Black Mesa EPF / Discussion

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This is the discussion related to the wiki page Black Mesa EPF.

First Play

wolf-3d 26 Jan 2012 12:27

Level design and attention to Detail - Very Good.

Played on non-XP server (and was alone), so expected the initial two scientist to heal or offer medical attention. - Died quite a lot before I cleaned out and got access to the infirmary.

Found a few areas too dark (could not see what I was shooting at/or see ammo on the floor.) Not a major problem once the map layout is remembered or with more players on-line.

One of the dead bodies (yellow/orange suit?) is not illusionary (thought there was some sort of clipping problem when I tried to pass / Body is in main walk area before the small lift.)

regards

Re: First Play

Mutant86 30 Jan 2012 20:56

Thanks for the review! Yeah, the yellow/orange suit guy is fixed in the next version. In the meantime though, for a bit of fun, you can revive him and watch him walk around. :D

Bug

Garompa 25 Aug 2017 02:02

I don't know if this is intentional but it doesn't seem so.
The map ends abruptly upon reaching the door behind the assassins once the bridge is extended (many times ending the map while the assassins are still alive). The osprey that is heard is never seen and a big piece of the map right on the other side of that door is not seen either, so I wondered why would the mapper create a whole room to fight that cant be accessed? So I assumed this is a bug where the brush that triggers the end of the map is misplaced!!

Last edited on 25 Aug 2017 02:03 by Garompa Show more

Re: Bug

BlueSpark 28 Aug 2017 10:06

Nope, wrong assumption. Reaching that door always ends the map, doesn't matter how many NPCs are still alive due to intentional, working trigger brush.

It's safer to assume that the map had been intended to be longer, carrying on into that unseen section. The door to it works and can be triggered, but the area (obviously a combat arena) is empty and a hasty black block was placed behind the "map end" door so that when it opened, players wouldn't see the unfinished part of the map - just black and then the fade-out.

Mapper got tired/bored/busy IRL, who knows - but it's better to end it like this and actually release it, than keep it as unfinished WIP forever.

Re: Bug

Mutant86 27 Sep 2023 10:41

The intention with this area was for it to go to an outdoor area with an osprey deployed. One of my favourite SC maps of all time is Snipers' Osprey - I love it's action orientation and replayability, and this area would likely have been similar. Alas, around this time I started to hit Gold Source's entity and bsp limits in the compiler, so I had to limit the ending with the brush and leave it unfinished, not to mention many other extensions I had planned.

Sorry for late reply, if I can call six years that..!

HLSean 30 Jul 2023 11:41

https://youtu.be/sUy-STS3Srs

At train cutscene, when I reach at the end of the door and there's some extended that behind the door during off-screen.

Wonder If I could see this map ported to OG half-life or black mesa.

Yes

Garompa 30 Jul 2023 17:32

Yes, there is a chunk of the map that is not being used. It seems this map was unfinished. The author seems to be missing for years now so I don't think he will finish it. But, the unused map area is properly mapped and prepared, it only is missing point entities like enemies. Perhaps a ripent can add it back.

Re: Yes

Vaelastrasz 01 Aug 2023 01:17

I hope you all check his relase info site
I found this from his info

No mission 5 just yet though. Sorry about that, but the Gold Source limits are ruining my day.
[From 4.7 changelog]

That was mission 5 area. But, it seems over entity limits. so.. that reason he couldnt make mission 5 and just finish in that door.

Re: Yes

Mutant86 27 Sep 2023 11:12

Yeah my original plan for this map was numerous missions, each triggered randomly on each play through, so you got a unique game each time (even some of the missions you knew, the order should be new). The final arena, which was planned to include an area similar to HL's surface tension and an osprey, was unfinished as I was hitting Gold sources entity and brush limits.

My time is still really limited still now (grown up with young kids), but my son will soon be old enough to play this game, so that might inspire me to return and finish it according to the original vision.

Re: Yes

Vaelastrasz 27 Sep 2023 16:14

glad to back in here :D

Update - FAQ

Mutant86 02 Oct 2023 13:37

I’ve taken a trip down nostalgia lane and been reading the reviews and watching some Youtube’s of the map - really pleased so many people seem to enjoy it and still play it. Quite humbling really.

Some questions keep coming up regarding the map, so I decided to answer them below:

What was the plan with the map? Is it unfinished?

Yes the map is unfinished. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, in 2011/12 I was hitting Gold Source’s brush and entity limits near constantly - this was prior to release. So I eventually came to the acceptance to wrap up what I had, tidy and get the most out of the map that I could.

I was heavily inspired by a few maps I loved over the years: Osprey, for its replayability and heavy action orientation; Incoming, for its random mission structure; the original HL & OPFor campaigns for their atmosphere and storytelling; and lots of different SC maps for how they handled co-operation online. I took lots of these elements and tried to make a map that would be constantly busy, replayable and with high quality Black Mesa looks and atmosphere.

If the limits hadn’t been there the plan would have been to release it with about 10 missions across 4 layers, that could all be randomly triggered. With that number it should be possible that people get a unique experience each time they play, for up to about 100 or so playthroughs.

Why is the laser puzzle so hard?

It was kind of deliberate as I wanted players to have a challenge getting through - it should be possible to crouch jump through the lasers and manually deactivate the terminal at the end. IMHO it is worth doing that in order to get the friendly robogrunts in the next room, who can then be taken around the facility, including guarding the spawn area.

Where did I go?

Simply: real life took over. Work, girlfriends, marriage, children etc.

When will it be updated?

I haven’t touched it since 2012, so it’s very possible that the limits I had before have been lifted. That said, I don’t currently have plans to revisit in the near future, due to a lack of time from having two young kids, including a 3 month baby. In a few years that will ease, and if the project is still going then I’d love to finish it! In the meantime I am occasionally active on the SC Discord under the handle ‘Mutant’ if you wanted to contact me.

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