Half Life 2: Cinematic Mod - PC Gaming at its Best

The latest issue of PC Gamer magazine featured a Half Life 2 mod called Cinematic Mod. It is a total conversion of Half Life 2 EP0, EP1, and EP2.

All of the models, textures, sounds, and soundtrack have been replaced with HD models, high-res textures, high-res sounds, and a cinematic sound track. To give you an idea of the scale of this mod... the final installed package is 20GB+ in size, requires a 64-bit OS (game uses >2GB of memory), and requires 1GB of VRAM. My desktop system took 50 minutes to install the mod (overclocked Intel Q6600 and SSD), and barely hits 50fps at 1080p / max details 2x GTX260 in SLI. This mod is definitely modernizes Half Life 2's graphics and makes it look sweet.

I haven't played Half Life 2 EP0/1/2 in YEARS, and I am loving the replay value that this mod has added. Apparently, the guy(s) who wrote this mod really had a thing for Adriana Lima, and re-modeled + re-skinned Alex to look like her. I'm not complaining.

A totally free mod that totally modernizes the graphics of a classic game, and adds a ton of replay value. You won't find that on consoles. This is PC gaming at its best.

Sample screenshot of before / after mod:

 

Wow, this looks really interesting. I plan on downloading this when I get home.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Will probably download and play through all the chapters soon. Maybe stretch it out over a 3 year period and by then Episode 3 will be out !

What I would really like to see completed is this mod for Half Life 1 !

Black Mesa: A Half-Life 2 modification

 

Dang...that looks good. Although I'm not sure I'm fond of the mod of Alex.

 

The nice part is that you can electively turn the new models and skins on/off for each model type.

So if you want new skins and models for everyone, but keep the old-style Alyx, you can definitely do that.

But that would make me sad

 

I <3 old-style Alyx.

 

The modder already said he was working on some HD models of the originals.

 

Interesting to say the least, but I feel he takes a few too many liberties with the mod. Im all about the original experience, and this isnt just replacing old textures and models with new ones, this is a revision of the whole game, something thats not the original. Would be hard to gulp regardless of how nice it looks.

Its not like the original looked bad to begin with, but I am tempted, 20 gb will take for ever to download though.


EDIT: looking at more screen shots on the website it looks like he could have done alot more to the game, like walls are still flat, he could have added tesselation or something to really give those walls more dimension, they are pretty much unaltered. Some of the scenes almost looked too clutered, the original looked empty and hauntingly un-inhabited. the yellow and grey atmosphere seems to be lost to a more green and white look. He took out alot of dead trees and replaced them with pines, not a huge fan of that either.

 

Damit, I only got 32bit Windows 7, short sight on my part... sigh...

 

I wonder if windows has an upgrade program, so you dont have to blow every penny on a small upgrade.

 

You might be able to switch to the same 64 bit version of Windows 7. I've accidentally switched between installs of 32 and 64 bit using the same key while reinstalling the OS on my old laptop a couple times. This was using the Win 7 Pro RTM key I got off MSDNAA though, so YMMV.

Use this thread for info on how to get the install dvds: http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

Also to use this mod you need to have Half Life 2, Episode 1, and Episode 2 in case this wasn't mentioned before.

 

I also just want to point out, in one of the picture of Gman, he has an open collar and has a tie on, that appears to be a clip on.....

 

All installations of Windows 7 are optional 32/64 bit. There shouldn't be any locked to one or the other (unless you have a really screwed up OEM copy). Of course I say this and the install that comes with my computer is 64 bit only (mostly because 32 bit is absolutely useless for my rig). Either way a cd key is never locked to 32/64 bit.

 

Im confused as to how to install it? Do I download the latest version and there is an installer?

 

i was wondering this myself, although I haven't read all the details about it yet.

 

Easiest way is to download it via torrent. It will be a bunch of partitioned .rar files. Decompress them into a folder and it will be a partitioned setup.exe (setup2 setup 3 etc). Run setup.exe, make sure it selects the proper folder. You need stock, fully updated HL2, HL2:EP1, and HL2:EP2 installed and it has to have been run at least once. It's pretty big and compressed heavily so it takes a really long time to install. I'm still installing it now.

 

Why not use some high res pictures of jamil mullen to redo the model and textures for Alyx instead of turning her into what I can only qualify as bimbo....

 

You can use the same key with 32-bit or 64-bit windows. No cost. Just requires a clean install.

 

I loved playing that, felt like a whole new game, got lots of great shots too.



Link to the whole album:
HalfLife2CinematicMod pictures by Darkness62 - Photobucket

 

I agree on this point. Meh, I have all of it installed (updated, EP1 + EP2, SDKs, etc) and nothing different in HL2. It's all still vanilla. What a waste of time..
EDIT: NVM, the character models, at least, take some work. Now if I can figure out how to install the rest...
EDIT: Figured it out. Have to run the Character Pimper from the folders you installed to the mods folder. Then you have to make sure Steam is completely closed out and run it from the HL2.exe in the mods folder...fun.

 

HL2 is on sale right now for like 2 bucks. i was actually thinkin about picking it up cuz i used to love me some CS 1.5/1.6.

 

that's just episode 2 from what i can see u got me exciiited

 

You've never played Half-Life 2? ಠ_ಠ

 

I'm going to ruin my geek cred by admitting that I personally haven't finished it yet. I haven't had time. I've been working a lot for the past few years and most of the games I've gotten to finish were because they weren't very long. I've been waiting to give HL2 the time and devotion it deserves to finish it all the way through.

 

Bought HL2 pack and installed this, looking forward to a great replay + EP1 and EP2 which I never played. The mod crashed the game for me many times though, eventually it wouldn't load my game anymore, ruining it for me

 

I'm in the same boat. Played through Half Life 2, never finished EP1 or EP2.

This cinematic mod is giving the excuse to go back and do it.

The trick I found is to load the game using the FakeFactory --> Half Life 2 EP0/EP1/EP2 shortcuts, and to make sure taht Steam is NOT running when you do it.

Otherwise, it would crash for me.

 

You have to run it through the executables in the new mod folder / start menu folder. Also, Steam has to be shut down completely or the mod will always crash.

 

i sure haven't. is half life 2 a single player type of campaign unlike CS?

 

Yes, it is.

 

You can link the .EXE in your steam game library, it will still run steam on top of the game so you can chat with friends and the like. I've done it a few times because of no cd cracks. That said I know steam plays nice with mods and the like and I read on the site that it supports steam so I wonder if there is another missing piece to this puzzle. Infact just sitting here thinking about it, Ive moded both stalkers from my steam and steam still supports the files fully, with the background graphics and all in the steam library, so there must be a bug or two that needs ironing out, I wanna try this mod now .

create a new folder, label it old .exe game files or something, and put your original hl2 exe file there, then take the new exe and replace it with that and see if steam still works with it.

 

The Half Life series of games are single-player FPS games. They repeatedly show up in lists of "Best PC Games Ever Made", because of the innovations they brought at the time... story-driven FPS, never took you out of First Person camera mode (to keep you "in character"), first game to use the Source engine (with all of its physics and ragdolling).

The only downside of Half Life 2 is that it probably looks a little dated, and the things that made it incredibly innovative back in its day (around 2004/2005) have been copied by other game developers since then. This Cinematic Mod does a huge deal towards cleaning up the dated graphics, and the gameplay/storyline itself is still a LOT better than the generic sequel-itis FPS shooters / clones you get these days.

 

Just installed the whopping 35 gig patch to Half Life 2 series, and all I can say is... WOW!!!
I am playing at max settings 1920x1080p 4xAA on my 2.5 year old laptop @ 50-60 fps average. I'm hooked up to my 42 inch HDTV and the visuals are truly stunning; and for someone like me who has never played the Half Life 2 single player before, this is a truly fantastic experience. When Gordon went through the faulty teleportation attempt I got chills by how amazing everything looked, so much high def detail on everything. Adriana Lima looks so realistic it's insane, this mod is by far the most high def experience I've seen in gaming. A must have for any gamer who has any interest in fps whatsoever.

 

Sadly, I'd run out of space on my SSD if I tried to install this.

I really should get a second HDD to put in this.

 

35GB patch? The Cinematic Mod is 9GB

 

thanks for the heads up, guys.

 

The installation file is 9 gig, but once everything unpacks into your game folders you end up with around 35 gigs of high def goodies

 

Never played hl1 or 2 D:

 

FYI the mod does not require all parts of Half-Life 2 to work. I have only Episode 2 (recently purchased on Steam for $2) and the mod installs and works with it without any issues. Steam folder grew by approx. 20GB though.

 

Sorry...........their are certain game series you "Have" to play to be considered a true pc gamer...............and the Half Life series is one of them.

Again would rather see this Mod, for Half Life 1, come to fruition !

Black Mesa: A Half-Life 2 modification

 

Apologies if I am being rather thick here but if I only own HL2 do I install CM version 1 and then CM version 2 or just version 2?

Also having just started HL2, should i play it through on normal before installing this mod or does it only really changes the appearance and not the content?

Thanks

 

I would vote to play the game sans mods first.

 

That is some whicked awesome compression, but I wonder how many artifacts it produces in the process? Things heavily compressed end up looking like youtube videos. And I agree with rschauby, the game should be played once without modding to get the original experience, although probably really understated to the graphics we look at today, then mod it and play it with the new look. The game has aged though, just thinking back theres been alot of changes in the last 7 years of gaming since its release and I hate to say it, as good as it still kinda looks, its starting to look dated. Quick question does source engine support tesselation or dx11 yet?

 

File compression is not the same as texture compression.

35GB --> 9GB is file compression, to make it easier to transfer the payload from point A to point B. It is completely irrelevant to texture compression (which generates the "artifacts" you mentioned).

 

Im having a hard time wrapping my head around that, the files that were compressed are mostly texture files from the sounds of it, so just on the assumption that the file was compressed wouldn't that mean the texture was compressed too?

 

Let me use an example of audio compression and ripping an audio CD, as an analogy.


(A) You could rip an audio CD with no audio compression whatsoever, you could get a bunch of high-quality WAV files that added up to 650MB of data. When you play these files back, they will be played back in full CD-quality.

You can to un/ZIP these WAV files as much as you want, without any impact on the playback quality of the audio. As long as you are playing back using a high-quality WAV file, you will get full CD-quality audio. Un/ZIPping is file compression, not audio compression, and will have absolutely no impact on the quality of the audio when you play it.


(B) You could also rip that same audio CD with audio compression, and end up with a bunch of 128kbps-bitrate MP3 files. That would add up to about 80MB of data. Those 128kbps bitrate MP3 files would be a much lower audio quality than the high-quality WAV files in example (A), because of audio compression.

Again, you can to un/ZIP these MP3 files as much as you want, without any impact on the playback quality of the audio. File compression will have no impact on the quality of the audio. Your 128kbps-bitrate MP3's will sound identical regardless of if you never ZIPped it up, or whether you un/ZIPped it a million times.




Texture compression works the same way. If you are using high-quality uncompressed textures, you will get high-quality uncompressed textures, regardless of how many times you un/ZIP those textures (because texture compression is different than file compression). Likewise, if you are using low-quality textures with a lot of texture compression on them, they will always look like garbage, regardless of how many times you un/ZIP those textures.

 

PERFECT!!, You are +1 my good man for the example, makes perfect sense, you should a be a teacher.... if your not already one! Yay for awesome file compression technology.