Is 'Missing Information' legal or not?

Half-Life Series
#1

Hey guys.

I have read about that third party mod “Missing Information” and looked it up on moddb and on some German HL2 forums.
Some people who have downloaded it seem to have trouble starting the mod, and many seem to be entirely unsure about whether or not this mod can be downloaded legally. A good portion of it seems to consist of leaked material from the original Half-Life 2 E3 presentation.

I admit that I have downloaded it and tried to play it before having informed myself about any legality issues, and it didn’t start either. Steam said that in it’s current state, the mod cannot be started. I assumed that maybe I had to activate it by going online with steam. However, I do not want to try and activate it (if that’s even the problem why it doesn’t start) only to find out that I have attempted to play an illegal third party mod, and possibly having my steam account sealed off for that.

My research on German forums has not yet led to a certain answer on this question. Since there are so many international HL2-Fans here, I want to ask if anyone of you knows if “Missing Information” is legal or not, and if it is legal, what has to be done to play it? As curious as I am about its content, I don’t want to lose my steam account because of it.

Hope I could make myself clear. This is not meant to be a troll post. I honestly do not know and kindly ask your aid in this matter. I won’t lean back and let you solve that problem for me now, be assured! I will continue to research until I have a definite answer. And if I find one before anybody else can post here (but I deem that unlikely), I will let you know.

I hope there is no offence in asking.

This thread can be sealed off as soon as my question is answered, for all I care. Thank you very much, and have a very safe and productive day! :slight_smile:

#2

Can you illegally download a mod? idk.
I think in that aspect you’re safe. Like its not illegal to download the BM Alpha, (thouh it should be lol).
You’ll need someone else to answer your more pertinent question though.

#3

It is legal.

#4

Pre-HL2 release it might have been illegal, but I don’t think anyone cares anymore. I played Missing Information, and it’s damn irritating. A lot of places that you can drop out of the map, no health or ammo drops to speak of, and those stupid stalkers were ridiculously overpowered. Interesting if you want to see a potential take on what HL2 MIGHT have been like, but honestly not worth the HUGE filesize of the damn thing, at least in my opinion.

#5

Pre-release? I’m pretty sure the mod came out a long time after HL2. And it only uses beta models and materials, both legal to use.

#6

He’s saying if it had been released before HL2. lern 2 read

#7

It’s not worth playing Missing Information. There are so many bugs and while there are some new creatures that did not come out in the final HL2 (such as the Hydra) it really is not worth it. Just watch the videos about it on YouTube. Yes, you can go on the Borealis in this Missing Information mod but you’ll be able to do that in Episode 3. Just read about it and watch it on YouTube. It’s not worth playing.

#8

I used to have it back when it worked, I had all the final hl2 maps in it so that I could play hl2 with the beta weapons.

#9

Didn’t they say something about recreating HL2’s old storyline?

#10

Yeah but they obviously failed due to the huge amount of mapping needed to recreate the old HL2 storyline. All they were able to do is recover bits and pieces of the beta and make it work with retail HL2, but there are some differences in the weapons and maps, for example, the Borealis level is a little different from how you play it in the beta, you don’t even take the same path.

There are several communities trying to recreate the old HL2 storyline, but they are very small and I doubt anything other than fixed beta maps will ever come out.

#11

Not to mention it’d be hard to do because nobody (maybe not even valve) knows for sure how the maps were supposed to look, where you were supposed to go and what you had to do, etc.

#12

At least Valve knew. Check Raising the bar, it shows a plan of Gordon path in the beta story.

#13

But we don’t know exactly how the maps were arranged or how they all looked. Sure, we were supposed to go to the Air Exchange, but then what? What was inside it? We have a few incomplete ‘references’ that I will not mention (because I’m not sure if we’re allowed to talk about ‘you know what’ here), but that won’t tell you everything.

#14

Still, some of the concept maps were awesome and truly add atmosphere to the story.

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.