Comments - CargoCult

There's some more details here: Hylobatidae.org

Nothing particularly dramatic or noticeable, just subtle improvements throughout.

There'd been a page on Steam which linked to the mod's website, but this new, improved edition is downloaded and installed through Steam itself.

A patched version is coming - with larger graphical bugs and entity limits fixed, along with various more subtle gameplay and scripting bugs squished.

A news item will be posted here when it's ready!

I'll try and get a (pretty small, couple-of-megabytes maximum) patch out in the next few weeks, for anyone wanting to run the current MINERVA as a mod of Episode Two.

It definitely won't be mandatory (the Episode One-based MINERVA will absolutely still be available for download), but for people wanting the smarter graphics and better AI made possible from the patch, it'll be an option...

It was mainly to familiarise myself with the latest engine - there are some differences, particularly with a couple of shaders, and I thought it an interesting task to port my old stuff over first.

Blue Marble Next Generation, from NASA's Earth Observatory. Yes, the licensing allows me to use it, and it's most definitely credited!

Earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Now, identify the subtle storytelling expressed through the choice of image used...

He's trolling, just ignore him.

... MINERVA?

'Licensing rip-off'?

There are definitely some bound-to-be-Foxed-sooner-or-later mods in the unreleased mods category, but MINERVA?

Erm...

The only game it's using story and content from is Half-Life 2 - which it's a mod of. Thus such behaviour is specifically allowed, and even encouraged.

Plus, if it *was* an illegal mod, I think somebody at Valve would have told me on one of my occasional visits to their offices?

Fair enough - I've voted for quite a few other things, and must have clicked another one by accident. Slightly boozy lunch, natch... ;-)

Apparently I've voted for something I definitely didn't intentionally vote for - is there any way of removing votes?

Cheers muchly for the transfer thingy - now in return, vote for MINERVA! ... If you haven't already. ;-)

(Anything else we should be voting for? I haven't really been paying much attention to mods lately, and need to catch up...)

I think I've managed to persuade ModDBB to let me log in - it's all a bit shiny and new, innit?

Anyway, yes - this FOUL IMPOSTOR going by the name 'Varsity' has taken control of the MINERVA profile (having created said profile to begin with), polished it up to an unbelievable shine, and blah blah blah...

Which buttons to I need to press to reassign me as a whatsit thingumybob? These computer things confuse me.

Try evading the enemy, rather than engaging - you'll soon see when the tables turn and you'll be able to return fire...

You'll miss out loads of MINERVA without Episode One - you'll be wandering empty, silent corridors with giant floating red ERROR props and magenta-and-black textures.

Oh, and it won't be possible to complete either.

Your choice!

The water's definitely HDR - when it reflects a particularly bright part of the sky, there's a *lot* of glare.

Its reflectivity factor's about 0.7, so if that bit of sky in the screenshot is, say, 1.1, its reflection will be 0.77 - in other words, quite light grey. As can be seen. :-)

Yes, this second release *does* also contain the first map.

You can play right the way through, in a completely seamless manner. Or just start at the second - it's done with HL2's chapters system, with both unlocked from the beginning.

Have fun!

You probably know all about the 2am finishes for most of the past week, then... ;-)

I'll hopefully get a version for playtesting out this weekend - I'm really happy with the final section of the map. Cliffhanger-o-riffic!

***SPOILERS!***

...

For the solution to the final puzzle, think a²+b²=c² - it's a visual proof to Pythagoras' theorem! ;-)

Koumei Satou's the certifiable Japanese bloke behind the Sweet Half-Life mod for the orginal Half-Life - which was definitely among my favourite single-player mods for that game.

I hadn't known he'd been working on anything for HL2, so this comes as a really welcome surprise for me. It's still downloading, but I'm already grinning in anticipation...

It's black text on a black background in Safari 2 on a Mac.

Looks quite nice in Firefox, so at least I can still read things...

It makes my one-person-mod efforts on MINERVA look utterly pitiful!

Great artwork and designs - and it looks great fun to play to boot. Why isn't there more interest? I hope this mod develops a decent following sooner or later, anyhow... ;)

For anyone having problems installing, it's very easy when you know how.

Basically, double-click on metastasis-1.zip and drag the metastasis folder into Steam's SourceMods folder. MINERVA should then appear in Steam's 'Play games' window.

That's it. No creation of new folders, renaming of anything, or whatever. If you're still stuck, a proper EXE installer should be along with part two... ;-)

... there's a lot of stuff on the MINERVA forum. Hope that helps!