Initially developed and released by Gearbox Software in 2001, second Half-Life add-on, Half-Life: Blue Shift is a return to the Black Mesa Research Facility and another look at the Incident's consequences from the eyes of Gordon Freeman's best friend - Barney Calhoun. In 2012, Crowbar Collective has delighted Half-Life fans with release of the magnificent Half-Life remake, but there are still no released remakes for add-ons. This is when we are coming in - HECU Collective are developing the Black Mesa: Blue Shift - a free remake with use of Black Mesa resources and style. We will try to stay as close to the original Blue Shift and Black Mesa as possible. Our mod will be releasing partially, chapter by chapter, so those who are not patient for the full release will finally have something to play!

Report RSS Chapter 3: Duty Calls - Release

The third chapter of the remake, Duty Calls, is now released!

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It's time to wake up and dive into action!

Chapter 3 is now released, along with some small changes to the first two chapters! We want to thank you for all your support, this could not have happened without you all! Crowbar Collective were so kind to cooperate with us and do some playtests! Their professional feedback helps us a lot to improve our level/gameplay design, and we will continue to improve it further, as there are still things that can be a lot better.

Black Mesa: Blue Shift - Chapter 3: Duty Calls Release


We expanded this third chapter a lot: added new encounters, reimagined some puzzles and added new ones. We're pretty sure this chapter will amaze you. And don't forget, if you didn't like something or found some bugs - write it in our [Discord] server and we will change or fix that with the next update!

This new release includes following features and changes:

  • Chapter 3: Duty Calls;
  • Addition of Maintenance Workers in Chapter 2: Insecurity;
  • New animations for personnel and main character in Chapter 2: Insecurity;
  • Subtitle fixes for Chapter 2: Insecurity;
  • Some small fixes and changes in Chapter 2: Insecurity;
  • Design update for Big Tony's Pizza and Tesla's Tacos in Chapter 1: Living Quarters Outbound (may change further);
  • New UI ("I call it BSQtUI" - Stavaas);
  • New options in the BSQtUI, which allow you to hide viewmodel and HUD, enable/disable blood and acid on viewmodel;
  • Full Xbox Controller support for new UI (that was the main thing new UI was made for);
  • Got rid of background maps - now game loads really fast;
  • And more...

And check out a new soundtrack by Daver:


Black Mesa: Blue Shift - Chapter 3: Duty Calls Release



Where to download the mod:


ModDB Download Page

Steam Workshop



INSTALLATION AND LAUNCH METHODS (UPDATED AGAIN)


STEAM WORKSHOP INSTALL/LAUNCH METHODS:




MODDB MANUAL INSTALL/LAUNCH METHODS:


IMPORTANT: DELETE THE OLD bshift FOLDER FROM THE BLACK MESA GAME ROOT DIRECTORY BEFORE COPYING THE NEW ONE OR YOU'LL FACE SOME ISSUES.

-Unzip the downloaded archive;
-Copy the bshift folder and the bshift.bat or bshift_oldUI.bat into your Black Mesa game root directory (*/Steam/Steamapps/Common/Black Mesa/).

LAUNCH VIA FILESYSTEM:


-Go to your Black Mesa game root directory (*/Steam/Steamapps/Common/Black Mesa/);
-Launch the bshift.bat file (bshift_oldUI.bat if you want to play under the old UI).


LAUNCH VIA STEAM LIBRARY:


-Run via Steam: Go to your game properties and type "-game bshift" into your launch options (Don't forget to remove this entry when you want to play Black Mesa again);
-Run old UI via Steam: Same as before but this time "-game bshift -oldgameui".

Black Mesa: Blue Shift - Chapter 3: Duty Calls Release



We have our Discord server!

HECU Collective Discord


Here is the link to our VK page:

HECU Collective VK



We have few places where you can donate us:

Patreon


Your support really matters to us.



HECU Collective

Post comment Comments
harv_hark
harv_hark - - 218 comments

Congratulations guys! 😁

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wmf776759
wmf776759 - - 472 comments

It's time. Let's go!

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Trololeybus
Trololeybus - - 2 comments

Thanks for your work, guys!

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R0ADKILL
R0ADKILL - - 1,174 comments

Good stuff. Thank you.

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neophus
neophus - - 573 comments

Nice ! I will test it soon !

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modda
modda - - 69 comments

Great, thanks!

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Guest
Guest - - 689,317 comments

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KannyTheKannister
KannyTheKannister - - 1 comments

I love the third chapter you guys made, just have one complaint. I feel like the game takes too long to give the crowbar. If you run out of ammo you really have nothing to lean on to defend you before getting the crowbar.

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Guest
Guest - - 689,317 comments

Hey guys, I really enjoyed the third chapter! There are just two little things worth fixing for the best experience possible:
1) The way the security guy kicks the door in would surely end up in a serious injury of his foot - try to change the animation to a "push kick", which is a more common way for such a task.
2) The security guy "soft-locked" me as he followed me too closely into a tight corner where he refused to move backwards upon pushing (just like in other HL games).
Otherwise great work - keep it up, guys!

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Guest
Guest - - 689,317 comments

One minor nitpick I have is that replacing the wire for the elevator generator is kind of a plothole. How did the elevator work the first time to bring it half way down if the generator's missing wires to begin with?

A simple fix would be to have to take a damaged wire off the generator that you have to replace with a new one. It would also act as a hint that you need to go find a new wire since heading back retrieve the wire from the previous room isn't all that obvious.

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Guest
Guest - - 689,317 comments

One oddity I found for the crusher puzzle is what's the point of the lever that drops the second box of explosives? From what I've seen, you can just shoot the box off the hook anyway.

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StavaasEVG Creator
StavaasEVG - - 74 comments

Initial idea was to jump on it to drop it down, but this wasn't obvious, so we added shooting the hook as an option and left the first one in the mod too for now.

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23-down
23-down - - 3,553 comments

That's actually a good suggestion made by Guest coming to think about it. Perhaps you can rig something together.

My absolute compliments on the release of chapter3. Your mappers and model artists outdone themselves this time. This must be the very 1st Half-Life mod ever for me where I enjoyed the combat maps more than the peaceful pre-cascade maps 'cause in those you usually had most of the npc scripting done in mods but not here in in your Blue Shift Port and Chapter3. The scenes with fellow Black Mesa Personnel were brilliantly executed!

The amount of detailing and npc scripting is amazing and easily on an equal level than with that of Black Mesa itself, if not even surpassing it. I loved all of it. Especially to fight along side with another Security Guard or encountering various Scientists throughout the Chapter, truly remarkable Story telling and it created a wonderful atmosphere. I'd like to see more of this throughout your mod. :)

Small texture bug: There was one particular door near the pipe riddles that contained a sign texture half way stuck inside a door. I thought I made a screenshot to memorize the map name but apparently I pressed the wrong button. But it used to be near the beginning of the sewer chapter.

Looking forward to that next chapter of your mod. Blue Shift appears to become as large as Half-Life1 back in it's original length thus turning this into a fully fledged game instead of just a minor expansion pack. I'm so exited for it. :)

By the way: Did you create the Alien Slaves grenades? I can't remember that they did that in Black Mesa. But it's a very cool feature either way 'cause the way players fight them is so different than how it used to be Half-Life1 and thus forcing the players to move out their cover is a fantastic idea and addition to the game mechanics.

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Guest
Guest - - 689,317 comments

Just want to say that I love the new section fighting alongside a security guard. Blue Shift not having any security guards was just weird.

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modda
modda - - 69 comments

Just finished all 3 chapters, that was superb! On par with Black Mesa itself. Loved the voice work and the pacing as well. Can't wait for more!

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Guest
Guest - - 689,317 comments

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Guest
Guest - - 689,317 comments

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