Quote Originally Posted by Nz17 View Post
And, as for running Steam with Windows XP, it looks like that is going to end with the end of this year. It was just announced that starting January 1st, 2019, Steam will no longer be compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista. It's too bad as XP is where I run most of my Steam apps and games. I guess this is just like years ago when I was saddened when Steam dropped support for Windows 98 and Windows ME. Otherwise Half-Life (1) would have continued to run just fine on my old computer! Alas.
Half-Life 1 _still_ runs fine on Windows 98 in my experience. But I got the game before it got Steamed (somehow I actually wound up with two physical copies... the first was the Adrenaline Pack which I bought new at Wal-Mart, but later the same pack but now including Blue Shift got released, and a friend who went full digital-only gave me his copy of those discs. So ummm.... I guess I have extra discs of HL1, TFC and OpFor which I don't need...)

Why the hell did Team Fortress Classic need a separate CD when its literally just an update patch (indeed its auto-installed if you skip the TFC disk and install the OpFor disk)?

On that note... one thing that bothers me about Half-Life is it seems some of its mods actually require Steam now. Back in the day you could go to ModDb and get stuff like They Hunger (which I thoughtfully backed up on a CD-R) and others which only required the latest at the time patch (which I also backed up on a CD-R--I was in the habit of backing up downloads in case the internet went down, and actually still am, I just use external HDs now). Nowadays though? I can't say for sure any mod will work on a non-steam version (they don't tend to say so upfront). I remember trying to play Afraid of Monsters and it decided to be an asshole. Like geez... Half-Life 1 runs in 98SE and XP, its mods should too.

I mean at least Doom WADs tell you when they need a specific source port.

....

So, wound up getting addicted to one of my favorite Windows 98SE games (well, originally a DOS game but there was a slight updated version for 95/98 PCs). You'll probably recognize it from these quotes:

"Skooboo. Zugzug. They're destroying our city!"

Orcs are so adorable.