Widescreen Gaming Forum

I checked out SoftTH. It requires PCI-Express cards to get decent frame rates. I only have AGP. Also, it apparently has issues with some games . Half-Life wasn't on the compatibility list, and Flight Sim X is not compatible.

So, I am still seeking a solution. I asked on the FakeFactory forum if the CMs are actually supposed to fix the missing crosshairs. I'll report back when I get a reply there.

Too bad Steam is ignoring the issue.

Zoandar

Hi

Have you actually tried playing without the crosshairs?
It plays okay without them. You have tracers on nearly all weapons. It was a bit awkward at first, but within no time I was getting along fine.

Though I must add, I am kinda used to not using crosshairs anyway. I mean in Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3, I have mostly played with them off. Maybe this made it easier for me to get used to it in HL-2. Anyway, if you didn't actually spend some time trying it, do so. You too may find that it's not so bad after all. Heck, you may even find it more immersive.

Good luck :)

Actually I have gone a ways with the pistol so far, and was completely surprised that I can hit things! Paying close attention to where the bullets are impacting, and always firing at least 2 shots, usually dispatches the columbine soldier without much effort.

I was afraid that when I later get to firing from the moving vehicles, and using the RPGs, that I would be doomed without a crosshair. Those striders are very difficult for me to kill anyway, even when I can get a crosshair on them. I'll keep proceeding this way and see how it goes, but I really would like to find a fix.

What puzzles me is that I can't find ANY posts anywhere describing this issue in triple-display HL2. Surely there must be others who have at least mentioned it. But as with all searching, its all about selecting the right word, and guessing what word the other guy used to describe the issue. I have been searching both with Google and wandering around in many forums for 3 days now and am amazed that I am not finding anything. Maybe there really is a fix and people found it quickly without using "crosshair" in their search. Or, maybe everyone just gave up and played without it.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion and encouragement. :-)

Zoandar

Hi again

With the RPG, you will have the infrared beam.
With the buggy and airboat, you have tracers.

I too tried searching when I first started playing it in triple screen mode. Like you, I didn't come up with much. So yeah, maybe others did just give up and play it without.

Well that's a bit of good news. I was thinking that the RPG wouldn't have any sight at all. If it is only crosshairs that disappear, it must be some sort of snafu with the HUD.

I have been fiddling with different settings, working between the Matrox SGU optimizing utility and the games own display settings. Although Matrox recommends for the best configuration that all 3 displays be the same, I do not have that. It's a long story, so I won't get into why, but I have 2 identical 19" LCDs with a 22" widescreen LCD in the middle.

I decided if I have to go back to a single screen for HL, being on that center widescreen wouldn't be that bad. But of course Murphy makes the game display on the LH LCD if you turn off the 16:9 format to get the crosshairs back. Not desireable. But by working the settings between the 2 mentioned above, I think I have managed to get it to display, in a window, at a decent resolution, on the center display. I'll know if it stays that way next time I open the game. But so far I have that, PLUS the crosshair back again. It just won't let me stretch the window across all 3 displays without using 16:9, and when I turn that on, that's when the crosshair disappears.

I would be interested to know (should anyone be following all this who plays on a single wide display) if everyone using the 16:9 ratio also loses the crosshairs regardless of how many displays they are using. I could remove all my triple head hardware and connect up for a single display from the video card to find out for sure, but its kind of a pain to set it all back up again. That's why I wanted to find some way to get the single center display by adjusting settings. Then if I really want the crosshair I can just set up for that mode in HL, but still have the triple displays for everything else on the PC, without having to swap a lot of hardware around and reset everything.

It's funny, because last night I was hitting the soldiers well with the sightless pistol. But today I can't seem to hit anything, and got down to 11 health points just now before even making it over the fence at the rail station. Thank goodness for saving progress locations in the game! ;-)

Zoandar

I just discovered that, although the pistol has no crosshairs under my current triple head setup, the Zoom function DOES have its "cross-hair" style sight. So for long shots, I can use zoom to center the pistol on the target, release zoom, and fire. It works very well. In the scene where I am in the viaduct with only the pistol so far, with the columbine shooting at me from the bridge, I can use the overturned truck for cover, pop up and zoom on one of them, and duck back down, then pop up and fire. One shot, one kill. So perhaps this won't be so bad after all.

I would think this same tactic might work for any other weapon as well. Although, since it does work, why not the pistol cross-hair? Really strange.

Zoandar

I use CM10 because of the cross-hair issue. I'm pretty sure its because HL2 uses a different version of the source engine to the later games. CM10 uses the later version of the engine with HDR etc. and as such doesn't have the disappearing cross-hair. Also its combine not columbine lolz...

I use CM10 because of the cross-hair issue. I'm pretty sure its because HL2 uses a different version of the source engine to the later games. CM10 uses the later version of the engine with HDR etc. and as such doesn't have the disappearing cross-hair. Also its combine not columbine lolz...

Yea, I realized that I had mis-nomered on the Combine some time after I had posted this, but just let it go. I'm glad you got a laugh out of that. :)

Since I began this quest, I have had the good fortune to upgrade my PC. I now have a Q6600 quad core and am running 32-bit WinXP Home SP3 with 3GB memory using a GeForce 9800 GTX video card. So I might just be able to run CM 10 if I get lucky. I sort of got away from playing HL2 over the holidays as we had company here. But I'm looking forward to picking it back up.

Do you think CM10 would run for me? I don't want to go to all it takes to download and install it and then have it crash and freeze on me all the time. I have gotten used to not having the crosshair, but it does make things like long distance accuracy with the crossbow more challenging.

Zoandar

Put a piece of scotch tape in the center and draw one with a sharpie pen. =]
Low-tech and cheap. You'll get used to it.

Actually, that is similar to an idea I did have but have not implemented. As I was playing the game I did notice that when I zoom in (which DOES give you the cross hair, but most weapons won't fire until you zoom back out) the cross hair is always in the center of the display. I was thinking of using some black thread from top to bottom and left to right, stuck to the display bezel, to do the same thing.

Thanks for the alternate idea. I did go and look at CM10 the other day, and I see it can be had in HD or non-HD format (the latter of which is needed for 32-bit WinXP) but of course no mention on that site about this cross hair issue.

Zoandar