Journal #7241

Someone mentioned IMUS the other day, I think. So Today let's go over IMUS's contributions in the vast stockpile of HL1 mods. They are all available on TWHL, just click his name above. But first:Okay, now that's over with, we can get to talking about IMUS's mods. He made 17 submissions that is in Da Vault, but I'm going to focus on the three singleplayer mappacks that he has here: The mansion, night things, and night things 2: woodstock manor. In all of these, IMUS shows his knack for frustrating clever puzzle solving in a dark, foreboding atmosphere. Consistent with this setting, your foes will tend to be headcrabs, zombies and slaves. Not soldiers. Ugh, the Almighty knows how many maps those days involved soldiers. Nothing but soldiers. Frankly I'm a bit sick of seeing that white camo everywhere I go. But nevermind about that.

Mansion
This is his first 3-map pack set in...hmm...I dunno, maybe the Australian outback. It features a wide expanse of land right from the outset, dragging your framerates down to the depths of Atlantis. Right after that is the current Guinness record holder for Longest Hallway Ever in a Goldsource Map, also pulling down framerates. Then you are inside a mansion. Regrettably, I never did figure out where to go, and r_speeds didn't improve much, so I shudder gave up for a while. Forgive me.

Night Things
If I remember correctly, this one featured in order a creepy house, followed by two large outdoor areas. It's pretty interesting, especially when IMUS used render properties to feature some new scares. There is still the dark atmosphere and creepy setting, and the large outdoor areas are indeed large. It's one of the few reasons why I don't like goldsource's limits, but this place ill needs another debate on why goldsource sucks/is good.

Night Things 2: Woodstock Manor
This is the latest of the three, so it logically follows that this one is the most polished. I believe about this time IMUS figured that goldsource was choking on his large outdoor maps, so he cut down on the hectares used this time around. I must admit, the first annoying thing about this map is the murky puddle outside the house...it dishes out radiation damage. Alot. Once you go take a stroll in that puddle, your health is gonna go down faster than the odometers in Earthbound. It might be fun looking at that but it certainly ain't healthy.

Once you get inside the house, though, the real frustration fun begins. I managed to kill a ghostly man who was stuck in the floor, and also see some variations of the message "this door is locked". So, gotta find the key. I mean, this can't be that hard, at least not as hard as finding Zeeba-G's kitchen key. Oh no.

Well after trying for 2 months with no luck, I just took that dam glock and banged all over the house. I banged the basement trapdoor, I banged the I banged the fireplace, I banged the chandeliers. Then randomly I banged one wall and it broke up revealing some goodies. SO AFTER FINALLY finding that bedroom key, the rest of the keys were no trouble. Then finally I get to the basement where everything's all foggy.

There is no way back up. This leaking steam pipe then blew up and explosions went all around me. After reloading couple a times, I got thru a pipe, or vent, out of there and end up back outside where I began. So finally I was going to complete the mod... and I walked across and fell victim to that dam irradiated puddle. F-

Anyways, IMUS's mapping is pretty good (progressively speaking). And they are available on TWHL. I recommend you try them.

Wait a minute did steam remove the ability playing offline? OH now that's crossing a line here. Gonna install WON then.