HL1 port not all its cracked up to be?

[DarkStar]

Allright, I was extremely excited when it was finally revealed that HL1 was being ported to the Source engine, although I just read some stuff that has me a little concerned. This quote is take from an interview with Doug Lombardi that can be found here: http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=5189

What about Half-Life then? Will models from Half-Life 2 be transferred to the game enabling us to see the G-man in all his glory? It certainly would be cool.

“Actually we haven’t taken Half-Life as far as Counter-Strike. We’ve only converted the basic stuff and the majority of material from Half-Life 2 ending up in Half-Life will mostly be invisible. But from then on it’s actually up to players themselves if they want to alter the content of the game once it’s running on the new engine. If anybody feels like ‘upgrading’ Half-Life with Half-Life 2 content it’s cool with us.”

So does that mean that they haven't updated the models and textures? Will the world geometry have exactly the same amount of polygons this time around? What does Lombardi mean when he says that material from HL2 ending up in HL1 will be "invisible?"

The interview also says that the port only took them 3 weeks to do, hardly enough time to really update anything, much less all the levels, textures and models for an entire game! So if all they are adding a few physics here and there, well, what's the point of converting it at all? I was expecteing a totally revamped HL1 game experience with better graphics, high-res textures, updated models, larger polycounts and the like. Hopefully Lombardi is just out of the loop on this one.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Since when were these ports cracked up to be anything? They were only announced at E3!

I'm treating the ports as just a nifty little extra. A tiny goodwill gesture from Valve because they knew as sure as shit people would want to port a lot of HL1 stuff to source. Heck, i know there's a mod team remaking Dark Forces for the Jedi Academy engine. The nostalgic modders will have a lot of fun adding high res stuff to the original HL.

 

[dscowboy]

They're 9 months late with HL2. You want them wasting time on HL1? If I had found out that they had completely remade all the level geometry and models and textures for HL1 I would've been a little peeved. I played that game 5 years ago, hurry up and release the new game!

The point of converting it, apparently, is to get all their products on the Source platform. Then they'll never have to deal with legacy engine crap again. As the Source engine improves, all their products will inherit any new features/fixes.

 

[DarkStar]

^^ Well, I guess I just got my hopes up that the port would be something special...along the same lines as the CS port.

 

[[sl@yer]]

That's disappointing....although I always wondered whether they'd have time to update all the content whilt making HL2. Anyway, the old map layouts were designed with very limited physics in mind, so i think it would be good if the whole original game was updated, taking into account the source physics and with less linearity (not by valve necessarily, but as a mod). Also, I hope someone will update the models....I want to see the tentacle in source!

 

[blahblahblah]

If anything, the HL port will look inconsistent. Have good texture detail with low poly models. I wonder how much the physics engine will change gameplay...

 

[Mr-Fusion]

^^ I'm just saying what's the point of porting it at all if you aren't really changing anything?

Because Gabe thinks like a hardcore gamer. He knows that a lot of people (like myself) would love to play HL1 with physics and screw around with customizing it and so he goes and does it for us.

 

[Soundwave]

Well, there goes that excitement :/

I'd rather they had spent the time updating Half-Life than updating CS.

 

[DarkStar]

^^ That's just the thing, I don't think they've changed either one. The textures or the models.

 

[mortiz]

There are already Mod teams working (or are going to be) on a FULL Half-Life port. Gabe probably knows this so VALVe have ported a little bit of HL to source in order to help the mod developers out and have left the rest up to them.

 

[Neutrino]

Ya, a bit disapointing, but hopefully mod teams will do it soon.

 

[ferd]

They're 9 months late with HL2. You want them wasting time on HL1? If I had found out that they had completely remade all the level geometry and models and textures for HL1 I would've been a little peeved. I played that game 5 years ago, hurry up and release the new game!

The point of converting it, apparently, is to get all their products on the Source platform. Then they'll never have to deal with legacy engine crap again. As the Source engine improves, all their products will inherit any new features/fixes.

I dont think that's the real reason, it's probably just to milk out CS kiddies, and I dont mind at all. Valve deserves a "little" extra cash

 

[DEATH eVADER]

whenever has anything from Doug's mouth ever been correct or truthful. This is the reason why I e-mail Gabe and Eric. If it is true however, there is little reason why they should smack a price on it

 

[DarkStar]

^^ Yeah, if this is true this thing HAS GOT to be free.

 

[Soundwave]

There are already Mod teams working (or are going to be) on a FULL Half-Life port. Gabe probably knows this so VALVe have ported a little bit of HL to source in order to help the mod developers out and have left the rest up to them.

If Gabe knows that, why release a half-assed one and charge for it, when the modmakers will be releasing a real Source version for free?

 

[mortiz]

No it doesn't have to be free. The original Half-Life isn't free yet, why would an UPDATED version of Half-Life be free?

 

[egon]

I dont think we should have expected anything more. making new textures for hl really isnt worth valve's time. i think theyre basically bringing the game into source to see what people will do with it.

 

[GorgeousOrifice]

If HL1:Source looks like CS:Source, I'll be very happy. I hope Doug isn't saying that the singleplayer games got a little brush over while all the serious attention was focused on CS. And what about TFC? I always liked that better than CS anyway. I PRAY it got equal attention.

But if not, like Doug says, plenty of mod makers will spiffy it up if they have a base to build on. I'm not sure I like the idea of paying $20 for a half-finished Source port, though.

 

[Soundwave]

Oh man, they BETTER have given the same treatment to TFC as they gave to CS. That's just plain toying with my emotions to plant that idea into my head and then take it away.

 

[DarkStar]

No it doesn't have to be free. The original Half-Life isn't free yet, why would an UPDATED version of Half-Life be free?

Well, than absolutely nobody is going to buy this.

 

[mortiz]

If Gabe knows that, why release a half-assed one and charge for it, when the modmakers will be releasing a real Source version for free?

The full conversions probably won't be free, in fact, you'll probably need the VALVe updated version of Half-Life in order to run the fully converted version.

 

[dscowboy]

HL1 is still selling on store shelves. They'll just replace it with HL1:Source. I don't see what the big deal is. People who buy HL2 will probably get it for free.

 

[Soundwave]

The big deal is they made it seem as if they were updating it, not just porting it. Back when the illegal build was stolen, people figured out how to port Hl1 into Source and it looked the exact same, just with better shadows and I think that was it. If that's all they are doing, that is lame as hell.

 

[digsy]

To be honest, I don't think anyone is going to be bothered if HL1 is included when the game comes out, not initially anyway. We've been waiting how long for HL2? And now people are starting to moan about HL1 not been updated as well as it could be?

I know which one I'd rather see.

 

[DarkStar]

I agree with Soundwave. They made it sound like they were totally renovating HL1, but apparently this is not the case. I am now completely disillusioned. I was almost more excited for the HL1 Source update as I was for HL2. I declare this news to be officially way lame!

 

[Mr-Fusion]

To be honest, I don't think anyone is going to be bothered if HL1 is included when the game comes out, not initially anyway. We've been waiting how long for HL2? And now people are starting to moan about HL1 not been updated as well as it could be?

I know which one I'd rather see.

I know, i'm just damn glad they're doing it at all! Most developers would never do that for a community!!! And despite this favour for US people are still criticsizing it!!

 

[mortiz]

Personally I think VALVe have done the MOD community a favour by not fully converting HL1 to Source, after all VALVe are always saying how importent the MOD community is to them.

 

[DarkStar]

I know, i'm just damn glad they're doing it at all! Most developers would never do that for a community!!! And despite this favour for US people are still criticsizing it!!

I just think they should have made it more clear that nothing was actually going to be changed. They got my hopes up and that's why I feel let down now. I'm still a huge fan of Valve, I guess my expectations outpaced realtiy.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Well due to the leak situation i've known for months that this was the plan all along. So, despite their wording of the announcement, i knew what they meant. I had no expectations, i knew what to expect and i'm still very grateful they're doing it.

 

[monkeydust]

I still haven't finished the original Half-Life and was hoping to do so with a Source version with updated character models and textures. I really don't know what, if anything, I would be gaining by waiting to finish it with the Source version vs. the original version.

 

[dscowboy]

I'm confused, when did they make it seem like they enhanced all the art and gameplay of HL1? They only annouced the port at E3, and all they said was... that it would be ported to the Source engine. I think the idea that it would be beautified was just a bunch of wishfull thoughts from fans.

Think about it this way: At any given time during peak hours, 70k people are playing Counter-Strike. How many people are playing HL1 right now? What's the return on investment for spending months updating a nearly 6 year old single player game, verses updating the most popular online action game in the world?

 

[DarkStar]

I'm confused, when did they make it seem like they enhanced all the art and gameplay of HL1? They only annouced the port at E3, and all they said was... that it would be ported to the Source engine. I think the idea that it would be beautified was just a bunch of wishfull thoughts from fans.

Think about it this way: At any given time during peak hours, 70k people are playing Counter-Strike. How many people are playing HL1 right now? What's the return on investment for spending months updating a nearly 6 year old single player game, verses updating the most popular online action game in the world?

Well said. Like I've said before in this thread, it was probably just wishful thinking on my part.

BUT........The thing that led me to believe HL1 would be upgraded was this: Gabe announced the port directly after showing off Counter Strike which WAS indeed updated. I just made the leap of logic in my head to assume that all the other stuff (TFC, DOD, HL1, etc...) had gotten the same treatment. I guess I was wrong. Anyone hoping for updated versions of DOD or TFC had better start revising their expectations I guess.

 

[Soundwave]

I'm confused, when did they make it seem like they enhanced all the art and gameplay of HL1?

I wish so much that Gamespot would allow us to download their Sneak Peak Conference, because that's where I got most of my info on the Source updates from. He made a point to say they weren't ports, they were fully put into the Source engine. Then again, maybe my mind is just too cluttered from information during E3 and I got that mixed up with what someone else was saying about a game update. Not likely though, given my enthusiasm for the idea of playing all the original HL stuff with that engine.

 

[blahblahblah]

I really don't understand some of you people. You guys actually want to be playing CS for the next five years? I don't know about you, but I want to be playing some other fun mod/game. Yes, it may be cool that they are porting HL and CS over to source, but it is time to move on. I think Valve making the Source engine backwards compatabile with old mods/games is a horrible idea. People will want status quo instead of trying out some cool new mod.

 

[dscowboy]

I agree with you guys that fully hi-fi versions of HL1 and ALL the MP mods would be awesome, but realistically... the effort involved in that... I'd rather they just hurry up and finish HL2.

 

[Soundwave]

I really don't understand some of you people. You guys actually want to be playing CS for the next five years? I don't know about you, but I want to be playing some other fun mod/game. Yes, it may be cool that they are porting HL and CS over to source, but it is time to move on. I think Valve making the Source engine backwards compatabile with old mods/games is a horrible idea. People will want status quo instead of trying out some cool new mod.

Not necessarily CS, for me at least. I WOULD like to play through the original Half-Life 1 again but with Half-Life 2 visuals and all that. Not to mention TFC, which I will continue to play even if it's not ported to Source for some reason. It's just that having it suggested that it's gonna be given a HL2 engine facelift is extremely good news.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

I agree with you guys that fully hi-fi versions of HL1 and ALL the MP mods would be awesome, but realistically... the effort involved in that... I'd rather they just hurry up and finish HL2.

Just got a reply form Rick Ellis regarding this, check it out on the sticky

 

[chimpmunk]

Yea, and when HL3 comes out, they.re gonna remake Op4 , HL1 , BS , Cs , Tfc, tf2 , Hl2 (+ expansions) in Source II ???

 

[DarkStar]

Just got a reply form Rick Ellis regarding this, check it out on the sticky

From the email: "We've saved all of our tricks for HL2. Revamping HL1 would essentially be building the sequel." - Rick Ellis

This doesn't exactly inspire anymore confidence, although Ellis does raise the possiblility of SOME new content, with his "no comment."

 

[dscowboy]

I think Valve making the Source engine backwards compatabile with old mods/games is a horrible idea. People will want status quo instead of trying out some cool new mod.

I don't think it will be a bad thing at all. Think about it this way: the more people that are on Source (all the CS players, all the DoD players, etc), the larger the audience will be for new HL2 mods. The largest audience always attracts the most talent. So the more Source-game customers there are, better the mods will be, and the more commercial value there will be in developing Source mods.

For example: this forum. Is there a reason this forum gets 20 times the traffic of any other HL2 forum? Yes, because people always flock to the largest community. The largest community is disproportionately attractive simply because it is the largest. By getting all their customers onto a single platform, Valve will maintain the largest FPS multiplayer community in the world and attract the most interest from artists and developers.