JeanPaul

Well now is your chance Only the gasmask marines use new lines which are just pitched down Tsarouhas recordings.

Update time! https://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/1711867920418803575 @Pampers I urge you to replay the earthbound maps with our new marine AI and combat space refinements. The AI is an incredible improvement imo. They have classes, bark all their voice lines loud and clear, and will flank the ever living crap out of you . We also implemented our improved vorts from the alien maps into all the earthbound chapters. The new vorts run around the combat spaces a ton more, actively dodge your attacks mid fight, and had a lot of their timings changed so they feel like an actual thinking creature out to get you. They also have a new AOE slam attack that damages you and pushes you back if you get to close so watch out! I really cannot state enough how much the combat has improved its legitimately like a whole new game in certain areas and that much closer to the old half life feel.

Im glad you liked xen! The lack of marine chatter is a bug and will be fixed. Also youre in luck because our release coming out of early access will include a human grunt ai overhaul and a ton of small earthbound map refinements

We just released an open technical beta if you would like to play the first three maps (out of 19 total) https://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/1613893608676653038

Im pretty sure this is a thing you can do with any source engine game so I am sure we will have the support for it as well. (on both points you brought up) Our workshop might be a bit in shambles (last I checked) atm but it takes a load of programming power to get working properly so its on our immediately to do list once we release xen. We want to support mods and mod makers as much as possible so any additional input people have in this realm will definitely be listened to.

Obviously everyone on the team is in support for making the game as moddable and open as possible with sdk tools and documentation on all the new stuff. Youll be able to make anything you normally can on valve source engine games. I would love to do map pack related things (like csgo updates you mean right?) but stuff like that is still up in the air. We'll have to gauge the community interest somehow first. I personally want to continue to produce more SP content for the game post xen release so I am in support of any community that aims to do the same. Yo!

Yes there are definitely plans to do a full pass on the earthbound maps with all this new stuff post xen release. ?

Some Black Mesa news if you missed it: https://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/1715207569423590279 New Features Screenspace Fog ("Xog") Using the GBuffer that we've developed for our new Dynamic Lights, we've added a dynamic, very flexible new fog system that replaces Source's legacy fog. The new "Xog" can be configured on the fly with instant results ingame, it can change over time with I/O, and it can vary in density and color based on height. Best of all, it's very inexpensive to render, costing about as much performance as a single dynamic light. Our level designers were slack-jawed when they saw how much it improves the look of the whole game, bringing a true sense of scale to the levels. New Alien Grunt NPC (Agrunts) Our original Alien Grunts were tank enemies that shot ridiculously powerful homing bees. They fit relatively well into the tough, cover-laden final levels of Earth. In the vast, wide open spaces of Xen however, they became extremely frustrating to fight. The new Agrunt is the most mobile, unpredictable enemy in the whole game besides our assassins. They'll leap onto different platforms, find a way to outflank you, get in your face, and unleash a devastating secondary "hornet hurricane" attack. As a much-needed balance, the bees from them no longer home in on you, and individual bee damage has been lowered. New Controller NPC (Xontrollers) The player only encounters Controllers once in the released game. They were a good, if a bit simple, final enemy type for the Earth bound levels. For Xen, we drastically expanded their abilities, turning them into a kind of overlord or mini-boss. We don't want to spoil everything about their new abilities -- but mind-control, telekinesis, and crystal-powered shields are just a taste of what players can expect. Improved Vortigaunt NPC (Xorts) These were another straightforward enemy from Earth-levels. We mostly teleported them straight onto the player and expected them to be gunned down in a few seconds. For Xen, we have worked them into a much more intelligent, emotional creature. In keeping with the original Xen, they won't be hostile to the player by default. Flashlight Shadows Flashlight shadows are back! Last patch we switched to one of our new dynamic lights, but couldn’t quite solve all the issues with shadows. For Xen, the flashlight will be positioned on the player to look like it is casting from lower on your chest. This creates interesting shadows and adds to the atmosphere in dark environments while still having a usable flashlight. Soft Particles Better late than never. This is a feature that's been in other Valve games, but for some reason has been broken in Black Mesa, even from our very first mod release. No more hard-edged particle clipping! Chapter Updates In addition to the improvements above, we have been grinding away at locking the final bits of design and arting for all our Xen levels. While building momentum toward release, our goal is to lock down the chapters in order so that we don’t have to dedicate resources to them, and so all the subsequent chapters go faster and smoother. Here is where we are at: Xen (~2-3 Hour Estimate) This chapter is completely design locked, most of the art is done, and we are polishing the levels to be release ready. Left on the to-do list is merging art, polishing art, unifying skyboxes and effects across all 6 maps, optimizing maps, and finally a clipping pass. Gonarch (~1-2 Hour Estimate) These maps are design locked and are going through the art process. The goal is to be mostly art completed, and start in on its many animated scripted sequences in January. We learned a lot arting Xen and refined our pipeline to be more efficient going forward. There are also half the maps (3) in Gonarch as in Xen, so we got that going for us. Interloper (~2-3 Hour Estimate) This chapter is design complete, but needs refinement to lock the chapter. The goal is to have this chapter design locked in the next few days so that level designers and artists can start in on detailing it. Interloper is currently 6 maps. Nihilanth (Super Secret Time Estimate) We have started in on the core gameplay coding of the final boss. We wanted to avoid having the big boss be just a bullet sponge, so we have kept the design fluid and kept the environment interactive and dynamic. Most of the static art for this level is completed, but it still needs scripted animation set pieces. Endgame (About 5 mins) Endgame is locked, but needs some final animation and graphics updates. Endgame will be the last chapter we do a pass on, as it is dependant on a lot of final art from the other levels. Even in its current state we are very happy with how it plays out.

We posted our xen trailer this morning if you havent seen it yet https://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/2537111426405732058 Woot!

@laminutederire Quote form our resident shader guy Chetan in response to your question:

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.

Black mesa update! http://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/1594703306631918308 Its an engine release so our future xen and interloper maps are as bug free and playable as possible. 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!

Dont forget about our pretty massive dynamic lighting update Whole post

Hey you thought our work was Valve's, I take that as a compliment 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.

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?!

Hey guys How about a lil xen

98% of the people that notice just ignore me and go about their day. People are a lot more apethetic to photographs than you think. Reading the situation is a huge help as well. There have been plenty of times where I didnt take a photograph because it didnt feel right.

I agree wholeheartedly, limits are very important. I limit myself in other ways (35mm prime lens, no cropping, landscape orientation only) I have found these limitations, especially, the 35mm prime lens, to vastly improve my photography. However, candid shots vs asking permission isnt about limitations, its just a different style of photography. Thanks breh. I spent a lot of time looking for these colors and making sure each image has a strong sense of color so its nice to see someone notice

Actually this is wrong. Money is irrelevant when it comes to permission. Images taken in a public space are free use in pretty much anything thats not a commercial advertisement. You are only the creepy photographer if you act like a creepy photographer. If the subject notices you, just smile and 99.99% of the time its not an issue at all. Simply shooting candidly doesnt make you creepy by default. I think you might be a little confused here. All of these images were taken with a 35mm lens which means I have to be pretty damn close to get these images. That first shot of the guy near the orange wall was taken three and a half feet from him. In fact the second after that image was taken he noticed the camera. If he had a problem with me taking his image, he would have told me Thats exactly what street photography is though. Its a capture of people going about their lives. I think you might be taking this "candid" term a little too literally. When I say candid, I dont mean im creepily hiding places to capture private moments of people from a distance. It means im taking a picture without them noticing. (sometimes right as they notice) This doesnt mean im hiding, it just means their attention is elsewhere. I mean that image of the guy in the red jumpsuit was taken in times square in the middle of the day. I just managed to time it right so the image wasnt filled with 10-15 tourists.

I disagree entirely here. Once you ask permission to take an image it is an entirely different image. The image is also, in my opinion, usually not as interesting. Thats the problem though. Even the most charming of photographers will still be taking an image of someone posing for a camera once permission is requested. The dynamic has switched from a person going about their day acting as if they normally would to "im posing for a camera now". Most definitely What makes you say this? Its not really about how I feel about photographing more as it is about the final result. Asking vs finding has a massive difference in the style of the final image. Thanks!

A majority of my time I've taken seriously as a photographer has been spent setting up shots using models where I can communicate with the subject and direct as I need. However, the next big artistic step I need to take in order to continue/improve in that genre is a big one therefore I wanted to try something new to get myself shooting again before I made this step. About two years ago I was in a situation that had me living within an hour train ride to NYC for a few months so I decided to dedicate a few of those days to exploring NYC with my camera. I already knew a little bit about street photography when it came to the general idea behind the concept as a whole but I had never actually gone out and tried it. So, I went out on the streets of Manhattan and just started shooting whatever I found interesting. I purposely tried all the various ways to capture a street image (candid, ask permission, wait in one spot for a while, etc) and quickly realized how large of an impact the events leading to the creation of a photograph have on the photograph itself. In those few days I managed to capture about 2-3 "good" images but I noticed something a little different about my emotional response when I captured a good street photograph. It had a little more magic - a stronger sense of awe. It was as if I had captured something impossible to both predict and recreate. Being drawn to this feeling, I decided to try a street project. Before embarking any further into this idea I spent a lot of time researching street photography. It didnt take long to notice the large amount of morality and ethics in this genre but this was something that clicked with me as I consider myself a bit of a photo purist in certain aspects of photography. (Landscape orientation only, 35mm lens only, no cropping ever) I wanted to create a set of rules to follow for this project and since I already developed a little bit of style to my photographs over the years, I wanted to put my own spin on it as well: Canon 5d Mark III with 35mm f/1.4. 1. Candid only. Ask for forgiveness, not permission. 2. No homeless or buskers 3. Interact with the subject as little as possible (no interaction highly preferred) prior to the image capture. 4. Really low aperture (this one gets a lot of hate in the street community). This first project is entirely shot at f/1.8. Dates and locations for this project: Entire month of August 2015 - NYC Two weeks in October 2015 - Los Angeles Two weeks in November - Seattle So without further ado, my first attempt at street: (just scroll down to scroll sideways - the site needs work, I know) Anthelion While I would prefer you view the work on my website (dark background for better contrast, horizontal alignment, and larger viewable image) I'll also post the images here: I definitely have an interest in continuing street photography but im not sure what to do next. Experimenting with new cameras would be intersting as being candid with a 5d mark 3 and 35mm lens is pretty difficult. If there is any interest I can write out my experiences in each city with their similarities and differences to each other.

http://www.blackmesagame.com/bms_presskit.pdf Working on it!

Whut

Smoothing groups only work on faces that are connected in a 45 degrees angle or less. Also how does your geometry look from above? because I tried it out myself like so: obviously with smoothing groups on all the rounded corners, but I ran into another problem when I made the top left corner as you can see here: the solution i found is pretty impractical and weird but the corner you can see in the lower left corner is working correctly, as you can see here: You are right, smoothing only works on 45 degrees or greater. However, this issue you are having here isnt smoothing groups, its overlapping lightmaps. If you have an arch that sits flat against a wall like that the surface behind it has to be nodraw or else you get those gross vertical line shadows. Also dont forget to compile with -smooth 45. I dont think smoothing groups work unless you specifically compile for them. (I could be wrong on that last bit) Also that curved bit on the right could be made with one solid.

That brush could be made with one solid btw.