Nvidia Cards

NVIDIA-based Graphics Cards Will Have a Bug in Half-Life 2?

FSAA Cannot Be Enabled
by Anton Shilov
07/18/2003 | 03:58 PM

The highly-anticipated Half-Life 2 game will have a major bug with current DirectX 9.0 hardware resulting in impossibility in enabling Full-Scene Anti-Aliasing, a popular feature that dramatically improves image quality in games. Apparently, there is a limitation in DirectX 9.0 and/or DirectX 9.0-compliant hardware that will not allow the function to be enabled on certain graphics cards if the workaround is not found.

According a Valve officials quoted in forums at HalfLife2.net web-site, there are problems with the way that current hardware implements FSAA. If you enable it, you will see a lot of artifacts on polygon boundaries due to the way that current graphics processors sample texture subjects with FSAA enabled.

Valve continued that this is a problem for any application that packs small textures into larger textures. The small textures will bleed into each other if you have multi-sample FSAA enabled.

Currently both leading graphics chips designers use multi-sampling or hybrid multi-sampling + super-sampling methods to for FSAA.

The developers of the legendary Half-Life game said that drivers are not likely to solve the problem, however, it still can be solved for graphics cards based on VPUs from ATI Technologies, such as RADEON 9500-, 9600-, 9700- and 9800-series. As for NVIDIA GeForce and GeForce FX-series, there are practically no chances to find a workaround, according to Valve.

Some industry sources indicated that the problem with such FSAA is a known one and is to be addressed in DirectX 9.1 and next-generation graphics processors with Pixel Shaders 3.0 and Vertex Shaders 3.0, such as ATI Technologies’s code-named R420 and NVIDIA’s code-named NV40 VPUs and derivatives. Both next-generation products will come later than the Half-Life 2 that is expected to be available by October.

*Im not sure if this is old news...but it sucks for nVidia if it is correct. HL2 is taking forever to come out and I dont think it will be that impressive...look at counterstrike graphics...nasty. HL graphics are nasty too. Valve and Sierra have always seemed to make low quality stuff to me.

yeh. i remember this. it sounded like they were just being lazy bastards. there's no way that Valve and Nvidia can't find a solution to this-- especially now that the game is delayed indefinitely after that source code leak, they've got all the time in the world to fix it.

as for the "nasty" HL graphics... do you realize how friggin' old HL is now? it was built upon the original Quake engine and released in 1998. for its time, it was actually pretty good. CS is newer, but it's just a Half-Life expansion that uses the exact same graphics engine.

s'kinda funny to comment on the quality of Sierra and Valve games. Sierra are pretty exclusively a publishing company now. they haven't developed their own games since the days of Leisure Suit Larry, SWAT, and Tribes. prior to HL2, Valve has really only developed one game: Half-Life. everything else Valve has released were expansions for HL. they paid Gearbox to produce Opposing Force and Blue Shift; and they bought Team Fortress Classic, Counter-Strike, Gunman Chronicles and Day Of Defeat from amateur designers.

ati rules! :01: :01: :01:

Well I have SWAT and it sucks...I have never been impressed with their games much at all. CS has many flaws and ugly as hell interface..but still a fun game. I just havnt been impressed with stuff from valve or siera as i would be from blizzard or ea games

I think that half life is probably the BEST graphical quality I have EVER seen. I just HATE first person shooter games!

So does this mean it won't play AT ALL, or it will play like shyte, or it will play okay just with no AA?

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Originally posted by adamp2p@3 April 2004 - 19:34
I think that half life is probably the BEST graphical quality I have EVER seen. I just HATE first person shooter games!

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I dont think the half life games look very good.

Quote:

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Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx+3 April 2004 - 21:39--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bigdawgfoxx @ 3 April 2004 - 21:39)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-adamp2p@3 April 2004 - 19:34
I think that half life is probably the BEST graphical quality I have EVER seen.&nbsp; I just HATE first person shooter games&#33;

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I dont think the half life games look very good. [/b][/quote]
they dont look very good, but then again they are the best from their times&#33; and if u actually go into the display options and turn everything to full it looks pretty good...

My computer can play UT2K4 on highest settings at 800X600 and according to fraps im geting an average of around 25+ FPS lol. But thats good for an mx 440 IMO lol :lol:

:( man this sux i want to play cool hl2 with my fx 5200.

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Originally posted by WOX@4 April 2004 - 03:21
:( man this sux i want to play cool hl2 with my fx 5200.

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Erm...you&#39;ll have a hard time playing HL2 on a 5200 without AA never mind with AA :lol:

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Originally posted by 4th gen+3 April 2004 - 23:23--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (4th gen @ 3 April 2004 - 23:23)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-WOX@4 April 2004 - 03:21
:(&nbsp; man this sux i want to play cool hl2 with my fx 5200.

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Erm...you&#39;ll have a hard time playing HL2 on a 5200 without AA never mind with AA :lol: [/b][/quote]
I doubt he would <_< if he just turns settings down to med or low hell be perfectly fine.

btw, anyone know if HL2 needs directx 9 support? just wondering...

Quote:

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Originally posted by 4th gen+4 April 2004 - 04:23--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (4th gen @ 4 April 2004 - 04:23)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-WOX@4 April 2004 - 03:21
:(&nbsp; man this sux i want to play cool hl2 with my fx 5200.

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Erm...you&#39;ll have a hard time playing HL2 on a 5200 without AA never mind with AA :lol: [/b][/quote]
:( this isn&#39;t right i can&#39;t afford for an ati. :cry1:

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Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004@4 April 2004 - 03:27
I doubt he would <_< if he just turns settings down to med or low hell be perfectly fine.

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Yeah, maybe at 320x240 :rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 4th gen+3 April 2004 - 23:34--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (4th gen @ 3 April 2004 - 23:34)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-ROSSCO_2004@4 April 2004 - 03:27
I doubt he would&nbsp; <_< if he just turns settings down to med or low hell be perfectly fine.

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Yeah, maybe at 320x240 :rolleyes: [/b][/quote]
:lol:

but seriously, 800*600...

Quote:

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Originally posted by 4th gen+4 April 2004 - 04:34--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (4th gen @ 4 April 2004 - 04:34)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-ROSSCO_2004@4 April 2004 - 03:27
I doubt he would&nbsp; <_< if he just turns settings down to med or low hell be perfectly fine.

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Yeah, maybe at 320x240 :rolleyes: [/b][/quote]
:( man this guy is making me sad.

There is a new driver update for nvidia...

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Originally posted by GrubMe@4 April 2004 - 05:27
There is a new driver update for nvidia...

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:helpsmile: do you think that would help.

Quote:

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Originally posted by GrubMe@4 April 2004 - 05:27
There is a new driver update for nvidia...

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Seen as though the game isn&#39;t out, and it specifically said a simple driver fix probably wouldn&#39;t solve it... :rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Mad Cat+4 April 2004 - 13:55--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Mad Cat @ 4 April 2004 - 13:55)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-GrubMe@4 April 2004 - 05:27
There is a new driver update for nvidia...

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Seen as though the game isn&#39;t out, and it specifically said a simple driver fix probably wouldn&#39;t solve it... :rolleyes: [/b][/quote]
plus HL2 is mentioned at all in the summary of all fixes included with the driver...

so does anyone know if HL2 will need direct x 9 support from the graphics card?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Mad Cat+4 April 2004 - 18:55--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Mad Cat @ 4 April 2004 - 18:55)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-GrubMe@4 April 2004 - 05:27
There is a new driver update for nvidia...

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Seen as though the game isn&#39;t out, and it specifically said a simple driver fix probably wouldn&#39;t solve it... :rolleyes: [/b][/quote]
:( that are bad news. <_<

I think it needs DX9. Maybe not to just play it..but for awesome features it does.

i have seen pictures of it in DX8 and 9 so it should matter which one. DX9 is better though :)

Does the ALPHA play on D8 cards? if so then it won&#39;t need D9.

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Originally posted by peerzyboy@4 April 2004 - 21:18
Does the ALPHA play on D8 cards? if so then it won&#39;t need D9.

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a friend just played it with a g4 440 mx he said that it run but it have some problems with the water and he could only played it with low resolution.

Quote:

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Originally posted by WOX+5 April 2004 - 00:46--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (WOX @ 5 April 2004 - 00:46)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-peerzyboy@4 April 2004 - 21:18
Does the ALPHA play on D8 cards? if so then it won&#39;t need D9.

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a friend just played it with a g4 440 mx he said that it run but it have some problems with the water and he could only played it with low resolution. [/b][/quote]
:P sell ur card on ebay and get a new ati :D

Quote:

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Originally posted by WOX+4 April 2004 - 19:46--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (WOX @ 4 April 2004 - 19:46)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-peerzyboy@4 April 2004 - 21:18
Does the ALPHA play on D8 cards? if so then it won&#39;t need D9.

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a friend just played it with a g4 440 mx he said that it run but it have some problems with the water and he could only played it with low resolution. [/b][/quote]
ya nvidia will probably release a driver fix for that, they always put into the driver releases that it fixes rendering of water in some game, so i think nvidia cards have a lot of problems with water. or it might need direct x 9 to render the water which could be the problem...