Problem with HL2 second time round

[czrsink]

Chaps,

I'm just replaying HL2 for the second time round and I've hit a showstopper bug. I'm going to post on the Steam forums, but I thought I'd check on here first to see if anyone else had this problem the last time they played through.

Now bear in mind, the first time I played it through, I was running it on a 9800PRo - I'm now playing on an X800 XT PE, and am using newer drivers (played through HL2 when it first came out and have been keeping my CATS up to to date). Anyway, it happens in Ravenholm, just at the end of d1_town1 - I think it's that map anyway. It's after you've come through the house, through the 'infirmary' where a couple of zombies are laying on tables and there are medkits on the floor. You exit the room by going down some steps where you're met by a row of zombies. At the end of this corridor, it loads the next map, probably taking you back outside again (IIRC).

However, this is where it goes wrong. The 'LOADING' screen comes up, then I'm hit with the following error about a missing mdl. file, which is then followed by an application error (see attached image)

Apart from having a new graphics card, the obly other difference game wise is that I brought dog's ball through this time. Could that be affecting it?

I've downloaded the latest CATS this morning and will test them again tonight to see if I can get past this error. Also note that this error hasn't occured ever before and only appears at this load point - I can play the map directly afterwards (in the graveyard) without any issues whatsoever, but I want to play through this map again

I'm aware of the memory reference error that has caused a lot of problems, but I'm more concerned that I was able to play through without any problems before.

Here's my spec, courtesy of MSINFO32:

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name MAIN-PC
System Manufacturer MICRO-STAR INC.
System Model MS-6728
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~3400 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~3400 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. V3.8, 07/07/2004
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180
(xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name MAIN-PC\**********
Time Zone GMT Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 556.35 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 2.40 GB
Page File D:\pagefile.sys

 

[Tomarru]

Have you tried verifying your steam cache? it sounds to me just like a file has been deleted or changed by mistake.

http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cg...TEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1nY2Y*&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

[czrsink]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that. Tried verifying cache first, when then didn't work, I deleted local content and re-downloaded HL2 overnight. Still got the same error first thing this morning

 

[czrsink]

What's unusual is that I get the missing mdl error first. People usually get the memory reference error from the off, with no mention of anything else.

 

[Tomarru]

Well, then the only thing is to try everything on this page:

http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cg...291bGQgbm90IGJlICJyZWFkIg**&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

[czrsink]

Well, I've made a copy of the sourcematerials.gcf (this contains the allegedly missing model)from a PC that has successfully loaded the map, so I'll replace mine with this one and see what happens. I'll also be using newer graphics drivers as well, so fingers crossed.

 

[czrsink]

Double yay! Either the new CATS or replacing the entire GCF file seems to have done the trick. The level loaded seamlessly at the first attempt. WOOT!

 

[Tomarru]

Thought your said you had been keeping your CATS up to date lol, anyway glad to hear ya got it sorted

 

[czrsink]

I was only 1 behind at 5.3 though. And I'm sure I only updated those the other week. That said, I played HL2 first time round with CAT 4.9s, so I'm still not convinced it was a driver issue - more like a corrupt file.

The odd thing is that a re-download didn't fix it. All I can assume is that when you download 'Hlaf Life 2 content' at 848MB (or whatever it is) it doesn't affect the sourcematerials.gcf.

Odd.