To use this program you need to download and install mIRC and have a reasonably up-to-date version of Half-Life installed.
To install: Unzip the download file to a new folder called "HalfIRC" inside your mIRC folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\mIRC32\HalfIRC). To unzip the file you will need a program like WinZip. Make sure that "Use folder names" is selected when unzipping.
To use: Run the halfirc.exe in that folder, then start up mIRC and connect to a server and open a channel window. Now start up Half-Life and play. To display the chat window you need to bind a key to the new "irc_toggle" command (for example, to bind to the O key, pull down the console and type bind O irc_toggle). Now push that key and it will show you the last lines of chat from the channel you opened in mIRC. To talk in the channel, bind another key to the new "irc_chatmode" command (for example, to bind to the I key, pull down the console and type bind I irc_chatmode). You can also send arbitrary IRC commands with the "irc" command in the console. See the following HalfIRC documentation for more details.
Note To access the Half-Life console, add "-console" to the target of your Half-Life shortcut (for example, the target might be C:\Games\Half-Life\HL.exe -game cstrike -console). Now in Half-Life push the ~ (tilde) key to pull down the console.
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English:
If you f*ck up, it's your problem.
1. Requirements
OS: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, NT4, or 2000. Software may work under the Microsoft Windows XP line of operating systems, then again, it may not. I simply don't know.
Half-Life: Any fairly recent version should do. Half-Life patches are available for download free of charge.
mIRC: mIRC version 5.9 or better. You can download mIRC from www.mirc.co.uk. IRC clients other than mIRC probably will NOT work with this software.
2. Installation
Extract the contents of the Zip file into a new folder. Be sure to unzip it preserving subfolders. (If you are reading this, chances are you already unzipped the file.)
In your mIRC application folder, create a new folder named "HalfIRC". Example: if mIRC is located in "C:\Program Files\mIRC", you would need to create the "C:\Program Files\mIRC\HalfIRC" folder.
Move the contents of the Zip file to this folder, including all subfolders and hidden (DLL) files. To view hidden files, open the Windows Explorer, then select "Folder Options" from the "View" menu item. On the "View" tab, check "Show all files".
In Half-Life, bind a key to the "irc_toggle" console command. For example, if you would like to activate/deactivate the HalfIRC chat plugin using the "x" key, you would need to perform a
bind x "irc_toggle"
command in the Half-Life console. Bind another key to the "irc_chatmode" console command:
bind y "irc_chatmode"
This enables you to chat just in the way you would chat with other players in the game.
3. Usage
To use the HalfIRC chat plugin, perform the following steps:
Start the HalfIRC application. It will provide you with information about its current status. you may close it by pressing the "No Way!" button. Optionally, you may minimize it to the system tray (the area next to the clock in the task bar) by pressing the "To Tray!" button, however, this is not required for operation.
Ensure mIRC is running, that it is connected to an IRC server, and that you are in the IRC channel you wish to monitor. Note that the HalfIRC plugin will only monitor the channel that is currently selected.
Run Half-Life.
If everything worked, you should be able to activate/deactivate the chat display by pressing the button bound to the "irc_toggle" console command. When activated, a blue on-screen display should show the most recent messages from the selected channel as they are received by your IRC client.
To send messages to IRC, you may either press the key bound to "irc_chatmode" (recommended, because it lets you type the message without having to open the console), or you can use the "irc" console command. To use the "irc" command, open the Half-Life console, and type
irc "<command or message>", for example irc "/join #feds".
The closing quotation mark is optional, the opening one is not. It is not possible to use quotation marks in IRC messages.
Upon receiving the first message from the selected channel, the name of the channel will be displayed to the upper right corner of the on-screen chat display.
Any commands not preceded by a "/" slash will be automatically converted to a "/msg #<current-channel> <text>" format.
Umlauts ("Ä", "ü" etc.) and the German sharp-s character ("ß"), which Half-Life cannot display, will be automatically transcribed to their "Ae", "ue", "ss" etc. representations.
Angelheart, GaLLoWaY]2, and SoDDy for alpha-testing; Dimah for demonstrating how to implement on-screen input; Fravia (esp. Stone/Iceman), Microsoft Developer Network, 29A Virus Labs, Sen Kemerovo, and Jeffrey Richter for software and technical information.
