MINERVA - read-only archives

Basically this adds dynamic shadows, motion blur and the new effects found in Episode 2 to Minerva.

Pics






I did this mainly because for some reason the Episode 2 is a lot more stable on my laptop than either HL2 or Episode 1. Still it has its problems, lighting seems off in the odd place but most obviously this



I’ve fiddled with the wave shader file but with no luck if anyone can help fix it, it be a great help. It messes up the menu too adding a developer’s commentary and achievement buttons to the main menu. Flashlight icon also doesn't display correctly. I haven’t played though Minerva’s entirety with this so there could well be other problems. I'm guessing once the Episode 2 SDK comes out it will be a lot easier to make this work.

To add the effects you need Half Life 2, Episode 1 and Episode 2 and then replace all the text in the gameinfo.txt found in the valve/steam/username/steamapps/sourcemods/metastasis folder with this


Thanks to SlowJoe45 and his thread at http://forums.facepunchstudios.com/showthread.php?t=445567&highlight=motion+blur that helped me to create this.

It looks superb. Can you confirm that the FPS rate doesn't drop too dramatically? The screens (which I replaced by their URLs as they were a tad too large*) show between 7 and 12 FPS.

(*Feel free to repost them after resizing)

I get a slightly higher fps in this to what i get in Episode 2 i just cranked the settings up for the screens, the dynamic lights really kill my system which as its a laptop isnt spectacular anyway.

I will resize the pics now. Thanks for fixing up the gameinfo too.

I will put all known bugs in this post

Wave shader
Sky to bright
Flashlight and ammo pickup hud not showing
Don't stand up after satellite pulse
Menu not correct

On another note shotgun troopers use the new skin from Episode 2

Just played through M:M, having edited the file but left the original, under a new name, in the same folder. I was very confused to find nothing different. Still, any excuse to play MINERVA. Even at this time of night.

So, realising my mistake as the credits rolled, I moved the backup away and tried again.

Yes, motion blur in MINERVA rules. The new particle effects, animations, AI and such are clearly polished in comparison with Episode One quality. Makes the maps and gameplay that bit more lovely.

I have encountered all the problems/errors cjone2 described (wave effect being messed, flashlight HUG image etc). In addition, I found that the sky bloom outside (where else do you find the sky?) was massively over-done using Ep2 engine.

I noclipped through to later levels and found no further clear errors from just a cursor look.

I bet if Adam released the map sources (Did he in the patched version?) someone could try adapting his maps to the Ep2 tech...

Someone, somewhere (ok, it was Adam in this thread) has mentioned a 'small patch' which brings M:M into the Ep2 engine.
Personally although it looks much nicer, Ep2 hits my system pretty hard compared to Ep1, I suppose I ought to upgrade...

That's very cool. As soon as I can find another arm and a leg to upgrade my system, then I might just try getting that.

But until then, I'll still lobby for seeing the map sources. There are plenty of things mappers like me can learn from looking at the map files...

EDIT: an .fgd would be nice too, actually. Then we could see all the proper textures...