The Dilemma of Beating Black Mesa

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

Firstoff, I had always intended on playing the original Half-Life. I just never got around to it. Black Mesa came out and I devoured the game in a day. It’s amazing. But unfortunately it ends early compared to the original. And now I have Half-Life 2 staring at me saying: “time to finally play me!” But I feel bad knowing that I haven’t actually finished Half-Life 1 until after I’ve completed the Xen area.

My question is should I wait for these areas to be added to the game or just go ahead and play Half-Life 2?

#2

just play half-life 2 :slight_smile:

#3

No. Play Half-Life 1. Then play Half-Life 2. There’s no reason not to experience the original game - the one this whole mod is based off of. Plus, you’ll get to see Xen and everything.

#4

Well… you waited for BM to come out didn’t you? Why not wait until it’s complete?

Maybe go occupy yourself with real world things…

#5

Well, you could cheat your way to Xen. No real reason to not do that if you’ve gone through Black Mesa already (aside from the fact that HL1 is still a game that is very much worth playing. But I’m sure you’re a busy person all the same)

Add the following (within Steam) to Half-Life > Properties > Set Launch Options

-dev -console

Once you have loaded the game, press the key left of “1” and above “Tab” (on the US layout it’s the “Tilde” key I believe. On UK keyboards like mine, it’s a bunch of other symbols). This opens the console. Type:

sv_cheats 1

This should enable cheats (but may be redundant. It has been a while since I’ve done this kind of thing). Then type:

map c4a1

This should load the first map from the Xen chapter. From here, type:

impulse 101
give item_longjump

This should give you every weapon in the game, an HEV suit and the long-jump module (crouch then jump for a boosted forward thrust - essential for Xen’s jumping). If Impulse 101 doesn’t give you an HEV suit, type “give item_suit”. Since you have all weapons by the time you get to Xen, this isn’t really being all that cheap.

BTW, if you have Half-Life Source, the process is probably a billion times easier. There should be a config.cfg file with the line “sv_unlockedchapters” somewhere in the HL Source directory on your computer - just put that to whatever chapter number Xen is, and you’ll be able to select it via “new game” (and as with other Source engine games, you’ll receive an appropriate selection of gear as you spawn). Actually, only reference I’ve seen to these chapters online suggests that all chapters are unlocked from the beginning anyway.

#6

Real… World…?

I’d say wait if you have already waited x amount of time.
BUT- I don’t think you will be doing anything wrong by playing Half Life 2. It shouldn’t destroy your Black Mesa situation - It will give you something to do while you’re waiting for the rest of BM

#7

… Or just play through the game. It’s very much worth playing, or at the very least it’s worth going through to laugh at how poor the graphics are compared to Black Mesa. :slight_smile:

Those graphics used to be the top technology of the day… :smiley:

#8

Use the cheats to get to Xen, then don’t use cheats once you are there.

But warning, Xen will be difficult (in terms of knowing what to do), and since you are only used to BM’s version of Half-Life, you will probably cry and give up.

#9

I´d go ahead and just play HL2. The Xen chapters in the original Half Life are an absolute pain in the ass. I would watch the thing on youtube though, there are still some fairly important plont points at the end.

#10

They’ll be alright. It’s only seven maps or so until the end of the game. However, learn what the quicksave / quickload keys are - late 90s FPS autosaving wasn’t quite as fair as it is now.

#11

I should’ve added a smiley at the end.

Just pretend I did.

#12

Before I give you my opinion on this, ket me give you a bit of background.

I last played HL1 in 2004, just before getting HL2. Didn’t play any og the episodes yet. I planned to do another complete series run-through and episode 3 was out (haha, yeah, still waiting for that) and when it was clear that ep3 was never coming, I had already heard about BM and I decided to wait for that with my HL runthrough.
That was back in 2009 and now, after forcing myself o keep away from these games for more than 4 years, BM is finally out.

So what I did was to play Black Mesa, than start up HL Source (no need to cheat there because you can start a new game at any chapter) and go straight to Xen there (shouldn’t take more than 3 hours or so on normal, so it can be done quickly and easily.
Now, I am in the middle of HL2 (which is just glorious as well).

Let me say that I was amazed how easily the transition from BM to HL Source went. Sure, there are a couple of differences in weapon handling and obviously the graphics suck (especially when coming right after the amazing spectacle that is Black Mesa) but since you have that immense contrast in Level and visual design it works pretty well actually.
I am sure, the Xen chapter of the BM team will be vast improvement and given my long abstinence, I’ll probably just o another complete run through in a year or so when Xen is out but for now, I thought it worked just fine and you have a sense of continuity.
So there, that’s the way I would recommend it to anyone who wants to charge on after lack Mesa and I can say that I am now in the fortunate position of still having the completely unknown and unspoiled content of episodes 1 and 2 to look forward to.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back and rescue a certain Dr. Vance from Nova Prospect :slight_smile: .

EDIT:

Sorry friend, but I think you are mistaken on that one. I remember reading a test of HL1 in my favorite PC games magazine back then and there the graphics were judged adequate but not top notch, certainly not when compared to the graphical superstar of the time - Unreal. :slight_smile:

#13

I should add a Xen map pack to Black Mesa. Just the HLS maps directly ported over.

Sure it will be a crappy rush job. But at least it might give us a few laughs. :slight_smile:

#14

I’d just play hl2, or play the original if you really want to complete it. Either way I wouldn’t wait for BM’s Xen for more half-life action.

#15

Go get HL source (because chapter selection is easier than that of the original), and play the Xen chapter, then go on and play HL2. Then if the BM team ever releases Xen, you can play that.

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.