Should I play in software mode?

[[AK] GaroK]

Should I get software mode to work and play it?

I kinda like all the pixels in the early FPS games, tho I heard that many people don't like using software mode in hl1/cs.

[seedee]

Don't use software mode, it's buggy. Use Opengl instead, and if you want pixels use "gl_texturemode gl_nearest" to disable texture filtering

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by cd5ssmffan:

Don't use software mode, it's buggy. Use Opengl instead, and if you want pixels use "gl_texturemode gl_nearest" to disable texture filtering

Thanks, I like the pixelly version of the textures

[Kurai Shidosha]

Originally posted by Ikagura:

Originally posted by cd5ssmffan:

Don't use software mode, it's buggy. Use Opengl instead, and if you want pixels use "gl_texturemode gl_nearest" to disable texture filtering

Thanks, I like the pixelly version of the textures

This is NOT good advice. If Valve wasn't such an incompetent company, yes OpenGL would be the prefered renderer. Sadly, they fail on a massive scale and playing this game in OpenGL will greatly compromise texture clarity even when using gl_nearest texture filtering.

OpenGL has a bug where it applies a terrible filter to textures that are not a power of 2. Example of a power of 2 texture: 256x256. Example of a non-power of 2 texture: 128x256. Certain objects in the game use the latter for their textures and this makes the textures look HORRIBLE on OpenGL.

Software:
https://i.imgur.com/HLOixBV.png

OpenGL:
https://i.imgur.com/lYjKqMx.png

Software:
https://i.imgur.com/lIVWtdw.png

OpenGL:
https://i.imgur.com/VZ3wwy9.png

You'd be doing yourself a great disservice by playing this game in OpenGL today. Hell, I wouldn't even recommend the Steam version of it. I'd get a hold of the disc copy and patch it to the latest version of WON. You'll get back 5.1 surround sound and proper EAX/A3D, overbright lighting for HDR like effect, and no censorship on characters.

Modern Valve blows.

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by Kurai Shidosha:

Originally posted by Ikagura:

Thanks, I like the pixelly version of the textures

This is NOT good advice. If Valve wasn't such an incompetent company, yes OpenGL would be the prefered renderer. Sadly, they fail on a massive scale and playing this game in OpenGL will greatly compromise texture clarity even when using gl_nearest texture filtering.

OpenGL has a bug where it applies a terrible filter to textures that are not a power of 2. Example of a power of 2 texture: 256x256. Example of a non-power of 2 texture: 128x256. Certain objects in the game use the latter for their textures and this makes the textures look HORRIBLE on OpenGL.

Software:
https://i.imgur.com/HLOixBV.png

OpenGL:
https://i.imgur.com/lYjKqMx.png

Software:
https://i.imgur.com/lIVWtdw.png

OpenGL:
https://i.imgur.com/VZ3wwy9.png

You'd be doing yourself a great disservice by playing this game in OpenGL today. Hell, I wouldn't even recommend the Steam version of it. I'd get a hold of the disc copy and patch it to the latest version of WON. You'll get back 5.1 surround sound and proper EAX/A3D, overbright lighting for HDR like effect, and no censorship on characters.

Modern Valve blows.

Wow... that hurts to see that... Good think I kept the WON version (in the Half Life Generation aka the Blue Box)

[seedee]

Originally posted by Kurai Shidosha:

Modern Valve blows.

I dunno, opengl runs better on my computer and software mode has lots of issues including with lighting. Also that is direct3d not actually software mode

[Kurai Shidosha]

Originally posted by cd5ssmffan:

Originally posted by Kurai Shidosha:

Modern Valve blows.

I dunno, opengl runs better on my computer and software mode has lots of issues including with lighting. Also that is direct3d not actually software mode

It's only D3D11 because I am using a Direct Draw wrapper. I have to use this because starting in Windows 8, Microsoft deprecated native hardware accelerated DirectDraw support. This means any software renderer ran on Windows 8 and later is emulated. This is why OpenGL runs better for you than software, because OpenGL is operating system agnostic and is always hardware accelerated.

With the 3rd party program "DGVoodoo 2", you can get back hardware acceleration for software rendering. It dynamically converts all DirectDraw calls into a D3D11 call which the GPU can handle. It is significantly more efficient and accurate than Microsoft's emulated jank.

But by all accounts, what you're seeing in my software screenshots are in-fact software rendered Half Life as it would have been viewed on Windows 7 and earlier systems, with the same high performance and accurate visuals.

[76561198820097024]

Sorry for the necro, but Kurai for the love of god, please tell me how to use the dgVoodoo wrapper so I can enjoy the game. I know you just replace a dll in the game directory with one generated by dgVoodoo, but I don't know which dll to replace, please help me.

[Sikobae]

Originally posted by Kurai Shidosha:

You'd be doing yourself a great disservice by playing this game in OpenGL today.

Jokes on you I like filtered textures over pure 8-bit. It's not like it's getting changed anyway.

[76561198820097024]

Originally posted by Sikobae:

Originally posted by Kurai Shidosha:

You'd be doing yourself a great disservice by playing this game in OpenGL today.

Jokes on you I like filtered textures over pure 8-bit. It's not like it's getting changed anyway.

It's a disservice because of the technical side of things, not really for filtering textures.

[Kurai Shidosha]

Originally posted by crwbr:

Sorry for the necro, but Kurai for the love of god, please tell me how to use the dgVoodoo wrapper so I can enjoy the game. I know you just replace a dll in the game directory with one generated by dgVoodoo, but I don't know which dll to replace, please help me.

You need to put the ddraw.dll file into the main HL folder with the hl.exe file. Then you run the DGvoodoo setup and make a profile pointing to that same folder with the game's executable. You should leave almost everything set to default except for under the Direct3D tab change graphics card to Geforce 4800, turn off the watermark and allow alt + enter for toggling fullscreen in case the fullscreen mode glitches on you. That's it and you're done. I highly recommend using a CRT at 640x480 or 800x600 if you have one to really complete the experience and play it as close to perfectly as possible. Good luck and have fun.

[76561198820097024]

1. Thanks!
2. I already have a CRT for gaming (even modern)
3. Now my game is limited to 60 fps in fullscreen mode and 72 in windowed. Wierd thing is that my monitor's refresh rate is 72Hz, so in fullscreen (what I would normally be playing) it is just a wierd hard cap to 60 fps and in windowed it is VSync. Vsync is off in dgVoodoo and Half-Life and fps_max is 100. It's also off in GPU settings.

[Kurai Shidosha]

You can override refresh rate through DGVoodoo. Go into the setup for your HL profile and check the box "Enumerate refresh rates". Then go to the Direct3D tab and change your resolution to the same one you want to play at on the CRT with the 72Hz. Then apply.

[76561198820097024]

Damn dude you rock, thanks.

[Duckilous]

Originally posted by Sikobae:

Originally posted by Kurai Shidosha:

You'd be doing yourself a great disservice by playing this game in OpenGL today.

Jokes on you I like filtered textures over pure 8-bit. It's not like it's getting changed anyway.

Pixelated textures =/= "pure" 8-bit.

[seedee]

Originally posted by Hoovyspenser:

Originally posted by Sikobae:

Jokes on you I like filtered textures over pure 8-bit. It's not like it's getting changed anyway.

Pixelated textures =/= "pure" 8-bit.

but textures are actually 8bit (256 colors) unless you mean something else