Black Mesa

Black Mesa

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Improved Xen Fixes
   
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783.570 MB
16 Mar, 2021 @ 2:08pm
4 Feb, 2022 @ 8:40pm
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Improved Xen Fixes

Description
Improved Xen was a great mod released sometime after the 1.0 release, and it works on the latest version (Definitive Edition), but it does have some flaws, most noticeably is that some of the HL1 sounds are used in this mod and Black Mesa mostly uses their own sounds, so I took it upon myself to make changes to these maps and update the New UI for it. No, I did not majorly change the maps as they remain the same (also, I'm not good with using Hammer Editor).

Zloikot currently doesn't plan on releasing the .vmfs for these maps, so I edited the entities in the .bsp files using EntSpy[gamebanana.com] to replace the HL1 sounds along with other tweaks.

[THIS FIX PACK EDITED THE SOUND ENTITIES FOR THE MAPS, SO PREVIOUS SAVES WITHOUT THE FIXES WON'T WORK. RESTART THE MAP OR START A CHAPTER]

General Fixes:
- New UI is updated to use the UI from the latest version of Black Mesa.
- New startup screen, text changes for English and Russian languages, background, and chapter icons for the mod.
- All maps were edited to replace HL1 sounds with Black Mesa's sounds (I had to create a few new ones) except for a few because they sounded different in the mod than the HL1 counterpart.
- This mod now uses the custom folder and the custom folder from the main game.
- Optional addons for this fix pack are included. (Scroll down the description for directions)
- Boid, Hacker Tree, and Plantlight models are replaced with official ones, but they behave the same in the mod than in the official Xen levels.

Xen:
- The player now draws the Crowbar instead of the Crossbow.
- Gibbing sounds used for breakables remain unchanged as Black Mesa has this sound by default.

Gonarch's Lair:
- "xen-gl2bx.wav" was replaced with a high quality version of The Hunting track.

Interloper:
- Mantis Flyers laser beams were altered to be slightly similar to the official maps. I couldn't change the beams to be consistent.
- The Tentacle NPC sound script was edited so that it now sounds like it's hitting rocks than metal.

End Game:
- "ixen_credits.wav" was replaced with a high quality version of the Border Worlds track.

Notes:
- Some images are included when you subscribe to this addon.
- The edited maps were saved and optimized, breaking the checksum for these maps. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I don't want the maps to crash the game.
- I didn't delete the sound entities that I don't want, so I have it play the null sound instead.
- There could be a random chance that the game could still crash. An addon that I created for the fix pack may solve this problem for some.
- The shine and reflections seen in some maps may look bad unless you increase the graphics in the settings menu.
- I couldn't fix the double doors seen in End Game.
- The breathing sound at the end of the game was the one that I felt like I want to change the most, but eventually has grown into a fix pack for Improved Xen.

Installation:
- You need to subscribe to Improved Xen first. Then find the directory in:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\362890\894282258"

- Find "xen" folder from the fix pack addon located in:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\362890\2426879157"
and put it in the Improved Xen mod directory also labeled, "xen", and replace the files.

Thoughts:
- I originally uploaded the fixes on December 10th, 2020 on ModDB. But after seeing YouTube videos showing Improved Xen with my fixes, I finally uploaded it to the workshop.
- Thank you for the support and thanks to Zloikot for making the Xen levels with HL1 layouts.

ModDB Link: https://www.moddb.com/mods/black-mesa-xen-improved-maps-from-half-life/downloads/improved-xen-fixes
92 Comments
XRGM1267  [author] 15 Jul @ 7:11pm 
Yes it does. I originally used EntSpy which is an old tool, but Lumper [github.com] is a better map editing tool that I used in a recent mod I made for Black Mesa.
SJTHEGAMER 15 Jul @ 1:04am 
Does this replace the orignal maps?
M0URN1NG5TAR 26 Apr @ 2:28am 
Dude. You are a goddamn G. This is amazing. It's just absolutely amazing. :MCCLEGENDARY:
XRGM1267  [author] 24 Apr @ 6:26pm 
Well, yes. When the original Improved Xen was released on the workshop, it did not have custom folder support. I also decided to add custom folder support in-case they want to have custom content in Black Mesa carried over to Improved Xen. It does not have support for subscribed workshop addons though. And you do this by modifying the gameinfo.txt file.
M0URN1NG5TAR 24 Apr @ 3:19pm 
The description says that it uses the custom folder now? Is that to say that any mods you have installed for the main game can now be used with Improved Xen?
Anticitizen One 12 Dec, 2024 @ 5:48am 
@Gnome_Chompsky.enjoyer im working on it, but end game is broken and im trying to fix that
Gnome Lover 30 Nov, 2024 @ 11:08am 
if life is better now can you somehow replace original xen maps plis very plis
? I will get you a cookieeee hmm?
TCMOREIRA 10 Oct, 2023 @ 12:30pm 
I hope life gets better for you soon!
XRGM1267  [author] 8 Oct, 2023 @ 10:02pm 
For the time being, I am done with this mod. I am putting my Half-Life projects on hold because of personal life events happening. It will be a while before I can get back to modding.
TCMOREIRA 8 Oct, 2023 @ 9:10pm 
Is this still being worked on?