I imagine due vBulletin being commercial ( so no newer versions can be adquired without spending loads ) and no clear port to any other forum platform like phpBB are the reasons behind it, is understanable. I hope the archive is decent because the SC forums are together with TWHL the last places to find about GoldSrc modding.
I ported this year the OC forums to a newer version of phpBB after being years in an obsolete and broken state and took me almost a full week of intensive work, so I imagine for they it was equally hard or even more.
By the year 2023 I feel like we're gonna have about 8 or 9 different sets of updated HL2 weapons models and it is gonna be a bitch getting them to mix and match or ported from Unreal.
But they'll be GORGEOUS
because source is a game engine from 2004 with a ton of duct tape and makeup applied later on to make it look better
I found it, it's Zombine animation, not a Combine animation. My memory must've conflated the Combine and Zombine.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/1811/eb0a4854-7112-4c3e-a208-fd1187f6479b/flinch.bmp
I mean port em down from things like Project Borealis
test_crabsynth :O
Well, isn't this a revival of the mod where the final boss was supposed to be the Crab Synth? That's probably the map made for testing that boss.
It's a nice feeling to discover that your stash of HL2 mods and beta maps survived a hardrive wipe because you forgot Gmod was installed on the other drive that didn't get wiped.
Still lost some of them that I left in the EP1 directory though, and some of my Hammer 'fuck around' maps that was in the HL2 directory.
Yup, C17:EP1. I briefly made audio for the team for a couple of months, and might still have an SVN build from around a year or so before the project went kaput.
So yeah, after finishing episode two (and reading the epistle to have atleast somewhat of a closure), i went back to HL1.
Man, while Black Mesa improves a lot on the world, the combat really feels sluggish compared to original HL (and even sluggier than HL2), especially the soldiers that turn lategame chapters into Hotline Miami levels. HL1 feels way more balanced. (Not that Black Mesa is bad, it could just use a few tweak to fine tune it)
Oh and i've also got this.
https://i.imgur.com/vbJ5eok.jpg
I'm in a huge Half Life mood lately.
When I saw the Big Woop ratings for the post, I almost thought this was going to be one of those Half Life videos where Barney says "about that beer i owe ya".
Well the way I see it, it's just like Half-Life 1. If you throw an HECU Grunt into a random Garry's Mod map, they'll run around sure but they mostly just poke behind cover, run out to shoot you, and then try to run if you get too close or injure them and that's it. If you put them onto the maps they're designed for, suddenly it feels like they're chasing you throughout a combat area, running up and down stairs to both go on the offensive as well as escape, laying grenade traps, and other things like the car garage trick in Surface Tension. The AI wasn't smart, just highly scripted on a map basis like with the AI in FEAR and given the opportunity to react thanks to their durability. The Combine hit a similar problem, except vanilla gameplay isn't even tailored for them. There are nodes all around for them to get where they need to go, but they'd sooner just do what the HECU do on a generic map: poke in and out of your sight line taking pot shots, just stand there, or bumrush you. And with how open some of the HL2 maps can be, particularly on the coast, they really don't get much opportunity to flank you or anything without seeing them coming, on top of having less durability unless you're playing Hard.
Not to mention the Combine footsteps might as well be declaring one's right outside the room you're in if music and gunshots aren't blaring. Arguably, making damage higher between the player and enemy probably nerfs them in a roundabout way besides their sometimes-obscene accuracy.
The HECU also hurt a hell of a lot more. If you get shot in the ass by a Combine Soldier, you can turn around and shoot him back and you'll be fine. If you get shot in the ass by an HECU, you've lost most of your health by the time you take him out. The HECU really made you stay on your toes in a way that the Combine don't.
half-life source does not represent hl1 even remotely.
it's the closest comparison I could really make as an example of reactions on the same engine when it comes to map-scripted reactions and the lack thereof. that just says even more about how HL1's AI and scripting were given a lot more attention to detail and care than HL2's.
I came back to this thread after not posting on facepunch for about 3 years but honestly I really feel the need to say this:
I really dislike Project Borealis' vision. Half-Life 2 has many things that outright do not make sense such as the smg1 grenade launcher, the two barrel shot from the shotgun aswell as the ar2's shooting/reload animation. In reality, these aren't actual issues, they don't detract from the gameplay experience whatsoever and aren't really noticeable if you don't pay extreme attention to such details. But, given that it's a full recreation of a game in another engine, I really don't see why these "issues" couldn't or shouldn't be adressed. Like how there's quite a fine example made by the Lost Squad team to be made, where actually tried to make sense of the smg's grenade launcher or how MMod changed the ar2 reload animation to something that would actually make sense, not just a repurposed animation from the irifle, like what valve did. They use the excuse "we're making episode 3, not half-life 3" but honestly, they're remaking an entire game's feel from scratch in another engine, I highly doubt any of these changes would be met with negative criticism overall from the general community. I know these are nitpicks, but it makes me worried for the future of the game if they are so reluctant to change what's there just for the sake of "feeling" and "accuracy". Sorry for the rant post, this has been in my mind for quite a while.
yes
the fact that they aren't willing to go out of their way to improve on something that's obviosly wrong gives off the impression that they aren't brave enough to change other stuff that could be improved. I really appreciate what they are doing and wish them the best but honestly I would prefer if they took the black mesa approach and improve on what was not very good (even though sometimes that may backfire) so that the end product is a much more mature game.
The original vision of the AR2 as the IRifle (which all models in the engine are still referenced) was a bloody extraterrestrial flaregun. There's technically no right or wrong how it should function. The shotgun secondary fire is just fun, so what?
And not to brag, but I've handled and fired two mags out of a real MP7A1 and the remote possibility of a grenade launcher being added to that thing is zero. The additional weight of such a launcher completely deconstructs the ergo superiority of the weapon that gives it a superior edge to other small classed firearms. The MP7A2 however completely removes the integrated folding grip for a rail that could in theory mount a proprietary launcher, but the HL2 universe is canonically set pre-2005 before the creation.
I could go on why it's realistically unnecessary for a 4.6 caliber pistol-PDW with a maximum effective range of 150 meters to have no practical use for such a system, but I'm not sure what your vision is exactly, or why it's a bad thing to keep these mechanics alive in a game series where these are traditional Half-Life unique designs that make the game feel and play different from other shooters.
Do note HL1 and HL2 were out at the time of games like Unreal Tournament where alternate fire weapons was a common element of gameplay.
black mesa is free to adjust anything they want because its a full remake to a game that's not even compatible with source standards. PB uses the same gear and setup from previous titles and is a sequel.
the fact that Project Borealis is even bringing back glitches/exploits is a testimony of their intent.
not to mention you already countered your own argument.
I do understand your point, but I think you're mixing realism with making sense. I'm not implying at all that the alt-fire for the shotgun be removed, in fact, the shotgun is the only weapon whose model/animation matches what happens in game, as it has two barrels. It was a bad example. The AR2 does have a "right or wrong way to function" as there is a clear difference between the first and third person animations. Rebels and Combines reload the entire clip, gordon just changes the ball thing. IMO that was just a lazy quick decision by valve that was supposed to be fixed but never was. MMod's animations makes a lot more sense.
Yeah, it emulates being a sequel. Sequels usually tend to improve on its prequels though? Don't know why that wouldn't be the norm. Just see how the flashlight works on base HL2/Ep1 vs Ep2. It wasn't even something that was done lore-friendly (alyx even complains about it in ep1), just a mechanic that was straight slapped on and changed something. Changing a single animation for a gun that doesn't make much sense and is completely inconsistent between its iterations would just improve the experience, aswell as mounting an smg launcher. Also I don't se how I countered my argument. The fact that they aren't big issues doesn't mean that they aren't something that shouldn't be adressed.
I'm still worried. Black Mesa was able to deliver with a huge premise (recreating the single best shooter from the last century entirely from the ground) and they followed my expectations. Creating a sequel to the best game of all time (imo) is a huge toll to take, and even if it's a passion project, that doesn't mean that they are invulnerable to criticism or that I have to love it unconditionally.
So is Ambient Occlusion supposed to be poorly implemented in MMod? There's nothing ingame that tells me it can be seen through objects, so I'm guessing it's either something they haven't tested which would be embarrassing considering they've apparently been working on this for 9 years, or It's something they just randomly threw in despite it not working correctly.
you should wait until patch 1.1, it's supposed to be released today.
I agree in some ways and disagree in others, to be nitpicky myself I think that example SMG looks hideous. The grenade launcher is 1/3 the size of the weapon and protrudes so far forward, and the actual shape clashes with the rest of the weapon's profile. The AK barrel is also unnecessary although I assume it's their take on the "two barrels" design by attaching redesigned the upper "barrel" as a gas tube to the lower barrel. And that's the problem with re-imagining something so drastically, it doesn't look like the original was updated, it looks completely different. It's a pitfall that professional studios fall into all the time when redesigning old games, it's the reason so many reboots never feel like the original. Take a look at Enhancement Mod's SMG1 (Rest in Piece), their solution is unobtrusive and could be passed off as a practical design. The SMG further complicates things because while the viewmodel is clearly based on the MP7 with artistic liberties taken, the world model is a fully fictional piece that makes huge departures from the MP7-esque design of the viewmodel.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/1811/6579f204-bfb5-48ae-818f-9bc61e85e9d1/image.png
ACKSHUALLY (sorry) the Shotgun has one barrel, the bottom barrel is the magazine tube. The duel fire still makes it unique and is incredible useful though. I like Blue Shift HD Pack's approach, where the shot sound for the alt-fire was just the single fire sound played twice, one after the other. That way you could pass it off as being a two-round burst rather than the mystical "both barrels".
Building off the problems from above, nobody will be satisfied here, that's why MMod made the magazine optional. When it came to the SMG1 problem, the Enhancement Mod team decided to remake it from the perspective you see it most, and the world model would be scrapped in favor of that. When it comes to the AR2, people cite the opposite by pointing out that the AI use a generic reload animation is used, never mind that the same reload also has them motioning by the SMG's foregrip and top, even though the SMG1 doesn't have the magazine there. I had more examples written citing other weapons and the leak animations and weapons, but it was getting to pettiness levels of nitpicking so I scrapped it.
Ultimately I think the safest option, aside from simply having both options available, would be a third option and remove the entire mechanism. I would cite it's legacy as the iRifle and the fact that no other pulse weapons, including the derivative mounted machine gun variant of the AR2, actually have that pellet thing on them or anything similar. Then you could have a moving part or two and a magazine swap and be done with it the whole "it doesn't make sense" argument because it's finally consistent with all the other pulse weapons.
This is a very well written post that might just have somewhat changed my mind. I forgot that shotgun thing from the hl1 hd pack and that makes quite a lot of sense, kinda like gordon is firing two shots very quickly. I really liked that smg and think it would fit very well within the world, specially since the smg grenades are canonically thin. I can even see a half a second quick animation of gordon putting a grenade in the barrel (since you already have a small delay between firing a grenade and shooting again). As for the reload thing, good thing that you pointed out that it was a generic reload animation. I had that information stored somewhere in my brain but I haven't booted that part for a few years so I completely forgot. That changes my perspective but I still think that MMod's animation is better also because I don't see how gordon uses up his extra pulse ammo he picks up on the ground, since he doesn't ever remove the magazine. But you see, these changes we're discussing were completely scrapped by the PB team as it doesn't bode well with their vision - that being my problem in the first place. I'd just really see the guns getting a more special treatment than just "let's remake them from scratch but not change anything" because they deserve more love than that.
I honestly never paid attention to all this stuff. I'm fine with a good story and gameplay that's fun enough to play a few times.
So is this patch coming out today or should I just play the game anyway? Because I've been waiting on the patch to come out but I don't see it and I'm getting bored of waiting.
It's *supposed* to come out today. I'd wait for the patch, there's a point in highway 17 that you can progress. Also he's fixing a lot of issues. But yeah, this doesn't really seem like a 9 years project though. But it's really worth it, I've had some pretty intense combat situations that were amazing.
He said most of the mod was done in 18 months, the 9 years was how long he spent learning the engine
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Half-Life Chat V11 - 20th anniversary edition
