Half-Life 2 : Big free update tomorrow

[FourWheelDrift]

I think I'll reinstall and have a look. I did run it with the massive FF Cinematic Mod, but this official one will be one to look at too being all steam based for easy uninstall/reinstall.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/290930

features:
Complete lighting overhaul including enhanced lighting, more detailed world shadows, and full High Dynamic Range Lighting (HDR).

New particle effects and improved fog.

Countless bug fixes, correcting both visual and game-based issues.

An extensive Community Commentary Mode featuring the voices of well-known Youtubers, including Caddicarus, Brutalmoose, Ricepirate, Balrog the Master, ProJared, and Ross Scott from Freeman's Mind .

Retains the iconic Half-Life 2 visual style and gameplay.

All available in one free standalone download!

[Richyvrlimited]

I want EP3, not the same ones re-hashed!

(though I will probably play it again now....)

[MintyScot]

Nice! I may replay it. I still love it but some of the graphics/animations don't work properly with the latest gfx cards/drivers so hopefully this will be sorted"

[eltawater]

It's not really official though, it's "community developed".

I've just watched the comparison video on YouTube and nice as the improvements are, they're not enough to warrant me bothering installing again. I suppose it's testament to how great the original was that it still looks pretty good today.

I've given up on episode 3, it's been 7 years since the orange box was released. Since playing the original half life, I've been through uni, several house moves, jobs, got married and started a family. Valve are in serious danger of their half life fan base just dissipating off into the real world and moving on with their lives. It's the 17th anniversary of the release of half life 1 this year and at this rate, some of the fans are going to be shuffling off their vortal coil

[p1stonhead]

Now that I've completed this so many times I can't replay it without cheating to get the blue gravity gun (the one which picks up people) right at the start! Makes the game so much more ridiculous!

[krunchkin]

If Half Life 3 isn't well underway in development and ready to ship the moment VR is commercially viable then I'll eat my hat. I'm convinced Valve want to make it as memorable as the last one and release it as the first proper AAA VR game

[Squirrelofwoe]

eltawater said:

It's the 17th anniversary of the release of half life 1 this year

Well that realization has put an ocean-sized dampener on my weekend!

[PhilboSE]

Squirrelofwoe said:

Well that realization has put an ocean-sized dampener on my weekend!

But what a game it was - is. And HL2. (But not EP1 & EP2 so much).

[MintyScot]

krunchkin said:

If Half Life 3 isn't well underway in development and ready to ship the moment VR is commercially viable then I'll eat my hat. I'm convinced Valve want to make it as memorable as the last one and release it as the first proper AAA VR game

Yeh it seems viable that they are waiting for the Steam controller, VR system and Steam box's before they unleash Half-Life 3 on us. The potential combination of all of these could be mind-blowingly good and a massive commercial success for Valve...possibly.

[Squirrelofwoe]

PhilboSE said:

But what a game it was - is. And HL2. (But not EP1 & EP2 so much).

I brought my first ever PC (£1,000 from 3 years worth of paper-round, birthday, & Christmas money!) for the original Half Life & C&C Tiberian Sun, and lost count of the number of times I played it through (along with Opposing Forces, Blue Shift, and the absolutely brilliant "They Hunger" zombie mod trilogy).

I soldiered on with that PC for many years more than was ideal, then funnily enough brought my second PC (and first true gaming one) for the release of Half-Life 2.

I've upgraded my PC several times since then, I'm glad I didn't wait for number 3 to appear for that!

[Morningside]

[quote]
the absolutely brilliant "They Hunger" zombie mod trilogy).

[/quote]
I agree, it was a fantastic mod. Shame they did not do the same for HL2.


Downloaded the update and it's really well worth doing it.

[nigelpugh7]

Only just seen this, and got all excited.

Then realised its for PC only, major bummer.,

We mostly play half life 2 on our Xbox version, but I do have the Mac version too, but this seems to be PC only!

And no, I won't be buying a PC just to play this!

I am disappoint!

[boxst]

Squirrelofwoe said:

eltawater said:

It's the 17th anniversary of the release of half life 1 this year

Well that realization has put an ocean-sized dampener on my weekend!

Wow. That has just made me feel old. I remember running around (in the game!) trying to shoot random internet people and spray painting my initials on the walls.

[8bit]

So anyone playing this with the "official" update? Is it significantly prettier/more atmospheric/etc than without? The screenshots and videos on the Steam page for the update don't really look that much better. I'd never heard of the FF Cinematic mod but that looks good, is it better than this new update?

[Morningside]

Mainly all I have noticed is very small shadowing and mist/fog on outside scenes. BUT the best bit is the spinning commentary icons that give you an insight to the game design.

[FourWheelDrift]

8bit said:

So anyone playing this with the "official" update? Is it significantly prettier/more atmospheric/etc than without? The screenshots and videos on the Steam page for the update don't really look that much better. I'd never heard of the FF Cinematic mod but that looks good, is it better than this new update?

If you can hack downloading and installing over 17gb of texture files. You can change the look of the characters as well.

[8bit]

OK thanks for the feedback. I may give the cinematic mod a go.

[Bullett]

MintyScot said:

Yeh it seems viable that they are waiting for the Steam controller, VR system and Steam box's before they unleash Half-Life 3 on us. The potential combination of all of these could be mind-blowingly good and a massive commercial success for Valve...possibly.

It's an interesting thought. I noticed they have added Elite and Iracing recently, both games that do VR very well.

[Foliage]

MintyScot said:

krunchkin said:

If Half Life 3 isn't well underway in development and ready to ship the moment VR is commercially viable then I'll eat my hat. I'm convinced Valve want to make it as memorable as the last one and release it as the first proper AAA VR game

Yeh it seems viable that they are waiting for the Steam controller, VR system and Steam box's before they unleash Half-Life 3 on us. The potential combination of all of these could be mind-blowingly good and a massive commercial success for Valve...possibly.

I'm sure I read that in addition to improving the physics engine and the VR that they where trying to develop a far more advanced AI engine to the point where a separate AI card may be required.