Forum posts

Potatis is right, at least from what I can tell. Here's (the important parts of) the mediainfo of valve.avi:

Video
Format                                   : Cinepak
Codec ID                                 : cvid
Width                                    : 640 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Frame rate                               : 15.000 FPS

Audio
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Unsigned
Sampling rate                            : 22.05 kHz
Bit depth                                : 8 bits

I did some testing with ffmpeg and WON HL (1.1.1.0) and found:

• cinepak encoding works (and is incredibly slow to encode, and has terrible compression. 1991 technology at work!)
• No other encoding I tried works (I tried mpeg1video, mpeg2video, libxvid (xvid), mpeg4 (divx), wmv1 - other formats either don't have encoders available, or didn't exist in 1998)
• Any resolution works, but it's always rendered in 640x480 so you might as well use that resolution
• Any framerate works, it doesn't have to be 15 fps
• Audio is easy: just use pcm_u8

These results will be different if you're not using WON (i.e. Xash, I'm not going to test that but it probably supports more modern codecs).

Given that, here's the ffmpeg command you should use to encode a WON-compatible avi file:

ffmpeg.exe -i source_video.mp4 -c:v cinepak -c:a pcm_u8 -vf scale=640:480 sierra.avi

Debug mode won't perform certain optimisations (such as inlining functions), in order to make debugging easier. It also defines the DEBUG and _DEBUG macros which you can use to run code only in debug mode, like so:

#if _DEBUG
    ALERT( at_error, "This code won't run in release mode!\n" );
#endif

Release mode is intended for the "final build" of your mod that you release, which will enable performance optimisations and disable the debug-only code or messages.

If you're using the standard unmodified SDK, compiling in release mode doesn't make much of a big difference - but Spirit of Half-Life will do things in debug mode that you definitely don't want in release mode, such as showing sparks above an NPC when they don't have a valid schedule.

As a general rule:

• Compile in debug mode during development
• Compile in release mode for test/final release

Yep.

No, Strider will add the level changes when he does the final compiles of each map.

You can format code blocks like this, FYI:

```
code goes here
```

I've moved away from using a formal code of conduct because I don't want to change the way people discuss things on TWHL, just to clarify what kind of behaviour is definitely not permitted so the moderators can effectively enforce it. So I'll just be adding the paragraphs from the draft above into the existing rules page, and that's all - nothing more formal than that.

Basically, all that's happening is that the rules are being reformatted a little, with some more detail in some places so it's less ambiguous. Honestly I think you're over-exaggerating the importance of this.

I'll quickly address some of your other topics:

• The freedom of speech thing is an off-topic political debate, it doesn't apply here.
• Derogatory insults are very specific words such as racial slurs (e.g. the "n-word"), and not just generic swear words.
• Personal attacks are specifically towards other members (so someone could insult Trump, for example, and that's ok).
• If someone said "Your opinion is stupid" in a debate, then they've probably already "lost" the debate since that's an absolutely pathetic response.

Can't we all just talk about video games and other fun things? Debating politics on the internet is an awful experience, and moderating it is even worse.

I think including "ability" in the list would cover "disability" as well.

As I have said previously, the intention is not to change the rules, but to clarify them so that moderators can enforce the rules more consistently. That's it. There's no overreaction here, it's something we should have done a long time ago, and this has prompted me to do it.

If you haven't had any trouble with the rules up until now, then nothing changes.

Once again, because people seem to be ignoring this:

• The rules of the site, as they are enforced, are not changing.
• We're only changing the wording so they are easier to understand.
• The purpose of this change is to help moderators do their job.

EDIT: And Stojke, you seem to be misunderstanding. The wording is quite specifically mentioning slurs. These are very specific words that are intended to be harmful to others. These are words that get censored the world around because they don't belong in the community. Using those words on TWHL is not, and never has been, acceptable.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far. The main point of contention has been the definition of "offensive comments". I've looked around for alternate ways to phrase this so that it more clearly represents the intention behind those rules. I think that Mozilla's community guidelines are less ambiguous than the Community Covenant, while still clearly explaining the things we want to avoid.

I don't plan on using all of Mozilla's document - it's very long. Currently our draft document has a 1 page summary, and the full details of the rules are 2 pages. It's still kind of long, but it's not too bad.

Instead of "offensive comments", Mozilla breaks this down into two specific categories:

• Personal attacks - these are attacks against an individual that are intended to demean or belittle somebody for their beliefs
• Derogatory language - specifically, these slurs and insults intended to harm individuals or cultures

Here's part of our current draft of the new sections to be added to the rules. They're mostly taken directly from Mozilla's document, with modifications to make it fit into TWHL a bit better.

First, in addition to the current 3 rules (be nice, no piracy, no spam), I would like to add one additional rule, called "be respectful and inclusive". The aim is to include others from other cultures and backgrounds. Mozilla makes it clear that we should try to avoid our own prejudices and discriminatory practices when interacting with the community. It goes on to explain that disagreements and differences of opinion are natural, but they must be approached in a respectful way. Here's the current draft of some modifications to the "be nice" rule that are relevant. We've made a few changes to this from the Mozilla document. The "personal attacks" section again reiterates that conflicts are natural, but must be handled respectfully without resorting to an attack on the individual. I've reworded "derogatory language" to "derogatory slurs or insults" to try and be very clear that we are talking about words that are designed to maliciously harm people of certain cultures or minorities. There is never an appropriate time to use these words on TWHL. We also have an explanation that accidents will occur, and are not against the rules if the behaviour stops after the user is corrected. If you're interested, please have a read of the draft rules above, as I think we've been able to redefine our intentions in a way that's less ambiguous. I would appreciate any feedback.

Is TWHL an appropriate place to be making fun of anybody? (before you answer: no, it's not)
Things can be discussed about topics without having to demean people. If you can't do that, then don't discuss it. You can mock people elsewhere. I don't want to read it.

Potatis, I'll take a look around and see if I can find a definition of "offensive comments" that's less subjective. I think the "spirit" of the rule is correct, and it just could be worded in a way that defines the unwanted behaviour in a more obvious way. In the end of comes down to the moderators to make the call on a case-by-case basis, but wording it in a less ambiguous way is always good.

For point 2, I'm not opposed to just borrowing parts of the "Community Covenant" or any other CoC in order to reach a point where everyone's satisfied. Certain key parts of the "Community Covenant" are very important, but others could potentially be relaxed or left up to moderators' judgement.

We could consider a "trimmed down" TWHL code of conduct, for example:

• Brief summary (from TWHL's current rules)
• TWHL's current rules:
  • Be nice (taking into account the below points)
  • No piracy and other illegal activities
  • No spam
• (maybe?) Expected behaviour (possibly using some parts of Mozilla's guidelines)
• Examples of unacceptable behaviour (from the "Community Covenant")
  • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, [....all of this section]
  • Deliberate misgendering and other identity-related harassment
  • Sexual images and attention (virtual hug seems fine to me, backrub maybe not - but would require the user to report it)
  • Stalking, doxxing, and other violations of privacy
  • Threats, intimidation, incitement of violence, suggestions of self-harm
  • Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease
• Information on reporting (customised for TWHL)
  • Add a note that all user reports are given serious consideration by moderators, even if they don't fall into any of the exact categories above
• Information on enforcement & consequences (customised for TWHL)

What are your thoughts on something like that? I don't think any of the "unacceptable behaviours" in the above list are controversial.

I think you're right about point 4, I feel that a "virtual hug" is - by default - acceptable. If a user finds that uncomfortable, then I think it's best that they let the other person know first, and ask that they not do it again. If it continues after that, then they can report the problematic person to the moderators and they can step in. That kind of info should be explained in the "reporting" section of the CoC.

I don't want to create an environment where nobody is allowed to discuss anything. The key here is to make sure everyone can have a positive experience with the community, and that moderators know how to enforce the rules consistently.

Hi all, after a recent incident on the Discord server, I've realised that we don't have a formal code of conduct for the TWHL community and that makes it difficult for moderators to effectively do their jobs, and it causes difficulty with users not knowing exactly what the expectations of the moderators are. Our Site Rules page is a good start, but in the last few years people have discovered that something more formal and enforceable makes communities better. It's past time for TWHL to do better in this space as well.

Here's a page with a lot of different code of conducts to choose from: https://indieweb.org/code-of-conduct-examples
I'm currently thinking that the "Community Covenant" seems good, which you can read here: https://community-covenant.net/version/1/0/

I also like the IndieWeb code of conduct tl;dr paragraph, which I think would be good to add to the rules page:

Be respectful of other people, respectfully ask people to stop if you are bothered, and if you can't resolve an issue, contact staff. If you are being a problem, it will be apparent and you'll be asked to leave.

Does anyone have any experience with code of conducts in other communities? I'd really like to get input from other community members and moderators on this. Feel free to reply to the thread, respond in Discord, or contact me privately via a TWHL message, at Discord @LogicAndTrick#5337 or email me at penguinboy77@gmail.com.

To be clear, adopting a code of conduct will happen, this is not optional - but I'm open to suggestions of which to adopt and anything else that might be related. This is not about changing the rules of TWHL - it's about making those rules clear.

It's all based on JS, so you've probably not enabled the right thing.

I miss the preview button... and formatting help.

They haven't gone anywhere:

@Jackathan: Yep, team entries are allowed.

No need to sift, the settings for VHE3 are found in the registry, in:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Valve Hammer Editor\General

You can delete the TextureFile[Number] keys to remove WAD files without opening Hammer.

The 3.5 beta was posted on VERC only - it's a build from Valve, but they never "finished" the release so it's not included in the official SDK. See the page on our VERC mirror at VERC: Hammer Beta, which is the closest you could get to an "official" download now that VERC is offline.

Welcome! The Tools and Resources page should have everything you need to know.

What in the world is with that Chinese spyware-looking fake GitHub you linked? You might want to do a virus scan or something on your PC if you're getting that instead of proper GitHub - I fixed your link to point to the real one.

Anyway, that's a .NET project, just install VS community edition (make sure .NET tools are selected when you install) and build the project. The app will be in the bin/Debug folder.

Also this should probably be a journal post rather than a thread.

I updated the Tools and Resources wiki page quite recently, it should have everything you need!

I just remembered we've had a water competition before, I won 2nd place with a true masterpiece of level design.

Water you guys talking about?

Hey, that's my joke. Give it back

That's not what the phrase means. It means that some people (myself included) would prefer to wait until the full thing is available, rather than play a less polished beta version.

When you say "about to be released", does that mean it has an actual release date or is it still a vague "coming soon"?

Urby said I needed to create this thread, so here we are...E3 is a week-long conference where a bunch of corporate advertisers gather and try to get you to spend money on stuff you don't need. Typically, many of the larger advertisers prepare an elaborate 90-minute long live advertisement involving celebrities, sports stars, and executive managers trying to act 20 years younger than they actually are, and failing miserably. All this in front of a live audience, who are often padded with paid shills who will clap for the most inane bullshit to try and make online spectators think that what is being said is something to be excited about. Oh, and sometimes they announce video games, and very occasionally, they're actually interesting ones.

I'm so jaded on E3 this year. All my interest in this corporate wank festival has drained out of me in the last 3 years or so. I'm not sure if that's me changing or the show changing. Probably both, but who cares? So if I sound particularly sarcastic or unenthusiastic about this whole thing, then that's why. Anyway, in previous years I've watched the keynotes live, but this time I'm going to be sleeping like a responsible person. I'm still interested in game announcements, so I'll just be reading the news like anybody else.

So. E3 is a thing and it's a thing that is happening soon. Expect a flood of game news to come rolling through in the next week or so.

Sometimes I offer half-assed predictions of what each company will do for E3. That seems like a lot of effort, so here are my exclusive quarter-assed predictions for E3:

• Nintendo wont be at E3 this year. Instead, they're doing an online video.
  • Nintendo realised that this whole thing is a sham and they can get the same number of eyes pointed at their advertisements without paying for flights to LA. Their videos are always lowest on the bullshit meter - they announce a title, talk about it briefly, show an in-game trailer, and move on to the next title.
  • I genuinely have no idea what Nintendo are going to do, because I'm way out of touch with them. So my predictions will be on how they'll disappoint me.
  • Advance Wars, Golden Sun, and Elite Beat Agents (hey, let me dream) will continue to be dead IPs.
  • Metroid Prime 4 won't get any screen time.
  • Too much time will be given to Pokemon, even though it's already had a lot of time recently.
  • Wind Waker HD won't get a Switch port, and therefore will continue to only remain available to the 3 people who actually own a Wii U.
  • They might have something about Dark Souls 2/3 on Switch.
• Sony won't be at E3 this year. Instead, they're doing an online video.
  • This is the first year Sony has skipped E3 that I can remember. What I think that means is that the PS5 stuff they've talked about recently won't be mentioned much (or at all) this year.
  • Because Sony has recently been talking about next-generation hardware but probably aren't ready to actually announce something officially, they'll probably be focusing on already-announced games like The Last of Us 2 and .... those other games that I can't remember.
  • Third party titles will probably get a decent amount of coverage. Maybe a bit more Nioh 2, that GRRM/FromSoft game, stuff like that.
• Activision won't be at E3 this year. Instead, they'll stick their junk into the Microsoft or Sony presentations.
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. I'm not even kidding, that's what they're calling it. Their marketing people need to be switched (not the Nintendo kind).
  • Maybe some Sekiro DLC?
  • What else is Activision doing these days? Nobody actually cares, do they?
• Blizzard won't be at E3 this year. Instead, they'll .... I dunno. Cancel some more games, probably.
  • Ok I'm being a bit unfair with ActiBlizz. They ditched E3 years ago. They have Blizzcon later in the year, where they'll ask you if you've gone and gotten a phone yet.
• EA will be at E3. EA's presentations have followed almost identical scripts every single year. There's no need to predict this. I can tell you what they'll talk about.
  • Battlefield. Madden. FIFA. NBA. Golf or something probably. Star Wars game. Dragon Age. Need For Speed. Resurrection of IP they've been hoarding for a few years. End.
• Ubisoft are the most French company who will be at E3. So you know they're weird. It'll have Aisha "Ladyboners" Tyler cracking jokes that nobody finds amusing in the slightest. Ubisoft try so hard to be interesting and fun but everything they do just comes off as annoying and mildly offputting.
  • Just Dance or some other dancing game that literally nobody wants but continues to exist anyway. It'll be awful. They'll dance for like 10 whole minutes.
  • A new Watch Dogs game has already been confirmed, so there's that.
  • Probably more footage of BG&E2, just in case anybody still mistakenly thought it'd be anything like the first one.
  • Rayman or something perhaps? They do some indie stuff every now and then.
  • There's that new Ghost Recon game, plus R6 Siege is doing that evergreen thing so they'll probably talk about that. Maybe they'll revive Splinter Cell? If they do, Strider will hate it.
• Microsoft is always highest on the bullshit meter. They usually get in some random sports people to roleplay on stage, it's fucking weird.
  • I guess they'll talk about Halo, whichever the next one is. And Forza. And... what else does Microsoft do? Oh, right...
  • Minecraft will get like 20 minutes of coverage. But it won't be anything new. It'll just be Minecraft. Gotta get your money's worth!
  • They'll talk about VR or their Hololens stuff again. It'll be boring. Again.
  • They'll say the word EXCLUSIVE a whole lot.
• Bethesda has the most shills at E3. If you're not aware, shills are people who are paid to attend and pretend to love everything (or they could be rabid fans, of which Bethesda has loads for reasons I don't understand).
  • Someone will mention Elder Scrolls Online and the audience will applaud.
  • Doom Eternal will be showed and the audience will applaud.
  • Titles of games will appear on screens with no additional information and the audience will applaud.
  • Todd Howard will take a giant dump on stage and the audience will applaud.
• Who else... wait, Square Enix is at E3? Since when?
  • I thought SQEX kept all their good stuff for TGS. Well, I guess they do own Eidos now... Maybe another Deus Ex? Tomb Raider?
  • They might talk about their Japanese titles. Maybe Dragon Quest, or publishing some of their phone ports to western markets.
  • Maybe some surprises. Nier Automata certainly did well, will they do something with that IP? Possibly too soon for that yet.
• There are a few other dregs but they're exactly that. Nothing worth worrying about.
  • Oh yeah Cyberpunk 2077 is a thing. I'm sure there's a bunch of important stuff I missed. Pretend I didn't.

---

I accidentally put way too much effort into this. Here's the short version: E3. Discuss, if you want.

I'm still using it! I wouldn't be too upset if it stopped existing, but it's neat.

Pretty sure it uses the Source I/O system but I would strongly recommend against making an entry for HL:S. Not only is it rather broken, not many people own it so they won't be able to play your entry.

Here you go: http://www.the303.org/tutorials/gold_texture_p8.htm

Anybody can update tutorials on the wiki, Urby. Including you!

You're going to be up for a long time, because the results are manually published after some reviews are written up.

I kinda think it's funny the reason displayed by the website about why I'm not eligible to vote is that my account was created after the competition started... is the backend not able to link submission entries and user profiles and realise the far more important reason why I'm not to vote is because I authored one of the entries?

Don't worry, it checks that too, you couldn't vote if you entered even if your account was older

It just so happens that the check to see if you've entered the competition comes after the check to see how old your account is (because checking if you entered requires an extra database query and it's better to avoid those when possible) so you triggered that reason first.

There's a rule in the competition that says you need a readme file that clearly states what game it's for... but it might be a good idea to add a game selector when you post a competition entry too so it's easier to spot.

Another suggestion here for SharpLife, it still has a lot of stuff to be done from the looks of it but by the time you release The Core it'll probably be ready to use

If it was in C# I could probably help with coding! C++ makes me physically ill at this point, especially if it's Valve-style C++. Of course I can't predict if I can help with coding when you start work in 2043, so ask me then.

Also....

Mysterious prothean technology magic material found on mars the moon
Discovery allows space travel and advanced technology
Humans accidentally encounter an alien race
Alien race is hostile and a war begins

So when do they find the mass effect relay?

Only if you feel like it!
yes you should

I don't think you can make a standalone mod for BS because it itself is a mod already. If you want to do that I think you'll need to make a regular HL mod, and copy the BS content you need into your mod. Apparently Valve doesn't care if you release copies of their files as long as they're only being used for non-commercial HL mods.

Hopefully you can just add the DLL files from BS and hook them up with your liblist.gam file. Otherwise if that doesn't work you'll have to add custom code for the BS entities, but you can probably just compile malortie's bshift branch: https://github.com/malortie/halflife/tree/branch-malortie-bshift

(Again I can't confirm that any of this will work, not many people try modding for Blue Shift because of these issues. I don't know if you'll need the regular BSP format or the BS one if you do this, so try both)

Blue Shift uses a different BSP format compared to all other Goldsource games, so they won't work by default. I did a quick search and it looks like there's a tool called bspfix that will convert a normal HL map to a BS map. You could probably hook it up to the advanced compile / batch compile so you didn't need to manually convert it every time. (I haven't tested this so I don't know if it'll actually work or not)

Thanks, fixed!

EDIT: Ok, updated. You should be able to upload your entry now. Closing time changed to Sunday, extensions are traditional anyway.

Ah yeah, the community vote was originally meant to be for screenshot-only competitions. I'll fix it up tonight, and then extend the close date for an extra few days so people can update their entries. Sorry about that.

No, it's your content - it belongs to you and you can do whatever you like with it.

Don't be stupid. Engine limitations don't prevent you from making a good game. Many older games are amazing products despite (and possibly because of) their engine limitations.

Now they just can't compete with UE. Probably the only way for them is to use UE to develop HL3 now, if they want to make a masterpiece.

Hard disagree. While Valve is dragging the chain big time with Source 2, all evidence suggests that they have the talent and the knowledge to make an independent engine that can compete with the big leagues. They just don't want to anymore. They have always been an incredibly independent company and have made a huge investment in Source 2 even though us plebs haven't ever been able to see it in all it's glory. By stalling on Source 2 they're not showing that they can't compete, they're showing that they don't really care about competing.

If their "prime" studio ever made a real game again (they won't), they'd do it with Source 2 and it'd be a high-quality engine. But Valve isn't really a game developer anymore, so they don't really have any reason to finish Source 2 and make it release-quality. Though I wouldn't be too surprised if their "child" companies (only Campo Santo at this point, but you could argue for VR tech demos and the like as well) used Unity or UE for their games - but that's no different than Arkane using CryEngine for Prey even though their parent company ZeniMax already owns both the Creation Engine and idTech. It's a solid business decision to let your subsidiaries operate somewhat independently and not force unproductive decisions on them. (Looking at you EA)

Furthermore, a "masterpiece" can be made in any engine. The idea that engine choice dictates if a game is good quality or not is incredibly ignorant.

Honestly, when you deconstruct both Half life and HL2 there wasn't anything amazingly unique about the games. They did the right things at the right point in time, but it's not as if those things were unique in and of themselves. The physics and graphics of HL2 were mindblowing at the time, but now physics is expected from games, and the graphics aren't exactly stellar by comparison to today's games. HL1 played out in a cutscene-less, continuously flowing world that hadn't really been attempted before, but again, is now the norm. What would people expect to see from a HL3? What's the big draw, the big thing that has people go "woah" when they see the game for the first time that the previous two had?

That's not quite correct. Both HL1 and (to a lesser extent) HL2 defined the genre. Sure, they might not seem particularly special in hindsight, but these games did things that nothing else was doing at the time. HL1 created a template and a baseline for thousands of games to come, just like Doom and Quake did before it.

Now as to what the big draw for HL3 is? Well it's a good question. My dumb theory that I don't really believe is that Valve has already determined what to do with the HL series: hand it over to the community. They have always been big supporters of mods and indie games and have hired from those groups very frequently. They're also encouraging community development with the Steam Workshop and by allowing games like Black Mesa to be sold. Valve thinks that the next big thing in gaming (and HL) is that amateur teams will form and create games that big studios aren't able (or willing) to create. They themselves started behaving like a big studio and became hostile towards their fans in order to push their point harder. Unfortunately their tactics weren't working as well as they'd hoped, so when Marc Laidlaw left Valve they asked him to publish the "Epistle 3" document in an attempt to rustle some jimmies and get people working on fanmade HL games. And look - it worked. There's now at least two teams involved in making a game telling the story and several others remaking HL levels in modern engines. If they do well, maybe those teams, and others, can continue HL's legacy with community-driven, fan-made games, just as Valve intended.

"Map a boss fight" reminds me of this map being played on Jessie's stream

First up, I give Urby permission to create competitions. ....Done.

And then I run away.

Yeah it's pretty simple, you can vote for up to 3 entries (you can't vote for yourself), and the winners are whoever gets the most votes.

You'd still want somebody to do the write-ups for the entries, but that could potentially be done by someone who entered (probably not for their own entry though), or I'm sure you could rustle up some moderators/admins/randoms to do the write ups.

TWHL already supports community voting for competition judging!

It supports multiple competitions running at once, not that it'll probably happen much. I think a smaller competition could still be labelled as a regular competition on the site though, there's probably no need for a mini-competition distinction.

I like the idea, if Urby (and others!) wants to help organise them, I'll make them official competitions too. Why not! People keep asking for more compos anyway.

Sure, just use a model. There's FGDs floating around that do that already.

Yeah, it looks like the Quake 2 format stores the actual brushes in the BSP alongside the regular CSG mesh. The brushes are used for collision physics but conveniently they can be used for decompilation as well. This is the same reason Source BSPs decompile nicely.