Well done solving the problems!
Mark
"ltspicoli" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:71bda32f90e1512dd5c05181a89bdee3@xxxxxx-gateway.com...
Quote:
>
> 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!)
>
>
> --
> ltspicoli