Episode One Violent Crash

[SirGrotius]

So I just finished HL2 and was super excited to start Episode One.

I played about 5 minutes into the game when all of a sudden the game crashed violently. The screen went black for a second, then turned to a black/white checkerboard type thing then my PC shut down. I've never had such a crash before.

I'm surprised since HL2 runs fine on my machine except for the occasional speech hiccups.

Here is my machine:

PIV 2 Ghz
1 GB RAM
450 Watt PSU
GeForce 6800 GFX with 256 VRAM
Windows XP Pro
80 GB HD
SoundBlaster Live 5.1

Surprisingly, my computer defaults to "very high" settings, but with AA to a lower level. I use a 1280x1024 resolution I believe (19" LCD).

The other odd tidbit is that I bought Episode One off of Steam and for some reason it says the game was 99% downloaded and never more (some of the other games that were included with HL2 such as Lost Coast are now always at 76% or so). I don't know why this is the case. I have a cable modem that is always on and chugging along.

You're going to say lower the settings, right? But why would this happen to just Episode One and not HL2 (zero crashes)? Also, I haven't upgraded the firmware on my Graphics Card for maybe four months, could that be a reason?

Thanks,

SG

 

[Beerdude26]

Yeah, you need the latest DirectX drivers (9.0c August Update) and the latest Forceware drivers for your graphics card for HL2: E1 to work.

 

[SirGrotius]

Where does one get the latest Direct X drivers? I thought they were usually included in the game download?

I know where to get the firmware for my GX card.

Thanks again

 

[PimpinPenguin]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en
You can get the latest version of direct x here

 

[Hectic Glenn]

You say the game is stuck on 99% complete downloaded? Are you aware of downloading any updates for Episode 1 yet?

*Try closing steam, going into the steam folder and deleting a file called 'clientregistry.blob', open steam and it will make a new one for you automatically and should kick start your download to the 100% mark (if thats the problem).
*Also try right clicking Episode 1, in your 'my games' list and going to properties and clicking 'validate integrity of game cache' so steam makes sure your Episode 1 files are not corrupted.

Also update your drivers and get your directx up to 9.c (latest version i believe). Good luck, and may god help us all. *puts hand on heart*

 

[SirGrotius]

Thanks I tried the above suggestions (upgrading firmware, Direct X, etc.) but that just made my graphics look a little smoother--it didn't prevent another ugly crash of the same sort (checkerboard screen, etc.).

I played around with the in-game video settings and noticed a box which I didn't recall from HL2--something about environmental effects, I think one of the options was "bloom" and I had the highest option by default. I turned this effect off (kept everything else the same) and was able to run through the game for about an hour w/o any crashes. I think this might be the trick.

I'll post again if the problem happens again.