Black Mesa Releasing Sept. 14th

SoFGR said:
screens or it didn't happen, I don't suppose you're using wrong HDR settings and fullbright, do ya ?


http://steamcommunity.com/app/362890/discussions/0/620712999973967114/

AI still needs work, some animations are glitchy but the graphics are much better than stock HL2, "blast pit" looks marvelous to me
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It didn't have anything to do with HDR, some of the areas had horrible map geometry, textures and 3D models. Some of the areas were very plain. Particularly on the surface. Have they changed that in the almost 2 years since I've played it? Probably. Also had a number of CTDs. A couple of other things I thought were shoddily done (don't recall). Overall experience was okay, but nothing worth paying for.

Kind of a shame the final part won't be free. One of those mods we've been waiting for years, probably a decade now, and it won't ever be fully released as a mod. I'd consider buying the final version if it was between $1-2. Not more than that though.
 
lol i thought you were talking about the paid version.

I'm currently on "Residue Processing" , I don't remember exactly how BMS looked like ( last played - november '12 ) but the current version looks and plays AWESOME

HECU marines got a bit nerfed ( especially the shotgun bearing ones ) vortigaunts are worse than ever but the whole difficulty curve scales up very nicely so far

voice acting is very inconsistent tho :( just listen to the scientist yelling at that security guard in the begining of "we've got hostiles"

before : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjscsnOg2LI

after : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkDNtsxycic

thankfully the marines combat chatter got a lot better now, that guy from Insurgency is very good !!
 
polonyc2 said:
Gap between free and paid Black Mesa will widen...the newer Xen levels will be incompatible

"It's impossible [for the new Xen levels to be added to the free mod]," said multiplayer level designer Joe R in a Reddit Ask Me Anything. "In order to make Xen look the best it possibly can look, we need to upgrade the engine with new features. These new features will make it incompatible with the mod version."...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-11-gap-between-free-and-paid-black-mesa-will-widen

I knew they weren't going to keep both the free and paid mods equal like so many people were saying earlier
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Why should they? The team is working their ass off, they deserve to be paid. Are you really expecting them to put a bunch of hard work into Xen but are unwilling to pay them for it?
 
Viper87227 said:
Why should they? The team is working their ass off, they deserve to be paid. Are you really expecting them to put a bunch of hard work into Xen but are unwilling to pay them for it?
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it has nothing to do with them 'deserving' to get paid...it's the principle like I stated earlier...

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041587757&postcount=347

and your response to that was.."so long as the original mod version remains functional and available for download (which is is). No principal is violated. You can still play this very excellent mod, completely free, exactly as promised."

now the original mod is not going to come with the Xen levels so it's not the same anymore (regardless how good the free version still is)...the quality of this mod is excellent but that doesn't mean they deserve to get greedy...so every free mod ever created can now no longer be free because it gets popular or the quality is considered higher then normal?...you're going down a slippery slope with that

can every popular free forum or website now charge a small fee because they have outgrown their humble beginnings?...and back to Black Mesa, I don't believe for a second that the Xen levels are now somehow 'incompatible' with the new older version...they just want to get paid
 
polonyc2 said:
it has nothing to do with them 'deserving' to get paid...it's the principle like I stated earlier...

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041587757&postcount=347

and your response to that was.."so long as the original mod version remains functional and available for download (which is is). No principal is violated. You can still play this very excellent mod, completely free, exactly as promised."

now the original mod is not going to come with the Xen levels so it's not the same anymore (regardless how good the free version still is)...the quality of this mod is excellent but that doesn't mean they deserve to get greedy...so every free mod ever created can now no longer be free because it gets popular or the quality is considered higher then normal?...you're going down a slippery slope with that

can every popular free forum or website now charge a small fee because they have outgrown their humble beginnings?...and back to Black Mesa, I don't believe for a second that the Xen levels are now somehow 'incompatible' with the new older version...they just want to get paid
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You misunderstand what I mean by "exactly as promised". I simply meant that it will always be available for free as promised.

Bottom line is, these guys worked hard and deserve to be paid to continue to work on the game. I really don't understand how being compensated for hundreds of hours of work is greedy. I'd call the opposing argument greedy. Expecting someone to work hard to create something, but refusing to compensate them and/or getting upset that they feel entitled to seek compensation for their time... that's greedy, and really entitled. Also, your comparison to a free forum or website doesn't really compare, based on the fact that places like that do in fact earn an income through advertising and sometimes optional subscriptions (which often come with exclusive benefits that you only get by paying).
 
the Black Mesa Crossfire update has just been released on Steam

this free update for Black Mesa re-imagines the original Crossfire map with new visuals and stays true to the original with its nuclear bunker...that’s not all though because there’s a lot that’s been tweaked in Crossfire including the addition of “God Rays”, the multplayer animations have been overhauled, a Steam Controller config has been added, there’s new weapon models for the RPG, crossbow and shotgun, and even more in the single player...

http://forums.blackmesasource.com/index.php/Thread/28683-The-Crossfire-Update-Content-Update-0-2-0/
 
polonyc2 said:
the Black Mesa Crossfire update has just been released on Steam

this free update for Black Mesa re-imagines the original Crossfire map with new visuals and stays true to the original with its nuclear bunker...that’s not all though because there’s a lot that’s been tweaked in Crossfire including the addition of “God Rays”, the multplayer animations have been overhauled, a Steam Controller config has been added, there’s new weapon models for the RPG, crossbow and shotgun, and even more in the single player...

http://forums.blackmesasource.com/index.php/Thread/28683-The-Crossfire-Update-Content-Update-0-2-0/
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I just bought this a couple days ago for the winter sale and I gotta say.. I'm really enjoying it :D
 
Is Xen available yet? Not bothering with it again until they at least finish the mod.
 
SoFGR said:
screens or it didn't happen, I don't suppose you're using wrong HDR settings and fullbright, do ya ?


Which HDR-mode to choose (Full or Expanded)? :: Black Mesa General Discussions

AI still needs work, some animations are glitchy but the graphics are much better than stock HL2, "blast pit" looks marvelous to me
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You must have played it after some updates, but when I played it some areas lacked much if any detail. No amount of lighting can change such poor map geometry, lack of textures, props and general ugliness. Some areas looked like something from a game released in 2000.
 
Black Mesa’s Xen levels finally coming next year and it’s bigger...

In a lengthy update from the Black Mesa team, they have finally revealed a tentative release date for the Xen part of the game...Xen will be released some time in the summer of 2017 according to the team and it’s taken some time to come to fruition for a number of reasons...the team has been focusing on making sure the game works perfectly in the retail engine and at the same time working on Xen to make it the “definitive climax to the Half-Life 1 story”...to achieve this they say they have “completely redesigned and expanded the Xen levels”...They have been created in a way they “think Valve would have done without the limitations of the time.”

the Black Mesa Xen levels are a lot larger compared to the originals and there are a couple of comparison shots available in the status...

http://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/548704690350103809
 
polonyc2 said:
Black Mesa’s Xen levels finally coming next year and it’s bigger...

In a lengthy update from the Black Mesa team, they have finally revealed a tentative release date for the Xen part of the game...Xen will be released some time in the summer of 2017 according to the team and it’s taken some time to come to fruition for a number of reasons...the team has been focusing on making sure the game works perfectly in the retail engine and at the same time working on Xen to make it the “definitive climax to the Half-Life 1 story”...to achieve this they say they have “completely redesigned and expanded the Xen levels”...They have been created in a way they “think Valve would have done without the limitations of the time.”

the Black Mesa Xen levels are a lot larger compared to the originals and there are a couple of comparison shots available in the status...

http://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/548704690350103809
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This is great news and everything, but i've always seen everything before Xen was like 95% of Half Life 1. Am I remembering it wrong that Xen originally wasn't that long of a area? That's why i've always been confused as to why Xen has been taking so fucking long to complete.
 
Merry Christmas :p

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http://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/2767873904708195662
 
Do or die? I guess that seals the fate of this one.
Who is even funding this project for this long?
 
Wait, they still haven't released Xen?

Perfectionists they are. Xen is such a small part of the game too.
 
They've expanded Xen so instead of being 5% of the total game it's now 90%

rough estimate based on time spent developing it, of course...
 
at least they released most of the game minus Xen already...the new Xen levels should be a substantial upgrade from the original so I'm fine waiting
 
Anyone have performance issues with this game? I just tried to load it up and play the last level before going to Xen and it was pretty bad dropping the FPS into the 20s with my GTX 1060. I had every graphical setting maxed out of course and the last level is pretty heavy on effects with the electrical arching and Alien Controllers shooting at you, but I would think the 1060 would be way more than enough to play a Source engine game even at 4K. I loaded up other previous levels and was getting 100-200 FPS most of the time. Then I loaded the last level again and dropped every single graphical option to its lowest setting and dropped my resolution down to 720p and FPS was still in the 20s somehow. Seems like there's a particular effect in that room that's just murdering performance. I don't remember having this issue before when I played it on my old GTX 285 or maybe it was on my HD5830 even, can't remember its been so long.

Edit: I see there's some patches posted on their forum, but no links to download them and all the original game links in this thread and on their site seem to only be for the original game. Not sure where to get these patches or how to apply them.
 
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Same, loaded back up to play before Xen. No issues at all on my 1080. Running Steam version which automatically gets patched.
 
i7 920 @ 3.9 GHz
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I'm sorry, this an eight year old cpu right there ... what did you expect ? we're talking about a source engine game here, albeit a very cpu instensive one, some parts in the "surface tension uncut" are brutal !! upgrade that bitch :p
 
SoFGR said:
I'm sorry, this an eight year old cpu right there ... what did you expect ? we're talking about a source engine game here, albeit a very cpu instensive one, some parts in the "surface tension uncut" are brutal !! upgrade that bitch :p
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Nah, my CPU is only showing one core at like 60-80% usage while I'm at that part of the game when the frame rate tanks. I get the same frame rate (in the 10-30 FPS range) too whether at 720p with all graphical settings on low or maxed out at 4k. I'm playing much newer and more CPU intensive games fine as well at 1080p and 4K. So I'm not buying that my 8 year old CPU is limiting a game based on a 13 year old engine that I was playing fine at 60+ FPS before on an even older single core AMD FX55 based system. This is just some crappy graphical effect optimization issue, driver issue, or Nvidia control panel setting issue that I haven't taken the time to find yet, so I asked here.

I just finished college though and plan on upgrading at some point this year after the dust settles a bit from the current AMD and Intel battle, but for right now I'm mostly catching up to some Sony exclusives on my PS4 Pro (Horizon: Zero Dawn at the moment) and my current rig is still chugging along fine for some of the other titles I plan on catching up on as well.
 
I am sure someone will let us know when Zen is actually released. It might as well be HL3 to me at this point though. It took so long I really sort of stopped caring.
 
Xen delayed again...but there is some good news...

Straight to the bad news: we are pushing back the release of Xen. We are truly sorry for getting everyone's hopes up and then delaying... again. We worked very hard to make December, but we are not yet ready. As a team, we take FULL responsibility for that. We have an internal deadline we are confident in, and we will be getting everyone more details as we get closer to that date.

Thank you again to our community and Early Access supporters. The funding from Early Access has allowed us to hire many new talented developers, and has allowed older developers to put more time in the project. Simply put, Xen has proven to be an enormous undertaking, and while we are managing it to the best of our ability, it is proving to take longer than we estimated.

The good news is that we will be releasing a large update in December to test all of the new features that have been developed for Xen. We have changed a number of things within the Source Engine, and we want to make sure they all work on the myriad of PCs out there. By enabling the new tech on the Earthbound section of the game, we can get the engine/code fully stabilized on Steam before we drop the final chapters.

In December we will also have an update on where our Xen chapters stand, show some additional media, and deploy the engine update

http://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/1453963283488180339
 
So still no Xen? LOL, this is really walking off into Duke Nukem Fornever territory.
 
looks like you need to have the paid version to get all the extra features and goodies...with all the work these guys have done I think it's worth it
 
Well worth paying for it. They are doing all PC gamers a solid with this project.
 
Black Mesa December update released

We released an update for Black Mesa (currently on public beta) that adds real-time dynamic lights, lens flares, god rays, and a host of other features to the existing earthbound sections of the game...the goal of this update is to get the released version of the game as close to our internal build as possible...this way, the final Xen release can be closer to a simple map drop; with less potential for engine and code issues affecting players on their first time playing Xen...we are hoping to test the engine and solve all feature and performance problems before the real release, so that everyone can enjoy our definitive vision of the game without issues

http://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/1594703306631918308

I bought this during the current Steam Holiday sale for $4.99...well worth the price...
 
My last reply to this thread was 2 1/2 years ago. The wait for the initial mod to drop was so long, and now the final chapter of the paid version is going to end up talking close to if not 3+ years. Amazing isn't it? I remember it winning those Moddb mod of the year awards all those years back before anything was released. I can see upgrading the graphics, but even with the current Source engine they will still look like crap compared to modern games. Graphics don't make the game, but that was a large point of the mod in the first place. Back when this project started it was using a state of the art engine and looked stunning. By the time Black Mesa actually comes out, it will look so dated HL will need a new graphical remake! :p

Not really a complaint, just ironic considering the length of the development for what was clearly one of the most anticipated mods in history.
 
Flogger23m said:
My last reply to this thread was 2 1/2 years ago. The wait for the initial mod to drop was so long, and now the final chapter of the paid version is going to end up talking close to if not 3+ years. Amazing isn't it? I remember it winning those Moddb mod of the year awards all those years back before anything was released. I can see upgrading the graphics, but even with the current Source engine they will still look like crap compared to modern games. Graphics don't make the game, but that was a large point of the mod in the first place. Back when this project started it was using a state of the art engine and looked stunning. By the time Black Mesa actually comes out, it will look so dated HL will need a new graphical remake! :p

Not really a complaint, just ironic considering the length of the development for what was clearly one of the most anticipated mods in history.
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have you looked at screenshots of the new version?...it looks like a night/day difference compared to the original game which was the point to begin with...they are not trying to compete with Witcher 3's graphics...and they also added new gameplay features and additions...most of the game is complete, it's only the Xen levels that they have left to release (and most people consider that to be the weakest part of the original)...so overall this is a very impressive upgrade

in a way this is like Star Citizen where they are continually adding new graphical features and upgrades instead of playing it safe and just releasing a good but not great version of the game
 
The mod was pretty well done, but I'm not dropping $20 just to have it integrated into Steam until they add the rest of the game.

I don't pre-order from groups that have slower delivery dates than Valve themselves. Glad to hear there's still signs of life :D
 
defaultluser said:
The mod was pretty well done, but I'm not dropping $20 just to have it integrated into Steam until they add the rest of the game.

I don't pre-order from groups that don't have the fastest of delivery dates. Glad to hear there's still signs of life :D
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I got it for $4.99 during the last Steam Winter sale...
 
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