Quote from dux2 hours ago, dux said: Very cool pic but it doesn't look particularly Xen like
This pic is actually of a completely original location - we are saving the really organic and juicy strange shit for later 
Also dont worry we arent throwing the original completely out, there will be loads of visually recognizable parts.
Quote from D3ads38 minutes ago, D3ads said: Is that Combine structures I see?
idk is it?! 
Not to spit on the good work, but when I saw it on twitter i thought it was a leak of some new HL stuff from Valve 
I think it looks really cool
Quote from JeanPaul35 minutes ago, JeanPaul said: This pic is actually of a completely original location - we are saving the really organic and juicy strange shit for later
Also dont worry we arent throwing the original completely out, there will be loads of visually recognizable parts.
idk is it?!
any eta for release? I'm about to hit that magical limit where I have to replay HL1 again. Or I guess in this case Black Mesa
Quote from Sentura1 hour ago, Sentura said: any eta for release? I'm about to hit that magical limit where I have to replay HL1 again. Or I guess in this case Black Mesa
Same!
Quote from Sentura2 hours ago, Sentura said: any eta for release?...Black Mesa
realtalk, I can't fucking believe this discussion is still happening. Like, life is a cruel sort of torture in a way.
ETA ON BLACK MESA..... IT'S ALMOST 2017
Quote from blackdog3 hours ago, blackdog said: Not to spit on the good work, but when I saw it on twitter i thought it was a leak of some new HL stuff from Valve
Hey you thought our work was Valve's, I take that as a compliment
Quote from FMPONE58 minutes ago, FMPONE said: realtalk, I can't fucking believe this discussion is still happening. Like, life is a cruel sort of torture in a way.
ETA ON BLACK MESA..... IT'S ALMOST 2017
Its a lot of work dawg!
I mean even getting the game from mod to steam release was an incredible amount of code. Almost disturbing how much actually.
Our official statment for release atm is summer 2017. We are definitely pushing all out to keep it that timeframe.
Looks really nice!
Looks cool, but also _very_ busy.
Quote from JeanPaulOn 12/22/2016 at 7:38 PM, JeanPaul said: Hey guys
How about a lil xen
Dear Esther: Xen
Dont forget about our pretty massive dynamic lighting update
[Blocked Image: http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity…0af361563f2.gif]
Saw the tweet this morning, and it looks fucking A.
They are doing some impressive stuff with the engine, I didn't think they would have access and liberty to change this much.
Well done linking it @JeanPaul, and most importantly kudos for the work 
Black mesa update!
http://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/a…703306631918308
Its an engine release so our future xen and interloper maps are as bug free and playable as possible.
Quote
Dynamic Lights - Full featured dynamic lights that are able to cast real time shadows, project textures, and emit volumetric light (godrays). These have been implemented across earthbound to help amp up the visual fidelity and “nextgen-ness”.
Overhauled CSM and Godrays - Cascade Shadow Maps (CSM) have been totally rewritten and now run better than before. Godrays are completely overhauled to run smoother and operate off of a new entity that automatically gets the sun angle from the environment light.
Image Based Ambient Lighting - Lighting can now be generated based off of the skybox image. This allows mappers to have significantly more accurate environmental lighting, which automatically takes into account the nuances and difference colours of the sky. This is unlike any other version of Source, where environment lighting is simply one flat colour picked by the mapper.
4 Way Texture Support - 4 way texture blends are now supported in engine, each with their own bump map, specular map, and procedural blending options. This allows for much more variety in texturing natural landscapes, as most older versions of Source only support 2 way texture blends.
Improved Prop Lighting - While developing Xen, we realized the existing Source lighting just wasn't accurate enough. In the original Source, up to 4 lights are allowed per object and there is no self-shadowing. This works fine for small or medium sized objects, but for something like a massive, detailed rock archway, the limitations appear. In the screenshot, the vines hanging under the arch do not appear properly in shadow, and the arch looks strangely flat because only 4 light samples are being taken. Our new static lighting supports all the nearby lights in the scene, self-shadows correctly, and also works seamlessly with both our new skydome lighting and our new dynamic lights. This makes a big difference "merging" the objects with their environment.
Left is the old style of prop lighting, Right is the new:
[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/ybPA1Tz.jpg]
[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/yNwj2sA.jpg]
Doubled Source Displacement Limit - Max number of displacements allowed per map from 2048 to 4096. This allows the creation of more detailed and expansive natural outdoor environments.
While this quote here doesnt include everything - its the main things I figured mapcore guys would be excited about. The new dynamic lighting stuff is really intense and honestly opens up source to a whole new realms and genres of level design. (our dlights work through alpha textures as well) If you havent seen an ingame example of image based ambient lighting I suggest you give it a shot - the difference from stock ambient is immense.
One last thing I would like to note for anyone potentially doing a single player project: the doubled displcement limit is a WAY bigger deal than you think. In fact the entire concept behind one of the xen maps I designed wouldnt even be remotely possible with the previous limit. The doubled limit was one of the most important things to happen to our maps - and here is the crazy part - it took one programmer less than a minute to change and has not a single bad effect in our game so far. Makes you think why the original limit exists in the first place
Woot!
Quote from JeanPaul5 hours ago, JeanPaul said: and here is the crazy part - it took one programmer less than a minute to change and has not a single bad effect in our game so far. Makes you think why the original limit exists in the first place
Woot!
It's common practice for people to create limits on tools. Having boundaries helps you be creative, when you're limited by a specific factor you have a smaller playing field that you can control better, when you have a "sky is the limit" situation it's more daunting and prone to paralysis by analysis.
Plus, it creates lines for programmers and others to measure performance and other aspects.
Maybe im readying too much onto it, but i have seen this happen repetitively and still do.
Really looking forward to this man.
Very excited for Xen. It would be cool to create a custom Black Mesa mod
Mapcore content pack? Anyway, keep the upgrades coming.
Quote from JeanPaul20 hours ago, JeanPaul said:
Would programmers be okay with revealing how exactly they made volumetric lightning more efficient?
Quote from laminutederire4 hours ago, laminutederire said: Would programmers be okay with revealing how exactly they made volumetric lightning more efficient?
I am sure they would totally be down to help. I wouldnt be able to explain it in the slightest and I am sure it would require more than a forum post to get the ideas across. Im not sure how public or readily available their contact information is but if you need it just pm me.
Quote from JeanPaul4 hours ago, JeanPaul said: I am sure they would totally be down to help. I wouldnt be able to explain it in the slightest and I am sure it would require more than a forum post to get the ideas across. Im not sure how public or readily available their contact information is but if you need it just pm me.
I don't need it, but as I did a course on realistic rendering using Monte Carlo integration, aka path tracing too costly for real time, I was curious to know if the methods we used to accelerate rendering are the same methods used in this game implementation
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