SMOD OUTBREAK for Half-Life 2

19 comments by veteran_gamer on May 28th, 2010

9.04.2010
Alright, here's exactly what's going on with outbreak & what my plans are for it's return.  There's mostly great news, however those expecting a speedy release will definitely want my head on a pike, let me explain.

As far as the update goes, there is 2 (3, sort of) ways of working around the recently HDR compiled campaign maps (the ones that make the lighting, textures, cubemaps etc look funky).

a.)  inject then recompile workarounds to entities/functions within the bsp files (maps) themselves to avoid critical errors during game play (most common/recognized example would be "laggy trains") to avoid having to remove content all together
b.)  mapadd work arounds with exact same theory, but this can get ugly/cluttered/bloated code-wise, since you're essentially nullifying entities on map start, then redefining them within the same instance, leaving trails of overlapping feces in memory
c.)  rolling back/converting in-map resources through override within sourcemods dir by hand, which is technically the least intrusive way of doing it, but back breaking/severely time consuming - i don't get paid to do that sorry

so that covers campaign

Next, visual update/upgrades

I had mentioned wanting to use appid 215 numerous times on several threads in the past, mainly to extend visual appeal/capabilities for the models and certain surfaces found in-world, however things came up & i had to rush a "finalized" release & had pretty much decided I was through with smod, especially in the unhealthy state the main north american community was in at the time.  however, being "forced" to revisit smod due to valves campaign/resource modifications, i have decided to follow through with some previously abandoned concepts/checklists which never fell through. 

there will be updated shader parameters/textures to many of the models/content the player is in constant interaction with (phong, Further improved detail scaling, etc) everything from soldiers, zombies, weapons & alyx vance's hyper-realistic thong addon (w.i.p., keeps getting stuck in her ass crack ;] )
will add new weapons added to arsenal
will add new special effects as well as numerous upgrades i hadn't finished working on at the time of old release
will be much more performance friendly (as if it wasn't already)

it's a good thing i was so conservative in old builds with cheap compression & clutter removal....cause now outbreak literally has no "budget" on resources needed to add to it's glory, as it was the mod was shockingly "light" for the amount of stuff it added, we've all seen far less additions weigh nearly 3 to 4 times it's size...so yeah, pretty sweet :]

Now for the bad news...this means a MINIMUM of a month (we've traveled this road before, i remember saying "next week" for over 3 months at one point) "delay", but keep in mind a few things before you work yourself into an anger-induced seizure

after original release, and even before, not i, not Any modder, author, team or related has an Obligation to deliver/provide Anything to Anyone, it's important to keep this in mind when hammering contributors.  so relax & be patient.  if you've kept up with outbreak since it's early stages, you know that any waits i've put you through have been -well- worth it & exceeded expectations by a mile (no matter what the vermin say), so consider this the way things should have been, and keep enjoying your lives.

when any media updates (if any), news updates (if any), releases (IF ANY) are made, rest assured notifications shall be issued via proper channels. 

one thing for sure, is that before it's released on MODDB, the beta will be posted on the only remaining active SMOD forum (aside from the Mighty Author's OFFICIAL board), which is the only one that will provide proper support (for outbreak), take requests (for outbreak) & address bug reports/feedback/suggestions (for outbreak), located at the link in the bottom of this post (section is in construction as of today), i want MODDB to have the final version hosted -only-

that's a mouthful for now, had to get it out so i can focus on other things

Bsnooch.com