Write Valve/Steampowered and tell them about the return of the stutter problem

[sholmes01]

HL2 ran fine a long time ago, but a recent update to the game has left me and others with a ruined game. They messed the game up good.

I have tried all the tips and tweaks I have read in what seems like thousands of posts about this problem and the only thing that helps me is to lower the texture depth. Why should I have to lower it now when it played fine before. I even got a bettere vid card ATI X800 XT, but it plays the same. It sucks

I don't think that Valve or Steampowered read this or many of the other forums that we are writing in.

I wrote a game problem report to: http://support.steampowered.com, but have not heard anything yet.

If everyone with this issue writes to them, maybe they will see it is not a limited problem and fix it.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

I have no stutter problems with my FX5600 or X800 Pro. Theres only about 100-200 people with this issue(if you count up the ones on steampowered.com). Its something on your side, check drivers, everything.

 

[wilka91]

I also get the stuttering problem + the game crashes or locks up with looping sound every time I play

thank you Valve

 

[^Ben]

I also get the stuttering problem + the game crashes or locks up with looping sound every time I play

thank you Valve

No problem

 

[AJ Rimmer]

The return? You mean it disappeared at one point?

 

[sholmes01]

I don't want to hear about drivers or settings. I have the latest drivers for everything in the computer. I have tried all the tweaks and I DON'T want to LOWER my settings. The game worked fine on HIGH settings. No problem at all. Steam did an update and then it did not work. I uninstalled and reinstalled (drfragging too), but still the same. If the problem is my system, then why does every other game run fine except HL2? I just want to know what was changed so it can be changed back so the game is good again. I am sure that some people might not even notice it. Maybe that is how all their games look, but to me the stutter/pause look is poor quality.

I never had the typical stutter problem. It stuttered a little when it auto saved, but that was it. I guess I was lucky, but now I am not.

 

[bliink]

what version of directx do you have?
have you ever used non-standard drivers?

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

If the problem is my system, then why does every other game run fine except HL2?

Ummm maybe because the game engine is completely different than any other game. Just a thought.....

 

[epmode]

Ummm maybe because the game engine is completely different than any other game. Just a thought.....

Exactly, the problem seems to be caused entirely by the Source engine's audio code. After so many months of so little progress, I doubt that it'll ever be fixed to everyone's satisfaction.

 

[CyberPitz]

Exactly, the problem seems to be caused entirely by the Source engine's audio code. After so many months of so little progress, I doubt that it'll ever be fixed to everyone's satisfaction.

I love how you mention it's caused by the "audio code" yet you have to lower the "textures" to get it to work. See a problem there?
Anyway, it runs fine with my X800 GTO..

 

[JellyWorld]

Stuttering is usually caused by lack of RAM, and textures use up a lot of RAM, how much RAM do you have?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

I don't want to hear about drivers or settings. I have the latest drivers for everything in the computer. I have tried all the tweaks and I DON'T want to LOWER my settings. The game worked fine on HIGH settings. No problem at all. Steam did an update and then it did not work. I uninstalled and reinstalled (drfragging too), but still the same. If the problem is my system, then why does every other game run fine except HL2? I just want to know what was changed so it can be changed back so the game is good again. I am sure that some people might not even notice it. Maybe that is how all their games look, but to me the stutter/pause look is poor quality.

The problem is your system. If it was a fundamental game/engine problem, then everyone would have it. I'm not saying that it's something you've done - maybe a certain combination of hardware causes the issue.

 

[$kelet0r]

a huge amount of people do have it and a wide variety of systems
and it only seems to affect hl2 and vampire the masquerade and no other source based games
its there at the load of a level for me but waiting 2-3 seconds before i start is usually the solution for me

 

[Cole]

Actually not to many peoples systems. No more than 1,000 have reported it on Steam Forums or here combined. Thats 1,000 out of several million...hmm...

I don't know why, try buying more ram get 2gigs in there.

 

[sholmes01]

Intel D875PBZ Mother board - 3GHz
ATI AIW X800 XT
1GB RAM
Lots of HD space (newley defraged after reinstalling HL2)
SB Audigy 2

If my system is the problem, then why did the gameplay change after an update to the game and no change to my system? I played the game fine on a 9800 Pro and then it went bad after they updated. I then updated my vid card to help, but it didn't.

I have the latest DirectX and have never used non stadanrd ATI drivers.

I changed my vid card with no help. I don't want to keep added/upgrading if it is not going to help. If they tell me more memory will fix the problem, then I will do it. I don't want to throw money into the computer to fix a problem that I can't fix. Everything else I play runs fine on my current system.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

It's still a problem with your system. I'm not saying that your system caused it, or that you caused it - there is some issue between a certain aspect or aspects of your setup and the engine that is responsible. As an example:

Some crappy Socket A motherboard - 2Ghz
ATI AIW X800 XT
1.2Gb RAM
About 200Gb free
Onboard sound

No stuttering at all - it's so smooth, you could turn it into a frictionless bearing.

 

[^Ben]

Welcome to the world of PC gaming.

A Bazillion different combinations of hardware and software, only 1 thing has to intefere with something else and *BOOM* you have a problem.

 

[IAmAI]

To be honest, this is a pretty futile argument. Considering the fact that it does not affect everyone suggests that there is a particular hardware (or maybe even software) combination, which has no identifiable pattern. From experience, Valve do not seem to roll back updates if there is a minor problem, or a problem that only affects a minority of users. The best and only thing one can is ensure Valve are aware of the problem and its scale by sending a steam support ticket (one per person) and waiting - as far as I aware, Valve have eventually fixed some recent problems.

 

[sholmes01]

It could be my system. All I am saying is one day it worked file (like it always did on high settings). Next day (after update) it did not work. Sure I can lower my settings and it plays fine again, but why should I lower them? It plays fine, but looks poor.

I wrote to Steam....waiting for an reply.

No fix and they lost a customer. I am sure they don't care, but every little bit counts.

 

[^Ben]

Hehe it's funny, beacause when you have been helping people out for as long as I have it's always the same "it wasnt me! 1 day it worked fine but now it dosent, they just lost a customer" and then when you find out the problem is something on their system you get "oh"

I'm still saying it's your system, probably installed something before you played it. Or got infected with spyware. Have mismatched ram settings or did a duff overclock.

Ah well, cya.

 

[epmode]

Stuttering is usually caused by lack of RAM, and textures use up a lot of RAM, how much RAM do you have?

2 gigs. And I still get it, from time to time, from patch to patch.

Funny thing is that I can play Battlefield 2 and FEAR with full texture detail with no problems. GG Valve.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Funny thing is that I can play Battlefield 2 and FEAR with full texture detail with no problems. GG Valve.

*sigh* You people are getting annoying. Just because one game can play with full detail, don't expect another one too....christ...

 

[Varsity]

Funny thing is that I can play Battlefield 2 and FEAR with full texture detail with no problems.

For me, the reverse is true.

 

[epmode]

*sigh* You people are getting annoying. Just because one game can play with full detail, don't expect another one too....christ...

Obviously. But isn't it natural to assume that if two games (both of which have higher RAM/system requirements when running at full detail) run well on my computer, that a game with lower requirements would also run well?

Also, it's very disheartening to see HL2's performance change from patch to patch, while other games exhibit no such behavior.

 

[Beerdude26]

Also, it's very disheartening to see HL2's performance change from patch to patch, while other games exhibit no such behavior.

That's because Source was design with flexibility in mind. You can swap anything, add anything, substract anything in the SDK. Don't want HDR? Remove it! No hard coding for you! Want to insert a cell engine? Change this and this, write some code (maybe for good cell shadows) and you're done! I'd like to see you do that with other games
No wonder Source has loose ends; it's designed to have them.

 

[wilka91]

I have 1 gig of RAM, and when I play HL2 my whole system uses only 700 mb.

 

[jondy]

Want to insert a cell engine? Change this and this, write some code (maybe for good cell shadows) and you're done! I'd like to see you do that with other games

Ummm.... yeah.

 

[sholmes01]

Whatever....Worked fine one day...next day after the patch it did not. Nothing else changed between. No spyware or viruses either. What more can I say. You don't have the problem and we do. We are trying to get a fix for US. Don't write to tell us how great your system runs.

 

[WhiteZero]

Oh yah, cuz they dont already know about he problem.
-.-

Don't spam VALVe about it... jeez

 

[Stevenski Chan]

The Stutter/lock up bug has got worse on my system since the update also! Now it crashes when I autosave (which it NEVER used to) as well as at random points throughout the game.

The Stuttering is definitely more frequent also, done de-frags/spyware checks, all clear, but still the problem remains, changed sound card slots & sound quality settings, still the problem remains.

DOD runs very well, but even that does the lockup/looping sounds thing!!

It's really pissing me off as my PC is more than capable of handling the source engine on top whack. And as the starter of this thread said it used to run pretty much flawlessley with no crashes whatsoever! but now it's fooked!

Grrrrrrrrrrrr :flame:

 

[BlackMesaDude]

Half Life 2 is not a demanding game at all today if you got the hardware but it is horrible coded and poorly optimized. I have an A64 3200+, 1 gigs of Dual DDR pc3200 and a 6800 and i can run games like Battlefield 2 with 64 people online with very little lag, play Doom3 which is btw more demannding, heck even F.E.A.R. which even puts the 7800 cards down i can play just fine and thats a nice game yet Hl2 stutters like a mofo and it was not this bad a couple of months ago its something with the games sound it stutters and blabla then just freezes on a soundloop.

 

[jocky68]

I have never had this stutter bug from day one thankgod, and ive changed my graphics card and upgraded my memory a few times.

 

[Killer Koala]

Anybody having this problem needs to send in a support ticket with an attached msinfo report so they can get a snapshot of your system. They can then review it and find a solution for the problem.

Originally, this stuttering problem was definitely a PC problem. But after 9/23's update, I am not sure anymore. Something they tried to optimize blew up and it made the problem worse.

But if you originally had stuttering problems before 9/23, I would recommend checking out my site. I compiled answers from the steampowered.com forums.
http://killerkoala.s5.com

 

[flycrusher]

This stutter problem is really strange, when the game was released i could play it almost without any stuttering, then suddenly it started really hard, then almost disapeared again, then came back again.
Now i just found a solution accidentaly, when i bought Quake 4 i noticed that the game only used about 1200 Mb, FEAR also needs 900 Mb, so i decided to update my RAM. I already had 1 gig, two single sided 256 and one double sided 512.
So i bought one double sided 1000 and removed the two 256. So now i have 1000 on the fist bank and 512 on the third the second is empty. This configuration is recomended by the MB manufacturer (Asus).
With this configuration no more stutter, the problem disapeared at 95%!!
It seems that the poorly optimised RAM config was badly supported by HL2, but did not affect all other games than were running perfectly well.
My system : Athlon 64 3400, asus K8V SE Deluxe, 1.5 gig RAM, X800XT, SB Audigy platinum ex.

 

[WaterMelon34]

Hehe it's funny, beacause when you have been helping people out for as long as I have it's always the same "it wasnt me! 1 day it worked fine but now it dosent, they just lost a customer" and then when you find out the problem is something on their system you get "oh"

I'm still saying it's your system, probably installed something before you played it. Or got infected with spyware. Have mismatched ram settings or did a duff overclock.

Ah well, cya.

Yes, thousands of people downloaded porn before an update and steam was like "WTF!!?!? DIS DUDE HAS Pr0N!!!" and it deleted all the core files of the game then blocked it to make it irreparable. And yes, valve is just telling us they are trying to fix the problem but they really aren't because it's our fault. :cheers:
You OBVIOUSLY thought about what you were going to say.

 

[Killer Koala]

You OBVIOUSLY thought about what you were going to say.

You OBVIOUSLY didn't think your answer through enough. I agree with Ben. Sometimes you have to support people's problems to know how these problems happen. There are just some people who think when someone is helping them that their intelligence is being mocked.