Vista Forums - View Single Post - Half-Life 2 failed to load and crashing once loaded [RESOLVED]

ltspicoli · 12-23-2008

So I just built a new system, installing Vista Business 64bit to take full advantage of DX10 and large amounts of memory. Not having many games lying around, I decided to download steam and install Half Life 2.

If you are reading this, and using a 64bit edition of windows, then my guess is you are having problems with Half Life 2. I encountered two problems, and after a few hours was able to solve both of them.

Problem 1: Game hangs on initial load (blurry image screen)

Symptoms:
- "64-bit" message was at top of screen
- game never loaded
Potential cause:
- It seems that while steam intended HL2 to have a 64bit edition, with an update along the line (maybe with the release of Left4Dead according to others) the support was broken and the game doesn't load.
Fix:
- Unfortunately, the fix removes the 64bit potential. In steam, right click half life 2, and select <Properties>.
- From the dialogue box, click <Set Launch Options...>
- Enter "-32bit" and select <OK>

This got HL2 to load, where upon playing I encountered problem number 2.

Problem 2: Gameplay causes full system hang

Symptoms:
- After playing for less than 5 minutes, the game would crash and the three fingered salute (ctrl+alt+del) couldn't get me out of it. The crash caused a full system hang that required a hard-reboot
Potential Causes:
- While from Problem 1 we are running in 32bit mode instead of 64bit, we are still running Vista.
Fix:
- Go to the HL2 executable, by default [Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\<your user name>\half-life 2]
- right click on hl2.exe and select <Properties>
- select the second tab, "Compatibility"
- check the box for <Run this program in compatibility mode for:>
- select <Windows XP (Service Pack 2)> from the drop down menu
- select <Apply> then <OK>

This means that we are taking a 64bit Vista compatible game, and running it as a 32bit XP game.

After these two fixes, I was able to set my video settings to max (I thought this was the original problem) and play the game without interruption. Hopefully steam and/or windows will fix this bug and I can return to the intended game settings, but do note that steam says on their website that 64bit save files are not compatible with 32bit game mode. While mathematically, you should be able to load a 32bit save file into the 64bit game (as long as it substitutes 0x0 for the upper 32bits) I have no idea if they will support it. Oh well, another excuse to play through one of the greatest games to date (in my opinion!)

12-23-2008	#1 (permalink)
ltspicoli Vista Business x64 1 posts	Half-Life 2 failed to load and crashing once loaded [RESOLVED] So I just built a new system, installing Vista Business 64bit to take full advantage of DX10 and large amounts of memory. Not having many games lying around, I decided to download steam and install Half Life 2. If you are reading this, and using a 64bit edition of windows, then my guess is you are having problems with Half Life 2. I encountered two problems, and after a few hours was able to solve both of them. Problem 1: Game hangs on initial load (blurry image screen) Symptoms: "64-bit" message was at top of screen game never loaded Potential cause: It seems that while steam intended HL2 to have a 64bit edition, with an update along the line (maybe with the release of Left4Dead according to others) the support was broken and the game doesn't load. Fix: Unfortunately, the fix removes the 64bit potential. In steam, right click half life 2, and select <Properties>. From the dialogue box, click <Set Launch Options...> Enter "-32bit" and select <OK> This got HL2 to load, where upon playing I encountered problem number 2. Problem 2: Gameplay causes full system hang Symptoms: After playing for less than 5 minutes, the game would crash and the three fingered salute (ctrl+alt+del) couldn't get me out of it. The crash caused a full system hang that required a hard-reboot Potential Causes: While from Problem 1 we are running in 32bit mode instead of 64bit, we are still running Vista. Fix: Go to the HL2 executable, by default [Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\<your user name>\half-life 2] right click on hl2.exe and select <Properties> select the second tab, "Compatibility" check the box for <Run this program in compatibility mode for:> select <Windows XP (Service Pack 2)> from the drop down menu select <Apply> then <OK> This means that we are taking a 64bit Vista compatible game, and running it as a 32bit XP game. After these two fixes, I was able to set my video settings to max (I thought this was the original problem) and play the game without interruption. Hopefully steam and/or windows will fix this bug and I can return to the intended game settings, but do note that steam says on their website that 64bit save files are not compatible with 32bit game mode. While mathematically, you should be able to load a 32bit save file into the 64bit game (as long as it substitutes 0x0 for the upper 32bits) I have no idea if they will support it. Oh well, another excuse to play through one of the greatest games to date (in my opinion!)
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