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Half Life 2 Cinematic Mod

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
I dont like this game very much but it looks pretty good with this mod, if you turn off the ''enhanced'' bloom and camera lens effect. Although because i am very monocled i preffer the drab, muddy look of the original. But i know many Codexers are serious graphic whores, so...
Below are supposed to be screenshots but this is from a phone so there isnt any. It looks as good or even better than many modern games, for some reason. Note that the mod has some graphic (ha ha) graffiti, like dicks. And some stupid wall writtings like ''Fuck the Combine! Fuck them in the ass!'' or similar. The average fan of this game will probably not appreciate that. The gunplay is better however, with new guns that recoil and have ironsights instead of crosshair. Its all toogleable though and you can play with the old ones if you want. You can also toogle between night or daytime ''buggy highway'' sequence, whichever works better for you. I found that daytime has a more desolate feel to it. This whole sequence would work better without the buggy actually, but whatever. Well, i guess thats all.
 
Self-Ejected

theSavant

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
2,009
I'm also looking forward to play this mod somewhere in the future. Afaik you can choose to not replace the character models, if you wish so.
 

schru

Arcane
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
1,131
I don't think the mod has anything of value to offer. It's the kind of ‘programmer art’ where more and in higher-resolution is supposed to be better. The original game still looks very nice, too. I doubt the addition of iron sights improves the game in any way either, given how it was designed to be a pretty straightforward shooter in which the player engages enemies close-up without having to worry about health much.
 

agentorange

Arcane
Patron
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Aug 14, 2012
Messages
5,256
Location
rpghq (cant read codex pms cuz of fag 2fa)
Codex 2012
Anyone have that image showing how he improved the terrain around the collapsing citadel in city 17, you know an apocalyptic industrial wasteland, by adding thousands of the same looking shrubbery all over? You get a sense of it in that screenshot with Dog, but 100x worse.
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
I don't think the mod has anything of value to offer. It's the kind of ‘programmer art’ where more and in higher-resolution is supposed to be better. The original game still looks very nice, too. I doubt the addition of iron sights improves the game in any way either, given how it was designed to be a pretty straightforward shooter in which the player engages enemies close-up without having to worry about health much.

I know what you mean but its not just hi rez textures, there is also a LOT more objects like trees, rocks etc. The canal section for example has debris chunks all over the ground which is how it would look. Also for example, there are shored up ships around beaches which other than looking spectacular are in line with Valves original intent of Earth's oceans being dried up.

Im not a fan of ironsights either but seeing how HL2 gunplay is pretty basic, a lil bit of tacticizing doesnt hurt. Now you cant just point and hold the trigger no matter where the target is, because of recoil you have to use short bursts and use ironsights for long range. You can turn on or off the crosshair but its better without it. Only the basic handgun has laser sights which makes it stand out in a non ''gun statistical'' way .
 

Master

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Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
Anyone have that image showing how he improved the terrain around the collapsing citadel in city 17, you know an apocalyptic industrial wasteland, by adding thousands of the same looking shrubbery all over? You get a sense of it in that screenshot with Dog, but 100x worse.
Was that in episode 1? Funny, it never crossed my mind but yeah, thats pretty stupid. It looked great though.
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
SBkyIkP.jpg

1456447117157.jpg

1446823313945.jpg

1451689873689.jpg

cm_11_15.jpg

cm_11_18.jpg
Yeah the modder has problems. But at least all this shit is toggleable. Just use the new Combine models.
 

schru

Arcane
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
1,131
I know what you mean but its not just hi rez textures, there is also a LOT more objects like trees, rocks etc. The canal section for example has debris chunks all over the ground which is how it would look. Also for example, there are shored up ships around beaches which other than looking spectacular are in line with Valves original intent of Earth's oceans being dried up.

Im not a fan of ironsights either but seeing how HL2 gunplay is pretty basic, a lil bit of tacticizing doesnt hurt. Now you cant just point and hold the trigger no matter where the target is, because of recoil you have to use short bursts and use ironsights for long range. You can turn on or off the crosshair but its better without it. Only the basic handgun has laser sights which makes it stand out in a non ''gun statistical'' way .
Well, I don't think the maps really need more props; they're nicely composed as they are. There was that one ludicrous version where the author of the mod added bridges everywhere:

liUVj.jpg


1455034327136.jpg


Well, his tastes are kind of incredible in a way.

Also, the dryed up sea is clearly hinted at in the final game, contrary to what many people who wish it were more like the early concepts say.

As for the game-play, Half-Life 2 wouldn't benefit from iron sights because it's not designed to be a tactical game. Its pedigree is still somewhat old school, with ease of movement and the ability to carry many weapons. It's supposed to be fast-flowing and let the player withstand more damage in order to play around with the enemies. The apparent realism is there rather for the sake of style and atmosphere.
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
I know what you mean but its not just hi rez textures, there is also a LOT more objects like trees, rocks etc. The canal section for example has debris chunks all over the ground which is how it would look. Also for example, there are shored up ships around beaches which other than looking spectacular are in line with Valves original intent of Earth's oceans being dried up.

Im not a fan of ironsights either but seeing how HL2 gunplay is pretty basic, a lil bit of tacticizing doesnt hurt. Now you cant just point and hold the trigger no matter where the target is, because of recoil you have to use short bursts and use ironsights for long range. You can turn on or off the crosshair but its better without it. Only the basic handgun has laser sights which makes it stand out in a non ''gun statistical'' way .
Well, I don't think the maps really need more props; they're nicely composed as they are. There was that one ludicrous version where the author of the mod added bridges everywhere:

liUVj.jpg


1455034327136.jpg


Well, his tastes are kind of incredible in a way.

Also, the dryed up sea is clearly hinted at in the final game, contrary to what many people who wish it were more like the early concepts say.

As for the game-play, Half-Life 2 wouldn't benefit from iron sights because it's not designed to be a tactical game. Its pedigree is still somewhat old school, with ease of movement and the ability to carry many weapons. It's supposed to be fast-flowing and let the player withstand more damage in order to play around with the enemies. The apparent realism is there rather for the sake of style and atmosphere.

I think the bridges were first collapsed which made sense and looked cool. But then he changed them to those.:retarded:
I dont know how its in the new version.

I see what you mean about gunplay. It does look like CoD sometimes.

But i still wouldnt mind some spicing it up... Are there any ''gameplay'' mods for HL2?
 

schru

Arcane
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
1,131
I don't know. I do feel the balance of the game is off in that it's too easy to kill all the enemies before they do anything interesting, but I never tried to search for any mods that would address that. It's not that it's like CoD either, which is basically a collection of heavily scripted shooting-galleries that lost their charm after the first game. HL2 still has a decent variety of weapons and requires a good amount of mobility on the player's part. It's just that it relies too much on pitting you against groups of soldiers you can kill easily with the rifle, so there's no reason to play around with different approaches or to play very carefully.

Since the AI and maps are designed with that kind of game-play in mind, slowing things down and adding any more realistic aspects wouldn't mesh well with that. Perhaps making the player more vulnerable without boosting the enemies' endurance would make it a bit better.

Overall, I think the main attraction of the game are the set pieces, atmosphere, and the first-time excitement of stumbling through all the situations in the game. HL2 looked like it was supposed to play more like a kind of a hybrid of survival horror and shooter in the 2003 trailers. If Valve had managed to make the encounters more like that, I think the game would have been better for it:

 

Egosphere

Arcane
Joined
Jan 25, 2018
Messages
1,909
Location
Hibernia
Are there mods to bring back all the cut content from the pre-beta leaks? The cremators, the flare gun, the tau-cannon etc.
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
I don't know. I do feel the balance of the game is off in that it's too easy to kill all the enemies before they do anything interesting, but I never tried to search for any mods that would address that. It's not that it's like CoD either, which is basically a collection of heavily scripted shooting-galleries that lost their charm after the first game. HL2 still has a decent variety of weapons and requires a good amount of mobility on the player's part. It's just that it relies too much on pitting you against groups of soldiers you can kill easily with the rifle, so there's no reason to play around with different approaches or to play very carefully.

Since the AI and maps are designed with that kind of game-play in mind, slowing things down and adding any more realistic aspects wouldn't mesh well with that. Perhaps making the player more vulnerable without boosting the enemies' endurance would make it a bit better.

Overall, I think the main attraction of the game are the set pieces, atmosphere, and the first-time excitement of stumbling through all the situations in the game. HL2 looked like it was supposed to play more like a kind of a hybrid of survival horror and shooter in the 2003 trailers. If Valve had managed to make the encounters more like that, I think the game would have been better for it:


After looking a bit there doesnt seem to be any proper balance or AI mods. Weird... Cinematic mod at least makes headshots more lethal.

Also:

In that video above, the gunfire, both of the player and the enemies, lights up the environment. This doesnt happen in my game. If i stand in a completely dark room and shoot, nothing like seen in the video happens. Is this a bug? Or was it like that in the released game?
 

schru

Arcane
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
1,131
It's an effect that was removed from the final version of teh game but left in in Counter-Strike: Source. I think it was included in the mod Missing Information which also has those maps from the trailers. It seems like it can't just be enabled in the game using a console command, but there's a page in the Valve Developer Community wiki about adding it: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Muzzle_Flash_Lighting
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
Ok thanks, I'll try it out later. Wonder why they removed it.
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
So, i managed to get the gun flashes in via some mod. Its great, adds some other stuff too but at times it kinda lowers my framerate so ill just play without it...
Anyway, after some consideration, fuck the Cinematic Mod. I dont know what was i thinking. Game looks good as it is, and with the update patch even better.
 

A horse of course

Guest
Are there mods to bring back all the cut content from the pre-beta leaks? The cremators, the flare gun, the tau-cannon etc.

It depends on how autistic you are. There were a number of aborted projects for Half Life 2/the SDK which tried to make use of cut content (typically a combination of assets left in the retail game and the modding community's own work). Most of the them fell by the wayside but there's a least one major mod which was very short and somewhat disjointed, but covered a fair few of the missing levels and enemies. There are also a bunch of unrelated mods which had their own versions of the flare gun, tau cannon etc. In short most of the stuff that was relatively simple to mod in was done so, but Cremators, tentacle thingies (forgot the name) and Combine heavies are a lot more difficult to tackle because even in the case of those which actually worked, many of their composite parts (e.g. full models, animations) either used placeholder assets or existed solely in the leaked E3 build, which became a somewhat thorny legal issue...

This leads straight into the murkier side of things, where there were (are?) teams working on the original leaked (and still illegal) E3 build to make it more "complete" and accessible. Some people even dreamed of fixing the entire "game" as a sort of alternative HL2. They usually tried to fix missing animations, crashes, try to make level transitions more natural and such. I played a couple of these, and there's not really much reason to do so for people with a passing interest in the game. I think most people are fine just reading Raising the Bar or watching a youtube video on the topic.

Basically, the primary historical value of the leaked build is as proof that Valve were lying through their teeth and 100% bullshitting about the game's "revolutionary" AI.

edit: "Missing Information" mod is the former I was thinking of. Can't remember whether it's for Half Life 2, or the Source 2007 SDK.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Tiospo

Learned
Joined
Aug 1, 2018
Messages
129
Aww that's a bummer, but hey, at least it makes HL2 look nicer.
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
update patch
Do you mean Filip Victor's mod? That's shit too. It just adds green fog and light shafts everywhere instead of actually fixing anything.
It adds HDR to all maps. Afaik this wasnt in originally. Some other stuff too bit most noticeably the sky and all other light sources are much softer looking with this.
 

deama

Prophet
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
4,352
Location
UK
Well, there's a review of it if anyone wants to know more:
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
Well, there's a review of it if anyone wants to know more:

Stupid review. He doesnt mind the visuals and especially not the music(!?), but the fact that the modder "changed" the holy HL2 gameplay. The shotgun didnt need to be more powerful? How come since before it took two blasts to the face to take down a soldier?? These few gameplay tweaks are the only thing the mod is worth for.
The best way to play HL2 is using an older version from before they updated it and broke everything. Also who cares about HDR, the game looked fine (better) without it.
I usually hate HDR in games too but here its pretty subtle and doesnt burn your eyes or anything.
 

A horse of course

Guest
The best way to play HL2 is using an older version from before they updated it and broke everything. Also who cares about HDR, the game looked fine (better) without it.

I'd rather just play HL1
 

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