October 2021 Update + Forget About Freeman Patch news - BMS Classic mod for Black Mesa

Another slightly early post this month, since we've got some news of more immediate interest here - I've released an update for Forget About Freeman on the Workshop. Much of it is small bugfixes and additional details here and there, but combat on map B has also received some small but significant changes that should make it a more fun, less brutal experience overall.

Here's a few screenshots! Nothing terribly exciting on their own, but still.

This update can be downloaded and played right now on the Steam Workshop - both the full version of BMSC and the standalone FAF submissions have been updated.

So, now that FAF's squared away for now, it's time for Lambda Core. We've already been plugging away at it for a little while, and we've got a decent amount of work done. In fact, here's a few screenshots! Do note that everything seen here is still a work-in-progress and subject to change.

One of the single most significant overhauls to Lambda Core is the lighting. The high-tech labs and hallways have been given some slight colour tinting - strong enough to make the areas a bit more visually distinct and interesting, but subtle enough to not destroy the clinical atmosphere of the base chapter. As can be seen in the penultimate screeenshot, some of the destruction found in HL1 has also been restored - many thanks to Lieutenant_America on Steam for giving me permission to merge his map H overhaul destruction into BMSC, by the way! It's much appreciated.

So, when is LC going to be done? I'm not sure. I don't envision it taking too much longer, since we've already got a pretty solid foundation here, but after how long FAF took, I'm not ready to give any estimates yet, beyond saying that I expect it to be done before the end of the year.

Once LC's done... Time for Xen, right?

Well, as much as I'm tempted to post a Xen screenshot here as a teaser, I'm honestly not sure. I still don't have a convenient way to edit the Xen maps yet - I've since discovered that Hammer doesn't crash when opening Xen maps on an older PC I've got at hand here, but going back and forth between computers for editing, compiling, testing, etc. is hardly a good workflow.

Additionally, the Interloper A crash mentioned in my last post is still a problem. In fact, since then, I've done some more testing and investigating, and I'm all but certain that the Xort NPC in Black Mesa is the sole cause of the crash. In the absolute worst-case scenario, I might be able to work around the problem by using the XortEB NPC instead (since, oddly, that one doesn't seem to have stability problems), but that's hardly a satisfactory solution as far as I'm concerned - the Xontroller mind control functionality would have to be spoofed, which would require a huge amount of work to look convincing, not to mention I'd have to come up with a similar workaround to ensure PHD in Pacifism still works as intended.

We'll have to wait and see, I guess. As-is, Interloper A may end up requiring some creative workarounds for some dumb limitations in BM anyway, so maybe a Xort workaround won't be so bad. Or maybe CC will have fixed it by the time I get there, who knows!

Back to the point at hand - once LC's done, I'm very unlikely to jump into Xen straight away. There are still a number of other things we'd like to do with Earthbound BMSC, anyway - small touch-ups, balance fixes, detailing, bugfixes, and so on. On top of that, I'd like to do something more with both FAF and OaR (though the latter may not technically be a part of BMSC, per se) - so there's no shortage of work to be done.

Thanks for sticking with us! Hopefully we'll have LC ready to play and in your hands by the time next month's post rolls along.