Black Mesa

Black Mesa

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BMS Classic - "We've Got Hostiles" Extended (v2.51)
   
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30 Dec, 2024 @ 11:24pm
31 Dec, 2024 @ 1:46pm
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BMS Classic - "We've Got Hostiles" Extended (v2.51)

Description
READ THE DESCRIPTION BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS!

Didn't you already upload We've Got Hostiles? Why did you upload it again?

For visibility. Office Complex was last updated in March 2021, and it's been nearly entirely reworked since then. This also gives users the choice to stick to the older versions if they prefer to, since BMSC v2.0 features some more drastic changes from the base Black Mesa maps.

What took so long? Why is Extended WGH 2.0 so different?

Hard drive troubles. I lost many of the source files for BMSC and had to spend much of the year rebuilding my progress from scratch. While this was a significant delay, I do think that BMSC is going to be much more solid in the long run because of it, as I took it as an opportunity to clean up and rework some of the messier parts of the project from early in development.

What is BMS Classic?

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.

Is BMSC compatible with [insert mod here]?

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.

One specific incompatibility for We've Got Hostiles is Citizen⁵'s Improved Choreography - the enhanced choreography used in WGH will not play. A compatibility patch is currently in the works.

Note that BMSC We've Got Hostiles also is not compatible with RK's WGH Vent Mod.

Why didn't you just make it compatible with Vent Mod? Wouldn't that have been easier?

For BMSC's purposes, no. While I did get permission from .RK to produce a BMSC-compatible version of Vent Mod, a number of factors led to me deciding to create my own WGH expansion. First and foremost is simply the fact that I don't feel comfortable editing and reuploading another modder's work like that, even with explicit permission - especially since BMSC's scope is significantly larger than Vent Mod's, and I'd rather not treat Vent Mod as just being a "footnote" of sorts in the full version of BMSC. Another major factor is that we wanted to add new setpieces to WGH, and while I probably could've modified Vent Mod to accommodate for my aims here, I feel that the end result would've felt inconsistent and slapped together.

Who's behind BMSC?

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.

What's in this download?

This download is the extended BMSC 2.5 edition of We've Got Hostiles. HECU combat has been overhauled, and the shotgun has been given an explicit, intentional pickup near the start of the chapter. This allows for more variety with marine combat without the shotgun being awkwardly shoehorned in, resolves the oddity of the dead marine(s) near the beginning not having any weaponry, and mirrors the MP5's original placement in HL1.
Additionally, the vent crawl back from the surface has been extended and reworked, both from HL1 and its BMSC 1.0 iteration - it's more streamlined than the vent maze in the original game, but still provides the player with more space to explore and more time to calm down after the battle on the surface, as well as more opportunities for environmental storytelling.

Aesthetics have been improved as well, from lighting and atmosphere to the use of music - the surface battle theme is now using BM's looping music system, preventing it from awkwardly ending early, and a music cue has been added at the start of map B. An addon to restore Diabolical Adrenaline Guitar from HL1 can be found HERE.
The most significant gameplay overhaul is probably to the surface fight - it's been significantly reworked to make full use of the area.

A more detailed changelog can be found in the Change Notes tab, as well as the pinned discussions below.
30 Comments
classic gamer 13 Jul @ 5:05pm 
@Agentkenny, I'm excited about vox implementation. Keep up the good work love these mods.
Fritxyz📺 13 May @ 1:23pm 
It would be nice to have the source files of these maps downloadable somewhere. I'd like to tweak some little stuff here and there. Great mod, the little set pieces like having more HECU equipment scattered about and the subtly improved lighting really elevates the experience.
Bonk Man 3 Apr @ 10:32am 
I'm getting a ton of missing textures and missing models.
The Mindful Moron 19 Mar @ 7:38am 
For the most part I love it, but I think the warehouse(?) ambush during the surface shootout on map B is a little too demanding for the average player. It's a big jump in difficulty and puts WGH up there as one of the most challenging chapters in the game, which seems wrong for the third real chapter. I say add a few more health packs or take out one or two of the marines firing from the catwalks, the rest of the encounter is fantastic, great work. I love the extensions and modifications, well worth the wait
Colonel Orange  [author] 12 Feb @ 7:52am 
@AgentKenny I know the implementation of VOX announcements is planned for Office Complex and Questionable Ethics, not sure about LC atm.
AgentKenny 12 Feb @ 1:45am 
I was wondering if you could bring back the vox announcements in Lambda Core, Questionable Ethics and Office Complex? I really miss them.
sunbearingCats 23 Jan @ 7:43pm 
cant wait for the rest of earthbound to be overhauled by 2032 lol (take your time its fine)
Lieutenant_America 11 Jan @ 3:08pm 
Yeah, that was a lot of fun! Two things:

-I think the first fork in the vent maze (the one that determines if you join the zombie/HECU fight or bypass it) should have a bit more time between vent breaks to let the player escape the drop. Even when you know what to do, it's hard to actually make it out before the second vent falls.

-When you re-enter the final warehouse segment of bm_c1a3b from the vent, the ambient noise doesn't seem to start unless you walk back up the stairs to the balconies, making the room feel weirdly silent.

Otherwise I quite like the use of the space, the reworking of the first few HECU fights, the delay of the artillery, and little scenes like the HECU escorting scientists without them realizing what's up.
Tromingus 6 Jan @ 11:00pm 
As someone who's been accustomed to playing BMSC - Full Game on hard, without hud, I gotta say. This was a reality check, two-fold.
Losing my mind 3 Jan @ 4:58pm 
I really love replaying this. It is the best bmsc chapter at this point in time, no question