Can I run 'old' HL/DoD/CS and Steam side by side?

[the_moog]

I tried Steam when it came out and put up with it for a month or so before deciding it really was a steaming pile of ****e! Spent more time looking at the checking/downloaloading/loading/rejecting/crash screens than playing! So I dropped back to the old style HL/DoD/CS and have been happily playing.

DoD is my main game atm and there are less and less 1.0 servers around these days, so I was thinking about trying Steam again... but this time I'd like to run an old installation and a Steam installation side by side, so if Steam is still as fecked up as it was then I can still actually get some game time in.

So, anyone know if it's just a case of making a copy of the HL directory and using that for 'old' sessions and updating the HL installation to Steam, or will the Steam installation hunt out all HL installations and update/kill them?

[Lucifa]

Yes, but you don't need to change anything, or copy anything at all.
Steam doesn't alter your 'old' HL installation, it installs itself and all the necessary components elsewhere (\program files\steam by default). You are then free to decide whichever version of HL you want to run.
Proof of this is the fact you don't need 'old' HL installed to run Steam :)

Lucifa

PS After a few weeks of using Steam to play DOD, i've concluded that it's actually a very nice piece of software, does a lot of things that are very useful - a simple but working friends system, quick and easy server browser and very fast loading into games (faster than old HL anyway).
The only problems tend to occur when the Steam servers are not working correctly, then it all ****'s up.

[the_moog]

Thanks... installed Steam last night and I can now run both the old versions and the Steam versions, if Steam isn't working.

It was a lot less painful experience than when I first tried last year :)