shadow and fading objects *please help*

[Uber Kitty]

I think it is a simple fix, help me if you can.

1) When I go too far away from an object, it dissapears. I know it is supposed to do this to save processing power, but it feels like they dissapear too close to me. I usually can make small obhects dissapear from across a small room. When I drive, I constantly see tons of scenery popping into view (logs, textures, grass). What is the command to make this distance farther?

2)I have no option to enable the "high" setting on shadows. Thus, there are no soft shadows or dynamic ones. It makes objects bright, but there are no casting shadows. In other words, it acts just like the previous games.

When I get home, Ill validate my cache or whatever its called. I dont want to have to reinstall.

Please help,
Joe:afro:

 

[Trixie_]

What DirectX path's it running in?

 

[Uber Kitty]

i dont know what that means.

 

[Uber Kitty]

i think i have an 8.1 card with the 9.0 software. that help?
Im going to try to reinstall it, i dont know whatelse to do.
I have already verified my cache.

 

[Asus]

Unsure about the terrain setting.

The advanced shadows probably do not work on your hardware and therefore the option will not show up in the settings menu. That's my guess. :O

 

[Uber Kitty]

i messed with my console and i got some grass and minor textures to stay visible. Not barrels or bushes and larger textures though.

Itll be very VERY frustrating if I never got to play with the advanced shadows, considering that they are one of the major graphical enhancements of hl2.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

I have a fading problem too, but I have a 8800, I think its because theres some sort of shader issue. I have a problem with some trees in the forground being semi transparent but with a checkered look. Similar to the stipple alpha option for HL1 if you were playing in software mode.

 

[Uber Kitty]

my games say I have directx 8.1, but my radeon 9600 has directx 9. anyone know what i should do?

I hate that I cant play with the new shadows

 

[Asus]

Maybe force it to DX8.1 and then back to DX9. Not sure of the command to add to the shortcut though. You are right, should be using the DX9 path.

 

[Ridge]

I have a fading problem too, but I have a 8800, I think its because theres some sort of shader issue. I have a problem with some trees in the forground being semi transparent but with a checkered look. Similar to the stipple alpha option for HL1 if you were playing in software mode.

Sounds like a missing envmap...

 

[theotherguy]

Do the shadows and phong shading require shader model 3.0?

I don't even have options for them. I don't see any phong shading in my game, though it worked in episode 1.

Also, every now and then all of my textures will become shiny and checkered, and the only way to fix it is to turn anti-aliasing on and off again.