Black Mesa Source V5 - "They're still working on Xen?" - Games

[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;44679863]Either way it doesn't really matter anymore. With the author of the Surface Tension / OaR Uncut mods an official BM dev now, his work will probably be included with the steam and retail releases so these aren't even issues now.[/QUOTE]If the Uncut mods are included in the steam version, for the love of butterfuck, someone please optimize them first. Surface Tension isn't too bad. Not counting the... ugh... gasworks, The framerate problems start and end with the enemy fights (Though that could probably be fixed by removing a few of the npcs. The fights in Half-Life weren't that big, we really don't need so many.) Not to mention it's already got a problem with the zombie guard in bm_c2a5g that disappears if you kill it, leave the map by exiting the room, then go back in, but OaR Uncut is a nightmare. The turntable with the 50 cal was pushing it, but then you reach the outdoor area with HECU soldiers and snipers at every goddamn turn and maybe I could concentrate and it wouldn't be so bad if looking in a certain direction didn't cut my framerate down the fucking middle but it's either this or the default husk of a chapter so I just gotta suck it up.

[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;44679863]With the author of the Surface Tension / OaR Uncut mods an official BM dev now, his work will probably be included with the steam and retail releases so these aren't even issues now.[/QUOTE] No, hes already said they will not be included in Black Mesa. He said if they integrate Workshop he will upload them on there.

[QUOTE=artDecor;44681981]If the Uncut mods are included in the steam version, for the love of butterfuck, someone please optimize them first. Surface Tension isn't too bad. Not counting the... ugh... gasworks, The framerate problems start and end with the enemy fights (Though that could probably be fixed by removing a few of the npcs. The fights in Half-Life weren't that big, we really don't need so many.) Not to mention it's already got a problem with the zombie guard in bm_c2a5g that disappears if you kill it, leave the map by exiting the room, then go back in, but OaR Uncut is a nightmare. The turntable with the 50 cal was pushing it, but then you reach the outdoor area with HECU soldiers and snipers at every goddamn turn and maybe I could concentrate and it wouldn't be so bad if looking in a certain direction didn't cut my framerate down the fucking middle but it's either this or the default husk of a chapter so I just gotta suck it up.[/QUOTE] I thinks its your system for the most part. I hardly had any framerate drops aside from the gas leak section which just used way too many effects.

If I remember correctly, someone said the reason for the bad performance with the uncut maps were because of map optimization issues.

[QUOTE=artDecor;44681981]If the Uncut mods are included in the steam version, for the love of butterfuck, someone please optimize them first. Surface Tension isn't too bad. Not counting the... ugh... gasworks, The framerate problems start and end with the enemy fights (Though that could probably be fixed by removing a few of the npcs. The fights in Half-Life weren't that big, we really don't need so many.)[/QUOTE] I don't know if they're planning to update the version of Source they use (Hopefully they do), but if they do the game will probably run considerably better with multicore and other optimizations later versions of Source added.

BMS' default particle effects are some bullshit too. T̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶l̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶U̶n̶c̶u̶t̶.̶ The prettiest particles in the world look like shit when the game is a slideshow.

[QUOTE=artDecor;44690358]The particle effects are some bullshit too. That might be half the problem with Uncut. The prettiest particles in the world look like shit when the game is a slideshow.[/QUOTE] Just happened to be browsing across the thread and came across this discussion of my work prior to joining the team; figured I'd throw my hat into the ring here. It's not the particle effects. You could remove them and it would still run poorly in places. It's that optimization is (and always has been) my biggest weakness as a mapper. I never really had optimization in mind when I started working on any of my maps, so I never built layouts which were conducive to being well optimized. You can see that in the trainyard in On a Rail, where it's just a solid open space with no sightline blocking whatsoever. Funnily enough, most of the areas on those maps were as optimized as they could be (fade distances, occluders, etc), given their layouts. It's just the layouts had no thought to optimization put in. I would do it very differently now, knowing this. The other thing is that optimization never bothered me much, I guess my work was a bit selfish in that way. I have a good rig, so never suffered any slowdown or poor performance at all. I guess to a degree, I was building those maps for myself. I never made a priority of fixing it. The joys of hindsight, I guess. And no, my stuff is not being included in Black Mesa, for now. I wouldn't want it to be, anyway. If I'd wanted to include any of it, I would have redone it all from scratch anyway, and done a much better job this time around; I wouldn't be comfortable letting that quality of work get in the game. And we'd certainly optimize it, anyway! It would be a very different ballgame knowing that it was going to be part of a wide release, compared to a little side mod I'd been mucking around with in my spare time. If it makes you feel any better, dm_gasworks is really well optimized right now.

[QUOTE=TextFAMGUY1;44698576]Just happened to be browsing across the thread and came across this discussion of my work prior to joining the team; figured I'd throw my hat into the ring here. It's not the particle effects. You could remove them and it would still run poorly in places. It's that optimization is (and always has been) my biggest weakness as a mapper. I never really had optimization in mind when I started working on any of my maps, so I never built layouts which were conducive to being well optimized. You can see that in the trainyard in On a Rail, where it's just a solid open space with no sightline blocking whatsoever. Funnily enough, most of the areas on those maps were as optimized as they could be (fade distances, occluders, etc), given their layouts. It's just the layouts had no thought to optimization put in. I would do it very differently now, knowing this. The other thing is that optimization never bothered me much, I guess my work was a bit selfish in that way. I have a good rig, so never suffered any slowdown or poor performance at all. I guess to a degree, I was building those maps for myself. I never made a priority of fixing it. The joys of hindsight, I guess. And no, my stuff is not being included in Black Mesa, for now. I wouldn't want it to be, anyway. If I'd wanted to include any of it, I would have redone it all from scratch anyway, and done a much better job this time around; I wouldn't be comfortable letting that quality of work get in the game. And we'd certainly optimize it, anyway! It would be a very different ballgame knowing that it was going to be part of a wide release, compared to a little side mod I'd been mucking around with in my spare time. If it makes you feel any better, dm_gasworks is really well optimized right now.[/QUOTE]Well, thanks. I love expansive, detailed games, but it's gotta stay above 55. I've returned games because they were 30. The thought of not having your level mods installed is shameful to me, but god damn it.

[QUOTE=TextFAMGUY1;44698576]And no, my stuff is not being included in Black Mesa, for now. I wouldn't want it to be, anyway. If I'd wanted to include any of it, I would have redone it all from scratch anyway, and done a much better job this time around; I wouldn't be comfortable letting that quality of work get in the game. And we'd certainly optimize it, anyway! It would be a very different ballgame knowing that it was going to be part of a wide release, compared to a little side mod I'd been mucking around with in my spare time.[/QUOTE] I really hope that their official replacements are better than your maps then.

[QUOTE=TextFAMGUY1;44698576]And no, my stuff is not being included in Black Mesa, for now. I wouldn't want it to be, anyway. If I'd wanted to include any of it, I would have redone it all from scratch anyway, and done a much better job this time around; I wouldn't be comfortable letting that quality of work get in the game. And we'd certainly optimize it, anyway! It would be a very different ballgame knowing that it was going to be part of a wide release, compared to a little side mod I'd been mucking around with in my spare time.[/QUOTE] Honestly, aside from the optimization issues and a difficulty spike or two, your maps (particularly OaR Uncut) are some of the best parts of the game.

Ugh, the uncut mods are the only way I can play Black Mesa now, but if there's a problem, I just gotta suck shit because they're finished.

Was looking for BMS mapping tips on developer.valvesoftware, found this gem in "discussion" section of the mod's page: [IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/20b1pv7.png[/IMG] yes, thats all one guy I wish I could see his face in 2012

honestly, i still can't believe they released it :V to be fair, it's not as if they released a complete game. just mostly complete.

Considering they were a team who more or less worked on it during their spare time, and had multiple setbacks including a bunch of the their team quitting, while still managing to put out a pretty high quality product, its a hell of an achievment nonetheless.

my question is how Xen has taken this long, it was really only a few levels and then the game completed.

[QUOTE=Pigbear;44743819]my question is how Xen has taken this long, it was really only a few levels and then the game completed.[/QUOTE] Aren't they redoing some stuff since they're on the Portal 2 engine now?

[QUOTE=Pigbear;44743819]my question is how Xen has taken this long, it was really only a few levels and then the game completed.[/QUOTE] I reckon they would have revamped it to be less...what it was. Probably a whole lot of level design changes and maybe lengthening some areas, making more use of the long jump module in different circumstances (not just from jumping between floating platforms). Also it's likely that they are dealing with steam integration stuff now and coding changes with the full source engine code access imo

[QUOTE=DwarfOverlord;44743867]I reckon they would have revamped it to be less...what it was. Probably a whole lot of level design changes and maybe lengthening some areas, making more use of the long jump module in different circumstances (not just from jumping between floating platforms). Also it's likely that they are dealing with steam integration stuff now and coding changes with the full source engine code access imo[/QUOTE] From what we saw in [url=http://forums.blackmesasource.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70]bkdale's developer updates[/url], some brushwork is being replaced with unique models, and some of the models themselves are being remade and improved upon. Retail release is going to look real nice.

The voice acting sure won't.

[QUOTE=Yourself;44744879]The voice acting sure won't.[/QUOTE] Weren't they going to rehaul about half the voice acting? I remember they were looking for new voice actors for the HECU and Eli.

[QUOTE=Blooper Reel;44744990]Weren't they going to rehaul about half the voice acting? I remember they were looking for new voice actors for the HECU and Eli.[/QUOTE] Yes, they are.

Am I the only person who didn't have an issue with Eli's voice? He sounded like a younger Eli. It wasn't perfect but it wasn't as bad.

I didn't like it at first, I got used to it and it's not so bad, but if it could be better then why not. The HECU had the worst voices, and Eli's was okay, it had to grow on me though. On the other hand Kleiner, the Scientists, Barney (especially Barney) were all fantastic and I hope they don't change those.

As of right now, they only open casting calls they have are for Eli and the HECU.

I didn't like female scientists' voices. They were all flat and samey. Except the scientist in the elevator she was okay until she died.

The guy who does the guards and gman on their team is a dead ringer for Michael Shapiro

[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;44749940]Right now black scientists sound like white scientists in the whitest way possible, there don't seem to be any asians or what have you despite Black Mesa being an equal opportunity employer. V:v:V It would be a neat improvement over Half-Life though completely unnecessary.[/QUOTE] That's how they were in HL1, they all had the same voice. [editline]7th May 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=ColossalSoft;44750766]I didn't like female scientists' voices. They were all flat and samey. Except the scientist in the elevator she was okay until she died.[/QUOTE] The Female Scientists were voiced by the mother of the guy who did the Male Scientist :v: Not really a professional actor, but if you can find better I'm sure they'd like to hear..

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;44750844]That's how they were in HL1, they all had the same voice. [/QUOTE] Actually, HL1 modified the pitch of their voices depending on which model was used. The african-american model had the lowest pitched voice, the black haired one had the highest and so on. Since the voice lines were so low quality they could get away with that. It'd sound off if the same feature was used for the Black mesa scientists.

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