Half-Life 2/Source GFX and NET Tips?

[Mad]

I finally bought my copy of HL2, retail it is...
Anyways, im running the game with everything max @1024 , w/out any AA or AF, and running great here.

Wanna know any tips for performance, like those u put on the shortcut, i already put -heapsize 256000 and -nojoy -noipx.
And other which could improve network latency (or would it be to lessen it?).

EDIT: forgot to ask, how do i play HL2 in offline mode? Dont wanna connect to steam everytime to play it.

[caipirinha]

just open steam when you are offline and it'll boot offline . but if you have an internet connection it will connect. make sure the "don't save account info on this computer" on settings is unchecked.

[Mr. Killjoy]

>> -heapsize 256000 and -nojoy -noipx.
heapsize should be 262144, I remind you that 1mB=1024kB... heapsize is kbytes,
it should be half of your total system RAM.

You can also put AF to 8x or 16x without much loss in framerate if you have a 9800 or better. (in fact I've never seen performance drops when compared to noAF)

As you said, leave FSAA off...

oh... I just noticed you got a GF6200, a crap card, even a 9800pro performs better.
Put everything to low, including texture details, and you'll be fine
If you can OC it then do, you'll need it

[ready2rumbelX]

Originally Posted by Mr. Killjoy

oh... I just noticed you got a GF6200, a crap card, even a 9800pro performs better.
Put everything to low, including texture details, and you'll be fine
If you can OC it then do, you'll need it

Come now, Mr.Killjoy, that isn't necessarily true. Recently, I installed Half-Life 2. You know how louzy my PC specs are, especially since I downgraded to a GeForce 5600...but, what I was supirsed to see was that it was running brilliant.

1024x768, absolutely all detail levels, whether character, world or reflection, on high, 2xAA and 2xAF...it runs EXTREMELY playable.

But what is more funny is....it runs better than when I had the 9800 pro...

r2rX

[Mr. Killjoy]

Of course, that's cause it runs switched to DX8 shader paths

[Mad]

Well, the graphics are beatiful, the performance is great.

[Mr. Killjoy]

Last time I checked DX8 on HL2 it was ugly
Of course if you play it single player it's no big deal if you have low FPS, but online, well... _sometimes_ even a 6800 will have slow peaks

[ready2rumbelX]

Mr.Killjoy, the GeForce 5600 is a DirectX 9 card (not 9.0c, i.e PS2.0+), but Half-Life 2 is running in DX9 mode.

r2rX

[Mr. Killjoy]

When HL2 detects a GF FX, it switches to DX8 cause the lack of pixel shader performances in DX9 would make in unplayable. The difference in image quality is very noticeable too. DX8 bumpmapping and reflect maps look uglier

[Mad]

Its runs in DX9 here.

[Mr. Killjoy]

They prolly changed it in a recent updates, previously the only way to run it DX9 with an FX card was tu use the -dxlevel 90 parameter