“Players gain a new ability to toggle between two worlds in order to activate a missile launch vital to the resistance effort. The world of the living is warm, dusty, partially destroyed, and crawling with headcrabs. The ghost world represents the past. Structures destroyed in the living world appear intact in the ghost world. It is also bitter cold in the ghost world. Gordon only hears the sound of his breath, and the cries of the ghosts that reside there.”
- Title: Ghosts of White Forest
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-ghosts-of-white-forest.7z
- Size : 2.56MB
- Author: Skyler Jermyn
- Date Released: 10 May 2010
Download directly into MapTap [2.56MB]
You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
- Copy gowf_rtm1.bsp into your Half-Life 2: Episode Two Maps folder.
- Extract GOWF_Files.zip. Copy and paste the “ep2” folder found in that zip into your “half-life 2 episode 2” directory.
Nothing will be overwritten by doing this. - Launch Half-Life 2: Episode Two
- Open the console and type map gowf_rtm1.
- Press enter/return or click the Submit button.
- Play and Enjoy.
If you require more help, please visit the Help page.
This map requires additional files in order to get the full “phased mode” experience.
These files include:
- ghostvis.raw : This handles the phased mode color effects.
- overcc.raw : This handles overall color correction for the map.
- setControls.cfg : This binds the C key used for toggling into phased mode.
- unsetControls.cfg : This unbinds the C key once the map is finished.
As long as the appropriate CFG files are put into place, the level automatically binds c for toggling in and out of phase mode. It also automatically unbinds when the level finishes. If not, this can be done manually by entering the following into the console:
To Bind:
bind c “ent_fire vtrigmain trigger”
Type the following to remove the bind.
unbind c
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 800 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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Please note: These statistics are valid from December 2010
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There have been some interesting new gameplay mechanics to come out of Guildhall and this is one of the better ones. It’s very similar to Ghost In The Machine, in that the play can switch between worlds. In this case it’s times and it is implemented incredibly well. You are given a certain amount of time to accomplished tasks and then the battery must recharge, which happens pretty quickly.
It might have been nice to have a longer life for the battery and no recharge, making the careful use of it aprt of the underlying gameplay strategy.
When you switch, the colour changes to the blue hue and walls that are damaged in your time revert back to their original state. The same for doors and other ithems. “Ghosts” awaiting you in the past but you have your gravity gun and so can defend yourself.
Essentially, the whole map is a puzzle requiring you to change to different times to pass blocked areas and get the power on.
I would have liked a little more combat in the past and also liked a proper weapon, rather than just the Gravity Gun, but as with many Guildhall releases combat is not the focus and therefore I understand the reasons for not including too much.
Definitely one of my favourite releases so far this year and I nominated it for 3 2010 Mod Of The year Awards.
5 Words Or less Review
Beautiful trip down memory lane.
Just by basic description, I’d have to say that this sounds inspired by Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess, and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1 and 2)
All are incredibly fun, and as long the gameplay mechanic is implemented well here, I have little doubt that this will be equally enjoyable.
I am almost completely certain of my initial guess that the gameplay was at least in some part inspired by Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Ultimately it was an incredible demonstration that I think everyone should get a chance to experience, but not without it’s faults:
1) The worst problem was that the biggest obstacles could be completely bypassed simply by climbing along ledges and jumping along gaps. This severely undermined the use of the primary game mechanic around which this map was built. [spoiler]When I realized the water was electrified I simply walked across the ledge along the windows of the rooms with the launch buttons and then after activating the lifts walked back across the ledge in front of the upper window to activate the other one. I effectively skipped half the puzzles.[/spoiler]
2) The phase battery only charged AFTER it was completely drained. If you came out of the phase zone early before it was drained, it would not charge. Either make it so you have to manually charge it (like suit power) or make it so it constantly recharges any time you aren’t using it like the flashlight battery. the way it’s done here doesn’t make sense.
3) There were a number of mechanics that were spottily pulled off. The first time I played this I didn’t even realize that phase zone zombies were supposed to come back every time you popped out and came back into the phase zone, because they didn’t the first time, and on a number of other occasions. Either that or they weren’t supposed to come back every time, but sometimes did anyway. It was hard to tell because it was about a 50/50 tossup to determine which way it went.
4) The final problem I had was that the buttons, lifts and turrets had reverse causality. Since the phase zone is supposed to be the past, doing something there should affect the normal zone as well, but doing something in the normal zone should NOT have any effect on the phase zone.
If you knock over a turret in the normal world, it should still be standing in the phase zone until you knock it over there. Also, if you did knock a turret over in the phase zone, then even if you moved the turrets somewhere else in the normal world they should be repositioned to match where they were left in the phase zone. Likewise Health stations should theoretically be able to be used twice provided you use them in the normal world first and THEN in the phase zone.
If you pushed the buttons to launch the rocket in the phase zone, it should have been set so that either the buttons could only be pressed in the present day, or so that if you launched it in the past, it would be gone as soon as you shifted back to the present day.
Personally I’d go with the first idea, since that also solves the lift conundrum: (If you pushed the button to send the lift up in the normal world, it should still be down in the phase world, but if you then take the lift up in the phase world, it would already have been up in the present world so it should stay up when you come back to the present world. However if you then take the lift back DOWN in the PHASE world, then the lift should be down in the normal world, BUT that was how you found it in the normal world to begin with when you brought it UP. So it should still be up in the normal world) Better to just not have to deal with that weird pseudologic.
Another problem was that you could attack creatures that only exist in the present world with the boxes that only appeared when you were in the phase zone. This really shouldn’t have been possible, except for the turrets that exist both in the preset world AND the phase zone.
Aside from the timeline issues, which are notoriously difficult to work properly,(except in severely restricted implementations) and the other minor issues it was an excellent demonstration of the mechanic and I’d love to see it implemented further and with a bit more polish.
[spoiler]
Hmm, you are saying I wasn’t supposed to jump across using washing machines? Are we talking about the same place? I didn’t use windows to jump across but it was pretty easy to do by using washing machines (or whatever they are). I thought I was supposed to do that.[/spoiler]
yes, you were supposed to do that, but I didn’t need to
[spoiler]because there’s a ledge in front of the window that you can go across instead that you don’t even need to activate the phase zone in order to use.[/spoiler]
Visually stunning little puzzle mod with a cool blue “ghost” dimension. Literally!
Switching between the ” before” and ” after” dimensions was a nice twist and would make for a fantastically rewarding long game. But I would suggest adding the crowbar as a melee weapon.
PLAY IT NOW AND ENJOY.
I’ll have to agree with Grey Acumen on the issue of puzzle skipping ( I just jumped over the washing machine, there was no reason to phase shift) and the wierd causality, I infact killed all the soldiers with the crates which made no sense, why were they even in the back-in-time portion of the map?
Definitely worth a try. New gameplay mechanic is pretty cool and new. It produces new ways of creating puzzles we’ve never seen before on Half Life. That’s something I like very much.
Level design was good too. It was serving its purpose and map was generally looking good and detailed.
This map doesn’t have much to offer as a game but it is great for an prototype that’s improving Half Life 2.
It’s short, but amazing. I’m a big fan of games like Soul Reaver, and Shadowman, so it was nice to see something similar in a FPS game. Kudos to Jermyn for clever use of Hammer’s entities.
A pretty cool idea, and one that I would like to see in a bigger project. (I’d also like to have been able to have written a proper review like Grey Acumen’s, but how can anyone follow that..?)
The phase battery charging thing only seemed to work intermittently, though I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t died as it got stuck on “low” until the next time it needed charging, swapping between the two worlds as often as I could on first play it worked the way I imagine it ought to have.
Only having a medium spec & ageing PC my first thought on firing it up was to turn off the HDR or bloom, but it seems as if it wasn’t actually on…but either way, I really want all my HL experiences to have lighting that’s at least half as dramatic as this.
Many points for originality, but I have to go for a PIN instead of PF…Bigger, longer, more space, more combat, more story would all have helped a lot, though as has been pointed out, it’s a Guildhall production rather than a fully polished release. They’ve done extremely well with it though….
I can’t get up to the 2nd floor… I have no idea how to do it. :/
find the room with the batteries in it. Once you get the batteries where they belong, the lifts should regain operation.
I’ve been trying, but not one clue how. I mean, that much is obvious to me, but I can’t actually get them in their room. I’ll keep trying I guess.
Study the wall that separates the two rooms. As long as you check every bit of that wall you should figure it out.
Yeah the answer actually came to me while I was in the shower just now lol. I’ll get this mod finished yet!
Ahh…so there was no need to pile ghost crates up against the bridge then?
I never did figure out the batteries and just gave them up as a red herring……doh!
lol no, there was a way to get the batteries into their room all right 🙂
You’ll feel like an idiot when you realize it 😀
You mean I’m going to have to go back & play it again……
I did try and try, though I’m not sure I got the whole time-travel thing, it was either “they’re here and the doors are shut” or “They’re not here” and the doors are open” or something, possibly exactly the opposite of what I just said….;) Hence I guessed it was just a wind up…..
Play it! 😀
I think this one was much easier to comprehend and navigate than the matrixy-one. Seeing the differences between the ruined and intact areas was extremely clever. Very short, but I think something like this could be put into a longer mod easily as long as it’s not overused.
Beautiful mapping!
Reminds me of Psi Ops! Awesome.
Great map!
I really can’t understand how that effect is even possible…
This map is almost perfect. Puzzles were hard, but not too hard. Only problem I can see is the lenght… But I can see reason. It is not easy to build map like this.
you should play this NOW. One of the greatest maps I have played.
Holy shi….I really loved and enjoyed this, hope you develop it further because the map finished in like 20 minutes D: It was all “you gotta escape now” I took the lift, ran at the door and then it was all “well done” XD
Game play was fun, puzzles were cleverly done, not too hard but not too basic. Visually very beautiful and it’s a really nice idea with the switch between worlds. Hopefully you’ll get around to making a Portal length version; a couple of hours and some fun and challenging puzzles :3
Its worth the download for about 10 mins play. a nice offbeat game play. It was a little too easy to “get around” the intended way of playing but its a good little piece of work
This was a fun and clever map. It would be nice to see something like this in a longer map/mod. But I guess then I’d want weapons, too.
I agree with some of what Grey Acumen said about implementation in past versus present (though I didn’t read all of it), but liked it just the way it is.
[spoiler]I kept trying to jump across the top level to get to the second button, until I remembered to shift phase. d’oh.[/spoiler]
You got me interested on this one.
I’ll surely develop something using this.
The changing was well implemented and it was ok to change views, the ghosts were killable with different crates, the buttons, elevators, walls passing . AGood final sequence.
It was quite nifty little map, however I thought that the reversal system could have been used to more cunning effect. Mostly the puzzles equated to shifting phase momentarily to unlock a single door, and then shifting back again once through
Excellent use of a new gameplay mechanic allowing you to jump into an alternate world and back to complete your mission. The authors description of the alternate world as being in the past falls apart a little in a few places, but that’s only a minor distraction to an otherwise great map. A first I was annoyed at not having at least a melee weapon, but it made the map more fun having to rely on timing your jumps to stay alive. Do not skip this one.
a very short map, truly a simple “test map” for an AMAZING new way of gameplay… Reminding us of the Soul Reaver Raziel, with the power to change the world…
Truly, it would be fun to integrate this way of playing in a more great project… It’s well thought, and a new mean of going throught puzzles and mods, with good challenges…
I applause and give a standing ovation to the creator of this modification, cuz” it’s really great.
This seems to not be a mod just a mappack…
It is a mappack, where did you read “Mod”?
Hello all. I’m the creator of this map. Thanks for playing it and providing reviews and criticisms. I’ve been keeping my head down working on maps at my new job, but I intend to tie up loose ends on a few of my old Guildhall maps soon: starting with this one.
First iteration: fix bugs. That includes bugs introduce by hammer updates (somehow they made the bloom on my lighting WAY too intense), and bugs that I either didn’t notice or didn’t have time to fix. Also, I’ve been hip-deep in Unreal since I finished this, so I need to re-learn hammer. All of that should keep me busy.
Second iteration: I want to polish the combats and visuals, and respond to some suggestions posted here. Since I’m not bound by the requirements of the assignment, I can do stuff like add a crowbar or pistol if that feels right for the level.
Third iteration: I want to expand it. Not by a lot. The current room provides an intense grand finale type experience, so I’m thinking of adding an easier room that precedes the current one. Perhaps it should be all puzzle with little to no combat just to get the player used to the phase shifting concept. I can also implement some ideas I had for this map but ran out of time, such as talking to dead NPCs in the ghost world. Any suggestions would be great.
TLDR: Thanks for playing! I’ll be updating the map soon.
Hi, fist of all you did a fairly good job on this map. Creating new content for a game is not an easy thing, but creating new innovative gameplay is even more difficult. But you did it!
So, I’m happy that you’re trying to expand your mappack. However, I don’t think it should be a too big mod, because there is the risk of too much “dilute” your innovation in a too big project… But I will be following this with attention!
Bon courage!
Sorry I’m bit late for playing this.
Other than the novelty fact, the map itself isn’t so great imo and still needs a lot of polish and continuation. Maybe it was because I played it after updates, idk. It did look too bright like you said, but can be overlooked.
I think the objectives style should be changed, in the beginning I’m led to think there’s only one objective, and as soon as I complete it, map should be over. But then another and another one come making me wonder how many really are there, instead of making me want more. I did want more combat though.
I didn’t figure out the batteries puzzle in time but since I was given enough props to climb up to second floor and I like to stack stuff to get to higher places, I didn’t give the batteries much thought either.
I found it a bit stressful to fight crabs, zombies AND fast zombies, not to mention combine with just my ggun with only 2 or so crates at hand, this isn’t Portal hehe
Also after finishing and trying to escape, the logical way for me was to go back to my fellow rebel who had a gun to fight the combine. Fact was the exit was way across the map, the door I remembered I couldn’t open in any way but was magically open NOW. Anyway, before remembering that, I wandered around the rebel for a while, thinking why the map isn’t over and I accidentally pressed Use on him which triggered the whole speech I’m guessing it had to be shown in the beginning… Which would have been nicer in voice of course.
One more thing to mention, every time I used the phase I kept hearing crab sounds along with other intended sounds, even though I killed all crabs around – bug.
Other than that, amazing effects, visually and performance wise. Map should be played just for that but I’m bit biased (hope I used the right word here) so imo it could be played later. I’m really curious about how it was made and will ask around, the concept is great and should really be brought to full potential. Don’t let this one gather dust.
5 Words Or less Review
Something old, something new..
Yeah, I loved the mechanic at first. It got old quick. Great job putting this together. Can’t even guess how. Identical maps in the same area transported from one to the other?
Personal favorite for me. I love how you shift between two universes or perspective which is very original to this map. Combat is fairly easy, as it affects everytime you shift which is another interesting thing. Platforming and puzzles, not too bad and they’re easy to go through.