ESF on HL2...unnecessary?

SaiyanPrideXIX · Jul 7, 2003

Ok, I know ESF is staying on Half-Life, which is great and all. I love the game, my all time fav, so no complaints here.

But...I was curious. Are they releasing the Half-Life engine's source (not the SDK but the actual engine code)? Cause...well...if they do that, can't we just raise the limitations of the engine and make it so that ESF can support bigger maps, higher framerates, etc.?

Rebirah · Jul 7, 2003

If they got the engine source.. I THINK they could make this a stand alone game.. Didnt a game do that before? hmm But im pretty sure they wont release it.

Scorcher2k · Jul 7, 2003

Ya, if they had the source they could do that. You can just take games like medal of honor for example. They brought true skeleton structure and new light mapping to the q3 engine.

DiebytheSword · Jul 7, 2003

That's the hope, if HL1's source code is released this mod will advance lightyears in short bounds.

Madd Dog · Jul 7, 2003

question is, what company has the rights to release the source(valve, sierra,ect), and are they likely to do so(have they released the source for other games they have made)?

Rick · Jul 7, 2003

well the q1 and doom src was released and I believe that the q2 source is also released but those game where developed by ID hl isn't so its up to valve/sierra

Madd Dog · Jul 7, 2003

yeah i know that ID tends to release their source, as with the examples you have sighted, but im asking has valve / sierra done this in the past with their other game engines?

Taimaishu · Jul 7, 2003

well the normal half life is 80% comatable with half life 2 so people right now are coding for half life 1 then porting it over to half life 2

the team could easily port it over

Madd Dog · Jul 7, 2003

i wish this were the case, but while i cant speak for the team, they have said a number of times that esf will die on HL-1. even if they did port it over the models / maps / animations would look ugly compaired to those HL-2 could handle, meaning having to re-do them all. also as you said the code isnt 100% compatible to they would have to re-write large chuncks of it. and when you put it all together it would be like starting from scratch.

-{VC}-EsKiMo · Jul 9, 2003

i hope they add it 2 hl2 cuz im gonna get hl2 but if not i hope they keep working on in

RaVe · Jul 10, 2003

no they wont hehe,theyve said it pver and over since news of HL2,ESF will die on HL1

but yeah,having release the source for HL == good stuff,think of what we can do with the coding muahaha!!

Scorcher2k · Jul 10, 2003

Valve has never released the source code for a game before because they never had any games before that were modded. Quake and doom are old products of ID which have been modded before their release. I don't believe Quake2 has been released yet but when it is you'll see some pretty cool **** from some different teams that are devoted to the Quake2 engine.

Vertigo · Jul 10, 2003

i believe there was an article on slashdot about the HL source code FAQ being release, now about some links:

heres slashdot story:
http://games.slashdot.org/article.p...8&mode=thread&tid=127&tid=186&tid=204&tid=206

and heres the FAQ:
http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=source_mod_faq

but i will post the parts of the FAQ that relate to this topic

Half-Life 1 Related

Will it be possible to port content from Half-Life 1 to Half-Life 2?

Weâve made this as painless as we could.

We learned a lot through our experiences with TFC, Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, and so on. This engine is much more modâable than Half-Life 1 was, and the tool set has been improved a lot. Weâll also be releasing a bunch of material to help mod teams get their existing work up and running on the new engine.

The new Hammer will load Half-Life 1 levels (.RMF or .MAP source files only). You will need to retexture, and youâll probably need to redo most of the entities, but this is a major jumpstart compared to starting from scratch.

Models will need a little touching up in QC files and also need to be recompiled in order to work in the HL2 engine. Again, you must have the original source data in order to do this.

Almost all parts of the HL2 SDK will be a little bit familiar to those who have worked with the HL1 SDK. Of course, there are a lot of new features, options, and systemic changes to explore, but overall the modding experience for HL2 is very similar to HL1.
top

Will the HL2 SDK include tools to help convert HL1 content to HL2?

Yes, the HL2 SDK will include several tools for this; for example, taking a WAD file and converting its contents to the new material format. Details and tips about converting HL1 code and content to HL2 will also be included.
top

now i know the mods are going to have a field day with this thread, but with the knowledge i supplied and if it is easy (as they say in the FAQ) to port content then why cant the DEVs just make all the updates and content for HL1 and port to HL2 when they feel like it? Hell, im sure some fans would be willing to do it just for love.

ESF on HL2...unnecessary?

SaiyanPrideXIX

New Member

Rebirah

New Member

Scorcher2k

Active Member

DiebytheSword

Live free or die by the sword

Madd Dog

New Member

Rick

Senior Member

Madd Dog

New Member

Taimaishu

New Member

Madd Dog

New Member

-{VC}-EsKiMo

New Member

RaVe

New Member

Scorcher2k

Active Member

Vertigo

New Member

Users who are viewing this thread