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Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update

half-life.com

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Re: Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update

#271

Post by account42 »

liontwist wrote: post #171

It's extremely rare to revisit a game like this for fear of new regressions. I'm sure every game goes out the door with 10-20 bad bugs that would be easy to fix, but it's just too late to touch. It also sounds like the fixed a lot of art/ambience regressions introduced by newer source engines over the years. Anyway, it's exciting to see an update like this, and a testament to their prior engineering that they can tur…

They already upgraded the game a couple of times since release. A big one was the Linux port which also saw many changes to the Windows version.

Regressions do happen which is why they opened a (public) bug tracker at the time, which is still in use: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues

If you have any HL2 issues, now is probably a good time to get them fixed before the developers responsible for the update get bored and move to another project.

Re: Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update

#272

Post by derbOac »

kartoffelsaft wrote: post #126
derbOac wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've played through HL2 and its expansions so many times as a kind of meditative relaxation thing I couldn't tell you how many times. I could never get used to Ravenholm though. Thinking about it even now years later stresses me out a tad.

For whatever reason, Ravenholm didn't particularly unsettle me. I don't know what it is, maybe expectation from the praise it receives left me underwhelmed, or maybe it's the fact that I was quite literally a toddler when the game came out and only first played it in 2019? To be fair, I did enjoy it and could feel the intent of it being the horror section. I could see it usettling me if I played it at the time, but I…

Trying to think about it, I think it was the dynamics of the "fast zombies". I think if you plunked me in a crude pixelated FPS with abstract enemies, but with the same sudden accelerating approach dynamics I probably would have a similar stress reaction. I've always preferred FPS gameplay that's more focused on problem-solving without time limits, or where there's more of a strategic dynamic, like Portal (reading about HL2 has actually if anything made me want to play Portal 2 again, although HL2 as well).

I definitely think the atmosphere of Ravenholm contributed to my feelings about it, but I suspect if it was just the slow zombies or was all puzzles or something I would actually really enjoy it. There was something about the atmosphere + claustrophobic spaces + fast zombies in places I didn't like. Or rather, I did like it but not as much as the rest of it.

Re: Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update

#273

Post by sheepdestroyer »

KronisLV wrote: post #254
talldayo wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, nothing. It's perfectly possible to precompile shaders on Windows - it's just not convenient or logical for most PC users. On console, precompiling makes sense because you know exactly what hardware a user will have and you can optimize for one or two sets of hardware. The effort required to automatically package and download these shaders for users on their first load is worth it, so it's a viable fix t…

Thank you for the explanation! Honestly, it feels like precompiling all the shaders should be done during loading the assets initially, with the in place option being optional.

I thought that it could be done at install time.

Re: Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update

#274

Post by barryrandall »

green-salt wrote: post #8

I extremely recommend scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page for this one.

I stopped 2/3 of the way through the announcement. By the time I got to the final 1/3 of the story, I just couldn't imagine the ending living up to the expectations set in the first 2/3 of the announcement, and stopped.

Re: Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update

#275

Post by brnt »

satvikpendem wrote: post #230
brnt wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, Windows gamers are using DXVK to reduce overhead. One needs to realise graphics APIs have historically not been terribly efficient.

How do you know that those graphics APIs have not been efficient?

Benchmarks.

There was a reason Mantle/Vulkan came to be.

Re: Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update

#276

Post by justaj »

dawnerd wrote: post #217
justaj wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if I already own HL2, that means I'd automatically be able to access those sequels / episodes?

Yep they’re actually all just one game now. They’ve bundled them and kinda archived them old standalone.

That's really nice. This is what I would call a great value-add through goodwill directed at the community. I hope to do something similar if I ever get to run an enterprise.

Re: Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update

#277

Post by markus_zhang »

IYasha wrote: post #253
markus_zhang wrote: post #129

For anyone who wants a creative hobby, grab the game, download the SDK and start making maps/mods. It took a lot of effort to craft beautiful map, but comparing to later engines, HL2 is still easier to learn and make maps for. (DOOM and Quake are also good targets and both have a large community)

HL1 is also good for a hobby, if not better. There are open-source alternatives to the engine and better editors, and the off-steam community still delivers!

Yeah that's also good. I used to play with Worldcraft a lot back in the 00s, such memories!
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