Half-Life 25th Anniversary

Armenius

Armenius

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The original Half-Life launched on November 19, 1998, and Valve is celebrating the occasion by making the game free until November 20. The game also receives an update that brings back the classic menu, adds HUD scaling, adds an option to reduce mouse latency (they say they completely rewrote the input system), and brings a slew of outstanding bug fixes. There is also a sale on the rest of the Half-Life franchise. Interesting to note that at the bottom of the patch notes, Valve is basically disowning the Source port of the game and is calling this updated version the definitive version. We all know how broken the Source port is, so I think this is a good move.


View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/70/HalfLife/

https://www.half-life.com/en/halflife25/


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbZ3HzvFEto

https://steamcommunity.com/games/70/announcements/detail/6941797379568863070

25th anniversary update details said:
Bug Fixes and Change Notes

New Content
  • Now Verified on the Steam Deck (and our native Linux runtime has been set as the default).
  • Half-Life: Uplink — the original standalone Half-Life demo — has been added to the game, and is accessible through the "New Game" menu.
  • Added four all-new Half-Life Deathmatch maps: contamination, pool_party, disposal, and rocket_frenzy
  • Added three old Half-Life Deathmatch maps formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD: doublecross, rust_mill, xen_dm.
  • Added Ivan the Space Biker, Prototype Barney, Skeleton, and Too Much Coffee Man as player models to Half-Life Deathmatch.
  • Added dozens of new sprays formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD.
  • Added support for Steam Networking, allowing easy multiplayer via Steam's Join Game and Invite features.
  • Added support for Steam Friends Rich Presence, allowing your friends to follow your journey through Black Mesa.
Nostalgia
  • Brought back the original Valve Intro video. Can be skipped with the "-novid" launch command.
  • Updated main menu to a design inspired by the game's original 1998 main menu.
  • Changed the default models to the original (non "HD") models.
Gameplay Changes
  • Improved physics for throwing grenades.
  • Improved randomness for initial spawn points in multiplayer.
  • Improved satchel charge controls: primary fire now always throws a new satchel, and secondary fire always detonates.
  • Fixed push-able entity movement being based on framerate.
  • Fixed players with high framerates freezing in place on death in multiplayer.
  • Fixed some cases where the player could get stuck in place on level transitions.
  • Fixed some cases where characters would interrupt important dialogue with their "greetings" dialogue.
  • Fixed weapon view-bob angles.
  • Fixed red barrels at the start of Surface Tension not launching as intended.
  • Fixed Snarks attacking FL_WORLDBRUSH entities (such as func_walls).
  • Fixed players sometimes failing to deploy a snark while crouching and looking down.
  • Fixed certain convars ("pausable" and "sv_maxspeed") being set to incorrect values when entering a singleplayer game after a multiplayer game.
  • Fixed singleplayer auto-aim setting being changed when entering a multiplayer game that disallows auto-aim.
  • Fixed the flashlight HUD showing empty after loading a savegame.
  • Fixed rockets in CONTENTS_SKY not always detonating.
  • Fixed incorrect bullet impact sounds for NPCs.
  • Fixed gauss gun making a loud static noise if it was charged across level transitions.
  • Fixed a crash in mods that display keybinds in their UI.
  • Fixed singleplayer weapons not auto-switching away when exhausted (grenades / snarks / satchels / etc)
  • Fixed interpolation artifacts when animated models are moved by other entities.
  • Fixed some buffer overflow exploits.
UI Changes
  • Main-menu background and buttons have been reskinned, and now scale based upon screen resolution without stretching, supporting background image layouts up to 3840x1600.
  • In-Game HUD now uses double or triple sized sprites when playing at higher resolutions.
  • UI dialogs and in-game fonts now scale to improve readability at high screen resolutions.
  • In-Game HUD HEV suit display has been shifted to the left of the screen, and no longer changes position at larger screen resolutions.
  • Added an "Enable texture filtering" setting.
  • Added an "Allow widescreen Field of View" setting to correct non-anamorphic FOVs, for widescreen and ultrawide displays.
  • Re-organized all the Settings screens to improve legibility, and support controller navigation.
  • Updated the Pause menu to be aware of the current gameplay mode.
  • The default server name and multiplayer player name are now based on the player's Steam Persona.
  • The Steam platform menu has been removed, now that all its features are in Steam itself.
  • Fixed application icon rendering incorrectly when using the software renderer.
  • Fixed player and spray images not updating their coloring on the settings screen.
  • Removed the now very unnecessary "Low video quality. Helps with slower video cards." setting.
Input Changes
  • Improved support for keyboard and controller navigation everywhere.
  • Added "Lower Input Latency" option: Synchronizes the CPU and GPU to reduce the time between input and display output.
  • Fixed issues that caused jerky mouse / joystick input.
  • (We basically rewrote it all - if you've got a custom Steam Input controller configuration, you should rebuild it from our newly published Official Configuration).
Multiplayer Balancing
  • Increased the 357 damage from 40 → 50.
  • Hive Hand reload time has been reduced from 0.5s → 0.3s per shot, and it will be selected at higher priority than the pistol on pickup.
  • MP5 now always starts with full ammo when initially picked up.
  • Players no longer drop empty weapons, and any that are dropped are reloaded by what's in the dying player's backpack.
  • Improved client-side prediction to reduce "ghost shots". Like Counter-Strike, consider hitboxes and not just bounding boxes for hits on the client.
  • Fixed network predicted crowbar swing damage being incorrect.
Rendering
  • Added setting to turn off texture filtering when using the OpenGL renderer.
  • Default gamma has been decreased from 2.5 → 2.2, now that we aren't all playing on CRTs.
  • Restored OpenGL overbright support.
  • Added support for UI Sprites and Texture files larger than 256x256.
  • Added support for UI Font special render modes: "blur" and "additive".
  • Default resolution is now based on the resolution of the desktop, instead of a 640x480 window.
  • Software renderer will now correctly filter out incompatible resolutions, unless there is only 1 resolution available on the display.
  • Fixed fullscreen software renderer crashing on systems that don't support 16-bit color.
  • Fixed software renderer being stretched when using widescreen resolutions.
  • Fixed skyboxes and sky color incorrectly carrying over when transitioning maps in multiplayer.
  • Fixed the game appearing too dark after modifying video settings.
  • Fixed MSAA in windowed mode.
  • Fixed mipmap rendering on studio models.
  • Fixed gluon gun sprite rendering in multiplayer.
  • Fixed gluon gun sinusoidal noise being incorrect.
  • Various optimizations to support the newly increased engine limits.
  • OpenGL optimizations for the Steam Deck.
Engine Improvements for Mod Makers
  • Increased maximum limit of dynamic sound channels from 8 → 32.
  • Increased maximum limit of sentences in the sentences.txt file from 1536 → 2048.
  • Increased maximum number of entities (MAX_EDICTS) from 900 → 1200.
  • Increased MAX_PACKET_ENTITIES from 256 → 1024.
  • Increased MAX_GLTEXTURES from 4800 → 10000.
  • Increased software renderer geometry limits: max spans 3000 → 6000, max surfaces 2000 → 4000, and max edges 7200 → 14400.
  • Cycler and func_button entities can now be the entity target for scripted_sentence entities, and are allowed to speak in multiplayer.
  • Incorporated func_vehicle entity support from Counter-Strike, for mod-makers to use. Full SDK update will come later, but level designers can use it now.
Native Linux Build
  • Added support for the software renderer.
  • Improved font rendering.
  • Many stability and behavior fixes.
Other
  • Localization files updated.
  • Miscellaneous security fixes.
Notes
  • The previous version of the game has been archived to a publicly visible Beta branch named "steam_legacy", with the description "Pre-25th Anniversary Build." If a mod or feature is behaving in an unexpected way, you may need to run this archived build until the issue is resolved in the default build.
  • We now consider this anniversary version of Half Life to be the definitive version, and the one we'll continue to support going forward. Therefore, we'll be reducing the visibility of Half Life: Source on the Steam Store. We know Half-Life: Source's assets are still being used by the Source engine community, so it'll remain available, but we'll be encouraging new Half-Life players to play this version instead.
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I only owned the physical disc version of Half Life 1 so I added the digital version to my account (since it was free)...I think the definitive version of Half Life 1 is now Black Mesa

I never paid attention to the Source port of HL1 and didn't realize it was in such bad shape
 
polonyc2 said:
I only owned the physical disc version of Half Life 1 so I added the digital version to my account (since it was free)...I think the definitive version of Half Life 1 is now Black Mesa

I never paid attention to the Source port of HL1 and didn't realize it was in such bad shape
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I'm not sure Black Mesa is the definitive version since it's not done by Valve. They significantly changed parts of the game.
 
DrezKill said:
But wasn't it made with Valve's blessing and support?
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Sure, but the vision of the remake was solely the mod team's. Black Mesa is fantastic, no doubt, but I don't consider it anything official.
 
this sounds pretty interesting...will need to fire it up:

Half-Life Uplink

Originally released as a CD exclusive for magazines and hardware manufacturers, this mini-campaign was built by the Half-Life team right after the game went gold. As this was many people's first experience with Half-Life, we thought it was finally time to bundle it with the main game
 
polonyc2 said:
they changed some parts for the better (Xen levels)...plus the visuals are a major improvement
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I'm sure I'm in the minority here but.... I didn't like the black mesa xen as much as I liked the OG xen(not that I particularly cared for it) it seemed way over done for what it was from the original.

also Black Mesa is an AMAZING addition to the half-life world. it still changes too much for it to be called a definitive edition. maybe its nostalgia but the OG and even hl-source will always be the best version of Half-life
 
Special.K said:
I'm sure I'm in the minority here but.... I didn't like the black mesa xen as much as I liked the OG xen(not that I particularly cared for it) it seemed way over done for what it was from the original.
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I started out loving the new Zen until you hit the manufacturing level. It just went on WAY longer than needed.
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Kudos to Valve for honoring their roots. Half Life is a classic. Black Mesa is a nice re-imagining but changes too much to replace the original

Anyways it might be fun to check out the multiplayer again.
 
The first time I played Half-Life was in a small, darkened at-home office at one of my buddy's houses when I was very young. The game fucking terrified us :dead: :D. I will never forget what it felt like to encounter the first headcrab and zombie with the volume cranked up... In retrospect, it was the perfect way to experience the game for the first time.

It's one of the first and most iconic ego shooters. I went back and played Opposing Force not long ago, and that game was even better than I remembered. The level of polish is pretty spectacular, and it's also iconic to me.
 
For Christmas '98, my girlfriend (now wife) bought me a 4MB Diamond Monster 3D video card. I'll never forget the difference I saw the first time I fired up HL with the Glide graphics acceleration versus the onboard video. Everything looked so much better and ran so much smoother.
 
The patch introduced a bug I haven't seen before. During the transit ride at the start, you can push Gordon's bounding box outside the tram and cause it to stop moving. It doesn't break the game, I just thought it was funny.
 
Half Life 2 is only .99 cents I think it was on some forum where someone was bragging on how good the game looks on his LCD.
I tried the same formula and got blasted by early LCD adapter woes. Sold the LCD Dell SuperNova version.
 
The new input system is really good, especially with the reduced latency option that syncs the CPU and GPU. It got rid of the floatiness I always felt the game had. The reduced latency is so fast that it makes me feel that the game is reading my mind as the action happens before my brain has processed that I touched a button. It was actually an issue for me with some of the early platforming sections of the game, but I'm used to it now. It feels like there is absolutely no input latency at all.
 
Armenius said:
The new input system is really good, especially with the reduced latency option that syncs the CPU and GPU. It got rid of the floatiness I always felt the game had. The reduced latency is so fast that it makes me feel that the game is reading my mind as the action happens before my brain has processed that I touched a button. It was actually an issue for me with some of the early platforming sections of the game, but I'm used to it now. It feels like there is absolutely no input latency at all.
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I get that it’s supppsed to sync the cpu and gpu but in my playtime yesterday my 7800X3D was stuck at 5ghz while my 7900XT was running around 130mhz. Solid 100fps at 5120x2160.
 
FiveDollarBill said:
Half-Life was a big deal for me, it really sold me on PC gaming. In fact I liked it so much I got my one and only tattoo, the Lamda on my right shoulder.
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I'd say it was the original Doom that sold me, although Half-Life really upped the ante in terms of what a PC game could be (maybe I should say FPS, but it just happened to also be on PC). It was unlike anything else many of us had ever played. At the time I was still in my teens, so I didn't fully understand why from a perspective of game design concepts but I do now.

I watched that documentary yesterday and I'll admit I got a little misty eyed at one point because they were doing a lot with not a lot and the excitement and emotion of building this thing was palpable. What an amazing game. It was really interesting to hear the stories from some of the team behind it.
 
FiveDollarBill said:
Half-Life was a big deal for me, it really sold me on PC gaming. In fact I liked it so much I got my one and only tattoo, the Lamda on my right shoulder.
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What's it called to play/use a PC without a graphics card? VGA or something? All my gaming was done without a GPU until I was half way through Half-Life. Childhood friend of mine went to Best Buy with me and I grabbed some 256mb(?) board. Had no idea what I was doing, but he helped me install it. Went from like 20 FPS to 60 or some shit. Amazing.
 
Westwood said:
What's it called to play/use a PC without a graphics card? VGA or something? All my gaming was done without a GPU until I was half way through Half-Life. Childhood friend of mine went to Best Buy with me and I grabbed some 256mb(?) board. Had no idea what I was doing, but he helped me install it. Went from like 20 FPS to 60 or some shit. Amazing.
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IGP
 
Westwood said:
Naw, what's VGA? I think that's the term.

For reference, I understand about 5% of what the hell you guys talk about on these forums.
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Software rendering is without a dedicated 3D capable and is a method old old old games used.
VGA is one of the oldest standardized adapters, and the earliest versions of VGA were not available as separate add in cards, but built into the IBM PS/2 systems at first, one of the first "onboard" graphics cards that was not an addon card AND capable of relatively decent rendering until later iterations when it became an addon adapter as well..
 
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Westwood said:
Naw, what's VGA? I think that's the term.

For reference, I understand about 5% of what the hell you guys talk about on these forums.
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I was going to say that no, he's right, but you may both be right...I think this just boils down to terminology.

Before GPUs, games used software rendering, meaning they did all the graphics processing on the CPU along with, well...everything else. As games got more complex, CPUs struggled to run them well and someone figured out that if you handed off the graphics processing to dedicated special chips, not only were they more efficient at drawing pretty things on screen than CPUs were, they would take all of that load off of the CPU to let it handle other things that it was designed to do more efficiently.

Then GPUs came out and you either ran games "on hardware" (i.e. on a GPU), which simply meant offloading the graphics processing to your add-on card or you ran them "in software" (with the CPU handling graphics like before).

Now, switching gears for a sec...

VGA is a resolution. To put this into perspective:

VGA: 640x480
SVGA: 800x600
..
HD: 1280x720 (termed "720p" in marketing)
....
FHD: 1920x1080 (termed "HD" or "1080p" in marketing)
UHD: 3840x2160 (termed "4K" in marketing)
etc.

Once you make that distinction, you realize that (for the purposes of this discussion) you could run games at VGA resolution either by using the built-in software renderer or by using your GPU.

Now while I was typing all of this up, I realized that the term VGA was probably thrown around a little loosely back in the day, much like your mom...since it could really mean two things. Not only did it mean 640x480, which I've been talking about up to this point, but it was also a video display controller.

Bastards went and replied while I was typing, let's see how late I am. :D
 
Lateralus said:
I was going to say that no, he's right, but you may both be right...I think this just boils down to terminology.

Before GPUs, games used software rendering, meaning they did all the graphics processing on the CPU along with, well...everything else. As games got more complex, CPUs struggled to run them well and someone figured out that if you handed off the graphics processing to dedicated special chips, not only were they more efficient at drawing pretty things on screen than CPUs were, they would take all of that load off of the CPU to let it handle other things that it was designed to do more efficiently.

Then GPUs came out and you either ran games "on hardware" (i.e. on a GPU), which simply meant offloading the graphics processing to your add-on card or you ran them "in software" (with the CPU handling graphics like before).

Now, switching gears for a sec...

VGA is a resolution. To put this into perspective:

VGA: 640x480
SVGA: 800x600
..
HD: 1280x720 (termed "720p")
....
FHD: 1920x1080 (termed "HD" or "1080p")
UHD: 3840x2160 (termed "4K")
etc.

Once you make that distinction, you realize that (for the purposes of this discussion) you could run games at VGA resolution either by using the built-in software renderer or by using your GPU.

Now while I was typing all of this up, I realized that the term VGA was probably thrown around a little loosely back in the day, much like your mom...since it could really mean two things. Not only did it mean 640x480, which I've been talking about up to this point, but it was also a video display controller.

Bastards went and replied while I was typing, let's see how late I am. :D
Click to expand...

You're slightly wrong...
VGA is a resolution, an adapter card/gpu, and a connector type.

They are all part of the original VGA integrated graphics chipset on the PS/2 before it was unloaded to external.

1700679592155.png
 
FighterAce124 said:
and a connector type.
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Yeah, I went ahead and excluded that one since (while you're correct in the AKSHUALLY sense), there was an exceedingly low likelihood that Westwood would have been talking about that when talking about running games "in VGA".
 
I just remember being half way through the game, my buddy comes over. He was THE GUY for PC stuff. He had a separate phone line for his dial-up. Insane. He comes over to hang out and I'm playing Half-Life at like 30fps at 480. I didn't know any better. My previous games were Dune II, MegaRace, and Doom. We went to Best Buy, got my first GPU, and fire up Half Life again. I was beside myself at how much of an improvement it made.

Played something like this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGc4S8hOVps
 
Westwood said:
I just remember being half way through the game, my buddy comes over. He was THE GUY for PC stuff. He had a separate phone line for his dial-up. Insane. He comes over to hang out and I'm playing Half-Life at like 30fps at 480. I didn't know any better. My previous games were Dune II, MegaRace, and Doom. We went to Best Buy, got my first GPU, and fire up Half Life again. I was beside myself at how much of an improvement it made.

Played something like this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGc4S8hOVps
Click to expand...


Howni felt one birthday. Got jedi knight a 4meg ati rage pro. That like 800x600 amazement made me never touch a console again in any meaningful way
 
I'm sincerely embarrassed to admit, even though I owned OG Half Life on CD, I never really played it.... (was too caught up with being a RL teen & playing Unreal Tournament/Counterstrike/Alpha Centauri)

Buttttt, I finally fired it up tonight, played to apparently Chapter 5.... and gawd damn, I do not miss platform jumping in FPS's. Not. one. bit.

Still, I'm impressed and definitely understand why it's considered a classic. (Also, it has reminded how easy games in general have become compared to back in the day.... I caught myself actually getting angry for the first time since, probably Titan Quest)

I plan to "breeze" though this one in the next week (maybe complete it by tomorrow night - apparently the game is less than 8 hours long). Then, I'm gonna give Black Mesa its "due and proper". (y)
 
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