HL2 Bad Performance....Causes/Solutions?

[ShdwEnder]

Hey all, I have recently upgraded my computer to the following specifications and can play the game on all the highest settings...except for the resolution. Anything above 800X600 gets really glitchy/laggy and the video quality gets etchy. Plus my cursor lags behind my actual mouse movements. Any possible reasons or solutions?

2.8 Pentium 4
1 GB DDR 3200 RAM
Geforce 5600 FX 256MB
New Intel Mother Board w/ hyper threading tech.
60 GB Harddrive

Oh, and I recently dl all the newest drivers for both my graphics card and my motherboard.

 

[RAST]

Have you set your HeapSize? I use 384MB or 512MB w/ 1GB RAM.

Also that 5600 FX will choke on the DX9 stuff. Try forcing DX8 or using the 16bit pixel shader hack....I have a 6600 GT and it runs the game like a dream. It even runs well with my old 4200. But on my 5200 it chokes bad.

 

[crownest]

Play on the recommded video settings, that will help with performance.

 

[ShdwEnder]

Ok, I am a little uneducated when it comes to technical spec tweaks, but what is heapsize, and where can I "set" it? What will that do? Won't forcing the game to play under dx8 lower the quality of the game's graphics?

There really isnt a button to push for recommended settings, at least not one that I could see. Only one to reset everything to default. I guess I'm a bit greedy but I was really hoping that my system would be able to handle HL2 in both quality and performance.

Is there any kind of tweaking I can do to my graphics card to make it better at handling such resource consuming games?

 

[tomo13]

Your graphics card is causing your performance problems.Sorry, but it is not really upto the job.It should already default to dx8.1 as gf fx cards struggle with dx9(even top end ones)
Look on advance options under video, it will tell you what it is set as.
The rest of your setup is fine.With a better card you will be able to up your resolution no problem.

 

[meganox]

there are several options that can only be set as the game is launched, heapsize is one of them. if you launch the game from the steam 'play games' window, right-click on half-life and choose 'properties', then click the 'launch options' button. add "-heapsize X" (without the quotes), where X is the amount of ram you want to give it. don't put more than half your ram!

so, my launch options box contains exactly this (do NOT just cut and paste this into your own):

-novideo +map_background none -heapsize 256000 -refresh 75

If you run from a desktop shortcut you need to right-click on the shortcut and add it to the 'target' box instead, something like:

"C:\Valve\Steam\Steam.exe -applaunch 220 -heapsize 256000"

i THINK options in the launch options box always happen whereas options in the shortcut only happen if you launch the shortcut and don't launch through steam, so i recommend choosing one or the other and sticking to it

other options you might like to put here:

"-novideo" - skips the valve video at startup

"-console" - speeds loading by not displaying a map behind the menu, and brings the console up

"+map_background none" - same result as above but doesn't display the console

"-dxlevel [version]" - where version is 70, 80, 81, 90; sets the level of directx support, could make the game smoother at the expense of image quality

"-refresh X" - tells hl2 what refresh rate to use. WARNING! could damage your monitor if it doesn't support that rate at that resolution, e.g. if you increase resolution from inside the game

please read this excellent guide for tweaking hl2, good for noobs:

http://www.tweakguides.com/HL2_1.html

 

[ShdwEnder]

Lol, so basically I can play on better resolutions only if I fork over another $200-300 for a better gfx card....

This is a little funny because one of my good friends has a similar set-up that I do, only he's running a 128 MB card instead of a 256....same type (5600 FX) and somehow is running on 2 resolutions higher than 800X600, with all the high settings turned on. We both still can't figure out what is different between his comp and mine.

Ok, so If I force the game to run at DX8.1, how much quality should I expect to lose in the game's graphics?

 

[ShdwEnder]

Lol, so basically I can play on better resolutions only if I fork over another $200-300 for a better gfx card....

This is a little funny because one of my good friends has a similar set-up that I do, only he's running a 128 MB card instead of a 256....same type (5600 FX) and somehow is running on 2 resolutions higher than 800X600, with all the high settings turned on. We both still can't figure out what is different between his comp and mine.

Ok, so If I force the game to run at DX8.1, how much quality should I expect to lose in the game's graphics?

Are the GeForce 256MB 6600's good buys?

 

[DrDevin]

I know you are being limited by your graphics card but there is something else wrong that is holding you back because im running a 9200se faster than your 5600 and they both support PS1.4 in DX8.1 mode so you should definatly be getting better FPS than me. It isnt just your GFX card! It has to be a driver problem not just a hardware problem.

 

[The Bait]

I run my game on DX8.1 I have a 5600 FX and I run my game with model detail and texture quality on high and my resolution 2 above 800x600 and I get a a framerate of around 58.67 fps. But I have 1 gig of ram. It might be how much ram both of you have...

 

[meganox]

i'm not sure, probably not that much. i have a 128Meg 4600Ti which is a DX8 card anyhow, i'm going to try the DX7 settings tomorrow but i'd be disappointed to have to play the whole game like that, or at 800x600 for that matter.

if your problem is simply low framerates when there is action there are other tweaks you could try in the guide i mentioned to lessen the load - look for tweaks that reduce the number of decals or objects drawn and maybe disable particle effects - i mean how much time are you really spending admiring the smoke from that grenade as you're hauling your ass into cover?

i only got the game a couple of days ago, so i can't tell you what works and what don't, i can only suggest you read through the guide (not as big as it looks) and try different things. you said you were using the highest settings apart from resolution? if so, you should disable antialiasing and anisotropic filtering and see how it runs then, before you try anything else

 

[ShdwEnder]

No, the whole game simply becomes REALLY jumpy and glitchy, I havent had a chance to check but im guessing my fps gets shot to hell because the pictures arent fluid but rather skip around. I have 1 gig of ram too, but I think im going to try the dx8.1 trick...it sounds like my card simply doesn't like dx 9.

Thanks for the help guys.

Does anybody have any experience with Geforce 6600's, are they good buys?

 

[meganox]

put bind [key] "incrementvar cl_showfps 0 2 2" in your autoexec.cfg to toggle showing fps. i just found this in the tweak guide:

mat_clipz [0,1] - If set to 1, uses an optimization technique to reduce what is drawn on screen for a performance improvement. Note that some Nvidia FX card owners need to set mat_clipz 0 to fix rendering problems.

might help you. also on the last page of the guide is a nvidia specific tweak which (as far as i can tell) reduces the shaders down to dx8 level without reducing everything. i haven't tried it yet though. maybe if you find mat_dxlevel 81 works for you, you could try it (and put mat_dxlevel back to 90)

the guide has instructions on how to use commands in the console and config files, i advise you to check each settings current value before you change anything, only change one thing at a time and don't edit config.cfg directly, put everything in autoexec.cfg. hope you find a fix!

 

[ShdwEnder]

I have tried setting the dx level to 8.1 and 8.0, I have also applied the heapsize command you gave me (I heapsized 512000)....I still get around 19fps in the game. I mean, when my main menu is showing (im at the canal stage so it loads up a main menu picture of the red barn) I only get 19 fps.....this is ridiculous...

Ok, would having an older hard drive do this? Or having a crt moniter?

 

[DrDevin]

No it shouldent affect performance at all. It would seem that reformatting is a good option right now. Hopefully you have the reatail version or back up your steam copy!

 

[meganox]

RAST:

Also that 5600 FX will choke on the DX9 stuff. Try forcing DX8 or using the 16bit pixel shader hack....I have a 6600 GT and it runs the game like a dream. It even runs well with my old 4200. But on my 5200 it chokes bad.

ah! you have an FX card! you want to read this thread at HOC. scroll down to post #9 for instructions, you can safely ignore the rest of the thread, lots of peeps don't know what they're talking about. i'm benchmarking this tweak today so i'll post back with the results. This is the '16-bit shader hack' and from what i'm hearing it should make all the difference

please follow the instructions EXACTLY (they aint hard), and read the help (there's a 'click here for help' link in the top left corner) so you can undo the changes if you need to. you can PM me if you have any queries, i'll help where i can but i'm no expert on this

 

[RAST]

RAST:

ah! you have an FX card! you want to read this thread at HOC. scroll down to post #9 for instructions, you can safely ignore the rest of the thread, lots of peeps don't know what they're talking about. i'm benchmarking this tweak today so i'll post back with the results. This is the '16-bit shader hack' and from what i'm hearing it should make all the difference...

Yes, my FX card just blew chunks on this game. I knew there was a way to force the 16bit shaders, but I ended up getting a 6600 GT Actually I think my 4600ti ran the game better (although in DX8 mode) than the FX did....

 

[meganox]

yeah, seems like the stutter's really bad with the FX's, my Ti4600 doesn't stutter no more without autosave on, but the frame rate's pretty crappy -- funny thing is going to 800x600 made no difference, only cutting the detail levels. any suggestions as to what to cut first? i.e. which settings make the most difference to framerate?