He’s already said that the building is a gasworks, so how isn’t it logical? It’s an industrial area of the facility, so I don’t think it would be too out of place.
edit: Holy shit wangman… tl;dr
I can’t agree with that, difficulty made no difference to the fights. What you need to consider with these fights is, that the larger the fighting groups are, the more random the fight becomes. I have seen the first LAV take out all the aliens, and I have also seen the Aliens annihilate the Marines with the LAV. Most of the time it’s something in between.
After testing these areas several times, I honestly think, that he got the balance right. The only think that is lacking in my opinion are medkits and energy packs in general. I think one more energy recharger for every map and couple more medkits would fix that easily.
I’ve played it too now… it took me over one hour, lol.
Very very great!!, but some complaints/suggestions:
in c2a5g: the huge manta, whichs destroys the osprey, makes a weird swerve now, right before blowing up the osprey. in your previous version it flew a straight line and it looked far more better and majestic.
the airfield control tower should be more in concret texture.
in c2a5h: the hole in wall is too small/to narrow now imo. in the previous version it was far more open and far better… you had a better view at the battle and the mantas (which are great and majestic)
in the alley, where the jumppad is, you could add more xen-moss, maybe even a little bit xen-rock/tissue or whatever…but the blue-glowing xen flower is already too much, i think.
the ‘‘maintenance’’ access shield looks extremely phony and out of place. there is no need for it, its extremely obvious that there’s a hatch.
in c2a5f: the door to the garage (after the gargantua chase and mortar scene) is strange (made by the bm devs): i’ve never seen a garage door opened by a wheel. maybe you could make it mortar-destructible like in the original half life. maybe you could also make starting mortar/airstrike bombardement after passing the door, like in the original + collapsing walls…
thank you so very much so far! breathtaking work!
what impressed me most among other things, was the bathroom location, where xen-flora is growing… its extremely perfect! and the snarks, which attacks the zombie. great glimpse of xen wildlife/ecosystem. fits very very well!!
all the rest is very well too… someone here proposed to make the mantas faster, but its far better when the move slow and majestic.
so far my suggestions. thx!
Suggestion: In the garg chase, we must be able to go where the Garg came from because the silo door is broken already. Add broken vehicles blocking the way in where the garg came from and also the decal “YOU’RE DEAD FREEMAN!” near the walls. Since the garg is smarter, he can kill you at that point but I still wanted to go where he came from.
yes and he shakes the tower from different positions which is also great but as soon as you leve the tower with the mortor control this confuses him and he no longer chases anymore… I think it may be to do with the 2nd doors the garg pushes open as if you go to the door on the road side he will wake and push the doors open at this point and carry on ignoring the player…
There has to be somthing in the trigger which starts the script of him shaking the tower which overides his ai and also prioritses the second door stopping him from his normal status (wait for script?)
making the second doors a non priority script and pulling the activation trigger for him to push those doors back so that it can only be triggered after destroying the radio tower and gaing access begind the doors this way not by touching the front face of that trigger. It’s like the garg has a change of heart and decides to help you on to the next level… I am nearly sure this is the problem the second door…
If the trigger for the second door was actually a trigger in mid air where the tower falls then he might manage to get there to that courtyard before you can run across the destroyed radio tower or atleast catch you at the valve to open the door… Thus you will probably be toast because you did not kill him in this instance of just running. Also once dropping off the radio tower you cannot get back out this way as again this will screw everything up again… It’s a chase so there has to be a lot of instances of no going back.
throughout quite a few areas a lot of npc’s need gagging via flag check box the garg included and certain marines like the satchel pipe marine as you know they are there before you even see them
I see most obvious problems have already been reported, so I’ll just give you my 2 cents on the overall impression after my first playthrough.
First off, on the visual front: really well done! You’ve managed to capture the spirit of the original chapter. All the sequences really made for a spectacle! Really good work there.
As for the gameplay: It’s mainly focussed on action (just like the original) with some puzzles in between. It’s a good mix for this chapter. The puzzles are well done and make sense to me on the first attempt. The good thing about the larger firefights is that you can actually watch them from a distance first and enjoy the view and assess the situation, before entering the battle.
My primary concern is the balance, though. I consider myself a good player and I had my trouble with the difficulty of the larger battles. The aliens are mostly winning the battles, which always seems to leave quite a number of alien grunts standing. Engaging those in open battle is nearly impossible, so I resorted to exploiting AI weaknesses or just shooting my Hivehand around the corner. This however, doesn’t really give me the satisfaction I want from the battle. I want to go in with guns blazing but ammo and health/hev are quite short.
So mostly I would cut back a little on the alien forces, especially the grunts and their pesky hive bees. I think a nice side-effect to making the battles between the humans and aliens a little more even is that the player will end up fighting different enemies each time around. Sometimes you might need to pick off a lone alien survivor, other times you still have to deal with half a human squad. Makes for nice variation, imho! Instead of removing, you can spread out the spawning of aliens a little more, so the player never has to fight more than 2 alien grunts at the same time.
All in all, I think that would keep the flow of the battle pretty constant without it breaking because of a lot of player deaths, saving/loading or retreating while shooting your Hivehand.
tl,dr: Nice work, but too many aliens, needs more ammo and health.
Seeing how well you have put these together all by yourself makes me want to see your CS maps.
Why is the satchel glowing red again in the pipe? Sorry if it has been discussed already. Probably I’m not aware of the cut area remake when it’s discussed.
Just realized something, bm_c2a5h is about smokes. From the grunt thrown, the tank’s destruction, furnace steams, gasworks, to the apache’s smoke in the roof.
Hi!
I made a bunch of videos of surface tension uncut(beta).
I made them as a reference for you all.
Please, if you wanna report an issue, use them to show any problem to TextFamguy.
How to link a specific part of a youtube video:
option A: use this website.
option B: append to the link #t=1m45s (the video starts at 1 minute and 45 seconds)
Links of the videos
[/SIZE]
c2a5g videos
c2a5h videos
c2a5i videos
There’s also this complete playthrough of the 3 maps made by Thundaga
EDIT: I should probably mention - a BIG THANK YOU to everyone for playing and testing my maps for me. I appreciate the kind words and the enthusiasm.
Alright, here comes a seriously long reply where I will attempt to address some of the feedback and criticisms which I have received. There has been SO MUCH that I cannot possibly address every point which has been made so I apologize.
I have taken a lot on board and am already working on a new version which I hope to push out the door in a few days. Many things will be addressed and hopefully everything major will look at. I’ll address stuff by categories, starting with something I feel strongly about:
GENERAL[/SIZE]
To some degree I have received a lot of criticisms for things which I haven’t done - I am being criticized strongly for a lot of things the BM Devs themselves have done which I think is a tad unfair.
For example, I would quite like everyone to play the Gargantua Chase from default Black Mesa’s C2A5G. EVERY SINGLE CRITICISM you give to me here is present in the default version. Especially the blast door that the Garg bursts out of into the courtyard magically being unreachable - that was present in BM’s version too, I haven’t changed that. The clipping issues and all the weird behaviors in the courtyards are there too. As you read this post you’ll see LOTS of the problems you’re experiencing are things they’ve designed or are beyond me to fix. That’s not to say I’m blaming them, just trying to put things into perspective. I WILL do my best to fix them, but I’m just pointing out I think it’s a little cruel to criticize me for their existence.
I’m gonna come out and say it - I kinda botched the release for this cuz I was in a rush. Next version will not have the same problems. I forgot to include some material files (hence the missing texture errors), and the choreo files in the first release. I also managed to break a few things on my maps before compiling them. The missing glass on the garage roof on C2A5G is missing because I hid it using visgroups so I could work on the areaportals, and then forgot to unhide it when compiling. Same with the parking lot door on C2A5G. There are quite a few other areas where I broke stuff literally as I was releasing it, which is very annoying as my testruns went perfectly.
Make no mistake, the purpose of my chapters is to showcase the aliens whooping the HECU. Lots of people are objecting to the aliens winning the battle overwhelmingly and then leaving the player to deal with fuckloads of aliens. I agree this is a problem, I may have to tone down the aliens a little. The problem is though, balance in these fights isn’t solely about numbers. It’s about numbers, positioning, and timing. It’s hell to get it all right. The fights aren’t predetermined, remember. There’s always a % chance the HECU will win due to what their AI decides to do. I need to keep that % chance small. Unfortunately that’s EXTREMELY difficult to do without the aliens largely outnumbering them, because the Marines are so damn powerful in BM and the aliens comparatively weak. Just deleting one or two aliens for the scripted fights makes the HECU win a lot of the time. You’d be surprised. I’ll see what I can do to make it so the player doesn’t get left fighting an alien armada, but I still want the aliens to beat the HECU 90% of the time, and by a fair amount.
The reason I’ve been unable to reply since release is I had a friend round I hadn’t seen for ages - and we were doing a BM playthrough! We got to Forget About Freeman. Having watched him play my maps linked to the main campaign, they’re difficult. Very difficult. C2A5G particularly. Because I’m pretty good at the game and have perfect knowledge of my maps it wasn’t a problem for me. I will add more health/battery pickups for future versions, and try to make things a little easier.
C2A5G[/SIZE]
Had a few complaints about that. It autocloses (which does seem a bit weird) for optimization purposes - the areaportal closes when it closes. I figured that it wasn’t a bit deal. I’ll add a way to go back through using a switch to reopen it, and I’ll extend the autoclose time from 4 - 8 seconds.
I’ll fix the dropdown to make it clearer and make sure you can do it without taking falling damage.
I will make the ladder to the vent clearer and delete the keypad in the road so players don’t think you can go that way. As to the ladder’s functionality - there ain’t much I can do there! Ladders in Source’s singleplayer are horrendously bad, and a pain in the ass to setup compared to games like CS. My advice to those having trouble is to climb to the top, then crouch and press E. Works for me everytime. But I’ll see if I can make it a bit easier.
It’s too tough. I’ll stagger out the Alien Grunts, have 2 come in then the other 2 when the first group are dead, like it was in HL1. As per one of Wangman’s suggestions, I’ll also add a auto-turret the players can use by the M35. It’s a nice idea.
I don’t know why he doesn’t shoot as he rolls out, it’s very annoying. I’ll see what I can do about it. It does look unnatural.
I literally have NO IDEA why this happens. The way I had the Osprey dying is that it’s an NPC Osprey which is scripted to die when the Manta reaches a certain point in its flight path. All the gibs and stuff are the result of what the Black Mesa devs coded the Osprey to do when it dies, damage included. I literally haven’t a clue how to solve this, or what’s causing it. It is really annoying though.
The Snark encounters will not be changed much. For those of you complaining about the Zombies and the Snarks being too much, I think you need to open up your playstyle a little - you can just leave the Snarks to kill the Zombies and that leaves you with 3 - 4 Snarks to face, and that’s when you just use the Hivehand. It’s no biggie, none of the 3 Snark encounters are particularly difficult and I feel they were rather unused in BM. I’m afraid I disagree quite a bit here.
C2A5H [/SIZE]
This had a serious problem at the first release, it was an invalid BSP. I was packing everything together in a rush and I was trying to pakrat the nodegraphs into the BSPs when I had to go and do something. When I got back the pakrating for C2A5H had crashed so I closed it and thought nothing of it. Apparantly it corrupted the BSP - sorry for not checking it. The latest version which you can already download has this serious bug fixed.
Again I think you people are looking at it from a bit of a limited perspective. You’re not necessarily meant to kill the Sniper, he’s just there to add a sense of urgency and difficulty to the roof. I breeze past him in 10 seconds by flicking the switch and immediately dropping down into the sewer - no trouble at all. I don’t think not being able to kill him is a problem. It’s different.
I can’t figure out for the life of my why the valve you have to attach sucks so hard. It’s the exact same as the other ones. I’ll keep working to see if I can fix it. Also Wangman suggested I should block the valve from being placeable in the furnace. Good idea. Hadn’t thought of it.
I’ll make it easier by widening the pipes and moving them closer together.
Optimization purposes, again. The Gasworks is difficult to render, so I have to make sure that players don’t leave that door open. I’ll add a keypad which unlocks when the players find Barney and unlock the system, so they can reopen it, but I’m not going to stop the autoclose from happening. I’ll make it take longer.
C2A5I[/SIZE]
This was a decision made by the BM devs for optimization purposes. Having the invisible wall magically appear was what they did, I did not make that. I will make it so that as the Garg bursts through the door, it shakes the area, causing concrete to fall from the ceiling and block your way.
I will try my absolute best to remedy the Garg’s stupidity but I’m limited by what his AI can do. I feel I’ve done a pretty good job so far of remedying his stupidity but I can, and will do more.
Minor Complaints[/SIZE]
Though there’s too much to write here, I’ve also taken a lot of the minor complaints on board and will be processing them too.
Expect a new, much better release in the next few days.
Thank you very, very much for your long, detailed reply 
You sir, are awesome. I look forward to the next release.
The quality of your work is awesome but needed to be tested.
looking forward tothe next release.
you’re welcome!
I tried and it worked.
I had this problem because I get off from a ladder pressing space.
I advice you only to make it easier to kill with an rpg.
Now if you aim perfectly to his spot, the rocket pass through the tower.
You’ve made it 100 times better!
Do what you can but don’t spend too much time on this issue.
Amazing work! I played through today on my Mac port of BM and all went swimmingly. The one thing that I experienced was the same as previously mentioned, and an additional problem:
I had this exact issue with the textures, but also experienced a problem leaving the untextured hole in the pipe, had to use no clip to get to the room before the steam puzzle!
Nothing else major that’s noticeable. Really good work and thanks to your avatar I have a desire to watch my very old Friday Night Live tape for some Loadsamoney.
I had a problem with getting in the sewer, don’t know why!!!
Possible to blow up the top of the tower where we see the sniper with a RPG (animation)?
Yes I think this does need reitterating the garg scene is much better but is still not working 100% as would be ideal… And it’s not textfamguys fault.
The entrance was brilliant… But I think the end is fixable how I don’t know but I hope it will get fixed eventually somehow… And I think it has to do with the second door script is the problem
Next version will have a video and I’ll update the OP with media and stuff. Working on it now, should be done soonish.
Text, I’d recommending taking your time w/the next version as there’s really no rush to release anymore. All of your maps are feature complete so there’s nothing major left to see. When I test the next version, the only things I will really be looking at are the ammo/health balance and how much you’ve addressed the minor details (just the polish so to speak). I’m sure you’ll have already dealt with the critical issues by this time, so the more time you devote to the polish, the less criticism you will get from all of us
I’ve had a chance to read most of the balance posts and it seems like I’m the only one whose offered specific ammo/health placements. Unless you already have something in mind, I’d suggest using these for the next round of testing. They are fairly conservative (with the exception of possibly adding a battery charger in the car shop) and will give you a good place to start for rebalancing. Make sure that those 2 medkids spawn at the beginning of the vort shootout when using the dev console…the earliest health placements are always the most critical as they will affect the experience of the entire playthrough.
A couple of clarifications: I want to partially revoke my comment on the tank scene in C2A5H. After a few more tests, it does sound like the explosion in the wall was caused by a harrier. Just add a pair of dead grunts and a dead vort near the debris to justify the targeting. It’s nice because it creates the sense that the airstrike cleared the way for the marines and tank to advance.
Regarding the sentry turret in the M35, I was actually hoping you’d implement it for the OSPREY scene rather than the TOW courtyard. It’s blatantly obvious by the placement of the trip mines that you want the player to set some sort of trap. Feel free to test it out in both areas but in the next release only use this feature for ONE section, as it would be lame to repeat the same elements.
If you use the sentry in the TOW courtyard, REPLACE one Agrunt spawn (after the Osprey is destroyed) with a vortigaunt. The aliens should still have a decisive edge w/o 30 hornets flying around which will ease pressure on the player. If you use the sentry in the Osprey scene, consider adding the battery charger in the car shop as a health buff.
After some further testing, there’s just a few more issues and observations I’ve found. I’ll compile it in a short post later.
I honestly think, that you got the balance almost right. From the 2 major battles in this mod (one near the osprey and one with the abrahams), only the first one seems to be very unbalanced. I think you can easily solve that, if you manage to get the LAV fixed. If it would be able to get off a few more shots while moving and kill a couple more aliens, the problem would pretty much disappear. Maybe one less alien grunt, if it stays unbalanced.
The fight with the abrahams on the other hand seems pretty much perfect. I tested it around 20ish times and it always ended with only 2-3 survivors on the alien side with the occasional marine shooting from a rooftop.
Here is the part from the original half-life when you enter the tunnel leading to Forget About Freeman.
https://youtu.be/_84wk1jjSok?t=9m25s
Basically as soon as you go over to that area the place starts to get bombed like crazy and rubble falls and blocks the way back out as soon as you go in the tunnel and then you can hear the bombing as you go down that tunnel and a few parts from the ceiling fall down while the whole place shakes.
I know it’s probably low on the priorities list right now, but still it would cool if you could add this back in to really re-enforce the idea that you’re having to go back underground before FaF because they are bombing everything like mad.