Black Mesa: Source appears to be inbound soon

I don't think they would be able to monetize it, they're recreating someone elses IP. Valve is very good with modders, but I don't see them allowing someone to recreate HL1 in Source and try and sell it.
 
spacing guild said:
I think they are trying to monetize it. That's the delay. They might have gotten word about a similar project in Valve...and are being told to hold off.

They know it's what we want. It's what i've been wanting. I can't play the original Half-life no matter how hard I try....it's just too dated and I wasn't a PC gamer when it first came out.

They know there is big money in this.
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No...
 
WhiteZero said:
No...
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No...as in they are not trying to monetize it? Or "no" there wouldn't be money in it?

I know legally they can't make money from it. But what if they are being paid to hold it back?

It's nice to think that modders are in it for the fun...and most are. But i'm sure most would love to be paid for their work.

And I think a project like this is a money-maker. I would gladly pay $29.99 for a half-life redux. I also think a little pride in their franchise might be at play.

"This is something that Valve should be doing..." If I were Gabe, that's what i'd be thinking.
 
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They're not being paid to hold it back; if Valve didn't want them to make it, I'm sure they could find a perfectly good legal reason to prevent them from doing so and not need to buy them off.

Occam's Razor - mods have always had a history of huge ambitions that never appeared, and this one is larger than others.
 
TwistedAegis said:
They're not being paid to hold it back; if Valve didn't want them to make it, I'm sure they could find a perfectly good legal reason to prevent them from doing so and not need to buy them off.

Occam's Razor - mods have always had a history of huge ambitions that never appeared, and this one is larger than others.
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Well... my take on Occam's razor in this instance is...

In 2009, they thought they had enough material for a release. If you're half-way finished something..and you have a rag-tag group of guys with needs other than making a mod, you wouldn't sound so confident in a release. I read their explanation on the ModDB page...

something else is at play not related to whether or not this mod is finished. It still might not be completed...but I'm not so sure that is due to guys getting lazy or losing interest. I don't presume to know what's going on... all I can say is. If I were Valve...i'd be very interested in what these guys are up to.

You know Valve and other companies deal in secrecy. Intellectual property is their trade. There are other ways of doing things than a cease and desist letter that would a.) get tons of publicity and make Valve look like a bad guy. b.) hint that either Valve is working on it...or doesn't want it to be made at all.

This isn't like other total conversion mods that appeal to a smaller, more intimate audience. This is the all-time classic PC video game. The Holy Grail of PC Gaming being redone in the proprietary engine of the sequels and those that created the original. Something that a lot of gamers all over the world would be interested in.

My Occam's Razor... if it makes dollars...it makes sense.
 
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spacing guild said:
Well... my take on Occam's razor in this instance is...

In 2009, they thought they had enough material for a release. If you're half-way finished something..and you have a rag-tag group of guys with needs other than making a mod, you wouldn't sound so confident in a release. I read their explanation on the ModDB page...

something else is at play not related to whether or not this mod is finished. It still might not be completed...but I'm not so sure that is due to guys getting lazy or losing interest. I don't presume to know what's going on... all I can say is. If I were Valve...i'd be very interested in what these guys are up to.

You know Valve and other companies deal in secrecy. Intellectual property is their trade. There are other ways of doing things than a cease and desist letter that would a.) get tons of publicity and make Valve look like a bad guy. b.) hint that either Valve is working on it...or doesn't want it to be made at all.

This isn't like other total conversion mods that appeal to a smaller, more intimate audience. This is the all-time classic PC video game. The Holy Grail of PC Gaming being redone in the proprietary engine of the sequels and those that created the original. Something that a lot of gamers all over the world would be interested in.

My Occam's Razor... if it makes dollars...it makes sense.
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Yeah it could be all of that. Or it could just be that amateur game developers didn't have a good sense of how much work they would get done in a few months...
 
E3 is right around the corner and it wouldn't surprise me if Gabe, or whomever will personally introduce the mod and shed a large light on the team responsible behind it. It would be a super huge win for both camps.
 
BETA. said:
E3 is right around the corner and it wouldn't surprise me if Gabe, or whomever will personally introduce the mod and shed a large light on the team responsible behind it. It would be a super huge win for both camps.
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+1 I'm not trying to put the idea down. I think this needs to be done, whether it's for pay or not.

I for one, hope it's for free and it's a good mod.

People are complaining about the lack of different voice actors in Skyrim. Half-life had like three voice actors and models the whole game... all saying the exact same things...jeez. I just couldn't get through the first hour.
 
BETA. said:
E3 is right around the corner and it wouldn't surprise me if Gabe, or whomever will personally introduce the mod and shed a large light on the team responsible behind it. It would be a super huge win for both camps.
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Valve isn't going to hire a mod team that after eight years can't put out a single product to update a game that they own, the game that put them on the map. I don't think that it could be properly redone. I would be happy with a nice texture pack for half life.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
Valve isn't going to hire a mod team that after eight years can't put out a single product to update a game that they own, the game that put them on the map. I don't think that it could be properly redone. I would be happy with a nice texture pack for half life.
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A lot of Valve's success comes from modders/small teams, so I would not doubt it if they do decide to hire the mod team behind Black Mesa: Source. However, I only believe so if the mod gains popularity in the community and maintains it's momentum. It wouldn't matter if it'd be a remake of their original prize fighter - what matters is if they do it well, enough where it doesn't mess up the original story, maybe even enhancing it.

Oh and texture pack? HL:Source. But it's not that nice, many would say.
 
I don't recall the textures being changed in HL:S. That was purely an engine change from GoldSrc to Source.
 
Valve has made wierd hires, but hiring a bunch of guys who worked on a joke almost as big as DNF does not seem like their style. Also I think valve values creativity and new ideas, simply remaking HL1 is neither of those. The other thing they value is massive popularity IE CS. Once again they have no product. If valve was looking to hire doubt they would be looking for slow disorganized programmers.
 
drako said:
I don't recall the textures being changed in HL:S. That was purely an engine change from GoldSrc to Source.
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There were almost no changes visually in HL:S. Water looked a lot better, and models had rag dolls. That's all I really recall changing. Maybe some lighting and particle effects?
 
BETA. said:
A lot of Valve's success comes from modders/small teams, so I would not doubt it if they do decide to hire the mod team behind Black Mesa: Source. However, I only believe so if the mod gains popularity in the community and maintains it's momentum.
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Yeah, CS, DOD, and TF are all based on original content. Valve already owns Half life and everything about it. They have far more qualified people on staff if they really wanted to remake the game.

That mod lost its momentum three years ago.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
That mod lost its momentum three years ago.
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Maybe their publicity momentum... which is exactly what they wanted to do.
Their statistics show that development has been ramping up lately...

Code: 
[B]18th of March 2012[/B]

Approximate Uncompressed Build Size: 10.9 GB

Average Weekly Commits: 100

Average Weekly Files Changed: 497

Last Commit Revision: 24059


[B]2nd of November 2011[/B]

Approximate Uncompressed Build Size: 8.6 GB

Average Weekly Commits: 50

Average Weekly Files Changed: 166

Last Commit Revision: 21816


[B]2nd of September 2011[/B]

Approximate Uncompressed Build Size: 8.25 GB

Average Weekly Commits: 33

Average Weekly Files Changed: 154

Last Commit Revision: 21295
 
If it even comes out in 2012, they will be updating a 14 year old game with 8 year old graphics...

Guess it becomes a game of, which comes out first Episode 3 or Black Mesa?
 
spacing guild said:
"This is something that Valve should be doing..." If I were Gabe, that's what i'd be thinking.
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From everything I've read about how Valve operates Gabe may very well be thinking that, half of Valve's employees could even be thinking that, and not a single thing will get done about it.

There's apparently very little structure other than individual employees self-directing whichever projects interest them. There aren't like assigned teams or project leads to guide a project. Unless a group of employees started working on a remake of HL1 it simply won't get done and my money would be on the fact that in an atmosphere like that there's a ton more interesting projects I'd find much more interesting than a stale remake.
 
You guys need to read the interview with Carlos Montero that Rock Paper Scissors did recently. It explains a lot:

Part 1

Part 2

The mod is still being worked on.

--

Also, HL:S did NOT update textures, models, etc... only the engine. However, several modding groups did. I was part of one of those groups. We had a project called HL:S:HD over on the HL-improvement forums that unified the work of two different projects (one for models, one for world textures). This mod suffered the same fate as many mods, the teams lost interest and moved on to other things. That said, all the weapon & character models were replaced, along with several world props, with much higher polygon / texture res versions. In addition, a large number of world textures were replaced. It only amounted to about 3%, but they were the most reused textures, so they do make a significant impact on the game. When the mod shut down, I collected all of our work and made an "un-official" release. If you are at all interested in playing HL:S closer to how it should have been released, then you might be interested in these files:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/21759617/HLSHD_BETA_02_rar

It is not without its bugs, but I've played the game numerous times with this pack and can assure you they are minor. Here are some pics to show the difference:

hl1024.jpg

Original

hlwwann5.jpg

HL:S:HD

There are more in my ginormous Screen Shot Thread over in my forums. If you have any questions or run into problems with the files, feel free to PM me here or there.
 
The interview has been linked to like 20 different times. They can claim whatever they want but at this point unless they have something show for it it is nothing but claims.
 
those screenshots are not from Black Mesa right?...it looks improved but not a night/day difference...more like a night/late afternoon difference...character models still look blocky
 
polonyc2 said:
those screenshots are not from Black Mesa right?...it looks improved but not a night/day difference...more like a night/late afternoon difference...character models still look blocky
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Did you actually read my post, lol. No, those pictures are not from the Black Mesa Project. They are from a long lost mod to HL:S that died years ago. It is however, still the best content added package for those who want to play through HL:S
 
fps4ever said:
Go away...
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Not knowing who you are or who / what exactly you are referring to, I did a cursory search of your posts. It seems you are the king of valueless replies. So until you actually say something constructive, I'll be writing you off as just another troll. :)
 
Frraksurred said:
Not knowing who you are or who / what exactly you are referring to, I did a cursory search of your posts. It seems you are the king of valueless replies. So until you actually say something constructive, I'll be writing you off as just another troll. :)
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Frrak, thanks for caring enough to research me but it wasn't meant for you...this thread needs to go away as there's no value to it. Should have made that clearer! :)
 
fps4ever said:
Frrak, thanks for caring enough to research me but it wasn't meant for you...this thread needs to go away as there's no value to it. Should have made that clearer! :)
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On that we can agree, lol. Sorry for the tongue lashing then. :p
 
fps4ever said:
Frrak, thanks for caring enough to research me but it wasn't meant for you...this thread needs to go away as there's no value to it. Should have made that clearer! :)
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Apparently there is enough "value" to this thread that people keep replying to it. Must feel bad having to see it keep popping up, huh? :cool:
Especially when you bump it with your pointless "Go away..." replies. Seems counter-productive?
 
I think I will make sure to make an equally pointless post in this thread each day just to piss off fps4ever. :D
 
I think keeping threads like this up on the list will show the Black Mesa devs how much we still want their mod, and will make them work harder!


bump
 
Honestly I hope it gets pushed back if it means they can spend more time making a better game.




(lol)
 
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