Black Mesa Alpha Leaked

[Sulkdodds]

History repeats itself. Now, I've been debating with myself whether it's any use to put this announcement here. Because surely it's only going to draw attention to the fact that, yes, someone may have leaked alpha content of the promising Black Mesa: Source mod? Surely it'll just attract more attention? Well, here it is.

Yesterday we received reports of a possible security breach when images from Black Mesa, not previously taken by developers, were distributed on a Half-Life forum. When other forumgoers asked about the media, he released images of Black Mesa's file structure and two in-game images of areas not previously shown to the public, due to their unfinished nature. At this point, we believe that he has acquired a recent build of our work, in the moments leading to a substantial code update known as "alpha-6". [br]The details of how the content was leaked are being kept in-house as they pose a serious security threat, but we have already improvements to hopefully prevent another breach like this. We are looking to pursue possible legal action which may affect those who aid in the distribution of the stolen content. We have been working hard to consolidate our content and create a more complete Black Mesa and here we find our tireless efforts rewarded with a content leak. At this stage it is obvious that any content distributed is premature and does not reflect the intended final version of Black Mesa.[br]We cannot convince anyone to not download the content, but we are asking that you make the right choice and assist your fellow developers in their time of need. We do not expect this attack to affect Black Mesa's present speed of development for very long, but we will be taking security precautions to ensure that this does not happen again before development resumes. We are asking the community at large to assist us by linking any leaked media and/or leaked content to us immediately. Please email us at [email protected] if you have any information that might assist us.

[br]Visit http://www.blackmesasource.com to lend your support.

 

[JNightshade]

Whoever got ahold of that alpha is a shithead

Needless to say, I hope you all don't even THINK about downloading that alpha.

 

[Para]

Alright forumites, you know the drill. Lets rock.

 

[Insano]

Well, now we know how Valve felt.

oh noes, the apocalypse!

Seriously, they have no freakin idea how Valve felt. There is absolutely not a massive distribution of the leaked built, nor is it a commercial product so it would harm them financially if the build possibly leaked.

 

[JNightshade]

Ooh. Update: according to the site, they've contained the leak to a small group of "friends".

Catastrophe averted :O

 

[Epsi]

It still sucks that they've worked hard on this and it's been released prematurely. It's not the financial damage or anything it did Valve or the BMS team (which is none) it's just the horrible feeling of pouring your heart and soul into something and seeing it be treated that way and seen before it's ready.

 

[Xionic]

I can't believe this! Well I think this is the same as just stealing a game. Those developers have put alot of time in it and now some geek is gonna leak it?! That guy doesn't deserve to live.
EDIT: If it were friends then I can live with it, as long as they do not release it to public yet.

 

[Dabs]

oh noes, the apocalypse!

Seriously, they have no freakin idea how Valve felt. There is absolutely not a massive distribution of the leaked built, nor is it a commercial product so it would harm them financially if the build possibly leaked.

I have to admit, that quote really annoyed me as well. As big a fan I am of BM (and I am a great admirer of their determination to fully realise HL in Source), it is absurdly presumptuous and self-adulating of them to compare their situation right now to Valve's, back in 2004. Valve had 6 years of their own, hard, built-from-scratch professional work stolen from them, work that no-one outside of them was supposed to have even seen for another couple of years.

On the flipside, BM is, essentially, a Valve game itself, and using a new Valve engine. The only changes are aesthetic revisions (both in terms of graphics and level design). It's like comparing having your driving simulator software stolen to someone who's had their car stolen. It's not in the same ball-park.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Who give a shit?

Woweez: all of three people actually downloaded the thing, apparently.

 

[Kalashnikov]

oh noes, the apocalypse!

Seriously, they have no freakin idea how Valve felt. There is absolutely not a massive distribution of the leaked built, nor is it a commercial product so it would harm them financially if the build possibly leaked.

Content that we have worked on for the period of Black Mesa's development was stolen and distributed without our consent. While our content has not been distributed to the large-scale that Valve's was, it was still taken and distributed as the individual responsible saw fit.

We're not trying to blow this up and play the sympathy card here, but people were asking questions and we knew, sooner or later, we would have to answer. Our quick action on this (both security-wise and through the announcement) has stopped the content from being distributed further.

Yes the leak has been contained, yes we've corrected the security faults, so yes this is not severe as our original announcement appeared: but at the time we had no idea what the individuals planned to do with the stolen content. This is not expected to delay development for very long, as most of the content leaked was of older versions of most of the maps and our security measures have already been increased and improved.

Our biggest fear right now is any "under the table" distribution with regards to the gigabyte of materials and models that was contained in the stolen content. That content can easily be ripped, modified and re-used in other projects by developers claiming it is their own. While we don't see it as being likely, it is still a threat that we face.

Furthermore the content we're been working on such as the weapons, levels and characters, have been displayed in images taken from the leak. That content was not meant to be shown as it is still early in the design process and, sadly, many people will see it as being final and complain about it.

 

[Eternity]

Well said.

 

[Ikerous]

<3 Black mesa and everything related
Good to hear you've got it under control

 

[Kester^]

To all the people how say we are blowing things out of proportion saying we know how Valve felt. Think about having worked on something for over a year, and having someone steal it. It doesn't matter on the cost, having something stolen which you've put so much time into is as bad regardless if you work for an international company, or you just like drawing pictures in your spare time.

 

[Vegeta897]

Content that we have worked on for the period of Black Mesa's development was stolen and distributed without our consent. While our content has not been distributed to the large-scale that Valve's was, it was still taken and distributed as the individual responsible saw fit.

We're not trying to blow this up and play the sympathy card here, but people were asking questions and we knew, sooner or later, we would have to answer. Our quick action on this (both security-wise and through the announcement) has stopped the content from being distributed further.

Yes the leak has been contained, yes we've corrected the security faults, so yes this is not severe as our original announcement appeared: but at the time we had no idea what the individuals planned to do with the stolen content. This is not expected to delay development for very long, as most of the content leaked was of older versions of most of the maps and our security measures have already been increased and improved.

Our biggest fear right now is any "under the table" distribution with regards to the gigabyte of materials and models that was contained in the stolen content. That content can easily be ripped, modified and re-used in other projects by developers claiming it is their own. While we don't see it as being likely, it is still a threat that we face.

Furthermore the content we're been working on such as the weapons, levels and characters, have been displayed in images taken from the leak. That content was not meant to be shown as it is still early in the design process and, sadly, many people will see it as being final and complain about it.

None of that explains why you said "Now we know how Valve felt" though...

But anyway, quite unfortunate, I hope you get things sorted out. This is my most anticipated mod.

 

[Zips]

Wow... I do hope it continues to get sorted out. I (and a great number of people) have been anxiously awaiting this mod. I guess this just serves to show how much the mod is really wanted (though it is a horrible way to find this out).

 

[diluted]

I call sheenanigans. I checked multiple sites, I can't find it! ;(

And uhh.. I wasn't planning on downloading it or anything if I found it.. *cough*.

 

[Pauly]

Read the update- They contained the leak to just a grp of friends, (Because they threatened legalaties) The content is free though? I dont see any charges that could be pressed. and the whole game concept and level design was originally by VALVe anyways.

 

[diluted]

Seems like the mod team is attention-whoring then.

Why would you want to draw more attention to the leak by making an official announcement about it? That will only increase the chance that the leak will spread to more people.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Seems like the mod team is attention-whoring then.

Why would you want to draw more attention to the leak by making an official announcement about it? That will only increase the chance that the leak will spread to more people.

PR stunt, get more people to visit your site/interested. Their "community update" wasn't needed seeing as only a few had the files.

 

[Kester^]

We have contained the leak due to this announcement, it helped us get a lot of mods and admins from forums to activly look out/search for anything relating to the leaked files.

It's in no way a publicity stunt, we have told the public already that we are going quiet for the time being to focus on working on the mod.

In regards to what legal action could be taken, we have copyright of our own work, regardless if the IP belongs to someone else.

 

[Evo]

Good to hear that it's been contained guys

Hope to see some real news over the coming months

 

[COALslaw]

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

 

[Kirkburn]

Christ there are some real asses around at the moment

Glad to hear the leak has been plugged! And I, for one, think you did the right thing by announcing it and asking for help.

 

[CrazyJeepDriver]

Damn, I heard of this a few days ago. Sucks that people had to steal this most probably uncompleted version, why do they want to delay this excellent mod?

 

[oldagerocker]

Publicity stunt because they havent had any media to show for ages.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Sucks that people had to steal this most probably uncompleted version, why do they want to delay this excellent mod?

How would this delay a SP mod?

 

[Stormy]

Publicity stunt because they havent had any media to show for ages.

No, what a silly thing to say. If we want to release content we would, an not make up some silly leak story. I don't want to brag but black mesa is a pritty big mod and alot of people are looking foward to it, we have no reason to do some kind of publisity stunt like that to try and get more people intrested. We are all devoted to the project, and i feel as tho the team are building a game not only as a part time hobby for our selves but to put a simle on the face of anyone that plays it.

 

[Obi_Kwiet]

The only reason a leak would be important is if an engine's actual source code were leaked. This is a mod. Normally the developers could claim the rights to the models until the mod was released, but these models are based off of copyrighted property anyway. Nothing in the leak will be inaccessible in the final version, nor will the final version actually get the developers any money. So... remind me why this leak is even important at all? The worst thing that could happen is some people waste their time playing a buggy version of an incomplete mod. Sheash! What a huge fuss about nothing.

 

[oldagerocker]

Yeah, why did you copy and paste Gabes email? you think you're really that important... noone actually really cares if an unreleased, free, mod is leaked or not... since it'll come out eventually for free anyway. No matter how big you think you are. :|

 

[Seagull]

I care. Any mod that's coming out for HL2 that is even decent and has an alpha leak, people will care

 

[CookieCuttah]

Free isn't to be taken for granted, it is a privelage. Black Mesa:Source might as well make it 10 bucks (After consenting with valve) if people are going to treat the mod in such a fashion.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Free isn't to be taken for granted, it is a privelage. Black Mesa:Source might as well make it 10 bucks (After consenting with valve) if people are going to treat the mod in such a fashion.

VALVe wouldn't sell it to begin with, and if they did all profit would go to them seeing as its based off their IP.

 

[Megalomaniac]

I'm going to be completely honest I want this alpha...I'm getting really excited about this mod...I won't get it simply because it will ruin the experience of such a great mod...
I hope this is plugged quickly and doesn't cause any set backs.

 

[bigburpco]

Read it at Concerned. Egads, this really sucks for the BM team.

I've heard it looks good though.

 

[Eternity]

PR stunt, get more people to visit your site/interested. Their "community update" wasn't needed seeing as only a few had the files.

Has anyone told you recently how worthless your posts are? I'm tired of reading poorly thought, malicious statements from you. If you don't think this news post was important, don't comment on it -- and that goes for the rest of the jerks here.

Obviously, the team thought it was important because this mod is as close to professional as a free modification can get, and it IS a big deal for both them, who have slaved away at this mod for a long time, and those who want it -- and Black Mesa Source has a ton of fans.

/ Not on the Black Mesa team
// Just pointing stuff out that shouldn't have had to be said

 

[[w0f]Oblivion]

Has anyone told you recently how worthless your posts are? I'm tired of reading poorly thought, malicious statements from you. If you don't think this news post was important, don't comment on it -- and that goes for the rest of the jerks here.

Obviously, the team thought it was important because this mod is as close to professional as a free modification can get, and it IS a big deal for both them, who have slaved away at this mod for a long time, and those who want it -- and Black Mesa Source has a ton of fans.

/ Not on the Black Mesa team
// Just pointing stuff out that shouldn't have had to be said

QFE

Even if you think its a hoax, Wouldnt more attention for the mod be good, Regardless? i think everyone is excited about this mod. including myself.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Has anyone told you recently how worthless your posts are? I'm tired of reading poorly thought, malicious statements from you. If you don't think this news post was important, don't comment on it -- and that goes for the rest of the jerks here.

Do I really care what you have to say? I'm surpised you're even on these forums still, since you've been banned from #halflife2 soooo many times. If you're tired of reading my posts put me on ignore if it bugs you that much.

 

[Eternity]

I don't know what #halflife2 is, and don't really care.

 

[DigiQ8]

Cool, Any Links ?


jk

Sorry to hear that, damn hackers have to ruin everything

 

[Asuka]

Hope this doesnt hurt the MOD Team. Really this needs to be retail it looks so good.