Mod interest?

[Seattleite]

If I were to post links to my .cfg mods for the Half-Life series here, would anybody be interested? Because I'm not doing it if nobody cares.

[BTGBullseye]

I might look at them, but I have my own as well...

[VeryShyPerson]

I write a few config files now and then, so I'd like to see.

[Seattleite]

These are .cfg mods, so they're small, easy to install and uninstall, and were actually really easy to make. (Getting them right, on the other hand, can take some effort.) They also, by the nature of that, are primarily just gameplay effects. I'll list the details here.

 

Shot placement. You now do different damage hitting enemies in different parts of their body, not just different damage between head and body shots. This also applies to you, so be mindful of your character's weak spots. This is difficulty dependent and is in fact the only impact difficulty has other than black ops cloaking and auto aim. Details below.

 

Easy: Arm 0.5x, leg 0.625x, abdomen 1.5x, chest 2x, head 4x.

Normal: Arm 0.375x, leg 0.5x, abdomen 1x, chest 1.5x, head 3x.

Hard: Arm 0.25x, leg 0.375x, abdomen 0.5x, chest 1x, head 2x.

Half-Life 2 and Black Mesa: Arm 0.25x, leg 0.375x, abdomen 0.5x, chest 1x, head 2x.

Black Mesa ricochet multiplier: 0.2

Damage inflict scale Half-Life 2 and Black Mesa: Easy 1.5x, normal 1.25x, hard 1x.

Gordon: Arm 0.05x, leg 0.075x, abdomen 0.1x, chest 0.2x, head 4x.

Barney: Arm 0.25x, leg 0.375x, abdomen 0.2x, chest 0.4x, head 0.8x.

Adrian: Arm 0.1x, leg 0.15x, abdomen 0.2x, chest 0.4x, head 0.8x.

Half-Life 2 and Black Mesa: Arm 0.25, leg 0.375, abdomen 0.5, chest 1, head 20

Damage take scale Half-Life 2 and Black Mesa: Easy 0.1x, normal 0.15x, hard 0.2x

 

 

Health/Power redistribution. Health is much harder to come by. 5%/kit and 25%/charger in Half-Life 1 and Black Mesa, 5%/vial, 10%/kit and 20%/charger in Half-Life 2. Armour charge is somewhat easier to come by. 25%/battery and 75%/charger in Half-Life 1 and Black mesa, 25%/battery and 100%/charger in Half-Life 2. Barney still gets 60% armour from a vest and 40% from a helmet because dammit I can't find the convars for that. Remember that as long as you have armour you take 40% less damage and 2/3rds of the damage is redirected to your armour points, which means armour actively acts to reduce the damage you take in addition to acting as extra hit points. (Way better than what they did in HL2, in my opinion.) If you run out of armour, find some right away because you won't last long. Especially if you're fighting HECU.

 

Enemy difficulty. Xen animals aren't much of a threat to the armed and armoured player, but the various military forces most definitely are. Details below.

 

Headcrabs deal pitiful damage and die in one hit, so other than jumping out of nowhere to annoy you and take a few hit points, they don't matter.

Zombies are slow and easy to kill, so even though they do hit really hard it doesn't really matter.

Houndeyes die in a hurry, but they're fast and deal respectable damage, but they're so easy to mow down it doesn't matter.

Bullsquids have decent health and an only slightly crappy spit attack, are decently fast and hit fairly hard in melee, but you can shoot them right down before they get there so they don't matter.

Vortigaunts aren't very durable, but their charged ranged attack and rapid melee attacks are extremely powerful, so they can be quite dangerous.

Grunts are fairly durable and you don't deal much damage hitting armour, their ranged attack is homing and hits far and fast, but deals pitiful damage, where their melee is actually quite powerful.

Controllers are decently durable, and launch a lot of low-damage attacks in a row, but aren't that hard really.

HECU marines hit fast with their SMG for decent damage, their shotgun multiple times for the same decent damage. Their grenades deal heavy damage, their 40mm grenades deal a bit less but faster from farther, and their kicks deal heavy damage repeatedly if you get that close.

Black Ops men are a lot like marines, just faster moving, more accurate with a stronger kick. Black ops women, however, wear lighter armour that leaves them more vulnerable, but make up for it with speed, agility, a smaller frame, uncanny accuracy and a cloaking device on hard.

Tanks are not as durable as I'd like, but their shots deal so much damage that no player can hope to survive a direct hit.

The apache is fast, uses missiles and its main gun will rip you to pieces on a moment's notice, but is easy to shoot down with rockets and tau shots if you avoid being ripped apart.

Pit drones are fast, hit hard at range and even harder in melee, but die pretty quick so you probably have that much issue.

Shock troopers are tough, hard hitting at all ranges, and even though their grenades are lacklustre their electric attack does good damage quickly.

Voltigores are big, easy targets that have an attack that while hard hitting is too easy to dodge to be an issue, making them more of a damage sponge than anything else. They will happily leave you with no ammunition in your magazine and having to kill shock troopers with your knife.

 

 

Weapon damage. Some of the weapons frankly made no sense with the damage they did. Like the pistol doing more damage than the SMG when firing the same round. Much of this has been fixed. Varies a bit between games. Details below.

 

Crowbar: 30, 40 in Half-Life 2. (He makes heavier swings in Half-Life 2 that don't get locational damage.)

Knife: 20 (Except for back stabs, which appear to be an instant kill.)

Wrench: 10 (Wind up attacks do way more, with the best single-hit melee damage and worst DPS.)

Barnacle grapple: 5 (Really a crappy weapon.)

Glock and USP: 5

MP5: 5

MP7: 4

OSIPR: 10

M203: 50 in Half-Life and Half-Life 2, 40 in Black Mesa

Python: 14 (In Black Mesa, one of the few weapons effective on vortigaunts, controllers and grunts.)

Desert Eagle: 14

Shotgun: 3x6 in Half-Life, 2x5 in Black Mesa (double or quadruple against some enemies), 3x7 in Half-Life 2 (weak against some enemies but otherwise strongest version)

Crossbow: 20 in Half-Life and Black Mesa, 30 in Half-Life 2. (In Black Mesa it's effective against vortigaunts, controllers and grunts and not all weapons are.)

Hivehand: 5 (But hey, infinite ammo. And trust me, that'll matter.)

Rocket: 250 in Half-Life, 500 in Half-Life 2, 400 in Black Mesa (Enough to one-hit most enemies, with few exceptions.)

Grenade: 75 in Half-Life, 100 in Half-Life 2, 60 in Black Mesa

Satchel charge: 125 in Half-Life, 100 in Black Mesa

Trip mine: 125 in Half-Life, 200 in Half-Life 2, 100 in Black Mesa

Tau cannon: 15 (Charge up does way more.)

Gluon gun: 15 (But is more energy efficient than the tau cannon.)

M249: 15

R700: 30

Shockroach: 10

Spore launcher: 50

 

 

Difficulty. There is a much wider gulf between the difficulties, as you take half as much damage and do anywhere from 1 2/3rds to 3x as much damage on easy as you do on hard depending on placement, making easy a breeze and hard crushing. Now, I designed the mods around the hard difficulty, but I made sure they'd work on easy and normal if you'd prefer that.

 

There's also a difference in difficulty between the three games. Regular Half-Life is easiest due to Gordon's impenetrable body armour and hyperspace arsenal. Opposing force is harder because while Adrian doesn't have a weak spot his armour isn't as good, and while his hyperspace arsenal is roughly equal to Gordon's, he has to fight Race X and Black Ops, which are often harder than Xen and HECU. Barney has the hardest time, though. He has the biggest weak spot because his arms and legs are both exposed, his armour is only about as protective as Adrian's, his arsenal doesn't compare to the other two, and he fights HECU a lot.

 

Now, I'm only releasing my mods for Half-Life 1, Blue shift and Opposing Force. I'm not releasing the Half-Life 2, Episode 1 and Episode 2 mods because I haven't tested them yet. I'm far enough to know they don't have any massive adverse effects, but I still want to make sure they work entirely as intended. I'll put those up when I've played through Half-Life 2 and its episodes. (I'm pausing from Route Canal to post this. I'll get back to that in a second, and once I'm through it I'll upload it as well.)

 

Half-Life:

 

To install, first back up Skill.cfg from your Half-Life/Valve folder. Then drag this one in. To uninstall, just drag your old Skill.cfg back in.

 

Blue Shift:

 

Same installation, just remove the (BShift) tag from the end first.

 

Opposing force:

 

Same install, don't remove the "opfor" from the end.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Guest (see edit history)

[BTGBullseye]

Ok, so these are for the non-Source version then... I don't have any of the GoldSrc Half-life games.

[Seattleite]

Ok, so these are for the non-Source version then... I don't have any of the GoldSrc Half-life games.

 

This is Source... What made you think they weren't?

[BTGBullseye]

Blue Shift and Opposing Force were never made into Source engine...

[Seattleite]

I don't know where you're getting your info. Steam sells Half-Life source, Blue Shift and Opposing force in one package. That's where I got it. Exe Version says 1.2.2, Exe build: 13:14:12 August 29, 2013. These are the newest Steam versions, sold with the HD pack, and if I do recall it said Half-Life Source when I bought it.

[VeryShyPerson]

Opposing Force and Blue Shift were never officially ported to Source. I don't know why it'd include HL:S rather than HL though.

[Seattleite]

It doesn't matter either way. Both versions include the same .cfg file because they both use the same setting names for difficulties. I'm pretty sure it'll work either way, and if it doesn't I don't know what to say.

 

The package I got was Half-Life Complete. Look it up, it's on Steam for $39.99. It has Half-Life, Half-Life Source, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, Lost Coast, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch and Team Fortress Classic. It has both Half-Life and Half-Life Source. So maybe Opposing Force and Blue Shift aren't Source, but Half-Life is.

[Seattleite]

I hit a snag in HL2. A pretty serious one. Player locational damage in HL2 doesn't work. The player always takes normal damage on their body and double damage on their head, no matter what the SKs say. Melee weapons also don't deal locational damage at all, no matter who wields them. This means I have to adjust damage directly from sk_dmg_take_scale and that Gordon will be both unusually resistant to head wounds and unusually weak to body wounds. Unless we just assume that in HL2 Gordon finally gets a helmet, which seems unlikely since one is never shown, ever. I'm just going to have Gordon take 50% damage, period, and increase his melee power 50%. At least it still works in 1.

[BTGBullseye]

The second suit has a retractable helmet... Just go with that.

[Seattleite]

The second suit has a retractable helmet... Just go with that.

The .5x value is kinda working, but... The combine fights are HELL. Yeah. Lowering damage and assuming Gordon has a helmet. .2x.

[Seattleite]

Odd... In works on some enemies, but not CPs.

[BTGBullseye]

Peculiar...

[Seattleite]

Peculiar...

 

And it works on the SMG CPs, but not the pistol ones. In fact, it's just the pistol and melee attacks it doesn't work on. What the hell.

[BTGBullseye]

Very peculiar indeed.

[Seattleite]

I'm adding Black Mesa to the list of games to make a .cfg mod for. Should be up in a day or two.

[Seattleite]

I completely forgot this thread existed. All the mods are done, for a couple months now. Remove anything in parenthesis and put them in the proper folders.

 

Half-Life and Half-Life Source: http://www.mediafire.com/view/3jo27ga2t554dku/skill.cfg

Blue Shift: http://www.mediafire.com/view/zkbsqt9jhl6928s/skill_(Blue_Shift).cfg

Opposing force: http://www.mediafire.com/view/02qb663lj7twv5k/skillopfor.cfg

Black Mesa: http://www.mediafire.com/view/z18z37ycad8bzn4/skill_(Black_Mesa).cfg

Half-Life 2: http://www.mediafire.com/view/xzag7oxjk0cx6cf/skill_(HL2).cfg

Episode 1: http://www.mediafire.com/view/if97dj9bu78cv1n/skill_episodic.cfg

Episode 2: http://www.mediafire.com/view/zodd37e0y587e7h/skill_episodic_(Ep2).cfg

 

I appreciate feedback, of course.

[Seattleite]

On request, here are the health scores, attack damage and known multipliers for each enemy.

 

Headcrab:

Health 5

Damage 3 in Half-Life and Black Mesa, 2 in Half-Life 2

Headcrabs will (usually) die in a single hit. Only hits from other headcrabs and individual shotgun pellets fail to kill them in a single shot, although occasionally a pistol shot will hit their leg and fail to kill them. Not a threat to anybody.

 

Fast headcrab

Health 3

Damage 3

Fast headscrabs will survive, I think, no attack from anything in the game if it hits their body.

 

Poison headcrab:

Health 10

Damage 25 (to NPCs), irritating poison effect to player characters that makes them growl and shoot the damned thing a hundred extra times.

These take two bullets, one every once in a while if you hit the right place but that's finicky as hell, and are likely the most irritating enemies in the whole damned game. Just blast them with the shotgun or the SMG, there's no shortage of either.

 

Zombie (normal):

Health 20 in Half-Life and Half-Life 2, 40 in Black Mesa

Single slash 25

Double slash 50

In Black Mesa, 2x damage from 9mm and 4x damage from buckshot, 1/2 damage from the crowbar

These guys hit hard and all, but they're too slow and fragile for that to be meaningful. The crowbar makes quick work of them in Half-Life, but in Black Mesa it can take a couple hits. In all games, the pistol and shotgun do them in quick. The was a damage difference in HL2, but I fixed it.

 

Zombie (security):

Health 30 in Half-Life and Half-Life 2, 60 in Black Mesa

Single slash 25

Double slash 50

In Black Mesa, 2x damage from 9mm and buckshot, 1/2 damage from the crowbar.

What's left of their body armour works pretty well at keeping them running, but they're still pretty weak enemies. Pistol and shotgun are still the best weapons, just less so for the shotgun now.

 

Zombie (marine):

Health 40 in Half-Life

Single slash 25

Double slash 50

These guys can take more to kill, but that doesn't change their weakness compared to other enemies. They're too slow and don't last very long in a fight, just take the shotgun and double-blast them in the head. I only wish they appeared in Black Mesa.

 

Zombie (combine):

Health 40

Single slash 25

Double slash 50

Basically identical to the marine zombie, except with a new suicide bomb attack that will ruin your day. As in, it'll take off a good chunk of your health and possibly kill Alex. Don't let them get close.

 

Zombie (gonome):

Health 30

Single slash 50

Gore grenade 25

Bite 100

Faster and harder hitting than the typical zombie, still goes down fast but they're more likely to get a good hit in and if they do it'll be a strong one, especially since Adrian is less resistant to damage than Gordon. Finally, a zombie worth fighting.

 

Zombie (fast):

Health 20

Single slash 25

Double slash 50

These damned things can't have different stats from the regular zombies for some reason. So they get to go from "annoying" to "annoying and possibly actually dangerous". At the very least it makes Ravenholm a bit more frightening.

 

Zombie (poison):

health 40

Melee 25

Used to be 15, but I fixed it.

 

Gonarch:

Health... Doesn't actually have a health score. Somehow.

Melee 25

Splash 20

The melee of this thing is pretty weak, despite its size. Kinda how it goes when you have a contact area so large. Just watch out for its chemical attack and all the irritating as hell baby headcrabs, and take it down.

 

Houndeye:

Health 30, 60 in Black Mesa

Damage 60, 30 in Black Mesa

In Black Mesa, 2x damage from 9mm bullets and 4x damage from buckshot

Houndeyes can be easily killed in a single shotgun blast from the front in Black Mesa as most pellets will count as headshots. In Half-Life, not so much, they're actually harder to kill there due to the lack of multipliers and no weak spot. (Though their attack is SO SLOW in the original Half-Life they're no threat at all, and in Black Mesa it's pretty damned fast.)

 

Barnacle:

Health 20 in Half-Life 2, 40 in Black Mesa

In Black Mesa, 1/2 damage from .357, 2x damage from crowbar.

Couldn't find the convar for them in Half-Life. Odd. Anyway, dies real quick to the crowbar, but if you don't want to risk it just use the handgun or shotgun and kill them quickly. And they're not actually stronger in Black Mesa, it's just some weirdness with the hitbox I had to adjust for.

 

Bullsquid:

Health 160

Bite 30

Whip 50

Spit 5 in Half-Life, 1x5 in Black Mesa

In Black Mesa, 2x damage from 9mm and buckshot

Bullsquids take a surprising amount of fire to bring down, especially in Half-Life. From a distance they aren't a big threat, but in the segments with low ammunition availability they serve to soak up all your rounds and then you're stuck fighting them with a crowbar and they hit like a ton of bricks if you get close. In Black Mesa they're easier to kill as long as you have the 9mm or shotgun available but their spit attack is more impressive and harder to avoid.

 

Icthyosaur

Health 240

Shake 50

The tonnes and tonnes of health and its erratic underwater movement make it a bitch to kill and it's easier just to avoid it.

 

Antlion:

Health 10

Swipe 10

Jump 15

Air 20

A very weak glass cannon. Mostly just distracts the combine so you can flank them, honestly not very useful as allies.

 

Worker:

Health 10

Burst 20

Spit 20

Poison ratio 0.5

Dangerous as hell at range, and in melee they blow up in your face. You will be losing health in these fights, the question is how much.

 

Myrmidont:

Health 1500

Charge 20

Shove 10

Throws you all around and tanks hits like a champ. Much, much more dangerous than those low damage scores make it sound.

 

Vortigaunt:

Health 60 in Half-Life and Half-Life 2, 30 in Black Mesa

Claw 30 in Half-Life and Black Mesa, 25 in Half-Life 2

Rake 60 in Half-Life and Black Mesa, 50 in Half-Life 2

Zap 50 in Half-Life, 50 in Half-Life 2, 100 in Episode 2, 25 in Black Mesa

In Black Mesa, 1/2 damage from 9mm and 1/4 damage from buckshot.

Note that Vortigaunts attack faster in Half-Life 2 and their zaps are MUCH faster in Black Mesa. Also, partial damage is a thing, at least for NPCs, so doing 0.5 damage is totally possible and that 1/4 damage effect totally works even though the shotgun in that one only does 2/pellet. Just stick to the .357, crossbow and crowbar and use the MP5 if you get desperate.

 

Alien grunt:

Health 80, 40 in Black Mesa

Bash 50

In Black Mesa, 1/2 damage from 9mm and explosives, and 1/4 damage from buckshot, 1/2 damage from the front and 1/5 damage anywhere they have armour plates. Melee used to be 40, but I fixed it.

 

Alien controller:

Health 50

Small zap 10

Large zap 50

In Black Mesa... I'm not sure if they benefit from the multiplier, but if they do then 1/2 damage from 9mm and 1/4 damage from buckshot. If not, then normal damage from all things. The reason I'm not sure is I know the grunts DO benefit from the vortigaunt's damage scaling convars but I don't remember with the controllers and don't have a handy save to test it.

 

Gargantua:

Health 2000, invincible in Black Mesa

Slash 100

Stomp 10

Fire 10

The gargantua shouldn't be fought. You will have a very hard time killing it without an almost silly amount of explosives. The one time you have to at the end of Half-Life you should just mine the crap out of the hallway before it, lure it into all the mines and satchel charges, then if it's still alive rocket it to death.

 

Nihilanth:

Health 2000

Zap 50

This thing has the health of a gargantua, and when it starts out fires a barrage of balls like a controller with the firepower of the controller's large ball. Prepare to die. A lot.

 

HECU marine:

Health 150, 125 for Black Mesa grenadiers and Opposing Force engineers, 100 for Black Mesa and opposing force medics, 75 for Black Mesa officers

Melee 30

These guys are DANGEROUS. They take a lot of fire to bring down and rack up hits really, really fast. Fights with them can take a while and usually cost you a lot of ammunition, armour and health. Of course, when they're on your side in Opposing Force they're pretty impressive and those fights would be just about impossible without them (on hard, at least).

 

Black ops (Female):

Health 50

Pistol 3

Melee 30 in Half-Life, 20 in Black Mesa

The pistol does less damage because it's suppressed. Trust me, that makes sense. Their melee in Black Mesa is also weaker to make up for how fast it is.

 

Black ops (Male):

Health 100

Kick 50

These guys are a decent compromise between their female counterparts' speed and the marines' power. Even their grenades move 25% faster than the ones the marines use.

 

Security guards:

Health 75

These guys are relatively strong and are quite capable of handling the early-game Xenian wildlife. The problem is both the Xenian and human soldiers are too much for them, so they need a lot of support. Basically, you need to tank for them and let them help with the DPS.

 

Scientist:

Health 25

Heal 5

They go down way too quickly, faster than should be possible, to most threats due to a complete lack of protection and their own frailty. Thankfully, they tend to stay in the back and cower.

 

Pit drone:

Health 10

Bite 50

Whip 100

Spike 25

These things are the glassiest of cannons. They go down in one Desert Eagle shot or two Glock shots, but they will take off big chunks of health really fast if allowed.

 

Shock trooper:

Health 100

Kick 50

These things actually kick a lot of ass, and will happily make the ass they kick yours if given the chance. They're dangerous due to a combination of high-damage attacks, even though their health isn't stellar.

 

Shock roach:

Health 10

Damage 0

Lifespan 60

Yeah, I didn't think their behaviour made any sense. They can't hurt you anymore, they just can't attach if you already have one.

 

Voltigore:

Health 400

Melee 25

Shock 25

Their attacks are too slow to be a threat, so in the open they're just a damage sponge, but in confined spaces they can be dangerous. Hint.

 

Baby voltigore:

Health 200

Melee 25

I'm just going to say I don't fight these things. And you really shouldn't either. Just run right past them, they're not a threat and they're not worth the ammo. Also, I don't like killing baby animals, but maybe that's just me.

 

Pit worm:

Health 50 (Only stuns it.)

Swipe 100

Beam 10

Still a puzzle boss. Just be careful, this thing hits like a freight train.

 

Gene worm:

Health 250 (Per stage.)

Spit 25

Hit 50

The final boss is a tad underwhelming, but it was in Vanilla as well.

 

Citizen:

Health 100

Heal 10

The citizens in later sections of HL2 are pretty helpful, but the combine will kick their asses if you don't help them out. They're just not as durable and their AI is inferior.

 

Combine Metropolice:

Health 100

Stunstick 10

Pretty weak for humanoid enemies, and their weapon choice and AI don't help much, but they'll feel pretty damned potent the first time around when you realize they can take plenty of bullets to down. Though, of course, after fighting the overwatch a while these guys seem like total chumps.

 

Combine Overwatch:

Health 150

Kick 30

Good and solid, just like the HECU. Challenging, fun to fight and satisfying to defeat. Kick used to be 15 but I just fixed that.

 

Combine Elite:

Health 200

Kick 40

Same as above, but more so. Kick also used to be 20 but that has also been fixed.

 

Manhack:

Health 5

Melee 10

This thing dies in 1-2 hits and is a light hitter. Not a threat, it's only meant to flush you out of cover so the CPs can shoot you.

 

Scanner:

Health 10

Dive 20

Also dies fast, only damages you when it dies. The blinding effect is annoying in fights, though, and it's not a combat unit anyway.

 

Hunter:

Health 100

Charge 20

Slash 50

Flechette 10

Explosion 10

1/4 bullet damage, 1/16 buckshot damage.

Engaging hunters with the 9mm and SMG takes forever, and you almost cannot carry enough ammunition to kill it with the shotgun. Use the AR2, crossbow, crowbar, explosives or a vehicle for full damage.

 

Gunship:

Missile hits 3 (hard), 2 (normal), 1 (easy)

Cannon 250

Immune to most weapons.

This thing will 4-shot you and flies too high to hit with anything but rockets 99% of the time. This thing is a proper boss.

 

Strider:

Missile hits 5 (hard), 4 (normal), 3 (easy)

Cannon 250

Immune to most weapons. Highly resistant to everything but the rocket launcher.

This thing will 4-shot you and can take dozens of hits from energy balls, grenades and explosive barrels to down so only rockets really work. The one in the citadel is a royal pain as a result.

 

Helicopter:

Health 7500

Bomb hits 30 (hard), 20 (normal), 15 (easy)

Cannon 25

Bomb 25

One of the most dangerous enemies in the game, but the slug-out with it once you get the gun on your airboat is one of the most fun in the game, and so is the gravity gun slug-out in Episode 2.

 

APC:

Health 10000

Missile 500

Gun 25

These things are plenty dangerous and your airboat gun will take about 400 shots to kill them. That's less than it sounds.