I am making this post in the hopes of uniting others who have faced Sierra/VU Interactive's non-responsive technical
support. What follows is most likely familiar to many of you.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is an all-too-familiar story of one man's battle with Sierra Studios/Vivendi Universal Games' tech support, or
lack thereof. The problem is commonplace: Yet another facet of the bug-ridden Half-Life engine shows its ugly face,
and Sierra simply doesn't give a shit.
The problem: As many have experienced, Half-Life does dumb things when forced to run at a non-standard refresh rate,
in both Windows 2000 (officially supported by Sierra) and Windows XP (officially not supported by Sierra). In this
case, the game runs unplayable in a 640x480 window in the top left corner of the screen, even when not being forced to
run at a given refresh rate. This is presumably the default rendering window size when the dysfunctional
mode-switching routines don't know what they're dealing with. The problem has been encountered with 4 different
motherboards, each with a fresh operating system install, and 3 different graphics cards.
I have now contacted Sierra with 3 separate support requests relating to this problem, all of which have been brushed
off on the basis of the given operating system being unsupported, including Windows 2000, which their product page
explicitly says IS supported. Below is their canned response. Note the problem status, "solved".
-----------------------------------------------------------
Incident ID Date Created Last Updated Status
100201726 10/1/2003 8:12:33 PM 10/6/2003 7:53:39 AM Solved
Summary
This problem has been unresolved for a -VERY- long time now. HalfLife -WILL NOT...
Question & Answer
Your Question(s):
Customer Replied On: 10/3/2003 at 7:01:45 PM
Woops, I replied before at the top of the e-mail.
Ok, seriously, don't send me recommendations about motherboard drivers and
system memory etc. The only relevant drivers are video card ones, plus
DirectX. I stated
how much memory I have when I submitted my request (512MB). The game is
being run w/ full administrative rights. This is an ongoing issue with
Win2k/XP, and although the HL retail distribution package I have is not
listed on your website as supporting Windows 2000 (on which this problem
also occurs) HalfLife Platinum Pack does, and the HL version included with
it, once patched with the latest updates, is identical to what I am
currently using.
I've had this happen on multiple machines with video hardware including an
nVidia Geforce2 MX and my present Radeon 8500LE. Generally, it happens
reliably when 60Hz display modes are not available to the game at all. In
this case, however, and also on one of my Windows 2000 machines I've tried
it on (I no longer have that motherboard, and the video card is on a shelf
somewhere, so that system doesn't really exist at the moment) 60Hz display
modes ARE available, and the game always works as it should when the desktop
refresh rate is set to 60Hz, which really should have no bearing on the
ability of a game to switch to a desired display mode and subsequently set
the -CORRECT- size of rendering window for that display mode (this is where
it goes awry). It should also be noted that I can force it to work -EVERY
TIME-, regardless of desktop refresh rate, by setting HL to Direct3D, going
at least as far as the console so the game has switched display modes, then
going and changing it back to OpenGL which, as you can imagine, is a huge
hassle when I'm trying a number of servers and attempting to coordinate
meeting on one of them with some friends... any ideas? The incorrectly set
rendering window size still leads me to believe that this is 100% the game's
fault...
-Paul
>
Customer Replied On: 10/3/2003 at 7:01:12 PM
>
>
Customer Submitted Question On: 10/01/2003 8:12PM
This problem has been unresolved for a -VERY- long time now. HalfLife -WILL NOT- load properly 90% of the time on my
system when my desktop refresh rate is set to anything other than 60Hz and I am using OpenGL. When you are using
DirectDraw w/ OpenGL, desktop refresh rate has -NOTHING- to do with the video mode and renderer window size that your
application uses in fullscreen. There is apparently some bug in the routines used to select renderer window size, and
they default to 640x480 even when running in a higher screen resolution when my desktop is set to anything other than
60Hz. -NO- other games out of several dozen that I own do this. NOT ONE. All I ever get back by e-mailing Sierra
support is pre-prepared garbage asking me to try reinstalling this and that and then to send in msinfo32 and dxdiag
output. This is more than obviously a problem with your game, and not even that complex to fix as it is not a problem
with the geometry/rendering engine AT ALL, it is simply a flaw in the display initialization routines. I could cite
another half-dozen examples of horrific coding in HL, so I don't expect this to be brushed off as a rare occurrence.
Bear in mind that your response to this message will be posted on multiple public message boards. I'm sick of shoddy,
non-responsive support and the attitude that Sierra corp seems to have that individual customers mean NOTHING. Good
day.
Our Response(s):
Solution Added On 10/03/2003 8:09AM
This program predates the release of Windows XP by quite some time. It has never been tested with this version of
Windows, and consequently, it is unsupported. With that in mind, try the following steps to see if they will correct
your problem:
First and foremost, insure the computer has the latest critical updates available for the operating system. To do
this:
A. Establish connection to the Internet.
Go to START and select WINDOWS UPDATE. Windows Update will automatically connect to the Microsoft Web site and provide
a list of updates available for download. If any difficulties are encountered with the Windows Update function, here
is the link to the latest critical update:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select PRODUCT UPDATES
Grant Administrative access to individual programs by using the following steps:
Right-click the program's file name or shortcut.
Click Properties, Advanced, click Run with different credentials, and then click OK.
Start the program. When you receive a prompt, enter an administrative user ID and password.
Next, identify the hardware devices and obtain the latest driver/bios updates.
A. Using the RIGHT mouse button, click the MY COMPUTER icon
B. Select PROPERTIES
C. Select HARDWARE
D. Select DEVICE MANAGER
E. Click the "+" sign beside DISPLAY (DISPLAY ADAPTORS). The "+" sign will reappear as a "-" sign. The name and/or
model of the video card (adapter) will be listed the first line below DISPLAY (DISPLAY ADAPTORS). You should contact
the system manufacturer for support to determine the availability of product updates. Another option is to contact the
hardware manufacturer for support and determine availability of product updates and/or settings requirements.
F. Click the "+" sign beside SOUND, VIDEO, GAME CONTROLLERS. The "+" sign will reappear as a "-" sign. The name and/or
model of the sound card will be listed the first line below SOUND, VIDEO, GAME CONTROLLERS. Contact the system
manufacturer for support to determine the availability of product updates. Another option is to contact the hardware
manufacturer for support and determine availability of product updates and/or settings requirements.
RAM (System memory)
Windows XP uses at least 64 megabytes of RAM for the operating system (and 128 is recommended). For general gaming
purposes this means that if the game requires 32 megabytes of system memory (RAM), the best performance will be
obtained on a system with 96(+) megabytes of system memory. Sierra will not require this amount for support, but we
will recommend additional memory for increased performance. In addition, if you have chosen to manually set Virtual
Memory, it is highly recommended that the Virtual Memory be set to a minimum/maximum of twice the amount of system
memory (RAM).
Application Priority
1. Must turn off fast user switching in windows XP so that you can log in as ADMINISTRATOR...it is not enough to login
with a user that is in admin group
2. Browse CD...go to support/setup...right-click setup...choose properties...run in compatibility mode as
win2k...double-click setup icon
Windows XP permits the user (Network Administrator) to adjust the computer to authorize the operating system to extend
greater performance to either current APPLICATIONS or BACKGROUND SERVICES. For gaming purposes, we suggest setting
this option to APPLICATIONS. To do this:
A. Using the RIGHT mouse button, click the MY COMPUTER icon
B. Select PROPERTIES
C. Select ADVANCED
D. Select PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
E. Select "Give Applications More Performance"
Make sure you are running in 16-bit (high) color.
-Click on the Windows START button and choose SETTINGS
-Choose CONTROL PANEL and double click on the DISPLAY icon.
-From the Display Properties, click on the SETTINGS Tab
-Click on the Arrow next to Color Palette and select HIGH COLOR 16-bit
-Click on the APPLY button in the bottom right.
-Click on OK and restart the computer if prompted to.
-Try the program.
Determine whether any programs running in the background are interfering with the program.
- Click START
- Select RUN
- Type in "MSCONFIG" in the command line,
- Click OKAY
- Click the STARTUP Tab
- Note down which applications are checked
- Click the GENERAL Tab
- Put the dot in Selective Startup
- Uncheck Load Startup Items
- Click Okay & restart your computer
- Try the program
***To restore your system
Repeat the above steps, only put the dot back in normal startup. Then go to the startup tab & confirm that all the
applications that were initially checked are enabled now as well.
Try Running the program in either win9x or win2000 emulation.
To do this, locate the actual file executable. (For example, for counter-strike: c:\sierra\counter-strike\cstrike.exe
is the executable.) Once located:
- Right-click on it & select properties
- Select the COMPATABILITY Tab
- Put the check in "Run this program in compatibility mode for"
- From the pull down menu, select windows 98
- Click APPLY
- Click OK
- Try running the program now
***If unsuccessful, consider trying it w/ Windows ME or Windows 2000 selected for the compatibility.
Vivendi Universal Games offer a full 90-day satisfaction guarantee.
If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, you may exchange it for a different program of equal or lesser
value or a full refund. Just send us the program with a photocopy of your dated receipt within 90 days of purchase.
Attach the photocopy of your receipt to a note containing your name, address, and phone number. On the note, specify
which program you wish to exchange for or specify that you want a refund.
Please send your complete packaged product via a traceable method such as Priority Mail, UPS, or Fed Ex to:
Vivendi Universal Games
Attn: Refunds / Exchanges
4247 S Minnewawa Ave.
Fresno, CA 93725-9345
Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for your refund to arrive.
support. What follows is most likely familiar to many of you.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is an all-too-familiar story of one man's battle with Sierra Studios/Vivendi Universal Games' tech support, or
lack thereof. The problem is commonplace: Yet another facet of the bug-ridden Half-Life engine shows its ugly face,
and Sierra simply doesn't give a shit.
The problem: As many have experienced, Half-Life does dumb things when forced to run at a non-standard refresh rate,
in both Windows 2000 (officially supported by Sierra) and Windows XP (officially not supported by Sierra). In this
case, the game runs unplayable in a 640x480 window in the top left corner of the screen, even when not being forced to
run at a given refresh rate. This is presumably the default rendering window size when the dysfunctional
mode-switching routines don't know what they're dealing with. The problem has been encountered with 4 different
motherboards, each with a fresh operating system install, and 3 different graphics cards.
I have now contacted Sierra with 3 separate support requests relating to this problem, all of which have been brushed
off on the basis of the given operating system being unsupported, including Windows 2000, which their product page
explicitly says IS supported. Below is their canned response. Note the problem status, "solved".
-----------------------------------------------------------
Incident ID Date Created Last Updated Status
100201726 10/1/2003 8:12:33 PM 10/6/2003 7:53:39 AM Solved
Summary
This problem has been unresolved for a -VERY- long time now. HalfLife -WILL NOT...
Question & Answer
Your Question(s):
Customer Replied On: 10/3/2003 at 7:01:45 PM
Woops, I replied before at the top of the e-mail.
Ok, seriously, don't send me recommendations about motherboard drivers and
system memory etc. The only relevant drivers are video card ones, plus
DirectX. I stated
how much memory I have when I submitted my request (512MB). The game is
being run w/ full administrative rights. This is an ongoing issue with
Win2k/XP, and although the HL retail distribution package I have is not
listed on your website as supporting Windows 2000 (on which this problem
also occurs) HalfLife Platinum Pack does, and the HL version included with
it, once patched with the latest updates, is identical to what I am
currently using.
I've had this happen on multiple machines with video hardware including an
nVidia Geforce2 MX and my present Radeon 8500LE. Generally, it happens
reliably when 60Hz display modes are not available to the game at all. In
this case, however, and also on one of my Windows 2000 machines I've tried
it on (I no longer have that motherboard, and the video card is on a shelf
somewhere, so that system doesn't really exist at the moment) 60Hz display
modes ARE available, and the game always works as it should when the desktop
refresh rate is set to 60Hz, which really should have no bearing on the
ability of a game to switch to a desired display mode and subsequently set
the -CORRECT- size of rendering window for that display mode (this is where
it goes awry). It should also be noted that I can force it to work -EVERY
TIME-, regardless of desktop refresh rate, by setting HL to Direct3D, going
at least as far as the console so the game has switched display modes, then
going and changing it back to OpenGL which, as you can imagine, is a huge
hassle when I'm trying a number of servers and attempting to coordinate
meeting on one of them with some friends... any ideas? The incorrectly set
rendering window size still leads me to believe that this is 100% the game's
fault...
-Paul
>
Customer Replied On: 10/3/2003 at 7:01:12 PM
>
>
Customer Submitted Question On: 10/01/2003 8:12PM
This problem has been unresolved for a -VERY- long time now. HalfLife -WILL NOT- load properly 90% of the time on my
system when my desktop refresh rate is set to anything other than 60Hz and I am using OpenGL. When you are using
DirectDraw w/ OpenGL, desktop refresh rate has -NOTHING- to do with the video mode and renderer window size that your
application uses in fullscreen. There is apparently some bug in the routines used to select renderer window size, and
they default to 640x480 even when running in a higher screen resolution when my desktop is set to anything other than
60Hz. -NO- other games out of several dozen that I own do this. NOT ONE. All I ever get back by e-mailing Sierra
support is pre-prepared garbage asking me to try reinstalling this and that and then to send in msinfo32 and dxdiag
output. This is more than obviously a problem with your game, and not even that complex to fix as it is not a problem
with the geometry/rendering engine AT ALL, it is simply a flaw in the display initialization routines. I could cite
another half-dozen examples of horrific coding in HL, so I don't expect this to be brushed off as a rare occurrence.
Bear in mind that your response to this message will be posted on multiple public message boards. I'm sick of shoddy,
non-responsive support and the attitude that Sierra corp seems to have that individual customers mean NOTHING. Good
day.
Our Response(s):
Solution Added On 10/03/2003 8:09AM
This program predates the release of Windows XP by quite some time. It has never been tested with this version of
Windows, and consequently, it is unsupported. With that in mind, try the following steps to see if they will correct
your problem:
First and foremost, insure the computer has the latest critical updates available for the operating system. To do
this:
A. Establish connection to the Internet.
Go to START and select WINDOWS UPDATE. Windows Update will automatically connect to the Microsoft Web site and provide
a list of updates available for download. If any difficulties are encountered with the Windows Update function, here
is the link to the latest critical update:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select PRODUCT UPDATES
Grant Administrative access to individual programs by using the following steps:
Right-click the program's file name or shortcut.
Click Properties, Advanced, click Run with different credentials, and then click OK.
Start the program. When you receive a prompt, enter an administrative user ID and password.
Next, identify the hardware devices and obtain the latest driver/bios updates.
A. Using the RIGHT mouse button, click the MY COMPUTER icon
B. Select PROPERTIES
C. Select HARDWARE
D. Select DEVICE MANAGER
E. Click the "+" sign beside DISPLAY (DISPLAY ADAPTORS). The "+" sign will reappear as a "-" sign. The name and/or
model of the video card (adapter) will be listed the first line below DISPLAY (DISPLAY ADAPTORS). You should contact
the system manufacturer for support to determine the availability of product updates. Another option is to contact the
hardware manufacturer for support and determine availability of product updates and/or settings requirements.
F. Click the "+" sign beside SOUND, VIDEO, GAME CONTROLLERS. The "+" sign will reappear as a "-" sign. The name and/or
model of the sound card will be listed the first line below SOUND, VIDEO, GAME CONTROLLERS. Contact the system
manufacturer for support to determine the availability of product updates. Another option is to contact the hardware
manufacturer for support and determine availability of product updates and/or settings requirements.
RAM (System memory)
Windows XP uses at least 64 megabytes of RAM for the operating system (and 128 is recommended). For general gaming
purposes this means that if the game requires 32 megabytes of system memory (RAM), the best performance will be
obtained on a system with 96(+) megabytes of system memory. Sierra will not require this amount for support, but we
will recommend additional memory for increased performance. In addition, if you have chosen to manually set Virtual
Memory, it is highly recommended that the Virtual Memory be set to a minimum/maximum of twice the amount of system
memory (RAM).
Application Priority
1. Must turn off fast user switching in windows XP so that you can log in as ADMINISTRATOR...it is not enough to login
with a user that is in admin group
2. Browse CD...go to support/setup...right-click setup...choose properties...run in compatibility mode as
win2k...double-click setup icon
Windows XP permits the user (Network Administrator) to adjust the computer to authorize the operating system to extend
greater performance to either current APPLICATIONS or BACKGROUND SERVICES. For gaming purposes, we suggest setting
this option to APPLICATIONS. To do this:
A. Using the RIGHT mouse button, click the MY COMPUTER icon
B. Select PROPERTIES
C. Select ADVANCED
D. Select PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
E. Select "Give Applications More Performance"
Make sure you are running in 16-bit (high) color.
-Click on the Windows START button and choose SETTINGS
-Choose CONTROL PANEL and double click on the DISPLAY icon.
-From the Display Properties, click on the SETTINGS Tab
-Click on the Arrow next to Color Palette and select HIGH COLOR 16-bit
-Click on the APPLY button in the bottom right.
-Click on OK and restart the computer if prompted to.
-Try the program.
Determine whether any programs running in the background are interfering with the program.
- Click START
- Select RUN
- Type in "MSCONFIG" in the command line,
- Click OKAY
- Click the STARTUP Tab
- Note down which applications are checked
- Click the GENERAL Tab
- Put the dot in Selective Startup
- Uncheck Load Startup Items
- Click Okay & restart your computer
- Try the program
***To restore your system
Repeat the above steps, only put the dot back in normal startup. Then go to the startup tab & confirm that all the
applications that were initially checked are enabled now as well.
Try Running the program in either win9x or win2000 emulation.
To do this, locate the actual file executable. (For example, for counter-strike: c:\sierra\counter-strike\cstrike.exe
is the executable.) Once located:
- Right-click on it & select properties
- Select the COMPATABILITY Tab
- Put the check in "Run this program in compatibility mode for"
- From the pull down menu, select windows 98
- Click APPLY
- Click OK
- Try running the program now
***If unsuccessful, consider trying it w/ Windows ME or Windows 2000 selected for the compatibility.
Vivendi Universal Games offer a full 90-day satisfaction guarantee.
If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, you may exchange it for a different program of equal or lesser
value or a full refund. Just send us the program with a photocopy of your dated receipt within 90 days of purchase.
Attach the photocopy of your receipt to a note containing your name, address, and phone number. On the note, specify
which program you wish to exchange for or specify that you want a refund.
Please send your complete packaged product via a traceable method such as Priority Mail, UPS, or Fed Ex to:
Vivendi Universal Games
Attn: Refunds / Exchanges
4247 S Minnewawa Ave.
Fresno, CA 93725-9345
Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for your refund to arrive.
