The weapon switching

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

I have found myself killed because of the weird weapon switch system this game has.

Let me give an example:
The pistol is on the first slot of the second tier
The 357 is on the second slot of the second tier

In all games, HL1, HL2, it’s episodes and the expansions, I had to press 2 twice to get to the 357, no matter what.
However, in this game when I have the pistol equiped, when I press 2 twice, it ends up on the pistol because it skips past the pistol on my first press for whatever reason.

Thing that pushed it over the edge for me that I decided to post about it happened at the cliffs. I had my shotgun equipped only to see a turret further ahead, out of range of my shotgun. I decided to lob an smg grenade at it so I pressed 3 ONCE. However, that did not give me the smg, it gave me the crossbow instead. So I zoomed in instead of firing the grenade. Result: The turret took nearly all my health. I recovered quickly enough and managed to kill the turret, but my health was now at 10 instead of 80, which it would be if the weaponswitch system worked like one would expect it would.
I tried to play onward, but felt I got an unfair disadvantage due to the game having a weird weapon system that doesn’t work similar to other source games, which makes no sense. I jumped down the cliff, followed by a simple quit without saving.

Thank you

#2

Try carrying 15 weapons around while fighting aliens.

Although I totally get you. Yet another thing to add to the list for BM 1.1. I personally always use the mouse wheel but heigh ho.

#3

yeah, i noticed the different weapon switching system, too… It really gets you when you don’t know it behaves other than the normal HL/HL2 system. But oncwe you knew how it works (just press once to get the next item) you should be able to adapt… If it will get fixed with a future patch… fine. If not… fine too.

#4

I kinda get what you’re saying, but you do infact get used to it. By the end of the game, I was fairly used to it. I can say that it is a tad different but it’s not by much. The one thing I noticed is that fast weapon switch brings up the UI for the weapons… They should really get rid of that because in HL2, when you have fast weapon switch, the UI doesn’t show. It makes me want to click again to get rid of the weapon menu, but that just ends up me shooting my gun and wasting a bullet while the menu is still there mocking me because of my stupidity, laughing.

Fking weapon menu.

#5

Does sound very weird situation, not got that far into the game for it to affect me yet.

But I would like to know all the weapon names so I can bind them to keys in my config.

I used the HL2 names and some do seem to work e.g

bind “f” “use weapon_frag”
bind “MOUSE5” “use weapon_357”
bind “MWHEELUP” “use weapon_shotgun”

P.S
Havign great fun playignthrough not played the original for a long, long time

#6

Yep… Black Mesa switching idea is interesting, but we should have an option to use the original

#7

Learn to switch weapons before you try attacking something. Using the mouse-wheel wouldn’t hurt either.

#8

Never had this problem, used the mouse wheel. It’s not that hard. Sure, it’s different to HL/2 but the mwheel is easier to reach and makes you feel more “in command” in a sense. Just saying though.

#9

I had this problem too. Sort of frustrating. I got used to it, but still didn’t like it. I would VERY much like this changed, or at least have an option to change it.

#10

This is too minor to be a thread of its own
This should be merged with that “minor gripes” thread

#11

Dias
I like to switch weapon while I hurt someone.
Black Mesa gives you weapons one by one, to relish every exact. I used to select definitive weapon, not to select it from the list scrolling the wheel.

#12

I had my snark equipped only to see a zombie directly in front of me. I decided to blow it away with my shotgun, so I pressed 4. However, that did not give me the shotgun, it gave me the RPG instead. So I detonated a rocket between us instead of firing the shotgun. Result: Both I and the zombie swiftly exploded. I was now dead instead of alive, which I would be if the weaponswitch system worked like one would expect it would.

Okay I made that up, but it could have happened to a careless HL2 veteran coming to HL1 or Black Mesa (shotgun is on 4 in HL2). The point is your complaint is completely based on the fact that it’s different than other games, it doesn’t explain why it’s a problem in and of itself. I don’t see how either method of weapon switching is inherently more intuitive than the other, they’re just different… so?

I don’t necessarily disagree, I’m just saying you didn’t present a good case. The old way does have the benefit of letting you train your muscle memory to get to any weapon regardless of which one is currently equipped. But the new way has the benefit of never having to go past the currently equipped weapon before getting to the one you want.

#13

Well…
:wink:

#14

My brother used to play FPS’ by putting his left hand on the arrow keys that are on the right side of his keyboard & his right hand on the mouse to the right of the keyboard.

That was a shitty control scheme & so is switching between 14 different weapons with 5 number keys. Once you learn the order all the weapons are in, you can switch between any 2 weapons with the wheel in the same time it takes to press 5 once.

I like to switch weapons while I move. Not exactly easy with number keys, is it?

#15

It’s really not a problem. Muscle memory takes over once you know where everything is. And don’t forget about Q.

What? :brow: Do you have 5 thumbs on your left hand? Here’s a random playthrough I found by a competent keyboard-switcher:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpg2oJWfsLQ
You’re telling me you can mouse-switch between any two weapons as fast as he does?

#16

I never had problems with reaching 1-5 buttons (yep, the ones above [w] key)
Seriously, if someone didn’t get my previous post — Black Mesa promised the multiplayer.
Deathmatch. You spawn, grab any weapons you stumble on the way dodging rockets, jump of another and while in air — frag one with shotgun and another one with python far away… You seriously consider mouse whilling and watching the left corner of the screen would be okay?

#17

Yes & I can do it while running diagonally in any direction.
Just out of curiosity, how do you know the guy in this “random playthrough” uses the keyboard to switch?

#18

How do you do it so quickly? In all seriousness.

Personally I don’t know the difference(I played HL once before BM and that’s it), so to me using the numbers is fine, but how do you use the mouse wheel quickly?
I always panic, or I derp and end up with the wrong weapon. D;
That, or I need to be standing still because I’m terrible at shooters.

#19

Oh dudes, if somebody didn’t catch my last message…
Black Mesa promised us a multiplayer. Deathmatch with running around and shooting two frags while in mid-air in 180° rotation… And somebody thinks that scrolling a wheel and staring at the corner of the screen selecting - if you catch those python or grenades is is already out

#20

Lots of practice, but you really should never need to switch that fast. If you know the order of the weapons you can get to each pretty quickly by knowing the number of clicks away from each weapon. If cycling between weapons quickly is really that important to you, then I’d suggest turning on ‘fast weapon switch’. It also helps that the guy is playing HL2, which only ever has 2 weapons per category, where as HL1 has up to 4, or OP4 which has 7 different categories. I would not be comfortable stretching my finger out to there, especially while trying to crouch.

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