Source Engine White Spots?

Here is an example of what I see. It doesn't happen everywhere, just in most places. It's a simple thing to get around, but can become very annoying as it draws away from the experience. It only occurs on games using the Source engine, as I said, and at one time did not occur at all.

means your vid card is overheatingCrucifier

Do you have any information to back up that statement? Of all of the possiblities I have heard, yours seems the most unlikely. All of my games are fine, except for the ones on the source engine. Read plz.

Rockin_MixMista,

Those white spots could be either dead pixels on your monitor, which what I thought before I RMA'd my 7900GT, but that wasn't the case when I swapped my older 6600GT and those spots disappeared. Except mine were red, green, blue, and it had gotten worse that it even had started to display on boot-up on black backgrounds and even on my desktop. When things like that happen it could be that it is overheating or it had gotten to a stage where the memory chips have been damaged and the process is irreversible, possibly due to a bad batch of cards with faulty chips on them or the fault of pre-overclocked cards by the manufacturer. You could also try to downclock your card using CoolBits or NvTweak or something. Look them up on google.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTA2OSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Looking at your xfire profile at your gaming rig, you seem to have a Radeon 9800, so this issue doesn't apply to you but just giving a general idea.

What type of non-Source-engine games do you play? All the ones that did you mentioned make fair use of the vid card, as, which mentioned above, can give your current video card a bit of a work-out, which could lead to overheating if it's either not vented well enough, is dying on you, or just something with the Source engine it doesn't like about your video card...

Have you done a temperature check on your system after playing one of these games?

(I'm an nVidia user here, so I got a completely different driver-panel, unsure how to check that for an ATI card)

Oblivion. Prime example. Runs fine in high/max appearance. No spots or dots anywhere.

While WoW may not seem as demanding, some places in the Outlands can give some computers a run for their money. And they look fine. Call of Duty 2 looks fine, aswell as, oddly enough, The Ship. Which is a game that runs on the Source engine. An updated one at that.

The issue here is that this didn't ALWAYS happen. There was a time when this issue did not come about. But for some reason, many O/S formats ago, many months ago, it started.

And Counter-Strike Source does not give my video card a workout ;) I have a faster clock speed than quite a few of the 512 cards out there. But I understand where you are coming from.

Counter-Strike source gives me the least amount of issues. While they still show, it is mainly games like Half-Life 2 and Day of Defeat that have the most difficulty. Even though they run on the same engine with the same settings at the same framerate.

The dead pixels would not show up in screenies, the signal captured is from your display adapter, not the display itself.

It could be the start of videocard failure,its kinda of like artifacting... bit tame for that though.

Is HDR on?

I do not enable Anti-Aliasing in the screenshot I showed, Day of Defeat. And I use full HDR. But the game did not show these issues when I used full HDR before.

The issues come up almost insantly. I just find it really insane that this came out of nowhere, and that it wasn't an issue before. That's what I can't get my mind around.

My PC does not get very hot. And I doubt it is overheating because even if I were to start up in the morning and immediatly open DoD or one of the other games mentioned, I would still see the white spots.

As mentioned before, this issue does NOT come up with Oblivion. Just throwing that out there, because I am sure that most of you know how much Oblivion demands when compared to something like Counter-Strike Source. Or any Source game for that matter.

By the way I really appreciate the feedback.

But that doesn't make sense. If that were the case it would be occuring with Oblivion and my other non-source graphically demanding games. It only occurs with Source games.

I've posted this exact same topic on the Steampowered forums, and they seem to come to the same conclusion. It just doesn't make sense. I've tried reinstalling the games, aswell.

But it's only occuring in Source-based games. My Oblivion runs fine aswell as my other graphically demanding games that do not use the Source engine.

I am kind of getting sick of replying myself. The situation is annoying enough as it is. I've posted this same topic in the Steampowered forums.

Try months. I haven't bothered to ask about it because I just ignored it.

My games are fine. Everything is fine. It's just that for this long period of time, my Source games have been having these issues.

This isn't an evolving thing, it's been the same games the whole time. I have not found it to screw me up when playing in any way, I was just wondering if anyone knew a way to fix the problem.

If Oblivion and Company of Heroes (forgot to mention it) run fine without any issues, then why are my Source games bugging out like this?

When was last time you cleaned out your computer? If it has been 6 months it's time to do so. Buy an air pressure can at a place that sells computers (Radio Shack, Office Depot, and Best Buy). Then take it outside and unscrew the case and put it on it's side. Preferably a table. Unscrew the video card and get rid of the dust. Make sure the fan still spins freely if not it needs cleaning or replacing. You can buy replacement fans with heatsinks that are better than stock online. Like www.newegg.com. They are not that hard to install, I did install one on a Geforce 4 Ti 4600 SE. The Geforce 4600 usually come with fans that die within a year.

That is probably your problem. Try cleaning out your computer and see if it helps! If not then your video card could be in need of replacement. Try google.com and put in search the problem you have. I'm sure you are not the first. Could be something with source games and your video card.

I don't get it though. Why should I replace my card if at one time it worked fine with the games... And not only that, if it runs fine with current and newly released games?

I cleaned my computer 2 weeks ago when I added my USB2.0 card aswell as my new sound card. I do it everytime I upgrade it in any way. Everything seems to run fine, and the fans are smooth as can be.

I wish I could stop repeating this. But my card DID at one time work FINE with these games. I did not ALWAYS have this issue.

But I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If no one can get a resolution at all tonight or tomorrow. I will take some time aside from WoW to clean it out (again) and do a very thorough job on it. Who knows, you could get the star on this one.

i feel for ya man. i know what you been by one day somethin works the next it doesnt. for some reason roughly once or twice a month i need tore-install my vid card drivers to run Source games, coz myvid card is overclocked. for some reason, at random times, directx9 cant initiate. only happens inSource games.can also understand that although its showing signs of overheating effects, why not in any other games? its most definitely a vid card problem tho.

i rekon we can nail this, so lets dig deeper. what rig do u use exactly? what vid card drivers u running? u say u recently bought a new sound card. did the problem start before or after that?

is ur card gettin enough power? true if it wasnt it would affect other games, but as that dude mentioned before, all games use drivers differently. it could be that the particular shaders and processes executed by Source arnt working properly due to some confliction with a driver, or a lack of power. dunno, we r tryin our best to help you out here. post ur entire specs if you could, we'll get it. we're nerds man, its what we do. ;) have faith

a) This problem started long before I added my last upgrades
b) I may be able to grab a spare video card and see if it works

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.53GHz
Graphics Card: ATI RADEON 9800 XT (256mb)
Memory: 512MB (RD Ram - Which runs at almost 1gig DDR2)
Free Disk Space: 109.5GB
Optical Drive: CD/DVD
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP
System Model: Dell Precision Workstation 340

If you need more info I will gladly post it.

[QUOTE="Crucifier"]means your vid card is overheatingRockin_MixMasta

Do you have any information to back up that statement? Of all of the possiblities I have heard, yours seems the most unlikely. All of my games are fine, except for the ones on the source engine. Read plz.

Do you play other games that are as graphically strenuous? What kind of graphics card do you have? I've heard that Source cooks graphics cards...

[QUOTE="Rockin_MixMasta"]

[QUOTE="Crucifier"]means your vid card is overheatingFunkyhamster

Do you have any information to back up that statement? Of all of the possiblities I have heard, yours seems the most unlikely. All of my games are fine, except for the ones on the source engine. Read plz.

Do you play other games that are as graphically strenuous? What kind of graphics card do you have? I've heard that Source cooks graphics cards...

Well, the guy posted about four times that he did. And in any case, appears to have some idea of what an overheating problem is.

to de OP: I don't think anyone is going to give you any answer much more specific than "check your hardware/format your hd"

If you already did a format and a clean windows/drivers/game install, and the problem is still there, its obviously a hardware problem (unless His Holy Noodliness, is playing a trick on you o.O)

For the looks of it, I would say It's more likely to be a cpu problem than a gpu one. Source depends more on the cpu than most games and it could be something that appears as a graphical glitch but is actually deeper in the logic of the engine.

Of course that would be really unlikely, but the whole problem is really unlikely. I would think that you are making it up if you had any reason for doing so :P

I just don't get it though... Again, it did work fine not too long ago.

I repeat. I play Oblivion and it looks/runs fine. Aswell as Company of Heroes. Both using more demanding settings than any of my Source games, with the exception of Dark Messiah.

Here's a stupid test, ever try reslotting your video card?

I've had situations where doing that seemed to fix whatever obscure problem I had.

Btw, Source titles do make fair use of your hardware, my PC's fan was blowing full speed the other day when I was toying around in Gary's Mod.

(really should get around to fixing my side-fan, this hot weather is going to kill my CPU/mobo again...)

Or like I mentioned in my previous post, try downclocking it by small increments, maybe too much strain is being put on the card by the Source engine?

Just some ideas...

Odd, I changed the HDR setting to Bloom instead of Full, and the dots disappeared.

Luckily enough, they both look pretty much the same.

Odd, I changed the HDR setting to Bloom instead of Full, and the dots disappeared.

Luckily enough, they both look pretty much the same.

Rockin_MixMasta

Now you can do Bloom + AA. I hope the dots weren't there before because of you having both HDR + AA at same time, because the 9800 has a hardware limit of doing both. While they do look identical, bloom just has the bright lightning on all the time, while HDR it sets on and off realistically like a sun would being covered by clouds.

Glad you got it fixed, I wish it was that easy for everything.

a) This problem started long before I added my last upgrades
b) I may be able to grab a spare video card and see if it works

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.53GHz
Graphics Card: ATI RADEON 9800 XT (256mb)
Memory: 512MB (RD Ram - Which runs at almost 1gig DDR2)
Free Disk Space: 109.5GB
Optical Drive: CD/DVD
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP
System Model: Dell Precision Workstation 340

If you need more info I will gladly post it.

Rockin_MixMasta

lol remember earlier in this topic when i said my mate had the same issue, but his spots were coloured not white? and it only happened in source games? he had that exact same vid card, with a p4 3.0ghz. hate to say this, but you might have a faulty card there. his stopped doin it after a while i think, then it died. if i were you i would make sure its definitely running on stock speeds. but take it to a PC shop perhaps and get it tested.

EDIT: My mates card didnt start doin it until he installed an aftermarket GPU fan. he did overclock but not much...got an aftermarket fan for it recently by any chance?

[QUOTE="Rockin_MixMasta"]

Odd, I changed the HDR setting to Bloom instead of Full, and the dots disappeared.

Luckily enough, they both look pretty much the same.

Xeonz

Now you can do Bloom + AA. I hope the dots weren't there before because of you having both HDR + AA at same time, because the 9800 has a hardware limit of doing both. While they do look identical, bloom just has the bright lightning on all the time, while HDR it sets on and off realistically like a sun would being covered by clouds.

Glad you got it fixed, I wish it was that easy for everything.

Oddly enough, I think Bloom+AA looks ALOT better than just Full. Why the hell was I using Full =(

But no, bloom+AA does not cause the dots to return. They only appear in full HDR. I tested it out in Half-Life 2:Episode 2 and Counter-Strike:Source and found no more issues.

means your vid card is overheatingCrucifier

try reading his post i just skimmed it and i still gleaned it was only with source games.

Hello, I have been having a problem with my Source games for awhile. Games like Day of Defeat, Counter-Strike, Half-Life 2, Dark Messiah, and more. Seem to have an issue where I see white spots (or dots) in many areas. It is increasingly noticed when using something like the flashlight in Half-Life 2.

I cannot recall when these things started to happen, because usually I just forget about it and don't bother finding out why it is happening. After a few O/S reinstalls, full driver reinstalls, and so on... The issue still comes up. I have all of my latest drivers and I know it is not my hardware because at one point this never happened.

I have posted this on a few forums now, and would really appreciate any help anyone could give me.Rockin_MixMasta

AS they guys above said, white spots are a common overclocking and/or overheating video card issue. IF you are not overclocking, try using more fans to reduce the temps on your video card and in your case. Try running with teh case open to test.

[QUOTE="Rockin_MixMasta"]

Odd, I changed the HDR setting to Bloom instead of Full, and the dots disappeared.

Luckily enough, they both look pretty much the same.

Xeonz

Now you can do Bloom + AA. I hope the dots weren't there before because of you having both HDR + AA at same time, because the 9800 has a hardware limit of doing both. While they do look identical, bloom just has the bright lightning on all the time, while HDR it sets on and off realistically like a sun would being covered by clouds.

Glad you got it fixed, I wish it was that easy for everything.

You seen de_dust with hdr on? its blinding!

[QUOTE="Crucifier"]means your vid card is overheatingForlornHope

try reading his post i just skimmed it and i still gleaned it was only with source games.

Some engines stress certain aspects fo the card more. Some games may show articfacts, while others do not. It is more than likely heat/overclocking. Other than that, it is probably a bunk card.

[QUOTE="Xeonz"][QUOTE="Rockin_MixMasta"]

Odd, I changed the HDR setting to Bloom instead of Full, and the dots disappeared.

Luckily enough, they both look pretty much the same.

Rockin_MixMasta

Now you can do Bloom + AA. I hope the dots weren't there before because of you having both HDR + AA at same time, because the 9800 has a hardware limit of doing both. While they do look identical, bloom just has the bright lightning on all the time, while HDR it sets on and off realistically like a sun would being covered by clouds.

Glad you got it fixed, I wish it was that easy for everything.

Oddly enough, I think Bloom+AA looks ALOT better than just Full. Why the hell was I using Full =(

But no, bloom+AA does not cause the dots to return. They only appear in full HDR. I tested it out in Half-Life 2:Episode 2 and Counter-Strike:Source and found no more issues.

Technically, dun is correct. At one point in time I was able to use full HDR without any issues at all. Something throughout the months caused that to give me issues.

At the same time, hatin is correct. Because only Source games are having the issue. My other games, some of which use wide varieties of lighting (Oblivion, CoH, etc) are completely fine.

I am glad I was able to stir up a discussion, I was hoping to make people aware of my issue. But at the same time, I prefer bloom, because it enables me to use AA. For me to use Full and AA would cause me to despise playing any of my games online. I will admit I do not have the "sickest" rig out there, but I think I am doing fairly well for a senior in highschool. Alot of people I know don't even have a computer in their bedroom.

As Forlorn pointed out, maps such as dust2 may sometimes be a pain to play due to how much HDR is being forced onto certain terrain. This is just my opinion, but I stand my opinion that bloom+AA looks flawless when compared to HDR (with or without white dots =D)

And yes I meant Half-Life 2: Episode 1, sorry. I think at the time I was looking up some TF2 stuff and got a little carried away.

[QUOTE="Xeonz"][QUOTE="Rockin_MixMasta"]

Odd, I changed the HDR setting to Bloom instead of Full, and the dots disappeared.

Luckily enough, they both look pretty much the same.

Rockin_MixMasta

Now you can do Bloom + AA. I hope the dots weren't there before because of you having both HDR + AA at same time, because the 9800 has a hardware limit of doing both. While they do look identical, bloom just has the bright lightning on all the time, while HDR it sets on and off realistically like a sun would being covered by clouds.

Glad you got it fixed, I wish it was that easy for everything.

Oddly enough, I think Bloom+AA looks ALOT better than just Full. Why the hell was I using Full =(

But no, bloom+AA does not cause the dots to return. They only appear in full HDR. I tested it out in Half-Life 2:Episode 2 and Counter-Strike:Source and found no more issues.

Of course it looks better having both Bloom + AA than full HDR if your card has a hardware limit. You are eliminating the jaggies and getting some better lightning. But see, I have HDR + AA with my 7900 because Source uses 'fake HDR', FP16 blending, so it works in combination with AA. Some games like Oblivion use FP32 blending I believe that's why it doesn't allow to do AA with. The Radeon 1xxx series, Geforce 8 series and up can do both without a problem.

I just remembered something, 9800 series I believe cannot do HDR, that's why you get those white dots. It doesn't support DX9c nor Shader Model 3.0...HDR/SM 3.0 was introduced in DX9c. The Radeon 1xxx series began supporting DX9c, not even the x800 had it.

I'm sure there is nothing wrong with your card, and it's perfectly normal having a limitation being an older series.

[QUOTE="Xeonz"][QUOTE="Rockin_MixMasta"]

Odd, I changed the HDR setting to Bloom instead of Full, and the dots disappeared.

Luckily enough, they both look pretty much the same.

ForlornHope

Now you can do Bloom + AA. I hope the dots weren't there before because of you having both HDR + AA at same time, because the 9800 has a hardware limit of doing both. While they do look identical, bloom just has the bright lightning on all the time, while HDR it sets on and off realistically like a sun would being covered by clouds.

Glad you got it fixed, I wish it was that easy for everything.

You seen de_dust with hdr on? its blinding!

Try turning down your monitor brightness...

It is kind of blinding I agree, the way it sets on/off.

...Full HDR worked fine before.

I'm getting sick of repeating myself, heh.

...Full HDR worked fine before.

I'm getting sick of repeating myself, heh.

Rockin_MixMasta

Radeon 9800 can ONLY do floating-point blending in 8-bits. Source uses FP16 HDR...

My card couldn't do HDR + AA before, it's really weird, I would get artifacts turning both on, or AA would turn itself off automatically to get my HDR working. Somehow it works both for me now. I can't explain why, same with yours. But I'm 100% sure your card just has a hardware limitation in doing both in this case. PERIOD.