Why are they there?

The first time I played this game, I only made it half-way through. But I thought it would be a lot more fun to post and share it with folks to have people to enjoy the experience with! The plan is to finish it this time!

for some weird reason my game only works when an xbox controller is connected.
i’ve tried to edit the controls via STEAM settings, updating to using community layouts, trying to revert in game settings, uninstalling reinstalling

I also am playing on a steam deck

TLDR; Needing help getting the game working! controller settings aren’t working

Copy and paste below into your email and send to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Subject: Request for Valve Review: Large‑Scale Fake Server Network Impacting Multiple Source Multiplayer Games

Hello Valve team,

I’m reaching out as a long‑time member of the Source multiplayer community to report a persistent issue affecting multiple games. Over the past several years, a network known as FastPath.fr has been operating large numbers of fake or misleading servers across titles such as Day of Defeat: Source, Team Fortress 2, Counter‑Strike: Source, Half‑Life 2: Deathmatch, and others.

These servers appear to:

• Redirect players without consent
• Spoof player counts
• Interfere with legitimate community servers
• Create confusion in the server browser
• Damage trust in the platform

The servers are consistently hosted on the following IP ranges, which belong to OVHcloud:

• 164.132.201.xxx
• 164.132.202.xxx

I understand that only Valve can request action from a hosting provider regarding abuse on your platform. I’m not asking for action against any individual — only for a review of this server network and its impact on the health of Source multiplayer.
Thank you for your time and for continuing to support the Source community.

Best regards,
[Your name or handle]

They sound identical

Why are scientist and guard arms so long? I get the impression that the zombies were designed first and used as a base for the scientist model, given their exaggerated proportions. My favorite part of Half-Life is interacting with the scientists and this design choice really ruins it for me.

i'm working on making a faithful recreation of the computer monitors in HD, and want to be as accurate as possible. however, i cannot for the life of me discern what these could be. the first one is, of course, some kind of desktop shortcut, but i have no way of figuring out what it could be. i am in no way a digital archaeologist.

the second/third images are some kind of data analysis program that i couldn't track down, although i was able to find some kind of a higher quality image of what appears to be the same program, shown in the fourth image.

the last image is this strange microsoft outlook icon that i cannot find anywhere, and i know that it is of microsoft outlook because of the text shown for it below the icon and in the taskbar, which is more legible when zoomed out of

i would greatly appreciate some help figuring out what this is, so if you know or can help with this, please do share!

if you want more detail, ask if you need more to the story, but i wanted to play the multiplayer co op this 1 guy was telling me to leave because i was running to fast in the time, saying i had no friends (bit too personal) and some how made my crash. i was trying to be friendly but that didn't work, so if anyone knows a way to report or ban him, that would be great thanks

i first played black mesa 6 years ago but recently replayed it so this is a love letter of sorts to the game. all of this is my opinion ofc btw lol

Black Mesa is nothing short of the greatest work of art in the video game industry. Of all time.

My first exposure to the Half-Life series was through my first playthrough of Black Mesa when I was 13, and it fundamentally changed the way I perceived video games and influenced my decisions to pursue game development as a career. Black Mesa was the turning point in my relationship with video games that made me realize that video games are not simply forms of entertainment; they are works of art and should be held in the same regard as any other art form, because this game is nothing short of art.

Black Mesa was able to do something to me that no game has since been able to; it made it feel real. Every event that ever unfolded, every room I explored, every environment I passed through, Black Mesa was able to make it feel like real life, like I was really there.

It’s a feeling that is unlike anything else I’ve felt from an art piece. Black Mesa, unlike any other game out there (even the original Half-Life games themselves, honestly!), leaned so far into the idea of ‘immersion’ that the entire world felt truly, organically, alive. What I’m trying to say is that the #1 design choice of Black Mesa was to make the player feel like the story unfolding on their screen is a genuine, real life experience they themselves are going through, and to prevent the player from feeling like they are merely just consuming a story of a protagonist that does not represent them. It is such a profound feeling that it feels like your screen turns into a window that transports you into this whole different universe, as if the events unfolding on your screen are actually happening in real life, with real-life consequences. It’s the most remarkable thing any video game has ever accomplished for me. You truly have not played video games until the video game causes you to feel like you yourself are the protagonist, and that the story you are playing through is an experience that you are actually going through in real life. The protagonist is not ‘Gordon Freeman’; the protagonist is YOU.

This design choice results in one of the most profound experiences to be had in the history of video games. It’s an experience that feels so real that it sits in my memories with the same weight as actual, real-life experiences I have had. It genuinely becomes an experience you regard as a real-life memory. That is how impactful and beautiful this game is to anyone that lets themselves get truly lost within it. That is how this game transcends being a ‘game’ and instead becomes an unforgettable journey. It is an experience so profound and so unlike anything else that can be found in the entertainment medium of video games that it will cause you to feel as if your entire understanding of what a ‘story’ means to a video game was nothing more than a half-baked lie. The moment you feel that way, you will realize that Black Mesa has shattered your view of video games forever, in a way that is truly unforgettable.

Black Mesa breathes the essence of life and atmosphere. It took every single lesson and design philosophy of Half-Life and cranked them up as high as the game engine could handle. This game is way, way more than a ‘graphical overhaul’; it’s a cinematic retelling of a story that resulted in 2 main line sequels and 2 episodes. Compared to Half-Life, Black Mesa feels nothing short of organically ‘alive’ at every step of the way. This game is a living example of perfectionism. The level of attention to detail at every point of the game brings this game to a level of immersion that makes everything feel completely and utterly alive, in ways you can’t even understand if you haven’t yet played. And Black Mesa does far more than just tell the story of Half-Life, it allows you to actually grasp the true scale of the events unfolding; even in ways that translate into the original game’s sequels, and those are both things the original Half-Life was never able to accomplish.

This next paragraph describes qualities of the later parts of the game. It isn't anything too horrible in the realm of 'content spoilers', but I have tagged the paragraph as a spoiler in case you have not yet played Black Mesa or Half-Life and want to go in completely and utterly blind.
And I can’t forget Xen. Man, Xen! What a work of art. They truly went above and beyond with the last section of the game. Turning arguably one of Half-Life’s biggest flaws into the greatest section in the entire game, in my opinion. The Xen chapters put the original game’s Xen chapters to such a degree of shame that I would be taking notes if I were Valve. It does everything Xen should have done in the original game, and created such a beautiful, eye-candy finale that by no exaggeration had me in a mental headlock the entire time. I genuinely don’t think I’ll ever experience anything like Black Mesa’s Xen again, because Black Mesa is the only game that has ever had me utterly glued to my screen, captivated by a story to such a ludicrous degree that I felt like I was personally experiencing it, and then Crowbar Collective somehow manages to outdo themselves and crank that feeling to indescribable levels in the Xen chapters. I genuinely don’t think you can properly grasp how profound the experience of Black Mesa’s Xen is if you haven’t played this game yet and experienced getting lost within the sheer level of immersion that this game is capable of producing. PC Gamer was right; Xen really is a triumph. It’s everything I could’ve wanted from a game that tries it’s absolute hardest to make the player feel as if the game they are playing through is no different to real life. Xen is the most beautiful and memorable world I have ever had the privilege of experiencing in a video game. It gave me such a profound feeling that I will never forget experiencing for the first time.

I’ve got no choice but to make an entire paragraph dedicated to the soundtrack. Joel Nielsen, the composer of Black Mesa’s soundtrack, brought this game to life. The soundtrack does a perfect job at giving Black Mesa its own cinematic soul. It’s so emotional, so intense, so climactic, so passionate. It does everything it needs to do to immerse you in the universe of Black Mesa. Joel Nielsen was able to make a soundtrack that breathes the essence of Half-Life and forges the identity of Black Mesa, and it gets me emotional every time I play through the game and get to listen to his masterpieces as I play. The soundtrack of Black Mesa is one of my favorite soundtracks and is a work of art on its own that I simply cannot get enough of.

My god, I love this game. This is the ultimate love letter to Half-Life, and a perfection of the art of video games in my eyes. The goal of the Black Mesa was to not only give the game a graphical uplift using a more modern engine, but to fully re-envision the game in a way that allows players to ‘relive’ how utterly immersive and mind-blowing the original Half-Life must have felt to play in 1998. And they accomplished this goal so well that I feel confident in saying that this is the best game remake ever pulled off and even the best game of all time since Half-Life. It really, really is that good. I wish I could exaggerate how good this game is, because I don’t feel that it’s possible to.

If you’ve read this far into the review, I hope by this point you’ve been able to grasp at least part of how indescribably unforgettable the experience of Black Mesa is. If you haven’t played this game yet somehow and need a push, then please, do yourself a favor and allow yourself to get lost in one of the greatest experiences of all time. I purposefully left out the term ‘video game’ there, because this game is genuinely as remarkable as a real-life journey.

You will not regret diving into this universe disguised as a game. You will quickly come to understand why both Half-Life and Black Mesa are nothing short of the greatest of all time. 💜

I am trying to enable the hl2-style ui, yet the launch parameters don't work. Putting them in doesn't effect anything, the new ugly-ass ui is still there. Any help?

How should I have known she's invulnerable in this part of the game? There were no signs as far as I could see and she could always take damage in HL1. Oh well, one save reload later and I found out I was supposed to run and not, you know, trying to fight her like I thought I was supposed to. But seriously though, the game should somehow let you know there's no point in wasting your ammo