You can play the Ravenholm mod now in preparation for the future episodic release of John’s travels, Eye of the Storm. Picking up the story after John’s escape from Ravenholm, you will visit new locations and meet new characters as you are taken prisoner by the Combine in City 24 and are reunited with an old friend from your resistance fighter days in City 17. Now he appears to be the key to unlocking the next chapter of your forgotten past.
Does it not seem there is a greater power behind the curtains?
- Title: Eye Of The Storm: Episode 1
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-eye-of-the-storm-ep1.7z
- Size : 91.20MB
- Author: Eye Of The Storm team
- Date Released: 08 February 2009
- Copy the eots folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Eye Of The Storm: Episode 1 should now be listed in your Library tab.
Lord (the Author) was working on Episode 2, but gave up because of all the various problems with Valve breaking everything. However, he has released what he has done so far. It is incomplete and may have bugs, but is playable. Read up and download here.
Eye Of The Storm: Episode 1 – Gameplay Video from PlanetPhillip on Vimeo.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots may contain spoilers.
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Please note: These statistics are valid from December 2010
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8,483Overall
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1Today
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5Last 7 days
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17Last 30 days
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232365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 5 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 58 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 29 Mins by JellyGal
Longest: 3 Hours, 10 Mins by Hec
Total Time Played: 5 Hours, 49 Mins
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Superb! With a mod like this it’s easy to simply list all the things you like and then compare with the items you feel need improving. Whilst that is a useful exercise I just want to focus on the overall feeling I got from playing it.
If I find some time I’ll write a more detailed review, but for now, this will have to do. I’ll also try and add a few panoramics too.
This mod oozes quality and the final battle is fantastic. I occasionally felt the lighting was both a little to dark and too bright at the same time. I feel the mod doesn’t “build the atmosphere” as well as other maps with the use of music, but they use sound effects very well.
This is the first confirmed Hall OF Fame 2009 entry and the mappers amongst the PP readers will certainly enjoy this one!
I suppose the greatest compliment I could pay this mod is that I *may* replay it. (Regular PP readers will know I very, very rarely replay anything.)
5 Word Review
Beautiful design and challenging battles.
played this last week ofg fun, fun ,fun!
I’ve added another download server.
A sequel? Knowing how hard it is to release Single Player mods of this lenght that doesn’t suck; doing it twice sounds impossible, and yet they’ve done it. I’m also thrilled by the fact it’s episodic, knowing these people can stick around long enough to release large mods, it’s almost certain the next episode will be release. I just hope it’s already been playtested, a lot, but otherwise I suppose the initial release is the playtesting itself.
Although the mapping isn’t perfect and tend to copy some settings too much, jugding from the screenshots, it’s much better than most. I’m also happy they released it as a mod, I never install/get around to play maps that must be played through the console.
I’m looking very much forward to playing it!
Best Intro ever!
Lots of good things about this one and if the developers improve on this first episode then we have a near classic in the making. I especially enjoyed the voice acting and the way the story unfolds; just when you were not sure what next, up pops the next encounter to guide you on your way. I love wondering around and this mod gives you lots to see, with so much incidental content and alternative paths, I don’t get to the point of frustration over the railway station, although coming close, I figured out where I need to be after searching around for the fun of it. The way the boat sequence is designed and scripted gives a whole new meaning to HL2 boat rides
mel.
Except from the little lacking intro, this is just full of awesomeness!
This is easily one of the best looking mods for the Orange Box I’ve played. As Phillip mentions, the lighting might have too much contrast at times, which instead of helping display the beautiful and detailed enviroments just gets in the way in some areas (specially if you have HDR and bloom turned on).
This little episode has a story (or at least a well crafted situation), custom characters, voice acting, new models etc, which for me gives it a lot of points. While most the gameplay and situations have all been seen before, some like the raft on-rails sequence are a rare thing in HL2 mods and a pleasant surprise.
What is the main problem with this mod? It is very detailed, which means that the team spent a lot of time with each map and ended up with a rather short playing time. Not a good balance IMO. Also, the rooms are so detailed you kind of regret having to move on so quickly from one place to another. I understand the urgency of the situation makes this sort of gameplay fit perfectly with the story, but I think it’s a big waste of such carefully crafted maps. More puzzle sections and more relax time between fights (with the NPC interaction we can see the team is capable of) would be very welcome.
I played it a few days ago I loved the intro, although I don’t remember exactly how it ended. That’s not a good sign. Some real cliffhanger or story element would’ve been nice.
One of my top ten all time SP mods. I’m playing it again tonight!
Grabbed this one when it was on the forum, real nice!! Then yesterday, played “Ravenholm” and this one together, this picks up where Ravenholm ends, great continuation, looking forward for more!! 🙂
looking forward to this one. I loved ravenholm it was creepy to the max.
I don’t all together understand Kasperg views on this map, and while he is not over critical, I am bit surprised by terms such as “main problem”, too much detail, waste of crafted maps. I for one enjoyed the degree of detail and never felt that anything with this map was a waste. it’s best to remember that this is Episode 1 and some elements of gameplay not featured here, may well be waiting in store with subsequent episodes.
mel.
Absolutely fantastic would best fit this one.. I’m fracking mesmerized over this one..ll give it 8 star’s. Hey Phillip , you need to add a 8 star tag to the “star option group” for this one..
Well, I just felt that a little less detail (resulting in more gameplay time from this team) or more time to actually appreciate it would’ve been better. I finished this mod with the sense that it was over too soon and that I probably missed much of the mapping detail there was to see.
I’m lucky I didn’t know anything about this mod before it was released, or else I would’ve actually been dissapointed by its length. Does anyone know how much time this first episode was in the making?
While I understand the importance of detail and the attempts to make Source maps not feel ‘meh” when put next to the best looking Crysis maps, I don’t have to like the results. This reminds me of the countless unreleased mods which show you some amazing looking screenshots on their page. It turns out each mapper has only worked on that particular map or area for 2 or 3 years… No wonder it looks so good!
I more or less know the limitations of the Source engine and have played all the official Valve HL2 games. As such, I don’t need maps to be 130% better looking than HL2 to enjoy them. In the same way, I never dedicate endless amounts of time on any particular map. I’d rather release what I have so far if the quality is good and move on to something else that motivates me more (for The Citizen Part II I’m working on all 17 maps at once. I wouldn’t be able to do so many maps otherwise).
Hopefully this should explain my review a bit. While I give two thumbs up to this mod on how polished it seems, I explain the real cost. Would all of you like to wait two years for “Eye of the Storm Ep2” at the same level of quality and length as this one? And 4 years for a final third chapter? I know I really wouldn’t. That’s my point.
It’s a good thing that not all authors feel and map the same way, eitherwise where would the variety and new concepts be?
It is very good but not sure about “Hall of Fame’
Get a Life and Offshore were brilliant and now we’ve been spoilt by Strider Mountain first 5 chapters.
This mod is awesome. I enjoyed every aspect of it. A lot.
Part of me would have liked more time to explore each area, but at the same time I felt that the quick progression served to heighten the visual realism. I felt compelled to press ahead quicky, and this is a sign of great game design in itself. Normally when I play mods, it’s not long before I am trying to find the things that authors didn’t want me to find. But with this one, I just wanted to follow the story. I was gripped.
When all the places that you only see for half a second are as detailed as the things you spend more time looking at, then it adds a lot to the immersion. It brings a sense of reality. It actually creates replay value, at least for me. I can go back and look a different way at a different time, and see something new and interesting.
Kasperg is right about the development cost, and I agree that it will likely be some time before we see many more episodes.
But that shouldn’t be held against it.
This is an extremely impressive piece of work, and it definately deserves Hall of Fame status.
I’m speechless. 0.o
Awesome MOD, it might be the “Holy Grail” of EP 2 MOD’s ( so far )
I thoroughly concur with Chris Fox in that the level of detail is tremendous and entirely adds to the realism. I was gripped from the beginning to the end. It was well paced and and contained some great original elements. There was no pre-hype for this as far as I know so altogether a pleasant surprise. I’m afraid it made Strider Mountain look somewhat dated and tired for me (I know I will get slated for that!) and can now see the real benefits of using Ep1 and 2s level of detail to create atmosphere. I look forward to the next episode with anticipation.
I’m going to have to agree with most of the posters. Great mod. I liked the storyline and way the creators developed it using scripted videos and John talking about his despair at the way the world was changing. Very engaging and yes the detail was excellent. Something for everyone who maps to try and emulate.
Excellent work. Keep them coming fellas.
Pardon me if this is a stupid question. but — if this is a continuaton, then what is it a continuation of?
If there is a previous part then I would like to play that first (though I possibly have, and don’t realise it).
Maybe if I played it, I would recognise the characters or something, but I just hate reading the sequel before the introduction.
Phil
I played this one last week when it was recommended in the pp-forum.
I liked the Ravenholm mod from this team a lot, so I was anxious to play this one , they didn’t disappoint me!!
And once again they put some new features in a HL2-mod, just like they did with Ravenholm (the possibility in Ravenholm to set traps with trip-wires was great, I also liked the dark and foggy forests where you could really get lost in that mod) And now they added some short bonuslevels and a railshooter-section.
Normally I hate railshooters because I want to descide where I go and how fast I go myself, but in this mod it’s only for a few minutes and at the right place , I actually liked not steering the boat for a minute so I could focus on the enemy 100%
I agree with Kasperg, the intro, a flashback to Ravenholm ,was good, but the ending…..???, indeed , a nice cliffhanger would have been nice.
And after that last great fight, it was over way to fast.
This mod was great, but too short, can’t wait for episode 2 !
@22 Philbolton, This mod picks up rite where “Ravenholm” ends, good continuation and great mod!! Can’t wait for the rest!! Re: stupid question, “The only stupid/dumb question is the one you don’t ask!” 😉
@ PhilBolton
Like AI said above, it’s a continuation of the “Ravenholm” mod from the same team.
Ravenholm is also a very good mod, if you didn’t play it, you really missed something.
There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers
In case you missed Ravenholm, check the link below.
http://ravenholm.wz.cz/english.html
Beautiful! This is some of the very best designed maps as far as detail and scale that have been made since HL2-Actually, this looks a whole lot like HL2. So, I love the way it looks but I really expected to see some puzzles in this. Ravenholm was so good because of the puzzles, I think. It had my poor old brain working overtime trying to make it through. The fighting and the overall intensity of this is not nearly as well done as the new Strider Mountain, but it’s not completed yet either, so it’s hard to judge either one in their current state. But, if I had to pick one of those two , right now I would rather replay SM then this.
But when this one is finished it could be the best mod ever made. We will see-But definetly a great start and well worth the download! Don’t even think twice on this one. Just get it on!
Man, what a keeper. Haven’t played the bonus maps yet, but this sure is a great little mod. Looking forward to the next episodes.
I just tried the bonusmaps, they are unique, loaded with action and very challenging, has anyone finished them yet? They really make the mod worth the download some more .
It’s a very nice extra and makes up for the short duration of the mod itself.
I just finished the 1st bonus map. Find and destroy strange things or whatever it was. It fun and even though it was about 10 minutes tops, it was really well done. This author is really good and hope he/she keeps making more. Alot of talent there!
This is amazing. This is *really* amazing. it’s head and shoulders above just about anything else. It looks like an official episode. The modified character models are convincing. The acting (and faceposing) was amazing, and it’s well written (Breenetta’s speech in particular was brilliant). A huge improvement on Ravenholm. I hope it keeps up the quality in future episodes. And thanks for making an episode that runs well on my ancient system!
Bonus map ” roundabout arena” (WAY TOO HARD) …2 word’s ..’.INSTANT DEATH” !!!…TRY IT !!!! ( If your the MAN )
Excellent!
Whilst areas like Lightning and Architecture needs much more work, this mod manages to tell a story that involves the player and makes me want to play on and on until the end. The immersion is perfect, gave me a feeling I haven’t really had since Half-Life 2’s Route Canal. The boat ride was a strike of brilliance, although it needs much more health around. The voice acting was some of the best I’ve seen so far, though I wish they didn’t kill all the characters randomly and didn’t yell at me if I looked at the surroundings instead of moving on.
Some of the areas could have needed much more beta testing: 3 TESTERS ARE NOT ENOUGH! My experience has shown that not even 8 rounds of 40+ testers over the last 2 years are enough. Still, the results are very polished in most areas. I had a few issues that playtesting could have solved, such as the end of the boat ride, where I thought I had to jump into the water instead of ducking.
I heard some people complain about the lack of cliffhanger. Well, the ending cutscene showed a nuke and the past actions and the main character commenting it. Cliffhanger? The whole thing was so enjoyable it’s a cliffhanger itself. I’ll be looking very much forward to the next release. If Episode Two has improved as much as this has from Ravenholm, then we’re in for a real treat.
The lightning in the map needs much more focus. A over bright HDR Sunset is done over and over again, but at least they didn’t make the sunlight orange. That’s just awful to look at. Instead they make the ambient light … black. Note, the prettiness of the screenshot isn’t the details; it’s the overall impression of the image. Having too much contrast and details can be counter-productive. I suggest changing the ambient setting in the light_environment to a light mild blue tint in the next update.
The story is a little annoying, instead of telling the story they’re telling us it will be done later. I’d prefer if I’m told the story instead, it seems rather interesting. Because the team doesn’t have access to the original actors, they’ve made the decision to use a custom administrator. In my interpretation of the Half-Life 2 universe, Breen is the sole administrator of Earth; the citizens even point that out in the very first map. Thus it doesn’t make much sense to have her around. Still, I like her. When I got outside and cops came on at me and she began comparing the Combine with a father figure – Splendid! I don’t know if it was scripted, but it worked amazingly well.
I like how the river is seen early in the mod, so that it seemed natural when I can to fight down it. But not all aspects of architecture weren’t done that well. The interior design of the train station didn’t make sense from a reality perspective of things. If I had to walk around it in real-life, I would be really confused. The train station in Half-Life 2 suffered from the same problems, but less obvious. I didn’t understand why so many walls were destroyed in that place. If the Combine were that effective, they’d just block off the areas of the train station they didn’t need. While it’d be less fun from a gameplay perspective, architecture should always make sense. Level Designers should ask themselves, “What is the purpose of this area? How does it function?” and then create the level from those answers.
On an overall, while some areas need improvement, the mod is brilliant. The immersion is superb; this mod is rare piece of quality work. Most likely the best Single Player mod released so far in 2009. If you don’t have the time to play many mods, as me, play this! Hopefully Episode Two of EotS won’t disappoint!
To be honest, If I had to describe the events that took place in this episode, I wouldn’t really know what to say. What happened to the main character since we players took control? A lot of action and moving around, but I didn’t get the feeling that anything significant had been achieved in the overall picture in terms of story. Now that you mention it, I do remember some cutscene with a small citadel but the nuke certainly didn’t stay in my memory. Still, I only mentioned the lack of a cliffhanger because to justify this as being episodic, there certainly needs to be a reason for the story to continue. I’m guessing that we won’t actually need to remember any details about this episode when the next one comes around.
It’s still a joy to play and look at even if there wasn’t any story in it at all, so these are just minor issues for most people.
Thanks to Richard and AI — I had played Ravenholm before, but I played it again, for completeness, you understand.
Then I played this – EXCELLENT!!!
The bonus maps are great! They are small but they are alot of fun. Alot of action and really test the shooting skills and every other reflex! Quite the workout!
I have often thought that one of the problems with mapping for HL2 over HL1 is that it’s much, much harder to get Valve-quality results, even with all the fantastic prefabricated stuff available, for the simple reason that there’s many more polygons to worry about – and other stuff too. I note with amusement that it took me longer to install this game than to play it; I was fighting to stay awake and suddenly the mod ended. I tackled the Bonus Maps under happily different circumstances, but again, they were far too short (although quite sweet).
I really respect what this mod is trying to do (haven’t I seen some of these situations before? That opening room, and the ramp leading up to a door with glowing white something behind it – yes, I believe I’ve seen this team’s work before in an untranslated Czech mod), and it’s clear a lot of work went into it.
To a small degree, the team follows in the footsteps of Black Widow Games” They Hunger franchise – edit an existing model so that it looks sort of new. It’s better than not doing anything; but whether happiness from the expended effort is better than the disappointment and distraction of it being recognizable as an edit is something I question. For example, take the edited Barney model: He’s still animated like Barney, and I find that distracting. But I also note the little C24 on the back of his suit, and that the new face seems refreshingly realistic. Happily, this is the only time I was really put off by an edit (even though I felt it was well done); the Episode’s version of Dr. Breen was very well done, and I enjoyed the new speech quite a bit.
The replacement for the HUD weapon selection graphics seems another example of the team’s commitment to creating new stuff, but I don’t think it adds to the game (in fact I can imagine somebody wondering during a firefight what weapon they have selected because the view model is less distinctive than the regular profile view). The commentary track does have some interesting information (here and there), although there are enough issues with it to discourage me from using it for long (more on that later).
The bonus maps pushed this mod ahead for me – unfortunately, they seem stuck on Easy difficulty for me; I only died twice – once on the boat ride, and another time on the last map, due to a glitch (mentioned below). It might be worthwhile to disable checkpoints on these, but they aren’t really needed.Architecture is a mix of good and not so great – the spit and polish isn’t quite at the Valve level, and occasionally the lighting is too garish – BUT I felt that the physical layouts and scenarios range from quite good to excellent! I also thought that the map made very good use of dark areas, the foreshadowing of the Hunter’s appearance was great (pity that fight is rather weak), and the mod nicely uses hidden areas or ones that feel secret that you move through while playing normally.
Unfortunately, that spit and polish hurts a bit. There’s geometry in the final arena area that nearly traps you, and there were issues with soldiers running along the outside of that area when they shouldn’t have been.
Some issues I ran across:
In the first map, walk onto the force-shielded central platform of the train station, with a metrocop and a glass elevator. The far (right-side) metal support will slow up black through the elevator glass, while all the other geometry is blended appropriately.
The Boat’s Chopper Gun is somewhat unwieldy to use, and many of those enemies could be placed differently to keep the player from needing to hold the trigger down just to hit somebody barely visible over a rooftop; enemies shooting from behind is also a problem.
Coming into the final area, metrocops and manhacks above were still active. Probably just an oversight, and not much of a gameplay detriment in any case.
Final area issues: The logs on the far left side of the area can catch the avatar and slow him down to a great degree. Not a good thing when there’s Hunters on your butt. Might be a good time to use some clip planes.
During the final Bonus Map, I found myself catching a breather when the two Vortigaunts appear, when the Hunters appear, they and the zombies focused exclusively on each other and I was relatively undisturbed.
Commentary mode has its own bugs: You still take damage (wha?), commentary does not stop people nearby from yammering (and yammer they will), and comments were often clipped off. I was able to follow along with what was being said relatively well, but the last node I tried I had the feeling I only got half of it because its end clips into what the guy’s saying.
The strangest bug was when I was playing the last Bonus Map; I guess it was after the second group of Hunters. I was jumping around near the walkway (near the shack whose roof holds a spawn point and on which you must jump later on finish the map) when I was suddenly catapulted high into the air. I halfheartedly tried to maneuver my flying hero beyond one of the lifting Combine walls; instead he landed on it with a splat.
Another issue: I was able to just crouch inside the box that ends the map, and nothing could get me. Seemed rather anti-climactic. It would have made sense to me to have the forcefield within the small house drop, and make the player run for it through a gauntlet of enemies.
I ran across a whole range of bugs that hurt playability somewhat, and here’s the ones I remember:
My verdict is that it’s very promising, full of ideas and worth a play – but the bugs, certain design choices, and ease of play (not to mention the length) hold it back from being something I would recommend in this stage to anybody but the die-hard Half-Life 2 series player.
The final note is the story: My initial reaction at the guy breathing into my ear at the beginning of the mod and the awkward phrase “Ravenholm…a cur-sed HILL of RAVENS” is also similar to my reaction about the story at large. I’m almost certain this is a continuation of another mod, but even knowing that it just doesn’t make much sense to me – and what I can make sense of doesn’t convince me much.
Amazing from start to finish, the gunfights were perfect and so was the boat scene. Can’t wait until the next episode is released
This was a great mod, I havent played the bonus maps yet but will latter today. perfectly ballenced. I say 4 crowbars and cant wait for the next installment.
Fantastic mod! Keeps the heart pumpin’. One of the best mods I’ve played. And the Bonus Maps were challenging to say the least. I was able to complete the third one, but I didn’t have enough adrenaline left to finish the first two. This mod set has a high replay value. Kudos to the creators.
Very nice work!
The last two battle sets were TOUGH. I tried several times to conquer the hunter in the small courtyard when you emerge from the tunnel. Finally, I set the difficulty to easy and just made it through. Health was down to about 5-6.
The final battle was intense. Enjoyed the challenge!
Download this and enjoy it.
10/10
Fan-TASTIC!
That was great! I played it through and loved it all. Thanks for creating. I especially loved the cutscenes.
Did I play the same mod as you guys did?
The story was “Get to the white house!!” and it took 35minutes to finish. Meh.
Excellent mod, should’ve been longer, but I hope for a sequel. Now I’ll try out their Ravenholm mod.
Great mod from start to end. I just wish it was longer : )
Thanks
One of the best mods I have played!
Why?
#This mod is visually the best HL2 mod I have ever played.
# The environments is very detailed and feels realistic.
#There is a lot of scripting, people walking, trains moving and such, giving life to the environments.
#The audio is very well done. The voice acting is near perfect and default ambiance sounds is well used.
I Think this is one of those mods few that manage expand and give more depth to the HL storyline without contradict the official games, kudos for that.
There is not much that could be improved.
I agree with Phillip and Kasperg that the lighting sometimes is both a little to dark and too bright. I also thought that the phasing not is perfect.
At first it is mostly about calm exploration (i like that), but when the shooting and running begins there is very little time to admire the beautiful environments and details, as Kasperg already has stated a few puzzles would slow down the phase and give time for relaxing and watching the scenery.
When originally wrote this comment I meant to have a Recommendation Image, but something went wrong. I am fixing that now. Clearly a Personal Favorite.
Played it now, it’s really good.
Level Design is very good, the fights are awesome and very tactical, that’s what I liked the most.
Spoiler:
E.g. there is a part in the game where you go out in a little backyard, suddenly a hunter stands up behind a car in front of you. You can’t escape, because you must spin a wheel to open the gate. Around the car there are lying explosive barrels and things, one of my favourite parts.
I really liked that he made the level design logical, so there isn’t just a barricade when you shouldn’t move an specific way, there is a big crater which stops you.
The mod has a really fast gameplay, you never want to stop anywhere, only to watch the beautiful look of the mod.
HDR is a must have when you play that map, it will look awesome.
The only things I was a bit sad about where the voices, some of them just sound silly, and that it was quite short though.
But there are some bonus challenges too, so this mod truly brings you 1 hour of fun.
It’s a must play, that’s all folks
Wow, blew me away! Very good pace, great design, just a little short! but definitely a personal favourite
This Is An Awesome Mod I Especialy Liked The Last Bonus Level THAT Was Awesome 😀
The Ravenholm mod is the HL2 , right ,cuz I almost played the Opposing Force “Ravenholm” mod until I read the stuff about “John” not Adrian Sheppard. A wee bit confusing cuz the EOTS and OF Ravenholm are shown one after the other in the Hall of Fame mods section. Which was working yesterday but today it says “post holder” ????? I played Ravenholm a long time ago so I’m going to play it again then play Eye of the Storm. Thank you for hosting such good stuff !
Its pretty much already been said – delightful.
I was browsing for mods with custom voice acting and noticed this one has that tag missing!
Fixed, thanks.
Awesome mod, the story, characters, cutscenes, gameplay, and events were spectacular! I strongly recommend this mod! And I cannot wait for the sequel!
High Quality mod, being an episode its short and sweet, loved the opening area, and it was challenging, was well worth my time and yours! 🙂
It’s so cool
I really enjoyed playing this mod, but haven’t been able to get it to run since the new Steam upgrade this past month. Instead of running the mod, it just launches HL2-Ep2 instead. Any idea how to get it working with the latest Steam update?
EotS has a forum, but it looks pretty bare… Someone got a different mod to run in windowed mode (after getting it to start he could change it to full screen). I don’t know if that will help you at all or not, though.
you may want to try reinstalling the mod. Mine has absolutely no problems and I’ve had it installed since before the Steam Upgrade.
Thanks for the replies. Tried reinstalling — didn’t help. How do you launch a mod in windowed mode?
Oh. My. God.
This is a mod like fans could be dreaming… A fabulous introduction, pretty custom voices, some great modifications of face skins, textures (the “Breen”casts), a strong and good story…
But also : numerous fights, a fantastic ride on a canal with apocalyptic action, good synchronicity between music and action…
It’s truly : FANTASTIC. MUST HAVE. MUST PLAY. I can’t wait for the sequel…
Okay, I’m stuck on Combine Den, looped thru the second visit to the rooftop, and had the big battle in the first room in from the roof, and I’m stuck, I can’t seem to find where to go next. Any hints?
This was super fun! I loved it! It was very cool! Ravenholm was awesome! This was awesome! I think everyone should play this!
Great sequel! Pretty short, but I still give this 5 stars! =)
Atrociously poor.
While the mapping is fantastic, the gameplay is crap.
Long range firefights with no long-ranged weapons.
Lack of cover.
Clear spawning entities.
Poor weapon placement.
Excessive manhacks.
Enemies from behind.
Insufficient ammunition.
Frustrating and completely lacking flow, the ending feels rushed. I had high hopes – I was really enjoying myself; then I picked up a SMG and the mod fell apart.
I played Eye of the Storm a while back, but I still remember many of my opinions about it.
– Nothing major to complain about in the visuals department, but that’s about the only positive thing I have to say about EoTS.
– The voice-acting is serviceable as far as mods go (most of the time), but the writing is appalling. The intro made a horrific first impression on me, I can still remember clearly how ham-fisted and overwrought it was. Any scene in the mod that attempted to introduce drama fell flat or became unintentionally hilarious.
– The way this mod treated music and peaks of excitement really, really irritated me. After a certain point into the game, the tension levels are raised and virtually never fall until the end. No rest, no periods of quiet, it just becomes a soul-sapping tour of destruction with at most a few minutes of decompression and recovery. The music embodies this perfectly: as soon as one action song ends, the next one is waiting in the wings to begin blaring immediately.
What exactly happens when you attempt to get rid of all the dips or “valleys” in the tension and plot only peaks? What one would expect. Your progression is now as flat as a straight line, and fatigue and apathy set in quickly. That fatigue hounded me for as long as the mod lasted and made what should have been exciting very dull and very disagreeable.
“Eye of the Storm” is a strong example of how not to pace your mod. Action as implemented here crowds out all else and burns out player enthusiasm with rapidity.
– Not much of a fan of the ending either. City sights segue into Episode Two outland terrain in the space of ten meters, and then an ambush you see coming from a mile away occurs. A random citizen lifts a section of the nearby Combine wall with what appears to be telekinesis. No answer was given then, and now that Episode Two has been canned, an answer in the future is unlikely. Urgh.
Summary: If you like pretty visuals, don’t mind mediocre gameplay and combat, and have nothing new to play, then you can’t go wrong here. It has very little of substance, but unlike most average mods, it has a little style that helps it go down a bit easier.
Too bad the developer quit making the rest of the mod. He expressed how Valve was giving hiim too much trouble with alll the textures issues and such. Darn… it was good while it lasted. :/
This game is certainly creative. The author tries some new things, like that raft ride through the city canals. There are some beautiful eye candy moments as well.
But too many things dont make sense here…like the mapping. There are many dead end routes that garner you nothing, and areas with boards that can be broken…for no gain. A few areas just seem strung together, as the enviroments keep changing – perhaps a bit too much! It feels rushed. I’m not crazy about some of the lightning either. Plus, there is too much NPC action for my liking. Little cut scenes that break the players immersion certainly do not help.
Nice game overall, but not for me.
Very nice mod, with many, many beautiful details!
Can’t wait for the sequel 🙂
I remember thisone and is another classic!!, the intro cutscene is probably one of the best cutscenes after the ones human error mod brings, I mean that guy alone escaping from ravenholm limits in an old junky jalopy car is just terrific, I don’t know why any modder actually have transformed the usual crappy cars we see in HL2 to actually be able to drive them as the buggy or the super musscel jalopy…, so I just recall this mod for that great intro cutscene.
The rest is also great, cool combat, and the most important thing in every mod, it has a story to tell into the mod, which is delightful.
I hope the guy who developed this, works in something else into HL2 I hope he is because is good.
Manually
Medium
3 Hours, 10 Minutes
The planetphillip download for this mod is missing.
This is just one of the excellent mods that Valve broke. If you’re just planning to get EOTS 1 running, search for it on this page & apply fixes:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=95
If you intend to add the unfinished “Eye of the Storm 2” to EOTS 1, it’s best to do that first, then try to fix them. I had a go here:
http://forum.planetphillip.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65#p221
but didn’t really succeed.
It appears that different PC/version configurations produce different results, you may (or may not) be lucky. The “files extracted with GCF” are available, if you need them just ask.
I did the standard gameinfo fix for ep2 mods. On mine the intro stops. He seems to park the car as he drives past the house, and just sit there looking around, and the spider comes out and sits there too.
I’ve done a New game and started at the first playable bit and that seems to load ok, but we’ll see how I fare
I’m watching the intro here though:
Is that from a fresh install? Just that my notes record this as being a mod destroyed by valve updates – “broken/unplayable” and that was with the get mods working fixes…
Here’s what you should to fix the models. Rename the materials and models folders, extract all the models and materials and put it on the EOTS folder, after that copy the stuff from the materials and models folder that came with the mod (the ones you renamed) and say yes to replace everything. After this the mod should be playable, but I’m still trying to figure out the problem why the NPCs from the episode games aren’t showing up, and the fire isn’t showing, and the headcrab humping the guy’s head from the beginning cutscene isn’t showing the crab.
Ravenholm was the second mod I ever played, and is still one of my favourites. This is my first time playing Eye of the Storm.
I think it’s a great mod, but I didn’t find it quite as fantastic as others did. I think the pacing is a bit off, there is no rising action or falling action, it’s just introduction-climax. Ending off at the climax is not a bad thing IMO, but I think there does need to be buildup. The story isn’t too interesting, either. I loved Ravenholm’s setup and how it tied into the Half-Life 2 storyline. This one recaps the events of Ravenholm and then puts you into a rebellion in some city.
HOWEVER, the combat is really good. The enemy placement is pretty much perfect, and there were many ambushes I did not expect. The rail shooter sequence was cool in that you need to pay attention to things apart from shooting (I wouldn’t have got past it without the drifting health packs). The final fight is also really fun and puts Combine in places I did not expect. The visuals are perfect, as well.
Overall, I definitely recommend you play Eye of the Storm, but it doesn’t get a personal favourite from me.
Manually
Medium
29 Minutes
I have just discovered that there are bonus maps, so I’m gonna review those, too.
Bridge Fight is the first map. It’s an arena map with an interesting twist, being that you need certain supplies to beat it that periodically spawn in. First you need to fight an APC with rockets, second a closer APC with just grenades and SMG grenades and thirdly a gunship with rockets. Unfortunately, the only other enemies are metrocops, so it gets old pretty quick. There’s also a flaw with the first APC, and that’s that you do not need the rocket launcher to destroy it, you can arc the SMG grenades so they hit it. This means that you can skip getting the rocket launcher, which completely screws you over in the last fight. I can say it’s a very pretty map though.
The second map, Roundabout Arena is another arena map with a twist, this time you have to find and collect beacons. It has the same layout as the last map from the mod, and it’s basically an even more fun version of that fight… I approve! It uses Combine, zombies and antlions; the last battle is amazing. Highly recommended.
The last one is Hunter, and it’s a modified version of the “Ride” chapter (the rail shooter). The twist is that you have to destroy “suspicious objects”. I laughed out loud when the first “suspicious object” was a Gman that exploded when I killed him. The rest are mostly weird floaty cubes. It really does’t change the gameplay until the last battle. It’s pretty fun though.
Eye of the Storm is a good time, definitly worth playing. The reason I don’t give it a “Play it now!” is because the developers made some questionable decisions. One of those are the cutscenes. I guess they wanted to be modern or I don’t know what, but for some reason they made real traditional cutscenes for this mod, which is cool in a way, but in my opinion not good for the experience. Especially because the cutscenes were pretty basic, and the mod doesn’t benefit from them at all. It’s not like they have a big, epic story they want to tell, the story is actually pretty basic, which is fine. And the cutscene problem is also not that big of a problem because at the end they are just a small fraction of the time you will spend on this mod. But I just don’t understand why they even bothered making them, especially for a HALF-LIFE mod, a mod for that game which taught us how to tell a story and be immersive without cutscenes and interruptions.
The second problem is something which pisses me of in a lot of mods and this one is no exception, the usage of music. In this mod there is music in literally every single fight. It felt like a powerpoint presentation from people who used power point for the first time they get so excited they use all the animations power point offers you. But the music wasn’t just overused, it also didn’t fit the situation most of the time in my opinion. Again, didn’t Half-Life teach you anything about music?
And the last thing I didn’t like was the “rail shooter” passage, where you are stuck on a boat and have to shoot enemies which pop out. That’s some modern military shooter stuff, it’s dull and it was too long, but I have to give them credit for at least putting effort into making it feel exciting and different. There was one really nice moment though where you drove next to a plate of supplies which was swimming on the water, you had to react quickly to get them and still be able to get on your boat in time.
This mod also has custom voice acting, and it is suprisingly not bad apart from a few exceptions. The writing itself also was definitly better than average, I actually stayed and listened to the speech of the administrator of “City 24” or whoever that was. There were a lot of moments which felt really artificial though, because every combat sections starts and ends the same way. You either get knocked out or fall somewhere or something like that, a NPC comes out of nowhere and talks to you like he was waiting for you there the whole time, then you go out together to fight and then you get knocked out again or something like that.
Overall the mod was really enjoyable despite some of its (small) problems. The pacing was GREAT, the level design was good, the fights were challenging, but really well balanced too and it had some climax moments … which could be more climactic if the music wasn’t so overused in every other part of the game.
Manually
Hard
30 Minutes
…. I *know* I reviewed this mod. Darnit it really seems like some of my comments have been eaten away or I am *absolutely* deluded into thinking that because I played and deeply enjoyed some of these, that I went on and actually reviewed it… *grr*
This is a great looker alright. Gorgeous visuals but I wasn’t impressed with the NPC side and the silly mapping that lead nowhere. It’s good but I honestly cannot see what others are seeing. Sorry.
The ride through the canals was a nice idea and worked quite well. Even if my helper struggled somewhat! However, being a slow-and-careful gamer that loves to explore, I couldn’t help but see all those areas I want to explore on foot. lol
Yeah this has lots going for it but it’s just not my cuppa tea. Oh and it wouldn’t work for me without also downloading the patch: http://www.moddb.com/mods/eye-of-the-storm/downloads/eye-of-the-storm-patch-source-sdk-2013
Did you play the three bonus maps? They’re short, but action packed and I really enjoyed them.
One of my favorite mods to date! Great atomosphere lots of action and i absolutly love the voice acting.
Using Gauge
Easy
30 Minutes
hmm, so this is broken too, that’s 5 today I’ve tried, I used to recommend this site to people, but I’ve stopped now…no point as there’s very little to play any more.
I already responded to your post on Project 25 but I’ll say it again. YOU HAVE TO INSTALL THE SDK 2013 PATCHES!!! How much more do people have to throw it in your face? This has been a long time issue when Valve broke so many mods back in the days. Don’t blame the site for it. Blame Valve and especially you for not paying ANY attention to what’s been going on, not looking up the issue or even reading when people reply to your problem. I don’t mean to sound like an arsehole but that’s just how it is.
Broken for me too, and I most definitely have the SDK 2013 updaes, have played dozens of mods that require them. Missing a startup_loading.vtf file, and when I get past that by giving it a renamed vtf to load, it fails on ‘cannot load library client”.
OK, hold on, just saw the link above to patches specific to EOTS. I am DLing those, will install and see how that works.
All good now, launches OK and seems to be running fine.
This is a great step up from Ravenholm.
I guess Chapter Two is probably dead in the water right about now, but this Chapter One is all amazing, from its setpiece and much improved storytelling. Those and the custom HUD icon really feels like the creator really improves.
The story is much more coherent and makes more sense. Although, I’m not sure if the Resistance knows about the protagonists’ “power”.
My favorite scene is where I fought the Policemen down the river with a boat. The music compliments everything!
Manually
Medium
40 Minutes
A lot of effort when into this mod. Not much pay off. I don’t understand why moders make new assets to replace perfectly good assets in the game. Time could have been better spent on game play. Lots of cut scene’s and map transitions breaks the flow of the game. Before you have done much it’s over. Could have been better.
Manually
Easy
30 Minutes
“Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf”.
How can i fix it?