Some questions about the Steam release

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

I played the free version of Black Mesa when it was first released. I really appreciate all the work that went into it, but there were a few issues that prevented it from replacing vanilla Half Life for me.

So, now I see the Steam Version is available on early access. Can anyone please answer the following questions for me before I part with my hard-earned cash?

1) Marine Behaviour

The marines in the free release had an ‘aimbot-type’ AI, in that they would immediately notice you even when you were sneaking up behind them, with their backs turned toward you, and were capable of spraying you with deadly, ultra-accurate fire, even from the other side of the map.

This made sections, such as the foxholes in Surface Tension not very fun for me, as I used to enjoy getting the drop on the marines, and sneaking up on them. This was impossible in the free version of Black Mesa, due to the ‘aimbot’ feature.

Have the marines in the Steam version been changed to behave more like the Combine in HL2, or the original Marines in HL, or do they still use the ‘aimbot’ feature?

2) Tentacles in Blast Pit

The vanilla tentacle creature did not generally attack the player if they used stealth mode (crouching). The version in Black Mesa (free version) has ultra-heightened awareness, and always notices and attacks the player, even if they are crouched, making dropping grenades and sprinting the only valid option. I personally found this very, very frustrating.

Is the tentacle creature in the Steam version the same as the Free version, or has it been changed to behave more like the original version?

  1. Truncated levels

On a Rail and Surface Tension were greatly shortened in Black Mesa (free version). I far preferred the original version. Are they still truncated in the Steam Version?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

#2

  1. The Marines have been completely rewritten and are very different from the mod release. We are also actively working on and updating the balancing/AI, to further improve them.

  2. The Tentacles I believe were also rewritten from the mod release, but are not that different.

  3. On a Rail will remain how it was in the mod version. That fits how we want that chapter to be. Surface Tension is still truncated, but that may change in a future update.

#3

That’s great, thanks for your prompt reply.

The Marine behaviour was my main cause of frustration, and so I guess I can live with the tentacle issue if it’s mostly the same, after all it’s only one level.

Also I notice in your signature there’s something called ‘Surface Tension Uncut’, and ‘On a Rail Uncut’. This would seem to indicate some kind of non-truncated versions of both levels is either in existence or in development, which sounds very interesting.

I shall click these links in your sig and take a look

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.