steamless half life 2 (so close yet so far)

[hobbles]

Ooook. Got the steamless thing here. seems to chug through everything allright, both from steam locked install, and hdd(gcf's) but as soon as I try to run the Desktop shortcut, i get the error "unable to load filesystem_steam.dll." I've tried replacing files all over the place, I can see it, it's in my bin folder, but aparrently, like I said before, it is unable to load. The only idea I have right now, is that my windows is installed on my D drive. Is this the problem? If so, is there any way to fix it without reformatting? If not, what is my problem?

[fdjc4]

Ooook. Got the steamless thing here. seems to chug through everything allright, both from steam locked install, and hdd(gcf's) but as soon as I try to run the Desktop shortcut, i get the error "unable to load filesystem_steam.dll." I've tried replacing files all over the place, I can see it, it's in my bin folder, but aparrently, like I said before, it is unable to load. The only idea I have right now, is that my windows is installed on my D drive. Is this the problem? If so, is there any way to fix it without reformatting? If not, what is my problem?

1. Where did you get the game from?
2. Have you ever tried using steam to play?
3. Are you using a mounted image or original cd for the .gcf files?

[hobbles]

I live in australia, and thats where i bought it (the 5cd version) and i have previously had it running fine after activating with steam. The gcf files are from the steamapps dir, and seem to etract fine using hl2 steamless. The vengance installer does it's job as well, except when i tried to run it's shortcut i got an error about textures or something (possibly had the word content in it) so i copied the steamless extracted stuff into the vengance install (in steamapps) and now i get the same filesystem_steam.dll error. I have also had the game running in an offline installation (cant remember which one) previously, but this, along with my steam veriifed install, was on an older format with windows on C:\

[brwarner]

If the hl2.exe was not there, then it is not in the packed file (GCF) on your edition. I suspect you get the hl2.exe when you unpack with steam.

I have modified the installer agan to give the installation the HL2.exe if it is missing (V 1.4 ). Can't say if it will work with the included HL2.exe or that the HL2.exe will be compatible with your edition, but it's worth a try. Please try again from DVD with V 1.4 and let me know what happens.

I have just finished the single player game which I installed with this installer. Looks like all necessary patches are included. (at Last !)

Half-Life 2 Steamless Single Player Installer V1.4

Features
All Patches Included. Installs from DVD, Steam Locked Installation or GCF Source. Steam not required ! Multi-Language support. GCF Decryption Key file included.

Instructions
Just unpack the zip to a temporary folder and run the HL2_SP_Installer.exe. Instructions are included in the extracted files and the installer itself.

Download
Half-Life 2 Single Player Installer V 1.4

This is Freeware...Please share it.


I used this method on a non-internet computer.
It worked fine until the first mini-movie ends (something about sleeping) then the game crashes and says something about an error with IDirect3DDevice9::Present(), what should I do - I have a very recent version of DirectX (even the CD installer of Half-Life 2 says so)

[brwarner]

I figured out the above problem but I'd like to know if I can still mod half-life without steam??

[hobbles]

allright, fixed my problem, It was because windows was on D:\, now i got a fully working and playable HL2. Thanks guys.

[egosheep]

hey guys, thanks for all the great posts in the threads around here.

i have a quick question. I have the 5 cd edition of HL2 and i have sucessfully decrypted the GCF files with gizmas method. It works... it opens up and i can start a new game. I havent played it through to where it would crash yet, though. I havent tried laupash's fix yet.

My question is, when i extract the GCF files from the cab files with winrar, i get an error saying that its not the first volume, and in short, the file size of my GCFs is slighty smaller than the size packed to the rar. this happens on all volumes, even hl2.cab. I copied the cabs to my HD and then unzipped from there. Would this be solved by doing a valve install and getting them from steamapps? has anyone else had this problem?


thanks for the help!

[Fruud Dude]

Theres one very easy way to play HL2, HL2:Episode 1, CS, DoD, DM and mods etc without Steam and offline and thats to use SteamBuster.

It works great. Just download, run and thats it. NOTE: it only works on encrypted .GCF files obtained via STEAM or the DVD. It WON'T download these: you need an active Steam account the author does not support piracy. Just make sure Steam is not running at the same time!

It is possible to run HL2 and HL2:Episode 1 steamless without it but it's a fair bit of work.

SteamBuster and development can be found here. (http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35347&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=half+life+2+episode+1+steam&start=0)

[egosheep]

Theres one very easy way to play HL2, HL2:Episode 1, CS, DoD, DM and mods etc without Steam and offline and thats to use SteamBuster.

It works great. Just download, run and thats it. NOTE: it only works on encrypted .GCF files obtained via STEAM or the DVD. It WON'T download these: you need an active Steam account the author does not support piracy. Just make sure Steam is not running at the same time!

It is possible to run HL2 and HL2:Episode 1 steamless without it but it's a fair bit of work.

SteamBuster and development can be found here. (http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35347&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=half+life+2+episode+1+steam&start=0)


wow! never heard of this before. this is awesome, i'll try this when i get home.

[solidsnake136]

Half-life 2 steamless install.

As I said above, just follow these directions and you’ll get an installation of half-life 2 that works without steam and works without the CD/dvd-checks.

First, you need following:
- Encrypted GCF files from original half-life 2 cds/DVD or from steam download.
- WinRar/Winzip archive manager (freeware)
- hlunp.exe tool (unpacker, part of this archive)
- steam.dll part (emulator, of this archive)

Getting encrypted GCF files

You'll need the following GCF's; copy them into a directory like C:\HL2\GCF and rename them to the following:

base source shared.gcf -> base_source_shared.gcf
base source shared materials.gcf -> base_source_shared_materials.gcf
base source shared models.gcf -> base_source_shared_models.gcf
base source shared sounds.gcf -> base_source_shared_sounds.gcf
and half-life 2 base content.gcf -> halflife_2_base_content.gcf

- This program should take care of that. If it doesn't you'll have to do it each one, manually. Just select the file in Windows Explorer, press F2 and eliminate the spaces and put in it's place the underscore.
- Or if you like to do it from the command prompt, type in:
ren "base source shared.gcf" base_source_shared.gcf
And Prest-o Change-O, it's magic! Get ready for the fun stuff!

- If you have installed but not activated half-life 2, these files are located in Steam\SteamApps directory. Copy all GCF files from there and uninstall steam and Half-life 2 completely.
- If you have the original DVD, then you can extract the GCF files from HL2x.CAB file. Start WinRar and open the hl2.cab file. Extract all files. Repeat this for hl22.cab – hl25.cab files. From every file extract all the files except the ones marked with “<--”.

Unpacking GCF files

- Make an empty folder where you want to install a game. I suggest something like C:\HL2\HL2_source . Then execute the provided unpackhl2.cmd command with parameters “unpackhl2.cmd <Path to directory with GCF files> <Path to target directory>”. You need to type this in command line prompt.

It should look like this:

C:\HL2\HL2_source>unpackhl2.cmd C:\HL2\GCF C:\HL2\HL2_source

If you don’t know what command-line is, use the provided shortcut. Just type in the location of your HL2 GCF files and this command.

- Wait awhile (about 10 minutes) and you will get a folder “root” created in the directory you specified. Look, there's a file called “hl2.exe” inside!
- Copy the provided steam.dll into the “root\bin” folder (it is a “bin” folder just next to hl2.exe file).
- Create a shortcut to hl2.exe file (right-click on it and select "create shortcut" then right-click on the shortcut and select properties, and click the shortcut tab) with the parameters “-steam” (change the target to say : C:\HL2\HL2_source\HL2.exe -steam ).

Congratulations, you just created a playable half-life 2 installation that does not require stupid steam or CD/dvd or internet connection to play. Notice that we never even installed steam! Woohoo! If you have it installed, uninstall this piece of crap as soon as possible. and enjoy your game!

About

Special thanks to Gizma for the tools and great idea. I had to put it all together. It wasn't until I figured out that the unpack command needed different names for the files that it finally worked for me.

This package is dedicated to Valve.

Dear Valve. Let me emphasize how happy we are with your steam service. It was such a pleasure for us to learn that we need to download and install a bunch of crap in order to play the game we bought. Thank you for rewarding people who brought a DVD with the best reward one can imagine – give them a special version of hl2.exe that has a securom protection on it, while having generic unprotected version on DVD, so people who pirated it can easily use it. Thank you for making such an install process totally bogus and irritating, and thank you for maintaining your servers with such a great availability. Please, continue to put activation and encryption in any game you’re going to release – we really love that. We'll always find a way around it...

- "..Ah-hem-hem! 'Screw all y'alls!'" - Strong Bad
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail22.html
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail22.swf

download:
http://free.hostultra.com/~dude55/HL2_steamless/HL2_GCF_steamless-install_daGamesta.zip

ok i have done all of this but there is no hl2.exe in the root folder, or anywhere eles for that matter i also couldnt find the fiirst file listed base source shared.gcf i pulled everything off of the hl2 5 disk game of the year edition that was in a .cab file. i renamed all the ones accept the one i couldnt find and unpacked them, everything seemed to work just fine then i went into the folder and there was no hl2.exe please help me somebody??!!

[JamesW315]

I am using gamestas way and when ever i open unpackHL2 or hlunp nothing happens. It just opens for like have a second and close.

*Edit* ok i was dumb but i figured it out

But now when i open the root folder i dont see the HL2.exe file. Any help?

[STi FlyBy]

I am using gamestas way and when ever i open unpackHL2 or hlunp nothing happens. It just opens for like have a second and close.

*Edit* ok i was dumb but i figured it out

But now when i open the root folder i dont see the HL2.exe file. Any help?

http://forums.megagames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49747

You already have a thread on this here ... no need for two threads

[JamesW315]

sorry, my bad. But i would still like help if anyonw knows what i did wrong?

[flyby[k]night]

Well I just got myself a PeeCee + 512MB Video Card, I can finally play Half Life 2!!!
Found it at Future Shop on sale so I bought the damn game...

BUT I'm on Dialup! Took hours just to download a Steam Update so it could install Steam, Then Overnight to get the game update... WTF????

Then I have to have an active connection to play... (although I can connect to the net, launch the game, load a saved game, then switch back to windows, disconnect, and the game will work fine - as long as I loaded 1 game or started a new one). Real PITA if you ask me, this is total nonsense. I hope Valve realize it was a mistake and dump Steam altogether... but it doesn't seem to be this way, more like it's agrowing trend.

DEATH TO STEAM !!!! LONG LIVE THE [k]'ers !!!

I'm new here, but hopefully I'll find what I need to bypass Steam altogether...

[DarkApollo]

I dont mean to dig up the dead, but I have been trying to get my Retail version of HL2 to work for MONTHS now. The problem is I HAD a steam account, but it is so old I no longer have the PWD and the Email I used to register is LONG gone. And they wanted me to give them ANOTHER $15 to RE-REGISTER a game that my ex had gotten me for christmas 3 YEARS AGO. No, sorry... not happining.

Anyway, thanks to this site and this thread IT LIVES AGAIN!! 100% so far.

[acal3000]

I dont mean to dig up the dead, but I have been trying to get my Retail version of HL2 to work for MONTHS now. The problem is I HAD a steam account, but it is so old I no longer have the PWD and the Email I used to register is LONG gone. And they wanted me to give them ANOTHER $15 to RE-REGISTER a game that my ex had gotten me for christmas 3 YEARS AGO. No, sorry... not happining.

Anyway, thanks to this site and this thread IT LIVES AGAIN!! 100% so far.

Man that is a ripp off

[fdjc4]

If he has an ATI graphics card he can get it free from here:

http://www.steampowered.com/ati_offer1a/

:)

[acal3000]

That promotion must have it's catch. It can't be so easy just for having an ati card

[lowestseries]

That promotion must have it's catch. It can't be so easy just for having an ati card

this is the first time that i have heard of it, iam not sure if it is true or not
and ive had a stream account for half life 2

[STi FlyBy]

this is the first time that i have heard of it, iam not sure if it is true or not
and ive had a stream account for half life 2

http://forums.megagames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51536

[DarkApollo]

No ATI card here. NVIDIA e-GeForce 7600GS... eh.. it gets the job done quite nicely.

Im now having the same problem as the rest with it crashing out before you get to play with the dog (sad, that is my favorate part)

[MRGz]

I bought Half-Life 2 Collector's Edition a long time ago, comes with the game itself, CS: Source, HL1: Source. The thing is, the PC I wanna install it on has no net, So I can't login to Steam, Any idea on how to install the game without the net? Any help?

[STi FlyBy]

I bought Half-Life 2 Collector's Edition a long time ago, comes with the game itself, CS: Source, HL1: Source. The thing is, the PC I wanna install it on has no net, So I can't login to Steam, Any idea on how to install the game without the net? Any help?

Which method (please state the post # for others to reference) are you having trouble implementing?

[MRGz]

Which method (please state the post # for others to reference) are you having trouble implementing?

Well I don't know what method to follow, I tried the HL2_SP_Installer_V1-4 and that didn't work out for some reason.

Not sure what post number it was, It was in the other topic, Too many posts there. I last tried awhile ago.

[DarkApollo]

Odd, I used the Steam.dll from the files.zip pack, and now, when i get to the train yard after ravenholm it wants to suddenly connect to Steam.. :error1: and crashes out saying that the connection to the Steam Servers was lost.

[Behemot]

Hi people,

I have that .iso version (something like "just copy and play" throw Launcher.exe) and never had problems, but now it writes Unable to connect to steam servers. blahblah (you know). Only one thing changed since I've played last - I have router (but I of course configured some ports and on the end I disabled DMZ, nothing happened). So I've tried some ways how to play offline (but I didn't use any .cgf, I said that i have .iso version wich SHOULD works). After some hours my endeavour died when after using abra-hl2fixbundle12 and hl2_darkyX (Files1 pack somewhere in this thread) now it don't starts and writes "The procedure entry point _f could not be located in the dynamic link library Steam.dll" (of course I have that 52KB Stream.dll file again from somewhere in this thread). So what can I do...?
:cries::cry2::cries:

[born2phrag]

Hi people,

I have that .iso version (something like "just copy and play" throw Launcher.exe) and never had problems, but now it writes Unable to connect to steam servers. blahblah (you know). Only one thing changed since I've played last - I have router (but I of course configured some ports and on the end I disabled DMZ, nothing happened). So I've tried some ways how to play offline (but I didn't use any .cgf, I said that i have .iso version wich SHOULD works). After some hours my endeavour died when after using abra-hl2fixbundle12 and hl2_darkyX (Files1 pack somewhere in this thread) now it don't starts and writes "The procedure entry point _f could not be located in the dynamic link library Steam.dll" (of course I have that 52KB Stream.dll file again from somewhere in this thread). So what can I do...?
:cries::cry2::cries:
Buy the game. MGF does not provide help with warez. You've been told before here (http://forums.megagames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52921), post reported.

[M46NU2]

The SP instaler worked just fine for me but... I got a problem with boxes geting all white and shiny and weird things happens every now and then, like I suddenly starts flying or go trough walls. Is there any patch that might fix this?

[Tsunami1304]

i have a steamless gmod, will this work with it?

[Ravaholm]

Hey peoplez im new to this site and like most of you i have a deep hatred with steam

and Dude55 or anyone i need ur help

I used Dagamesta's way to install half life 2 steamlessly which went without a single hitch however when i tried to launch half life 2 it came up with:

"Invalid or corrupt background texture materials/console/background01.vtf

thanx in advance

[Ravaholm]

Oh and forgot to mention PLZ HELP ME

[eternallyctm]

Hello Thanks for all ur help!!!!!

I'm from Chile so sorry about my english cause it's not perfect

Now i can Play HL2 and its great but i have another problem :P
everytime that i go to save the game or the game make an autosave the program have an error and it closes the game, it says:

Runtime Error

Program: ...Valve\Steam\SteamApps\User\Half-Life2\hl2.exe

abnormal program termination

Please help i need to play that game I wait a lot
and i dont know if it's my graphic card cause i have just 128mb on it

thanks a lot

hoping an answer...

[born2phrag]

Does this error occur when the game is played Steamless?

[eternallyctm]

i solve the problem yet i buy a better graphic card for my bday thanks anyway

Bye

[zurahk]

this worked awesome for me

[4zb41]

Ravaholm, I haven't read about the method that Dagamesta told you about, but i got the same error when i tried extracting the GCF files using GCFScape. So, i copied that file from my mostly working HL2 and replaced the file, but it comes up with heaps of other files that it "cannot read" or "cannot be found". In other words, the whole game was corrupted. It had to be deleted. Dont bother trying that again, use something else to install hl2.

[Jenifer]

I have steam with hl2 unactivated how to activate it ? how to use Half-Life 2 SP Installer v1.4 for HDD Steam Locked Instalation ? I keep getting hl23.cab error ! & HDD says not found ! pease help asap !

[maroto]

Hi I'm new in the forum, does anyone knows where I can download the HL2_GCF_steamless-intall_daGamesta.zip file. I tried the link in this post but since the file is no longer available. Thank You

[Pedobear]

I have a problem. I have the Game of the Year edition of Half-Life 2, and the GFC files are different than the ones described. It's not working, none of DaGamesta's instructions are working. How can I get my game working?