Object:
-
Various game crashes occurs on Dual-Screen Fullscreen setup (Not in windowed!)
-
Crash report #1
Crashing on map load, after defeating the tentacles, going down the ladder to reach the changelevel.
After loading, the image is frozen, a small sound buffer can be heard, followed by silence, then the same sound buffer can be reheard, then the window closes and hl2.exe has stopped working. -
Crash report #2
In some maps, the flashlight is banned otherwise the game crashes (.
Office complex opening map is the most notable one + some others I don’t remember about.
Hardware:
- Windows 7 32bit, Radeon X1950 XTX
- Dual screen multi monitor setup: Primary 1280x1024 on the right 75hz, Secondary 1024x768 on the left 75hz, 100 pixels off the top.
- Using only Primary as the game monitor.
Normal gameplay performance:
- Excellent, no noticeable performance loss.
- The fan runs louder than many other Source games, meaning somehow the game is extremely GPU intensive.
Artifacts:
- None really
Conclusion:
- Game will crash on Dual-Screen Fullscreen setup.
How to fix:
Either disable Dual-screen in the Windows settings, or, play in Windowed mode, or Noborder Windowed mode:
- To play in Noborder mode:
- Open Steam > Library.
- On tle left, right click on Black Mesa > Properties
- Click on button Set Launch Options
- Type this into the field: -windowed -noborder -w 1280 -h 720
- Replace 1280 with the window width, and 720 with the window height.
Video settings considered as maximum:
- Model detail: High
- Texture detail: High
- Shader detail: High
- Water detail: Reflect all
- Shadow detail: High
- Color C.: Enabled
- AA: 4x MSAA
- Filtering mode: Anisotropix 8X
- Wait for vertical sync: Disabled
- Motion Blur: Enabled
- Multicore Rendering: Unselectable (empty box)
- HDR: Full
Tests performed in order:
#1: Load a save game near the ladder, then climb down
#2: Start new game at Office Complex
-
T1: (dxlevel 90) High quality settings (Video + BMS), Fullscreen, 1280x1024
#1 Crashes on map load
#2 Crash on flashlight on -
T2: (dxlevel 81) Out of the box, Fullscreen, 1280x900
#1 NO crash, lots of texture errors and overlays errors
#2 NO crash, lots of texture errors and overlays errors -
T3: (dxlevel 90) High quality settings, Windowed, 1024x768
#1 NO crash
#2 NO crash -
T4: (dxlevel 90) High quality settings, Windowed Noborder, 1280x1024
#1 NO crash
#2 NO crash -
T5: (dxlevel 90) High quality settings, Windowed, 1280x1024
#1 NO crash
#2 NO crash -
T6: (dxlevel 90) High quality settings, Fullscreen, 1280x1024, Dual-Screen setup disabled
#1 NO crash
#2 NO crash -
T7: Re-doing test T1 to ensure reproductibility. (Dual-Screen setup is re-enabled)
#: Reproductible. -
T8: (dxlevel 90) High quality settings, Fullscreen, 1280x1024, Dual-Screen setup enabled, but second monitor is now on the right instead of the left
#1 Crashes on map load
#2 Crash on flashlight on -
T9: Re-doing test T6 to ensure reproductibility.
#: Reproductible.
I am ready to provide mini dumps on the crashing test.