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First Person Shooters (Games)

Half-Life 2 Causes Nausea, Looks Good in Doom Engine 131

Posted by Zonk from the it's-not-the-gore-that's-making-you-queasy dept.
BrookHarty writes "There is a large number of users reporting nausea while playing Half-Life 2. There is a thread on the Steam powered forums that talks about the wide spread problem. Some other sites are actively talking about the motion sickness, PlanetHalflife, 3DGPU, usenet group comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action has an active discussion, and gaming IRC network Gamesurge on channel #Halflife2." In related news from people with too much time on their hands, Jacques Chester writes "Folks discussing the visual merits of the Source and Doom 3 engines might want to look at this. The goal is to see what Half-Life levels might look like in Doom 3. An eerie result."
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Half-Life 2 Causes Nausea, Looks Good in Doom Engine More

Half-Life 2 Causes Nausea, Looks Good in Doom Engine

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  • Finally... (Score:5, Funny)

    by spezz ( 150943 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @05:38PM (#10903990)
    It'd been ten minutes or so since the last HL2 article.

  • News? Bah! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Gothic_Walrus ( 692125 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @05:43PM (#10904030) Journal
    How is this news?

    FPS games have been making people sick for years. Ever since Doom exploded onto the scene, this has been an issue for some people. Of course, it's worse in some games than others - Descent is a perfect example - and I haven't heard about wide-scale problems in a huge release such as HL2 before.

    Remember, kiddies: Playing HL2 can also cause epileptic seizures or carpal tunnel in addition to the nausea. Just like every other game out there can...

    • Re:News? Bah! (Score:5, Funny)

      by antifoidulus ( 807088 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @05:47PM (#10904067) Homepage Journal
      Playing HL2 can also cause epileptic seizures or carpal tunnel in addition to the nausea. Just like every other game out there can...
      As can porn...but I don't really think that will stop anyone

    • Wide scale problem (Score:5, Informative)

      by obsid1an ( 665888 ) <obsidianNO@SPAMmchsi.com> on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @05:52PM (#10904118)
      How is this news?

      FPS games have been making people sick for years. Ever since Doom exploded onto the scene, this has been an issue for some people. Of course, it's worse in some games than others - Descent is a perfect example - and I haven't heard about wide-scale problems in a huge release such as HL2 before.

      This is a much more rampant problem. I noticed it too when playing and this has never been a problem for me before. I then come look and see EVERY forum has a thread about this. The problem seems to be the very low fov HL2 uses - 75. Most games use at least 85-90. This is of course changable inside the game.

      • Re:Wide scale problem (Score:5, Interesting)

        by sweetooth ( 21075 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:12PM (#10904369) Homepage
        I was just going to point out the same thing. I have never gotten motion sick from any game I've played, and certainly not any FPS's. There have been several times when playing HL2 though that I noticed something not quite right about the FOV and that it made me a little dizzy. In some places it's really apparent and looks like you are viewing the scene through a wide angle or similar lense.

      • Re:Wide scale problem (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:21PM (#10904470)
        I normally hate games that take place in high structures that you can fall off of. It's usually not to the point where it makes me react physically, though. Games like Quake 3 Arena with the space levels and Unreal Tournament 2004's skyscraper map have been the least of my favorites. I hate them because, unlike in real life, it's hard to tell how close to falling off and dying you are. In real life, I can easily judge by my surroundings - as well as my feet - how close to the edge I am. In these games, you have to be very careful because one short keypress could be just a bit too hard and you can misjudge and vwoop! there you go - off the structure and dead.

        But with those games in the past, I never had an "oh my god" reaction to it. Half-Life 2 is the first game where it actually hit me in a more tangible way. When I was a little kid, we went to Astoria and climbed the spiral staircase inside of the Candlestick. I'm not sure how high it was, but it was probably only 80 feet - give or take. At the top, you only had a small ledge (perhaps two people-wide at best) and a rickety steel gaurdrail that seemed like it would give if you leaned on it.

        I was so shaken once I was there (my first experience at being uncomfortable at great heights) that I clung to the doorway/arch and refused to go fully outside it - and couldn't wait to go back down. I didn't want to look up. I didn't want to go out and walk freely. I didn't want to lean against the rickety railing. I just wanted to go back inside and walk down and get the hell out.

        A couple portions of HL2 (well, the bridge and the final level were the only two places really) made me feel those same sensations. It was uncanny and new.
        • When I was a little kid, we went to Astoria and climbed the spiral staircase inside of the Candlestick. I'm not sure how high it was, but it was probably only 80 feet - give or take. At the top, you only had a small ledge (perhaps two people-wide at best) and a rickety steel gaurdrail that seemed like it would give if you leaned on it.

          Yeah, I went there when i was 8 or so... my parents wouldn't come inside, so i was left to go up by myself. I made it about 3/4 of the way up, and had to come back down beca
          • I can verify that they're still letting people climb to the top at Chichen-Itza, as I just went there for my honeymoon as well in August. I would characterize myself as being mildly scared of heights, but this experience didn't seem too bad. And I appreciated the fact that they didn't have some stupid out-of-place guard rails once you got up there, and that it was just as it had been constructed. The scarier experience was actually going up the stairs inside the pyramid to the inner room, for which you a

      • A few more reasons, and a suggestion (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Nomihn0 ( 739701 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:31PM (#10904558)
        I know, this story was not news-worthy, but I do appreciate it. I do not usually get sick while playing fully immersive games. With Half Life 2, though, it is another story.The games in which I do not get sick tend to be low geometry, high FOV, reflex shooters. This obvservation leads me to agree with the parent poster. My Half Life 2 sickness may, in part, also be due to the very low FOV. Another thing that I noticed, while playing through the video test, is that the textures are not static. You may say "wha?", but I mean from the viewer's perspective. I could see the equivalent of scanlines at tricky points of geometry on a single object. This wasn't an antialiasing artifact, mind you, this was something entirely different. As I've never seen it before, I cannot do much better in describing it. However, I feel that it might account for some of the nausia that people feel in game.

        Lastly, the player's perspective feels disproportionately small compared to the environment, especially at higher resolutions. As a player, I feel as though I am swimming through an environment all to large for me. This messes with my frame of reference, especially when picking up objects (which then float several feet in front of me) and completing puzzles (in which the perspective is very misleading). My biohazard suit doesn't fit me like a glove. Not even the gloves.

        If you haven't invested in Pfizer yet, now might be the time. I'm predicting a 27% spike tommorow when investors realize that several million gamers are planning on buying several cases each of Dramamine for Thanksgiving weekend.
      • The problem seems to be the very low fov HL2 uses - 75. Most games use at least 85-90.
        If this was the issue then we'd be hearing the same "rampant problem" from halo and halo 2 players. Halo also uses a FOV of 75. It is NOT changeable inside the game.
        • The fact that Halo is usually played on big screen TVs and very few people play HL2 on anything other than their computer monitors might have something to do with this.

          I can only speculate since neither game makes me naseous or dizzy. A slight headache after playing too long, yes but that's normal, I guess.

          Another factor might be the way people play. Consoles are usually in people's living rooms and hooked up to big screen TVs. That means you'll probably be sitting on a comfy couch, at least several feet

    • Is this nausia centerd aroung a group (older people) of is it just for very dedicated gamers. I'm 14, and play on average for 2 hr chunks, and have never noticed any nausia. Mabey this problem effects only older people, or mabey (problably) you need to play for more than 2 hrs at a time, which is not a great idea. Mabey its a reaction for not seeing sunlight for over 48 hours.

      • Re:News? Bah! (Score:4, Informative)

        by Idealius ( 688975 ) * on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @07:38PM (#10905138) Journal
        Well, I'm 22 and have no problems.

        I love the HL2 engine.

        Also, FOV stands for field of view for those who don't know.

        I work with graphics, 3D specifically, a lot both in modeling and coding so I would assume I'm immune to just about anything a computer monitor can display, well -- except goatse.cx...

        I also do very well on spatial relationship or mechanical tests. You know, tests on gears and such.

        Just looking at the game engine itself I've noticed that the shadows and lighting in general is botched. It all seems to be from the same angles, or at least: the wrong angle(s). Obviously it's no Doom 3 engine-wise when comparing light or shadow realism. I haven't seen much testing yet to determine how Half-Life 2 does shadows. Seems because people can't recognize the fault consciously, they must do it unconsciously =)
        • HL2 seems to use traditional shadow techniques. Basically, it fakes it pretty well. Lighting in HL2 isn't real time like the lighting in Doom3.

          Personally, I'd love to combine the lighting of Doom3 with everything else from the Source engine. THAT would make some awesome gaming.
    • s'funny, I used to spend hours playing Descent, and it never caused me any problems at all. Neither did Half Life (haven't tried HL2), Halo, Wolf3D, Doom, Quake or UT.

      But I can't play more than about 20 minutes or so of Timesplitters 2 without feeling deathly ill for hours afterwards...
    • Descent is a perfect example

      Decent is the only game ever to make me sick. I almost hurled once and never played again. Games that require Dramamine to play are not fun.
      • I completed Descent 1 and 2, completed Doom3, and currently play UT2004 for up to five hours at a time and have not gotten even the slightest bit sick from any of these, but driving the boat in HL2 gave me instant nausea to the point that I felt like I was hungover and about to throw up. I even tried ditching the boat and swimming, but finally hit a point where radioactive waste made a tunnel impassable. After numerous half-hour sessions over the weekend, I finally made it past the boat sequence last night
    • How is this news?

      Someone who didnt read the articles would post that. The problem is the amount of people getting sick. Most people who never have gotten sick are NOW getting sick. The increase is the news.

      Remember, kiddies: Playing HL2 can also cause epileptic seizures or carpal tunnel in addition to the nausea. Just like every other game out there can...

      You can do a simple google search and see how many people are getting sick. This isn't people who normally get sick, we are talking hard core FPS

    • Re:News? Bah! (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Descent 1/2/3/Mercenary rock so much it's worth playing them through the nausea. Just keep a bucket beside you. Eventually you'll run out of vomit, and then you can keep playing until your brain melts out your ears and your eyes turn to red-veined yellow bricks.
    • Why I find strange is that I'm usually very susceptible to motion sickness (I get it playing the natural selection mod for halflife1), and I haven't experienced any playing halflife2. Could it be because my ancient video card doesn't allow me to play any higher than 800x600 (which is very playable btw)?
    • I know it wasn't the point of your post, but I thought I'd offer a tiny addendum to your note on potentially having epileptic seizures whilst playing Half-Life 2. With PC games, you have the advantage of being able to adjust the refresh rate. This means that if the monitor is refreshing at 60 Hz and causes a seizure, changing it to 75 Hz or 85 Hz or whatever could (should?) fix the problem entirely. As an additional aside, raising the refresh rate also improves the sound of the cheap radio I have sitting
    • I'd add my voice to those who said this is newsworthy because the problem is widespread. I'm also one who never got sick for playing games but get sick by playing HL2. In about 20 to 30 mins. I begin to feel quite uncomfortable, and can't play longer than an hour, which might actually be a good thing.

      To add my experience, proposed solutions from changing the fov (I even tried 120), to setting high refresh rate (I had already set it at 85hz) to disabling AI in ATI CCC to dsiabling AA, did little to solve
    • a lemon friend of mine couldn't play jaguar xj220 - because he got driving sickness.

      Just because he always lost. That was a great game, needs a new update.
    • Amusingly HL2 does not make me sick -- but playing Doom and other old FPS shooters such as Wolfenstein 3D and Descent do. Even more strangely I was able to play those games all day way back when. Now I try playing Doom for 3 minutes and I feel sick.

      New games don't bother me, but I have had some problems with the original Unreal Tournament. The government seems eager to spend lots of money right now maybe they should have a study on first person shooter sickness.
    • No other FPS has given me nausea or headaches before HL2. For me when I pan around quickly on certain levels, it would make me sick to my stomach. I was kinda bummed that I had to stop playing after an hour of play the day I got it. For me it had to do with a combination of things: 21 inch trinitron 1280X1024 resolution sitting about 2 feet from the monitor mouse sensitivity too high FOV too low I've been playing FPS games for more than 10 years, and don't suffer from motion sickness, fear or heights, a
  • But even without something to compare to, I think the Doom3 pictures look cool. Ironically, I was thinking about trying FPS games again(I've never gotten into them before), but the pictures on the back of the HL2 box looked pretty unrealistic from a graphics standpoint. Now I'm thinking this Doom3 with HL2 textures looks cool, even though there are complaints that the textures are pixellated? What's the best looking game out there, then?
    • Half-Life 2's graphics are excellent but not especially remarkable. The water looks the best I've ever seen in a game. Doom3 has a better engine, visually. However, Doom3 looks worse than Half-Life 2 because Valve appears to have a higher caliber of artists than iD does. Doom3 looks as good or worse than the screenshots. Half Life 2 looks better than its screenshots because screenshots don't give you the awesome physics engine. When you throw a grenade, things fly around realistically, looking amazing
  • Handles the huge outdoor maps from HL2.
    I think this is where the Doom engine completely falls on its face.
  • When I first played the game, I experienced nausea. Same for Quake and a few others. The main thing that worked to alleviate the nausea was being in a room cool enough to keep me comfortable. That was the ONLY thing to offset nausea for me.

    So if I experienced nausea as far back as Doom 1, does that make me cooler, or just more weaker when it comes to FPS playing?
    • This is true. First, I'm a long time FPS gamer since the days of Castle Wolfstein 3D, but I don't remember feeling nausea since Doom I, I think my mind just get used to it.
      I can play UT2k4 for hours! I even remember a 6 hour session just a few weeks ago when Counter Strike: Source Beta was made available to ATI Bunddle holders like myself: No nausea whatsoever!
      My first HL2 session came allrigth the first 2 hours, just after that I begun feeling nausea wich I attribiuted to my not so fresh lunch. After an

  • Ofcourse (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ninjy ( 828167 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:07PM (#10904322) Homepage
    We all know it'd look somewhat similar to Doom 3 itself [suomenkivivalmiste.fi].

  • My nausea experience (Score:4, Interesting)

    by addie ( 470476 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:10PM (#10904348)
    I don't have too much to say on this topic, except for the fact that I can only play HL2 for about an hour or so before having to stop from motion sickness. A good 30 or 40 minute break and I'm all good to go.

    The strange thing is that I have never experienced this in all my years of gaming. From Wolfenstein to Doom, Quake, Unreal, and the original HL and CS, I have never had any motion sickness problems. I have heard reports that it's to do with the narrow FOV, but I'm still unsure how to change that (anyone?) and other people say it has to do with jitters in the gfx, but from what I can see it's running silky smooth.

    Anyway, this does at least make me feel better, that I'm not the only one with the problem. Any suggestions would be helpful (anything is better than the post on the steampowered forums: "Grow some balls and stop getting sick from playing video games" great advice.. thanks)
    • I had the same problem. In my opinion the problems are bugs/features of the engine- I had similar problems in HL1.

      The Half Life engine seems to pause quite often- always has AFAIK. If that pause happens as the player is turning, that means your brain thinks you are rotating, and then you stop, and then you carry on rotating. It's very strange, and causes sickness in susceptible people.

      I had it extremely badly initially, but in my case I found turning off the hardware support and using software emulation o

    • There are a few solutions. Make sure your maximum fps is set so that there aren't large variations in framerate. I believe the console command is "fps_max" or "max_fps." Set it to something reasonable, like 50. Try changing the field of view: sv_cheats 1 fov 90 Make sure your monitor refresh rate is as high as you can get it. Sometimes it will automatically force itself low again. Use the RefreshForce program to fix that (google for it). I like to play at least at 85hz.
    • http://www.evl.uic.edu/spiff/class/cs426/Notes/Per ception.ppt [uic.edu] is good presentation from the University of Illinois in Chicago, that explains why some people suffer from motion sickness and seizures in games, and gives a few suggestions on how to avoid it.

  • It is news when it happens this much... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:11PM (#10904355) Journal
    I've already seen the posts (This isnt anything new!) posts start, so since I submitted the story I'll respond.

    The problem is more people are reporting sickness from this game than the past. I started feeling sick myself, and my friends also reported it. I'm an active gamer, and play in Cyber leagues, local gaming events, and lan parties. Not a n00b in the gaming department in any stretch. I've played almost every FPS since wolfenstien 3d.

    What is strange, is CounterStrike Source isnt making people sick, but Half-Life 2 is. The theory so far is Half-Life 2 is so visually perfect to the real world, that its starting to trick peoples mind causing nausea.

    Really, don't mod these guys +insightful, its not the normal level of people getting motion sickness. It's lots more. Do a google search, its everywhere.

    BTW, I still play, just have only doing 1 hour at a time. About 2 hours and I also start feeling the same as other posts. I only posted when I saw the steam forums, planet half life forums, usenet groups and even people on IRC, way too many people saying the same thing.
    • BTW, I still play, just have only doing 1 hour at a time. About 2 hours and I also start feeling the same as other posts

      Why not stop? My friend used to play doom3 and throw up, or nearly so. Why? Just do something else for fun, rather than suffering through some game.
      • Why not stop? My friend used to play doom3 and throw up, or nearly so. Why? Just do something else for fun, rather than suffering through some game.

        Good advice. The same thing happened to me the first time I was exposed to Steam. This is why HL2 will not darken my PC until there is a Steam-free version, a version that won't make me vomit.

    • Were you able to play jedi outcast? I had the same problem with jedi outcast when it came out. I am the same as you, played pretty much every good fps since wolf 3d and then boom, I can't play jedi outcast. Only in the 1st person view in single player. So the first half of the game was rough till you go the light saber, then in 3rd person I could play without getting sick.

      In multi, maybe because you use the saber so much and guns for short burts of time, I never got sick. It was wierd. I think it had to do
    • agreed. I have NEVER experienced nausea from any 3d game, and I have played them all since Wolfenstein. (doom2 12 hours straight, quake, unreal, farcry, etc.) In fact, I have never gotten nauseous from any game. There is something very peculiar about Half Life 2 because I feel nauseous within an hour of playing everytime. I'm going to try playing with the refresh rate and see if that fixes things. But low refresh rates only give me eye strain and headaches... However I do get seasick easily. hm
  • .. even Spectre VR.

    virtual reality is not all its cracked up to be .. its good to go outside, i rarely ever barf up lunch out there ...

  • Heights? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I haven't yet read the article, so I'm not sure what they mean by "motion sickness". The only motion is you running/walking, you in a swamp boat and you in a dune buggy. Not a big deal and no different than any other game out there. I mean, really - even graphically, those sections (though great) are no more realistic than most of today's modern console based racing games.

    However, if they're talking about motion sickness from the heights- I will concur. It is natural to fear great heights and most people d
    • I've experienced motion sickness (car & boat) and the sensation you get from the FPS games is quite similar. I also don't like heights, and that feels quite different. The simulated heights in games have never been a problem, more the Blair Witch-style movement. And different games have affected me to different degrees.
  • I've suffered from DIMS for years. Does anyone out there have any good tips or ideas for curing (or reducing) the problem of motion sickness? With all the upcomming games that I'm worried will cause it that I want to play (Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2, HL2, Doom 3, etc), I'd love to know.
    • I used to get motion sick with Quake when it first came out, and the more I played it the less often I would get motion sick. I havne't been motion sick from a game since then until HL2, and it seems like that is also going away as I play the game more. So maybe just playing the games until you get used to them will get rid of the problem. It sounds weird, but it seemed to work for me.
    • Exposure fixed me up. A couple years ago a PS2 game would make me totally ill, now I've been gaming a bit heavier and I'm fine.
      • It seems a lot of people are encountering this problem for the first time. I've had it as far back as Quake, since then, a few games have given me it. Some things I've noticed -

        The oncome of motion sickness seems to be much quicker if I am tired.

        The problem isn't just with the pc, medal of honour on the playstation had me talking to God in the big white telephone.

        Sitting back from the monitor and getting a full view of the screen and part of the surrounding region helped immensely. Smoking is particula
    • Have you tried motion sickness wristbands [amazon.com]? They just put pressure on a specific point on your wrist, but they've helped me in the past while on boats.
    • Dramamine [wikipedia.org] is supposed to help with sea-sickness... which is a form of motion sickness. I am not a doctor, but I think it might help.

      As for an actual cure, you got me there. :(

  • I don't think so (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dshaw858 ( 828072 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:19PM (#10904443) Homepage Journal
    I don't think that it's motion sickness or other such stuff in the game. I think it's the graphics.

    And no, I'm not kidding or being sarcastic at all. When I play the game, I often get nausious looking at the overly-realistic monsters (such as those nasty things on the ceiling). Last night it got so bad that I literally had to quit the game and lie down. Playing Half-Life 2 doesn't make me sick cause of motion sickness; I don't get motion sick- it's the graphics.

    - dshaw

  • My HL2 nausea relieved by changing FOV. (Score:5, Informative)

    by jestered1 ( 537899 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:38PM (#10904631)
    FOV == field of view. HL2's default was 75 degrees, which is like walking around with blinders. I upped to to 90 with good results. Add
    +default_fov 90
    to the end of your command line in your HL2 shortcut. Of course, YMMV.
    • I've played many 3D games, but pretty much only FPSs give me nausia. I find the quick jerky movements the most disorienting. Getting higher resolutions, smoother framerates, and more detailed models help somewhat. I've never had the pleasure of trying out an FPS with three monitors, but I wonder if that would help? It seems like the disorientation and compressed FOV would be the problem. I imagine cramming 90 degrees into about 30 of my real-world FOV would make the problem worse.

  • Feeling Sick? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @06:38PM (#10904637)
    Gee I only feel sick when I remember what I paid for my video card .....
  • Have you looked at the colour scheme of this site yet?

  • Bill Van Buren @ Valve about FOV... (Score:4, Informative)

    by antdude ( 79039 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @07:46PM (#10905196) Homepage Journal
    See this Planet Half-Life forum thread [forumplanet.com].
  • Who knew that HL2 would cause unintentional bulimia. Will reports of weight loss be next? ;)

  • Tunnel Vision (Score:2, Interesting)

    by rgf71 ( 448062 )
    I'm reading all these posts on steampowered and here and, well.. all over the place, and I started wondering why I am not getting nausiated also.

    Then it occured to me. Since I have tunnel vision (around 18 degrees), I'm USED to the narrow FOV. Go figure... a disability coming in quite handy!
  • Nausea is not just limited to Half-Life 2, I have been playing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, another Source engine game, and after playing that game for a while I feel a little nauseous. In VtM:B if one is in first person before entering combat, entering combat causes the camera to enter into third person, that may be what is causing my nausea. Then again, maybe the low fov in first person on VtM:B may be causing it too.

    When I played No One Lives Forever 2 a while ago, which is another low fov game
  • "The Steam Forums are temporarily offline", anyone got a cache?

  • Diddy Kong Racing makes me sick (Score:3, Informative)

    by Macgrrl ( 762836 ) on Tuesday November 23, 2004 @09:25PM (#10906005)

    Any game with a hovercraft mode is guarenteed to make me motion sick.

    Beyond Good and Evil has been making a good attempt at it also.

    I remeber getting woozy playing Descent years ago, could be one reason I don't play FPS much.

    • I remeber getting woozy playing Descent years ago
      Last time I checked, the entire purpose of Decent's existence was to make people sick. The human brain has spent far too much time evolving with 4DOF to expect it to handle 6DOF in any way other than thinking it ate the wrong mushrooms.
    • Diddy Kong Racing makes me sick
      Puffy has to be racing to make you sick? You must have a high tolerance. For me, all he has to do is rap, or drink Cambodian breast milk on TV!

  • Windowed Mode! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by sjwoo ( 526878 )

    I also had nausea issues playing HL2 -- I've had it to lesser degrees with other FPSes, like Doom 3, Quake 2/3, and Max Payne 1/2. HL2 is much nastier, though; after the first hour, I really thought I was gonna hurl.

    So is there a solution? Here's mine: don't play in full screen mode. I run 1280x1024, so I'm currently playing it at 1024x768, and it helps a lot. Seeing it in a window seems to do the trick.

  • Doom3 managed to scare the shit out of me at many occations and I loved every minute of it.

    It seams HL2 has the ability to scare the shit out of people's mind's and bodies. That's twice as scary imo and all the more exhilerating because of it.
  • I emailed the second picture in that set of HL2/Doom3 screenshots to my wife and asked her: "What do you think this is?" She called me up and said, "A picture of a basement hallway." I asked if by picture she might mean a photograph, and she said, "Sure." When I told her that the picture was from a 3D rendering engine, she was surprised. She thought it was real. That's some damn impressive technology.
  • When some bright person while develop a tool that will allow you to convert the maps automatically between HL2 and D3 and vice versa.

    If you own both, I see no issues with such a gizmo.

  • FPS and nausea... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by lpangelrob2 ( 721920 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @10:46AM (#10909332) Journal
    I agree with the general direction of these posts, except I've always gotten sick when playing first person shooters (except Wolfenstein 3-D, for relatively obvious reasons). It's strange because I don't get carsick. However, if I'm watching video taken from a moving car, I do get carsick. The same with any movie that resembles the Blair Witch Project... that's why I didn't think that movie was very good. But I digress.

    Lately I've just played Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 a lot and made other people sick instead of me. :-)

  • I've played the latest games FarCry, Doom3, Half-Life 2 all at 1600x1200 @ 60Hz on my 21.3" LCD via DVI and never had any issues. Maybe it's the CRT. I remember when I used to have a 21" CRT and GTA:VC was locked @ 60Hz. I would have a headache after an hour or so of playing due to the flickering. But I can play Half-Life 2 for hours w/o any headaches, other than the rest of the family complaining that they haven't seen me in a few days. :-)
  • It's remarkable how good the HL2 levels look in the Doom 3 engine, and how awful the Doom 3 levels look in the Source engine. Of course, you have lighting and bump-mapping to consider, but even so, the artists behind HL2 did a damn fine work with the much more limited engine (graphically).

    Not that the Doom 3 crew didn't, i just think they had things easier :)
    • The Doom 3 textures wouldn't look awful if applied correctly. The D3 textures you see in the source engine aren't really full textures. They are just one part of it. So obviously it's going to look worse, since the HL2 textures are the actual textures, while with the D3 textures, there's much more to them, and whoever put them in the HL2 engine didn't get all the parts.
  • I haven't played these games so can't say for sure. But a similar problem happened to people in a planetarium that ran a demo (racing down a highway) meant for an ordinary screen. Apparently you get sick when you have lots of stuff racing on the sides of your peripheral vision (and presumably not locked to your body spatial sense, otherwise you would get sick just running).

    A well lit room is good but possibly the game itself is fundamentally the culprit.
  • My idea of motion sickness is that the brain thinks it has been poisoned, and so tries to barf the poison out.

    I was only motion sick once in a computer game ages ago, and thought it was because the graphics had unnatural colors to them. Greenish/teal that is. You also had the option to make your character bob up and down like you do when walking, but increasing or reducing the bobbing did nothing to reduce the nausea.

    I also didn't get accustomed to the game. In fact, I felt like a got sicker much quicker

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