CombineBaseVille

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

16th June 2015

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The Combine have been working on a new power source using the Earth’s oceans.

You have been sent in to destroy it.

Landing on a nearby beach, work your way through the base until you reach it.

Expect fierce resistance. Good Luck.

Basic Details
  • Title: CombineBaseVille
  • Filename: hl2-ep2-sp-mc-combinebaseville.7z
  • Size : 27.90MB
  • Author: ethosaur
  • Date Released: 16 June 2015
MapTap Users

Download directly into MapTap [27.9MB]

You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.

Download Options

Download to your HDD [27.90MB]
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.

Manual Installation Instructions
  • Copy the CombineBaseVille folder into your …\Steam\SteamApps\sourcemods\ folder.
  • Restart or start Steam.
  • CombineBaseVille should now be listed in your Library tab.

If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.

About the theme

For this mapping challenge, I would like you to create a map that is set in a Combine base. The map can start anywhere you like, either just outside a hidden base or just after you enter.
It’s your decision.

Once inside the base, you can have the player do anything you want – destroy or disable certain machinery, rescue a high-ranking Resistance leader or even just escape alive.

As much as I would love high or deep vertical areas, the base doesn’t have to be that way.

I am looking to be impressed by the base as much as I want to have a lot of fun fighting within it.

Ideally, there would be a WOW moment in the map somewhere.

Entries

There was only one entry for this mapping challenge.
Tele Aqua by ethosaur

Prizes

The winner selected Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box and Medal of Honor. Both supplied via Origin and donated by a kind RTSL reader.

Menu Music

Brane Scan by Kelly Bailey from Half-Life 2

Credits

The RunThinkShootLive.Com intro video was made by ĜL1TCĦ³

Grid View Images

One gridview icon is included in this file. To use the included grid view icon, select “Gridview” in Steam (top right corner). Right click on “CombineBaseVille” and select “Set Custom Image”. Then browse to the SourceMods folder and then to CombineBaseVille/steam-gridview-icons folder and select the image. Then click “Set Image” and that’s it.

Of course, you can create your own custom image if you prefer.

Dates

The challenge started 11am GMT 27 May 2015 and finished 12pm GMT Monday 15th June 2015.

General Rules

Maximum two maps per mapper per competition.
The map must be original and not have been released publicly before.
The map must run in system with only Ep2 installed
By entering the competition you grant PlanetPhillip.Com & RunThinkShootLive.Com the right to release the map as part of the CombineBaseVille Mod.
Maps must not appear before the release and for one month after the release of the mod.
No assets from retail games other than HL2, HL2: Ep1 or HL2: Ep2 are allowed.
Other assets are allowed with written permission from their original authors, which MUST be included in the entry.
Phillip’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into about it.
The map MUST have a proper name.
The map MUST have a proper filename: MapName_cbv.bsp
All entries must be sent to: [email protected] no later than the deadline.

Your chance to vote for your favourite map

No need to vote for this mapping challenge.

Videos

No videos at this time.

Screenshots

WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.

1024 x 576

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Reader Recommendations
Avoid It!
Think Twice
Maybe
Play It Later
Play It Now!
11 recommendations, average score: 4.36 (out of 5), standard deviation: 0.41 (what's that?)
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Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 9 comment(s) with meta review data.

Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 7 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 28 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 18 Mins by Unq
Longest: 0 Hours, 40 Mins by Stef
Total Time Played: 4 Hours, 8 Mins
Categories (?)
Half-Life 2: Ep2 HL2-EP2 Mods Play
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Jump to a review
Phillip says Play It!Play It Now!Play It LaterPlay It LaterPlay It Now!Play It LaterPlay It Now!Maybe?Play It LaterPlay It Now!Play It Later

26 Comments

  1. PlanetPhillip
    Phillip says Play It!

    I enjoyed the general setting of a base on the coast and the regular views to the sea and water were a nice touch.

    I found too many rooms to be just large empty square and the gameplay was one of constant button pushing to open the next set of doors.

    This is a common scenario in settings like this but somehow it felt too linear and obvious.

    The final room was very boring for me: it’s too much of a cliché now – press a button, the door behind closes, to doorways allow hordes of Combine soldiers in.

    There’s no clue as to how long you have to last and what you have done. Couple that with almost stuttering frame rates in an area with a lot of combat and you a e asking for trouble.

    The re-use of a G-man speech was not very interesting either.

    All in all this had potential but I just didn’t enjoy playing it that much.

    If the author is new to mapping then this is a great start.

    Installed:
    Using Gauge
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    24 Minutes
    Reply
    1. ethosaur

      Hey, thanks for the review. About the empty rooms, I tried to base it upon how combines had a lot of very big but empty rooms and architecture like the citadel interiors, but I wanted to try another style instead of vertical deep pits like you said I tried to make it all on one level, but I can agree it was a bit empty some places.

      As for the g-man speech, it’s hard to really do anything else about that, I just wanted to convey that you where another one of g-mans employers but it was hard to explain that without using some voice already made. It’s understandable for you that it’s kinda boring though, you have probably played hundreds of mods that have done the same, so apologies for that.
      I agree with most of what you said, regarding the linear areas though I made that intentionally because I enjoy the linear gameplay of half-life 2.

      Anyway, thanks for reviewing and making this a mod.

      Reply
  2. Maki
    Play It Now!

    I thought this was pretty fun. Yes, the whole push-button-to-open-door thing gets old, but there’s a decent mix of enemies, exploration and cover opportunities here. The setting is interesting as well – a Combine base situated along a sunset coastline – and the design offers ample opportunities to go between interior and exterior spaces. The boxiness that Phillip mentioned didn’t bother me both because bunkers tend to be simplistic and when you take the entire scope of the map into account, the author accomplished quite a lot in 3 weekends. I feel like I’m actually going somewhere instead of being trapped in a tiny, recycled space. The transition from bunker to Combine base was handled very well, and I liked how when I entered the level, I saw those security cameras. It made it feel like I was infiltrating something and, coupled with judicious use of scripted_sequences, that the Combine weren’t expecting me. Later, the level gracefully transitions to a point where they do.

    The final battle seemed insurmountable at first, until I realized that the things on the walls were Combine super chargers. With that knowledge, it’s kind of an interesting battle in that you run out, kill as many as you can, and run back to charge up. It certainly keeps things fluid, even if it goes on way too long. I didn’t understand what I was waiting for. I think the waves should have been staggered, like the final battle in Nova Prospekt, so the level can show how you’re making progress between them. Maybe even throw a couple friendly turrets in there. Right now, it’s a relentless onslaught, but fun in a silly way. I would have liked a Gravity Gun, though.

    It’s a good, solid level that feels planned out from beginning to end, which is more than I can say for a lot of contest entries. Play it now!

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    25 Minutes
    Reply
    1. ethosaur

      Thanks for your review, it catches exactly what I wished to convey in my map.

      I wanted to add way more to the map, in fact there was supposed to be a whole other part before the core fight where you would find the super physgun but I had to cut it due to time restrictions and because I struggled to find a reason why you would find the physgun (Ohh a random gravitygun out of nowhere that only one exists of , that makes sense!”, I actually started a bit late on the map so I didn’t have much time to work on that and had to cut it short at the core.

      I tried to add friendly turrets in earlier stages but had some trouble with the skins, as it would show up as modified citizen turrets when I wanted it to be normal reprogrammed turrets taken from the combine.

      Thanks for the review and for playing!

      Reply
      1. Maki

        Yeah, you should use ai_relationships if you want Combine turrets to be friendly without being “Citizen Modified.”

        Reply
      2. Dysprogue

        Speaking as a player, I really don’t mind if you break Half Life lore just keep the game rules consistent if you want to put a super gravity gun in your map I will never criticize it from a plot perspective, if it doesn’t fit the game play that’s another matter.

        Also out of interest was there any particular reason you didn’t give the player the plain gravity gun? I don’t think that every map should have the gravity gun but the fact that you were considering the super gravity gun makes me wonder why no gravity gun at all?

        Reply
  3. Dysprogue
    Play It Later

    I enjoyed this, the visual quality was pretty good throughout although i very much got the sense that HDR was a late addition as for me it got in the way of the gameplay for me at places. Extreme HDR adjustments can make it difficult to see what’s going on so as a rule of thumb it’s probably best that these HDR adjustments stay out of combat. (to clarify by HDR adjustment I mean the simulated eye to light adjustment that happens when you have HDR enabled.
    I found the music got distracting at times and I should note that it isn’t quite set up correctly for music. If you put a # in front of the music filename this will mark it as music and allow the player to change the volume independently from game volume.
    The player leading and pacing was good, I never felt lost and there was generally enough action to be engaging without inducing combat fatigue. I’ve seen other reviewers complain about large open areas but in this instance I liked it, it captured the cold and empty feel that works well with the combine.
    It is really only the finale that let the map down for me, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and for the combat options provided the assault went on too long. The destruction objective pops up out of no where which falls flat as the player had no real engagement with this process between pushing the button and the thing coming out the ground there’s about 3 minutes of no noticeable output (I didn’t time that)
    Overall its a good, fun map with a slightly disappointing finale

    Reply
    1. ethosaur

      Thanks for the review, I was a bit surprised no one noticed in the end though what you where waiting for. I tried to make it like the Nova prospekt fight where you wait for the teleporter thing to charge up, if you looked at the floor you could see as time went on trough the battle it was charging to let you use the button. I guess no one noticed this.

      Cheers and thanks for playing.

      Reply
      1. Dysprogue

        Generally people see a button and they push it, the second the player pushes the button the music starts and combine start coming in the player isn’t given time to register it. Also you still don’t see the breakable thing until it comes out of the ground. I think the composition doesn’t quite do enough to highlight it as the charging mechanism ends up just looking like part of the floor pattern and it’s not clear what is being charged.

        Reply
      2. Maki

        I suspected that the stuff on the floor was meant to show progress, but only after I had finished the battle.

        If you look at the Nova Prospekt battle, after each wave, you get a noticeable sound effect and a quip from Alyx. The background noise also picks up a bit. Those are the kinds of cues you need for a battle like this.

        Reply
        1. ethosaur

          Right, I had some cues but the sounds where so low you could really not hear them unless you paid well enough attention (Every 3 charge makes an alert sound) And every charge had a startup sound (Thumper startup sound fx)

          If I make something similar to this sometime in the future I will make sure to make it shorter and more clear, like maybe have a laser run trough the middle or pipes pushing down in to the chargers as time goes on.

          Reply
    2. Maki

      If you put a # in front of the music filename this will mark it as music and allow the player to change the volume independently from game volume.

      In general, you’re supposed to use soundscripts for music instead of directly specifying the .mp3 on the ambient_generic. The main difference is that soundscripts will restore properly from a save game. All the music is already set up like this in the /scripts/level_sounds_music_(game).txt files, so you just need to put ep2_song0 on the line, for example.

      Reply
      1. ethosaur

        Thanks for the heads-up, I was having a bit trouble getting music to work correctly.

        Reply
  4. Stef
    Play It Later

    All in all a enjoyable map some good visual design and enjoyable progress, the end fight was a mess without noticing it was possible to use the huge power ups and also weak regarding what happens after with the apperence of this power box coming from nowhere and the end speach of the Gman but for a first release if i understand it well it’s pretty good 😉

    Installed:
    Using Gauge
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    40 Minutes
    Reply
  5. asterixer

    Runs under Linux without Problems, I renamed alle files to lowercase with a script but the rest is fine.

    Reply
  6. TolisXTRM
    Play It Now!

    It’s really sad that there is only one entry in this competition, but it is a great entry nonetheless.

    This one plays like your average HL2 mod. The environment is great, the combat is good and there is a small puzzle through the whole thing. I really liked it and – again – it’s a real shame that there aren’t any other entries at all.

    Overall, I recommend this mod to everyone. It’s simple and fun.

    Reply
  7. ihonnyboy
    Play It Later

    That final battle gave me a sour taste in my mouth, I think I’ve calmed down a little, but please, take some of my critique with a grain of salt.

    I really, really, really, really, liked the start of this map. Everything before the combine alarm. There were nice secrets, the lighting in the bunker was creepy, there was weapon progression, and I finally got to use the “headshot stealth kill” (speaking of which, I felt like I got the pistol right when I needed it). Despite the cameras spotting me, I felt I was sneaking in somewhere, and this part is a great example of how to do “stealth” without actually doing stealth. I thought it was strange when the soldiers rappelled down in that AR2 stash, but that’s a true nit pick.

    It’s when I got inside that things went downhill for me. (on a side note the combine shields are probably static props, if you want to switch the skin from the off state you’d have to make them dynamic). Speaking of which, I like the intro. The soldiers talk about cutting you off, the guy in the window sees you. All well done and scripted. Than I make contact with the guy in the doorway, retreat, kill him, and three more guys run out single-file (kinda) and I end up camping the door. Granted, one guy did throw a grenade, which was nice. But due to the way contact was made, it felt like such a waste. Which is how I felt about the combat overall. Maybe waste is the wrong word….the combat felt like it could have been much more. It wasn’t the worst I’ve seen, and it wasn’t too easy, but I felt like the author could have gotten more bang for the buck, so to speak. Like, he has talent and experience, the visuals, the layouts, the pacing (with exception of the end), are what kept me going. Stuff like seeing combine soldier pass by a window before they enter the room, giving me that split second to prepare, but then I realize they’re coming through one doorway, and the connecting hallway is narrow, so they just round the corner at point blank into my shotgun. Speaking of which, a lot of the combat space was linear. Not linear, as in direction, but linear as in a hallway, no side passages, or good sized-eye-level-cover. I could be missremmebering, but I felt like the map relied a little too much on crouch-cocver. which wasn’t bad, necessarily, since there was this nice instance in a hallway after a strange loop back to a previous area. I think I’m staying on this topic for too long. Basicly, I felt like metrocops could have worked better in the parts leading up to the final fight.

    On a side note, I liked the shot gunner that spawns behind you. You can hear him, you see the door he comes out of before hand, and you get the shotgun just as you starting fighting manhacks.

    The final fight got me really angry, I kept trying to play it more out of frustration than being encouraged to beat it. For one, I didn’t use the super chargers during the fight. I felt too exposed, and I knew how deadly AR2 soldiers can be. (And grenades and energy balls were being thrown every where). I think the pillars and charger cover worked extremely well toward the Ai’s advantage, with the player constantly getting flanked and having to maneuver. But the sheer number of soldiers and lack of available cover for them meant they acted very…glitchy. I understand if when I see it, but it would take a while to explain how I know. Since the spawn doors were so close, I don’t know why the author could have just 4 soldiers be spawned at once, and just have them respawn more tightly. Same number of guys in the end, just less of them active. I guess some more weapon variety for the opponents would have been nice, but that’s a minor detail. This battle just felt like a huge difficulty spike.

    Which actually reminds me of the visuals, the architecture looked good. I felt like it nailed the combine look close enough to be in the game, but far enough that it wasn’t the depot or the Citidel. But the lack of verticality does harm it some.I felt like the combine’s more abstract architecture could be leveraged for more interesting combat encounters, like I felt these combat spaces could have worked in a non-combine base location just as well. (that’s kinda harsh, I guess that’s true for any space). For a map made in 3 weekends, it looks good.

    So, um , yeah. I know this was a 3 weekend map, though I kinda judged it as if it were a full release (visually, it felt like it). Basically, the map started good, but the main combat brought it down, but it wasn’t awful. I can’t wait to see what else Ethosaur dishes out.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    26 Minutes
    Reply
    1. ihonnyboy

      PS: I have demos if the author is interested, they’re incomplete, but footage is footage.

      Reply
  8. ihonnyboy

    Do reviews take a while to show up? I think the review I wrote that took 30 minutes disappeared when I hit the submit comment. I think this is the second time this has happened to me on a release.

    Reply
    1. PlanetPhillip

      Sometimes comments get put into the spam or moderation queue. I always recommend writing long comments in a text editor before posting, that way you have a copy if anything goes wrong.

      Reply
      1. ihonnyboy

        Thanks.

        Reply
  9. Hec
    Play It Now!

    SO… I’m really surprised about the fact we only have one entry for this comp. I definitely thought this competition had at least 3 entries or more!! So one is just quite disappointing, considering the topic for the competition was not bad at all… Indeed I always thought one competition to build a map around a solid CMB thematic would be quite attractive for modders, and for some strange reason it wasn’t.

    Overall I have to say I enjoyed the HL2 atmosphere a lot, maybe because I rest for HL2 maps like in more than a month or so… And on that period I the only thing I played were HL1 mods, so this was like a big, big breath of fresh air to me, you know.

    The map was really nicely done, I think the layout was OK, although I never-ever felt like I was infiltrating stealthy into the base. I know that was not a necessary element for the competition, but in the map itself I always felt like a very big lack of that lovely “surprise element” we have in almost all CMB base scenarios. All of that made the combat quite linear and predictable, but overall fun.

    The ending was nicely done, but if you play fool more than the reasonable, you actually can get killed more than twice, like in my case. Also is quite confusing because I honestly didn’t know what to do like in the first 3 minutes of hard ass combat. That until I realized I had to shoot the main red button console with some RPG’S, in order to open that weird “fuse” box and shoot the rest of the RPG’S in there to make the final blast and that cool G-Man appearance….

    The final sequence was nicely adapted, and overall it was a nice entry, though it’s kind of sad to see only that one. Despite all of that the only map in there is quite enjoyable and fun to play, so my advice is to Play it Now.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    35 Minutes
    Reply
  10. Steve
    Maybe?

    I liked this very much, nice overall designs without the silly distractions and the graphics are lovely. It did however feel a little samey after a while and the end scene was a bit rubbish and ruins the previous gameplay. In my humble opinion .. Otherwise, this is a really great game. Enjoyable!

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    40 Minutes
    Reply
  11. Unq
    Play It Later

    Shame this challenge didn’t get many entries. I’m actually not the biggest fan of Combine architecture/bases but I do like to see what people come up with.

    I thought the combat was pretty good here, with a decent ramp-up to the finale. I would have liked to see some more open areas – quite often the Combine soldiers were just coming at me in a single file line, sitting ducks. Of course the finale is quite different. I did really like the coast and setting for the base, a nice mix of warm colors outside and the cool inside. Overall I think it lacked a little bit in atmosphere, but that’s mainly thinking of the coldness of the Citadel.

    The finale was intense, and as discussed above I think it needed 1) waves and 2) a better indicator of what you were waiting for. As it is, I kept thinking I was missing something that I needed to do to stop the constant onslaught of soldiers. Otherwise, I thought it was fun – it was intense and challenging, but there is ammo and health available and a decent area in which to move around and take cover. So in general I wouldn’t say the finale should be softened, but it should be communicated better to the player if that makes sense.

    Overall, worth a play if you like assaults on Combine-style bases.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    18 Minutes
    Reply
  12. Reaven
    Play It Now!

    I always love “Combine Technology” designed places and this entry shows what can combine technology do…Great designed environments with a new story which ı loved but ı get lost a bit ım sure its just me :D.Anyways you should play this entry ı loved it very much.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    20 Minutes
    Reply
  13. Daken50
    Play It Later

    Great till the end.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Easy
    Playtime:
    20 Minutes
    Reply

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