Black Mesa is great! But it could be perfect with some changes

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#101

The fact is the grenades are supposed to distract them. Story wise the tentacles can’t see you, they can only hear, so Sneaking is supposed to be a viable strategy. I use more grenades sneaking passed them than I did in the original. I throw a nade every 5 seconds after I hear an explosion, sure it keeps them occupied, but at the same time they shouldn’t be able to find me, because they shouldn’t be able to hear me. I have yet to run because too many memories in the original tell me that running will get me killed because they hear me, they lock in on me and they smash me.

and really, you’re supposed to be able to sneak if you so choose. As the trainer in the hazard course once said “Crouching puts your suit into stealth mode.” Meaning, you’re SUPPOSED to beable to sneak up behind an HECU and put a bullet in his head from point blank range if you so choose. and trust me, there ARE people who want the option to sneak like in the original.

#102

I played it by sneaking and only died I think twice…which is actually far better than I did in the Tentacle sequence in Half-Life.

I simply tossed the grenade on level above or below the tentacles and moved crouched. I turned and crouched to the side so I could see if I would have to toss another grenade.

It really wasn’t that hard.

#103

grenades distract em. but if u crouch they can hear u coz u still make sounds.

#104

thats the point, when you’re crouching you’re supposed to be silent. in the half life universe at least.

#105

Being sneaky still works fine for me. Someone around here actually showed a view of him using the sneak method on the tentacles. Seemed to work fine for him too. My problem is that it’s not only slower than just sprinting from point to point, it’s also harder. I’m not saying make the crouching easier. I think sprinting should be more difficult. I’ve said it in more detail before though, so I’m not going to go into the long diatribe again.

#106

I agree that the soldiers should be nasty to fight, it is in character. They’re military–and you’re not.


"This is not some agent provocateur or highly trained assassin we are discussing. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who had hardly earned the distinction of his Ph.D. at the time of the Black Mesa Incident."--Dr. Wallace Breen, chastising the Overwatch over the PA system during Gordon's rampage through Nova Prospekt in [u]Half Life 2[/u].
#107

Regarding #3: I don’t see the problem here. New players are going to need to get over it learn the mechanics of the game.

Regarding#4: I actually agree

Regarding#5: They were like this in the first game, it seems fine to me.

#108

compared to half life, rockoman, the tenticles in the first half life were distacted much much longer than in black mesa by loud noises

#109

About soldiers, I complain about theyr reaction speed as well, however it was when I played on normal mode and on hard theyr reaction speed didnt increase. So I think problem is that theyr reaction speed stays on top level even when playing on any difficulty mode. Which could be tweaked, because it shoudlnt be expected for opponent to have such reaction speeds on easy-normal playing modes. There has to be some sort of delay before they shoot player, otherwise it just don`t feel realistical as all soldiers are so triggerhappy.
Which contradicts with how harmless they becomes when some of AI glitches are beign shown off, for example, they have priorities when attacking, witch results in them to not attack Gordon at all when enemies with higher priority level are around, xen creatures.
Anyway, in essence, this reaction speed and a lot other things makes soldier AI to feel too artificial, therefore battling them feels more like battling with plain cheaters with aimbots and wallhacks than battling with properly polished AI, which is what makes battling them often into annoying process instead of enjoyable experience.

About Ichtyosaur - theyre not as easy, although still theyre supposed to be harder. However I dont feel like this is a problem, because it doesnt affect quality of game, unlike previous mentioned soldier AI issue.

Crouchjumping for me was more like movement in game is completely different, therefore I dont want to rate movement in BM by comparing it with other HL games. Didnt have any complaints once I got used to it. Although I can understand why people would dislike this, especially people whose use weird keybinding setups whose would make difficult to execute crouchjumping.

Anyway more pressing matter I think is the broken chopper AI and its amount of health. Unlimited ammo, keeps repeating same attack pattern through any walls at player, besides doing that job at great speed and by wasting so much ammunition without reason and limit. Also I heavily disliked that when hiding indoors chopper flies somewhere away, so when coming out player have to wait till chopper flies back. Anyway in essence fighting chopper is very annoying process, because theyr behavior is just so artificial and illogical(unlimited ammo, accuracy, taking on 20+ rockets).

#110

i totally agree… the testicles were harder when playing Black Mesa…

#111

Hey guys,
First off, BMS is a phenomenal mod so great job to the developers! I just finished my second playthrough on hard mode and wanted to create this thread as a way to compile the suggestions people have for improving the mod and to identify any gameplay bugs that should be brought to the attention of the developers. I’d like this thread to be an easy reference guide for them so please post your input as well. Here are my two cents:

Balance

  1. Crowbar–Should kill a barnacle on hard mode in no more than 2 hits. This is the traditional barnacle killing weapon in all half life games so players should not have to take damage while using it.

  2. MP5-Needs a slight damage boost as it is not a particularly effective weapon for engaging the tougher enemies in the game (e.g. HECU). This would help decrease reliance on the magnum and increase gameplay options.

  3. Crossbow-Inferior weapon in BMS compared to the magnum because of accuracy issues and collision model problems…the bolts often get stuck on walls or props when you are trying to snipe and this should really be fixed. Also, the crossbow cursor is buggy as it occasionally disappears after quicksaves.

  4. RPG-Needs a damage boost versus vehicles (especially versus Apache) as it is an inferior option to a charged tau shot. Why use this weapon and take more damage from the enemy than necessary when you can kill it with just a couple of tau shots?

  5. Tau cannon-Consider decreasing the damage of charged shots to balance it against the RPG.

  6. Gluon gun-As with the original Half Life, this weapon is essentially useless compared to the Tau cannon because it depletes uranium too rapidly. Consider decreasing rate of ammo depletion by ~25% to make it a more viable option.

AI Scripting (the weakest part of BMS)

  1. Vortigaunt-Missing a stun animation and needs a slight increase in charge-up time. Both features would help gameplay. In HL, the vortigaunt’s attack would be disrupted with powerful weapons (e.g. shot gun/magnum/tau) forcing it to recharge.

  2. Bullsquid-When capable of getting into melee range, the bullsquid should preferentially use charge rather than acid spit.

  3. HECU-Needs a slight decrease in reaction time and decrease in accuracy (perhaps 65-70% for generic soldiers, 85% for team leaders). Should use more grenades to flush the player out. These changes would allow for more satisfying encounters by increasing gameplay options, as the player wouldn’t have to hide in a corner and spam magnum/shotgun in hard mode.

  4. Icthyosaur-Should be more difficult to kill. Perhaps 3 crossbow shots or 1.5-2 glock clips on hard mode.

  5. Alien grunt-I’m really missing the primary fire mode of the hivehand in HL and would like the grunt to use it when the player is out of line of sight. Secondary fire mode for everything else. Have the grunts throw 2-3 snarks to flush out the player if he’s hiding.

  6. Gargantua-Would be nice if they were killable with explosives/tau/gluon as they were in the original game.

  7. Apache-Needs a slight decrease in minigun accuracy and perhaps slightly slower hellfire missile attacks. Should be killed with fewer RPGs on hard mode (~5 shots). These changes might make it more fun to engage. Some people have reported glitches during the cave battle in Surface Tension.

  8. Leech-Seem to be completely missing from the game. Where are they?

  9. Tentacle-Unfortunately, the dumbest, loudest and most annoying AI in BMS because it is missing several scripts from HL. This video highlights some of what’s missing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkeKfqRo2Uw). The following should help fix the tentacle:

    A. Needs the idle animations back after it does not hear sound for a prolonged period of time (tentacle sits up and growls or gently taps at the floors).

    B. The two closest tentacles need to focus on the site where an explosive has been detonated; the third tentacle can also attack or idle as seen in the video. This adds far more purpose to their movements compared to them always clacking away 120 degrees from each other.

    C. Greater independence between tentacles until it is stimulated by sound (e.g. one tentacle idles, another clacks away at a lower level).

    D. As in HL, tentacles should retreat into the ground when their base is hit with an explosive or when the neck area is hit with firearms. This is a good emergency tactic when the creature is agitated.

  10. Houndeye-Can take a decent amount of damage on hard mode. I’d consider a 10% decrease in speed since the default setting for the player in BMS is walk rather than run as it was in HL.

I’ll put up my additional suggestions/fixes for the individual levels in another post. Thanks for reading!

#112

Leeches were scrapped in the first release:

(Source: https://wiki.blackmesasource.com/Leech)

Not much useful contribution to this thread, I know - it’s just a quoted extraction from the Wiki.

Also, check said Wiki for more information:

https://wiki.blackmesasource.com/Main_Page

For personal use, the Gluon’s “consumption rate” can be adjusted using this command / CVar:

sk_gluon_consumption_rate <VALUE>

Note: Replace with any valid value, the default is 2 (0 disables the Gluon’s energy consumption entirely).

For 25% less consumption rate, you’d replace the default value of 2 with 1.5.

Simply adding…:

sk_gluon_consumption_rate "1.5"

…to the ‘autoexec.cfg’, located in ‘\SteamApps\sourcemods\BMS\cfg’, should do the trick.

#113

Thanks for the reply,
I’m really hoping the weapon balance issues will be resolved with an official patch rather than just for “personal use” as I think it would improve gameplay for everyone, especially since most people don’t know how to fix the balance issues themselves.

2 cents continued…
Levels (Part 1)

  1. Hazard Course-Really hope the community creates this level and that it gets integrated into Steam. I think it would be helpful because it visually orients players to the game and can introduce them to unusual mechanics (e.g. crouch jumping, long jump, crouching as a stealth tactic). Do the developers have any issues with community members using BMS assets?

  2. Inbound-
    A. The scene where the scientist is trying to escape because of radioactive fluid leak, while funny, is kind of inappropriate. Both he and the other scientist should be wearing full HEV suits.

B. The first Barney you meet after the tram ride uses his fist on the keypad to unlock the door to the facility. Could this be changed to him actually pushing the keypad with a finger?

  1. Anomalous Materials-
    A. One of the scientists has a typing animation that is completely off. He is not even close to hitting the buttons on the key pad.

B. Another scientist has a typing animation even though he’s crouching over some metal pipes. He should be removed from the game or have his animation changed.

C. The second Xen landscape needs to be added back to the resonance cascade sequence. This is critical because it’s the only way to visually orient the player to the end game (a la HL2). Here’s hoping it will be added once the Xen levels are done.

D. Would love to see Eli’s voice redone if possible as he sounds nothing like himself in HL2.

  1. We’ve Got Hostiles and onward-Would like to hear more of the male VOX announcements after the HECU takeover. I heard some of the sound files were missing during compression so hopefully they will be added later.

  2. Blast Pit-
    A. There are some real bullshit enemy spawn positions in this level. For instance, you get cheap-shotted by a bullsquid after dropping out from a tunnel. There is no way to see it coming unless you memorized its location and this negatively impacts immersion. The cautious player should be rewarded for his efforts, not punished.

B. Some people have reported glitches with the Geiger counter not going off in radiation zones.

C. In one of the corners at the base of the pit, there is an area with a pair of HEV batteries. Is this area accessible w/o no-clipping or without taking heavy damage? If not, these batteries should be deleted.

D. The tentacle AI needs some repairs (see above).

E. It should be possible to deactivate the giant fan. First-time players may not realize that they need to quickly get back on the ladder and they will be stuck below the fan permanently, forcing game reloads. It may also be helpful to increase the fan activation time to address this issue.

F. I got a game crash when I jumped on the fan before it fully activated and lifted me.

  1. Power Up-There is an iconic music piece introducing the player to this level in the original HL but it’s missing in BMS. Perhaps Joel can compose something for the gargantua/HECU battle?

  2. Apprehension-Ichthyosaur needs a health buff and there are some major problems with crossbow accuracy (see above)

  3. Questionable Ethics-
    A. There are some serious design and grammatical issues on several of the billboards, posters and signs that stand out like a sore thumb compared to the consistency and professional appearance of the chapters before it. Here are some examples and suggested changes:

    i. Lab A sign says audio -> spacial (misspelled), bio chem, bio-> electrics. Suggested change: acoustic analysis -> or audio-spatial-> (all on one line), biochemistry or biochem-> (one word), bioelectrics -> (one word). All of the signs look more professional and realistic when the words are kept on one line. In general, when using “bio” as a prefix, it can be glued directly onto the word w/o using a space or hyphen.

    ii. The Biodome Lab Announcements are full of grammatical errors, including inappropriate capitalization (e.g. Pizza, Labs) and inconsistent use of periods.

    iii. “Exoskeletal osteopathics” is nonsense…these scientists are not chiropractors that massage alien backs. Suggest change: exoskeleton analysis.

    iv. “Xeno flora” should be xenoflora (one word) on all of the signs.

    v. “Minor xenos” is nonsense as xenos is not a real word. Suggested change: xenofauna or minor xenofauna.

    vi. There is an extra space on the Biodome Facility Floor 1 poster before the word “Decomtamination” that should be deleted. The aforementioned grammatical changes should also be incorporated in this poster.

B. Would be nice to have leeches make a cameo appearance in the biodome observatory (pond area with headrabs), since they are missing from the game. By keeping the leeches here, the player doesn’t have to interact with them. This also makes the in-game comment regarding leeches in the water legit.

C. The hole in the wall that is created after activating the laser should damage players if they try to enter it immediately. Adding a cooldown period would be nice.

D. Final HECU battle is ridiculous on hard mode given the current level of balance and has been the subject of numerous complaints. The only way to beat it is to hunker in a corner and use magnum/shotgun or memorize the spawns of all of the soldiers. This kills immersion not to mention it defeats the purpose of having all of the defensive locations, since they don’t even get used. My aforementioned balance changes might help fix this (see above).

  1. Surface Tension-
    A. Would be nice to have the Apache continue to harass the player up to the cave battle if it hasn’t been damaged in the first confrontation. This is what happened in HL and made it more satisfying to kill it. If this is implemented, the Apache will likely need an accuracy nerf for its minigun.

B. Apache should be balanced against RPG attacks (see above). It currently takes too many shots to kill it on hard mode.

C. Some players have reported glitches in the cave battle with respect to the Apache’s pathing and positioning.

D. The missing tentacle scene is a pretty iconic one and should be included in the level, either in its original incarnation or modified. Perhaps a cinematic sequence where it kills itself on some mines would be interesting…

E. As many players have complained, the cuts in this level are really sorely felt as many iconic scenes are missing. While the revisions to On A Rail are reasonable, getting rid of C2A5F and C2A5G on Surface Tension significantly diminishes the storytelling aspect of HL. TextFAMGUY1 has been doing phenomenal job restoring these areas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8HKlBxJ1NM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB_JIFcpt9c) and I’d really like to see them integrated with BMS on Steam. Perhaps Joel could add a track or two to the new areas.

F. I’d really like to see the alien cannon make an appearance somewhere in the game even though it’s been replaced by the Abrams. It’s such an unusual set piece and could be used to get rid of the HECU armored units in a scripted sequence (e.g. pair of alien grunts bring out an assembeled cannon and use it to kill the Abrams).

G. At the end of surface tension, the Garguantua should be scripted to follow the player and only attack the tower once the player is on it. TextFAMGUY1 may be fixing this in his version of C2A5F.

H. The mortar screen is incredibly glitchy with the mouse cursor sporadically flashing in place of the red dot. It is almost unusable, especially with the Garg shaking the tower.

I. Post Xen-release touch-ups to Surface Tension and Forget about Freeman would be nice. In HL, you could see the invasion of Xen flora in various parts of the chapter. Perhaps they can be re-added to Black Mesa.

  1. Lambda Core-
    A. Possibly some pathing problems with the alien AI. The vortigaunts and alien grunts don’t always seem to recognize the player even when they have line of sight.

B. One or two of the alien controllers should be scripted to attack the scientist in the teleporter room if the player is not attacking them. This should force the player to engage rather than running in circles or hiding underneath the teleporter. If more than one controller is scripted, space them out over the course of the teleporter charge up to give the player more time to mop up.

#114

Fix the radioactive noise tickbox and change the crossbow zoom to classic style, that’s all I want.

#115

Nice thread, I agree with most, but this is far from a complete list of changes needed. In my opinion, the game is far from “final” and even though the level of polish is impressive, it centers more into nice audiovisuals than balanced gameplay.
I bet the devs want to be done with this mod/game and never touch it again ASAP, but please. at least make the future release with the conscious of “Yes, we all are satisfied with our work” thing in mind.

I expect missing things to be re-added, gameplay balance readjusted, bugs fixed etc.
Also for once, I’m one of those who has no problem with Eli’s voice-acting, it’s such a MINOR things that it doesn’t bother me whatsoever.
Just fix the BAD animations&AI issues&stat values and I will be happy.

#116

How about more archievements?
The true Gordon: complete game on Hard mode without quicksaving or dying once.
Dr Explorer: find all X secret areas in game (haven`t made yet, but can be)
On a foot: Complete On a rail chapter on foot, without using car once.
Expert fisher: kill ichthyosaur with crowbar.

#117
  • Not possible to implement or achieve I think
  • Would be nice
  • It’s mostly on foot anyways, so nope
  • There’s already nuclear fishing
#118

I thought that it would be possible, because quicksaves can be detected and there could be variable witch detects when player dies once,more variables can be added if neccesary(to prevent from starting game from mid and changing difficulties). Question is, if those variables can be added and used like that.

Well, just an idea, anyway. :slight_smile:

But when I think about it, what I forgot to mention:
*adjust volume of soundtrack;
*add more atmospheric alarms and maybe more soundtracks for unforseen consequences corridors, because I didn`t feel like atmoshpere was very fitting for catastrophe of such scale.

#119

I like the fact that barnacles take a few crowbar hits - it makes them something of an actual threat, so you have to be more careful to avoid them.

#120

The problem is that on hard mode, there is no way to kill a barnacle exclusively with the crowbar without taking guaranteed damage. By reducing the number of hits from 3 to 2, you still get a meatier barnacle than previous half-life games but you can actually kill them while not taking damage if you react fast enough. Remember that you can still take fall damage and get bitten if you are slow, so I think my suggestion is the best of both worlds.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.