in-game internet browsing?

[Arrowhead]

hey guys,

I was wondering if there are any half-life 2 maps/mods that will allow me to play with HL2's VGUI2 capabilties? it has come to my attention that the hostile planet mod will have this, and the screen shots look sweet. but instead of waiting for their full fledged mod to come out, I'd like to play around with the VGUI2 now.

If not, are there any maps where I could play around with a movable camera and a TV screen, sort of like the E3 tech demo from a ways back. remember the room with the g-man, a TV screen(s) and a camera? The player could pick up the camera with the grav gun and the image on the screen would change accordingly.

anyways, I think all of that stuff is pretty neat, but I have yet had the chance to play with these myself in-game. I was wondering if I've missed some custom map/mod which is availiable now which features some or all of this stuff I've described.

 

[kenyo]

there are some custom gmod maps that have camaras, check out the gmod forums!

garry.tv/garrysmodforums (i think i typed that right)
if that was typed rong try this
garry.tv

 

[Chris D]

The VGUI2 is certainly capable of parsing HTML, as was the first incarnation of it. Many times the motd.txt file that people put on servers just contain HTML code

It just needs expanding I guess so that it allows you to go forward, back, stop, refresh, maybe history and favourites and an address bar to type in addresses.

 

[Zeus]

Woah--VGUI2 sounds very powerful and quite amazing

 

[Arrowhead]

The VGUI2 is certainly capable of parsing HTML, as was the first incarnation of it. Many times the motd.txt file that people put on servers just contain HTML code

It just needs expanding I guess so that it allows you to go forward, back, stop, refresh, maybe history and favourites and an address bar to type in addresses.

now I don't mean that 2d window. I'm talking about this.

http://www.halflife2.net/news//1112343633_news.jpg

 

[ComradeBadger]

Yeah - it's the same VGUI2

 

[Ultimape]

ONE WORD: Cool!

 

[Teddy]

I've had a bit of experience with this stuff first hand, and I'll warn you, there's a lot of code needed to get HTML windows running in-game.. It seems valve haven't used the vgui_screens much, so there's lots of stuff that needs fixing if you want to get it to work.

But to answer your question; yes, it is possible to browse the web from in-game! We've been testing internet kiosks in Dystopia, so players can surf the web (if they're not under fire, that is!

 

[diluted]

heh, that's awesome... I can just imagine browsing pr0n sites on the computers in cs_office while waiting for the CTs to storm the building.

 

[EC]

The only potential problem I see with that is, if someone brings up a rather large website, won't that lag everyone until it loads? Especially if it's an annoying site with wav music or a flash file. I'd imagine that there would be a cvar to not allow HTML downloading ingame, clientside.
I don't know, I'm just ranting.

 

[JHD536]

Lovely, we not only get porn sprays, we get full-fledged websites being brought up by the little punks.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

The only potential problem I see with that is, if someone brings up a rather large website, won't that lag everyone until it loads? Especially if it's an annoying site with wav music or a flash file. I'd imagine that there would be a cvar to not allow HTML downloading ingame, clientside.
I don't know, I'm just ranting.

I hope all the sounds and such would be client-side only, or else pr0n sprays would just go two steps forward. How can I aim when womeon are screaming that they want me right then and there!

 

[TheSock]

Just shoot the computer...

 

[MarcoPollo]

^^^ Rofl that would be funny if there was a trigger so that if u shot the comp it stoped the VGUI2 capabilities for that monitor

 

[JHD536]

But it would be nice to have a RSS feed page in the maps for Natural-Selection and other mods so you can see when a highly-anticipated update is ready just by looking at the news wall in the spawn room.

 

[Adabiviak]

Super neat! The Internet idea seems a little strange in an action game - mostly a gimmick (although a neat one) that I don't see adding gameplay... unless somebody hosts specific web content that has solutions to in-game puzzles? You have to find the website somewhere in the game then find a terminal and go there? I dunno. The camera thing has a lot of fun possibilities. I haven't perused the mods, but perhaps somebody can make a periscope?

 

[TrippyG]

gaming has changed a bit from where I started with my super powerfull 286 ARC computer with 2Mb memory and 16Mhz prosessor