It probably wont ever be added in an official update. Chon's already explained why numerous times, but the gist of it is that the rest of the team dont want to add it officially to the game. I know it sucks, but it probably wont change any time soon.

You can download it from workshop. But it needs to be fixed first.

They may have the same title (or did originally) but Surface Tension Uncut and On A Rail Uncut were both originally cut for very different reasons. Surface Tension's lead designer had to leave the project mid-development due to personal reasons - the levels were cut but they were originally intended to be in the game. On A Rail on the other hand was deliberately shortened because the team felt the level in Half-Life was confusing and repetitive.

Now that Surface Tension is back to the length it was supposed to be, the only major singleplayer level content remaining is Xen.

Originally posted by Kinrah:

They may have the same title (or did originally) but Surface Tension Uncut and On A Rail Uncut were both originally cut for very different reasons. Surface Tension's lead designer had to leave the project mid-development due to personal reasons - the levels were cut but they were originally intended to be in the game. On A Rail on the other hand was deliberately shortened because the team felt the level in Half-Life was confusing and repetitive.

Now that Surface Tension is back to the length it was supposed to be, the only major singleplayer level content remaining is Xen.

I call ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on leaving out On A Rail Uncut because "On A Rail on the other hand was deliberately shortened because the team felt the level in Half-Life was confusing and repetitive." While that is indeed the case in regards to why those sections were initially cut, it IS worth pointing out that the On a Rail Uncut incarnations of said cut sections DID fix the stuff that made those levels confusing & repetitive to begin with. You would think that fact alone would make it worth polishing for use as a pre-included feature.

Originally posted by ninthlyokowarrior:

Originally posted by Kinrah:

They may have the same title (or did originally) but Surface Tension Uncut and On A Rail Uncut were both originally cut for very different reasons. Surface Tension's lead designer had to leave the project mid-development due to personal reasons - the levels were cut but they were originally intended to be in the game. On A Rail on the other hand was deliberately shortened because the team felt the level in Half-Life was confusing and repetitive.

Now that Surface Tension is back to the length it was supposed to be, the only major singleplayer level content remaining is Xen.

I call ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on leaving out On A Rail Uncut because "On A Rail on the other hand was deliberately shortened because the team felt the level in Half-Life was confusing and repetitive." While that is indeed the case in regards to why those sections were initially cut, it IS worth pointing out that the On a Rail Uncut incarnations of said cut sections DID fix the stuff that made those levels confusing & repetitive to begin with. You would think that fact alone would make it worth polishing for use as a pre-included feature.

Amen to that. Incorporating it into the full game would also give the advantage of the entire dev team being able to work on it. Then we wouldn't end up with stupid ♥♥♥♥ like having a major game update break the mod for and Chon is too busy working on other parts of the game to fix it. I actually wish it wasn't too late for me to get a refund on this game because I am seriously regetting buying it. The update that broke OaR Uncut came before I had a chance to actually play the game, and now I've been stuck for months with a game that is missing what is, in my opinion, a very important chunk of the campaign >.<

Originally posted by Λndroid994:

Originally posted by ninthlyokowarrior:

I call ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on leaving out On A Rail Uncut because "On A Rail on the other hand was deliberately shortened because the team felt the level in Half-Life was confusing and repetitive." While that is indeed the case in regards to why those sections were initially cut, it IS worth pointing out that the On a Rail Uncut incarnations of said cut sections DID fix the stuff that made those levels confusing & repetitive to begin with. You would think that fact alone would make it worth polishing for use as a pre-included feature.

Amen to that. Incorporating it into the full game would also give the advantage of the entire dev team being able to work on it. Then we wouldn't end up with stupid ♥♥♥♥ like having a major game update break the mod for and Chon is too busy working on other parts of the game to fix it. I actually wish it wasn't too late for me to get a refund on this game because I am seriously regetting buying it. The update that broke OaR Uncut came before I had a chance to actually play the game, and now I've been stuck for months with a game that is missing what is, in my opinion, a very important chunk of the campaign >.<

I agree that it's an important part, but I'm okay with it being a workshop addon. I'm not saying your wrong with this, but in my opinion I originally didn't like the bits that are now cut from that chapter, and I feel the BM's current "On a Rail" chapter is nice at the size it is. It fits the pace of the new game. I would, however like to see it working so I can try it out, as I now do enjoy the longer version of HL1's "On a rail."

imo, the current "On a Rail" chapter's pacing makes better sense then Valve's 1998 version, I mean, after you open that hatch for that rocket to pop out of, you immediately find yourself launching it afterwords one section later in Black Mesa, in the original Half Life 1 however, it's "whelp, you release the rocket out of the hatch, so now you have to go through a complex railway filled with Marines, Xen monters, and turrents until you finally launch the rocket, because everyone love corridors and repetive gunplay!"

I have to admit though... the Black Mesa's extensive version of "On a Rail" is soooo much better and much more fun in a scripted sense, the music really puts players in the mood and the level designs aren't flat and boring like the orignal.

After having played the mod, I concure. It feels weird to release the rocket and spend longer than normal circling around to get it, but wow its a crazy fun journey

Originally posted by ThisIsMyToon:

After having played the mod, I concure. It feels weird to release the rocket and spend longer than normal circling around to get it, but wow its a crazy fun journey

Thats kinda the whole point though. You release the rocket, but you can just go launch it right away because all the direct routes are blocked, so you need to enter this underground labrinth and go on this ridiculous detour just to get to the rocket. Its supposed to show just how bad things have gotten at the facility because there is no easier way to get around.

I sincerely wish On a Rail: Uncut would be incorporated into the game. I know why the Crowbar Collective chose to cut it, but I disagree with that reasoning. Yes, On a Rail was a massive maze of moving cart puzzles, but it was also the first time since Welcome to Black Mesa that the facility's staggering size came into play. All of the preceeding chapters took place in fairly small, contained areas. Even Blast Pit - for all of its impressive vistas - was just one major location. On a Rail felt like a journey, a repeat of the opening train ride except this time with puzzles, enemies and danger. It felt like a road trip, similar to the car ride in Half-Life 2.

Gabe Newall talks about "expansion and contraction of space" a lot, but there's only so much of that that the old modified Quake 2 engine could do. Instead what Half-Life did was an expansion and contraction of scale. Some sections run you around the same major locations, some run you through many different locations. Some are obstacle courses, some are road trips. Both On a Rail and Surface Tension are road trips, running Freeman long distances between major locations, giving the game's world a sense of scale that's lost in the close quarters sections like Office Complex, Power Up or Forget About Freeman.

What I'm saying is that if the Crowbar Collective felt that On a Rail was too confusing or too long or too boring or whatever, then the solution would have been to change it so it's better and more fun, not to cut it entirely. And if this were just a temporary fix until they could do a better job like with Xen, then I could see it. But On a Rail has been cut with no intention of adding it back into the game.

I feel Chon Kemp's On a Rail: Uncut proves that you can do that chapter justice. OARU retains the scale of the original with added size, but it removes a lot of the more annoying puzzle elements that I disliked as a child back in the 90s. Moreover, with the power of modern graphics, all the samey dull grey corridors have been made varied, unique and interesting. Aside from a few performance issues here and there (and the mod being broken), I'm still of the opinion that this implementation shows that On a Rail: Uncut deserves to be in the game.

And incidentally - if we're cutting confusing, boring and tedious sections of the game, why did we not cut Residue Processing? That's by far the worst chapter in Half-Life, yet that got loving care and attetion to turn it into something that doesn't suck, yet On a Rail - a vastly better section - got cut.

I agree 100%, it seems pretty paradoxical come to think of it.

My thoughts exactly.

Yaaaaaaas!

I never thought about that, but at least this mod does exist.

And an update is coming very shortly to get it properly functional, too!