now an option in the video settings. They also updated the fire effects.

Detonator · « **Reply #228 on:** May 29, 2010, 09:41:46 PM »

Shotgun dudes indeed have the orange glowy eyes from Ep 2, so yeah it seems like most of the graphics have been switched over.

It looks better, yes, but I'm also kinda concerned about the possibility of Lucas-style updates to the games without our permission.

Bal · « **Reply #229 on:** May 30, 2010, 03:49:22 AM »

I can't imagine they'll ever do anything like that. Gordon will always shoot first.

Brentai · « **Reply #230 on:** May 30, 2010, 01:01:20 PM »

Yeah, it annoyed me when TF2 suddenly changed into a game I never purchased, it seriously annoys me that it's happening to HL2.

The game probably still runs fine (I've had enough Half-Life with my hardmode playthrough of HL1 for a while) but I do not like the precedent.

Bal · « **Reply #231 on:** May 30, 2010, 02:04:15 PM »

I don't think engine updates equates to the kinds of things you guys are talking about, or even indicate them as a possibility. They made it look better by updating parts of the engine and certain models, but it's not like there are suddenly hunters running around in Ravenholm instead of fast zombies, or something.

Bongo Bill · « **Reply #232 on:** May 30, 2010, 02:18:10 PM »

It does have the consequence of increasing the system requirements, which is bad.

Bal · « **Reply #233 on:** May 30, 2010, 02:24:31 PM »

First of all, I don't think it did increase the minimum requirements, but even if it did, it would have raised them very marginally, and if you can't run it at those forgiving settings, what are you even doing trying to game on a PC? There are flash games with higher minimum requirements than the original HL2 requirements.

EDIT: Just checked, and yes, my god, it now requires DirectX 8.1 rather than DirectX 7 like when it launched. Oh my, whatever shall we do. I guess play it on any currently available computer.

Bongo Bill · « **Reply #234 on:** May 30, 2010, 03:35:38 PM »

It's a matter of precedent more than anything. If you can, even in theory, buy a game that you can run, and then Steam pushes through a patch that makes it so you can't run it as well or at all, what options remain to you, other than to upgrade?

Bal · « **Reply #235 on:** May 30, 2010, 03:52:26 PM »

I'd be more moved if the minimum requirements weren't still forgiving for the time the game was released.

Bongo Bill · « **Reply #236 on:** May 30, 2010, 04:55:57 PM »

And I'm just saying, wait until it happens to a game that you can just barely play.

Bal · « **Reply #237 on:** May 30, 2010, 05:07:45 PM »

And I'm just saying, there's no reason to believe that will ever happen. Not to mention that you'd really have to work, or have an incredibly out of date computer, to be barely able to run any Valve game.

Bongo Bill · « **Reply #238 on:** May 30, 2010, 06:44:11 PM »

It's already happened to me with Team Fortress 2, although that's less a dropping of official support and more the introduction of an obscure and unacknowledged bug.

Bal · « **Reply #239 on:** May 30, 2010, 06:48:30 PM »

So what you're saying is that it didn't happen to you, but something else entirely happened to you.

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Author Topic: To Steam Or Not To Steam (Read 18193 times)