Yet another graphical glitch. Someone plz help!

[Saturos]

Hello, everyone! This may bore some of you to death, as people have posted all kinds of issues relating to graphical issues. But I really need some advice from a long time fan and/or has more technical knowledge with the HL2 source engine than me. A few glitches have been bothering me, such as incorrect lighting calculations on deeper waters, like during Highway 17 around the shoreline.There are "lines" in the water where differences in light should be displayed smoother. It's hardly noticeable, but greatly detracts from what is otherwise the most realistic water ever. Also, in "Our Benefactors," there's a spot just down the catwalk at the first bend just after the first transmission with Dr. Breen, when I look up at the corner, the wall texture looks like it's smearing or something. I'd send some screenshots if I knew how, but that's the best way I can describe it. And it's just in that one spot too, so far I haven't found that glitch anywhere else. I'm running: Athlon 64 +3800 2.4 Ghz, 2 GeForce 7600 GS's in SLI, 2 Gigs of RAM, and DX 9.0c with 83.93 Forceware. None of the cvar commands like mem_flush work either, nor does the console appear to display anything that might suggest a glitch. Any ideas? Some advice would be appreciated as all other manners of research has been exhausted. Nobody in other forums don't have any idea what I'm talking about.

 

[Saturos]

I know It's silly to post such a common problem, there must be tons of other posts about this topic. It's just that I would feel more comfortable knowing if there are any others having the same minor issue. That maybe I'm just being overly anal you know? Alot of serious gamers and fans probably wouldn't let such a thing detract from such a magnificent experience. But I have a request. Could someone play the single player HL2 on their machine and check out the locations I specified?( The deeps waters around the coast in "highway 17" and the first bend after Breen's first transmission in "Our Benefactors" for the anomalies I mentioned?) I've exhausted every possible known remedy from re-installing the lastest drivers, to driver cleaners, and even tried using the developer console and tried re-installing the HL2 cache files in Steam, but nothing works. And for the record, my GPU's aren't overheating, as they remain a constant 57 degrees at all times. my machine is up to date and I have no viruses or spyware. Yeah, I've done my homework so, I don't feel like I'm repeating common ground here. Could someone please help me?

 

[Saturos]

I tried re-installing my video drivers and booting to safe mode to use guru3D's driver cleaner, but it still didn't solve the problem. At this point, would most of you guys just forget about small said glitches and just enjoy the game?:hmph: I sure that SOMEONE out there has at least one teensy weensy graphical glitch that you decided to just ignore. Please say yes to just make me happy so I can enjoy my third-play through HL2.

 

[Stucco]

Oh god, where to begin.

You say you have updated drivers, checked temps, tried the dev console etc - yet you can't even work out how to take / post a screenshot?

I SERIOUSLY question your ability on a PC, and that the things you listed doing were actually done correctly. For example, you list that you have fully updated your drivers etc, yet you claim you are using 83.93 forceware. IT IS UP TO 162.18 (apparently - last one I saw was 94.24, but I don't update as much - either way, you are WAY behind). You didn't even say what graphics settings you are trying etc. Furthermore, ALL games have small "glitches", where a texture might not join up exactly or a water effect might not work perfectly. So complaining about what is probably the normal running of the game - without posting screenshots to even help you explain what you are on about REEKS of failure.

 

[Laivasse]

I tried re-installing my video drivers and booting to safe mode to use guru3D's driver cleaner, but it still didn't solve the problem. At this point, would most of you guys just forget about small said glitches and just enjoy the game?:hmph: I sure that SOMEONE out there has at least one teensy weensy graphical glitch that you decided to just ignore. Please say yes to just make me happy so I can enjoy my third-play through HL2.

Welcome to the boards, don't worry about that douche Shasta.

As for glitches - I don't really remember there being any at all, not even on my old Radeon 9800 (and I'm using an x1950 now with no problems).

Your drivers do seem to be very old. Time to update. If you're still having problems, verify your game cache files by right-click/properties in your Steam Games list.

 

[Saturos]

Hmm, well, I guess I somewhat at fault, as it's not the fact that I CAN'T figure it out as it is that I'm lazy and would rather ask first. That's been a big problem for me and I apologize I you've taken offense to this. I would have agreed with you if have said that Stucco. But I'm more than certain that I can operate, build, and upgrade PC's most of the time with no problem. And yes I'm not the perfect, all-knowing god of PC's, otherwise I wouldn't be asking for help. I ask that you please use proper netiquette on my posts in the future. Whether you were serious or not, some folks are sensitive to harsh criticism.No, insults. At least criticism is constructive. Believe me, I've seen some old posts on this forum where it seemed like members were fighting like chimps throwing poo at one another. Stupid, undignified, and immature. Don't stoop to their level if you know what I mean.Stucco, you did however, helped me rectify my exessive-compulsiveness if you did genuinely meant what you said about the graphical glitches though. Also thank you Laivasse, for you kind and polite introduction. Now, back to Business. As for my drivers, yes, I do know how to correctly uninstall/install drivers. The reason I rolled back to such old drivers is because the newer drivers, 93.XX and up, seem to just perform much worse than the older ones. And I do boot into safe mode and use drivers cleaners as to make sure there are no remnants of the old driver in the registry. Using Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 as benchmark tests, with the old 83.93 drivers, I could get around 60 fps or higher with Doom3 and around 93 fps or higher with Half-Life2, whereas, using newer drivers downloaded from NVIDIA's mirror sites, these numbers decrease somewhat and generate a noticable amount of lag. But even with new drivers, the graphical anomalies continue, so I seemed to be at a loss with the new drivers. I was thinking however, that maybe the HL2 cache files were corrupted at some point, albeit non-critical corruptions. So Laivasse, what should I do after I've verified HL2's cache files?

Additional info about graphics settings by Stucco's request, note that I have thoroughly checked ALL settings, in-game and control panel:

AA: 2xQ The in-game AA sucks as it is not as fast as Quincunx.
AF: 16x No problem at all running this at maximum. (Application-controlled)
Conformant texture clamp: ON
Gamma correct anti-aliasing: ON
Tansparency AA: SuperSampling
SLI-multi GPU rendering when SLI is enabled
LOD BIAS:clamp

All in-game settings, except for AA, which is enabled in control-panel, are set to maximum with HDR enabled to full.

 

[Laivasse]

So Laivasse, what should I do after I've verified HL2's cache files?

Nothing - just check if the problem persists. If as you suspect the problem is some corrupt or missing textures, then validating your cache files should sort it out. I've never seen it do its work, but if it's discovered that some of your files are corrupted and need to be replaced then it's my understanding is that Steam will inform you before downloading them.

If neither that nor upgrading your drivers sorts the problem then I'm at a loss. Check your DirectX level in the advanced video options in order to make sure you aren't being forced to a level below DirectX 9 for some mysterious reason.

If you want to post a screenshot, attach it to your post by hitting 'Go Advanced' > the paper clip icon in the top row above the message window + the rest should be self-explanatory. i doubt it will solve anything though.

On a side note you should at least consider upgrading your drivers to 84.xx and above, via Nvidia's archived drivers page: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_archive.html
I've read somewhere that that the 84.xx's tend to produce optimum performance for the 7600 chipset. Maybe try the 84.21's or thereabouts.

 

[Saturos]

Thanks Laivasse, I might check into posting a screenshot, but maybe I should relax a bit and just enjoy the damn game. Though Half-Life 2 is a great game and I'm a big fan, it's still programmed by humans after all. Almost no game is without bugs, no matter what efforts the developers go through to create a bug-free experience. I'll try to do as you suggested and get my cache files verified by Steam. It would just be the bee-knees if I could iron out as many bugs as possible, but If I can't , maybe I should just be happy HL2 looks and plays so well on a mid-range system like mine.:| It's not like it's anything major like some folks have had back when HL2 was first released, like system crashes or in some cases, many folks back then only had stuff like the TNT or GeForce 4 Ti series cards, which REALLY caused texture issues. After all, as I mentioned, the game still looks great on my 1280x1024 LCD and feels/runs smoother than a pair of silk panties. Even on maximum settings.I should be grateful I've haven't had the trouble like those folks have had. BTW: Who is Shasta?

 

[Jintor]

I suspect Stucco, because of his cantankerous, overzealous, highly accusatory and bastardly attitude.

 

[Saturos]

Hence the nick "Stucco?" I get it now

 

[Acepilotf14]

A: Triple Posting.
B: Double Posting.
C: Strangely long posts.
D: Screenshots, plz.

 

[Xendance]

Im sorry, I could not read your posts since they were to long

Break them down, and Ill be better

 

[Saturos]

Sorry fellas, I just thought that some folks would rather be more descriptive. I do tend to be a chatter box on message boards though and I apologize.