Difference between revisions of "Half-Life 2"
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==Video== | ==Video== | ||
− | {{Image|Half Life 2 General Video.png| | + | {{Image|Half Life 2 General Video.png|General video settings}} |
− | {{Image|Half Life 2 Advanced Video.png| | + | {{Image|Half Life 2 Advanced Video.png|Advanced video settings}} |
{{Video | {{Video | ||
|wsgf link = https://www.wsgf.org/dr/half-life-2 | |wsgf link = https://www.wsgf.org/dr/half-life-2 | ||
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==Input== | ==Input== | ||
− | {{Image|Half Life 2 Remapping.png| | + | {{Image|Half Life 2 Remapping.png|Key map settings}} |
− | {{Image|Half Life 2 Mouse Gamepad.png| | + | {{Image|Half Life 2 Mouse Gamepad.png|Mouse/gamepad settings}} |
{{Input | {{Input | ||
|key remap = true | |key remap = true | ||
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==Audio== | ==Audio== | ||
− | {{Image|Half Life 2 Audio.png| | + | {{Image|Half Life 2 Audio.png|Audio settings}} |
{{Audio | {{Audio | ||
|separate volume = true | |separate volume = true |
Revision as of 19:32, 20 April 2023
Developers | |
---|---|
Valve Corporation | |
Publishers | |
2004-2005 | Sierra Entertainment |
2005-present | Valve Corporation |
Russia (original release) | 1C-SoftClub |
Russia (re-release) | Buka Entertainment |
Engines | |
Source | |
Release dates | |
Windows | November 16, 2004 |
macOS (OS X) | May 26, 2010 |
Linux | May 9, 2013 |
Reception | |
Metacritic | 96 |
IGDB | 91 |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | One-time game purchase |
Microtransactions | None |
Modes | Singleplayer |
Pacing | Real-time |
Perspectives | First-person |
Controls | Direct control |
Genres | FPS |
Vehicles | Automobile, Naval/watercraft, Off-roading |
Art styles | Realistic |
Themes | Post-apocalyptic, Sci-fi, Eastern Europe |
Series | Half-Life |
⤏ Go to series page | |
Half-Life mods and fangames (series) | |
Half-Life | 1998 |
Half-Life: Opposing Force | 1999 |
Half-Life: Blue Shift | 2001 |
Codename: Gordon | 2004 |
Half-Life: Source | 2004 |
Half-Life 2 | 2004 |
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch | 2004 |
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast | 2005 |
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source | 2006 |
Half-Life 2: Episode One | 2006 |
Half-Life 2: Episode Two | 2007 |
Portal (series) | |
Half-Life: Decay (unofficial port) | 2008 |
Half-Life: Alyx | 2020 |
Warnings
- The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.
Half-Life 2 is a singleplayer first-person FPS game in the Half-Life series.
The retail release was published by Sierra Entertainment up until the publisher lost all publishing rights to Valve's titles in 2005. Valve subsequently partnered with Electronic Arts to distribute later retail versions of the game and future titles. The macOS X version was released in 2010 and the Linux version later in 2013, both coinciding with the launch of Steam on their respective platforms.
Like most of Valve's library, the game still receives bug fixes and general maintenance updates. It also enjoys a large community base, and various mods are released regularly.
General information
- GitHub Issue Tracker for Linux bugs in Half-Life 2 and other Source-based games
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | SecuROM 5 DRM. Removed in a December 2004 update. Steam installation can be bypassed on Collector's Edition copies by launching hl2.msi directly. five to six CDs or single DVD. |
|||
Steam | DRM-free when launched directly from the executable. Some features (such as achievements) are unavailable when launched outside of Steam. |
Essential improvements
Peixoto's patch
Peixoto's patch forced resolution allows in high resolution without shrinking the HUD or menus. Super sampling anti-aliasing is also possible.
Skip intro videos
Use -novid command line argument[1]
|
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Enabling the console
- A list of console commands can be found here.
Command line[1] |
---|
Notes
|
Options menu[1] |
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|
Half-Life 2: Update
- An unofficial update that fixes bugs, improves the lighting, draw distance and adds new effects among others.
- Standalone; uses a separate installation folder, separate save and configuration files, and separate Steam AppID.
- Does not include newer official updates, which introduced new bug fixes and features, follow this guide or use this patch (Mirror #1 Mirror #2) to update the game.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Steam | <path-to-game>\hl2\cfg\ |
- This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Steam | <path-to-game>\hl2\save\ |
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Steam Cloud | Saves and most settings. Approx. 100 MB available. |
Video
Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | |||
Multi-monitor | |||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | Values between 75° and 110° (up to 120° using fov_desired or via Gamepad UI) vertical can be set via ingame slider.[2] Default is 75°. |
||
Windowed | |||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | Update the game and set to Run in a window (No Border), otherwise use -windowed -noborder (for old version/retail) Command line argument |
||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | |||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | Up to 8x MSAA. SGSSAA available with Nvidia Profile Inspector flag 0x000000C1 . |
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Vertical sync (Vsync) | |||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS | 300 FPS cap by default. With console, can change "fps_max" up to 1000 ; use 0 for uncapped framerate.[3] |
||
High dynamic range display (HDR) | Rendered image uses SDR color space. In-game HDR option refers only to HDR Rendering. |
- HBAO available with Nvidia Profile Inspector flag
0x0000002C
.
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | ||
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support | ||
Full controller support | Gamepad UI can be enabled with the -gamepadui Command line argument. This requires Vulkan supported GPU to work. Otherwise use this X360 Gamepad UI mod instead if your GPU does not support Vulkan. Please note that the X360 Gamepad UI mod doesn't include latest patches to game, such as Dropship gun bugfix. |
|
Controller remapping | ||
Controller sensitivity | ||
Controller Y-axis inversion |
Controller types |
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XInput-compatible controllers | ||
---|---|---|
Xbox button prompts | Supported via Steam Input API. | |
Impulse Trigger vibration |
PlayStation controllers | ||
---|---|---|
PlayStation button prompts | Supported via Steam Input API. | |
Light bar support | ||
Adaptive trigger support | ||
DualSense haptic feedback support | ||
Connection modes | Wired, Wireless (Bluetooth), Wireless (Bluetooth) [4] |
Tracked motion controllers | Supports Razer Hydra. Use Half-Life 2: VR Mod for tracked motion controllers support in VR. | |
---|---|---|
Button/gesture prompts |
Generic/other controllers | Both Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and Generic Gamepads are supported via Steam Input API | |
---|---|---|
Button prompts | Nintendo Switch Pro Controller button prompts are supported via Steam Input API |
Additional information | ||
---|---|---|
Button prompts | Use Controller UI Mod (for old version only) to get a choice of button prompts such as Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3/4, Switch, and more. Otherwise use Controller-centric UI with Steam Input API. | |
Controller hotplugging | ||
Haptic feedback | Supported via Steam Input API. If using the old version or Legacy XInput mode: you can bring back Controller rumble by download an updated version of the SDL2 runtime binary (choose Runtime Binaries x86) and replace it with the one in <path-to-game>\bin .[5] This works for any Source engine based game. |
|
Digital movement supported | ||
Simultaneous controller+KB/M |
Steam Input | ||
---|---|---|
Steam Input API support | ||
Official controller preset(s) | PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam Controller & Steam Deck (under Standard and Motion Controls presets) | |
Steam Controller button prompts | Uses Steam Input API's built-in Button Icons |
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | Game volume and music slider. | |
Surround sound | 4.0, 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound. 7.1 output may require DirectSound3D restoration software. | |
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost | Under a check box in the Audio menu. | |
EAX support | Set snd_legacy_surround 1 in console (or launch the game with +snd_legacy_surround 1 ), 4 speakers in options, and use DSOAL for binaural HRTF mixing.[6] |
|
Royalty free audio |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
Belarusian | Fan translation, Steam Workshop. In testing stage. | |||
Simplified Chinese | ||||
Traditional Chinese | ||||
Czech | Fan translation including dubbing, download. | |||
Danish | ||||
Dutch | ||||
Finnish | ||||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Italian | ||||
Japanese | ||||
Korean | ||||
Norwegian | ||||
Polish | ||||
Portuguese | ||||
Brazilian Portuguese | [7] | |||
Brazilian Portuguese | Mod DB. | |||
Russian | By default, the steam version has a new localization by "Buka". However, after the "SteamPipe" update, errors appeared in the localization, such as the effect of broken phrases. Therefore, it is recommended to download the patch, made by guys from the "hl-inside" forum. | |||
Russian | First offical localization by SDL and published for retail by "SoftClub" here | |||
Spanish | ||||
Swedish | ||||
Thai |
Network
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Players | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
LAN play | 32 | Users will need to open the developer console and type "maxplayers 4; sv_lan 1" and "map d1_trainstation_01" in the console. Do note that the game will not load an autosave, but you and your partner will respawn instead. | ||
Online play | 10 | Use Synergy. |
Connection types
Type | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Matchmaking | ||
Peer-to-peer | ||
Dedicated | ||
Self-hosting | See Documentation: Dedicated Servers. | |
Direct IP |
VR support
3D modes | State | GG3D | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Native 3D | ||||
Nvidia 3D Vision | See also Helix Mod: Half Life 2:Update. | |||
TriDef 3D | ||||
iZ3D | ||||
vorpX | G3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list. |
Headsets | |||
---|---|---|---|
SteamVR | Use Half-Life 2: VR Mod. | ||
Oculus VR (LibOVR) | Available under Video Settings (except newer versions). See the Oculus Rift forums for further instructions. Enable borderless window on Oculus Rift using vr_force_windowed 1 . Use Half-Life 2: VR Mod on newer versions. |
||
Windows Mixed Reality | Use Half-Life 2: VR Mod. |
Devices | |||
---|---|---|---|
Tracked motion controllers | Supports Razer Hydra. Use Half-Life 2: VR Mod for tracked motion controllers support in VR. See Input for details. |
||
Traditional controller | See Input for details. | ||
Keyboard/Mouse | |||
Tobii Eye Tracking | Works with Tobii EyeX tracker or Tobii EyeX 4C and 5 headtracker plugins for FaceTrackNoIR. | ||
TrackIR | Works with FreeTrack 2.0 protocol using software like FaceTrackNoIR. | ||
3RD Space Gaming Vest | |||
Novint Falcon |
Play area | |||
---|---|---|---|
Seated | |||
Standing | |||
Room-scale |
Issues fixed
Windows
- TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game which can be found here.
Purple and black textures
- See missing textures.
No lighting after Black Mesa East
Activate the High Dynamic Range in the Advanced Video Options[citation needed] |
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Stuck in Black Mesa East
- Bug that occurs in initial retail release. (i.e. Collector's Edition version, etc.)
Walk into the elevator, Quick Save F6, then Quick Load F9. |
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Not enough space on disk (retail)
Copy the files[1] |
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|
Available memory less than 128 MB (retail)
Setting the compatibility mode[1] |
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|
Half-Life 2 stuck on DirectX v8.0
Command line parameter[1] |
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Notes
|
Cyrillic Font Issue in Linux
Cyrillic Font Issue in Linux[citation needed] |
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Find and remove the Helvetica font. |
SteamVR launches automatically when attempting to enter Options
Modify the gameinfo.txt file[8] |
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Notes
|
Certain music and sound effects don't play (Fedora Linux)
- Having SELinux enabled can cause certain music and sound effect files to not play when on Fedora Linux.
Lower security level[9][citation needed] |
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Run the following terminal commands: sudo su sudo setsebool -P selinuxuser_execheap 1 |
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 6, 7, 8, 9 | |
OpenGL | 2.1 | OS X and Linux only. |
Vulkan | Enable Vulkan using -vulkan Command line argument. Works via DXVK translation layer.[11] Windows[12][13] & Linux only.[citation needed] |
|
Shader Model support | 1.x, 2, 3 |
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows | 64-bit version is no longer available[10] | ||
macOS (OS X) | [citation needed] | ||
Linux | [citation needed] |
Middleware
Middleware | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Physics | Havok | Heavily modified variant. |
Audio | Miles Sound System | |
Input | SDL | |
Cutscenes | Bink Video | Used for startup videos and in-game movies. |
Anti-cheat | Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) |
Launch options
Instructions[1] |
---|
|
Additional mods
- An extra list of mods can be found here. To view the most-rated mods, click here.
- A discussion of various graphic improvement mods can be found here.
Half-Life 2: Survivor
- An unofficial port of the Japanese arcade version.
- This mod does not require Steam in order to run, but it requires you to use old files from Source SDK Base 2006. Click at the link above for more info.
Half-Life 2: MMod
- Enhances visual effects, weapon animations, sound, and gunplay. Most features can be toggled on and off.
- Compatible with all official Half-Life 2 titles and MINERVA and the FakeFactory Cinematic Mod. Compatibility patches made by the community for other mods and games based around the Half-Life 2 gameplay and various other addons can be found here.
Half-Life 2 4X AI Textures
- Textures for all NPCs, some weapons, some items, some crates, and some vehicles, upscaled with Topaz A.I. Gigapixel.
- Upscaled textures are faithful to the original textures.
- Works with Half-Life 2: Update.
- Large download at over 6.5 GB, including patches. Around 12.5 GB once extracted.
Half-Life 2 Upscaled Model Textures
- A similar mod to the Half-Life 2 4X AI Textures but only for NPCs.
- Smaller than Half-Life 2 4X AI Textures. At 840 MB and 2.31 GB once extracted.
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 | |
Processor (CPU) | 1.7 GHz | 2.0 GHz |
System memory (RAM) | 512 MB | 1 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 6.5 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce FX 5700 ATI Radeon 9500 128 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible | Nvidia GeForce 6800 ATI Radeon X800 512 MB of VRAM |
- The original system requirements were as follows: Windows 2000/XP/ME/98, a 1.2 GHz processor (2.4 GHz recommended), 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended), DirectX 7, and 4.5 GB hard disk space
- Windows 98SE, ME, and 2000 were previously supported operating systems for the game, but as future updates for this game and Steam occurred; the support for these operating systems were dropped with non-Collector's Edition retail copies.
- Must be run without Steam to play on XP and Vista.
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | ||
Operating system (OS) | 10.5.8, 10.6.3 | |
Processor (CPU) | 1.7 GHz | |
System memory (RAM) | 1 GB | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 4.6 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce 8000 Series ATI Radeon X1600 Intel HD 3000 |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Verified by User:Suicide machine on August 11, 2016
- ↑ Field of View - Valve Developer Community
- ↑ Verified by User:Mr. obsolete 341 on 2021-11-22
- ↑ Verified by User:Al2009man on 2022-05-05
- Tested on DualShock 4 V2 and DualSense Controller while Steam Input is forcefully disabled.
As of this writing: Left/Right Joystick does not work if Steam Input (under Legacy mode) is enabled.
- Tested on DualShock 4 V2 and DualSense Controller while Steam Input is forcefully disabled.
- ↑ Verified by User:Al2009man on 2022-05-05
- Seems like this method no longer works on Steam Deck branch.
- ↑ Half-Life 2 with 3D spatial sound 🎧 (OpenAL Soft HRTF audio)
- ↑ UOL Jogos, 29/12/2004 (archived).
- ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/290930/discussions/2/2826511721278755116/
- ↑ Steam Community :: novimatrem-chan :: Review for Half-Life 2 - last accessed on 2022-03-25
- "Fix missing music/sound effects in Source Engine games (Valve games, etc.) on Fedora
Unfortunately, on Fedora, some Valve games have a bit of an issue regarding completely skipping playing certain audio files. None of this causes any crashing, but can lead to a worse gaming experience, confusion, and the appearance of buggyness- and generally isn’t great. To work around this, please refer to the following steps, and all the games’ audio will then work perfectly.
You need to open your Terminal emulator, either from the usual application menu place, or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T, or sometimes it’s Super+T AND THEN type the following into it, entering your password when it prompts you.
sudo su
sudo setsebool -P selinuxuser_execheap 1
That’s it. Your game will now function as intended, enjoy being able to hear the soundtracks, music, sound effects, etc! Especially ‘Still Alive’, and the banger that Half-Life 2’s soundtrack is, amongst others.
valve pls fix"
- "Fix missing music/sound effects in Source Engine games (Valve games, etc.) on Fedora
- ↑ 64-bit Half-Life 2 released - Eurogamer.net - last accessed on 2020-08-27
- ↑ https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-quietly-updates-half-life-2-with-increased-fov-ultrawide-support-and-ancient-bug-fixes/
- ↑ Verified by User:kr0tchet on 2022-04-02
- ↑ Verified by User:Expack3 on 2022-04-04
- Windows version seems to use DXVK v1.8.1-3-gd3e43ed3, based on output log.