Surface Tension Uncut - Re-Adding Cut Areas/Scenes (Expansion Project)

Thats the way it goes sometimes

Basically I am of the thinking that you should do all the little missing scripted scenes from HL1 after seeing the HECU Fly through the wall :slight_smile: Too much dust or not fully rendered version I guess?

Do you put another trigger for where the alien grunt is waving his arms about because it looks good i.e. to trigger an animation? or you get lucky?

I like the structure the corridors have and obviously not finished but keeping the wall from the road’s architecture is a good call and keeps continuity.

Looks a bit wider than the original the space around the building outside though I can clearly see the resemblance.

The broken concrete rooms could perhaps be improved in this area if you make them look like offices or plant control rooms but destroyed walls and normal office props and control panels juxtaposed against ruin like people were in them once and worked here? rather than the car park look again…pictures hanging at weird angles and like floor standing lights and computers on the floor. wrecked working spaces basically with plenty of decals showing plaster and chuncks of walls missing behind normal interior textures

It might be interesting to make the paths through destroyed buildings full of debris in these areas rather than open plan destroyed concrete blocks that are like vague and meaningless

Heres a better design to follow for the building in the middle of the roads to reach from the jump pads… Obviously just one of these but would look much better than what is currently there. Broken stairwell of course

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sleeker Industrial feel inspiration from a holiday in iceland from a geothermal powerplant

The destruction is still largely unfinished. I am going for the officey look. One of the background rooms is already as you described it. The bit the Alien Grunt stands in is heavily unfinished.

Him roaring and waving his arms is a scripted animation, it happens every time. The dust is to hide the imperfections in the destruction, once I improve it I’ll tone it down a little.

EDIT: I think some ‘Xen patches’ around the garage area wouldn’t hurt as the area generally seems a bit empty and flat. Perhaps put some cars on the upper level too?

whoops ok just got your reply… check the concept pics I just added :slight_smile:

If you could replicate the building I posted but brush based it would improve it and make it more real… But perhaps a bit more gritty

func_detail them cylinders

This look really gorgeous, well done! The bit with the harrier and manta rays is especially fantastic. Although a few things sprung to mind when watching:

  • The car park seems a bit big and empty, especially on the higher floors. Not sure whether the best thing to do would be to shrink it or add more details (I’m leaning towards the former).
  • Perhaps it’s just because I’ve played it too much, but the props from HL2 stood out a bit. If you can find BM props that would fulfil the same role, I say replace them.
  • I agree with some of the others that the harrier and mantas were flying a bit low (it almost looked like they were clipping through the buildings at some points). They don’t have to be massively higher, just enough so there’s a more reasonable gap between them and the tops of the buildings.
  • It might look better if the manta that blew up the osprey didn’t really change speed or direction when passing over. IMO it’d look more alien and almost nonchalant, which would emphasise how effortlessly the aliens were beating back the HECU.

Oh and another thing. Can you extend or reconfigure the air vent segment just before you drop down in the repair shop?
As it is now, the way it makes you play it - you drop down already facing the opening and the bullet hole effect gets essentially wasted.

EDIT:I figure you could make the vent run alongside the front wall with openings facing inside akin to what vanilla BM had? Otherwise the build-up gets lost in there.

The Manta blowing up Osprey reminds me of Opposing Force a lot :stuck_out_tongue:

Maybe put some intact cars in the carpark? Like the joop from BM.

They don’t all need to be destroyed.

^they are quite a few on the bottom floor, yet floors 1 and 2 are absolutely empty.

P.S. simple layout retaining the vanilla BM geometry: you enter the vent, move forward, meet snarks, drop down a level, get a snark pack, go backwards, hear the marines talking, turn left, crawl past the two openings, go left, HECU’s start shooting, you go down.

Oh, there already were intact cars? Sorry, didn’t remember/notice.

IMO this is the way to go:

sorry for quoting myself :stuck_out_tongue:

If these additions see the light of day… well I’ll buy buy you all a beer. I really missed some of these parts.

Yeah, I’m also going to make some more use of the “Snark Nests” around both C2A5G and C2A5H. Having an extra one or two I think would do wonders, as they were pretty underused both in the original and in BM.

-Shrinking the car park is a little out of the question now I’ve basically got the map “locked in”. I will add more cars to the upper levels, but I’m going to leave the top one relatively empty, as the vast amounts of debris already takes up a lot of space.
-I will attempt to retexture the props from HL2. No promise though. There are no real alternatives to this - the columns are irreplaceable with anything else.

  • I’m going to do a lot more work on the Manta/Harrier scene, based on feedback I’ve received. They’ll fly a fair amount higher. I’m also going to make the Manta which destroys the Osprey have a really neat charging effect before it hits it.

I will reconfigure the vent for the next version, and bring it more in line with HL1.


In other news, I’ve been a little demotivated with C2A5H, so progress level-geometry wise has been slow. The furnace room is a bit rubbish and I’ve been having trouble with the pipe system so I’ve been working on the main “street” area and the scripted sequences. I’ve only been doing the scripted battle on the outdoor area for an hour or so and it’s already freaking awesome. The squad of mantas flying overhead as the Abrams blows up Alien Grunts comes together really well. I’m going to have the lasering Manta fly by after that, and wipe out the Abrams as more Aliens teleport in.

Edit: Since my workload went from 2 maps to 3 maps, I’m extending C2A5H a little and adding some new areas of my own, as per the Black Mesa spirit; seeing as there’s now extra room on C2A5H where the Garg Chase was originally going to be. There’s nothing too wild just yet, but suffice to say don’t expect to have it the exact same as HL1 was!

I think this is the area that needs the most artistic licence because the original HL1 level was like wtf is this place?

I hope the concept pics helped you out a bit and I knew this was going to be a bit of a troublesome area… Keep up the great work :slight_smile:

Interior idea?

or turn it into a blast furnace?

great work so far, I love the new ideas/implements, thanks a thousand times for doing this!
Would love to help but my skills with the new hammer and mapping are amateur level :retard:

On a lighter note, in your commentary in the vid you say its C2AF but the Title says C2AG

Great work!!, Keep it up!.

I really hope this gets integrated into the Steam release when it’s finished.

Ehhhmmm…a little suggestion…
You could reuse part of the Half Life 1 soundtrack that was used in Half Life 2 too if you need music. The files are there as assets, right? (if I´m wrong, tell me, don´t be harsh, =D)
There are some themes like Nuclear Mission Jam or Hazardous Enviroments that could fit in the new parts (even if in the original they weren´t there). It would be a nice for nostalgic douchebags like me, :stuck_out_tongue:
And…do you plan to restore the tentacle at the beggining of Surface Tension plus the helicopter chase? That would be badass…
Anyway, keep being awesome!

Agreed. I would be so happy if the devs considered this. Great work.

I’m really happy to read this thread. I hope the cut content will be implemented in Black Mesa. Surface Tension felt shorter for sure.

Thank you everyone for your kind words - it helps keep me going on this tricky business.

I was considering doing this, but ultimately I think I’ve ruled it out music wise. It would make my segments stand out too much from the main game, and my aim is for seamless integration.

I might consider seeing if Mr Nielsen has any unused tracks he might be willing to lend me, or even if he could write me a little extra small piece as a favour, but those are both long, long shots, so don’t expect anything to come of it.

I may restore the Tentacle and Heli Chase. I miss them.

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.