Intel 945gm and Orange Box- SOLVED

[ajay42]

Well... sort of.

It takes a bit of fidgeting in your config and launch options but you can get Team Fortress 2 and Portal to run on the infamous Intel 945gm integrated graphics chip (with GMA 950.)

[before trying this, please do standard gaming setup type things... make sure no conflicting software is running and that you arent running unneccesary prorgams , update drivers, etc. For reference I am running on an Intel Centrino Duo w/2GB RAM]

For Portal, all you need to do is add "-dxlevel 90 +mat_forcehardwaresync 0 -autoconfig" to the launch properties.

believe it or not, forcing dx9 mode will result in the game actually running. Your framerate won't always be amazing and you will often have a bizarre 'overexposed' effect on many textures but the game WILL PLAY. And for people struggling with this craptastic chip, thatll probably be enough.

For Team Fortress 2, it's a bit more complicated. First, put "-dxlevel 90 +mat_forcehardwaresync 0 " in your launch properties.

Second, go find your TF2 config file and replace it with this (it's a combination of the standard config file and "Chucky's" FPS TF2 config, WITHOUT the forced dx81 mode [THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, DO NOT FORCE DX81]):

EDIT:*****************PLEASE SEE PAGE 3 for Updated Config, I'll keep this one up for reference since its still the basic setup************************

unbindall
bind "0" "slot10"
bind "1" "slot1"
bind "2" "slot2"
bind "3" "slot3"
bind "4" "slot4"
bind "5" "slot5"
bind "6" "slot6"
bind "7" "slot7"
bind "8" "slot8"
bind "9" "slot9"
bind "a" "+moveleft"
bind "b" "lastdisguise"
bind "c" "voice_menu_3"
bind "d" "+moveright"
bind "e" "voicemenu 0 0"
bind "g" "taunt"
bind "i" "showmapinfo"
bind "l" "dropitem"
bind "q" "lastinv"
bind "r" "+reload"
bind "s" "+back"
bind "t" "impulse 201"
bind "u" "messagemode2"
bind "v" "+voicerecord"
bind "w" "+forward"
bind "x" "voice_menu_2"
bind "y" "messagemode"
bind "z" "voice_menu_1"
bind "[" "invprev"
bind "]" "invnext"
bind "'" "+moveup"
bind "`" "toggleconsole"
bind "," "changeclass"
bind "." "changeteam"
bind "/" "+movedown"
bind "ENTER" "+attack"
bind "SPACE" "+jump"
bind "TAB" "+showscores"
bind "ESCAPE" "cancelselect"
bind "INS" "+klook"
bind "END" "centerview"
bind "PGUP" "+lookup"
bind "PGDN" "+lookdown"
bind "PAUSE" "pause"
bind "ALT" "+strafe"
bind "CTRL" "+duck"
bind "UPARROW" "+forward"
bind "LEFTARROW" "+left"
bind "DOWNARROW" "+back"
bind "RIGHTARROW" "+right"
bind "F3" "askconnect_accept"
bind "F5" "screenshot"
bind "F10" "quit prompt"
bind "MOUSE1" "+attack"
bind "MOUSE2" "+attack2"
bind "MWHEELUP" "invprev"
bind "MWHEELDOWN" "invnext"

//Actual Video Settings
mat_antialias 0
mat_forceaniso 0
mat_hdr_enabled 0
mat_hdr_level 0
mat_picmip 2
mat_trilinear 0
mat_vsync 0
r_rootlod 2
mat_max_worldmesh_vertices 1024
mat_monitorgamma "1.6" //Ingame Gamma Settings

//FPS Settings
fps_max 0 //Setting to 0 sets no max limit
cl_detaildist "0"
cl_detailfade "0"
cl_drawmonitors "0"
cl_ejectbrass "0"
cl_forcepreload "1"
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck "1"
cl_lagcompensation "1"
cl_downloadfilter "nosounds"
cl_ejectbrass "0"
cl_forcepreload 1
cl_phys_props_enable "0"
cl_phys_props_max "0"
cl_show_splashes "0"
cl_smoothtime "0.01"
cl_smooth 1
commentary 0
mat_aaquality "0"
mat_autoexposure_max "0"
mat_autoexposure_min "0"
mat_bloomscale "0"
mat_bufferprimitives "0"
mat_bumpmap "0"
mat_clipz "1"
mat_compressedtextures "1"
mat_diffuse "1"
mat_disable_bloom "1"
mat_disable_fancy_blending "1"
mat_disable_lightwarp "1"
mat_disable_ps_patch "1"
mat_envmapsize "0"
mat_excludetextures "1"
mat_envmaptgasize "0"
mat_fastspecular "1"
mat_filterlightmaps "1"
mat_filtertextures "1"
mat_forceaniso "0"
mat_forcehardwaresync "0"
mat_forcemanagedtextureintohardware "0"
mat_framebuffercopyoverlaysize "0"
mat_hdr_enabled "0"
mat_hdr_level "0"
mat_hdr_manual_tonemap_rate "0"
mat_mipmaptextures "0"
mat_lightmap_pfms "0"
mat_maxframelatency "0"
mat_max_worldmesh_vertices "0"
mat_parallaxmap "0"
mat_picmip "2"
mat_queue_mode "-1"
mat_reducefillrate "1"
mat_shadowstate "0"
mat_show_ab_hdr "0"
mat_showlightmappage "-1"
mat_specular "0"
mat_texture_limit "-1"
mat_trilinear "0"
mat_use_compressed_hdr_textures "1"
mat_showenvmapmask "0"
mat_showlowresimage "0"
mat_showmaterials "0"
mat_showmaterialsverbose "0"
mat_supportflashlight "0"
mat_wateroverlaysize "0"
mat_motion_blur_enabled "0"
mat_motion_blur_percent_of_screen_max "0"
mat_softwarelighting "0"
mp_decals "0"
muzzleflash_light "0"
net_maxfragments "1280"
net_maxfragments "1280"
net_showevents "0"
npc_height_adjust "1"
props_break_max_pieces "0"
props_break_max_pieces_perframe "0"
r_3dnow "1"
r_3dsky "0"
r_PhysPropStaticLighting "0"
r_WaterDrawReflection "0"
r_WaterDrawRefraction "0"
r_ambientboost "0"
r_cheapwaterend "1"
r_cheapwaterstart "1"
r_decal_cullsize "0"
r_decals "0"
r_dopixelvisibility "0"
r_drawbatchdecals "0"
r_drawflecks "0"
r_drawmodeldecals "0"
r_drawmodelstatsoverlaymax "1.5"
r_drawmodelstatsoverlaymin "0.01"
r_drawspecificstaticprop "0"
r_dynamic "0"
r_eyeglintlodpixels "0"
r_eyemove "0"
r_eyes "0"
r_eyeshift_x "0"
r_eyeshift_y "0"
r_eyeshift_z "0"
r_eyesize "0"
r_fastzreject "0"
r_flashlightrendermodels "0"
r_unloadlightmaps "1"
r_flashlightrenderworld "0"
r_flex "0"
r_forcewaterleaf "0"
r_lightaverage "0"
r_lod "2"
r_staticprop_lod "4"
r_maxdlights "0"
r_maxmodeldecal "0"
r_maxnewsamples "0"
r_maxsampledist "0"
r_minnewsamples "0"
r_mmx "1"
r_norefresh "0"
r_occlusion "0"
r_renderoverlayfragment "0"
r_queued_decals "1"
r_rootlod "2"
r_ropetranslucent "0"
r_shadowmaxrendered "32"
r_shadowrendertotexture "1"
r_shadows "0"
r_spray_lifetime "0.1"
r_sse "1"
r_sse2 "1"
r_teeth "0"
r_staticpropinfo "0"
r_updaterefracttexture "0"
r_updaterefracttexture "0"
r_visualizeproplightcaching "1"
r_waterdrawreflection "0"
r_waterforceexpensive "0"
r_waterforcereflectentities"0"
rope_averagelight "0"
rope_collide "0"
rope_shake "0"
rope_smooth "0"
rope_smooth_enlarge "0"
rope_smooth_maxalpha "0"
rope_smooth_maxalphawidth "0"
rope_smooth_minalpha "0"
rope_smooth_minwidth "0"
rope_subdiv "0"
rope_wind_dist "0"

//Blood settings
violence_ablood 1
violence_agibs 1
violence_hblood 1
violence_hgibs 1

echo FPS Config Loaded!

You will need to put this in the config before you play EACH TIME unless you create an autoexec to do it for you.

The game will run under these settings and won't even look so terrible. You'll get the same 'overexposed' effect on occasion but its a lot better than in the Portal Fix. Some of the maps with wide open expanses will run MUCH crappier than the more closed ones (like 2Fort.) But it is absolutely playable ( I just finished a very satisfying round with plenty of kills and dominations, despite playing on this machine.)

IMPORTANT: If you want to change your video options to turn on widescreen or change textures or what not (and you can, I run sometimes in full high res widescreen under these settings) you must do so from in game. If you do so before hand, the game will crash. However, AFTER doing so, you will need to disconnect and reconnect (to any server.) Why this works, I have no idea. But you'll have to do it as once you change the video settings in game, you'll get a strange "lights out" world, that is unplayable. However, once you connect to any other server, you'll be golden under the settings you wanted.

I'm sure this could all take further tweaking and refining to get as much possible performance and graphics quality out of it, but this should get these previously unavailable games up and running.

Good luck!

Edit: btw... if anyone from Valve reads this: I don't know if you care to support this chipset or not (although you're own systems test says its supported...) but my very very limited understanding of how to code for games seems to tell me that if someone was using a setup like I describe above and you guys provided a few 'light's missing' textures it could probably open up the game to be played at very close to original quality for a HUGE number of users.

EDIT*************************: Check page 3 for InterNot's more elegant solutions! They haven't done much on my system but I think there is a lot of promise there.

[ester25]

Hm, this needs to be added somewhere where people would notice it and it wont disappear in hundreds of "help me" threads

[ajay42]

thanks, i certainly thought it might be helpful to some people!
also, if anyone else has tried these fixes and has had negative or positive results that might be useful to know as well (and I certainly wouldnt mind finding out if people discover tweaks on it as well...)

[nscxp2005]

will these settings work for episode 2 aswell?

Also the new config, is that only for TF2?

[ajay42]

the new config is only for TF2. Portal should run (with the graphical anomalies) without changing the config. I'm gonna play around when I get some time and see what can be done in the Portal config. I'm also still working on Episode 2 (got sidelined on that since I am still playing through Episode 1.) I had it almost running though before I decided to temporarily drop it.

[Busmuiz]

Very handy if it works. Great job.

[nscxp2005]

cheers ajay42. Does episode 2 work with the same command line as portal? if not I hop you can get in working soon.

Thank you for your time

NSCXP2005

[raidensnake]

I can confirm myself that "-dxlevel 90 +mat_forcehardwaresync 0 -autoconfig"
also works on the Half-Life 2 games including episodes 1 & 2 but be warned the game framerates might be slow ok? I have an ECS/Uniwill L51II Laptop that has the same graphics card.

[ajay42]

I actually had Episode 1 up and running under the same settings as normal Half-Life 2 (that is using DX81.) I can't go and check right this second, but I'll try and come back later this evening to post my settings/config for those.

(the benefit of doing it in dx81 is dramatically improved framerate and no graphical anomalies for episode 1 and the original game. If I could get DX81 working for the other games, I would in a heart beat. I've played both in dx9 on my machine and in dx81 on a friend's and the performance/appearance of non-gimped dx81 vs shoddy dx9 is pretty significant.)

Edit: Yeah, my episode 1 settings are just the basic "+mat_forcehardwaresync 0 +snd_async_prefetch_priority 1" that a lot of people use to get Half-Life 2 running in general. in the settings it runs at dx81. I'll try and see what running it under forced dx9 works out as.


i still haven't reinstalled episode 2, how did it look under forced dx9?

thank you so much. i'm gonna try this out right away and see if it works.
do you copy and paste that stuff into the config file?

[nscxp2005]

Hi mate, it will work great, I've tried it, its fantastic.

Ajay, in portal is there any way of fixing the blinding white walls? other than that the game works fantastic!!!!

Got episode 2 to work, at the beginning you can't tell if there is water were you got to meet aylx until you drop into it, any way of fixing this?

Thanks again

[ajay42]

yeah, you copy and paste it into the config before launching the game. you will need to do so EACH TIME unless you make a program to do it for you.

I still havent dont the ep2 setup. Did you find the game playable after the intro, or are the graphical anomalies too much to bear?

[fuolox]

Originally Posted by ajay42

yeah, you copy and paste it into the config before launching the game. you will need to do so EACH TIME unless you make a program to do it for you.

I still havent dont the ep2 setup. Did you find the game playable after the intro, or are the graphical anomalies too much to bear?

Just make the config read-only after putting it on. (Rightclick -> Properties -> Check 'Read Only' box)

[ajay42]

well damn. thats pretty clever... kinda can't believe i didnt think of that instead.

[TrippleD]

Many clever folk's here on the forums.