I just found that Steam preloaded HL2 on my system...841mb - and I haven't even bought the game. What did it download it for, then?

Isn't HL2 significantly more than 841mb?

Yeah -- but I still wonder why they preloaded 800+mb..

It's Steam. Sometimes when I pause an update, it pretends to have paused it, and continues updating. No big deal on a BB connection, but on my sorry *** 56k, it pisses me off. I have to disconnect from the internet because even quitting Steam doesn't stop it from sending who knows what. Same goes for servers, sometimes I'll join a sever and leave right after, only for Steam to continue sending data for upwards of 5-10 minutes, even though I don't even have the game launched.

But other then those quibbles, I like Steam.

That 841MBs is just the core Source engine itself. I think.

I have the HL2 demo, though..no Source games.

The HL demo is a sorce game... As in it uses that engine...

Question answered. The files are the demos engine.

The file is "half-life 2 content.gcf" -- I guess it's the maps/textures/etc for the demo, since there's already an engine file.

Well then you answered your own quetion..

Wait WTF is the whole goddamn demo in one file? HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK??!

HEY TIBERIUM GROW THE HELL UP AND QUIT TYPING IN ALL CAPS LOLLORZ!

In my CD install, it installed 3 or 4 different .gcf files I remember. HL2 levels and items, HL2 characters, HL2 sounds are the ones I remember.

In the demo, I guess all of them are packed onto one file for the resources. But I can't be sure, that's just my two cents.

And didn't Jarl download the demo and say it was something like 2.7 gigs?

Are you always this much of an ***, or only on the internet?

Zloc: The demo is quite large, but look at what Steam is telling me.

GCF files are Valve's archive format. Everything is downloaded into GCFs. They are arranged so that Steam can download specific files into the GCF in any needed order (so theoretically you could be playing a game without all the files for it downloaded yet).

Anyways, when you go to install a game steam downloads the GCFs and extracts the EXEs, DLLs, and other files (like config stuff etc) that can't be in the GCF while you're playing. Rest of the assets stay in the GCFs.

Steam will tell you "pre-load complete" if you happen to have all the assets needed for another game (because the same assets are used in something else). For example, if you install the Rag-Doll Kung-Fu demo, the full game will popup as preloaded.

[QUOTE=The Mega-ZZTer]GCF files are Valve's archive format. Everything is downloaded into GCFs. They are arranged so that Steam can download specific files into the GCF in any needed order (so theoretically you could be playing a game without all the files for it downloaded yet).

Anyways, when you go to install a game steam downloads the GCFs and extracts the EXEs, DLLs, and other files (like config stuff etc) that can't be in the GCF while you're playing. Rest of the assets stay in the GCFs.[/QUOTE]

So the full game is considered preloaded because it shares files with the demo. Nifty.

BTW, HL2 is bigger than 841mb. That's only the size of the "Half-Life 2 Content" GCF and doesn't include "Source Engine" (140mb) "Source Materials" (1gb there!) "Source Models" (46mb) "Source Sounds" (another gb!)

[QUOTE=The Mega-ZZTer]BTW, HL2 is bigger than 841mb. That's only the size of the "Half-Life 2 Content" GCF and doesn't include "Source Engine" (140mb) "Source Materials" (1gb there!) "Source Models" (46mb) "Source Sounds" (another gb!)[/QUOTE]

Oh, I know (5CD installation)..was just wondering why it would be there. Steam shows the HL2 demo as taking up 1mb (heh), so go figure.

Steam just sux. Just delete it.

I'm waiting for Jepman.

It's the HL2:DM tourney I'm pretty sure. That started today. I was going to play, then I remembered HL2:DM sucks. Meh.

The Demo plus Steam came to something around there when fully installed, yes.

-But I have the full game nowadays, so who cares about that?

But what if I want to play the HL2 demo again? :p

Also, when Steam creates those GCF files - it will instantly say the file is "800 MB's" or something in My Computer. Really it hasn't downloaded it yet, but it's making the space for it.