Gentle Wind
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2023
Silly me, I didn't think of doing that yet that was the most obvious thing to do. Apologies.
Half Life thread - Discussions about Valve's FPS magnum opus(es) and any related content (spin offs, expansions and etc)
- Thread starter The handsome tard
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2021
Rule number 1 of Source games: Always verify your game files. Source games are like Jenga, if one small .ini file is modified or missing, the game will get a ton of errors.
Gentle Wind
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2023
The process turned out to be a little strange as I had to manually delete the game files, but in the end it works well.
So here's a tip for those who encounter broken glitches and crashes: Delete the files manually, then verify. Maybe restart steam to be on the safer side.
- Joined
- May 21, 2020
I just know somebody is going to be extremely fucking pissed that valve fucked over their perfect 100% achivement run.
Forgot to add they added mod and workshop support for half life 2 finally after 20 years of modding you will no longer have to fuck with source sdk 2013 multiplayer/ source sdk 2013 single player, same goes for the rest of the sdks and I'm also assuming people are going to be porting mods from now on to keep content flowing.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2016
Probably, though just doing it again on Easy difficulty is hardly a problem.
Historical Strelkov
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2023
Playing through the update right now, and its obviously an upgrade in terms of how the game functions so far for me.
I noticed both Kelly Bailey and Marc Laidlaw are on the commentary track.
That means they are at least on good enough terms with Valve to show up for this or send in recordings.
They had Barney and Kleiner voice actors show up for interviews.
They made a VR Half-Life based game already...
What exactly is stopping them from doing Half-Life 3 at this point?
A Source 2 Half-Life game, that actually finished up the plot threads from 2 with elements from Portal involving the Borealis would be entertaining to say the least.
The Borealis could potentially be some kind of hazardous multi-dimensional portal area where there are cracks in reality between the dimensions kind of like how it was at Black Mesa. inside this warped levelspace there could be Combine enemies, Xen creatures, and enemy Aperture turrets fighting each other as the Combine attempt to find the portal tech stored in the cargo hold. Imagine playing as gordon moving through M.C. Escher esque portal damaged ship interiors with a gravity gun that also can shoot portals.
You could use repulsor gel to add verticality to the gameplay, dump propulsion gel behind you as combine hunters, striders, and APCs chase you in your armed buggy through a giant floating land mass in xen where you have to jump between islands. Maybe even take the fight to the Combine by portaling to one of their slave race planets that you could start a multi-dimensional resistance in and finally take the fight to the Combine Overworld, while not even touching who and what the G-man is really about. Maybe we get to see more of the Vortigaunts as they guide Freeman towards the Combine.
I'm just sayin... If we're not doing TF3, and we're not doing Portal 3, and we're not doing DOD:2 then what is Valve besides a publisher and hardware company that makes expensive tech demos?
Valve is supposed to be one-upping everyone, its like they got sidetracked by all these other projects like teaming up with alienware to make a console, streaming games to your tv, haptic feedback controllers, and now VR.
Even though everyone respects the hardware and the engineering behind that stuff and the Steam Deck, its all a "side show" to the core product.
I don't know what happened around 2011, but ever since then Valve hasn't really been focused on being a game developer. Maybe Gaben just really likes Dota and card games. I appreciate all the hard work on the programming involved though.
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2021
Historical Strelkov
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2023
Yeah I'm late to this video. This was what I thought when Valve took down that TF2S2 mod in January
I don't know if this runs on Source 2.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2023
Valve better print a buttload of "Raising the Bar" copies when they release the updated book in 2025 because I am absolutely not dealing with scalpers buying up all the stock the moment it becomes available.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2021
I know this may have been pointed out at some point but the https://xccr.com/ website has a countdown to it. The sign is even back with a crisper looking texture.
indomitable snowman
Can't stop, won't stop (unless it gets above 32°F)
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2022
Same when I saw this the first time thats when i knew it was coming then when I finished the documentary I was like oh yeah it's definitely coming out, especially when they showed off the people who worked on episode 3 talked a bit about episode 4 and even mentioned that the engine they were using wasnt capabale enough as both valve and arkane studios agreed on those same grounds.
Lost my shit when they showed off early mechanics for episode 3, like the blob and ice physics that eventually made its way over to portal 2 for the gels, like all these innovations over the years havent been for nothing and i truly feel as if we will finally see half life 3. I can't imagine wanting to create an extreme advance in gaming but lacking the technology to do so must have been really frustrating for a long time.
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2018
Super Hans v2
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2022
Being a mongoloid DS5 user, I noticed that there's an invisible item between the Episode 2 and Extras slot on the main menu, and it makes the selection sound when pressed but doesn't do anything.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2023
That's just how source/goldsrc menus work. I remember the exact same thing happening in HL1/CS1.6 menus over a decade ago. I think they make an empty entry in the menu list to make a bigger gap in between selections.
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2022
I can't wait for Half-Life 3 to run like shit on my ancient GPU.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2023
Historical Strelkov
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2023
I think that Portal was a literal test of technology originally intended to be Half-Life material, and not just a thematic one. But, it was so complex and difficult to put together, that they had to make a sub-series to complete the technical aspects they were set on developing.
Throw in VR as another question that had to be explored. Would the next Half-Life game be VR? Would people buy VR? Alyx was a prequel because the answer was "No, but we should do something to figure out these problems, and that small percentage need something good."
Remember this thing?
It had integration in Half-Life 2 and a few other games.
People are always looking for ways to re-invent the wheel because "why does it have to be like this?" is always a valid question with computing.
The dream of what a computer should be has nothing to do with a mouse and keyboard, and yet the fact of the matter is that no one has invented a better GUI or Desktop environment other than your typical "Finder", "Windows Explorer", GNOME or whatever. Even touch screen OS's don't really stray from this, and in many ways aren't as capable.
As long as this is the case, PC gaming is just gonna be people sitting down to use a mouse and keyboard to interact with things.
I understand Valve's propensity to use their franchises in a way to innovate, but the ironic thing is that Half-Life 1 is a good FPS developed from the sensibility of innovating on Quake's software. To a developer nerd its this innovative, interesting piece of technical work to create new ways of doing things that Quake wasn't able to do. But to the end user, Half-Life 1 was just a really solid first person shooter you could play over and over. Doom/Quake and Duke Nukem/Build engine games didn't have the cinematic, roller coaster ride theme park quality that Half-Life 1 had. It remains a fun campaign even with its limitations. The core of it though is that it seems like almost every modern singleplayer "campaign" game, or linear action game has some Half-Life 1 or 2 in it somewhere in how its levels are designed, stories are told, and loading screens are linked together.
I strongly believe that valve games depend on this general axiom that the innovation is almost always software, hampered by how slow hardware is, and mired in peripheral side quests into any kind of haptic feedback, or virtual reality gadget that can be conjured up to make the game more than just a shooter.
Valve caring about mods, developing things like the workshop, having community made hats or whatever. That layer is software. Stuff like the gravity gun, the portal gun, or say, the idea of bugs coming out of the sand but not the concrete. Thats all software. Sure it takes hardware to make it happen, but people remember the scripting, the gameplay, and the presentation more than anything.
Somewhere in the process of developing the first Half-Life, there became a defacto system of developing game concepts where the player's minute to minute experience became the priority, and every "cool" idea or narrative concept was subject to change based on that. Half-Life levels may have similarities with each other based on a sense of down time vs action, or puzzles vs fight arenas but there's a constant theme that they're trying to introduce new or fresh takes on things.
Ironically, Half-Life 1 also has Xen which is emblematic of Valve's inability to nail the climax, after getting caught up in a technical concept that is too ahead of its time.
I'm not really arguing against Valve or the amount of time its taken for them to do certain things because what company would know better about the limitations of the state of things? Their whole ideal was "raising the bar". If they think the product would be boring without some kind of whacky concept to drive their interest in making levels and sequences who am I to judge? I just feel like they need to throw some more games to FPS players, their bread and butter customers. Counter-Strike as a competitive multiplayer game made by other people doesn't cover the ground they've already established.
The Steam side of valve will create stuff like Greenlight, or develop an economy and marketplace to streamline the development and publishing of things with the community having a level of involvement. Valve and Gaben act the complete opposite way. Gaben doesn't want to talk about whats coming out, because ultimately its already been decided, and everything after that decision is an endeavor to make it actually happen. Theres no reason to spoil it or drop an "ELDER SCROLLS VI COMING SOON" teaser.
I just hope that we don't all get caught up on technology so much that the actual game part of valve games are not being made.
It had integration in Half-Life 2 and a few other games.
People are always looking for ways to re-invent the wheel because "why does it have to be like this?" is always a valid question with computing.
The dream of what a computer should be has nothing to do with a mouse and keyboard, and yet the fact of the matter is that no one has invented a better GUI or Desktop environment other than your typical "Finder", "Windows Explorer", GNOME or whatever. Even touch screen OS's don't really stray from this, and in many ways aren't as capable.
As long as this is the case, PC gaming is just gonna be people sitting down to use a mouse and keyboard to interact with things.
I understand Valve's propensity to use their franchises in a way to innovate, but the ironic thing is that Half-Life 1 is a good FPS developed from the sensibility of innovating on Quake's software. To a developer nerd its this innovative, interesting piece of technical work to create new ways of doing things that Quake wasn't able to do. But to the end user, Half-Life 1 was just a really solid first person shooter you could play over and over. Doom/Quake and Duke Nukem/Build engine games didn't have the cinematic, roller coaster ride theme park quality that Half-Life 1 had. It remains a fun campaign even with its limitations. The core of it though is that it seems like almost every modern singleplayer "campaign" game, or linear action game has some Half-Life 1 or 2 in it somewhere in how its levels are designed, stories are told, and loading screens are linked together.
I strongly believe that valve games depend on this general axiom that the innovation is almost always software, hampered by how slow hardware is, and mired in peripheral side quests into any kind of haptic feedback, or virtual reality gadget that can be conjured up to make the game more than just a shooter.
Valve caring about mods, developing things like the workshop, having community made hats or whatever. That layer is software. Stuff like the gravity gun, the portal gun, or say, the idea of bugs coming out of the sand but not the concrete. Thats all software. Sure it takes hardware to make it happen, but people remember the scripting, the gameplay, and the presentation more than anything.
Somewhere in the process of developing the first Half-Life, there became a defacto system of developing game concepts where the player's minute to minute experience became the priority, and every "cool" idea or narrative concept was subject to change based on that. Half-Life levels may have similarities with each other based on a sense of down time vs action, or puzzles vs fight arenas but there's a constant theme that they're trying to introduce new or fresh takes on things.
Ironically, Half-Life 1 also has Xen which is emblematic of Valve's inability to nail the climax, after getting caught up in a technical concept that is too ahead of its time.
I'm not really arguing against Valve or the amount of time its taken for them to do certain things because what company would know better about the limitations of the state of things? Their whole ideal was "raising the bar". If they think the product would be boring without some kind of whacky concept to drive their interest in making levels and sequences who am I to judge? I just feel like they need to throw some more games to FPS players, their bread and butter customers. Counter-Strike as a competitive multiplayer game made by other people doesn't cover the ground they've already established.
The Steam side of valve will create stuff like Greenlight, or develop an economy and marketplace to streamline the development and publishing of things with the community having a level of involvement. Valve and Gaben act the complete opposite way. Gaben doesn't want to talk about whats coming out, because ultimately its already been decided, and everything after that decision is an endeavor to make it actually happen. Theres no reason to spoil it or drop an "ELDER SCROLLS VI COMING SOON" teaser.
I just hope that we don't all get caught up on technology so much that the actual game part of valve games are not being made.
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2022
This and the documentary for the first Half Life really goes to show the passion the people of Valve have for gaming. Barring of course the current state of that company, you can incur that their process is not just about ticking boxes from how they talk about the processes of making these games. Personally disappointed that Valve's next big thing is another MOBA thing with wacky capeshit-esque characters, but then again I'm not the demographic for Deadlock.
I really like how this feels like gazing into another universe, feels so alien compared to the more grounded setting of the final Half Life 2. It's actually funny how everybody at the time was trying to outdo the next guy in making the most apocalyptic setting in contemporary fiction, if what Mark Laidlaw said was true that it was in style at the time.