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This game is absolutly awesome now. The graphics are killer. They seem to run very well on my computer, I thought it might be choppy but I was holding 60-70fps throughout. They have changed a bunch of stuff like how the flash/bangs work and some sounds and some characteristics of the weapons, even from 1.6. VERY COOL. I started playing again last night. I bought the Bronze Version of HL2 through steam.
They improved the internet code somewhat too cause I have a latency of 20-30 on most of the servers.
posted
The maps are all redone not just ported, they have been completely rebuilt. They are very well done. The environment is almost totaly interactive now. Cups and plates break. Computers explode when hit will fire. Furniture and file cabinets fly around when grenades go off. Glass shatters only in pieces and you have to shoot it more than once.
Posts: 2331 | From: Rosemount | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
The flash bangs make your ears ring and when your sight comes back you vision is blured for a sec and has an imprint of the last thing you saw before it went off. VERY COOL.
Posts: 2331 | From: Rosemount | Registered: Mar 2001
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Yeah it seemed like it was more a proximity thing....it is hard to see the grenades coming now cause alot more is going on. Bullets take chunks out of walls and stuff.
Posts: 2331 | From: Rosemount | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Yes, purchased through steam. I don't really care that I do not have a CD I printed the reciept thus I should not have a problem reinstalling if necessary....
Posts: 2331 | From: Rosemount | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Been playing all night - very cool game. They did a good job of not wrecking the game play - it's almost the exact same. Graphics are nice - close to Far Cry or Doom3. I would have liked to see more curves and less blocks but it's a vast improvement. Gernades are cool as shit - smoke is useable and flash is fun to play with.
I set my graphics to high 1024*768 and ran stress test - averaged 86fps. In game, seems pretty smooth with a hitch now and then.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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Joe here is a explaination of why getting the actual media isn't really a big deal anymore.
quote: Ok, lets try to clear up some things here since there seems to be some confusion.
With the exception of having the physical media, there is NO difference between buying the retail version in a month and a half, or buying on Steam right now. Your incentive for buying on Steam is you get to play the full version of CS:Source today, right now.
Both versions will need to be activated the same way, by attaching a key to your SteamID, both are played the same way, by running in offline or online mode, and both will pack all necessary files to play into .gcf cache files after installation.
Besides not having the shiny box and actual CD, or rather 6 CDs since you can't get the DVD version unless you pay $90 bucks for the Deluxe version, there is nothing to stop me from burning the current 4GB+ of .gcf cache files to a DVD-R and copying them back to the Steam directory whenever I rebuild my PC, or want to install HL2 onto a new machine.
Steam handles CD-Keys similar to the way that MMORPGs have handled keys for years, they map a key to your account. Yes, this may cause problems if you plan on selling the game, but the bigger incentive is the lack of someone else being able to use your CD-Key when you are trying to play. The same can't be said for other games. What is to stop someone from buying a game, installing it and cracking it just to get the new CD key, and then selling it to some poor schmuck who now can't play whenever he wants because it says his CD-Key is in use. This is a non-issue with Steam. (Juise is an exception because by the time he registered his original HL CD-Key, someone had gotten lucky with a keygen and registered his.)
I think a good deal here is the Silver package. For $10 more than the Bronze, you get HL:Source (If single player is your sort of thing) and all back catalog titles. If you want that in retail packaging, expect to be paying about $30 bucks more. It you want to play CS:S for the next month and a half, then Steam is the way to go, that is the marketing, and that is the incentive.
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I did check last night and the Source files are pretty big. If you just leave Steam running it will download the files, but I think they are over 2gigs. Steam will automatically download and preload HL and CS files.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Great physics in this game - can't wait until the 14th. Here are some screen shots I took. Almost everything can be shot up etc. The computer I shot - it fell over and the side flew off. I looked into it and shot at the cpu fan which flew out with the motherboard.
It is a bit different playing because shit flies everywhere. Barrels are around a lot of maps and when a gernade goes off near by they fly all over the place. I got hit in Office by a flying file cabinet.
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Joe I just played at medium settings on that extra machine of mine. Game played great. Not as pretty but the physics were still all there.
Athlon 2400 GeForce4 4200 128mb 512Ram
CS Source auto set my graphics settings to medium. Ran the stress test - averaged 50fps at 1024*768.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I don't know enough about how connections work and all..... fps seems to be really hindered for me (distance?).
in CS, one day, long time ago "Cow Named Moo" came on and helped me tweak a bunch of stuff in CS and had me running 60-70+ fps consistently with very little loss (it was instintanious and obvious improvetment) still runs better to this day.
I cant reproduce that with DC When I added the fps reading to DC I rarely break 40, and only bounce aroudn 20 consistently...
I've looked around for the same kind tweaks and they stablize the fps, but didn't really improve it.
I don't know if its my distance or what.. It cant be just the machine...
Posts: 2469 | From: Anchorage, AK | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
FPS (frames per second) is 100% a function of your computer. The two biggest variables are: video card and CPU. Video settings are the way to tweak your FPS. Usually, reducing the screen size from 1024*768 to 800*600 will see a 20%-30% increase in fps. Turning off vsync in the video settings (smoothing of the edges) also helps.
I like 60+ FPS on average. If you are used to 30 fps, which is the same as a DVD movie you will probably be ok in most games today. The problem is when there is alot of action FPS drop. I know with 60fps average - during action mine drops to 30-40 sometimes.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
After playing all weekend I can tell you this game is awesome. It is very scaleable to your machine but if you want all the bells and whistles you need a powerhouse machine. Here are the requirements from Valve:
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I have been playing war3 mod, my steam id is ahulting@nexflo.com i think or it just might be Trany. I cant play that long or I get the blue screen of death, I think I need to get my case cooler.
Posts: 740 | From: Tranyland Pending | Registered: Oct 2000
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Damn it's amazing what a graphic upgrade, physics update and map adjustment can do to an old favorite.
The blood, the glass, the dead bodies flopping around, the physics, the new skins, the map modifications...it's almost perfect. Makes me anticipate HL2 even more...
Did you guys notice the F1 & F2 keys anyone? Auto-buy and re-buy last...speeds up that purchasing...
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I didn't know the F1 and F2 did that - I know that when you press "b" you can then press "a" or "r" for autobuy and rebuy. I like the rebuy a lot - but I wish the autobuy was a bit more customizable. It picks AK and no armor over Mp5 and armor - not my choice. When I install the nextwish scripts this will all be taken care of....
Chad and I found a decent server last night called TwinCites.....(something). Good ping and FF was off.
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I avoid the buy menu alltogeather with preset keys for buy groups. My whole key pad is all different buy commands.
I use nextwish.org's counterstrike script for that and other stuff like run walk toggle. Last Used weapon etc.
Posts: 2331 | From: Rosemount | Registered: Mar 2001
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I have used the nextwish scripts for years - great stuff. I think Hauser was the one that showed me how great they are. Here I have hosted the most recent ones on my computer:
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So if I buy the bronze version, It will download the source crap onto my machine automatically? IS it a couple hour download?
-------------------- Gisel, I was looking at the picture page and I do have to admit, you look pretty good for a gaming female. Having said that, don't expect any sympathy when we meet on the battlefield. I am a fighter first, lover second. Posts: 2220 | From: Prescott, WI, USA | Registered: Apr 2001
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If you have steam on your machine it will automatically download CSS. You can right click on CSS in the steam games window and "preload" CSS before you purchase. Then when you purchase bronze it will unlock CSS and preload HL2. You can right click on HL2 and pause it from downloading if you are playing etc.
I think CSS is close to 2 gigs - just let it download overnight.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Thanks Klaus. Nextwish has been helping me shoot you guys in the face for a couple years now. I am so used to playing with it that I feel absolutely handicapped if I try and play without it loaded...
-------------------- Gisel, I was looking at the picture page and I do have to admit, you look pretty good for a gaming female. Having said that, don't expect any sympathy when we meet on the battlefield. I am a fighter first, lover second. Posts: 2220 | From: Prescott, WI, USA | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I can only hope you have forgotten how to shoot (or you are on my team).
I was pretty fast with the buy menus until you got me to try the nextwish scripts. When I loaded up CSS I kept pressing my script keys with obviously no effect..... Will be nice to not have to race during the buy period anymore.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
That is the beauty of them. You just run the executable and then all you have to do is go into the options keyboard and mouse setups and there are tons of different commands. It basically completly reworks the keyboard mapping menu.
Posts: 2331 | From: Rosemount | Registered: Mar 2001
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Yes, there are buy scripts and radio scripts and gernade scripts......
Just run the .exe and go into your options and see all the stuff that was added. I like the 1 button gernade throws and radio commands.
The buy scripts are organized like "purchase AK/M4, full armor, full ammo" etc.
I followed Hausers organization - I have two rows of keys A-G and Z-B. A-G from left to right are my weapons (A=Deagle, S=Mp5, D=AK/M4, F=autosnipe). Z-B are my armor/gernades (Z=armor only, X=Armor/helmet, C=HE gernade, V=Flash).
There is (or was) a quick knife jab that switches to the knife and slashes once.
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I never really used all of the functionality of the scripts. They are and were allowed in all of the leagues I played in and were used by everyone that I knew played. I guess you could consider some of the combo scripts kinda sketchy but I really only ever used the buy commands as I never use radio commands or the nade/knife stuff (I suck at knife). You also can bind any key you want in the config the same way that the nextwish proggy does it for you. It is just layed out into a nice labeled menu for easy configurations. I actually prefer the wheel when switching from weapon to weapon. Once you get the hang of holding it down and flicking up or down, you can get pretty darn fast at switching weapons. I also still use my samle old ass logitech molded ball wheel mouse I have had for eyars. I have to clean it once a week still but cannot find one that fits as nice in my hand. Screw you laser mouse guys...
-------------------- Gisel, I was looking at the picture page and I do have to admit, you look pretty good for a gaming female. Having said that, don't expect any sympathy when we meet on the battlefield. I am a fighter first, lover second. Posts: 2220 | From: Prescott, WI, USA | Registered: Apr 2001
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