Black Mesa V6 - 'Not sure about the shotgun'-edition - Games

So much this. They should also have a unique walking sound that's more metallic, to further differentiate them from standard zombos.

But Zombines in EP1 act the way they do because of the cybernetic enhacements in the soldier's bodies.

Damn, 45 new posts and its not the xen release. Very cool stuff though, still keen for the full game.

The HEV suit provides movement and strength enhancements too, its literally power armor.

The modifications that Combine soldiers undergo is a little more extensive than just wearing power armor. Their implants and physiological enhancements alter how they respond to being headcrabbed compared to normal humans, given how zombines run faster and retain at least some of their programming.

I don't think they want to stray too far from HL1's gameplay. They've talked before about how fighting the same few enemies over and over gets pretty boring because Xen inherently shrinks the size of the NPC sandbox by cutting out things like soldiers, so I think the HEV zombies are just a convenient way to keep zombies in the game at all without deviating too much from HL1.

On one hand I feel anxious about them going too far from the hl1 formula, but on the other hand this is the last "real" half-life game we might see in a while, so fuck it, ill let them just go wild with it. As long as theyll make the new enemies work gameplay wise, I will not mind.

Zombines are literally missing their heads, and their body is still trying to function, spamming the airways with confused status reports (Area is- *zombie groan* -not secure.) and useless tactical information (calling out when a grenade is live). They're so heavily modified that their implants are still trying to soldier while the host is deceased and controlled by an alien parasite.

Oh I'm all for gameplay variation. I was just being a stickler and wanted to point out how Combine soldiers are different. And even if the specifics of the modifications are unknown, the design of the stripped soldier in itself heavily implies the nature of their enhancements.

One thing I'm a bit worried about is the music. Joel is pretty good and some of his BM tracks fit right into HL like WGH, Lambda Core, or Anomalous Materials, but I always thought the style of a few others sounded a bit too standard and not HL-like. I really hope Xen's tracks try to emulate the feeling of the originals more than some of the later BM tracks. Not copy them mind you but just use them as the main source of inspiration

Im optimistic honestly. Joel did far better than I could've asked for in a fan production and some of his tracks defiantly have that alien vibe that Xen needs.

Like a uh.. hat?

Couldn't it be possible that the headcrab is so firmly dug into the skull that it rips the whole thing off when shot off of the soldier's shoulders? Considering the fact said soldiers are enhancedly strong, their attempts at prying off such critters would be at a much stronger scale than, say, average refugee.

I love the industrial sound of Joel's black mesa soundtrack, and I would even say it tops the original. However, I hope the soundtrack for xen is much more spacey, avant-garde, and absolutely drenched in reverb. Maybe something along the lines of dark ambient? Or like the middle section of pink floyd's echoes?

Afaik headcrabs also have a hidden beak inside their mouth, as mentioned by Kleiner himself and at wiki. Tbh the most logical explaination on why zombines are headless is because headcrabs were "forced" to dig though their heads, to skip various brain and head implants, destroying their entire head in the process. As a result, they are forced to control their body directly via spine nerves instead. This would explain zombine's unque looking animations as well, because this new control way via spine nerves is not very effective compared to brain control. Another explaination is that due to various genetic and cybernetic enchancements, combine soldier's body became extra soft (which can be explained by their unhealthy looking pale skin). Assumming that headcrab gets an extra grip power by latching on their cyber implants inside their head (which may even stuck inside their beaks or something), when we shoot out headcrab - as a result their head rips off and stays inside headcrab.

maybe headcrabs have digestive enzymes like a spider or something? like it softens up the outside then bores through with its beak, anything inedible just gets expelled.

I always thought that section sounded like something from Half-Life. Would definitely work.

I just booted up Black Mesa to toy around with the dynamic lights and I noticed that the flashlight no longer casts shadows of any kind. When did that get removed? I assume it was sometime when the new dlight system was introduced.

I do have to say that one of my favorite things about the Gonarch fight in the original was Jungle Drums. Super iconic and always made the encounter feel a little goofy and lighthearted. It’s a pretty ridiculous boss by nature, so I’m glad even the soundtrack reflected that. I really hope Joel does something similar with that chapter

Sorry for the double post, but I figured most people probably aren’t aware of this. I can’t find the source on this one, but one of the devs mentioned that they’re working on reworking the flashlight for the Xen update (which I’m assuming means it will cast shadows again). Also, FXAA, an updated menu UI which scales to 4K, and soft shadow transitions all have a good chance of being included with the Xen update. Here are the sources on those December 2017 Update Bugs? 4K :: Black Mesa General Discussions I’ve also got a question for Text: A very long time ago (I’m pretty sure it was one of the dev streams near launch), it was mentioned that a method of easily selecting workshop maps through the menu was being considered. Is there any chance of this appearing in the new UI?

I’ve also got a question for Text: A very long time ago (I’m pretty sure it was one of the dev streams near launch), it was mentioned that a method of easily selecting workshop maps through the menu was being considered. Is there any chance of this appearing in the new UI? There already is, though iirc you need to manually enable it https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/58245/80362d37-1152-4a30-9c8a-79e29d96a59d/bonusmaps.png Also, not sure if anyone else has this issue, but the stripped agrunt at the start of Questionable Ethics has incorrect rotation https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/58245/ea3105e0-e74b-46ac-8d3a-f2960dfb3037/20180421232127_1.jpg

Yes, that was actually one of the primary design goals in creating the new UI. It will have a way of more easily accessing workshop content. We are also doing more to improve the flashlight. The solution found in the current beta build is a bit of a rush job. It will hopefully be better in the future.

I have a couple of modding related questions for the team. I have no idea what kind of work would go into it, but here goes: Will there be an option in Hammer to set the game to use multiplayer versions of the arms, scientist, guard, marine, etc? Would it be possible to make a response filter that sorts out scientist and guard lines that refer to Gordon?

I'd say that some element of the implants/enhancements has to play into the speech thing, given that regular zombies only make unintelligible moans.

So my laptop can barely run Black Mesa. I messed around with the configs and I think I've come across something glorious. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2433509660053386458/8D7AB2868658413E3885C02FE50F573B75856D68/ It's like a Minecraft painting. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2433509660053444836/02C024EF15A23CF8B83D609CEB202D9E6B495882/ All the guards seem to be cross-eyed.

Black Mesa: GoldSrc?

Hey, so don't try to open a sliding door right after an NPC does from the other side https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/58245/f0116b2e-6f83-4381-93c7-341a9b896508/20180422172451_1.jpg https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/58245/b7c7a743-cbcd-46c8-be52-9cb1ea04ca73/20180422172449_1.jpg It stopped just shy of the vending machine, played the close sound cue, then slid back

How the Hell would that even happen? Did the door just decide to be a func_train for a minute?

The best part it it's supposed to open the other way

Some of the Pre-Disasters NPCs have a lot of lines, and what is great is that they will go through all of them at least once before they're random, so you'll know when you've heard them all. Like the guard next to the microwave, or the one by the health charger.