I think we're old enough to talk about this pandemic of "beta mods" flooding Half-Life and Half-Life 2. I will tell you my stance on a real beta mod here, and I'm not gonna hold back. a real beta mod is not just a pack of maps and/or skins, it is a re-creation of what the game would have looked like prior to release. this doesn't mean just maps, but it means to make the game function as it did, play like it did, and overall feel like it did before release. these mods calling themselves "E3 2003" or "E3 2002" are not beta mods, they are just skinpacks with maps. if you're going to make an actual beta mod, learn C++ and start programming. otherwise, as blunt as this sounds, the mod should not exist. at least not in the mods section. the only place it should go is in the addons section. if they contain assets that aren't made by the creator, then they shouldn't be on Moddb at all. this is a very blunt statement, but I'm not just "hating", I'm giving my honest view on the topic. same goes for Half-Life 1 mods. just because you dug out a bunch of beta skins out of your stolen Gamebanana assets folder does not mean you've made a beta mod, it means you've compiled a skin pack. if you make the game run and feel like it did back before its 1998 release, an argument can be made, especially if you make it function similar to the E3 1998 demos. this sounds blunt, but this is my honest-to-God opinion, tailored by the amount of "beta mods" plaguing Moddb these days. that is all I wanted to say. thanks for reading.
"beta mods"
Posted by Krychur on
Any opinions on the "beta mods" that reboot the ENTIRE beta timeline? (mods like Raising the Bar: Redux, Dark Interval and Signal Lost?)
the ones that can actually pull it off are ones I am able to get behind. they use their own assets, have professional mapping and programming teams, and they do more than the occasional "blog." not to mention, the blogs they do make are very professional and do more than just talk about future possibilities, by which I mean they show actual progress.
I get what you're saying, I mean they're not as bad as those low effort MS Paint mess-up mods for Half-Life or those add-on compilation mods for Carnivores 2, but yeah I wish more people would put more effort into these beta mods or come together and make one that feels definitive.
well, as a person who ALSO 'created' such a thing... I agree with you.
I will not say, as a young (and stupid) kid I was fascinated by the beta (and of course this whole Episode 4 or something) and started making these craps..
you've probably seen my fan-made Episode 4 mods or even.. ahem "Bulid 2001" things (yes, Bulid.) ngl, I'm currently super-ashamed of what I did as a kid..
..but on a positive side, I started doing some more-effort mods for SCP-CB. I don't want anything to do with modding Half-Life anymore tbh.