GeForce FX: the best way to play HL2 (revised)

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce Drivers Section' started by Presi, Dec 8, 2004.

  1. Presi

    Presi Member Guru

    Messages:
    172
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    eVGA 6800GT @ 420/1110
    As I've promised I cleaned, updated, revised and rewrite the trick to play HL2 on your FX card running dx9 with a boost in performance of 30/45%. New/revised parts are in bold.

    In order to play HL2 "the way its meant to be played" you have to do 2 things:

    1 Use the ATI code path modifying the dxsupport.cfg file;

    2 Force FP16;

    STEP 1
    (I know, In the previous thread I said that you could skip this and force the ATI path using 3D Analyze, that's no good. In this way you will still have few glitches in the graphic (shadows underwater) and for some reason you'll get also a lower Test Stress score)

    - Find the file dxsupport.cfg (half-life 2\bin\), make a copy of it and put it in a safe place.

    - Open it with notepad and locate the line about the ATI Radeon 9800 PRO settings, it should look like this:

    "84"
    {
    "name" "ATI Radeon 9800 PRO"
    "VendorID" "0x1002"
    "MinDeviceID" "0x4E48"
    "MaxDeviceID" "0x4E48"
    "m_nDriverVersion_Build" "6240"
    "DefaultRes" "1024"
    "CentroidHack" "1"
    }

    - Select and copy everything from "VendorID"... to the "}" (6 lines)

    -Than locate your card name, in my case NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, and change everything from "VendorID" to the "}" with the ATI settings. After the change it should look like this:

    "355"
    {
    "name" "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra"
    "VendorID" "0x1002"
    "MinDeviceID" "0x4E48"
    "MaxDeviceID" "0x4E48"
    "m_nDriverVersion_Build" "6702"
    "DefaultRes" "1024"
    "CentroidHack" "1"
    }

    If you have more than one entry of your card (very likely) just replicate the "copy and paste" with all of them (double check it before you go on, you can easily do it using the FIND command in notepad).

    -Save it and close it.

    -Find the hl2\cfg\ directory and locate the config.cfg file and move it in a safe place, out the cfg folder (so you force HL2 to rebuild the settings for the game, which means HL2 has to read the new dxsupport.cfg file we have just modified.

    -On the STEAM menu click on playgames, right click on HL2, propriety, launch options, you write: -heapsize and a number that is the equal of half of your total ram (this just speeds up a little bit HL2, I've removed the little pauses during the autosaves with this) and -dxlevel 90. You have to type dxlevel 90 in the launch option just the first time, than you can take it off. If you leave it HL2 will reset your video settings every time you start the game.

    -Using the ATI path you wont need to type the other commands known to force the water reflection (mat_dxlevel 90 and mat_clipz 0), if you did so make sure to take them off (deleting the autoexec.cfg file for example)

    -If you are tired to wait minutes before the main menu appear you can also type "+map_background none" in the launch options ;-)



    STEP 2
    -download 3D Analyze V 2.26 (thanx ViperXtream!) here: http://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/tools/3d_analyze/ The newest version of this software doesn't work with HL2.

    Open it and follow the numbers:

    1. Select HL2.exe file in half-life 2 folder

    2. Select any file inside the folder half-life 2\bin

    3. Select Steam.exe

    Than check these options:
    - Under the section Pixel and Vertex Shader: FORCE LOW PRECISION PIXEL SHADER
    - On the bottom left: FORCE HOOK.DLL
    - Leave 0 in the Device and Vendor IDs

    4. Press RUN.

    In the end 3D ANALYZE will give you an error, CREATEPROCESS FAILED, ignore it.

    Launch the game, enjoy DX9.

    If you want to check the fps in real time you have to type in the console "net_graph 1"

    On my computer I have a good fps range @ 1024x768 2xaa 2xanisotropic, everything maxed and water reflection to all (from min 35 to max >100fps). Water reflection is a big deal for FX cards, so if you don't get enough fps start to reduce things from there. I bet every FX can play at least over 35/40 fps at 800x600 (at that resolution you can increase aa and anisotropic and have still an awesome graphic)

    You can use the same trick for every game that uses the source engine (CS:S, HL2:deathmatch...). The stress test gave me an awesome score of 48 fps!

    If you can't get enough FPS even with low res, you can try this: http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=197418
    It's a patch and it will give you a good water reflection in dx8 mode.


    We've talked a lot about this trick in the previous thread, but if you still have problems, even after you read this thread carefully, you can feel free to PM me.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2004
  2. 4Eyessniper

    4Eyessniper Member

    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    Leadtek GeForce 6600GT 552/1050 Mhz
  3. lord_lad

    lord_lad Active Member

    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    MSI Geforce NX8800GTS 320MB OC
    u can do all these or u can download the patch that give u dx9 quality level water wif almost no fps loss for FX cards....

    http://www.pcgamemods.com/8877

    u decide........ :)
     
  4. lord_lad

    lord_lad Active Member

    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    MSI Geforce NX8800GTS 320MB OC
    some image using the patch. I am using Geforce FX5700 runnig the game at 1024 x 768, 2xAF, No AA, Everything Max..........and i get 40-80fps on average....Cheers...

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     

  5. lord_lad

    lord_lad Active Member

    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    MSI Geforce NX8800GTS 320MB OC
  6. lord_lad

    lord_lad Active Member

    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    MSI Geforce NX8800GTS 320MB OC
    Now tell me, Which type of method would you choose ??? ;)
     
  7. knyz

    knyz Active Member

    Messages:
    78
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    650M / Crossfire 7970
    Look Patch from driverheaven ;)
     
  8. Newman81

    Newman81 Member

    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    MSI 6600 Diamond (DDR3)
    I see your thread on driverheaven forum but can't see link where to download this patch:(
     
  9. knyz

    knyz Active Member

    Messages:
    78
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    650M / Crossfire 7970
  10. Newman81

    Newman81 Member

    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    MSI 6600 Diamond (DDR3)

  11. Presi

    Presi Member Guru

    Messages:
    172
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    eVGA 6800GT @ 420/1110
    The difference between dx8 and dx9 is not just the water reflection.
    However I agree; if you can't get enough fps running dx9 go for the patch.
     
  12. JeedaiJoe

    JeedaiJoe Master Guru

    Messages:
    735
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    BFG GeForce 7800GS OC AGP
    ok about that patch on pcgamemods (im going to try both ways to see which works better for me)...in the rar file there's a folder called "Nature" with the files it in...where do i put them, there's no readme?

    EDIT : Nevermind, the folder is placed in "...hl2/materials"
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2004
  13. Kontrollverlust

    Kontrollverlust Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    eVGA GeForce 6600GT
    Hi, what driver set are you using out of curiousity? I'd love to try this out :)
     
  14. lord_lad

    lord_lad Active Member

    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    MSI Geforce NX8800GTS 320MB OC
    forceware 6703 :)
     
  15. Deepdish

    Deepdish Active Member

    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    EVGA 8800 GTS 320 SLI
    I think i may have found a easy way enable dx9 on HL2. I was messing with the registry one day and I came across something that looked like the dx setting.

    start>run>type "regedit">
    go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Valve>Source>hl2>Settings

    in there will be DXLevel and mat_dxlevel
    the current entries are 0x00000050(80) for both
    change it to 5a(hex) or 90(decimal)

    In the advance display setting it says hardware dx 9.0

    The game seems to run faster too which was strange since most say it slow it down. So it would be helpful if some of you guys could check it out to see if it really works.
     

  16. The Fallen

    The Fallen Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,182
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    R9 290 4GB
    ill just play hl2 with dx8.1 patched :) no performance hit
     
  17. fivefeet8

    fivefeet8 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    1,953
    Likes Received:
    1
    GPU:
    EVGA 8800gtx @625/2100
    Newer version 3d Analyze 2.34 works fine with HL2. YOu need to create a Batch file to launch the game and point 3d analyze to the .bat file. Create a new text document, name it HL2.bat or anything. It needs the .bat extension. Type:

    hl2.exe -steam

    in the text file(open and edit). Put it into HL2 folder with the HL2.exe. Point 3danalyze to this .bat file. Choose 3danalyze options and run.
     
  18. alchemy

    alchemy Guest

    And With Steam???

    Hi

    I was trying to use the dx 8.0 patch for the water, but I cant find the hl2/materials folder. I have a registered Steam HL2, Someone knows where must I put the patch?

    Thanks in advance
     
  19. painter

    painter Guest

    Messages:
    1,084
    Likes Received:
    24
    GPU:
    GTX 1060 6GB
    Re: And With Steam???

    Simply create a new folder and name it "materials" and place the "nature" folder in that.
     
  20. Talus

    Talus Master Guru

    Messages:
    239
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    Prolink PixelView FX5900 256 MB
    Any more feedback on this method?
     

Share This Page