HL2-CS source way too dark

MaLk · May 28, 2007, 06:41 AM

I have recently changed to Vista and bought a 8800 GTX, but after i did that Half life 2 and any other game based on the source engine is way too dark ingame.

Theres places where i basically have a black screen, i turned up the brightness and contrast all the way on my monitor, brightness in the game settings is also turned up as is gamma in the drivers control panel.

Powerstrip or rivatuner doesnt work, when i turn up gamma its only my desktop that gets brighter, but ingame its still the same darkness

In Counterstrike 1.6 it was so nice, it had a console command called "gamma" which could be turned up, but there is no such thing in source, only the command that controls the slider in the video settings of the game.

Can anyone PLEASE help me with how i can get some light in the game, its so frustrating to have such a great game just lying there, and not being able to play it

Geminiwave · May 28, 2007, 12:39 PM

well you may need to reinstall source but first I'd wipe your drivers. you were using a different graphics card before I'm guessing? yea so what you need to do is download the program DriverCleaner which is available from this very website. Then delete your drivers from the control panel (you know the add\remove programs thing) go into safe mode, and run driver cleaner. You'll want to tell it to clean off all sorts of video drivers. Tell it to look for ATI and nVidia graphics drivers. (Careful not to wipe your mobo drivers though)

its pretty easy and PROBABLY the problem.

if that doesnt work, then delete Source and reinstall.

Do other games do this by the way? I'm guessing not right? Just Source?

MaLk · May 28, 2007, 04:32 PM

Thanks for the reply and suggestions

I did try many different drivers, and i do clean with drivercleaner everytime i reinstall a new driver.

Only thing i havent tried is reinstalling source and HL2.
Oblivion did the same thing, but in oblivion theres a console command to raise gamma over the default max setting.

Geminiwave · May 28, 2007, 08:34 PM

honestly the gamma should not be freaking out like it is.

the only other thing I could tell you is that the output on your graphics card isn't so good...

Try this. Its a long shot but..

Turn your computer off. unhook your monitor from the PC and hook it up to the other video port on the graphics card (your card has 2).

if you get better results, you need to return the card right away as it is defective.

Dyre Straits · May 28, 2007, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaLk

I have recently changed to Vista and bought a 8800 GTX, but after i did that Half life 2 and any other game based on the source engine is way too dark ingame.

Theres places where i basically have a black screen, i turned up the brightness and contrast all the way on my monitor, brightness in the game settings is also turned up as is gamma in the drivers control panel.

Powerstrip or rivatuner doesnt work, when i turn up gamma its only my desktop that gets brighter, but ingame its still the same darkness

In Counterstrike 1.6 it was so nice, it had a console command called "gamma" which could be turned up, but there is no such thing in source, only the command that controls the slider in the video settings of the game.

Can anyone PLEASE help me with how i can get some light in the game, its so frustrating to have such a great game just lying there, and not being able to play it

I know this is often overlooked, so, if you've tried this already, just ignore me.

On the monitor itself, do you have settings you've adjusted for the colors, brightness, contrast, etc? These are separate from the adjustments you will make within Windows Display Properties and even the graphics card drivers.

Another thing the 'might' help is to go into Device Manager, REMOVE the existing instance/s of the monitor/s (all of them if there are multiple ones listed), Click OK and reboot letting Windows redetect your connected monitor.

Good luck!

MaLk · May 29, 2007, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geminiwave

honestly the gamma should not be freaking out like it is.

the only other thing I could tell you is that the output on your graphics card isn't so good...

Try this. Its a long shot but..

Turn your computer off. unhook your monitor from the PC and hook it up to the other video port on the graphics card (your card has 2).

if you get better results, you need to return the card right away as it is defective.

Im 99.9% sure that nothing is wrong with the card since the gamma settings is working fine on the desktop and in videos and dvd´s.

I did turn up the settings on the monitor all the way

Removing the monitor and rebooting didnt help either.

Is any of you using vista and 8800 GTX as me?
If yes, hows the gamma settings in HL" and source on your screen?

Im starting to think that maybe its the monitor itself thats too dark

Dyre Straits · May 29, 2007, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaLk

Im 99.9% sure that nothing is wrong with the card since the gamma settings is working fine on the desktop and in videos and dvd´s.

I did turn up the settings on the monitor all the way

Removing the monitor and rebooting didnt help either.

Is any of you using vista and 8800 GTX as me?
If yes, hows the gamma settings in HL" and source on your screen?

Im starting to think that maybe its the monitor itself thats too dark

Can you borrow another monitor to check it out?

MaLk · May 29, 2007, 05:31 AM

Unfortunately no

But im thinking about getting a 20" wide Flatscreen soon, so i guess i just have to be patient and see if that solves it.
If not ill have to wait untill a better driver or an application that can turn up gamma ingame gets released for 8800+Vista.

Mr cairo · May 29, 2007, 05:40 AM

sorry if this is going to be a bit vague but i seem to recall that you can edit a cfg file located in

steam/hl2/your profile name / somthing ?? / hl2.cfg

in here you need to add somthing like

set_gamma 3
set_brightness 5

just cant remember excactly how

best bet is goto the steam forums hit search put the word Bright in the search box and only look in the help and tips forum ... im sure its all on there i think sorry its all so vague m8