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BMS Classic - On A Rail (Cold Lighting) (v1.03)

BMS Classic started out as a simple mod aiming to undo some of the changes brought to Black Mesa in 1.0 and 1.5, such as unnecessary railroading, insultingly excessive handholding, questionable balance decisions, and watered-down combat. Since then, it's evolved into an attempt to bring together the best parts of Black Mesa and Half-Life and expand upon them.

Bringing back HL1 setpieces that didn't make the cut for one reason or another, adding incentive for the player to explore and investigate off the beaten trail, trusting players to be able to think and reason their way through puzzles without force-feeding them the answer, expanding upon areas of the facility to make it feel more alive, and making the player have to think about how they fight to survive - that's what BMS Classic aims to do.

Many maps have also received an additional detail pass, making them more atmospheric and immersive by way of enhanced/reworked lighting and improved water visuals. Attempts have also been made to improve performance on some particularly troublesome maps, but given Source's limitations, there's only so much that can be done.


It depends. Other chapter mods, such as the Chapter Overhaul mods or VOX Restoration mods, aren't compatible. BMSC extensively edits many of the game's maps, so any other mods that edit maps are going to run into conflicts. Compatibility with some of these mods (namely the VOX Restoration mods and Black Mesa Character Expansion) is something I'd like to investigate further down the line.

I know what you're really wondering - is BMSC OaR compatible with On A Rail Uncut? The answer to that is no. BMSC OaR is not compatible with OaR Uncut in any of its forms.


No. On A Rail as a chapter (in both Half-Life and Black Mesa) is very deeply flawed, and I don't think any number of basic modifications or additions to it can actually address its root problems and bring out its full potential. While On A Rail Uncut and Loop Mod both restore memorable missing setpieces from Half-Life, they do not address the chapter's core issues. I'd much rather try to solve the chapter's problems in a complete rebuild of the chapter than I would manage another version (or two!) of it for BMSC.

When/if I get around to an OaR rebuild project, it will be compatible with BMSC as a whole - simply by way of replacing the entirety of OaR. I don't have an ETA for when this might happen, but it's something I've wanted to do for a while, so stay tuned.


BMSC is primarily a joint effort, between Vassago Rain and myself. Some chapters also have additional support or resources from other modders, as listed in the Contributors section.

It's important to note that BMSC is fundamentally a two-man effort. There's only so much we have the time, resources, and ability to do. As such, we've had to make decisions about what does or doesn't get added/changed. We're just two people with a love for Half-Life doing what we can here, to try and realize Black Mesa's full potential. If you have specific questions about why certain changes were made, or why things were added/removed/etc., feel free to ask.


This download is the BMSC edition of everyone's favourite Earthbound chapter, On A Rail. A lot of the work done here has been bugfixes and general cleanup - fixing softlocks and other, less severe glitches throughout the chapter. Some more details and expanded areas have been added here and there to make the chapter resemble its Half-Life iteration some more, without adding significantly to its length. This version of BMSC OaR also includes a complete lighting overhaul, restoring the darker, colder atmosphere of the original game.

It also features an enhanced version of the silo guard's death scene, courtesy of Citizen⁵ and their Improved Choreography mod - many thanks to them for allowing me to implement it to provide compatibility, and even providing me with a version of the file set up to be compatible with BMSC's scene setup!

A more detailed changelog can be found in the Workshop download folder - for this addon, that'll be somewhere like Steam/steamapps/workshop/content/362980/2439412155. The contents of the changelog can also be found in the pinned discussions.