Starting in a sewer, you must travel through 4 distinct environments.
Your ultimate goal is your bed – yes, that’s right, your bed.
There’s nothing better than sleeping in a comfortable bed after fighting your way through to it.
Good Luck and Sweet Dreams! Don’t let the headcrabs bite.
- Title: Resourceful Protagonist
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-resourceful-protagonist-1.2.7z
- Size : 39.40MB
- Author: Max John Folke Forsberg AKA eatbeavers
- Date Released: 28 March 2014
The version you download from here is 1.2. On ModDB there is version 1.0 and the update to 1.2. My files includes the update, so there is no need to download two files and merge them.
When you reach an invisible wall, with the fire in front of you and a forest-like setting, you have two choices:
1. In the console, type sv_cheats, press enter, then type noclip, press enter and move forward through the invisible wall and the next level should load. You may have to type noclip again to turn it off.
2. Go to new game and select the final chapter.
If you don’t know what the console is, then option 2 is definitely your best option. If that doesn’t work, post a comment and I, or a kind PP reader, will help you.
Download directly into MapTap [39.40MB]
You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.
Download to your HDD [39.40MB]
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
- Open the compressed 7z folder you downloaded from this site
- Copy the resourcefulprotagonist folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Resourceful Protagonist should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
Click on the tabs below to select the size of screenshot you would like.
All sizes are the same screenshots, just in different resolutions.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 11 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 53 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 5 Mins by Jim_Partridge
Longest: 5 Hours, 15 Mins by
Total Time Played: 11 Hours, 34 Mins
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I have to admit I was expecting more from the title. The author claimed that the player would be required to think before getting involved in situations and to be honest I didn’t have that feeling at all. I also felt there was an imbalance between some of the areas in terms of details and design. I think this is clear from the sewers and the forest, compared to the middle sections.
Not having a weapon for a while was also a problem as I have played mods where this happened only to find that I missed it and had to go back.
It’s certainly not a bad mod but there are too many things which just don’t feel right.
I am sure you will have fun, but I enjoyed it less that I had hoped. As you can see, I still gave it a Play It! recommendation but I nearly only gave it a Maybe.
Using Gauge
Easy
42 Minutes
Phillip, you have the name of the mod down as “Resource Protagonist,” just FYI.
Fixed, thanks.
Hello Philip!
I am one of the mod authors and I would like to personally thank you for exposing the mod for more people to play and review 🙂
The sad thing about the bug at the level transition is that I made a fix and found your upload right after you had uploaded it.
This is the first mod I have ever level designed for (I make MP maps otherwise) and I thank you again for this opportunity to be able to get feedback from true veteran HL2 mod players!
The new fix also contains a massive overhaul to increase difficulty and I also tweaked minor things. I tested the game on medium difficulty but I do recommend it to be played on hard!
[Already did a review when it was released on ModDB, I’ve improved the formatting a bit here but nothing else]
This mod is decent. The goal seems to have been to make a less linear set of levels (as in the levels are linear but there are a whole bunch of areas that are available to explore). Sadly almost all of these are dead ends and generally it is not particularly rewarding to explore them. It feels like the author ran out of ideas for these areas as they did seem to be quite formulaic. It just feels like it’s spread quite thin.
Still, it’s cool that the author tried to do something different, the lack of health makes encounters quite tense although some auto saves need to be changed so that they don’t reload to a point one second before the player gets their head blown off by a shotgun…. repeatedly
In this release the mod is distinctly OK I think if the authors put some more work into story in order to add context and better rewards for exploring side areas it could be good.
Manually
Medium
45 Minutes
Just did a quick run through, I’m pretty sure that the infamous invisible wall wasn’t in version 1.0 if I’m right I have no idea why that was added.
[EDIT] hadn’t realized I wasn’t logged in
– missing chapter title
– nice light on battery
– why does smoke hurt?
– haha I use pistol ammo to break a crate that gives me… smg ammo
– the city at night looks nice but 7 hp says ima die soon
– got hp from 2 metrocops but ammo is down to 2 shotgun bullets
– thank god for more cops to give me an smg!
– the scenery is pretty varied, well done
– secret magnum!
– I cannot select the final chapter from game menu, as there’s only 1 chapter, and noclip was buggy, I kept being teleported in a black square outside the map, but finally worked
– it’s too dark at times and I wanna know how a fast zombie got into an attic..
– the final area looks unfinished… obviously since the mod doesn’t end
But why was this released, I don’t get it. I mean it’s got potential, the city looks different, which is hard to do after all these years, but it’s just left unfinished, and this is v2? haha
I think I died only once from the 2 shotgunners, and it certainly is a hard mod with scarce wep and ammo, but enjoyable, has good battles. It’s different, and I liked it, so give it a play.
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
A few areas showed some promise but overall I found this release below average. I ended up quitting in frustrating after not being able to find a way to progress 🙁
The general atmosphere of the levels is very good, they feel very dirty and perfect for the players clandestine activities. Unfortunately while the maps do offer some exploration the introduction area sets a very bad tone for things to come with a very obvious linear progression with dead ends in every other direction. The milk is further soured when I noticed that most of these dead ends were just copy and pasted. It felt very throw away, it’s a shame because after that section the quality does pick up.
There are some irritating visual language issues also. Using a vent cover to break it is very unnatural, and finding supply crates when don’t have anything to break them open with is always an annoyance. It would have been cool if there was some way to break them using the environment but I couldn’t find anything. The only option was using my pistol which I really didn’t want to do.
Which brings me to my favourite part of this mod. Items/ammo! Every bullet felt precious. I found myself thinking carefully about every engagement and managing what little resources I had. I loved this aspect to the level. Every 9mm clip you found hiding in a room is exciting because you really need that ammo. I can really see where the author was going with this. The levels are very sprawling and there are lots of different dead ends to find which occasionally have items in them.
The issue is that the levels do a very poor job of their bread crumbing and pacing. To successfully pull off a fairly open map layout like this you need some very strong layouts that can funnel the player past critical objectives no matter which way they decide to explore in. Figure of eight loops are great for this if you put the main objective in the cross in the center. Unfortunately here I found myself endlessly exploring tiny cramped bathrooms and bedrooms without every really knowing where I was.
I’ve been playing a lot of the STALKER titles again recently and this mod rubbed that itch ever so slightly in the exploration and scavenging aspects but fell very short in the actual level design progression.
Here is a demo of my first playthrough for the author https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33279452/resourcefulprotagonist.rar
Manually
Medium
35 Minutes
where exactly were you stuck? have you read the notes in the mod description here?
Nope and I shouldn’t have to 😉
Wow, you have to noclip to load the next map. Ok that’s even more annoying than simply getting hopelessly lost!
Seems more than a little obvious that this release was not tested in any real capacity before being sent to PP which is a shame. Stuff like that is easy to find, it’s amazing that the author didn’t find it and fix it themselves!
It’s pretty clear the author simply didn’t care. If you come all this way in building something and then you give up when it comes to level transitions, I don’t know how else to explain it.
It was a somewhat disappointing experience to play this. There were no ‘wow’ moments and a number of problems, the worst of which was the game was unplayable after the noclip as there was nowhere to go. Starting the last chapter from scratch and what’s this, a path to go through the trees? And where did that crowbar come from in my arsenal all of a sudden.
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
you have to do like in the notes, pass right through that invisible wall; I flew around a few times and it’s buggy if you fly over or around it, but eventually you’ll get it. we all need closure 😀
This had some promise but ended up being too buggy for me. I missed finding the crowbar when playing it through but did find the Magnum. However, I got stuck at the part in the 3rd map where an invisible wall stops your progress. I eventually loaded the 4th map since I had no other option, and the crowbar appeared but my magnum disappeared. Some of the design touches were good, like the multi-story building with sections of glass floor. However, this mod could really have used some beta testing.
Manually
Easy
45 Minutes
Not like the usual “I’m gordon f@ckin freeman and I have 30 weapons” kind of mod. you really have to scavenge around the place and look into every little room. the map is a bit blocky, and the custom pistol sound makes you deaf, nonetheless I really liked the concept.
OK so I have already played this one and I quite like it, but I just feel comfortable placing it with a Play it Later recomm. This is because I felt the concept would have had more to bring in terms of combat and challenge.
I definitely did not like to start the mod totally unarmed, and not even a blink of the crowbar anywhere! then the city part was way too dark, and the sky was just black, “full dark no stars” (the recall of Stephen King’s Novel title was no intended here.. 😉 ).
Overall this kind of mod just fits in the category of mods I like to call as “crazy Freeman’s dreams” because the whole concept is surreal, you don’t know if the player is in real HL2 Universe scenario or just “flying high” by the effect of a drug, or a somniferous narcotic…, those kind of mods are just interesting to me, they’re not my cup of tea neither. But as I said I think mods like The Great Forever Tomorrow are a classic in this kind of surreal combat-arena concepts.
Now a part that I liked the most from the mod was the last forest part, despite for the blind wall bug, that part in especial reminded me the architecture of some maps in the horror classic Afraid of Monsters (AoM) mod, I don’t know if that part was inspired by that mod or by Cry of Fear, also the whole atmosphere in there was kind of an horror mod, but there were really nothing to be scared of in that part in particular. This part makes me think about what could it be if Rumpel (the author form AoM and CoF, would mod in Source engine, sure it would be interesting).
Overall is a mod that worth the effort, but could have been better in combat terms, the exploration is OK, and the kind of mysterious-surreal concept was a nice touch, so I would give it a try, maybe not immediately but this is the kind of mod is perfect to play in between the great releases, I guess.
Manually
Medium
37 Minutes
I’m not entirely sure what to make of this mod. I can sort of see what the creators were going for; the mod is based on levels which, whilst still linear, have a lot of optional areas and (possibly?) some different routes to the same goal.
The issue that I had with this is that most of the other areas seem to be pretty pointless diversions. For example, in the main city level there is a full apartment building with several rooms that can be explored, but as far as I can tell exploring it doesn’t actually achieve anything. It would be okay if these were just small diversions to get more supplies, but when we are expected to go a long way only to have to backtrack there should at least be some kind of reward (other than the gameplay itself).
The mod also seemed to lack any kind of pacing, the combat is of an equal level from the beginning to the end. There are no particularly exciting moments or changes in pace to mix things up. This is added to the fact that I never really had any idea what my immediate or overall goals were in a map; I may be mistaken but I don’t think the whole “get to your bed” concept was actually introduced at the start.
On the bright side, this mod looks very good and seems to be well made from a technical standpoint (other than the bizarre invisible wall bug – I wonder what the testers were doing?). There aren’t many non-linear mods that I am aware of so Resourceful Protagonist is worth playing from that perspective. There isn’t actually much that is objectively “bad” about it, more that there are just a lot of design choices which I don’t agree with.
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
I’m going to be a bit harsher than most people here. I really did not enjoy the mod. Like DaZ, I stopped playing after hitting the invisible wall you have to no-clip through. I thought I had missed something (but was absolutely annoyed at the random invisible wall blocking a perfectly acceptable path). I eventually gave up and tried using no-clip, just to fly over the invisible wall and have the screen fade to black and nothing happening.
I have no doubt this wasn’t intentional (I mean why the hell would it be?), but it shows that the author did not care about the mod to find such an obvious, game-breaking bug, and as such, the player should not care to play it.
I’ll talk a bit more constructive about the rest of the map now though. First of all, the lack of a crowbar… Apparently there is one, but I did not manage to find it, and just continued on with the map assuming there just wasn’t one. This is a terrible mistake, to allow the player to continue without a crowbar. This is because it is the only melee option withing half-life, and not having one forces the player to shot anything he wants or requires to destroy. As I see it there are two options. Either start the player already with the crowbar in hand, or require the player to find the crowbar to progress, for example, by having to break open a padlock. Having it as a bonus weapon is a really bad choice.
The mod also featured quite a bit of exploration. Unfortunately, most of it did not reward the player in any way, and just led him into a dead end. While I believe that not every optional path should give the player something, it should at least be somewhat interesting to look at, or interact with, something which this mod surely did not do.
There are a few things I can praise the mod for. First of all, I felt compelled to both explore and plan my combat actions due to my limited arsenal and health. I very much enjoyed the first combat, where after seeing the combine soldiers, I looked around and found a gas canister I eventually took advantage of to dispose of my enemies.
I also enjoyed the fact that the pistol model was altered (not sure if the model itself was different but it had new animations which were pretty good.). The pistol in HL2 is one of the most horrible weapons I can think of, and the change was quite welcomed.
The atmosphere was quite nice in some places, and poorer in others. The building being demolished was the worst of the latter. While the detail level wasn’t particularly interesting, the twilight ambient gave it a good atmosphere, and reminded me of movies like ‘Blade Runner’, which is certainly a good thing.
Overall, I would have given the map a ‘Play it later’ but the progression halting bug discussed in the beginning really brought my consideration of the mod and the author down. Hopefully more care will be given to future releases and work by the author.
Manually
Hard
20 Minutes
it’s not a bug, it’s just incomplete as the level transition is missing
Then it shouldn’t have been released yet. I’m not a playtester, nor do I want to be one. If it is released, then I expect to at least be able to play it the entire way through.
Yes, I agree with you but at the time the author had decided to stop working on it and this is what we got. I understand your frustration but I did mention it in the main post and a way to solve the issue quickly.
I quite enjoyed this map but there are a few problems that prevents it from getting Play it later.
There are lots of small side areas to explore but there is nothing to find really. You enter a sideroom, kill an enemy, then there is nothing. All you did was waste bullets and maybe Health. A simple supply crate makes it feel more rewarding.
Secondly, its too easy. I feel like I expect whats ahead, the enemies rarely focus on the player, and when they do, they don’t have enough space to move around to feel like a threat.
All in all, its a decent map. A light in these dark times where Half Life 2 releases have been scarce. This map IS worth your time, but not if you expect the best of the best.
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
I reached the 3 combine shot gun troops, died 10 times then quit this.
I’m in a bad mood so forgive the tone of this.
Where is the fun here? There is none to be had.
I have no idea why i was in the sewer. I have no idea what happened when the building blew up. I have no idea why i was in a jail cell. I have no idea why the level designer would think it would be fun to pitch me with 15 bullets in a hand gun against 3 of the hardest NPC’s in the game.
The Autosaves are in the wrong place.
The mapping is blocky and poor (which would be fine if the gameplay was any fun).
Avoid this. It’s virtually unplayable.
Must try harder in future…
Manually
Medium
5 Minutes
Hello Jim,
I am happy you wrote feedback for the mod and I will take it into consideration when I have time from my studies to work the mod more.
The mod targets a niche community of people that generally enjoy games in the style of S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Metro.
The fun with having 15 bullets is that you are in a David versus Goliath scenario. I as a level designer designed that area with the intention in mind that the combine would force the player to first scavenge the area before confronting the combine. There is more ammunition and a gasoline canister laying around that area that the player can utilize however they wish.
Example 1: Headshot a combine and spray the rest down with your pistol ammo you scavenged.
Example 2: Barricade the path between you and the combine and then utilize any grenade they may throw your way against them in the thight hallway space.
Example 3: Use the gas canister to light the 2 combine closest to the crates. Shoot the third with your pistol.
The combine will not be alerted to your presence unless you get to close to them. They will also react to the players flashlight touching their backsides.
Sidenote:
Level transition issue
For the level transition it was a matter of a patch that went south, it worked for me and I simply shipped it however I missed a thing and the level transition failed for others. I use a method that can be seen in Half life 1 where the teleportation moves you to a black box and then continues with the level transition, a trigger malfunctioned in the former version making it unable to function correctly.
I hope this answers any questions regarding the mods performance and gameplay. Thank you again for raising your opinion on the design.
Your response implies that you feel I somehow played the map incorrectly.
That’s not possible. I simply played the map. What you intended for me to do is irrelivant. Any small amount of playtesting would have revealed that forcing the player into a dead end, with very minimal supplies and very few combat options is no fun at all.
When I encountered the Combine I realised I was outgunned and turned left. I then ran through a quicksave trigger with 3 combine shotgunners 5 seconds behind me. This left me in a reload situation with 5 seconds to spare with no ammo and no chance to use any of the props avaialble in the area.
This is simply bad design.
1: An autosave trigger should never be in a combat area.
2: Forcing the player to play the game the way you want them to is bad design
3: I’ve played both Metro and Stalker and I’ve never encountered a scenario like this.
Can you please explain the sewer, building explosion and jail cell elements because I didn’t understand them at all? I just want to know what you were trying to do…
Yeah I’m not gonna lie, STALKER and Metro allow you to pool up with ammunition if you’ve planned for any scenario, but they also grant you the tools to evade enemies; open environments in the former and a robust stealth system in the latter.
You can’t leave the players with no ammunition in a HL2 mod unless you’ve set a very firm precedent very early on that they need to be frugal.
For me, I died twice trying to kill the combine, then took the side route, found some ammo, kill one of the combine and double barrelled (alt fire) the other 2 with the first one’s shotgun.
Like some of the combat, it made me feel that the mappers were inexperienced. I think to brake that player assumption and make them think tactilely, the player should kill a few easy enemies without a gun, but with a crowbar and the option of several traps. Or give the player a gun after being chased so he knows his surroundings already.
Jim has all right to say that it’s a bad design, but I think that people just need to be trained about this new combat before giving them such a big fight, which there first instinct would be just shot like anyone would do. The sewer level would be a great place to train people with no weapons and using instead some environment traps.
This mod is great! It’s not perfect, but really cool
I really liked the level design, even though the detail in some textures was missing.
The biggest pain in the ass was that I didn’t find the crowbar, and I couldn’t go to the forest. I thought this was STUPID.
Overall, this mod is great.
Just want to say There IS a crowbar!. If you load up the third map you will get it as you spawn along with an SMG. I could not get it any other way. Was there an actual crowbar to pick up, and I just missed it?
If you want to have a look at how to make descent HL2 architecture and environments, this is the map for you. Although it is slightly annoying at times this will give you a quite open feeling, with many side routes that will have some supplies (not always though) . But be warned, as the title suggests, caution and careful aiming are your friends here.
Chapter 1: Don’t worry, there is no crowbar here. What there is is a beautify designed sewer which I want to try to make (if I get round to it). Minor issues included being allowed to get into pipes and too many posters in a sewer for my liking.
Chapter 2: Turn off your light when the map opens so you can get the full awe of the swinging light. I’ve got some of criticism for this map. First don’t give us crates with no crowbar. Second have the air vent higher up so we don’t climb back in, which forces us to press the button. I want to criticise the hard first combat and zombies not waking up unless your close or attack them. But now that I think about, it’s just part of the tactics. I did love exploring the houses, but would of like some combat in them.
Chapter 3: You can easily rush this one, but then it won’t be fun. Just take your time and explore everywhere. In this section you really do see the fact that you us tactic, like granadeing the poison zombie. Again the architecture is spot on. You can not go the the last map however, so load it up as a new game.
Chapter 4: Jes, this maps all one jump scare. I was always waiting for the fast zombies to show up. This is just a scary as Ravensholme. The ambuates at the start were amazing , but it’s a real shame the route felt linear.
All in all, a update would be good for this map, but it is still very enjoyable .
Using Gauge
Medium
30 Minutes
I realise that this is a ten year old post but I’m just playing this for the first time and agree with many of the comments here. Just for the record though, there is a crowbar. If you want to see where it is, just watch the excellent walkthrough on YouTube by Bolloxed. Play it from 7 mins in for the full reveal. Like many others i missed this and out of frustration at all the boxes that needed flattening, I gave myself a crowbar using ‘sv_cheats 1’ followed by ‘give weapon_crowbar’. Well justified I think.