Steam is not that hard to use. Its getting better now, it use to lag and stuff.
Dude!! you just don't know how to use steam, you need to update it first before you can play offline. When it says not ready, it means you need to update the game. And if you want to play HL2 offline without going online, you first have to login, and then you can close your internet connection - but don't log out of steam. If you want to play offline next time, just close steam, do not log out. Next time you open steam it would say play offline mod or something.. can't really remember.
Once it says 'ready' you don't need to update it ever again when playing offline. The reason it keep updating patches is because you log in when your internet is on. If you close your internet and playoffline mod, steam doesn't know there's a new patch therefore it wouldn't know when to update!!!!!
Hope this infor helps!!
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