I experienced this as well when I recently replayed Half-Life.

My guess is that, since CD audio is used very rarely in this game, the drive spins down in-between tracks. The stutter likely occurs when the game requests another track to be played, and the drive needs to spin up first. In contrast, Quake 2 is constantly looping a single CD audio track for the entirety of the level, so the drive is always in use.

If your system isn't at the absolute lowest end for system requirements and can handle MP3 playback during gameplay, you should patch the game at least to version 1.1.1.0 and then rip the CD-tracks.

Place ripped tracks into X:\dir\Half-Life\valve\media and name the files like so:

1. Half-Life01.mp3
2. Prospero01.mp3
3. Half-Life12.mp3
4. Half-Life07.mp3
5. Half-Life10.mp3
6. Suspense01.mp3
7. Suspense03.mp3
8. Half-Life09.mp3
9. Half-Life02.mp3
10. Half-Life13.mp3
11. Half-Life04.mp3
12. Half-Life15.mp3
13. Half-Life14.mp3
14. Half-Life16.mp3
15. Suspense02.mp3
16. Half-Life03.mp3
17. Half-Life08.mp3
18. Prospero02.mp3
19. Half-Life05.mp3
20. Prospero04.mp3
21. Half-Life11.mp3
22. Half-Life06.mp3
23. Prospero03.mp3
24. Half-Life17.mp3
25. Prospero05.mp3
26. Suspense05.mp3
27. Suspense07.mp3

Source:
https://www.moddb.com/games/half-life/downloa … n-fov-mp3-patch

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-14, 13:42:

I experienced this as well when I recently replayed Half-Life.

My guess is that, since CD audio is used very rarely in this game, the drive spins down in-between tracks. The stutter likely occurs when the game requests another track to be played, and the drive needs to spin up first. In contrast, Quake 2 is constantly looping a single CD audio track for the entirety of the level, so the drive is always in use.

Ah, I see.
Maybe a faster CD drive would mitigate the issue, but for now I'm gonna stick with the LG one as it works for other games.
Anyway, thanks for the info 🙂

leonardo wrote on 2023-05-14, 14:01:

If your system isn't at the absolute lowest end for system requirements and can handle MP3 playback during gameplay, you should […]
Show full quote

If your system isn't at the absolute lowest end for system requirements and can handle MP3 playback during gameplay, you should patch the game at least to version 1.1.1.0 and then rip the CD-tracks.

Place ripped tracks into X:\dir\Half-Life\valve\media and name the files like so:

1. Half-Life01.mp3
2. Prospero01.mp3
3. Half-Life12.mp3
4. Half-Life07.mp3
5. Half-Life10.mp3
6. Suspense01.mp3
7. Suspense03.mp3
8. Half-Life09.mp3
9. Half-Life02.mp3
10. Half-Life13.mp3
11. Half-Life04.mp3
12. Half-Life15.mp3
13. Half-Life14.mp3
14. Half-Life16.mp3
15. Suspense02.mp3
16. Half-Life03.mp3
17. Half-Life08.mp3
18. Prospero02.mp3
19. Half-Life05.mp3
20. Prospero04.mp3
21. Half-Life11.mp3
22. Half-Life06.mp3
23. Prospero03.mp3
24. Half-Life17.mp3
25. Prospero05.mp3
26. Suspense05.mp3
27. Suspense07.mp3

Source:
https://www.moddb.com/games/half-life/downloa … n-fov-mp3-patch

Didn't know there was a patch for mp3 playback on Half-Life pre-Steam release: thanks a lot!
I would prefer to stick with CD music (for historical reasons 😁) but I will install this patch if I don't find any solution.

I was playing mp3s on my 486 back in '96 so historical reasons doesn't really stand.
Prevent the wear and tear on both your CD and the CD drive if you can.

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-14, 14:02:

Maybe a faster CD drive would mitigate the issue, but for now I'm gonna stick with the LG one as it works for other games.

no, on the contrary i would rather try a slowdown utility that will run the drive at a constant speed. 40x is no good for playing games off CD because of the constant spinning up/down adding delay, those fast speeds are really only good for things like installs. 8x and slower is optimal for games that actually use the CD.

auron wrote on 2023-05-15, 10:34:

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-14, 14:02:

Maybe a faster CD drive would mitigate the issue, but for now I'm gonna stick with the LG one as it works for other games.

no, on the contrary i would rather try a slowdown utility that will run the drive at a constant speed. 40x is no good for playing games off CD because of the constant spinning up/down adding delay, those fast speeds are really only good for things like installs. 8x and slower is optimal for games that actually use the CD.

Got it.
The CD is used only for playing the OST.
In Windows 98, there's a menu for setting the drive speed: I will try to decrease it.
Thanks anyway 🙂

I've a favor to ask; I recently played the original Half-Life (patched to 1.1.1.0) on a P4 system with Windows 98, and there's a bug where you will get stuck on elevators. I'm curious to know if you have the same issue on this PC.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-05-15, 12:56:

I've a favor to ask; I recently played the original Half-Life (patched to 1.1.1.0) on a P4 system with Windows 98, and there's a bug where you will get stuck on elevators. I'm curious to know if you have the same issue on this PC.

Judging by this old ArsTechnica thread, it was a common bug.

I got killed once by an elevator on On a Rail, but never happened since then.

As suggested on the linked thread, you could jump to avoid getting stuck.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-05-15, 12:56:

I've a favor to ask; I recently played the original Half-Life (patched to 1.1.1.0) on a P4 system with Windows 98, and there's a bug where you will get stuck on elevators. I'm curious to know if you have the same issue on this PC.

I experienced this once in Xen, with those "elevator" spire things. Could reproduce it repeatedly too. Solved by jumping before and during the "elevator" ride, as mentioned above.

But I don't think I've encountered this bug anywhere else during my playthrough.

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-15, 20:57:

Judging by this old ArsTechnica thread, it was a common bug. […]
Show full quote

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-05-15, 12:56:

I've a favor to ask; I recently played the original Half-Life (patched to 1.1.1.0) on a P4 system with Windows 98, and there's a bug where you will get stuck on elevators. I'm curious to know if you have the same issue on this PC.

Judging by this old ArsTechnica thread, it was a common bug.

I got killed once by an elevator on On a Rail, but never happened since then.

As suggested on the linked thread, you could jump to avoid getting stuck.

I was curious to know if it was something that only occurred with certain hardware. Jumping can help, but if you happen to not be in the air when you hit a loading pause, you'll still get stuck. I even played through Half-Life Source on the same Win98 machine, and it played with no issues. I can't imagine the Steam version of Half-Life still has this bug, I wonder when they patched it? I definitely prefer HL-Source, but I'm sure it would not play at all well on a P2 400.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-15, 21:11:

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-05-15, 12:56:

I've a favor to ask; I recently played the original Half-Life (patched to 1.1.1.0) on a P4 system with Windows 98, and there's a bug where you will get stuck on elevators. I'm curious to know if you have the same issue on this PC.

I experienced this once in Xen, with those "elevator" spire things. Could reproduce it repeatedly too. Solved by jumping before and during the "elevator" ride, as mentioned above.

But I don't think I've encountered this bug anywhere else during my playthrough.

It first happened to me riding the elevator to the surface in "We've Got Hostiles." On that elevator jumping worked, but the spinning platform in "Interloper" was too much for me - it was too easy to fall off, I was trying to fight off a Vortigaunt attack, and I decided to declare victory and call it a day.

This thread might be of interest. I just installed that patch, and I can now select 1280x1024. Half-Life 1280x1024 in D3D

Edit: that thread mentions the stuck in an elevator bug so I had some hope that a fix was included in that patch, but it persists.

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-15, 11:24:

Got it. The CD is used only for playing the OST. In Windows 98, there's a menu for setting the drive speed: I will try to decrea […]
Show full quote

auron wrote on 2023-05-15, 10:34:

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-14, 14:02:

Maybe a faster CD drive would mitigate the issue, but for now I'm gonna stick with the LG one as it works for other games.

no, on the contrary i would rather try a slowdown utility that will run the drive at a constant speed. 40x is no good for playing games off CD because of the constant spinning up/down adding delay, those fast speeds are really only good for things like installs. 8x and slower is optimal for games that actually use the CD.

Got it.
The CD is used only for playing the OST.
In Windows 98, there's a menu for setting the drive speed: I will try to decrease it.
Thanks anyway 🙂

The setting I've mentioned above is actually for the CD drive cache, based on its speed.
I've seen on another Vogons thread that there's the utility Nero DriveSpeed which can be used to throttle the CD drive speed.
I was not able to find a valid link for the installer: does anyone know where it can be found? Or better, is there a way to set drive speed in Windows 98 without external tools?

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-17, 09:00:

The setting I've mentioned above is actually for the CD drive cache, based on its speed.
I've seen on another Vogons thread that there's the utility Nero DriveSpeed which can be used to throttle the CD drive speed.
I was not able to find a valid link for the installer: does anyone know where it can be found?

It's still available on Softpedia.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how safe or secure that website is nowadays. Many of these old download platforms got bought out by shady advertising companies.

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-17, 09:00:

The setting I've mentioned above is actually for the CD drive cache, based on its speed. I've seen on another Vogons thread that […]
Show full quote

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-15, 11:24:

Got it. The CD is used only for playing the OST. In Windows 98, there's a menu for setting the drive speed: I will try to decrea […]
Show full quote

auron wrote on 2023-05-15, 10:34:

no, on the contrary i would rather try a slowdown utility that will run the drive at a constant speed. 40x is no good for playing games off CD because of the constant spinning up/down adding delay, those fast speeds are really only good for things like installs. 8x and slower is optimal for games that actually use the CD.

Got it.
The CD is used only for playing the OST.
In Windows 98, there's a menu for setting the drive speed: I will try to decrease it.
Thanks anyway 🙂

The setting I've mentioned above is actually for the CD drive cache, based on its speed.
I've seen on another Vogons thread that there's the utility Nero DriveSpeed which can be used to throttle the CD drive speed.
I was not able to find a valid link for the installer: does anyone know where it can be found? Or better, is there a way to set drive speed in Windows 98 without external tools?

Check out the Essential Utilities-section for the guide in my sig - I think I had a direct download link to the archived website for the app there! Many other cool Win95/98 apps there too. 😉

leonardo wrote on 2023-05-17, 09:41:

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-17, 09:00:

The setting I've mentioned above is actually for the CD drive cache, based on its speed. I've seen on another Vogons thread that […]
Show full quote

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-15, 11:24:

Got it. The CD is used only for playing the OST. In Windows 98, there's a menu for setting the drive speed: I will try to decrea […]
Show full quote

Got it.
The CD is used only for playing the OST.
In Windows 98, there's a menu for setting the drive speed: I will try to decrease it.
Thanks anyway 🙂

The setting I've mentioned above is actually for the CD drive cache, based on its speed.
I've seen on another Vogons thread that there's the utility Nero DriveSpeed which can be used to throttle the CD drive speed.
I was not able to find a valid link for the installer: does anyone know where it can be found? Or better, is there a way to set drive speed in Windows 98 without external tools?

Check out the Essential Utilities-section for the guide in my sig - I think I had a direct download link to the archived website for the app there! Many other cool Win95/98 apps there too. 😉

Thanks a lot 🙂

Unfortunately, the Nero DriveSpeed version from the archive.org link hanged my Win98 system 😁
I've found the 3.00 version from 3dfxzone.it, which worked.

I set up 8x speed and saw minor improvements, but there's still stuttering (I think it's less than before).
There's also a Spin down time option set to Infinity: if I decrease it (like setting it to 4 seconds), could there be improvements?

BTW, I'm gonna check more in depth during gameplay.

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-19, 10:40:

Thanks a lot 🙂 […]
Show full quote

leonardo wrote on 2023-05-17, 09:41:

Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-17, 09:00:

The setting I've mentioned above is actually for the CD drive cache, based on its speed.
I've seen on another Vogons thread that there's the utility Nero DriveSpeed which can be used to throttle the CD drive speed.
I was not able to find a valid link for the installer: does anyone know where it can be found? Or better, is there a way to set drive speed in Windows 98 without external tools?

Check out the Essential Utilities-section for the guide in my sig - I think I had a direct download link to the archived website for the app there! Many other cool Win95/98 apps there too. 😉

Thanks a lot 🙂

Unfortunately, the Nero DriveSpeed version from the archive.org link hanged my Win98 system 😁
I've found the 3.00 version from 3dfxzone.it, which worked.

I set up 8x speed and saw minor improvements, but there's still stuttering (I think it's less than before).
There's also a Spin down time option set to Infinity: if I decrease it (like setting it to 4 seconds), could there be improvements?

BTW, I'm gonna check more in depth during gameplay.

I noticed in your first post you mentioned you're using digital media extraction to play the CD instead of the analog mode (CD-audio cable to from CD-drive to the soundcard). Is this accurate? If it is, I would definitely try switching to regular analog audio mode for the CD-drive. edit: For the record, in analog mode the disc spins at 1x regardless of your setting for it in DriveSpeed, because that's how you get music playback.

I once also had a drive that had something wrong with its controller and it wouldn't stay in DMA-mode reliably, which made any disc access when it was working basically halt everything else the system was doing. So yeah, if you don't have a busted drive also make sure you've got DMA enabled for it.

leonardo wrote on 2023-05-19, 20:56:

I noticed in your first post you mentioned you're using digital media extraction to play the CD instead of the analog mode (CD-audio cable to from CD-drive to the soundcard). Is this accurate? If it is, I would definitely try switching to regular analog audio mode for the CD-drive. edit: For the record, in analog mode the disc spins at 1x regardless of your setting for it in DriveSpeed, because that's how you get music playback.

Yes, SPDIF with the 2-pin black and white cable.
I could try with analog audio.

leonardo wrote on 2023-05-19, 20:56:

I once also had a drive that had something wrong with its controller and it wouldn't stay in DMA-mode reliably, which made any disc access when it was working basically halt everything else the system was doing. So yeah, if you don't have a busted drive also make sure you've got DMA enabled for it.

DMA mode enabled and the drive seems ok, judging by the tests on Quake I've reported on my first post.