# Graphics card... shader? (Portal)



## Euphoric Fuse (May 21, 2007)

Alright, I just got the Orange Box today, specifically for Portal(Jonathan Coulton playing the ending credits sold it for me). Anyways, I go to play Portal, and it tells me that I need a DirectX 8.0 or higher. So, I go and download DirectX 9.0, even though I am sure I have 8.0. I install it and all, enter Portal again, it closes after the loading screen and says the same thing. So I restart my computer. Same message. So I do some research. My graphics card(Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller) supports DirectX 9.0. So, I'm confused.

I continue doing research, and found out that I could make the game give me a log of everything it does. I do this, and the outcome looks like this:



> Both ConVars must be marked FCVAR_REPLICATED for linkage to work (r_VehicleViewDampen)
> Unable to remove c:\program files\steam\steamapps\****(My username)\portal\portal\gamestats.log!
> maxplayers set to 1
> Error: Material "__depthwrite00" uses unknown shader "DepthWrite"
> ...


So... I dunno! I have no idea what this means, other than my card may not support shaders, or something. I have no idea. Any help, please?

Thanks so much!

- Euphoric Fuse


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

Bad news...a video card that supports Shader Model 3.0 is needed to play Portal.
The onboard Intel video card in your computer is the problem.

Steam forum


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## gamerbyron (Apr 9, 2007)

I agree above, you'll need to purchase a decent video card to play your game.


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## BlooChoo (Jun 8, 2007)

yeh thats an onboard grapichs chip so you may find u will need a new mother board too...is your computer built by emachines by any chance?


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## Matthew93er (Oct 20, 2007)

I have a ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series and I bought The Orange Box aswell and Portal isn't working for me either. When I play any of the games my computer, it restarts by itself and I don't really know why this is happening. Also what program did you use to give you the log of everything it does?


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## Euphoric Fuse (May 21, 2007)

Go to the Steam thing, click on Portal(Or anything you are having problems with), go down to Properties, then Launch Options, then put in "-condebug" without the quotations. Start up Portal, let it do its glitch thing, then go to ((Directory Steam is in))>Steam>Steamapps>((Your Profile name))>Portal>Portal>Console.TXT

Console.TXT is where the log is stored.


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## Matthew93er (Oct 20, 2007)

Unable to remove c:\program files\steam\steamapps\matthew_n\portal\portal\gamestats.log!
maxplayers set to 1
Steam config directory: c:\program files\steam\steamapps\matthew_n\portal\platform\config
Unknown command "sv_backspeed"


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## Clumbsy_Mage (Oct 21, 2004)

Have you tried running Portal in compatibility mode for earlier versions of DirectX? Unlikely to work considering this is related to the shader model of your graphics card being too old but worth a try.

Just enter this into the launch options of the Portal properties

-dxlevel 81
or
-dxlevel 80


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## Matthew93er (Oct 20, 2007)

It didn't work.


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## Neco Divad (Oct 28, 2007)

Matthew93er, I have the same exact problem as you with the same video card. I updated my drivers at the ATI website, but that only seems to make the problem worse. I was able to play a few minutes of the game before it would restart my system, but now it does so before Portal finishes loading (or maybe the moment it does). My error log is as such.

Couldn't parse script sequence 'HealthIncreasedAbove20': expected <anim command>, found 'Animat'
Couldn't parse script sequence 'HealthIncreasedAbove20': expected <anim command>, found 'Animat'
Unknown command "sv_backspeed"
SteamProcessCall(SteamWaitForResources()) failed: \

It seems to me that the problem is the sv_backspeed command which is in both our logs.


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## Matthew93er (Oct 20, 2007)

Yeah I played for a few minutes too before updating my video card, but it was all messed up and missing textures. The only thing you can do is get a new video card. Oh and I used this link from a different post. 
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

Says I need this

Vertex Shader Ver.: Required - 3.0 , You have - 2.0
Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 3.0 , You have - 2.0


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## Neco Divad (Oct 28, 2007)

I actually got it working. I found on a valve forum somewhere that I should add
"
-condebug map none -dxlevel 80 -console -novid -window -width 800 -height 600
"
to my shortcut. I did, and it loaded. Once in the game I changed the settings back to fullscreen with nicer resolution and it works perfectly now.


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## Matthew93er (Oct 20, 2007)

Do I put all those phrases in the Launch Options?


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## Neco Divad (Oct 28, 2007)

Right click on the shortcut, click properties, and copy/paste the entire line into the target line after everything else.
The game is very short (but awesome) though, I just finished the final level and now need to start the advanced bonus levels. I think I spend more time trying to make it work than playing it. The cake is good though... (yeah, I actually went out and bought a small cake for myself after this, hehe)


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## Matthew93er (Oct 20, 2007)

Thanks! it actually worked do you think it would work for the other games?


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## Clumbsy_Mage (Oct 21, 2004)

So lowering the DirectX level does help


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## jereth (Nov 2, 2007)

hi i also am having problems with portal its on my lap top running 2 cores at 1.8 and 2 gig ddr 2 667 and a 6150 go

the recommended specs on my laptop is most items set to hi

on any setting it runs extremely slow frame rates about 1 in 4 frames 
updated drivers and such does nothing

any help would be helpful


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

Even though the GeForce Go 6150 is a DirectX 9 part, 
it doesn't really have the power to use the DirectX 9 code path.
Try lowering the DirectX level to -dxlevel 80 or maybe even -dxlevel 70...Setting Game Launch Options


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## gamerbyron (Apr 9, 2007)

its your video card that has problems, the onboard video cards are very bad for gaming.


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## ninelives1 (May 4, 2008)

was the code posted previosly 


"-condebug map none -dxlevel 80 -console -novid -window -width 800 -height 600"


for people without pixel shader?


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