Welcome to December Update, Part 2. You can read Part 1 of our reveal about the December Update here.

Important Point: This update WILL NOT contain Xen. We are hard at work on Xen and are preparing media to show to you guys. But there will not be a release of Xen soon and we still do not have a timeframe for it.

Here are some more interesting details for what's to come in December's Content Update 2. This list is not exhaustive. The update is huge and there's going to be A LOT of stuff.

Godrays (also known as Crepuscular Rays if you want to be more scientific) are the first of the new graphical features we have written with Xen in mind. We're testing them by deploying them publicly on our existing singleplayer and multiplayer maps. Very pretty, and highly customisable per level - useful for modders and level designers.





Marines and other players in multiplayer now eject weapon brass when firing. Seems like a small touch, but in a big firefight with multiple Marines it can actually add quite a lot to the atmosphere!

We've started our first round of AI tweaks. There will be more to come. One big one was tweaking the way Marines react to Alien Grunts. They used to use grenade avoidance behaviours to try and escape the Alien Grunt's Hornets, which led to some very odd behaviours in fights between them. They now no longer do that. They would also try and avoid their own grenades which led to some odd behaviour too. They don't do that anymore, either.

Multiplayer has seen quite a bit of love for this update, though there's plenty to come for you singleplayers too!

Firstly, all of the base multiplayer code was completely rewritten from scratch. This is HUGE. MP should now be far more responsive, better performing, and less buggy/crashy.

• Fixed prediction/lag compensation on the Crossbow. Zoomed fire should now be extremely responsive and reliable.
  
• Added subtle spawn effects/sounds for weapon and player spawns.
  
• Added a "walk" function.
  
• Unlocked all movement related cvars to allow us to better tweak movement and feel to match HL1.
  
• Removed some Taus and ammo from most maps, to better match the fact that the Tau is really, really powerful now.
  
• Better colours on the scoreboard/coloured killfeed and coloured chat for better clarity.

And many more! We may reveal more later!

• Fixed .357 Guard being unable to fire.
  
• Fixed Hivehand falling through the elevator on C2A5E.
  
• Headcrabs now properly inherit momentum when shot off Zombies instead of just falling to the ground.
  
• Crossbow's lowered sensitivity when zoomed in now works properly. No more weird feeling.

And many more! We may reveal more later here too!

Next part, we will talk about the main MP focus of the update: Crossfire! That's right, Crossfire is coming in the December Update, better than ever! And we also have a Singleplayer Update lined up for Content Update 2, which we suspect a lot of you have been anticipating and excited for (reiteration: it is NOT Xen!)


Work in Progress. Map is still being polished!

Join us soon for the next part!

Welcome to December Update, Part 2. You can read Part 1 of our reveal about the December Update here.

Important Point: This update WILL NOT contain Xen. We are hard at work on Xen and are preparing media to show to you guys. But there will not be a release of Xen soon and we still do not have a timeframe for it.

Here are some more interesting details for what's to come in December's Content Update 2. This list is not exhaustive. The update is huge and there's going to be A LOT of stuff.

Godrays (also known as Crepuscular Rays if you want to be more scientific) are the first of the new graphical features we have written with Xen in mind. We're testing them by deploying them publicly on our existing singleplayer and multiplayer maps. Very pretty, and highly customisable per level - useful for modders and level designers.





Marines and other players in multiplayer now eject weapon brass when firing. Seems like a small touch, but in a big firefight with multiple Marines it can actually add quite a lot to the atmosphere!

We've started our first round of AI tweaks. There will be more to come. One big one was tweaking the way Marines react to Alien Grunts. They used to use grenade avoidance behaviours to try and escape the Alien Grunt's Hornets, which led to some very odd behaviours in fights between them. They now no longer do that. They would also try and avoid their own grenades which led to some odd behaviour too. They don't do that anymore, either.

Multiplayer has seen quite a bit of love for this update, though there's plenty to come for you singleplayers too!

Firstly, all of the base multiplayer code was completely rewritten from scratch. This is HUGE. MP should now be far more responsive, better performing, and less buggy/crashy.

• Fixed prediction/lag compensation on the Crossbow. Zoomed fire should now be extremely responsive and reliable.
  
• Added subtle spawn effects/sounds for weapon and player spawns.
  
• Added a "walk" function.
  
• Unlocked all movement related cvars to allow us to better tweak movement and feel to match HL1.
  
• Removed some Taus and ammo from most maps, to better match the fact that the Tau is really, really powerful now.
  
• Better colours on the scoreboard/coloured killfeed and coloured chat for better clarity.

And many more! We may reveal more later!

• Fixed .357 Guard being unable to fire.
  
• Fixed Hivehand falling through the elevator on C2A5E.
  
• Headcrabs now properly inherit momentum when shot off Zombies instead of just falling to the ground.
  
• Crossbow's lowered sensitivity when zoomed in now works properly. No more weird feeling.

And many more! We may reveal more later here too!

Next part, we will talk about the main MP focus of the update: Crossfire! That's right, Crossfire is coming in the December Update, better than ever! And we also have a Singleplayer Update lined up for Content Update 2, which we suspect a lot of you have been anticipating and excited for (reiteration: it is NOT Xen!)


Work in Progress. Map is still being polished!

Join us soon for the next part!

You may have previously seen the Crossbow Update which we posted on our forums. We figure it's time to give you a bit more than that, as we've been quiet for a while on the communication front. We are very hard at work on the massive Content Update 2 (note: the update will not contain Xen, it's not ready yet) which we are going to release as a big update in December. We originally had two patches planned, but we decided to merge them together into a big one!

We historically have been all about surprise updates, but now we want to be more open to show people that we are making progress, and to hopefully build some excitement for the December update. So throughout this month we will be posting previews of the coming features. You will be able to find these regularly on the Steam forums and on our public forums, though we will post major snippets here too.

What you are about to see is just a very small taste of what's to come!

CU2 will feature 3 new weapon models. The Crossbow, the Shotgun, and the Gluon. All are completely new models/textures. The Crossbow has also been completely reanimated. Here you can see the new Crossbow model in action:





We have added weapon drag. It's a seemingly small feature, but it adds a lot to the immersion. You can set how much sway you have as an option. So you can blow it out if you love it, or turn it to zero if you hate it. There also is an editable amount of weapon bob when you walk.




We made a new Egon model. It is very similar to the last one, but more polished and without the deleted back faces.




We created some Gman arms, so when you select him in MP, the arms are accurate. He also no longer explodes into HEV gibs!

• Fixed Steam Cloud
  
• Flashlight is now brighter and has a wider radius!
  
• Fixed satchel detonation to be faster and not switch mouse buttons on last satchel
  
• Fixed the MP5 grenade spawning from then center of the screen when fired
  
• Score persist on leaving and rejoining a MP match

Remember, this is a very small sample of what's to come. Stay tuned for further information about the December update. It's going to be awesome!

You may have previously seen the Crossbow Update which we posted on our forums. We figure it's time to give you a bit more than that, as we've been quiet for a while on the communication front. We are very hard at work on the massive Content Update 2 (note: the update will not contain Xen, it's not ready yet) which we are going to release as a big update in December. We originally had two patches planned, but we decided to merge them together into a big one!

We historically have been all about surprise updates, but now we want to be more open to show people that we are making progress, and to hopefully build some excitement for the December update. So throughout this month we will be posting previews of the coming features. You will be able to find these regularly on the Steam forums and on our public forums, though we will post major snippets here too.

What you are about to see is just a very small taste of what's to come!

CU2 will feature 3 new weapon models. The Crossbow, the Shotgun, and the Gluon. All are completely new models/textures. The Crossbow has also been completely reanimated. Here you can see the new Crossbow model in action:





We have added weapon drag. It's a seemingly small feature, but it adds a lot to the immersion. You can set how much sway you have as an option. So you can blow it out if you love it, or turn it to zero if you hate it. There also is an editable amount of weapon bob when you walk.




We made a new Egon model. It is very similar to the last one, but more polished and without the deleted back faces.




We created some Gman arms, so when you select him in MP, the arms are accurate. He also no longer explodes into HEV gibs!

• Fixed Steam Cloud
  
• Flashlight is now brighter and has a wider radius!
  
• Fixed satchel detonation to be faster and not switch mouse buttons on last satchel
  
• Fixed the MP5 grenade spawning from then center of the screen when fired
  
• Score persist on leaving and rejoining a MP match

Remember, this is a very small sample of what's to come. Stay tuned for further information about the December update. It's going to be awesome!

Hello Scientists! Today we introduce a small patch that resolves some of the recently reported issues. Please find the patch notes below:

Patch Notes:

* Fixed wrong texture being displayed on _mp glock.
* Fixed glock idle animation pop.
* Replaced $basealphaenvmapmask with $normalmapalphaenvmapmask.
* Removed autoaim settings from options.
* Fixed zombie hands in singleplayer.
* Fixed chargers not working with some savegames.
* Disabled autorun by default.
* added Single Player Source files in bms/mapsrc.
* added bm_mp_environments.vmf in bms/mapsrc.

... we're not joking. Thats all the .vmf's for Black Mesa Single Player. Enjoy :)

Hello Scientists! Today we introduce a small patch that resolves some of the recently reported issues. Please find the patch notes below:

Patch Notes:

* Fixed wrong texture being displayed on _mp glock.
* Fixed glock idle animation pop.
* Replaced $basealphaenvmapmask with $normalmapalphaenvmapmask.
* Removed autoaim settings from options.
* Fixed zombie hands in singleplayer.
* Fixed chargers not working with some savegames.
* Disabled autorun by default.
* added Single Player Source files in bms/mapsrc.
* added bm_mp_environments.vmf in bms/mapsrc.

... we're not joking. Thats all the .vmf's for Black Mesa Single Player. Enjoy :)

We just released our first major content update for Black Mesa. You can read the details here!

If you are having strange issues with the latest content update, it is most likely to do with using old save games from before the update.

It appears the issues do not happen if you start a new game. If you are experiencing weird bugs (such as having zombie hands in SP, health chargers not working, sprint being stuck always on), try starting a new game from whatever chapter you were on. You will lose your progress in the chapter, but the bugs will be resolved.

You may still find sprint is stuck permanently on. If that is the case, you just need to untick "always run" in the Black Mesa tab of the options menu.

We apologise for the inconvenience, but the way Source handles saves with updates is unfortunately something we have very little control over.

Thanks for playing, we hope that aside form this minor blip that you guys love the patch!

We just released our first major content update for Black Mesa. You can read the details here!

If you are having strange issues with the latest content update, it is most likely to do with using old save games from before the update.

It appears the issues do not happen if you start a new game. If you are experiencing weird bugs (such as having zombie hands in SP, health chargers not working, sprint being stuck always on), try starting a new game from whatever chapter you were on. You will lose your progress in the chapter, but the bugs will be resolved.

You may still find sprint is stuck permanently on. If that is the case, you just need to untick "always run" in the Black Mesa tab of the options menu.

We apologise for the inconvenience, but the way Source handles saves with updates is unfortunately something we have very little control over.

Thanks for playing, we hope that aside form this minor blip that you guys love the patch!

Happy summer everyone! We are very excited to introduce our first content update to you, 0.1.0. This update contains new features, a new deathmatch map, and bug fixes that will enhance your experience with our product. Please find the changelist below:

New map dm_stack!


-Added G-Man as a playable multiplayer character.

-Added first person zombie hands model for zombie scientists
-Added first person zombie hands model for zombie guards

-Added first person guard hands model



General

• Fixed some music tracks not being affected by the music volume slider in the audio options (Office Complex, Blast Pit, Surface Tension & Lambda Core)

Unforeseen Consequences
Map A (bm_c1a1a)

• Fixed blocking the crashing elevator with physics objects.

Map C (bm_c1a1c)

• Fixed z-fighting pipe model.

Map E (bm_c1a1e)

• Fixed canal bullsquid scene triggering late if the player took the lower pathway.

Office Complex
Map A (bm_c1a2a)

• Fixed various prop shadows.

Blast Pit
Map D (bm_c1a4d)

• Fixed player getting pushed under the lift and out of the map when falling.

Apprehension
Map B (bm_c2a3b)

• Made freezer entrance scientist a non-critical npc once the door has been opened to prevent a save loop if killed by the player after entering the freezer.

Map C (bm_c2a3c)

• Removed glock that was left in accidentally for testing purposes.

Residue Processing
Map A (bm_c2a4a)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.
  
• Fixed Barney being unresponsive if the player saves him from death.

Map B (bm_c2a4b)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.

Map C (bm_c2a4aC)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.

Questionable Ethics
Map E (bm_c2a4e)

• Fixed broken soundscape.

Map F (bm_c2a4f)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.

Map G (bm_c2a4eg)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.
  
• Fixed several broken overlays.

Map H (bm_c2a4h)

• Fixed car model having the incorrect orientation.
  
• Fixed some brushwork that had been moved accidentally.

Surface Tension
Map G (bm_c2a5g)

• Added in bounce jump pad decal.
  
• Fixed floating pipes near the water tower.
  
• Fixed floating debris from destroyed wall.

Forget About Freeman
Map A (bm_c3a1a)

• Added in bounce jump pad decal.
  
• Fixed a visible nodraw area near water.

Lambda Core
Map H (bm_c3a2h)

• Fixed an issue with the sounds at the end of the final teleporter sequence, where you sometimes would not hear the scientist telling you to “jump now!”. You should be able to hear him all the time now.

dm_stack!

• Added dm_stack! dm_stack is a brand new, outdoor, fun map designed for smaller player counts.

dm_gasworks

• Adjusted weapon placements in quite a few places:
  
  • Gluon Gun has been moved slightly (though is still on the same tower), to a position up high. It is now perched on top of a pipe on the same tower, and can now only be reached by hopping up to it from the railings, so requires 2 (simple) jumps.
    
  • Both uranium packs removed from Gluon spawn.
    
  • Removed one uranium pack from the hole Tau Cannon spawn.
    
  • One of the batteries on the tower bridge replaced with a uranium pack.
    
  • Added a clip of Crossbow ammunition on the red tower.
    
  • Removed a clip of Crossbow ammunition from the middle building.
    
  • Added 2 frag grenades in the top middle shack on the surface.
    
  • Replaced the MP5 by the forklift with a Shotgun with one ammo pack.
    
  • Adjusted the positioning of the RPG Fort’s pickup so the RPG no longer appears to be floating.
    
  • Removed both batteries from the ibeam on top of the elevator shaft. Removed one uranium pack from there too.
    
  • Added 2 frag grenades by the planks in the control room (which form a ramp to drop out the control room window).
    
  • Removed one ammo pickup from the Shotgun on the upper catwalks in the underground cavern.
    
  • Added a second MP5 grenade to the MP5 pickup on the underground tower.
• Tweaked lighting and player direction in a few areas:
  
  • In the underwater swimming routes (01 and 02), added caution stripes surrounding the entrances to make them much more obvious to players.
    
  • Brightened up the lighting surrounding the swimming routes to make them stand out more.
    
  • Added a large spotlight shining onto swimming route 02, to make it stand out better as a major route.
    
  • In the underwater part of the elevator shaft, added a fill light so the underwater section is no longer dark.
    
  • Added a red light at the base of the elevator ladder, to make the route more apparent.
    
  • Significantly brightened up the light from the elevator shaft teleporter, to make that part more obvious at a first glance.
    
  • Next to the conveyor drop down, turned on a light next to the double doorway, to make that major route area less dark from outside, and improve player visibility.

dm_subtransit

• Reverted the tram back to the original 1-car style. The DREADNAUGHT is no longer ingame, we felt that while it was fun, it was too buggy to be reliable or useful.

• Added first person zombie hands model for zombie scientists
  
• Added first person zombie hands model for zombie guards
  
• Added first person guard hands model
  
• Updated first person scientist hands
  
• Added G-Man as a playable multiplayer character.
  
• You can now get blood on the MP5.

• Fixed the ragdoll bug where occasionally the Vortigaunts/Marines corpses would spawn in a T-pose/be behaving extremely oddly after loading a save game or level transition.

• Adjusted RPG reloading mechanics to be more in line with HL1. Now, if you fire your RPG with the laser on, you cannot reload it until the rocket has detonated. If you fire with the laser off, and press reload, you are able to reload it even while the rocket is still in the air.
  
• Adjusted Shotgun reload so you can interrupt the reload properly by firing, and it will fire instantly, instead of waiting for the current shell to be loaded first.
  
• Tau Cannon adjustments:
  
  • Tau Cannon full charge time in MP is reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1.25 seconds, to better match the original Half-Life.
    
  • Tau Cannon full charge ammo usage reduced from 12 uranium to 10 uranium, to better match the original Half-Life.
    
  • Tau Cannon jump velocity reduced from 1100 to 850, to bring it closer to HL1 and to make it a bit less ridiculous and easier to control.
    
  • Tau Cannon hitreg fix - fixed a bug in the Tau Cannon’s hit registration that was making it register unreliably.
    
  • Tau overcharge volume reduced from SNDLVL_100dB to SNDLVL_norm.
• Crossbow adjustments:
  
  • Zooming in with the Crossbow is now instant in MP. Welcome back, quickbow!
    
  • The Crossbow’s zoomed shot is now properly lag compensated, so should now register more reliably.
• Voice chat is now enabled in MP and is bindable via the options menu!

Please be sure to restart your Steam client and download the latest update. Running a dedicated server? Please be sure to run an update to bring your build up to date. Players running on the new client version will not be able to connect to out of date servers.

As always, be sure to report any issues you find in our discussion forums and thank you again for the support.

:bms_crowbar:

Happy summer everyone! We are very excited to introduce our first content update to you, 0.1.0. This update contains new features, a new deathmatch map, and bug fixes that will enhance your experience with our product. Please find the changelist below:

New map dm_stack!


-Added G-Man as a playable multiplayer character.

-Added first person zombie hands model for zombie scientists
-Added first person zombie hands model for zombie guards

-Added first person guard hands model



General

• Fixed some music tracks not being affected by the music volume slider in the audio options (Office Complex, Blast Pit, Surface Tension & Lambda Core)

Unforeseen Consequences
Map A (bm_c1a1a)

• Fixed blocking the crashing elevator with physics objects.

Map C (bm_c1a1c)

• Fixed z-fighting pipe model.

Map E (bm_c1a1e)

• Fixed canal bullsquid scene triggering late if the player took the lower pathway.

Office Complex
Map A (bm_c1a2a)

• Fixed various prop shadows.

Blast Pit
Map D (bm_c1a4d)

• Fixed player getting pushed under the lift and out of the map when falling.

Apprehension
Map B (bm_c2a3b)

• Made freezer entrance scientist a non-critical npc once the door has been opened to prevent a save loop if killed by the player after entering the freezer.

Map C (bm_c2a3c)

• Removed glock that was left in accidentally for testing purposes.

Residue Processing
Map A (bm_c2a4a)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.
  
• Fixed Barney being unresponsive if the player saves him from death.

Map B (bm_c2a4b)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.

Map C (bm_c2a4aC)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.

Questionable Ethics
Map E (bm_c2a4e)

• Fixed broken soundscape.

Map F (bm_c2a4f)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.

Map G (bm_c2a4eg)

• Various miscellaneous console error fixes.
  
• Fixed several broken overlays.

Map H (bm_c2a4h)

• Fixed car model having the incorrect orientation.
  
• Fixed some brushwork that had been moved accidentally.

Surface Tension
Map G (bm_c2a5g)

• Added in bounce jump pad decal.
  
• Fixed floating pipes near the water tower.
  
• Fixed floating debris from destroyed wall.

Forget About Freeman
Map A (bm_c3a1a)

• Added in bounce jump pad decal.
  
• Fixed a visible nodraw area near water.

Lambda Core
Map H (bm_c3a2h)

• Fixed an issue with the sounds at the end of the final teleporter sequence, where you sometimes would not hear the scientist telling you to “jump now!”. You should be able to hear him all the time now.

dm_stack!

• Added dm_stack! dm_stack is a brand new, outdoor, fun map designed for smaller player counts.

dm_gasworks

• Adjusted weapon placements in quite a few places:
  
  • Gluon Gun has been moved slightly (though is still on the same tower), to a position up high. It is now perched on top of a pipe on the same tower, and can now only be reached by hopping up to it from the railings, so requires 2 (simple) jumps.
    
  • Both uranium packs removed from Gluon spawn.
    
  • Removed one uranium pack from the hole Tau Cannon spawn.
    
  • One of the batteries on the tower bridge replaced with a uranium pack.
    
  • Added a clip of Crossbow ammunition on the red tower.
    
  • Removed a clip of Crossbow ammunition from the middle building.
    
  • Added 2 frag grenades in the top middle shack on the surface.
    
  • Replaced the MP5 by the forklift with a Shotgun with one ammo pack.
    
  • Adjusted the positioning of the RPG Fort’s pickup so the RPG no longer appears to be floating.
    
  • Removed both batteries from the ibeam on top of the elevator shaft. Removed one uranium pack from there too.
    
  • Added 2 frag grenades by the planks in the control room (which form a ramp to drop out the control room window).
    
  • Removed one ammo pickup from the Shotgun on the upper catwalks in the underground cavern.
    
  • Added a second MP5 grenade to the MP5 pickup on the underground tower.
• Tweaked lighting and player direction in a few areas:
  
  • In the underwater swimming routes (01 and 02), added caution stripes surrounding the entrances to make them much more obvious to players.
    
  • Brightened up the lighting surrounding the swimming routes to make them stand out more.
    
  • Added a large spotlight shining onto swimming route 02, to make it stand out better as a major route.
    
  • In the underwater part of the elevator shaft, added a fill light so the underwater section is no longer dark.
    
  • Added a red light at the base of the elevator ladder, to make the route more apparent.
    
  • Significantly brightened up the light from the elevator shaft teleporter, to make that part more obvious at a first glance.
    
  • Next to the conveyor drop down, turned on a light next to the double doorway, to make that major route area less dark from outside, and improve player visibility.

dm_subtransit

• Reverted the tram back to the original 1-car style. The DREADNAUGHT is no longer ingame, we felt that while it was fun, it was too buggy to be reliable or useful.

• Added first person zombie hands model for zombie scientists
  
• Added first person zombie hands model for zombie guards
  
• Added first person guard hands model
  
• Updated first person scientist hands
  
• Added G-Man as a playable multiplayer character.
  
• You can now get blood on the MP5.

• Fixed the ragdoll bug where occasionally the Vortigaunts/Marines corpses would spawn in a T-pose/be behaving extremely oddly after loading a save game or level transition.

• Adjusted RPG reloading mechanics to be more in line with HL1. Now, if you fire your RPG with the laser on, you cannot reload it until the rocket has detonated. If you fire with the laser off, and press reload, you are able to reload it even while the rocket is still in the air.
  
• Adjusted Shotgun reload so you can interrupt the reload properly by firing, and it will fire instantly, instead of waiting for the current shell to be loaded first.
  
• Tau Cannon adjustments:
  
  • Tau Cannon full charge time in MP is reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1.25 seconds, to better match the original Half-Life.
    
  • Tau Cannon full charge ammo usage reduced from 12 uranium to 10 uranium, to better match the original Half-Life.
    
  • Tau Cannon jump velocity reduced from 1100 to 850, to bring it closer to HL1 and to make it a bit less ridiculous and easier to control.
    
  • Tau Cannon hitreg fix - fixed a bug in the Tau Cannon’s hit registration that was making it register unreliably.
    
  • Tau overcharge volume reduced from SNDLVL_100dB to SNDLVL_norm.
• Crossbow adjustments:
  
  • Zooming in with the Crossbow is now instant in MP. Welcome back, quickbow!
    
  • The Crossbow’s zoomed shot is now properly lag compensated, so should now register more reliably.
• Voice chat is now enabled in MP and is bindable via the options menu!

Please be sure to restart your Steam client and download the latest update. Running a dedicated server? Please be sure to run an update to bring your build up to date. Players running on the new client version will not be able to connect to out of date servers.

As always, be sure to report any issues you find in our discussion forums and thank you again for the support.

:bms_crowbar: