Dust Off The Crystal Ball...

Green_MeatGreen_Meat Join Date: 2002-11-06 Member: 7331Members
in NS General Discussion
<div class="IPBDescription">NS2 on the HL2 engine?</div> From what I've seen of the preview pics and movies for HL2, it looks to be the perfect platform for Natural Selection. The level of detail for maps and models is astounding, and the shear size of the levels based on the gameplay I've seen on the preview footage would really give mappers the ability to spread out. I can see the definate benifits of transitioning NS to the HL2 engine.

The question is: Will NS go to HL2?

I suspect that Flayra and the rest of the NS crew don't even have the answer to this one. If it were me, it would come down to how much work could be quickly translated to the new engine, and how much would need recoding from scratch. Not to mention the shear amount of work needed to update all of the models to take advantage of the detail provided by the HL2 engine.

I predict that HL2 will be such a quantum leap forward that all MOD developers, not just the NS team, will be compelled to rebuild in the new reality Valve is creating.

I say "Get ready; you ain't seen nothing yet."

GSH
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Comments

  • MacguyvokMacguyvok Godlike Fuzzydice Join Date: 2003-05-09 Member: 16162Members
    edited May 2003
    Well... Here's a downside. We'll all have to buy HL2 inorder to play NS... personally I think that if they were going to redo all thier code for hl2... then it'd only be a step further to turn Ns into a standalone game.. not just a mod.... *licensing for the HL2 engine being the only prohibitive thing* Which is where NS is destined, IMHO..... I've done some modding before... and lemme tell ya.. a mod like NS is so intense... that re-writing it for HL2 would be enough to push NS 1.1 back to 2 years from now possibly.... I bet that flayra would kill himself if he had to do that... gradually.. yes I sould see it.... before 1.5? I doubt it... most likely NS 2.0 will be HL2..... and I doubt they've planned for a NS 2.0 yet....
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  • Green_MeatGreen_Meat Join Date: 2002-11-06 Member: 7331Members
    I don't expect them to put the breaks on V1.1 to go to HL2. Actually, given the history of this Mod, I would predict that it will be to ver 1.12 before HL2 hits the shelves. At that time, I wouldn't surprised if the NS team took a well earned break for a while (probably to play HL2). On coming back to work, i predict that HL2 will have changed their expectations and goals for NS, and that future incremental updates will be forgone for a direct port to the HL2 engine.

    Licensing? I wasn't aware that licensing was required to mod Half-Life. Valve has pledged the same commitment to the mod community for HL2 as they have shown in the past for HL. Now, if it were to become a stand alone game, I can see a licensing issue there. On the other hand, I seem to remember something about Flayra saying that NS will always be a free mod, so that kinda eliminates the possiblity for a stand-alone NS.

    As for the commitment of buying HL2: I can only speak for myself, but I know MY money is already allocated for it, even if I have to sell a kidney. I'm pretty sure that anyone still playing HL and HL mods will get a copy.

    GSH
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  • InsaneInsane Anomaly Join Date: 2002-05-13 Member: 605Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts, Future Perfect Developer
    Please run a search on this topic and read the many other threads asking this question.
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  • juhojuho Join Date: 2003-02-01 Member: 12965Members
    There is also a machine power issue.

    The HL engine is pretty old, and we all have (at least I hope so) enough horsepower in our computers to run it in a reasonable speed and FPS rate.

    But what about HL2? To get the same FPS we all would have need to by new computers <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->

    The best option would be that the NS in HL2 engine (if it's ever going to happend) would also work on the current HL engine. I also hope that the guys at Valve have gived some time to plan the engine so that it would be as easy as possible to port current mods to the new engine.

    - jtm
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  • RokiyoRokiyo A.K.A. .::FeX::. Revenge Join Date: 2002-10-10 Member: 1471Members, Constellation
    Well hopefully flay attends the next valve mod expo, which is going to go over porting hl1 mods to hl2...

    but one more thing to consider: When Red Alert 2 came out, it split the community in two. Clans were ripped apart, and friendships lost and forgotten as only half the community could afford the new game straight away. Even if Flay co-developed a NS mod for each of the two platforms, nobody on HL2 would want to play it on HL1. As such, we'd face a split. An uneven split that would divide communities, clans and friends alike...

    If the dev team perhaps waited until a few months after NS's release, possibly up to 4 or 5, then the split would possibly be smaller... However then there would be the problem of HL2 owners playing HL2 mods and abandoning anything to do with HL1...

    So what do you do? What would be the best way to keep the community together? How long is too long before people start losing interest? How short is too short before enough people own HL2?
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  • MaTTMaTT Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3033Members
    ^search function^

    use it
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  • NecroNecro &lt;insert non-birthday-related title here&gt; Join Date: 2002-08-09 Member: 1118Members
    the people who would stay would be those who can't afford it and those with under 700mhz computers...and that's not many.

    i say move. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
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  • Nemesis_ZeroNemesis_Zero Old European Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 75Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin--Insane+May 19 2003, 01:21 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Insane @ May 19 2003, 01:21 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Please run a search on this topic and read the many other threads asking this question. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    And with this...

    <span style='color:red'>***Locked.***</span>
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This discussion has been closed.