Big day today, Freeman.

It's been quite a journey for the science team but today is the 4th and final part of our Xen Museum Mod stream!



To thank all those who have been watching, Black Mesa’s composer, Joel Nielsen, will be joining us to talk about the Xen soundtrack, sound design, and much more.

So join us in 2 hours' time at 1:00 PM CST, on our Twitch channel, for our final playthrough.

Don’t forget to join us on Discord and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest Black Mesa updates!

Till next time,

The Crowbar Collective team

Ah, there you are Freeman,

You have (1) new message!
You are receiving this notification because of your mandatory subscription to Black Mesa’s alerts.

We would like to remind everyone that today, May 1st, is the final full day to acquire an official copy of Black Mesa at a mitigated cost; 50% off. Kindly take note, this anomaly will end officially on May 2nd.

With our recent Xen Museum Update, our Mod Madness celebration and much more, now is the perfect time to step into the Black Mesa science labs!

Don’t forget to share your progress with us on the following sites:
Discord: https://discord.gg/crowbarcollective
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackMesaDevs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackmesagame/

Till next time!

Looking for some more Black Mesa? You’ve come to the right place.

The team took some time to play a bunch of our community mods, and we were blown away by the quality of the content on the workshop, but first...

• The Dreamies are Friday, April 30th. We’ll be doing a stream beforehand of the Xen Museum. Tune in for some of the inside details behind the maps! 1PM EST.
  
• We’ll then Twitch Raid over to the Dreamies live show.
  
• Sorta related to below, Chon has updated On A Rail Uncut and uploaded it to the workshop. If you want a different take on OAR, check it out!
  
  
• The game is still on sale for 50% off until May 2nd! https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

Like we said above, there is some GREAT content out there. If you are in the mood for some more Black Mesa, or even something that feels very different, here are just SOME of the things on the workshop!

(In No Particular Order)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=873700194



“The transit system had taken Gordon to within a whisker of the surface, and safety. However the military, ostensibly there to rescue the facilities personnel, had cut power to all the surface access doors. The test reactor housed in Area 3's nearby laboratories offered a solution to this predicament. If Gordon could fire it up he should be able to redirect power to the access doors from the control room. The way ahead was dangerous, but with luck this would be the final escapade.

Escapade is the (belated) follow up to my previous maps, Overtime and Quarantine. This will most likely be the conclusion to the series. Building all three has been a big learning experience and any feedback is most welcome.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1837111536



“Survive the hostile environment and find the way to escape through elevator!
A level inspired by ResidentEvil 2, hope you will enjoy :)”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2316239201



“Further Data is a brand new take on Half-Life: Uplink - Valve's demo of Half-Life. It's a personal project of mine featuring new maps, new voice lines, and miscellaneous assets.

To play, press the "Steam Workshop" button on the main menu and Further Data will appear. If you use the old UI, use the command "map fd01".”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=798988742



“Gordons misadventures in the Black Mesa ventillation system left him trapped within Sector C's chemical research wing. Like many areas of the facility, the wing had gone into quarantine following the resonance cascade in a vain attempt to contain the invading organisms. Gordon would have to find someway, or someone, to lift the lock down if he was to escape.

Quarantine was my first fully complete map (though I must have started, and given up, on dozens). There are certainly things to improve on and any comments or suggestions are welcome.

I nicked a few things from the offical maps, as well as some settings and ideas from Bravado, so thanks to the developers and Maki respectively.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1086124981



This is a Singleplayer custom map to Black Mesa.

Gordon finds himself in the questionable territories of the Biodome Complex, but his goal of escaping Black Mesa remain the same.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=799007153



“Although Gordon managed to survive the resonace cascade and escape the laboratories, the situation was rapidly deteriorating. His only hope of reaching safety was the Black Mesa Transit System. Typically the one available tram was on the far platform. With the bridging offices becoming increasingly overrun with hostile life forms Gordon would have to work overtime if he was to make it.

Overtime is my second Black Mesa map and, in spirit, follows on from where Quarantine left off. I struggled with a few areas of this map and there is a visual bug with the tram that I've been unable to fix so, as always, comments or suggestions are welcome.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=449141574



“While attempting to escape Black Mesa, Freeman's tram is halted by a military lockdown.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1205460043



“On his return from activating the track power Gordon was having serious reservations about confronting the gargantuan creature lurking by the trains. Those soldiers who intercepted him must have come from elsewhere. Perhaps it's time for a change in direction?

Uncharted Territory was an entry to the RTSL BlackMesaDoorVille mapping challenge. The goal of the challenge was to pick any locked door from the Black Mesa main campaign and build what was beyond it. Full details and all challenge entries can be found at http://www.runthinkshootlive.com/posts/blackmesadoorville/.

Uncharted Territory originates from the Power Up chapter, specifically a short corridor that opens up after reactivating the power. It's located just after the final HECU battle, between the storage area that explodes and the collapsed stairs, and appears to be where the soldiers came from. The player starts in this short corridor from the main campaign. The doors leading in are now locked, and the previously locked doors at the far end lead to an unexplored area of Black Mesa (my map).”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2320533262



“As the HECU tightens their grip on Black Mesa, an HEV-equipped scientist makes a desperate bid to escape the facility under the cover of darkness.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2424633574



“The first chapter of the Half-Life: Blue Shift remake, Living Quarters Outbound, is now released!

Relive the Black Mesa Incident as Gordon Freeman's best friend - Barney Calhoun! This first chapter will show you the start of what looked like a typical work day at Black Mesa.

This can be a showcase of our current capabilities in mapping, soundtrack and voice acting. We would also like you to share your opinion on whether you like what we have done or not.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2161275016



“Explore a top secret storage facility in a frantic battle to reach the surface!

Access Point HD Edition is a remake of my previous Half-Life map, Access Point. In this map, you'll have to fight your way through various warehouses and maintenence areas to find the last scientist who can open the blast door leading to the surface. But beware, you may not be the only one that have found your way down here…”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2288016896



“Today we are proud to release the new, better version of the mod. Our team put all their skills and effort to make your experience a lot better and more interesting. Also we are really grateful to Cyvo, who breathed a new life in it with his expansions.”

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2329457048



“Hazard Course
Hazard Course features a complete re-creation of Half-Life's training level, including new dialogue and voice acting, HD models, textures, and detailed environments.

Overview
Developed by PSR Digital, Hazard Course is an add-on for Black Mesa centered around a completely new take on Half-Life's training level, "Hazard Course", featuring 6 maps, a wealth of new models and textures, an expanded introduction and outro sequence (based on the sequence exclusive to the PS2 version of Half-Life), and tons of new dialogue from the entire Black Mesa voice cast.

This workshop item also includes the Five Nights at the Hazard Course bonus add-on. Originally built for our 2015 April Fools' joke, Five Nights at the Hazard Course is an unofficial minigame set in the Black Mesa Hazard Course, based on the horror game series by Scott Cawthon.”

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

Some of these mods are short and sweet, others are a bit longer and engrossing. This list doesn’t even touch on content like Juniez's Classic Weapons Pack, which is a great way to add a new twist to Black Mesa.

If there are any other workshop mods you think we should check out, let us know here or on our Discord. We would love to promote even more mods for our game.

Hope everyone is enjoying the game, and this stellar community content!

Discord: https://discord.gg/crowbarcollective
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackMesaDevs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackmesagame/

Hello everyone! Happy… Spring? Is that what season it is?

We may have lost track of time, but that’s only because we have been working away on a patch, and some other projects. Lots to cover, so let’s go!

We are 50% off from now until May 2nd!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

We also want to share how humbled we are to be a part of Dreamhack's “Dreamies”!

Black Mesa appears in two categories: Wait Worthy and Refreshing Revive. It is an honor to be nominated, and we will be watching with excitement!



You can watch the award show with us on Friday, April 30th on Twitch. We'll be doing a live stream to kick off the event!
http://Twitch.tv/DreamHack


We have an exciting, home-grown addition to the Steam Workshop. As you might have guessed, the Xen chapters went through a lot of iteration. We created a Xen museum so that players can explore many of the early, Work In Progress (WIP) versions of the levels. We also included an art gallery and some unreleased maps that have never before been seen!

You can download the mod through the steam workshop. Simply click the link below, subscribe to the mod, and then launch it via the workshop tab in the game main menu.
Click Here to Subscribe to the Mod

Please Note that some of the WIP levels have a lot of issues, as they were unfinished AND the game code has changed a lot since they were made. Expect lots of junk in the WIP maps.

The museum is divided into 3 different hubs: Xen, Gonarch, and Interloper. You can check out different versions of a ton of our maps, using the Intra-dimensional Portals within (Over 56 maps in all!).









Last but not least, we have put out a patch to fix up a number of UI/Game issues and add translation files. Here are the detailed notes:

Fixed in game Voice Over IP (VOIP) not showing icons on hud. Note: if your input device is not set correctly in windows, there will be no icons in game.
• Added ability to change multiplayer character model/skin on new UI client.
  
  
  
  Implemented translators credits page!
  
  
  
• Experimental Weapon Wheel for controller (hud_fastswitch 2).
  
  
  
• Fixed mouse wheel support in options menu.
  
• Fixed “Reset Defaults” setting select weapon to [ ] instead of mouse wheel.
  
• Added support for multiplayer join menu navigation.
  
• Fixed issue with game reloading after video settings change. Game will now save settings if you navigate to another tab.
  
• Updated functionality for UI navigation with controller/keyboard.
  
• Fixed issues related to random selection of UI items.
  
• Implemented support for carousel navigation (New Game menu, Load Game menu, Save Game menu).
  
• Improved support to change game bindings with controller/keyboard.
  
• Added support to change key binding in cell with "A" button (Enter) press.
  
• Fixed problem with option lists not appearing in UI navigation with controller/keyboard.
  
• Update UI navigation functionality. Now users can navigate through alert boxes with controller/keyboard.
  
• Fixed problem with UI navigation being enabled while dev-console is opened.
  
• Fixed UI soft lock issue with disconnecting from single player game.
  
• Fixed UI soft lock issue with disconnecting from multiplayer game.
  
• Disabled default keyboard navigation functionality. It causes scroll over items and prevents custom UI navigation functionality work.
  
• Added highlight to the menu button that has an active state to show user selection when navigating with controller/keyboard.
  
• Update UI navigation logic. Added logic to store selected UI items when navigating to the next level of menu depth (to be able to select it again when the user goes up one level of depth tree).

Arabic
Portuguese (Brazilian)
Greek
Indonesian
Japanese
Lithuanian
Spanish (Mexican)
Vietnamese

Arabic
Chinese Simplified
Chinese Traditional
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Finnish
French
Georgian
German
Greek
Hungarian
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Lithuanian
Polish
Portuguese
Portuguese (Brazilian)
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Spanish (Mexican)
Swedish
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese

More to come soon! Thanks!

Discord: https://discord.gg/crowbarcollective
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackMesaDevs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackmesagame/

Patch for previous beta. Fixed missing closed caption files. Fixes default key binding setting change weapon to [ ].

Hello, Mesa friends!

Hope the winter has treated everyone well. We here at Crowbar Collective are excited for spring and what comes next for us. But first off, we have a beta for testing further controller support, some UI bug fixes, as well as new translations. Please let us know if you see any persisting issues using controllers or with the new UI.

We’ll be back soon to put the patch on the mainline and announce some fun events!

Fixes Pushed to Beta

• Added ability to change multiplayer character model/skin on new UI client ( Still needs translation strings).
  
  
  
• Implemented translators credits page.
  
  
  
  
• Experimental Weapon Wheel for controller (hud_fastswitch 2).
  
  
  
  
• Fixed mouse wheel support in options menu.
  
  
• Added support for multiplayer join menu navigation.
  
  
• Fixed issue with game reloading after video settings change. Game will now save settings if you navigate to another tab.
  
  
• Updated functionality for UI navigation with controller/keyboard.
  
  
• Fixed issues related to random selection of UI items.
  
  
• Implemented support for carousel navigation (New Game menu, Load Game menu, Save Game menu).
  
  
• Improved support to change game bindings with controller/keyboard.
  
  
• Added support to change key binding in cell with "A" button (Enter) press.
  
  
• Fixed problem with option lists not appearing in UI navigation with controller/keyboard.
  
  
• Update UI navigation functionality. Now users can navigate through alert boxes with controller/keyboard.
  
  
• Fixed problem with UI navigation being enabled while dev-console is opened.
  
  
• Fixed UI soft lock issue with disconnecting from single player game.
  
  
• Fixed UI soft lock issue with disconnecting from multiplayer game.
  
  
• Disabled default keyboard navigation functionality. It causes scroll over items and prevents custom UI navigation functionality work.
  
  
• Added highlight to menu button that has active state to show user selection when navigating with controller/keyboard.
  
  
• Update UI navigation logic. Added logic to store selected UI item when navigating to next level of menu depth (to be able to select it again when the user goes up one level of depth tree ).

Additional Translation Files

• Brazilian(Portuguese)
  
• Mexican Spanish
  
• Greek
  
• Indonesian
  
• Lithuanian
  
• Vietnamese
  
• Arabic
  
• Japanese

• Chinese Simplified
  
• Chinese Traditional
  
• Croatin
  
• Czech
  
• Danish
  
• Dutch
  
• English
  
• Finnish
  
• French
  
• Georgian
  
• German
  
• Hungarian
  
• Italian
  
• Korean
  
• Norwegian
  
• Polish
  
• Portuguese
  
• Romanian
  
• Russian
  
• Spanish
  
• Swedish
  
• Turkish
  
• Ukrainian

Thanks!

Discord: https://discord.gg/crowbarcollective
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackMesaDevs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackmesagame/

Good day, Scientists of Black Mesa!

We have a huge deal that you don’t want to miss! As part of the Steam Lunar New Year Sale, Black Mesa will be available on Steam at 50% OFF!

So, come aboard the Black Mesa Transit System and get your 50% discount by clicking here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa

Be sure to hop on our Discord server and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more updates and news about Black Mesa.

Don’t let this Steam Lunar New Year Sale pass by, get your 50% OFF on Black Mesa right away!

Well, this is... Outstanding news! We’re honored to be nominated for the “Outstanding Visual Style” Steam Award!

We are blown away to even be in the mix with the other fantastic candidates.

Thank you to all those who nominated us. If we could ask for yet another favor, please vote for Black Mesa in the “Outstanding Visual Style” category! Voting starts today, and ends January 3rd at 9AM PST.

As a small indie developer, we are beyond floored with the amount of support we have had on Steam. The Art, Design, and Programming team worked extremely hard to make our game look great, and we are very proud of what we have accomplished. The “Outstanding Visual Style” award would mean a lot to all of us at Crowbar Collective.

Oh, and we are 50% off for the Steam Winter Sale, too!

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













In other news, we are releasing a patch for the sale that further improves controller support, adds new closed captions, and fixes some game crashes!

• Fixed numerous crashes and memory leaks, including a major 30+ megabyte memory leak when loading maps
  
• Fixed memory leak crash on multiplayer dedicated server
  
• Fixed crash while using “Potato” settings
  
• Added additional fixes to prevent soft lock in "Questionable Ethics"

• Added additional controller support for menu (reset key binds if needed)
  
• Added auto aim slider to options menu
  
• Most game settings now take effect without reloading the map
  
• Added "Mouse Acceleration" and "Raw Input" to Options menu

Added closed captions for:

• Croatian
  
• Czech
  
• Georgian
  
• Hungarian
  
• Chinese (simplified)
  
• Chinese (traditional)
  
• Swedish
  
• Polish
  
• Danish
  
• Korean
  
• Dutch
  
• Turkish
  
• Romanian

• Cleaned various closed captions and UI text files
  
• Fixed Ukrainian end credits

• Fixed classic irons sight bug that stuck
  
• Changed supply create health to break on one crowbar hit
  
• Fixed chapter title cut off for "Forget About Freeman" on ultra wide

Thank you again for thinking of us. Have a great holiday!

Black Mesa has been hugely successful throughout the mod years, throughout the porting to Steam, throughout the development of the Xen levels, and throughout our 16 years of development, all thanks to the overwhelming support of our community. We are extremely proud of what we have built, and it bears repeating that we could not have done it without you.

So we have another favor to ask. If you could vote for Black Mesa as the “Labor of Love Award” we would be honored. We really believe this award embodies the blood, sweat, and tears that we have poured into this game year after year after year, and we hope that being nominated, and potentially winning this award will help bring the game to a new audience.



If you agree, please vote for us, and help us spread the word on social media.

Thank you for your consideration. Have a great Steam sale (and Holiday too)!

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/crowbarcollective
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackMesaDevs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackmesagame/

We are happy to announce that we are releasing our final big update to Black Mesa as a free “Definitive Edition” update. Since March, we have worked to polish the game in terms of both art and design.

If you have been waiting to try Black Mesa, now is a great time to dive in. We’ll continue to support the game to fix major bugs, and the known issues below.



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

• Massive polish and art updates throughout the game
  
• Complete lighting and gameplay pass to the chapter “Power Up”
  
• Complete redesign of second “On A Rail” map (map B)
  
• Significant optimizations across the whole game that will improve performance on low to mid range PCs
  
• Outdoor art passes for “We’ve Got Hostiles”, “On A Rail”, “Questionable Ethics”, “Surface Tension”, and “Forget About Freeman”

[/b]

New shield and architectural art for Interloper

Full workshop support

Updated closed caption/translation files for:

• English
  
• Spanish
  
• French
  
• Finnish
  
• German
  
• Italian
  
• Norwegian
  
• Portuguese
  
• Russian
  
• Ukrainian
  
• With all the languages from our Crowdin campaign on the way!

[/list]

• We’re still working on controller support for the main menu
  
• Still have to add multiplayer player model select for new UI
  
• Female scientists unintentionally do not heal player
  
• Still have to release map source files (we are looking at the best way to do this)
  
• Sometimes maps in multiplayer have their bloom blown out

• Significant further improvements to workshop functionality. Mods should now be able to properly support a wide variety of custom content, without any need for a custom folder
  
• Deprecated scenes.image. This means workshop content can now ship custom scenes without overriding Black Mesa’s scenes too.
  
• Added a convar which allows users to disable all workshop loading functionality entirely. Add +workshop_disable 1 to the game’s launch options to try this.
  
• Fixed Workshop crash bug related to multi-part VPKs
  
• Smoothed out suit charger animations and increased update rate on player’s HUD, to make everything feel a bit punchier and smoother
  
• Fix deferred rendering bug related to gbuffer, which should fix all the rendering artifacts/bugs and potential crashes related to secondary render targets: including reflection/refraction/monitors, etc.
  
• Fixed soda cans from vending machines not colliding with each other
  
• Added little color pops when the player picks up a health kit or a battery, just to help draw attention to that fact
  
• Fixed a crash related to old depreciated flashlight sprites
  
• The Multiplayer scoreboard can show up to 24 names now
  
• Fixed key binding bugs related to the new UI
  
• Added dynamic lights to chargers, Gargs, flames, and a few other things which should’ve had lights
  
• Added support for justifying the closed captions to the right side of the screen, for the languages which do that
  
• Fixed monitor functionality on the Surface Tension mortar screen
  
• Fixed a bug related to newpostprocessing, where it wouldn’t turn off completely when disabled
  
• Reduced collision/rendering volume of newSpotlights by half for better culling and faster rendering
  
• Fixed rotation bugs for newSpotlights and func_tracktrain, for a prettier game
  
• Procedural dynamic lights have been disabled on potato quality mode for better FPS
  
• Significantly buffed the Gluon gun in multiplayer

• Improved fidelity of blood splatters
  
• Fixed some of the charger lights occasionally being in the wrong position
  
• Fixed flickering slime vines at end of Xen swamp level
  
• Increased water frame rate in Lambda Core
  
• Added additional architectural art to Interloper C1
  
• Fixed car windshields to render objects behind them properly and sort better
  
• Fixed multiple Interloper shields to display properly, including the Vort Village intro and the large circular shield in Interloper D
  
• Fixed excessive shine on some rocks in ST
  
• Fixed floating props in Xen B1
  
• Added electric particles to knocked over radio tower in Surface Tension
  
• Fixed rock collision in Surface Tension
  
• Fixed green plant alpha cards in Interloper to work properly with gbuffer

• Fixed multiple issues with the in-game audio sliders. Fixed the “sound effect” slider adjusting everything except footsteps and gunfire, resulting in poor audio mix. Now you should be able to hear everything mixed as intended, which really improves the audio experience for anyone who has adjusted their audio sliders!
  
• Major improvements to the in-game music entity, which fixes maps which use the more dynamic music system. Music tracks should blend more seamlessly and quickly as a result
  
• Adjusted Inbound tracks so they finish slightly before the level transition. No more abrupt cuts in music!
  
• Moved Surface Tension Dam fight song over to the new dynamic music system, so the piece properly underscores the fight now no matter how you play it
  
• The music in the elevator fight in Interloper D is even smoother and cooler now!
  
• Fixed many missing NPC sounds, such as reloads

• Autosave pass on the entire game to reduce frustrating deaths that send you back really far in the level
  
• Dynamic light optimization pass on the entire game to improve performance, especially on low to mid-range PCs
  
• As always, many many small bugfixes and tweaks based on community feedback, that might not be mentioned here
  
• Multiple balance adjustments game-wide to smooth out the difficulty curve and remove frustrating pain points
  
• Significantly improved damage output of Guards (both Glock and .357) so they are much more worthy and effective companions now
  
• Fixed several instances where the Guard’s arms would clip through his chest

• Prevented the player from being able to use the HEV charger next to the suit pickup before the suit battery functions of the suit had initialized. This prevents an odd edge-case bug where if you did that, your HUD would disappear forever.
  
• Moved the toilet paper slightly closer to the edge of the sink, to make it easier for players to grab
  
• Improved lighting on AM lockers

• Fixed player being able to prevent the tube headcrab from spawning in Map B
  
• Adjusted some of the logic for the Map B “headbanging” Zombie, to better signpost when he comes out to attack you
  
• Added a little hudhint for the Glock in Map B, so new players know about the alternate fire
  
• Clipped off a spot in Map C where players could get stuck behind a cryo tank
  
• Locked a door in Map C to encourage players to break things with the Crowbar, as a form of basic training

• Added more Zombies to the Map A post-Shotgun ambush
  
• Fixed Guard interactions with the turrets in Map A
  

• Significantly adjusted the Map C (warehouse/outdoor) fight to properly draw players outside and use the space more effectively. Added some barriers and adjusted the side of the bunker the player’s exit is on, to force players to run around the space a bit more than before. The fight is a lot more fun now!
  
• Prevented the Osprey from being damageable via the mortars, which should fix instances where the Osprey is running around on fire

• Fixed the missing VOX sounds that were added in the 1.5 beta
  
• Adjusted the “dying” scientist in Map B so he doesn’t turn his head to face you after he’s dead
  
• Destroyed one of the bridges in Map B as a callback to the HL1 iteration
  
• Adjusted the scientist that gets killed by the Tentacle, to prevent him being completely frozen in place before the scene starts. Also fixed an edge case where players could get crushed by the door closing behind them.
  
• Several fixes to the Guard that gets killed by the Tentacle, to prevent a weird edge case where he would sometimes become invulnerable
  
• Fixed player being able to break the puzzle by pressing both generator buttons in quick succession in Map D
  
• Fixed bad lighting on a pipe at the end of Map E

• Clipped off some points where players could get stuck
  
• Added an emergency light to the bottom of the lift that the HECU come down in Map B, to draw attention to the movement
  
• Made the crate blocking the generator in Map B be invulnerable before the player goes down there, to prevent a scenario where the Houndeyes/explosive barrels would sometimes prematurely destroy the crate and cause the map to progress without the player’s intervention

• Substantial rework to the new silo puzzle based on community feedback from 1.5 beta. The puzzle is now properly linearized and better signposted with visuals. This should alleviate all/most of the soft locks and potential confusion during this section.
  
• Added an elaborate series of cool scenes that play out if you bring the Guard with you up the silo. Give it a try!
  
• Added corner pieces to silo platforms to help NPC with pathing and give the player more space to run around (and prevent falling between levels)
  
• Fixed the elevator in the new silo so that players won’t get crushed/stuck in the door when it closes
  
• Adjusted the Marines throughout the chapter who are scripted to fire the RPG at you, so that they should now do so every single time without fail

• Fixed a bad decal that was showing up as a glitchy puddle in Map A
  
• Re-arted the skybox outside the helipad in Map C to match the new art and style
  
• Fixed some visible nodraw at the end of Map C

• Clipped a tree that you could walk through

• Further attempted fixes for a soft lock that was possible at the end of Map F, by running into the door before the scientist had fully played his sequence

• Fixed many instances of shiny rocks from the previous beta throughout the chapter
  
• Removed lots of old and ugly detail foliage models throughout Surface Tension and replaced them with newer ones
  
• Rebalanced the Map A warehouse fight to reduce difficulty spike and improve gameplay smoothness/experience
  
• Rebalanced Map A Apache to reduce his accuracy to ⅓ of what it was before. He won’t laser beam players quite as hard anymore (though he is still pretty accurate).
  
• Adjusted a lot of the new art in Map A to use better/newer foliage and rock models, for consistency with the rest of the chapter
  
• Many small tweaks to bits and pieces in the new Map B art to fix up things like visible world seams, floating rocks, etc
  
• Added level fog to Map C (cliffside map) to help reduce visual noise and provide better layer separation for players, to help make the map more readable with the new art. We found a neat little trick here that allowed us to keep the existing sky fog effect while also using a different level fog effect simultaneously!
  
• Rebalanced Map D “whack-a-Gordon” fight to provide the player with more cover and reduce difficulty spike
  
• Fixed Guard in Map F being unresponsive past a certain point, he should now play out as he did before, with a few of his existing improvements
  
• Fixed broken mortar and fuel truck in Map I end scene (this bug was insane on the code front!)
  
• Added a trigger to Map F which deletes the Osprey gibs before you go up to the TOW Launcher, preventing a situation where sometimes the gibs would block your line of fire to the Abrams
  
• Fixed TOW Launcher in Map F firing hilariously slow rockets

• New art for snark nests throughout Map A, to make it look beautifully disgusting and to match the infestation type found in Map B

• Rebalanced the Map A Assassin fight to prevent players from cheesing it by simply sprinting to the end. Prevented Assassins from being able to jump onto the upper walkways and shoot down at players through the grate. Adjusted the container maze layout slightly to encourage players to move through it and fight in there. Added many supplies to help achieve the same goal. Spaced out Assassins into multiple waves, so the player doesn’t end up fighting too many at once.
  
• Added some signposting into the ladder the Scientist drops in Map B, so players are more likely to know where to go when the fight is over
  
• Fixed Map B gun-range door not opening properly
  
• Removed an extraneous Long Jump hudhint from Map H, as the player is already told about it so much

• Added a tumbling hat animation for when the player takes the Hat through to Xen
  
• Changed Houndeye “alert island” sound used on the Houndeye island in Map A
  
• Added an animation to the winch prop that pulls islands around, so that you can see something is happening even without looking at the islands
  
• Fixed floating ground polyps under the Tree of Truth in Map B1
  
• Fixed ugly areaportal when looking back into previous level while in Map C1

• Further adjustments to the new forcefield models to boost visual quality and improve consistency
  
• Cubemap pass on Map A1 (Gargathon) to help boost the visual quality
  
• Fixed up the Gargantua lights on A1 to look better and to improve performance
  
• Gave the Gargantuas things to do after the player has escaped in A1, so they don’t just stand around...menacingly
  
• Fixed visible world FarZ in Map B2
  
• More art passes on Map C to help boost the visual quality
  
• Art pass on the boxes which hold the Controller shield crystals in Map C2

• Significantly improved performance in Nihilanth’s chamber for low/mid-range PCs

https://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/2925611484592371252

Thanks Everyone. Stay safe and have a great holiday season!

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