boxpressed wrote:I used the installer on the Steam website and loaded the latest version. It did the same thing! Steam would load, then the computer would reboot.
This time, I disabled the Steam startup in Safe Mode. Then, I went ahead and installed SP3 just for kicks. If there was no change, I'd reimage again.
This time it worked. So, for whatever reason, my system needs some fix from SP3 or Steam will begin a loop of reboots.
Steam is kept up to date for security reasons, just like web browsers and other applications - it relies on "latest updates" (to an extent) as a result. It will also want updates for Visual C++, .NET Framework, etc for many games and extensions (it will automatically find and install these as required). What's most likely is that Steam was not "beginning a loop of reboots" but instead Windows was/is configured to restart on crash, and Steam is crashing on start-up (and that then loops).
I went ahead and loaded HL2 and the other games from the DVD. However, when I tried to run them, Steam wanted me to download and install it rather than running the version off the DVD.
Because the version off the DVD, especially if it's from 2004, is massively outdated. Half-Life 2 has received *significant* updates since then. That's why it wants to download content. You can disable updates for the game, however I'm not sure why you'd want to. The machine will require a connection to the Internet periodically (I forget if it's every 10 or 30 days) to "sync" with Steam, even if you run it offline mode; just something else to note.
Obviously, I'm behind the curve with the state of DRM, but what I don't really understand is why even have a DVD-ROM at all? If Steam will only allow you to run the version on its servers, why even have retail packaging? Maybe I'm missing something here.
Many games that require Steam are released on DVD, especially older games; multi-GIGABYTE downloads in 2004 weren't usually something that people's Internet connections could handle quickly. Same reasoning still applies today with Steam and Origin games being sold on DVD (as game sizes have grown dramatically over the years) - it will load as many of the resources as it can from the DVDs (IME Origin handles this more elegantly), but the platform will provide patches and updates for the game automatically (can be disabled). Alternately you can just buy the game digitally. Alternately #2 you don't need the DVD if you're fine waiting on the download, as the game is registered to your Steam account (the physical media becomes largely unnecessary, except to save bandwidth/time vs large downloads - once you activate the game on Steam, its your account's forever). Once everything is installed, the discs are not required for play either (same goes for Origin).
VirtuaIceMan wrote:I think Steam updated Half Life 1 and possibly 2 a fair few times (as I've had numerous updates over the years). Hopefully none of them made it less compatible with XP?
Half-Life 2 has received *significant* updates as Source engine has grown/been updated - between launch and today they've added everything from HDR to Oculus VR support and everything in-between. Many of these updates will implement features that older computers won't support, or won't support with good performance, but afaik you can still drop the game into DX7/8 renderpath and run it on your GeForce 4 Ti at 800x600 just like 2004, if you're yearning for that slice of nostalgia.
