Info received from Valve ONLY - NO questions/discussion

[LudiKalell]

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2003 3:57 AM
To: Erik Johnson
Subject: concerning server load


Hallo and a beautiful morning (it's short after noon here in germany)..

just a quick question which bothers me and my friends..

Obviously u have plenty of bandwidth, at least if the data on the official Steam site is true. Yesterday when i wanted to get the latest update, the amount of traffic was horrible: some kbit junks every 10 seconds or so, even though the site stated about 1.2 Gbit left.. k, let's say the information from the site is not all correct.. but..

is it a bad routing 2 europe, or just a thing about the packet handling (from the Steam "master server" if there is any) or the authentification for download.. or just a problem of bandwidth (despite what the site says ?)

I'm really interested about this one, although I' confident whatever problem it is it will be resolved in a future version..

P.S.: once I was getting incredible download rates, short after a patch came out and short after u got ur 8 content servers (now 10) online .. 70kbyte, that was.. luck ? well I'm confused
-------------------------------------------------------------

We're going to be increasing our content server capacity for Europe very soon. Did you get up to date and running?

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, here's a question I sent to Gabe, probably old news, probably been asked before... but it cleared up a point of contention for me...


From: Brian Damage [mailto:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX]
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 11:07 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: How important is Steam...


Hello Mr Newell...

Apologies for that "Mad Fanboy" email I sent you a while ago...

I just want to ask, is a Steam connection/membership/whatever actually necessary in order to play the normal version of HL2? Or get patches for it?

Thanks in advance.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

yes

Personally, I think that more or less sucks, but I suppose they've done it for a reason. Whatever that may be... I've also got a feeling I should have been more specific...

 

[Dr. Shim]

This may be useful for people with cards not supporting Pixel Shaders.
--------------E-Mail Below----------------

Source scales to hardware not capable of pixel shaders.

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 2:41 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Pixel Shaders?

It has come to my attention, since I've tried playing the Deus X 2 demo,

that my graphics card (GeForce MX 420) does not support Pixel Shading.
However, this game /requires/ the presence of pixel shaders, thus
disabling my ability to use that product. Would Half-Life 2 have the
same requirement, or would it just disable Pixel Shader-required
effects?

I assumeth that this be so, for this game be playable on Direct X 6.0
systems, as far as I knoweth.

Kyng Newell, I thanketh thee for thy respondeth-sssthss...Thss...Bah.

 

[phantomdesign]

This isn't info exactly, but I've seen much stupider stuff here. He did forward it to the rest of valve employees, so I'm happy.

---------------

Heh. Thanks.

-----Original Message-----
From: Phantom Design [mailto:***************]
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 10:15 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: HL2 MOD, Phantom-Ops: A christmas gift for Valve Employees

Hi Gabe Newell,
I just wanted to wish all of you over at valve headquarters a very
Merry Christmas!!! I have a little present for all of you there. Yes,
a special customized gift of sorts.

http://www.gryphonauto.com/Extra/HL2-Xmas-002.jpg

..and...

http://www.gryphonauto.com/Extra/HL2-Xmas-001.jpg

Sorry for the quality, I only spent a little over an hour making it. I
think all of you will enjoy it. Please feel free to pass it around the
office!

Best Regards,
Jonathan Griffin
---------------
Gryphon Automotive, Exotic Supercar Design
www.GryphonAuto.com

Phantom Ops, Half Life 2 MOD
www.GryphonAuto.com/Phantom-Ops/

 

[Fender357]

I thought this was pretty interesting, since I didn't really know anything about the 3D skyboxes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Nathan,

I can answer your question for you Making 3D skyboxes is very easy.
What the skybox really is, is a separate map usually placed next to or
below the main map. This skybox map is usually on a 1:16 scale so all
of the terrain and buildings etc are 1/16 scale designed just like you
would design your game map. You'd add clouds etc whatever you wanted
in
the skybox to the skybox map. In the very center of the skybox map you
would have a smaller square that represents the actual game map, near
the edges of this square you'd blend the game map texture with the
skybox map texture so it's not obvious where the game map ends and the
skybox starts

Then the way this works in the game is there is a "viewpoint" that is
located in the skybox map that moves as the player moves and is used
effectively as a camera that draws the 3D skybox from the viewpoint's
view. Doing this you can have buildings move appropriately when you
move etc even though you cannot actually ever "get" to them.

I hope this makes sense. If you have any questions about it feel free
to email me.

Thanks,
Rick
Valve


From: Nathan Lane [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxx.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:17 PM
To: Jay Stelly
Subject: 3D Skybox


Hiya! I've got a question. How easy (or nauseously hard) will it be to
make the 3D sky boxes? I don't know much about programing or anything
like that, so will it totally confuse me? I just don't get how you are
able to have part of your town be the skybox and then get to a point
where it loads that part of town. It confuses me greatly.
I just picture you running towards the skybox and I picture it being a
flat surface and then having it load once you get to it.....which
sounds
all wrong for it being in 3D.

Thanks a Bunch for your time.
And for HL2 ,
Nathan Lane

 

[Fender357]

Again....some neat info from Rick
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've herd about there being some kind of Hammar guid that will come out when HL2 does. I'd really love to have somthing like this. The help section in Worldcraft was pretty good, but it was still kind of straight forward in parts. And it probably could have been elaborated on more for someone like me, just getting into it. Im not sure who would be making the guide, but I figure its Prima or somthing like that. Just wanted to know if you guys know about it or anything.
===========================================================================================


Hi Nathan,

Yes in fact the Hammer docs will be MUCH better than the WorldCraft docs were. We're going to have an online entity reference this time which should make everything a whole lot easier.

Rick

 

[Chris D]

I took the liberty of e-mailing Gabe a few days ago.

Hello Gabe!

Once again I call upon you to verify yet another dispute at the HL2.Net
forums (We've just upgraded to Vbulletin 3 BTW so they'll look pretty
cool when our old colour scheme is back so you should pop in again
sometime!).
It's regarding the new media that has recently made an appearence in PC
Gamer UK, PC Zone UK and www.computerandvideogames.com. More
specifically:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_229/vortal_
pic_114940.jpg

Everyone has started to think that it's not concept art and a real
in-game render from Source. Would you care to clarify which it is?

As usual, keep up the good work!
We're getting excited again

Chris_D

Hi Chris,

This image:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_229/vortal_
pic_114940.jpg

(which we call "depot")...is concept art produced by Viktor Antov, art
lead on HL2.

Cheers

 

[j13jjs]

> Hey, I'll make this quick, I know you are busy.
> As i am currently massivly upgrading my system soley for the purpose
> of making half life 2 compfortable on my computer, I have some
> questions about recomendations for certin products.
> If you could just tell me which of the following video cards is best
> for the game, these are the ones in my price range, if they are really

> that bad for the game and i need the 9800 256mb pro just let me know
> and i will get a 2nd job. I love half life that much.
> RADEON 9800 128MB
> RADEON 9600 Pro 256MB
> RADEON 9700 128MB
> Those are in my price range for video cards which is less then 200 or
> right around their, please let me know if you know of any others that
> would also do well. I want my HL2 to be on high settings if possible.
>
> Other hardware questions.
> Will i need 2gb or ram or will 1 gb do? if their is any need I will
> get 2.
>
> Last question...
> would it really make that big of a deal to have a 64bit proccessor or
> would a athlon 2800 do just fine. Your thoughts will be greatly
> appreciated, thank you for your time.
> Joe




Hi,

Hope I'm not too late -- 9600 Pro 128MB is a fine choice, 1GB is more
than enough, and you're completely good with a 2800.

Just let me know if I missed any.

Cheers

 

[Jorkapp]

Some good news for (future) HL2 coders:

Me

-----Original Message-----
From: Jordan Kapp [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 10:33 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: HL2 SDK Suggestion

Hey Gabe.

Since you're behind the wheel on HL2 development, I thought I might share a suggestion for the HL2 SDK.

With the HL1 SDK, you left coders in a mad scramble to get working compilers. Since a copy of MSVC++ 6 costs a few hundred bucks, people either adapted the code to free compilers (MinGW and Borland, for example), bit the bullet and bought a copy, or used illegit copies of MSVC++.

Since HL2 is being built with MSVC++ .NET (DirectX 9 requires MSVC++ .NET to compile), I suggest including the Microsoft C++ .NET cmd-line compilers with the HL2 SDK. These are Free compilers, Entirely redistributable, and 100% identical to the MSVC++ .NET compilers (There's actually a tutorial on using them with HL1 on Wavelength - http://articles.thewavelength.net/218/ ). The only downside is that these compilers require a copy of Windows 2000 or XP to use, and require the .NET framework to be installed.

Any thoughts? Remarks?

Reply from Rick Ellis

Hi Jordan,

We actually use VC6 for Half-Life 2, not the .NET stuff. However, I'll look into what it would take to include the command line compilers (if it's possible) in the SDK. This is a great suggestion, thank you very much for taking the time to suggest it to us. I'll also add you to our SDK list so you'll get information about the SDK as soon as it's ready. In the meantime, if you have any more suggestions or questions, feel free to contact me.

Rick Ellis
Valve

Sounds like Coders, new and old alike, will finally get a slice of the compiling pie.

 

[MultiVaC]

This is about that h-l-2world interview:

real

-----Original Message-----
From: ***** [mailto:*********]
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 10:30 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Is this interview real?

Hi Gabe, very quick question.

http://*************/article-145--0-0.html

Is this fake or real?

 

[sharp]

Still had to ask for the possible release date of HL2 SDK

The SDK will be released soon. There was a legal hangup that has now been resolved.

Rick Ellis
Valve

________________________________

From: xxxxxx [xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thu 1/1/2004 8:58 AM
To: SDk
Subject: HL2 SDK release date?



Hello Valve,

I know you don't like these questions about the release date for HL2 SDK but can you please give us a possible release date for the HL2 SDK? And my second question is: what is the reason why we (fans/modders/programmers) have to wait for the SDK? Is it a tecnical or a marketing thing?

regards,

xxxxxxxxx

 

[SidewinderX]

It's been awhile since I've added to this thread

There will be examples for XSI yes.

Rick Ellis
Valve

________________________________

From: talalalalalalala
Sent: Thu 1/1/2004 3:44 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Hey, HL2 question

Hey,
I was wondering if a examples of the animation systems for players, vehicles, weapons, etc, will be included in the SDK, and, if so, will there be examples for 3D Studio Max, as well as Softimage XSI?

Thanks,
David Petkofsky

 

[SidewinderX]

More info....

Source engine multiplayer map changes should in theory be faster than in HL1 because of some core changes to the network signon protocols (modulo the fact that the levels are so much bigger and have so many more entities, of course, which could slow them right back down to HL1 speed). I haven't done a side by side comparison yet.

Take care,
Yahn

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mememememememe
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2004 3:40 PM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Hey, HL2 info


Hey,
I have a few question about Half-Life 2 for you. Is it possible to speed upmap changes? I mena that generally, in multiplayer, it takesa long time to chnage maps and get everyone into the server. Is it possible to make the process very quick?


Thanks,
David Petkofsky

Follow Up

Probably not, but we'll be making them as fast as possible before shipping anyway.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: me
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 9:35 AM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Re: Hey, HL2 info

Thanks!

As sort of a follow up question, would it be possible to code ina method for speeding them up? ie something like partially loading them slowy during a match or something to that effect?

Thanks again,
David Petkofsky

 

[ray_MAN]

I finally get to post on this thread

We are working diligently to get a release of the SDK out. I can't say any more other than it won't be too much longer.

Rick



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ray Sarlo [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Fri 1/2/2004 8:49 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: SDK? Please clear up.


Mr. Ellis,

There is a rumor going around that the Half-Life 2 SDK will be released soon. Is there any truth to that? If so how soon? Also, what capabilities will the SDK have? Thank you for your time.

Best regards,
Ray Sarlo

(reason for edit: to make easier on eyes, added "quote")

 

[Ahnteis]

-----Original Message-----
From: ********
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 11:14 PM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Suggestion - Speeding up map downloads

RE:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?p=325240#post325147

Would it be possible to include a "download URL" in server config
files so that server operators would have the option of offloading map
downloads to a separate server?

It's something we've considered in the past. I'll pass the suggestion
on to one of the other coders here to see if he wants to implement it.

Yahn

(This sentence useless spam because quotes don't count toward minimum message length.)

 

[Head-Cracker]

Yes

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex [mailto:*****@******]
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 5:11 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Anti-Cheat

Hi Gabe,
I have a simple question;
Will HL2 come with anti-cheat program?
Thanks for your time.

 

[Spiffae]

Got some hot info on the SDK

Hi Ben,

See my answers to your questions below.

Thanks!
Rick Ellis
Valve

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: (Spiffae)
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2004 9:18 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: the capabilities of the Source SDK


Dear Mr. Ellis,

First, happy New Year from me to all you dedicated folks at Valve. Let me say that I have nearly infinite admiration for you and your team's monumental efforts both in working on Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and Steam, and replying to your fans persistent and constant e-mailings. You have become a model for what a game studio should try to be, and you have gained the respect and support of thousands of people. The Source Mod FAQ at the V.E.R.C is enough to get me excited every time I read over it.

I know you're probably busy enjoying your weekend off, (or perhaps busy working without a weekend off...I don't know how close to done you are) but i was hoping you might have time to answer a couple questions about the possibly imminent release of the SDK.

I'll put them in numbered format so it's easier to answer.

1. I used hammer quite a bit with the original Half-Life. The editor is quite robust, but I can't really imagine making completed maps without the constant in-engine checking to make sure everything looks OK (lights, etc) works ok (doors, lifts, etc) or plays OK. Is the new Hammer editor going to come with some sort of reduced source engine we can use, or are we just going to have to use our imaginations until the HL2 release? (I don't know the practicalities of this... maybe it's impossible to do what I’m saying, and we're just going to have to wait. in that case, fine)

*** In the initial release you won't have an engine to view your levels with, however since Hammer is WYSIWYG, you can visualize your levels that way. At some point in the future, we'll release a build of the engine that you can use to check out the physics and interactions of your level.

2. Seriously, how many e-mails do you get a day from rabid fans? Don't you get tired of it?

*** Alot No, I never get tired of answering people's questions and emails.

3. I doubt you can answer this, but I might as well ask. People on the infamous halflife2.net message boards have been joking about how the Half-Life 2 SDK is set to release "soon", but "soon" in Valve terminology is anywhere from one month to three years. Are they right? How close are you? (i.e. what is left to be done?)

*** Well it will be much less than 3 years, that I *can* tell you

4. Last question. What can we expect in the SDK? I know that hammer should be there, as well as the faceposer tool and a version of XSI, but what about the resources? Will we get any models to pose, or any of those object "warehouses"? Any sample maps, sample models, or anything I'm missing? Will there be any programs I missed?

*** There will be some samples and resources. For example, there will be a character with a set of animations to get you guys started on your own NPC's as well as models for various other objects in the world.

I'm sorry to waste your time, as there are probably more important things for you to be doing, but I would really appreciate a reply. I've been impressed with the galvanizing effect of a developer's response before, and it would really be a great feeling to hear back from you.

*** It's not a waste of my time, thanks for your interest in Half-Life 2 and the SDK. ​

 

[Cutey_Kaite]

That is completely false.

Rick
Valve


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent: Mon 1/5/2004 10:10 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Havok Physics


I heard a rumor that you guys will not be implanting Havok into Half Life 2
because of some legal issues. Is this true?

One more question, how come you guys never update your main site?

Thanks for your time

 

[Joeyslucky22]

Yes, there is that chance.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joe [mailto:**********]
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 8:15 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Your 5,000,000th SDK email question!....


So yeah im sure you're swimming in a pool of questions about the SDK...

but if you dont mind my question itd be much appreciated!


My question is quick:

Without "Promising" anything, is there the slightest chance that, maybe think we'll see the SDK in.. well.. lets say the next 1-3 months?

Thanks Yahn!

Joe

 

[Chris D]

Yes, there is that chance.

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Deeming [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 2:59 PM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Your 5,000,001st SDK email question!....

So yeah, I'm sure you're swimming in a pool of questions about the
SDK...

But if you don't mind my question it'd be much appreciated!

Just a quick one:

Without "promising" anything, is there the slightest chance that maybe
we'll see the SDK in the next one to TWO months?

Thanks Yahn!!

Chris_D
Halflife2.net Super Moderator



_______________________________________

Hehe notice the major difference between my e-mail and Joey's? Not much I know but we're getting closer!

 

[Magriep]

lol now ask one month and go from there

Ok, here's my share of emails I've sent to VALVe so far. They're more technical questions and for mod developers mostly than gameplay questions.

Email #1:

That's the plan.

We definitely will be getting the SDK up there as well.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gabe Newell
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2004 11:51 PM
To: Erik Johnson
Subject: FW: Mod Updates Through Steam



-----Original Message-----
From: Magriep[mailto:********]
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 4:46 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Mod Updates Through Steam

Hello Mr. Newell,

I was just curious as to how mod updates will be downloaded via
steam when half-life 2 is released. Will mod mod makers submit an
update, and then the update will be posted on the content servers, or is
there a different approach that was taken? Also, when the SDK is
released will that be available via steam also or will it just be on
VERC?

Thanks,

Magriep
Programmer for Jurassic Rage
http://jurassicrage.halflife-files.com/

P.S. Happy Holidays!

Email #2:

This is something we've thought of a number of times, but we can't really come up with something better than CVS for MOD developers.

In the case of DoD, getting source merged together was a real mess, but in CS's case it hasn't been too bad.

Erik



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Gabe Newell
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 2:51 AM
To: Erik Johnson
Subject: FW: Source Management for Mod Developers






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Magriep [mailto:********]
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 6:24 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Source Management for Mod Developers


Hi,

I'm a programmer for the modification Jurassic Rage, and I was wondering if you'd be able to give some advice. My dilemma is managing our mod code between multiple programmers over the internet when the SDK comes out.
I've looked into CVS (Concurrent Versions System), but seems like I'd have to learn a whole new language just to run it. I was thinking of getting a book on CVS, but before I do I was wondering if you knew of any other solutions. Did mods like CS and DoD use a source management program, or did they just use an ftp server?

Thanks in Advance,

Magriep
Programmer for Jurassic Rage
http://www.jurassicrage.halflife-files.com/

 

[DvS]

Yes, terrain editing will be included in the SDK release of Hammer. And yes, you can apply bumpmaps to brushes or models.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: DvS [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 2:14 PM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Hammer Questions.


Hello Mr.Bernier, I'm DvS from the mod team citizen-132.. I wanted to ask you two questions about the hammer that will be included in the SDK.

First, will there be a terrain molding tool, similar to those used to make BF1942 levels?

Secondly, will it be possible to apply bumpmaps to brushes, or just models?

Thank you.

 

[SidewinderX]

And more info... if not all the exciting...

There will be some shader examples, yes.

Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: SidewinderX
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 11:42 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Question About Shaders

Hey,


I know that we will be able to write our own shaders for HL2, but what
kind of shader will be included in the SDK? IE, will there be shaders
like a skin shader for example?



Thanks,

David Petkofsky

 

[SidewinderX]

But wait!, there's more!

Hi David,

See my answers below.

Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: SidewinderX
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 7:43 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: HL2 Hammer question

Hi!

I have some quick questions for you about making maps for
Half-Life
2 (as the SDK will be released "soon" it's time to gather info ). We
know from the first E3 tech demo that displacment maps can be used to
change terrain in maps on the fly, but can a mapper use a displacment
map to make the basic terrain for a level? (for something like an
outside level)

*** Yes of course, this is exactly how terrain for outdoor environments
is made.

Also, would it be possible (either in the editor itself or through
code) to do something like specify a "zone" on a map and have the map
randomly generate a tree within that zone everytime the map loads?

*** This is not currently supported. I'm not sure how difficult it
would be for you to add, I'd have to look into it more.

Thanks and Happy New Year,

David Petkofsky

 

[Marijn]

Well since i was woried about Gabe's health i send him a mail. Please note it wasn't ment in a hatefull/bashing way.

I appreciate the sentiment.

Gabe

-----Original Message-----
From: MJA Lebbink [mailto:xx@xx]
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 3:30 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: you

Dear Gabe,

This mail is not about hl2 or the sdk but about you. Being a fan of half-life and thus Valve and it's staff I've read lots of interviews. In these series of interviews something has caught my attention: you seem to have taken on some weight...... Now i fully understand this is probably very rude, way out of line and I am not mister skinny either but you recent media appearences triggered a HEV-suit like voice in my head saying 'Heart failure imminent, seek medical attention'.

Do yourself, your family and your fans a favor and get this sorted. All the fainboys are going to kill me for saying this but if delaying hl2 is what it takes by all means do so. I'd rather see a hl2 in 2005 and you healthy and making more great games then a hl2 today and no more Gabe in the future.

I hope you take this mail as a somewhat rude but well ment advice.

grtz. Marijn

 

[Spiffae]

Ben,

We are working diligently on getting the Half-Life 2 mod SDK ready for release. I don't have a firm date yet but when we do, we'll announce it to the community.

Thanks,
Rick Ellis
Valve



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ben Duchac [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 8:53 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Cc: Yahn Bernier
Subject: what's going on?


Dear Mr. Bernier and Mr. Ellis
I'm quoting a site i just came across, Half Life Radio.

"Apparently, the email floating around from Yahn Bernier and/or Rick Ellis has been modified stating that the Half-Life 2 SDK is within a month or 2 away. The email further states that there was a "legal hang-up" regarding the delay.

The information [regarding the SDK] is false. Valve told Half-Life Radio today that they very much doubt Rick Ellis or Yahn Bernier addressed anything regarding the Half-Life 2 SDK in any email or message board whatsoever and, "there are no legal hang-ups regarding the SDK release." They went on to say that Steam SDK is the only SDK at this time that Valve might be releasing soon for Half-Life Mod developers (to port their games to the Steam format)."

I'm confused. Can either of you gentlemen clarify? I know i recieved one of those e-mails from Mr. Ellis, and I certainly didn't modify it. What's going on?

Thanks,
Ben

url: http://www.halfliferadio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1475

 

[PrivatePanic]

Yes you could create such an entity. We also have a system for
instancing detail objects like foliage, so you might just use that
directly or in addition to such an entity that you create in your mod.

Yahn

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 2:48 AM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Entity-Question (SDK)

Hi Yahn,

would it be possible to create an entity that specifies an area in that,
at the time the map loads on the server, randomly placed objects are
created (rocks, trees, whatever) with defined density, for example using
an entity-variable 'density', etc.?

Thanks for your time,

Tim

 

[CreedoG]

It currently uses a proprietary DSP engine to support surround sound etc.

Rick



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: XXX [mailto:XXX]
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 11:38 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: easy question, just takes 1 min of your time


Hi Rick,

I was wondering what kind of sound support will Half-Life 2 have for 3D Audio. Does it support EAX 4.0, EAX 3.0, Dolby Digital (for living room guys), Aureal Interactive, or Direct Sound 3D?

Thanks for your time, keep up the good work,

-XXX

 

[Brian Damage]

After that thread with the minor argument about Source being just a souped up version of the Quake 1/Half Life engine, I decided to see if I could find out from the man himself... he took the time out to reply, so I hope this ends the debate.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Brian Damage [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004 6:36 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Source engine = Quake engine with knobs on?


Hello Mr Newell.

Sorry to bother you, but if you could just lay this to rest I would be much obliged...

At HL2.net, there has been a bit of debate about whether or not Source is just the Quake 1/ Half Life engine with shiny bits. I personally don't believe this to be the case.

So: Is Source just a modified version of the original Quake 1 or Half life engine? And, if so, how much of the old engine code is still present?

Thanks in advance.

Brian Damage.



uh, no.


Guess that answers it. Looking at the screenshots again, I think he was probably wondering why I even bothered asking... (rearranged to put Mr Newell's answer at the bottom)

 

[Algor]

Gabe gave me an email to some HL2 mappers... dont ask me for it

"> - Scaling down textures (like to 0.5) in the original HL increased
> the texture loads on maps, does this happen in Source?
> Is FPS affected at all by the scaling of the textures?

The scaling itself won't cost you. The thing that will cost is the
amount of video memory that you are using for the textures, and the
number of different textures that you have.

 

[Alec_85]

I wrote my first mail to VALVe yesterday & I got an answer (Engine related):

Long mail first, short answer last.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ME [[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 8:16 AM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: "NEW" lighting idea & questions about it!


Hi.
My first mail to VALVe ever =) I just had to ask some questions about an idea I got a few weeks ago. I came up with the idea of having realistic lighting in Multiplayer maps. But this doesn't work as an ordinary lighting would work (I suppose). It would be controlled by the server.

So with realistic I mean that, the lighting should change in realtime (at least the sun & day & night). So if the clock on the server computer is like 15:00 summer time, then the sun would be quite high up in the sky, casting realistic shadows all over the map.

Of course with this system, if the server is active at night, the server plays out @ night =) This would mean that if an american played on a EU server, he would possible play out a game in nighttime when it's bright outside but I doubt that would cause any problems for him/her This could add quite a nice mood the any game in my mind. Perhaps the system would be linked the system clock in Windows.

Anyway, do you guys think this could be possible at all? Having a moving sun/lightsource of any kind with movement decided by daytime doesn't seem that far from having lighting as it exists today.

Well, thanks for your time =)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think a mod could do "time of day" changes to lighting pretty easily. I look forward to seeing someone implement this in the Source engine.

Yahn

 

[lastandroid]

From: Nelson Beers [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 10:09 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: time of day mod

Hi!
I saw a post of an e-mail you answered and have some questions. First the e-mail and your reply:

[I put Alec_85's above post here]

1. Would it be possible to have a skybox in a map that can move? Like the sun/stars going across the sky. Would it be possible to have a skybox be a giant ball that spins around the map?

2. Would it be possible to have the server give the game a number which in turn tells the skybox to turn to a certain spot? Maybe the time?

3. Is it posible to put light sources in the skybox, so that depending on where it is the light changes? So when the sun is in a certain spot the light is a certain color and intensity. Or maybe have it so when the server gives a number (or time) it changes the light sources color and intensity?

Thanks,
LastAndroid

1. I think you could achieve something like this using a 3d skybox and putting sun/star particle/sprites into it and moving them based on time of day. The traditional skyboxes are cubic, but the nice thing about Source is that you can render whatever you want for the sky, so you could do the "inside of a sphere" thing if you wanted.

2. Sure, a mod could send whatever data it wants. We send data for the 3d skybox parameters from the server to the clients already.

3. Actually modulating the light and world light direction everywhere would be tricky, but probably not impossible. Or you could just alter the color of the framebuffer in screenspace to simulate twilight, other time of day effects. I haven't tried treating everything as a dynamically lit surface, but I fear that recomputing any light maps would be too expensive. There are probably some creative hacks to achieve this effect without killing performance.

Of course all of this assumes the mod actually has gameplay that demans a time of day system

Yahn

 

[Joeyslucky22]

hm.. yahn sounds like hes answered his 1,000,000th email.. im not emailing him anymore lol..

heres what he said (sorry Yahn )

Oh, and i meant to ask if its possibile that we'll see the HL2 SDK this month... but I accidentally said HL2 in general.. but.. hey

Income depends on location, company and your experience. Nobody is starving to death.

1) Uhh, yeah...

2) You could make a stack of ragdolls on top of each other and they'd probably work just fine, they don't need to be prefabs.

3) Uhh, yeah...



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joe [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 4:40 PM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Hey Yahn ol' buddy old pal!


How are ya Yahn?

So I'm a senior in highschool, and thinking about going into the gaming industry. How is the income?.. i mean like, I plan on having a wife and kids, but if I go into gaming companies, whats life going to be like? :-P

So yeah, onto HL2!

hahah, quick questions, hopefully they wont take up too much of your time:



1.) Think we'll see HL2... this.. month?... possibly? .. maybe?..... ?

2.) In Half Life 2, is there model collisions? like ... could you make a pile of dead guys? (one on top of the other) or would they have to be Prefabs not entities?

3.) Last question, So, I take it you guys are... almost done with Half life 2? just checking out final tweaks etcetera? well thats awsome, I've put alot of my time into the Half Life 2 community, and I'm sure this new treat of yours wont be a dissapointment. But to my question, sorry, a.. rough.. guesstmate, what percentage... would you say Half life 2 is currently at? doesn't have to be REAL just.. your guess

Thanks a bunch for your time Yahn!

~Joe

 

[The Dark Elf]

Just a quick note to anyone thinking of emailing Valve.. As the above reply shows, by the looks of it they are getting pretty sick of people asking the same questions every time. So to sum up.


Nobody knows when HL2 will be released, its just guess work until Valve give a proper date

The SDK is supposedly on its way 'soon' other than that nobody knows


If you want to email Valve, please try avoid asking question you know others have already asked countless times, if they haven't said in hundreds of other emails, then its pretty likely their not going to tell you either. So save wasting your time on it. They'll tell us when their ready.

If your still unsure, then read through this entire thread to see what has and hasn't been asked yet so you can come up with something original and interesting that will be of more use to the community in general. It'll be far less boring/annoying for Valve, and will avoid you getting a half baked reply.


Thanks


CHRIS_D EDIT: And remember; No discussion in this thread

 

[TyrantII]

Gabe email

emailed gabe the other night and got a reply, just wanted to share



(edit to put answer at bottom)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: TyrantII [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 12:34 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Little question, not HL2


Hey gabe,

Just wondering if you're a fan of capcoms game Resident Evil. If so/not, why or why not? Would you be intrested in seeing a mod of it for Source? Do you think Source could do some nifty things with the survival horror genre?

Thanks, and you and your men keep up the great work. I love your ideas about new medium/content distibution and development. It's about time the world starts to give power back to the people, and take it away from the few. More cool stuff gets created/done that way



- Ryan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really liked the earlier ones, but lost interest around Code Veronica. I haven't thought much about what the later versions were missing, but fundamentally I'm a fan of the series and the genre.

One i'm glad that i can even get a responce from the creator of a large development studio, and leader of the biggest PC game of the decade. Second he's a resident evil fan. Third, he's up at 4:00am est, probably burning the midnight oild doing stuff for valve/HL2. heres to a hard worker

:bounce:

 

[SubKamran]

My first answered email...Yahn is a dedicated man

From: Kamran [mailto:xxx]
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 6:14 AM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Quick question - courses

Hi Yahn, I know you've been answering so many emails and most are repeats, but I hope this isn't!

I was just wondering, when Will talked to Gabe when he came over to Valve, Gabe said that their best programmer had a Fine Arts degree.

I want to become a game developer (coder) and I was wondering what did you take to get to Valve? My hopes are on DigiPen.

I appreciate all that you guys are doing, no one gets more personal with their fans as you guys do and I can understand if you can't answer my email!

-----------
Kamran A

Everyone has their own path. I actually have a chemistry degree and was a patent lawyer for 5 years before joining Valve. In my spare time I wrote a popular Quake map editor called BSP which is how I got hooked up with Valve. We have one fellow here from Digipen and we do talk to folks coming out of there. My advice is always to write games, either on your own or as part of a mod team. I also would say go to college and study something related that you are interested in, either computer science, or even math/physics. It all helps.

Good luck!

Yahn

 

[KiNG]

interview with Rick Ellis on blue wolf 72 forums. btw i almost never use capital letters, but i make accpetions

http://www.bluewolf72.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=3799#post3799

i always wanted to be in this thrad.

Edit: w00t 400th post in this thread (there are 399 replies, but 400 post.)

 

[mawibse]

Hi Mats,

Please see answers to your questions below.

Rick
Valve


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Mats Wiberg [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 2:34 AM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: Some Source engine Q's


Hi Yahn,


If you'd be so kind as to answer some HL2 tech questions:

1) For a MOD, would it be possible so that when "bullets" hit a face it would alter the dissplacement map on that face? (as to create appearance of an actual bullet hole not just a decal)

*** This would be very difficult as you'd have to actually change the material of the face and recalculate the location of bullet on the texture based on where it hit the face.

2) Does displacement maps LOD?

*** No.

3) Can you LOD through different resources, EX: at long distances it's a sprite/decal, and when getting closer it becomes a model?


*** No, LOD's are for models only, not including sprites, however, having said that a sprite still uses a quad to draw so you could have the lowest LOD effectively be a quad.


4) In "standard" HL2 will explosion damage take surroundings into affect (ex: more damage/longer range inside confined areas) or will it be just distance from explosion no matter what's in the way?

*** No. Actually explosions only do more damage indoors based on the materials around the explosions, so you'd have to add this in to get the effect you are looking for.

5) If you make a "standard" HL2 map (not for a MOD) will you be able to define your own materials? Example: Roof tiles; how/when they break and what kind of gib models they spawn, sound physics properties and such.

*** Sure. You can make whatever materials you want and specify the gibs for breaking/getting destroyed.

6) Are there restrictions as to what map entities you may use from HL2 SP in a HL2 MP map? (HL1 has these restrictions, ex: MP maps can't have monsters and their AI)

7) Does "masked" textures cast shadows?

8) Why am I drooling when I watch the HL2 E3 presentation video?

*** Only you can answer that question.


Take care

Mats "mawibse" Wiberg

 

[BlazeKun]

So for some things the anser is yes and for other things we'll have to
see.



Yahn

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Jacobson
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 3:15 PM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: RE: A question about Overlays/Shaders

At the moment, shaders which do not require normals or tangent spaces in
the vertex data should all work. It wouldn't be too hard to make it so
that shaders which use those also work. The hardest unsolved problem is
producing clipped normals + tangent spaces, which you'd have to do for
both displacements + normal brush surfaces. I'm not 100% sure whether
you could do it trivially in Surf_PostClipFragment +
Disp_PostClipFragment or whether you'd have to do it in
Surf_ClipFragment + Disp_ClipFragment. The last step would be to write
the normals + tangent spaces into the mesh builder in
COverlayMgr::RenderOverlays.

That said, we have to do all sorts of crazy things to the bsp itself
(introducing bsp splits, etc.) to get the water shader to work (namely
the pretty, refractive water), so the water shader itself won't work on
overlays without a much greater amount of pain.

B


-----Original Message-----
From: Yahn Bernier
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 1:57 PM
To: Brian Jacobson
Subject: FW: A question about Overlays/Shaders

You know the answer?

-----Original Message-----
From: Blaze
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 1:53 PM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: A question about Overlays/Shaders

I really hope this question hasn't been asked a million times before,
and I hope you're the person I should be asking, but it's a really good
question with some very good uses.

Will we be able to apply shaders to overlays? This would be very good
for creating say... a puddle of water on the street = )

Thanks!
Blaze

If anyone wants to translate be my guest.

 

[Joeyslucky22]

It's at least as good. Still mono. I think we may have a better codec available, but I'm not sure.

We haven't finalized the realtime lip sync so I can't provide info on that yet.

Yahn




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joe [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 9:07 PM
To: Yahn Bernier
Subject: about the MP in Half Life2 (voice wise)


So, In HL1, you could chat in the mic.

Now my question is in MP HL2, is the recording better quality? not mono? but stereo?

and.. how does lip syncing work for that? i mean is there lip sync? or is it just the HL1 way (Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah).

Thanks Yahn, you're a good man.