Slashdot Mirror
Half Life 2 Stuttering Bug Official
sinner0423 writes "Due to recent complaints on several forums, Steampowered announced they are working on a fix to this stuttering problem in Half Life 2. Usually, a game bug isn't news-worthy, but the sporadic nature of this bug makes me wonder - who else has problems with HL2 pausing/skipping? This site outlines the problem certain users are having in a very clear & concise manner, and also includes some stopgap solutions from Erik Johnson & other Valve employees."
...one might have thought given the year of so the game has thought to have remained in a workable state they might have come across a bug like this, especially if it's affecting large numbers of people...
This bug has been degrading an excellent game for many people--good to see Valve finally acknowledge it.
Now if only they would fix the "Loading" delays that show up every 3 minutes... it's 2004 already, there has *got* to be some way to stream/cache/prefetch around having to break up the game experience so much.
I experienced this, but moving my sound card up a pci slot and deleting an extrra sounds driver that XP installed seems to have corrected the problem.
.technomancer
Half-Life 2, not Half Life. Sorry, I am being picky. :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Although I didn't experience the stuttering bug others are, I have noticed how great Valve has been supporting this game. They communicate regularly (sometimes individually) and are really standing behind their product. Too bad other companies don't follow their lead.
www.lonseidman.com
This will delay my purchase of the game. As the last link shows, these problems have been evident even in the E3 demos. Why didn't valve fix this?
I've seen this a couple times, mostly right after It loads a part of the game, but it isnt that annoying. The biggest problem I have with halflife 2 is that it takes close to 13 minuites to actually load the game...
Matt
from the you're-all-beta-testers dept.
...Usually, a game bug isn't news-worthy, but the sporadic nature of this bug makes me wonder - who else has problems with HL2 pausing/skipping?
Yawn. Every Linux distro gets released bug-free, right?
Well, you sure linked a ton of forums, how about you just read those threads? Or perhaps other gamer boards?
Listen, I know HL2 is the biggest thing to happen to the gaming community in quite some time. I know the controversy surrounding it, Gabe Newell, Vivendi, Valve and a piece of caerphilly cheese. I just don't see why a bug that is sporadic and what seems like a very minute number of people are having makes the frontpage.
Yes, I expected to get modded down.
No, I don't care.
Yes, I have "been around here for a while, and I know how the place works!"
No, these aren't the droids you're looking for.
discrimina a a tion !
I also have a bad stu u utter !
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
Well, I actually do have that problem, but it's not as bad as it is for some (taking from 5 to 10 seconds to fix itself). For me, it takes 1 or 2 seconds max, and it doesn't happen all the time. But when it does, it's a pain in the ass.
I used to have that with Doom 3, but lowering quality/resolution would fix it, which doesn't cut it on HL2. I used to have that with Counter Strike Source too, and wondered what was wrong.
this raises the question, "how many (known) bugs should be allowed to ship in a piece of commercial software?"
obviously its in the developer's best interest to hit production as soon as possible (to enter the market for the xmas feeding frenzy). so, some "minor" bugs are apparently considered acceptable.
i don't think so.
but some customers, in particular the die-hard fans, apparently are willing to accept some problems on day one and will put up with the problem until a patch is released eventually.
i wonder what the turnaround time will be. probably a few days. too bad its not open-source. we'd have a patch in a few hours.
A bug in Half Life 2 is perhaps the biggest problem being suffered by the human race in our time. Perhaps every government worldwide, every corporation, every organization, and every individual should stop everything they are doing at this moment, so that all the resources available to mankind can be allocated to correcting the bug in Half Life 2. Otherwise, we are doomed to destruction.
I had this problem too when I first installed HalfLife 2 and it was frustrating as hell... Just a little background on my system:
Intel 875 chipset (800 mhz. FSB)
P4 2.6C (hyperthreaded)
1GB PC3200 memory (dual channel, 800 mhz.)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB graphics
Windows XP Pro SP2
In other words, this is not a bottom of the line system, and runs Doom 3 perfectly...
Now, when I first installed the game, I installed it to my D: drive, which happened to be an older 30GB drive that came from my previous computer. I just stuck it in there as a slave drive for extra storage space, having filled up the 120GB primary IDE hard drive a while ago...
Anyway, I noticed the stuttering always seemed to happen when the system was accessing data from the hard drive.
I finally went into the Device Mangler (haha... that's what I call it anyways, you might know it as the Device Manager), and checked the DMA settings on my secondary hard drive... Sure enough, it was only using PIO Mode!!! I always wondered why that second hard drive was slow. I tried to enable DMA mode, but was out of DMA channels, so I couldn't.
Anyway, I freed up some space on my hard drive and moved it to the primary hard drive... voila, problem solved! Now the game plays smoothly and the immersion experience is what it should be...
This problem seems to be linked to either inadequate DMA support for your hard drive (which can spike the CPU during disk access and loading times), or a hard drive that just isn't fast enough to keep up. Also, because all of the sound in the game is MP3 files that are streamed off of the hard drive, hard drive bandwidth seems to be very important for this game, in addition, I'm sure all of the MP3 decompression makes you take a big CPU hit, especially when they're mixing multiple channels of MP3 audio together at once and outputting it to 5.1 surround.
This is just a theory of mine, but it worked for me... Put the game on your fastest hard drive, and defragment it... Make sure DMA is enabled for that hard drive, and you should (hopefully) be set.
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
if Half-Live 2 was Open Sour.... hey, wait a minute!
Do you turn around and blame Ford when you get ticketed for speeding 30mph over the limit? Do you turn around and blame Wal-Mart when you burn your the chicken you were making for dinner? Do you blame the local hardware store when you hammer a nail through a water pipe?
Yes.
Going off my current experience (reinstalling from a retail DVD right now after a windows reinstall), downloading it will take about as long as installing, decrypting and activating the damned thing. The only difference is that with retail you at least have something physical to show for it. Still takes sodding ages to install either way...
What? News? I thought the point of Slashdot was to post as much random crap as possible and see how much of the internet you could take out.
When open source applications have bugs in them, people report them to bugzilla or equivalent and wait. If anyone complains people say "they'll work on it, if you want it done faster, do it yourself".
As soon as the software isn't free all of a sudden its "those bastards releasing software with more than 0 bugs in it!"
Guess what. The introduction of money doesn't all of a sudden make developers more perfect. They have deadlines, priorities and are imperfect, like other people. Just because software is less than free doesn't mean you can expect it to be perfectly bug free.
It's also funny all the complaints about half-life 2 have to do with the steam system. Nobody seems to be making comments about the actual game itself. Oh, could that be because the game itself is an indisputably amazing work of art? Sorry warez dudes, you can't get a free ride on this one. For me, I don't mind as its probably the only PC game I will buy for the next 5 years. Half-Life 2 and its mods will probably be the only pc game worth playing for a long time to come. Half-Life 1 lived up to that, and I expect no less from 2. It's worth more than the lousy 50 bucks they charge for it. So quit your bitching. If you don't like the DRM, then crack it, just like you do with all the RIAA and MPAA DRM.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
- Steam allows automatic patching, so once a bug is found and fixed, it can be applied immediately; no more having to search for patches.
- You can install the games on as many computers as you want; you just can't play them on more than one computer at a time.
- Steam allows for a delivery system that I think most people (those who have high-speed internet connections, anyway) would agree is much more convenient than having to buy CDs from a store and then having to make sure that you don't lose or damage the CDs.
- And the most important of all (that so many people seem to overlook or forget): After activation, you do not have to be connected to internet to play the Steam-based games; just start Steam in off-line mode.
I'm sure there are more.Look, I hate DRM controls as much as the next guy, but I realize that many software companies feel that they need to use such measures to try to make sure that they get rewarded for their work. All that I'm saying is that of all of the DRM/activation systems I've encountered, Steam seems to be the least intrusive and most flexible...and it has a few added benefits for the users as well (i.e. instant patches).
Some people are getting motion sickness from this game. See this newsgroup thread.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Running two monitors gives me a different perspective on this bug. When the stuttering occurs, HL2 loses its grip on my mouse, and the mouse is free to move into my second monitor. The game pauses until I move the mouse back over the game screen.
In 5 years, once the activation server is down, or in 10 or whatever, what you got is a pretty coaster because you can't activate your legally purchased game without a crack.
OTOH about your points : * you can automatically patches if you program for it. That msot game except MMOG don't do it isn't because of a technical ground, but rather a money/marketing ground. So no advantage here. * I can install normal CD on many computer as I want, and only play on the one I have the physical CD. No change either here. * Delivery isn't as convenient as you say, if you do not have a broad band, or a nice DSL. Heck with a 26 modem I can order something on an online store and it is delivered at home. But Steam would be unusable on such a connection.
I am sorry, but you are overplaying the advantage a lot. True this is a new mode of delivery for those which want the game on the day retail begin to sell it, but do not make up things out of thin air. This is pretty much the only advantage, the rest is only nice for the company selling the game.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Earlier this year I read in several PC gaming mags about how 2004 was Year of the PC Game; about how Half Life 2 and Doom 3 would set the record straight and reclaim the crown of video gaming from the consoles. Doom 3 was fun, but didn't change the world, and Half Life 2 fully proves why the PC will remain a niche market. One person's comment here on this story tells people to quit whining about the problem because all they have to change their hardware around. That kind of comment - that it's a matter-of-fact that you have to spend hours monkeyassing with your PC to get a game to work - should deeply worry stalwarts of the PC industry.
Even with fairly rampant Xbox piracy, Microsoft's anti-piracy strategy with Halo 2 was transparent to nearly all xbox owners who legitimately bought the game. Yet, not only are all of HL2's users penalized for the piracy, but obviously the game was rushed through testing. Now, to be fair, testing a PC game is far more work than testing a console. But when that so-called mainstream gamer goes to pick up Half Life 2, they don't give a rip if someone else is pirating or if Valve didn't have the time or resources to check if their game worked. To them, the only thing that matters is that their game takes hours to work, and when it does it does so half-assed.
Console makers (Nintendo, MS, Sony) keep the publishers in check with quality issues like these. For the PC, there's no one entity at stake if PC games take 5 hours of work to run properly. But Valve is hurting not only themselves but the entire PC gaming industry by releasing games that require anti-piracy measures like Steam and then ultimately don't work.
I bought my GameCube in the fall of 2002, and the first game I owned for it was Metroid Prime. I got about 7 hours into it, the game froze, and a buzzing sound filled the speakers.
I thought, "Holy shit! My GameCube is broken!"
Why? Because I thought that was more possible than a Nintendo game having a bug of that magnitude.
My GameCube wasn't broken. Metroid Prime did have a bug, a rather rare one, that overflowed a buffer (I believe) when changing areas. the overflow was rare enough that most gamers never experienced it. I was one of the lucky ones that had it happen twice.
My point is not that consoles can have bugs too. My point is that with the good console game companies this sort of thing is so rare, you can think your hardware died when it happens.
I assume that PC games will have fatal bugs when they are released, and I also assume that if the game is not popular, these bugs may never be fixed. That is why I don't buy PC games until they have been out a year. How can you get excited about a launch when there is a decent chance you will not be able to play the game?
By the way, Nintendo fixed that bug and offered a replacement to anyone who wanted it. The Metroid Prime discs today do not have the problem.
The loading times are awful, and loading occurs way too often. It really wrecked my suspension of disbelief. Example: At the beginning, when you're running to the roof, the game stops to load for 30 seconds or so in the middle of fierce action! How am I supposed to keep my adrenaline up during that time, by slapping myself in the face or what? This is not good game design.
What I cannot understand is the people praising this game as a whole to high heavens. Sure, the Source engine kicks ass and everything, but what I really expected from a sequel to Half-Life was a coherent story and script. After completing the game, all I had was an aftertaste of a huge railroaded marathon and a handful of loose ends in the script.
I was left confused and unsatisfied. Props to Valve for making the game, but even the most decorated shell is empty without a good plot.
Maybe Half-Life 2 is really an introduction to third part of the story, where all the pieces come together. But it makes me a bit unease thinking that all these years I was only waiting for a prologue to the real thing.
__
Zarathustra.fi
Modern man has no goal, no aim, no ideals.
Why don't display manufacturers start labeling CRTs and LCD panels as to the maximum resolution they're rated for displaying w/pixel for pixel accuracy?
In the past, I guess this issue never even came up, because the electronic circuitry in the displays (and even in the video cards) weren't able to synch up with (or generate resolutions greater) than what the phosphors on the tube could display accurately.
But in the age of even "consumer grade" video boards outputing resolutions of upwards of 1600 pixels vertically, this point seems to be pretty valid.
Granted, the wide aspect ratio LCD panels (such as Apple's Cinema displays) are going to allow for accurate viewing of larger horizontal pixel resolutions before hitting their upper limits - but the vertical hasn't changed much.
Stopgap 1:
Run dxdiag and try changing the Hardware Acceleration down to the first or second step. You can play with this reloading the program each time and you will most likely find that the problem does not return until the last stage of the game where the audio is a bit more intense by an order of magnitude.
Stopgap 2:
The next thing that immediately made the sound bubbles go away was simply changing the in game options from 5.1 speakers down to 2 speakers. Frustrating to have to do this when your card is so hot, I know, but it's a stopgap measure that can at least make the more intense scenes more enjoyable.
Symptom of the problem I had:
The most noticable sympton my relatively new system had with the game that could help is that if I forced the sound by moving so that it was entirely left or entirely right the bubbles went away - even with full hardware acceleration and 5.1 setting in game. From a layman's perspective this intimates that there seems to be a problem with the 3d environment code mixing or otherwise (hey it might be something buried in directx that Valve were the first to truly exploit who knows).
If this helps anyone then today I have done some good.
You haven't been playing the right console games. With regards to the PC, where is the experimentation we see in console games like Katamari Damacy, REZ, Ico, Panzer Dragoon Orta - I could go on. Bejewled? Age of Empires? Doom 3? I'll give you the Sims, but that's all I can think of. "Graphics, speed, etc" do not a good game make.