Troubleshooting Video Errors

Common symptoms of video errors include:

• System crashes or locks up when attempting to load a game
• Blank, black screen when attempting to load a game
• Distorted graphics in-game
• Video lags in-game

Important Note: There may be other factors causing your games to lock up - please follow the links below to ensure a firewall or background applications are not interfering with Steam:

Using a Firewall with Steam: http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=234

Programs which interfere with Steam: http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=451

If you see purple checkerboards, missing weapon models, or missing world models please follow the link below for instructions:

Verify GCF Cache Files: http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=282

Unsupported Video Cards

While the following video cards are listed as having DirectX 7.0 hardware support, (the minimum requirement for running Sourcegine games) they are not supported:

• 3DLabs Wildcat VP560
• XGI Volari V8 Ultra
• Matrox P750
• Matrox G400-550
• SiS Xaber 400

Troubleshooting Steps

Please follow the steps below for troubleshooting video and display issues:

Update Video Drivers

To ensure your system is using the appropriate drivers to communicate with your video card, it is best to start by checking and updating your video drivers if necessary.

http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=422

Check DirectX Settings

Check your DirectX settings and update DirectX to improve graphics display quality.

http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=281

Reset Video Settings and Force a Video Mode

Using Autoconfig or forcing a video mode will allow you to experiment with resolution and refresh settings - it is recommended that you start with the lowest resolution your video card and monitor will support, then work your way up until finding a video mode which displays correctly without straining system resources.

http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=242