Portal keeps resetting graphics settings

[Nicknine]

For some reason, this game keeps occasionally setting my graphics settings to low (DX 8.1, 1280x720 resolution, etc). This doesn't happen with any other Source game, only Portal.
Judging from other threads, I'm not alone with this issue. Any ideas on what's causing it and how to stop it?

[Mother]

I've had the same issue and what has been causing it for me was the launch options paramater forcing the graphics to run in DX9. For some odd reason Portal was launching the game in DirectX8, so I had to manually set it to launch in DirectX9 by entering "-dxlevel 95" as a paramater in the launch options.

After removing that launch paramater the game stopped resetting video settings and all worked out. It would appear you only need to run the game once in DirectX9 and it's set. Now all of this was assuming your issue is caused by the same culprit (launch options).

Let me know if this solution fixed the issue for you.

[Nicknine]

Originally posted by Yooki:

I've had the same issue and what has been causing it for me was the launch options paramater forcing the graphics to run in DX9. For some odd reason Portal was launching the game in DirectX8, so I had to manually set it to launch in DirectX9 by entering "-dxlevel 95" as a paramater in the launch options.

After removing that launch paramater the game stopped resetting video settings and all worked out. It would appear you only need to run the game once in DirectX9 and it's set. Now all of this was assuming your issue is caused by the same culprit (launch options).

Let me know if this solution fixed the issue for you.

Eh, sounds weird, because last time it resetted options (yesterday), there were no launch parameters at all. So I had to add -dxlevel 95 once again to set DX level back from 8.1 to 9.5.

[Mother]

Like I said, removing the launch parameters fixed the issue for me, you should try something like this a couple of times:

• Set various launch parameters.
  
• Enter game and toy around with video options.
  
• Exit game and remove the launch parameters.
  
• Enter the game again...

[Nicknine]

Originally posted by Yooki:

Like I said, removing the launch parameters fixed the issue for me, you should try something like this a couple of times:

• Set various launch parameters.
  
• Enter game and toy around with video options.
  
• Exit game and remove the launch parameters.
  
• Enter the game again...

Seems like you are right, -dxlevel does reset graphics back to defaults ("recommended", marked with *). The problem is that the default graphics settings that the game chooses for my PC are unusually low. All other Source games pick near-max settings with DX 9.5, while Portal picks medium-low settings with DX 8.1. Weird.

[Mother]

It does the same for me too, and I think these 'recommended' settings are setup for the computers that existed back in the days the game was developed and released.

Examining your last comment leads me to believe you've resolved your issue, am I right?

[Nicknine]

Originally posted by Yooki:

It does the same for me too, and I think these 'recommended' settings are setup for the computers that existed back in the days the game was developed and released.

Examining your last comment leads me to believe you've resolved your issue, am I right?

Well, yeah. Portal doesn't reset settings it's just that defaults are too low (compared to HL2, CSS etc.) which made me pay attention. It's just that I reinstall Steam with cleaning its registry folders periodically and then forget about that and I also reinstall OS about every 6 months for various reasons.