Lost Coast

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Are Valve going to be intergrating the technology in Lost Coast (HDR and better shadows) into the rest of HL2, or even Aftermath or CS: Source?
Valve said they were going to redo some of the maps in HL2 with HDR lighting. They said there were a few reasons they weren't going to add HDR to the entire game though;
1. The game was designed without HDR in mind, and so they think a lot of the areas work better as they are.
2. The download size for the update would be gigs in size if all the maps were redone.
 
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I was quite impressed with Lost Coast, stills do nothing for it, you have to play the level to see the awesomeness. Personally, I was stunned I could run it. I have the 1GB RAM, 400MHZ, Dual Channel . . . but my 9800 Pro 256 is probably the bottom rung of what can run it . . .

I didn't make the 2.2GHz proc requirement (Athlon XP 2500+ Barton, 1.8GHz), but it did let me install (and amazingly play) with little impact on gameplay. Personally, I think that Newell's comments are intel hugging stupidity concerning the XP rating scheme anyway, since it obviously ran ;)
 
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Whatever it looks like, it wasn't worth over a year of waiting.

I haven't seen it yet but I doubt I will be impressed. I consider technological innovations to have to be within reasonable capability before I see them as successes...and making a single level that took over a year to have lighting that doesn't even seem to be all that impressive from the stills, to me, isn't much of an accomplishment.

Though seeing it in motion might change my mind, I never will, because of my system, so it's a moot point. I enabled it in CS Source and all HDR seems to do, is wash out textures to pure white when light is shining on them (and shamelessly devour endless ram).

I'd like to see it in motion from one of the better machines here, if it's possible (like Smith's) so that I can make a more fair judgment. It just seems to me like a pointless endeavor from the stills though, especially since people say that simulated versions of this have been done in HL1. Does anyone have any videos?
 
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Valve released a video of it a while ago. Check it out.
 

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I loaded up this game thinking I was going to be blown away like everyone else...but... I can't say I was really all that impressed... at all. Maybe I've been playing F.E.A.R. too much or something, but I didn't think it was that great. Nor did I see a difference between Valve's HDR and the bloom effects in Garry's Mod. The only thing I really liked about it was the physics, and I've already seen that before. It was a real disappointment for me.

And of course after play F.E.A.R. I was able to destroy it on hard mode in under 10 minutes, HL2 AI is so predictable. A year for this? bleh
I think if it was focused more in the church setting than it would have been better, outside the only noticeable changes are the sky and parts of the ground.

Not to mention a couple bugs I encountered after loading a save point.


I was really hoping to put my 7800 GT to the test, obviously I need to look elsewhere. I'd give it a 6/10 for effort, it looks alright, but not as good as I expected. Like I said I was very disappointed.
 
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Smith| said:
Valve released a video of it a while ago. Check it out.
I know they released videos of it. Tons of them. But I wanted to see a video from a normal person's computer.
 
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Don't expect anything more than a tech demo or you'll be disappointed. HDR will be the next thing they start plugging into every game under the sun, and once a few more game developers get to tweaking it, we should end up with very realistic lighting that blends seemlessly into gameplay. I enjoyed the commentary although it was sparse, and it did impress me to see it in action, but it shouldn't drop your jaw, it should just enhance gameplay. Once the novelty wears off it'll just be common place, but it's another step towards reality with graphics processing.
 
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Tassadar said:
Not to mention a couple bugs I encountered after loading a save point.
Forget the save point...try right at the very start...

I was wondering why I couldn't change guns o_O

One good thing I will say is the fishermans spear kicks ass as a weapon (manipulator gun). You can lance multiple Combine with it and it even sticks in them. It's a shame it sends them flying into the ocean D:









In the neck!

Anyone know how to get the spear in the Source SDK (Hammer v4.0), as a prop_physics?
 

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Saiyan_Overlord said:
(& now corrupted textures in the source engine, but may be resolved if I reformat my machine, I suspect my memory may possibly be ****ed :().
Validate your HL2 files, steam will remove any corrupted/broken files and redownload good ones.

Ontopic, I loved the hdr, it was a nice level, the AI seemed a bit different than from when I played HL2 last year.
 
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Played it the other day, and I liked it. It's a great feature which enhances the lighting and gives a more realistic feel. It isn't the be-all end-all gfx effect of all time, but I wasn't expecting it to be. It just kinda blends in with everything else and you don't quite notice it as much. But try playing with it for a while, then turning it off. I guarantee you'll immediately notice the difference, respond with an "Ugh," and turn it right back on.

Another thing I liked was that while it was incredibely short and meant as a tech demo, it was still really fun. I dunno about anyone else, but I thought the level was just better crafted than most of the stuff in HL2. I hope Aftermath gives me the same sort of feeling as this did.
 
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The AI actually seemed improved in it, remember, HLs AI doesn't get tougher when you crank up difficulty, bullets do more damage, and you deal less to others . . .

I actually noticed the combine trying to set me up in crossfires and take cover when I fired at them on the cliffs.
 

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