HL2 retail working without CD?!?

[emboss]

I've got the retail version of HL2 (I pay per MB ...) so the game required CD1 to be in the drive to start. Now, I had a quick game this evening, and noticed a while into the game that my HL2 CD1 was sitting on the desk. The game had fired up fine without the CD!

I know that since I last did an update with Steam (I run in offline mode except for checking for updates), which was a while ago, it has required the CD, and nothing should have changed the install since then.

Anyone else found this happening?

[Camacho111]

I've got the retail version of HL2 (I pay per MB ...) so the game required CD1 to be in the drive to start. Now, I had a quick game this evening, and noticed a while into the game that my HL2 CD1 was sitting on the desk. The game had fired up fine without the CD!

I know that since I last did an update with Steam (I run in offline mode except for checking for updates), which was a while ago, it has required the CD, and nothing should have changed the install since then.

Anyone else found this happening? I've never had to use CD1 to play HL2. Myabe cause steam was open. Had HL2 since December.

[ManOman]

There was an update awhile ago that removed the need for the CD as long as Steam had verified that you had a registered copy of HL2 :)

[zip22]

this is 1 thing i like about steam. i hate having to handle cds. and i am too lazy currently to create virtual cdroms etc.

[emboss]

Hmm, must have snuck in an update behind my back ... ah well, it looks as though it was a quite beneficial update, so I don't mind :)

[PLOBBY]

yea, i noticed that a few weeks ago, cause i started playing hl2 again after i beat it, and i didnt have the cd in and i wasnt sure why it was letting me play...

[covana2244]

I checked that url, where are the patches?
Sorry its Against the forum rules. Don't post it again. -- Oni :sn:

[Stoanhart]

umm. I'm PRETTY sure that patches go against forum rules. There's been debates over whether or not it's illegal/piracy if you own the discs, but the end result was, not to discuss it here.

[emboss]

As long as you don't give someone else your discs, it's not copyright infringement (as you haven't actually duplicated it or anything :) ). However, it is against the EULA, so Valve possibly has the right to terminate the license agreement. I say possibly as whether the EULA holds any water legal-wise (ie: whether Valve can do this legally) is another whole debate ...

But yes, posting links to crack sites on OCForums is probably not the best idea in terms of account longevity :)

[Stoanhart]

yeah, I agree with it NOT being piracy if you own it. After all, the companies got their money, so where's the harm.

[Blackmage]

yeah all my steam games i have no cd's at all

[quietstorm]

i bought through steam so I never had cd's to begin with, so I'm not surprised that you don't need cds to play retail either. all the games are stored along with your steam account id which is unique to you. so i think anytime you're playing anything it checks your steam id so it doesn't matter if you have discs or not.

[emboss]

Originally you needed to have CD1 in the drive to play (or the DVD if you got it that way). It was SecuROM protected which meant that, at least for me, I couldn't copy it.