Half-Life 2 Stuttering Created 16 years ago2008-02-07 17:35:42 UTC by satchmo

I recently upgraded my graphics card (from Radeon 9800 Pro to GeForce 7600 GS).

So I am playing Half-Life 2 again on the highest video settings.

However, I am experiencing very bad stuttering problems, starting from "Route Kanal".

The train station and the "Red Letter Day" part played well.

Do you think I might resolve the issue by reducing the water to "Reflect World" instead of "Reflect All"?

I can't test it now because I am working late tonight. The idea just came to me this morning, on the way to work.

Any thoughts?

Yes, I've got plenty of thoughts!

Just not that many on this subject.

My recomendation is: Screw the highest video settings. the important thing is that the game is running, so I'd say you should cut back on all the settings and have a smooth running picture insted of a good looking unsmooth picture.

Yeah, but what's the point of upgrading hardware if you can't push the game to the limit?

Well, did you try running it on lower settings?
Did you experience the same problems?

And after all, it's not just the GPU that matters, what are your other specs?
RAM, CPU?

I myself have the exact same GPU, NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GS 512mb, and it is one of the best of those which fits on my motherboard.
It is far good enough to run HL2 on max, but as I said, your other specs might be holding it back.

I had a Radeon 9800 Pro and that ran HL2 on max with no lag :S so I find it strange why your 'upgrade' has had strange effects.

you're a full time doctor and you can't afford a machine capable of HL2 on max? D:

Sounds like a CPU problem.

In Route Canal there's a lot of physics at work, IIRC.

I can certainly afford to buy a brand new rig.

I can also afford to buy a Porsch.

But it doesn't mean that's how I want to spend my money. I want the biggest bang for my buck.

And $80 for the GeForce 7600 is a pretty good deal, by any standard.

My specs:

Athlon 3200+ XP
1 GB Corsair dual-channel
Gigabytes GeForce 7600 GS
Some name-brand PSU that supplies plenty of juice

I haven't tried lower settings, because I am at work still. But I'll let you know whether turning down the settings will resolve the problem.

Currently, it's running at 1280x1024, high texture quality with AA (x2) and AF (trilinear) both on.

Try turning off AA and see if that makes any difference.

AA is usually a killer.

I've got the same Card (XFX though), Mine runs fine everything on high. As Luke said, might be a CPU problem.

I had stuttering problems with my old gpu, a 9800Pro. For me the issue was drivers. You might want to update them.

The thing is, when I first installed HL2, I had an old Geforce 4 MX440. The game ran fine (but looked like a sack of shit), but as soon as I upgraded, it started stuttering like mad. I think Source might have some issues with switching hardware around.

The "stuttering" is caused by God's astonishment and disgust that you have more than enough money to upgrade, but your pinching pennies on something as important as your own gaming machine. : O

What would Jesus think?Seriously, ur running a single core athelon processor, whilst quibbling about getting the best "bang for your buck" on your $80 gfx card (probably a cheap normal-aspect-ratio flat screen too?!), while you can EASILY afford better; you should be smited and/or the truck should hurry up an get here.

Get a nice core 2 duo system with a nice shiny geforce card, and you'll sleep better...

It's a joke and an insult to the majority of us poor guys! = )

That's what is happening to me on UT3. My screen is a 1680x1050 so it's big and i can't play it on full screen mode at high resolution. So I'm playing it at highest video settings at 800x600 windowed mode haha, yeah someday I'll should tweak it.

4gig of ram?

btw satchmo, you should soooo by me a computer.

Theres a guy selling his older gaming systems for $750 taxs in, with 4gig ram, and with the latest graphics card, they run Half-life very smoothly.. I want.

$750 for a machine like that?

Sounds like a good deal.

My son goes through a can of infant formula a week. And each can costs $25.

Don't even remind me of the college tuition cost nowaday.

I need to save up for him.

Just push him in school for his entire life so his grades are good enough to get a full-ride to a state school
Of course, there's always plan B

The lottery.

He'll be able to download a degree to his brain by the time he's ready for university! = )

Tuitions will drop substantially and schools retasked expressly for partying, drinking , and appreciating hot women... the finer things

I changed the water to reflect world instead of "all", and I turned AA off.

That seems to have solved the stuttering problem.