HL2 runs like crap

Judicael · Nov 20, 2004, 08:44 PM

Hey guys i was wondering if you could help me, I'm very computer literate and have recently started trying to improve my HL2 performance (it can get unplayable even on the lowest settings). However, so far all I've been using are the beta Ati drivers (4.12); i see a lot of programs on this site and it looks promising but I don't really see a first run this program then this then that thing. I'm sure i have a lot of junk on here to clean out i just can't find out where it is. Maybe some modded drivers would help too -- possibly turn off some of my AIW video outputs or something; i just don't know where to begin.

Here's my specs, i think they're respectable

OS: XP pro SP1 (should i upgrade to SP2? i really don't want to)
PROC: Intel 2.6
RAM: 764 mb
GFX: 9700 AIW

I'm open to any suggestions,thanks in advance guys.

NeoTribal · Nov 20, 2004, 09:07 PM

I would suggest doing the following:

1. Download and run some type of spyware-search/removal tool... "AdAware" is a good choice, so is "Spybot, search and destroy"

2. Find out what chipset your motherboard uses (a program called cpu-z will help) and make sure you have the proper Chipset and AGP GART drivers installed for it

3. Download and install "Drivercleaner" here from Driverheaven

4. Download the new Catalyst 4.12 Beta drivers

5. Run drivercleaner/cabcleaner (same program) as directed in its included "readme" file and install the new drivers, as directed in the same readme file

6. Make sure to defragment your harddrives

p.s. almost forgot, make sure you have the latest Direct X installed

Sorry if I didn't include any links, all this stuff can easily be found via your favorite search engine...

Also, go through your "add/remove programs" in control panel and remove any stuff you don't need, make sure you defragment AFTER your are done with everything

Judicael · Nov 20, 2004, 09:16 PM

ok let me get on some of that. I'll post back when i'm done.

Judicael · Nov 20, 2004, 10:17 PM

I ran spyware stuff and defragged recently so that's not going to get me much to do it again.

I cleaned out the stuff as directed

So, basically what's my next move?, I'm already @ directX 9.0c

The big question is : Should i upgrade to SP2, are there any performance gains, since I'm already running 9.0c?

Judicael · Nov 20, 2004, 10:21 PM

PS: after the reboot stuff seems smoother already so everything is going good.

Thought of a couple other questions:

I run my computer @ 1600 x 1200 for graphics editting reasons (in HL2 it's at something more normal), but should i set the color to 32 bit inside windows or 16? -- If i remember correctly HL2 runs @ 24 bit, which is one of the reasons ATI cards do a bit better, because they natively support it or something. I don't think it will affect HL2 performance much because it's not even runnning @ those resolutions/color depths anyways.

Also, should i upgrade to the Omega drivers when the Cat 4.12 betas get modded

NeoTribal · Nov 20, 2004, 11:13 PM

I am running SP2, but I really didn't see any tangible reason to upgrade from SP1, it doesn't seem much different (however, I did disable the windows firewall and the security center altogether).

I run my desktop @ 1600x1200 and 32bit color, and HL2 runs fine at 1024x768...

If Omegas decides to mod the beta 4.12's, you better believe that I will be installing them

Make sure to run through that Drivercleaner process between each driver change!

Judicael · Nov 21, 2004, 02:51 AM

So, is there anything else i can tweak or have I maxed out the possibilities? Is there anyway that i can tweak my 9700 AIW? eg disable certain AIW features to get a tangible performance bump?

Ehecu · Nov 21, 2004, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judicael

Is there anyway that i can tweak my 9700 AIW? eg disable certain AIW features to get a tangible performance bump?

Well, you could tweak your SmartGart settings, maybe overclock a little bit... Past that I don't think there's anything else you could do. Disabling some AIW features may help, but don't take my word on that, 'cause I've never owned or experimented with one in my life.

NeoTribal · Nov 22, 2004, 12:24 AM

What features of your AIW card do you use? Do you use multiple monitors or anything like that?

I've read that you can disable your "secondary" radeon in the windows' device manager to gain a few fps (you will, however, lose some features, such as multiple video output...)

PoopyTheJ · Nov 22, 2004, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judicael

So, is there anything else i can tweak or have I maxed out the possibilities? Is there anyway that i can tweak my 9700 AIW? eg disable certain AIW features to get a tangible performance bump?

ATI tray tools will give you more tweakable options than you can shake a stick at also RivaTuner is a very nice program with lots of tweakable options and overclocking. Disable DEP for HL2, in the security center if you haven't done so already, TuneXP is a good app for overall increases in performance also...

Judicael · Nov 22, 2004, 05:19 AM

I'm not running Windows XP SP2 so i don't think I have "DEP" running at all, so i can't turn it off. I finished with TweakXP, so i got a little bit out of that-- I played about 2 hrs of HL2 today and it was much better. I'm still looking to get more out of it-- there should be like a page for everyone who has a certain card to come together and share their tweaks for HL2, and then we can adjust our settings to that which most people agree is the best balence of fps and quality. I think I'm going to do that right now.

Nov 20, 2004, 08:44 PM	#1
Judicael DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 43 Rep Power: 0	HL2 runs like crap Hey guys i was wondering if you could help me, I'm very computer literate and have recently started trying to improve my HL2 performance (it can get unplayable even on the lowest settings). However, so far all I've been using are the beta Ati drivers (4.12); i see a lot of programs on this site and it looks promising but I don't really see a first run this program then this then that thing. I'm sure i have a lot of junk on here to clean out i just can't find out where it is. Maybe some modded drivers would help too -- possibly turn off some of my AIW video outputs or something; i just don't know where to begin. Here's my specs, i think they're respectable OS: XP pro SP1 (should i upgrade to SP2? i really don't want to) PROC: Intel 2.6 RAM: 764 mb GFX: 9700 AIW I'm open to any suggestions,thanks in advance guys.

Nov 20, 2004, 09:07 PM	#2
NeoTribal 1" Lobes! =D Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Miami, Florida Posts: 187 Rep Power: 0	I would suggest doing the following: 1. Download and run some type of spyware-search/removal tool... "AdAware" is a good choice, so is "Spybot, search and destroy" 2. Find out what chipset your motherboard uses (a program called cpu-z will help) and make sure you have the proper Chipset and AGP GART drivers installed for it 3. Download and install "Drivercleaner" here from Driverheaven 4. Download the new Catalyst 4.12 Beta drivers 5. Run drivercleaner/cabcleaner (same program) as directed in its included "readme" file and install the new drivers, as directed in the same readme file 6. Make sure to defragment your harddrives p.s. almost forgot, make sure you have the latest Direct X installed Sorry if I didn't include any links, all this stuff can easily be found via your favorite search engine... Also, go through your "add/remove programs" in control panel and remove any stuff you don't need, make sure you defragment AFTER your are done with everything __________________ To the Dark Tower Childe Roland went...

Nov 20, 2004, 10:17 PM	Thread Starter #4
Judicael DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 43 Rep Power: 0	clean 4.12 betas installed I ran spyware stuff and defragged recently so that's not going to get me much to do it again. I cleaned out the stuff as directed So, basically what's my next move?, I'm already @ directX 9.0c The big question is : Should i upgrade to SP2, are there any performance gains, since I'm already running 9.0c?

Nov 20, 2004, 10:21 PM	Thread Starter #5
Judicael DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 43 Rep Power: 0	extra questions PS: after the reboot stuff seems smoother already so everything is going good. Thought of a couple other questions: I run my computer @ 1600 x 1200 for graphics editting reasons (in HL2 it's at something more normal), but should i set the color to 32 bit inside windows or 16? -- If i remember correctly HL2 runs @ 24 bit, which is one of the reasons ATI cards do a bit better, because they natively support it or something. I don't think it will affect HL2 performance much because it's not even runnning @ those resolutions/color depths anyways. Also, should i upgrade to the Omega drivers when the Cat 4.12 betas get modded

Nov 20, 2004, 11:13 PM	#6
NeoTribal 1" Lobes! =D Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Miami, Florida Posts: 187 Rep Power: 0	I am running SP2, but I really didn't see any tangible reason to upgrade from SP1, it doesn't seem much different (however, I did disable the windows firewall and the security center altogether). I run my desktop @ 1600x1200 and 32bit color, and HL2 runs fine at 1024x768... If Omegas decides to mod the beta 4.12's, you better believe that I will be installing them Make sure to run through that Drivercleaner process between each driver change! __________________ To the Dark Tower Childe Roland went...

Nov 20, 2004, 09:16 PM	Thread Starter #3
Judicael DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 43 Rep Power: 0	ok let me get on some of that. I'll post back when i'm done.

Nov 21, 2004, 02:51 AM	Thread Starter #7
Judicael DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 43 Rep Power: 0	So, is there anything else i can tweak or have I maxed out the possibilities? Is there anyway that i can tweak my 9700 AIW? eg disable certain AIW features to get a tangible performance bump? __________________ PC SPECS: CPU: 2.6 ghz \| RAM: 764 \| GFX: 9700 AIW \| AUDIO: Audigy 2 \| DRIVES: misc 80 and 120 gb \| MISC: \| SPEAKERS: Klipsch 5.1 Ultra \| PDA: Palm T3 \| MONITOR: 19'' CRT @ 16oox12oo \| ext NEC 3500a \|

Nov 22, 2004, 12:24 AM	#9
NeoTribal 1" Lobes! =D Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Miami, Florida Posts: 187 Rep Power: 0	What features of your AIW card do you use? Do you use multiple monitors or anything like that? I've read that you can disable your "secondary" radeon in the windows' device manager to gain a few fps (you will, however, lose some features, such as multiple video output...) __________________ To the Dark Tower Childe Roland went...

Nov 22, 2004, 05:19 AM	Thread Starter #11
Judicael DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 43 Rep Power: 0	I'm not running Windows XP SP2 so i don't think I have "DEP" running at all, so i can't turn it off. I finished with TweakXP, so i got a little bit out of that-- I played about 2 hrs of HL2 today and it was much better. I'm still looking to get more out of it-- there should be like a page for everyone who has a certain card to come together and share their tweaks for HL2, and then we can adjust our settings to that which most people agree is the best balence of fps and quality. I think I'm going to do that right now. __________________ PC SPECS: CPU: 2.6 ghz \| RAM: 764 \| GFX: 9700 AIW \| AUDIO: Audigy 2 \| DRIVES: misc 80 and 120 gb \| MISC: \| SPEAKERS: Klipsch 5.1 Ultra \| PDA: Palm T3 \| MONITOR: 19'' CRT @ 16oox12oo \| ext NEC 3500a \|