• How do I install TFC?
• What patch should I download? There are so many.
• I've heard that the Opposing Force add-on includes new netcode that reduces lag for TFC. Is this true?
• I recently installed the Opposing Force add-on, and now my netgraph looks different. Is there anything I can do to make it look like it did before?
• When trying to update Half-life I get this message: "Your half-life executable has been modified. Please check your system for viruses and re-install. What should I do?

Forget about the sierra update. It is suppose to be a "pain free" installer, to make everything easy for you. We can tell you from experience that this is one of the biggest problems with the game. Here is a much easier way to update the game. It also should be noted that this way will be just as fast if not faster. Click on this link to open up a new window of our TFC Files page.

Pick the right language (you'll see all options available), and now you have two patches to choose from. To check your version of Half-life, open up hl.exe - this will bring you to the main Half-Life menu. In the bottom right corner (if you look in console the numbers will be listed in the upper right corner), you'll see the version number (something like v45/1.x.x.x, the x's being your version number) if that matches the smaller update patch (which would, in the case of your version being 1.1.0.8 and the new patch being 1.1.0.9, named something like 1010810109.exe) is all you need.

If you do not have the version that matches the small update, have just installed off your CD, or do not know what version you have, download the Full update.

[fast forward 20 hours]

Now that you finished downloading the patch, find where you downloaded it and double click it. From here you have to click on "next" a few times and "Agree" to the EULA. The patch should automatically detect where you Half-Life directory is, if it doesn't, you can use the "browse" button to find it. From here on out, the files should start to update (so head to the fridge and grab me a pop). When the patch install is finished, you should configure your microphone (if you have one).

I've heard that the Opposing Force add-on includes new netcode that reduces lag in TFC. Is this true?

The netcode update in Opposing Force is only for Opposing Force and makes no changes to the netcode in either standard HL or TFC. The changes that were made were to deal with specific problems that Gearbox was having, and also to distinguish users of OpFor from the users of the standard HL, hence the 1.015 version number as opposed to HL's 1.013.

I recently installed the Opposing Force add-on and now my netgraph shows more in TFC and HL than it did before. This includes a display of variable ping and the netgraph lines take up nearly half of the game screen.

These commands (found at http://www.planethalflife.com/commands/) should help you. graphheight 64 (sets the height of the r_netgraph display) graphhigh 512 (sets the maximum value of the r_netgraph display) graphmean 1 (sets the mean value of the r_netgraph display) graphmedian 128 (sets the median value of the r_netgraph display) As for toggling the rest of the items displayed, I'm still looking into it, but messing with the values of these commands should clear up the main problem (netgraph taking up too much of the screen). Thanks to [WOLF]Rainmaker for pointing me in the right direction and towards that site. NOTE: After installing Opposing Force I have not noticed anything different other than the display of fps, incoming k/sec and outgoing k/sec in my netgraph, the problem here may have simply been that the person was running at a low resolution, which may cause the display of those variables to take up a good amount of screen space. Personally, running at 1024x768 they're buried in the lines of the netgraph itself, which doesn't seem to take up any more space than it did before.

When I try to update Half-life to the latest version, I get the following message: "Your Half-life executable has been modified. Please check your system for viruses and re-install Half-life." I don't think I have any kind of virus, since the game works before the update. How can I fix this?

If you're lucky, you'll simply have a corrupted download of the patch. If that is the case, then downloading the patch again should solve the problem. If not, then you should continue on with the rest of this.

When you have a virus, it is often very possible for the game to continue functioning properly even though the file itself has been infected. Make sure you have the latest updates to your virus scan/antivirus program and do a complete scan of your computer for any possible virus that may be there. If it turns up a virus, that's most likely all you'll need to do, along with removing the virus, uninstalling Half-life, deleting the Half-life folders, and then installing Half-life again.

If you did not find a virus, the next thing you will need to do is run a scandisk (start-programs-accessories-system tools-scandisk) on the hard drive, as well as defragmenting the drive(start-programs-accessories-system tools-Disk Defragmenter), and uninstall the game, delete the folders, and install again. Scandisk will often fix problems that your hard drive may be having, and corrupted files are often a sign of a hard drive that's having problems. If you have a good amount of time, you may want to have scandisk perform the scan in thorough mode, which will scan the surface of the disk for problems as well (this takes a very long time though, and is not always needed).