Halo: Combat Evolved for PC (Performance issues)

[JuanBolio]

I recently got a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved for my PC (I haven't owned a console system since the N64, though that's soon to change). My system is pretty decent for gaming, as long as the games aren't too new. I have a Pentium 4 3.06 GHz processor, 1 gig of RAM, and an ATI Radeon 9250 video card with 256 megs of RAM. MORE than enough when you look at the system requirements for Halo. However, I get some serious lag when running on any resolutions higher than 640x480. This is the resolution the Xbox uses, however on the Xbox everything somehow managed to look a lot smoother and less pixelated. Upping the rez is the only way I can make it look as pretty as I remember it on my ex-roommate's Xbox, but I hate the lag.

Any suggestions on how to combat this? I've updated the game and my video card with the latest patches and drivers, respectively, and even tried running selective starup to reduce the number of processes Windows has running in the background, but to only minor avail, if any. Is there nothing to be done?

 

[David cgc]

That's damn peculiar. I understand that HaloPC was a lousy port, but you should be able to get more than enough out of it with those specs. I've seen it on two MacBook Pros, both with specs more or less equivalent to yours, and it played great. Heck, on the newer MacBook, I can run it at maximum resolution, with full effects and antialiasing and it's still silky smooth.

If you've updated everything to the most recent, I can't really think of what it could be. Just out of curiosity, though, is the game prompting you to run in Safe Mode? If not, you might want to try. My last computer was a G4 tower of similar vintage to yours, and it had to run it in the Mac equivalent of Safe Mode. That still doesn't explain much, though, because I had a lesser-quality processor and graphics card, and when I upgraded my processor and graphics card and brought it up to your level, I was able to play at full-quality, full-resolution on that machine, too.

 

[Jax]

HALO might be an old game but if I remember ATI Radeon 9250 is just as old so could be that and not too mention most PC's run better with 2bg Ram not 1.

 

[Lindley]

I had no problem running Halo on my TiBook G4 with 1GB of RAM. Of course, my graphics card was old enough that it couldn't do per-fragment effects, but that's to be expected.

 

[JuanBolio]

I'm thinking it must be the RAM. Safe mode doesn't seem good for much but lowering all the graphics, and that's the opposite of what I want to do. Make no mistake - it runs fine on 640x480, but it is frustrating. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that my computer, despite its decent specs, is an emachine, renowned for suck?

Oh well. Planning to buy a 360 anyway.

 

[JGordon]

I ran Halo on my overclocked AMD 2500+ with 1GB RAM and a 9600XT - it ran well up to 1024x768 I think. The 9600XT is the same generation as your card, but a significantly higher performance model. The 9250 has plenty of memory, but a throttled processor with low clock speeds. I bet that is your bottleneck - your CPU and RAM should be fine.

 

[Twilight]

Your video card is ancient, but so is Halo PC - and your card wasn't too shabby back in those days - I'm not sure what your bottleneck is, but my first impression from your specs is that you should've been able to run it fine, so I'm at a loss. JGordon may be right about the low clock speeds...but jeez...640x480?! The 9250 should be able to do better than THAT!

I ran Halo PC back in the day on a GeForce MX420 - it ran fine at about 1024x768 IIRC...

 

[JuanBolio]

I wonder if I can somehow overclock my video card...

 

[Arrqh]

Your video card is ancient, but so is Halo PC - and your card wasn't too shabby back in those days

Honestly, all the Radeon 92xx's were actually pretty shabby in pretty much any day. What's probably going on is that the game is using the higher end pixel shader effects that the card technically supports but can't do at sufficient speed, and it would probably be a lot happier going through a DX8 codepath. Add that together with the fact that the worst part of the Halo port was the subpar pixel shader performance, and you've got a recipe for a bad framerate.

So, with that in mind, from here... try changing the shortcut so it reads:

“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo\halo.exe” -use14

This will force the game into a lower codepath. You can also try -use11 and -useeff, each of which will force it down to a successively lower path. The 9250 is probably defaulting to 2.0 and it just can't handle it.

 

[JuanBolio]

Wow, that looks helpful. I shall try it out at once!

Edit - You, sir, are my new best friend. Worked like a charm. I never would have figured pixel shading would be the culprit. The impact on the graphics is minimal, and it flows like buttah at high resolution. Many thanks!

You know, after years of being a slightly snobbish PC-only gamer, I'm starting to see that consoles really do have their perks.

 

[Twilight]

Arrghman rocks!

Pretty smart diagnosis, I'd have never thought of it...

 

[TheBrew]

Yeah that was a pretty solid solution. Props Big A!

 

[Arrqh]

Glad I could help!

 

[Hoser]

You know, after years of being a slightly snobbish PC-only gamer, I'm starting to see that consoles really do have their perks.

Oi, you should've been back in the days of EMM386 and memory management for every game. There's nothing like having to rewriite a config.sys and autoexec.bat for every other game's boot disk. Of course, if you go back further than that....

 

[Arrqh]

There's nothing like having to rewriite a config.sys and autoexec.bat for every other game's boot disk.

Things are just too easy these days! Games aren't worth it unless you have to use trial by error to figure out what devices you don't need to load in your config.sys and still be able to run the game

 

[JuanBolio]

I caught the ass-end of that era as a kid, playing EGA Trek with my dad. Computer gaming has lost a bit of its excitement. You appreciate games more when you have to fight with them for an hour or two to make 'em work. Consequently, I now really, really appreciate Halo's graphics.