HL2 Beta (Spoilers)

[neoglow]

I know, I know...a grey topic to be discussing, however, Im just asking the question thats on lots of others minds! To all the people that have got it, to all the people that have got it and dont admit it and all the people that dont have it but know about it...share your info on the HL2 Beta.

Im sure the admins wont allow download links to the beta, so DONT POST THEM!

But driving the buggy on the beach Halo style was such good fun!

M.

[Super Stu]

Spoiler tags.

[Valken]

All I'll say re: the beta is it's just as well the game has been delayed because even the stages that did have scripting didn't fill me with confidence re: the final product.

AND the AI's still scripted despite Valve claiming the contrary! That whole E3 demo was staged!

After playing it then trying out games that are out NOW like Call of Duty and NOFL2 I'm not that fussed about the game anymore.

Control of the buggy was dreadful too, using WASD to accelerate and steer without any analogue control's a nightmare after driving the Warthog in Halo.

[neoglow]

Maybe it was just me feeling a little mischeivious having the beta when you cant help but feel that you shouldnt, anyone who plays any FPS's knows about using the console, binding keys and loading maps manually etc, the beta is sketchy but some portions are intact. I guess Im just a fan of Half-Life (does that sound hypocritical since a fan is playing stolen code? )
My point exactly, everyone surely has at least a small interest in HL2 since Half-Life was so well known, your chance to sample anything that is potentially a big hit for free would take it.

M.

[Ravon]

I played it...

There wasn't a hope in hell of valve ever releasing HL2 before Q12004.

Looks nice and will need a beast of a PC to get the most out of it.

Still, valve have a lot to answer for (NO Scripting) Dont make me laugh

[Adam]

Someone from Valve admitted that those E3 scenes were scripted, they said they wanted to have the AI act out the sort of things possible in the final game, but the AI wasn't ready yet so they had to script it all.

[Valken]

I played it...

There wasn't a hope in hell of valve ever releasing HL2 before Q12004.

Looks nice and will need a beast of a PC to get the most out of it.

Still, valve have a lot to answer for (NO Scripting) Dont make me laugh

heh, that actually REALLY disappointed me... as soon as I read in FAQs that one had to actually "run" a script for particular maps to get the events to work I was disgusted! I mean if they hadn't bull****ted about it I don't think I'd have minded so much but they're a victim of their own hype.

[Ciaran]

Someone from Valve admitted that those E3 scenes were scripted, they said they wanted to have the AI act out the sort of things possible in the final game, but the AI wasn't ready yet so they had to script it all.

This is what I was about to say. Just because its in the leak, doesn't mean thats how the game will be.

Are the E3 levels even going to be in the game?

There wasn't a hope in hell of valve ever releasing HL2 before Q1 2004.

If all the levels in the leak are the levels show at E3, isn't it very likely that this is a pre E3 build?

[neoglow]

Has anyone really 'fiddled' with it yet? To get variuos things working that dont without using commands and stuff?

Following Spoiler Alert of the beta, NO download link of any kind, highlight text to reveal...

>Theres 74 'maps' in the beta including the E3 ones.
>The training missions work.
>Theres 9 weapons to play with, partically like the gravity gun, can have some good fun with that.
>All is playable.
>The Main Menu dosent work unless you change commands etc...
>Some textures are missing.
>You can command NPC's in the game (eg, for backup fire)
>Physics are nice!
>Humerous messages within the game environment for development purposes.
>Not all AI works.
>God knows what the story is! Bunch of aliens running around like HL1

Dont know if that was of any interest to people but it may of cleared up some questions you had lingering.

M.

[Valken]

Someone from Valve admitted that those E3 scenes were scripted, they said they wanted to have the AI act out the sort of things possible in the final game, but the AI wasn't ready yet so they had to script it all.

This is what I was about to say. Just because its in the leak, doesn't mean thats how the game will be.

Are the E3 levels even going to be in the game?

There wasn't a hope in hell of valve ever releasing HL2 before Q1 2004.

If all the levels in the leak are the levels show at E3, isn't it very likely that this is a pre E3 build?

The build number on the menu says otherwise... its got a reference to 4 days before the release date. I deleted the files after I'd played with it a bit now so I can't tell you exactly what it is.

[Fusion]

if this post is in breach of any rules, feel free to delete it.

anyway, i recently aquired a copy of the Half Life 2 Beta, and after extracting it and what not, i tried to run it.
first of all, when i tried to execute the hl2 file, i got a message telling me that d3d9.dll couldn't be found - so i got that, and that was fine. after putting the necesary dll file on my system, i try again to run HL2. this time, i get:

h2.exe - Entry Point Not Found
The procedure entry point DdEntry10 could not be located in the dynamic link library DDRAW.dll

thinking it's a problem with the file DDRAW.dll, i get a replacement, but after putting the replacement on my system, and trying to execute HL2 again, i get the same error message.

ideas, anyone?

[Valken]

You're prob running the wrong version of directx.

[Fusion]

meh. i'll go get 9 now, methinks im only running 8.1 at the mo.

btw my current OS is WinXP Pro.

[Valken]

Well the dead giveaway was that d3d9.dll wasn't on your system... That's the main directx9 library.

The error when it tried to init direct draw made it even more obvious!

If the game were legit it would obviously check for and install DX9 for you

[Fusion]

Well the dead giveaway was that d3d9.dll wasn't on your system... That's the main directx9 library.

The error when it tried to init direct draw made it even more obvious!

If the game were legit it would obviously check for and install DX9 for you

yeh, im not really too hot on these kinda matters. anyway, it's working now, thanks alot.

--

edit - now im gonna look like a complete muppet (too late?):

The Main Menu dosent work unless you change commands etc...

now, how do i go about this?