Graphics issues after

Hi, I installed Black Mesa successfully on launch day, including Source (hadn’t had it installed on this machine previously), and was playing through the first section when my husband noted that my graphics didn’t look as good as the ones on his copy, so I went into setting and started with the resolution.

Not, sure what I picked (not what I intended… second to the bottom, perhaps?), but the game went into what I’ve affectionately termed “blink mode.” It will cycle between a black screen and a screen with my windows taskbar at the bottom, about a quarter of my windows desktop on the right and a black box on the rest of the screen. Keyboard buttons don’t seem to do anything, and the only way to get out is to CTL+ALT+DEL and quit out. Upon relaunching from Steam I get the following error:

Failed to create D3D device! Please see the following for more info. https://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=772

More research reveals, I should start the game with the launch code " -dxlevel 81"

Upon re-launch I can run the game, but there is a white line running diagonally across the screen from upper-left to lower-right, and another white line along the right edge. Additionally, all of the people have purple and black checked eyes, which is pretty spooky.

My first troubleshooting step was, of course, to change the resolution again. No change.

I have run windows updates, re-installed video card drivers, pulled the Black Mesa files and Source files out of my Steam folder and re-installed… no change… after re-installing Source, I’m kind of at a loss for what troubleshooting step to try next.

Thanks for you hard work, it is appreciated!

Launch the game with the -autoconfig setting.
It defaults all settings to their default including DirectX (the mod only support directx9).

What settings are you currently using and what is your graphics card? It sounds like you have a directX 8 GPU which is missing a lot of graphical effects that black mesa uses.

Could you please post your hardware and software specs so we would be able to provide you with a more useful advices?

As for your problem: try reading sticky FAQ thread, especially parts about dxlevel and white line crossing the screen, there are no doubts that information applies to your case. As for “Failed to create D3D Device” - it is yet another known problem mostly affecting people having laptops with “Optimus” technology and people who use Intel GPUs to play the game (Intel HD 2000/3000/4000). Working workaround for this problem is to add “-windowed” to the startup command line of the Black Mesa and swith the game into desired resolution in fullscreen mode afterwards.

I’m not alone!

Laptop Win8 64bit / NVidia GTX 660M (Optimus with HD4000)
I had everything running (Black Mesa / Portal) without a problem (fullscreen 1920x1080 and some lower resolutions as well).

But today the D3D started to bother, and tips
-windowed to fullscreen ends in uncontrolled flicker/blink
-autoconfig didn’t fixed it either
-dxlevel 81 (Tip from https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?p_faqid=772)

At the moment I run latest NVidia 310.33 (before 306.97) and Intel 9.17.10.2875.
Same problems happens in Portal (1!) as well.

Of cause I configured NVidia Optimus usage to run Steam with 660M, and even tried to run everything with “high performance” settings.

Any ideas how to get the working environment back is highly appreciated!

cheers
Peter
(=PA=)

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.