Install Problems with The Orange Box

Hey, I have been reading that several folks have had trouble installing the Orange Box and I have tried all the suggested resolutions, but I am still unable to install on my machine. It seems to install the "Steam" application, but nothing else and when I try to open "Steam" it start updating again and again and then disappears. Is there a trick to installing all the games? Is this strictly an on-line game? If it is, that is going to suck as I was really looking forward to playing single player. Thanks.

gadawg31

 

I believe TF2 is the only main part of Orange Box that requires multiplayer. Portal and HL2 are single player games with some multiplayer ports. Steam has a huge reputation for being touchy in general. From the times I have had to reinstall my games, either from a restore file or downloading again off the internet, I have found it is best to do one game at a time. Next, is to make sure you have uninstalled steam, cleaned up, then reinstalled it. Then log-in and go through the links to get your download(s) started. The key thing with this is to no loose your connection. While updating, or downloading in general, steam will usually freeze and/or crash once the connection is lost. Also, if you start the update/download, then walk away and do not touch it till it is finished, your success rate will go up. Out of all the programs I have ever installed, nothing more other Daemon tools, Steam (and its games), or Adobe CS3 have been more difficult to install correctly. Hope I made some kind of sense, good luck.

 

Thanks for the response. It appears to be working now, so I am not going to touch it at all, as you suggested. It must have been the connection issue, then again it was probably my usually "Luck". If it can go wrong, it will do it on my machine. Thanks again.

gadawg

 

I have had numerous occasions where I would have to restore a game or wait on Steam to be ready because I messed up some small update, but it seems to always get itself done so you can actually relax and play. Good to hear its working.

 

One last question. It all appears to have installed correctly, but when I went to play it stated it needed to connect to steam. Will I have to have an internet connection to always play or is there something I am missing. I checked for the icons and none were to be found. However, when I connected to steam, it displayed HL2, Episode 1 & 2, portal and TF2. I really hope they can be played without a connection, otherwise it defeats the purpose of me being able to play in my room where there is no internet connection. (I am deployed to the desert, this is why I am asking all this) Thanks for the help.

gadawg31

 

What you can do is click File->Go Offline->Restart in Offline mode. This will allow you to play. I believe this needs to be done while online, but you can certainly try this without a connection. Also, thank you.