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[GSG Flash]

Here are some screens I took while playing the demo:

The scary part is that the game runs at a constant 25-30 FPS with very few stutters in the first level

Here are my system specs:

CPU: Pentium III 1.0 GHz
Hard Drive: 20 Gigs
Memory: 382 MB SDRAM
OS: Windows XP Pro
Video Card: 64 MB GeForce 4 MX440

and these are the settings I used for playing the game:

Resolution: 800 x 600
Models: Medium
Textures: Medium
Water: Simple
Shadows: Low
Anti Aliasing: None
Filtering: Bilinear
Shader: High
Vertical Sync: Disabled
DirectX Hardware: DirectX 7
DirectX Software: DirectX 9

I was actually not even considering buying this game thinking that my rig couldn't even run it on everything low settings or that it would look like the frst Half Life on my PC but this game is too damn fun and it runs great and I might actually buy this as early as the 26th.

If you were wondering if your PC could run it, even if it's lower specs than mine I bet it could run it pretty damn good.

 

[bitwise]

hmm. i think i will d/l the demo now. my pc is just a little better than yours, not much though

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Rock on.

 

[Sander]

It's a great engine.

 

[Forsete]

But it has t3h loadtimez.. HEEEELP!

HL2 = GOTY.

 

[Vark]

Yea, its amazing what good texturing can do.. Though I love the fact that they didn't even *try* to hide the photographs.

Like if you look at any of the brownish surfaces they have that weird blue tinted chroma glow that digitals photos tend to pick up. It would have taken them literally a few seconds to get rid of it.

 

[GSG Flash]

Like if you look at any of the brownish surfaces they have that weird blue tinted chroma glow that digitals photos tend to pick up. It would have taken them literally a few seconds to get rid of it.

?

what are you talking about?

 

[Firest0rm]

I know, I didn't think it would run anywhere near 30 fps on my computer at 800 x 600 too. But it runs at almost constanst 30 fps.

I have an AMD Athlon 2000+ 1.67 Ghz, 512 MB RAM, Radeon 9200 128 MB.

 

[KingV]

But it has t3h loadtimez.. HEEEELP!

HL2 = GOTY.

I don't think so, it's a good game, but it's too unpolished in parts. There's a lot of places where you can get stuck on the scenery which I find very annoying. You can normally jump, crawl, or wiggle your way out, but the game is much less polished than I expected. It runs great, even on older systems however, which has impressed me a lot. Great game, but I think there's better picks this year.

 

[tahrikmili]

It's running at DX7.. still, you have to give them credit, they did a much better job of making the game playable for lower end PCs than id did with Doom 3..

 

[dark10x]

It's a great engine.

You see, the problem is that, while it does run very well on low-end machines, it simply doesn't excel on high-end rigs. Doom 3 requires a powerful machine, but on the right hardware, it truly shines. HL2 has a lot of technical hitches on even the fastest machines.

Honestly, there has been no indication that Source can handle truly large maps or complex outdoor areas.

It has kinda grown on me, but I still don't think it is a great solution for the future.

they did a much better job of making the game playable for lower end PCs than id did with Doom 3

The thing about Doom 3 is that everything (except the heat effects) can be displayed properly on older hardware. It's not really fair to compare the two when you consider what it is doing. The lighting engine does not come cheap and really eats up performance.

But it has t3h loadtimez.. HEEEELP!

It seems as if you are joking, but it really does hurt the game. Don't even try to pretend they aren't a problem for many people. It is really quite jarring to be hit with a 30 second waiting period in the middle of an intense scene. I like the game quite a bit, but I would have enjoyed it 10x more had there been no loading points.

 

[tahrikmili]

You see, the problem is that, while it does run very well on low-end machines, it simply doesn't excel on high-end rigs. Doom 3 requires a powerful machine, but on the right hardware, it truly shines. HL2 has a lot of technical hitches on even the fastest machines.

This is very true.. With a 128mb 9800XT and an Athlon XP 3200+ I'm still suffering low framerate and lots of stuttering in the canal at 1024x768 without any AA/AF, it's sort of frustrating. The world reflections on the water and other dx9 lighting shaders really hog a lot of system resources. I'm guessing as soon as I get rid of all this water I'll be fine, but still..

 

[MrPing1000]

How can anyone tell if doom3 looks great?

 

[LakeEarth]

Yeah I thought the same thing when I played the demo. It runs so smooth on medium detail on my rig even though Doom 3 stuttered MAD on the low detail with effects turned off. I might even get the game now because of it (if I didn't have to deal with Steam especially).

My only problem is the game always stuttered whenever a new sound was used. Everytime someone talked, the game would stutter. The first time I shoot a new gun, I don't hear it until the second time I shoot it. Weird.

 

[michael000]

I got a free copy of HL2 when i bought my vid card last year but have yet to dl it to my machine due to lack of HD space. Curious what's more important when running HL2, vid card or processor power?

 

[tahrikmili]

My only problem is the game always stuttered whenever a new sound was used. Everytime someone talked, the game would stutter. The first time I shoot a new gun, I don't hear it until the second time I shoot it. Weird.

Onboard sound very likely.. time to get a decent sound card I'm afraid

I got a free copy of HL2 when i bought my vid card last year but have yet to dl it to my machine due to lack of HD space. Curious what's more important when running HL2, vid card or processor power?

I would say CPU because you can run it without the pixel shaders on the DX7 path with rather old graphics cards like the GeForce 2 or GeForce 4MX. You'll be missing much of the graphics detail, though.

 

[bbyybb]

Today they just released a stutter bug fix.

Half-Life 2
* Fixed sound stuttering problems

Counter-Strike: Source
* Fixed missing models when running the Video Stress Test

Cheers,
bbyybb.

 

[LakeEarth]

Today they just released a stutter bug fix.


Cheers,
bbyybb.

Haha! No new sound card for me!

 

[bbyybb]

We just released a patch that we think will fix the stuttering problem for most people. Restart Steam to download. If this does fix your problem and you have a Support incident logged, please do me a favor and close your ticket so we know. If you are still having problems...please drop me a PM and include your Incident #.

DougV

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=189238&perpage=15&pagenumber=47

For everyone that wants to know.


Cheers,
bbyybb.

 

[Vark]

I'm talking about the textures it's more obvious in game than i screenshots, but if you look at the screenshot there with all the wooden boards, in the upper right the greenish / blueish boards there. It's an off grey, not a pure grey. It's a chroma problem that digital cameras have.

here's a good example:

http://www.vark-art.com/textures/pages/IMG_0339.html

notice the blue tinge on the nail and the exposure in general, it all tends to a blue hue, I can assure you that's not what it looks like in person.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

You got an old ass PC, no telling what can be done on mine. I have 128MB Radeon 9700 AIW, 1GB of ram and Athlon 2400+

 

[The Faceless Master]

How can anyone tell if doom3 looks great?

:lol :lol :lol