Repetitive Minimizing to Desktop ...

[Dill0n]

i just bought HL2 yesterday, and went through all the installation/steam registration/authorization steps. took a while, but i knew it'd be worth it.

before i go any further, here are my basic system specs (dunno what else to include - let me know if any more info is needed):

• P4 1.7 GHZ
• 512 MB RAM (mobo will not allow for more)
• nVidia GeForce 5200 FX GFX card (128 MB) <--- with latest Forceware drivers (61.76) installed

so anyway, upon first starting up HL2, i go through the steam verification of files step, then i see the valve title screen. suddenly the game minimizes, and i'm back on the desktop. i click on HL2 in the taskbar, and the game comes back up (black screen only), only to minimize yet again with me staring at the desktop. i go through about 5 or 6 of these before i even see the main menu. so then i start up (or at this point load up) a game, and it minimizes AGAIN. get the game back 'up' and i'm ready to rock n roll. upon the first movement/animation/weapon firing/etc it minimizes for the bazillionth time. get back into the game, and it might happen 1 or 2 more times before things stabilize. but then i notice some very basic textures (i.e. those for rocks, ladders, electrical panels/boxes, etc) are not showing up, and instead look completely black.

i actually had one time last night where it started up flawlessly, i saw the blurred-out main menu which said "LOADING" at the bottom-right, then went into the main menu to see the 'water hazard' background with animations and helicopter fly-by. but i couldn't say what had been done differently that time than the other times.

i don't think it's necessarily a HL2 specific thing, as this also happens when i play UT2004. i'd speculate it has something to do with my video card, but i cannot be positively sure about that.

thanks in advance. :cheers:

 

[StainlessJ-FPGA]

It's probably other software running on your machine doing this. Check for virii, adware, spyware, and software that has options that do this. Getting any popups from something, like an IM prog or email client?

 

[Dill0n]

i run ad-aware and spybot religiously, and i've turned off all unnecessary processes. i actually found something via google that said it had something to do with steam validating some cache files or whatnot, to shutdown/restart steam, then restart HL2 and it SHOULD work.

 

[daveodeth]

is your keybaod accidently trigering the windows key.

 

[Dill0n]

is your keybaod accidently trigering the windows key.

don't think so ... and if that were the case wouldn't it constantly go to the desktop? after my 10 or so incidents, i can play the game. i dunno ...

 

[StainlessJ-FPGA]

I recreated your issue. Are you trying to run at 1280x960 resolution? I switched to that and now it continues to minimize.

 

[Dill0n]

^^^ nope, 1024 x 768

 

[StainlessJ-FPGA]

Ok well it didn't do that until I switched to 1280x960, but it seems to be the exact same issue. Hmm, and it's not our video cards because we have completely different cards. This is quite odd.

Well, the only thing I can say is change the resolution and see if it works then. I didn't have a problem at 1024x768, but seems you do. Maybe try the next step up or down.

 

[Dill0n]

thanks for the effort, stainless ... it seems like it'll be a ton of trial and error until i get it 'just right'. i appreciate the help.

 

[StainlessJ-FPGA]

I sent a bug report to valve on it. But the best bet is to find a resolution that works if that really is the case. I found 2 resolutions that did not work for me and did this minimizing crap. I'm going to stick to 1024x768 for now(works for me). I'd like to go higher but the next 2 highest are bugged and the one after that is for LCD's so things look flat...

 

[Dill0n]

changing resolutions did nothing for me, unfortunately. and i even tried installing the latest beta nvidia drivers ... still getting the errors. but i found a few threads in here that seem to be similar, so i'm going to try the solutions suggested there.

 

[Hotpot]

If you have ADSL, try right clicking in the task bar and shutting down your modem. This minimising can occur when your modem loses it's net connection so I just run it offline and disconnected (in software).

 

[Dill0n]

i found in another thread something about turning down the hardware acceleration via directx diagnostics. i turned it completely off, then the sound in-game was horrible. there were 2 other settings between OFF and MAX, and having it set at either seems to have alleviated the problem, with no noticable sound issues ... knock wood.

is your keybaod accidently trigering the windows key.

can someone tell me how to find out if this is the case? i ask because i tried running some of the directx graphics tests, and they were cancelled because i 'pressed a key' which i had not since my hands were off both the keyboard and mouse.