The Steam Half-Life 25th anniversary brought significant updates to the game’s source code, impacting various titles built on the GoldSrc engine, including Counter Strike. These updates have led to new challenges, such as the inability to launch Counter Strike. Players attempting to play the game are confronted with a Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library error stating “Assertion failed”. The detailed error message reads:
Assertion failed!!
Program: „.iles
(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life\hw.dll
File: c:\buildslave\goldsrc_win32\build\GoldSr...\LoadBlob.cpp
Line: 90
Expression: NULL hmoduleT
For information on how your program can cause an assertion failure, see the Visual • documentation on asserts
(Press Retry to debug the application - JIT must be enabled)
This issue persists even after attempting standard fixes like reinstalling the game, leaving many players without a clear solution. This guide is tailored to address this specific scenario, offering targeted solutions for players affected by the recent source code updates.
Fixing the Assertion Failed!
To fix this problem, it requires you to load the previous version of Counter Strike and if you recently install the Half-Life latest version, you need to remove it from your system.
1. Uninstall Counter Strike and Half-Life
- Access Steam Library: Open Steam, navigate to your Library.
- Uninstall Games: Find Half-Life and Counter Strike, right-click on each, and select ‘Uninstall’.
- Folder Verification: Ensure the installation folders, typically located at
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life, are empty or deleted.
2. Reinstall Counter Strike
- Installation: Through Steam, reinstall Counter Strike.
- No Half-Life Reinstallation: Do not reinstall Half-Life, especially the latest version, as it conflicts with the older Counter Strike build.
3. Change Beta Participation
- Access Game Properties: In Steam, right-click on Counter Strike, and select ‘Properties’.
- Betas Tab: Navigate to the ‘Betas’ tab.
- Select Legacy Build: Change the Beta Participation to
steam_legacy – Pre-25th Anniversary Build. This step ensures that Counter Strike uses the old version of the GoldSrc Engine.
4. Play Counter Strike
- Launch the Game: After the legacy build is installed, launch Counter Strike. The game should now work without the “Assertion Failed!” error.
Counter Strike Update
A new update for Counter Strike is available on Steam, you need to update to this latest version and this error will no longer come up.