Black Mesa Source Countdown

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Makaveli

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2002
4,715
1,049
136
I've restarted Steam and my computer.

Nothing there

if you have any saved games from the initial play back them up and re-install the game. Then when the install is done uncheck the box to run the game right after install. shutdown steam then reopen should be there.
 

Sable

Golden Member
Jan 7, 2006
1,127
97
91
I downloaded this torrent that was posted a few pages back. I have bittorrent installed.. anyway. Once the download was complete there was a file with winzip folders and a .exe set up app. I just clicked on that, it decompressed all the zipped folders and installed. Took like 20 mins. The I was able to play the game.

I did have hl source already installed on steam, this Mod shows up as Black Mesa in the games view on steam, not Half Like Black mesa, Just black mesa.

https://kat.ph/black-mesa-source-pc-t6658122.html
I did exactly this and it worked fine.
 
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
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if you have any saved games from the initial play back them up and re-install the game. Then when the install is done uncheck the box to run the game right after install. shutdown steam then reopen should be there.

I don't know what happened, but it decided to show up randomly
 

PrincessFrosty

Platinum Member
Feb 13, 2008
2,301
68
91
www.frostyhacks.blogspot.com
Played this through today in one sitting, it was extremely well made from start to finish, it stayed true to the original but the developers added their own flair with slightly different and new areas and puzzles.

If you like the original half life you have to play this, no doubt about it.
 

Blitzvogel

Platinum Member
Oct 17, 2010
2,012
23
81
Yah I got the toilet paper achievement.

Me too, that was a great bit. The addition of achievements was an unecessary, but still nice touch to make the game more modern lol :D

And now I know what the funny mugs with the faces are referencing.
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
2,844
4
81
downloaded and tried it today, looks fantastic.

I actually might play all the way through HL1 this time. It came out before my time and the original was just too aged for me to really enjoy it.

Any chance steam will add this to their library so it doesnt have to be installed as "non-steam mod or shortcut"?
 

OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
5,494
4
81
Got it installed. Performance seems really touchy. It seems to have issues with quad cores, so you have to set your affinity for hl2.exe to 3/4 cores. I think I'm going to wait for an update before I get invested.
 

Crow550

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2005
2,381
5
81
In Steam you can also right click on Black Mesa and goto Properties then set launch options and add -threads # (# being number of cpu cores for example -threads 4)

As well as -high which will set the game to a high cpu priority. (Example -threads 4 -high) then click ok.

So give those two commands a whirl.
 
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ApexBoost

Member
May 5, 2011
125
0
0
What kind of performance issues are popping up with quad cores? I haven't noticed any problems on my 2500k but Ill keep my eye out.

Any chance steam will add this to their library so it doesnt have to be installed as "non-steam mod or shortcut"?

It was Greenlighted through Steam so it should be on Steam sometime, not sure how long the whole process takes though.
 
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slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
101
Yep, blur is the first game I have.

Ok, found the problem. The installer lets you pick where you install the game, but you need to take the defaults.

I just read this on the blackmesa forums:

Please ensure that you've installed into Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\BMS. Many of the issues that have been reported are caused by an incorrect installation. The mod folder must be named BMS for the game to work correctly.

WTF in this day and age that you can't install the game to where you want it and it works. So much for putting my games on the E drive. I know it will play from there, why can't they make it show up on my library with the directory there? I'm down to just a few gig left on my C partition and would rather not put more shit there than I have to.
 
Apr 17, 2003
37,622
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76
the platforming is absolutely horrible. I tried to use a barrel to get on top of two containers to make it into a vent for 30 minutes...turned the shit off after that.
 

queequeg99

Senior member
Oct 17, 2001
571
5
81
I'll have to go back and look at the original to see how much of an improvement this is. But so far, I really love what I'm seeing. I'm kind of an old fart around here (mid 40s) and Half Life was one of the most anticipated games back in the day and it blew me away. There's a huge nostalgia factor at work here. But really, this is a worthy download.
 

Geosurface

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2012
5,776
4
0
I'm trying to figure out if it looks so good because I know it's HL1 and I remember the areas, because it's HL1 updated I mean... or if it just simply looks good regardless?

Probably the first one or a combination. I guess compared to Crysis 2 or something it doesn't look great.

But to me, it looks fantastic.
 

Northern Lawn

Platinum Member
May 15, 2008
2,231
2
0
I'm trying to figure out if it looks so good because I know it's HL1 and I remember the areas, because it's HL1 updated I mean... or if it just simply looks good regardless?

Probably the first one or a combination. I guess compared to Crysis 2 or something it doesn't look great.

But to me, it looks fantastic.

If this wasn't half life 1 it would NOT look good. I say it looks..well Far Cry came out in 2004, and Far Cry looks better then Black Mesa. So I would say Black Mesa looks at least 8 years old and isn't that when they started working on this mod.
 
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Geosurface

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2012
5,776
4
0
If this wasn't half life 1 it would NOT look good. I say it looks..well Far Cry came out in 2004, and Far Cry looks better then Black Mesa. So I would say Black Mesa looks at least 8 years old and isn't that when they started working on this mod.

Disagree.

fY7DQ.jpg
 

Kalmah

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2003
3,692
1
76
One thing I noticed, when you are near hazardous material the entire screen get's a film-grain affect. It looks really nice. I wish the game had this film grain by default. I wonder if there is a way to turn it on?
 

surfsatwerk

Lifer
Mar 6, 2008
10,110
5
81
One thing I noticed, when you are near hazardous material the entire screen get's a film-grain affect. It looks really nice. I wish the game had this film grain by default. I wonder if there is a way to turn it on?

I noticed that as I was going all "smashy smashy" with the crowbar and gots blowed up.
 

Geosurface

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2012
5,776
4
0
One thing I noticed, when you are near hazardous material the entire screen get's a film-grain affect. It looks really nice. I wish the game had this film grain by default. I wonder if there is a way to turn it on?

I just got to parts where I noticed this too, and I really like it. It's very cool.

However I fully disagree that it would be good to have on at all times, that's silly IMO.

But man... I just got to the part where you kill something very large (keeping it vague for newbs) and I am just completely loving this.

This is really, really well done and I'm having a hell of a fun time. For the last several years I've played plenty of games I loved, a recent example being Max Payne 3, but there hasn't been anything that really hit the nail on the head in a while, or if I thought there was... it wasn't hitting quite the same nail in quite the same way as this is.

This is just a great old school experience, with enough new stuff to make it all the better. This is reminding me why I loved Half-Life 1 so much. And games of that era so much.

Great as some current games are, like Max Payne 3, or Deus Ex: Human Revolution, etc etc... there is something really great about this older type of game that is more bare bones.

What I mean is, Half-Life 1 didn't constantly pull you out of first person to show you a cinematic conversation from a third person perspective, it didn't constantly present you with cutscenes and dialogue trees. Those things are fine but sometimes I think they pull you out of it in a way... I'm not saying they should be done away with, I'm just saying there's something really fun about going back to one of the older style games that didn't use them.

It's very immersive. And another thing is that HL1 didn't hesitate to put you in some expansive, desolate, lonely environments... it had the restraint to let some periods of time pass without enemies, and put you in big hollow chasms deep underground. Talk about atmosphere... it also gave you the time to really get comfortable in your character's skin. You had the time and opportunities to really learn how your character controlled, and you felt like you had total control of him.

HL1 gave you the crouch/jump thing and then it gave you plenty of reasons and times to use it, some modern games you get these powers or weapons and then the game suddenly ends. Or you pour all these points into advancing your character's stats and then the game ends. Games are too short these days... and you never feel like you can explore much. Generally. Obviously stuff like Skyrim is a big exception.

I know HL1 is very linear but it did a good job of making you feel like there were exploration opportunities, and I'm enjoying taking my time, exploring every nook and cranny and trying to find little easter eggs.

I think some of you who talk about how far you are into this game are cheating yourself by blasting through it so fast. Especially whoever said they did it in one day. I've been guilty of that sort of behavior before, but I'm glad I'm savoring this a bit more. It's worthy of it.

That's why 1998 was the golden age of gaming, there were enough advancements to bring things out of the era when games were TOO simplistic, but not so many as to endure the problems we have now where they are a little too contrived, too many camera tricks, third person dialogue moments, etc...

and another thing, HL1 wasn't afraid to have long periods of no music. I like that. Sometimes I find myself wishing there was more but, I think it's done well to have it just be occasional.

I can't wait until they finish this and I really hope they do, soon. I know Xen always got a bad rap but I loved it. Lair of the Gonark ftw.