HL2 Flashlight in Action

[Mr.Reak]

So uhm.. how does everybody in the game knows that it’s you then? Or do you take your helmet off all the time, so people can see your face?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

there are three HEV suits. Except in the lambda complex, but you're so far away from that most of the game.

 

[niddhoggr]

You see the sort of T the antlions have on their back? look how the shadows on them are different from the one under the light and the one having the flashlight shined on him.

Self shadowing!

 

[DeltaBlast]

what about that guy from "The Renegade", he got shot

but not in the face

 

[UltimaGecko]

I know we all want to act like the ant-lion on the left has its shadow behind it; but realistically, its legs don't look right if it has a flashlight shining about. Especially its front legs, the shadow shouldn't be going to the body like that from the flashlight's lightsource. It should be going directly back towards the wall, or out to the left, depending on how much the flashlight's cone spreads.


But the toilet...the toilet looks fine. I think you only think it looks bad because of the angle; it looks like the underside and toilet seat are too bright, but it's just that they're not directly connected to the brighter part and it looks a little weird.

The right ant-lion looks gooey near the top, but everywhere else it looks pretty dry.

Overall, the picture looks pretty nice - when it's all in motion you don't really notice this kind of stuff anyway; unless you're looking for them in-game with Godmode and infinite ammo.

 

[mooma]

about HUD, where barney's HUD come in blue-shift, and gordon didn't wear helmet when he jumped to xen, as we see in op4, neither in end of blue-shift...

 

[PainLord]

Gordon doesnt wear a helmet in the game. Use the third person cheat in HL if you dont believe me.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

about HUD, where barney's HUD come in blue-shift, and gordon didn't wear helmet when he jumped to xen, as we see in op4, neither in end of blue-shift...

Neither of those are VALVe -created

 

[Brian Damage]

That also explains the hud, with his health and HEV suit power level.
The only thing I don't understand is why a hazard suit for scientific purposes would have a system for arsenal inventory and gun control.

Probably for security reasons. Black Mesa has sensitive research projects in such fields as next-generation weaponry, astrophysics, and dimensional teleportation. Enemy forces'd probably give their teeth to get their hands on it. The BMRF is a prime target for some sort of offensive strike.

If you've got a small force of people wearing what is basically powered armour present, why not train them to use weapons in case of an enemy attack?

about HUD, where barney's HUD come in blue-shift, and gordon didn't wear helmet when he jumped to xen, as we see in op4, neither in end of blue-shift...

Gordon's helmet was left off on the model either because a) Gearbox weren't particularly careful about that point, or b) for reasons of recognisability (See below).

Barney's hud is a bit of a mindbender; some people I know here just assume it was displayed hologrammatically from his helmet...

Gordon doesnt wear a helmet in the game. Use the third person cheat in HL if you dont believe me.

It's a cheat. I don't think the model should be taken particularly seriously, and I reckon the model's like that anyway so that you can see Gordon's well-known nerdy mug :E.

There's been a couple of long conversations on this before...

 

[pixartist]

ok i love hl2 but i think the image seems a bit buggy even though it has it's good parts

 

[Asuka]

Why, this one, of course.

You didn't think he ran through superheated steam, toxic waste, and all kinds of crap without the HEV's helmet on, did you :E ?

See, I always thought it shone out from behind the faceplate, or maybe that part of the head shielding was actually transparent, or something like that...

Cool screen ty.

 

[Mendasp]

ok i love hl2 but i think the image seems a bit buggy even though it has it's good parts

Valve has said tons of times that the direction of the shadows on the players and other models depends on an entity set by the mapper, they also said it was possible (in a mod) to change the shadows in order to make them work "as intended"

 

[Crusader]

Sweet, look at the detail on those things...

I can't tell if the colour scheme is now a weird shade of green, if it is not just a trick of the light then I don't particularly like that, but damn.. I love the amount of detail

 

[brink's]

I don't think the flashlight is even finshed, I remember reading like 4 days ago that the flashlight still and 2 weeks to go before it was fully complete. Can anyone comfirm this?

 

[kakagar]

Hey guys those pics are really beautiful, but don't you think that the specular and normal mapping make the ant lions get a look more similar to deus ex 2 , doom 3 and farcry, meaning that they look a little bit more "plastic" than before?

 

[Crusader]

Hey guys those pics are really beautiful, but don't you think that the specular and normal mapping make the ant lions get a look more similar to deus ex 2 , doom 3 and farcry, meaning that they look a little bit more "plastic" than before?

Yeah, I know

I wanted them to keep the gritty realism I had seen earlier, but the tasteless newbies who are new to the gaming world (the kind of people who love looping rock music with cheesey flash intros on their websites) love the shiny plastic look, so I guess Valve caved to them....

However they look excellent

Just a different type of excellent

 

[Crusader]

ok i love hl2 but i think the image seems a bit buggy even though it has it's good parts

Some of this is wrong, the light is coming from directly above through a skylight, and this is reflected correctly in the shadows.

The flashlight not making shadows could be the fact that they only just started doing up the flashlight

The lighting artifact is well spotted, though.. Even if these are things that you have to spend 5 minutes poring over the shot to find

Maybe the people who try to play it on a TNT 2 will be able to find these bugs, because it will run at a frame a minute for them

 

[kaf11]

i think they do look "gritty" realistic...

 

[stanr]

Mendasp,

Listening to vALVE talk about it, everything can be made to work as intended in a mod.

How about making something work as intended in the game instead?

These shadows need fixing. Maybe that's why the guy needed a few weeks to finish the flashlight, and the shot reflects work-in-progress.

Stan R.

 

[Dynasty]

sum1 who agrees with me finally

 

[lans]

there are three HEV suits. Except in the lambda complex, but you're so far away from that most of the game.

I only know abou two:

The black-orange combo in HL which has the flashlight underneath the lambda logo on the chest , and the new mettalic looking one in HL2 which has the flashlight on the right arm.

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, personally I think that if the source of the flashlight is in the exact centre of the player's field of view, then the player wouldn't see the shadows anyway. If they shifted the source slightly to the side, then you'd see shadows the flashlight casts... maybe if you used 3D glasses, too...

 

[Mendasp]

Mendasp,

Listening to vALVE talk about it, everything can be made to work as intended in a mod.

How about making something work as intended in the game instead?

These shadows need fixing. Maybe that's why the guy needed a few weeks to finish the flashlight, and the shot reflects work-in-progress.

Stan R.

I agree, I never liked the way they made the shadows (being a mapper myself, I've always been worried about the lighting/shadowing), it just seems to detract from the atmosphere, but it will still be a great game anyways...

 

[Dynasty]

ok i love hl2 but i think the image seems a bit buggy even though it has it's good parts

oooooooo. nice 1 m8. uve actually picked out the problems with the shot. as i as saying b4, those kind of mistakes can make or break the phsycology of the game ('like omg this looks sooooo good, but then, look over there')

and btw, since the lighting on the right antlion is wrong...would that suggest its a matter of cut and paste??? hmm, its a bit suspicious to me. notice the difference in detail between the right one and the left....

AND STOP GOING ON ABOUT THE BLOODY HELMET THING LOL

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I only know abou two:

The black-orange combo in HL which has the flashlight underneath the lambda logo on the chest , and the new mettalic looking one in HL2 which has the flashlight on the right arm.

No, there are three, orange HEV suits in the anamoulous materials lab in area 3.

 

[lans]

Hey guys those pics are really beautiful, but don't you think that the specular and normal mapping make the ant lions get a look more similar to deus ex 2 , doom 3 and farcry, meaning that they look a little bit more "plastic" than before?

They still look grittish - not very plasticy. The specular effects in HL2 so far look subtle and not overdone.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

the color scheme on the antlions has changed (imo looks shittier now) and theres definately more normal mapping/bumpmapping showing... it looks shittier too, prefered it with less, and with the old colors. meh

 

[Brian Damage]

I only know abou two:

The black-orange combo in HL which has the flashlight underneath the lambda logo on the chest , and the new mettalic looking one in HL2 which has the flashlight on the right arm.

Ians, I think he's talking about the presence of three individual HEV suits in the area where Gordon works in HL. You know, the way you go into the HEV room and see three places for them on the wall, one of which has your suit?

And I reckon the little circle under the symbol on the HL HEV suit is actually the recharging port, but I could be wrong...

[EDIT] Y'know, I reckon every pic that VALVe gives us just proves once again that old adage that you can't please everyone...

 

[Shuzer]

the color scheme on the antlions has changed (imo looks shittier now) and theres definately more normal mapping/bumpmapping showing... it looks shittier too, prefered it with less, and with the old colors. meh

I completely agree. I'm not overly impressed by this shot

but, anyone who was expecting the flashlight to cast shadows needs a reality check on how HL2 uses shadows and lighting

 

[lans]

ok i love hl2 but i think the image seems a bit buggy even though it has it's good parts

Now I'm confused like hell. *stares blankly*

pvtryan and pullball say there is dynamic lighting/shadwoing - yet you have evidently pointed out that the flashlight doesn't cast shadows for the lions - that's what I first noticed. So the question is: does HL2 support dynamic whatever or not? or is this just a bug in the screen.

 

[Shuzer]

Now I'm confused like hell. *stares blankly*

pvtryan and pullball say there is dynamic lighting/shadwoing - yet you have evidently pointed out that the flashlight doesn't cast shadows for the lions - that's what I first noticed. So the question is: does HL2 support dynamic whatever or not? or is this just a bug in the screen.

The engine supports it, the game doesn't use it (dynamic shadows, that is). AFAIK.

 

[Kangy]

The other 2 suits in the complex were probably for the women in Decay.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

The other 2 suits in the complex were probably for the women in Decay.

Yes.
Which is why the scientists know you are Gordon, there are only two other suits, and they weren't in the same are as old Gordie. They can track all HEV suits.

 

[tommie]

what a SHOT

 

[aeroripper]

There are more than 3 HEv suits... remember when you went to zen and there were a bunch of dead HEV suit users

maybe "3 HEV suits left" is more accurate

 

[AJ Rimmer]

There are more than 3 HEv suits... remember when you went to zen and there were a bunch of dead HEV suit users

maybe "3 HEV suits left" is more accurate

there are three HEV suits. Except in the lambda complex, but you're so far away from that most of the game.

There are HEV suits in Xen, but in Xen, scientists recognizing gordon with his helmet on is not a problem.

 

[pixartist]

Some of this is wrong, the light is coming from directly above through a skylight, and this is reflected correctly in the shadows.

The flashlight not making shadows could be the fact that they only just started doing up the flashlight

The lighting artifact is well spotted, though.. Even if these are things that you have to spend 5 minutes poring over the shot to find

the light is too blue and the border is too hard to be a skylight! this is a spotlight!(a light-blue one...) and i am pretty sure it's comin from the right side! (look at the cone(is this good english? ^^))

Maybe the people who try to play it on a TNT 2 will be able to find these bugs, because it will run at a frame a minute for them

hrhrhrh

btw: as far as i remember all the scientists say "oh hello dr.freeman" so he can't wear a helmet ^^

 

[Dead-Inside]

Still wonder where ol' Gordo actually keeps his torch. Wrist? Shoulder? Groinal socket?

I've always pictured the flashlight being some sort of built in accessory for his HEV suit but I've never really thought about where its positioned...

It's in one of his shoulders I believe (The HEV suit). I might be mistaken though.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

btw: as far as i remember all the scientists say "oh hello dr.freeman" so he can't wear a helmet ^^

OH BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!
Read my post above.

 

[Joeyslucky22]

my god.. those antlions look like shit... :flame: