improvements since 2003

[Wicked Spider]

what are the most destinguished improvements since the last years hl2 presentation?

although we didnt had much ingame footage from the game in 2003 i do seem to see improvements.
for instance the way wood sounds and looks when broken.
in the last years video of traptown when you broke the wooden barrier of the 2cnd floor it didnt sound and looked realistic,
however in this years video the wood sounded just like it should depending of the volume of the wood, also in the "tunnels" video the wooden boxes when destroyed just "faded" into nothing, whereas now you can see it break up nicely appart. (i remember ppl sending these comments to valve)

the AI looks more "combative" than last year. in the tunnel video they just stood there and warnt very acurate.
in the battle sequecne from this year you can see the AI try to flank and coodinate their attacks.

just a few.. what you guys think?

 

[Mr. Redundant]

first and foremost, the G-man looks splendifferous, everything looks a lot more polished
The weapons seem to be more powerful and all out cooler.
the AI is kicked up majorly, and gunfights look terrific.
things seem smoother, and ready to be on my damn computer
GIVE ME NOW

 

[zdub]

i could be wrong but physics looked that much more optimized. you'll notice when the combine dies in one of the trailors on a hill, he just collapses and doesnt slide down it like other games, he's not on enough of an angle for him to roll down it. FRICTION!

also, although i dunno if you'd call it an improvement, but the AI is obviously very clever now, putting to rest any doubts people had from the leaked beta and scripted sequneces and whatnot

 

[daveodeth]

wish the Ant lions were a little harder and had hit animations

but other than that everything looks better.

 

[[sl@yer]]

They got rid of the placeholder sprite when you hit a zombie (which is obvious, as it was only a placeholder).
Also....vaguely relevant to this thread, have valve changed the northern petrol place? Sorry if it's been mentioned, but the layout appears to have altered drastically. I actually preferred the old layout, so I guess it's not really an improvement in my opinion, although the crane is cool.

 

[Dead-Inside]

I don't know who the hell "G0man" is, but the Gman does look good. He's freakishly awesome. The eyes have these dull glare to them... He's mysterious. The atmosphere is around five times better, I guess.

The Strider battle really is a battle! It's not just Gordon (You) blasting away anymore, you actually have some freakish firepower along with you!

Some bugs have been fixed (Lighted-or-not-bug, for one) and we've gotten proof of some real good looking AI. The ant lions went balistic on you, good to know they can. We saw some awesome zombie creatures jumping you and Father Gregorian (Odd dude, btw).

The physics are... Just... Awesome. If you look at the cranescene, after the whole container is dropped, the magnet and it's line dangles just... SO realistic. It does that if you drop something from hight instead of putting it down.

Basically, everything's better. Nothing's worse. The game's almost out. Hold your mouth together and roll out your wallet, it's HL2 time baby! GORDON! ... I mean... STRIDER!

Regards
Dead-Inside

 

[DimitriPopov]

wish the Ant lions were a little harder and had hit animations

but other than that everything looks better.

Think Starship Troopers , their strength is obviously numbers not thinking power or strength. Plus when a huge bug flys at you to bite your face off , it will make you a little jumpy regardless of health.

 

[daveodeth]

it would be nice to have to hit them and they react though, like shoot a leg and it falls over, gets back up and tries to bite of your face. Shooting cannon fodder can get dull after a while

 

[Mr. Redundant]

I don't know who the hell "G0man" is, but the Gman does look good.

bah I knew someone would see my simply 0 instead of - mistake
you were quick though, since I noticed and edited it correctly within a minute of seeing my post up.

I have been smoten by mine own typo demons.
I have failed ye o' GoMAn1!?!


perhaps Hordon could help us find G0man


ON Topic: the zombies in the shed scene (not the corpse zombies, the normal headcrab zombies) look much better for some reason.
texture clarity seems on the up and up

 

[clarky003]

anyone notice.. they have gone and changed the classic headcrab zombie , almost entirely, the model looks different , he swings out at you differently.. (placeholders gone?) and most noticeably some of the guys underneath are still semi concious, as they scream when they are lit on fire.

as for AI the biggest change was apart from the talking sequences (Eli etc,) that respond probably to where the player is, alot of action now is not Scripted, the striders most noticeably

oh yeh and with the manipulator, the pulling effect into the weapon is a smooth transition, rather than the object all of a sudden just jerking into position

 

[Chris D]

They've replaced the old MP5K model that the NPCs were using with the correct MP7 model that Gordon uses.

They've increased the amount of bullets that the MP7 holds.

The MP7 fires faster.

The lighting effects seem to be tuned a little better.

The physics might very well be slightly tweaked too. I thought the wood acted a little bit more realistic in terms of physics this year.

They have included the updated blood sprites.

 

[NJD2003]

Hey Mr.Redundant what the hell is cit17? Is that where Hordon and G0man hang out? Maybe they party with Alxy.

 

[Delgarto]

The lighting still needs a lot of work. Some objects don't cast shadows, some NPC shadows aren't affected by light sources(See the video where the NPC leads gordon down the hall after the gate closes and he cannot pass). As well, objects that cast dynamic shadows, still cast through each other. See the crane level where the crane's shadow casts through the box it picks up. Hopefully they can fix this.

 

[clarky003]

valve arnt using light source shadowing, there using a world based default shadow. So no the entity's shadows wont be affected by other light sources, Like casting a shadow that dynamically changes where ever they are in position to the light.. Valve dont seem to feel its needed for some reason. or they simply havnt included that yet.

 

[[sl@yer]]

So are we moving on to what things are worse now?? If we are...I prefer the old buggy. But overall, I think practically everything has improved/developed. I did notice a difference in graphics quality and colour when comparing the dried up sea levels, but I think that's due to the video quality, not the actual game.

 

[clarky003]

but the one source for the real time shadows isnt a bad thing, it improves overall performance . so thats a good thing, because it still looks great even without every light source casting its own real time shadows.

 

[Spiffae]

yeah, that's one change i don't understand... the removal of the buggy's hood.

 

[Alec_85]

Well it seems the game doesn't freeze up when wood splinters anymore. Yet it did when those Belgians (sp?) visited their offices? Can't remember if you can notice any "lockups" in last year's movie when wood breaks but it certainly does in a certain version

 

[Apos]

Actually, the shadowing methods are EXTREMELY diverse: they vary quite a lot scene to scene. I think they can scale them to fit performance.

Check the video at 19:26 or so and on. The boards in this scene have their shadow's directions change in relation to the lightsource in the shack!

 

[Mr. Redundant]

Well it seems the game doesn't freeze up when wood splinters anymore. Yet it did when those Belgians (sp?) visited their offices? Can't remember if you can notice any "lockups" in last year's movie when wood breaks but it certainly does in a certain version

we havent seen an explosion of that clutter in the E3 vids though.

and the hoodless Buggy makes me cry.

 

[Apos]

I still think it gets upgraded to have a hood later on, now.

 

[Lobster]

to have a more advanced lighting/shaddow system, or even just have every object cast shaddow would probbally make the game inaccessable to a lot of people on lower specs, i think its the same reason they removed the hood on the buggy, in an old email/interview valve said the buggy would be less detailed in the final release, (that was last year) also it looks more rustic this way.

As for the lockup in those students video, every game i have ever played has locked up at some point, for some reason or another, half-life locks up 50% of the time for me when ive got hammer running in the background, it could have been anything.

 

[thedarkangel]

and most noticeably some of the guys underneath are still semi concious, as they scream when they are lit on fire.

The headcrabs are using the bodies to scream.

 

[clarky003]

The headcrabs are using the bodies to scream.

ooohh... thats pretty disturbing.

but its new anyway

 

[Kon]

I noticed they added in a new weapon animation.. when freeman aims directly at a friendly npc, he points his weapon down.. This probably helps prevent you from accidentally shooting someone, though I would guess it would be highly possibly to shoot them if you had the intent to do so.

Those electric land mine things are so fun looking..

 

[Moto]

I miss the buggy's hood too. Look at how cool it used to look with that hood. It was like a really old POS Ferarri with an extremely modified chasis and crappy wheels.

You also sat way lower in the seat in the old build of the game. I miss that. It used to have a race car feeling. Now it has a junkyard hodgepodge feeling.

 

[Dark Auro]

The headcrabs are using the bodies to scream.

That's not really a fact. Most people are thinking that the person is still alive. If you listen, you can hear the headcrab & the person underneath the headcrab making noise.

 

[PatPwnt]

theres nothing under the hood anyway...

 

[shapeshifter]

They've replaced the old MP5K model that the NPCs were using with the correct MP7 model that Gordon uses.

They've increased the amount of bullets that the MP7 holds.

The MP7 fires faster.

The lighting effects seem to be tuned a little better.

The physics might very well be slightly tweaked too. I thought the wood acted a little bit more realistic in terms of physics this year.

They have included the updated blood sprites.

so it is an Mp7 they are using then in the game?

one of these: http://www.hk-usa.com/pages/military-le/smg/mp7/mp7.html

 

[wayne white]

wow the old one looks like a drag race car.

 

[Wicked Spider]

i love how the manipulator pulls stuff to you like the gun in the ant lion fight scene

also zombie "blood" looks way more realistic than before

 

[Apos]

Something else to note: last time I asked about the "cables," it wasn't clear if they could "break" and then fall and react realistically. Well, guess what: we see EXACTLY that in the video when the combine blow up the rock formation to block your path! Those cables look awesome ripping out and collapsing like that.

 

[Chris D]

so it is an Mp7 they are using then in the game?

one of these: http://www.hk-usa.com/pages/military-le/smg/mp7/mp7.html

Yep. It certainly isn't one of these:

http://www.hk-usa.com/pages/military-le/SMG/MP5/mp5k-pdw.html


Another thing I forgot to mention - It seems as though they've changed the animation of the pistol for when it shoots.

 

[seinfeldrules]

I didnt notice any stationary MG turrets... maybe they were taken out, or just didnt appear in either level.

 

[Dead-Inside]

I didnt notice any stationary MG turrets... maybe they were taken out, or just didnt appear in either level.

VALVe didn't take these out. They're a vital part of the game. They've already showed them off, and honestly, it's not much TO show.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

Yep. It certainly isn't one of these:

http://www.hk-usa.com/pages/military-le/SMG/MP5/mp5k-pdw.html


Another thing I forgot to mention - It seems as though they've changed the animation of the pistol for when it shoots.

that is an MP5-PDW (personal defense weapon)

this is what most people associate with the PDW
http://racing-forum.pulse.pdi.net/plikownia/PDW.jpg

the mp7 and the PDW do not look like the same gun under closer inspection, rather the PDW is a variant of the MP7 (or there is a PDW variant of it)

 

[Chris D]

that is an MP5-PDW (personal defense weapon)

this is what most people associate with the PDW
http://racing-forum.pulse.pdi.net/plikownia/PDW.jpg

the mp7 and the PDW do not look like the same gun under closer inspection.

Yeah like I said, it's certainly not one of the MP5-PDW's like a lot of people have been implying. It is infact that gun in your post, the PDW. That was the prototype name for it, now it's actually in circulation they call it the MP7-A1.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

Yeah like I said, it's certainly not one of the MP5-PDW's like a lot of people have been implying. It is infact that gun in your post, the PDW. That was the prototype name for it, now it's actually in circulation they call it the MP7-A1.

the Mp5-PDW however is damn sweet looking its just a variant of the MP5k, and Im thinking of picking it up (as an airsoft AEG) in the near future.

some more info on the MP7 PDW
http://world.guns***/smg/smg49-e.htm

 

[Chris D]

the mp7 and the PDW do not look like the same gun under closer inspection, rather the PDW is a variant of the MP7 (or there is a PDW variant of it)

http://www.hkpro.com/pdw.htm

Update: 11/2001: The PDW has been named MP7 now that it is in production. Below is the production version. Notice the heavier buttstock, slightly changed markings, locking system on foregrip, flash hider and open sight option.

They're exactly the same gun, just the PDW was the prototype.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

http://www.hkpro.com/pdw.htm
They're exactly the same gun, just the PDW was the prototype.

yeah I worded that incorrectly, you know what I mean
I meant to say same model/variant.