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I have a very old setup file of Counter Strike: Condition Zero game which someone gave me about 14 years ago. It always worked perfectly. But recently, it started causing problems when my laptop is connected to Internet. I tried to find solutions but they didn't work.

The exact problem is: When I launch the game when Internet is connected, the game home screen freezes, the intro music keeps running and I've to force quit the game from Task Manager. And it shows an error something like Half-Life launcher is not responding.

But if my Internet is disconnected and I launch any of the games (Condition Zero or Counter Strike 1.6), it launches successfully and I can connect to Internet again, the game doesn't get affected.

Now, I really don't need Internet as I just play Condition Zero Tour of Duties only which are offline missions.

So is there any way to stop interacting this game with Internet at all? Can it be blocked for just this one program? So that I don't have to turn off the Internet just to launch the game.

Thanks.

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  • Just block the game executables in windows firewall (Incoming and Outgoing).
    – QuickishFM
    Apr 10, 2021 at 12:13
  • @QuickishFM like you suggested, I blocked the .exe file both in inbound and outbound rules. Along with that, I blocked all types of ports for both inbound and outbound (for this .exe file only). Now I wonder, what worked? Ports or just the executables was enough? Further, the problem is fixed, but still it takes 3-4 seconds to load game, because I feel the game still tries to connect to Internet but fails eventually :D Is this okay behavior of blocking?
    – Vikas
    Apr 11, 2021 at 13:07
  • Yes this is expected. Perhaps it checks that windows itself has internet, and then tries to connect - failing by timing out because the firewall doesn't let it. I'd say the executables are enough but you can test it out. Blocking only the CounterStrike server ports should be sufficient but its possible Valve uses different ports for authentication which might require you to block more ports (which might make it easier to block all ports for the executable). Note that this solution will NOT work when Windows Firewall is disabled..so look out for that if ever you must disable it.
    – QuickishFM
    Apr 11, 2021 at 18:28
  • @QuickishFM yes just executable was enough, and only for Outbound rules was enough. However, in all the excitement, I forgot the consequence. Now the game lags/drops frames :(
    – Vikas
    Apr 12, 2021 at 6:42
  • What if I try blocking just the ports? Would it also cause lag?
    – Vikas
    Apr 12, 2021 at 6:44

1 Answer 1

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I can't believe I just found a solution! But only by pure luck.

This problem has something to do with MasterServers.vdf file.

Like before, I was searching to fix this problem online. And I wasn't finding any single problem like mine. But today I found a discussion online about a problem, which wasn't related to mine, but it was related to error connecting to servers. And they had provided a separate MasterServers.vdf to replace in the installation directory.

I downloaded that file and replaced it with my own.

My original file content:

"MasterServers"
{
}

The content of the new file that fixed my problem:

"MasterServers"
{
        "hl1"
        {
                "0"
                {
                        "addr"          "188.40.40.201:27010"
                }
                "1"
                {
                        "addr"          "46.4.71.67:27010"
                }
                "2"
                {
                        "addr"          "176.9.50.16:27010"
                }
        }
        "hl2"
        {
                "0"
                {
                        "addr"          "188.40.40.201:27011"
                }
                "1"
                {
                        "addr"          "46.4.71.67:27011"
                }
                "2"
                {
                        "addr"          "176.9.50.16:27011"
                }
        }
}

I don't know how it fixed my problem, but yes, my game doesn't mess with Internet now, even when Internet is connected.

However, I would like to know how it did the trick.

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