Half-Life & Portal series, general discussion (v3) - Games

Can someone help me? My HL was crashing, I guess because I opt-in the Steam pipe, and it was suppose only for Linux and OSX? Opting out and veryfing integrity didn't fix, so I resintalled HL and when I tried to launch, it converted to the new system content, going to the common folder, so now half-life mods doesn't show on Steam, moving it to my username folder makes the game and mods crash... Is it happening for anyone else? my friends said their half-life didn't convert and they can play mods fine...

[QUOTE=.EDI;39352287]The "next stage of mutation" is of course, gonome: [IMG]http://images.wikia.com/half-life/en/images/c/c2/Gonome.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] I think there is something about this -stages of mutation- in the Raising the bar book. Even cut mutations!

Okay, here ya guys go. [url]https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0x0f14ufdt6j19/skyboxfix.7z[/url] This should fix all the skyboxes (WHY has no one done this before? lol) [t]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595867835659597478/E7373B295AE9A37A634A12F2D70BEBBCDB673C67/[/t] [t]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595867835653118476/09B7AFB0830926BC9EDD72ED16D8933AE8E3D56E/[/t]

[QUOTE=Talonite;39352011]I remember in Opposing Force, at the start where Adrian wakes up after being rescued by a scientist, that along the corridors there were three people on stretchers. One was badly wounded, the other had a head-crab on his face, and then the next was a fully fledged zombie. After a while one of the scientists said "fascinating, I wounder what the next stage of mutation looks like" (or something very similar). But your right, I don't think we were ever shown it. ***edit*** Here's the scene I was talking about [IMG]http://s9.postimage.org/n19ecbtn3/Transitional.png[/IMG][/QUOTE] This is still only the same phase of the headcrabs life, it's just the short-term mutations of the host that it's leeching off. How the headcrab grows from a small parasitic form to an immense incubating giant is still a mystery. At what stage does it detach from the host? Perhaps the body just gets deformed beyond the point of use, or the flesh simply rots and falls off until it reaches bone, similar to the fast zombie. Headcrabs likely only suck bodies dry of their nutrients before falling off, maybe after that they simply hibernate and grow until their body changes to the gonarch form. Those headcrab-like growths on Xen could easily be that mystery cocoon stage of the headcrab, where it simply works itself into a meaty shell, roots itself into place with the leg talons and grows taller and larger while the egg sac forms to replace the maw, and the top cavity opens. It's always a possibility that they have this moth-like life cycle. Do those headcrab cocoons have any official explanation?

You know what no-one ever talks about? [URL=http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Protozoan]This thing[/URL] [t]http://combineoverwiki.net/images/7/7a/Of_protozoa_close.jpg[/t] It's seen exactly three times in the series and then it's never heard of again.

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;39352454]Just a heads up to anyone who may be confused: Half-Life on [i]all[/i] platforms has been updated to enable the HD Pack by default. However, you cannot disable it. Also, these still aren't the [url=http://planethalflife.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=105708]fixed models[/url]. Valve are using the same broken, unpatched models because they refuse to update them with Gearbox's patch. Also also, because of the way Valve implemented the HD Pack on Steam, you can no longer use custom models in normal Steam Half-Life, so you can't disable the HD models by brute force either. I have to give Valve credit: when they decide to fuck over their own games, they really pull all the stops.[/QUOTE] Wait, that means that it makes older mods like Sweet Half-Life and Azure Sheep unable to be played. Oh god, why?

Half-Life mods should still function without issue. Games that run as a mod of Half-Life do not suffer the HD Pack's "no custom models" limitation. For this reason, you can actually circumvent HL1's current model problem by creating a mod of Half-Life that doesn't actually modify anything, installing your models there, and simply playing that dummy mod instead. However, Half-Life mods that are dependent on the unmodified models from the root game folder ([url=http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/USS_Darkstar]USS Darkstar[/url] comes to mind) will inevitably encounter issues since the HD Pack overrides the original models. This can be fixed simply by extracting the original models from the GCF to the mod's directory, but that's quite an unnecessary hassle, I'm sure you'll agree.

I'm becoming convinced that the people assigned to update the Half-Life games have no interest at all in the series and are just doing the absolute least they can to get them updated. I don't think they even play through them. As long as the game opens, they're happy.

[QUOTE=Pilotguy97;39354093]You know what no-one ever talks about? [URL=http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Protozoan]This thing[/URL] [t]http://combineoverwiki.net/images/7/7a/Of_protozoa_close.jpg[/t] It's seen exactly three times in the series and then it's never heard of again.[/QUOTE] I have never even noticed that.

[QUOTE=Pilotguy97;39354093]You know what no-one ever talks about? [URL=http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Protozoan]This thing[/URL] [t]http://combineoverwiki.net/images/7/7a/Of_protozoa_close.jpg[/t] It's seen exactly three times in the series and then it's never heard of again.[/QUOTE] Perhaps they have something to do with these things? [IMG]http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/602314_375966202468974_759464723_n.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;39354302]Half-Life mods should still function without issue. Games that run as a mod of Half-Life do not suffer the HD Pack's "no custom models" limitation. For this reason, you can actually circumvent HL1's current model problem by creating a mod of Half-Life that doesn't actually modify anything, installing your models there, and simply playing that dummy mod instead. However, Half-Life mods that are dependent on the unmodified models from the root game folder ([URL="http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/USS_Darkstar"]USS Darkstar[/URL] comes to mind) will inevitably encounter issues since the HD Pack overrides the original models. This can be fixed simply by extracting the original models from the GCF to the mod's directory, but that's quite an unnecessary hassle, I'm sure you'll agree.[/QUOTE] So only here Half-Life converted to the new content system making all third-party mods unplayable? edit: oh nvm, I can still put the mods in the username/half-life folder and leave the real Half-Life folder in the common folder so the mods work

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;39351946]Plus the fact that there's a massive missing link between Headcrab and Gonarch. We've never seen any headcrabs larger than a watermelon, we have no idea what comes after that or how long it takes.[/QUOTE] I postulate, that since all or most of the headcrabs we see in half life 2 were most likely bred by the combine, that they have been 'neutered' in a way. Much like how kleiner 'de-beaked' lamarr. It would explain why the zombies are developing open ribcages instead of maws. Also, Im still not certain if opposing force or blue shift is canon, but if it is, we should see nesting gonomes galore in places like ravenholm.

[QUOTE=ninjaviking;39354520]Perhaps they have something to do with these things? [/QUOTE] [quote] "...carbon stars with ancient satellites colonized by sentient fungi. Gas giants inhabited by vast meteorological intelligences. Worlds stretched thin across the membranes where dimensions intersect... Impossible to describe with our limited vocabulary!" -Dr. Breen [/quote]

You know, now that we're five years down the line, how come we haven't really seen cinematic physics like in the Orange Box in modern games? The crazy explosions of the houses when striders destroy them, or in TF2 when the bomb cart blows apart the blast site?

I swear to Allah my patience is being tested

[QUOTE=Zeos;39356272]You know, now that we're five years down the line, how come we haven't really seen cinematic physics like in the Orange Box in modern games? The crazy explosions of the houses when striders destroy them, or in TF2 when the bomb cart blows apart the blast site?[/QUOTE] It is still used now. See: the intro to Portal 2 [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cV9Gx2bvgA[/media] The rest of the game uses this even more, especially the final chapters.

[QUOTE=DohEntertainmen;39357506]It is still used now. See: the intro to Portal 2 [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cV9Gx2bvgA[/media] The rest of the game uses this even more, especially the final chapters.[/QUOTE] Wish they would use it for the bombsites in CS:GO that would be really awesome.

You know, I enjoy playing older games because I enjoy then feel of them. I don't want my older games filled full of newer "HD" shit by default. I never liked the HD pack to begin with, it breaks the atmosphere.

[QUOTE=Zeos;39356272]You know, now that we're five years down the line, how come we haven't really seen cinematic physics like in the Orange Box in modern games? The crazy explosions of the houses when striders destroy them, or in TF2 when the bomb cart blows apart the blast site?[/QUOTE] Most / all games now use some form of "Cinematic physics" (its basically just an animation...) for things; and have before EP2 had it.

[QUOTE=Stiffy360;39353826]Okay, here ya guys go. [url]https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0x0f14ufdt6j19/skyboxfix.7z[/url] This should fix all the skyboxes (WHY has no one done this before? lol) [t]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595867835659597478/E7373B295AE9A37A634A12F2D70BEBBCDB673C67/[/t] [t]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595867835653118476/09B7AFB0830926BC9EDD72ED16D8933AE8E3D56E/[/t][/QUOTE] Pardon my ignorance, what exactly does this do? [QUOTE=Pilotguy97;39354093]You know what no-one ever talks about? [URL=http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Protozoan]This thing[/URL] [t]http://combineoverwiki.net/images/7/7a/Of_protozoa_close.jpg[/t] It's seen exactly three times in the series and then it's never heard of again.[/QUOTE] I've always been interested in that thing; What is it? What sustains it? Is it sentient? What role does it have on Xen? etc. [QUOTE=Pocket Medic;39353856]This is still only the same phase of the headcrabs life, it's just the short-term mutations of the host that it's leeching off. How the headcrab grows from a small parasitic form to an immense incubating giant is still a mystery. At what stage does it detach from the host? Perhaps the body just gets deformed beyond the point of use, or the flesh simply rots and falls off until it reaches bone, similar to the fast zombie. Headcrabs likely only suck bodies dry of their nutrients before falling off, maybe after that they simply hibernate and grow until their body changes to the gonarch form. Those headcrab-like growths on Xen could easily be that mystery cocoon stage of the headcrab, where it simply works itself into a meaty shell, roots itself into place with the leg talons and grows taller and larger while the egg sac forms to replace the maw, and the top cavity opens. It's always a possibility that they have this moth-like life cycle. Do those headcrab cocoons have any official explanation?[/QUOTE] I had the same idea, always wondered about that. They're just called fungi in the game's files, the resemblance (especially to fast headcrabs) may be a coincidence. Iirc, they flinch and bleed when you hit them though (but are indestructible).

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;39358842]Pardon my ignorance, what exactly does this do?[/QUOTE] Valve wrecked the skyboxes for HL2 a few years ago, made them all stretched out and weird. They had no idea how to fix it, so they didn't. Stiffy just released a mod to fix it.

You could also fix them by adding _hdr to the end of the skybox name in the map properties.

[QUOTE=Lamarr;39359102]You could also fix them by adding _hdr to the end of the skybox name in the map properties.[/QUOTE] It's actually for changing the skies in HL2 itself, not for fixing textures in Hammer. Also, are there any interviews or anything about the Protozoa? Do they have any information? Somebody must've asked Laidlaw about them in the 10+ years Half Life has been released.

[QUOTE=TurtleeyFP;39359220]It's actually for changing the skies in HL2 itself, not for fixing textures in Hammer. Also, are there any interviews or anything about the Protozoa? Do they have any information? Somebody must've asked Laidlaw about them in the 10+ years Half Life has been released.[/QUOTE] Judging from the Marc Laidlaw vault, there hasn't been anything asked about the protozoa worth putting up there at least. Feel free to email Marc himself if you have a decent enough question.

Don't worry guys, we can always just play the source version [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/TxrDRuO.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/9NlLSjm.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/WJfPpec.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/CowYe9Y.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/WtDGbqr.jpg[/IMG] :v:

I hate how it just ragdolls corpses the instant they're dead, and you can't even gib them. [sp]I am a sane, functioning member of society.[/sp]

what the [b]fuck[/b] did they even dare to do to my half-life i am all sorts of mad right now

As long as blue-shift unlocked still works... I couldn't get passed a certain stage in the elevator without the HD model-fix. The scientists would start taking damage when the elevator went down, then explode in-front of me... :pwn:

valve what the [h2]fuck[/h2] did you do [editline]26th January 2013[/editline] this is inexcusable [editline]26th January 2013[/editline] fucking inexcusable and retarded [editline]26th January 2013[/editline] it was opt in for a reason

At least Opposing Force still has the old models. [IMG]http://imgur.com/sWbcswm[/IMG] I hope valve doesn't find out.