How to play mods for Half-Life?

I am having a little bit of trouble with trying to play mods on half-life. I have a non-steam version of Half-Life 1.1, and it runs counter-strike mod perfectly, but when I try to play "Crack-Life" or its campaign brother on Half-Life by clicking "Custom Game", selecting the mod on the menu, and clicking activate, then click "done", and click "new game", it comes up with the typical half-life loading screen it stays like that. The longest I have ever had it stay was for 5-10 minutes but I assume the Half-Life game cant load it. How can I make the mods work?

Also, I moved the mods into the folder by accessing their original rar state via 7-zip and double clicking on them to see their files, then moving them to the half-life folder from 7-zip by dragging and dropping. Before moving them to it, it showed a loading screen of it compressing the files. Is this how I should do it? Because the way I did it, the files seem pretty intact to me.

Mods should be in separate folders under the main Half-Life folder. Valve themselves hold all their game data under /valve, so a mod would be under a folder as well, i.e. /hunger3 for They Hunger. Bear in mind that you don't want to duplicate the mod folder underneath the target folder, i.e. /modname/modname/(files) -- it should be /modname/(files)

If you have a CD key for Half-Life, enter it into Steam and it will add HL to your account assuming you don't have it already. Install the mod as described above, then restart Steam and you should see the mod in your games list.

That being said -- Crack-Life looks particularly amateurish, so I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the idea that it was packaged wrong.

Some mods require particular versions of half-life and many require command line wizardry (in and out of game) to autoload the game into a particular gametype and map. For 99% of half-life mods I've ever played clicking new game does nothing and you need to manually load the map you wanna play.

What does the readme say?

Quast said:

Some mods require particular versions of half-life and many require command line wizardry (in and out of game) to autoload the game into a particular gametype and map. For 99% of half-life mods I've ever played clicking new game does nothing and you need to manually load the map you wanna play.

What does the readme say?

How do I manually load a map? Do I type in commands? And the read me lists the usual instructions on how you would set up Half-Life back in the day.

Since my Half-Life version can run Counter-Strike Perfectly, I am quite sure it can run any kind of mod, due that it is v1.1.6.

dethtoll said:

Mods should be in separate folders under the main Half-Life folder. Valve themselves hold all their game data under /valve, so a mod would be under a folder as well, i.e. /hunger3 for They Hunger. Bear in mind that you don't want to duplicate the mod folder underneath the target folder, i.e. /modname/modname/(files) -- it should be /modname/(files)

If you have a CD key for Half-Life, enter it into Steam and it will add HL to your account assuming you don't have it already. Install the mod as described above, then restart Steam and you should see the mod in your games list.

That being said -- Crack-Life looks particularly amateurish, so I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the idea that it was packaged wrong.

My Half-Life I acquired via non-steam, so I think getting mods to work is going to be harder then I thought.

There are different kinds of mods, Replacements and Full Mods, Full mods usually have their own gamedir folder, To load full mods you need to simply put their gamedir folder inside your Half-life folder and change game after you run HL .

Replacements mods will usually replace exisitng game files like Models, Particles, Textures ... etc, Some may even modify game logic (This may prevent you from joining Netgames), It's best to make a backup copy of the folder "valve" just in case before loading any replacement mod .

Full Mods won't replace anything since they usually use their own gamedir folder (and sometimes even their own exe), an easier way To load those is to run hl.exe with command line parameter -game "Mod folder name here" (Make & use a batch file to make it easier).

Also if you're using a Non-steam version of Half-Life (aka Pre-Steam CD-Retail version) it is recommanded that you redeem your CD Key on steam And get the Steam version to ensure mods will work (since most of mods were updated to work only with Steam version) .

Note that same method works for Non-Steam version but i can't gaurantee you all of the mods will work .

Bernie said:

My Half-Life I acquired via non-steam, so I think getting mods to work is going to be harder then I thought.

You mean to say it's an eye patch and parrot version? God just buy the game it's like ten bucks.

I create short cuts to my Half-Life and add -game (foldername) to the file location to get it to work.

Just make sure the disc is in, mine freaks on me if I don't have it in.

EDIT: Oh wait, piracy.... This method also might work on pirated copies.

mrthejoshmon said:

EDIT: Oh wait, piracy.... This method also might work on pirated copies.

Lol probably he means Pre-Steam (aka CD-Retail version) by Non-steam .

But there is always the chance that his copy is pirate.

DMGUYDZ64 said:

Lol probably he means Pre-Steam (aka CD-Retail version) by Non-steam .

Yes sir. Intact copy v1.1.6

Welp you load mods the same way you do in with steam version, Read my earlier post.

DMGUYDZ64 said:

Welp you load mods the same way you do in with steam version, Read my earlier post.

Would you have any knowledge as to why a loading screen comes up when I use the custom game technique?

If it's not pirated, and you still have the CD key, you can add the key to your Steam account. Running mods is loads easier with it.

It's not like I haven't already said as much in this thread.

dethtoll said:

If it's not pirated, and you still have the CD key, you can add the key to your Steam account. Running mods is loads easier with it.

It's not like I haven't already said as much in this thread.

Question:Is there an option to run half-life mods in the folder instead of selecting 3rd party in the steam menu?

Both steam and pre-steam version have an option in menu for that, Pre-Steam (WON) it's "Custom game" and for Steam version it's "Change game", Just put your gamedir/mod folder inside Half-life folder and change to it when you're ingame .

DOWNLOAD And Search for that stupidass Skins mod.

Just redeem your CD Key on steam and play mod there. Gldsrc engine on steam is the way to go, they fixed most of the compatibility issues with old mods...

If you use non steam version you may have some issue with some mods that didn't work with certain versions of HL.

For example Poke646 had some issues with the latest version of the non steam HL version, but works like a charm in the steam version.

The only reason i have a non steam version, it is portable.

DMGUYDZ64 said:

Both steam and pre-steam version have an option in menu for that, Pre-Steam (WON) it's "Custom game" and for Steam version it's "Change game", Just put your gamedir/mod folder inside Half-life folder and change to it when you're ingame .

Thank you very much. I can tell you are a half-life fan by your profile. Does this method work with Half-Life 2 as well?

^ No not really, Because Half-Life 2 mods Require steam (Specifically "sourcemods" folder found in steamapps/sourcemods), Once you put HL2 Mods there Steam automatically lists them on Games List in your Library, They will still require Half-Life 2 anyways (Some mods however are Standalone and only require Source SDK Base XXXX) .

DMGUYDZ64 said:

^ No not really, Because Half-Life 2 mods Require steam (Specifically "sourcemods" folder found in steamapps/sourcemods), Once you put HL2 Mods there Steam automatically lists them on Games List in your Library, They will still require Half-Life 2 anyways (Some mods however are Standalone and only require Source SDK Base XXXX) .

Alrighty, that makes sense. Thank you very much.