Half-Life 2 Flaws in general.

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

ok so ur pc is being very weird and having problems that no one else has heard of

maybe u need new drivers

Then why are there so many other like hundreds and hundreds of people with similar problems on all the Half Life 2 forums? And can't you read--I JUST GOT new drivers and while the game does work a hell of a lot better now it also now completely crashes windows sporadically.

 

[Chrono5788]

Worst programmers on the planet?

You must not've played Fade to Black for PSX.

The PC is a difficult platform to program for, given the fact that there's billions of possible configurations and infinite software configurations, so some compatability problems are expected.

Granted, though, they still could've been lowered to the number of say, Doom 3.

But, in my experience, the Source engine has been more stable than the UT2 engine.

 

[Tassadar]

EDIT: Just tried new vid drivers...game seemed like it was a lot better until it gave me my first and so far only blue screen of death on windows XP I've ever had. Valve has the worst programmers on the ****ing planet.

Although we agree often, I think your being a little too hard on Valve here. This is a great game. A really great game. Getting BSOD wouldn't be the result of programming errors, if your on an nForce, try updating your drivers. Get mobo, and sound drivers. Since your using ATi, the newest catalyst is 4.11, just in case you got an old one.

 

[owa]

Then why are there so many other like hundreds and hundreds of people with similar problems on all the Half Life 2 forums? And can't you read--I JUST GOT new drivers and while the game does work a hell of a lot better now it also now completely crashes windows sporadically.

No one hear seems to complain as much as you about the bugs. So, some people have proplems? Your PC doesn't run the game properly, not really Valve's fault.

 

[Spunky]

But there are some things that don't make sense. Most obviously, there's the fact that the CITY IS COVERED IN EXPLOSIVE BARRELS. Why? I mean the world's resources are quickly being depleted, why are you storing all of the gas/kerosene/whatever the hell is in those things, in random spots all over the city? Why do you take cover behind or near them in a gunfight? I guess there's just nothing more comforting than having a warm, cuddly, highly flammable barrel full of nitro sitting next to your machine gun outpost... just in case you get thirsty...

Uhm, those barrels have been very handy for me. Use the gravity gun to launch them at Combine ^^

 

[FreeDoM]

My system is fairly outdated and i get 200 fps when i'm in a small room or looking at a wall and it never goes below 100 fps doing anything else. My Video card is defintely old now, only a Radeon 9700 pro. All on medium settings 1024x768. You shouldn't get the Bsod from HL2, it's not the game, its your system obviously. As for as the game goes.. it ran really well for me, besides suttering for a few seconds after loading a new evel. The AI was perfect, just like it should be. The only thing that happened to me was having a wooden plank with barrels fall on me, forcing me to duck. I couldn't move or anything and i sat there for a good 20 minutes until i realized i could use the gravity gun

 

[VivaLaPineapple]

some people find fun in playing a game, and others find fun in breaking the game. there are alot of people who enjoy breaking the game to see what coders messed up. take killer instinct for example, that game is broken beyond belief their are so many glitches and bugs its just funny, or even mvc2 this game has just about as many if not more. every game is ganna have some glitches that were missed.

 

[Devion]

Then why are there so many other like hundreds and hundreds of people with similar problems on all the Half Life 2 forums? And can't you read--I JUST GOT new drivers and while the game does work a hell of a lot better now it also now completely crashes windows sporadically.

Like owa said in the other tread, you sound like an upset doom 3 fan.

HL² is fine, if you have any problems with the game its your own fault, I'm not a valve fanboy or anything, but I experince NO FPS drops what so ever on my 3 year game system.

 

[Hibiki]

Then why are there so many other like hundreds and hundreds of people with similar problems on all the Half Life 2 forums?

i have not once hear of a single person having radical fps fluctuations and random crashes like that

that doesnt sound like a simple bug that sounds like something is either not right with ur pc or ur game is defective

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Not here--The Steam forum is overflowing with people complaining.

I wonder if half of you would consider me an upset Doom fan if Doom wasn't in my sig. All I know as far as that comparison goes, is Doom ran like butter on high on this machine, and it still does. Updating my video drivers to the 4.12's has made the game a lot more enjoyable but regardless of the fact that I got the game to work well, I still think that Valve are morons when it comes to developing software. Steam is a prime example of that, if anyone needs one. Here's another prime example: their initial loading screen, A STILL PICTURE, ****s up on EACH AND EVERY PC I have seen Half Life 2 run on. I looked into it--it's refresh rate tearing, and know why it does that? Because Valve apparently in the 6 years since making HL1 could not figure out how to make their initial engine render in any resolution other than default, and my card's forcing the refresh rate on a 640x480 menu setup...just like HL1 (it'd change resolutions when you joined a game, remember?). Their patch to fix the audio made it worse to the point where it was unplayable for me and for plenty of other people. I mean, come on...a pathetically underestimated 16 megabyte cache for sound files...a texture system that loads on the fly as you play...shaders that shine brighter in pitch black then in daylight...the thing defaults to only a 64 meg heapsize, for crying out loud.

You know, I don't get it, man. You tell me the steam forum is full of people whining that their game's broke in one thread and then in the next you tell me it works great for everyone on earth but me. In the audio stuttering thread on Steam's forum--now up to like 400 pages of replies and like 3 bajillion trillion zillion views--there are dozens if not hundreds of people who've posted their specs and have had the same or worse problems that I have, many with better specs than mine and some off of fresh reformats and defrags.

And in all my time on this forum have I ever had a problem running a game? Am I not the "config tweak guy" ? I mean sure anyone can do it but since when have I ever had an issue getting something to work? I've been here for a long while now and never really needed to beg for any type of computer assistance. And again, I reiterate--I'm probably the only person on the board who's machine has no downloaded or pirated content whatsoever.

If there was something wrong with my PC, then EVERYTHING would be screwed, not just Half Life 2 and other Source apps. And if my game is defective...well that would mean my statements about Valve sucking in general would be fairly accurate, then, wouldn't it?

Just because the relative handful of people around here aren't having the problems I've had doesn't mean none of the millions of people who probably bought the game aren't.

That all being said, I've pretty much fixed my problems, no thanks to Clown Shoes and his crack team of physics-borrowing retards. The one thing they did--add that stupid texture cvar--made things worse, and turning it back off was part of the solution to most of my problems.

While I don't deny in any way that it is an excellent game, I'd be lying through my teeth if I said that I thought these people did an exemplary job under the hood. Just my two cents. I got the ****pile working hopefully once and for all, so you all won't hear any more complaints about my game being broke--just about what a bunch of jerkoffs its makers are.

 

[TehMuffinMan]

D:

that reletive handful of people who dont have problems way outnumber your little troupe of problematic people, its just you dont hear anything from them, like most things positive these days, problems speak louder than praise.

the makers aint jerkoffs too, since they have more than satisified the most of people, like any other game, they have satified more % of people than any other pc game. just those people who have unreliable setups or just somthing upsetting it like to scream about it \o/

 

[Navanax]

My system is fairly outdated and i get 200 fps when i'm in a small room or looking at a wall and it never goes below 100 fps doing anything else. My Video card is defintely old now, only a Radeon 9700 pro. All on medium settings 1024x768.

I'm on an Ati Radeon 9700 (not pro), and I can still set Model and Texture Detail to High, set the res. to 1280x1024, AND 2x AA, and STILL the game runs ok, except at the start of a new level and such.
Problems that Pride may have can't be the fault of Valve.
"The worst programmers in the world" indeed ;/

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Then how is it that I have a comparable machine to the two of you and yet it worked like **** until I went in and fiddled with it? My system is clean as anything...I've only had spyware problems get significant one time and it was after lanning with a kazaa whore. I don't even keep files on my original hard drive, they're all on my network one anyway. I mean, wtf...you guys want Norton and HijackThis logs to prove it?

This is only proving my point--people with similar systems experiencing wildly different results.

I'm sure it will all get worked out down the road. It doesn't change the fact that I have no respect for some ******* who delayed his game and saw fit to use a workday to jokingly put his company up for sale on ebay to take highly unprofessional swings at the competition.

I just don't roll like that.

 

[Phatslugga]

Well, even though you're arguing that there are people with problems, and you're getting angry becuase those of us who don't have problems are ignoring your complaints or not taking them seriously, you're doing the same thing. You disregard the fact that tons of people are having a great time with the game and you're making general comments like Valve's programmers suck. They obviously don't if the majority( not even a close majority) of consumers that buy this game aren't having problems and think it's one of the best games ever made. I'm sorry that the game doesn't run well for you, but My peice of **** computer can run it just fine, better than it ran Doom 3. There will not be a game in the world's history that is perfectly compatible with every machine on the planet. However, this one is pretty stable, and it runs fine on a lot os POS systems. While you and you're group of people on the steam forums are complaining, remember, you're a minority, there are many more people without problems than there are with. You can't seriously expect Valve to make a completley flawless game, I'm sure they'll release patches to fix the problems that others encounter, so stop being so harsh on HL2 as if these type of problems aren't normal in pretty much every game.

Some of the problems are being blown way out of proportion too, the sound skipping problem is not nearly as bad as you make it sound. I have an old ass soundblaster live card, that i got like 3 years ago, and the sound skipping only occurs in the beggining of loads, and sometimes flares up in other moments when there's a lot going on in the game. It's barely noticable, and it doesn't deserve nearly as much attention as it's getting, it's a minor annoyance at best. I get a steady 50 fps that only lowers after the loads, and again, when there's a lot going on. But mine hasn't been lower than 20 yet, for my PC, that's extremely good, I can barely run ESF like that. Blue screen of death... I haven't heard of anyone that had that problem except for you, and that's good enough for me to prove that it's not valve's fault. I've gotten a blue-screen while running tons of programs, it doesn't mean that those programs are automatically at fault. Half-Life 2 is better than Doom 3 in pretty much every way, not to say that Doom 3 was bad, but get over it, and don't take out all of your anger on HL2. It will undoubtedly be the game of the year again, and you really can't say the programmers suck if they made the game of the year. Well, you can, but at that point, you just sound like an ass.

 

[Ravendust]

OK before I post what I consider to be the games shortcomings, I just want to say that I don't much fancy being subjected to an entourage of how much my computer and I suck.

1. 6 years in development, 12 hours of gameplay??

I know it's an FPS and FPS' are, as a general rule, below the 20 hour margin. But HL2 is no regular FPS, I did not expect it to end at the top of the citadel. I wanted to enter the portal, fight combine in their natural state in their own habitat. At the very least I expected a boss fight.

2. Stupidly, unnecessarily abrubt ending

It just...ended. This spoilt the game massivley as it didn't really 'end', it just cut off at a set point and you're thrown back into stasis until next time.

3. Initial Load Screen Hell

The game loads so you get a menu from which you can choose to load your game. I know it adds to the atmosphere and whatnot, but a simple text menu with a nice background still cuts it and doesn't take a full 30 seconds to load.

These were the only things I found dislikable about HL2, everything was pure sex compressed into DVD format.

And lay off of Pride for gods sake, wouldn't you be annoyed if you had an excellent game that was flawed while everyone was talking about how utterly flawless it is? No need to jump on him like a pack of rabid tigers on the last steak on earth. It has flaws, he posted them in the flaws thread. It's to be expected.

 

[Jesus]

to add on to that, yes hl2 is a good game, no one can say it isnt. but after six years of development you should expect the game god handed to the gamer in person, giftwrapped n all. but its not. its like they sat on their asses for 4 years then said "oh yeah, remember we promised those guys a sequal? maybe we should actually do that..."

 

[Phatslugga]

Heh, like I said, no game will ever be perfect. There will always be flaws, and it can't possibly cater to everyones taste in the world. I liked the ending, it wasn't amazing, or absolutely mind-blowing, but I thought it was good.

Also, I'm not on Pride's back just becuase he's pointing out flaws, but he's being extremely hypocritical. He used to complain about how people who didn't like Doom 3 were going overboard with their comments, now here he is calling Valve a bunch of jerks, retards, and idiots. Calling their programmers the worst in the world, just tearing down the HL2 development team. He's not just pointing out flaws, he's pointing out his biased hate for the game and it's developers over a few flaws that aren't nearly as bad as he makes them out to be. This happens to any game that is hyped for so long, and in my opinion HL2 didn't dissapoint nearly as much as most games do. For the years of hype it's been getting, it came out pretty damn good.

 

[tolore]

1. 6 years in development, 12 hours of gameplay??

I know it's an FPS and FPS' are, as a general rule, below the 20 hour margin. But HL2 is no regular FPS, I did not expect it to end at the top of the citadel. I wanted to enter the portal, fight combine in their natural state in their own habitat. At the very least I expected a boss fight.

what difficulty did youp lay it on, it took me way over 12 hours to beat it, more like in the mid to upper 20's, of course i did mess around a lot . The ending was fine too in my opinion, and it wasn't unexpected at al(well the ending itself was, but not the placement), i was expecting to fight a boss on top of the portal tower, but i pretty much knew it was going to end there.

I agree with number 3 though, game takes longer to start up than my lawnmower.

 

[Hibiki]

that 6 years spent on the game was actually 4 years working on perfecting the source engine and then 2 years making the rest of hl2

and if the dynamic screen is bugging u put -console in the shortcut and it will just boot up with a plain background image cutting down the load time by alot

 

[Pain]

Some of the problems are being blown way out of proportion too, the sound skipping problem is not nearly as bad as you make it sound. I have an old ass soundblaster live card, that i got like 3 years ago, and the sound skipping only occurs in the beggining of loads, and sometimes flares up in other moments when there's a lot going on in the game. It's barely noticable, and it doesn't deserve nearly as much attention as it's getting, it's a minor annoyance at best. I get a steady 50 fps that only lowers after the loads, and again, when there's a lot going on. But mine hasn't been lower than 20 yet, for my PC, that's extremely good, I can barely run ESF like that. Blue screen of death... I haven't heard of anyone that had that problem except for you, and that's good enough for me to prove that it's not valve's fault. I've gotten a blue-screen while running tons of programs, it doesn't mean that those programs are automatically at fault. Half-Life 2 is better than Doom 3 in pretty much every way, not to say that Doom 3 was bad, but get over it, and don't take out all of your anger on HL2. It will undoubtedly be the game of the year again, and you really can't say the programmers suck if they made the game of the year. Well, you can, but at that point, you just sound like an ass.

The sound skipping problem IS as bad as he makes it out to be. So you were a lucky one that didn't have it so bad. That's great but it doesn't mean it wasn't as bad for the rest of us. I had the problem as well. Approximately every 4 to 5 seconds the screen would skip or freeze as well as the signature sound stutter. It really made it impossible to play. That was AFTER the patch. So I'd say Pride has some grounds on calling Valves programmers ****, wouldn't you? A friend of mine even made a crack at HL2 saying, "It's a great game untill a sound plays". Now, just because you don't choose to believe the problem is as widespread as it is doesn't make it so. How do you even know the majority of people don't have the problem? For all you know almost everyone has a problem and only a few are bothering to say it. FPS? During a little sound fit my FPS shoots down to below 10 easily. Other than that the FPS is fine so it's not really a point of discussion. Blue screen of death, I am also in Prides position. Never gotten one on Windows XP EVER, untill Valve patched. Ran the game and there it was. Whose fault is that? Mine? I do agree HL2 is better than Doom3, but that is ONLY a matter of opinion. You can't tell him that his opinion is wrong, you'll just sound like an ass .