i used to work for one called DBUT, not even all of the models were finished before it was shutdown, (this was quite a few years ago)
the ingame graphics were way above anything i had seen the HL engine ever produce, (esf included) and really the only thing it had was its beam cam, (think redeemer) but the maps and character models, looked alot better in the UT engine,
if you know any of the old staff from that mod try to contact me, i havent heard from them in ages, the only other member of the team i regained contact with was one of the other beta testers, ive yet to see the modellers again,