The Closure mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

READ THE SHORT INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS, OTHERWISE EPISODE 3 WILL NOT WORK !!!!!
(or watch the short install video here;)

DOWNLOAD HERE;

(download version 3.0, not patch 2.0. Use only patch when you have earlier versions of the mod installed. Also can you download the .vmf (mapfiles) of this mod here):

Moddb.com

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DON'T WANT THE CUSTOM WEAPONS AND COMBINE SKINS?
Then you need to delete them which is very easy;
Change weapons back to original Hl2 ones, go to and delete the entire Weapons folder here;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\sourcemods\Halflife2-Episode3\models\Weapons

Change all combine skins back to the original HL2 ones by going to Models folder here and delete all files that start with “combine_...” in there name;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\sourcemods\Halflife2-Episode3\models

DO I NEED HALF LIFE 2 OR ANY EPISODES TO PLAY THIS MOD?
You don't need HL2 or any episodes to play this Episode 3 mod. (You only need "Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer" and set it to: "upcoming beta mode")

LINK TO ALL MY COD1, COD2, PREY, SOF2, QUAKE2, ETC MODS AND MAPPACKS;
Moddb.com

HERE ARE ALL MY SOURCE (hL2) MODS;
Moddb.com

How fast time flies by. Almost to the day it has been exactly 1 year after
Episode 3: "The Closure" was released. So i thought that maybe today would be a great moment to talk about what happened after its release.

Let me start with the installation of the mod, many people have problems with that.

The main problem is that you need to install "Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer" and set it to: "upcoming beta mode". Without this the mod will crash right at starting up. It is very easy to do, just read the install intructions at the bottom of this page, or watch the install video that i linked to above.

How well was the mod receeved?

As soon as the mod was released the hard core HL2 community started to bash the mod. It was HL(2) unworthy, it should never have been named Ep3. It was by far the worst mod many people ever had seen. Now that i think of it, it is a real miracle that i haven't receeved even one death treat, (honestly.) Many people had huge expectations because they had followed this mod over the years. I don't think i could ever have even come near what they expected in the end. A few comments have stuck in to my mind, one said

for instance; "I played the full mod, and when it was finished i was so mad! Valve would never have made such a shit like this." A lot of comments said something like; "The mod was ok, but because it is titled Ep3 it is really bad." I have asked myself for quit some time, did i hype the mod to much, am i to blame for this? But then i do come to the conclusion that i really didn't go overboard with releasing articles. Between some of them were months. I guess it has to do with the overall lenght of the development, which was 5

years. People had to wait 5 years. As always were there people who didn't play it but jumped on the wagon of bashing this mod. Some even admitted that they didn't play it. All is ok, that is internet these days. It is that i have experience with releasing mods, otherwise it really would have broken me, all this negativity. But through the years i have learned that i just need to wait and see what happens. Which brings us to today. A year later the mod still does very well. By now the hard core community knows about the mod, and

maybe even played it. So it seems it is now time for those who aren't hard core so to say. And they see the mod for what it is. The overall number people give this mod is quit good, specially when you considder all those times people gave it a 1. On Moddb the people give it a 6.5 (out of 10), and on RTSL 3.84 (out of 5). I understand that this means 'average', but taking in all the very low numbers like the 1 it really isn't that bad. Ofcourse may people think that this is a bad mod, but it doesn't deserve a 1. Guess it is the same as always, it has all to do with a matter of taste. About the download amount. As i already said, the amount of

downloads is probably the most important tool for a developer to see how succesfull and or popular his work is. It is always hard to know exactly how much downloads you have, simply because i can't track all mirror servers over the whole world. And i forgot to write down the number each time when i uploaded a new version. But all in all the mod is downloaded by now around 100.000 times. A huge number, even when my CtoA mod had around 350.000 downloads. To be honest was a very afraid that by now the HL(2) community would be so small after all these years that the download wouldn't come above 30.000 or so. The sites i uploaded the mod to are ofcourse Moddb and then RTSL. But many people, specially in Asia and Russian sites have added mirror download servers to the list. And because i can't read those sites its hard to follow what is going on there. It even seems someone in Russia is selling this mod, in box!

Making my profile complete on Moddb;

My first few years on Moddb i let a friend of mine upload my work, simply because it didn't matter to me who did upload it, as long as people could play it. But only a year ago or so i realised that this did mean that not all my work did show up in my profile. I asked Moddb if they could change this for me, otherwise it ment that i had to upload it all again and that would mean all comments would be deleted, same as the download accounts. And ofcourse does every modder wants to know how much his work is downloaded. Although in these cases all these mappacks were already released years ago on other sites. This means you can now find all my mods in my mods section, and all my sp-mappacks in my Addons section here, (all my Cod1+2, Sof2; Quake2, Mohaa, Prey sp-maps / mappacks);

Moddb.com

Please check them out if you are interested in them, some of them are good for many, many hours of gameplay fun!

A lot of people had and or have questions, to answer them ones and for all i will place at the bottum of this article a Q & A.

Q & A:

Why did you use Star Trek assets (and other game assets for that matter in this HL2 mod?

To be honest is the answer as short as it is silly, because i didn't had any other assets to use. As some of you know is this my 5th HL2 mod and i really had seen, played and used already to many times the original Hl2 assets. I really needed new content for me to be able to work 5 years on this mod, i simply can't stand the old weapons, zombies and combines anymore. I have asked on many sites many times for help. A few people said they would help but in the end hardly anyone did. There were a few mods that weren't released and worked on anymore, so i asked those developers if i may use them. They all gave permission and some of them uploaded all there assets for anyone to use. And one of them was the Star Trek HL2 mod. I can imagine that it may sound strange for some, but i rather wanted to use Star Trek material which is completely out of place as to use HL2 assets again.

Why did you not follow the HL2 lore?

Again, quit a silly answer. It all comes down to how i play games i assume, and therefore make maps/mods. I love fpshooters like the first 2 COD games, the FEAR series, etc. To me a story is not that important. So i knew something about the HL2 story, but because it has been 7 years or so ago that i played it i had forgotten most about it it seems. Because after the mods release and reading all comments it is clear that i made quit a lot of mistakes for instance with the characters. All i wanted was to make a very large mod, with lots of action, and a story that linked it all together. At the same time i wanted to make some kind of follow up on the original ep2. So i don't fully agree with those people that say that this mod has nothing in it that makes it a follow up on ep2, and therefore it deserves the ep3 title. Because you do find the Borealis in this mod and it does give a answer to how the whole HL sage ends. Ofcourse it is not what Valve would have made, thought that was such a silly remark many people made. I am a one man show, Valve has so much more to work with. And, probably most important, they will earn money on it. I don't, which is fully ok. (Yes, i do think it is silly that Valve wants to try to sell mods again through steam, don't they already make enough money as it is? To ask 40% of mods is just making money while other people do the work. But i get off topic here.) For me it was very important that what i had in mind i also could make, if it was logical or not, relealistic or not didn't matter to me. To be able to work for 5 years almost daily on a mod i needed to have the option to do whatever i wanted with it, and that i did.

Why did you use cutscenes, and even showed Gordon in them?

Can't tell you how many people asked me this question. Ofcourse am i aware that Valve doesn't use cutscenes (beside at the start of ep2), but i love making them, and watching them myself. But, that is not the only reason why i made them. A lot of people said that the use of them did harm the immersion, and that did amaze me quit a bit. Because i always feel much more immersed in a game when i do see cutscenes. And even more when i see the player figure in it. I really don't make this up, this is the thruth. So that is why i used them, and why i showed Gordon in them. Also is it much easier to tell a story this way because as developer you have to do a lot of extra work when you give the player freedom to move while the story is told. Although i have to admit that i did went a bit overboard with the amount of cutscenes.

The cutscenes were silly, why show Gordon walking from one door to another?

Also a many heart comment. And i have to agree here. Those are simply silly. Let me first explain why i did add them. As you know, when you played the mod, are there a lot of very large, detailed levels in this mod. And when i work on them i have to cut them up in parts. Because otherwise i hardly can see what is what in the editor while i make the maps. Also does it work quicker, very large detailed maps do make a computer slower while working on it. Even a powerfull computer as i have, (8 core 3.1 Ghz, 8 Ram, 64 bits). Ones everything is made in a map i place all parts again in the one level. So i had to make Gordon jump you could say from one part to another part in the map. And at that time i thought it would be best to use a cutscene for this, were Gordon walks through a small hallway. Should i now make that level again i would do it differently. When i played the level after nearly a year i too thought it felt strange.

What are you working on now?

Well, nothing really. Quit strange because the last 16 years i always was working on some mod or mappack, with different games. But it just takes to much time and effort, it really started to take crazy shapes the last 5 years. My complete life was modding, from the moring till the evening. And that had to stop. I don't say i will never make another mod or map. But for now i am focussing on work and drawing, (looking in to making a Youtube cartoon channel of some sort, and drawing a cartoon book for adults.)

I want to thank all those people who have followed my work, and played it. It was a real pleasure to be some sort of a "famous person" in the modding world. Quit odd to realise something like that, really! Ofcourse could so much have been done so much better in my work, and ofcourse is it far from perfect. But, all i wanted to do was having fun making levels that i would like to play. And it was only a huge surprice to find out that so many people did like them to. Only the future will tell what will come next. Ofcourse, should HL3 see the light of day, at one moment, then i will be mapping again. And my dream is still making my own indie game, but also that is something for far in to the future.

greetings,

Leon Brinkmann (aka SPYmaps).

trailer; Moddb.com

INSTALLATION MOD;

When you don't have STEAM installed;
Google for it or go to and download/install it from ;
Steamcommunity.com

- Extract Halflife2-Episode3.rar file in to your sourcemods folder.
- Close Steam all together (log out), and start it again.
After installation, the mod will show up in your Steam Library.
- The mod does need "Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer" in
upcoming beta mode !

(See for very detailed install information the "Ep3 PLEASE READ.txt" that can be found inside the mod folder or watch the short install video here;)