Happy Summer, fellow scientists! Hope the axial tilt is finding you well.

Black Mesa is discounted for the Steam Summer Sale, so tell all your friends!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

We also wanted to give a quick update on what we are up to.

There is a known crash with certain AMD cards when you reach the water in UC. We are going to deploy a beta so we can get proper crash reporting and then fix the crash. In the meantime, you can use the two launch commands below to fix the issue:

+nr_gbuffer_for_secondary_cams_enabled 0 +cl_mdldetailfx_enable 0

Details in our sticky post here.

We have re-implemented DXVK on the developer side of things. We’ve got to do another round of testing, then put it up for public beta.

We are also exploring ways for Linux to launch DXVK directly for a better Linux experience that is more in line with the Windows build of the game.

We now have an Arc card to test on, so we test on that to make sure the game works properly. We thought we had it all sorted on a previous patch, but we want to recheck it with proper hardware.

If you encounter issues with ARC cards, you can use these launch commands to fix them:

force_vendor_id 0x10DE -force_device_id 0x1180 -dxlevel 9

We did a bunch of work with the last patch to make sure the game started and closed properly. We’ll look into these again (specifically the game startup) to make sure there are no lingering issues or that we didn't introduce new ones.

We’ve been very busy solving Unforeseen Consequences from our last patch and other things. Our community is extremely important to us and we want to be more consistent with patches, updates, and communication in general. We are very excited for what the future holds. We have been working tirelessly to get it out to the community. Soon™.

Again, we hope everyone is having a great summer (or winter, if you are down south). May your Steam backlog be plentiful!

Some exciting updates from our friends over at HECU Collective! If you're not familiar with them, their team has been hard at work developing the Black Mesa: Blue Shift mod.

They recently sat down with LambdaGeneration for an interview, diving into the technical aspects of their development, and sharing some screen shots and game play footage.

Check out the interview here:



Also take a look at:

ModDB "Focal Point" Article

Focal Point Gameplay footage

And be sure to grab their mod in the Black Mesa workshop HERE. We can't wait to see what they have in store next!

Hello again, scientist!

Well this has been excruciating. We apologize for any scares and the inconvenience of having the game get reported as a virus.

We have fixed the issue and also put up a number of other patches! Here are the patch notes:

We’ve implemented a temporary fix to stop antivirus programs flagging bms.exe as a false positive. We have a permanent fix in the works, so that this issue will not happen again.

Downloading the update is all you need to do to have the game NOT get reported by your antivirus or Windows Defender (sometimes you have to restart Steam).

As a result of our antivirus hotfix, we had to temporarily disable DXVK as a launch option. We plan to bring this back online as soon as possible in a future patch.

• Fixed an issue which prevented some Steam Deck users from climbing ladders or using trams
  
• Fixed an issue where custom controller bindings were not persisting
  
• Fixed an issue where controller camera movement would not obey iron sights sensitivity
  
• Reworked Gyro Aim which is now handled separately in accordance with Steam Input best practices
  
• Also added “in_gyro_look_yaw_sensitivity” and “in_gyro_look_pitch_sensitivity” console commands for controlling gyro sensitivity.
  
• Revamped default controller layouts:
  
• Official Layout for Black Mesa - Standard Controls. Our official bindings for devices without gyro support
  
• Official Layout for Black Mesa - Standard Controls. Our official bindings for devices with gyro support
  
• Official Layout for Black Mesa - Steam Deck Controls. Our official bindings for Steam Deck, adding trackpad support for the main menu
  
• New Steam Input Game Actions:
  
  • “Quick tripmine” - for quickly placing tripmines.
    
  • “Quick frag” - for quickly throwing frags.
    
  • “Use crowbar” - for quick crowbar switching.
• Added a console command, “steam_input_show_bindings” which will bring up the Steam Input configurator via the Steam Overlay.
  
• A helpful guide on controller troubleshooting with Steam can be found here

• Fixed an issue where auto-aim would aim at items the player was holding (like ground sentries)
  
• Adjusted auto aim values in skill.cgf to have a longer range and be more magnetic

• Still testing internally but we did fix:
  
• Build process for dedicated servers (a compile switch was missing)
  
• This should resolve some crashing issues with dedicated servers

As mentioned in the patch notes, we completely overhauled the auto-aim feature within the game. This can be configured by changing console settings in the game. Details here.

If you would like to change the settings for the auto-aim permanently, all you have to do is go to Black Mesa\bms\cfg\skill.cfg and edit the numbers at the bottom of the text file.


We are interested to hear what people think of the auto-aim (most of us are terrible at playing the game with controllers).


We are aware that if you change certain video settings WHILE in game, it can crash the game to the main menu and not let you resume the autosave it just created. We are looking into this!

New HUD elements and controller options need to be localized

If you get a message like below, simply restart Steam and re-launch the game.


Previous Necro Patch Notes:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/362890/view/4174347361777844150

Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thanks to everyone who helped us test AGAIN.

We’re investigating why some antivirus software and Windows Defender pick up the game or one of the tools as malicious. We’ve had tools flagged by different antivirus programs in the past, but never the .exe of the game itself. Needless to say, there are NO viruses within Black Mesa. We’re a little worried that this false positive is due to new detection methods beyond our control, but as we said, we keep looking into the issue!

(As of writing this we may have a lead as to what is tripping antivirus. We may have a workaround to fix it)

We apologize if this spooked anyone. The last thing you want to see after buying a game is that type of alert.

We updated the launch options to default to the game running in DirectX 9 and the UI running in DirectX 11. This helps ensure maximum compatibility across various target hardware.

There is still the option to run the game using Vulkan DXVK. If your computer is having trouble running the game in certain spots, this is a good option to try. It does have drawbacks: it does not like alt-tabbing from the game, and it cannot do borderless fullscreen correctly (the game will run fine, but it will act like regular fullscreen).

Finally, there is the DirectX 9 fallback, which runs both the game and UI on DirectX 9, in case your hardware setup requires it.

So now when launching the game you will see:
-Play Default
-Play Performance Option (DXVK)
-Play DirectX 9 (Legacy)

If you have already set the launch option and want to change, simply right-click the game, go to properties, General, and click the drop-down under “Launch Options”.

Soon, we will release a patch with the following fixes:

• Upgrading Black Mesa to use Steamwork V1.52 for better input implementation
  
• [TO CONFIRM]: Fixed custom controller bindings not persisting
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented some users from climbing ladders and using trams on Steam Deck
  
• Lowering controller deadzone for better feel
  
• [NOTE]: A helpful guide on controller troubleshooting with Steam can be found here

We are aware that if you change certain video settings WHILE in game, it can crash the game to the main menu and not let you resume the autosave it just created.

We are looking into this.

• Fixed build process for dedicated servers (a compile switch was missing)
  
• This should resolve some crashing issues with dedicated servers

As mentioned in the patch notes, we completely overhauled the auto-aim feature within the game. This can be configured by changing console settings in the game. Details here.

If you would like to change the settings for the auto-aim permanently, all you have to do is go to Black Mesa\bms\cfg\skill.cfg and edit the numbers at the bottom of the text file.


We are interested to hear what people think of the auto-aim (most of us are terrible at playing the game with controllers). We may be increasing these values to be more magnetic with the upcoming patch.

A lot of community members have asked about Steam Deck verification. We don’t think we’ll be able to meet the requirements to get officially verified. We’re very happy with the progress that we have made, but full verification was never our goal (the main blockers being true full controller support, and performance in our more demanding levels).

For now, using Proton’s latest version or latest beta is the best way to run the game on Steam Deck. Proton has solved a number of issues we had in the native Linux version, so give that a try with our newly implemented Steam Input (right after we put out the ladder fix above)

If you get any drifting using gyro aiming, try calibrating the Steam Deck’s gyro. (tom’s guide article on how to do this)

We’ll keep an eye on Steam Deck and see if there is anything we can do to help make it even better going forward.

There are some other issues we'll be follow up with with the community. Thank you, again!

Hello, fellow zombie scientist!

We’ve just released an update to Black Mesa. Our goal was to improve performance, improve controller support, and fix a number of issues, without breaking your save files.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

Here are the patch notes!

• Improved performance of the game (Vulkan, UI optimization, New Renderer/New Post Post Process Optimization)
  
• Fixed cases where game would crash on startup
  
• Fixed UI flickering and artifacting
  
• Fixed crash in the first map of Interloper that players were experiencing
  
• Improved controller support using Steam Input
  
• -Click here for detailed notes on adjusting controller support
  
• Fixed hitch when weapon decals are first applied to gun
  
• Re-enabled weapon decals by default

• Ported the game to DXVK 2.3.1 (first launch option)
  
• Performance enhancements have been implemented for the New Renderer and New Post-Process systems, particularly noticeable in scenes featuring water
  
• Fixed moss shaders and direction control for both vertex lit shader and skin shader (for props with/without phong)
  
• Fixed halflambert/warp/specwarp related problems across all the shaders
  
• Unlocked the even higher graphics setting in options menu
  
• The lighting quality settings in the New UI have been updated to reflect recent changes.
  
• Monitors and refract views can now leverage the New Renderer features
  
• God Rays support has been added for the sun and local lights
  
• -Note: God Rays are intentionally turned off for monitors and reflection views
  
• Improved the blending quality of normal maps within 4-way blending
  
• SpotLight cookies should now work on any orientation. Cookie sprite sheet no longer needs to be square.
  
• Black Mesa now requests high-performance power management on Windows, which should reduce power throttling impacting performance
  
• Implemented the ability to dump environment variables (-dumpenvironment launch option), assisting in resolving potential issues
  
• Lots of misc graphics fixes
  
• Disabled CPU-based backface culling for Func_Brush models
  
• Disabled CSM for viewmodels for secondary cameras
  
• Fixed flicker near Light Volume edges
  
• Fixed Xog artifacts with cheaper water

Controller support for Black Mesa has now been given the love and attention it has been seeking. Black Mesa now fully supports and integrates with Steam Input, allowing both us as developers and you as the community to create your own custom controller bindings and share them!

With Steam Input now implemented, we now have partial support the following devices:

• Xbox Controllers
  
• Playstation Controllers
  
• Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers
  
• We have also implemented proper Gyro support for Steam Deck!

To get started, simply navigate to the Steam Controller Layout configurator and select one of our official layouts and hit 'Apply Layout'.

Details on how to use it here.

• Modified the Game/UI rendering synchronization, aiming for stable UI presentation across all three available modes
  
• Updated the UI frame limiter logic to enhance the smoothness of frame pacing, which was particularly noticeable when vertical synchronization was active
  
• Improved performance by optimizing the texture lock implementation within the UI
  
• Resolved the issue where the UI occasionally failed to render at full size after resolution adjustments
  
• Fixed alpha blending of UI with background map
  
• Added a number of missing translators, including the 2012 mod translators (need to track down a list of who did what language)

• Interloper A crash fix
  
• Resolved the issue where the Tau Canon would crash upon the owner's demise
  
• Addressed a potential hang issue upon exiting the game
  
• A reflection bug involving Xen fog at extreme angles has been fixed
  
• Transparency issues in fake water have been resolved, and it now supports New Renderer, New Post-Process, and CSM
  
• Resolved outline artifacts present in alpha-tested materials
  
• Resolved an issue where view models were improperly identified within one shader, leading to lighting and shadow inconsistencies
  
• Fixed a bug related to the Diffuse Warp when using more than eight slots in the atlas
  
• Fixed a Workshop Client issue related to double initialization, which had the potential to cause crashes

• Alt-Tabbing while using Vulkan can sometimes crash the game
  
• Anti-virus can sometimes flag the game as malicious even though it is not (we’ll see what we can do about this)
  
• Minor UI overlap errors on some ultra wide monitors
  
• Some UI elements need localization

Next, we may look into more robust fixes that might break saves and switching over Linux support to Proton, but we don’t have a timeline for that.

Also, here is a sneak peak at what the HECU Collective has been up to with Black Mesa: Blue Shift. Check out their ModDB page and Discord for the latest news on their amazing work!





More to come. Thanks to our community for all the help testing and bug reporting! This went very smoothly thanks to your work.

Hope everyone is having a great spring!

Discord

We’ve pushed a patch to public beta. In this beta we are looking to confirm that:

1. Nothing that was working before has broken
   
2. Save files are intact for all players
   
3. The Interloper A controller crash is fixed
   
4. Graphics options are set, and stay set in the options menu

• Fixed Moss shaders and direction control for both vertex lit shader and skin shader (for props with/without phong)
  
• Fixed halflambert/warp/specwarp related problems across all the shaders
  
• Unlocked the even higher graphics setting in options menu
  
• Fixed video settings not staying set
  
• SpotLight cookies should now work on any orientation. Cookie sprite sheet no longer needs to be square.
  
• Local lights shadow sampling optimized. They now look better & should be faster on the highest settings.
  
• Deferred lighting and NewPostProcess stability and support improved
  
• Lots of misc graphics fixes
  
• Updated translation files with community fixes
  
• Added missing Italian translators Riccardo Rapuano and Andrea Franceschi

Sorry for the time away, but we have been focused on other things, and it was a massive effort to overhaul our deployment system. This centralized the source control and build systems for the game, and allows us to better maintain and release builds of the game.

Our goal is to get a “safe” mini patch up on beta and thoroughly test it. We will push it to the mainline once we know it won’t break anything.

After that we may do a more involved patch that might break saves due to level edits. We’ll make sure to let everyone know if we release a more dangerous patch (remember you can always restart the chapter if something breaks).

• What are some high priority issues with the game you would like to see fixed?
  
  
• What should we call the mini patch and its follow-ups? Internally, we are calling it the
  Necro Patch…

-Crowbar Collective Team

Even headcrabs can be sentimental 💖. We're trying to spread the love, by getting you some Black Mesa action, at a deep discount! Be sure to grab your copy of Black Mesa, NOW 80% OFF!

Can we take just one minute today to share how PUMPED we are about this? What started out as a labor of love, turned into this amazing adventure we are on today. We're extremely proud of what our team has built, and thrilled so many people are connecting with it. We couldn't have done it without all the love and support from our community! Game on, Scientists. Game on.

❤ THANK YOU ❤

Attention, scientists!

It is time for the Steam Winter Sale! Experience the epic Half-Life universe like never before in Black Mesa, featuring modernized graphics and refined gameplay mechanics.

As part of the Steam Winter Sale, Black Mesa is now available at an 80% discount! Take advantage of this fantastic deal from today, December 21st, through January 4th. Grab it before the offer ends!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest developer updates and news.

Back to where it all began. Come hang out, let's talk about the design of Half-Life, and take a trip back to 1998!

https://www.twitch.tv/crowbar_collective