Yeah, they need Steam. Doesn't matter how old they are, when HL2 and CS:S first hit retail it was the début of the Steam platform itself.

You basically have to activate your copy with your Steam account then install the content off the retail discs. Any updates are then applied over what you installed. (Though given how ridiculously updated the two games are now, I doubt installing the retail copies will save you any time as they'd have to be turned into SteamPipe based content)

That sucks. I hate steam and don't want it on my old PC or any new PC's I own/use. That and it will not even work on windows 2000 if I recall.

Some valve games you can run without steam officially:
http://steam.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games

and of course there are always the unofficial methods.

DosFreak wrote:

For some valve games some you can run without steam officially:
http://steam.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games

and of course there are always the unofficial methods.

Thanks for the link. I will certainly save that one. As for unofficial methods, I'd prefor to stay away from.

The old OLD retail releases don't need Steam at all (that is, the WON releases). Everything with the Sierra logo (except HL2) doesn't need Steam. But the CD Keys of all of them will unlock the HL Anthology (HL1, OppFor, BS, CS, TFC, Ricochet, etc) on Steam if you want, no matter what game it is. I've bought a few copies of the original Blue Shift release to get my siblings Steam copies of the entire anthology. But you won't find the Sierra retail releases in any store other than a thrift shop of some kind.

Counter Strike Source and HL2 marked the beginning of Steam-dependence, though.

I thought Counter-Strike Condition Zero was the big Steam launch game?

Hmm, never heard that. According to Wikipedia the first Steam-requiring game was Half-Life 2. But that's Wikipedia. It does say on the Condition Zero entry that they used Steam to their advantage to control multiplayer cheating, but it still may have not needed to use Steam. It seems strange to launch Steam on a little GoldSrc game.

Ah, it does say that Steam opened to the public to beta test Counter-Strike 1.6, but that's it.

I believe you might want to check folks on sourceruns, which I'm sure are pretty experienced in running older versions of Steam games.

This remembers me of how infuriating it was when I tried to install a boxed HL2 to my STEAM account, since the key sticker was missing one or two characters. Valve instructed me to ask for a replacement at the shop I've bought, but since it was a present that I kept sealed for years that was outta question. 🙁

leileilol wrote:

I thought Counter-Strike Condition Zero was the big Steam launch game?

probably I remember it being on Steam early on, but I think the game that attracted more people to Steam initially was CS1.6 beta, that's the reason I created my account in 2003

Half Life 2 also required Steam at the time I think

the current Half Life 2 on steam is not the same from 2004, they've updated the engine and added some effects,
I think the only way of playing the original game is by having the physical media and perhaps using a hacked .exe file!?
I remember testing Hl2 even in DX6 mode and years later when I tried they had removed it

also Hl1 from steam have poor music quality (64kbps mp3 I think) and it forces AA/AF and it's missing options like software/d3d rendering (which was never to useful anyway)