Does Half Life 2 still cause motion sickness?

[JPB]

Originally posted by: Rottie
I get headache while playing HL2 but I don't know what FOV means. I wasted my money on HL2 because I doubt I will be able to finish it but I might want to try again because I have switched to LCD monitor and see how I feel....

FOV = Field Of View

 

[digiram]

You're suffering from an illness called NoobFPS syndrome. You gotta just play through it, and get used to it.

 

[HannibalX]

I never knew so many people got sick playing video games. For me, video games do not look or feel real enough to trick my brain. I have never experienced motion sickness while playing a video game. I understand that it is happening to people, I just don't understand why. As for the "viewing" angle theory - well it's a game, a 2D image that appears to be 3D, but your monitor is flat (well most are now days). The viewing angle shouldn't matter one bit because it's not a "real" view. I don't know how else to explain that line of thinking. Maybe I am wrong, who knows.

You guys getting sick shouldn't play Airborne Assault; you might faint on the parachute ride down.

I really think this is a perception problem. How many people get sick playing space combat games like X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter? Or other flight simulator games? In HL2 if there were no textures on the walls, no enemies, no perceived danger I bet you wouldn't get sick.

 

[RandomFool]

When I was a kid I used to get horribly sick just riding around in a car. I remember on long trips I used to have to take a bad with me just in case. I don't get motion sick too often anymore but I suppose I'm naturally prone to it.

HL2 is the only game I've played that made me sick. CS:S, DOD:S, TF2 and every other FPS don't affect me at all. Granted I haven't played any non-Valve FPS games since HL2 came out...

 

[Ika]

Playing HL2 is the only time I've ever gotten motion sickness. Ever. It may have been the combination of 90º FOV and a 5:4 monitor that made me really messed up. I couldn't play for more than maybe half an hour before I had to go lie down. It wasn't the vehicular sequences, either - mostly it was just walking around that made me dizzy.

I'd assume that playing on a widescreen monitor now would be much easier.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
I never knew so many people got sick playing video games. For me, video games do not look or feel real enough to trick my brain. I have never experienced motion sickness while playing a video game. I understand that it is happening to people, I just don't understand why. As for the "viewing" angle theory - well it's a game, a 2D image that appears to be 3D, but your monitor is flat (well most are now days). The viewing angle shouldn't matter one bit because it's not a "real" view. I don't know how else to explain that line of thinking. Maybe I am wrong, who knows.

You guys getting sick shouldn't play Airborne Assault; you might faint on the parachute ride down.

I really think this is a perception problem. How many people get sick playing space combat games like X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter? Or other flight simulator games? In HL2 if there were no textures on the walls, no enemies, no perceived danger I bet you wouldn't get sick.

It makes sense that FOV would affect it, because it controls how your brain percieves the game world and how you're moving within it.

 

[clickynext]

Originally posted by: digiram
You're suffering from an illness called NoobFPS syndrome. You gotta just play through it, and get used to it.

Haha, I don't think you'll find much of that on this forum, considering how many fps fans there are.

This game is the only one that I can ever remember giving me this problem. I've played plenty of FPS for hours on end like HL1, UT, BF, Quake, Doom3, CS:S and I played CS regularly for pretty much all my high school years. And I play lots of racing games and flight sim sort of things like X-Wing Alliance, Freelancer, various arcade games, you name it.

Pretty incredible that Valve's managed to create the only game I know to cause motion sickness. Maybe they can incorporate it in their marketing. "So realistic, you'll throw up playing!"

 

[clickynext]

Originally posted by: Aflac
Playing HL2 is the only time I've ever gotten motion sickness. Ever. It may have been the combination of 90º FOV and a 5:4 monitor that made me really messed up. I couldn't play for more than maybe half an hour before I had to go lie down. It wasn't the vehicular sequences, either - mostly it was just walking around that made me dizzy.

I'd assume that playing on a widescreen monitor now would be much easier.

It certainly didn't make it any better for me. Previously I played on a 4:3, 15" LCD. Now I'm playing on a 16:10, 20" LCD and still got sick.

 

[mrblotto]

I can remember getting real dizzy on the 'under the bridge' section of HL2, and feeling kinda queasy with the 'climb the cliff' section on Call of Juarez.......had to take a little break after those!

 

[AmberClad]

I suffer from this problem, both in HL2 and in Oblivion with the default FOVs, so I have to use the console FOV tweak (90-110 degrees work best for me). Other games, like the Unreal games, I can play for endless hours at the default FOV without any trace of motion sickness.

If you look in the Oblivion config file, the default is the same nausea-inducing 75 degrees that HL2 uses.

Just, a theory, but I think it has a similar effect to wearing glasses with an overly strong prescription. I use contacts, so I'm not sure if I'm more susceptible to FOV issues due to my eye problems.

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: clickynext
I got HL2 the day it came out, but never finished it. The other day I decided to break it out again and finally get to the end, but I only played about half an hour before I remembered why I stopped in the first place. Baaad bad motion sickness; I ended up feeling crappy for the rest of the night.

So I was wondering if they fixed that in ep1 and 2, and whether there's an official fix now for the original. I remember there being something about changing the fov, but is that a complete fix?

Thanks

You might be able to get yourself use to the motion sickness by playing through it. I play a lot of FPS's and halo 3 was the first one that ever made me motion sick, but after playing it for awhile I am fine.

 

[Elcs]

I have played both HL2 and Stalker on my 17" @ 1280x1024 and my 42" HDTV at 1024*768 and 1366x768 and have suffered motion sickness. Stalker is rather mild and I can play for generally a few hours before the effects kick in.

Half Life 2 crippled me. I had a wonderful hour or so break in. Came back to it and bam, 5-10 minutes and I was queasy. Unsettled me terribly.

I used to play Quake 1, 2 and 3 without problems on multiplayer. Renegade, Red Faction, HL1 and UT/UT2003 are just a few more games that provided me with no discomfort.

As the NHS is free and I am due for a checkup, I may enquire about it with my GP. Perhaps he can provide a solution.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Talk about immersion.

I've never experienced motion sickness with games, although my dad does seem to get dizzy when I have to beat a boss for him in Doom 3 - I tend to move the screen around a bit more than he does to figure out what's going on.

 

[clickynext]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
Talk about immersion.

I've never experienced motion sickness with games, although my dad does seem to get dizzy when I have to beat a boss for him in Doom 3 - I tend to move the screen around a bit more than he does to figure out what's going on.

That's an interesting point. I've heard of people getting dizzy watching other people play games, but I have a feeling that this is a little similar to how people get dizzy sitting in a car that someone else is driving. But it's almost unheard of for someone to get motion sickness in the drivers' seat. When you're playing a game you're in control of the movements, so it might point to something other than in-game movement being the main cause of the dizziness.

 

[Billyzeke]

Originally posted by: clickynext
I got HL2 the day it came out, but never finished it. The other day I decided to break it out again and finally get to the end, but I only played about half an hour before I remembered why I stopped in the first place. Baaad bad motion sickness; I ended up feeling crappy for the rest of the night.

So I was wondering if they fixed that in ep1 and 2, and whether there's an official fix now for the original. I remember there being something about changing the fov, but is that a complete fix?

Thanks

HL2 made me extremely motion sick especially the fanboat section.
Episode 1 didnt bother me at all. I havent played Episode 2 (stupid orange box)

I have played nearly every FPS in existence and HL2 is the only one that ever made me sick, so I definitely blame the games FOV or something. Like I said in an earlier post I had to take Dramamine to get through it.

 

[clickynext]

Man, you must have really loved the game to take a drug just to play it.

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: clickynext
Man, you must have really loved the game to take a drug just to play it.

I would do it...

 

[IEC]

I've had some people get sick watching me play any of the UT games or even Tribes: Vengeance...

Fast movement, air-dodging and flying around? Fun stuff.

 

[Billyzeke]

Originally posted by: clickynext
Man, you must have really loved the game to take a drug just to play it.

Small price to pay to save the citizens of city 17 from the evil clutches of the combine LOL.

Actually Im just to cheap to let nausea and headache keep me from finishing a game I paid 50 bucks for. Of course if it had been a piece of crap I probably would have tossed it.