Greetings everyone. This is my final project to finish "uncutting" Black Mesa. Though I thought the cuts to Surface Tension were far more severe in terms of them harming Black Mesa as an overall package, On a Rail was shortened from 10 maps in HL1 to 3 maps in Black Mesa. While the BM Devs tried hard to streamline and cut down the experience, it still felt overall lacking in terms of its progression as Gordon's journey towards the rocket. This mod is for those of you who want Black Mesa's On a Rail to be lengthened. There will be 2 versions released; OaR Uncut Lite (extends OaR by 2 maps, making it longer than Black Mesa's version but not too long) and OaR Uncut Full (extends OaR by 4 maps, making it as long as it was in HL1). As with Surface Tension Uncut my aim is for seamless integration with Black Mesa's existing campaign, so you won't even know you're playing an add-on. This mod is currently in very early development - alpha testing is soon to begin.
You can view On a Rail Uncut's workshop page here!
Greetings all! Long time no see! I think it's time for a long, long overdue update!
As most of you will already know, in September 2013 I joined the Black Mesa team. Since then, I have been working to help polish up the singleplayer (particularly some of the encounter design), recreate Surface Tension Uncut from scratch, and I have done a lot of multiplayer design work (I made Gasworks and half of Lambdabunker, as well as a lot of the gameplay design and misc work on other MP maps). I've also been serving as Black Mesa's community manager! It's been an incredible experience being a part of such a wonderful, passionate group of people working on an amazing game, and it would never have been possible without the love and support of the community. So thank you all who played and left feedback!
Since the release of the early access retail version, I have been waiting for the workshop to be upgraded by our programmers to fully support everything which On a Rail Uncut needs to be put up there. They've worked extremely hard and it has taken a long time, but with the current new patch for the latest Crossfire update, that support is now available, and you can now play On a Rail Uncut on the Steam Retail version of Black Mesa.
The actual mod itself remains completely unchanged from the beta version you can currently download here on ModDB, the assets have simply been ported to work correctly with the retail engine version. I will likely never return to develop On a Rail Uncut. Given how much I have grown and developed as a mapper over the last 2 years, in order to further improve On a Rail Uncut to the standard I work at now, I would need to redo it all from scratch, which I likely will never have the time or motivation for. On a Rail Uncut will not be integrated officially into Black Mesa in the future, if it were, I would not have put it up on the workshop for download. Like it or not, the shortened version of On a Rail which was shipped with Black Mesa is the team's definitive vision for the chapter. I have to respect that. For those of you who prefer the chapter longer (myself included), my mod is available for you to play!
So for now, this is probably the last word on On a Rail Uncut. I hope you guys enjoy the Steam version, and like playing it as much as I've enjoyed making it! Thanks for everything!
It's finally here, guys! After 8 months' development, 3 Alphas, 1 Private Beta, and loads of time, effort, work, blood, sweat, and tears, from both myself...
The first progress update in nearly 2 months! After a very slow period due to finishing university and revising Surface Tension Uncut for a v2, I'm now...
Yet another progress update. After a slow month or so due to heavy real life commitments, I've managed to find some time to work on the project, and the...
A small progress update to let everyone who's following the mod know how it's progressing. Alpha testing is underway privately on the Black Mesa forums...
This release contains the full beta version of On a Rail Uncut, comprising the maps A1, A2, B1, and B2. These maps integrate seamlessly with Black Mesa...
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Really good mod, expanding the chapter gives it more personality ;D But I feel like the last area (open space one) is a bit off:
1. It spoils the impression of getting outside of the tunnels underneath Black Mesa. In retail version you crawl underground until the very end, and it's awesome.
2. It adds some gameplay features that were originaly introduced in Surface Tension (headcrabs buried in sand and sniper)
3. That ambush was unfairly difficult, mainly because of the sniper :P
*Sorry bad english*
There is a sniper in the original 'On A Rail' chapter, in the rocks at the right of the grunts you see when you leave the tunnels.
But other than that, good work!
Will you also release this along with Surface Tension Uncut for the retail version?
He will. Just wait.
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Worked without problems for me in the Early Access version.
How did you do that?
So, you mean that the uncut On a Rail and Surface Tension are not included in the early version?
Of course they aren't. There are just unofficial expansions.