This was how Half-Life 2 was advertised.

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Space Farm

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Please don't start this into a flame-thread but take a look at this video (115mb) and then play Half-Life 2. Notice a difference difference in quality?

http://www.tomshardware.com/images/Source_HDR02.exe

Why did they take all that cool stuff out? At least they could've had an option for better computers to turn all this stuff on...

For all those who can't download it due to filesize:

HDR Lighting is present
Wind is present
Materials look much butter
Few other things look better
 
That was showing some of what source can do. That wasn't an advert for the game itself.
 
Crisis King said:
Notice a difference in quality?
Click to expand...

In quality? ... no
Do I notice a difference? ... yes


Edit: I thought it was a gameplay video. Nevermind. If it's the video with the roof, yes there is a difference in the graphics. But it was just to show what the Source engine could do.
 
Why didn't they put it in the first place. It's like showing a porsche 911 on TV and you go and buy it but it's really a 1976 VW...why take it out valve?
 
they didnt take it out.... they just chose not to use it in hl2... the engine still supports it!
 
If your complaining on the graphics, you've got a problem. :)
Did Valve ever say they were going to put HDR, wind...etc in Hl2? If so I don't remember. But if they did take it out, it's probably because they realised not everyone has a killer pc.

You should wait for the ATI levels if you want to see those things in the game.
 
RakuraiTenjin said:
Because you'd run it at 10FPS
Click to expand...
I'm betting the current generation of CPUs and Graphics cards could handle it..
 
That's a Source techdemo for the 9800XT, not HL2....

But HDR is the main thing missing, the rest like wind and shiny surfaces (mostly because of the HDR that it looked so good in there) are in there.
 
Yea there's wind in the game guys.... How do you think those realistic ropes move? They sway in the breeze.

Go download a custom map for HL2:DM or CS:S that put the cables in, and if it's a noob job the rope will just not move at all, because the mapper didn't put wind in.

I bet those are actually in HL2, just that you die before you get a chance to appreciate it :p

Engine still supports it, so I'm sure a mod could be made :)
 
Yep, it's all in there, HL2 itself just doesn't use it.
In fact, there's even one or two instances in the game I noticed HDR, not sure where, but it was when looking straight up a skylight in a tunnel somewhere.
But anyway, last week I was scanning through some of the command variables in the console and saw various entries related to wind_direction and force and so on.
So yeah, any mapper in the know could incorporate any of it into his mod.
The's one thing I like about old skool source and even UTech, a single map could be a mod in itself with the correct scripting.
 
Psychanalysis05% said:
Yep, it's all in there, HL2 itself just doesn't use it.
In fact, there's even one or two instances in the game I noticed HDR, not sure where, but it was when looking straight up a skylight in a tunnel somewhere.
But anyway, last week I was scanning through some of the command variables in the console and saw various entries related to wind_direction and force and so on.
So yeah, any mapper in the know could incorporate any of it into his mod.
The's one thing I like about old skool source and even UTech, a single map could be a mod in itself with the correct scripting.
Click to expand...

That's probably some bloom effect or a sprite...
 
is there anyway valve could make HDR an option you can turn on or off?
 
I'm betting the current generation of CPUs and Graphics cards could handle it..
Click to expand...

They can, but with far, FAR less performance. HDR and bloom effects were added in Far Cry's v1.3 patch, and the benches had people go from 1280x1024 with 4xAA to 1024x768 and no AA, and get half the framerate. Current video cards do NOT do HDR fast enough to justify having it in the game, and it is currently NOT implemented in HL2. A LOT of "fake" HDR tricks are done, like artifically adding in glares in some locations, faked tone mapping, but it is not automatic, which is what HDR associated with post-processing effects like tone mapping, blooms and glare can do.
 
But Cypher19, CryTech is a resource hog and is much more system intensive than Source. All those effects would easily run on high end systems....and like I said before, they should've included it as an option for higher systems, you know like in Doom 3 they had the Ultra setting, no-one has a 512mb video card but they future-proofed it. I know I would've been able to play HL2 with HDR lighting and all that just fine.

It's just that I feel kind of cheated you know? They release all these E3 videos and all those demos (like the one I just posted) but when the game comes out it looks totally different.
 
That's a showcase of the engine's capabilities, not Half-Life 2's content.
 
god damnit will you people stfu about FPS.. Good computers get like 150 fps (unnecessary).

this isnt a concern for people with good computers .. just get out of this thread and go play your dx7 shit

if HDR was that performance intensive, at least include it as an option

stop thinking that Valve is perfect on every decision they make... it makes me sick
 
I liked the wind. They shoulda used that. And weather.

..and moving skyboxes
 
Death.Trap said:
That was showing some of what source can do. That wasn't an advert for the game itself.
Click to expand...
yeah! it was advertising source not hl2
 
Crisis King said:
But Cypher19, CryTech is a resource hog and is much more system intensive than Source. All those effects would easily run on high end systems....and like I said before, they should've included it as an option for higher systems, you know like in Doom 3 they had the Ultra setting, no-one has a 512mb video card but they future-proofed it. I know I would've been able to play HL2 with HDR lighting and all that just fine.

It's just that I feel kind of cheated you know? They release all these E3 videos and all those demos (like the one I just posted) but when the game comes out it looks totally different.
Click to expand...
You feel kinda cheated because you watched an engine tech demo and assumed it'd be in the game... Right... Sue them!!!

In all seriousness though, does it really matter that much?
 
Things are in real life are not shiny like the demo video. I thought the game itself has the more realistic look of what a city looks like, this city is being oppressed and has a run-down feel to it. You could hear the sound of wind when you traverse under a bridge, which was nicely done.
 
No biggie. The game looks phenomenal anyways. I think that in that video, some things were too shiny. Just my opinion. :thumbs:
 
That shinyness is still there, check out the red tiles that you walk on in game, they look awefull. I really dont know what valve were thinking with the specular maps on everything, i guess it does give the illusion of greater detail but at the expense of making the world seem more plastic than Doom3 at times.
 
its not just specularity in that video, if you look closely you notice a subtle glow eminating from each shiny surface, including the entire sky

this bloom glow was also reflected onto the specularity of the two magical spheres
 
uh, wind is still in hl2, without a doubt, look at the first freeking level for gods sakes!
 
Crisis King said:
But Cypher19, CryTech is a resource hog and is much more system intensive than Source. All those effects would easily run on high end systems....and like I said before, they should've included it as an option for higher systems, you know like in Doom 3 they had the Ultra setting, no-one has a 512mb video card but they future-proofed it. I know I would've been able to play HL2 with HDR lighting and all that just fine.

It's just that I feel kind of cheated you know? They release all these E3 videos and all those demos (like the one I just posted) but when the game comes out it looks totally different.
Click to expand...
Well if they ever release the "ATi" level(s) then you wont be disappointed. Apparently its in there.
 
The fact is that Valve released those tech demo's, the impression that was givin was "this is how HL2 will look." You think Valve didn't use that to their advantage? Oh they did. The average gamer like myself that doesn't know all the ins and outs of the game development world assumes this stuff to be finished parts of the game.

Not to mention when you click on the exe, before the movie/demo startes it does flash the HL2 logo. I think they purposely do this. It drives up sales. After I saw the first tech demo I know I was buying the game. I bought it and enjoyed it but was a little dissapointed with the graphics. Not that they were bad, just that they weren't as good as Valve "advertised."

And before I get the flames about "it's about the story man, not the graphics", I'll say for me the graphics are just as if not more important than the story line.For me that is.
 
vocalvoodo said:
The fact is that Valve released those tech demo's, the impression that was givin was "this is how HL2 will look." You think Valve didn't use that to their advantage? Oh they did. The average gamer like myself that doesn't know all the ins and outs of the game development world assumes this stuff to be finished parts of the game.

Not to mention when you click on the exe, before the movie/demo startes it does flash the HL2 logo. I think they purposely do this. It drives up sales. After I saw the first tech demo I know I was buying the game. I bought it and enjoyed it but was a little dissapointed with the graphics. Not that they were bad, just that they weren't as good as Valve "advertised."

And before I get the flames about "it's about the story man, not the graphics", I'll say for me the graphics are just as if not more important than the story line.For me that is.
Click to expand...

Actually, no it doesnt show the HL2 logo at all in that video.
At the start, it shows the Valve logo, then it says "Source High Dynamic Range Lighting" and then it kicks into the video. At the end it just shows the Valve symbol again.
 
I was actually referring to the Trap Town vid and a couple others that I can't think of off the top 'o' my head. :)

But maybe it was the VALVe logo I was thinking of. Been a while since I've watched those.
 
Im certain that as tech increases and bugs are ironed out of source (such as the stuttering), Valve will update and enable things like HDR, although it's built into source, they didnt put it in because it wouldnt benefit the majority of users, so wasn't worth the development/bug squashing time, when they could have been working on making dx7 and 8 look and work well with hl2.... which affects much more users than hdr would.
 
I think it looks kind of bad IMO. I don't like everything having that glare on it, and the little shafts of light didn't do anything but distract me.
 
bam23 said:
HDR hurts my eyes.
Click to expand...

It's supposed to simulate light ranges beyond what can be shown....like staring into the sun......

If it hurts your eyes, then that means it's working. :D
 
Well then, if that much HDR was in the techdemo then I'd rather leave it off. :p
 
Sparta said:
Actually, no it doesnt show the HL2 logo at all in that video.
At the start, it shows the Valve logo, then it says "Source High Dynamic Range Lighting" and then it kicks into the video. At the end it just shows the Valve symbol again.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was going to say. Every other bink video had the HL2 logo. This one definately did not and was a tech demo for the engine, not the game. The other videos that did have the HL2 logo and were advertising for the game look very much like the final product as far as graphics go.
 
Real sun is distracting. I'm glad there's no HDR. All that glaring light...shudder it reminds me of outside my room.
 
Yeah, and you don't go there too often, do ya? ;)

I think HDR is awesome, but I'd be satisfied with the lighting tech Prince of Persia used--that game is so beautiful!
 
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