Valve has released a new beta patch for Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode One and Half Life 2: Episode Two. This new beta patch adds Vulkan support to the game, meaning that these HL2 games no longer use/feature the DirectX API.
Additionally, this new beta update adds support for ultra-wide monitors. Not only that, but it improves FOV (increases max FOV from 90 to 110), and packs a number of interface improvements. Furthermore, this beta update fixes a number of bugs and issues that the community has reported over the past decade.
Now the bad news here is that this beta update introduces micro-stutters. This is something that Valve will have to look into as these stutters can be annoying. My guess is that the final/public patch will not be plagued by them.
Valve has not released any changelog, but you can find below a video that highlights the changes.
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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