The air is foul and corporate fascism reigns in the not too distant future.
Somewhere in the North American Union you are Myo Hyori, an 18 year-old girl of Korean descent who has had enough.
Oh and you can start fires- with your mind.
This makes your corporate owners very nervous…
Humanity is deeply in debt and under constant surveillance.
Refugees flood the West due to a devastating war in the Middle East and major earth changes in South-East Asia.
The oil flow dries up.
Marshall Law introduced in response to a chain of domestic terrorist attacks against major financial institutions.
The air becomes poisonous in major cities – The rise of air tycoons, owners of air recycling plants.
Anyone not purchasing a set amount of goods in a certain amount of time is labelled a nosumer and can be charged with refusal to stimulate the failing economy.
Cybernetics is everywhere.
Europe becomes too cold, many parts of Asia sink, Africa and South America are raped for natural resources while North America is constantly ravaged by earthquakes.
Marriage and the nuclear family are on the way out, there are three women to a man.
There are permanent colonies on Mars and the Moon.
But as the old world is crumbling something new is coming into being. Many people are waking up to their true powers- their DNA changing somehow….
You are one of these outcasts.
Eyaura has posted details of the mod’s name change to beta in the comments.
- Title: G-String
- File Name: hl2-sp-g-string-beta.7z
- Size : 1.65GB
- Author: MyoHyo
- Date Released: 19 December 2011
I think it would be cool if we all record exactly how long it takes for us to play this mod. Just like GameLengths. Actually, it’s a feature I would like to add properly to the site early next year.
I am trying Toggl and it looks pretty cool. Hopefully, MapTap will have a timer in a future version.
PATCHES: Download to your HDD [2.59MB]
Copy the contents of the “G-string” foldler into your gstring folder in yopur SourceMods folder. Click YES to overwrite the files.
- Copy the Gstring folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- G String should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
Please Note: Panoramic images only are available in full screen mode. You can either open one by clicking the image link above or by saving it to your computer and then opening it locally.
How to use: Once the image is open and your cursor is on the image, press and hold your left mouse button and move around the image. Use your mouse wheel to scroll in and out of the panoramic image.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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8,403Overall
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0Today
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4Last 7 days
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13Last 30 days
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179365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 2 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 15 Hours
Shortest: 15 Hours by RedMesa2391
Longest: 15 Hours by RedMesa2391
Total Time Played: 30 Hours
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OMG. Never had I had so much trouble writing a review! This mod amazed and frustrated me in almost equal measure. I should have known what it was going to be like from the first level – finding the key to exit the apartment proved too much for some and they gave up at that point.
I don’t blame them too much and almost stopped myself but am glad I didn’t.
What you get is a total conversion set sometime in the future and in Asia – Tokyo Twice, to be exact and play as Myo, a gifted young girl with certain powers.
I didn’t really use the powers very much but they do come in handy at times.
The setting is very dystopian and depressing, with lots of drab colours and textures.
There does seem to be a story, but I’ll be honest and say I lost interest about 2 hours in. Like many mods it’s not really a story, more of a “situation”.
Anyway, the environments are incredibly detailed and all add to the setting in a very realistic way. The enemies are mostly humanoid but there are a couple of surprises in store for you.
What the author has created is amazing and she deserves a huge amount of recognition for it, but ultimately there are too many flaws for it to be considered a gameplay masterpiece.
Firstly, is the fact that most of the time I was killed, and it was a shit load, let me tell you, I had no idea where the enemies were shooting me from. This was by far the biggest cause of my frustration and nearly drove me to stop playing.
At least with HL2, the red on the screen give you a basic idea where to look, but I found nothing like that with this mod.
Secondly, there was too much debris on the floor and it made moving forward difficult at times. To have to jump over a flat board lying on the floor is wrong.
Many players complained about the difficulty in finding the route forward and I do understand this point of view but feel that the author did a great job of making it detailed enough without making it too obvious. I have no complaints in this regard.
Finally comes the black bands at the top and bottom of the screen. When you have such beautiful views why limit them? At least give the player the option of easily removing them.
Yes, there were little bugs and things I would have done differently, but with all art you are not going to please everybody.
The reason the first and second issue are so important is that no matter how beautiful or how visionary a mod is, if it is not fun then the effort has been wasted. The last point is more aesthetic but still important.
Enough of the negative.
The author has used modding to voice a protest, a protest at consumerism and the general state of society. That’s something that has been lacking in gaming; social responsibility. Music was always at the forefront of youth culture as a means to let people know how they felt and now that it has been done it is clear that this has never been done before, at least not to my knowledge.
The protest is very vague and that’s all that is needed because specifics are too easy to argue against.
It lacks certain features that we would normally expect in a mod and I believe this is because this is effectively the author’s first mod. I say “effectively” because I am sure she made and remade parts many times, but since she didn’t re lease then she failed to receive “real world” feedback on the results. This is so important for the development of a designer.
To sit down and understand that one person, over quite a few years made this is both inspirational and frightening (more on that in an article) but anybody who doesn’t acknowledge the dedication and skill required to actually release this is being churlish.
Ultimately what we could have had here is one of the greatest mods ever made, but what we actually have is a collection of incredible work joined together with some fatal design flaws.
You MUST begin to play this. Everybody must, assuming they can download it. But, don’t think that it changes. What you get at the beginning is what you get throughout the mod.
This mod is highly recommended but only for the fact that if you haven’t played it, then you can’t fully understand the potential of a one-person mod.
Need help installing this mod. Beta version wont start though Steam after moving mod to steamapps/sourcemods folder. How to fix this?
I will warn people… Because, I’ve played it but not finished it yet.
Why?
1) Because there are “56 map’s” and (at LEAST) “12 hours of gameplay” (theorically, from the mouth of the developer, a Korean girl who worked 5 years on this mod).
2) and this is where you will see the problem : while it is perhaps one of the most beautiful HL mod’s ever done, looking nearly Crysis-like, the whole way, the paths, are a total MESS : In fact, you will be lost on the beginning banging your head on the wall trying to figure where you should go, repeat this 100 times and it seems, as far as I’ve advanced in this, you’ll have a pretty good shape of this mod…
You’ll go through magnificent post-apo map’s, and there is no objectives, no purpose, other than going ahead and falling into deep depression…
Luckyly, some guys are doing playthroughs on YouTube, so it will save your day sometimes, however I think it will have a duration much much higher than Strider Moutain, which at least had well-done level guidance… I think I’m going through at least 20 hours of gameplay, and so I won’t give up and post (one day) a review but I think I had to say this before, because as far as I am, a “think twice” should be a good advice for potential players…
Another thing is one of the worst things that can happen to mod’s with such promising backgrounds and/or introductions (Get a Life, Unexpected Conclusion, etc…) : the story seems to exist only in the mod” written plot, and in the intro, and then it seems that the developer has rolled her script paper sheets to make a giant cigar and to get high… Because the plot goes from awesome to “nothing” in less than a few minutes… Gosh.
Holy crap..
Is there more info on the actual development of the mod?
I think it would be cool if we all record exactly how long it takes for us to play this mod. Just like GameLengths. Actually, it’s a feature I would like to add properly to the site early next year.
I am trying Toggl and it looks pretty cool. Hopefully, MapTap will have a timer in a future version.
Where’s maptap link? 🙁
MapTap doesn’t work with mods.
The download seems to be broken —–
other mods download ok, but this one starts and then stalls.
As far as I can tell it is not my kit, “cos other d/l’s are no problem.
SHOCK HORROR — I am d/l” ing from desura even as I write this.
(I am going to try to copy the files into steam — I’ve never used desura before, so don’t what it’s files are like, whether it is just the game file, as PP, or whether they add bits on).
Sorry about that. You are the first to mention an issue. Might just be because of its size and the number trying to download from the site at the same time.
Cheers Phllip — s’pose it could be traffic —
Merry Christmas to you
Phil
I just tested it to 120MB and it seemed to work fine. Has anybody else had download trouble from my site?
I tried a download today and it is working — just very slowly.
Maybe “cos it is such a large file ???
It looks like a 90 minute long download for me – all’s well as ends well.
Cheers Phillip
Yes, probably because of the size. 1.6GB is the largest I have ever hosted.
It took me ages to download this mod from here to. It kept freezing towards the end ( on firefox) and I just kept unpausing it and it finally downloaded. It took nearly 6 hours on my broadband connection!
It would be so much easier to advance if you didn’t have to drag and stumble over every scrap of medal etc. you come across.
I’m in pain with this mod. This is the unofficial HalfQuake Source, every part of a map is just another step into sadism, and this mod isn’t even self-conscious of it.
Sometimes I have to see the walkthrough (who is now 200 minutes long and far from finished) just to see if I’m wrong, but no, the recorder has to take the same dumb paths like me, and even with his “skills” (somehow he’s good at finding fast the “good” way), he’s sometimes completly lost and wandering in totally useless areas…
However, the map’s are getting “better” (level guidance speaking… Visually, they are all (too) giant and beautiful) the more I pass them : For me, it looks like the developer was a completly noob in doing mods when she began the mod, maybe it’s her first mod, but it seems she didn’t think about re-doing the first map’s which are by far a complete mess.
Looking at my stat’s, it’s been nearly 6 hours I play this and looking at the mod files, I’ve done only 11 map’s on 54!!!
I had the privilege of play testing this mod, it most certainly isn’t for everyone, for some reason after around 8 maps I just go so depressed and frustrated not knowing where to go or what to do, I couldn’t even finish it to give my report of what I thought. I’d really suggest giving it a go though because it’s beautiful, and I know if you finish it you will get the most rewarding experience you’ve had in a long while. So, yeah, that’s about all I can say, I’ll be trying it again in the near future.
12 HOURS!!!!, God i’m going to last 2 years playing this, no, I hoope sooner 🙂
Ok…very funny…I have absolutely no idea apart from stumbling around the same few rooms at the beginning…and God mode doesn’t seem to work either….this IS just a wind up, right ?
No, it’s quite serious. Would you like a hint or direct help?
Some help of the kind of “hold my hand” would be good…seems to be memory hungry too…I had to turn the mouse input down to it’s lowest as well…slightest move and I’m all over the place, I don’t understand though if the console is enabled (as standard), why don’t commands work ? Ahh well, I had expected great things, considering the size of the download…it’s way bigger than the original game, probably all of them put together…disappointment is too small a word.
Okay, for the first area, you need to find a key that will let you out of the apartment. It’s outside a window.
I also have the same issue with the mouse. Nothing I tried has helped.
Yeah, that was very logical solution if you ask me.
Keeping my keys outside the window all the time.
I was able to get the mouse to work properly again by changing m_customaccel “101” to “0” in the config.cfg file. I normally use 3.0 sensitivity and now it is working good.
Thanks, I’ll test it later.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=half+life+g+string&search_sort=video_date_uploaded&uni=3 :
Check the walkthrough, don’t be shy, even the dev” posted it on her moddb page…
I even suggest if you’ve a dual screen to have the mod open in one and the YouTube Page in the other.
However, after thirteen map’s, it seems the mod is going into more action and less exploration… Thanks god.
Also, I really don’t get this “10/10” rating’s of moddb, the first ones were posted in a few hours after the release, and despite some playtesters who knew the mod already, there are many people who seems to have just played 10 minutes and then LIED… I don’t blame them though, maybe they thought that this mod would be simply easier and fluid than expected, and so jump into conclusions… But that’s really led the “average” mod player into a “wrong” mod who will assurely put their nerves to the limit…
Wow what a download! Anyone know how to add crosshairs? I can never hit anything without them.
I suggest a little dot of tipex on the screen.
tipex? must be some foreign (English) stuff lol. But seriously, a crosshair would be nice. It is a real pain to aim in this mod. I have tried all the console stuff I know but haven’t been able to get any of them to work. I know sv_cheats is working cause I can noclip but can’t get any crosshair…bummer…..
also tried editing config.cfg and autoexec.cfg. I was able to get the hud_quickinfo to work but no cursor. Guess I need to learn more half-live editing/configuration skills……
Where could I view the binds which are absent in “Option” (like slo-mo etc.)?
x = slow mo.
Forward + Backward = fire.
Thanks. But I want to rebind them to other key which I usually use.
I have just added a panoramic image. I may add more.
I am hopelessly lost in Hell, the level that is.
[spoiler]I walk up to a blue door and she says OH NO and the game goes white and starts scrolling all sorts of meaningless words. I then try to go back, but the path is now blocked. [/spoiler]
Can anybody help me?
I haven’t played yet either but there is a video walkthrough on Youtube in case anyone gets lost.
I have added a YouTube playlist in the main part of the post, just before the screenshots, which seems to contain a complete playthrough. It is missing a number “14” but I suspect that’s not a missing video, just a numbering error.
I watched the you tube walkthrough, he titled it Robot Worms. I did exactly what he did and keeps putting me back to my last save. How do I bypass that level?
Try with god mode turned on. But for some reason the console doesn’t say god mode on when you type god, even tho it works. Also sv_cheats 1 must be typed every time when you load game if you want to use cheats.
Hey Phillip, you have some amazing screenshots, I mean when you play in open areas, like streets and those opean air areas in the mod, does them look so clear and shiny like your screenshots???
I am asking because, when I play all open areas seem so grey and dark, so smokey and polluted, I think is part of the environment of the mod, but is there any way to improove the graphs when u play in open areas in the mod??, I want them to look clearer and shinier, is that possible??
Most of the areas are foggy/misty and not really shiny. I haven’t made any changes to the configuration of the mod and my laptop’s specifications are quite low.
Oh ok, thanks Philllip, so that look is normal then, actually there are some shiny and clearer areas, I think those are good detail points for the environment of the mod.
Allright, playthrough seems to be over and it is 560 minutes long, so 9 hours and 20 minutes of gameplay long (for a playthrough with just a few “oh I’m lost” moments). Guess I’ll have to take a deep breath and some Xanax before trying to finish this, this week…
Anyone know how to disable the widescreen mode?
Yes, I would like to get rid of it too but I think it has to be that way to keep the player health and ammo visible up top. I tried to get rid of it yesterday but got nowhere…but I only tried the options menu, not editing any files or anything…..
I can’t believe it, I finally made it out of Hell. Thanks for your suggestions. I believe it’s level six. I had to replay the whole game from start to that point. Even then it took about 4 or 5 retry’s before it loaded the next level. This game is Funky. Looking forward to more. Thanks Phillip.
dont work extract with 7zip:
gameinfo.txt is not a valid format
Sounds like it’s a faulty download, which in this case is freaking annoying as it’s so big. I tested a downloaded file yesterday and it worked perfectly, as did my local copy. Just in case, you should check its MD5. It should be a11f572be1fdadf34695621fd59d9dea. I use HashCalc for stuff like that.
Please let me know if that helps.
My MD5: 0F91E87A1C39B01FF228929F7AB81D11
Then your file needs to be re-downloaded. ModDB is also hosting it, so if you prefer you could try there. Although, I am sure my file is fine, you just had a bit of bad luck.
My download worked fine just yesterday (Dec. 26)
Anyone knows how to fix this bug –
After loading a save, you see the game for a split second and then the screen turns black (the health stays visible). The game works, you can move around, etc but you can’t see anything. I have encountered this problem before, the same thing happened with Get a life Half-Life 2 mod.
Sorry, I haven’t heard of this before. Hopefully, somebody will have an answer.
As of writing 322 downloads in 5 days, 51 comments and no one has posted that they’ve finished it!!! Strangely enough I’m not surprised.
This mod looks (in my opinion) fantastic from what I’ve played so far, but seems to be overly ambitious, the author/s appear to have sacrificed gameplay for visual effects. As I’m not a modder/mapper I can’t comment on the technical aspects but this is something that is, when unpacked (around 3.7gig+) near the size of a commercial release.
From the comments I’ve seen so far and various issues people are having I can see this being one that few will finish, as (in my opinion) a mod is a take it or leave it thing, a commercial game would be completed because you’ve paid for it!
For myself, I really want to finish this, but it will probably be one I come back to from time to time and play bit by bit, so I suspect like others this one that may take a while.
So far it’s a PIN.
A very ambitious effort that requires exploration, to be sure. I think I’m about 2/3rds there w/ seven hours playtime.
Does anyone know how to remove the filmgrain effect and/or brighten the overall screen? I’ve pushed lighting all the way to the left slider in the U.I. but would still like a little more light.
Also, is there a way to remove the “stickiness”? I find I get stuck trying to step over things that are maybe only a couple inches taller than the floor, so I basically jump all over the place.
Got to say after taking a large chunk out of the day to download I was expecting something epic about this mod.
I like to check out some of the sound effects files and music to get a feel for the quality and effort taking by the designers, I was not disappointed. So much work and impressive to, but by one person, wow! That kind of effort is so generous for a free gaming experience.
The quirky kink of having no sound got me a bit flustered when I run the mod, but I quickly caught on during settings adjustments.
The graphics are simply amazing with an electronic effect as if through cybernetic eyes, but so fast in motion, I had to adjust my mouse sensitivity. Never done that before!
The levels I’ve played so far are more about exploration and climbing on the scenery, which I love!
The police though are very brutal and shoot first and very deadly in number.
So much to look at and admire and discover, I’m so impressed.
And no headcrabs!
This dose not seen to be a run’n’shoot kind of deal, you’d spend much of the time tripping on everything!
Thus far I’ve found this TC to be very much to my liking…perhaps it’s because I’m the explorative type?
But I love the post-apoc graininess and while the routing is circuitous I find all the exploration compelling rather than annoying.
Back with more later but personally this is a must play for me. Well worth the download.
This is a huge mod and I have no idea how far along I am. I like the story and the voice acting. However, I am not a huge fan of the really grainy look on all the textures and the lighting at this point
Phillip as I am deeper and deeper in this mod, I mean play it untill I finished, which I hope it’ll be soon, i just could not avoid to think that i’d love to hear or read an interview with u here in ur site and the author of this G-String mod, do you think that could be possible??, that would be a really cool intreview here in PP.com
Hec, I have been in contact with the author for a little while already and have a text interview progressing. Once I finish the mod and formatted the interview, I will post it.
Woow, ok many thanks Phillip, and just to shout to the world:
I’vE FINALLY MADE IT, MORE THAN 9 HRS, IN 5 DAYS OF A WEEK, BUT I DID IT!!!
Ok, getting back the composture I hope to review it soon.
My 7-zip extraction just came up with 4050 errors. mostly broken file errors.
will try the other download site–
I’ve finished it today! S.anchev was right, you will need some xanax… if not when you play it certainly after you finished it! I didn’t used any cheats. I play it from the next day it was on moddb; my Christmas and New Year were some kind of nightmare..
Huge work, weird theme.
1) This is a spoiler-free review even if I speak a bit about the ending, I don’t reveal anything.
2) Please forgive me for not finishing the mod in a proper way, but this will be explained throughout the review.
Okay, LOL, I’ve decided to give this mod “one last chance” this week because I’ll be so busy in 2012 that I don’t know when I could replay mods and/or games, and I wanted to know where all this horror would go.
So, after more than 10 hours of gameplay, I completly snapped : this is it, this is the HORROR, a devilish paradox of what is probably the most realistic postapocalyptic mod, even game, ever designed, and also the most terrible nightmare of level design of all time.
I’ve tried so hard to go to the end, but… I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. At first, I thought from times to times “hey, this path isn’t SO horrible this time, maybe this will be better and better”, and then, 2 minutes later, being lost, again and again and again, in empty sewers, wastelands, or crossing paths with random mumbling interlopers saying things nobody cares about, listening to a narrator speaking cryptically about vague and obscure things which don’t matter and won’t matter any more, strange cries, laughs and other creepy sounds in a grey-shaped mod making it the pinnacle of depression-made game.
So, as a result, I did what was the last thing to do : Console, map [insert random name here], skipping fast all those terrible paths I just couldn’t stand any more. I didn’t think it could happen to me, even the long and hard Leon’s maps/mods, 1187, DayHard, I could make it, because it wasn’t SO terrible.
However, in the end, the ultimate question “after so many hours in a mod with a so horrible level guidance, will it be WORTH THE WAIT??” : Well, I saw the ending. And I think, I think it is really worth the wait. MyoHyo, that Japanese thirty-year modder girl, seemed to have from the beginning to the end a real story, a real message, an ambitious idea to pass into this mod : this ending is really fantastic, even if I’ve cut my protagonist’s journey with cheating, I think this is perhaps the greatest ending ever made in a Half-Life mod. It is intelligent, strong, surrealist… Shocking… There is SOMETHING here, something I could have really wanted to reach IF this mod didn’t have this so pathetic level guidance… What a mess, oh god.
I think she has seen all of the David Lynch and Luis Bunuel movies, put them all in a blender, mixed them, then put the pulp in a cigaret and smoked it and then fell into a massive deliria, writing and developing in 5 years a giant LSD-filled dream trying too hard to put the player/tester into a complex state of mind just to flash his mind in this 15-minute long ending and credits combined.
So, what does I think of all of this, in the end??? I think this could have been a book. A movie. even a 2 hour CGI or Source-based animated thingy going straight-to-YouTube. But not a game. I mean, playing long mod’s, story mod’s, I like it. When I feel PLEASURE. When I can see what I’m supposed to do, why I do it, with enemies or not to destroy, with clever things to do… PLEASURE. Here, I felt PAIN.
PAIN in level guidance, lost in I-dont-know-where/why/how/who, I’m just a poor wanderer randomly walking and looking like a cockroach lost in the Sahara. Sometimes,
PAIN in fights, with weapons with no iron sights, no cross hair, and with a “slow-mo” system which seems to slow… the enemies AND me, as a result it’s just the game slowing down, ya know… lol.
PAIN in the health system, with so few kits to be found.
On the good point now : this mod is BEAUTIFUL, I mean, really. Sometimes I was at the summit of wasteland hills, or destroyed buildings, and what I saw beneath me was Portal2-like quality graphics : it was giant, it was very detailed… I was just, “WOW!!!”… And the enemies were custom, re-skinned, there was so many work put into that…
In the end, that’s the saddest thing, so much potential completly killed by what I think is very poor to non-existent beta testing, destroying all of the incredibly efforts in this gameplay MESS.
So, to conclude : THINK TWICE. REALLY TWICE. This is really the “love or hate” mod, kind of thing.
You’ll perhaps be fascinated quickly by the aesthetics… But, as I said in a recent poll, THINK ABOUT THE GAMEPLAY. THAT’s THE MAIN-MAIN-MAIN POINT OF GAMING.
I won’t give an “avoid it” because this would be really sadistic, and in fact useless. I don’t think there is really an “avoid it” mod IMHO. There is always the possibility for a mod/game to attract your attention or entertain you, even for a few minutes.
You can do the Van Gogh of games, I’m not here to SEE. I’m here to PLAY.
This will be my last review until… fall 2012? 2013? I dunno. I’m sorry to end with this complete horror, but even with my often soft side when I play mod’s (as you can see in my numerous reviews, after all, this is amateur, this is free, and usually I don’t like to make sad someone who took time to do a free-project just for us, fans and players, with no cash or reward in the end), this is really the overdose, the nausea, the final shoot in my mind, the thing that maybe was so terrible that I won’t regret not playing games or mod’s for a while. In a way… Thank you G String!!! You’ve disgusted me of a thing I love, at the right time!!!
Cheers, boys, and good luck for those who will make it right to the end without cheating, you’ll have my respect forever!!!
Final transmission for the developer if she pass here : sorry to be harsh, but in the end, I hope this review will help you, maybe, even, to do a “remake” with the help of some testers, other modder’s, and maybe one day there will be a “G String 2.0” which will be, I hope, and I KNOW it has the potential to be it, one of the greatest mod’s ever made.
That is quite harsh… You skipped a lot because you couldn’t find the way or work out the environmental puzzle? This sounds like someone saying something is bad because they are not good at it. But really, you are entitled to your opinion.. although maybe a rethink of the score you gave it.. if you just compare other maps/mods it deserves more than think twice (2 stars)..
I am giving this a “Play it now” recommendation even though it is far from perfect. This is a huge mod and will give you many hours of entertainment value. Yes it can be a little frustrating when you are in a big area and are not sure how to proceed but eventually you can find a solution. I say “a solution” because a lot of the times I found a way to do something but I think there would probably be other ways to do it as well.
I didn’t like the areas with the toxic water, incessant vent crawling, and the mind-trips you sometimes get taken to out of nowhere. I thought the whole mod was a bit grainy and lacked colour, but I guess that was probably the author’s intention for the subject. The sounds were great except sometimes I wanted the voices to be a little clearer; I know I missed a lot of what was said.
There were a couple of problem spots I found in the mod. I kept getting killed in a hallway for no apparent reason, and there was one map where an area wasn’t displaying correctly. In fact the area I couldn’t see properly was the direction I needed to go. Once I got past these I was able to finish. Due to the length of the mod and my desire to finish I played a lot on god mode, and I think this actually led to me getting killed at the end of a puzzle. Weird
Despite the negatives, there are enough really clever and inventive things in this mod to make it worth playing. The music and visuals are also spectacular in some cases. Just don’t expect to finish it in a couple of hours. This is a “take your time” mod which stretched out over several days for me.
Well, I have to say that this one is definitely the longest mod I’ve ever play, and probably is going to be in the number 1 as the longest mod ever, Forget about “Offshore”, Coastline to Atmosphere”, “Strider Mountain”, “Get a Life” those are mini mods comparing to this ambitious project. Maybe one of the most ambitious modding total conversions that have actually materialized as a real mod ever existed in HL modding history?, yeah probably, well in that list you could include BM Source (we sure know remaking old BM into source hell yes is ambitious), but even that is yet not finished, and G String is there for you to download is REAL, is really amazing 5 years project that became real thanks to the hard work of this lady Modder, and that is just impressing.
This mod is also the most post-apocalyptic mod I’ve ever play, sure we have lots of inconveniences when we play it from the beginning to the end, a mod of that length and size is not 100% pro, and we have to have that in mind when we try this, I had some “free edicts” bugs in some almost ending maps, but I solve them downgrading my high video settings to the lowest (which curiously, by downgrading those video settings I also got clearer sights in the misty-foggy open areas), also the paths are hectic, but is honest to solve them if look the pretty complete walkthrough here available, I like that I really never was able to open the console IN game, and that was just another challenge for me in order to complete it clean and in an honest way, I didn’t use cheats at all, and I feel great when I finish a considerable challenge mod in an honest way.
What this mod really does well, and I think few mods can do it, is to create that post apocalyptic atmosphere all the way, and in each and every little detail you will found when you play it, the author makes a description of a really pissed off world, over populated, polluted as hell, wars, having 3 kids is a crime!, well those statements you can really feel them when you play this mod, open areas will have low visibility, close areas will improve it too because they are apart from that almost unbreathable air out side, those details make the difference between a mod that just want to be what the author of it describes and what really is in game play time, and this is a great merit of this mod, the skeletons and corpses every way, the posters and that feeling of “we really have ruined this world” is a constant from the beginning to the end, and is done well.
Obviously this mod have some HL2 influences, mainly in the style of represent the repressive forces that want to kill, intimidate and chase us all the time, that’s evident, but apart from that the starring character of this story Myo Hiory, have powers! wow, I felt that as an action movie plot, and when I played this mod, I also had that feeling, I felt this more as a movie than a mod to play, that detail of set in fire things and kill enemies with that power Myo has, add an original taste to the mod, and it breaks the classic HL weaponry use. that also makes you think in environmental combat, or use the environment around you if it’s possible to defeat the enemies u will face, this mod definitely have that clever-combat element, the rest of the weapons were just okay, and I don’t really love them, I feel that I definitely needed a very basic Gun sight or maybe an Iron sight in order to aim and kill well, also the “Z” zooming key is really important, I think that lack of HUD basic elements, is an effort to play as realistic as possible, but this is still a mod that needs some work on that, and I hope the author could if improve it, in the future and add those basic HUD features as I comment in Mod db, and I still consider those features are really important to make a better playability in this mod.
Also I loved the all-time super speed the shift key provides us, and the slow motion key is also a great detail, some of the action fighting combat parts I feel them with those keys more as an action movie scene than just a normal play mod scene.
So in conclusion you have to try this Total Conversion because I think it worth it, but this is a mod that definitely u can love or hate, also comparing this to a full commercial game is totally unfair, keep in mind that this is still being a mod, also is cool that you could start play this and finish it no matter if it takes you 1 week or 1 year, this is, as I said, probably the longest mod in HL history and those kind of mods you can only play for one time in your life and maybe you won’t replay them (well about that, in my case I think I would replay parts of it is improved and if some (really needed) Closed Caption subtitles are added). About the story you maybe would find it harsh, but also it helps to have an open mind when we think about a pretty wasted future.
Hmmmm! I need to go back a bit! This seems to have visual references to the Kray’s (I’m probably wrong)!!
I am in part 29 aftershock 1 and I keep receiving a “no free edict” error. I have lowered my video settings but still keep getting kicked to the error. I’ve tried to skip the level by going into map aftershock_2 but when it loads it’s all black. I would hate to give up on this game as I’m really starting to enjoy it. Any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated.
I had the same problem at a different map (don’t remember which) but reducing my resolution from 1440X900 to 1280X768 fixed it. After I made it past that part and the next Loading point I raised it back up and have no more problems so far.
I know you said you tried this but I just wanted to say that is what I did. I hope you or someone can figure it out, I would not want to have to stop playing unexpectedly…..
I’m having to same problem but I’m using 800X600 resolution. I too changed the video settings and it’s still giving me the same error. Want to finish the mod, its really getting good. Any other suggestions? When will the patch be released
I tried lowering the resolution down to 640x…and it worked. After next map load, put res back to 800×600 and everything is ok. Reduce res is a good fix.
Breaking news :
Apparently, the developer is currently working on a patch which will help for the paths on the mod.
I think people should wait for this patch… It will render the experience more pleasant… Maybe I will even revise my judgment (when I’ll replay this in…some time…), who knows (even if I think that besides adding giant fluorescent blue arrows on the ground, what kind of patch can save the level guidance?).
I’m not sure how but I’ve managed to move through that particular roadblock. It’s still an ongoing problem though as I progress through this wasteland.. I hope that patch is released soon. Thanks for your help and suggestions.
Alright I’m done.
I’ll be writing up a long review for my blog later.
However it was very good…and I highly recommend it!
Also I had no issues with path finding at all, in fact I enjoyed searching and to be entirely honest I found that the paths in the end were for the most part highly logical. I trul don’t understand the issues some are having with this.
Sorry, but it can not play this mod without viewfinder, I can not go forward.
I tried to activate the console but the commands do not work, why?
After almost a full week of playing this game I have finally completed it. It is easily the longest mod I have ever played on either the HL2 engine or the HL1 engine so reader beware. As Phillip said on Podcast 17 the bugs and general lack of flow restrict it from ever becoming something as grand as mod of the year or “personal favourite”. However, in some strange way it has an allure. I feel the “beta tester” who lives deep inside me loves this game so much because he wants to break it. By “breaking the game” or finding areas unreachable you are essentially solving the path finding puzzles. Years of “Kreedz Climbing” has trained me for a mod like this.
Other than general flow, the narrative is lacking too… and I feel that’s only because the vocals and voice acting is unhearable, both from a sound measure and a quality measure. It doesn’t matter though because as the avatar you get a sense from the story as the world collapses around you.
The atmosphere is what makes the mod a play it now for me. To be honest, it’s really the only thing the mod has going for it, but the atmosphere is so fantastic and so comprehensive that it’s almost the only thing it needs.
The sheer amount of gameplay is a plus, I found myself rushing home from work so I can play G String for another 5 hours straight.
The mod is certainly a commitment. You really need to be dedicated to want to play through it.
I’m proud that I didn’t use on single cheat or walkthrough the entire mod as most people have came to me trying to look for the very first key in the mod.
Overall though G String has certainly branded my memory. … still don’t know why they call it g string though :S
Does anyone have the map order for this mod. I am stuck after the dream scene in map end_3 after all the photos are displayed and you transition to to a scene that looks like you are falling through clouds. Unless someone can tell me how to fix this I will go to the next map after end_3.
That is pretty much the end. Mine froze up there also but I watched a youtube walkthrough and the only thing after that is some text and then credits. You’re not missing anything. GAME OVER
HEADER:
Don, I had the same issue in one of the dream scenes where the hallway behind you
disappears and I get stuck in a hallway with large pipes behind the fence-like barrier, and the
door ahead of you is supposed to be open after the dream sequence.
It never ends, the floor disappears, and I see pipes running from one side of the pit to another.
Whew, finally finished. I thought this was a brilliant mod. I’m not very good with detail descriptions but I just loved how TOTALLY different and visually amazing this was, for me anyway. I probably would have given a personal favorite if not for the several aspects of this that I just didn’t care for. I love exploring and never thought I would say this but after a while all the extra rooms and dead end places did get a little old. I would definitely have not wanted to have missed this though. I don’t know how the author even came up with some of the amazing details in this. I would love to see more but I guess 5 years is a long time to wait for another mod.
Anyway, here are a few of the things I didn’t like but in no way am I saying they ruined this mod for me or that you shouldn’t play it. You must absolutely play this mod!
1. The super fast mouse movement. (changing m_customaccel “101” to “0” in the config.cfg file worked for me, after that mouse movement could be set normally in options).
2. No cursor. Really hard to aim especially with pistols where you can’t really see where you are hitting easily. Pretty much made the 12 shooter worthless.
3. Inconsistent doors. Just seemed to me a lot of the doors were a real pain. Some wouldn’t open consistently or were a pain to open at all and hard to get through sometimes. I was never sure if this was a door I could use or not.
4. Didn’t care for the number 4 only weapon select key and having to scroll through every time I wanted to change weapons.
5. Arrows laying around but no bow. (probably I just never found it? who knows).
6. Several crashes and at least 2 places where a trigger event never happened (even when reloading or restarting from way back in a previous save). If not for the video walkthrough I would not have known what was supposed to happen and I would have been permanently stuck.
7. No zoom
8. Jumping and crawling were poor. Jumping just didn’t feel enough or right at all, crawling was very very slow.
Well, hopefully my views won’t keep anyone from trying this and I hope I didn’t give the impression I didn’t care for it because I really did love it!
ENJOY!!!!!
I am in map rooftop_1
I get the error: no free edicts
I have downgraded the settings to the lowest resolution, with lowest model and texture detail etc. and still get the error. I tried putting -num_edicts 4095 in the launch options to no avail. Anyone have any idea for a fix? Thanks.
Oh and, this mod is epic.
This Mod was the reason to me to registry on planetphillip and to give a “Personal Favorite”. If you play it now, you will caught in it for the next weeks, think twice or avoid it, if you prefer to spend a few more hours in the familiar Half Life-universe with Combines behind every corner, Headcrabes jumping around and all the other wellknown friends and weapons you need to tackle with them.
A few times I had to take a look on the walkthrough to find a way out (as in other games too) or to see, that I found another solution (sometimes easier, sometimes heavier) than TheMegatonBomb. But nevertheless it’s one of the best mods I know, and I have played almost all the hall of fame-mods of Half Life 2.
This Mod is different, a real total conversion with its own atmosphere in amazing maps. Every map could be the place for a whole mod. I never thought before, a computer game could a have a poetic touch. I wish Valve would give MyoHyo a job in the making of Half Life 3.
I’ll perhaps revise my rating when Myo (the dev’… damn, what a silly idea to call her character the same name as her, this is confusing) will release the patch fixing the path’s problem. Actually, it seems the paths are less confusing in the second half (traduction : the next twenty hours) of the mod, but I don’t want to simply noclip or skip maps with console, that’s not… the way I do games and mods, actually. (Skipping to the ending wasn’t particularly cheating, IMHO, because this is just to “see”, not to “play”…)…
There was a long time ago, a world where games had no saves, no cheats, no walkthroughs, I was fine with it, and actually I’ve finished R-Type and Super Mario Land, 9 years after their release on my gameboy. (However, we also knew that the only challenge was to finish it, because at this time the… “endings” were no more than a “congratulations” screen, somthing like that).
Well, it seems I’ve grown a bit too old to have the strengh to take long challenges any more. But once again, 2D scrolling games were a lot easier than 3D free to explore games, now.
I’m really happy for Myo that her mod get so much praise, or at least, so much players, that’s interesting, I didn’t expect so much people to still download giant SP brainstormed HL2 mod, anymore, in 2012… Still hope…
Ok, maybe I didn’t like looking around for a solution, which probably took a while, but only about 5 minutes of my time. Maybe the Kpop and Jpop songs don’t fit the theme or setting. Or, maybe the AIs with shotguns are just too hard to kill.
Either way, every map, I look around and examine so much detail, which is similar to the maps of Half Life 2. The buildings, the decals, the aftermath of an apocalypse, it’s perfectly placed just like a painting. Every time I go outside, I’m blown away by the level design. Although not easy to navigate, it enhances realism. Sure, I’ll go across that river, but I need to push this pallet as I’m standing. Oh, I need to walk on the edge of that…I need to walk on that thing?!
Ah, heh…there are so much risks in the linear path, it is almost dangerous, terrifying, and tricky. The more I explore, and the more I take risks and succeed, the more immersive the mod is.
However, I died a few times and got frustrated…luckily, it’ll be resolved in a patch for future G-String players.
I advise waiting on a patch, and by then, do not miss out on this experience. This should have been MOTY 2011.
Has any1 finished it without using cheats, walkthroughs etc?
And if a patch is on the way, can someone tell me when exactly will it be out, please?
I for one am not for REALLY long mods, haven’t finished Strider Mountain for eg, but I’m all for hard/puzzle mods. I just need a bigger nudge for these 55 maps or so..
The patch will be out soon. A matter of weeks.
Good news also is I’ve convinced the dev to add some subtitles to the “voices” heard throughout the mod, as I’m a non-speaking english people, I can read with ease the langage, but it’s harder to listen to it, especially when it’s whispered.
If you really want to go to the end as in the current state of the mod, there are two walkthroughs for it on youtube.
Having a problem in Discoteque_2 map. After the dream sequence I loose all weapons. Has anyone else had this problem? How do I get my weapons back? Update….no problem…in the next sequence, it seems you have to gather weapons all over again. No help needed.
Thank You S. Anchev for your replies concerning the patch, I was very torn as to dload it as is so I shall wait for the patch. Again Thank You
If the patch includes the ability to use the crosshair which is currently absent, please create a new posting about it! Then (and only then) will I play this mod. I’m sure I’m not the only one holding back (or quit and not posted) because of this glaring error.
I really want to recommend this,but can’t make very much progress for all the reasons the above commenters have mentioned already.
The game, so far, looks absolutely professional, but way too dark, dismal and depressing, which of course does have it’s place, if balanced with some daylight scenes….but please, give me the player some idea as to where I’m supposed to go. An odd red light on a more or less inaccessible building 8 stories up really doesn’t count as that much of a clue in my book…
I’ve spent several hours trying to come to grips with it, but am now giving up, which is a shame as even though I’m only a tiny fraction of the way into it I can see that it’s a major piece of work.
I will try again when it’s revised…..
The other reviews said it pretty much already.
Ambitious, gorgeous, atmospheric, sometimes frustrating.
But overall, few mods can deliver such a unique adventure.
Well put.
Addendum:
-There’s no saying just how amazing the atmosphere/suspense can be in some parts: (mild spoilers) the eerie derelict buildings, nuked city, and high-rise parts, are convincing, breathtaking, and downright disturbing. I haven’t seen so much talent in a long time, if ever.
-The amount of detail everywhere in this mod is almost mind boggling.
-No trace of ridiculous hollywood-esque overstated detonation garbage for 5-year olds in this mod! It’s all so refreshingly clean.
-Of course, this mod isn’t for everyone. Some will hate it a great deal. Amen.
-Didn’t use the slowmotion feature once. Just never liked that in any game.
-The lack of crosshair makes the game significantly more difficult.
I’ve just started playing Gstring and have 2 questions (so far):
1. Is there any way to add the crosshair?
2. I can’t seem to control mouse movements, it leaps about with the tiniest of touches, even on minimum sensitivity, any clues as to why?
Myo’s computer broke so the update might Take a little longer.
Oh damn it, I change my review.
Not because of “popular demand”.
Not because I want to stay in the “global consensus” (I still continue to despise 1187, against all odds).
But, I can’t stop to think about this mod, and still following it, and trying to help the dev” a bit, and some other stuff.
And also, this is like Strider Mountain… My first review was a TT, changed to PIN.
SM and GS were first both played at particularly hard moments of my life and my job, and probably suffered from that. I was even going to not play mod’s until 2013, but as you can see, this changed….
Well, PIN… Even if the flaws haven’t changed, I support them More and actually enjoyed them as good challenge… Like finding my way…
Other than That, it still stays as the greatest post-apo game ever made and it clearly… Hypnotized me.
Damn mod. Maybe the next patches will make me change the rating to PF, who knows. But this G String is so much a slap in the face, you should play it now.
But be still prepared to a hardcore journey…
“G String” should be studied. It is a UFO in the mod world, the game world. If this have been indie, it would have raised some controversy.
As a conclusion : Don’t push aside a work who talks so well about humanity.
Awesome mod!
It ain’t perfect but that’s the beauty of it.
One talented girl modder indeed!
The maps are simply so colorful and lots of sexiness hehe!
Playing it wanna makes you go out and go disco disco with Zohan ahihi!
Some of the weapons looks and sounded horrible though but
I simply fix that using my smod custom weapons.
Updates in the future for this mod might be the addition of
iron sighted weapons which I suggested and was offered to rescript
the weapons definitely an honor to help out a fellow mapper/modder.
the major problem I am having is this:
ED_Alloc: no free edicts
i read a post somewhere that said to type “-num_edicts 2047″ (without the quotes) in the steam ” launch options” dialog box.
this hasn’t helped. it still keeps crashing to the desktop.
lowering the resolution doesn’t fix the problem for me either.
i have tried typing -num_edicts 6000 to see if this will help, but nothing.
i noticed that I am not alone in this respect, but no-one has provided any decent workarounds to this.
does myo know about this. if she is aware, will this be addressed in the forthcoming patch?
cheers.
baz.
I had this problem with one map only, the one with a huge chasm in the ventilation, so I avoided looking down and then the problem stopped in the next map.
As for Myo being aware, you may find the info at the bottom of this page relevant:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/g-string
Hi
I have the same problem than you, but i have no idea or solution. However your attempts to solve the crash are the first answer that i found, so i will search for other help in the net and, in case of success, i will write here the howto.
@denizen50:
cheers for replying.
i have got past it now by purely running into the problem area and tearing across to the other exit in that room and going through it.
there was a few times where I missed the correct exit so it crashed again.
the key, for me anyway, was constantly spamming the quick-save every-time I made about 5seconds of progress before it decided to crash to the desktop.
Hi
As i had said before, i’m writing here how to solve this problem, because it worked well, with some perseverance. I followed your way of trying to solve this problem and it functioned till the nextlevelloading, after which no other problems occurred. This is the solving way, considering that some methoddifferences can exist among different hardwares and/or operative systems: i saved my progress very frequently because the crash to desktop was occurring every few seconds, surely less than ten, so i could go on exploring almost completely till finding a door in the room in which it is a black littersack; this room has two doors, but only one opens, the one far from the littersack, and lets escape towards a ventilationtube opening on the right side in the end of a corridor, in which some fires start spontaneously after having killed two soldiers waiting just beyond the abovementioned door; it is necessary waiting some seconds in the tube till the last fire dies spontaneously and lets you go on, while all the fires behind the player are eternal and it is impossible running thru them without losing many healthpoints, so do not try in going back, it is also unuseful, the escapeway is one way and you have just losed a beautiful healthpiece going in the correct direction; the loadingpassage to the next level is a few meters on, where the ventilationtube enlarges itself like a very little room just before returning to be a simple ventilationtube. This is all*.
*Note that waiting for the spontaneous firediing inside the ventilationtube does not cause any problems with the hurry due to the few seconds after which the next crash to desktop occurs, because each progresssaving does make restart the time. So, do not worry about how many times you have to save your progress, you are going to save them many times and very often, before touching the nextlevelloadingtriggerpoint.
I have posted my review if anybody is interested. It’s at the top of the first page.
This is lovechild.
I won’t say much because many said everything about details before.
Don’t expect an easy run. I’m talking not only about partially terrible level design but emotional touch and depth it will have on your heart and soul. It will suck you in and won’t let you go. It will give you not only gameplay but EXPERIENCE. Experience of dying or may be already dead world. That feeling of oblivion which is reaches extreme in scenes with Korean pop songs – at contrast with their happy tone. And it’s good that you should seek your way further because you can look at surroundings (don’t forget – you can sprint without limitations) at dead body of that city.
This mod brings more horror when Cry of Fear could ever dream.
This is manifesto.
This was made not to entertain you but to hit you at your head with a plank of wood. To make you fall on your knees in despair.
This is art.
This game is a revelation; it is the most amazingly complex environment to wander through and is quite a challenge on all levels. This version, (1.0) has an almost otherworldly electronic view of a decidedly rundown city, richly textured and festooned with graffiti and billboards. A capitalist vision turned nightmare!
You are lost in this city, but don’t worry, you are very wanted!
Massive vistas and climbing feats abound amid some very violent combat, where the lack of a crosshair makes combat hard, but not impossible. Even I have managed to get quite far!
This game has constantly delivered new and exciting imagery and sound with every new location, it’s simply amazing. In fact some of the environments are so detailed I have been forced to check the “YouTube” walkthroughs a couple of times to find an exit, when I realised I had already found it but another thing caught my eye and distracted me. I do like to wander and this is the game I have often dreamed of playing.
Now I will set about finishing it, although it has already been good enough to earn a very deserved 10/10 from me and I’m still less than halfway through!
I saw a robot with the Guy Fawkes mask from “V for Vendetta”. It was so surreal!
Well I have now finished this epic cyberpunk mod and I must say I takes me back to the day I first saw “Blade Runner” at the cinemas back in 1982. Then, as now with this mod, it blew me away with such new, interesting visuals and sound. Neon lights, rain and decay make for some magic moments in this mod. Yes I think this mod must be played, it is brilliant and thought provoking.
I had few issues with this mod.
1. No crosshair. (I liked this as it made the combat more realistic, but my aiming worse than ever!)
2. Major slow done during one of the office levels and minor slowdowns due to aging PC!
3. Had to miss one map “Aftershock_1” due to a “ED_Alloc:no free edicts” engine error. I could have ” noclipped” but I saw this level on ” Youtube;.
4. Had to resort to ” god” mode to get past a few very heavy combat sections, as I hate using slow-mo in games! I mean, three combat druids and armed cops on a narrow path!
5. Minor hiccup of final stage fixed by map reload.
Loved the use of objects designed for you to trip on and get into trouble. Made for an epic fight in a pole-dancing club, falling over chairs and tables while trying to “John Woo” the opposition! This mods greatest strength, as far as I’m concerned is the epic use of cityscapes for aerial climbing and jumping. Falling, though not intentional, seemed to happen a lot too!
Not to forget the massive size of some of the areas on the ground you traverse as Myo Hyo, guided by the ever-present fires on the early levels. Nice touch.
Combat is sparse, but when it happens it is very intense and very musical. Pounding disco beats as the bullets fly led to a lot of the red mist! Even the fire fights in this mod end up feeling rather surreal! Health and ammo are plenty so I managed all but a couple of fights without sneaking off to the “console”.
I reckon I spent over 20 hours exploring the wondrous environments of this mod and finding nearly all of the paths fairly straightforward, but ” You Tube” was there to help if needed with a walkthrough!
The denizens of “Tokyo Twice” were an odd bunch, but at least they didn’t shoot much! The robots on the whole were unfriendly and very prone to blowing up except the enforcement druids, which were heavy armed and armoured! The “Tape Worms” were very creepy, especially in the dark!
Must say I love the new rocket launcher sound effects, very shrill and disturbing, especially when played at night!
The look of this mod with it’s black bars, fuzzy electronic filter and blue tones seem so natural now I am left wondering how the new version will look.
Had a great time playing the perfect mod, (For me) looking forward to a replay and then the new version. A very Personal Favourite!
If this was a team MOD I would have to give it 6 or 7, but because this is a one person effort that makes this mod a labor of love for that even with the cons noted in a number of the other posts I would have to give it a 10. This is definitely a work of love and it shows. I would love to meet the artist.
Great Mod!!! Great architecture, story-line, and overall game play.
Just need to cleanup the language. WAYYYYYY too many f-bombs in the mod.
*** Suggestions on how best to enjoy this mod below
*** NB: I played version 1. I am eagerly awaiting V2, which I understand will address many of the issues raised below (and by others).
The positives must come first:
It is astounding that one person could have created this. The creativity, vision and originality are outstanding. Theme, look, NPCs, music, atmosphere, captivating gameplay, puzzles – all are of an amazingly high standard. And it has something serious to say, and makes you think.
This mod is in a class of its own – when you’ve played a dozen HL2 mods, a certain sameyness creeps in, each new mod offering one or two new ideas, but are overwhelmingly familiar. This is unlike any of those, with only a few isolated points of similarity.
Now the frustrations:
Valve designers have a doctrine – it’s called something like “the hidden hand”, where players are subtly drawn to where they need to go next. This mod’s author chose not to do this, and the playtesters let her get away with it. Probably deliberately – perhaps it is in keeping with the social critique of today’s diminishing attention spans. But to my mind, it lessens the game’s appeal.
By far the worst frustration is when I would spend ages trying to make a difficult jump, or stack some items as a climbing aid, and not know whether my failure was due to my lack of skill, or that I was completely barking up the wrong tree.
I also suffered from a few glitches:
(a) The first few “no free edicts” I worked around by restarts, then I got a solid repeatable one – this I solved by dropping all graphical settings down to minimum (until the following map). NB: the “-num_edicts 2047” thing has no effect.
(b) A couple of times I saw broken / incompletely rendered maps. That is, areas that I was supposed to be in, but which looked like “off-map” areas that you typically see when noclipping near the edge of a map. These I solved by reloading an earlier save – in some cases, before the map change. (I am not talking about the “transparent floor” sequence in the endgame section).
(c) I also glitched right at the end, the vision got stuck at the “cubes flying through clouds” sequence, while the audio played on (a minute or so before the credits). This I solved by watching the ending on YouTube.
The verdict:
Play it now, but accept that you’ll have to do a few things you’d normally choose not to, in order to get the gaming experience you’d prefer:
(1) As soon as you get the pistol, find a blank wall and fire six or so shots into it, hands off the mouse. Cut a sliver of Post-it note and stick it on your monitor, in the middle of the cluster of impact marks. Now you have a crosshair, and the magnum can be used as a sniping weapon.
(2) Have a red hot go at solving each of the “how do I get to the next area” puzzles. If you solve it, you’ll have that great feeling that all good puzzlers give you (Portal/2 etc). If you don’t, you have to resort to your own DIY “hidden hand”. Here are the steps, in escalating order:
(a) To a quick save and dial up noclip. Use it to explore the map, to find out where the next area is. You’ll recognise places that aren’t the next area – they’ll have incomplete rendering, transparent walls etc. The right places will have solid details, supply crates, enemy triggers – you’ll know what I mean. When you’ve found it, load the last save and try again – in most cases the clear objective is enough to get you on your way.
(b) If you’re still stuck, go back to noclip and explore for pathways to get there.
(c) As a last resort, go to a YouTube walkthrough. I had to do this a number of times – some of them made me feel like a complete idiot for not noticing something that should have been obvious, but for others my opinion was “how could I possibly have been expected to work that out?”
(3) Every time you see a door, and you want to know if it opens, bear in mind that they are all different. Many of my own epic fails were due to concluding a doorway was locked / inoperable when in fact if was THE exit door.
To void this, make sure you do the following:
(a) approach it – it may open automatically
(b) press “E” – it may open
(c) try to push it open by walking into it
(d) try to push it open by telkinesis
(e) whack it with the hammer
If all of those fail, you can (probably) assume that it is not a functioning door.
This is a rare gem, being the work of one person this mod realises an incredibly personal vision, it’s not so much the setting, which draws on the familiar cyberpunk touchstones of Blade Runner and Ghost In The Shell, it’s more the viewpoint we see this world from. This is a game stewed in political angst, drowned in a thick atmosphere of hopelessness not even most horror games go near, as the protagonist there’s a sense of futility in your actions, there is no defined goal to your rampage just a need to lash out at the constraints of the hideous dystopia you’re in.
The story, such as it is, is difficult to follow and it is wilfully ambiguous. Although this isn’t helped by the dialogue being difficult to understand. Not that I think this matters much, I don’t play mods for their storylines and I think the themes of consumerism and totalitarianism are clear and well developed, and these are the things the mod is really about more so than our character’s personal story.
Gameplay-wise, I’ve got to say I could write an essay on everything that was wrong here, first and foremost; as I’m sure everyone has said finding your path through these maps quickly becomes very patience testing.
Other bugbears:
No crosshair which makes long range combat an ordeal.
The excruciatingly slow crouch speed which makes crawling through long vents a serious chore at many points.
The lack of consistent visual language about what doors and objects you can open/break/pick up/will hurt you, which led to me becoming stuck at points until I simply tried everything possible and happened upon a solution that wasn’t at all apparent.
Getting stuck on physics props and awkward geometry.
Counterintuitive routes required to progress (eg. walking through unavoidable fire or dropping down a bottomless pit.)
From all that I’ve probably made this game sound like a horrible ordeal to play, at times it is but there are other times when it’s great fun, I really enjoy the mechanic of being able to enter slow motion, this with Myo’s tele and pyro-kinesis abilities provides some great possibilities in fire fights.
The soundtrack’s a mixed bag, there’s some great ambience that suits the game’s environments nicely. The use of pop songs for the combat set pieces started off promising, Zager and Evan’s In The Year 2525 was perfect, some of the choices later in the game were quite jarring (especially that stupid Maria He, Maria Ha Ha song at one point) although I suspect some of these were consciously ironic.
I have to give an honourable mention to the mechanical tentacles as a great enemy, although I didn’t take any damage from them as they’re easy to avoid and destroy, they have that disturbing quality that just makes you think ‘get away from me!!’
All in all though, I really enjoyed this mod despite its flaws. It’s an experience and proof that video games can be works of art and even self expression and protest. So many thanks to Eyaura for having the dedication to make this astonishing piece of work and I’m really excited for V.2.
Manually
Easy
15 Hours
I know that originally this was the full release but so many changes and improvements have been made since 2011 that I think technically now we can honestly refer to this old release as a PUBLIC BETA. I had no intentions of continuing development on the mod but due to public interest and a sense of a “missed opportunity” I continued. This 2011 release was rushed since I wanted to just get the mod out and move on. I did not want the mod to die under any circumstances so I am glad I have released it. I knew it’s not what it can be but after 5 years I was ready to move on.
Hopefully there is still enough time for everyone to get used to this new name before the final version comes out. If you uploaded the mod elsewhere, or made YouTube videos maybe change the names in the descriptions. Thank you.
I am still not sure what the final version will be called maybe simply “G String” while this old one will stay the “G String Beta”. I am leaning towards calling the final version “G String: Awakening”, or “G String: The Last Story” maybe “G String: Singularity”… some end of time type of name. We will see.
Concerning the new version- A lot of progress is being made, I have now and have had over the years wonderful help (with voice work, music, prop making and coding) but keep in mind that I am still mostly working alone- especially when it comes to mapping. God willing the mod will be done towards the end of this year but I am not promising that. The new version will run on Source SDK 2013 (still free).
Hands down one of the best mods yet made. Would really appreciate in-game options to remove bars and grain noise.
I’ve finally gotten around to working on playing through G-String. It’s certainly not perfect, but the originality is fantastic. I’ve never seen a cyberpunk setting so on the brink of apocalypse, and I love how I’ve yet to find a single Half-Life 2 visual/audio asset.
People definitely aren’t exaggerating when they talk about it’s length, too. After a couple hours of play, I got stuck (which happens unfortunately often) and looked up a video walkthrough. The walkthrough was segmented into thirty-to-forty minute parts; I was on Part Two of Sixteen! Good thing I’ve loving just about every minute of it (except for when I get hopelessly lost).
I have combined the patches into one file and added it to my server, along with linking to it in the post, just above the main download.
The patch download is broken. It just links me to a 503 error.
Trying to get the patches using the link on this page, and all I get is that the system has timed out. Tried downloading on various machines, and even via my phone, but it will not work. Anyone have these patches and able to share them please?
I have fixed the link.
Will there be section purely for total conversion mods?
Nightmare House 2 is excellence, and don’t get me started on the glory of Underhell.
Was interesting and challenging to play. Very dark, and the post-apocalyptic flashlight has a permanent stain. Nausea sets in after playing for too long, but, I, must, finish, the, game. Some of the wacko cut scenes and blind walking areas are annoying, but adds to the length of the game.
Manually
Medium
15 Hours
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I read maybe all comments and I wasn’t see working solution for “ED_Alloc: no free edicts”, I’m sorry if I haven’t saw some of the solutions, but the only thing I tried and help me was is to keep only one custom save before this error and delete every other saves (make if you want copy of this saves) after that i loaded the game from this only one “save” I left, and this error just vanished…
I have a flashbulb memory playing this one. I finished right it on the final minutes of the 31st of December 2011. And I thought it was a classic mod in HL modding-total conversions history.
Well, it is just amazing that 9 years after we finally have the full stand-alone retail game version of G-String, it costs about 8 US Dollars, but I didn’t hesitate to buy it. I’m sure playing this game again will be a cool experience on its own.
P.D. The game is on sale on Steam.
It’s ok.
Recommendation was removed, you have to at least write a reaction or basic thoughts on the experience.
Need help installing this mod. Beta version wont start though Steam after moving mod to steamapps/sourcemods folder. How to fix this?