Half-Life 2: Enhancement Mod (V5)

[coup]

[QUOTE=redBadger;40382624]can you make ravenholm not butt ugly and give it a proper 3D skybox?

would make ths mod for me[/QUOTE]

If they can make Ravenholm genuinely scary I swear to god I'll find a way to jam my money down their throats.

[Giraffen93]

[QUOTE=RaTcHeT302;41718917]
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.[/QUOTE]

Oh goodness the friends option
Good ol' hl2

[IM BATMAN]

[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]

If anything I'm sure instead that of that fake "fuzzy" Depth Of Field effect we'll be using Dynamic DoF in the menu (provided the user has that enabled, and on lower quality its worse then that fuzzy 2004 DoF).

[Nabile]

[QUOTE=IM BATMAN;41720452]If anything I'm sure instead that of that fake "fuzzy" Depth Of Field effect we'll be using Dynamic DoF in the menu (provided the user has that enabled, and on lower quality its worse then that fuzzy 2004 DoF).[/QUOTE]

In fact, it was just a [URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Menu_Background_Map#Menu_Background_Material"]gaussian blur effect[/URL] applied on a screenshot.

[Porky-da-Corgi]

[QUOTE=IM BATMAN;41720452]If anything I'm sure instead that of that fake "fuzzy" Depth Of Field effect we'll be using Dynamic DoF in the menu (provided the user has that enabled, and on lower quality its worse then that fuzzy 2004 DoF).[/QUOTE]
That's not DoF, as Nabile13 said, it's just a photo with gaussian blur added to it. It's used on the HL2 menus to transition to the background maps, because just staring at black or white until the background finally loaded is quite boring.

[Tweevle]

[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]

The streets and such should remain quite empty, IMO. The lack of people around gives you a subtle sense that something is seriously wrong, and adds to the atmosphere.

I like the idea of seeing a lot more troops in the Citadel, though. As well as more soldiers, maybe racks of synths waiting to be activated?

[Mr. Someguy]

Do a Combine Parade! Like the one that was cut. Could have sections of Soldiers walking in formation interspersed with APC's, Striders, and Crabsynths.

[xalener]

Oh man, aesthetically complete crabsynths.

I'd always wanted to see them in action, assuming they were combied (lol) antlions.

[DONOTWANT]

And here I though they were gigantic headcrabs outfitted with weapons & armor. But I guess that would be taking the name Crab Synth too literally.

Honestly, unless they have complete AI & some placement in maps outside of the citadel conveyor belts, why bother?

[RaTcHeT302]

The chapter selection screen, albeit really unfinished.
[t]http://i2.minus.com/i0WWax698jvvB.png[/t]

[B]Edit:[/B] Remind me to never design concepts at 1 AM :v:

Look at this instead [url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1263005&p=41731333&viewfull=1#post41731333[/url]

[Dippeggs]

[QUOTE=RaTcHeT302;41725871]The chapter selection screen, albeit unfinished.
[t]http://i2.minus.com/i0WWax698jvvB.png[/t][/QUOTE]

Maybe instead of evenly spaced chapter photos, the highlighted one becomes larger and the others stay small. Kinda like the l4d2 main menu. Also, I feel like your icons positions are far to wacky.

[Tayley]

Yeah, I think icon rotation should be limited to 5-10 degrees either way tops.

[wauterboi]

I don't think they should be rotated at all, nor should they be post-its/photos. They look like vacation photos which are hilarious to me.

[Mr. Someguy]

[QUOTE=DONOTWANT;41725281]And here I though they were gigantic headcrabs outfitted with weapons & armor. But I guess that would be taking the name Crab Synth too literally.

Honestly, unless they have complete AI & some placement in maps outside of the citadel conveyor belts, why bother?[/QUOTE]

Well, it's no different then seeing them in the Citadel.

Not sure if EM would add them or not, but probably not. Afaik, they're just an Antlion Guard (in terms of combat, not origin) with a mini-gun. At least that's what I get from the animations.

Of course, that could be completely different, who knows. After all, the Antlion Guard has dozens of animations that it never uses, including a flamethrower animation.

[RaTcHeT302]

[QUOTE=wauterboi;41726138]I don't think they should be rotated at all, nor should they be post-its/photos. They look like vacation photos which are hilarious to me.[/QUOTE]

It's mostly a concept I quickly made up in an hour, I'll try something different, I might just stick to the classic menu Half Life used though if that's any better.

Back to the drawing board.

[Jocken]

[QUOTE=RaTcHeT302;41725871]The chapter selection screen, albeit really unfinished.
[t]http://i2.minus.com/i0WWax698jvvB.png[/t][/QUOTE]

I don't understand why the "Chapter Selection" option is there if you can select the chapters by pressing "Singleplayer" as well?

[SFC]

[QUOTE=RaTcHeT302;41725871]The chapter selection screen, albeit really unfinished.
[t]http://i2.minus.com/i0WWax698jvvB.png[/t][/QUOTE]
The chapter titles should be on the photos, and the chapter numbers above it. It would fit as if someone was captioning their adventure

[Griff]

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;41724512]Do a Combine Parade! Like the one that was cut. Could have sections of Soldiers walking in formation interspersed with APC's, Striders, and Crabsynths.[/QUOTE]

Maybe have it be as a bonus feature in an extras menu or something.

[DONOTWANT]

Why photos? What about Half-Life makes you think of polaroids? Have some thematic consistency people! I like the chapter select menu fine the way it is in HL2. Unless of course you can make them bigger & become .bik videos when you hover over them. Let's cram .bik videos into everything. :v:

[SirLemon]

Don't mind me, just throwin' in my own menu ideas...

[IMG]http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b640/vincent_mitchell1/PIC1_zps8a310d2d.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b640/vincent_mitchell1/PIC2_zps79bbed9a.jpg[/IMG]

Also regarding the Hi-Res skins I was making for all the background junk, sorry it's taking so long. I was editing them, there was a power out, and I lost my files...

[cubis]

[QUOTE=DONOTWANT;41727936]Why photos? What about Half-Life makes you think of polaroids? Have some thematic consistency people! I like the chapter select menu fine the way it is in HL2. Unless of course you can make them bigger & become .bik videos when you hover over them. Let's cram .bik videos into everything. :v:[/QUOTE]
Sorry to rain on your Bik parade but I'm pretty sure it's illegal to use them without a license.
[quote=Valve Develeoper Wiki]RAD Tools is a commercial product and can't be used legally without purchasing a licence for its use in your Source mods. This was pointed out to be by Jeff of RAD Game Tools.[/quote]
[URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Startup_Videos"]Link[/URL]

[tehstrelok]

I will be gone for about 2 weeks, I finished the preview video of the updated sounds, but can´t upload it yet cuz I don´t have enough time, but will post it as soon as I come back, have a nice day

[Armageddon104]

I think the main team is probably sticking with their idea (which is a really good one) you guys should stop editing yours maybe.

[Sobek-]

[QUOTE=SirLemon;41728261]Don't mind me, just throwin' in my own menu ideas...

[t]http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b640/vincent_mitchell1/PIC1_zps8a310d2d.jpg[/t]

[t]http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b640/vincent_mitchell1/PIC2_zps79bbed9a.jpg[/t]

Also regarding the Hi-Res skins I was making for all the background junk, sorry it's taking so long. I was editing them, there was a power out, and I lost my files...[/QUOTE]

I really like that. Reminds me of some of those skins for the XBMC media player. Very clean, very professional looking. It's almost... [I]cinematic.[/I]

Keeps the focus on the beautiful 3d menu backgrounds moreso than the previously posted interface.

[xalener]

[QUOTE=RaTcHeT302;41725871]The chapter selection screen, albeit really unfinished.
[t]http://i2.minus.com/i0WWax698jvvB.png[/t][/QUOTE]

That looks like the savegame menu from Spiderman: The game. The one based on the first Raimi movie.

[DONOTWANT]

[QUOTE=cubis;41728325]Sorry to rain on your Bik parade but I'm pretty sure it's illegal to use them without a license.[/QUOTE]
I'm assuming that'd only be a problem if they were selling the game;
[QUOTE=Valve Develeoper Wiki]You can get the BIK video encoder for free from their site at [URL="http://www.radgametools.com/"]RAD Game Tools[/URL][/QUOTE]
Since [URL="http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm"]you clearly don't need to buy it[/URL] or anything, why would there be a problem with distributing the videos for free?

[Nukedrabbit95]

[QUOTE=cubis;41728325]Sorry to rain on your Bik parade but I'm pretty sure it's illegal to use them without a license.

[URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Startup_Videos"]Link[/URL][/QUOTE]

You don't need a licence to create BIK video files; The licence is for if you want to incorporate the BIK video system into a game engine/piece of software. Valve already owns a licence to use BIK in the Source engine, meaning mods can use it as well.

[skooch]

[QUOTE=Nukedrabbit95;41729299]You don't need a licence to create BIK video files; The licence is for if you want to incorporate the BIK video system into a game engine/piece of software. Valve already owns a licence to use BIK in the Source engine, meaning mods can use it as well.[/QUOTE]

BIK is terrible and nobody should have to use it. Im pretty sure another source mod added vp8 compatibility and it saved more space than BIK and was better performance wise.

[BloodShot12]

I like the positioning of the UI elements in the "portal 2" styled mock up, mostly because the layout and font size is somewhat reminiscent of this

[t]http://www.half-life.deltauk.net/GIF/Half_Life/Half_Life_Main_Menu.gif[/t]

[Glitchvid]

[QUOTE=usa;41729338]BIK is terrible and nobody should have to use it. Im pretty sure another source mod added vp8 compatibility and it saved more space than BIK and was better performance wise.[/QUOTE]

Bik is [u]ok[/u], but the reason it's used is because it's so efficient at decoding, and it's platform support.
I'd love to have MKV h.264 or VP8 support, but I think it's currently out of the question.