Game is slower than usual

[gadon_j]

Hi, my brother bought me HL2 for my birthday about a week ago, it was running butter smooth until a few days ago. I came home from work and he told me that it was laggy for some reason. I loaded up my game and, sure enough, it was much slower than before. I put all the settings to low and there was no noticeable difference. I tried reinstalling/updating the drivers for my nVidia GeForce 5500 video card and no change. I reinstalled the game and there was no change. For some reason there is no water in my game. It's just invisible, on the main menu background, in the actual game, theres just no water. I don't see how it can be fine 1 second and crappy the next. This is very frustrating and I could really use some help.

 

[DrDevin]

It is the new patch. Everyone is complaining of something wrong (and they are right). You seem to have gotten the worse performance bug! In the options menu turn HDR OFF. And then change your DX level to 8.1. See if that helps.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Validate your hl2 files too for good measure, to make sure all your files are fine. Look for the link by searching these forums or steampowered.com forums.

 

[gadon_j]

If it's the new patch then why did it stop working in the first place? Unless my brother decided to be a hero and download it, it wasn't installed until I had problems. Turning HDR off only helps a little bit but it's still not as nice as before. I can't change the DirectX level... it's just greyed out. Still no water though. I verified my files and it didn't tell me anything so I am assuming it's fine. I just went to that steam://validate/220 thing and it counted up to 100% and just left. I should just format my hard drive again and start over...

 

[$kelet0r]

no dont do that
everyone thinks to do that
but its hl2 and steam and patience will bring rewards
just wait ' til next week when they will hopefully fix things

 

[boystupid]

You are not alone i have this problem aswell. Im running on a GeFx 5200 and it stuters and doesn't play some sound files aswell as the missing water. :angry: I just hope valve sort it out soon.

 

[gadon_j]

Well is it a graphics card issue or is it the game itself that has a problem. If it's the game then I'll just wait til the next update cuz theres nothing else I can really do, but if it's my hardware then i can keep fiddling with it.

 

[gweedodogg69]

Change it to DX 8.1 in the Advanced settings.

1. Open up Steam
2. Go to Play Games
3. RIGHT CLICK on the game you want
4. Click Properties on the menu that comes up
5. Click Launch Options
6. In the box type in "-dxlevel 8.1"
7. Type or Copy/Paste it without the quotes. Also Note the Space between dxlevel and 8.1

 

[gadon_j]

Oh thank you so friggen much. It's running butter smooth again and the water is back. The sound doesn't even lag anymore when they are doing that check when I get to the Black Mesa East. *bow* salami