Specifications

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HALF-LIFE 2
HALF-LIFE 2
HALF-LIFE 2
THE WATER IS BREATHTAKING
At the highest quality setting, Half-Life 2’s water appears stunning and realistic. At the lowest quality setting, it looks only a
little better than in Half-Life 1. In the highest DirectX 9 mode, rendering a scene with water requires three passes. The first
pass draws everything below the surface of the water. The second draws everything above the surface of the water. The
third draws the surface of the water by blending the output from the first two render passes. The result is a rippling, reflec-
tive surface that looks more realistic than any other game we’ve seen to date.
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This image just looks sad. The water is
neither refl ective, nor refractive. In fact,
it’s rendered using the same technique as it
was in the original Half-Life. Take a look at
the much lower resolution texture used for
the shoreline, and the hard edge between
shore and water.
THE EVOLUTION OF A HEADCRAB
The difference between 3D hardware becomes even more apparent when we take a close look at character models. On a
low-end card, there’s virtually no difference between Half-Life 2 and Half-Life, except for slightly higher resolution textures.
At the high-end, however, the difference is dramatic—the image almost looks like a photograph.
Everything in this scene—from the head-
crab’s scalp to the cobblestone floor—is
normal-mapped (normal maps are special
bump maps that encode both altitude and
orientation, instead of just altitude). Note
the well-defined ridges on the headcrab.
In DirectX 8 mode, the models use bump
maps instead of normal maps. Source uses
old-fashioned bump-mapping for the cobble-
stones in the street, which makes them look
like they’re popping out of the screen, not
out of the road.
In DX7 mode, Half-Life 2 really hurts our
eyes. Look at the flat texture on the cob-
blestones and the models. Notice the dark
blob under the headcrab? That’s supposed
to be a shadow. Pathetic.
In DirectX 9 mode with all details cranked up to the highest setting, the
water not only reflects everything—including enemies and weapons fire—it
also refracts objects below the surface. The deeper an object is in the water,
the more it’s refracted.
At fi rst glance, DirectX 8 cards appear to
render the scene almost identically to a DX9
card. But if you look closer, you’ll see that
the water isn’t refl ecting anything, and the
refraction remains the same no matter the
depth of the object you’re looking at. The
straight water line is a dead giveaway for
DX8 mode.
Are you saddled with an ancient Radeon 7500 board? Are
you nervous that your GeForce FX 5950 won’t be up to
snuff? Do you want fi rst-hand proof of why you need a top-
tier 3D accelerator before you play Half-Life 2? It’s time for
3D card answers.
Hint: You need a good DirectX 9 card to play this game!
3D Cards and Half-Life 2: There’s Something about DirectX 9