HL2 EP1 - Frequent Crashes

[Magos]

I get frequent crashes when playing through HL2-EP1. First time was right after jumping out of the car in Undue Alarm. Second time somewhere in Lowlife. And now when I've just reached the streets it happens every ~10 minutes (gave up after 3 crashes).

I can play HL2 and Lost Coast just fine (LC a tad slow, but still stable). 2.4GHz with 1Gb RAM, Gf6 latest drivers etc...

When crashing it just hangs with the sound constantly looping the same part over and over. It seems it hangs for ~1-2 minutes, then it moves forward one frame then hangs for another 1-2 minutes and so on.

I noticed that during this hangup the memory consumption of hl2.exe goes constantly up by ~200kb per second non-stop.

Any ideas? I've heard of similar symptoms on other forums but so far no solution/patch in sight.

 

[MorganFreeman911]

It could be a virus, try scanning. Tell us your specs. Post your entire DXDIAG

You DO know DXDIAG right?

 

[Demon Stroke]

explain every aspect of the crash plz. not where u were, but what exactly it did.

 

[Magos]

It seems to be some bug with resource management. It just crashed right before entering the door in the hideout where Barney is. After the crash I tried playing again and a Kleiner broadcast (pretty long sound) started right about when it crashed last time. This could be the cause why the memory consumption of hl2.exe goes up constantly by ~200kb/sec, some kind of resource loading leak buggy thingy...

 

[MorganFreeman911]

Tell us your specs. Post your entire DXDIAG

You DO know DXDIAG right?

*ahem*

 

[Magos]

Tell us your specs

2.4GHz with 1Gb RAM, Gf6 latest drivers

Post your entire DXDIAG. You DO know DXDIAG right?

No I didn't, but here it is then:

 

[Beerdude26]

Run the Steam Diagnostic Tool: steam://support/?Issues=*

 

[Magos]

Hm, there's no way to copy the results it seems...
Anyway, it complained about 2 parts:

¤ Loaded Modules
¤ Services

Both refered to my popup blocker, said it could interfere with the automatic updater. But that's not the issue here, and so far the updater has worked just fine.

 

[Beerdude26]

Try enlarging your heapsize:

Left-click on the Steam tray icon.
Select "Games".
Click on the "My Games" tab.
Right-click on "Half-Life 2".
Select "Properties".
Click on the "General" tab.
Click on the "Set Launch Options" button.
Put in the window box: -heapsize NUMBER
The best idea is to put your heapize half of your RAM.
512 MB RAM: 524288 kilobytes (Heapsize = 262144 kilobytes)
1024 MB RAM: 1048576 kilobytes (Heapsize = 524288 kilobytes)
2048 MB RAM: 2097152 kilobytes (Heapsize = 1048576 kilobytes)

Click "OK".
Click "Close".

 

[Magos]

I tried that and managed to play through the final level (the Strider battle) without crashes. That doesn't prove much (could be luck), but at least it's promising. Thanks!
(too lazy to replay Ep1 again right now to test it fully)