Playing Half Life 2 for the first time

paradigm · 22 Jan 2017 at 09:30

Thanks to this thread, I've (in the last month) played through Black Mesa (didn't want to play vanilla HL/HL:S), HL2, HL2:EP1 and I'm about half way through HL2:EP2 (going down into the ant-lion nest to get the "extract").

This is the first time I've played through using the Cinematic Mod, and to be honest I've noticed that the game is actually much harder this time around. I think the combination of additional foliage (that the NPCs don't seem to see/care about), different interaction with physical "things", the added depth of field blurring, and the headbob/recoil make the game more difficult, but more immersive.

Does anyone know of a similar graphical mod for Portal and Portal 2?

LoadsaMoney · 22 Jan 2017 at 16:42

Narj said:
Still looks better than a lot of the texturing in vanilla Fallout 4.

Yeah it still looks great today.

Shamikebab · 22 Jan 2017 at 16:58

Who the hell is that supposed to be? Alyx?

paradigm · 22 Jan 2017 at 17:03

Shamikebab said:
Who the hell is that supposed to be? Alyx?

Yep, really not sure why people bother with the models that aren't just HD renders (or at least based on the original) of the original characters.

I'm using the closest match replacement models, which, with the exception of Dr Kliener, look like a good HD representation of the Valve models.

Nexus18 · 22 Jan 2017 at 22:37

Once I finish far cry primal + watch dogs 2 (if I can manage to drag myself through the story that is...), I'm going to be replaying HL 2 with the cinematic mod, can't wait!

One Vision · 22 Jan 2017 at 23:07

Theres an achievement in steam to get which is going through ravenholm just with the Gravity gun. Infact im going to install the FF mod and start all over again but on the hardest difficulty.

rIcK · 22 Jan 2017 at 23:55

HL2 is one of the games that makes me nauseous and want to puke everywhere, even at higher FOV... a shame since its a fun game.

kinger8938 · 23 Jan 2017 at 12:40

May need to try the cinematic mod! I agree above I would prefer the characters to look the same but just updated so if that's an option I'll play that! Does the mod also work for ep1 and ep2?

I see there's cinematic mod 12 for separate games or 13 requires merging? What's that all abooot?

syks · 23 Jan 2017 at 13:47

kinger8938 said:
May need to try the cinematic mod! I agree above I would prefer the characters to look the same but just updated so if that's an option I'll play that! Does the mod also work for ep1 and ep2?

I see there's cinematic mod 12 for separate games or 13 requires merging? What's that all abooot?

as far as I know the later newer cinematic mods you need ep 1 and ep 2 for it to work, I had to install one of the oldest cinematic mods on mine as I don't have ep1 and ep2, think mine is version 2.33 or something

paradigm · 23 Jan 2017 at 13:59

The 2013 release is for the modern steampipe versions of HL2 (if you have installed them recently, or they have updated in the last 2 years, then this is the release of Cinematic Mod you require).

Yes it works for all three games, and yes the option to have more "original" HD character models is there for all three games.

Nexus18 · 29 Jan 2017 at 00:22

Started HL 2 with cinematic mod 2013 and my god what an experience!

Combine vastly better graphics with Hanz Zimmer's batman etc. music and it is pure gaming bliss :cool:

Still working on the graphics via the config tool but think I am going to keep to the original characters as the new ones are too different looking, SMAA default sweetfx seems to be the best sweetfx config option, although I think the built in MSAA does a better job with jaggies than SMAA...

EDIT:

The ENB processing seemed ok, however, it was too glowy/bloomy looking I found.

arc@css · 29 Jan 2017 at 03:14

^^ Very nice. :cool:

Nexus18 · 29 Jan 2017 at 14:32

Yeah it is really nice

I highly recommend any HL 2 fan to go back and play through the game again with the 2013 CM! :cool:

The music is what does it for me though

It surprisingly fits in quite well with the game.

I have ended up turning of all the additional features i.e. bloom, sun + god rays, lens flare, ENB as it is just too in your face and doesn't really fit in with the game world especially the sun + god rays, it looks out of place + ruins the sky as you can't make out any detail.

Gone back to MSAA instead of sweetfx SMAA too, with SMAA, you could see some jaggies + aliasing shimmering.

LoadsaMoney · 29 Jan 2017 at 15:06

Shamikebab said:
Who the hell is that supposed to be? Alyx?

Yup

Midlife Crisis · 29 Jan 2017 at 15:17

can the mod be used with the original game soundtrack? as I think its one of the best out there

Nexus18 · 29 Jan 2017 at 15:20

Midlife Crisis said:
can the mod be used with the original game soundtrack? as I think its one of the best out there

Yup

LoadsaMoney · 1 Feb 2017 at 21:46

Just finished it again, so now back to Episode 1 (again)

One Vision · 3 Feb 2017 at 10:43

Were do i install the FF mod as it seems hit and miss for me also where do i put the configurator and how do i know FF is working? Im using version 13

LoadsaMoney · 3 Feb 2017 at 21:29

Version im using, went into the sourcemods folder, inside the steamapps one.

'Come on Gordon, crank that thing!' :eek:

LoadsaMoney · 4 Feb 2017 at 22:06

Episode 1 done, so now on to 2