Halo - is it meant to look like crap on the PC?

[Bill L]

Hi all

Not sure if this is an ATI issue but I'm quite disappointed with the
graphical quality of Halo. Specifically I've seen screen shots of a crisp
looking ammo counter on various websites - I just get a blurred mess where
it's *just* possible to see the figures on the assault rifle (if I squint
real hard that is).

Also some of the lighting affects look like they're rendered in SW (e.g.
weapon firing effects are quite blurred/blocky).

I've turned off AA and AF (well switched 'em to application preference) but
I've yet to experience the crisp graphics talked about on some game sites.

I'm running at 1024 x 768 with v-sync off and the refresh rate set to 85
Hz - PC specs follow.

Sys spec/config
AMD XP1700+ TB(B) @ 2.1 GHz (10.5 x 200 1.55v)
Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro (Using on-board audio & NIC)
OCZ 512 MB DIMM PC3200
Sapphire 9700 (non-pro) (128MB)

GlobalWin 802 ATX Midi Case
Antec TruePower 330 Watt PSU

Primary IDE Channel
1 x 120 GB Maxtor ATA133 (Master)
1 x 40 GB IBM ATA66 (slave)

Secondary IDE Channel
Liteon 40x12x48x CDRW (Master)
Liteon 16x DVD (Slave)

OtherHW
HP 940C USB Printer
Cannon LiDE30 USB Scanner
Belkin 7 Port USB HUB
Hauppauge WinTV PCI

OS: WinXP Pro SP1

TIA

BillL

 

[JAD]

see 'Halo problems' above

 

[kalev-]

I played though this-- had a blast..

640-480.. 75Hz.. Vsync on
AA dont mean hell of beans in this game due to "the design". it doesnt
apply...
Specs:
P4 3GHz Rad9800 pro ..bla.bla..

jk

 

[BabyJ]

Had the same issue, installed the patch, all was well.

 

[DaveL]

Why did you play it in 640x480? You have a $400 dollar card. I would
demand better.

Dave

 

[Jamie_Manic]

Hi all

Not sure if this is an ATI issue but I'm quite disappointed with the
graphical quality of Halo. Specifically I've seen screen shots of a crisp
looking ammo counter on various websites

I've seen a lot of very nice looking screens on magazines... I thinks they
have put it up to 1600x1200 for the shots, then back to 800x600 to actually
play

 

[zlo]

Yeah if you see excellent looking shots of Halo on PC, they are full of
crap, and i would bet they aren't able to play it looking like that.

Halo doesn't even work on my PC. It freezes up every time.. I reinstalled it
several times. My system is a very clean system, and drivers are always up
to date. The demo doesn't work without freezing up either.. And, i have
never had any other problems with anything else, so if it's something that
is conflicting with the game, then THEY need to find the problem, and
provide a patch. Or maybe it's ATI drivers causing it? The new patch did
nothing for me.

 

[Andrew]

Halo doesn't even work on my PC. It freezes up every time.. I reinstalled it
several times. My system is a very clean system, and drivers are always up
to date. The demo doesn't work without freezing up either.. And, i have
never had any other problems with anything else, so if it's something that
is conflicting with the game, then THEY need to find the problem, and
provide a patch. Or maybe it's ATI drivers causing it? The new patch did
nothing for me.

The demo is working fine for me @ 1280x1024 with all the eye candy on.
XP2500+/9700 Pro with Cat 3.7's.

 

[Strontium]

It's a 2yr old game. Duh.

-
zlo stood up at show-n-tell, in EG7kb.581228$Oz4.559820@rwcrnsc54, and said:

 

[We Live For The One We Die For The One]

Just played them Demo and AHHH.

Boring uninteresting crap ?

Combat is shit.

Vehicals are ok.

Can you tell the troops what to do ???

They help when its scripted but other times ?

Would like a few guys to follow me and give me a hand, and be
different to other FPS games ?

 

[James smyth]

Just played them Demo and AHHH.

Boring uninteresting crap ?

It is very repetitive.

Combat is shit.

No different to any other FPS.

Vehicals are ok.

You spend very little time with the vehicles, they're there to break up the
repetitive gameplay.

Can you tell the troops what to do ???
No.

They help when its scripted but other times ?

They disappear.

 

[JR]

I hear much of the same thing about this game but I want to form my own
opinion but I just can't seem to get the damn game to start up on my system.
I have a Radeon 9700 Pro and no matter which drivers, Omega or ATI I use I
still get the same error, "...can't initialize Direct3D, run DXDIAG and make
sure Hardware acceleration is enabled..." yaddy yaddy yadda, anyone else
experiencing this? I have a fast system and all my other games run fine,
TIA...

JR

Specs:
Asus A7N8X-D w/1007 Uber BIOS
1024M Corsair XMS3200LLPT
ATI CAT 3.7
Dual WD Raptors in RAID-0

 

[Andrew]

I hear much of the same thing about this game but I want to form my own
opinion but I just can't seem to get the damn game to start up on my system.
I have a Radeon 9700 Pro and no matter which drivers, Omega or ATI I use I
still get the same error, "...can't initialize Direct3D, run DXDIAG and make
sure Hardware acceleration is enabled..." yaddy yaddy yadda, anyone else
experiencing this? I have a fast system and all my other games run fine,
TIA...

Add the switch "-vidmode1024,768,100" (replacing the numbers as
approriate) to the shortcut command.

 

[JR]

Thanks Andrew that did the trick! I'm now running in 1600x1200 @75Hz I'm
still a bit curious why it's necessary to add a switch but in any event hey
I'm happy but my initial impression is I'm not that impressed with the game
but I'll fool with it some more and give a better opinion of it later on...

JR