Half-Life 2: Update releasing on Steam

This is a standalone graphical enhancement and bug fix mod. It does not drastically overhaul the visuals a la Cinematic Mod. Installing the mod requires that you own a copy of Half-Life 2 on Steam.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/290930/

Spoiler: About This Game

2004's Half-Life 2 was a landmark for PC gaming and the First Person Shooter, setting the standard for immersion, animation, and physics-based play for years.
Meticulously developed by Half-Life community member Filip Victor, Half-Life 2: Update offers both long-time fans and first time players the most visually advanced, stable, and fully-featured version of Half-Life 2 to date in one free mod download.

features:

• Complete lighting overhaul including enhanced lighting, more detailed world shadows, and full High Dynamic Range Lighting (HDR).
• New particle effects and improved fog.
• Countless bug fixes, correcting both visual and game-based issues.
• An extensive Community Commentary Mode featuring the voices of well-known Youtubers, including Caddicarus, Brutalmoose, Ricepirate, Balrog the Master, ProJared, and Ross Scott from Freeman's Mind .
• Retains the iconic Half-Life 2 visual style and gameplay.
• All available in one free standalone download!

More info and additional screenshot comparisons can be found in the game brochure

 

I'll definitely look into this. Half Life 2 is one of the very few select story-driven games that I replay from time to time.

Will Gordon and co. ever escape the nefarious time loop they find themselves stuck in? Will the story ever stop hanging off that cliff?

 

HL3 confirmed!

Doesn't look too different, so not sure what's the point. Granted the game still holds up to this day.

 

Look closer. I definitely see improvements in lighting and shadowing, HDR, draw distance, backgrounds, world object detail, fog, particle effects (fire), and water. But some of it is pretty subtle, and that's the point. It's not supposed to be like Cinematic Mod, which entirely changes the look of the game for worse IMO.

 

Nah, I saw that. I guess it does make game more atmospheric, though can't say it wasn't before. But will definitely give it a try!
I do like that they went for subtle changes instead of complete overhaul like that dreadful Cinematic Mod you've mentioned, which turned the entire game into a B movie outcast...

 

Yeah, wasn't a big fan of Alyx looking like a slut. Adriana Lima is hot and all, but still, put some clothes on that poor girl.

And oh god, the adult pimper. -_-

 

The worst thing about the cinematic mod are those abhorrent, ghastly character models from hell

Otherwise it looks pretty nice. Nice to have an alternative that's more faithful to the original art style though.

 

It's called plastic surgery

 

Just looks darker to me. But may be worth a go back. I loved the game when I played it the first time.

And also notice this... maybe they're just screwing with us but...

Spoiler

3:33... gotta wonder HL3

 

I sometimes wonder if Valve should just let moders make HL3. I bet it would be faster than waiting for Valve to make it.
Just don't let Cinematic Mod crew develop it, because it would probably turn out to be COD...

 

I don't know how Valve *CAN'T* make Half-Life 3. They know it would be an instant money maker. But the longer it goes the more of a joke and the more expectation there is. I just don't see how they haven't justified the resources to finish it. Honestly though, I think it's in the works and are waiting for something big, maybe with their Steam Box and their controller finalizing, it will be released exclusively for SteamOS first. We can only hope.

 

Good observation. HL3 would be the killer app for Valve's new platform.

 

zOMG you guys, HL3 confirmed!

They are developing Source 2, so I guess that's without a reason.

 

To streamline the creation of TF2 hats and CS:GO skins ofc, since Valve knows those things make them more profit than HL3 ever would anyway

 

Those arrows were very useful because I couldn't get where to look for a difference.

Maybe that's because I played Cinematic Mode with hell of a graphic. And I used repack version with over 40 models including old original but HD Alix.

 

Hahaha that would be right.. Ive been happily playing HL2 (iGPU life right now) and then a graphical update comes out.

 

Time to overclock that HD 4000!

 

Lol... I am already. It plays half life and L4D2 like a champ..
And that's about it. I tried Dying Light for s#its and giggles. Surprising got around 20fps on low at 720p (almost console spec)

 

Look at it this way: The number of good games playable on an HD 4000 vastly outnumbers the ones that aren't playable

 

Unless they add ability to customize Gordon Freeman and feed up on it. Just think about it, custom HEV suit skins, glasses, goatee. Sounds like a gravy train to me!

 

What's the point of the mod? I don't see much difference if any other than different shading and brighter or darker in some scenes.

I don't understand why Valve doesn't remake the HL & HL2, no doubt their fans will buy them again. That's free money. Gameplay, story, voice acting, music, etc are all already done, just a massive graphics overhaul and let the money roll in.

 

Same reason they won't make Half Life 3 - they make enough money from selling TF2 hats and 3rd party games on Steam to ever need to develop another game ever again. They just can't be arsed to do anything with the Half Life IP. Gaben recently stated that they will never develop a singleplayer game ever again. All Valve games from now onwards will be multiplayer only. It signals the death of Half Life as we know it

 

Thank god both of us have 3920XM/3940XM processors.. In case of No GPUs or the GPU dieing, we can OC the hell out of the Intel iGPU

 

"This item is not yet available."
*sobs* Why? I want to play HL2 now!

 

Unforeseen Consequences

 

I thought it was a Red Letter Day...

 

Maybe the code got entangled.

 

I blame Barney. He still owes that beer...

 

If it gets further delayed there will be a riot. We'll smell the ashes when we wake up.

 

...


Well whatever, it just unlocked. Downloading... ehmmm... Counter Strike Global Offensive right now...

 

Damn this requires almost as much disk space as HL2 itself

 

It shows 3,1GB for me. Not too shabby.

 

Wut

 

Maybe it's because I already have HL2 installed.

 

Yeah probably. Good point.

 

Oh great, my saves are gone!
"Rise and sh..." Can it, G-Man. I have no time for this.

 

Overhead capacitors to one oh five percent. Uh, it's probably not a problem, probably, but I'm showing a small discrepancy in... well, no, it's well within acceptable bounds again. Sustaining sequence.

 

Flip that switch, Gordon. Otherwise that MIT education was a waste of time.

 

It's quite noticeable when you switch from the original to the modded version. He's done a great job at updating it. Definitely going to warrant another playthrough.

I hope he has a go at updating the Episodes too. They could really shine with these sort of graphical updates. I'm thinking of the Antlion caves of Episode Two in particular

 

Lots of lagging when playing. Anyone else getting this?

 

Well isn't the point of a mod like this to experience it all again. Were you gonna start at the end?

We remember the Freeman. We are coterminous.

 

Well I was playing HL2 a couple of weeks ago, was at the end of Revenholm chapter, so kinda wanted to continue from there. Imported safe files don't work properly, but I was able to load and unlock a chapter in New Game menu.

Something like that. Like previously stated, the changes are there, but they don't feel like an elephant in the room. It's keeps the integrity of original, that's what most important for me.

Hoping for this as well. And don't forget Ep1!

Nope, no lags. Your 970m is rubbish! Wanna trade it for my "OCed" 240m?

 

Exiting and coming back fixed it. I don't see a big difference in fidelity or detail. Then again the original Half-Life 2 was designed to run with DirectX 7. And it has an FPS limit of 300. Dang it, why, Valve, why!? I mean why can't I run at 450FPS if I can!?

 

Half Life 3 confirmed...?

 

Because your head would explode!

 

Troll Detected! Initate the Exterminator Laser

 

What this mod really misses for me is separate energy bar for sprint/flashlight/breath. Could have implemented the Ep2 model.

 

so long as they got rid of the loading transitions within levels i might look into it.

 

Then you'll have to wait for Source 2 and HL3

 

Overall I'm not too impressed. I was thinking they'd make more significant improvements. I'm sure if I played the original vs this one it'd be more apparent but just jumping in it still feels like a 10 year old game. If they updated Source and made it a DX11 revamp with massive visual improvements and adopting some more modern gameplay elements (like body sway and bounce when running not sliding on ice), it would have made it much more enjoyable. I don't see how this update helps the game really. It already supported widescreen and variable resolutions and ran fine up through Win 8.1 so far.