Problems with Half-Life 2

[Xerxes]

Hey people, I'm sure this topic has been mentioned several times and I've googled and searched the Value forums with no success.

Alright, I have had Half-Life 2 for a while now and originally it ran fine (it didn't look pretty, but it worked) and since upgrading my computer it won't run at all anymore..I've tried updating drivers, tried the Steam support.

I have the following specs:

CPU: Athlon 64 3000+ "Newcastle" @ ~2Ghz

RAM: 1Gb DDR 400Mhz

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 6800GS 256Mb (AGP8x)

Soundcard: Creative Audigy 4

Now from reading the specs for the game, my machine *should* be able to handle the game maxed out (note: if I run the Steam diagnostic tool, It fails my system due to having a "slow processor", as the game requires a 2.4Ghz P4 or higher...but my machine is suppose to be the equivalent to a 3Ghz P4 so I just ignore the Steam diagnostic tool)

Anyway, I can't play the game at all now, when I run it I get the Valve logo then the loading screen, after about 30 seconds the screen turns black and I get a "no signal" message on my screen, when I get the screen back I get this message:

"failed to lock vertex buffer in CMeshDX8::LockVertexBuffer"

Happens every time I try to play HL2..now I've gone to the support website and tried everything they suggested and it still gives me the error, the only thing left is to try is to drop the game to Dx7 (which is one of the recommended actions for fixing this problem) but my card is a Dx9 card and is capable of running this game in Dx9 and I refuse to play it in Dx7 just cause of this stupid error...has anyone encountered this problem? have they solved it? how? also contacting Value support isn't an option, others have tried and Value told them that the error is caused by having a DVD burner and they don't support pirates! (apparently they really said that...) and no I don't have a pirated copy, it's a legal retail copy (but I do have a DVD burner)

Also tried formatting the computer, in fact this "new" error is a result of formatting it, before I formatted I could get to the main menu but if I tried to load a level it will get to the level loading screen and then lock up the computer with a looping sound...the game itself rocks, but it is the most buggy and poorly coded game I've ever played :(

Please help? (I've tried posting on the official Steam forums, but I only just registered and I have to wait for a Steam mod to activate my account so I can't post yet...)

UPDATE: If I try forcing to run the game at a lower DirectX level, it makes it to the menu loading screen then completely locks up and the only solution is to restart the computer...this is incredibility annoying!!!!

UPDATE 2: Ok I've tried messing around with my firewall settings, the game still crashes but now I get a different error message now:

"Internal driver error in IDirect3DDevice9::Present()"

I also wanna note, I have the latest driver for my processor, latest ForceWare drivers, latest Creative sound drivers, Windows is patched and up to date and HL2 is patched and up to date...I understand it is impossible to expect HL2 to work on any computer, but with my computer meeting the requirements they set and still having it crash and give errors is just not good enough...

NOTE: According to Value the "Internal driver error in IDirect3DDevice9::Present()" error is an ongoing issue yet to be solved...well that sucks, now I have to wait for them to fix it (if they even fix it) otherwise I just wasted my money...great job Valve..I know not everyone has these problems and there are plenty of people it (HL2 and other Source games) runs flawlessly on their systems..I'm just one of the unlucky people who has an incompatible system..despite meeting and exceeding the requirements!

UPDATE 3: Ok forcing the game to run in DirectX 7 fixes the problem and HL2 runs with no problems...but I have to say this is very disappointing, how is it a 6800GS (256Mb AGP8x) is not powerful enough to run HL2 in Dx9 when a Radeon 9550 (256Mb AGP8x) an older card, can run it in Dx9? :wacko: :unsure:

If someone can help me fix this problem, I've be extremely grateful! but I think I'll seriously look into getting HL2 (EP1, EP2 + Portal) on the 360 and I will not be buying anymore "Steam powered" PC games...while I accept a 6800GS is quite old technology now, it is unacceptable that it can't run HL2 to it's full potential (it can run Doom 3 very well, FarCry maxed out with no problems and NFS:MW maxed out (runs almost flawlessly)...how is HL2 more demanding then those games?)

UPDATE 4: Ok I got HL2 running fine now, maxed out most of the settings, running at my LCD's native resolution (1280x1024) in Dx9 mode and all seems tobe well. However, now HL2:EP1 won't work, it's crashing and not working no matter what I do, but if I disable sound it works flawlessly so it seems EP1 has problems with my Sound card (I recently updated it to the latest drivers, didn't help) so now that is my next challenge! :wacko:

Scratch that, all that effort was for nothing, just when I thought the problem was solved I did what I did before to get it to work and guess what happen? it locked my computer up again....I think the problem is my computer is simply not compatible with HL2, nothing fixes the problem...and every time I do find something that fixes it....it's only temporary and another problem crops up again :( I think I'm just gonna shelf HL2 and wait for it to come out on the 360 as it is not worth the effort, tobe honist I'm very ****ed that the game doesn't work, considering I've shelled over AUSD$100 on the game (including additional content) and I did read the requirements and my machine should run it, but it doesn't..well I'm not touching another Source game (on PC) again and in the case of HL2:Ep2 (and Portal) well they are coming to the 360 so I get them on that.

Edited November 2, 2006 by Xerxes

[Xerxes]

Guess no one wants to help? oh well, I've posted on the official Steam forums and contacted Valve about it so hopefully I should get an answer soon.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I understand how disappointing it is when a game doesn't work. I've never ever encountered a problem like that. The advice I am about to give you may have been already given to you, but here goes:

1. Install the latest drivers from nvidia.com

2. Uninstall/Reinstall Steam + HL2.

3. If you have a spare video card, try that and see if it's a problem caused by your video card or motherboard.

It isn't an issue with the capability of a 6800GS. That video card is perfectly capable of rendering HL2 in dx9 mode.

EDIT: I did a bit of research into your problem. It's prevalent among many HL2 owners. So far, I've found one solution that may work. Good luck. (Y)

GOOD NEWS - HOW TO SOLVE IT:

I had this problem too.

I realised that if I del file ..\valve\steamApps\myUser\counter-strike source\bin\vidcfg.bin then I could play again. Then I made a file.bat whit the next instruccions:

del "C:\File Programs\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\myUser\counter-strike source\bin\vidcfg.bin";

"C:\File Programs\Valve\Steam\Steam.exe" -applaunch 240;

Then I execute this .bat and I can play CS:S!!

I hope you will solve the problem like me!

Cheers

SOURCE (halflife2.net)

Edited November 1, 2006 by Section 31

[LOC Veteran]

It isn't that nobody wants to help, I think it's because no one has had the issue or knows anything about it? Not to mention the official Steam support forums is probably a better bet anyways :)

Now you said you have the latest forceware drivers, well what version do you have? I have a 6800GT, and have had zero problems with the game, so I'm not quite sure why this would be happening to you.

[zulugod]

Xerxes, try disabling as many hidden applications running in the background.

[Xerxes]

I understand how disappointing it is when a game doesn't work. I've never ever encountered a problem like that. The advice I am about to give you may have been already given to you, but here goes:

1. Install the latest drivers from nvidia.com

2. Uninstall/Reinstall Steam + HL2.

3. If you have a spare video card, try that and see if it's a problem caused by your video card or motherboard.

It isn't an issue with the capability of a 6800GS. That video card is perfectly capable of rendering HL2 in dx9 mode.

EDIT: I did a bit of research into your problem. It's prevalent among many HL2 owners. So far, I've found one solution that may work. Good luck. (Y)

SOURCE (halflife2.net)

I'll give that a go, thx for that :)

Now you said you have the latest forceware drivers, well what version do you have? I have a 6800GT, and have had zero problems with the game, so I'm not quite sure why this would be happening to you.

I currently have 92.91 installed (I have problems with the current official ones), I suppose I could downgrade to the latest official ones and give it a go again (wouldn't be the first time drivers have broken HL2 on me) so I'll mark that as a possible solution (I actually forgot I tried installing newer (beta) drivers, thx for reminding me!)

Xerxes, try disabling as many hidden applications running in the background.

Yeah I'll try that too, who knows might even work.

All these simple things everyone is suggesting...I should of thought about them :blush: I was so frustrated at trying to fix the game itself I didn't think to look outside the "box" as it were..well thx alot everyone I'll give what has been suggested ago!

[cchasem]

That sucks man.. I don't really have any useful advice, I'm just here to let you know I feel your pain!

Maybe (and I don't know if it's "ok" for me to suggest this, but the situation seems extreme enough) try downloading a ...different... version of HL2, and see if that works..

good luck!

[Xerxes]

Alrighty, I think the problem is solved (well reduced to a minor inconvenience at least), it seems my anti-virus (or another program that was running in the background which I closed) was responsible, however, HL2 now thinks I only have a Dx7 compliant graphics card and defaults to Dx7! (this is normal boot, no extra launch parameters) but my card is actually a Dx9+ card (and when I first installed HL2, it detected it as a Dx9+ card) but I've managed to force it to run in Dx9 and it's running well (for now) I'm guessing there isn't much difference between Dx9 and Dx9+ modes (if at all)? well thx for all the help, I can (finally) go play HL2 again, very happy :happy:

EDIT: My joy was short lived..HL2 seems fine but HL2:EP1 (which is suffering the same problems as HL2) won't run at all, in Dx9 with HDR enabled runs flawlessly during the intro sequence and then the second before the level starts it crashes to the desktop with this error message:

"Internal driver error in IDirect3DDevice9::Present()"

If I turn off HDR, I get about 3 seconds into the intro sequence and crashes to a looping sound (complete system lockup) :( and to make matters worse is Valve know of the problem but dunno how to fix it (listed as unresolved problem that they are still working on fix for) so don't think there is anything else I can do?

Edited November 1, 2006 by Xerxes

[Epimetheus]

Reinstall DirectX. Get the latest October redistributable.

REBOOT.

Then uninstall YOUR VIDEO DRIVERS from the Add/Remove Programs list.

REBOOT.

Reinstall the latest Nvidia Video Card Drivers (do not install beta).

REBOOT.

See if either play, also run dxdiag.

To do this go to Start->Run->In the Run box put in "dxdiag" see if there are any problems with the files.

I find this extraordinary Xerxes, you are having very, very similar issues to what I have been having since I built my new computer (finally upgraded after using a 6 year old junker) my computer specifications are as follows.

AMD Dual Core X2 3800 939 CPU.

ATI Radeon X850XT GPU.

Biostar Tforce4 Ultra Motherboard,

Antec SP 2.0 500w with 37 amps on the 12+ rail.

Seagate 320GB SATA II HDD.

One DVD Burner.

One floppy.

PQI 1GB2x512MB ram.

DirectX 9.0c (October)

Omega Catalyst Drivers 6.9.

Realtek 3.89 Audio Drivers.

Whatever the hell version my nvidia nforce4 ultra chips drivers are at (latest I am sure of though :p)

Anyway my problem has been this, I have been getting those errors randomly while playing all of the Source games. However, my problem is in a way worse, while playing ANY game that requires any sigificant GPU power, after a COMPLETELY RANDOM amount of time, the screen wil lgo black, and give me a "No signal" on my display, then I will hear all of the fans in the computer (CPU, GPU fans only) power down, after that the monitor goes into sleep mode, and shuts itself off. Now, my friend who is far more experianced with computers tells me this is a heating issue or power issue, the fun part is, I have ruled them out.

The 12+ rail even while gaming NEVER goes beyond 12.22, and it is VERY stable, I mean I may see it fluctuate from 12.16 to 12.22 every half a hour, and never going up or below that. As for the heating issue, on stock cooling my card has never gone above 70C (on a hot day) and on a cold day never above 55C, CPU always stays in the range of 45C to 50C. And this "No signal" deal only happens if I run the following games: Oblivion, FEAR, FEARXP, DOD:S, HL2:EP1. Otherwise, even stress testing the ************ still doesn't reproduce the "No signal". Other problems include your "Internal Driver errors" in ALL source games, textures becoming completely black in DOD:S and FEAR. All of my attempts at trying to pin these issues down to just one cause has been futile.

Ghosts in the machines I ****ing tell you.

Oh and by the way HL2 runs flawlessly on my computer I have never got a "No signal" from it, the internal driver error I have also never gotten, HL2 is not buggy at all something else is going on here, FEAR I have had problems with relentlessly however, I have had such problems with FEAR as these: Huge stuttering issues, no matter what graphics setting the game is set on, even force running it in DX8 mode is of no use, the screen freezing "(as in I can hear my self shooting and moving but the screen has frozen) this usually happens after one of the stuttering around corners deal, I have to alt-tab to get my screen back, uhm, what else, oh yes! A plethora of "No signals", a plethora of crash to desktops, a plethora of computer lock ups. It never ends. Hell, FEARXP was suppose to be what 4-5 hours? All of the issues I had with it turned it into a 8-10 hour ordeal.

Edited November 1, 2006 by Epimetheus

[Xerxes]

Reinstall DirectX. Get the latest October redistributable.

REBOOT.

Then uninstall YOUR VIDEO DRIVERS from the Add/Remove Programs list.

REBOOT.

Reinstall the latest Nvidia Video Card Drivers (do not install beta).

REBOOT.

See if either play, also run dxdiag.

To do this go to Start->Run->In the Run box put in "dxdiag" see if there are any problems with the files.

I find this extraordinary Xerxes, you are having very, very similar issues to what I have been having since I built my new computer (finally upgraded after using a 6 year old junker) my computer specifications are as follows.

AMD Dual Core X2 3800 939 CPU.

ATI Radeon X850XT GPU.

Biostar Tforce4 Ultra Motherboard,

Antec SP 2.0 500w with 37 amps on the 12+ rail.

Seagate 320GB SATA II HDD.

One DVD Burner.

One floppy.

PQI 1GB2x512MB ram.

DirectX 9.0c (October)

Omega Catalyst Drivers 6.9.

Realtek 3.89 Audio Drivers.

Whatever the hell version my nvidia nforce4 ultra chips drivers are at (latest I am sure of though :p)

Anyway my problem has been this, I have been getting those errors randomly while playing all of the Source games. However, my problem is in a way worse, while playing ANY game that requires any sigificant GPU power, after a COMPLETELY RANDOM amount of time, the screen wil lgo black, and give me a "No signal" on my display, then I will hear all of the fans in the computer (CPU, GPU fans only) power down, after that the monitor goes into sleep mode, and shuts itself off. Now, my friend who is far more experianced with computers tells me this is a heating issue or power issue, the fun part is, I have ruled them out.

The 12+ rail even while gaming NEVER goes beyond 12.22, and it is VERY stable, I mean I may see it fluctuate from 12.16 to 12.22 every half a hour, and never going up or below that. As for the heating issue, on stock cooling my card has never gone above 70C (on a hot day) and on a cold day never above 55C, CPU always stays in the range of 45C to 50C. And this "No signal" deal only happens if I run the following games: Oblivion, FEAR, FEARXP, DOD:S, HL2:EP1. Otherwise, even stress testing the ************ still doesn't reproduce the "No signal". Other problems include your "Internal Driver errors" in ALL source games, textures becoming completely black in DOD:S and FEAR. All of my attempts at trying to pin these issues down to just one cause has been futile.

Ghosts in the machines I ****ing tell you.

Oh and by the way HL2 runs flawlessly on my computer I have never got a "No signal" from it, the internal driver error I have also never gotten, HL2 is not buggy at all something else is going on here, FEAR I have had problems with relentlessly however, I have had such problems with FEAR as these: Huge stuttering issues, no matter what graphics setting the game is set on, even force running it in DX8 mode is of no use, the screen freezing "(as in I can hear my self shooting and moving but the screen has frozen) this usually happens after one of the stuttering around corners deal, I have to alt-tab to get my screen back, uhm, what else, oh yes! A plethora of "No signals", a plethora of crash to desktops, a plethora of computer lock ups. It never ends. Hell, FEARXP was suppose to be what 4-5 hours? All of the issues I had with it turned it into a 8-10 hour ordeal.

I tried what you suggested, slightly good news it detects my card as a Dx9 card and defaults to Dx9 now (still not correct, it's actually Dx9+ but still..a huge improvement over it thinking my card is Dx7!) unfortunately now HL2:EP1 just locks up the computer 75% loaded :( haven't tried vanilla HL2 yet..not game! :laugh: well thx for the help, I'll probably take a rest now and look at it again tomorrow..I'm not giving up yet! thx for all the help everyone :)

[Epimetheus]

Try reinstalling Steam, and HL2, make sure to Unistall Steam first, then delete the Steam folder.

Oh by the way Bomples (Ha!), what is your motherboard and chipset? Also does the motherboard have onboard sound or onboard ethernet?

I've been poking around in the valve forums and the most common thing I found between the two DirectX erros is that no one ever posted their damn motherboard or motherboard chipset, or any onboard sound information. If you're running a Via motherboard or via chipset you may want to look at this page:AMD/Via Chipset problems.

Edited November 1, 2006 by Epimetheus

[Mouldy Punk]

still not correct, it's actually Dx9+ but still..a huge improvement over it thinking my card is Dx7!

Your card is the same as mine (pretty much, mine is PCI-E and is an 'xxx edition'), it is actually "just" a Dx9 card (bear in mind that 9 is as high as Dx goes at the moment).

[Xerxes]

Try reinstalling Steam, and HL2, make sure to Unistall Steam first, then delete the Steam folder.

Oh by the way Bomples (Ha!), what is your motherboard and chipset? Also does the motherboard have onboard sound or onboard ethernet?

I've been poking around in the valve forums and the most common thing I found between the two DirectX erros is that no one ever posted their damn motherboard or motherboard chipset, or any onboard sound information. If you're running a Via motherboard or via chipset you may want to look at this page:AMD/Via Chipset problems.

Yes the motherboard does have onboard sound (AC'97) and onboard eithernet, however, I've got an Audigy 4 now (the onboard is disabled in the BIOS). The motherboard is an Asus K8N with a Nvidia nForce 3 250 chipset.

Your card is the same as mine (pretty much, mine is PCI-E and is an 'xxx edition'), it is actually "just" a Dx9 card (bear in mind that 9 is as high as Dx goes at the moment).

Yeah your right, but HL2 (orginally) displayed my card as Dx9+ (the plus was actually included) but now it displays it without the + (cause I forced it to run in Dx9) I don't know why it does that though or what it means.

I got a response from Valve as well, so I got a few things to try. Thx for all the help everyone! will report back later on what happens.

[Xerxes]

I'd just like to say that after a couple of months in communication with Valve's support department and my problem of HL2 (and HL2:EP1) not working on my machine has even stumped Valve themselves. It seems nothing can get it to function correctly, every attempt to try and get it to work causes the problem to get worse :( it seems the only way the game is playable on my machine is in DirectX 7 in a window with no sound (which quite frankly is unacceptable, as my 6800GS and Audigy 4 are not that crap) so even though it means I wasted over A$100 on this game :( I give up, hopefully the 360 version will come out sometime later this year and I get it on that. Tobe perfectly honest I'm extremely disappointed, but unfortunately it's down to rotten luck as it is unrealistic to expect a game to work on all hardware and I happen (by bad luck) to have a hardware config that is not supported. Thanks to all that tried to help, it's just a shame it still doesn't work :(

[Kraftman]

Xerxes : "Internal driver error in IDirect3DDevice9::Present()"

I get the *exact* same error on a

P4 3.2GHz w/ HT

1GB

ATi Radeon X300

I fixed it by running the game @ 800 x 600.

I also played using DirectX 8.1 (my card is 9.0). It seemed fine / not bad graphics / normal.

[Xerxes]

Xerxes : "Internal driver error in IDirect3DDevice9::Present()"

I get the *exact* same error on a

P4 3.2GHz w/ HT

1GB

ATi Radeon X300

I fixed it by running the game @ 800 x 600.

I also played using DirectX 8.1 (my card is 9.0). It seemed fine / not bad graphics / normal.

Yeah I used to get that error, but thx to everyone here and Valve I got rid of it. Unfortunately, in HL2's current state it crashes loading the main menu and the only thing that fixes it is running in DirectX 7 in a window with no sound (but it still randomly crashes though), any other combination results in a complete system lockup :( I'm trying (for the hell of it, I know I said I gave up...having trouble letting it go :blush: :p ) to do a clean install of Steam and HL2 see if I can get it to default and start from scratch.

The most annoying part is a) my machine meets (and exceeds some) of the minimum requirement and still doesn't work and b) it ran fine on the older computer (Athlon XP with an integrated Nvidia GPU (GeForce 4 MX)) and from reading the Steam forums I'm one of many people experiencing hardware incompatibility issues, which is why I think the Source Engine isn't as popular as Unreal Engine 3.0 and the Doom 3 Engine. I'm sure Source works like a dream on a machine that is compatible with it, but it sucks when it doesn't. Well at least the 360 version should look as good as the PC version and (in theory) should run like clockwork.

[Kraftman]

The 360 version should totally *beat* the PC version in terms of graphics. Gears of War anyone? The 360 is 100% able to own your + my PC in graphics (all goes back to the GoW factor), but it depends if the devs use the system to its max.

[Xerxes]

UPDATE: Well I think my problems could (at long last) come to an end, I've recently taken the plunge and upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista and I decided just for the hell of it I'd try Half-Life 2 again and see what it did to Vista. To my surprise (and delight) it actually worked! (with a few minor issues..but it works!) so after months of trying to get it to work in XP, it just works in Vista :) (still annoying, it just worked in XP too once, then decided not too :blink: )

[rajputwarrior]

The 360 version should totally *beat* the PC version in terms of graphics. Gears of War anyone? The 360 is 100% able to own your + my PC in graphics (all goes back to the GoW factor), but it depends if the devs use the system to its max.

what, are you kidding me? PC's always beat consoles in terms of graphics. ALWAYS. You know why? cause pc hardware is always changing and consoles are stagnant for about three-five years. Pc is easily capable of pulling out graphics like gears of war (crysis, half life 2 with HDR, rainbow six vegas, robots (both of these games use the same engine as GoW). So will the 360 version beat the PC version, NO! HL2 will always look better on a pc because the pc wil always have better hardware.

[acies]

what, are you kidding me? PC's always beat consoles in terms of graphics. ALWAYS. You know why? cause pc hardware is always changing and consoles are stagnant for about three-five years. Pc is easily capable of pulling out graphics like gears of war (crysis, half life 2 with HDR, rainbow six vegas, robots (both of these games use the same engine as GoW). So will the 360 version beat the PC version, NO! HL2 will always look better on a pc because the pc wil always have better hardware.

"A PC" could not easily pull out graphics like Gears of War. A top of the line PC, considering that the game is made to take advantage of the hardware, yes, it would look better than on a console. I think it's only the minority, the hardcore PC gamers that will be playing Crysis on high. I doubt my Pc will make Crysis look better than it could be on a console. Hell last year was the first time was able to play FarCry on high.

[drbobiii]

Well I realize this probably doesn't matter anymore as you have since upgraded to Vista and everything works, but someone on OCS Forum reported than the K-Lite codec pack may have been causing conflicts with HL2. I'm curious to know whether you had that (or another codec pack) installed.

Edit: http://www.ocs.clanservers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=423 The link if you care.

[Xerxes]

Well I realize this probably doesn't matter anymore as you have since upgraded to Vista and everything works, but someone on OCS Forum reported than the K-Lite codec pack may have been causing conflicts with HL2. I'm curious to know whether you had that (or another codec pack) installed.

Edit: http://www.ocs.clanservers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=423 The link if you care.

No I didn't have that installed, all I really had in terms of that was DivX and FFShow (or something similar), however, FFShow could of been responsible...guess I'll never know now :p oh well thx for the help guys and I can finally play HL2 :)

[zeroday]

"Internal driver error in IDirect3DDevice9::Present()"

I cant play HL2 because of this error either :cry: I found a solution for the demo when I tried it, but the (legal) retail doesnt work. I'll post the solution that worked for the demo,and might work with your one, later when I get home.