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| I was reading a review of Half-Life for the PS2. While everyone knows that this great game made it to the hands of us eager DC gamers, I wanted to point out something that the PS2 version has over the DC. Co-op. It sounds like I'm jumping the gun, but would a two player mode have made it to the Dreamcast if it was released commericially? Hell, that would've made it the best offline FPS experience. I'm just curious, because I know that the DC has trouble keeping a steady framerate. I know, the game was finished, but if it couldn't handle one player... Also, was it true that another Half-Life was going to be released for the Dreamcast that included online play? | ||||
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When the DC version was in production, Gearbox were working on an exclusive expansion to boost the sales value, Blue Shift. Of course, when the DC version was scrapped, blue shift was released on PC afterwards. When the PS2 version was in the works, Valve asked Gearbox to make another extra episode exclusively for the PS2, Decay. As the PS2 version WAS released, Decay never made it to PC, and remains PS2 exclusive. (Although there are people trying to port it, but that's offtopic).
On the PS2 version, the same old Half Life that we know and love, with Gordon Freeman as it's leading man, is still a strict 1 player only expierience. However the Decay game can be played through in 2 ways, with "hot-swapping" (fast switching between characters) in single player, and split screen co-op in 2-player. Chances are, if the DC version HAD been released, then that would have had Blue Shift as it's exclusive, PS2 would have had Decay as it's exclusive, and the PC would have had Opposing Force. It was said that if Half-Life had been popular, then they would have released a standalone expansion, Half-Life: Online, which would have been the Deathmatch compartment of Half life. |
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| _________________ Who woulda thought it? Your brain is slowly melting into a pulp of mouldy plastic, and will then explode in a gory shower with millions of tiny bits of brain! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  |
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Maybe DC would have had Counter Strike - which is based onthe same game ?
Half-Life was built using the Quake 2 engine. Bearing in mind Q3 Arena runs smoothly online with multiplayer i think programmers would have beaten frame-rate problems. Techniques such as Depth of Field, better texture compression etc would have sorted the problem anyway. The ps2 has had the same problems thrown at it and despite doubts (my own included), over the years programmers have learnt workarounds  . DC would have been the same. |
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Actually, the Half-Life engine is based off of the Quake I engine. That is outlined in the Valve wiki (look up GoldSrc i think its called).
However, you have to keep in mind that short cuts were always used. The draw distance in Quake III is severely hampered, along with physical reduction of unused polygons. The only reason Q3A is on the Dreamcast is because John Carmack is a programming genius, not because the Dreamcast is all that powerful. Also, the Dreamcast version of Half-Life was the first to utilize the high-definition model pack. Although still based on the GoldSrc engine, the models were significantly improved in quality. However, if you played the leaked beta, you will see it takes it's toll. Framerate plummets in levels with large amounts of models. Even then, they took shortcuts. DC Half-Life couldn't make use of 24-bit color (native to the PowerVR2) due to extreme hardware inability. It is rendered in 16-bit at all times, and even THEN it lags. It's a dead subject. A few users and I ripped through DC Half-Life, and found in it all there is to learn. Had great promise, but didn't make it in time. |
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| _________________ Server: Morris Status: Under Maintenence CPU: Pentium Pro 233Mhz RAM: 128MB PC66 EDO Video: MGA MIL/2GN 4MB PCI Hard Disks: dual 4.3GB W.D. OS: Windows 2000 Professional |
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Yeah, Valve did some heavy modification of the Q1 source to get what turned out to be the HL engine.
The one thing about the High-Def pack that was originally used for the DC version is that it doens't include the first aid kits or HEV charging stations (they just flash a little light, whereas the PS2 version and the PC high-def pack that shipped with the PC version of Blue Shift had little arms that would reach out and touch Freeman). Did we ever figure out whether or not there were multiple versions of the beta? Some people have been saying that they've been able to play all the way through the game on theirs, but I always hard crash when loading... crap, i don't remember the name of the level, but you get into an elevator, the next level loads, the elevator doors open, and you're in the next section. I always hardcrash there when it tries to load the next level, and have to use a code to skip ahead. |
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Einhander wrote:
The one thing about the High-Def pack that was originally used for the DC version is that it doens't include the first aid kits or HEV charging stations (they just flash a little light, whereas the PS2 version and the PC high-def pack that shipped with the PC version of Blue Shift had little arms that would reach out and touch Freeman). The PC hi-Def pack had the same HEV charging stations as the DC version, only the PS2 version has fully animated models. Einhander wrote:
Did we ever figure out whether or not there were multiple versions of the beta? Some people have been saying that they've been able to play all the way through the game on theirs, but I always hard crash when loading... crap, i don't remember the name of the level, but you get into an elevator, the next level loads, the elevator doors open, and you're in the next section. I always hardcrash there when it tries to load the next level, and have to use a code to skip ahead. Well I'm assuming that's office complex, and I've been able to get much farther than that. |
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| _________________ Who woulda thought it? Your brain is slowly melting into a pulp of mouldy plastic, and will then explode in a gory shower with millions of tiny bits of brain! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! |
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Yeah, I played all the way through it and only had one crash and I think it was my own fault. I kept reloading the level (in excess of 20 times) to try and save the cop from those three snake-like creators that you have to zap after you power on the station. Besides that, slowdown was at a minimum and I enjoyed the game...
Well, sort of. DO NOT save your game when you get to the part right before you fight the final boss (Half Life mission). It's right after you jump on top of the lift and jump onto a converyor belt that's carrying barrels. Once you get to that part of the game, if you try to reload, it corrupts the save file. Make sure you keep a memory card in slot two and back up your data to it often. There's a command you can enter into the console that will give you build information. I forget what it is, though. I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in the big HL thread we had here a little while ago where we tried to determine whether or not the game had any online capabilities. |
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I have been able to beat it a few times. I think it has to do with hardware incompatibility. I have taken my disc, and played it one a buddies Dreamcast, and it crashes randomly, and sporatically (like mine). However, he could not get past "We've got Hostiles", since it would ALWAYS stop there. I could. His Dreamcast is an early Rev1, while mine is a late Rev1.
However, I asked this question in another thread, but it must be moved here: Has anyone tryed to take out the model-pack from the DC, and put in the OLD models from the PC? The model pack for the Dreamcast is the high-definition pack, which contains significantly more polygons. I would think that trading in the old models would help the abyssmal framerate (even tho it would be less pretty). Any one know how to do that? Posted Sat Aug 19, 2006 3:24 pm: Dreamcast ™ wrote:
There's a command you can enter into the console that will give you build information. I forget what it is, though. I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in the big HL thread we had here a little while ago where we tried to determine whether or not the game had any online capabilities. Ah, I remember that thread fondly. I might have to actually write up that little report one day. I believe the build is 1682. Thats off the top of my head, but thats what I can remember. We also found out it's the same build has HL GOTY unpatched. |
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| I've got two copies of Half-Life. One plays and saves perfectly, the other can crash occasionally and doesn't seem to run as well. I always assumed it was because they were burned on to cd-r using different software ? It doesn't seem to make a difference which DC i use. | ||||
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Well, for me it does.
Right now, Mr. INSANE and I are working on splicing together a more friendly build. We are respacing the data, hopefully get another 20% shaved off of the load times, and we are attempting to splice in the low-res model pack, and get some extra FPS. We also saw the PVR support in the PC version's GCF file. We are debating whether or not to try that file in the DC (newer version might be more streamlined). |
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| _________________ Server: Morris Status: Under Maintenence CPU: Pentium Pro 233Mhz RAM: 128MB PC66 EDO Video: MGA MIL/2GN 4MB PCI Hard Disks: dual 4.3GB W.D. OS: Windows 2000 Professional |
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That's weird, I could have sworn that the HEV/First Aid stations that I saw in the PC version with the HD pack were the kinds with the little arms. Actually, they were. But I remember now that they weren't included with the HD Pack. I think I got PC versions of the PS2 models from PolyCount.
Finding a way to insert the original models would be nice, it seems to me like that would up performance considerably. I don't know the numbers, but the differences between models from the original version compared to the high-def pack are incredible. I burned my copy on Maxell (normally I use Memorex), so that might be a factor. I'll try and fire it up sometime later on and give a more detailed explanation from the error message I get. It tells me the build if I remember correctly. |
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Morph wrote:
Well, for me it does.
Right now, Mr. INSANE and I are working on splicing together a more friendly build. We are respacing the data, hopefully get another 20% shaved off of the load times, and we are attempting to splice in the low-res model pack, and get some extra FPS. We also saw the PVR support in the PC version's GCF file. We are debating whether or not to try that file in the DC (newer version might be more streamlined). Good luck with that. Looking forward to it. |
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| Yeah, we've been working at it. I give up. I have the new PAK0.PAK finished, and I reburned all of the files (the files I copied from the disk), along with the replaced .pak file. Well, the Dreamcast won't read it. I am guessing that I cannot just copy raw files, but muct actually MAKE a 1st_read.bin (not just copy the old one). SO, I am stumped. | ||||
| _________________ Server: Morris Status: Under Maintenence CPU: Pentium Pro 233Mhz RAM: 128MB PC66 EDO Video: MGA MIL/2GN 4MB PCI Hard Disks: dual 4.3GB W.D. OS: Windows 2000 Professional |
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Morph wrote:
Yeah, we've been working at it. I give up. I have the new PAK0.PAK finished, and I reburned all of the files (the files I copied from the disk), along with the replaced .pak file. Well, the Dreamcast won't read it. I am guessing that I cannot just copy raw files, but muct actually MAKE a 1st_read.bin (not just copy the old one). SO, I am stumped. The data file format is probably different or sometihg. |
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NEVERMIND! It is an issue with the self-boot! I am running with Utopia, and it is running the old models fine! Lag is SIGNIFICANTLY LESS! Posted Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:30 pm: I've already run into a couple of errors. However, in thinking about it, I think it may be CD-R related. I remember my buddy was using his, and I never took mine over. I believe the errors are CDR related, like everyone else has said, but I'll have to test further, again, FRAMERATE IS NOTICIBLY BETTER! |
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| _________________ Server: Morris Status: Under Maintenence CPU: Pentium Pro 233Mhz RAM: 128MB PC66 EDO Video: MGA MIL/2GN 4MB PCI Hard Disks: dual 4.3GB W.D. OS: Windows 2000 Professional |
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