Redford's Complete Guide To Steam And Ns

RedfordRedford Monorailcatfjord Join Date: 2002-04-28 Member: 528Members, NS1 Playtester
edited February 2005 in New Player Forum
<div class="IPBDescription">for dummies</div> While I am aware a similar thread like this exists in the General forum, considering that many very new people live and breathe in this forum for support, here is somthing for them. A step-by-step guide for installing NS for perhaps not the most technically minded person out there who still wants to enjoy our fantastic game.

To use, follow steps one through six. If all goes well, an NS player is you. To start:


1. You need Half-Life.

If you do NOT have half life, there are currently two ways to get it.

- Buy it. Retail copies of HL are getting harder to find since HL is now a steam-only product, but you should still be able to find a copy with little difficulty. It will probally get harder as time goes on, however. You can use the CDkey that comes with HL to register a steam account, and gain acess to all HL-based products released by valve, including HLSP, TFC, CS, and DoD. You will NOT gain acess to HL2, or any and all released HL2 mods by valve. This technically holds true with the CS-only and DoD-only versions of half-life, since there is no longer any diffrence now.

- Buy it as a pack with HL2. You can do this with silver or above. You will get everything listed above and also HL2 and all HL2 mods.


Either of these copies of HL will allow you to play NS. They are also virtually identical in HL content. If you do not have a copy of HL as listed by either of these methods, or you use WON(*) you won't be able to play NS.


2. Steam needs to be setup correctly.

This is fairly simple. What you need to do is either transfer the HL files from the HL install on your computer, or download them from THE INTERWEB. When you have an authed steam account with an installed copy of Half-Life on your games list, you are nearly ready to start installing! However, first you must create the local content for HL, or in the very least assure that the local content exists. To perform this, run HL one time. Start a new game in the training room. Observe gina's pretty hologram, then quit. You have now assured local content. Congratulations!


3. You need NS.

Forgetting this step would be horrific. Download NS from one of the mirrors on the main page at <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com' target='_blank'>www.unknownworlds.com</a>. You probally allready know this since you managed to find your way into our forums, but I need to make sure. As of this post, the most recent build of NS would be "NS3.0b5" and there is a total of one file that you need to install, which is the downloaded .exe.


4. You need to install NS.

Easy. Load the .exe, and point it to .../steam/steamapps/youremail/half-life . It will automatically create the "NS" directory, so don't try to add one yourself.


If all four steps were performed correctly, NS will appear on your games list and can be played. If NS does NOT show up on your games list, you did somthing wrong. This is not your fault, because everyone who isn't a computer expert makes stupid mistakes when doing anything with a computer. Like my Mom. But that's another story. Suffice to say, when you think "Oh god, I messed up my NS install through some stupid method, am I totally alone Redford?!?!?1/1/1" I will answer "No, my son." and then give you a rotating cookie.

It happens to everyone sometimes.


5. Some common troubleshooting problems.


- Are you sure you followed step 1 and actually have HL? If you do, is HL an avliable game in steam? Read my lips: NS is not an HL2 mod(**), and HL2 is not HL.

- Did you assure local content? This is easy to check. If your Half-Life folder has nothing in it but the "NS" folder, you may not have assured local content. Go back and follow step two and do that. While you are assuring local content, you may want to play a little HL because it's not only an awesome game, but you probally need to work off some frustration.

- Did you install to the correct place? This is our number one leading issue. Make sure you installed to the right folder. Common mistakes include:

+ Adding "NS" at the end of the install URL. You end up with .../Half-Life/NS/NS. This is totally ineffective.
+ Using "Youremail" instead of <b>your</b> email. Do not type "Youremail", type whatever email you signed up your steam account up under, or even better, manually select said folder using the "Browse..." button.
+ Forgetting the front of the path. You need a full URL. If you use the .../, it won't work. This is a canned way to say "and and all folders on your computer that are before the important ones I am refering to, allways starting with c:/". You can totally avoid this problem with the handy "Browse..." button too!

The final verdict is to allways use the "Browse..." button unless you have your computer's file structure in photographic memory.

- Did you restart steam? Do it and see.

And finally, if none of these are true:


6. Play and enjoy.


Finally. Bastard game.


<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>* - Technically, HL works with WON, but WON is either down or on it's last legs by now. There are now previous versions of NS for steam, but the current version (3.0b5) doesn't work on WON at all.

** - Not YET, anyway.</span>

Comments

  • NiteowlNiteowl Join Date: 2002-09-04 Member: 1274Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Hear hear! bump for prosperity!
  • That_Annoying_KidThat_Annoying_Kid Sire of Titles Join Date: 2003-03-01 Member: 14175Members, Constellation
    bump?

    this should be stickied
  • ZaggyZaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester
    Stickeh, add this heap o text of me to it <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Try Combat or co_ maps to practice aiming,moving,circle strafing, learn the weapons and general egoïsm ...I mean soloing.
    -Natural Selection Classic or or ns_ maps are the most fun to play if:
    *the teams are equal in skill
    *both teams keep up attacking/pressuring the other team
    *players play seriously and don't whine or hack (though I have not seen this ever)
    -Try this excellent Natural Selection guide to find out a lot of things.
    <a href='http://manual.nsguides.org/' target='_blank'>http://manual.nsguides.org/</a>
    -To try out a lot just for yourself without bothering other people,

    Create a server in a certain ns_ map, for example ns_eclipse,
    hit the console key ~ , press e (or the console will disappear after you type anything) and type sv_cheats 1.

    Now the game will start even if there are no players on the other team.
    type bigdig to speed up building, type givepoints for more resources.

    Now, try building every building there is, on both Marine and Kharaa side, try all weapons, try all upgrades, if you do this, you will at least know what and where everything is.

    Try the Whichbot bots for NS/CO, those are excellent (Kharaa-only) bots.
    Download here
    <a href='http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/whichbot/whichbot-nsbeta-v0_94.zip?download' target='_blank'>http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/whichbo...94.zip?download</a>

    After that, find a pub in you country or near your country to get the least lag (if they have a good connection) and to be sure communication goes with the least problems.

    A headset is recommended for NS, nothing easier than shou...speaking instead of endless slow typing and getting killed. Just a not too cheap stereo headset with a microphone will do.

    Normally, you can only see the location where you are on your hud, not on your minimap, get the labeled minimaps
    <a href='http://homepage2.nifty.com/01ie009/ns/minimaps_beta5.zip' target='_blank'>http://homepage2.nifty.com/01ie009/ns/minimaps_beta5.zip</a>

    *
    DISCLAIMER!
    This game may get you addicted for the rest of your live!
    Proceed with caution if you want to keep a social REAL live<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  • SLizerSLizer Join Date: 2003-11-07 Member: 22363Members, Constellation
    Stickzor Allready we had new sticky on rine-forums so one here too!
  • spinviperspinviper Join Date: 2003-05-08 Member: 16151Members
    edited February 2005
    *cough Thansal's guide*

    <!--QuoteBegin-Thansal's Guide On How To Friken Install NS V3.0 Beta 5+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Thansal's Guide On How To Friken Install NS V3.0 Beta 5)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
    This will install beta 5 no matter what you have done before, so start at the begining!
    1) Install Steam (Get the one with the HL cash if you can), if you have already installed Steam you may skip this step
    2) Play HL Via Steam (just load up the training mission and then quit)
    3) Search Your Hard Drive for NS and NSP
    4) Deleate ALL Folders with these names.
    4a) If you have a previously working install of an earlier version that you wish to keep: You can rename all NS folders to NSBUP and leave the NSP Folders alone.
    4b) If you have a previous install of NS, and wish to keep your configs, cimply copy your .cfg filles (normaly just config.cfg and userconfig.cfg, to your desktop)
    5) Close Steam.
    6) Run the Beta 5 installer (ns_install_v3_b5.exe)
    6a) Point the installer at Steam\SteamApps\Your@email\Half-Life
    6b) If you backedup your config files, now is the time to move them to your NS folder.
    7) Launch Steam
    8) Change your filters so that the point at <b>Natural Selection(Beta 5)</b> Instead of <b>Natural Selection (Beta)</b>
    9) Connect and play.
    10) If you get any errors (map.bsp, client.dll, or <b>ANYTHING</b>:
    a) Search your HDD for NS, there should only be a dir called NS in your Steam\SteamApps\Your@email\Half-Life\NS, unless you backed up a previous install.
    b) If it is ANYWHERE elese, try moving it to the correct place, or simply deleate it and start again.


    If you still get map.bsp errors, or client.dllrors, start from step 3 again.
    If you are POSITIVE that you hvae folowed the directions correctly, then redownload  ns_install_v3_b5.exe from another location.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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