Comments - SEThorian

Well that's the good thing about Reissues; don't like on of the maps, you simply move on to some of the others.

It's Safer Here sky-of-doom bugfix:

r2d2rigo from the Spirit of Half-Life forums found a fix for the It's Safer Here skybox bug;

1. Start the map.
2. Quicksave.
3. Quickload.
4. Behold! 3D skybox without HOM that makes you wanna go on a killing spree!

Rejoice and thank r2d2rigo.

It's Safer Here sky-of-doom bugfix:

r2d2rigo from the Spirit of Half-Life forums found a fix for the It's Safer Here skybox bug;

1. Start the map.
2. Quicksave.
3. Quickload.
4. Behold! 3D skybox without HOM that makes you wanna go on a killing spree!

Rejoice and thank r2d2rigo.

Are you using the WON or Steam version? And are you getting an error?

There are no new weapons, well, technically... Specter of Ra does have a lots of new models and model replacements, but everything does still have the same function as it used to have.

The bug with 'It's safer here' is known and possible fixes are being discussed. Though right now it's a bit difficult since the mapper is unavailable for the time being.

The CD key not working on Steam is annoying and I can safely say that I've had that as well. I'm afraid the only way around it is to contact Valve support and provice them with a scanned copy of your CD, CD-key and receipt of when you bought the game. Seeing as you probably do not have the receipt anymore, it's probably better just to purchase some of the cheap HL packs over Steam. That or, of course, use the WON version like you're doing... ;)

Reissues also doesn't work on Half-Life: Source. This is due to the fact that HL: Source is Half-Life ported to the Source engine. Since this game still runs on the GoldSource engine (HL1 engine) and isn't ported, it will not run on HL: Source.

Lastly; feel free to report all the bugs you encounter on our website's forums. If you do not like registering an account there, then you can also leave your bugs here at ModDB. I'll keep an eye out for new bugs and make sure they're forwarded to our forums.

Regards,
SEThorian

P.S.: Good to see you liked the Starlabs chapter, Varsity.. ;)

I am publishing everything mapwise.. Meanwhile, this is rather getting on my nerves, as it appears to me that the HLR team is reckoning they've got the right to get my material.

And yes, some material, such as documentation, plot and voice acting, is kept back because I might still want to do something with my intellectual property in the future. So far, that still makes sense to me. Though if you require elaboration, feel free to ask. I might just be misinterpreting things so far.

Actually, I did state in the newspost that I was going to release quite a bit of material. And if I say I'm not handing out my (source) material to others then, no matter how polite people ask me, I won't hand it out. I'll work on the material that I *did* promise to release in my newspost, but I certainly won't be working faster or handing out source material when the desire of other people to play gets too big.

methulah wrote: Only if you're American. The rest of the world actually uses conjunctions for their intended purpose.

Though it is mostly an American usage to my knowledge, I do see such conjuntions happen in English literature. Personally, I just make it depend on the sentence. (I can have an and after a comma or new sentence if I feel there needs to be a break in the sentence for readability.)

BlckWyerve wrote: The rest of the world also drives on the wrong side of the road. What does that tell you?

That would actually be mostly commonwealth countries to my knowledge. Here in mainland Europe we've got the nasty habit of driving on the same side of the road as you Americans... So alas! ;)

But about the name; in proper English (seeing that it is a summary of words, not a sentence), I do believe it should be 'Pirates, Vikings and Knights'. But don't count on me to much, English isn't my primary language. But I do think names, and mod names included, should have their own special place. Because I do admit, having a comma in a mod name might seem somewhat odd.

And now onto the actual news post; splendid new media! I have no clue how in-game combat is handled, so that should be interesting to see. I do like that piratey town! Atmospherey and such! :) But I do wonder; where do you get such piratey town textures from? Counter-Strike?

I posted this in reply to your other request in the news post, but I'm not sure if you noticed it, hence I'm just reposting it here.. ;)
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I will have to dissapoint you by saying that, like stated in the news post, I have no intention of handing out any Starlabs source material. I do appreciate the offer and am familair with Phillip's idea. So I'd like to thank you for the offer, but will refuse to use it. I'll keep an eye on the project. I'm interested to see some of the results in the future!

I will have to dissapoint you by saying that, like stated in the news post, I have no intention of handing out any Starlabs source material. I do appreciate the offer and am familair with Phillip's idea. So I'd like to thank you for the offer, but will refuse to use it. I'll keep an eye on the project. I'm interested to see some of the results in the future!

Well it is a low poly model for an engine that handles mostly low-poly models. (For obvious performance reasons.) It probably looks a whole lot better in-game, when it's a whole lot smaller on-screen.

What is it with gate newsposts and people flaming? Setting aside my own point of view regarding the media (since that'll only get my butt flamed off from the team, as I know from experience), there is a good point made about the gate by both sides;

The whole gate principle indeed is a general idea and therefor it isn't a copyright infringment from the side of the Gate team if they use a gate in their mod. The other side however, is that taking a closer look at this gate, you'll see that it indeed IS an exact replica from the one used in the TV show. And that WILL get you into trouble as soon as the copyright holders (Fox, I believe?) get ahold of it. Compare for instance the fourth Gate screenshot (of the gate) and compare it with this shot: New-dream.de

You'll notice that they're near exact, with the exception that the gate from Gate 2 has the Egyptian signs on the outer ring of the gate and in gold. This opposed to the Stargate gate, where the signal are on the inner ring and more of a shadowy colour. (They're not that obvious in the given link, but anyone who watches the show every now and then should know the shade of the signs.) This would probably be enough for fox to C&D this mod or at least demand removal of the whole gate concept. (Which, of course, would really mess up the mod, seeing as it's called The Gate 2.) I must also admit that "The Gate 2 But Without The Actual Gate" sounds less catchy than "The Gate 2". So to prevent Fox from doing the same as John Williams did as soon as he found out The gate (1) illegally used a large amount of his compositions, (these where removed with a patch, if I recall correctly) the team probably wants to change their gate to something other than a near copy of the Stargate variant.

If I also recall correctly, back then it was denied those were John Williams pieces but were addressed as actual gate soundtrack made by the team, but I won't delve on that. This of course brings me to the BMW; I don't know the model nor the person who made it, but seeing what happened in the past, it wouldn't surprise me if something similair would be pulled off again this time.

And lastly, hot564321 did make a good point; no matter how much you may dislike what you're looking at, don't judge until you've tried it. I should note to the same hot that PR stands for Public Relations. I can understand you getting agitated when people speak badly of something you stick your spare time into, but replying with PR in mind, thus polite and calmly, will keep the reputation of the mod up. If people know the gate team as the folk that start cursing and flaming with the least amount of critism, then they'll do their best to ignore that mod and spread the word. (The negative word, I should make clear.)

It always loads very quickly for me, and I have a relatively low-end system.

Regardless, once more good looking media with the atmosphere I'm used of Mastersword! Keep it up! :)

Actually, it was stated a few months ago in (as I recall being) the last media release that they would keep a low profile in regard of media to focus more on making the mod. I also believe that they ade it clear that this meant that media would simply come out at a lower pace and that they didn't die.

And now on the topic of this news post; awesome screenshots! I especially like the huge feeling those screenshot have. They remind me of the openness of Oblivion! Fantastisc visuals as well! I see the quiet period worked very well for you guys. Way to go! :)

I don't say this often about unrendered meshes but; nice bow! If it's skinned and animated properly, then that should be a treat. Will the arrows shot also fly in an arch if the distance is large enough? That should be fun! :)

Mr.Kadish wrote: The lack of detail is pretty astounding!

:')

Uhuh..

Ah, CJ's at it again.. ;)

Good news, obviously, and I'm particulary eager on seeing some screenies coming up from CJ in the near future! So get at it, boy! :)

Then make the putting into context a bit more obvious. Your attempt to be negative is very succesful and the idea you described in your reply would've been a whole lot more effective if the answers to your own negative questions were a lot clearer and positive. Right now, you ask the right questions, but the answers aren't making the point either obvious enough or are simply questions upon themselves.

Why the heck is the interviewer so negative about the HL1 engine?

Still looking good Kol!

Some more enthousiasm in the newspost? It seemed very uninterested..

Well right now I've decided not to do any harddrive work (for instance: mapping), until I've replaced my current (faulty) harddrive. I don't want to risk losing any important data when this thing finally decides to die on me. (It's been giving me random odd errors, especially during scandisk.) Of course, I didn't have money, so I had to wait for that as well.. ;)

As soon as the new HDD is purchased, built in and the like, I'll start mapping again. From thereon testing will probably happen not until quite some time later. My original plan was to start beta testing this fall, but with recent complications I had to do a lot of other work that delayed me quite a bit. (I had to compensate for a mapper who left the team, had this HDD trouble, various team members also had some trouble in their personal life's and school has started again, etc.)

I did make great progress this summer, but not as much as I'd hoped for.

Oh, and I should update that progress bar from 50% to 80%...

I'm afraid to give any current estimates (in case other things feel like getting in the way) but christmas should be pretty safe for me.

The Dark Forest shots are looking excellent! Thumbs up to the level designer!

Quoted from the cancellation newspost

But what does this mean for the contents that have already been created for Starlabs? Well, I'm planning on putting all Starlabs maps made so far (whether they're completed or not) in a sort of demo reel. Completing the mod would be far too time consuming (especially when you don't have the lust or motivation), but showing off what has been made so far should be relatively easy to do. I don't know when I'll have such a demo reel completed (as I'm not rushing it), but I hope that such a demo reel will at least satisfy the tastes of some people who've been waiting for Starlabs material.

A second release that I'm planning should be part of the mod Reissues. I'm planning on including a part of the most completed Starlabs chapter as a playable contribution so that all people who want to get a taste of some Starlabs action, should get it in the form of one (partial) chapter. (Six chapters were planned.) The chapter in question is Chapter 4: "Satellite Trouble".

That should be clear enough.. ;)

There was a sequel to PQL! :o

Issues..
Issues.command-center.org

Wohoooooo! Minerva has been released!!! :D

I was wondering how I was going to spend the rest of this day, and now I know!

Thanks Adam!

"Daily updates".. :')

I also thought there were spelling obligations that a newspost should live up to?

Nothing changed in HL: Source in regard of the dam sequence. (Asides from the 3D sky, fancy water and a bunch of shaders.)

So this dam sequence is bound to be more professional looking.

I found the Half-Life dam to be incredibly impressive by itself. Of course a real dam is larger, but that one did it for me just fine! :)

Having said that, having a somewhat bigger dam, true to real scale, wouldn't hurt too..

Just defending the original dam here.. ;)

At first I wasn't very excited about this project but recent media is looking more and more sexy.

Now that dam: it's f*cking awesome! One of the best Source pictures I've seen yet! Muchos compliments and respect to whomever mapped that baby!