Problems with Half Life - Opposing Force

[AceT]

I've just started to play Half Life - Opposing Force (HL-OF I'll call if from now on ) and am experiencing some problems.

I don't want to play in OpenGL as the graphics are choppy.

In D3D everything appears great, especially at 1024x760 (my preferred mode).

However if I <Escape> to the menu and then try to go back to the game I either get a screen full of mess (the game is still playing but no graphics of any recognisable sort) or the game locks up.

This especially happens if I try to change resolutions during the game (if I want more frame rate for example).

Only a soft reboot will do anything.

My PC -

Celeron 400 @ 500
Aopen A6BC motherboard (bios 3.1)
192mb PC100 ram
Windows 98SE
G400 32mb Dualhead running Powerdesk 5.41.008
SBLive! Value with LW2

The latest versions of Half Life and HL-OF are install (as verified by the Sierra Auto-Update).

Any ideas?

If you look the previous post of mine you will see that I had problems with UT which were solved by reseating the G400.

I haven't tried changing the AGP ratio from 1:1 to 2:3... would this help? To do this means stripping the PC apart as I need to change a jumper on the motherboard to do it... a pain in the bum!

Thanks is advance.

[Rags]

Hi AceT,

D3D in HL is nonsense. The only reason to use D3D is for cards that don't support OpenGL. Use OpenGL, and install the TurboGL. You may need to edit your HL autoexec.cfg, to get the best performance. HL is very playable in OpenGL even on a G200 (which I used to use), and is smooooth on my G400.

Rags

[AceT]

Thanks Rags.

How do I install TurboGL?

I assume that it is based on drivers for the G400 - if so is it separate to Powerdesk 5.41.008?

If it is for HL-OF where do I find it?

Sorry if this is obvious and stupid... I don't normally play this sort of game and have never had problems in the past.

(I've search through part of the forums previous messages and found upgrades to the HL cfg file - I've now added them in and am going to give a try in a moment. Any info about the TurboGL would be good though)

Thanks for the quick respose!

[Rags]

Hi AceT,

just go here to get TGL http://www.murc.ws/Driver/Win9x/PD5/.../turboglv1.exe
This is a Mini ICD for OpenGL that will install itself into all OpenGL games that it supports, all you will have to do is run it and follow the instructions, then when you go into a supported game, choose default OpenGL as your video option.

Rags

[AceT]

Thanks Rags.

Installed the driver and the game is better.

Still choppy in 1024x760 but excellent in 800x600.

Lots of white (texture joining?) spots at the higher resolution that have gone in the lower res.

I would still like to play in the higher res though! (I can do so in UT at 32bit colour so I would like to think that HL-OF can do so)

Also the game locks up after 15 to 20 minutes - still picture with repeating sound.

Any ideas on both?

Here is my autoexe file -bind 1 slot1
bind 2 slot2
bind 3 slot3
bind 4 slot4
bind 5 slot5
bind 6 slot6
bind 7 slot7
bind 8 slot8
bind 9 slot9
bind 0 slot10
gl_ztrick "1"
gl_dither "1"
gl_polyoffset "4"
gl_lightholes "1"
gl_keeptjunctions "1"
r_drawviewmodel "1"
r_shadows "0"
cl_himodels "1"
gl_texturemode "GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR"
brightness "2.5"
gamma "3.0"
gl_playermip "0"
gl_picmip "0"
gl_round_down "0"
gl_texsort "1"
gl_overbright "1"
gl_palette_tex "1"
r_decals "400"
scr_conspeed "8000.00"
r_mmx "1" //added 9/18/99 JRC
s_a3d "1" //added 9/18/99 JRC
joystick "0" //added 9/18/99 JRC
s_eax "0" //added 9/18/99 JRC

I got this from another post so I hope it is correct.

Thanks.

[Johnny Ray]

"Boy.....if that ain't the greatest looking autoexec file, it looks kind of familiar, though; Hmm....wait a minute, that's mine!" (I'm JRC).

Ace...Unfortunately the OpenGL set up does take some tweaking. I started with an autoexec from Kruzin and modified it until I got great performance. I currently have gl_ztrick set to "0" for some reason, but HL-OF is super smooth, although I also experience the flashing white specks at 1024 X 768.

Note that you have EAX disabled in my cfg ("0") and A3D enabled ("1"). I have a Vortex 2 card. Doesn't your sound card use EAX? You want to switch these if so.

Sorry I can't help more, but it's worth the effort.


John

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PIII450 =&gt; 504 MHz, Asus P2B, G400MAX, PowerDesk 5.30, Aureal SQ 2500 (Vortex2), Klipsch Promedia V2.400 speakers, DirectX 7.0, Adaptec AHA-2940U2W and Fireport40 Dual UW SCSI controllers, Quantum Atlas 10K and WD Enterprise HDs, Plextor UtraPlex Wide, S&F 4012 CDR, the last ISA modem, etc.

[AceT]

Hi JRC!

Hope you didn't mind me 'borrowing' your config file - it made a lot of difference!

I also worked out the TurboGL question - I was being a dimbo (that means I was the same as a bimbo but just no where near as good looking !!).

The white specs are annoying... I'll try adjusting the file as you suggest and see if it helps.

And you are completely correct about EAX - I copied your file and didn't look at it! I'll change that.

Anybody got any ideas about the locking up that I am encoutering?

And what resolution do people find plays best? As I have said before I prefer 800x600 as it gets rid of most of the glitches.

(It's interesting because UT won't even play in OpenGL - it's funny how each game producer views the different graphic standards differently. D3D in Half Life is, apparantly, a wrapper for OpenGL whereas D3D in UT is the only way to play in Half Life)

[MatthewW]

Have you set your AGP aperature to 256MB as recommended by the TurboGL help file?

[Johnny Ray]

Hi AceT,

Speaking of dim, I decided to look into my annoying white specks problem. This won't be news to the more experienced user, but I forgot that I was overclocking my G400Max to 115% at that resolution. Bump it down to default and no more white specks. I doubt this will help you, but I wanted to post it as something to check if others are experiencing the problem.

I played through Half-life with my G200 at 1024 X 768 (in D3D!) without a single complaint. For TFC with that card I dropped down to 800 X 600 and it was fine. I currently play TFC at 1024 X 768 and love it; just for the heck of it I tried the highest resolution OpenGL in TFC (just a map, no online), and couldn't believe how smooth it was. No way online, but still impressive.

As for OpenGL in UT - as all the experts around here will tell you, don't even bother....so I had to check it out. Absolutely gorgeous, but 10 FPS isn't very playable. Or maybe it wasn't that the color and sharpness were so much better, but that I just had more time to savor each and every frame.

If you're new to the Half-Life-type of game, practice a bit in Half-life and then check out TFC....you'll never play by yourself again.

John

[AceT]

Hi John.

I'm not overclocking my G400 at all at the moment - the interesting thing is that I don't get any dots in 800x600 (at least, I can't see any!).

The game still jerks around a bit which is annoying and every now and then it will crash completely.

I've now updated my AGP setting to 256mb - not sure what difference it has made but once again thanks to those that spotted my error!

I've played and beaten Half Life but I haven't played on line before - TFC looks very interesting but I want to get HL-OF running correctly first before I will try it.

This is all interesting as I originally played and beat Half Life on a 166MMX based PC, in 64mb of RAM, running a Banshee graphics card!!!!! Never a problem with the game in this set up.

Strange how times change.

Thanks.

[AceT]

Hi Micko.

It might be simply that you have a much better PC than mine!!

Your processor power could be what is making the difference - I may try to overclock the G400 and see if this helps me a little.

Do you get any 'jerky' graphics at all? Mine always has a problem at the beginning when you encounter the broken bridge outside - I make the jump and then the graphics jerk for a few seconds. It always happens.

What is the best progam/util for overclocking the card? I've looked at a few in the past and I wasn't sure which one was best.

Thanks.

[MatthewW]

I'm running Half Life at 1024*768 with the TurboGL on a PII 350 and it is smooth.

Matthew

[Micko]

I played HL-OF yesterday about 4 hours and it was never choppy. And I run it at 1024x748 resolution..strange!

Micko,
P3-560, G400 DH (160MHz/200MHz), and so on...