Help w/ HL2 orange box

Technology and Gaming Help and Support
#1

IDK what the shit is wrong with the orange box update (from the older source version), but now my frame rate has dropped dramatically on water hazard. Last time I checked I was running over 200 FPS with a single core, AMD 2.whatever GHZ processor. I got a new PC before the Orangebox Update and it’s a 2.6 GHZ duel core Pentium D W/ an nvidia 9600 1 GB graphics card and now I cant even break 100 FPS on water hazard. <- Huge F’ing stutters the closer you get to Eli’s lab

We could talk about optimization all day long but I dropped the DX level on my PC to DX7 and lowered all my video setting to the lowest possible and I hovered around 120 fps (I stood in the same spot in the game to test with).

Bscly I want to go back to the old HL2, is it possible?

#2

I’m happy to get 60 fps…anywhere…Doesn’t seem to stutter for me

#3

I get like 20 FPS :frowning: .

#4

@ Detective Snowman
My only problem is the stutter if I could stay at >60 fps consistently I’d be happy. Anytime I get near a large body of water or big static or dynamic props everything from shooting to the mouse movements has a quarter second delay

Now does anyone know if I could downgrade the OrangeBox?

Oh and it’s worth mentioning, EP2 and EP1 run just fine, it’s only HL2 for some reason (Consistency wise)

#5

Re-install? Possibly a corrupted file that’s lagging on the computer?

Also, I have the orange box as well and I have no issues with it what so ever and I’m running an old rig.

#6

^ my first thought, I reformatted and reinstalled win 7. I also tried lowering all graphics settings, defraging, closing all security programs, and disconnecting from the internet. No cigar :frowning:

#7

Try using -dxlevel with a lower setting

#8

read the first post

EDIT: And I know it’s not just my PC I got it before the update and HL2 was amazingly fast compared to now. My main pissed-off-point is the mouse and keyboard lag, because it’s the most noticeable. Nvidia control panel says to reduce the amount of pre-rendered frames, so I did from 3 to 2 and 1 and 0 etc. I spent hours using different settings but no difference, I also have vsync and multi-processor support (I think it’s called threaded optimisation) off but it doesn’t help.

Walking into a trigger event will also stutter my PC but I think that’s normal

#9

I apologize for the double post but I figured out a huge part of my problem!

The flashlight in the Orange Box version of HL2 leaves a cinematic shadow that it didn’t cast in the original. Due to this and the fact I usually play the game with the flashlight on all the time, I dropped my framerate about 20-50 FPS depending on how many props the light was hitting. Changing the shadow setting from high to medium solves the problem. Here is a before and after w/ the flashlight shadow on

Before 115 fps

After 52 fps

Not turning on the Flashlight solved the movement and input lag aswell; still can somebody tell me if it’s possible to revert back to the un-updated version of HL2

#10

Have you checked your settings for your graphics card? Could it also have been emphasizing quality over performance?

#11

yes, surprisingly there is no performance gain no matter what settings I tamper with in the control panel, although I gained 10 FPS when I switched the multi-display GPU acceleration from multiple displays to only one in a benchmark test.

Edit: It seems like a common pattern with the shadows in EP1 and HL2, you loose about 50 fps depending, and only 30 at most with EP2. You can decrease the losses by switching the shader or shadow settings to a level under it’s default. Turning on vsync (although ill advised) along with motion blur can hide a rough looking picture especially when you look around quickly.

I still can’t figure out why I can only get about 120 fps in HL2 and 300 in ep 1 and 2, but it’s not noticeable until you turn on the F’in flashlight!

#12

The dynamic flashlight lags my old P4 too. I simply never use it. :wink:

Well, almost never…

On topic: Hl2 doesn’t run worse than ep2 for me. I even have to drop a few settings to medium for the last strider/hunter battle in ep2, but HL2 runs fine.

#13

You cannot revert back. Unless you torrent it elsewhere that has a previous version. I wouldn’t advise this though and it’s only a theory.

#14

This is why I haven’t updated to the new version yet. Still too many bugs.
Try setting down the reflection detail on the water.

#15

^ In reality the only thing making a difference for me is HDR, shaders, and shadows. That’s all I tuned down and HL2 still looks good and has unnoticeable fps spikes. If I’m not mistaken I think the human eye perceives fluid motion over 60 fps, so if your meeting that, there is no reason to go with lower settings.

#16

You may want to try using -dxlevel 81 instead of -dxlevel 70. I know HL2 USED to support 7.0 at the lowest, but I generally found it to run even WORSE than just using 8.1, and I don’t think Episode 1 or 2 ever supported 7.0. Since HL2 now runs on an updated engine comparable to episode 2, you’ll want to use that as your standard, so 8.1 is probably going to want to be your minimum for that.

You may also want to try turning vsync off and typing “fps_max” into the console, and then set it to roughly 60-75FPS or whatever your monitor’s native refresh rate is. The human eye CAN perceive motion as being smooth with as little as 30-60 FPS, the issue is when there are large fluctuations (such as having 120fps at one point, but then dropping down to 60) which are typically what I see affecting perceived performance.
Since fps_max doesn’t work the same way as vsync, I don’t think it impacts performance as much, but provided your minimum framerate doesn’t dip too far below what fps_max is set to, then you shouldn’t notice the framerate varying as much.

For more details, you may want to try looking here for more ways to benefit your FPS, but you may want to work on setting your graphics so that you get the best visuals you can while still staying above 60FPS. HL2 isn’t a multiplayer game, so there’s really not as much need for the uberhigh framerate in order to compete with other players, especially if it might be going even higher than what your monitor can support (I’m going to assume that your monitor is better than mine, but I still thought 120hz was about the max most monitors were bothering with just yet. Maybe you have higher, but that still seems a tad excessive)

For further optimization ideas, you may want to try TweakGuides, which gives a pretty decent look into what all the various options do, and which ones are going to affect your performance the most and in which situations. Since your problems are apparently in water hazard, and near eli’s lab, you may want to turn down shadow detail to low, and water detail to simple reflections.

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