“A few hours after Adrian Shephard and his squad got scattered allover the Black Mesa Complex, headquarter sent a rescue team to search the lost crew.
But as we all know even a military operation never turns out as planned…
Finding himself in the misery a soldier tries to do the best out of his lonely situation. Searching for allies he quickly becomes a major part in an issue he´s never been training for.”
This was March 2017’s Classic of the Month mod.
- Title: Focalpoint
- File Name: hl1-sp-focal-point-slim.7z / of-sp-focal-point-MAPTAP-ONLY.7z
- Size : 49.9MB / 54.7MB
- Author: Dimitri Vujicic AKA Hundred
- Date Released: 20 December 2012
This mod was originally designed to work on a standalone installation of Half-Life. Since most people now have access to Steam it caused quite a few issues. There are two files below and both work on Steam – and both require Opposing Force. One is for MapTap, the other for manual installation.
THIS FILE IS FOR USE WITH MAPTAP AND OPPOSING FORCE ON STEAM.
Download directly into MapTap [54.7MB]
You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.
THIS FILE IS FOR MANUAL INSTALLATION AND OPPOSING FORCE ON STEAM.
Download to your HDD [49.90MB]
- Make sure Half-Life: Opposing Force is installed, and has been run at least once.
- Copy the focalpoint folder into your half-life steam folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Focalpoint should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
The playthrough below is part of the Classic of the Month Event, run by Don AKA Unq.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image.
Please note that due to the recent Half-Life update, all my screenshots from image 157 were corrupt – sorry.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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15,242Overall
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5Today
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16Last 7 days
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50Last 30 days
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708365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 19 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 4 Hours, 4 Mins
Shortest: 2 Hours, 38 Mins by Whimall56
Longest: 9 Hours by Filthy McNasty
Total Time Played: 81 Hours, 12 Mins
If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?
This is an amazing piece of work. I have to congratulate the author. Yes, there are some issues, but for one person it’s incredible.
I haven’t finished playing because I have hit a bug and hope that readers will read and respond to my call for help above in the main post.
The mod itself is a nice combination of story sequence, action, puzzles and design. Some of the larger areas are really well put together.
Voice acting varies between very, very good to “meh” and the general flow of the mod has been balanced and controlled nicely.
This is without doubt one of my favourite HL1 releases and I will be adding it to the HOM soon.
I’ll write more once I finish the mod.
Seriously, go play it, but check which is the best version for you to download and install.
ENJOY!
Using Gauge
Easy
3 Hours, 25 Minutes
I am playing on a Lenovo dual core 2327 Mhz processor, with 3 gigs ram, Soundmax HD Audio, and Intel GMA3100? not sure how to call out the display adapter. The game was running smooth as silk for about 20 min, until I went through the water, into the bldg, thru the dark pipes and came out up a ladder. It started stuttering and then stopped and the video and sound was looping and stuttering and now I cannot move. I have gone back to the previous save, but the problem of no movement or keyboard is the same. I also tried Megaman’s fix but it did not get my keyboard and movement back –
Surely a HL 1 mod will play on a computer built in 2010? Any ideas?
I downloaded this mod and followed the install instructions for it. There is no keyboard mapping section in the options menu. I started the mod and could not move in any direction. No keyboard response at all. Please help.
try using your standard backward movement key. I remember now the same happened for me but after that my standard keys worked.
for the keyboard thing what I did is copy the file Half-Life\valve\gfx\shell\kb_act.lst file in the mod’s “shell” folder at Half-Life\Focalpoint\gfx\shell and I got my keys back
What should I do if there is no even Half-Life\valve\gfx\shell folder, please?
hmmm not sure why you wouldn’t have those folders….maybe they were added with that update they did not too long ago or maybe you are using the CD version on HL1 ?
Just a heads-up: my anti-virus software detected a trojan in this mod. It (McAfee) identifies Focalpoint\dq2249.icd as a Generic.dx type trojan. This is in the manual install version of the mod; I have no idea if it’s in the MapTap version.
I scanned with Comodo and found no threats. I trust all the files on my site, but the choice is yours.
Further update: I looked around on the net and found out the file came with the original distribution disk of Opposing Force, and this false positive issue has been known about for years. My face is red with embaressment. Sorry if I caused anybody a moment of panic.
I copied the orginal Half-life config file to Focalpoint directory. It uses the keyboard mapping I setup for Half-Life games and it worked fine.
It works fine untill I try to change any key in settings menu. After that I must do copying again.
How does one get to screenshot #33?
BTW, I have deactivated the current, and hopped on crane, as in screenshot #32.
FYI, I’m using manual HL install. in dev-mode: C:\SIERRA\Half-Life\hl.exe -game Focalpoint -dev -console
map intro (runs fine)
map intro0 (runs only the introduction)
Any help will do…30 min. play, and still counting…
You have to jump onto the broken lamp pole and walk across towards the vents.
BTW, please don’t add the meta data until until you have finished the mod, then use the final time.
Thanks for tip, Phillip!
Sorry for including the meta data. My Bad:(
Really amazing mod, very well mapped and scripted. The story is great too. But the combating part of the mod is a bit weak, IMHO. Nevertheless you definitely should play it, because at least it’s really the best mod for Opposing Force and one of the best HL mods also.
P. S. Completed on Hard, totally playable for me (manually installed for Xash3D engine) except of some minor glitches with sticking on elevators etc.
I get a network error when I try to download the manual installation file. Tried Firefox, Chrome and a download manager. It doesn’t matter, got stuck at 99% every single time. Any ideas?
Stuck at screen 66-67. I can’t get the scientist to open door (screen 66) and I don’t know how to get to the area in screen 67. Don’t really know the sequence of events here. Is there a walkthrough for this mod?
Firstly you should save him (screen 62) and then use him 🙂
Ok, I shot the monster and saved the scientist but while on the stairs he stops and refuses to go any further. I keep nugging him but he won’t move. What do I do???
When you say you can’t get the scientist to open the door, do you mean he just stands there? If so, I can only suggest trying loading from an earlier save and bring him along again.
To my knowledge there is no walkthrough for this mod.
I’m stuck at the scene where you’re supposed to shoot the sample in the reactor chamber. I can’t seem to shoot it and then I go to an island with a title that comes up saying stranded. Is there more game to play beyond this?
Thanks.
Click on spoiler to read.
[spoiler]You should shoot sample only when scientist say you to do so. You should be attacked by horde of aliens before this 🙂 . And It should be a second sample, obtained after visiting laboratories etc., not the first one. After successful shot game will continue with some epic scenes. The end is when you’ve finally met some friendly soldiers and a helicopter.[/spoiler]
Since it has become difficult to get mods running on Steam or at least this one here in particular I’ve installed it on good old WON Half-Life. If you like to try it yourself on WON then I recommend it to do it like I did. Please note the game unlike on steam crashed 0 times at all for me. @Phillip you may wanna try it my way to finish this mod. 🙂
Installation: Make sure your WON Hl is patched up to v46/1.1.1.0 and that you have Blue Shift & Opposing Force installed as well.
Then just make a copy of your Gearbox folder.
Rename the mod folder “Focalpoint” to anything else you want.
Now open up the original mod folder and copy following files and folders into your new copy of the Gearbox folder:
events
gfx
maps
media
models
sound
sprites
All files with the ending .wad. Just to be sure in case he used custom textures.
titles.txt
do not copy the pak0.pak as it is incomplete.
libist.gam
Once u selected all files just copied them into the root directory of your Gearbox copy folder. Overwrite everything.
Once that is done as well rename the gearbox copy folder to Focalpoint and delete the older former Focalpoint which you previously renamed.
Now there’s one last step to attend to. During my first play through I noticed missing Animations of the Scientists. Copy all Scientist models (.mdl) of your Blue Shift folder into your newly created Focalpoint – models folder. I don’t know why but he used the Blue Shift scientist models instead of the Gearbox Opposing Force Scientists after I replaced em they played the correct animations during the game.
have fun the mod should be running now. When I tried the original mod folder the way he released it the game just wouldn’t start on Hl1 WON. Some people said it’s related to the client dll files within the mod folder but when I replaced those it still didn’t work for me and thats why I started this whole deal in first place.
———————————————————–
Wow this one was truly a masterpiece of work.
Everything starts rather great with a good intro introducing the players into their mission which is nothing less than to search and rescue the Goose Squadrons which were shot down in the original Intro of Opposing Force.
Be it as it is you and your men fall prey to the same bad ass Aliens which also shot down Sheppard’s team.
And here just starts your real journey. During the game you will encounter many obstacles and eventually unite with some of the Black Mesa personnel to rescue once again the world.
Mapping: 5 of 5 Brilliant piece of work worthy to be in the top list of the best hl1 mods out there.
Architecture 5 of 5 Also here the areas flowed and actually made sense the way they were constructed and connected to one another that means as far as it is possible for a fictional thing. By the texture choices it also was perfect. Expect to see some of the nicest areas possible in a Hl1 mod.
Story 3.5 of 5: While the story is very good and also gets supported by some very nice voice acting it ignores some of the main events of Half-Life Blue Shift & Half-Life Decay and sets yet another approach on how things did turn out. It’s not bad though just a new mod that sets a new perspective on things.
Gameplay 4 of 5: The gameplay was very good and I wasn’t even stuck once. All puzzles did make sense and were rather easy to solve as the game told you what you need to do in order to advance. Also the monster placement was fairly executed. Basically it was just a matter of finding certain things and activating those to advance. Nice work with the hints. Something each mod should do as it prevents possible frustration for the players.
One thing I missed in this mod were scripted npc sequences while it had a lot early on -they became rather rare later in game (pure friendly npc scripts). Most friendly npcs (Scientists) were just standing there and didn’t do much. Rather unusual considering they were in the midst of an apocalypse. But that was just a minor thing as the whole mod by itself was still very epic. One last thing I missed were the lack of support of fellow grunts & perhaps some fights against Male Black Ops. and where was the G-Man. I didn’t spot him even once during the entire mod. How can that be?! A hl mod without the G-Man can’t be a true Half-Life mod. 😛
Never the less play it right now people you wont regret it. And for some of you this may even become an ultimate favorite mod. Thanks to the author for this gem. 🙂
Manually
Medium
3 Hours, 30 Minutes
That’s interesting – I heaved the mod folder and the WON.dll straight into my c:/Sierra/Half-Life folder, activated it as additional content, and it ran ok for me. My current problems with this mod have just become video-related. OpenGL setting used to work; now it’s broken, only on this mod! Arghhh.
I note, though that I’m on 45/1.1.0.8, maybe that’s it? Any tips on how to upgrade to 1.1.1.1 now that the update servers are just fossils? Ta!
Nice “how to’, by the way, ailing mods need more nurturing like this, +1.
Can anyone help with this. I can’t turn the power off, therefore its impossible to get to image 32. Shot out the grills up high outside, found the wrench and fixed the flow control, but in the generator room the input lever will not move. I reloaded from an earlier save twice, and tried doing things in a different order.
I’m using the manual install HL1 version. Enjoyable mod so far, and I’d like to continue.
my antivirus blocks this mod from downloading. Obviously there’s some file in there that shouldn’t be in there. Can someone clean this up a bit. Remove the dq2249.icd from the archive, and any other unnecessary replicated op4 files, plz
It’s clean, don’t worry. It’s a false alert.
This file is unnecessary to run the mod. So it’s better to remove it from archive. Yes, it’s false alert, but why people should disable their AV software to download this file? 🙂 It’s the only right way to make people don’t worry.
@dougjp: Normally it should work. Are you sure you fixed the machine with that wrench inside that machine room? It goes automatically.
Also make sure you hold down the use key while pressing the lever.
If it’s still not working just noclip into the went. Normally you would disable the power by completing that puzzle and then entering the went through that tower and a lantern. So you wont miss anything when you use noclip.
@2muchvideogames: My standard answer to you – get a decent firewall AVG or whatever it is you use is crap. I suggest Avast Viruskiller. There is no virus in that file. So ignore the warning it’s just a false alert.
Thanks, and yes the machine in the machine room was fixed.
I must be confused, ” hold down the use key while pressing the lever “? How is that possible to do two things? I have weapons in hand and the “e” use key is all I can use, as far as I know. Or shoot weapons at it while holding down the “e” key, which makes no difference.
I have to figure a way to make it work normally or quit. I won’t use no clip on any mod. Either its possible to play or it isn’t.
So I used noclip for the first time ever to get by the area with the power I can’t turn off. How can anyone rate a mod at all after using that?
Ran into another one, the blue access card in the drawer can’t be picked up. I’m just sick of this kind of thing, and quit this mod. Why is anything that has bugs like this ever posted at all…..grrrr, just to aggravate people.
Whilst I understand your sentiments, I feel you are being too hard on the modder. Some things never appear in testing and some are impossible to anticipate. I didn’t have trouble with the lever puzzle but the blue card was a bitch to pick up.
In addition, I had two serious crashes that were game stoppers. I managed to look past those to the amazing work that was included.
I urge you to continue because it really is worth it.
I hear you, Phillip. So I went back and tried to get the access card. I spent 20 minutes trying, on top of what I did before. I even tried activating noclip and that wouldn’t work. I just don’t know how much aggravation is enough, but I think I have reached it now.
I easily got the blue key card once I [spoiler]”took care” of the guy watching me.[/spoiler] I couldn’t pick it up before I did that.
I was not able to pick the blue card at first. But I went over the area again and came back to it and was able to pick it up. I think you either have to kill you have to kill the guard first. I alot further along and I don’t really remember but I think I was able to pick it up after I did that.
Yes, that’s it. I tried to pick it up with fatso still alive; he kept saying “Nope” to me and then some quip about repeating himself, but after a headshot he quietened down substantially and then the card picked up easily with “use”. So, shoot fatguard first, then pick up card.
Did you get to what I think is the ending sequeunce where the reactor is going crazy shooting at everything on the “Surface”. After I wait until I can jump of the ledge with the doors at both ends that won’t open and go back to elevator that takes you back to the “Lab” with the scientist. I get back to him and he just stands there. Is there something that I have to do before I go back up there.
Without screens to us as a reference it’s easy to get confused.
Right, so you’ve jumped off the ledge (it’s actually a HUGE alien ship that’s shooting those beams at you – try briefly switching video modes from open_gl to software, to see it, but now your nightvision may be farked so switch back), taken the elevator (AGAIN!!) to the labs – do you see the sample going mad now & shooting beams? You should hear the scientist giving you specific spoken instructions at this point, which you must follow carefully..
The trick is to get him to give up his Desert Eagle before you take him out. 🙂
You don’t have to Kill him actually. Once he appears, go to the staircase ,all the way down and press the fire alert button. Look what’s gonna happen. When Otis is distracted and bothered with buying a candybarr, you should be able to take the blue card anyway.
Pretty sure (90%) I already had it by then; it’s what I shot him in the head with. Can’t remember where from, though.
A pleasure to play, albeit a bit too easy, and the elevator rides were a bit tiring.
Had to load it up with Opposing Force through because Valve decided to remove D3D from Half-Life, and my laptop doesn’t handle OpenGL well. Luckily it was made for OpFor, I’m not so sure other mods would work as well with this method.
Only issue I had were some missing scientist animations, sticking the scientist model files into the gearbox/models fixed the issue just fine.
**Played it on medium, put easy by mistake
***It would seem editing removes the recommendation additional info..
Manually
Easy
3 Hours
Philip, Did you ever get the savefile you needed? I am locking up after I get the relay and try to use the Lab elevator. Anyone have a save just past that? I’m assuming I need to go see that scientist again. Thanks.
Yes, the modder sent me a file, which I will send to you the moment I finish this comment. Let me know if you need help using the save files.
Thanks Philip! got it!
First I tried the MapTap/Op4 version and had problems right at the beginning with the on-screen text being wrong and the custom voices not working. So I installed the full version including the wondll and that version ran fine for me, no bugs whatsoever in the pack.
Overall I loved this mod. It is a thoroughly polished release which is simply not that common, particularly in mods made by a single person. Nice, creative puzzles abound, and I thought the voice acting was very good and clear. There isn’t too much of a distinct story, but it fits in nicely with the Black Mesa story we’re all familiar with and certainly has a satisfying climax.
There is no shortage of “wow” moments here. I won’t spoil too much, but the pack kicks off with a nice sequence outside Black Mesa involving alien aircraft, and you get to see quite a few other varieties of these craft throughout Focalpoint. There were a number of impressive setpieces and sequences that made this pack memorable.
What makes this one of the best packs I’ve ever played are the details. Yes, there are some crates. But there are also a huge variety of other objects and details that help bring life to these maps and create a believable BMRF. Nowhere seems empty, even the wide open places you come across.
This is one of the only mods that really captures the scale and grandness of Black Mesa. I especially liked the radioactive container area and the power station where you have to replace a relay, but I thought the outdoor areas were also superb.
The only negatives I could mention about this pack is that I thought the pacing could have been improved, specifically in the last few maps where there is simply too much elevator riding. Other than that, I thought the maps flowed pretty well together. Combat is rather on the light side, but ammo and health are in short supply as well so for most of the pack I was on guard, having pretty low health. Be warned, especially if you take significant combat or falling damage: health is sparse and you can often go a couple maps until finding the next health pack.
A must play.
Manually
Medium
3 Hours, 25 Minutes
The screens end before the mod ends. The last three puzzles are not included in the screens. Here you help the scientist in the “lab” get the reactor started. I’m on the finally phase after he gives me the blue access key. I go to the surface, into the vents and in the area with to machine gun turrents. After you knock out the turrents, what do you do?
Watch for [spoiler]big rock over your head[/spoiler].
Thaaaank You. I don’t know how I missed that.
How are you getting on, now?
First of all, I want to thank Unq for the tip early on in the mod about the keycard in the drawer. That allowed me to carry on. And to Phillip for urging me to keep going. This report is tough to write.
OK so I’m at the point of shooting the sample, with low health, have done it maybe 20 times and swear I’ve accurately shot it, but it doesn’t “take”. Knowing it must be at the end of the game and being so fed up with this mod, I feel I qualify to rate it. I see very few people have rated this mod compared to others, which is likely due to them not finishing it for one of many reasons, and perhaps they just didn’t say anything and quit.
This mod is so buggy I would have rated it a Play It Later at best, however the sheer brilliance of this creation forces me to rate it higher. You can’t expect better in terms of rating from someone who was stuck in a particular elevator sequence Twenty Five Times despite jumping up and down, changing positions etc. Finally broke free by going floor by floor instead of to my desired floor, and quicksaving, then restarting the game etc. In other words, eventually I got lucky. Too much to go through, its supposed to be a game and therefore enjoyable. I have played hundreds of HL maps with almost no such problems. Actually I recall the original HL game was worse than most for elevators. I’ve got to conclude the screen resolution may affect the elevator sticking, dunno. I play at 1920 X 1200.
I mentioned sheer brilliance. Well its clear from the comments from others above and their ratings why that is. Its amazing really, so much time and thought must have gone into this. Problem detail fixing and/or testing time, not so much, apparently.
I am glad I stuck to it for the experience. So would just say, be prepared for aggravation if problems happen to you.
Manually
Medium
3 Hours
Well done for persevering, but really you’d save yourself a world of pain if you’d just give in and noclip out of being stuck! That’s the intended function of the command; it’s not cheating to free yourself from a sticky elevator! Bind it to a key, and keep your sanity. 🙂
Agreed, using noclip just to get un-stuck is not like you’re cheating to get past an obstacle or anything. I think it’s just a practical way to deal with bugs or architecture that you get stuck on.
Sorry you had so many bugs, doug. I also play at 1920×1200 and didn’t have any elevator problems. Did you play under WON or Steam? Steam for me.
How do you bind noclip to a key? I could really use that!! Thanks!
For Steam HL/OF, make sure the option “Enable Developer Console” is ticked in Main Menu/Options/Keyboard/Advanced. In game (or start menu) open console with tilde key (for me it’s the key left of “1/!” key) and at the cursor type sv_cheats 1 [enter] then bind[space]p[space]noclip [enter] which will toggle noclip in game when you hit “p”. Or any unbound key you prefer, rather than p.
For WON versions, you have to start the game with the -dev -console options, then quicksave/reload after setting sv_cheats 1 and then your “cheat” commands will work, e.g. noclip, impulse ### etc.
Actually, from the horse’s mouth:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Developer_Console
and
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Category:Console_Commands
Either in the console, or as a line in userconfig.cfg: bind x noclip – where x is the key you want to bind. That will toggle noclip on and off every time you press that key. You also need to add +sv_cheats 1 to the launch options to make sure you can use noclip.
I actually had to shoot the sample a few times before it took, and was at like 8 health. It’s also kind of hard to see with the bright glow and everything happening.
I will say that even if you can’t get past this section, you should manually load the next map just to experience your escape from the test lab – it’s quite impressive.
Best-ending-ever! Although after that crazy ride, I’d have been happier if the squad offered me fresh underwear as well as an extraction.. wow, just amazing!
Sticking on elevators can by reduced by lowering of fps rate to 60 or less. Try to type into console: fps_max 60 before you are using an elevator.
Noclip can be binded by
[spoiler]typing into console:
bind “key_you_want_to_use” noclip
sv_cheats 1 should be enabled also[/spoiler]
Also on WON Hl & OF you need to quicksave/reload for sv_cheats 1 to take effect.
Reply to Sparks from 3/15/2013:
I went back to the labs and stood in from of the reactor. The sample is floating in the air with beams shooting from it. The scientist doesn’t say anything. What is it you have to do? What needs to happen?
You should visit surface and service levels to enable power for reactor. After you made it, you will return to testchamber for the final sequence.
If you already did it, maybe something goes wrong for you…
Hmm, sounds as though something is stuck for you. When you take the elevator to the test chamber (only option; all other buttons broken) you should see the sample going crazy. Over the Tannoy the scientist tells you to shoot it WHEN HE SAYS SO; within a few seconds of that message, all hell breaks loose & half of Zen warps in to spoil your day. Tip – climb the ladder to the platform (where the ‘start rotors” button used to be in HL) as the vorts can’t zap you through the floor of the platform, leaving the controllers & alien grunts to be dealt with.)
Did you hear all the other custom messages from the test lab scientist? If you don’t get the final one, the last battle may not trigger, I don’t know, and you probably won’t hear the prompt to “shoot the sample” the timing of which is fairly critical…
Did you use MapTap, manual Steam instal or manual HL WON instal? Unq says his MapTap instal had no custom voices, this could be it for you too. Persevere – it’s well worth the trouble!
I wanted to say thanks so much for all the help, and I learned some things about the game too (eg; bindings, frame rate limitation as a solution to the elevator problem – I’ll test that one next time).
Managed to experience the awesome train ride which in itself would have taken a lot of work to create!
*Round of applause from everyone*
Well done! Even though you seemed to have had the hardest time with it, I hope you think it was worthwhile.
I just finished the mod and it is indeed one of the best I have ever played, great layout, gameplay and of course the train ride at the end tops it all! Still I got the same dying problems as Philip and had to noclip at the waste containers and in elevators often too. Also the section outside with the female agents was completely off balance! They hurt me much harder than normally possible and there wasn’t any way to raise health and armor for the final battle.
One word review: masterpiece
FINALLY…It’s complete. This by far was the best HL mod I’ve played. It’s difinitely up there with mods like “They Hungar”. I’m not much of a reviewer but this one is one of the best. It had just the right amount of ammo reloads and health at the right times. The best part was the ending sequence with the rail car ride. Shades of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”.
Thanks to all the guys in the PlanetPhillip community for all the help.
Manually
Easy
9 Hours
Good job! Awesome, wasn’t it?
Clearly, this is an exceptional achievement. The sheer scale, intricacies and level of detail are just fantastic, certainly right up there with retail releases; since it kind of has Zen (well, its denizens, anyway) then the comparison to HL1 is easier still – I think Focal Point is ahead, just in terms of complexity & detail. It’s more condensed as well, which is perfect. A marvelous achievement!
The objectives were pretty clear, there was even on-screen instructions (not necessary if you look as you go), the combat was pitched at a good level and the progression “puzzles” were well thought out. Some say the sewer was obscure, but by then you have a feel for how Dimitri thinks – you know there’s going to be a slightly obscure passage, and if you found the combination lock before, you know to look out for the code (as you’re not going to get anyone up there to let you in). You do need to keep your sense of direction, though! The sewer whirlpool was great, as were all of the various mechanisms and physics-based set pieces for that matter, which is what made this so much fun for me (Ok, so I like plant rooms with pipes); I felt right at home traversing the various sub-basement passageways, crawl spaces full of gear & cramped pump rooms – they felt really realistic and nicely crafted. Full marks on design.
The UFO’s were just fantastic! Beautifully crafted, and well scripted – the big circular one was awesome; I felt quite sorry for the hapless cargo “plane, but the Big Daddy on the surface level was the most daunting of all, especially with that blasted death ray, quite formidable! More brown moments, leaping off as it zapped away..
My only real peeve was the deliberate time wasting, which really let this masterpiece down. It was obvious, tiring, predictable and extremely tedious.
At the risk of a long post, just to make everyone’s point quite clear to the author, I’m listing the journeys necessary in the main section of the campaign – bear in mind there’s already been a mini version of this nonsense in the radioactive liquid transport section. Sorry it’s long – if people object I will ask Phillip to delete it.
Potential SPOILER ALERT.
Storage level
Main elevator
Labs level
Service elevator 1
Test chamber
Control room (yellow keycard)
Test chamber
Service elevator 1
Labs level
Level B – Hydrofauna (Air bottle/Test sample)
Labs level
Service elevator 1
Test chamber
Control room (Drop sample/Spectrometer false start #1/red keycard)
Test chamber
Service elevator 1
Labs level
Main elevator
Surface level (Collect relay)
Main elevator
Service level
Service elevator 2
Service elevator 3
Control room 2 (Kliener/Replace relay)
Service elevator 3
Service elevator 2
Service level
Main elevator
Labs level
Service elevator 1
Test chamber
Control room (Initialize spectrometer/Collect sample)
Test chamber (Insert sample)
Control room (Spectrometer false start #2/Blue keycard)
Service elevator 1
Labs level
Main elevator
Surface level
Cal1: 24s
Cal2: 27s
Cal3: 29s
Cal4: 15s
Main elevator
Labs level
Service elevator 1
Test chamber (Shoot Sample!)
‘Brown” ride
Extract
So, I reckon that’s a total of 17 ELEVATOR JOURNEYS (many of which ‘stuck’; thanks for that, Valve) and to add further insult, about 1m 35s of standing there holding my knob(s) during “calibration’! Even the Scientist was apologetic on the last pointless errand, recognizing perhaps the absurdity of the situation.
So for this reason, an easy PF is downgraded to PIN, however painful flaws aside, this is indeed a real masterpiece. Please make more, but preferably, with NO ELEVATORS!!!
That was incredible! Firstly, let me say that I played on the Half-Life mod version, and I experienced no serious issues (other than the blue key card mentioned above), and only a few minor clipping bugs that noclip can solve.
This has to be one of the most detailed and convincing interpretations of Black Mesa ever, trumping even Half-Life in places. In most mods, these environments seem to exist only as individual corridors and rooms with no purpose. In Focal Point, the world seems like an interconnected, and very much alive, place. The architecture is exquisite, every room filled with pipes or machinery that never seems out of place. The mod is not heavy on combat, and instead allows for loads of exploration and some nice puzzles, which makes a great change from the HL1 norm and makes the most of the mapping.
We start off in the desert after some introductory cutscenes; I love this type of environment and it sets things up well with some great scripted sequences. Also introduced are some huge new alien ships which prove to be a threat throughout the mod. Subsequently we enter Black Mesa through a vast dam and explore many other areas. They are each equally detailed, even the classic ventilation ducts have been spruced up a bit. I also love how much the environments link up – you will often return to a previous area hours later, armed with a new route forward. It was interesting how a plot is gradually introduced through the later segments of the mod, so that by the end you have a definite goal.
Before we get there though, there are lots of fantastic puzzles, with a very Valve-esque chapter involving fixing a waste processing plant being one of the highlights. There was all kinds of technical wizardry involved in a lot of places and I have no idea how some things were done in Goldsource.
Finally, we arrive back at the original Sector C test chamber, albeit a little modified. Definitely an atmospheric spot for a conclusion, but as Sparks notes above, the pacing is really killed at this point. The player has to carry out a lot of separate tasks which involve going back-and-forth an extremely large amount on a slow elevator. Whilst there were some great set-pieces here like a huge array on the surface and others that I won’t give away, there are some almost filler levels. An encounter with a lot of ceiling turrets and fighting Black Ops in some very out of place fir trees were some of the very few low points of the mod. Despite this, the incredible grand finale, when it finally arrived, made it all worthwhile and secured it my very rare Personal Favourite!
This is definitely a must-play and I found it to be better than some of the classics. It is worth getting around the bugs!
Manually
Easy
5 Hours
Ok, so I am trying to ride the waste container up to level D as in screen 84-85 but I get to the top (screen 85) and I die instantly. Any tricks to get this to work? I’m sure I could just noclip but it kinda takes the fun out of it. I am using the manual half-life steam installation and I didn’t try to change video mode or anything like that yet…. just wanted to see if there was anyone here that had that problem first. Thanks.
If you die then you have to “noclip”. I died well over 20 times and it either seems to happen and there’s no solution or you get past it immediately.
Seems I was lucky enough not to get this problem. Would either of you guys like savegames?
Thanks for the savegame offer Sparks but I guess I’ll just noclip. But who knows I may need a savegame later on…..
Phillip, I guess I already knew I would have to noclip but thought I’d check in case I missed something. I tried several times but always died but not always at the top of the waste container lift. Sometimes I died at the bottom of the lift just sitting in the container. Also, I died a few times on the elevator ride too, for no apparent reason… just splat!…I was dead….
Thanks for the input!
I WANT TO CUT MY FREAKIN VEINS!!!!, due to the recent HL update I can’t play this mod even a bit!!! when I try to launch at steam it deplys a window stating: Fatal Error: could not load library c:/program files (X86)/steamapps/common/half-life/focalpoint/cl_dlls/client.dll
PLEASE HEEELP!!
I was able to fix the problem, appparently I didn’t place the won.dll file right, but i’m still in trouble I AM TOTALLY UNABLE TO MOOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALSO THE KEY EDITOR IS TOTALLY DEAD SO I CAN’t FIX THE W,S,D,A KEYS IN ORDER TO MOVE I CAN’t MOVE AT ALL IN THE GAME HOW CAN I FIX THIS!!!!
I believe someone else already mentioned it but what I did was copy another half-life config.cfg into focal point. Then I had to make a userconfig.cfg with all the keyboard settings because the game will rewrite the config.cfg and put it back to the way it was without the keyboard stuff. I was not able to get the options keyboard menu to work
Yeah. I did exactly that, what you said with the config file and I solved it gladly, but the problem is that i’m afraid im unable to launch some hl1 mods still, because they crash inmediately when I atempt to start a new game. That happens to me with the intolerable threat mod.
LOL, guys, just forget about Steam and use Xash3D Engine to play almost any HL singleplayer mod. Xash3D makes all things much more easier. I’ve personally played over 200 different HL mods and loads of maps with using of Xash3D Engine, and now I never use Steam or WON HL to play any SP mod, except only if this mod has really serious problems with Xash3D. But actually only few HL SP mods are incompatible with Xash3D among of about 500 maps and mods, that have been tested already. Once you have Xash3D properly installed, you will also forget about those freaking Valve’s updates.
Well, I guess my recomendation will balance the kind of “rating” this mod has so far… when i’m writing 4 blue PF and 5 green PN. And though this is not a competition for recomendations, I guess this mod definitely deserves great palms at the end, and as a whole.
The fact is created by just one single guy, is just awsome itself, a little bit like the “g string” mod feeling. Now, one of the things I liked about this mod, is that it feels as a classic from the beggining to the end, I mean, the intention is clear, this is heavely inspired in the HL1 old school projects from the first 2000’s years, I mean i’m reffering to “Sweet HL”, “Life’s End” and other classic mod titles.
The maps are huge and the story fits really nice into the HL1 universe, as the old school clasic mods do, now the creativity of the author is all the way in the mod. From new alien spaceships, to little details involving clever puzzles. I normaly freakin hate backtracking, but here those main backtrack parts, are just integrated so well and they don’t feel hectic, tough the last elevator rides at the ending maps could be kind of annoying.
The only weak points I think many of you in this recomm. post have stated. Low ammo and health provition, kind of low combat but strategicly well planned, and some sttutering thech problems, which I don’t think is the author’s fault, I think those wierd bugs are due to the last HL1 valve’s freakin update. And maybe there are 2 main parts where is just really easy to get dissoriented and lost, but I think if you’re careful in the environment details you can figure ot the route and go on.
In conclussion, this is a solid mod, you should definetely try it if you love HL1 nostalgia, and if you think there are no more old school classic HL1 mods to play, well you have to play this and be satisfied.
Manually
Medium
3 Hours, 40 Minutes
Incredible quality in this mod. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the screenshots and description, but once I was in-game I was blown away. Yes, there were some problems, but I can’t say much more than other reviewers have already said. The little bugs can be frustrating at times, but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives.
While a lot of the voice acting wasn’t that great, the story itself was really quite stellar and I love how it tied into the original Half-Life story. My favorite part by far, however, is the mapping. Some of the best mapping I’ve seen in the GoldSrc engine in any mod. All the areas just felt so believable. The scripting of NPCs and scenes were also very well done.
Aside from the occasional bug, the one problem I had was that certain areas made my game lag significantly. And I’m on a pretty decent system that can run games like Battlefield 3 or ARMA III at high settings, so it boggled my mind as to why it was happening. It was limited to a few maps only however, and it didn’t keep me from finishing the mod.
What are you waiting for? Play it! (Just be prepared to bust out “noclip” if you have to.)
Manually
Easy
5 Hours
Good lord, will someone please help me. I’m standing right at screen 68. I have almost no health, and certainly no rad suit. Jumping in there is death. Did I miss something earlier on?
Yes you have. If I remember correctly, there’s a bunch of Scientists working in a remote computer lab up at the very top levels of the residue processing area, maybe 6 of them or so together in a quiet office area with glass doors & consoles, I think it’s either at or around image 63. On one of the consoles there’s a switch you can operate, I think it has a relevant label. It drains the radioactive goo allowing your passage through the tunnel.
You’ll know when you’re in the right area, due to the perverse nature of the mapper – it’ll be the furthest possible distance away from the tunnel requiring the absolute maximum of backtracking and returning!
n.b. it’s been a while & I might be completely wrong. With this mod you need to keep your eyes peeled and the rule of thumb is that if it looks awkward or tedious, you’ll need to do it sooner or later. Enjoy!
Faaantastic. You were right. Thanks a ton Sparks.
Cheers! You’re welcome.
Advance warning – elevators figure HUGELY in this mod – if you find yourself experiencing the “stuck elevator” bug (where you can’t move) take Qwertyus” suggestion of lowering the fps to 60 via the console. Enable then open the console, type fps_max 60 then enter, escape to close console. (Of course if you never get ‘stuck” you can ignore this.) Either that or bind noclip to a key (see previous posts above) so that you can unstick yourself with ease.
You will need patience playing this one, but it’s well worth it! Also, if you are only seeing parts of things it may help to switch video modes depending on your card & drivers (I had to flip back & forth between opengl & software to properly display ‘moving things in the sky” which is all I’ll say without spoiling it).
Good mod.
WARNING! Found a Trojan.Agent.AGVK on file DQ2249.ICD
in the Focalpoint directory.
Quarantined it.
2 years later after my first comment, I am finally playing this mod on my PC…wouldn’t run on my laptop, though it is a formidable machine. I am having problems maneuvering. Right now I am really stuck, for a half hour, trying to enter an air vent. I have tried crouching, crouch jumping, just walking in, jumping in, running at it…everything, and I simply cannot enter the vent. If I can’t figure out how to get in, the game is over for me. Any suggestions?
I don’t specifically remember this vent. Can you maybe share a screenshot? And the name of the map (bsp)? If you type status in the console, it should tell you the map name (amongst other info).
Thanks Unq. Typed in “status” to the console and got this:
# name userid uniqueid frag time ping loss adr
# 1 “Shephard” 1 STEAM_ID_LAN 0 00:28 0 0
1 users
Here is a link to the screenshot. It’s early into the game. It’s in the dark so the night vision is on. Have to go into the vent on the left and break through a grate. Hope this link works.
Screenshot
I am an experienced player so am baffled why my usual moves aren’t working. Crouch (on this mod called ‘duck’) seems to be a toggle so I tried toggling many times. Can’t stand up because it’s a low ceiling. Trying to get inside the top of the bldg after the Zen flier knocks down the elec. tower. Climb up a broken lamppost to enter one of a pair of outside vents high up the bldg, and then end up here, stuck.
Before that text in the console, the status command gives you some other info like game, map, location, etc. But don’t worry, I found the spot in the screenshot.
Yes, you can get in there. It’s a little tricky since the opening is small and off the ground. I found it best to crouch walk until you’re all the way up to the opening, and then try jumping as you press forward. It took me a few tries, you have to be perfectly centered to get in there. But then you can break that vent cover you see in the left vent and proceed.
Good luck, this mod is worth the minor setbacks you come across!
Edit: if worse comes to worst, you can use noclip to get past that section, then use it again to toggle noclip off.
Thank you Unq. After about 40 tries, I used noclip as you suggested. I am now happily playing.
I just finished Focal Point. The ending was so satisfying! I had a few problems maneuvering and had to use noclip once to get inside a pipe. I spent a good half hour trying every kind of way to get in and finally used noclip so I could keep playing. Twice I used God mode because I was at 2 life and little ammo, but I turned it off immediately. I tried to play on Hard, as I do all my HL games and mods, but the game wouldn’t proceed because a needed action wouldn’t happen, and a needed item could not be acquired. I tried it on Medium and the problem solved. I really enjoyed the architecture. Though there were areas where there were many paths to choose, the game always brought me around to the correct one through exploring. I wish there had been a few more weapons and ammo supplies because I got so low those two times I had to use God mode to get through. I don’t have a problem getting down to 1 life point, and almost always find a way to survive and recover. Thanks for a great ride!
Manually
Medium
9 Hours
Ah, glad you finished it. There are some fantastic areas near the end that aren’t captured in Phillip’s screenshots above. There are also a couple memorable moments and quite a fun ride, too. 🙂
Wow! , amazing mod, amazing game play and amazing story, i can imagine how you build this mod!, LoL , I am waiting for next order mod!! Cheers!
good
Manually
Hard
4 Hours
This is amazing beyond words, and I’m astonished I have not seen this mod before this year.
The most impressive feature is that it was being developed by a one-man army, and there is such great content – and never seen before – that I hope this guy will get a ticket in the “pro” industry.
The maps are HUGE and extremly cleverly thought, this is VALVe-like quality and I could say even “beyond”, I wonder if Valve would have thought some people could get the vanilla engine to this point?? Furthermore, the mod uses a lot of impressive scripted sequences which provides the player with uncredible sequences : from Xen ships destroying Ospreys and bridges to rolling (??!!!???) vats, and RED FACTION-like destructive sequences,
Focalpoint show us that – sometimes without trying to modify the engine – we can get the better of a 20 year old engine by extensive work and virtuosity. I will remember for a long time that Garg sequence or the whole climax, and even “small” yet inventive sequences like how to get rid of Otis to get a keycard – using non-lethal methods on a 1998 game is clearly impressive, and also throwing myself in the depths of sewers, etc…
For 75% of the mod, it can be seen as a GoldSrc version – in style – of the great Research and Development for SOURCE. And it is so great.
However, however… Like many mod’s developed by “one guy”, the mod also has the usual flaws… When it comes to fights, the difficulty suddenly goes mad and you’ve to fight, especially at the end, too much enemies with so few health, and ammo… This is a real pain in the […] and I had to use the hated “God” mode or I’d have died without any options.
That, and also, like so many reviewers said it, elevator sequences getting repeated again and again…
But, besides these flaws, this is such a great experience it’s clearly in the top 10 of HL1 mods “vanilla”, and some could say in the top 5 if not top 3…
The final tram sequence is clearly the cherry on the cake and shows us how some people can – 15 years after HL1 – surprise us with putting the game to its limits.
Clearly a WOW mod.
Manually
Medium
4 Hours
___
In this mod you return to black mesa and see some genuinely impressive re-imaginings of the areas near the sector C test labs. It’s brilliant– the reveals of areas from the vanilla game made me pause and take it all in– something absent from most mods.
___
-If I had any gripe it’s that while the vistas and areas are amazing, the total size of the facility doesn’t seem as sprawling and that there should be some more things done to combat that. Even in areas you /know/ are deep underground in the facility, I felt as if I was never far from the surface.
=The mod takes a little bit to really find its groove, which is the test labs levels.
=The creator enjoys letting you loose in a large area with several smaller sub-sections of the map to explore. Each sub-section normally contains a few things you need to progress. If you don’t enjoy that, it’s important to know that’s most of what this mod’s maps are.
+There’s a lot of unique spaceships that serve to pepper interesting set pieces.
Manually
Hard
3 Hours
Not much to say, just an AMAZING mod
Manually
Medium
3 Hours, 25 Minutes
i’d love to give this mod a try, but as soon as i can take control i notice a problem with mouse aiming. if i look in any direction, the camera quickly snaps back to its initial view and i can never turn around. i can walk everywhere just fine but if i turn around, it snaps back into place and it can be very nauseating. anyone know a way to fix this?
1) Press “ESC”
2) Click “Options”
3) Click “Mouse”
4) Click on “Raw-Mouse Input”
5) Press “ESC” again
6) Should work fine
I put this in Steam/Steamapps/common/Half Life folder, and it shows up on Steam games list. Just does not work. Seems to launch OK but nothing happens when I select New Game and choose a difficulty, hit play. Nothing, just stare at the menu screen and music.
Ideas?
Make sure you have Opposing Force installed, and that you’ve run Op4 at least once.
Thanks, Unq, that was the problem, working fine now.
You know, this information is slightly…..well….vital to getting this mod working. The sort of thing that ought to be in the installation instructions, right?
A Half-Life Opposing Force mod, Focalpoint aims to provide a side story to the much admired expansion where you play as a seemingly unnamed Marine of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, sent in to investigate the crashed “Goose Three” Osprey, featured in the Opposing Force intro, and to rescue the downed Marines. Of course, as with most Black Mesa stories, everything takes a turn for the worse for the rescue team. The story of our unnamed Marine starts off with an opening cutscene of the rescue team being briefed on the mission prior to heading out. The cutscene, along with the rest of the mod, includes new voice acting that does a worthy attempt of providing the player with a general idea of how to proceed. The voice acting itself is decent enough, considering that this is a mod created seemingly by one man, and you have to take into account that most voice acting for mods aren’t going to be of a professional standard. Seeing as I could understand what was being said and understood the general tone of the characters, the voice acting is commendable.
Following the opening cutscene, you can expect to find fairly well executed scripted events mixed with platforming and the occasional puzzle. The level design, whilst faithful to Half-Life, can lead to some disorientation and confusion as quite often the player loops back around to previously explored areas, which does help make the world feel connected but does come with the caveat of potentially making the player feel lost and unsure of where to progress next. And while the voice acting can help further progress when it’s there, I did find myself confused as what to do when it wasn’t around as some of the platforming in Focalpoint is a bit more extreme than what you’d experience in the original game. Perhaps markers or some sort of text could be utilised to help encourage the player in the right direction?
Surprisingly, there isn’t a whole lot of action in the first half of the mod. The only real threat you’ll experience at first are headcrabs, zombies and a single, lethal female Black-Op who is best not to engage with in a firefight if you are playing on ‘Hard’ and have little health to fight following the beginning sequences. Instead, you’re better off running to the nearby elevator. Speaking of health, there aren’t many health or armour charging stations in the first and second half of Focalpoint and ammo can become scarce if you are overzealous with your weaponry, making the mod a tad bit more difficult in the process. It can be challenging in certain areas, but seeing as how little action is in the first half, the difficult curve isn’t too harsh. I would have liked to have seen more weapons, however. From my playthrough, I was only in possession of up to 6 weapons, taken from Opposing Force‘s arsenal, which is pretty limited and can lead to repetitive engagements. Thankfully, the enemies you fight within Focalpoint are a mix of both Xen and Race X forces, with a rare few Barneys towards the end, which helps spice up firefights now and then.
It also helps how Focalpoint features some exciting and fun set pieces to fight in and witness – the scripted events are a strong point for this mod, particularly the ending sequence – and I was surprised at how well incorporated an iconic location from Half-Life was reused within Focalpoint. The story picks up in the second half and I am glad that I stuck with it after the lukewarm experience that I had with the first half. My criticisms with this mod is the fact it takes a while for the story to become really engaging and fun to play, that and the overuse of elevators that tend to slow down the experience a bit. Do be wary of the elevators, by the way, as they are a bit buggy and can cause the player to be stuck once they’ve reached their intended floor. I had to no-clip my way out of an elevator once during my playthrough after I became stuck and unable to move.
Focalpoint is a great, medium length singleplayer campaign that’ll last you a good 3 – 4 hours. The first 30 minutes may seem uneventful, but I would highly recommend sticking with Focalpoint just to experience some of the cool segments that’ll unfold later on in this mod, as well as for the odd puzzle here and there. A seriously impressive endeavour by just one developer.
Manually
Hard
3 Hours, 29 Minutes
just a thought, how come this is in Hall of Fame ‘Half-Life’ instead of ‘Opposing Force’ ?
Certainly hit and miss (still more hits than misses). One thing that I found remarkable was its ability to emulate Valve’s design philosophies at times. Not that feeling legit or official adds value to a work -after all that’s not why one would play mods- but for whoever just beat Episode 2 for the 20th time and needs something else this is here. Was fatigued with it by the end but that last bit was rad
Manually
Medium
3 Hours
Nice!
Manually
Medium
4 Hours
I found the mapping and detailing to be impressive. Its a very good looking mod. A lot of scripting is cool to. I like the new weird ship designs. However, I just found it boring honestly.
It seems to be mostly a puzzle mod, but I didn’t really care for them? It was just a constant back and forth for every puzzle. I found it super tedious. The two elevator stuff especially, felt like a slog.
I am not sure if I agree with the glowing reviews here. I wished I liked it more than I did. Cool moments, but I just found it boring. It do be like that sometimes.
Manually
Medium
3 Hours
the mod has a lack of enemies but still is pretty good
Manually
Medium
2 Hours, 38 Minutes
This is a very well made mod, but lacks tough combats and is really simple.
Still a play it now, it has one of the most detailed maps.
Manually
Hard
2 Hours, 40 Minutes
Dude, i just booted up Focal Point in steam and clicked on a random difficulty to test it two times, but when it was loading, it gave me a error saying opfor.wad, can anyone please tell me what to do?
Yes, i also did the manual way. not the maptap way.
You need Opposing Force installed to use the mod version downloaded here. If you don’t own Op4, you can go to ModDB and grab the original Focalpoint download, which bundled a ton of files into the folders.