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Reply 20 of 45, by DosFreak

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Only extract what you need: Re: The Orange Box. DRM vs Retro Gaming? How can I install it?

You don't need to install nor should you want to, "source 2007 binaries" gcf should have hl2.exe.

As for revemu it depends on the version. The revemu with the steam.dll of 6-5-2010 can be placed in the same folder as hl2.exe and as long as you run HL2 with "hl2.exe -game hl2" then you are good. Other versions of revemu may require you to enter the appid, etc.

Should look something like:
bin
ep2
episodic
hl2
platform
hl2.exe

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Reply 22 of 45, by DosFreak

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As previously mentioned EP2, Portal, and TF2 are broken on the Orange Box DVD. You'll either need to use the latest versions by connecting to Steam and downloading them, hunting down the 2007 GCFs that were uploaded by someone who downloaded the Orange Box from Steam when it was released or find a older or newer build of HL2 Ep2, Portal and TF2.

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Reply 24 of 45, by dicky96

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So when you say the games are broken on The orange Box do you mean that I can't play HL2 EP2 from the disks anyway?

Otherwise I am doing something wrong most likely

When i open Phoenix now it says Half Life 2 is there but if i press Lauch I get an error - No Base Game for the AppID (See pic 1)

There are no instructions with Phoenix and the Help option doesn't work. I just tried what felt intuitive.

Here is what I did to get this far. (pics 2-7)

I go to Instruments -> SID unpacker
This lists disk1 SIM and disk2 SI

I selected disk1 SIM and set a folder for the target H2LEP2/play

I click Scan a SIM File
This gives me a list of available games

I select Half Life 2 Episode 2
This selects some of the GCF entries in the bottom window

I click Unpack button and it then takes about 20 mins to unpack everything. I then shut down and restart Phoenix and repeat the proces sselecting Disk2 SIM

Really I am just following what seems reasonable to do. Am i doing this right?

See Pics. For some reason they attach backwards 5 down to 1 so view them in reverse order to make sense with the above description

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Last edited by dicky96 on 2020-06-02, 15:16. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 25 of 45, by dicky96

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Pics 6 and 7 attached

Would only let me attach five to the previous post

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Reply 27 of 45, by DosFreak

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See my quote in Re: The Orange Box. DRM vs Retro Gaming? How can I install it?

You need to extract each .gcf to their own folder and then copy from that folder to your destination. Don't select games in the Phoenix interface.

You can probably figure out how to do it within the Phoenix interface but it's not worth the effort. The goal is to get the files extracted so you don't have to use Phoenix.

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Reply 28 of 45, by Valur

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Should i do it all at once or one at a time?
I ask this because it doesn't like it when i try to do these two at the same time

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Reply 30 of 45, by dicky96

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Thanks DOSfreak for helping

And I need to select all of the GCFs not just some of them like what happens when I select a game in Phoenix?

I'll give that a go

Reply 31 of 45, by Valur

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This is so confusing, example: there are 3 bin folders with the same files inside 2007 binaries, Base source 2 and source engine and they just replace each other if i were to merge them... which one to choose?

Edit: Now i finally get how it works, we have to build like this for hl2 base
half-life 2 content
half-life 2 game dialog
source engine
source materials
source models
source sounds

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Reply 32 of 45, by dicky96

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Hi Valur
As far as I understand it we extract each GCF in turn to a folder then copy the contents of the extraction (which is usually some subfolders) to a target folder

So you will get sometimes, it overwrites existing files in the target - so far on one extraction it overwrote 1562 files in the target! I have now seen hl2.exe three or four times and I keep choosing each time to overwrite the same name files in the target.

But from the advice given here i assume that is OK and it will all come right in the end

Reply 33 of 45, by dicky96

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I got a bit further but I still don't have it working

I unpacked all the GCFs individually and copied the contents to the game folder, selecting to overwrite any existing files

I did this scanning both disk1 and disk2 SIM files

Once i had dome all that I had a directory structure as shown in pic ste1

I run HL.EXE and it says steam.dll is not present which is what the thread here says would happen

So I then unzipped revemu but I don't have any garysmod subfolder. I did a search of he folders and found several copies of steam.dll but basically there are two that are 381k and two that are 423k size. I copied one of the 423K steam.dll to the game folder and then used cmd prompt to run hl2.exe with the switch:

hl2.exe -game hl2

(see pic ste2)

but it doesn't work. the command prompt accepts it, but nothing happens. I then tried with the 381k steam.dll but the same thing

What am I doing wrong this time?

Rich

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Reply 34 of 45, by matze79

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oh i`m glad i got the xbox 360 version of orange box...

Isn't it illegal to circumvent DRM ?
at least if its considered a copy protection by law ?

Does this also work with other Steam Titles.. i also have some Games in the Bin who i can not install ... Sad..

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 35 of 45, by dicky96

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Well EU law says if you own a physical copy you have the legaL right to use it. And I do own a physical copy and I am in the EU, as are you, so.....

Reply 36 of 45, by dicky96

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So really I am following these instructions

steps 1,2 and 3 were different for me as I had SID files not CAB files but using Phoenix got me to the same point whereby I get the message steam.dll not present if i run HL2

How to install and run vanilla Half-Life 2 without Steam

Steps 1,2, 3 - completed

4. Download and unpack the latest version of RevEmu.
This is a Steam emulator, so I'm pretty sure I can't link to it here. Use Google.
- I downloaded RevEmu 23.11.2019, but is that the latest version?

5. Copy Steam.dll from the garysmod subdirectory of RevEmu to your Half-Life 2 root directory.
- no garysmod sub directory in the RevEmu downlaod but I do have two different steam.dll 423kb and 384kb

6. Run hl2.exe with the -game hl2 command line switch
Congratulations, you should be running Half-Life 2!
- I am not sure if I did the command line switch correctly, i did it from cmd and used dos commands to navigate to the correct folder and launch hl2.exe
- nothing happens.
- I also tried just clicking on the hl2.exe, nothing happens

Everything seems OK up to completion of step 3 (by a different method) Have i missed something or misunderstood something, or do i have the wrong version of steam.dll?

I was also interested in the legality of playing this game as I have bought the original. I did read the EULA at some point but right now i can't find it. But as I recall It said the following:

I can't sell, rent or hire the game - check, I haven't.
I can't copy or distribute the game online or otherwise - check.
The game comes with a license that I can use only once - check. I am only using it once.
I can only install the game on 1 PC - check, that is what I am doing.
I can't reverse engineer or modify the game. Check, I haven't edited any of the files or tried to understand how they work.
There was some stuff about jurisdiction of any dispute being subject to USA law and courts, but it said that section does not apply to EU citizens. check.
As far as I recall that was all I was agreeing to in the EULA. I am not sure where the word document was, I can't find it now.

In addition EU law says if I buy a physical product then I have a legal right to use it.

Finally, regards al the legal mumbo jumbo, I am certain I am on the moral high ground here. I am not trying to pirate, copy or steal the game, I bought it and I simply want to play it. If the original owner is still trying to play the game after they sold it then that is their own injustice, it is not mine.

Reply 38 of 45, by dicky96

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OK thanks I will try that. I am actually trying to install The Orange Box on my Windows 10 PC

I had another interesting thought as well regards legality. If Valve do not recognise me as the legal owner of this product does that also mean the EULA it contains does not legally apply to me either, so I can do whatever I like with it?

discuss....

Reply 39 of 45, by matze79

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Anyway i find this practice of expropriation highly unmoralic.
And it is, if the copy is bound to a online portal and can only activated one time trough it.
They should be forced by law to unlock the copy to anyone owning the product in a physical form.

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board