Half-Life 2 Forum

I'm having several problems getting the Half-Life 2 demo to work on a new MacBook Pro running Crossover 6.1.0:

1. When I install Steam in Win2000 (as is recommended) the default panel is blank (in Win98, an IE install fixes this) even with the Wine HTML components. Installing IE in the Win2000 bottle causes script errors.

But, I am able to copy the HL2 files over from a download in a Win98 bottle. It still doesn't run, though:

2. Using "-console -heapsize 512000 -dxlevel 70 -width 1024 -height 769 -novid +cl_drawmonitors 0 +r_shadowrendertotexture 0" launch properties (I've tried various combinations ... I'm starting to think the console is what helps) I can start a new game and see a talking head, but the game exits shortly after that.

Hiding the dock seems to have had no effect.

Are you installing Steam using our Wizard? I mean, by picking out the Steam installer from our list of supported applications and not by trying to install it manually.

Our wizard installs the 'CrossOver HTML Component' which is a replacement for IE. Our wizard sets that up automatically, if you install Steam manually or install IE it will break things. IE and Steam need to be kept in separate bottles.

I have not installed the demo itself in a long time, but it should be no different from the full game as far as graphic options go. Do other 3d games work on your system? I wonder if there is an issue with your OpenGL libs. Or it could be that the demo is running an older version of the HL2 engine that is busted. Can anyone else verify that for us.

I've been installing Steam using the wizard into a fresh Win2000 bottle. I forgot to mention that the installer does not terminate "normally". The Steam registration process takes a while, then I manually quit the installer. I can see in the installer steps that the HTML components and fonts are installed first.

The Half Life demo (the old Half Life 1) worked in a Win98 bottle with some rendering problems in the menus (items not visible). The game ran well, but switching to the menu (for instance, to save the game) would return to a blank white screen.

Changing the launch options to "-console -dxlevel 81" helps. The game still crashes about 20 minutes in, but actually runs.

Ken Thomases provided the following useful tip:

• From CrossOver's Programs menu, select Run Command
• In the Run Command dialog, select the bottle with Steam in it
• For the command, type the following verbatim (quotes included):

regsvr32 "c:\windows\system32\mshtml.dll"

• Click Run

The Steam GUI is now fully functional (including the embedded browser in the store).