Checking the comments, seems like this is a common problem. The mod may just be broken, it was last updated in April 2017, and Black Mesa has received several updates since then.
Uploading to the workshop is a bit of a pain, constant roadblocks at every turn it feels like. But I did manage to create a page for a seemingly nonexistant item with no title, image, or description, and 0.000mb filesize.
I think I got it, alien grunts should have at least jump start and landing animation instead of seemingly floating on air so it would be more believable. Also, I know they modified the alien grunts due to Xen's level design .
It's uploaded, but it doesn't work unless you type snd_restart every time the map loads, otherwise no sound plays and the console says it cannot determine the file path. I cannot expect people to do that, what the hell. Man I might just have to put up instructions that say "also after you download it, move it to the custom folder because the workshop folder is broken as shit".
Well my first mod in a couple years is out. Actually, all I did was update an old obscure mod that I only posted in a couple areas. Anyway, here's a replacement sound for the VOX military takeover.
Yeah all audio mods will only work if you put it in the custom folder or keep typing and_restart, this is also an issue with insurgency workshop.
My long awaited (aka obscure and relatively unknown) Retail version of the HL1 style Vortigaunt voices is complete! You can find it here.
It was probably the most popular mod I've made for Black Mesa, hopefully when people come looking for mods when Xen comes out, they will able to enjoy it again.
Interestingly, Valve themselves seem to have a fix for this with titles like Left 4 Dead 2 and TF2: workshop files by default are stored in the same tree as end-user addons and official game content, albeit under separate sub-folders.
A little late on this, but I thought it would be worth mentioning that the Xen trailer has hit 1M views.
no it wasnt just me constantly reviewing it
Here's a video I found regarding Half-Life's AI, mostly focused on the HECU Grunt. It's very interesting and explains how and why the AI acts the way it does. For example the flanking behavior is due to the soldier that spots you relaying your location to the Squad Leader (Red Beret), who announces your presence (SQUAD! WE'VE. GOT. HOSTILES), and updates all members of his squad, who will then either move to intercept or move to cover, which causing the scattering / flanking behavior they're known for. The behaviors were also dynamic and changed if the situation changed, such as stopping shooting to take cover. This is something I don't really notice the Combine or BMS Hgrunts doing, they seem content just standing there and shooting at you until their health drains to zero. In both cases, they're content standing still while a zombie beats them to death, whereas an Hgrunt's AI would tell it to "Find Cover" because it's getting too hurt, then either re-engage or throw a grenade at the now-unseen target.
https://youtu.be/cOSCBMHGE18
Makes me wonder how Half-Life 2's enemies compare, and Black Mesa's enemies. I remember Black Mesa didn't want to use Combine AI because it was "300 lines of spaghetti code", but the AI they came up with in the mod version of the game felt more like Gmod SNPC's with how overly simplistic and outright cheaty it was, once you were spotted it knew where you were even if you noclipped out of the room and onto the other side (I know because I did exactly that). I haven't played enough Retail to be sure, but I think they just use Combine AI now (correct me if I'm wrong). I don't want to say HL1 AI is better than HL2 AI but as noted with the zombie example above, HL2 AI can be really stupid and seems to have poor self-preservation.
The Combine AI's problems can be boiled down into just a few bullet points.
Too few
Too slow
Too little HP
The Combine generally only appear in small numbers, and there's only a couple unit types. Both of these prevent them from being particularly interesting in gameplay. Consider the best battles in HL2, when there are numerous enemies, and many unit types used in tandem (Striders + Soldiers, Hunters + Soldiers, CPs + Mine drones).
Too slow, this is pretty simple, Gordo can literally run circles around the Combine AI, they don't stand a chance of outmaneuvering the player.
Too little HP, just as it says on the tin, Gordo can blast any combine pretty quick, even on hard. You need to give AI time to do something cool, the combine are way too quick to bite the dust.
Consider even the most bog-standard enemy engagement in Halo 3:
https://youtu.be/Atjd7af-xQ4?t=252
We've got threats that have to be addressed at different times, different enemy classes, and the big-baddies don't instantly die, and get to do some cool stuff before they do (throw some nades, put down a bubbleshield, etc).
Really, if you want to see HL2 AI at its best, that's either during the EP2 arena battles, or Minerva:Metastasis. And I can go on and on, but really, Halo has some of the best enemy, arena, and mission designs of the FPS world - from flow to enemy delivery (Something Minerva does excellently).
So, since some recent update the game has been running at low FPS for me, I assume because of all the fancy effects added. Is there a way to turn them off, because both the mod version and the initial Steam version has been running fine for me. I set all the graphics to low but it didn't seem to help.
I'd say emphasis on the "too few" and "too slow" parts, tbh the last thing you need is to make the combine more bullet spongy than they are on hard mode.
Plus FEAR's AI doesn't have these problems, they can't run circles around the player but they do move faster and you can kill them way faster than you can kill combine in HL2
pretty dumb of them to use HD models for this sort of video, considering HD animations are slower and actually downgrade their combat performance.
for the record, combine squads very much still exist and they have the exact same "every member accross the map aggros on you at once"
I did some observing in Gmod and I think I've concluded the reason is HL2's AI lack self preservation as a whole. Testing a fight against an HECU and a Combine in the same environment, the HECU dashes for cover when spotting an enemy while in the open, the Combine stands still and starts shooting. If plinked away at with the pistol, the HECU retreats when taking damage, the Combine stands still. In squad battles with the HECU, the Combine tend to charge forward recklessly and get cut down, and are far less effective with their grenades (HECU can land a grenade at an enemy's feet, Combine grenades are very imprecise and almost never land if you're at a different height). And of course the Zombie test, HECU run away from it when taking too much damage and go back to ranged shooting, Combine stand there and try to DPS race them with melee, which usually doesn't work. Black Mesa's HGrunts have a lot of similar problems to what I just mentioned, they also failed the Zombie test in the same way as the Combine, they stand there and try to melee it until they die instead of changing their strategy.
mr. someguy has a history of complaining about combine ai for years
and since bm grunts are very similar to combine i imagine it was a given.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaAN_aDWvCs&t=0s
Operation: Black Mesa dev team has release a new video on weapons.
Some of those muzzle flashes though. Way too big.
I don't like the random flashlight attachment on the shotgun, it feels really out of place and just there because "detail".
it seems very hard for games nowadays to get a solid feel with shotgun view models.
The rest is very nice however
That cheeky grenade-scoop is awesome.. All that time messing with that one metrocop's soda-can will finally pay off~
i just noticed that in the black mesa xen trailer at 0:46 you can see a "pod" with and hev suit in it behind the zombie
https://youtu.be/TAIJich73NY?t=46
So this was probably asked before, but if any devs are still around, will sound mods be fixed for Xen or at a later date, or is there some technical mishap that prevents this from working?
It's likely not going to be resolvable. The workshop implementation has been an absolute nightmare and it's fought us at every single turn. I think one of our programmers spent quite some time digging into this specific issue and it's a pretty deep engine thing which we can't address easily. Sorry!
And my apologies for the lack of replies recently. I was made Lead Level Designer in September and absolutely everything since then has been a mad grind. It still is, but I'm trying to do better to reconcile all my different responsibilities now!
That's great to hear actually, I remember when you were just a mapper who was unhappy with Surface Tension's missing levels who took it upon himself to rectify that. Amazing how far you've come, and how far Surface Tension has come as well. I hope things aren't too much for you!
I have absolute Faith you're the right man for the job, and are doing everything you can to give us the best product possible.
Is page 19 not working for anyone else?
works for me, your post is the first in page 19
Yeah before I posted page 19 wasn't working and it'd just take me to page 1
When an account is deleted, all the posts associated with it are deleted as well, and other posts in the thread are shifted backwards so every page still has the same number of posts. But that fucks with the forum because even though all posts are shifted back, the thread still counts the deleted posts in the total, so it'll create a new page early for posts that are still on the previous page. Since this new page has no content on it and doesn't actually exist, clicking on it will just default to the OP.
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