My cursor disappears every time I read a note or a book (or any piece of text)

[Bloodpelt]

Above. It always requires me to restart to see it again which is kinda annoying. And just trying to find the right position of my invisible cursor is also not very fun

[SilverSet]

I'm not sure, but this might be either screen resolution or windowed mode. I don't think you can run this game windowed without crashes, but try these commands in your launch options:
-fullscreen or -windowed
-w *your resolution (width)*
-h *your resolution (height)*

Last thing to do: play around with -dxlevel and see if anything changes:
-dxlevel 80
-dxlevel 81
-dxlevel 90
-dxlevel 95
-dxlevel 98

Or you can try to verify your game's files and test if your mouse is working properly.

[Bloodpelt]

Thank you very much.
I'll try this stuff out.

[Bloodpelt]

Originally posted by SilverSet:

I'm not sure, but this might be either screen resolution or windowed mode. I don't think you can run this game windowed without crashes, but try these commands in your launch options:
-fullscreen or -windowed
-w *your resolution (width)*
-h *your resolution (height)*

Last thing to do: play around with -dxlevel and see if anything changes:
-dxlevel 80
-dxlevel 81
-dxlevel 90
-dxlevel 95
-dxlevel 98

Or you can try to verify your game's files and test if your mouse is working properly.

I've gone through the settings but it sadly didn't work. It made my game stay on full HD for once though so that's a win. Mind elaborating your last point about verifying my files for mouse functionality?

[SilverSet]

Originally posted by Bloodpelt:

Mind elaborating your last point about verifying my files for mouse functionality?

Something might have gone wrong with your mouse, but that's unlikely, unless you got the same issue in other games (not source engine at least). You can also verify your game's files in steam settings, it's the same thing where you put your launch options.
I think there were some other threads on hl2 forums and other source engine games, you might want to look there. If you find a solution, you can share it here, it would be a good future reference.
Oh, and you can reinstall the game, but don't forget to back-up your save files.

[Bloodpelt]

I haven't been able to find a permanent fix but I did find a workaround for this issue.

Press your windows key and search for "Control Panel". From there open the "Hardware and Sounds" subsection. Then click on "Devices and Printers" and find your mouse. Right click the mouse and select "Mouse settings". Go to the "Pointer settings" and click "Show pointer trail". I recommend you set the trail speed to the shortest possible as anything else is just a seizure to look at.

Now when you open a note or book in-game you will still see your pointer. It will blink but in my opinion it's way better than having to restart your game (It will only be visible when you are in your inventory). I hope this helps.

[SilverSet]

Originally posted by Bloodpelt:

I hope this helps.

Well if it worked, then everything is good. I had no problem anyway and asked you to leave solution here, so I could link this thread just in case.

[Bloodpelt]

Yeah, I was just generally speaking to any future readers who are trying to find a solution to this issue.

[SilverSet]

Originally posted by Bloodpelt:

Yeah, I was just generally speaking to any future readers who are trying to find a solution to this issue.

Also, just in case. Could you try locking your fps to your refresh rate? If it's 60hz then type fps_max 61, etc. Also you can try v-sync off/on. It might remove that annoying flickering, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Bloodpelt]

Apparently some of my graphic settings keep resetting to default upon restarting the game. Waiting for vertical-sync is one of them that keep getting changed back to default. What I've found is that ENABLING vertical-sync fixes the cursor becoming invisible in the first place. We may have found the solution but how do I stop it from resetting?

[SilverSet]

Originally posted by Bloodpelt:

Apparently some of my graphic settings keep resetting to default upon restarting the game. Waiting for vertical-sync is one of them that keep getting changed back to default. What I've found is that ENABLING vertical-sync fixes the cursor becoming invisible in the first place. We may have found the solution but how do I stop it from resetting?

I keep my graphic settings in my autoexec.cfg. I think there is also a console command for the game to stop resetting your graphics, but I can't find it. You can try this guide[vandalfsen.me] and choose the settings you need.

[Bloodpelt]

The only thing I found was "mm_fxquality_level 2" which I put in my newly created autoexec.cfg with the addition of "+exec autoexec.cfg" in my steam launch options but it didn't help. If you have managed to make your graphic settings stay with your autoexec.cfg, mind sharing what you entered in yours?

[SilverSet]

Originally posted by Bloodpelt:

The only thing I found was "mm_fxquality_level 2" which I put in my newly created autoexec.cfg with the addition of "+exec autoexec.cfg" in my steam launch options but it didn't help. If you have managed to make your graphic settings stay with your autoexec.cfg, mind sharing what you entered in yours?

Sure, here you go:
///Graphics\\\
mat_vsync 1 /// v-sync; 1 - on; 0 - off;
r_rootlod 0 /// models quality; 0 - high; 1 - medium; 2 - low;
r_lod -2 /// lod distance, it can go higher, if you want;
mat_picmip -1 /// texture quality; -1 - v.high; 2 - low;
r_shadowrendertotexture 1 /// shadows quality
r_waterforcereflectentities 0 /// water quality; 1 if you want the highest
r_waterforceexpensive 1 /// water quality; 0 for "simple reflections"
mat_hdr_level 2 /// hdr
mat_forceaniso 16
mat_Antialias 4
mat_monitorgamma 2.1 /// gamma

[Bloodpelt]

Thanks. Saved me a lot of time