Maybe the 4MB graphics RAM is the limitation.
https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/re … half-life/11560
It seems to want 16 MB minimum / 32+ MB Optimum.

I also suspect the GPU. That's a business GPU, not intended for gaming.

What resolution and renderer are you trying to use with the game?

Run it on software rendering at 512x384 or 400x300. Actually looks great by the way.

technokater wrote on 2024-01-18, 10:02:

I also suspect the GPU. That's a business GPU, not intended for gaming.

I recall playing Half Life acceptably (not well) back in the day on office systems with Celeron 466 and i810 integrated VGA using software rendering under NT4.

If it will work on shared memory UMA, any dedicated VGA will work better; worst case you do software rendering and still have twice the CPU memory bandwidth.

So it should run on a Celeron 800 unhindered by UMA.

dionb wrote on 2024-01-18, 11:48:

I recall playing Half Life acceptably (not well) back in the day on office systems with Celeron 466 and i810 integrated VGA usin […]
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technokater wrote on 2024-01-18, 10:02:

I also suspect the GPU. That's a business GPU, not intended for gaming.

I recall playing Half Life acceptably (not well) back in the day on office systems with Celeron 466 and i810 integrated VGA using software rendering under NT4.

If it will work on shared memory UMA, any dedicated VGA will work better; worst case you do software rendering and still have twice the CPU memory bandwidth.

So it should run on a Celeron 800 unhindered by UMA.

I'm not sure about that.
Rage Mobility was very weak.

As long as it can push pixels software rendering will do fine

Trylgsk wrote on 2024-01-18, 09:44:

Hello, i have an Thinkpad a22e with windows 98, it runs Half life 1 at around 5-12 fps and takes a long time to load, and in som […]
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Hello, i have an Thinkpad a22e with windows 98, it runs Half life 1 at around 5-12 fps and takes a long time to load, and in some files (text files) with the half life folder, it said the recommended specs were way lower than what i had. I dont remember exactly what specs it said, but those specs were probably 1996-1998 era.

SPECS:
Intel Mobile Celeron 800mhz CPU
ATI Rage Mobility M 4mb GPU
128mb Ram

Sorry to ask a stupid question but is the driver properly installed ? Not falling back to some failsafe mode or something ?

Does the issue still occurs when the laptop displays on an external VGA screen ?

That's normal. The GPU's on the A22 line are very weak and don't have the best drivers. Try using OpenGL mode, I believe that works a little better.

I had an A22m a while ago, it could acceptably run HL1 at 800x600.

IBM added a Rage 128 into the A22p. Now that's a beast. Much better drivers, can run the game at the native 1600x1200 resolution of the internal panel. Such a machine is very hard to find in working condition, though.

I don't think any Pentium 3 era laptop had more than 8MB VRAM.

Toshiba Satellite 1800's (Celeron 800) had a Trident CyberBlade 8MB GPU,
Compaq Armada M700 (Pentium 3) had an ATI Mobility PRO 8MB GPU...

Penium M laptops just a few years later were a massive step forward... Used less power and had 128MB GPUs.

MikeSG wrote on 2024-01-19, 10:05:

I don't think any Pentium 3 era laptop had more than 8MB VRAM. […]
Show full quote

I don't think any Pentium 3 era laptop had more than 8MB VRAM.

Toshiba Satellite 1800's (Celeron 800) had a Trident CyberBlade 8MB GPU,
Compaq Armada M700 (Pentium 3) had an ATI Mobility PRO 8MB GPU...

Penium M laptops just a few years later were a massive step forward... Used less power and had 128MB GPUs.

I had a Toshiba Satellite 3000-100 with a Pentium III 850, and that bad boy had a GeForce 2 Go 16MB in it. It could actually game!

Shadzilla wrote on 2024-01-19, 13:22:

MikeSG wrote on 2024-01-19, 10:05:

I don't think any Pentium 3 era laptop had more than 8MB VRAM. […]
Show full quote

I don't think any Pentium 3 era laptop had more than 8MB VRAM.

Toshiba Satellite 1800's (Celeron 800) had a Trident CyberBlade 8MB GPU,
Compaq Armada M700 (Pentium 3) had an ATI Mobility PRO 8MB GPU...

Penium M laptops just a few years later were a massive step forward... Used less power and had 128MB GPUs.

I had a Toshiba Satellite 3000-100 with a Pentium III 850, and that bad boy had a GeForce 2 Go 16MB in it. It could actually game!

Wow, nice

MikeSG wrote on 2024-01-19, 10:05:

I don't think any Pentium 3 era laptop had more than 8MB VRAM.

Toshiba Satellite 1800's (Celeron 800) had a Trident CyberBlade 8MB GPU,
Compaq Armada M700 (Pentium 3) had an ATI Mobility PRO 8MB GPU...

This was after the VRAM era in any case, the Toshiba Satellite 1800 had an ALi Cyberblade Aladdin I1 chipset with UMA (shared system memory, which was SDRAM), and the Rage Mobility Pro would have had either SDRAM or SGRAM. I doubt any Pentium 3 laptop of any description would have had VRAM in any quantity, that's more P1/P2 era.