[sigtau]

Silent Thread Reborn includes new and revamped missions, it's not analagous to Black Mesa

I'm sorry, but you're being incredibly arrogant.  In the aforementioned BBC article:

The Black Mesa team has also edited the storyline to beef up the more engaging parts of the game and eliminate the slower parts.

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what ST:R did with the original Silent Threat's story.

SCP is updating the code and adding new features, same deal.

So what about these features that weren't present in any Valve-endorsed Source-powered game?

FSU is just a HD upgrade to the original game and benefits many other mods, again, not analagous.

It's pretty well established that Black Mesa is more than just an HD upgrade.  If it weren't more than that, it would require Half-Life: Source to run (since, by your logic, it's just an FSU-like upgrade).  Which it doesn't.

The mod is freely available.  Since the mod team can't exactly "patent" code out of a game mod, anything they've added to Source not previously released--including all features, textures, models, etc.--will become available to the public and probably benefit many more mods to come.

I love how people always get defensive, put words in my mouth and jump to the worst possible conclusion.
FSPort didn't waste their time so long as they enjoyed what they're doing.

But you've insinuated that Black Mesa wasted their time.  And don't claim otherwise; you said so right here:

Why spend so long remaking a game when the first game is perfectly playable and readily available? Bizarre.

All that aside, I share your sentiment on the next official Half-Life installment.  If it exists, I'll definitely preorder it when the time comes.  If not, someone will eventually make a fanmade ending to the chronicles of Gordon Freeman.  Having an ending to the Half-Life arc--however long it may take--is not only possible, but it's inevitable, fanmade or official.

[Quanto]

Akalabeth Angel; Why are you such a killjoy? Are you trying to ruin everyone else's fun?

Btw, this is you right now:

[deathfun]

Dammit Sigtau!
Couldn't of said it better myself though


Regardless though, eight more days. This is going to be a glorious last half of September with the addition of all the other stuff coming out

[SpardaSon21]

Black Mesa, Borderlands 2, and Torchlight 2.  Yep, September will be a great month for PC gamers.

[Dragon]

Don't forget Diaspora.

[Akalabeth Angel]

30% of nothing is still nothing.

Then it becomes a gateway program, like TF2, which serves to put Steam on the computers of people who don't already have it. Assuming of course it wont be available without a steam client.

But you've insinuated that Black Mesa wasted their time.  And don't claim otherwise; you said so right here:

Why spend so long remaking a game when the first game is perfectly playable and readily available? Bizarre.

No, I stated that I don't understand the motivations behind their actions and insinuated that I wouldn't undertake such an endeavour myself. The only person who can be a judge of whether someone wasted their time is the person who spent the time. From my perspective if I had worked on such thing I would indeed consider it a waste of time but they themselves should be the judge of their own efforts.

By the way the new "features" you mention are cosmetic at best and it's a disservice to FSSCP to suggest they're in any way similar given the number of new FRED features and new gameplay that have been introduced.

Akalabeth Angel; Why are you such a killjoy? Are you trying to ruin everyone else's fun?

Btw, this is you right now:

I'm not actually, I simply stated a (derisive) question, the same question that haloboy and dekker asked, and then some people got defensive about it (20%Cooler excepted). Curiously enough the guy who got the most defensive was the same guy who decided to be a smartass instead of helping two people out when they asked what the mod was about.

Pillar of the community.

[Polpolion]

I don't understand why you guys are getting ants in your pants. Half-Life was an awesome game and now it's getting a complete face-lift. It's been 15 years since Half-Life came out, it'll be totally awesome to play it with more modern graphics and reshuffled levels. The only thing I've got to say if you disagree is this: your opinion is wrong.

[SpardaSon21]

Akalabeth, why are you so angry about this?  They're not asking you to give them any of your time or money, and HLP's own FSPort and ST:R teams have done very similar things with their respective games.  Plus the fact that their team has worked on Black Mesa for so long clearly shows they do enjoy it, so their own time hasn't been wasted.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Akalabeth, why are you so angry about this?  They're not asking you to give them any of your time or money, and HLP's own FSPort and ST:R teams have done very similar things with their respective games.  Plus the fact that their team has worked on Black Mesa for so long clearly shows they do enjoy it, so their own time hasn't been wasted.

I'm not angry about anything I'm just responding to people's replies. People can play what they want to play, and enjoy what they want to enjoy. Personally I'd be more inclined to play the mod if it were more along the lines of BP, Derelict, Inferno, etcetera; new story in the same universe. That's what I understood from the initial excitement but it's not, and then I voiced my dissapointment just like other people in the thread have done. Only difference being that my dissappointment was less palatable to other readers.

And again, it's not my place to judge whether someone has wasted their time. Though I wouldn't take time spent on it as a definitive indicator of enjoyment. Dedication, sure.

[sigtau]

I digress.  You might not download the mod on release day like I intend to, but I sure as hell will.

[SpardaSon21]

Yep, I definitely be downloading this on release day, too.  Hopefully there's enough altered content to get me to go through the HL1 story again.

[Crybertrance]

Then it becomes a gateway program, like TF2, which serves to put Steam on the computers of people who don't already have it. Assuming of course it wont be available without a steam client.

Don't be silly, you need Steam for ANY Steam game mod...(HL2/SDK Base 2007 in this case)

But yea, even I'll be downloading the 3.??~5.?? GBs of the mod with my ****ty 512 kbps connection in release day!

[deathfun]

No, I stated that I don't understand the motivations behind their actions and insinuated that I wouldn't undertake such an endeavour myself.

I'll answer the question as to why they did what they did
It was already stated actually

The job that was done with Half Life Source wasn't good enough for them, so they took it upon themselves to improve and better the game with updated graphics, engine and physics.
Not only that, but since it isn't even out yet, you can't say whether or not they've not added anything crazy or new. It could be under wraps until such time as it is released and you play it

Does that enlighten your lack of understanding? If not, that's all I've got to say about it and honestly don't care past that

[headdie]

I am really struggling to understand you here Akalabeth Angel.

on one hand you have made 3000+ posts in non GD threads on a forum built around taking games that were commercially produced and improving the graphics, fixing and adding new functionality to the game engines along with adding our own spin to the ideas and themes involved.

then on the other hand you are complaining that a team has build a mod improving in their eyes on a commercial game because they are wasting their time.

[Crybertrance]

7 days 3 Hours 16 mins 58 Secs left,...

[sigtau]

I don't mean to drag this out further, but I just noticed this:

By the way the new "features" you mention are cosmetic at best and it's a disservice to FSSCP to suggest they're in any way similar given the number of new FRED features and new gameplay that have been introduced.

Right, then.  This means that normal and specular maps, postprocessing, and shadows are, for the SCP, cosmetic at best.  So are cockpits and support for .ogg cutscenes.  Because those things don't impact gameplay, right? 

The AI used in Black Mesa has been revamped to expand upon that of the legacy GoldSrc (HL1) AI used for the soldiers, which--essentially--makes them not easy to fight.  The physics introduced by using the Source engine now allow for new puzzles that weren't present in HL1, which I guarantee you'll see in action in YouTube playthroughs within the next week.  I could name off features all day.

You're the only one here suggesting that comparing Black Mesa to the SCP is a disservice one or the other.  I'm sorry, but that's just all there is to it.

[Dragon]

I don't mean to drag this out further, but I just noticed this:

By the way the new "features" you mention are cosmetic at best and it's a disservice to FSSCP to suggest they're in any way similar given the number of new FRED features and new gameplay that have been introduced.

Right, then.  This means that normal and specular maps, postprocessing, and shadows are, for the SCP, cosmetic at best.  So are cockpits and support for .ogg cutscenes.  Because those things don't impact gameplay, right? 

I'm not sure what do you mean, but the features you listed are all cosmetic. They don't really affect gameplay, only looks. Cockpits may limit your FoV a bit, but that's all.

[SpardaSon21]

That's sigtau's point.  Akalabeth says the SCP doesn't do cosmetic features, yet that's exactly what those are.

[Hades]

Then it becomes a gateway program, like TF2, which serves to put Steam on the computers of people who don't already have it. Assuming of course it wont be available without a steam client.

That tinfoil hat conducting enough electricity?

[deathfun]

Then it becomes a gateway program, like TF2, which serves to put Steam on the computers of people who don't already have it. Assuming of course it wont be available without a steam client.

That tinfoil hat conducting enough electricity?

You made me choke on saliva