Half-Life 2: Half-life 2 won’t open since the update (Fix)

If your game won’t open and you’re unsure why, the first step is to determine if any game files are missing. To do this:

1. Open your Steam library and navigate to the game’s page.
2. Click on the Manage button (gear icon) and select Properties.
3. In the properties menu, go to the Installed Files section.
4. Click on the option Verify Integrity of Game Files and let Steam complete the verification process.

After the verification process is complete, if you see a message stating that 11 files failed to verify, it’s likely that your antivirus is blocking a file called vphysics.dll, which is essential for launching the game.

This lead us to the next step.

This step will vary depending on which antivirus software you use. In my case, I use Kaspersky, so I’ll explain the process for it. If you use a different antivirus and don’t know how to disable it, search online for a tutorial specific to your software.

After identifying the issue in the previous step, you may notice a warning in your antivirus about a “trojan” detected in the hl2 game files (as it happened in my case).

To allow your computer to install the missing file, you’ll need to temporarily disable your antivirus protection. Here’s how to do it (using Karspersky as an example):

1. Open the settings menu in your antivirus software.
2. Locate the security options and disable all the protection features you see in the menu.
– For Kaspersky, when an option is enabled, it’s shown with a green oval; when disabled, the oval turns white.

3. Double-check that all security options are turned off.

Once you’ve disabled all antivirus protection, proceed to the next step.

Once the antivirus is completely disabled, follow these steps to install the missing files:

1. Open your Steam library again and navigate to the Installed Files section in the Manage settings (as explained in Step 1).
2. Click on Verify Integrity of Game Files once more.
– If the verification process doesn’t start, go back to the game’s library page and press the Play button. This will automatically trigger the download of the missing files.

After completing this process, try launching the game to see if it starts successfully.

If possible, try reactivating your antivirus and adding an exception for the vphysics.dll file in the antivirus settings. This would be the best solution. However, some antivirus programs may not allow you to block detection of the file.

In my case, I tried reactivating Kaspersky, but each time I did, it flagged the file again. All my attempts to make the antivirus ignore the file were unsuccessful. On one occasion, it even deleted the file, forcing me to repeat the download process.

If your antivirus won’t let you add an exception, I recommend keeping it disabled until you finish playing the game. Just be cautious about what you download or browse online during this time to avoid potential risks.

I hope Valve addresses this issue in a future update. It’s frustrating to have to go through such a lengthy process just to play Half-Life 2.

That said, I hope this guide helped you resolve the issue. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading.