Things are happening again!

[DelaZ]

Things are happening again!

Those new screenshots:
http://www.4gamer.net/specials/hl2int/img/010.jpg
http://www.4gamer.net/specials/hl2int/img/012.jpg

The making of HL2 movies & screens:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5281

HL 2 press release on Alcatraz?
http://www.gamestar.de/news/pc-spiele/action/13626/

The main site of HL2.net is back up again
http://www.halflife2.net

The leaked HL2 plot, doubtful... but could be:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5264

After a long silence.. some new stuff to talk about! :cheese:

 

[JunkieXL]

We saw a glimpse of the flashlight

looks detailed.

 

[rootbin]

HEY LOOK

its the FOURTH time this has been posted.

 

[kill-9]

Originally posted by rootbin
HEY LOOK

its the FOURTH time this has been posted.

But the first time many of us have seen it, so stfu. Not everyone sits on the forum 18 hours a day hitting F5 every minute.

-kill-9

 

[rootbin]

no, there are four NEW threads that are here about this. all the same links.

 

[DelaZ]

were did you see those?? cant see them

 

[rootbin]

someone deleted the other two. and its posted inside of another thread.

http://nifty.amikai.com/amiweb/brow...4gamer.net&display=&c_id=nifty&langpair=JA,EN

theres a link to 4gamer in english.

 

[Fenrir]

These 4gamers links are down.

 

[Guest]

http://www.4gamer.net/specials/hl2int/hl2int_1.html me=want translation of interview

 

[Lucifer Crass]

Thanks man i needed a fix, was a addicted to toaster thread for a while while i lost my mind

 

[Guest]

anyone read interview its interesting

 

[subs]

i dont know japanese

 

[Guest]

some guy posted a translator thing link

 

[brisck1]

hey rootbin give him a break, i wouldnt have know about this if it wasnt for his post

 

[Apos]

The interview looks REALLY interesting, as they talk about how the shadows work in HL2, something we hadn't heard about in detail before. My rough look at it suggests that he's saying that moving objects have dynamic shadows, while static geometry uses lightmaps (just as we all speculated). He does seem to be saying some more interesting things about making these elements blend properly.
Someone who REALLY speaks Japanese should definately help us out.

 

[ts3ng]

Nani?

 

[dscowboy]

Yes, we need a real translator. Reading that 'English' link made my head hurt. Here are the things I picked out:

Level geometry (brushes) are shaded by lightmaps, their shadows are static. Models have dynamic "texture projection" shadows. Each scene can only have one light for the creation of the dynamic shadows, and one light for the lightmaps (used when the map is compiled). They also mention how the models shade themselves with a different method, where shading is a property of the angle of the lightsource to the surface normal of the texture itself.

So it appears that three different shading methods are used:

1) Static lightmaps, generated when the map is compiled, just like in HL1. When props/models move through these lighmaps, their whole bodies change brightness (like when the City17 resistance is moving through the light beams in Barricade.)

2) Texture projection, which creates the shadows of the props/models. I'm pretty sure that these shadows do not shade other props/models. So for example, if the shadow of a manatee gunship passed over Alyx, she would not be shaded by it. There may be a hack where her whole body would change brightness, as though the lightmap changed, but it would definitely not cast any dynamic shadows over her geometry.

3) Material shading. The interview does seem to give a 'name' for this shading, but they refer to it when talking about how the faces self-shade. How it works (somewhat simplified) is that a shader is written for a surface which compares the lightsource vector with the surface normal. So anything facing away from the lightsource is dark, and anything facing toward it is light. I imagine this works just fine for faces because they are convex. Limitations of this would be, for instance, if the a character was wearing a hat. His forehead would not be shaded by the hat, because the shading is determined only by the orientation of the forehead to the lightsource.

They also talk a little about environment mapping, specularity, and high dynamic range (which I believe is a DX9-only feature, interesting we haven't heard about this until now), but I can't understand the language well enough to point anything out.

 

[Apos]

Did anyone else catch that he said "old version of the HalfLife (2) engine"!!!!! this was when he showed us the tech demo level that we saw in e3.

 

[Feath]

Originally posted by Apos
Did anyone else catch that he said "old version of the HalfLife (2) engine"!!!!! this was when he showed us the tech demo level that we saw in e3.

Yeah, I noticed that. I wonder why it was an old version.

Also, I don't think it's the same map as the Techdemo, it was similar but it didn't have the water.

 

[DelaZ]

Originally posted by Apos
Did anyone else catch that he said "old version of the HalfLife (2) engine"!!!!! this was when he showed us the tech demo level that we saw in e3.

where?

 

[Feath]

Originally posted by DelaZ
where?

In the walls video. Just before he ran the map. 3 minutes and 50 seconds into the video.

 

[lambda^2]

Hey Delaz, thanks for posting, cool news.

 

[Apos]

It was the techdemo map: minus the water and the rotating panels.

 

[oMarKs]

this was posted by eric in the steam forums earlier, check it out http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=11562

 

[Lobster]

I dont care what people say, i think that stuff looks brilliant, the flashlight was the same size and feel of the original but all dynamic and sweet lol, and the way all that model animation blended and worked together seamlessly was brilliant, hehe sorry im just a fanboy who just got his daily fix, but i love it.

 

[Feath]

"remaining three Half-Life 2 movies"

That probably means we are going to see the Tech Demo. Unless it's a new one.

 

[oMarKs]

Originally posted by Feath
"remaining three Half-Life 2 movies"

That probably means we are going to see the Tech Demo. Unless it's a new one.

thats what i was thinking, guess it will probably be the tech demo

 

[supangr]

Originally posted by :>~
We saw a glimpse of the flashlight

looks detailed.

Hmm I looked over all the media, where did you see the flashlight?

 

[Feath]

Originally posted by supangr
Hmm I looked over all the media, where did you see the flashlight?

In the video with the normal mapped walls, when he runs the (slightly different) Techdemo map. The link to the video is at the top of the thread.

 

[Apos]

I don;t think it will be the tech demo. I think it will be the g-man saying "well well, isn't this just like old times" along with all the funky stuff.

 

[Feath]

That's a bit short for a video, don't you think?

 

[@bel]

Originally posted by Apos
I don;t think it will be the tech demo. I think it will be the g-man saying "well well, isn't this just like old times" along with all the funky stuff.

i second that. although i don't really see it as a 'movie'. it has more of a 'credits list'-feel to it.

 

[oMarKs]

yeh, but the docks one was pretty short. hope its the tech demo though, or even better a new video!

 

[Apos]

The first two movies were short. I just don't see the techdemo level fitting in, because they are trying to show off the game to a wider audience, not just tech people. e3, remember, is NOT NOT NOT a public show. It is an industry convention.