yes, I think it does, I always hear it
and you should download his maps
I’ve never beta-tested something before; I thought I’d wait for the (pseudo-)final release.
Hi there, and thanks for the feedback.
My reasoning for using the red light is threefold. The first reason is because the red lights were on the satchel trap on the last map, so the player should immediately know it’s a satchel. The soldiers don’t use satchels ANYWHERE else in Black Mesa by default, so I figured a little bit of extra signalling there would help, as it’s not something the player is used to. The second reason is because my pipe is VERY dark compared to Half-Life’s, where it received a ridiculous amount of ambient light. It’s difficult to see the satchel properly without the light. The final reason is because I don’t like bullshit game design, from a gameplay perspective. I’ll explain what I mean. If there is a sequence in a game where a HIGHLY SKILLED and intelligent player CANNOT beat something on the first time for any number of reasons, I consider that poor game design. I’ll explain. You know the turret in the back of the truck on C2A5F? The one which shoots you and surprises everyone on the first go with a death? I consider that poor game design. A player dying to that could not have possibly anticipated, under any circumstances, that turret ever being there. There’s no basis for them thinking that. No other truck ever contained turrets, and there were no advance warnings or subtle clue there may be a turret there. No matter how good they were, no player could have possibly anticipated that the first time. There are quite a few moments like this in Black Mesa but they’re few and far between. Though I have perhaps made it a bit too obvious. I much prefer it when there are warning signs. It means if you die it really is your fault because you had the chance to react but weren’t quick enough to take it.
/Rant
As for the signs I’ve already changed that as per previous feedback.
Yes I did. I turn the game audio down on my videos so the commentary is clearer.
on the satchel pipe seen, think that removing the red light wouldn’t down the affect. even if its the only place a soldier uses the satchel. reason for this is simple, you see some one toss something into a small area with you, assume its an explosive. also minor suggestion put some supplies in that room with the soldier, sort of doesn’t makes sense that he is there and has the satchel. place a few satchel charges in the room to explain where the soldier got them also place something that explains why he is there… like lets say a door which has one charge put on it but not wired or triggered in any way…
Thanks for the swift and detailed reply. I understand your reasons and I think they are flawless from a purely gameplay perspective, though I do still find it jars with black mesa’s attempt to ensure everything presented makes sense within the game world. I will respect your decision, but would you consider removing the light if the gameplay requirements you outline are appropriately covered?
For instance you label that pipe tunnel as maintenance access via signs at both entrances (the top of the ladder and in the room with the satchel marine). As most maintenance tunnels in black mesa haver lights along them, could you simply put some lights in the tunnel (red ones perhaps if you want to preserve a dramatic ambiance) so that you could increase the ambient light and thus let us see the satchel more clearly.
An alternative could be increasing the glow from the pipe off shoot and making the marine chuck the satchel charge in to the glow.
What do you think?
Also just noticed while watching your video of the levels again a clipping issue at exactly 28:58. In the bottom left hand corner of the screen you can see that the smaller brown pipe clips right through the larger gray one. Apologies if this has already been pointed out, but I thought I best just mention it.
Can you add glass shards effect (not just wall debris) in C2A5G when the window is destroyed by the explosion? The glass shards effect is also seen in WGH when you arrive at the cafeteria.
Also can you add the animation “drawpistol” for the barney in c2a5h while saying Freeze! (vo/npc/barneys/zombies_freeze01.wav) before the line “Finally, somebody who ain’t trying to kill me.” so it will somehow relate to the original HL dialog? Next, can you make the door unopenable by the player but by the guard only? It’s weird that the door is opened and the guard tries to open “an invisible door”.
Ok, so this might be useless to you, but I felt I must add my two cents…
I just finished playing through your new maps and wow they are impressive! I thought they fit into the BM universe extremely well, and added a bit more, especially the fact that we actually get to see aliens vs HECU…
I admittedly played through the maps not looking for bugs, but only came across a couple of ‘annoying’ parts such as attempting to jump into the booby trapped pipe from the water before it gets blown up by the HECU… but having said that, we all know how good Gordon can/can’t jump in BM!
Overall, I think you have done a wonderful job! Keep up the excellent work!!
I’m new to the Face Poser and discovered scenes.
You could use some scenes made by the devs already.
I’m only trying to suggest anyway and still up to you to do it.
In the garage
- you can put two grunts talking outside the garage but you can still hear them (c2a5g/soldiers01.vcd).
Dialog - Marine 1 - “We just gotta get outside in the open, he wont see us.”
Marine 2 - " Ssshhh! I think we got something here. (detecting the agrunts I guess) They’re reevaluating our extraction points ."
Aliens VS Marines
- If some marines survive and no more aliens in the area - try c2a5g/soldiers02.vcd. Those marines must go somewhere (in the harrier room? could add attractions like harriers will take off right after but another manta will try to destroy it and grunt falling from the sky?).
Dialog - Marine 1 - “Ahh, ‘Semper Fi’ my ass! This whole operation’s FUBAR (fucked up beyond all recognition/any repair/all reason).”
Marine 2 - “Let’s stop wasting time! We’re done here!”
Satchel Scene
Use c2a5g/hgrunt03_satchel01.vcd when the soldier is going to throw the satchel.
Dialog - Marine - “Hey! Catch!”
When you survived and tries to go through the pipe again - use hgrunt03_satchel02.vcd
Dialog - Marine (one who threw the satchel talking to somebody) “Ha! Are you kidding me? That was too easy!”
Guard Scene
Can you make the door to the garg scene not open unless the guard is near the security checkpoint?
I think the grd04_lambdabunker ain’t appropriate inside the gasworks area because there is war going on and he’s just calm.I suggest after the guard opened the door - grd_04_runlikehell_idle02.vcd.
Dialog - Guard - “We gotta get to that parking garage! Pronto!”
When you reach the security station - use grd_04_runlikehell_idle03.vcd.
Dialog - Guard - "Think I heard somebody rummaging around downstairs… (the garg?) You see anybody else? "
BM_C2A5I
Use grd04_lambdabunker.vcd if the guard is still with you.
Dialog - Guard " It’s a good thing we ran into each other, ya know? You wouldn’t get into the Lambda Bunker without the proper access codes (which means he already opened it). Now I just hope those Lambda boys were smart enough to bring some beer! Ain’t that right, buddy?"
I don’t want to mess your garg scene because it’s perfect. When it follows you and you’re near the vent already you can make the garg roar (sound only) and some debris around the map can appear, grd04_garg.vcd can come here, I guess it’s OK to make the garg roar right there because it’s fighting a tank then the garg chase.
Dialog - Guard “Oh, SHIT!”
Well, that’s my suggestions.
How hard would it be to script the guard distracting the garg for you and getting burnt to death?
He’s intentionally made it so that the Guard and the Garg can’t possibly meet.
But it would be easy, as Guards shoot at Gargantuas and are attacked by them as well
It being easy and me not doing it are two entirely different things. I’m not avoiding it because I think it’s difficult to do, I’m avoiding it because it’ll ruin the Garg chase.
How?
Putting the guard into the equation has 2 distinct and poor possibilities:
-
The Garg attacks the guard, of course meaning he can’t attack you. This kills the excitement of the chase, giving you either ample time to get away or ample time to sit there and watch him kill the Guard.
-
The Garg ignores the guard, ignoring yet another person and leaving them alive. This is unrealistic and stupid, I’ve had enough people complaining about the one marine which gets left alive. If he ignores the guard, what was the point of having him there in the first place?
The only way to prevent this would be to either have the guard run away with you or run away and hide. Both of which are distinctly trickier to implement and don’t really add much.
It would also mean I need to make it so the guard can come with you. Which would mean not having you drop down from a vent, which is one of the best bits I think. You get dropped straight into the thick of the action, rather than walking into it and casually being able to back out.
It poses far too many issues to be a viable approach.
Thank you for taking the time to look at this for me, though unfortunately much of it is unusable.
In the Garage - not usable as the aliens immediately spawn. Them talking about detecting something wouldn’t make sense as the aliens are right there. Plus it kills momentum for the player and less action.
Aliens vs Marines - This is an outcome which does not happen. The marines nearly always die, leaving just the LAV. Plus they’d be going after the player at this point.
Satchel Scene - I use all of this stuff already.
Guard Scene - I can make it so you have to escort the guard to the door very easily. I chose not to as I hate escort quests. There is no appropriate dialogue for this scene hence my own personal choice. Adding the “Freeze!” would make things worse as he already uses the exact same first few lines in C2A5F.
C2A5I - The guard does not, cannot, and I will not make it so he can come with you.
Hope this addresses concerns.
Dialog - Marine 1 - “Ahh, ‘Semper Fi’ my ass! This whole operation’s FUBAR (fucked up beyond all recognition/any repair/all reason).”
Marine 2 - “Let’s stop wasting time! We’re done here!”
This one actually has a lot of potential for the Osprey evac. Try testing it out the MOMENT the marines spawn in the LAV courtyard…odds are it will sound pretty good and there’s ALWAYS more than two marines that make it up the ramp anyway (unless you deliberately try to kill them)
I wouldn’t recommend using that “Freeze”/draw pistol thing on the Barney though. He does the exact same thing in the armory and his opening lines are already similar enough to the gasworks Barney as it is.
One thing that I would suggest though is that you consider swapping the regular marines in the garage for the nightvision marines that you see in an earlier section of ST. These guys are extremely rare in game and look really cool. Their placement would be reasonable in the poorly lit garage.
New
Never realized the bad asymmetry here (image). This has got to be fixed as none of the other doors in BMS have this issue. The right sidewalk will probably need restructuring as well.
Low down on priorities list. Both of them.
Hoping to get new version out by tomorrow evening. Have pretty much finished all the work I wanted to do on G and H, just gotta do C2A5I which I can do in a couple hours I reckon. G is SIGNIFICANTLY improved over previous versions, H has more subtle but still recognizable improvements.
The gate is fine imo.
Hi, i have seen your new video and it looks great, i’m pointing some of the same stuff i said before but its a constructive review!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCK6s53DZ6M&feature=youtu.be
7: 30 - That street is a bit small if you compare with other streets you have multiple fights.
9 : 35 - The vent should have Xen lights and flaura instead of the red lamps, it would be a great introduction to the snarks. You could use the assets seen at 
19 : 56).
12 : 10 - That explosion should have blasted the wall that you trigger when opening the door, but that would probably make it wide open that you can get away from there to the outside. Can you make the above vent drop so it blocks that way permanently?
16 : 20 - That helipad looks good but it seems it has been cramped at the corner of the map, you could put it on the center.
23: 50 - Entering the men’s bathroom - Don’t use a wall of glass, never seen a bathroom with one, not even one with one-sided glass, instead use a small window that you have get up to brake to enter the bathroom.
32 : 16 - The helicopter crash on roof, can you make half of the helicopter on the roof ant the other part on the ground, that crash should have more debris laying around and not just on one spot.
33 : 09 - Regarding the steam\pipe jump puzzle, you should have the steam come out off joints, like these:
Way “cooler” lol!
33:50 - That whole puzzle area revolves around the pipes\steam, can you make that 2 floor room were you meet the security, look like a a steam control room with display’s and gauges.
Thank you for your time!
C2A5H
Can you add more props near where the wall is going to explode? It’s pretty empty.
Ok folks I am back up and running on my new PC so when I get the chance I will re-install black mesa again… Perhaps not worth me giving feedback on the latest release but will be sure to give feedback on the next version…
Keep up the great work Textfamguy
Congrats on the new system Ronster, turns out after I upgraded about a month ago I just moved all my source mods from my original Steam folder, still work with all my settings.
Are we still looking at a new version release by this evening? Would be nice to test out the new version over the break.
Give it a couple of days.