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[Dr_Cogent]

I am not going to comment at this moment. I really don't know the answer, and I just want everyones speculation on the subject.

Can it be fixed? Will it be fixed? What do you think?

Do you have the stutter? And if so, to what degree would you rate it?

1 - virtually none
10 - it's so damn stuttery it drives you mad

The "stutter bug" is characterized by a sudden massive drop in framerate, most times bottoming out to 0 fps for periods. It may be accompanied by the sound looping over and over again).

 

[ManaByte]

You can fix it yourself. More RAM. I NEVER ran into this "stutter bug".

 

[Chony]

No stuttering, never.

Specs:

Athlon 64 3500+
1 GB PC3200 dual channel (512x2)
X800 XT PE 256MB

HA HA HA, I spent too much money. Pic of my comp:

 

[Necroscope]

You can fix it yourself. More RAM. I NEVER ran into this "stutter bug".

I don't think it is ram related sucker. I have 1 gig of ram.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

You can fix it yourself. More RAM. I NEVER ran into this "stutter bug".

I'm not going to dignify this with a response.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I am not going to comment at this moment. I really don't know the answer, and I just want everyones speculation on the subject.

Can it be fixed? Will it be fixed? What do you think?

Do you have the stutter? And if so, to what degree would you rate it?

1 - virtually none
10 - it's so damn stuttery it drives you mad

The "stutter bug" is characterized by a sudden massive drop in framerate, most times bottoming out to 0 fps for periods. It may be accompanied by the sound looping over and over again).

I get a lot of stutter at the beginning of sections. I get visual stuttering in some other games (due to lack of ram), but none have that audio looping like HL2. That's what needs to be fixed.

 

[d58e7]

I get stutters but it's probably because of my processor. I have a P4 2.2 Ghz and 1 gig of ram

 

[Patrick Klepek]

i don't understand how doom 3 runs so great, but half life 2 runs so crappy :\

 

[ManaByte]

I don't think it is ram related sucker. I have 1 gig of ram.

I have 2 gigs and never ran into it.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I get stutters but it's probably because of my processor. I have a P4 2.2 Ghz and 1 gig of ram

Common misconception.

Here's my rig

AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1 GB RAM

It stutters.

Your CPU and RAM are well over the minimum requirements.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I have 2 gigs and never ran into it.

I want to know how this constitutes as proof that it's memory related.

 

[Enigma]

I have a 1G Ram, Barton 2500, Radeon 9800, and an Nforce 2 mobo and the problem has been effectively eliminated after the second or third patch. Levels load and there's NEVER framerate flutters do to this bug. (This compared to the unpatched version which stuttered whenever a new area was loaded (And sometimes within a new area that didn't even have a load screen). Sucks to see some people are still suffereing from this. Thought it was solved for everyone.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I have a 1G Ram, Barton 2500, Radeon 9800, and an Nforce 2 mobo and the problem has been effectively eliminated after the second or third patch. Levels load and there's NEVER framerate flutters do to this bug. (This compared to the unpatched version which stuttered whenever a new area was loaded (And sometimes within a new area that didn't even have a load screen). Sucks to see some people are still suffereing from this. Thought it was solved for everyone.

Nope

I bought 2 copies of the game too. Dammit.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Why the hell is it so hard to develop an engine for the pc that can stream data efficiently? Imagine how much better HL2 would be if it was just 1 big seamless experience (no load points).

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Why the hell is it so hard to develop an engine for the pc that can stream data efficiently? Imagine how much better HL2 would be if it was just 1 big seamless experience (no load points).

I can understand not streaming it. Load times are fine in my book. Resident Evil 4's framerate doesn't dip on the cube, so why does HL2 have to run like shit on my box? It's like some sort of curse or funk out of a Seinfeld episode.

BTW, Pimpbaa, you're avatar is almost criminal :lol :lol

 

[ManaByte]

I can understand not streaming it. Load times are fine in my book. Resident Evil 4's framerate doesn't dip on the cube, so why does HL2 have to run like shit on my box? It's like some sort of curse or funk out of a Seinfeld episode.

WTF does Resident Evil 4 have to do with Half-Life 2?

 

[Dr_Cogent]

WTF does Resident Evil 4 have to do with Half-Life 2?

It's a game, remember?

It has everything to do with Half-Life 2. Like Doom 3, Halo 2, Sims 2, and every other game ever created.

My point is, great visuals and amazing gameplay can come out of RE4 and it's on the cube - not a high end box with a 6800 GT, but HL2 can't run worth a shit. Unacceptable.

 

[Dilbert]

I am not going to comment at this moment. I really don't know the answer, and I just want everyones speculation on the subject.

I don't understand your purpose.

If you're asking if VALVE is going to ever fix the stuttering bug, shouldn't you be asking Valve? Or asking if people here have contacts at Valve which can shed some light on the situation?

Asking people if they individually have stuttering isn't going to answer your question, and makes me wonder what your goal is.

 

[ManaByte]

It's a game, remember?

It has everything to do with Half-Life 2. Like Doom 3, Halo 2, Sims 2, and every other game ever created.

Resident Evil 4 is a console game specifically tooled for one never-changing piece of hardware.

Half-Life 2 is a top of the line PC game running on a custom shader-based engine that is played on millions of different hardware configurations.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I don't understand your purpose.

If you're asking if VALVE is going to ever fix the stuttering bug, shouldn't you be asking Valve? Or asking if people here have contacts at Valve which can shed some light on the situation?

Asking people if they individually have stuttering isn't going to answer your question, and makes me wonder what your goal is.

Just want to know everyones opinion. Valve won't say a word about it anyway. They have been tight lipped. Getting something out of Valve is unlikely.

It's called speculation.

 

[Eric P]

i'm running a 2.2 ghz P w/ 512 and never ran into the stuttering problem until the latest patch.

It was kind of frustrating.

-Eric P

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Half-Life 2 is a top of the line PC game running on a custom shader-based engine that is played on millions of different hardware configurations.

So, is this some sort of excuse?

Plenty of PC games run without having this video hitching issue. So what's your point? HL2 is somehow "special"?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I can't even get Steam to run since the "patch". They suggest formatting my drive. GOTOHELL.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

i'm running a 2.2 ghz P w/ 512 and never ran into the stuttering problem until the latest patch.

It was kind of frustrating.

-Eric P

I think they are just messing with variables in their engine trying to fix it and messing it up for others. It's weird. Some people won't have it and then an update totally hoses them. It's happened time and again on the Steam forums.

 

[Deg]

yeah i got that too. Annoying. Dont get me started on load times.

 

[Gantz]

Get better hardware?

Runs like silk on my 1.8 Athlon, 1 gig pc2100 ram, AIW 9700pro.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Get better hardware?

Runs like silk on my 1.8 Athlon, 1 gig pc2100 ram, AIW 9700pro.

You wouldn't believe how this incites riots on the Steam forums. It's a classic line seen time and again. Get better hardware. LOL!

I've got better hardware than you. Much better. My 6800GT outclasses yours as well as my ram and CPU.

I'm predicting someone is going to call me a computer newb. Sorry. Computer Engineer by trade for 10 years. Not gonna happen.

 

[ManaByte]

Just want to know everyones opinion. Valve won't say a word about it anyway. They have been tight lipped. Getting something out of Valve is unlikely.

It's called speculation.

Maybe Valve isn't saying anything because it's probably an issue on your end? If the game is still stuttering for you, maybe you should look at your PC config a bit?

You wouldn't believe how this incites riots on the Steam forums. It's a classic line seen time and again. Get better hardware. LOL!

A lot of times when someone goes screaming to a PC game company about the game running like crap, there's nothing that company can do as they're not going to go out an buy you a new system to run the game on smoothly. I can't tell you how many times people have called a PC game company and whined "Your game is running too choppy! Fix it!", to which they ask "What system are you running it on?", person says "Uh, a P3 1ghz with a GeForce 3 and 256MB of RAM. I bought the computer at Wal Mart yesterday! Your game should run on it! FIX IT!".

Half-Life 2 is extremely demanding and you do really need a somewhat powerful piece of hardware to run it smoothly. Sure, it can scale down a lot but you'll be running it choppy until you get better hardware.

I've got better hardware than you. Much better. My 6800GT outclasses yours as well as my ram and CPU.

I'm predicting someone is going to call me a computer newb. Sorry. Computer Engineer by trade for 10 years. Not gonna happen.

Just because you have a top-of-the-line graphics card, it doesn't mean you have a smoking system that'll run HL2 smoothly. The graphics card is just one component to the overall performance. You still need plenty of RAM and a fast enough processor (not to mention a system clean of programs that can make it chug like spyware).

 

[Dr_Cogent]

OMG. I'm the oracle!

 

[DonasaurusRex]

This could be a myriad of things, as you can see some people have had it and others havent. I personally have never experienced it either. Usually stutter is because your HDD is having to load something which is death as far as latency goes, how bout posting your system specs. And the GC comparison is not valid, it is a big deal that the GC hardware is set and that the compiler and programmer can specifically optimize machine code for the system. It can run many times faster with the optimized code.

 

[ManaByte]

My PC Specs:
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 Processor with HT 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB 512KB Cache
Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D875PBZ - Intel 875P Motherboard
Memory: 2GB Corsair XMS DDR SDRAM PC-3200 - 4 x 512MB Module
Video Card: ATI RADEON 9800 XT 256MB 8x AGP w/DVI & S-Video
System Drive: 240GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Serial ATA RAID 0 Array

With that I never, ever, ran into the "stutter bug" that reduces the framerate to 0fps. At worse, it pauses for a second while loading in a new area.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

This could be a myriad of things, as you can see some people have had it and others havent. I personally have never experienced it either. Usually stutter is because your HDD is having to load something which is death as far as latency goes, how bout posting your system specs. And the GC comparison is not valid, it is a big deal that the GC hardware is set and that the compiler and programmer can specifically optimize machine code for the system. It can run many times faster with the optimized code.

It's not really a comment on hardware/software differences. It's a general statement. A game is a game. I know where you are coming from, but this sort of perf is not acceptable.

If you read this page

http://www.blep.net/hl2stutter/

it will give you a good idea of the problem that many many people are experiencing with the game. Valve seems unable to actually fix it. There doesn't appear to be a ryhme or reason. Valve has looked at my MSINFO and said that I shouldn't be experiencing any problems.

Here's my specs.

AMD 3200+
1 GB RAM
SB Audigy
120 GIG HD (7200 RPM 8 MB cache)
6800 GT

 

[ManaByte]

It's not really a comment on hardware/software differences. It's a general statement. A game is a game. I know where you are coming from, but this sort of perf is not acceptable.

No, a game is not a game when you are trying to compare the performance of a console title to a high-end PC game. You made a stupid comparison to try to back up your point.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

No, a game is not a game when you are trying to compare the performance of a console title to a high-end PC game. You made a stupid comparison to try to back up your point.

RE4 looks amazing and plays amazing. HL2 runs like shit, while (when not stuttering) it looks good, its not even as impressive as RE4 in my opinion (and I have a fast DX9 card). The Gamecube is a lower powered device with non-programmable shaders - and it looks fantastic and doesn't run like shit.

I'm still wondering how your previous post constitutes that the stutter issue is memory related. You never answered that.

Read the blep.net page

 

[ManaByte]

RE4 looks amazing and plays amazing. HL2 runs like shit, while (when not stuttering) it looks good, but not even as impressive as RE4 in my opinion.

You obviously have no fucking clue about the difference between a console game and a PC game.

I'm still wondering how your previous post constitutes that the stutter issue is memory related. You never answered that.

Read the blep.net page

Look at it this way. Valve's fanbase before HL2 consisted of mostly CounterStrike players. These kids played CS because it was based on a six/seven year old engine that would run fine on a P3 600Mhz with a Voodoo2 and 128MB of RAM.

Half-Life 2 (and CS: Source) comes out running on a cutting-edge shader-based engine that needs a monster, well-kept, machine to run 100% smoothly.

Of course the kiddies on the Valve forums will be screaming their heads off because their CS system can't run CS: Source or Half-Life 2 smoothly.

There's an annoying frame of mind among the average consumer who goes out and buys a PC that if they spend a lot of money on their computer from Best Buy that it should be able to run everything perfectly. When they run into a game that doesn't run perfectly they scream their head off on their little webpage and try to cook up some massive conspiracy theory about the developer refusing to fix a "bug" because the game won't run well on their computer that the Best Buy peon convinced them was awesome.

These people then start calling the game's tech support and screaming at the poor tech support person that they need to fix the game to run on their system. This is part of the reason why people in tech support get burned out so quickly because of the fucktards who have no damn clue that their precious little computer isn't built to run every single piece of high-end gaming software perfectly.

You bringing up and comparing Resident Evil 4's performance to Half-Life 2's is a perfect example of this. People think "Hey, Halo2 runs fine on my Xbox, why doesn't Half-Life 2?". Consoles are one, never-changing, hardware configuration and the software that runs on that hardware is (most of the time) optimized for it. PCs are a completely different universe.

There are not only millions of different hardware configurations for the game to run on, but there are also millions of other veriables in terms of your computer's software that can factor into the performance of the game. The system could be clogged with spyware. The person could have five messaging programs running while downloading stuff via bitTorrent. Even more common, the system could have a shitload of crap loading up at startup that can take resources away from even a monsterously powerful PC.

 

[android]

If you are talking about the problem right after loadings, turn the sound quality right down to the lowest. When I tried that the stuttering are loads which was unbearable all but stopped. And really turning the sound down doesn't affect the game quality for me at least.

 

[shuri]

RE4 looks amazing and plays amazing. HL2 runs like shit, while (when not stuttering) it looks good, its not even as impressive as RE4 in my opinion (and I have a fast DX9 card).

You cant really compare performances of pc and console games since pcs never has the same configurations. As for RE4, I had a slowdown near the end of the game where you have to move the mirrors so that the lasers bounce and open the gate. Just before that, you have to fight a shitload of soldiers, and I experienced a massive fps drop when there was a fuckload of them on screen. Slowdows happen.

 

[Deg]

You obviously have no fucking clue about the difference between a console game and a PC game.



Look at it this way. Valve's fanbase before HL2 consisted of mostly CounterStrike players. These kids played CS because it was based on a six/seven year old engine that would run fine on a P3 600Mhz with a Voodoo2 and 128MB of RAM.

Half-Life 2 (and CS: Source) comes out running on a cutting-edge shader-based engine that needs a monster, well-kept, machine to run 100% smoothly.

Of course the kiddies on the Valve forums will be screaming their heads off because their CS system can't run CS: Source or Half-Life 2 smoothly.

There's an annoying frame of mind among the average consumer who goes out and buys a PC that if they spend a lot of money on their computer from Best Buy that it should be able to run everything perfectly. When they run into a game that doesn't run perfectly they scream their head off on their little webpage and try to cook up some massive conspiracy theory about the developer refusing to fix a "bug" because the game won't run well on their computer that the Best Buy peon convinced them was awesome.

These people then start calling the game's tech support and screaming at the poor tech support person that they need to fix the game to run on their system. This is part of the reason why people in tech support get burned out so quickly because of the fucktards who have no damn clue that their precious little computer isn't built to run every single piece of high-end gaming software perfectly.

You bringing up and comparing Resident Evil 4's performance to Half-Life 2's is a perfect example of this. People think "Hey, Halo2 runs fine on my Xbox, why doesn't Half-Life 2?". Consoles are one, never-changing, hardware configuration and the software that runs on that hardware is (most of the time) optimized for it. PCs are a completely different universe.

There are not only millions of different hardware configurations for the game to run on, but there are also millions of other veriables in terms of your computer's software that can factor into the performance of the game. The system could be clogged with spyware. The person could have five messaging programs running while downloading stuff via bitTorrent. Even more common, the system could have a shitload of crap loading up at startup that can take resources away from even a monsterously powerful PC.

you could have saved time by saying HL2 is unlucky.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

You obviously have no fucking clue about the difference between a console game and a PC game.



Look at it this way. Valve's fanbase before HL2 consisted of mostly CounterStrike players. These kids played CS because it was based on a six/seven year old engine that would run fine on a P3 600Mhz with a Voodoo2 and 128MB of RAM.

Half-Life 2 (and CS: Source) comes out running on a cutting-edge shader-based engine that needs a monster, well-kept, machine to run 100% smoothly.

Of course the kiddies on the Valve forums will be screaming their heads off because their CS system can't run CS: Source or Half-Life 2 smoothly.

There's an annoying frame of mind among the average consumer who goes out and buys a PC that if they spend a lot of money on their computer from Best Buy that it should be able to run everything perfectly. When they run into a game that doesn't run perfectly they scream their head off on their little webpage and try to cook up some massive conspiracy theory about the developer refusing to fix a "bug" because the game won't run well on their computer that the Best Buy peon convinced them was awesome.

These people then start calling the game's tech support and screaming at the poor tech support person that they need to fix the game to run on their system. This is part of the reason why people in tech support get burned out so quickly because of the fucktards who have no damn clue that their precious little computer isn't built to run every single piece of high-end gaming software perfectly.

You bringing up and comparing Resident Evil 4's performance to Half-Life 2's is a perfect example of this. People think "Hey, Halo2 runs fine on my Xbox, why doesn't Half-Life 2?". Consoles are one, never-changing, hardware configuration and the software that runs on that hardware is (most of the time) optimized for it. PCs are a completely different universe.

There are not only millions of different hardware configurations for the game to run on, but there are also millions of other veriables in terms of your computer's software that can factor into the performance of the game. The system could be clogged with spyware. The person could have five messaging programs running while downloading stuff via bitTorrent. Even more common, the system could have a shitload of crap loading up at startup that can take resources away from even a monsterously powerful PC.

OK, Manabyte. I've ran into about 500 million like your type on the Steam forums. You can think I am full of @#$ all you like.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

You cant really compare performances of pc and console games since pcs never has the same configurations. As for RE4, I had a slowdown near the end of the game where you have to move the mirrors so that the lasers bounce and open the gate. Just before that, you have to fight a shitload of soldiers, and I experienced a massive fps drop when there was a fuckload of them on screen. Slowdows happen.

Well, in my experience, I've never seen the game slowdown.

Half-Life 2 on the other hand, it hitches all over the place.

Doom 3 ran like a dream at the recommended settings. That can be Manabytes example of a high end engine that runs just fine. My machine is plenty well equipped to handle the game. Valve themselves have acknowledged the stutter bug, so ManaByte can freak out all he likes. I know what the facts of the matter are. RE4 is an example of a stellar looking game, that runs without hitching on a lower end device, compared to my PC which kicks the living crap out of a Gamecube hardware/performance wise.

 

[ManaByte]

RE4 is an example of a stellar looking game, that runs without hitching on a lower end device, compared to my PC which kicks the living crap out of a Gamecube hardware/performance wise.

How hard is it for you to grasp the differences between a game developed for a console as opposed to a PC game?

 

[Dr_Cogent]

How hard is it for you to grasp the differences between a game developed for a console as opposed to a PC game?

I know the differences between a game for a console and the PC.

You obviously fail to grasp the point.

 

[Drey1082]

My specs,

1gig ram
3.0 ghz p4 with HT
6600 GT

Not a bad system in my eyes. I get the stutter right after loading, and if I go from a small area like a hallway out to a big outdoor area. Doesn't bother me too much since it's pretty brief, but it's there.

Related question, what kind of framerates are you guys getting on the video stress test in CS?

I get around 104, is that good/bad?

 

[ManaByte]

I know the differences between a game for a console and the PC.

You obviously fail to grasp the point.

What point? That a game made and optimized for a piece of never-changing hardware runs better than a game that has to run on millions of vastly different hardware/software combinations?

 

[Ryudo]

My pc specs;

A64 3500
X800XT PE
1 GB 2-2-2-5 Ram
WD 120GB ATA drive
SB audigy

It runs fine in some areas, others it crawls. The game is constantly skipping and stuttering even at 1024 x 768. Factor in the massive and frequent loading times - i refuse to play it.

It really irks me that games run like this, about the only thing i am left to try is buying a raptor 74gb drive, but alas i cant stand HL2 anymore. Frame rate is god on the PC, i cant play anything under 60fps.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Related question, what kind of framerates are you guys getting on the video stress test in CS?

I haven't run the stress test recently. I can't remember my numbers. I googled and found this quickly

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-35064.html

 

[Dr_Cogent]

What point? That a game made and optimized for a piece of never-changing hardware runs better than a game that has to run on millions of vastly different hardware/software combinations?

And there in lies the "excuse". Sorry, doesn't fly with me Mana.

 

[ManaByte]

And there in lies the "excuse". Sorry, doesn't fly with me Mana.

...?

You seriously need my tag.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

It really irks me that games run like this, about the only thing i am left to try is buying a raptor 74gb drive, but alas i cant stand HL2 anymore. Frame rate is god on the PC, i cant play anything under 60fps.

Don't bother trying to fix it with hardware changes. Some people have seen success, while others have not. It's seems almost completely random by nature too.

 

[Dilbert]

I don't like where this thread is going.

Complaining about performance issues with HL2 is a valid subject. However, claiming that games developed for a console -- with a perfectly fixed hardware configuration -- and PC games which have to support virtually infinite combinations of hardware and software configurations is a bullshit argument.

Quite frankly, I think this thread is just an excuse to complain about HL2 under the disguise of "speculation."