Audio Problems with HL2

[Starkaas]

Having the same problems with the sound.

Also have noticed that the worst sound errors/lag are when the game auto saves (which in my mind is alot).
Is there anyway to turn this feature off in the console??

As a side note I have also noticed in the console there are some errors in loading some of the textures/sounds/models.

Didn't think too much of this at first as noticed this with MOHAA and that ran with out any problems at all.

Cheers

Well.

So I've gone into my Half-Life 2 save game directory (\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\"steam account name"\half-life 2\hl2\SAVE\) and changed the attributes of these 4 files: autosave, autosave.tga, autosave01, and autosave01.tga to "read only".

This has stopped the game from autosaving, the console comes up with errors saying cannot write to/change files etc... but now I have no lag or freezing when going around corners, into big rooms etc...

I still get a bit of audio problems when there is a change of sound script, or sounds added, or whatever.
But this has made the game totally playable for me now.

I'm hoping that there is a patch to fix this problem pretty damn so though. Forgot to save for ages and died stupidly and had to load way back.

Anyway works brilliantly for me. Just need to save regularly.

If this helps anyone else please post know.

Stark

 

[Ruben]

Yes i did this too and the game stutters A LOT less. Infact, my game dont stutter anymore it just stops, freezes if you will, where it before stuttered. BUT an added bonus is that the stuttering parts are considerably less now than before (anyone see my video how bad it was?)

What i did was simple, NO tweaks or commands like preload and creating an autoexec.cfg file with commands in them. What i did was going into my audio settings and setting the acceleration to NONE at all. Ofcource i set it backj to full if i want to play other games, but why would i when i have half life 2? Heh.

So... Setting the >start>control panel>sounds and audio devices>audio tab>sound playback>advanced>performance>hardware acceleration... to NONE, largely solved my stuttering. Added to this, eliminating AUTOSAVES makes my game rather smooth! Except for the slight pause (1-2 seconds) when walking into a new area.

This might not work for all, it just works for me NOW... and i dont know if it will come back.

 

[ElAguila]

stttuuutterrring isss bbbackk

I had been able to play for a while without the stuttering but it is back now. The video stress test shows 107fps which looks great but then again, there is no sound in the video stress test.

 

[Ruben]

I had been able to play for a while without the stuttering but it is back now. The video stress test shows 107fps which looks great but then again, there is no sound in the video stress test.

Did you do what i did? If you did then check again. (it has a nasty habit of setting it self back to full when you least expect it, go figure) Still stutters? Well.. crap... it works for me now and now im affraid it will come back so i will enjoy it while it lasts. Did you notice that it does not stutter if you set it to none (emulation only)? It just pauses for a second.

 

[ElAguila]

Did you do what i did? If you did then check again. (it has a nasty habit of setting it self back to full when you least expect it, go figure) Still stutters? Well.. crap... it works for me now and now im affraid it will come back so i will enjoy it while it lasts. Did you notice that it does not stutter if you set it to none (emulation only)? It just pauses for a second.

When I set the acceleration to none I couldn't play it all. It was worse that studdering. I wish the hell we could get a patch to fix this.

 

[TimG]

same prob.
really like the game but the stuttering sound is really annoying..

my pc is a 2.4athlon xp, 512ram, radeon 9100 (only 64meg)
i would've thought my gfx card would have caused me problems but fps are pretty good.
as i'm a music producer my soundcard is a professional external hoontech st-audio dps2000 (upto 96khz/24bit, 8in-8out) ..which i guess isnt designed for games, but i've never had problems before and the latency on it is very very low

anyone know of any console commands that help with this problem?

 

[svempa of swe]

I have had the above problem.
My spec:
AMD XP2000, MSI KT3ULTRA, 256MB RAM, GEFORCE 4 ti200.
I added 512MB more RAM, and now I can play at "Medium" graphic-mode without any problems. Before the update I couldn't even play at the lowest settings. I guess Valve have major problem to solve this, because not to be "one problem with one solution". To 256MB users, I recommend to add 512MB more mem.
To users with hifg-end compuers: No solution available for the moment.
Best regards.

 

[Frost]

I was having the sound studdering problems too, here is what I did to make it go away and my system specs for reference.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Stock Speeds w/ Cool'n'Quite enabled)
Asus KV8-SE
1GB 2x512MB DDR400
ATI Radeon 9800XT (Stock Speeds w/ Overdrive enabled)
Soundblaster Audigy 2
2 WD SE Hard drives, 8MB cache, 7200RPM (160GB, 80GB)
Windows XP Home w/SP2

I've tried most of what has been listed here on these 62 pages and after all that I decided to try to reformat my system. So I got all my drivers and applications together, my gamesaves and internet favorites, burned the all to a CD and then reformated. Installed Service Pack 2, installed my VIA 4in1 drivers, ATI, Network, Soundcard. Installed all my other apps, installed Steam and downloaded Half-Life 2 and CS: Source again. Started it up and no problems now at all.

Sometimes your system is soo messed up reformating will help you alot. For those that don't reformat, make sure your system doesn't have a million things loaded when you try to play games. When I use Ad-Aware SE it tells me how many processes I have running, 15... most other computers I run it on have over 25 processes running. I can still print, use the internet, do everything the person with 25 can, those extra processes CAN mess up your game performance. Give it a shot... I also upped the in-game settings from what they were to these:

1280x1024, Everything on High, AA set to 2x, AF set to 4x, V-Sync disabled. Sound Quality Set to Medium. And in the Half-Life 2, Properties, Launch Options I added -heapsize 256000

Seems to work great now, running very smooth. Only time the game lags a bit is when I first load a new section, I just stop and give it about 10 seconds and then continue on without another hitch. I know reformating can seem like a huge event but sometimes that is THE only way... it may help just speed up your computer in general. Also, I'm sure others have said, make sure you know how to properly update your drivers. Make sure you have the latest motherboard bios and the latest chipset drivers! They are more important then you think! Audigy has a package that combines their last two updates into one, install that, get the ATI 4.12 beta drivers, also if you have an AMD 64-bit processor download this from AMD's website and restart your computer http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/cpudriver.EXE good luck and give it a shot if you are still having problems.

 

[wasted]

hey i spent the whole day installing and uninstall video drivers, testing the game, and FINALLY:


i gave up

 

[BlackMesaDude]

Just wait for the update from valve... its nothing we can do for now.

 

[palefire]

 

[Spicey]

First off Half-Lifers, thanks for all of your input, it's been incredibly useful. Also big thanks to Mark McWilliams for info at http://www.blep.net/hl2stutter/

I've got the game working very nicely now. Running 1280x1024, 4x AA 8xAF all detail set to high, V-sync off, sound set to medium. 2 speakers.

Here's what I did.

1. Defragged my HDD.
2. Increased my BIOS Aperture size to 256mb
3. Reverted back to Forceware drivers 61.77, used Driver Cleaner to remove newer drivers
4. Downloaded latest Audigy 2 drivers from http://uk.europe.creative.com/support/downloads/
5. Set Autosave files in save folder to read only
6. Deleted all other save files apart from quicksave files.
7. Created autoexec.cfg file in hl2\cfg directory, added lines :-
snd_mixahead "0.7"
cl_forcepreload "1"
sv_forcepreload "1"
cl_smooth "0"
snd_async_fullyasync "1"

My system spec is :-

Abit BH7 (Intel 845PE)
Intel 2.5 ghz P4 533 FSB OC 3ghz
512mb 2700 DDR
256mb 3200 DDR
Leadtek Winfast 400 TDH 6800 NU
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2
120gb Hitachi SATA 150 HDD
30gb IBM Deskstar 7200 HDD
Plextor CD-RW 40r-40w-12rw
Pioneer CD 40x
Pioneer 16x DVD
Enermax 420 Watt Noisetaker AX
+3.3V@32A, +5V@36A, +12V1@15A, +12V2@14A,
[email protected], [email protected]
19" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u
Logitech Webcam Messenger
Windows XP SP2

Hope this helps. :thumbs:

 

[stiz]

When I use Ad-Aware SE it tells me how many processes I have running, 15... most other computers I run it on have over 25 processes running.

my average process count is between 60 and 70 - and that's after disabling unneeded services and startup items.

i get the stuttering too; i've had hl2 since last wednesday and have only played about three chapters because it's unplayable most of the time. thought i should show my face here and join the protest. get a move on, valve! :sniper:

 

[Garric]

Someone on these forums found a fix:

1. open command prompt
2. type dxdiag
3. open sound tab
4. move the slider for hardware acceleration all to the left
5. click on close

 

[Hotpot]

This was mentioned on an earlier page. It doesn't work for everybody, certainly not me and makes the problem much worse.

 

[dangulberry]

OK, I am encountering 2 new problems, though related to the stuttering I'm sure. The first is that the sound starts to distort then break up (kind of 'very fast 'skipping'). This occurs quite early on in the game, and always after a big explosion (a rocket 'shell' landing - hope that's not a spoiler!).

The second problem - just as problematic - is that some of the characters are speaking 2 lines of dialogue simultaneously. Funny thing is that there seems to be no 'space' (in the lip movements of the characters) for all of the dialogue to be spoken....which tells me that it's not a simple synchronisation issue.

And yes the "snd_async_fullyasync 1" 'fix' was entered into the console the first time I encountered the dialogue issue. Then I tried with that set to "0" and stil the problem. It first happens before you get the boat-bike-vehicle-thingy (you know?).

Any ideas will help!!

 

[cybersurfer]

The problem is the copy protection...read....theres nothing you can do...unless a nocd patch is released...get this, if you ordered from steam theres no protection, cause there no cd...only the people who bought the retail version gets screwed...like me...I just hope someone releases a no cd patch. So get off the audio stutter shit, its the copy protection, which is upsurd.

I had a problem with DX2 & i found a nocd patch which fixed the stuttering problem I had with that game.


http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=180566

 

[stiz]

i also have the problem with the characters saying two things at the same time, although i don't remember it happening until recently. the only changes i can remember making are:
- installing the steam update released on friday
- changing my video driver to catalyst 4.12 beta (i changed it to 4.11 today to see if it would help; it didn't)
- changing snd_mixahead to various values

i thought it might be the snd_mixahead value that was messing things up because i accidentally changed it to 7.0 - maybe some of the dialogue was occurring 7 seconds too early or something. no idea.

the game seems to be behaving more and more weirdly the more i play it. i'm definitely going to completely stop playing now until valve fixes this.

 

[Shadow-warrior]

Someone on these forums found a fix:

1. open command prompt
2. type dxdiag
3. open sound tab
4. move the slider for hardware acceleration all to the left
5. click on close

Does not work

 

[Avery]

The problem is the copy protection...read....theres nothing you can do...unless a nocd patch is released...get this, if you ordered from steam theres no protection, cause there no cd...only the people who bought the retail version gets screwed...like me...I just hope someone releases a no cd patch. So get off the audio stutter shit, its the copy protection, which is upsurd.

I had a problem with DX2 & i found a nocd patch which fixed the stuttering problem I had with that game.


http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=180566

Seriously thinking about taking HL2 back tomorrow but I just don't know how this is going to turn out!!
Can anyone confirm that there are no stutters with the downloaded version of HL2, i'm sure i've heard some folk have the stuttering with the downloaded version?????

 

[ColdKodiak]

the download version has stutters as well yes.

 

[Avery]

Agh, oh well - looks like i'll be stopping by Game Station tomorrow then!! I just can't see there being a fix any time soon.. I will buy it again maybe when and if there's a fix but now I am paranoid that my sytem sucks or it has some strange issues that I will never be able to resolve!!! What other new online games are worth a shot??

 

[DarkTimes]

i also have the problem with the characters saying two things at the same time, although i don't remember it happening until recently. the only changes i can remember making are:
- installing the steam update released on friday
- changing my video driver to catalyst 4.12 beta (i changed it to 4.11 today to see if it would help; it didn't)
- changing snd_mixahead to various values

i thought it might be the snd_mixahead value that was messing things up because i accidentally changed it to 7.0 - maybe some of the dialogue was occurring 7 seconds too early or something. no idea.

the game seems to be behaving more and more weirdly the more i play it. i'm definitely going to completely stop playing now until valve fixes this.

Have you added "snd_async_fullyasync 1" to the console? That causes the character to talk over each other a little as the sound is desynced. Still its better than two seconds of stuttering before it loads the line...

 

[Flyingbig]

Something odd i noticed while playing through hl2. There are some odd sound stutters at the start of the game but i have played till level 6 and i haven't had one stutter that wasn't explained by the quite awful autosave function. So what i would like to know is anyone further in the game than me and can tell me if the sound stutter returns during the more hectic levels?

Valve please release a patch, i can't stop playing this game even though there are issues with it. At this rate ill have the game completed and in my view that would be a waste as the game is in a somewhat imperfect state.

 

[RISEN1]

Defragging my harddrive solved my sound and graphical stuttering problem. I didnt realize how big the HL2 program was until I saw how much the HD had been fragmented after installation.BTY I defragged right before installing.So hopefuly this heps someone.OH its a good idea to turn off all other running applications in the sytem tray.

 

[arkanis]

 

[CastleBravo]

I'd just appreciate if morons would quit posting obvious bullshit "fixes" that don't do any good, and were debunked earlier on this topic. :dork:

 

[palefire]

I'd just appreciate if morons would quit posting obvious bullshit "fixes" that don't do any good, and were debunked earlier on this topic. :dork:

Buy this man a beer.

 

[sgupta]

I found it! If you get really, really, REALLY drunk, the game doesn't stutter noticeably anymore (though that's probably mostly the alcohol, not the game). Hope this helps.

(Just as a disclaimer, I'm really not advocating heavy drinking. Just some humor...still waiting for a fix, though mine's not quite as bad as some).

 

[stiz]

Have you added "snd_async_fullyasync 1" to the console? That causes the character to talk over each other a little as the sound is desynced. Still its better than two seconds of stuttering before it loads the line...

i had snd_async_fullyasync set to 1 for about 10 seconds and then i changed it back to 0 - i really noticed the sound delay it causes and didn't like it.

i had no problems with the dialogue until i started changing my video drivers, but i can't see how that would cause it. i think i might try it on a new xp installation and see if it's any better (if i can find the time to do it).

 

[palefire]

A patch is on its way according to:

http://www.blep.net/hl2stutter/

Money quote:

A solution for the stuttering problem has been found and a fix is coming. I've been talking with Gary McTaggart about this today and it turns out that my texture management theory was correct. A patch will be coming for this issue that will load all of the required textures into video memory on level load, rather than doing it during game play. There is currently no ETA for this patch, but I will post an update as soon as I get more information.

 

[Jpennin1]

Just finished HL2. Best game ever even with the stuttering.

Can't wait to play through it again without the stuttering

Patch me soon!

 

[Avery]

That's good news, looks like I won't have to visit Game Station after all... thnx for the news. What confuses me is why the stutter seems to happen when a new sound comes in also, or is it the case that somehow the textures and sounds are related??

 

[stiz]

YAY!!
:cheers:

 

[quakemazer]

Bloodlines

My only remaining question then, is will this "patch" fix the stuttering in Vampire:Bloodlines as well?

I imagine they may have to make an additional patch for Bloodlines, which will royally suck ass if that's the case.

 

[Purity_Knight]

Just to further irritate and possibley confuse people, I was wondering if it's a similar problem to the Doom 3 texture thrasing thing. I don't know if any of you got the problem, but it seemed that whenever you walked round a corner or through a door it stuttered a little, not the sound - only the graphics. I seem to get sound and graphic problems in HL2 and they're quite bad. To fix it in Doom 3, I was advised to change a value in a file called 'seta image_cacheMegs', change the value to 1/4 of your ram, to be exact. It cleared up all the problems(with the graphics only though), but maybe the sound is linked to the graphics problem, as most people seem to get graphic problems as well as sound ones.I've got a p4 2.4ghz, 512mb of ram, and a Radeon 9800 pro. my settings are mostly set at medium with no AA, and my performance is TERRIBLE, stuttering all the way. - just a thought...

 

[hopefull]

http://www.blep.net/hl2stutter/

 

[Ten Ton Hammer]

Its weird this morning i started up HL2 just for the hell of it.. cause I couldnt last any longer without playing and i didnt care if i played with Stutter or not. To my suprise, the game was totally stutter free. What did I do? I have no idea.. but the only thing I remember trying before i played was setting my hardware acelleration to 0.. then applying.. then bringing it back up to full and applying, cause i figured it wasnt going to work anyways. So now, i'm playing with full accelleration, and the game is stutter free. I know I didnt do anything else, so I dont know how, but the game seemed to fix itself. I am totally baffled, but i dont freaking care! I'm playing HL2 stutter free!!!

Good luck with the rest of you, I hope that patch comes out soon...

 

[cybersurfer]

some levels like the prision level didn't studder for me but most levels its pretty bad.

 

[luckyjan]

A patch is on its way according to:

http://www.blep.net/hl2stutter/

Money quote:

A solution for the stuttering problem has been found and a fix is coming. I've been talking with Gary McTaggart about this today and it turns out that my texture management theory was correct. A patch will be coming for this issue that will load all of the required textures into video memory on level load, rather than doing it during game play. There is currently no ETA for this patch, but I will post an update as soon as I get more information.

Yep i think that theory is correct. There is also a command in hl2 (mem_flush 1) where you can purge the mem. If you do that the stuttering gets even worse proving it's a mem loading problem.