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

WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!! Great news about OaR Extended.

You’re in the process of wrapping up ST Uncut and presenting it us as our holiday gift for this year. It’s way too early for you to give us OaR Extended as our holiday gift for next year (but we’ll gladly and gratefully accept it)! Really excited to see how OaR Extended turns out.

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Concerning ST Uncut, please take the time to thoroughly review the feedback you’ve received, and on more than one occasion, so that every item is viewed and considered. I’m not implying that you’re not, but any failure to do so defeats the entire process and effort, especially at this important juncture of the project. Thanks again, Text.

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Feedback For v1.0-RC2-Hotfixed

  1. Room just before C2A5I - Railings do not make contact with the wall. https://imgur.com/eQp5n.
  2. Room just before C2A5I, lower level - Two separate instances of railings with gaps in them. https://imgur.com/ycbb4 and https://imgur.com/4RvRf.
  3. Room just before C2A5I - Center the small light above the door, in the foreground. To be consistent, light above door in the background, at the top of the stairs, needs to be lowered to the same height as the door in the foreground. https://imgur.com/6zRTR.
  4. After start of C2A5I, upper level - Two separate instances of railings with gaps in them. https://imgur.com/SKUKN and https://imgur.com/rFshf.
  5. After start of C2A5I, upper level - Place a light above this door to mimic all other similar doors in this area and also to brighten up this corner. https://imgur.com/EoifP.
  6. Start of C2A5G - Too many lights in the vicinity of the storage/utility room door. Suggest moving this fluorescent light to the left, centered between the two corners on this wall. https://imgur.com/UJZtx.
  7. Start of C2A5G - This ceiling I-beam in the storage/utility room seems out of place. Is it supposed to span across the entire ceiling, same as the other one adjacent to it? https://imgur.com/TXUtb.
  8. The very start of C2A5G - For consistency, place a light above this blast door to mimic the same type door situated around the corner. https://imgur.com/uSjXL. This area is also a little dark. This is me with my trusty crowbar drawn. https://imgur.com/CItrF.
  9. Carpark - On the level-to-level ramps, to avoid clipping issues with fluorescent light mounting struts, suggest mounting all of them directly to the ceiling. https://imgur.com./Ylmer
  10. TOW yard - Two instances of grass clipping through concrete curb. https://imgur.com/kQOTu.
  11. TOW yard - Right end of sandbag wall is clipping into the ground. https://imgur.com/9uRk1.
  12. TOW yard - Consider relocating this door control box by halving the distance to the door. Mimic the same position for the door control box at the other end of the yard. https://imgur.com/7JUrW.
  13. TOW yard - Grass clipping through rock. https://imgur.com/ytMsJ and https://imgur.com/nyaJq.
  14. TOW yard - Plant clipping into Humvee. https://imgur.com/Q5FmG.
  15. LAV yard - Two plants clipping into/through concrete. https://imgur.com/CZJLZ.
  16. LAV yard - A couple of instances where grasses are clipping into concrete. https://imgur.com/CLP9M.
  17. LAV yard - Another couple of instances where grasses are clipping into concrete. https://imgur.com/e2G8r.
  18. LAV yard - A portion of the left concrete wall for the stairs is not contacting the ground. https://imgur.com/awW5G.
  19. LAV yard - Another three instances of grasses clipping through concrete. Third one is near the pillar. https://imgur.com/twwYN.
  20. LAV yard - Grass clipping into the same concrete pillar. https://imgur.com/02kxk.
  21. LAV yard - An instance of grass clipping through concrete. https://imgur.com/DR9R7.
  22. LAV yard - This AC unit clips into the adjacent building. Move it sufficiently to the right, or consider removing it altogether, as it looks out of place there. Also, one less big entity. https://imgur.com/3GXrK.
  23. Helipad, first level - Two separate instances of railings with gaps in them. https://imgur.com/JYkSk and https://imgur.com/bMPpe.
  24. LAV yard - Plant clipping into plane hangar wall. https://imgur.com/WwRad.
  25. Concerning the use of wires running from ceiling light fixture to light fixture used in the Garg tunnel, I’d like to suggest that they be removed. Other than the pleasing swaying that they periodically do, they really serve no functional purpose. The tunnel in C2A5G doesn’t utilize them, nor does the tunnel that the Garg enters from. Deleting them addresses a clipping issue that I reported and reduces the overall total entity count in the Garg tunnel to help boost framerates as much as possible.
  26. Road to LAV - Three instances of grasses clipping into concrete. Third one is ahead, just at the bend. https://imgur.com/UI2Lc.
  27. Road to LAV, just before military tent - This plant has multiple leaves clipping into the concrete curb. https://imgur.com/kt8ty.
  28. Road to LAV, just before military tent - Can these three power lines terminate at a wall connecter, similar to the ones recently introduced in the Tank yard, instead of them clipping into the face of the building? https://imgur.com/il8Zq.
  29. LAV yard - This radar dish does not rotate. However, if it did, it would clip into the adjacent tower due to its close proximity. Move it sufficiently to the left. Ideally, real-world, in order to maximize its distance and sensitivity range, position it on top of the tower it’s next to. This will mimic the radar dish that’s situated across the yard from it. https://imgur.com/J5iLS.
  30. LAV yard - Consider placing a door control box next to this door, centered on the angled face, with a red illuminated button. This will be consistent with other doors of this type. https://imgur.com/n3OIN.
  31. Start of C2A5H - I reported this issue earlier, but thought it worth repeating. It concerns the tendencies for the ashes falling into the AGrunt-HECU encounter room https://imgur.com/9UWbX and falling into the adjacent hallway https://imgur.com/GgZ4k. At the moment, and in both instances, most of the ashes are falling through the undamaged parts of the ceilings instead of the portions of the ceilings that have holes in them. Can the parameters controlling the falling ashes be moved the appropriate distance to the right?
  32. Tank yard - Suggest moving these two satellite dishes farther apart, so that they don’t interfere with each other. Also, if possible, have them pointing in different directions. https://imgur.com/dPo1c.
  33. Tank yard - In the security hut storage room, change the arcing light fixture to the one farthest away from the entry door. This will eliminate sparks from passing through the wall into the security hut and the immediate area. https://imgur.com/kveuD.
  34. Rooftop - Barrels that are situated on the rooftop, which are dropped into the maintenance hatch shaft opening, clip into the pipeworks at the bottom. https://imgur.com/OJzJF.
  35. Carpark, level 1 - Flickering texture near the large hole in the floor. More noticeable using attached pictures below.
  36. Carpark, level 1 - Another flickering texture near the large hole in the floor. More noticeable using attached pictures below.
  37. Carpark, level 1 - A third incident of flickering textures near the large hole in the floor. They occur at the location of the pistol crosshairs. https://imgur.com/3AoqP and https://imgur.com/t8oPj.
  38. Carpark, level 1 - A fourth flickering texture near the large hole in the floor. Occurs along the seam running away from the player, in the foreground. https://imgur.com/KIRYq and https://imgur.com/ksLLT.

NOT TO BE CONTINUED. THIS IS NOW OVER.





I just hope it manages to convey the feeling of journey like the original OaR did, minus the bad first level in HL1.

If this is gonna be less faithful, that actually has me excited to see what kind of scripted sequences textFAMGUY1 will come up with, or what kind of exploration options he’ll give us.

Also just a small idea, but you should use the nightvision HECU guys for any outdoor parts. It made no sense to me how they were in BM, but used in a burned out building in Surface Tension where it was barely even dark.

Bring back the dynamite scene in Half-Life in On A Rail! I’m positive that OaR Extended would be fantastic.

Make your own Xen Textfamguy1 you will definitely make it awesome and we won’t need to wait another eight years for it’s development.

That’s great news that you’ve decided to work on OaR. I think when ST uncut is finished and you’re ready to begin really thinking about OaR that you should start a new thread for it and begin with a discussion with the community about what parts people want to see most, what the overall point and story of the chapter should be (was in the original) etc. You could probably get some good ideas this way.

I think the way that OaR plays in the original compared to how Surface Tension plays is basically completely different. Half-Life was absurdly good at making it’s indoor maps seem very explorable and alive with multiple side areas and blocked passageways that would later reconnect. To me OaR was the pinnacle of this design.

You basically HAD to explore a lot of areas to eventually find the way forward. You really got the feel that you were stuck in the material transport section of the Black Mesa facility after it had been thrown into chaos and had to find your way out. Rather than just following a linear string of scripted sequences and big signs saying GO THIS WAY.

The complexity of the maps is what made the black mesa complex seem real and alive. In other words you shouldn’t be locked out from the previous areas by a giant closed door after every level transition. I really think you should consider this when mapping out on paper or in your head how you want to recreate the old maps. Also I don’t think a single map with all of the missing parts thrown in one after another will do!

That tool will be invaluable. I’d highly recommend getting it so you don’t hit snags with lacking props in the future.

Incase you missed the demos: https://forums.blackmesasource.com/showpost.php?p=528304&postcount=2060

The demos were a response to Wangman not getting how I managed to get a few screens of these: https://forums.blackmesasource.com/showpost.php?p=528228&postcount=2044

I just hope he notices that tool Chickenprotector. If he skims over the thread, he might not notice it.

Hence why I re-posted. :slight_smile:

Wow… y’know, if On A Rail Extended is as good as Surface Tension Uncut, then as soon as I find a nice new soldier voice, Xen comes out, and more tweaks are made to my liking, I might actually be able to stand Black Mesa! :slight_smile:

Maybe I’m late to the party, but how about the Helicopter chasing Gordon through the canyon and minefield? I haven’t tried the latest versions, so was it added or you don’t want to modify it that much? It actually flies over in BM, but as a scrip, not attacking :frowning:

BM’s helicopter is way too accurate and damaging for that. It would be a nightmare to avoid with all the open space unless some tweaks to the skill.cfg are done.

No need. I haven’t actually used this, but it might be what you need.

EDIT: FUCK I GOT NINJAED ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE I WAS GONNA BE HELPFUL. Ah well, two links couldn’t hurt.

Text, I’ve concluded my feedback on v1.0-RC2-Hotfixed, finally finishing on ITEM #171 (whew!).

Thank you in advance for your considerations and actions.

I’m aware you are joking but so am I when I say: Please die in a fire

Finally I finished my feedback! I tried to cover everything artistic-wise I could find, not commented in my previous feedbacks.
As before, explanations are in the screenshots itself; red for major things (that I recommend to have a look) and blue for bonus suggestions (the nice-to-have things).

Parking Lot:

https://i.imgur.com/swh90.png
https://i.imgur.com/EUUeW.png
https://i.imgur.com/fL5MP.png
https://i.imgur.com/yVVAL.png
https://i.imgur.com/vLQqS.png
https://i.imgur.com/vWy0U.png
https://i.imgur.com/fVpdP.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/K31TX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kAqHI.jpg

1st Snark Vent:

https://i.imgur.com/xDcsD.png
https://i.imgur.com/yBcdY.png
https://i.imgur.com/T5JYU.png

Helipad:

https://i.imgur.com/Z4Obo.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8ziVy.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Ub34B.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8CtmI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Tht5b.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ld5ek.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PniNv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/d3q4z.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2beRi.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/U7k7O.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/AheT8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/iXFlD.jpg

C2A5H Entrance:
https://i.imgur.com/drJzg.jpg

Tank Courtyard:

https://i.imgur.com/OtdlA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7ZlTR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/pWNBX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yGsp9.jpg

Security Hut:

https://i.imgur.com/6rEwQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/M8qcr.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KfN6Y.jpg

Furnace Room:

https://i.imgur.com/fzwNI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rnV0h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/oAq5j.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/B8eQs.jpg

Steam Room:

https://i.imgur.com/qRB7N.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/CsGvA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/g9jzZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/o0iWK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/syCxx.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ArXib.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/pKDPk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RBvAR.jpg

Before Garg Chase:
https://i.imgur.com/EO1oc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/X9lqR.jpg

2nd Snark Vent:
https://i.imgur.com/xDcsD.png

About the railings on your maps: I guess they can be improved a lot with some curved finishings/details, wich can help to avoid the strange “V” angles/minor clippings found in the corners of the catwalks (specially in the Helipad). To illustrate better what I mean, and of course show how the devs solved that problem, I got screenshots of some areas with good examples of these type of railings (mainly in Blast Pit and devs-made parts of ST). Other way to avoid the problem in some parts of your Helipad railings could be the use of the broken railings found in the “three pistons area” in Apprehension (How about the broken railings as side effect of the Manta attack?). The screens:

Blast Pit
https://i.imgur.com/4frnw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xrDAk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/k6cnN.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4EXVF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LjGYQ.jpg

Surface Tension (I bet you know well these areas!)
https://i.imgur.com/u7G8c.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wvBCR.jpg

Apprehension
https://wiki.blackmesasource.com/File:08_blackmesa_appr.jpg
https://wiki.blackmesasource.com/images//f/ff/Bm_c2a3b_gman.png

Like Dadster said… “whew!!” Thats it! Finally done. It was a rocky but nice ride!

(And now you’re talking about “OaR Extended”… Boy, you have balls!!)[/SIZE]

^ Haven’t looked through all of that but I definitely agree about the Harrier takeoff scene. I never even saw the takeoff scene.

Lol, Conti and I have the same aesthetic tastes…he pointed out a lot of the issues from my post. There’s only two I disagree with though:

https://i.imgur.com/kAqHI.jpg
Having the harrier takeoff here is a very bad idea as the outside battle will have spawned by this time, thus directing the player’s attention SOLELY to what’s going on below. It’s far more likely they will miss the takeoff here than at the courtyard because the harrier is RIGHT IN FRONT of them at the latter location. Plus the issues w/timing the launch, positioning etc really shouldn’t be changed for the FINAL version, as there will be a lot of fine tuning necessary to get it right. But to use Conti’s picture, if you use the narrow angle of ascent formed by the second arrow from the left, you should be able to get the harrier to take off smoothly w/o the awkward switch to vertical. It’s really either that or deleting the harrier completely.

https://i.imgur.com/fVpdP.jpg
While this makes sense in real life, I think it’s a bad idea gameplay wise as this area is NOT an exit. The real exit is the floor 2 hole. Note that the current use of exit signs on the stairwell is purposeful as it directs the player to floor 2, whereas your proposal would be a misdirection. Plus most players don’t even realize the floor 1 door is an exit until they get outside.

Conti has awesome suggestions, and seem like easy suggestions to implement too.

For probably my final suggestion for Surface Tension, the satchel in the pipe scene could use a light at the end of the tunnel while your under water like in HL1, since it’s the biggest part of the fireball and it makes sense since you made the other parts of the fireball light up the pipe.

Might as well jump on the bandwagon and post my tiny suggestions:

Garage:
Invisible wall above rock blocks Soldier’s sight and my shots
The ramp does not make contact with the floor, even in the lowered position
Bonus note: You should lessen the delay on the exploding door. There’s way more than enough time to react even if you’re caught off guard. Cut it in half at least.

After Garg Chase:
The Crown Vic up top changes direction when it is destroyed

General:
If possible, add more ambient gunfire, especially in areas around battles. The transition from dead silence to huge battle is quite jarring.

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.