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Difference between revisions of "Half-Life 2"

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
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==Essential improvements==
 
==Essential improvements==
 
===Peixoto's patch===
 
===Peixoto's patch===
[https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Peixoto Peixoto's patch] forced resolution to play in high resolution without shrinking the HUD\menus. Super sampling anti-aliasing is also possible.
+
[https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Peixoto Peixoto's patch] forced resolution allows in high resolution without shrinking the HUD\menus. Super sampling anti-aliasing is also possible.
  
 
===Skip intro videos===
 
===Skip intro videos===

Revision as of 03:29, 16 March 2021

Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 cover
Developers
Valve Corporation
Publishers
Sierra Entertainment
Valve Corporation
Engines
Source
Release dates
Windows November 16, 2004
macOS (OS X) May 26, 2010
Linux May 9, 2013
Reception
Metacritic 96
IGDB 91
Taxonomy
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Shooter
Vehicles Automobile, Naval/watercraft, Off-roading
Art styles Realistic
Themes Eastern Europe, Post-apocalyptic, Sci-fi
Series Half-Life
Half-Life 2 on HowLongToBeat
Half-Life 2 on IGDB
Half-Life 2 guide on StrategyWiki
Half-Life 2 on MobyGames
Half-Life 2 on Wikipedia
Half-Life mods and fangames (series)
Half-Life 1998
Half-Life: Opposing Force 1999
Half-Life: Blue Shift 2001
Codename: Gordon 2004
Half-Life: Source 2004
Half-Life 2 2004
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch 2004
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast 2005
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source 2006
Half-Life 2: Episode One 2006
Half-Life 2: Episode Two 2007
Portal (series)
Half-Life: Decay (unofficial port) 2008
Half-Life: Alyx 2020

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Key points

Installing the Update mod is recommended to fix numerous bugs introduced by various later updates.
Numerous mods are available for the game, including new levels and completely new game modes.

General information

GitHub Issue Tracker for Linux bugs in Half-Life 2 and other Source-based games
Unofficial Half-Life Wiki
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Icon overlay.png
DRM-free
European copies also include SecuROM 5 DRM.
Collector's Edition copies can bypass Steam if you launch hl2.msi directly. 5 to 6 CD's or 1 DVD.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
DRM-free when launched directly from the executable.[citation needed]
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
A demo is available.
All versions require Steam DRM.
Soundtrack is available for free here.

Essential improvements

Peixoto's patch

Peixoto's patch forced resolution allows in high resolution without shrinking the HUD\menus. Super sampling anti-aliasing is also possible.

Skip intro videos

Use -novid command line argument[1]

Enabling the console

A list of console commands can be found here.
Command line[1]
  1. See Command line arguments.
  2. Use -console then in the console write bind F2 "toggleconsole"

Notes

You can replace F2 with any key of your choice.
Options menu[1]
  1. Go to Options, select the Keyboard tab and click on Advanced.
  2. Check Enable the developer console and open the console by using ~.

Mods

For additional, nonessential mods, see Additional mods.

Half-Life 2: Update

An unofficial update that fixes bugs, improves the lighting, draw distance and adds new effects among others.
Standalone; uses a separate installation folder, separate save and configuration files, and separate Steam AppID.
Does not include newer official updates, including an update that fixed NPCs not blinking. This particular bug can be fixed in Update by copying the vanilla <path-to-game>\hl2\bin to Update's <path-to-game>\hl2\bin.[citation needed]

Half-Life 2 Upscaled Model Textures

Textures for all NPCs, some weapons, some items, some crates, and some vehicles, upscaled with Topaz A.I. Gigapixel.
Upscaled textures are faithful to the original textures.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Steam <path-to-game>/hl2/cfg/
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System Location
Steam <path-to-game>/hl2/save/

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud
Approx. 100 MB available.

Video

In-game general video settings.
In-game general video settings.
In-game advanced video settings.
In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Interface scales poorly.
Field of view (FOV)
Values between 75° and 90° horizontal can be set via ingame slider.[2] Default is 75°. For higher values use this mod or follow this guide.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Up to 8x MSAA. SGSSAA available with Nvidia Profile Inspector flag 0x000000C1.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Frame rate cap can be changed by changing fps_max in the developer console. To uncap FPS or cap FPS higher than 300 you must first set sv_cheats = 1 before using fps_max. sv_cheats = 1 will also disable achievements.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Rendered image uses SDR color space. In-game HDR option refers only to HDR Rendering.
HBAO available with Nvidia Profile Inspector flag 0x0000002C.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Instructions[1]
  1. See Command line arguments.
  2. Use -window -noborder

Notes

For the Oculus Rift, set vr_force_windowed 1 in the developer console.

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game mouse/gamepad settings.
In-game mouse/gamepad settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Use the console command exec 360controller to automatically setup Xbox controller support (if not already configured at startup).
Full controller support
Use Controller UI Mod for a console style menu that can be navigated with a controller. To make controller vibration work, download an updated version of the SDL2 file and replace it with the one in the HL2 folder. SDL This works for any Source engine based game.
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Tracked motion controllers
Supports Razer Hydra.
Button/gesture prompts
Generic/other controllers
Additional information
Button prompts
Use Controller UI Mod to get a choice of button prompts such as Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3/4, Switch, and more.
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M
Steam Input
Steam Input API support
Hook input (legacy mode)
Official controller preset(s)
Steam Controller button prompts

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Game volume and music slider.
Surround sound
4.0, 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound. 7.1 output may require DirectSound3D restoration software.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Under a check box in the Audio menu.
EAX support
Set snd_legacy_surround 1 in console (or launch the game with +snd_legacy_surround 1), 4 speakers in options, and use DSOAL for binaural HRTF mixing.[3]

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech
Fan translation including dubbing, download.
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Original localization by SDL here
Spanish
Swedish
Thai

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
32 Users will need to open the developer console and type "maxplayers 4; sv_lan 1" and "map d1_trainstation_01" in the console. Do note that the game will not load an autosave, but you and your partner will respawn instead.
Online play
10 Use Synergy.

Connection types

VR support

3D modes State GG3D Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision
See also Helix Mod: Half Life 2:Update.
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX
G3D, DirectVR
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Headsets
SteamVR
This game might be playable with the Revive Compatibility Layer (compatibility list).
Oculus VR (LibOVR)
Available under Video Settings. See the Oculus Rift forums for further instructions.
Windows Mixed Reality
This game might be playable with the Revive Compatibility Layer.
Devices
Tracked motion controllers
Supports Razer Hydra.
See Input for details.
Traditional controller
See Input for details.
Keyboard/Mouse
3RD Space Gaming Vest
Novint Falcon

Issues fixed

Windows

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game which can be found here.

Purple and black textures

See missing textures.

No lighting after Black Mesa East

Activate the High Dynamic Range in the Advanced Video Options[citation needed]

Stuck in Black Mesa East

Bug that happens in unpatched retail versions through steam.

The digital version of steam is not affected by this error since it will be automatically patched to the latest version.

Walk into the elevator, Quick Save F6, then Quick Load F9.

Not enough space on disk (retail)

Copy the files[1]
  • Copy all the files from the disc to a new folder, then run setup.exe

Available memory less than 128 MB(retail)

Setting the compatibility mode[1]
  1. See compatibility mode.
  2. Go to <path-to-game> and find hl2.exe
  3. Set the executable to run under the Windows XP (Service Pack 3) compatibility mode.

Half-Life 2 stuck on DirectX v8.0

Command line parameter[1]
  1. See Command line arguments.
  2. Use -dxlevel 95, start the game and configure the desired video settings.
  3. Remove the command line before starting the game again.

Notes

Not removing the command line will cause the game to set the options to their default values.

Cyrillic Font Issue in Linux

Cyrillic Font Issue in Linux[citation needed]

Find and remove the Helvetica font.

SteamVR launches automatically when attempting to enter Options

Modify the gameinfo.txt file[4]
  1. Navigate to <path-to-game>/hl2/ and open gameinfo.txt with a text editor of your choice.
  2. Find the value of supportsvr and change it from 1 to 0.

Notes

If you reinstall the game or verify the integrity of the files, this change will be reverted.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 6, 7, 8, 8.1, 9
OpenGL 2.1 OS X and Linux only.
Shader Model support 1.x, 2, 3
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
64-bit version is no longer available[5]
macOS (OS X)
[citation needed]
Linux
[citation needed]

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok Heavily modified variant.
Audio Miles Sound System
Cutscenes Bink Video Used for startup videos and in-game movies.
Anti-cheat Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC)

Launch options

A list of command lines can be found here and here.
Instructions[1]
  1. See Command line arguments.
  2. Enter your commands.

Additional mods

An extra list of mods can be found here. To view the most-rated mods, click here.
A discussion of various graphic improvement mods can be found here.

Half-Life 2: Survivor

An unofficial port of the Japanese arcade version.
This mod does not require Steam in order to run, but it requires you to use old files from Source SDK Base 2006. Click at the link above for more info.

Half-Life 2: MMod

Enhances visual effects, weapon animations, sound, and gunplay. Most features can be toggled on and off.
Compatible with all official Half-Life 2 titles and MINERVA and the FakeFactory Cinematic Mod. Compatibility patches made by the community for other mods and games based around the Half-Life 2 gameplay and various other addons can be found here.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
Processor (CPU) 1.7 GHz
System memory (RAM) 512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 6.5 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce FX 5700
ATI Radeon 9500
128 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8.1 compatible
Windows 98SE, ME, and 2000 were previously supported operating systems for the game, but as future updates for this game and Steam occurred; the support for these operating systems were dropped with non-Collector's Edition retail copies.
Must be run without Steam to play on XP and Vista.
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.5.8, 10.6.3
Processor (CPU) 1.7 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 4.6 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 8000 Series
ATI Radeon X1600
Intel HD 3000


References