Info received from Valve ONLY - NO questions/discussion

[ek0st0ns]

It'll be broken into smaller parts, but I'm not sure if they would all
fit on a CD.

Erik

-----Original Message-----
From: Gabe Newell
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 12:27 AM
To: Erik Johnson
Subject: FW: BURNING HALF-LIFE 2 CACHE FILE



-----Original Message-----
From: Francisco Villar [mailto:*@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 10:15 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: BURNING HALF-LIFE 2 CACHE FILE


I was wondering if the half-life 2 cache file will be just one big 4gb
file which means we will have to burn it onto a dvd. Or will it be
separated into smaller parts. Thanks in advance.

 

[evil^milk]

Hi ,

Please see answers to your questions below.

Thanks!
Rick Ellis
Valve



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: a dude [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 2:31 PM
To: Gabe Newell; Rick Ellis
Subject: Just some HL2 Questions...


Hello - I had a few questions I just had to ask...

Will dead NPCs' bodies be 'usable' with the manipulator, dead or alive?

*** Not all of them but the ones the level designers have specifically tagged will be usable with the physcannon.

What other melee weapons are planned or featured besides the crowbar?

*** You'll have to wait and see on this one

Will objects like wooden tables, boxes, computers, and other things gib realistically like the watermelon in the e3 video? In the same way, will NPCs gib this way?

** Yes, anything that's deemed "breakable" will realistically break like the watermelon in the demo.

What other vehicles will be featured?

*** Yes, but I can't give them away

Thank you for your time, HL2's gonna rock...

*** Thanks, we're trying to build the best game we can and appreciate the support.

 

[mbrithoms]

To: Gabe Newell
Subject: genuinly concerned about HL2's progress


Hello Gabe

Big fan of yours and of course Half Life, what worries my is (as you may know) fragmaster (the ex-webmaster of planethalflife.com) in his farewell post mentioned not too subtley that you had a disturbing small amount of content, there were strong rumours at the time of the leak that there were only 3 levels fully completed of Half Life 2, and these 'exclusive' magazine previews coming this month have played just the 3 levels from last e3, now what I want to ask is (not to sound disrespectful) are these the only 3 levels you have? Im being totally serious, it all seems a little suspect, especially with the statement from fragmaster. Alot of folk are losing faith fast including some of the insane fanboys of you guys and thats saying something.

thanks
Matt

From: "Gabe Newell" <[email protected]>


The entire game is playable.

 

[jonnyapps]

summer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jonathan Appleyard [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 7:56 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: hl2


hi there gabe. Just a quick question: when will the game be out?

Thanks a lot.

Jon


I was just being cheeky by asking. Guess this is more of a response than i should have expected.

 

[Axyon]

Okay everyone, I think we've established that the game is coming out in Summer now. Please stop e-mailing VALVe asking when the game's coming out now, further posts like that will be deleted.

*Do not reply to this message*

 

[Blitzy]

Not nessessarly anything new, but just a little more enphisis on something unclear to me
__________

From: Ryan [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tue 4/27/2004 6:21 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Impaling?



Hi, I've been reading a thread on hl2.net forums about physics tricks etc
etc.
I came across this co-okie idea:

"I think ill weld a couple pipes to a vehicle and instead of simply
running people over ill impale them and hover them over a fire making a
home made shiskabob."

Is it actually possible to impale enemys in Half-Life 2? If not so in the
actual content, would it be possible for a mod to do so?

Thank You for answering the hundreds-trillions of e-mails that you do.

Sure, you can see the Strider impale one of the citizens in the C17 E3 demo from
last year. In that case, we ragdoll the character once he's impaled.

Rick
Valve

 

[manny_c44]

#1
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 8:47 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: A query, kind sir.


Here are a bunch of questions about the upcoming SDK.

Lets say I'm making a mod based on knights and what-not. Lets say I shoot a man with a cross bow whie he's riding a horse. How simple would it be to have the man fly while his horse keeps running?

*** Sure, you'd ragdoll the body and let it either fall off the horse (we have an entity that can "pull" the ragdoll to alter the effect to your liking) or it could continue to ride on the horse.

Also, since the horse isn't exaclty a vehicle, would I be able to make it collapse under the weight of its rider if the horse itself was shot?

*** You'd obviously need some code to do this but there's no reason why you couldn't. I'd probably try ragdolling the horse and letting the physics system handle the fall of the NPC.

And here's a question that I've asked before but wasn't answered: Can I make a fire spread realistically based on its physical assignment as a wood or paper object? Can I easily make realistic electrical currents that will spread through any metal object that comes in contact with it?

*** Not sure exactly what you mean but in our demos we show fire spreading realistically like surrounding areas getting caught on fire.


Thanks a bundle. Keep up the good work.

*** You're welcome. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Rick
Valve
-----------------------------------------------------
#2
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 9:22 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Yet another query, kind sir.


Thanks for answering so fast! To elaborate on my fire question:

I heard that objects in source are assigned properties based on their material. Wood boards shatter while a metal beam would bounce around, make different sounds and maybe different bounces depending on what and where they are, as well as different floating properties.

My question is, could I have an electrical current or a fire that spreads based on these properties. The fire would ignore a wooden shelf and instead quickly spread from wooden plank to wooden plank. Likewise electricity wouldn't effect wood, but if a metal chair was to touch something that was electrified it would also be electrified-upholding the current, and a player would be able to quickly create an electrical fence with his manipulator gun and a few cars lying around to impede his unsuspecting foe (that would be awesome, no?).

Thanks again

This wouldn't happen in the game as it is now, however I don't see any reason why you couldn't do this with in a mod.

Rick
Valve

 

[PvtRyan]

Nothing awfully important, but I thought I'd post it anyway

Hi Julian,

Sure it's possible. You can even exactly calculate the physics of the bullet travel if you wanted to. 200ms is alot tho, maybe use a value like 25-50.

Rick
Valve


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Julian Rooze [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sun 4/25/2004 12:33 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Just a minor detail


Hi Rick,

A very small detail has been bothering me a while now. In the E3 video of
last year, in the maps techdemo and traptown, when you shoot a barrel it
explodes immediately, the sound of the explosion is already there the moment
you pull the trigger.
I know bullets are generally hitscan, and travel instantaneous, but would it
be possible to put some sort of delay in the explosion. Like a 200ms delay
from the moment it's hit to the moment that it explodes?
Ah well, it's just a very minor detail, but some feedback never hurts right?


Keep up the great work and thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Julian Rooze

 

[flupke]

Nothing awfully important, but I thought I'd post it anyway

Hi,

Sorry for the delayed reply.

Currently the minimum system requirement for HL2 are looking to be: 1Ghz
Proc, 256RAM, Dx7 level GPU.

Regarding your specific question: "Will for example a 2400+ with 512MB &
Radeon 9800pro be able to run the game @ 1024*768*32 with all detail up
highest?" The answer is yes.

Cheers

________________________________

From: Gabe Newell
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 9:40 AM
To: 'Mathijs Delva'
Cc: Doug Lombardi
Subject: RE: System Requirements (progress?)


Doug, what are the current system requirements?

________________________________

From: Mathijs Delva [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 2:08 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: System Requirements (progress?)


Hi Gabe,

I was wondering if there is any progress in knowing what the HL2 system
requirements will be. I know Valve has already given the system
requirements but that was a long time ago. Is it possible to confirm
once again what the real official system requirements will be? I thought
that maybe you guys found that HL2 won't exactly run quite well on a 733
with a directx 6 videocard... To make it less theoretically : Will for
example a 2400+ with 512MB & Radeon 9800pro be able to run the game @
1024*768*32 with all detail up highest?

That's not a personal question, really, it's just a practical question
to make several comparisons.

Thank you in advance,

Mathijs Delva

 

[wendle]

It felt pretty good. Doug Lombardi got to see them all play (I didn't) and his reaction was that their expectations were exceeded, which is pretty good given where their expectations were.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: *********[mailto:*****************]
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 8:04 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Your Reaction to the Magazine Editors


Hi Gabe,



I know it has been a while since the magazine editors came to get their hands on play time of Half Life 2, but I was just curious about what your and the staff’s reactions were to seeing someone outside the company come in with high expectations for the game and play for the first time?



Thanks,

********

I can hardly wait for summer. Thanks again for all your and your staff’s great work.

 

[mrchimp]

Hi Richard,

Please see my comments below.

Thanks,
Rick
Valve

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:47 AM
To: Gabe Newell; Rick Ellis
Subject: A few questions

Hi

I'v been think about a couple of things and wanted to ask you about
them, I would preffere it you just answer the questions you feel
inclined to do so, than none atall

Can the ropes and wires in HL2 be stretched, do they act like springs?

*** I'm not aware of us using ropes or wires in this way, but the
physics system certainly supports springs (used in vehicles etc). In a
mod you could make a bungee cord type of rope if you really wanted to.

I noticed your useing mp3's for your sound format in current Steam
games, is this the same for HL2 or do you use ogg or another format? Is
there any particular reason for the use of mp3's?

*** MP3 is used for some of the audio tracks. We also play .wav files
using our own custom DSP for effects etc.

Does the Striders walking animation change during the game to fit the
land it's walking over, if it put one of it's um... feet over the edge
of a ledge would it hover in mid air or would it move down till it makes
contact with the ground?

*** Yes, you can see this in the E3 demos.

There's been alot of commotion over the receant screen shots, alot of
people think they are from HL2 on much lower detail settings than the
game actually allows for, they don't seem to reflect what we saw in the
DX9 video. Are they on a lower detail setting? will we have to wait till
E3 to find out?

*** I haven't seen the s/s yet and don't know any of the details behind
the hardware used to capture them. This question would best be directed
to Doug Lombardi.

If an NPC or PC for that matter crashed the buggy at high speed, would
they go flying out of the front?

*** No, they are wearing seatbelts

Does the source engine use Parallax normal/bump mapping? or atleast
something with Parallax in the name

*** Yes.

Do you think SM3.0 will have much of a positive performance impact on
HL2?

Thank you for your time.

 

[RTFMish]

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:21 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Misc. HL2 Questions


1. What is Gabe's favorite flavored doughnut?


** I'm not sure, I think he likes a variety.


2. What is your favorite flavored doughnut?


*** I like maple bars and the old fashioned glazed doughnuts


3. Will I be able to run HL2 with about 40 FPS of I have maxed out
graphical settings, maybe even with AA, AF with these specs :
AMD Athlon XP 2700 / 333Mhz FSB
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
512Mb DDR RAM


*** I don't know about the exact framerate (as it will vary), but you'll
have a really good experience on that machine.


4. Game play question : If I was to break a window, and shards of glass
fell on the floor would I be able to pick one of those shards up with
"The Manipulator" and if I could, would I be able to throw that shard of
glass with that weapon at an enemy, and suppose it hits them in the
head, could it puncture there skull and kill them?


*** Right now glass breaks and the shards disappear (for performance
reasons) however if you were to make a mod you could certainly do what
you are asking.


5. Do you like working for VALVe?


*** Absolutely. Valve is a fantastic place to work. The people are
some of the brightest people I've ever worked with. We get to work on
cool games and we have a lot of fun in the process. Working at Valve is
like working in a big family.


6. Have you ever fallen behind, and not done something the right way? If
you have can you say if Gabe was mad at you? I think he is a nice guy,
but I don't know how he treats you guys.


*** I've never really fallen behind, but there are always disagreements
about doing things. Gabe is a great guy, he's always willing to help
people and is very understanding. He will help his employees in ways
that no other manager I've seen would match. He's also an incredibly
intelligent person that can come up with creative ways of solving
problems.


Good luck with HL2!


*** Thanks!


Rick

 

[Rebel X]

Yes. You can see evidence of their physical behavior in the E3 movies.
There's one section where the player shoots a combine soldier on the top
of a tower and he falls off... His gun falls and bounces when it hits
the ground.
Rick
Valve
-----Original Message-----
From: mike ***** [mailto:*******@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 6:39 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Ingame weapon physics in Half-life2 o_0

Thanks in advance if you can answer my question/suggestion.

Hi Rick,
I was just wondering: Are the weapons in Half-life 2 physically
simulated?
What i mean by physically simulated is, do physical properties like
mass,friction,buoyancy and such apply to them. The reason i brought this
up is that i played Max Payne 2 a long while ago and i really enjoyed
that when an enemy dropped his gun it wasn't just a static model, it
actually slid if on an angle and when it fell it acted like a physically
simulated object in the surrounding environment. And it was this little
detail that truly gave the player that feeling of realism and it was
just downright fun to play with. I have been asking people in some
forums, whether or not they would enjoy having this in the game and i
got a lot of positive feedback as well as some people that didn't really
care about it, but the point is that no one said it would be a stupid
feature for a game like Half-life 2. I don't know much about making a
game and i'm not exactly sure if this feature could be implemented in
the game this far into production (if it's not already included), but if
it's possible then i would like to ask you to include it in, as i am
sure this little detail will make a lot of gamers happy(even if they
don't realize it right now).

Thank you for your time and i would really, really, really appreciate it
if you would reply to this email so that i can satisfy not only my
personal curiosity ) but also post this email up on halflife2.net for
those interested. (ANY feedback would be welcome)

Yours truly,
Mike ******


P.S. Valve Roxx and Half-life2 Roxx and Source Roxx!!!!!! ------->
And congratulations to Erik Johnson for his newly-born daughter
------->Sorry if anyone already brought this up(me to be more exact).

 

[Scorps]

From : Rick Ellis <[email protected]>
Sent : 29 April 2004 20:26:15
Subject : RE: HL2 weapon inventory

-----Original Message-----
From: David Lee [mailto:*******@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 11:32 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: HL2 weapon inventory

In some of the HL2 videos whenever the player picks up a different
weapon they drop the current one first. I'm sure I read somewhere that
different weapons slot systems where being tested. I really hope that
in HL2 there will be unlimited weapon slots just like HL1, it was one of
the things I really liked, (to be able to carry as many weapons as i
liked). Could you please say if there will be limited/unlimited weapon
slots.

-----------
regards
David


David,

That was something we were experimenting with, however it's since gone
back to the HL1 method of carrying all of your weapons.

Rick
Valve

 

[Lobster]

It is finally approaching the release finish line. I like saying we are in Zulu-Delta phase. I'll have to use that in an interview.

-----Original Message-----
From: Lobster [mailto:*******************]
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 8:13 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Clarification of Alpha Beta Zulu-Delta watsit

Hi Gabe

Isn’t it amazing how someone can give a group of people the same information, and each of these people retells it differently, thus confusing the entire community!!

Anyway this is in reference to a Belgian magazine that has claimed Half-Life 2 is currently in “Pre-Alpha” status, other magazines (PC Gamer and such) have said the game is in the tweaking tuning stage (pretty much finished)

I know you can’t really say but how close is the game to completion? Does pre-alpha status mean there is still a lot to do, or does it mean the game is finally approaching the release finish line!

Thanks

¬ Bill

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

NOW HUSH!

 

[AJM2K3]

I sent this along to Gabe last week. I suppose nothing has come their way, but at least we know Gabe is as much of a fan of H A L F L I F E 2 D O T N E T as the rest of us! Keep up the good work HL2.net staff!

Thanks for the mail. I'm a fan of them as well. I'll see what we can
do.

-----Original Message-----
From: Adam Milner [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 2:35 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: www.halflife2.net

First, let me say that I am in no way affiliated with those who run this website, but as an eagerly waiting fan, I have been mightily impressed with their service to the HL2 community. These guys have always provided accurate information and don't fuel the rumors and specuation about HL2 like other sites do. They have always stood behind valve, where others have been quick to jump off the bandwagon because of the delays. Where many fansites have posted magazine scans and other questionable content, halflife2.net has gone out of their way to make sure such content isn't available through them and has encouraged the community to wait for official content released by valve. HalfLife2.net is an outstanding and central member of the HL2 community and I think Valve owes it to them to show them some support. How about sending something exclusive their way? What do you say Mr. Newell?

 

[Shuzer]

Subject: RE: Hanging lamps in HL2
From: "Rick Ellis" <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 09:27:30 -0700
To: "Shuzer" <[email protected]>

Yes it would wobble around and yes the light would move with it.

Rick
Valve

-----Original Message-----
From: Shuzer [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2004 10:41 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Hanging lamps in HL2

I noticed a hanging lamp in this screenshot:
http://media.pc.ign.com/media/492/492830/img_2102380.html
What would happen if you shot this lamp (or any other hanging lamps)?
Would it bob and wiggle around like seen in other games, or is it a
static prop that can't move? Would you see it casting any sort of light
if you shot it (assuming it bounced around)?

Thanks for your time,
-Chris

 

[MultiVaC]

Interesting, yet discomforting information:

I'm actually not sure of this as it needs really high-end cards and we
are always balancing adding high-end features for just a few of our
customers vs doing more work that more people can enjoy. Sorry I can't
be more definitive than this.

Thanks,
Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: ****** [************************]
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 1:48 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Re: Best representation?

Thanks for the reply, It's really awesome that you guys answer questions
like the. I kind of worded my question poorly though, what I was really
trying to ask is: Will HL2 itself use HDR to the extent seen in that
video? I only ask beacuse all of the other media has no sign of it, and
I wanted to know if it's a feature of HL2 the game or just the Source
engine. Sorry to e-mail agian, it was my fault.

Rick Ellis wrote:


>No, I'd say it's more of a good example of how the HDR will work but
>not how HL2 will look in general. There are limited textures and
>objects in that demo.
>
>Rick
>Valve
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ****** [mailto:**********************]
>Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 6:24 PM
>To: Rick Ellis
>Subject: Best representation?
>
>Hi Rick, I was just wondering, is the Source HDR video the best
>representation of how HL2 will look? Thanks, and keep up the good work.

 

[flupke]

From: Mathijs Delva [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 10:39 AM
To: Doug Lombardi
Subject: Mouse buttons


Hi there,

Thank you for the answer to my question yesterday. I have one other question though. Will HL2 support the 'thumb' button of the mouse? Generally, will HL2 support all mouse buttons? Because, for example Far Cry, doesn't support those buttons and that's REALLY annoying because i always use the thumb button to jump.

Hope you can answer this one fast (just kidding )

Mathijs Delva

_________________________________________________

Hi,

Yes, HL2 (and all Source-based games) will support them.

Cheers

 

[Rebel X]

Hi Mike,

We haven't set the min system requirements for Half-Life 2 yet but it
will be pretty low for the basic game. If you want to have a great
experience with everything turned on, then you'll need one of the latest
DX9 cards with a fairly speedy CPU and a decent amount of RAM.

Rick
Valve


-----Original Message-----
From: mike ******* [mailto:*******@hotmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 10:31 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: 2 quick questions

Hi Rick,

What are the minimum system requirements for playing HalfLife 2 at?
And i don't mean just so that it's playable, i mean so that the graphics
look acceptable and it runs at a smooth 30/40 fps and it doesn't "lag"
when the physics engine has to process some information.
I was also wondering: If i were to shoot the tires on the buggy and the
APC(and anything else that has wheels) are the tires going to explode,
or are they indestructible?

Yours truly,
Mike *******

P.S. Thanks for answering my last question

 

[gooball]

Not Half-life 2 news, but it is steam-related, and many of you may have this problem. Deleting this saved 300+mb for me since I wouldn't use the multilingual features of halflife 1.

---------

"Half-Life Localized" was a cache file we used at one point that contained all of the non-English translation for Half-Life.

We've since gone to a model where the translations are broken up into multiple cache files, and only downloaded on demand. You can remove this cache file.


From: Rick Ellis
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 9:32 AM
To: Broadband
Subject: FW: Steam - Large GCF files
fyi...


Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 5:35 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Steam - Large GCF files

Hello Rick,

Could you or someone else affiliated with Steam explain what the difference between:

half-life localized.gcf
and
half-life.gcf

(In the SteamApps folder)

They are quite big, and if either is old or obsolete, I'd like to free some hard drive space.

Thanks a lot, looking forward to HL-2

 

[A2597]

now here's some info I've been wondering about

The 3D skybox is dynamic, yes. You can place clouds in the sky that
move, or anything else for that matter.

Rick
Valve

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 7:22 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Dynamic Sky?



Judging from the footage and screenshots previously released, most of
HL2 takes place in areas where the sky is visiable, and this raised a
question for me.

Will the sky change dynamically? Clouds, the sun, day/night transitions,
etc? I think it would be really cool to watch a sunrise actually occur
while sniping some combine from a rooftop.

A2597

 

[jonnyapps]

Hi Jonathan,

1) We don't have fluid dynamics in the Source tech so pouring oil or water out of a barrel can't currently be done however you could still accomplish what you want with other methods (have the oil leak out of the bottom of the barrel, then set it on fire, etc)

2) There's not alot you can do with a crowbar to make it high-tech, other than change the material it's made from. So if you want, you could imagine it's now made from a very rare high strength material...
(thought i made a 'high-tech' suggestion? -Jon)
Rick
Valve


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jonathan Appleyard [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 3:52 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: water and crowbar



Dear Rick,

1. Is it possible to have a container holding a liquid and then use the manipulator to pour the liquid out? For example: barrel of oil: Pour it over hoard of zombie's: Light a match.

2. Naturally the crowbar is iconic for HL, what changes have you made to move it into the next generation? I would love to see my crowbar stick in a headcrabs...err...head - the body it was using slump to the ground - and the headcrab squirm and die before i flicked it off.

Thanks for your time and good luck at E3.

Jon Appleyard

 

[Mac]

It is possible to have sky vehicles, the big issue will be making sure you are careful with your map during design so you don't run into performance issues.

Rick
Valve



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Matt LaDuca [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 7:33 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: air vehicles


Are their going to be air vehicles in hl2 that Gordon can use. And if not, is it possible to mod one into the game for a play style like that of the planes in bf1942?

 

[zEphyr]

This will probably not be useful to many people, but it's something that interests me.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

These are likely both possible, but you'd likely have to write code to
control either an NPC or a vehicle.

Rick
Valve


-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxxxxx [mailto: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 4:12 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Remote control in HL2.

If you happen to have the time...


The following are two scenarios I have been pondering recently. For
each scenario, could you: A) Comment on whether or not the scenario is
possible in Half-Life 2? and B) If it is possible, could it be set up
using just the Hammer editor, or would it require some extra code?
Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer this.

Scenario 1: The player walks up to a VGUI2 panel which is mounted on a
wall. On the monitor is the output from a camera that is mounted on the
back of a small remote-controlled car that is in a different room. In
front of the monitor are controls for the car. The player hits the use
key and, while watching the monitor, maneuvers the car all around the
map.

Scenario 2: The player walks up to the aforementioned monitor (VGUI2).
This time, the monitor is focused on the back of an idle zombie. The
player walks up to a set of controls in front of the monitor and hits
the use key. The player is now in control of the zombie and can make it
walk around the map like a normal player.


Sorry about the lengthy question. Thanks again, and good luck to all
who are working diligently on the game.

 

[Viperidae]

Yay, mapping goodness

1) Currently the weapon switch is pretty fast. While the holster
animation is nice, it slows down the changing of weapons and once you've
seen the animation, the reduced speed of weapon switching becomes a
bother.

2) There are text files that describe all of the materials available in
the game and Hammer. You, as a mod author, can use the default
materials or add new materials. The files are edited with a text editor
not Hammer. All objects that can be picked up and simulated physically
are objects in Hammer, specified to be of type "prop_physics".

Thanks,
Rick
Valve

-----Original Message-----
From: MD [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 9:04 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: 2 Questions

Hello Rick,

I tried Gabe, but methinks he's busy. Just 2 quick questions about HL2
and I'll get out of your hair:

1. I noticed in the E3 vids that the weapon switching is the same as in
HL1; the weapon instantly switches to the next one, without a "holster"
animation, (maybe Gordon has lightning-quick fingers?). I was wondering
if you guys are keeping this in the final build, or if you're going to
make it something else, like the uber-quick draw/holster animations in
Call of Duty?

2. I am somewhat confused about the way the objects work in Hammer. Are
the physical properties of each material hard-coded, or will we be able
to change them in Hammer (It would be cool to be able to pick up
buildings with the Manipulator)? And will objects be entities or
something else?

Thanks for your time. And btw kudos for answering emails.

 

[hinson]

not really important stuff

In our speech files (.vcd's) we have the ability to tag subtitles so
when those lines of speech are acted out by an NPC in the game, the
subtitles will appear as well.

Rick
Valve

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 8:52 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Subtitles in HL2

hi rick

I wonder if subtitles will be available in HL2. Since there will be no
cut scenes, how will subtitles be shown? Will they be shown only when
the main characters speak? Or will it be available to every lines of
conversation when we react with NPCs in the game? And I suppose the
subtitles will be shown at the bottom of the screen right?

Thanks for the time.

hinson

 

[Chris D]

With immediate effect, any body who wishes to post in this thread must now post the question first and then the answer (still in bold). Apparently this will make it a lot easy for some of you that find it difficult reading question instead of the answer

Please do not reply to this message.
So for example:

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 8:52 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Subtitles in HL2

hi rick

I wonder if subtitles will be available in HL2. Since there will be no
cut scenes, how will subtitles be shown? Will they be shown only when
the main characters speak? Or will it be available to every lines of
conversation when we react with NPCs in the game? And I suppose the
subtitles will be shown at the bottom of the screen right?

Thanks for the time.

hinson

In our speech files (.vcd's) we have the ability to tag subtitles so
when those lines of speech are acted out by an NPC in the game, the
subtitles will appear as well.

Rick
Valve

 

[Blitzy]

From: Ryan "Blitz" Cook [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 6:51 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Two Mapping Questions.

Hi Rick,

I have a couple of questions for you!

#1) When you build a brush or shape or whatever in hammer and tie it to
the prop_physics entity does hammer/compiler automatically define the
"physic hitboxes"?

#2) If i were to make a 512x512 piece of wood (lol!) and a 16x96 piece
of wood, would hammer/compiler automatically tell the engine that the
512x512 is heavier than 16x96 without me having to edit files?

Thanks, Ryan.


1) The physics hit boxes are built as part of the model, not in Hammer.

2) Yes the 512x512 would have more mass than the 16x96, you wouldn't
need to do anything other than specifying the size.

Rick
Valve

 

[Apos]

From: *****
Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2004 2:34 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: tech questions

1. Are the trees (best seen in the strider vid) models, sprites, or
what? They are really cool, and I was wondering what else could be
built along the same lines without eating up too many polys (if that's
what they even eat up).

I'm not sure which exactly you are talking about but in general, we
use both models and sprites for trees and shrubs and sprites only for
grass, cattails, etc.

2. Can we set the shadows of our models to be the same darkness as the pre-calculated shadows of buildings and such in our maps (if we make them all the same darkness) and also to not do an additive blend on the already shadowed surfaces they are cast on? Is the direction of all shadows on a map controlled by a single setting, or can we vary each model's shadow individually (for instance, make a very out-of place shadow on one model that runs suspiciously in the wrong direction from everything else (I noticed a couple of shadows in the HDR vid that seemed to run counter to the prevailing direction)? Could we make a transparent character that still cast a visible shadow (i.e., you would only be able to see what the creature is doing by watching it's shadow)

You can do a lot in your mod, so it's really up to you as to how you
want your shadows to look. The direction is set by a single entity in
the map. We haven't made any transparent character so I'm not sure if
you can have a shadow with the code as it is now, you could possibly
make the creature, place it in the level then do something like tagging
it as a nodraw. I'd have to play with it a bit to figure out how to do
what you want, but it's certainly possible.

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

From: ******
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 9:01 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: question on decal effects

Can decals have normal maps or other bump effects applied to them? Like
a bullethole that looks slightly raised? Is this done in HL2 currently?
And could spraypaints have bump map overlays as well?

Thanks

This is not currently supported in the engine.

Rick
Valve


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

From: *******
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 3:48 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: OMG Chambered Nautilus

I saw in some photos from fans that had visited your office that you
guys actually have real, live chambered Nautiluses in the office! They are
about my favorite aquatic animal ever, but I didn't even know that you could
have one in a private aquarium. What's the story on these guys?!

I feel similarly about the Nautilus. There aren't very many in private
aquariums. Ours are growing quite quickly.

 

[Blitzy]

From: Ryan "Blitz" Cook [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 3:33 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Radeon 9800 series vs. x800 series

Do you think that the performance increase with the x800 really warrants
a harcore h-l 2 fan to upgrade to an x800pro/xt from a radeon 9800
pro/xt?


Depends upon how fast your CPU is.

 

[A.I.]

I know it was a bit of crazy suggestion from a fan's point of view but I have reasons for it. But probably everyone would agree they deserve it.

-----Original Message-----
From: ***********
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 6:35 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Ever thought of this?

Hello,

I've been thinking, you've been working really hard for about six years now on a single game. Did you have any vacation? Because you sure deserve one, all of you. If you didn't, then I have an idea. When the game is finished leave it right there on your desk for about two weeks maybe (yeah, I know the fans would kill me for this suggestion , and let all the crew go on a vacation for those two weeks. After the release you'll probably be working already on HL3 and again, there will be no time for give your mind, body and family a rest.

Take care,
****** *****

We'll take a vacation as a company to make sure everyone gets away from the office.

 

[Top Secret]

Heh, if there was a "Useless facts" section, that's what this would be under.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Brewer [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 7:13 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Few questions for ya gabe.

Well, first off:

Do you guys jokingly call Half-Life "Quiver" around the office? I've
always
wondered that. =D

And second, what is beyond Half-Life 3? Will there be anything beyond
that?
Or will Valve forever be "Half-Life Developers Inc."? I'm sure no man
knows,
maybe not even yourself, just thought I'd ask.

Have a great day, later.

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

Nope.

Hopefully yes.

 

[Jarman]

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 3:13 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Best settings


Hey Rick,

it seems you are receiving several e-mails about Half-Life 2 system requirements - don't worry, this isn't the millionth! I was just wondering if you have implemented any option to automatically define the best settings for the hardware available. Just hope you won't answer "This question has been asked not a million, but a billion times!"
Keep up with the good work with HL2 - the community is looking forward to making you rich!

Cheers,
Roberto



Yes we have a system that will optimize the settings to match your hardware.

Rick

 

[Obraxis]

//Just a quick note, I got a reply off Rick in less than 5 mins! Thx Rick! - U ROCK!

From: Obraxis
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:32 AM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: Quick HL2 Q.


Hi there,

Just a quick question, as I know your all busy.

Does the Source engine currently support Motion Blur and/or Depth of Field?

If not, are there any plans to in the future?

Thanx! Looking forward to playing the game.

-Obraxis



No it's not supported currently however it wouldn't be too hard to add that capability.

Rick
Valve

 

[figge]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Fredrik Idestål [mailto:*******@telia.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 1:16 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Your Clothes


Hi, i noticed that you have the same cloths on http://games.telenet.be/images/reviews/screenshots/175s_08.gabe-livecrab-mct.jpg
as you do in the WinHec2004 Movie http://www.neowin.net/events/index.php?p=38

Do you only have 1 set of pants and one shirt?
Or are you like einstein... having multiple shirts and pants
but in same models/color...
(I have read that Einstein didn't want to think what to where, so he had 1 model only... saves time i guess... )

Fredrik 'figge' Idestål
Örebro, Sweden



I have a bunch of identical clothes. Saves time.

 

[Alec_85]

I saw the mail from A.I. to Gabe about Valve's holiday so I mailed him about updates & stuff. The reply came quickly & it might be a tad obvious but good news anyway.

------------------------------------------
From: Fam. Morath [xxx]
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:03 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: About: Your vacation

Hi.

Saw a mail from you @ HL2.net that you will take a vacation as a company when you finally release your game. I was simply wondering what the status of game-patches and such would be then? Will we get no word from you at all or will there still be people around to handle things like that?

Yours. Alec
----------------------------

Yes, there will be people running the service.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

Planetary re-entry friction/heat simulation

From: G. D*** [mailto:***]
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 6:24 PM
To: Gabe Newell; Yahn Bernier; Rick Ellis
Subject: Planetary re-entry friction/heat simulation


Hi, guys, I’m getting hyped again (as if it ever really stopped)…

I’m aware that air and fluid mechanics aren’t directly implemented in Source, but would it be an easy job to implement realistic landing conditions? Taking into account angle of descent, speed, gravity, etc.?

_________________________________________________________________


Absolutely. We have a couple flying classes for NPC's one of which is a hovercraft and all of the physics is done on that vehicle to simulate it's landing and takeoff. In a mod, you could borrow from that code and create your own effect (rocket flare, etc).

Rick

 

[Epsi]

From: Andrew Simpson [mailto:****.*****@blueyonder.co.uk]
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 9:29 AM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Codename Gordon in Steam?


Hi



I was just poking around in the platform.gcf after the Steam update, and I noticed a few icons for Codename Gordon in there, so, I’m just wondering, is Codename Gordon going to be showing up in Steam sometime soon?



Thanks, keep up the good work over there.



Andrew

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

yes

 

[Jarman]

As you can see, I sent the questions below on April 25th. After more than 10 days I honestly didn't expect to receive any answer, and I was amazed to find Rick's reply in my e-mailbox.
It may be true that Valve has made scheduling mistakes; it may be strange that they are as silent with the press (until recently, at least) as talkative with fans; it may be puzzling that Fragmaster has left the Half-Life community with the farewell letter we all know; but what CAN'T be said is that Valve doesn't care about the community itself. I wrote them 5 e-mails and they replied them *all*...

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

Hi Roberto,

Please see my comments below mixed with your questions.

Thanks!
Rick Ellis
Valve Corporation


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

Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:31 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: Questions about Steam and MMORPGs


Hi Gabe,

first of all, thanks a lot for forwarding my suggestions to your team. You guys are well-known for making good use of the feedback from the Half-Life community. However, today I have questions instead of suggestions and I hope you have some time to answer them!

1. In his article "Full Steam Ahead" (http://www.halflife2.net/article_fsa1.php), Chris_D illustrated the positive effects Steam will be having on the gaming industry. Since "Steam is a content delivery platform, optimised for broadband users to enable users to receive automatic updates to their game files [...], download complete games, receive promotional media, pre-order and purchase games, chat to friends online, browse for servers and protect the titles from being pirated", it sounds as an excellent managing framework/environment for supporting the development of a MMORPG. Would you agree with such an assessment?

*** Yes absolutely. Other than actual character selection and managing your game account, Steam can do the rest for you. Managing monthly updates and ensuring that new players get off on the right foot is exactly what Steam was designed to do.

2. The article says that "After a beta stage that wasn’t gaining the most positive feedback, and was causing errors for many users all over the place [...] the platform has been getting more and more stable, even stable enough to allow Valve to release their latest title, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero on the platform which seemed to work with great success". Do you think Steam would be able to handle the workload that a good MMORPG usually requires, supporting a huge distributed gaming network of hundreds of thousands users?

*** Yes, in fact we are currently handling in excess of 2.5 million users, with over 175,000 simultaneous players during peaks. The total number of users is larger than any mmorpg out there (other than Lineage, they claim numbers that high) and rivals the largest for online simultaneous users. EQ has approx. 150k simultaneous users and they are still the largest in North America. Steam is not "capped" out by any means, it can handle alot more users than it current is.

3. One of the most common complaints about patches is that they allow developers to have a very short beta period and release unfinished games. Don't you think that such questionable attitudes and practices could be encouraged by Steam-like platforms, ending up with (worst case scenario) the sale of products that don't actually exist?

*** No we actually believe the opposite, that using Steam will provide a better customer experience. Games release, patches happen, it's part of how things work as developers are ALWAYS trying to make their games better. Without Steam, a user takes his box home, installs the game and finds out they have a big patch to install. Finding the patch in many cases proves to be very difficult. With Steam, the content can be streamed to the user ahead of time as well as the patches so when the user is ready to actually play the game they have the right set of bits to have a fantastic experience, not one filled with install issues and patching requirements.

4. Some of the major drawbacks of MMORPGs have been described in an article available at http://internetgames.about.com/library/weekly/aa012003a.htm. Among them, I would underline that they usually don't contain any valid story or overall plot, focusing on quantity more than quality. The main theory behind this is that you create the story as you play, by maintaining and raising your online alter ego throughout the levels of achievement. Many consider that implementing a structured story into an online game is impossible and that MMORPGs were never about plot and never will be. Given Valve's unquestionably excellent work in creating a compelling plot for Half-Life (and Half-Life 2, I'm sure!), what direction would you suggest the dev teams go?

*** I personally think MMORPGs CAN have a story that drives them. The trick is designing a story that can adjust for many outcomes and allowing the player base to select the "next path" in the story. Some MMORPGs have done this successfully, Asheron's Call to some extent did this with their story arc, but they failed to have multiple possible results and therefore the story seemed false and pre-determined. Providing a multi-path story will require the developer to accept the fact that the story arc will be different on different world servers which complicates how the story proceeds over time.

5. Can you rule out the hypothesis that Valve will ever release a MMORPG?

*** While we aren't working on one now, I would never say we will never do something. We will continue to build games we think our players will enjoy and that we have fun building.

Thanks a lot for your time. I can't wait for the release of the new SDK for creating a *realistic* reproduction of the office where I work with my colleagues - after long hours of hard work, at the end of the average day we really need to *realistically* destroy it!

Cheers,
Roberto

PS.
If you don't mind, I'd like to share your answers with the community in the Half-Life 2 dot net forums!