Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. But in this case, you totally should. If you recall, I demonstrated how to play Team Fortress Classic on Android using the SDLash app. The app is able to emulate the GoldSource game engine, which was used in many of the classic valve games such as Half-Life and Team Fortress. Right now, I am putting together a tutorial on how to play Half-life on Android, but in the meantime, check out how to do it on Android Wear (albeit a little more complicated).
Surprisingly, the performance was not as bad as I was expecting. At times, the game got as high as 30fps and other times as low as 2 fps. Of course, things such as the lava graphics and special lightening caused a huge drop in fps. Also, trying to play a game on Android wear is a nightmare within itself. The app offers touchscreen controls, but on a 1.65 inch screen, they are almost impossible to use. Also, swiping to the left causes the screen to go back to the previous window. Are you still interested in doing this haha? If so, here’s a **rough guide **on how to play half life on Android wear.
What You Will Need:
- Original Half Life Game
- SDLash3D Apk
- Extras.7z
Step 1: Enable USB Debugging
For this guide, I am going to assume that you have experience with adb and already have it setup on your computer. On your Android wear device, enable USB and bluetooth debugging. You will need to go into the settings and tap the build number 7 times just like you do on your phone.
Also, enable USB debugging on your Android phone and within the Android wear app.
Once it’s all enabled, use the following command to connect adb to your watch so you can transfer files:
adb forward tcp:4444 localabstract:/adb-hub
adb connect localhost:4444
You might have to accept a debugging confirmation on your watch after you do this. Type adb devices to make sure that your watch is connected.
If you still need help understanding this, check out my video tutorial on how to sideload apps on Android wear.
Step 2: Install SDLash3D
To install the app to Android wear, simply locate the location of the apk and type in the following:
adb -e install xashdroid-release.apk
It will install an app named _half-life _to your Android wear device.
Step 2: Xash & Valve Folder
On your android wear device, create a folder called xash. Type in the following:
adb -e shell
cd sdcard
mkdir xash
Then on your pc, download and extract the extras.7z folder. Move the valve folder and game controller text file (in the extras 7z zip) to the Valve folder located in your Half-life game on your computer. Have I confused you yet? Just to recap, in your valve folder on your computer (probably located under steamapps/common/half-life) you have the valve folder. Within that valve folder you also have the Valve folder you downloaded from the extras zip and the controller text file from that zip.
Next, create a folder called valve on your Android wear device. Type in the following (I am assuming that you are still in shell from the previous command and currently in the location /sdcard):
mkdir xash/valve
Now, let’s transfer the contents from the valve folder on your computer to the directory:
exit (to get out of shell)
adb -e push E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life\valve (change with location of your valve folder) /sdcard/xash/valve
This will take about 2 hours to transfer. Once it’s done, you should be able to launch the half-life app on your Android wear device and the game will load.