[micky]

Apologies if this has been done before (I tried the search, but got bored)but please hear me out......

Didn't bother getting HL2 when it first came out--loved the original but circumstances were that at the time, PC wasn't upto it and so had to knuckle down to get some cash to upgrade.

As such I have now but...here it comes...no broadband

Therefore anyone know how long the Steam/authentication bit will take with a dodgy dial up?

Giving it some consideration especially as Amazon have it for under £13

[RingWraith]

Plan on giving it a day or so to update, thats assuming you don't get knocked off in between. I am not saying don't get it, just trying to prepare you, updates take a while with broadband, so 56k is going to take a while.

Just don't want you expecting to load it up and play the day you get it.

[Guden Oden]

It won't take long to simply authenticate the game, but patching it will take an eternity if you want to keep it up to date with the latest version. Frankly, dial-up is dead as a fucking doorknob today as far as gaming is concerned.

[micky]

How easy would it be (if possible) to take my base unit round to a friends who has broadband..

Is it possible to connect up etc etc, using their broadband connection

then I take it a simple (?) procedure of making it offline to play at my home?

[micky]

also......

I take it the process is:

get a steam account (how long for this, approx---dial up)

buy game from shop (easy)

install game

Authenticate and update game ( how long again)

Just some approximation would be nice--any one with experience of using dial up for it?

[Unknown Soldier]

Registration is easy and quick.

Updating is gonna take some time. You can maybe cut this down by d/l the gcf's from you friends after it's registered. Then logon again and let it finish updating.

Time for updating .. well LLLOOONNNGGG!!!!!!!!!!

[london-boy]

Originally Posted by micky

also......

I take it the process is:

get a steam account (how long for this, approx---dial up)

buy game from shop (easy)

install game

Authenticate and update game (how long again)

Just some approximation would be nice--any one with experience of using dial up for it?

You'll find it hard to get someone on here who played HL2 with a dial up connection.
You should really invest in broadband you know.

I'm on a 4Mb connection and an update last week (after months i didn't play the game) took a few minutes. Can't remember how long, but in the end 56k to a 4000k connection is a big difference....

Also, for some reason, everytime i start up Steam, it logs on and checks for updates, which still takes a little while... Bit annoying for me, and it will be a right pain for you.

[karlotta]

well if i had to get all of steam/valve games again on dail up....just under 11gigs, thats with out all the 3rd party mods.
You will have a few 100mb updates...... even with the CD.
tho steam is good for remembering where your connection failed . i would think its going to take a week to get it all upto date.

[digitalwanderer]

What speed do you actually get on your 56k? I used to get 49k or so, but I tweaked the bejeebus out of my set-up and house phone wiring to do so. :?

[Gabrobot]

Originally Posted by london-boy

You'll find it hard to get someone on here who played HL2 with a dial up connection.
You should really invest in broadband you know.

I played HL2 with a dial-up connection...the problem for a lot of us 56k'ers is that we simply can't get broadband here we live. I live about an hours drive from the nearest city (which I'm actually in right at the moment) and there just aren't any cable lines out where I am...DSL is obviously out...satellite I can get, but it's way too expensive.

[Acert93]

Originally Posted by micky

How easy would it be (if possible) to take my base unit round to a friends who has broadband..

Is it possible to connect up etc etc, using their broadband connection

then I take it a simple (?) procedure of making it offline to play at my home?

My cousin does exactly what you ask.

He comes to my house, downloads updates, and plays at home offline (he lives in the boonies and only has AOL ewwwww dialup).

So yes, you can buy the game, install it, go to a friends house to get it authenticated and updated, and then take it home and play offline.

Btw, the bots in CS:S are very good. Some of the best MP bots I have seen. Since a lot of good MP games do not have bots or have poor bot code it is a nice way to work at MP gaming while not online. Give it a try (if you can handle the CS:S gameplay... which gets annoying).

[rainz]

56k = 56 000 bauds = 5.6 kb... many ppls are lost with this.

[Acert93]

Originally Posted by rainz

56k = 56 000 bauds = 5.6 kb... many ppls are lost with this.

Yeah, kilobits vs. kilobytes. Same thing with megabits and megabytes.

You would be lucky to break 5KB/s on a 56kbps dialup connection in the real world, whereas my 4Mb cable will download well over 400KB/s.

[london-boy]

Originally Posted by Acert93

Yeah, kilobits vs. kilobytes. Same thing with megabits and megabytes.

You would be lucky to break 5KB/s on a 56kbps dialup connection in the real world, whereas my 4Mb cable will download well over 400KB/s.

It's bliss isn't it... I mean i remember when i downloaded HL2 (and all the rest) through steam, about 5GB of stuff took NOTHING to finish - well, realatively speaking. Steam being as fast as it was also helped obviously.

[Guden Oden]

Originally Posted by rainz

56k = 56 000 bauds = 5.6 kb... many ppls are lost with this.

Actually, 56k != 56000 baud. Baud refers to the modulation rate across the physical phone line (and that's much less than 56000), not the data transfer rate. As the frequency range open to modems is very narrow (less than 8000Hz bandwidth), there's no way you could signal at a baudrate of 56000, hence modems modulate the signal to fit several bits into each frequency change. Hence, the name: MODulator/DEModulator.

So forget about bauds, that's just a confusing leftover term from times long gone when the baudrate equalled the bitrate; anything more was too expensive in those days. To increase bitrate much beyond baudrate requires digital signal processing. Are you old enough to remember what 14.400bps modems used to cost back in the day? They used dual DSPs coupled with SRAMS and stuff for echo cancellation, noise filtering etc and they cost hundreds of $. Also, 14.400bps was considered FAST too!

By the time the 32k and 56k modem standards came, moore's law had ensured the needed processing power had reduced muchly in price.

Then of course, nobody downloaded a hundred megabytes in one go, that's bigger than most peoples' harddrives at that time...

So what you REALLY meant was 56k ~ 56.000 BPS, not baud.

[london-boy]

Originally Posted by Guden Oden

Hence, the name: MODulator/DEModulator.

Moddem?

That sounds like Dave telling Sonic/jvd to do their job: "Oi!! whats with the trolls in the console forum! Modd'em, aaight!?"

[linthat22]

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

What speed do you actually get on your 56k? I used to get 49k or so, but I tweaked the bejeebus out of my set-up and house phone wiring to do so. :?

You die hard, I know you miss the days of 9600 baud

[JacksBleedingEyes]

Originally Posted by Acert93

Yeah, kilobits vs. kilobytes. Same thing with megabits and megabytes.

You would be lucky to break 5KB/s on a 56kbps dialup connection in the real world, whereas my 4Mb cable will download well over 400KB/s.

Rubish, I had a 56 v90 modem back in the day, and 6 kilobytes was a constant speed here.

[Quitch]

Originally Posted by london-boy

You'll find it hard to get someone on here who played HL2 with a dial up connection.
You should really invest in broadband you know.

I'm on a 4Mb connection and an update last week (after months i didn't play the game) took a few minutes. Can't remember how long, but in the end 56k to a 4000k connection is a big difference....

Also, for some reason, everytime i start up Steam, it logs on and checks for updates, which still takes a little while... Bit annoying for me, and it will be a right pain for you.

By 4000k are you indicating 400KB or 4000Kb? If the former then you're in for a nasty shock

[london-boy]

Originally Posted by Quitch

By 4000k are you indicating 400KB or 4000Kb? If the former then you're in for a nasty shock

Huh? 4Mbit connection, which in 2 weeks time will be a 8Mb connection

[Cowboy X]

Originally Posted by JacksBleedingEyes

Rubish, I had a 56 v90 modem back in the day, and 6 kilobytes was a constant speed here.

Well it also depends on how easily compressible the content that you are downloading is .

[Acert93]

Originally Posted by JacksBleedingEyes

Rubish, I had a 56 v90 modem back in the day, and 6 kilobytes was a constant speed here.

I have had dialup in 4 states in a number of houses in different cities. I have only had one provider who had clean enough connections that on a DL from a fast site I could break 5 (and that was BARELY, as in 5.1-5.2KB/s). And in this specific circumstance I lived less than 200 meters from the ISP. Everywhere else was low 4's or or even 3's. I also worked for an ISP for 3 years. So I guess you are one of the lucky ones to break 5KB/s. Dialup still sucks and it doesn't change the fact most people are lucky to break 5KB/s unless they have really clean phone lines and live fairly close to their ISP.