Half-Life 2: Enhancement Mod (V5)

[Jocken]

[QUOTE=Fhenexx;41712253]What's "Rebel Stories"? Pardon my ignorance, but I haven't really been following this for too long and I heard it used once in this thread before

[editline]4th August 2013[/editline]

I take it since they technically have to completely remake all the maps that they can probably put together all the games into one nice package if they wanted to, at least I hope that's the case. That would be quite nice.[/QUOTE]

Rebel Stories is another mod which the creators of this one teamed up with. Not sure why he added it to the main menu mockup, though.

Also, they won't have to completely remake all the maps, they'll just have to decompile them and then fix whatever issues may occur.

[Tayley]

Rebel Stories is the MP section of HL2:EM I believe.

[Hideyoshi]

[QUOTE=Jocken300;41712671]Also, they won't have to completely remake all the maps, they'll just have to decompile them and then fix whatever issues may occur.[/QUOTE]
Or ask for permission to use the original .VMFs, but they said they haven't done that yet.

[Aurora93]

[QUOTE=RaTcHeT302;41711593]Last revision I'm posting, hope you don't mind.
[t]http://i1.minus.com/izbhC4MjqKk3q.png[/t]

Hope you like it.

(base [url]http://i.imgur.com/amJBofT.jpg[/url])[/QUOTE]

lol, that doesn't look so good. get rid of the black shaded thing, it looks inappropriate, and also don't use that typeface. (fyi, half-life 2 uses DIN Pro, portal 2 uses univers condensed)

[Blazyd]

I just read through a lot of this thread and your guys' work looks great! Keep it up

[mySvenLabs]

What's Gordon Industries and why is it on the main menu?

[lintz]

With regards to strelok's gun sounds, I loved all of them except the shotgun, it sounded too bassy and not... thick enough if you know what I mean. Not enough of a thunk. But the other guy's shotgun sounded great.

[Makrin]

[QUOTE=lintz;41713673]With regards to strelok's gun sounds, I loved all of them except the shotgun, it sounded too bassy and not... thick enough if you know what I mean. Not enough of a thunk. But the other guy's shotgun sounded great.[/QUOTE]

I think it does a great job sounding like the HL2 shotgun. The only thing I don't like is that weird [i]clink[/i] when it's pumped.

[Giraffen93]

[QUOTE=Aurora93;41713391]lol, that doesn't look so good. get rid of the black shaded thing, it looks inappropriate, and also don't use that typeface. (fyi, half-life 2 uses DIN Pro, portal 2 uses univers condensed)[/QUOTE]

lobster best font all years

[xalener]

[QUOTE=halfer;41707660]Why replace the original sounds? They're all in pretty much high quality (well except the tau cannon)[/QUOTE]

They were designed and mixed for an era of shooter where sound design wasn't nearly as respected as it is now. They were higher quality than people were typically willing to put out for a PC game (I'd argue the audio revolution started with Black on consoles) at the time, but now people expect more. People expect Battlefield 3 and killzone 2-3 and stuff of that level.

[editline]4th August 2013[/editline]

[QUOTE=glitchvid;41709904]Yeah, we've worked on a bit of stuff in that regard.
[t]http://static.glitchvid.com/facepunch/vgameandmods/images/hl2em/mockdesigndnsz1.png[/t][/QUOTE]

OOOH, what if the BG maps were like little vignette dioramas of the map (chopped out of the maps and condensed into a little chunk) and when you changed levels the camera would go from one to the other?

[Tweevle]

[QUOTE=xalener;41713943]OOOH, what if the BG maps were like little vignette dioramas of the map (chopped out of the maps and condensed into a little chunk) and when you changed levels the camera would go from one to the other?[/QUOTE]

IIRC the Alien Swarm engine doesn't support background maps, only bik movies. We'd have to make a video of the map instead (maybe SFM?)

[IM BATMAN]

[QUOTE=Tweevle;41714437]IIRC the Alien Swarm engine doesn't support background maps, only bik movies. We'd have to make a video of the map instead (maybe SFM?)[/QUOTE]

Are you sure? I remember INFRA having not only a background map but the menu itself being the map (like in Metro 2033).

[Tweevle]

[QUOTE=IM BATMAN;41714500]Are you sure?[/QUOTE]

No, but that's what I heard. It may have been in this thread, actually?

[SirLemon]

[QUOTE=Tweevle;41714437]IIRC the Alien Swarm engine doesn't support background maps, only bik movies. We'd have to make a video of the map instead (maybe SFM?)[/QUOTE]

Hm, that could work out nice actually, maybe do it like portal 2 did?

[Amish Steak]

[QUOTE=Tweevle;41714437]IIRC the Alien Swarm engine doesn't support background maps, only bik movies. We'd have to make a video of the map instead (maybe SFM?)[/QUOTE]

You would need some clever way to loop it, like a bird flying in front of the camera or something.

[Porky-da-Corgi]

[QUOTE=Amish Steak;41715608]You would need some clever way to loop it, like a bird flying in front of the camera or something.[/QUOTE]
You could loop it without doing that pretty easily so long as things in it don't move too much.

[Glitchvid]

[QUOTE=Tweevle;41714437]IIRC the Alien Swarm engine doesn't support background maps, only bik movies. We'd have to make a video of the map instead (maybe SFM?)[/QUOTE]

Not very hard.

[DONOTWANT]

If you're going to make all the maps connect logically to one another, could you also make sure the sun is in the correct position? I'm pretty sure the sun & moon also completely jump around when changing maps, not just the map geometry itself.

I'm not saying the position in the sky needs to be accurate to Riga, Latvia or anything, but some consistency would be nice.

[SirLemon]

Another thing I'm thinking as long as we're talking about BG maps, perhaps we could make them more lively. Like in town square, maybe we could see some police brutality. Or in the citadel, troops and such going by, etc etc etc

[Glitchvid]

[QUOTE=DONOTWANT;41715869]If you're going to make all the maps connect logically to one another, could you also make sure the sun is in the correct position? I'm pretty sure the sun & moon also completely jump around when changing maps, not just the map geometry itself.

I'm not saying the position in the sky needs to be accurate to Riga, Latvia or anything, but some consistency would be nice.[/QUOTE]

We're probably not going to be modifying most of the maps to fix large inconsistencies (like the maps being the wrong 'direction') because it would take a LOT of time, and would disrupt flow and art direction more than it would fix the issue.

[Cheshire_cat]

[QUOTE=SirLemon;41716069]Another thing I'm thinking as long as we're talking about BG maps, perhaps we could make them more lively. Like in town square, maybe we could see some police brutality. Or in the citadel, troops and such going by, etc etc etc[/QUOTE]
Yeah, the streets of City 17 seem pretty dead. On the other hand, there are multiple spots where you see the Metropolice beating up citizens within the same fifteen minute period, so it might be unwise.

Although it would be sweet to see massive columns of troops marching within the Citadel, just to show that the Combine are essentially unbeatable without Gordon's intervention. Maybe a scene showing lines of soldiers boarding waiting dropships or something similar.

[SirLemon]

[QUOTE=Cheshire_cat;41716288]Yeah, the streets of City 17 seem pretty dead. On the other hand, there are multiple spots where you see the Metropolice beating up citizens within the same fifteen minute period, so it might be unwise.

Although it would be sweet to see massive columns of troops marching within the Citadel, just to show that the Combine are essentially unbeatable without Gordon's intervention. Maybe a scene showing lines of soldiers boarding waiting dropships or something similar.[/QUOTE]

I'm talking about in the BG maps, not in-game

[Sally]

[QUOTE=Sam Za Nemesis;41716363]it's pointless to have a background map as it only contributes to longer loading times [/QUOTE]

They actually make loading maps quicker in a sense because all the models/materials being used are being cached. While making a nice visual appearance. If they are done right like in EP2 they can be amusing to watch.

[NeoDement]

[QUOTE=Sally;41717233]They actually make loading maps quicker in a sense because all the models/materials being used are being cached. While making a nice visual appearance. If they are done right like in EP2 they can be amusing to watch.[/QUOTE]
But nobody wants the map load segmented into two clicks (launch the game, then launch the chapter), it makes much more sense to make the game load near instantly and then start the map load.

[kaze4159]

[QUOTE=Sally;41717233]They actually make loading maps quicker in a sense because all the models/materials being used are being cached. While making a nice visual appearance. If they are done right like in EP2 they can be amusing to watch.[/QUOTE]

I remember this being really evident in Smod, since they just had a static image as the background, the first map load took way longer

[Mr. Someguy]

[QUOTE=kaze4159;41718602]I remember this being really evident in Smod, since they just had a static image as the background, the first map load took way longer[/QUOTE]

Dude all of Smod took like 3x as long for me to load.

[Shier]

Personally, I think the whole thing with main menu backround fuzzy is kinda not in the right place. I mean, this mod tries to improve look and gameplay of the game. So why don't you slap there some super kick-ass picture showing off all the touches that creators made. Lighting, models and such.

[Glitchvid]

[QUOTE=Dom Pyroshark;41718816]Personally, I think the whole thing with main menu backround fuzzy is kinda not in the right place. I mean, this mod tries to improve look and gameplay of the game. So why don't you slap there some super kick-ass picture showing off all the touches that creators made. Lighting, models and such.[/QUOTE]

Most of the stuff as of yet is just mock designs, none of it is in VGUI form, placeholder content if you will.
Also, I'd personally like to keep some of the stuff hidden private, so we can surprise you when it's done.

[RaTcHeT302]

[QUOTE=Aurora93;41713391]lol, that doesn't look so good. get rid of the black shaded thing, it looks inappropriate, and also don't use that typeface. (fyi, half-life 2 uses DIN Pro, portal 2 uses univers condensed)[/QUOTE]

I mostly added that to enhanche readability, as most screenshots might have lighter areas than usual.
It's easier to implement the menu on lighter backgrounds and I thought it looked a bit more interesting.

[t]http://i.imgur.com/MAPyCuF.png[/t]

I could add some soft shadows but outer glows usualy look much cleaner and elegant.

[t]http://i3.minus.com/ibuIOkCNbNJ09t.png[/t]

The usual drop shadow was applied here.

[t]http://i7.minus.com/i4s9GK97cCvlu.png[/t]

Testing another background, still using the shadows.

[t]http://i4.minus.com/iYHVLPdTSX9uZ.png[/t]

Using the outer glow here, without the opaque background behind.

[t]http://i5.minus.com/it1t0VlydVgZ8.png[/t]

Outer glow + opaque bgs.

Instead of having to tweak each background individualy I can save up much more time by making the menu like this, that way I can be more productive and work on something else instead.

Even the original Half Life menus had this small issue.
[t]http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/256930-half-life-2-lost-coast-windows-screenshot-main-menu-like-any.jpg[/t][t]http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/91259-half-life-2-windows-screenshot-main-menus.jpg[/t]

PS: Gordon Industries was just a placeholder for maybe future mod credits.

[xalener]

I like the dark strip tbh.

Mostly because almost every single HL2 map has a huge chunk of blown out HDR sky or glowing white fires that make text in the area unreadable.
[IMG]http://puu.sh/3UXGs.jpg[/IMG]
I love HAL LIFE 2