eddman wrote on 2023-09-23, 21:38:Even the first release of HL2 requires d3d9.dll. It's a Direct3D 9 game that also has compatibility render paths for older cards.
Did not realize that; I wish there was a full DX8 version available.
The bad advice of withholding DirectX updates to "match the hardware" while expecting to work with newer games isn't sound (especially when it handles more than just graphics APIs). I never had to do that for anything. i'll happily install dx9 for my dx2-8 hardware. There's no "period correctness" involved if you refuse required drivers (especially as DX9 was 2 years old by the point of HL2's original release)
Cleanup.
Unless you have clean copies don't make assumptions based on non-official versions.
To play without the Steam DRM:
<= v5135 using Revemu or SteamEmu (not Smart Steam Emu)
> v5135 use CLI switches
You can try using the hl2.exe from v5135 on older versions and see if that works if too lazy to copy the revemu steam.dll over. Unknown if that would affect OS compatibility or not for 98 and 2000 if it works, it's likely it would. For 98-ME you'd likely have to use KernelEx with revemu, possibly an ancient SteamEmu version might work.
Build OS compatibility:
v7122284+ = Vista (Haven't tested Vista with newer builds in a while)
5135-v5377866 = XP
4295-5135 = XP+
2455-4104 = XP
2152-2217 = 98-2000
So I followed the instructions in the first post using my 2004 eur retail disc, but it turns out the gcf files are encrypted on this version. I had to use GCFExplorer instead to unpack the gcf files, each one requires entering the correct "Half-Life 2 GCF encryption key" before unpacking. Then as I'm on Win 98 I did need KernelEx to get revemu to work. After that, the game did start and I could play a bit using the integrated i810 graphics.
Problems started when I installed a Radeon 9000. After uninstalling the i810 driver and installing the latest catalyst driver the game refuses to start. I tried all sorts of command line options, and deleting the config.cfg, it just hard-crashes before getting to the menu, before even recreating the config.cfg file even. The Radeon 9000 is working for other D3D games. Removing it and loading up the i810 drivers allows the game to start again. This is pretty unexpected. Any ideas?
In case anyone's wondering, it works with Catalyst v4.3.
