We left off last week with some changes to UC. When you get to map C there is a frozen area. This like all the other labs got a make over. The first picture is from the mod release. All the cabinets in this lab were replaced like before. Also the window frames were replaced and match all 15 of the others in AM/UC. The large white tank props in there also got a texture cleanup and all the pipes on it were redone.The next section will go into detail about a specific area and the prop modeling and texturing for it.
Moving on to the next area where the houndeye jumps out of the window. The large vats in this area always bugged me. So the model replacement is very simple. The pipe connections were include to match up with the brushwork. I ran into trouble with the texturing. My plan was to model a section of the lower tank and have it be just slightly larger than the tank. The reason I wanted to do it that was to get a nice feathery look to the edge of the frost then just blend it in using transparency. By doing it as a separate UV I could go bigger to match our frost overlays. It didn’t quite work. I ran into z figthing in all the programs I use to view them ( pics 1 and 2). Also the resolution on the frost while good would need to be 2048 to just get a fine enough edge in the alpha layer to be better than the brush/decals that they were to replace. So that was scraped and I just when with a bigger all in one texture without any tranparency (3). The last model is the Vat that goes in the room with the Gman. This is just with the AO applied.
Wow. The shot of the room the houndeye is introduced in really showcases the quality of the retail version. Definitely worth whatever it will cost.
nice, looks much better
Nice improvements.
I’m glad some efforts are being made to make this area a little more clear. The first time I played this area I had no idea what relation the valves had to the frozen door, and I spent quite some time trying to figure it out.
Great work bk!
It became apparent to me after watching many playthroughs of that section that the puzzle wasn’t as clear to players as I had hoped. With the help of one of our other texture/model artists I had some signs and a few bits made to hopefully make the whole puzzle clearer.
Perhaps I shall write something up about it in more detail at some point.
Oh, please do! I love reading that type of stuff.
And wow, the model cabinets actually do look far better now that I can see a comparison very, very close up. Dem snowtanks is p. hawt, too. Nice work as expected.
Looking good, man! I loved how the cold areas inn Black Mesa actually LOOK cold! Many games never quite did that for me.
Really can’t wait for the Steam version, wonder if I’ll manage to hold on until Xen releases (or until some sort of mod is created which fulfils all my desires :3)
Really juicy update, this one!
And what remarkable improvements over the older models. Very well done, bkdale86. Thanks for sharing.
And thanks for trying and making the puzzle a little less obscure, Cpl.1nsane.
Don’t lose the red lights on the panel… Unless they are just flicking on and off.
All looks really good I like the liquid nitrogen and freezer areas too.
Those new frosty tanks look great! Cant remember but is there a breath particle effect added to gordon in those areas?
I really enjoy viewing the updates to the textures and models! Keep them coming!
Loving the new cooling reserve box looking things! Looking forward to see what else you have up your sleeve!
No there isn’t.
How distracting that would be.
I actually did a quick test, it’s not so bad. Granted, it requires a bit of extra work that is soooo not worth it, but it’s doable, and not horrible.