Pre-Disaster Planning Thread

General Development Source 1
#81

I’m not sure if this is what you have in mind, but this page details the level designer’s original intentions for QE and includes some prior map blueprints. I’m not sure how relevant the information is now that the facility has been redesigned, but it might give you some inspiration for what to put in some of the side labs (he mentions “headcrab bleeding racks” and “exoskeletal crushing machines”). There’s also some detail about the original design for the aquatics lab. Even though it was cut and there’s really no space for it in the map, it might be cool to see something like that elsewhere.

Splitting up the maps at the decon chambers seems like a logical decision. Can’t wait to see more!

#82

Regarding the Aquatics lab, in this post, there’s another image from inside the control/observation room, which is not on the wiki.

#83

Hmm, lot of ideas in there…

One thing I know I’ll be doing is partially rebuilding the HL1 cryo room’s pillar-like instrument panels. I don’t know why, but I just really like the idea of those big square terminals set up in octagonal pavillions, like old Cray computers.

#84

Loved the finalization of the F map - maintance area on the first floor, the pens area, as well as the databank. Looks like the F map is complete now. :slight_smile: Great job, Admiral Sakai!

PS As of 'Murcan, do you mean this one?

On Language - The Murcan Way

#85

As a person who already had worked on the Lab C part of this Biodome Complex, I can definitely say that you certainly can put the labs through C01 ~ C06 (the part you have not decided whether it will be D or I) on the I part. You will not excess the entity limit.

If you were to merge this part with the I map, then this little hallway that connects the Lab C and the lobby would have to be a loading zone. But I’m not sure if that would be a good idea. This hallway would seem more appropriate to be “open”, somehow, with transparent glass doors, etc. Yeah, you could put that cold, opaque, gray steel doors, but I don’t think such metally-secured door is fit for this hallway part. You can see this hallway leads to this square room, housing two bathrooms and access to parts of Lab C with two decon silos. With that I believe this little square room act as a sort of mini-Lobby, a place free from high security restriction(?). That’s sort of like how some parts of Lab A has this canteen, office areas, bathrooms etc before you go through decon labs which start to have more sinister experimental labs in it. If that is the case, the hallway would be more appropriate to have transparent glass doors rather than secured metal doors, which would be inappropriate for level transition parts.

That’s just my thoughts, so don’t get carried away too much.

A bit off-topic, but it always bugged me that the door connecting Lab D and Lab C is clearly labeled as decon area but in-game they used a normal steel door which doesn’t really fit at all. I always imagine a decon door to be these massive blast door, but for some reason it’s very… unique that that section of the map use such a normal-everyday steel door for decontamination area. I’m curious on what you think (and if you will “change” it, although I doubt). Honestly, I think the Lab C was designed not “seriously” enough, since it is never supposed to be explorable in-game. The A15 lab is another of issue where an entire lab blocks a hallway. Wouldn’t make a sense design-wise.

#86

Only hereditarily.

#87

Took a very brief break to play around with Residue Processing, and while I really kind of like the look of the place without the light put off by that green slime, I’m not sure about how to suppress it in areas like the tanks where it logically should exist pre-disaster:

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#88

Simple answer: It should still give off that same glow. It might make the room look not as nice, but it is how it was before the disaster.

#89

Well, work on the new areas of G map is progressing pretty well. I got hung up for a couple of days on entity logic, but now that’s been resolved and the new “CLASSIFIED” labs are looking just wonderful.

The basic idea I ended up going with is that these are the labs that generate those red lasers we see in all of the “AUX” rooms, by bombarding Xenian dilithium crystals just like the ones we are… painfully familiar with from Anomalous Materials.

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The machine in the center is mostly repurposed and reoriented props from other parts of Questionable Ethics and one from Anomalous Materials, with a little bit of brushwork slapped on to make them less immediately recognizable. I’m pretty proud of it, but at some point I’d really really like to get a custom model made- a new crystal, too, since the shader on this one prevents us from actually seeing any of the beams colliding inside of it (I’m TECHNICALLY able to change the crystal texture myself, but there’s no telling how it would end up looking).

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On a side note, I think I’ve figured out what some of the acronyms on the Questionable Ethics map board actually mean- it helps to know what’s inside the labs they refer to. “CES Chamber” probably stands for “Containment Environment Simulation”, “Controlled Environment Simulation”, or something else similar, while “EHT Chamber” probably stands for “Environmental Hazard Testing” since there’s no way they have fire, gas, and electrical discharges (with what seem like multiple differing options) on one containment unit unless it’s part of the experiment. They can probably change up the temperature, pressure, etc. in there too (wonder if this was used to test HEV suits as well, since I always thought those were actually developed in Black Mesa).

#90

Great work!

#91

According to now-defunct Chris “Stormseeker” Horn’s web portfolio, CES Chamber officially stands for “Controlled Enviromental Simulator Chamber”, although I like your phrasing better. The same page also tells that EHT Chamber is “Enviromental Hazards Test Chamber”. It does not tell us what OSI or PSI stands for (as they are never seen in-game). OSI means Open System Interconnection in real life, but don’t wanna put bet on anything.

This is the portfolio site I’ve taken references. https://www.thestormseeker.com/qe.html

Your usage of ceiling fan vent as mechanical holder is pretty genius, if I might say. The particle/special effects are gorgeous. Great job!!

#92

Thanks for the support! I wanted to see what else was available on Stormseeker’s site, but it seems to be down at the moment… can anyone confirm this?

#93

Website is indeed down for everyone. According to Stormseeker himself,

I had to use WebArchieve, but even then, you know WebArchieve does not save any pictures - only the texts. I wasn’t able to see any of the pictures, but thankfully the texts remained.

(I would link webarchieve link with stormseeker’s page, but everytime I link it gets broken somehow. Just go Webarchieve page and paste stormseeker’s website url. You have to use revision from late 2015 as the website was not complete until then!)

Once you are in QE section of web portfolio, there are several “Questionable Ethics - By C J Horn - Level Designer” links in the bottom. Clicking these supposed to show you screenshot AND its brief description, but it only shows the text for now. We’ll have to wait for Dr. Horn to fix his website to see what these screenshot was supposed to be (There shouldn’t be any ground-breaking material in it though. I checked them before the went down, Screenshots are just like those from Steam Store page).

P.S. : In your screenshots, although I do like how you used speaker overlay for the central machine both floor and the ceiling, but I can’t say the same for the resolution of the texture (and hence its low-res quality compared to other HQ textures). Maybe try same with another texture with higher quality?

#94

I’ll look into it and see what I can do- there are some higher-res circular textures, but many of them are rusty and I’m not a big fan of old-looking stuff in QE.

Also, just a quick heads-up that I’ll be posting all future updates either on my old Office Complex thread or on a dedicated QE thread- I made this thread as something for everyone on the project to use in collaboration and planning, and I’ve realized that my QE stuff is completely dominating it.

#95

I’m alive. I disappeared for a few months (as I tend to do), but now I’ve got a lot less keeping me busy, so I can actually do some work on these maps. Lambda Core maps A, B, F, G, and H are all on the workshop, and C is in the works at the moment.

#96

I had an idea the other day, and I would love to get some feedback on what you guys think.

Recently, I compiled a mental map of the Black Mesa facility, with as many sections as I could remember from each game, and a few mods such as Point of View and Azure Sheep, which I feel make sense in the context of the game world.

I was thinking about the absolutely massive transit system that seems to worm through Black Mesa’s beehive of facilities.

I would absolutely LOVE to map this system out, with transit stops and a working car the player could call and use to get around. IF I were to do this, and that’s a big if, given my mapping skills and the snails pace I work at, would I be able to link them into the Pre-Disaster maps? Obviously, not all of them, but some do have tram line access.

Anyway, would love to hear your guy’s thoughts on this. Any suggestions for how to do this without losing my mind would also be appreciated.

(Note, I haven’t started on this yet. Again, just an idea)

#97

That is a pretty big project. Also considering we dont know how many stations there we will be eventually since small changes are being implemented in almost every map. I love the idea of including the better mods that show other parts of the facility. These can also provide links between original maps besides the transit system.

I have already made a map once. Ive put alot of effort in keeping the canon lines intact while placing the stops in a logical order. (At least i think i did)
if you want you can alter my map. That can save you some work and you can include stations for mods aswell. We might even need to consider to add more lines or sublines.

Anyway i hope to be able to do my share of work on the transit system alswell but currently im finishing the on a rail chapter.

BM Transit system.jpg
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Btw there is another map of the transit system on the forum. Brought to you by the Black Mesa Transit Authorities
maybe you may use it for inspiration/idea’s.

#98

I myself am working on a map of the entire facility for BMPD- not for the tram system, but rather of the surface and which areas are physically next to each other. It’d be possible to run tram tunnels through that, though…

Since I’m hoping every area in BM that connects to the rail system will have a tram station added as part of its restoration, later on it shouldn’t be too difficult to connect them.

#99

but there is a lot of geometrical inconsistency and overlap in BM. Back in the days where i played minecraft there was a fellow who has created the whole known BM including OF, BS and decay and he told that a lot of the maps didnt connect well. I still have that map somewhere btw if it can help any.

#100

There is also a map of the transit system in the mod Hazard Course, if I remember right.

Transit System

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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.