Forum posts

Haha, you are entertaining to watch man.
The first video was weird, on the level of "Uriel's Machine" interpretations of historical facts. It establishes wild hypotheses and makes them feel real through elaborate arguments. That's just my impression, I never delved deep into the side stories beyond the original Half-Life series, so I'm not sure. This was kinda my reaction.

In the second video you strike me as a young Schwarzenegger lookalike.

I may be an old fart too, but I have to build on what you said about the community being on Discord nowadays. I think It's a shame that alternative platforms are siphoning the activity. The TWHL site slowly become just a shrine to which people come to remind themselves of the roots of the community.

Hah, I've disabled that t long time ago (although thinking how intrusive are apps these days they certainly have some history about my location somewhere).
Wow some of you guys are really prolific travelers. I can't imagine myself going to so far-away countries like Japan. I'm more of a stay at home do personal projects guy, and there's like an internal tension meter that goes up and up and I have to reset it by doing some sort of trip. Usually these come unplanned.

Last year I've visited Austria with a camper van (basically just pure luck to be invited by some friends and I'm grateful for that). The landscapes were stunning. We went with a steam train up to the top of Schafberg from where you can see multiple lakes. There are lots of bird nests on those cliffs so you always get to see flocks. We decided to go back on foot. While going down the mountain a storm caught us. I could hear thunders extremely close, some of them crackling. There were a few near strikes. There was nowhere to hide, the only thing you could do is continue. The wind was blowing furiously and you could sort of see that all this mist was actually clouds hitting on the side of the mountain. I've always had this weird fear of entering a cloud. In conclusion, I've never been so close to shitting my pants in my life.

This winter I've picked up a new "passion": snowboarding. I went to a one week snowboard camp. I've got almost all equipment besides boots and the board which I plan on buying next season (I said it's better to rent to try out different boards while learning). So this gives me the reason to go around in the country and visit different ski resorts, and once I have more experience I'll probably want to go to the Alps at some point.
But man, it was not easy. My butt and knees were killing me the first few times. And I still fall a lot. I'm afraid I'll forget everything by next season though :(.

I too want to visit Scotland at some point. Preferably by motorcycle for which I don't have yet a permit, and the pandemic surely shit on my plans of getting one in the next few months.

This game is amazing, it's the best thing Valve made since Portal 1
I thought Portal 2 was the actual masterpiece.

Alright, so I've spoiled some scenes for myself. Oh my god does it look gorgeous. And I'd probably just have to wait until autumn or december to play this in VR. Perhaps equipments will drop down in price until then.
I wonder what other games will come out on Source 2 and if we'll have access to the tools (Hammer) soon.

The Talos Principle. If you loved Portal, this will be an equally entertaining title. Moreover, it has an interesting philosophical context.

I don't have the space for VR

Do newer VR solutions still require those pillar positional sensors to be placed around in a room? I thought the new Oculus uses cameras mounted on the headset and a gyro or something?

I've been in the market for a new laptop for some while, but I'm quite fastidious about the technical specs and the only laptop that comes close to please me at the moment is the Lenovo Y740 - not that other laptops aren't good enough or have a better look&feel, but a lot of new laptops lack Thunderbolt 3 which I find outrageous.
Anyway, a mobile RTX2070 could run this right? But man, throwing in the extra 400 bucks for the Oculus would literally rape my pockets.

Otherwise, I thought that maybe buying one of those smarphone doodads that you strap to the eyes like the Oculus would enable one to watch 3D replays of somebody playing the game. I mean, who has time playing these days amirite?

Wow that looks extra-nice. Damn I wish I was 16 now. So much awesome stuff to play with.

I understand the proclivity to try/do crazy stuff at that age... or at any age really if you have the inclination to do it (or if your're Colin Furze).
At about 16-17 I tried a hydrogen making experiment in a beer bottle and lit it up thinking it will burn with a steady flame. It nearly blew my face off.

My advice is not to back up from these kind of things, but to think beforehand exactly how much risk you're exposing yourself and others to and taking all the necessary measures to minimize those risks. If your gut is telling you this might not end well, then listen to that instinct. And of course, don't do anything so stupid that it ends up hurting not only you, but others (random example: flying a RC plane without any training in an area with people - that's stupid and there are probably legal consequences if someone gets hurt). Today's safety culture is both a blessing and a curse that just dumbs down children's curiosity to understand and be fascinated by the world.

If this thing keeps getting delayed until autumn-winter it will be in perfect timing with me getting a new rig, so I can fully taste the eye-candy
Do you guys feel like they diverged from the overall theme style of the original Xen? I know it's a modern interpretation, but that's what I sense. I haven't played a in a long time but I remember more purplish surfaces.

Although the mistery has been solved, I'm leaving this for posterity. I also encountered stuttering in GoldSrc at some point in time and it took me a bit to figure what was happening. Turns out it was because the bluetooth speaker. But maybe this is hardware dependent, this is happening on an older laptop.

"UrbaNebula-a.k.a-monster_urby" said:Truth.

It's getting to the point where I'm getting a load of new ideas for projects that I couldn't fit into The Core (not that I am looking to expand it any further, I'm all about finishing up what we have at this point.)

I've got an idea for a new mod I'd like to make and I've had the lore in my head for a few months. A whole new universe to play with, rather than using Valve's. Thing is, it will definitely need custom coding which means I would either need to learn myself or take on a coder to help me get things set up. Not something I am willing to even look into until The Core is out the door.

I'm beginning to shift into my late twenties and I'm so sad I've only now began to fully be aware of the fact that we're excellent planning and idea-generating machines but shit executioners. There are a plethora of reasons on my side(probably just human nature) but also because having a job steals so much time from the day from you that you absolutely must plan ahead to do stuff if you ever want something to be done. I imagine in your case, having a family and whatnot, it makes things even more complicated. I've imagined several projects I wanted to start and even a few I'm actively "working" on, and the failure to see progress is one of the biggest generators of depression for me.
But then I've had another revelation, but this one I'm coming slower to terms with. Perhaps everybody has a rhythm, and no matter how much you want to accomplish, you just can't do more than... you can. Accepting that can probably ease the anxiety.

Perhaps you've got a different rhythm Urby. Doesn't mean you're not gonna finish this, but the fact that you didn't is totally understandable.

but yeah you should finish it

By using sophisticated cryptanalysis techniques I've determined that Half-Life will see its resurgence this year. Invest and HODL Half-Life, the

"Instant Mix" said:12 years

cycle might be at its end!On a more serious note, I do think that Half-Life or some story that is intertwined with the HL1/2 universe will make an appearance in the years to come. These things always happen. A lot of stuff is recycled in our world, or inspired from old stuff. First big example would be the renaissance. We can apply the same pattern to everything cultural. The HL games had such a big impact that there just needs to be more time left for it to be forgotten. I also think that economical reasons are at play. People who run Valve are also humans and probably the period 2007-2008 when the house-market crisis happened wasn't a particularly good time to play it risky with a game that could both bring little revenue and critical fury. I don't know if Valve has shares that can be bought on the stock-market or the shareholders situation but in such cases we know the drill: shareholders want max profit.

[EDIT] I'd really like to try Titanfall 2 myself someday, some holiday. I just checked it after Dimbeak mentioned and - holy cow - that is a Source engine game! - although, somehow bizarrely you can notice that specific "plastic" feeling of metal surfaces (I watched a gameplay) Source engine has, though the natural environment seemed lush and really not Source engine-y

I was going to say maybe a map update should only show on the front page if the upload changes, but what would that do for externally hosted maps, and sorting in the map vault? Where does the "update" line get drawn, and how can it always be enforced?

I came here to say basically the same thing but since you guys are ok with it, no problem then. I'm just not particularly proud of some of my works and only intended to update the links for Jessie

"Archie" said:

Striker said:
That... looks cozy-er than my place. This is a shitty picture to sell yourself as an office worker.

Not sure I understand

I'm the one for dim lights too... sort of. I use a desk lamp oriented towards the wall most of the time at my place. I hate ceiling neon lights. I work in an open-office with lots of ceiling neon lights. It's a pain I can't complain about, it's probably seen as a trifle.

@Urby: In those first few photos the landscapes look surprisingly familiar to what I'm used to around here. I think I could get used to living there quite painlessly.

Shot I took this summer in Buen Retiro park (Madrid):Inspirational architecture.

This provided a nice couple of action packed evenings. I don't play a lot of HL these days but a friend of mine pointed me to this and then I saw this thread. I found myself staring at all that eye-candy (for HL standards, at least). Really loved some areas, like the metro station, that glass-tunnel area where some jets keep passing by etc. It made me realize, more than the original HL, just how massive is the Black Mesa complex.
The difficulty was well balanced I think, I did have some frustrating moments but eventually got through them. The attention to detail actually became annoying at some point, in the positive sense (made me shout "what the heck, did this guy really just spend all that time for this?). I think the amount of time that went into this is obscene by my standards, but with sacrifices comes good quality things.

What can I say. It's 2018 and I'm more impressed by a mod for a 20 year-old game than AAA titles - probably because I realize just how much effort went into this.

Archie said:Finally got my own office at work, so I've made some homely touches!

That... looks cozy-er than my place. This is a shitty picture to sell yourself as an office worker.

Oh my God.

Translation: Shit, once again I shall have to postpone progress of The Core.

• might not be right, but the thought of that made me chuckle.

As for myself, I don't think I'll have time to participate :(. I'll play the entries though if I remember about this.

Hello, I have a journal notification but there's no link to the content, and I'm not sure what this means.I checked my last journal entry and there's no new entry there.

Found this on reddit:

I just saw the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer, it was uploaded last night. Although I'm more into natural landscapes and stuff, this game looks very pretty and brings me a strong vibe of Ghost in the Shell.
The car looks very cool , but if I'd be a hater I'd say:

• >2077
• >internal combustion engine

[EDIT] I think I accidentally the spoiler tag.

Cyberpunk 2077 could be relevant to my interests, despite the only CDPR game I've played being The Witcher 3 which I thought was seriously over-hyped.

First time I hear about this thing. Went to youtube only to discover that there's just a teaser, 5 years old. Now I have to read about Cyberpunk 2020. Has anyone from here played the boardgame this videogame is based on? (Cyberpunk 2020).

Like... I'm struggling to learn and and apply a programming language (currently mainly using Java) to make a living, and many times I feel like an impostor.

But after seeing this...*goes out for a walk Escobar style

I can't believe that site is still up and running. Holy crap.

I actually have pictures of me playing Duke Nukem on my Pentium 2 computer when I was about 8 or 9. I'm curious to try this one too :D.

I AM FULLY ERECT!!

Erect yourself somewhere else man, there are kids in here!

Hello guys! I'm currently at work but somehow I remembered I have an incomplete source project I'd like to work on this year, yet I know there's no chance I'll feel good about it without some character animation and voice acting for the NPCs. I haven't touched mapping in a lot of months, and I"m not eager to learn a new game engine, I'd sort of like to continue what I've started in Source.

Last thing I knew about NPC voice acting in Source is that it's kind of impossible. The phoeneme editor(or what's it called) didn't sync well with the spoken words. Is that working now? I know HL1 is much easier since the NPCs just sync their mouths to the sound, but I don't want to go to HL1 again...

I'm highly skeptical about a documentary that has "vegan" in its title. I would like to try a vegan diet at some point just for the sake of the experiment, because I like doing experiments. But skipping through the video at some point a person says that the casein protein in the milk is responsible for autism and other childhood illnesses. What a load of bullshit. When I was a kid I was drinking milk every day, and some days I'd have sheep milk and I ate a lot of cheese made from sheep milk. I don't remember having any problems from it, albeit I recognize that I'm statistically insignificant in this case.

Recently watched some speech by Neil Tyson where he used as an example a spelling competition where one kid says "Cat"(right), another says Kat(wrong), and another XGB or what(wrong). The thing is that Kat and XGB are both equally judged wrong, even if Kat is, well, less wrong. Such is with the way of most of our thinking, since we're human beings and it just gets over our heads to integrate a lot of information. My point is that one needs to inform oneself from lots of sources, without completely accepting the information as the ultimate truth and have a holistic approach on things like how to live healthy. What if I say go on and have an eskimo diet because they have low probability of having heart problems due to their omega 3&6 intake - and this by eating mostly only meat and animal fat. But there's a catch: their genetic code is different and have adapted their bodies to this diet.

In my opinion, our western lifestyle problem lies in the high doses of highly refined carbohydrates(and the worst - added sugar) combined with a sedentary lifestyle. If we're able to solve just this problem, I think we can eradicate a lot of illnesses.

Veganism is a non-satisfactory alternative for now. We don't understand enough of how our bodies work to say that veganism is the answer. I'm actually interested if we have any data about veganism over sufficient long periods at all to draw some conclusions - as is with the eskimo diet, mediteranean diet etc.

That wallpaper is mouthwatering for some reason TJB! Do you have a collection of these, from some sort of place? My go-to place right now is alpha wallhaven but I rarely stumble upon pieces of art like yours.

Man you're in London too! I've got to schedule a visit there at some point to have a beer with you and Skals :D.

The situation is similar with me too. I've been using a laptop for the past 4 years where I stay now, having a dual-monitor PC at work. My computer is at home, though it's getting very old at this point (the last game I played on it was The Talos Principle and was at the limit of playability with 20-30 FPS).

I've contemplated getting a new PC, but I usually like investing in a top-of-the-line or at least medium-high spec so it retains its value for years to come (like my laptop, which only at this point I'm starting to think it might need replacement). Lately I've studied the possibility of using the computer as a way of passive income, using it for mining. Unfortunately the profit isn't significant when using one card. Buying a Vega64 or GTX1080 for example would pay itself in Ethereum in about a year, at this point at least (but value and difficulty of mining vary so it might be longer or shorter).

If I ever get serious with machine learning, then I might consider such a configuration. It's a bit of a budget killer, an i7/Ryzen7 + GTX1080/Vega64 + 16GBRAM + 500GB SSD + 1TB HDD + the rest of the stuff needed and a dual monitor setup breaks my arse at about ~2500$. I simply can't justify buying such a monster at this point - mainly because - holy shit that's a lot of money - and if I ever get a desktop, my "desktop-replacement" laptop would make no sense and I'd need a 13-15 incher for just getting around, good enough to code and stuff.

Woops, wall of text.

You just ninja'd me. I was rushing to TWHL to post the same links before I even started reading.

[EDIT] Read it. Although I can't explain, I kind of understand why Valve didn't pursue the release anymore. The whole thing feels... depressing. It barely leaves a note of hope.
Adding to that, non-linear time events described in the story would make players confused, and game designers even more confused as to how to transpose this into gameplay.

The story also screams a lot the Philadelphia Experiment. Not a bad thing, but I guess they focused too much on that Borealis ship and in the end it probably didn't offer a good enough climax for the series.

But I bet this story will be picked up by the community, and what Valve didn't want to do, the community will.

He was ass-testing the floor?

[EDIT] I'm never able to find someone on the server :(.

Get your hands off

I didn't play DOOM yet, but I love the hardcore style of its OST.

Know any other songs or playlists like these? I usually cycle my music style, today I'm feeling metal :D.

That looks very nice for GoldSrc, Windawz.

BUG REPORT:

I can't set "Start Off" to a trigger_push brush. I select the respective checkbox and hit apply. When opening the entity properties again it's again unchecked.

Oh my... I almost want to lick that. It looks delicious Crollo, even if it's metal!

@Archie, when you say "cunt" in Scottish, is the "t" pronounced or do you use the glottal stop?

I bet you guys have the same strange feeling about millennials like me getting to know Half-Life (although it was released in my life-time).
I get a weird sensation when a 12 year old kid is telling me about playing San Andreas, he was born after it!

There are few games I played that were released before my date of birth.

I'd say 25 Dec, but be careful with the number system so you don't accidentally schedule it for the next year.

So that's why my mind was going haywire these days...

I've played that game but didn't finish it. The visuals are breath taking.

Whoever says Java is crap certainly hasn't consulted the TIOBE index.

It's actually the purpose of the language which wasn't to create high-performance games.

Wow! Wasn't Dimbark 9 when he joined?

walk in your underpants from here on.

kangaroo propelled harvesting machine

@Striker 15 Dec 15 (Waaay too late to comment, but w/e grin - )

Use more cleaning solution on those pins, that was a bad solder joint which could crack easily.

The soldering wire is actually a tube with cleaning paste inside it. Additionally I use some rosin flux to periodically clean the soldering iron. I don't usually have problems when the surfaces are clean, although I don't solder that often to be experienced in this.

@Vodka: Hello there!

@DiscoStu: I didn't know Mars can be so visible in the night. Was this taken with a long exposure? It feels ... big (did you use tele?). Also Photobucket seems like a shit image uploading service. It loads so slow and I usually don't have problems loading sites like these.

I send exam questions with whatsapp to my big sister when im in exam. She did completely ture, but sensei gave me 92 points. And i passed

Uh-oh. Please don't do that unless... you're truly desperate. Even then, it's like something you should never brag about.
I've seen colleagues pass exams like this and it's never a good feeling, because you simply feel cheated.
But first of all you cheat yourself. If you apply this tactic you'll never be able to fully be proud about that result. And believe me: you'll only hurt yourself as in the real world you'll need to solve problems. In the real world you can't cheat like that.

Try your best to understand the stuff you learn.