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The "Lost Coast" mod is the most demanding HL2 game. If you can play Portal, you can play Episode 2, I imagine. Not sure.

he Lost Coast only introduced HDR lighting. HL2 Episode 2 enhanced further on that, and HL2 Episode 2 even further still. Portal and Team Fortress 2 runs on that updated engine too, but for me Portal and TF2 run a lot better than HL2 Episode 2, Ep2 has massive outdoor levels that tend to cause a lower framerate, for me anyway, but nowhere near unplayable. This is on the highest graphics setting. Like it's been said, Source scales back for lower-powered hardware really well. TF2 and Portal have small maps anyway, and aren't as cluttered with detail.

Welp, I tried out the HL2 demo, and am pleasantly shocked to find that it worked almost flawlessly, even with the quality all the way up

It looks friggin' great on my 62" HDTV (yes, I hooked my computer up to my TV, it makes for one hell of a sweet monitor)

Color me surprised. Maybe my crappy little computer isn't as crappy as I thought it was. The demo only had the intro level and the Ravenholm level, so I don't know how it would handle that outdoor level with all the water in it. I suspect it might get a little choppy there. As it is now, it only hung up a couple of times on explosions, and oddly enough the sound skipped more than a few times.

I was also shocked to realize that HL2 isn't as recent as I thought it was... it came out in 2004. What the hell? I don't remember it being that old. Time flies I guess.

deadeye: I think then you would like this game:

http://www.penumbra-overture.com/

Horror/Adventure/Puzzle.

Yeah, I've seen screenshots and stuff. I always wanted to check that one out, and I guess now I can. Thanks for reminding me

Welp, I tried out the HL2 demo, and am pleasantly shocked to find that it worked almost flawlessly, even with the quality all the way up (yes, I hooked my computer up to my TV, it makes for one hell of a sweet monitor)

2 inch?!?! Bloody Hell!! I got a 40 LCD inch HDTV which I also have hooked up to the PC as a second monitor, I can't imagine how awesome 62 inch must be! The dream is to have a DLP projector or something, imagine playing all these games on a full wall.

Color me surprised. Maybe my crappy little computer isn't as crappy as I thought it was. The demo only had the intro level and the Ravenholm level, so I don't know how it would handle that outdoor level with all the water in it. I suspect it might get a little choppy there. As it is now, it only hung up a couple of times on explosions, and oddly enough the sound skipped more than a few times.

n the full game of HL2 they fixed the stuttering bug after a few patches, a lot of people had that problem at first. The outdoor levels in HL2 don't really run any different to Ravenholm, it all seems nicely smooth and optimised and runs well, even on my old computer which just sucked entirely. I bet Doom 3 and other games with its engine would run on your's also, but probably not on full detail.

man having a graphics card sounds like fun, I wish my laptop had one I only have a cheap intel 965 chipset that fails horribly. I dont like HL2 but oblivion or stalker sounds fun.

Actually since reading up on Fallout 3 (damn, I want that game), a lot of people have been talking about "problems with Oblivion" that have been addressed in the new Fallout game. Mainly the scaled enemy levels. That sounds absolutely stupid to me. Why the hell would you make enemies level up to match you? Isn't the point of getting stronger to be able to smash weak enemies that used to give you problems? I dunno, the more I read up on Oblivion the less I want to play it.

Morrowind is actually starting to get... well, I don't know how to put it. It's like the game is too big. A lot of times I don't know where the hell I am, and the missions people give me are all a million miles away in opposite directions. I always have five different things to do, so when I come across a little cave or something that looks like it might be fun to explore, I always think "well, I don't really have time... I've got to get to here or there and finish this thing for whatsisname, I'll come back later." I mean, two weeks into the game I finally get to Vivec (which is huge and confusing all on it's own) only to find out that it's actually just a two minute walk from where I started out. It would have been kind of nice to know that there was a major metropolis just around the corner from the dinky little fishing village I started out in.

And another thing is I've stolen so much loot and money that I'm absolutely rich, but I don't have a damn thing to spend my money on. You'd think that by now I'd come across someone with some kickass magic weapons or armor for sale but no... I'm still mobbing around with my plain old chain mail and a broadsword. Yeah, I come across magic weapons all the time, but so far I haven't found any that are better than my plain, old, non-magical sword because overall they just don't do as much damage. It's not even worth the extra weight to carry a magic weapon around.

And it takes forever to travel anywhere unless you take a silt strider. But if you take a silt strider, you don't get to see the world or get into fights to level up. So if I don't want to miss out on anything, I have to spend half an hour just walking to my destination. Argh.

Oh well, I'll keep at it. I'm sure I've just hit a lull in the plot and it'll pick up soon. I hope.

deadeye:

If you still plan to give Oblivion a shot, I suggest this mod:

http://elderscrolls.filefront.com/file/ ... haul;68542

There are also other mods on that site that change how enemies work/level, but the one above is the most popular.

On a side note, travel in Oblivion isn't nearly as bad as morrowind. You are given a horse fairly quickly and you can teleport to any town you've visited once.

Welp, I finished HL2 (actually a few days ago but whatever). Awesome game. I thought the ending was kinda weak though.

Anyway, I decided to check out a speedrun of the game, and holy mother of god. I had no idea you could break the game so badly. In the speedrun I watched the dude does all of Ravenholm in under one minute and ten seconds. WTF.

Check it out here: Direct link to the Ravenholm part (Google video)

He also does all of Highway 17 without the car

Anyway, I decided to check out a speedrun of the game, and holy mother of god. I had no idea you could break the game so badly.

Man, if you liked that you might like Rocketron

(lol I don't expect you to at all)

- a game I made a while back with these bugs in mind. It's probably the best thing I've made to date, it's horribly ugly (like most of my games ), but its really a game for the pros. My friend has completed it in under 4 minutes.

You won't be able to play it at first but once you get used to it and get the basic jumps down it's pretty fun. It was really made for my benefit rather than for other people to play - since everyone, on their first go, seems to take one look at the graphics, be unable to fly the rocket about, and then gives up. But when I was making it, after months of level making, making unlockable stuff etc, making the level editor, I would still find new techniques and new bugs to be exploited, all leading to faster level times.

The other brilliant (if I do say so myself) thing about it is there is a TON of stuff to unlock - once you complete the game you unlock more levels than you had before. To this day nobody (afaik) has unlocked everything 100%. (bloody albino faggatron )

This is also the game that my name here comes from - (the boss at the end is called faggatron)

sorry if this was too blatant a plug lol

Welp, I finished HL2 (actually a few days ago but whatever). Awesome game. I thought the ending was kinda weak though.

Anyway, I decided to check out a speedrun of the game, and holy mother of god. I had no idea you could break the game so badly. In the speedrun I watched the dude does all of Ravenholm in under one minute and ten seconds. WTF.

Check it out here: Direct link to the Ravenholm part (Google video)

He also does all of Highway 17 without the car

The ending IS pretty weak but is continued in Episode One and Two. Episode One is a direct sequel that starts RIGHT where HL2 left, but is kind of short and lacks lots of new content. Episode Two on the other hand has lots of more content, new environments and enemies. Totally worth checking out, especially since they're so cheap (EP1 is 10$, EP2 is 15$) and you can get them in a pack that's only 19.99$.

Anyway, I decided to check out a speedrun of the game, and holy mother of god. I had no idea you could break the game so badly. In the speedrun I watched the dude does all of Ravenholm in under one minute and ten seconds. WTF.

Check it out here: Direct link to the Ravenholm part (Google video)

He also does all of Highway 17 without the car

here's definitely some cheating going off there, he sprints the entire game without losing stamina, and also does some unexplainable things without exploiting bugs. Something fishy there.

> Anyway, I decided to check out a speedrun of the game, and holy mother of god. I had no idea you could break the game so badly. In the speedrun I watched the dude does all of Ravenholm in under one minute and ten seconds. WTF.

>

> Check it out here: Direct link to the Ravenholm part (Google video)

>

> He also does all of Highway 17 without the car

> here's definitely some cheating going off there, he sprints the entire game without losing stamina, and also does some unexplainable things without exploiting bugs. Something fishy there.

He's not sprinting, the power meter doesn't show up in the corner. From what I understand, he builds up momentum (or creates it by glitching off of an object) and hops repeatedly. The hopping preserves the momemtum because he's not on the ground long enough for friction to slow him down.

As for the flying trick, they're using a macro to jump off of held objects repeatedly.

Anyways, yeah... it's an official Speed Demos Archive entry, and they don't allow cheating there. If they were doing something they didn't say they wouldn't have the top spot on the site, it would be disqualified.

http://speeddemosarchive.com/HalfLife2.html

They also explain a lot of the tricks they do on that page.

Macros still count as cheating though, if you can't press the buttons fast enough yourself like it's cheating. Still, I suppose it's an error in the code whatever. Oh well, I suppose that's what happens when you throw realistic physics into the mix, you end up with too many scenario possibilities to calculate, and bugs like that to exploit.