i can smell the cake but i cant eat it yet

[GRIM_REAPER]

Ok ppl ive sorted out what i belive to be the root of my problem i had directx9 installed but direct draw didnt work with my card so ive uninstalled dx9 (vv laborious to totaly get rid of) and reinstalled 8.1 so now i hope ill be able to access the graphics tab on the options screen and change the graphics so the game apears normal brightness. But now whenever i logon to steam i put in my password and it sits for a but (HD going like the clappers) then the login box dissapears (HD still goin like the clappers) then hd stops and i wait and i wait and i wait ok im bord of waiting now so i Ctrl+alt+del steam is not responding (why am i not supprised) so hlp meeeeeeee pllzzzzzz.

Grim

[TeaLeaf]

Why run in D3D?  Use OpenGL.

Is your net connection still up when this happens?  

Try deleting the clientregistry.blob file then restarting steam.

TL.

[GRIM_REAPER]

Yep the internet is still on i get adsl nxt week on wed i tnk so hopefull if i eva manage to log on, it will improve things ill go and try deleating that thing now

grim

[GRIM_REAPER]

ok now its updating platform so ill come bak prop l8er 2 nite with an answer or 2morrow.

[GRIM_REAPER]

Ok ppl thanks to teas idea deleating the .blob i can now log on and at kunch i connected to meathook i would see the welcome screen and  clicked on the hl2 has performed an illegal opperation "close" and i still cant access the graphics tab in options is there a way to change the graphics settings without going into cs?

Grim