List of Half-Life: Alyx Holo Hacking Difficulties

The following is a listing of the available default difficulties used by the info_hlvr_holo_hacking_plug as listed in holo_hacking_difficulty.txt

Difficulties only exist for the shipping puzzles sphere trace, point search, point match, and point drag.

There are no parameters defined for the puzzle types core search or rod pull. Rod pull functions despite the lack of difficulty, while core search is a broken version of what would become point search.

Sphere Trace Difficulties

Sphere trace puzzles are typically used for lockers which store extra ammunition or resources useful to the player. The player is tasked with dragging two blue points to each-other while red "invalid" points move about a sphere.

 
The following variables are used to determine the difficulty of a sphere trace puzzle. 
In general the difficulty will ramp up over time before dropping when the number of valid points required is then increased.

m_flPointsDifficultyMin = 0.0
m_flPointsDifficultyMax = 0.0
m_nNumValidPointsRequired = 2
m_flTrailTime = 0.0
m_bMoveInvalidPoints = false
m_flPointMoveDelay = 0.0
m_flPointMoveSpeed = 0.0

Difficulty Name	PointsDifficultyMin	PointsDifficultyMax	NumValidPointsRequired	TrailTime	MoveInvalidPoints	PointMoveDelay	PointMoveSpeed
First	0.0	0.0	2	0.0	false	0.0	0.0
Easy	0.4	0.8	2	0.0	true	1.0	0.5
Medium	0.5	0.7	3	1.0	true	0.0	0.7
Hard	0.6	0.7	3	1.5	true	0.0	1.0
VeryHard	0.6	0.7	4	2.0	true	-1.0	1.0
a2_quarantine_entrance_locker_1	0.0	0.0	2	0.0	false	0.0	0.0
a3_station_street_locker_1	0.4	0.6	2	0.0	false	0.0	0.0
a3_station_street_locker_2	0.6	0.8	2	0.0	false	0.0	0.0
a3_station_street_locker_4	0.8	1.0	2	0.0	false	0.0	0.0
a3_hotel_lobby_basement_locker_1	0.3	0.4	2	0.0	true	1.0	0.3
a3_hotel_underground_pit_locker_1	0.4	0.6	2	0.0	true	0.5	0.4
a3_hotel_underground_pit_locker_2	0.3	0.4	3	0.0	true	0.5	0.4
a3_hotel_interior_rooftop_locker_1	0.5	0.7	3	0.0	true	0.5	0.5
a3_hotel_interior_rooftop_locker_2	0.5	0.7	3	0.0	true	0.5	0.7
a3_hotel_interior_rooftop_locker_3	0.5	0.7	3	0.7	true	0.5	0.5
a3_hotel_interior_rooftop_locker_4	0.6	0.8	3	1.0	true	0.5	0.5
a3_hotel_street_locker_1	0.4	0.6	4	0.0	true	0.0	0.7
a3_c17_processing_plant_locker_1	0.6	0.8	3	1.0	true	0.0	0.8
a3_c17_processing_plant_locker_2	0.6	0.8	3	1.5	true	0.0	0.4
a3_c17_processing_plant_locker_3	0.7	0.9	3	0.5	true	0.0	0.8
a4_c17_tanker_yard_locker_1	0.0	0.0	4	3.5	true	-1.0	0.2
a4_c17_water_tower_locker_1	1.0	1.0	3	1.0	true	-1.0	1.0
a4_c17_parking_garage_locker_1	0.7	0.9	3	1.0	true	-1.0	0.8
holo_hacking_test_locker_hack_preview	0.3	0.6	2	0.0	true	1.0	0.3
holo_hacking_test_back_wall_locker_1	0.2	0.6	2	0.0	true	1.0	0.3
holo_hacking_test_back_wall_locker_2	0.5	0.8	3	1.5	true	0.0	0.3
holo_hacking_test_back_wall_locker_3	1.0	1.0	6	2.0	true	-1.0	0.3

Point Search Difficulties

The point search puzzles are primarily used on combine workbenches. They have no fail state, but can have an additional step at higher difficulties.

The point search tasks the player with dragging a core which is connected to various exterior points to a location where each laser passes through all points.
complexity increases with total cores, outer points, and portal points.

m_nCoreCount = 1
m_nOuterPointCount = 4
m_nNumPortalPoints = 0

Difficulty Name	CoreCount	OuterPointCount	NumPortalPoints
First	1	4	0
Easy	1	3	0
Medium	2	3	0
Hard	1	4	1
VeryHard	2	4	1
a2_pistol_crafting_station_1	1	4	0
a2_headcrabs_tunnel_crafting_station_1	1	3	0
a2_train_yard_crafting_station_1	1	3	0
a2_train_yard_combine_console_1	2	3	0
a3_station_street_crafting_station_1	2	4	0
a3_hotel_underground_pit_crafting_station_1	1	5	1
a3_hotel_street_crafting_station_1	1	4	1
a3_c17_processing_plant_crafting_station_1	2	4	1
a3_c17_processing_plant_crafting_station_2	3	3	0
a4_c17_zoo_crafting_station_1	2	4	1
a4_c17_tanker_yard_crafting_station_1	4	2	0
a4_c17_water_tower_crafting_station_1	3	4	1
holo_hacking_test_combine_console_hack_preview	1	4	0
holo_hacking_test_crafting_station_hack_preview	1	4	0

Point Match Difficulties

Point match puzzles are used throughout the campaign for various combine doors. Typically they are fairly forgiving since they block the main path.

 
The following variables are used to determine the difficulty of a point match puzzle. 
Point match tasks the player to play a game of memory with various colors of matching pairs. Difficulty will increase with the addition of a disk divider which requires some forethought before the start of the puzzle and additional pairs for complexity.

m_nPairCount = 3
m_nMaxFails = 0
m_bDiscEnabled = false
m_bRotateDisc = false
m_flDiscRotateMinTime = 0.0
m_flDiscRotateMaxTime = 0.0

The last three variables are never used during the main game, but could provide additional challenge in custom content.

Difficulty Name	PairCount	MaxFails	DiskEnable	RotateDisk	DiscRotateMinTime	DiscRotateMaxTime
First	3	0	false	false	0.0	0.0
Easy	4	8	true	false	0.0	0.0
Medium	4	6	true	false	0.0	0.0
Hard	5	8	true	false	0.0	0.0
VeryHard	6	10	true	false	0.0	0.0
a2_drainage_combine_door_1	4	0	false	false	0.0	0.0
a2_train_yard_combine_door_1	4	6	false	false	0.0	0.0
a3_hotel_underground_pit_door_1	5	8	true	false	0.0	0.0
a3_hotel_underground_pit_door_2	6	12	true	false	0.0	0.0
a3_hotel_underground_pit_door_1_trailer	3	6	false	false	0.0	0.0
holo_hacking_test_combine_door_hack_preview	1	4	false	false	0.0	0.0
holo_hacking_test_switch_box_hack_preview	1	4	false	false	0.0	0.0

Point Drag Difficulties

Point drag puzzles are typically used on trip-mines. The puzzles are not particularly difficult alone, rather having to complete them in close proximity to a laser detector and explosive provide challenge.

 
The following variables are used to determine the difficulty of a point drag puzzle. 
Point drag puzzles require the player to drag a point through small circles which follow a meandering path while a red adversary "fuse" approaches the end-point to provide urgency.

m_flDragLengthMin = 6.0
m_flDragLengthMax = 6.0
m_nNumCirclesAhead = -1  (-1 likely makes all circles in the path visible)
m_flFuseSpeed = 0.0


The point drag puzzles have no level-specific difficulties, likely due to its simplicity.

Difficulty Name	DragLengthMin	DragLengthMax	NumCirclesAhead	FuseSpeed
First	6.0	6.0	-1	0.0
Easy	6.0	8.0	-1	1.0
Medium	7.0	9.0	2	2.0
Hard	8.0	10.0	1	3.0
VeryHard	10.0	12.0	0	3.0

See also

Creating a Holo Hacking Puzzle