HL2 Episode 2 Flashlight bug?

Naan_H · 4 Nov 2007 at 13:50

Im in need of a little help cos i cant get my head round this!

Im playing episode 2, and whenver i turn on the flashlight the graphics just seem to mess up like this:

without flashlight:

With flashlight:

As im sure you are aware, you need the flashlight a fair bit in this game, and it is really starting to get annoying.

My system: opteron 170 @ 2.8Ghz, 2gb RAM, 8800GTX @ stock,163.69 drivers, X-fi

i have no other problems in any other games. HL2 runs smooth as silk all maxed out but this problem is stopping me enjoying the game.

Is it a driver or hardware problem?

Aod · 4 Nov 2007 at 14:09

graphcal corruption like that is often indicative of a hardware (usually GFX ram) failure.

do you have similar in any other games? what about HL2:EP1?

HangTime · 4 Nov 2007 at 14:16

Don't think I used the flashlight more than maybe once or twice in Ep2 - should be able to play fine without it.

I'd recommend trying the 169.04 drivers.

unwashed potato! · 4 Nov 2007 at 14:31

HangTime said:
Don't think I used the flashlight more than maybe once or twice in Ep2 - should be able to play fine without it

was just going to say thankfully episode 2 is almost completely outside or well light meaing no stupid flash light needed, the only paet where it might be needed was at the begining and iirc you have gone past that now anyway

Naan_H · 4 Nov 2007 at 14:49

Its probably worse with the 169.04 drivers, less so with the official ones, I dont have anything remotely similar in other games, even crysis, and it only happens with the flashlight on, it runs absolutely fine without it. Surely if it was a RAM problem it will be there all the time, even in other games?

FrostedNipple · 4 Nov 2007 at 14:54

Your card supports that sort of lighting i presume? My old gfx card would never show lighting, and gunshots on walls wouldn't happen

try un-installing and re-installing

don't forget to backup your save files

Sir Random · 4 Nov 2007 at 15:02

During the HL2:E2 installation, did you allow it to update your version of DX9.0c? That's the only software issue I can think of, besides drivers.

Are you running XP or Vista?

Naan_H · 4 Nov 2007 at 15:31

Im running vista, so am on direct x 10 . I just fired up episode 1 and dont have these problems with the flashlight, seems to be specific to episode 2 and its flashlight!

marc2003 · 4 Nov 2007 at 16:25

Naan_H said:
Im running vista, so am on direct x 10 .

you still need the latest dx9 updates on vista to play new dx9 games.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en

it might be completely unrelated to your problem but you still should have this installed regardless.

Naan_H · 4 Nov 2007 at 16:36

marc2003 said:
you still need the latest dx9 updates on vista to play new dx9 games.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en

it might be completely unrelated to your problem but you still should have this installed regardless.

I might already have this installed but ill give it a shot and report back.

EDIT: looks like i already have it installed, so its not that

Naan_H · 4 Nov 2007 at 18:52

Dropping shadows to medium solves the problem, dont know why. maybe its just a bug that occurs with my setup. its a shame tho.

ViRuS2k · 4 Nov 2007 at 19:30

its definatly a bug becuse i get the same problem

it happens most of the time aswell and doesnt sometimes
it happens then you go close to a AI characters face but if you walk backwards with the flashlight on them the distortions vanish..

its definatly a game / software bug.

Naan_H · 4 Nov 2007 at 19:59

Well thats interesting, dont know if i should get onto valve's case regarding this! Anyway is a bit smoother on medium shadows anyway, that flashlight really seems to decrease performance.

HangTime · 4 Nov 2007 at 21:08

It's the same problem in most games, shadows nearly always decimate performance. Despite having an 8800 I nearly always turn shadows down to low/medium in all games, unless it's a really old one.

Substance · 4 Nov 2007 at 21:49

I know they are using something new and fancy for the flashlight in ep2, i have no idea what it is but it is explained in the dev commentary, this is why it doesn't affect you in ep1,

Maybe your card doesn't support this new "thing"

Naan_H · 4 Nov 2007 at 22:10

SuBsTaNcE said:
I know they are using something new and fancy for the flashlight in ep2, i have no idea what it is but it is explained in the dev commentary, this is why it doesn't affect you in ep1,

Maybe your card doesn't support this new "thing"

if the 8800gtx doesnt support it then nothing else out right now will support it either! it must be a bug, obviously not a common one.

Substance · 4 Nov 2007 at 22:15

Naan_H said:
if the 8800gtx doesnt support it then nothing else out right now will support it either! it must be a bug, obviously not a common one.

Ah right, didn't read your specs, i would say it is a hardware issue then tbh, you not got a friend who will let you try their gtx in your pc?

Naan_H · 4 Nov 2007 at 22:53

SuBsTaNcE said:
Ah right, didn't read your specs, i would say it is a hardware issue then tbh, you not got a friend who will let you try their gtx in your pc?

Not at the moment who can try it out, but surely it would appear in all games if it was a problem. its just on max shadows when set in game. ill have a fiddle round with the nvidia control panel too to see if it rectifies the problem.