Igloo Cafe BBS

GeckoF

Sysoperator

From: Antarctica

Registered: September 18, 2020

Website

How to install and play HLRally b1.1 (and crash fixes)

NOTE: The IP of our HLRally server is now "igl01.igloocafe.xyz:27016". This probably will be changed in the future.
*: Since the last tests I have done in December 2023, this mod is starting to have problems with the new Half-Life 25th Anniversary update. To solve this and go back to the latest stable version, go to your Steam library, select Half-Life, Properties, Betas, select "steam_legacy" and wait until Steam downloads such version.

This guide will help you how to install the Half-Life mod HLRally on your Windows computer and also fix common crashes on modern systems.

1) Installing the mod

Before installing HLRally, you must have a copy of Half-Life on your computer. It's highly recommended to use the Steam version as this has an updated GoldSrc engine. Older (or CD-ROM and Xash3D FWGS) versions will also work.

First download the Beta 1.0 version of the mod from its official ModDB page (just press that big red DOWNLOAD NOW button and wait) and then run the installer.

Once you have the installer open, this should appear:

Do click to Next >...

Here you will need to specify the installation path of your Half-Life. In case you have the game on Steam this will be located as it appears in the image I have selected (I assume the installer will select it by default).

When you have selected the folder, click Install and just wait.

This will only be to create shortcut paths to the mod, but since I already have it installed before I will disable it. Just do it if you don't find it necessary.

And with all this, the mod would be installed.

Now we will need to apply patch Beta 1.1, otherwise you will not be able to join to our server if you do not have it. It's also necessary to have it as it will fix some problems with Steam.

Just download the patch from the ModDB page, wait and run the installer... The installer will be the same as the previous one, only this one will contain some differences as you will see below.

Here you can simply disable these two things, although for my part I recommend only disabling the last option as it is part of the mod's MP3 player, which nobody uses.

Then you will have to apply the installation path of your Half-Life as I explained before, there is no need to explain this part too much.

In case you have Half-Life from Steam, you must restart the program and then go to your library, there the mod will appear and you can launch it without a shortcut.

Otherwise you will need to make a shortcut (if the installer has not already done so) of your Half-Life from the root folder of the game and selecting the file "hl.exe" in this way.

(in english: Send to > Desktop (create shortcut))

When you have done so, go to your Desktop, do right click on it, select Properties and in Destination: add the -game hlrally parameter like this:

Now you will have HLRally mod installed on your computer, but not completely...

2) Fix crashes

In case you want to play this mod in high resolutions (for example on 1440x900) or on a modern system, the game will simply close when you try to open or connect to a server. If this happens to you, you can try to solve it this way...

Go to your Half-Life root folder, right click on hl.exe, Properties and then on Compatibility, enable the option "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)". Once you have done that simply click on Apply and close the window.

The only drawback to having Half-Life run under Windows XP is that it cause some recording programs (such as OBS) to not recognize the game if you have it in full screen.

Now to force a resolution when opening the game (and without changing it manually inside), you must add in the launch parameters a specific resolution to use using the flags -w and -h, for example -w 1280 -h 720 will make the game open in 1280x720. I also recommend playing it in windowed mode using -windowed in case you don't like to play from different resolutions in full screen and have a messy desktop after closing Half-Life (lol).

To add launch parameters if you have the game in your Steam library, search for Half-Life Rally Beta 1.1, right click on it, select Properties and there you go.

Now every time you open Half-Life it will ask for an administrator verification, simply click Yes and the game will open without any problems.

3) Connecting to the Igloo Arena server

To connect to our HLRally server, go to Find Servers, Favorites, Add a Server and type the IP address on the screen (igl01.igloocafe.xyz:27016). Then press the button highlighted in black in the image and do double click on the server.

Alternatively, you can connect to our server from the game console by typing the command "connect igl01.igloocafe.xyz:27016".

4) How to start playing

Once inside the server, you will be in a selection menu. Press the Select Car button to select all available cars in the game or on Spectate if you only want to see other players. Underneath will be our MOTD which may end up being unreadable when loading another map.

By selecting the first option you will be able to choose between different cars of various brands that will appear on the left side of the menu, then passing the mouse over Model will display information and a 3D preview of the car to choose. After you have decided on a car, select the model name and you will be taken back to the main menu.

From here just start pressing READY for launch to the race! (it may appear as a spectator if a race is already in progress)

Also, in Customize you can modify your car using money that you will earn after finishing a race. This option is somewhat useless as every time you change the map it will reset, losing all your progress.

To start driving the car, use the directional arrows below Del, End and Pag. Down, you can also switch the camera in first person by pressing D and switch back to different perspectives in third person with the C key. If you get stuck and can't get out, press the K key (or kill in the console) to get back to the last checkpoint.

I strongly recommend reading the HLRally HTML manual available at https://www.hlrally.net/hlr_manual/index.htm (mirror) (or in {your_half_life_folder}/hlrally/manual/) and checking your control settings under Options in the main menu.

I hope you have found this guide useful. The crashing solution worked for both me and my friend, so I guess it should work for you too.

Last edited by GeckoF (May 27, 2024 03:39 AM)

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