Black Mesa
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2012 Mod version (FREE)
Black Mesa (formerly known as Black Mesa: Source. BM or BMS for short) is the 
Half-Life 2 total conversion that attempts to remake the original 
Half-Life game. Utilizing the 
Source engine to completely update and enhance the experience, Black Mesa throws you into the world that started the Half-Life continuum and introduced Dr. Gordon Freeman to the world as a gun-toting, bullet-dodging PhD. in theoretical physics.
Black Mesa was built and founded on the principle that 
Half-Life: Source did not do the original title enough credit, regardless of the true intentions laid out with the release of Half-Life: Source. Subsequently in November 2004, Black Mesa was founded and set out to reconstruct the original title, giving it the new environments, models, and abilities it deserved on the Source engine.
There are two distinct releases of this game:
- Black Mesa Beta
- Also commonly referred as
Black Mesa 2012 or the mod version of Black Mesa. This version of the game originally released on September 14, 2012, and it is available for free on ModDB, GameFront and many other websites, aswell through BitTorrent protocol via its official website Download Manager. It only contains the unpolished Earthbound levels with old graphics, sounds, music and textures, and lots more bugs. This version runs off of the Source 2007 engine branch, and requires the Source SDK Base 2007 installed to run, which is only supported on 
Windows. As of today, the official website no longer host the original Download Manager containing those mirror links, but some of the mirror links (such as ModDB), remains active to this day.
Note:When playing this version of Black Mesa, remember to save frequently. Memory leaks can happen often when playing on the highest texture setting. This version also have a bug that can cause the FPS (framerate) to drop, especially during the end of the Lambda Core chapter, which can be triggered by saving and reloading the map.- Black Mesa: Definitive Edition
- This is the current version available for purchase on Steam, released in May 2015 as Early Access and completed in 6 March 2020. It contains both the Earthbound and Xen levels, as well as Multiplayer mode, Surface Tension Uncut and Steam Workshop support. This is a standalone product that runs on its own version of the Source 2013 Multiplayer engine branch, using Team Fortress 2 as a base, dubbed '
Xengine'. Officially supported on Windows and 
Linux + 
SteamOS.
Bug:The HUD glow effect seen in the screenshots lower on this page does not render for some users with AMD cards. This can be fixed by running the game in DXVK mode (currently unavailable due to antivirus false positivesThe Black Mesa Team
Black Mesa has brought together some very talented, professional, and dedicated developers. The skillset is very noticeable, from level design to modeling to conceptual art to programming. With more than 30 members, the team behind Black Mesa is representative of a new age in third-party development. For a full-date team roster, personal portfolios, and job assignments, stop by the official Black Mesa website.
Features
The game features a branch of Source known as Xengine. It is a custom hybrid of several current branches of Source and includes many features from each. The BM branch authoring tools have been released and are available directly from the game's bin folder.
- Redesign and overhaul all chapters of the original Half-Life, including the Xen portion.
- Models now take advantage of increased polycount limits and normal mapping technology making deadly opponents and friendly coworkers appear more real.
- An all-new face creation system that allows each character to have a unique, artist-created face.
- A completely original soundtrack and music library bringing Half-Life's themes and feelings to life in the new sounds engine built into the Source Engine.
- AI that will hunt you by sight and sound.
- Normal, bump, and specular maps built into textures giving flat surfaces a new, more dynamic look.
- A multiplayer mode allowing for deathmatch and team deathmatch experience with the complete Half-Life 1/Black Mesa arsenal at your disposal.
- Steam Workshop implementation and full support for modders.
- Powerful Dynamic Lighting System.
Chapters
Like the original Half-Life, Black Mesa contains the same exact chapters, the difference is that most levels are completely rebuilt, such as majority of On a Rail chapters were cut and all Xen chapters looking different, plays out differently and much longer than the original. Originally, Black Mesa was released in 2012, as a mod without the Xen chapter included, the same still applies to the Steam version released in 2015, lasted until 2019 when a beta version on Steam containing these chapters are now available, and fully released alongside the 1.0 Update in 2020, leaving Early Access. Some part of Surface Tension was also cut until 2016, these part was added back under the name "Surface Tension Uncut".
| Black Mesa Chapters
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Black Mesa Inboundbm_c0a0a |
Anomalous Materialsbm_c1a0a |
Unforeseen Consequencesbm_c1a1a |
Office Complexbm_c1a2a |
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"We've Got Hostiles!"bm_c1a3a |
Blast Pitbm_c1a4a |
Power Upbm_c2a1a |
On a Railbm_c2a2a |
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Apprehensionbm_c2a3a |
Residue Processingbm_c2a4a |
Questionable Ethicsbm_c2a4e |
Surface Tensionbm_c2a5a |
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"Forget About Freeman!"bm_c3a1a |
Lambda Corebm_c3a2a |
Xenbm_c4a1a |
Gonarch's Lairbm_c4a2a |
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Interloperbm_c4a3a |
Nihilanthbm_c4a4a |
Endgamebm_c5a1a |
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Releases and updates
Source 2007 mod, and requires Source SDK Base 2007 installed in order to play. It can be downloaded from the (formerly) many mirrors available on the official website for free. This version has received no further updates. The original version can be download here: Part 1 Part 2 More mirrors
Source 2013 Multiplayer with 
Team Fortress 2 code and additions. It does not require installation of any versions of Source SDK Base in order to play the game.mat_antialias command[confirm].VGUI remains available as of today, which can be reactivated by launching the game with
-oldgameui, in-case if the Qt interface isn't working properly or having performance issues/bugs, but please note that some new features are missing with the old VGUI interface.Media
Black Mesa's lobby shows exactly how much detail the mod team puts into their environments
Black Mesa introduces all new particle effects to further enhance the visual fidelity of the mod
The Face Creation System gives the impression of many faces that aren't expensive to render
External links
- Official Website
Store page- Community page
- Official Steam Discussion
- Official Forum Community (No longer available) Archived
Official Discord
Black Mesa on Gamebanana
Black Mesa on ModDB
References
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