The Citizen

for Half-Life 2

21st February 2008

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The Citizen is set parallel to the events of the original Half-Life 2.

The player takes the role of an ordinary man, pushed over the edge by the oppressive regime controlling his life.

With his home trashed, his family dead, The Citizen leaves his apartment for the last time to seek new friends and a way to help the Human Resistance to smash the iron grip of the Combine. What follows is a winding tale of betrayal, determination and grief.

Many obstacles lie in his path, requiring a sleek combination of agility, stealth, intelligence, and sheer violence to overcome.

Basic Details
  • Title: The Citizen
  • File Name: hl2-sp-the-citizen-v2-patched-sdk-2013.7z
  • Size : 103.59MB
  • Author: Chris Fox AKA Playbus and Jose M Ameyugo AKA Kasperg
  • Date Released: 21 February 2008

Download Options

Please note, this file contains ALL the latest patches; The 1.1 version, the July 2010 patch AND the Source SDK 2013 patch. No other patches are needed.

Download to your HDD [106MB]

Installation Instructions (Steam)
  • Extract the The Citizen v2 folder into your Sourcemods folder
  • Restart or start Steam.
  • The Citizen should now be listed in your Library tab.

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

Awards

The Citizen is a HALL of FAME entry

Notes

Post-release comments start at comment 17. All comments need to be visible before this link will work.
Version 1.1 comments start at comment 255

Playthrough Videos

The playthrough below is part of the Source of Fame Event, run by Dan Jordan AKA The Rabbit.

Screenshots

Click on the thumbnails below to open a medium size image. WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers!

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Reader Recommendations
Avoid It!
Think Twice
Maybe
Play It Later
Play It Now!
93 recommendations, average score: 4.42 (out of 5), standard deviation: 1.45 (what's that?)
Total Downloads

Please note: These statistics are valid from December 2010

  • 24,768
    Overall
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  • 13
    Last 7 days
  • 61
    Last 30 days
  • 688
    365 days
Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 15 comment(s) with meta review data.

Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 12 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 2 Hours, 21 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 15 Mins by SpankyMcBemsi
Longest: 6 Hours by Oaklizard2047
Total Time Played: 35 Hours, 16 Mins
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565 Comments

  1. PlanetPhillip

    This looks like it will be a great mod. Coming from Chris Fox and Jose Ameyugo (Kasperg), I have little doubt it will be great to play.

    Expect a review and more screenshots within the next few days.

    I’d also like to take this opportunity to publicly thank both authors for providing the exclusive sreenshots and preview trailer. It’s much appreciated.

    Reply
  2. Manual_Monaro

    Chris Fox… and KASBERG!?

    Well, with those names on the plaque, count me in for being intrigued by this little morsel.

    I’ll definitely be watching over this during the next few days.

    Reply
  3. Chris Fox

    The trailer and the screenshots show less than half of the major areas in the game. 😀

    Thanks to Phillip, for his prompt action at putting this up on the site.

    Reply
  4. Stef

    trailer is great 🙂

    Reply
  5. Kerberos

    The first looks are quite impressive! It’s rather “w00t” to see a good quality like that on maps in a work of only two people. will be looking foward to it.

    Reply
  6. Matt Glanville (CrowbarSka)

    Looks awesome! Can’t wait to play this!
    Though the voice acting seems a bit iffy…

    Reply
  7. Chris Fox

    Sorry about the crackling sound on the trailer. It’s not like that in-game. 🙂

    Reply
  8. Kasperg

    We’re not really a game development company, so we make the best out of the resources we have at hand. I hope those possible problems won’t keep anyone from playing through this adventure when the time comes.

    Reply
  9. PlanetPhillip

    I hope those possible problems won’t keep anyone from playing through this adventure when the time comes.

    If anybody doesn’t play this mod just because the trailer has crackling sound I will ban them from the site! 🙂

    Reply
  10. Jumbles

    It’s a mod made by two of the best mappers out there! If anybody doesn’t play it then they should have their computers confiscated and given one of these until they come to their senses.

    Reply
  11. AI

    I could give ’em my OLD 8088 laptop!! Batteries not included!! The trailer looks fine to me! Hope the wait isn’t to long. 😉

    Reply
  12. dufferx

    Looks super to me and I expect no less from those two.

    Reply
  13. dougjp

    And the trailer is a nice movie production too 🙂

    Reply
  14. Oopla

    This looks amazing. Sounds like one of the story hooks I wanted valve to do. I cannot wait to get my hands on it!

    Reply
  15. senator33

    The excitement is palpable…..

    If player is an ordinary citizen, does he then fight without a hazard suit? Should be interesting.

    Reply
  16. Chris Fox

    The mod is with Phillip. It will be released around 2pm tomorrow. 😀

    The player does get a hazard suit in The Citizen. Although not at the beginning.

    Also, we like to think it’s not THAT hazard suit. 😀

    Reply
  17. PlanetPhillip
    Play It Now!

    Review:
    This should be considered my review part 1. The reason is I have been playing for 2 hours and 30 minutes and guess I am near the end but can’t be sure. Before reading this you should be aware that it will contain spoilers. However, for those readers that want to cut to the chase I have positioned the Part 1 Conclusions at the top!

    Part 1 Conclusions
    This is a fantastic mod, better than Minerva in my humble opinion. Why? Well, Minerva is beautiful but for me it was too symmetrical. I want to wander and twist and turn, and this mod has that. But a mod is more that just the route you take, it’s about involvement and immersion. Again, this mod has that, in fact plenty of it.

    The authors have tried, and probably succeeded, telling a story. The player has mostly clear objectives but feels part of something larger. The feeling of being a lone man on a quest is gone. I’m not just talking about getting help from others, I’m talking about feeling part of a cause.

    The mod contains beautiful levels, a variety of settings and, a good balance between puzzles and action.

    In short, one of the best mods I have ever played, and you can quote me on that!

    Lastly, I make no apology for the number of screenshots. I love taking them and the new size means that unless you open them you don’t have the mod spoilt for you.

    Part 1 Review (Contains spoilers!)
    You start in your apartment and things suddenly take a turn for the worse. So begins your journey, both physical and emotional. The mod starts with a little role-playing where you need to speak to the right people to be able to exit the building. Stealth is important, so don’t just go running and jumping around. Make sure you read the read and listen to the advice given.

    I want to tell you about the story elements. Not the story itself but how it is told. There is great part just after you get the air boat. A conversation takes place between two NPCs and one makes a decision with dramatic results. It’s a great touch and very well done.

    Later on you join a large party of resistance fighters on a mission to, well let’s just say it’s an important objective. For the first time in a mod I really felt tension at the approaching action. The author really excelled themselves here and my mind was racing with possible twists and outcomes.

    The author’s have clearly spent a lot of time thinking about implementing a story, not just a situation.

    Let’s talk about the downsides for a moment. There are a couple of times that the use of screen text is required. Personally I dislike this storytelling technique, unless it’s part of the introduction or between levels. This isn’t really a downside, more of a personal dislike.

    The next is that it is easy to miss certain events because you are free to wander off. I hate standing still listening to NPCs talk and have a tendency to see what else I can find. It’s a bad habit but one I suspect others have. You may miss something important.

    There’s one particular part in Holy War where you have to find a key. I didn’t, not until it didn’t matter anyway. I found a way to achieve my objective without the key but nearly got stuck. To me that shows not enough beta testing was done, at least not with the right kind of beta testing! It’s a minor point but possibly a show stopper.

    Right after this point the rebels seems to become Siamese twins, which is kinds funny. (Please see Image 55 and Image 56, if you are interested.)

    I just mentioned Holy War, and I have to say that the names of the section are very well thought out.

    The attention to detail is one of the things that will probably set this mod apart from many others. Image 53 is a perfect example. The image itself doesn’t tell you much, you must listen to the voice acting.

    Talking of which….It’s not as bad as I suspected from the preview trailer. Beside the accents, which sound strange to me simply because the game contains mostly American accents. Overall everybody has done a great job and the radio broadcast, both in terms of voice acting and the speech itself is excellent.

    One last point to make is about the posters. Many of the screenshots are simply of the posters themselves and the authors and not only created their own but also paid homage to some great websites for Half-Life!

    I’m disappointed in not being able to write the review until after finishing the mod but I wanted to ensure I published the mod on time. Expect a final part of this review and hopefully some kind of video.

    One last thing I can say is that because of the detail, I will want to play this mod again to check I didn’t miss anything. This may not seem like a big deal but to those who know me it is perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay a mod.

    Reply
  18. Kasperg

    I’m sure I’ve never seen those siamese twins appear before 😀
    We’ll check the entity setup to see if there’s an explanation or a random accidnt.

    Reply
  19. Chris Fox

    I wonder how long it takes for someone to find the secret ending! 😀

    Reply
  20. Oopla

    You mean the one where you join the Combine and kill Gordon Freeman? 😉

    Reply
  21. Oopla

    The next is that it is easy to miss certain events because you are free to wander off. I hate standing still listening to NPCs talk and have a tendency to see what else I can find. it’s a bad habit but one I suspect others have. You may miss something important.

    As I wait for the download to finish, I remember Valve staff talking about having to “trap” players to make sure they noticed certain events. A favored trick was a few breakable boards here and there to slow the player down and force them to have time to look around. If an NPC had something to tell you, a locked door was the favorite to stop the player and get them to hear important info.

    Reply
  22. Anonymous

    There are some places where we’ve done that, and confined the player to one area for a short time so that an npc can speak.

    Unfortunately, there are some areas where we couldn’t do this without making it feel odd.

    Reply
  23. Chris Fox

    Oops that comment above was me. Forgot my own name! 😀

    Reply
  24. CrowbarSka
    Avoid It! - revised

    Well… I got quite far in this mod and while it was largely enjoyable it certainly had its flaws too. This post will probably be filled with spoilers.I loved the idea of the flooded streets, it made a nice change of scenery for airboat gameplay. Unfortunately in practice it didn’t work so well because the streets were way too narrow and full of obstacles, causing me to stop and bounce around very frequently. It really killed the high-speed cruising that the airboat is designed for.Secondly the metropolice mask screen overlay was too restrictive visually as there is a massive black bar down the middle of the screen. Not easy to navigate when wearing it!Thirdly, I got to the part where Marcus turned traitor and went downstairs and killed him, but when I came back up my own people were all against me too. This prevented me from going further.

    As Phillip said, the use of text is a somewhat obsolete tool in games. Certain things you can figure out by yourself without being told “You’re going to sleep now (that’s why the screen is fading out)”.

    The flowers in the church was a nod to Final Fantasy 7, right? Nice touch.

    I guess I’d give this about 7/10. Pretty good but some parts really need to be re-thought.

    Reply
  25. Chris Fox

    when I came back up my own people were all against me too.

    That’s a bit shocking. That never happened during testing. In fact, I’m struggling to think how that could happen, as there are no relationship entities in that map which affect the relationship between the squad and the player.

    Very strange!!!!!

    Reply
  26. CrowbarSka

    How did you do it, out of interest? Is Marcus a separate entity class to normal npc_citizens?

    Reply
  27. Chris Fox

    Bit of a spoiler, stop reading if you haven’t played, hehe.

    No, he’s not a seperate class. We “kill” him out-of-sight and spawn another npc with a different name. The filtering for the relationships (in that map) is done by entity name, not class.

    Which is why I’m confused. The relationship entity which makes evil Marcus evil should not affect the rest of the squad, as they are named completely differently.

    If you load your saved game at the start of that map (it should have autosaved) then I’d say it’s pretty likely you won’t see that problem again.

    If you do manage to reliably recreate that problem though, let me know how – and I’ll fix it for sure!

    Reply
  28. Chris Fox

    I’ve had some complaints about the host and long waiting times to begin the download.

    I know that these annoy me and put me off downloading map, so if these issues are affecting you, please try downloading with this link:-

    http://timmeh.me.uk/mirrors/The%20Citizen.rar

    Reply
  29. Kasperg

    MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

    The flowers in the church was a nod to Final Fantasy 7, right? Nice touch.

    Yes it was 😉

    The metrocop mask has restricted viewing on purpose, but the field of view changes to compensate. It’s not like you spend enough time with it to call it a problem. There is no combat at all during the time you wear it.
    The citizens turning against you is something I haven’t seen happen, and I’ve played the map quite a lot. Did it happen again when you loaded a saved game?
    As for the airboat, the only thing I can recommend is playing the HL2 chapters that feature it, since it wasn’t the star of this mod.

    Reply
  30. Cygnus100

    OK, it’s halftime and I thought I’d log on and download it while I wait for the second half to start. The trailer was great and I will do a review as soon as I finish playing it. Well; Till later then…

    Reply
  31. PlanetPhillip

    It’s now available from FileFront.

    Reply
  32. Cygnus100

    Spoiler Alert:Well not exactly; It seems the mod is corrupted or something because as I can and do get the initial game to start, as soon as the “Lockdown” part starts (the first autosave)as I am waking up on my kitchen floor after being so thoroughly knocked into tommorrow by the friendly neighborhood Combine shock police, the game exits to windows and pretty much locks up the computer.It has happened with a reload,a re-install and a new download. Hopefully now that I am re downloading it on the outside chance that my DL was corrupt it will work. A good day wasted in my book though…So… So far I cannot recommend this mod.

    Reply
  33. Chris Fox

    I hope you get it working Cygnus.

    Thanks to Phillip for the updating the additional download links properly onto the page 😀

    Reply
  34. Chris Fox

    airboat talk

    You can play the whole thing without taking the airboat, if you like. There’s one small point where you’ll take damage from a toxic patch on the floor, but it’s certainly possible if you have enough health at that point. I’ve done it numerous times myself.

    I always wanted to make sure that, although we promote airboat use with the story, it’s not required to complete the game. 😀

    Sorry for the double-post.

    Reply
  35. Oopla
    Play It Now! - revised

    I am half way through the game (just finished the citizen part.) So far I like it. It’s got it’s flaws. Overall, the good outways the bad.Not being able to speed around in the airboat was a disappointment, but moments such as 2 rebels explosively demolitioning a wall, and a radio cast with Dr. Breen’s daughter were some of my favorite moments.

    I cannot say I had a favorite moment of combat so far. The church was OK, but figuring but ringing the bell for reinforcements was a little annoying.

    And, also, the reason for the Siamese twins Philip mentioned, as I have noticed is that each time you ring the bell, a new set of NPCs are spawned, in the exact same location.

    Reply
  36. Kasperg

    It’s nice to know the reason for the siamese citizens. No-one during playtesting felt the need to ring the bell more than once.

    Reply
  37. Chris Fox

    Ahh little bugs like that are irritating because they’re so hard to find, but so easy to fix.

    I’ve found bugs myself since release, but none that completely break the game. (apart from the one reported above which we haven’t been able to re-create so far)

    I’m sure we’ll be finding little bugs in it for weeks to come…I found a mis-aligned texture this evening and I bit my lip, hehe. We might do an update at some point, if enough bad stuff is uncovered to warrant it.

    I hope you’ll still be able to enjoy it now though. 🙂

    Reply
  38. Oopla

    I noticed it when I saw 4 guns sticking out of the group of citizens. I ran back and found out that I could add more. Playing through the segment again, I made a point of ringing once, which resulted in the correct number of resistance fighters.

    To test my hypothesis, I went back to a save point before the church battle and rang the bell around 12 times. Having 48 AI additional AIs to process dang near slowed my computer to a halt.

    Reply
  39. senator33
    Play It Now! - revised

    Is it intentional – that when I attempt to disguise myself in the combine Elite suit, all I get is a white screen, with health and ammo readings only? Am using DX7. Fantastic mod, BTW!

    Reply
  40. Kasperg

    The Elite suit has a transparency, normal and refraction map all in one. That could be the problem.
    In case you can’t get it to work, my tip would be to trigger cheats in the console, and type
    “ent_fire eliteoverlay stopoverlays” or something very similar. I’m not 100% sure those are the correct names.
    Thanks for pointing that out.

    Reply
  41. Chris Fox

    Ooh yeah, that’s interesting. I’d never really thought about the overlays not working for people playing in DX7.

    Sorry all you DX7 peeps!

    Reply
  42. PlanetPhillip

    Nearly 500 downloads and only 14 ratings? Come on readers, please rate this mod!

    Reply
  43. Manual_Monaro

    ***SPOILER WARNING***

    I’m having the same problem as CrowbarSka. The rebels all attack me once I’ve killed the traitor, Marcus. Bah!

    I’ve reloaded multiple times to no avail. I might try again at a later point, perhaps from the start of the map or even another map altogether.

    My opinion on this mod so far is lukewarm. I can see how you’ve both gone for a very professional approach to this mod. At times you bring this to the table successfully. But for the most part it’s just badly executed.

    Gameplay just hasn’t worked for me at all. Enemy placement just seems too haphazardly done. At times you just seem to clump a bunch of enemies together and call it a day. Even the mapping layouts contribute to the negatives. There are some good concepts here, like the library and the shop, but they’re executed quite badly.

    But to get the point across, I just wasn’t really too entertained. The airboat section was ” meh.” Too many cramped spaces and obstacles make for unpleasant airboating. The airboat sections in the mappack ” Airboat Sewers” were actually more entertaining than what I played through here, (And I eventually told everyone to ” Avoid It!” in my review of that one.) simply because they had (Mostly.) wide open spaces, a lack of obstacles and the element of ” pressure” as enemies pelt you from all sides.

    If I was to be completely positive, though, the immersion, storyline and “moments”, like everyone above has said, are spot on. The set pieces are also spot on.

    And while the design does fall down as average at many points, being bland and/or blocky in design, many areas are chock full of detail, have brilliant architecture and the use of lighting here is absolutely fantastic.

    I must bring out a negative out of this stuff, though. Voice acting — No, the quality’s fine… But the acting…

    I realise that none of you are professional voice actors or anything, (Well, at least from my knowledge.) but I think you really need to think about how you all ” deliver” your lines. That really deep-voiced guy who plays what’s-his-face-black-dude sounded completely bored, as if you chucked a script in front of him and told him to read the lines without saying exactly HOW he should’ve delivered them. (IE Emphasising certain points, changing tone or voice etc.) The worse thing about it is that he doesn’t sound urgent when he’s supposed too. When Marcus traps everyone in the room, the way he delivers his lines in accordance with the dialogue itself sounds so unnatural, since he sounded too calm and — Well… bored.

    I’m not trying to offend any of the voice actors who may be reading this, but it’s just that some of these performances pretty much break the immersion.

    One last thing I need to mention — The mod has also been a bit buggy on my part. The first few maps suffered some annoying stuttering and my game also crashed once, during Holy War, when I was being nagged to ring the bell.

    ***END SPOILERS***

    I’m not going to go too far with this, since I haven’t actually finished the whole mod. I just wanted to bring across a few things about my experience so far and in a perspective of ” talking” to the authors (Since they seem to frequent here.) rather than as a player review.

    I will say that I haven’t actually been brought to the brink of boredom myself and despite what I’ve said above, there are some elements that have entertained me. But I just think my expectations were lower than I thought.

    If I sounded like an absolute dick in the above few paragraphs, than I’m truly sorry, but I just wanted to bring across what I think breaks an otherwise promising piece of gaming.

    Otherwise, I’m definitely going to press on with this until I can hopefully finish it. It seems like there’s a lot more to go, so I’ll leave my overall opinion until a later time.

    Reply
  44. tox (dev)
    Avoid It!

    very well,

    Level Design are very very goood, but this mod have many many bug case.

    and, found load is very very hard to me. (I hate it:( )

    so, I deleted this mod for my hard. really difficully.

    blog review(korean)::

    http://memolog.blog.naver.com/toxagen/53

    Reply
  45. Chris Fox

    I’ve still not managed to re-create the problem where the squad turns on you. 🙁

    I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it so much, Manual.

    Reply
  46. PlanetPhillip

    found load is very very hard to me.

    Toxen, from viewing your screenshots it seems that you haven’t left the building. You also have pressed the button that said not to.

    I presume you cheated to get the crowbar, becasue when I played it you didn’t get it until much later in the mod.

    ***********SPOLIER ALERT***********
    Firstly, don’t press the button. Next go downstairs to where everybody is standing and interactive with the NPCs. One of them will help you.
    ***********SPOLIER ALERT***********

    It’s definitely worth leaving the building.

    Reply
  47. PlanetPhillip

    I’ve still not managed to re-create the problem where the squad turns on you.

    Would having his last save point help?

    Reply
  48. Chris Fox

    Yeah, if that’s possible, that would be helpful.

    Reply
  49. Kasperg

    I can hardly see how anyone can be really “dissapointed” if we announced this mod three days before release.
    To anyone who brings up the “airboat not being fun”, you don’t need to use the airboat. You can swim through the flooded areas of the city if you think it will be more pleasant or entertaining.
    Manual, I also can’t take your review too seriously if you say you weren’t really too entertained, yet you say the immersion, storyline and moments are “spot on”.
    It’d be great if you could be more precise in telling us how to improve certain things for the future. Since a lot of people think differently about the mod, we’d like to know why something seemed “fantastic” for someone and “badly executed” for someone else.
    Thanks for taking a look!

    As for the rebels turning against you, I’m afraid I can’t answer to that unless I see a video, because I have been absolutely unable to recreate that situation.

    Reply
  50. PlanetPhillip

    Yeah, if that’s possible, that would be helpful.

    Over to you Manual_Monaro. You can send your saves to me via the contact Form if you want to and I’ll pass them onto Chris and Kasperg.

    you don’t need to use the airboat.

    In defense of the commenter. I don’t believe it’s possible for us to know that when we start the journey. I decided to backtrack midway through the airboat ride, but that was out of curiosity. Perhaps the NPC could say “let’s use the airboat because it’s quicker , although not neccessary!” That way the play knows they have a choice.

    I also found the first part of the airboat route very hard to navigate but I put that down to being a bad driver!

    Reply
  51. Kasperg

    Yes, you’re right in that sense. My point is, walking the whole way would be worse, so the airboat is a positive element.
    The driving might not be fast, but even if a city is flooded, we really didn’t think it would transform it into an airboat race track. The difficult handling of the airboat was chosen on purpose.
    We know what players like for next time 🙂

    Reply
  52. Chris Fox

    A video of it happening would be very useful too, but it would need to be a video of that whole map, so that we can see what you did and work out what could possibly have happened wrong.

    Reply
  53. PlanetPhillip

    My point is, walking the whole way would be worse, so the airboat is a positive element.

    I completely agree with you. Walk8ing the whole way would be a PITA, it’s just that since you gave the player a choice (Which I totally agree with and appauld) you probably should have told them.

    Is there a way for a mod developer to limit the speed of the airboat? Perhaps that would have had the desired effect?

    Reply
  54. PlanetPhillip

    A video of it happening would be very useful too, but it would need to be a video of that whole map, so that we can see what you did and work out what could possibly have happened wrong.

    When I get time to continue I’ll try and get my recording software working.

    Reply
  55. Chris Fox

    So Phillip, did you experience the same problem with that map?

    Reply
  56. PlanetPhillip

    did you experience the same problem with that map?

    I haven’t got that far yet.

    Reply
  57. Chris Fox

    Ah, OK then.

    I hope it works right for you 😀

    Reply
  58. CrowbarSka

    But really, how many players do you think will leave it behind? See shiny toy = play with shiny toy = break shiny toy. Even if you can go on foot, it doesn’t explain the fact that it’s still really hard to drive the airboat. The part I found the worst was I think a basketball court or something. Several zombies came out of a door and I hit the sides and stopped. Then I was trying to run them over to get past but the area was so small I couldn’t get pick up enough speed so I just came to a halt when I hit them (at which point I was torn apart by the manhacks).

    Reply
  59. Chris Fox

    I love running those zombies over, but you have to reverse away from them a bit first.

    They slide nicely off the front of the airboat.

    Reply
  60. Kasperg

    I’m still not convinced… Why does driving the airboat inside a town with narrow streets full of debris have to be a joyful and satisfying experience? We imagined it would pose a challenge of some degree, and wanted to translate that into the game.
    We’re writing down all the bugs being reported, but dying in the airboat when you can perfectly jump down and shoot the manhacks is not a bug. It really comes down to how each person will play it, which is very hard to predict. We will be more careful in the future 🙂

    Reply
  61. Chris Fox

    I had a close look at the map where people are reporting the squad turning against you.

    I really cannot see how it’s even possible from the entity setup.

    I can’t fix a bug that I can’t see.

    So, a video of it happening will be needed for further investigation.

    Or a saved game, if you can get one that always shows the problem.

    Reply
  62. Chris Fox

    Erm, that’s bizarre.

    The above post was me, not Kasperg. I dunno how that happened.

    I did not type Kasperg instead of my name.

    Reply
  63. Chris Fox

    Bugs, hehehe

    Phillip could you fix the 2 posts above when you get time?

    Ta.

    Reply
  64. Loke
    Play It Now!

    verall I enjoyed it, good voice acting (although you should’ve added subtitles), great level design, fairly enjoyable gameplay and solid humor. Didn’t encounter any bug, or similar, during my playthrough either.

    [spoiler]So, the ending left me confused. You get onboard a train with two other rebel guys, after you exit the station you spot the Combine Advisor following the train and blow the crap out of it killing (?) the two guys. Suddenly G-Man appears and pwns the Advisor, he say something that I can’t seem to remember and then the game load the next map with me, together with Dog, standing in a cemetery somewhere in the City. Is this how it ends or did I miss something?[/spoiler]

    Reply
  65. Goddess Alyria

    “Two Beer or Not Two Beer”
    That is indeed a good question and would make an excellent t-shirt … and for some really strange reason, andyb comes to mind!

    “An Airboat Named Desire – A Story of Love on the Watefront”
    Honey, I’ve found a play for us to go see. 😉

    Great posters and I was pleased as punch to find Phillip’s site mentioned as well. Makes a Goddess proud. *tear*

    In regards to the fuss over the airboat. You gents are a bit too nit picky. First of all, you don’t have the airboat that long. Secondly, the airboat is one of the easiest vehicles to navigate. Lastly, seeing as how it goes over pretty much anything what problems did you exactly have?

    I’ve had no bugs, no stutters, nor encountered any game crashes but I’ve only just arrived at the theatre and am trying to figure out how to get in. A secret knock perhaps?

    First attempt on strider and combine, I died rather quickly. Second attempt, accomplished with 93 health remaining. I’m thinking maybe someone got killed that shouldn’t have?

    Reply
  66. Chris Fox

    Yay! Bug free people! 😀

    Goddess — the doors to the Theatre open when you’ve killed all the enemies in the area. Sometimes one of the Combine soldiers will stay hiding behind the combine shield.

    It happens only rarely, and the soldier can always (so far anyway!) be coaxed out by going close to the shield and firing a few bullets. Then he comes out to see what’s going on.

    Reply
  67. Chris Fox

    Is this how it ends or did I miss something?

    That’s the “regular” ending 😉

    We wanted to leave it surreal, so that we can be flexible with the sequel 😉

    I’m double-post-tastic today! 😀

    Reply
  68. Loke

    How do you get this… secret ending? 😛

    Reply
  69. Chris Fox

    You should get the secret if you find all the other secret places in the game 😀

    Reply
  70. Goddess Alyria

    Do these secrets have anything to do with the pretty colored easter eggs?

    “Then he comes out to see what’s going on.”
    Well, he’s a right f**kwit then, isn’t he?

    Arghhhh … can someone please black out the spoiler post above with the ending in it?

    Reply
  71. andyb

    Is it intentional – that when I attempt to disguise myself in the combine Elite suit, all I get is a white screen, with health and ammo readings only? Am using DX7. Fantastic mod, BTW!

    I’m not sure if this will help or if it even works with mods but you could experiment

    http://www.moddb.com/mods/7232/thebusguys-shine-patch-for-directx-7

    Reply
  72. Chris Fox

    Yes, if you find an easter egg, that’s a secret.

    Some of them are easy to find, on purpose, to intrigue people as to their purpose.

    Some of them however, are pretty hard to work out how to get them. 😀

    I’d blackout the spoilers for you if I could, Goddess…..

    Reply
  73. Goddess Alyria

    I’d blackout the spoilers for you if I could, Goddess…..

    Done, unless Phillip wants to change it back. I don’t generally mind spoilers but to spoil the ending just poops on everybody’s parade. I know it had spoiler at the top, but my eyes had already skimmed over it too fast. 🙁

    Reply
  74. Loke

    If I’d known how to “blackout” the text I’d done it.

    Reply
  75. Goddess Alyria

    It’s not your fault Loke. It’s a legit comment expressing your thoughts and questions, so no worries.

    EDIT:
    If you or anyone else wants to use blackout code for their next spoilers, here it is:

    <p class=”spoiler”>YOUR SPOILER TEXT HERE</p>

    Reply
  76. Marnamai
    Avoid It!

    I am sad to say:

    I think I had every possible crash by now.

    Reply
  77. Chris Fox

    Care to elaborate on that, or should I just guess how it crashed for you?

    Reply
  78. Marnamai

    * direct3D errors => driver related, I got those fixed after reinstalling my drivers

    * random soundloops

    * during loading => screen blacks out and pop-up window shows “HL2 encountered a problem”

    * memory errors

    Most of those are probably to blaim on HL2 and not on the mod itself.

    * freezing

    Reply
  79. Kasperg

    We’re sorry it doesn’t work 🙁
    Do you have any similar problems with other Source games or is it just this mod?

    Reply
  80. Chris Fox

    Yep. Sounds like your PC needs some help there.

    Reply
  81. Marnamai

    I had no problems with other source based games/mods and I can run EP2 at max ( minus AA)

    I do however have problems running HL2 with the new drivers :/ … However using the old ones that work with HL2 would result in EP2 failing to work.

    Damn 🙁

    Reply
  82. Fragmaster
    Play It Now!

    I gotta say I really like this mod alot unique ideas well excuted sequences & stealth missions that actually work havent had this much fun since the 1st 2 expansions paks for Hl2 were released.
    Voice-acting is very well done easy & understandable & puzzles not too hard not to easy either.
    I got as far as the end of the Libary level which ends in a windows desktop crash error message I hope the 2 author’s create a patch to fix this minor hip-cup because I wanna continue to the end this is truely awesome gameplay graphics & creativity.
    Ive never heard of these 2 authors before they seem to be famous here in the comments ive read if anyone could point me to thier past works would be awesome

    Reply
  83. Kasperg

    We’re sorry about the crash. Does it always crash in that particular place?

    My maps are featured here>
    http://twhl.co.za/mapvault.php?author=1210

    Some of them have been reviewed here @PP.
    This is the first time I release a project done with someone else, but not the last.

    Reply
  84. senator33

    Had a similar problem with the crashing in some other HL2 Mods, mainly because of my cheapie graphics card.

    One fix might be to insert a game instruction such as “-dxlevel 70” (without quotes). That at least may stop the crashes. The bad part is that you have to respecify your desired video and advanced features every time you start the game.

    Another thing you might do is to decrease your Windows Sound Acceleration. That will help in eliminating looping.

    Reply
  85. Oopla

    A question. In the warehouse with a single Elite, and and easter egg of a shotgun up on the third shelf, is there an Easter egg up on any of the top shelves?

    I tried to get there but it seems that every time I would stack up enough boxes to get above the third shelf, the physics would go crazy, with me sticking to the boxes, boxes sticking to the sides of other boxes in mid air, being unable to pick off a single box out of the stack.

    I am just curious to know if I have missed one.

    Just gotta say, I did really enjoy the Scottish Jamaican at the part with the difficult sniper.
    “Auch, Messa got some Haggis and Ganja on me Kilt!”
    “Wessa gunna have a Caber Toss, mon.” 😀

    Reply
  86. Kasperg

    No. If you got that one, I think that’s all there is to get from the shelves.
    Stacking up boxes can be tedious for players. One easter egg like that was enough.

    Reply
  87. Chris Fox

    If you’ve found that egg, you don’t need to climb any higher to find anything else.

    Unless you just like heights 😀

    Reply
  88. Goddess Alyria

    The Elite suit has a transparency, normal and refraction map all in one. That could be the problem.
    In case you can’t get it to work, my tip would be to trigger cheats in the console, and type
    “ent_fire eliteoverlay stopoverlays” or something very similar. I’m not 100% sure those are the correct names.
    Thanks for pointing that out.

    There’s a slight correction to the above quoted post. If you get the elite suit and have nothing but a white screen with breathing, enable cheats and type in the console:
    ent_fire elitemask stopoverlays

    This will remove the whiteness enabling you to see but you’ll still be able to hear the breathing and see your citizen clothes folded nicely in the cupboard.

    Reply
  89. Chewie

    I liked this game. This is by far one of the best mods for Half-Life 2 I’ve played. The voice acting was good, being 90% redone. It had a good storyline to it. A few problems I had to it though. First of all, it was too short, or it SEEMED too short. Second, the idea of another HEV suit, and the chances of someone ordinary like The Citizen wearing it, is very unlikely. You guys should have made a custom hand model to show a rebel’s fingerless gloves instead of the HEV gloves. Other than those issues, it is a really great mod, and I encourage any body who doesn’t have it and reading this to get it

    also, I kinda found a way around your squad mates shooting you after you kill the traitor. go into the console and type: sv_cheats 1, then type: notarget. I know it’s cheating, but there is no combat between the time you kill markus and the next loading screen. By the way, I love what you guys did with the “jail” when yo try to use noclip

    Reply
  90. Chris Fox

    I still can’t get the squadmates to ever attack me. I wonder what’s going on for the people who are getting that problem. 😐

    We need a video of the problem…

    Reply
  91. Chris Fox

    I still can’t get the squadmates to ever attack me. I wonder what’s going on for the people who are getting that problem. 😐

    We need a video of the problem…

    Reply
  92. BC
    Play It Now! - revised

    Great Mod! Thanks you two. One thing that has always bothered me about HL2 is that there’s no hands on the handlebars of the airboat! It would make it much more realistic. Ya think?
    BC.

    Reply
  93. Chris Fox

    Yeah hehe, it would be nice to have hands on those handlebars! 😀

    Reply
  94. cubedude89

    already 5th place in comments. this must be good.
    downloading now. 😉

    Reply
  95. Len

    Here’s a hint about maybe why the other soldiers shoot at you in the theatre: I noticed I was breathing hard as if I still had the combine suit on (everything else was normal).

    Anyway, I used the “notarget” cheat suggested above, and that seemed to solve the problem–but now the two soldiers won’t follow me into the train, so I’m stuck again. I even tried “sv_cheats 0” but that didn’t work.

    As good as this map-pack is, there are still a few bugs that need to be worked out.

    Reply
  96. Len

    Oh, and another thing: I didn’t have to kill Marcus, “cause I found him dead in the next room after I had killed the 3 combine. I went up and opened the door for my squadmates, and that’s when they attacked me.

    Dang, I missed the shotgun easter egg up on the shelving–guess I’ll never find out what the secret map is 🙁

    Reply
  97. Kasperg

    That’s strange. Do you mean your squad started shooting at you the moment you woke up from your injuries? We’ll check again, but it seems to be something related to that moment.
    We’re having a hard time fixing those bugs, as the only happen to some people and never came up during playtesting. But we’ll fix it.

    Reply
  98. Len

    No, after we had killed all the baddies in the theatre, I dropped down to the main level, went into the lobby, killed the 3 combine, and found Marcus dead in the next room. It was only after I went up and opened the door for my squad-mates (or went back into the theatre) that they starting at shooting me.

    I suspect part of the combine suit (but not the mask) was still on me at that point. If that’s the case, I wonder why they didn’t attack me when I woke up.

    Pretty weird, eh?

    Reply
  99. Chris Fox

    Very wierd, but very helpful too.

    If it is related to the combine suit still being partially on – then I can easily add a second set of “safety triggers” to make sure it’s really gone before that point.

    Thanks Len 😀

    Reply
  100. Len

    No problem, Chris–always glad to help, especially if it improves a really good map-pack.

    I think I still have a saved game that includes my squad-mates attacking me. If you want me to pass it along, where should I send it?

    Now I’d like to know how to get the two guys to follow me into the train (they just stand on the platform and tell me they’re glad I’m still alive–I can’t push them). Any thoughts? Also, is there a way to unlock the secret map without having to play all the way thru again (I’m too lazy. 🙂 ).

    Reply
  101. Chris Fox

    Send the save game to either of the email addresses in the readme.txt which came with the mod.

    Alternatively, email it to Phillip and he’ll pass it on to us.

    The citizens at the end can be tricky. But they will follow commands that you give them. You know how you can order the citizens in HL2 to move to where you point your crosshairs? I think that’s by far the easiest way to get them both on the train.

    Thanks again!

    Reply
  102. Kasperg

    About the secret map, it’s really a secret area. There are ways to get to it with cheats, but even we have trouble doing so. It wouldn’t be secret if you could just type the map name in the console…
    Just wait until you feel the need to play it again.

    Reply
  103. Vehk
    Play It Now!

    Excellent mod, attention to detail, high immersion factor and very good mapping 🙂

    some problems and (hopefully) constructive criticism

    – I couldn’t get my guy to sprint. I don’t know if it was deliberate or not, but the ability to sprint is one of the things I like the most about HL2 gameplay, so it was missed a lot.
    – Some of the voice acting sounded somewhat detached from the world and deliverance of lines was sometimes odd. The black mission leader was good though.

    SPOILERS!

    – During the Holy war segment, the task to ring the bell ruined the possibly great action scene. It was a good idea, but searching for the key and running up the tower resulted in having one soldier left to kill. I know it’s optional, but seems a more right thing to do at the moment 🙂
    – The final scene with the Advisor in the train was strange in execution – it looked more buggy than mysterious 🙂 Instead of ramming through the traincar, some more psychic terror would be better IMO

    Reply
  104. Kasperg

    Thanks for taking a look!
    We’ve had a few problems with the church map. Maybe the whole idea was too ambitious, so we’ll have to fix some things in that map for sure.
    The ending sequence was incredibly buggy at first, as NPCs are really hard to control while on a tracktrain. It might’ve been better to go for a more traditional approach, but we though a little innovation wouldn’t hurt. After all, the advisor is the one from HL2, not Ep1 or Ep2!

    Reply
  105. Holden_HU

    I need some help: I talked to all of the NPCs, am out of the building (first map), get the X1 key on Slipping By map, talked to the NPC in the shop, went down the hole to Crossing the Street map and stay in the middle of a room (Image 21) and can’t do anything… The door to Storage is closed, the door to Sewer is closed… I tried NOT to use the switches, nothing happened. I tried to use the switches, but nothing happened.
    Did I forget something? Or is it possible I don’t see something?

    Reply
  106. Chris Fox

    It’s a puzzle. There are five switches, and some numbers on the walls next to the doors. The switches open the doors. The answer is really easy, so I won’t spoil it entirely for you.

    If it’s too dark, you might need to turn the brightness up a little bit. Some people have said it looks a bit dark on their systems.

    Reply
  107. Len
    Play It Now!

    Sorry Chris, I didn’t have a save after all. But I played it again from an earlier save (just before getting the super-combine’s suit) and everything went fine–even the two citizens (with a little coaxing) got on the train with me. It finished with me in a graveyard with Dog–this wasn’t the secret area, was it? (if so, I got there without getting the shotgun from the shelving).

    Anyway, despite a few bugs I highly recommend that everyone

    Reply
  108. Chris Fox

    this wasn’t the secret area, was it?

    No – that’s the normal ending. The last area isn’t really a level, more of an excuse for the credits and also a mechanism to allow us to technically achieve the secret ending.

    And also, perhaps, to give us somewhere to start with the sequel. But that’s not been decided yet.

    How many of the easter eggs did you find in total? There are 15 to be found throughout the maps, you need to get all of them to see the secret ending.

    Thanks for playing through it, and I’m very glad you found it enjoyable.

    I hope that someday, it draws you back to play it again. 😀

    Reply
  109. Holden_HU
    Play It Now!

    Thanks for the help, Chris!

    My recomenmdation is:

    Reply
  110. senator33
    Play It Now!

    SPOILER!BTW, Kasperg and Fox have a fun trick loaded at the very end of the game.

    I don’t think its the secret area, either, but it is another area and very witty…

    You guys outdid yourselves….love your work!

    In addition, I couldn’t sprint either, so merely ran through the game.

    Reply
  111. Kerberos
    Play It Now!

    Play it NOW! Play iT NOW! Play IT NOW!It’s definitely one of the best mods I have ever saw for HL2. D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y. (Or whatever in the beep we spell it :P)

    Bah, the ending! It was so perfect. In my conclusion, it is a figurative telling that the specific rebel movement of our character died out thru attempting to assasinate Breen or destroy the Citadel. As someone cited, in the same part, ending, there is a house. A room, and a Lambda spray. IMHO it means that other rebel movements will surge, but that some are smashed, and other prevails. The Gman appearence too… I could not figure it out either! I would like to receive some feedback! Unless that suit is haunted…

    Reply
  112. Kasperg

    Yes, there’s a bit of symbolism in that last map, and it’s open to interpretation. The Citadel is still standing (this takes place when Gordon and Alyx are trapped in the teleporter device), and the graves mean that many will be lost.
    @Senator33: if it’s not the secret room, I’m not sure exactly what you have found…

    Reply
  113. grabbie
    Avoid It!

    I’ll like to say that I’ve really enjoyed this mod from a design standpoint and as a player. This is some quality work and it shows. I did not complete the mod yet because like others I am stuck on the part with the squad turning on me. I’m going to try tonight and see if the workaround works.

    Other bugs (?) I noticed were that running seems to be disabled. I tried setting it to different keys/buttons but nothing worked. Secondary fire does not work as well but that maybe a design choice. I don’t see why tho since it’s HL2 weapons and thats why I’m listing it here. And there’s the church bell doubling that crippled my systems. Some minor game crashes to desktop throughout the game like entering the theater etc..

    I hope there’s a patch for this since it’s a excellent mod with a few bug flaws

    Reply
  114. Chewie

    Here’s a hint about maybe why the other soldiers shoot at you in the theatre: I noticed I was breathing hard as if I still had the combine suit on (everything else was normal).

    Anyway, I used the “notarget” cheat suggested above, and that seemed to solve the problem–but now the two soldiers won’t follow me into the train, so I’m stuck again. I even tried “sv_cheats 0” but that didn’t work.

    As good as this map-pack is, there are still a few bugs that need to be worked out.

    that’s why you have to turn off notarget when you get to the train

    Reply
  115. Goddess Alyria

    I also would like to know why the sprinting ability is disabled.

    Reply
  116. Chewie

    Another “goof” that I have noticed is that, after you change into the white Combine Elite uniform, you put away your civilian clothes, even though you’re supposed to have the HEV suit on

    Reply
  117. Chris Fox

    I also would like to know why the sprinting ability is disabled.

    We’ll probably change that in the update. It wasn’t really intentional. We never actually talked about doing it. It just happened somehow.

    [quote]Another “goof” that I have noticed is that, after you change into the white Combine Elite uniform, you put away your civilian clothes, even though you’re supposed to have the HEV suit on

    Shhhh! Hehe, yeah. We’ll have to think of a better way of dealing with the whole suit problem for the next one.

    Thanks for the comments everyone!

    Reply
  118. Chris Fox

    I think I made the worst quote ever. 😀

    Reply
  119. Fragmaster

    yes the squdmates did attack me & yes everytime I reloaded a save game I heard the combine elite suit breathing sound well after taking the below theatre elite out I hop down & find the button & got where the elite are waiting at 1st time I didnt shoot & got surprised ending with me having 42 health but my squadmates didnt open fire on me & we proceed along but something happened & I died & had to re-load my last save which brought me back to the balcony then I started having the problems above.
    And my earlier comment on the crashing well I moved backwards into the loading zone libary to next level loadup & came out fine.
    Still awesome to play just odd that those problems cropped up Keep up the good work.

    Reply
  120. PlanetPhillip

    I just want to remind everybody to praise as well as critize. Of course the authors want to know about the bugs but they should also learn about what parts you enjoyed and why.

    I want mod authors to benefit from reading these comments, both the good and the bad!

    Please don’t forget to use a recommenadtion image – Thanks.

    Reply
  121. andyb
    Play It Now! - revised

    No bugs for me at all.I even tried to get squad mates to turn on me but no luck.

    The mod is brilliant although I do think the flashlite needs a longer on time,and the sprint key needs fixing.

    Now I need to replay it again so I can find the eggs,I’ve only found 2 because I keep forgetting to look for em lol.

    Reply
  122. Chris Fox

    I’m glad it went well for you, andy 😀

    Reply
  123. Werner Spahl

    If it’s too dark, you might need to turn the brightness up a little bit. Some people have said it looks a bit dark on their systems.

    The sewer area was too dark for as well and I already had the gamma up to max! I needed to use my monitors brightness controls in that level and this is not good, especially as besides running, the flashlight was gone as well (or did you reconfigure it from F? I don’t remember, but just as another tip, don’t include your own config with a mod ever ;).

    Reply
  124. Werner Spahl

    Oops, the last comment was from me of course. It seems there is a problem with names resetting as it happened to Chris himself as well. Phillip could you look into this?

    Reply
  125. Berrie
    Play It Now!

    I liked the mod very much. It was quite entertaining. Though I had some trouble with the key config at first.

    On the mapping. Some maps were better then others, but in general they were good. The library is one that at the top of my head was really good.
    The boat ride was somewhat annoying because of the narrow streets and the fact that each segment of it seemed rather short.

    On the voiceacting. The problem was with delivery a lot of times.
    The teamleader at the end seems to keep his tone on a constant tone, watering down his more dramatic lines (the betrayal).
    On the other hand the two NPC’s at the beginning of the boat ride, delivered briliantly. From the argument to the screaming and the change of tone that followed it was everything you could want.
    Perhaps you should add notes on the tone with the scripts.

    The gameplay. In general the gameplay was nice. There are some great and some worse moments.
    The boat ride could have prospered under a more pressing style. Adding a sense of urgency.
    The stealth actions were executed very well and counts as some of the best gameplay in the mod.
    The church scene is confussing. I tried to look for the key and could not find it and finally decided to just get out leave them behind. It would be nice to add a hint for the puzzle.
    The assault sequence was especially nice. The way the troops moved from one spot to the other and the atmosphere helped make it engaging.
    (I also had the bug with the team shooting at me. After I quick load I find myself breathing hard as if I am in the elite suit. As I attack the troops waiting outside they turn against me. Reloading the autosave and replaying the level helped.)

    The story. I liked it overall, though it could have been better.
    First there isn’t really a companion/connection character. A character that you meet at several stages and get to know throughout the game. Since the player character doesn’t speak you essential move from one disposable character to the other.
    Next up are the characters of Marcus and the sqaudleader. You never interact with Marcus thus his betrayal is water down (enhanced by the voice acting). The sqaudleader’s desicion to stay behind also doesn’t carry impact, since you get little chance to actually connect to the character.
    On the other hand there is always a goal to drive you on and the bits and pieces of humour brigthen up the game.
    So my gist with the story seems to be that though it is good, there isn’t really any connection to any of the characters. The best emotional moment is the before mentioned moment during the boat ride. Though this is a thing I feel with a lot of mods.
    As a last note on this the ending sequence felt somewhat odd. Both the surreal ending as the actaul physics of the train sequence.

    Overall one of the best singleplayer mods out there and well worth downloading. And I recommend everyone to do so.

    Reply
  126. Kasperg

    Thanks for the review.
    Since we have absolutely no modelling experience, we had to stick to the standard citizens. I’m not sure if you noticed, but a lot of the character keep showing up.
    The girl you meet in the apartment is the one you find in the basketball court (there’s a really interesting thing in her apartment room you should take a look at :D)
    Argento comes back in the Infiltration sequence to make his knowledge of scanners useful. Larry, the garage owner, becomes an essential character leading the final assault.
    I agree none of the characters really develop a strong relationship with the player, but the situation of our main character doesn’t allow much else.
    This will of course be different in the sequel, where… Well. I can’t say anything yet.

    Reply
  127. Berrie

    I noticed both Argento and Larry (forgot his name though). But Argento has a bit interaction at the beginning, but none with you after. As for Larry, his character gets a nice touch in the beginning, but both bland voice acting and his interaction mostly restricted to giving orders make it hard to connect to him later on.
    You have to plan some quiet moments for this sort of thing.
    Anyways this is just something I would personaly like to see more in all games.
    I’ll be looking forward to the sequel.

    Reply
  128. Chris Fox

    Thanks for the nice detailed review! 😀

    We will definately be paying close attention to all this good feedback for when we update this, which we will, and of course for the sequel too 😀

    Reply
  129. Bolx
    Play It Now!

    When I read the comments before the mod was released my reaction was “Want it, Want it now’. I downloaded it on Sunday but fate decreed that I’ve only just had a chance to play it today.All I can say is

    Reply
  130. Kerberos

    So, yeah it is open for interpretation, the last map. But tell me why the GMan appearance? That guy freaks out everyone!! I spent nearly a entire cartridge shooting him at the ending, aswell as the Combine Advisor!!!

    Reply
  131. Kasperg

    POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
    It’s obvious Gman wanted to keep the player alive, and at the same time he didn’t want any witnesses. That’s why he showed up when your companions were dead. Upon returning to a safer place, Dog is the only ally the player finds. Which means no-one really knows if he survived or not… Right now “the citizen” is the only one who knows about Gman’s power.
    Some questions will be answered in the sequel, for which the planning and concept mapping has already started.

    Reply
  132. Comrad
    Play It Now! - revised

    I am REALLY diggin” this MOD so far!
    But HELP! I feel that I have missed getting the suit because I can not switch wepons. I found the airboat a short time ago.
    Thanks

    Reply
  133. Chris Fox

    I honestly didn’t think it was possible to get that far without finding the suit!

    The gas in the sewers is supposed to kill you if you try to get through it without the suit on!

    How did you do it?

    Reply
  134. Comrad
    Play It Now!

    Mr Fox,
    Thanks for the tip and the MOD!
    I don’t know how I did it. I guess I was powered up pretty good(not sure-no HUD) and took a direct course then found a MED KIT at the end. Just guessin’.
    This MOD is gonna keep us playin” for a long time and screamin” for a walkthrough when we can’t find the secrets.
    I’m gonna start over and, Thanks Again!

    Reply
  135. Chris Fox

    I’m very glad you’re having fun 😀

    The best award we can possibly recieve, is to keep someone playing for a long time!

    Reply
  136. Gypsy_Jim
    Play It Now!

    What a fab mod, well thought out, interestingly designed, and brilliantly executed. I’m on my third full play, (just because I haven’t found all of the Easter Eggs yet…)and am enjoying it just as much as the first time.

    (It’s not everyday you get to hear a Geordie trying to fake a US accent, then giving up and just speaking normally either…! Certainly it must be a Half Life first?)

    Absolutely can’t wait for part 2.

    Congratulations to the team, especially to Kasperg & Chris Fox for the hard work you must have put in to it.

    Woot!

    Reply
  137. Kasperg

    First one to give us a detailed description of where all the secrets are and what they get you at the end will get a special Explorer Award plaque somewhere in the next episode. Bumpmapped and shiny 🙂
    Of course, once you have this data, send it to our adresses in the readme instead of posting it here.

    Reply
  138. Goddess Alyria
    Play It Now!

    Great mapping and architecture with some really nice scripted events. I enjoyed the scenery, puzzles and quirky bits more than the actual enemy action.

    I did not encounter any bugs except for not being able to sprint. I did however, get the white screen when donning the elite mask but that is purely due to my graphics and not the mod itself. Also, the library area was very well designed but I suffered from low framerates (also due to my graphics) which made combat quite difficult.

    I’ve played through twice and could have sworn I found all the eggs my second go. Obviously not! Now that I know there are 15, I’ll have another go at it and increase the difficulty setting.

    Reply
  139. Kasperg

    We’re not entirely sure if dying at some point or another makes some of the secrets not register. I’ll have to check again. Just in case, don’t play in hard difficulty setting if you’re going to die a lot.
    My 5-year old computer also has a lot of trouble with the church map and a bit with the shop and the library.
    About the Elite mask, I’m sure there are some DirectX parameters we can add to the material file in the update to make it work for everyone.

    Reply
  140. Tahuyeh
    Play It Now!

    I absolutely loved this mod! It is very professional, with loads of detail and excellent texturing and lighting, great voice acting, and it kept my interest every careful step of the way. I encountered no bugs at all. I enjoyed driving the airboat through the rubble, by the way.
    I don’t know how many “secrets” I found, so will start playing again and keep better track.
    Kudos to the creators! Thanks for a great mod. I will be anxiously awaiting the sequel.

    Reply
  141. Chris Fox

    Thanks for playing, I’m glad that you enjoyed it!

    If it keeps you coming back to find the secrets, then that is really the ultimate reward for us. Many mods get played once and then forgotten. If this one can tempt you back to play even once more, then I feel it’s an achievement.

    There will be a sequel, but it might take awhile to make. It has to be better than this one, after all. 😉

    Reply
  142. Oopla
    Play It Now!

    Just finished it. I enjoyed it. I to swear I got all the secrets myself, but only seem to have gotten the default ending.

    There were issues with the mod. It felt very klunky at the beginning. Having the key setup different from the default Valve setup threw me. It almost never felt like I could go in a straight line, that it was always twisting and turning, that there was never a good corridor fight scene.

    The airboat section bugged me. There was no payoff to lugging that stupid thing across the map. No chase scene, It just felt like I had to drag along dead weight.
    I think the junk in the ally would work, if more of it was just barely submerged , so you could hit it, bounce and still keep going.

    I didn’t like the poster of Dr. Breen extolling citizens to turn in traitors so they can be killed. That was off tone from the propaganda from HL2. The poster would have gone along the lines of “Help me help them. Terrorists are suffering from mental illness. Report Sabatours and terrorists to your local authorities, so we can help them get well.”

    The game was under lighten. Even with my gamma and moniter brightness turned up, some scenes were much too dark. The best example I can think of is the Stage fight at the end. With a speaker, it would have much better lighting.

    Bugs:
    when I was with the Airboat and had to blow up a barrier with a sniper above it, Just grabbing the detonator without killing the sniper made the explosion go off. Just one single time. I couldn’t get the bug to duplicate tho.

    When you stack to many boxes together the physics start going weird. Boxes and you start sticking, boxes start hovering, and I have even died jumping on a high stack of boxes by being randomly crushed to death.

    What I liked.
    Getting the HEV Suit. I liked the lock puzzels to get into it, and finding the suit, and the trick you used to force users to take the suit was clever.
    My only suggestion is that if you do a version 1.5 of the game, add in the original long HEV suit user welcome. That or a message from a scientist speaking to Gordon Freeman, telling him that the suit has been saved for him at multiple locations throughout the city, expecting his return. Moments like that would help build the story.
    The church fight scene. once I figured out where the key was and rang the bell, it was probably my favorite scene of the first act.

    The library scene. My favorite run and gun scene from the game.

    The parallel story. I want to see more stories fleshing out the HL universe.

    I did enjoy this mod. I would reccomend it to others. It does have it’s flaws and I have tried to keep all the critism to be constructive in this review. Fundimentally, I had fun playing it. That is the most important aspect to the review.

    Reply
  143. Chewie

    That or a message from a scientist speaking to Gordon Freeman, telling him that the suit has been saved for him at multiple locations throughout the city, expecting his return. Moments like that would help build the story.

    You don’t play as Gordon Freeman. You play a normal citizen known only to us as “The Citizen”. Gordon is (I think) stuck in the teleporter during this time.

    Reply
  144. Gypsy_Jim

    You mean that wasn’t Gordon singing in the shower in the rebel base…?

    I’m sure someone made some reference to him while you’re rooting around the lockers…..

    Reply
  145. Gypsy_Jim

    PS (Sorry for the double post!) Is this the first mod to actually use Combine Advisors?

    Reply
  146. Chris Fox

    Is this the first mod to actually use Combine Advisors?

    Honestly, I don’t know.

    But I hope so !!! 😀

    Reply
  147. Goddess Alyria

    Just curious, but is the X1 key and door counted as an easter egg? Also, who left that crowbar laying around out there? 😉

    EDIT: 466 downloads from Filecloud, 199 downloads from Filefront, 149 comments (including Mel’s from the forum) and only 31 votes. Shameful.

    Reply
  148. Gnosis
    Play It Now!

    I really liked this a lot. I wish it could have been longer. Its nice to see a mod in the HL2 world where you’re not GF. The Disguises was a cool touch. No wonder the combines aim sucks. The puzzles were logical if you listened to the NPC’s. Very original IMHO. Like most I had to use god mode at the very end due to framerate issues. My processor is slow and all I have is a PCI X1300. My PC has no agp or PCIex and an locked BIOS.

    Reply
  149. cubedude89

    haha I love the planetphillip posters. I would love to steal that idea and put planetphillip posters in my mods if thats ok with phillip 🙂

    I love finding the easter eggs also. The first one I found was in a warehouse which I used the flying bug where you can use like gibs and press jump real fast while holding onto the gib and I keep getting higher and higher until I got to the top and there was a nice reward.
    And that alone sets you apart from almost every mod!

    The npc’s turned against me after I killed that one bad rebel guy who locked us in that room. I will restart the map and see if it happens again.

    Good mod so far. You have my respect!

    Reply
  150. Cygnus100
    Avoid It!

    Well, after numerous attempts,re-downloads,re-installations with a whole lot of parameter changes and some unbeliveable swearing; I think I even made up some “never before heard” curses and alot of system crashes(all at the exact same spot)I have decided that unfortunately I need to remove this mod from my drive without being able to play it.
    therefore it must get the dreaded
    I have had some problems before with mods in the past although not to this extent but it is most likely my computer that really deserves the failing marks.

    Reply
  151. Kasperg

    Just curious, but is the X1 key and door counted as an easter egg? Also, who left that crowbar laying around out there?

    The key and door are indeed an easter egg, although the one that appears in the wall is small. Remember, there are 15 in total, which means you should have seen 15 of those decals.
    We don’t know who leaves crowbars behind, but we suspect Barney gives them to citizens instead of guns if he’s still unsure of their loyalties hehe

    Reply
  152. Kasperg

    Double post:
    I finally managed to see the evil-squad bug by myself, so I apologize for being sceptical at first.
    What I did was: At the top of the stairs before entering the control room, I stayed in the corner where Marcus would then walk to. The engine couldn’t place him there and he was teleported inside the control room. When the door closed, he just teleported outside the door and laughed. Right after killing him, my team vented their anger and unquenched thirst of vengeance on me. It seems they wanted to actually torture Marcus. That’s the only possible explanation for this bug 😀
    It’ll be easy to fix though.

    Reply
  153. Goddess Alyria

    PlanetPhillip said:

    I presume you cheated to get the crowbar, becasue when I played it you didn’t get it until much later in the mod.

    This is not entirely true Phillip and maybe toxagen did not cheat. I know for a fact there is one instance where you can get the crowbar inside the building and another instance where you can get it before you actually are “suppose” to.

    Reply
  154. chuckanut
    Play It Now!

    I loved this mod. It’s a great balance of story, action, and puzzle and is quite engaging. The voice dialog was very good and it’s the first mod I’ve played where the squad following really worked and was part of the story instead of “tacked on”. The squad stayed out of the way and actually contributed significantly in battles. I was also happy that it wasn’t one of those mods whose sole theme is constantly fighting overwhelming odds, but rather where guile will win the day.

    On the minus side, I did encounter a couple of problems which I spent a great deal of time on thinking it was by design. One was when the theater doors would not open after the square was emptied of combine, and the other was later when my squad-mates attacked and killed me in the theater. Since the latter happened after I killed the traitor, I assumed they were actually traitors as well. Only after reading this forum did I learn that both these instances were documented by others and unintended.

    If this happens to you and you’d rather not read 100+ posts to find solution – here’s the skinny. In the first instance there’s actually a combine stuck behind the forcefield. Shoot into the forcefield and he will then approach and you can shoot him; the doors will then open. The second is some kind of game save/load glitch. When you get the white suit, follow through the subsequent events including killing the traitor and opening the door for your squad mates without saving and especially loading a saved game. During this sequence your suit will be stripped, but if you save and bring up the saved game, you have the suit back on and your squad will shoot you.

    The only other problem I encountered was one time the music was blaring even though I had “music” turned down to min. It was so obnoxious I had to turn down my speakers. I think this was probably not actually a music track but “effects”. I also encountered this in “Coastline to Atmosphere” and encourage designers to not put music tracks here.

    Still, I loved this mod. I encourage everyone to play it and want to thank the mappers and their team. I give it a 5/5

    Reply
  155. Goddess Alyria

    Grrrr … 14 out of 15 on my third play through. I just don’t know if I can sit through the short maps, long load times and low frame rates to do it all again to find just 1 egg. 🙁

    Reply
  156. Chris Fox

    Thanks for all the reviews 😀

    Goddess, if you email me, I can help you out with that pesky last egg. 🙂

    Reply
  157. Oopla

    [quote comment=”120977″] That or a message from a scientist speaking to Gordon Freeman, telling him that the suit has been saved for him at multiple locations throughout the city, expecting his return. Moments like that would help build the story.

    You don’t play as Gordon Freeman. You play a normal citizen known only to us as “The Citizen”. Gordon is (I think) stuck in the teleporter during this time.[/quote]

    I know that the citizen is not Freeman. I meant it as a compelling reason for a HEV suit being in a room in the middle of the sewer.

    Reply
  158. Kasperg

    I need someone for who the elite mask did not work to try extracting the files in this zip file >> http://www.sendspace.com/file/mb2twa
    into your “Sourcemods/The Citizen/materials/citizen” folder. If it gets it working, I’ll include it in the update.
    Thanks in advance.

    Reply
  159. mitu
    Play It Now!

    Great mod, playing it right now. I loved the secrets (most mods/mappers forget about them these days), the humor – especially the Elvet theater posters -, the way the story progresses, the puzzles (I couldn’t figure the ringing bell puzzle though), maps were good and detailed, gameplay was fine – not too much health and challenging fights, the ‘sneaky business” segments – priceless.

    I have to say this is one of the best mods for HL2, only Minerva kept me so hooked up to the story and gameplay.

    Found a bug 🙂 in the plaza near the Elvet theater, about 2 metrocops stayed behind the force field on the left of the theater, hidden after a corner. I had to lob a grenade there and kill them for the door into the theater to open. Ah, and also the same bug the others encountered – the heavy breathing sticks even after loosing the elite combine suit.

    thank you for this mod, best play I’ve had for a long time.

    Reply
  160. andyb

    I didn’t have a problem playing this before but since putting in an older video card I get the whiteout when putting on the elite mask but only the second one.It works fine for the first mask.ent_fire elitemask stopoverlays works for it but the files you posted did not work 🙁

    PS:…

    Is the key to the locker an easter egg?I’m wondering cause there is no picture of an egg there or in the locker.

    Got 14 of 15 eggs(I think) 🙁

    Reply
  161. Kasperg

    I’ll have to mess around with the materials even more… I’m 100% sure I can make a material that works for those with problems, but my objective is getting it to work with the same VMT material file…

    The key to the locker is just part of an easter egg! We amit it’s the hardest one to find, but it’s also special in its own way.

    Reply
  162. Gypsy_Jim

    You mean there’s more than just the obvious door to open with that particular key…..Does this mean I’m going to have to go back and look yet again…?

    I notice that no one has admitted to finding the man watching TV who happily sends you back to “reality” via teleporter…(oops!)

    Reply
  163. Goddess Alyria

    Cheater! lol

    Reply
  164. andyb

    HA HA I tried that too lol

    Reply
  165. bones Andy
    Play It Now!

    re: It seems they wanted to actually torture Marcus. That’s the only possible explanation for this bug…
    Probably not so. The bug occurs consistently if you save any time after getting the Elite suit.
    Here’s a clue to the real cause. If you get the bug during or after the shoot-out in the theatre and noclip through the door to go downstairs and change back to original clothes there’s no problem.
    Save before acquiring the suit and play until releasing the crew it works fine.
    It’s a very small glitch in one excellent mod.

    Reply
  166. Dufferx
    Play It Now!

    Outstanding mod as I expected. Sure there were things I didn’t like, but that’s life and things I don’t like, I am sure others do. I personally don’t care for Easter eggs, probably cause I am a lousy searcher. The mod played flawlessly on my machine from the get-go. I found the mod to be innovative and entertaing and therefore too short and leaving me waiting for the sequel. From other people’s comments there appears to be several things I missed, so will play it again.

    Reply
  167. Chris Fox

    Thanks for all the comments.

    It’s really nice to know that people are out there playing this thing more than once! 😀

    That was a big aim for us with this mod.

    And when version 1.1 comes out, the bugs should be gone too! 😀

    Reply
  168. senator33

    I need someone for who the elite mask did not work to try extracting the files in this zip file >> http://www.sendspace.com/file/mb2twa
    into your “Sourcemods/The Citizen/materials/citizen” folder. If it gets it working, I’ll include it in the update.
    Thanks in advance.

    Good try, but the patch did not work for me.

    Still worth 5 crabs…

    Reply
  169. Kasperg

    I forgot to do something to the file. Try this one out, I think it should work now.

    http://www.sendspace.com/file/6zfmnf

    Reply
  170. andyb

    Nope didn’t work for me.Need a new video card lol.

    I’m not sure what to make of the secret ending lol

    Reply
  171. Kasperg

    Ok, it seems we have our first “master exlplorer” who has found all 15 secrets. We could leave 2 more steps of the podium for those who are still searching…
    As for the elite mask, I don’t know what else to do. Did you have DirectX 7 selected in the menu? I reconfigured the file to ignore refracting materials for that DX level. In any case, I can always include another material in a little folder for the next version and talk about it in the readme.

    Reply
  172. andyb

    My setup is directx 9.I’m gonna try playing it again from the start and see if that works.It worked with my ati card but not this nvidia card.

    Reply
  173. Chris Fox

    Ooh, so andyb gets 1st place on the podium!

    😀

    Shiny bumpmapped plaque of honour for you, Sir!

    We might put it in the update – and/or the sequel. But definately at least one of those. Probably both.

    Reply
  174. Goddess Alyria

    I’m not sure what to make of the secret ending either although the use of the roller mines was a beautiful touch. 🙂

    Reply
  175. andyb

    It would of been nice also if some words were said by you know who instead of nothing.But no matter I had fun.

    Reply
  176. AI
    Play It Now! - revised

    Just finnished this mod, for the first time, only found 8 of the eggs, but am going to try again!! I had no trouble at all, often wondered what the world looked like from behind the masks! Both of them worked great, I liked the round red one, like a big red eye!
    I use FakeFactories non cinematic graphics enhancements with the AA & AF at 16X on my vid card. Nice and smooth thru the whole mod, but the speech was a little hard to understand at times! Got to rate it up there with the other quality mods I’ve played!! Thanks guys and try for a sequal!! So I gotta say; 🙂

    Reply
  177. grumbleCake
    Play It Now!

    Chris and Kasperg –

    Great mod, despite the slight bugginess. The Citizen ranks in my three favorite HL2 mods (Minerva and Coastline to Atmoshpere being the others). Excellent job with the story line and character development, especially tying Argento back into the story. I love the little touches: the music video of the Combine headbanging to the song at the start of the game (I assume the band is Bad Day Rising?), Gordon singing in the shower, the phone interview with Dr. Breen’s daughter, and the kooky hijinks of the rebels in the locker room (demolition, girl trapped in the locker).

    A great concept nicely fleshed out; it was all good, and served to extend the Half Life brand into new and unexpected areas. Excellent job.

    A comment for all the “haters” out there who slag the voice acting and the bugs…all mods on this site are “Cheap as Free”, so spend a little less effort on bitching and a little more effort to thank the individuals who spent months of their expensive time to deliver the product.

    Reply
  178. Chris Fox

    Thanks grumbleCake, I’m glad you had fun! 😀

    The music that the metrocop is grooving down to on the TV in the first map is indeed Bad Day Rising – as is the little short bit of music which plays during the introduction.

    Sadly, BDR is no longer together, but we’re still all good friends, and we managed to record a decent little catalogue of music over the years. (I’m the drummer by the way!) You’ll probably hear more of that in future mods that are by (or involve) me.

    Reply
  179. Berrie

    @ grumbleCake. Most posts here seem to praise the efforts of the modders and I’ve seen little bitching.
    I think you shouldn’t see it as bitching, but as feedback. What good would it be for the creators if people only thanked and never spoke of things which could be improved.
    The difference in how people spoke their lines seemed to indicate that a more directing aproach would make for a beter portrail of emotion.

    Reply
  180. Frederick
    Play It Now!

    Thanks to the modmakers for making the effort. It was a good mod. I liked the library fight the best, although I was expecting to have to fight the big beast at some point, but he disappeared. I had no problem with lighting and I do not like dark mods so I don’t know why others thought this one is dark. I was a big bell ringer. I rang that bell as long as I heard a battle continuing and didn’t go back downstairs til the shooting was done. I unknowingly created a bunch of mutant rebels in the next street – all those arms and legs sticking out…ha,ha!
    The opening scene of the mod was annoying with having to talk to the right person – that isn’t so logical with the priest talking so loudly in the same room. The first half of the mod did drag with little action relative to the long map loading times. It got better in the second half. I did not find all the Easter eggs and don’t plan to replay just to find them – so much for the secret ending..
    I do appreciate the Easter eggs being marked as such so that you get know that you got a little bonus. I did see the X1 key but could not grab it without a nasty fight so I just kept moving without it. I found the key for the locker but it did not contain the “fuse for the scanner” described in the note so I walked around with the battery for a while thinking I would need it, but it was dead weight. What was the point of opening that locker??? The “normal ending” was kind of pointless unless you make it clear that there is a sequel.
    Still a good mod and I appreciate your efforts.

    Reply
  181. andyb

    The fuse is an easter egg but only 1 part of it.You must solve the rest of it.I think you need a sleep 😛

    As for the x1 key.You can get a crowbar if you bother to explore.This whole mod is an adventure in MNSHO

    Reply
  182. Goddess Alyria

    That’s what I really liked about this mod. My honey told me that he thought it was sort of slow, but it’s the storyline and hunt that intrigued me the most more than the battles. It’s more a thinking person’s mod than anything. I think I played it 4 times just to get all the eggs and explore, plus Chris helped a little with one pesky egg I couldn’t find. I really thought it was in a class of it’s own and you have to think to do what’s next. There are also some very unique concentps incorporated. Definitely worth playing if you like to explore with a story. It has grown on me the more I play even with the long load times and slow fram rates in areas. I’m seriously thinking of playing it again on hard mode. Absolutely can’t wait for the sequel and hope it’s along the same lines as this one and maybe kicked up a little.

    Reply
  183. Chris Fox

    Andyb — “As for the x1 key.You can get a crowbar’

    There’s also another way to get rid of the cop guarding the key without finding the crowbar 😀

    Goddess — ‘sequel and hope it’s along the same lines’

    We’re thinking of an even more RPG-like scenario 😉

    Reply
  184. BC
    Play It Now! - revised

    There’s also another way to get rid of the cop guarding the key without finding the crowbar

    –
    Rats! Now I have to play it again. There goes Thanksgiving! Wahooo!
    BC

    Reply
  185. BC
    Play It Now! - revised

    That battery at the bottom of the bell tower, any use for it?

    Reply
  186. Chris Fox

    Yup, that’s the first part of what I’d say is the second hardest secret to find. 🙂

    Reply
  187. MrHappy

    The beginning of this mod really put me off. So much so that I didn’t continue (though I plan on picking it up again).

    A couple spoilers, but it’s just the first few minutes:
    So there’s a raid, and you get knocked out. And then the combine leave you there. And then everyone acts like nothing happened. People are just standing around doing nothing with the sounds of war outside.

    Then you meet a rebel, dressed like a rebel, living in an apartment, with the combine just a floor beneath. Which makes no sense.

    These are little things, like I said, it was just the beginning that put me off, but to be blunt these are poor design decisions that break the immersion way to early and make me wonder “what the hell is this.”

    Next up you are asked to “avoid the combine guards” which as far as I can tell, is impossible. Of course I can just run circles around them, but I can also not figure out where to go after seeing the second one.

    I don’t mind getting lost in a game, having to figure out where to go but I feel that the beginning should be silky smooth, should guide you a bit until you get into the flow. With mod’s I have very little patience for this type of thing, since there are so many bad ones out there, I often decide wether or not to finish it within the first few minutes.

    So with a beginning like this, it makes me really not want to continue. But I see all the “play it now!”‘s so I’m going to do just that 🙂

    Like I said, this is very preliminary, but if the rest of it shapes up like this then I will be very dissappointed as this looks quite good.

    Reply
  188. Chris Fox

    This mod is not to everyone’s tastes, MrHappy.

    There’s every chance you won’t like it.

    Reply
  189. Kasperg

    There’s always a thin balance between “bad design decisions” and “bad playing decisions”. If the majority of players had no trouble in a particular area, the design probably isn’t that bad.
    As for a the citizen dressed in rebel clothes, I don’t recall the Combine ever going up to that floor. So it makes perfect sense. Everytime there’s a rebel and combine nearby (the shop, the first sniper sequence etc), someone gets killed. I think it makes perfect sense.
    I also wonder why when Argento tells the player to try not to get spotted going to Larry’s garage, people interpret it as “explore every corner of the street”. It’s not like that at all.

    Reply
  190. nige
    Play It Now!

    Really enjoyed this mod.Didn’t get all the easter eggs couldn’t find where the battery in the bell tower went.There were hard parts but when thought out there was an easier way.
    Nice to play a mod with lots of health and ammo.The rebels were a nice touch leading you through some areas.The bug with them turning on you is only from the save game after the blackout.
    I had the elite combine breathing just before entering the duct and the rebels didn’t shoot me.After the next loading it was o.k.
    Thanks again for this great mod.

    Reply
  191. Goddess Alyria

    Church Spoiler (this was truly the only one I had a problem finding and needed help with):

    Pay close attention to the way the wooden crate is sitting when you enter the church.

    Reply
  192. Mr.N

    Would like to know where the battery goes although I think I need to find some more eggs.I did jump out of the bell tower window but the black door closed and and I couldnt get back in the church.
    Is there going to be a post on the secrets when 3 people finish it?
    nige

    Reply
  193. Kasperg

    Well, we already know about two people who have seen them all. I have a document somewhere explaining how to get all 15 secrets.
    We actually answer any questions by email too. That ensures no accidental spoilers for the secrets. Our emails are in the readme.

    Reply
  194. Goddess Alyria

    I tried to be subtle and even blacked it out.

    Let me know if you’d like me to remove it.

    Reply
  195. l1ddl3monkey
    Play It Now!

    As I expected from something Kasperg worked on, the architecture and level of design was superb. I particularly liked the flooded sections although they would have been more fun if the airboat actually fitted through them all.The ideas in it are great. The resistance actually feels like a proper resistance movement with people all having their agendas and some of them just being psycho’s with a death wish.

    The puzzles are interesting and different enough from the puzzles in the original games (or the other “good” mods – which this assuredly is) that you have to think about them a bit.

    Some of the combat was very frustrating: a Strider in a confined space AND a sniper was just annoying, as was the previous sniper in the tunnel section (when you are driving the airboat overland).

    Overall though the occasional niggle about difficult gunfights wasn’t enough to distract from the quality of the mod. And for just 8 months work; it’s very special!

    Reply
  196. enshak
    Avoid It!

    What planet are you on philip. When you compare this mod against Minerva, you are asking us to be ultra critical. Yes a flooded city would be great. We got one little side street. Not very clear objectives. Ie not knowing that you needed to speak to a particular person to get out of the housing complex, average set pieces, average to good maps. The good parts were being part of the resistance, and the Fear like sections. The Gman was pointless as you was suppose to be just another resistace member not another Gordon. There are better mods than this by far. Sorry to the authers of this mod, This had alot of good ideas, but the execution was just average.

    Reply
  197. PlanetPhillip

    What planet are you on philip.

    PlanetPhillip of course!

    When you compare this mod against Minerva, you are asking us to be ultra critical.

    There’s little doubt that Minvera is a fantastic mod but I felt that it lacked something in the gameplay. There’s no doubt it was baeutiful and bug free (Beside the issues with requiring EP1). But to me a mod is more than just what it looks like.

    Clearly I want something different from the mods I play than you do.

    In the same way you are surprised by my comparison regarding Minerva, I am just as surprised by your recommendation.

    How can you say the players should avoid this mod? Perhaps it’s not the best mod you have played but surely it doesn’t desrve to be dismissed so easily? I fear this is an over-reaction to my comparison. I would recommend visiting The Recommendation System post to ensure you understand when to use each image. To quote from the post:
    The Avoid It! image should be used for maps and mods that you believe are not worth the time and effort to play. This should have nothing to do with any bugs or problems, just purely the gameplay etc.

    Are you really saying this mod is not worth the time and effort to play?

    Reply
  198. Chris Fox

    We knew a certain group of gamers would not like this mod, before we ever released it. A lot of people don’t like (and even resent, strangle enough) that we deviated a bit from what is considered to be “Standard HL2 gameplay”.

    Sorry Enshak if you didn’t enjoy the mod. It wasn’t designed for your tastes.

    I would suggest you don’t play the sequel (when it’s finished), as you’ll find it even more annoying and RPG-like!

    All those who like Citizen 1, will love Citizen 2 😀

    It’s like Marmite…..love it or hate it.

    Reply
  199. Chris Fox

    Great typo above there … I managed to write “strangle” instead of “strangely” …. d’oh

    Reply
  200. Kasperg

    Considering some people have replayed it a few times, It can’t be THAT bad. We are aware of Minverva’s high detail, but we specifically weren’t aiming for the same thing. We decided to take other paths. Hence the voice acting, the humour and all those little personal touches.
    Gman was pointless in HL1 until you found out who we was. Obviously our citizen hasn’t had that opportunity… yet.

    Reply
  201. Goddess Alyria

    Great typo above there … I managed to write “strangle” instead of “strangely” …. d’oh

    Maybe that’s what you were feeling at the time of reading the post you replied upon. 😉

    Reply
  202. Kasperg

    I’d also like to know what kind of “average” maps and set pieces we are talking about when speaking of this mod. Is it the type of “average” that means it looks just like HL2 (the mod takes place in *surprise!* City 17)?, or is it the type of “average” that implies that 50% of all HL2sp map packs ever released are above them?
    I’m the first to admit that ANY map whatsoever can be improved, and detail can be increased anywhere. Load times and performance are already problematic in some places of our mod, so we didn’t want to make a deeper wound in that sense.
    Contrary to some mods out there, we wanted to add some soul into our work, instead of concentrating solely on eye candy and predictable gameplay mechanics. 🙂

    Reply
  203. Gypsy_Jim

    32 “Play it now”s against 5 “Too buggy”s and one “Consider it” against one dissenter….

    I guess that’s democracy?

    🙂

    Reply
  204. Chris Fox

    The “Play it Now” button must have had a sign above it saying ‘do Not Press’

    😀

    Reply
  205. BC
    Play It Now! - revised

    This mod Filled up my Senses like no other!
    Thanks guys.
    BC

    Reply
  206. piledriver

    Getting “Failed to lock DX9 vertex buffer” error message when I move the mouse when mod is loaded. Win XP Home, Athlon 2400+. nVidia 6100. New DX9c update. New nVidia drivers.
    Anybody help?

    Reply
  207. Chris Fox

    Thanks!

    You got those curtains open then 😉

    Reply
  208. Chris Fox

    piledriver — looks like a DirectX problem. Your card isn’t really very powerful for DX9 and so it could be causing the problem.

    Try forcing it to run in DirectX8 mode.

    I *think* you do that by adding

    -dxlevel 80

    to the launch options.

    Reply
  209. piledriver

    Thanks Chris – will try it tomorrow.

    Reply
  210. bkadar
    Avoid It!

    gonna try this again. thought I finished it but the comments here tell no.very buggy on my systm crashing alot.will redo the install a well as hl2.

    Reply
  211. Kasperg

    I wish we knew why the game crashes for some people. We’ve done absolutely 0 coding modifications, and all the maps are made out of what Valve provides us with in the SDK, along custom sounds and materials.
    If some particular area seems to crash in more than one system, we could investigate it. But we need more details.

    Reply
  212. clunkfish
    Play It Now!

    It’s a very very good HL2 mod – it tries something a little different and succeeds very well. Excellent to know that a Geordie has made it to City 17 too – surprising that there was no Newkie Brown on the shelves in the shop….The one thing that I think needs sorting is that it is a mod that should reward exploration – there are 15 eggs to find (and I only managed 8 on my run through) – but in some places exploration can get you stuck. On the approach to the cafe, for example, there are a couple of fenced-off areas and there are a couple of oil drums. It is easy to stack the drums and jump the fences – into the bottom of the map. It is kind of interesting to wander around looking at your squad mates from a new angle, but I guess some kind of invisible barrier needs to be put above those fences. It happens in a couple of other places too – one where there is a wrecked car the other side of the fence, near the beginning.

    These are small quibbles though: I have played a lot of SP HL2 mods and this is in the top 5 for sure.

    Reply
  213. bkadar

    we could investigate it. But we need more details.

    im thinking its hl, some of the crashes were engine/video errors.

    what kind of info would you need?

    Reply
  214. Kasperg

    Basically if the crashes always happen in the same places for people who are having problems. And of course, knowing what those places or events those are.
    I doubt it, but maybe triggering a lot of events at the precise same second could push some CPU’s to their limit, I’m not sure.

    Reply
  215. bkadar

    we could investigate it. But we need more details

    wanted to make sure the text was quoted,keepforgetting to scroll to the bottom here,theres useful tools and tags 😉

    Reply
  216. AI
    Play It Now!

    I think the problems are due to the vid cards, I’m not sure on that tho, check my stats in #177 above! I had no trouble with this mod(except for only finding 8 eggs) Maybe it’s too many programs running in the background?? I don’t play online, and keep Steam in offline mode,disable my security, and anything else not nessesary, almost all the ram (2gb)is avalible to the game! I still say: 🙂

    Reply
  217. Gypsy_Jim

    After my umpteenth run-through, carefully noting down each egg as I found it, I got to 14 and found to my dismay I was on the train with the G-Man, my heart sank as I though I must have missed one yet again…..

    Then suddenly there I was, in a place I hadn’t seen before and which I won’t describe, except to say nice horse….(!)Which made me wonder if one of the Easter Eggs hasn’t got the symbol with it, perhaps one while you’re in the Combine Elite uniform? Or if I had simply done one automatically and missed jotting it down…?

    Anyway, top top job, & thank you very much to all concerned!

    James

    Reply
  218. Chris Fox

    Glad you liked it. 😀 Some of the eggs are pretty easy to find, so you probably just did one on autopilot.

    The secret ending is currently a bit short we feel, and so in the update we are planning to expand it somewhat, to make it more of a mini-game rather than just a new place to look at. I feel that, if you had the patience to get all the eggs, then you really deserve a little bit more.

    So, watch this space….

    Reply
  219. bkadar

    I think the problems are due to the vid cards, I’m not sure on that tho, check my stats in #177 above! I had no trouble with this mod(except for only finding 8 eggs) Maybe it’s too many programs running in the background?? I don’t play online, and keep Steam in offline mode,disable my security, and anything else not nessesary, almost all the ram (2gb)is avalible to the game

    gonna try this!

    Reply
  220. Andyno
    Play It Now!

    I honestly didn’t think it was possible to get that far without finding the suit!

    Well I’m just beyond the point where the screenshots end and I have no suit. It was hell to go through levels without it. But now it’s really impossible to go any further because I have no weapon and I suppose I have to destroy the ventilation shown on this screenshot:

    http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/320/thecitizenpart110000ge7.jpg

    So please tell me somebody how it’s possible I missed the suit shown on the pic #24? Where it is? In that room locked by the switches? OK. So what’s the combination? I feel like stupid… but still hoping I’m not the only one with this problem. 😉

    BTW – great mod! That’s for sure! My recommendation is still and after all

    … and voted for 5 stars too. 😉

    Reply
  221. Kasperg

    I checked the map a couple of days ago, and it should be impossible to reach the third map without the suit unless you cheat…
    We’ve already tweaked it for the update.

    Reply
  222. KingDaniel
    Maybe?

    First, here’s the bugs I encountered:
    I suffered the Elite Suit bug (black screen) — blame my DX8 graphics card. Bypassed it with the console command somewhere above.
    I also mysteriously lost the ability to run. So I bunny-hopped everywhere.
    Then my team turned on me after I killed the traitor 🙁 again and again. And again and again and again. I got somewhat annoyed replaying that chapter and it dragged the mod down…

    This mod has all the makings of a classic…but IMO isn’t quite there.
    don’t get me wrong — it looks brilliant. The voice acting and characters are brilliant.
    It has some great ideas. And the effort it must have taken must have been enormous. But I found the gameplay to be unengaging. it’s not bad — but it hasn’t grabbed me in the way Metastasis or Mistake of Pythagoras did.

    I liked the Ritual-style secrets. I didn’t find them all (didn’t really try) but they were a neat addition nonetheless.
    The RPG elements were good, too.

    But I didn’t like the ending. After eventually conquering the ” traitor bug” and getting on the train it wasn’t really clear what happened/was meant to happen. It came across as a bit amateurish compared to the rest of the mod.

    Reply
  223. Kasperg

    It really is a pity that all those problems you mentioned have already been fixed, yet we can’t release the update because we’re adding something new to it. 🙁
    By the way, I have yet to see a HL2 map with a “good ending”. Every single hl2 mod I’ve played has been dissapointing in that sense. If you could point us towards something you’ve liked, it’d be great.

    Reply
  224. qm

    Great endings?
    Ok, it’s not really a “mod”, but one of my all-time favourite endings is the one in “Portal” :-))
    You know, a boss battle and then the sequence with the cake and the song – just brilliant!
    But, yeah, right, it’s not easy to create a good ending.
    qm

    Reply
  225. Kasperg

    Yeah it wouldn’t count. I’m talking about endings in projects with no budget at all and a team of two like this one. I’ve played all the big mods (Minerva, Rock24, Riot Act etc) and the ending certainly wasn’t the best thing about them.

    Reply
  226. PlanetPhillip

    PLANETPHILLIP NOTE: The download links have been removed because a new version is due mid-December 2007.

    Reply
  227. Old Scratch

    PLANETPHILLIP NOTE: The download links have been removed because a new version is due mid-December 2007.

    DAMN YER EYES, YE SCURVY DOG!! I stumble on this fine mod, and I CAN’t PLAY IT!?!? Fie on you!!

    Aw, hell, I can’t play anyway, thanks to a nice nasty Steam bug (steam.exe (main exception): ERROR: delete of stem.exe failed Win32 Error 32), so yer off the hook… for now.

    Get that update, stat, I’m itching to try this!

    Reply
  228. Kasperg

    It’s more of a re-release than an update. Every single map has been improved or fixed in some way.

    Reply
  229. Old Scratch

    It’s more of a re-release than an update. Every single map has been improved or fixed in some way.

    Thanks for that… now hurry up! I wanna plaaayyY!!!! 😉

    Reply
  230. Chris Fox

    We’re just waiting for some additional voice acting to get recorded. When it does, it’ll be full steam ahead. Most of the update is already done. 😀

    Reply
  231. Jason
    Play It Now!

    I sat and played through this mod in a single sitting and really enjoyed it!
    I especially like the way there was usually at least one way to solve the puzzles.
    There’s a lot of really useful stuff to find if you take the time to explore your surroundings and lots of nice secrets to find!
    The story was interesting and you feel like a part of it. The voice acting is done really well and there are some nicely done scenes that will make you laugh out loud.
    Overall I’d say this is a very well done mod. You can see the time and effort that has been put into it. I find it amazing that such high quality work can come from just two people!
    Well done Chris Fox and Kasperg, you should be very proud.
    I look forward to seeing more of your work

    Reply
  232. Ragnar_GD
    Maybe?

    1. I played it on 1900*1024, on 8800 GTS 640MB/DC6400/2GB ram, and as far as I went, there were no in-game CTDs.
    2. What bugged me, was, that for most guns, I couldn’t see the ammo I had – perhaps you should have a look at a german HL2-installation, as I think this is specific for german setups.
    3. I did NOT like the run-key disabled and the standard-keys changed.
    4. The hover-boat would have been more fun, if there were more “speed”-levels. If the run-keys had been enabled, I would have been faster on foot through the twisted canals. I repeat what others said… Perhaps consider building in some looong canals into the first part?
    5. Yes, the beginning scene with the girl near the preacher would deserve some more “immersion”. Perhaps by the girl near the preacher approaching you once you talked to the preacher, or once he was through his speach once?
    6. I couldn’t open the door to the three crates in the HEV-room at the start. Was I missing something?All in all, I will wait for version 1.1, or even completion of part 2, before trying to conquer it again, as it has potential to get legendary *once* some issues are rooted out. Before, I’ll not try to even finish it. Patience is a virtue… 😉

    Don’t mistake me: *KUDOS!* *Thumbs up!*

    Reply
  233. BC
    Play It Now!

    Who’s gonna play this again when the new version comes out? I know I am!!
    Thanks Guys ahead of time!

    Reply
  234. andyb

    Me too!

    Ragnar_GD

    To get in the hev room you need to solve the puzzle with the switches.One way opened one door and another way opens another door.

    Reply
  235. nige

    To Ragnar_GD
    Possible spoiler
    To open the door to the room with the crates
    you have to find the key.

    There is a puzzle involving a broken valve.

    Reply
  236. andyb

    Oh yea.I misread his post.Thought he couldn’t get to the hev room lol.

    Reply
  237. Kasperg

    The only big issue which we haven’t fixed is the airboat ride being “fun”. I added func_vehicleclip entities to make it easier to move around, but we’re having some trouble getting them to work 🙁

    Reply
  238. Booman
    Play It Now!

    Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half Life 1, 2 and 3
    Mods that tells a story really affects the experience of playing a game and allows the player to feel like they are involved in something big. The Citizen does a great job of telling a similar experience to Gordon Freeman’s story in City 17 but as a different person. If you know the original story of Half-Life 2 then you’ll get the feeling that the Combine oppression is nationwide and there are several rebellions that assemble in these cities to regain freedom. That is the story of The Citizen with some interesting twists.

    You will begin as any normal person who was caught right in the middle of the Combine invasion. You have been imprisoned with probably a few hundred other people in apartment-like concentration camps. You are free to roam in restricted areas but outside of those perimeters is instant death. Thankfully there are those who never give up hope. You get help from a few people to sneak by and escape the camp to join the rebellion. As you meet these honorable few who risk their lives, you’ll find that they are just regular people like you that have been swept up in this dramatic tragedy. Once they lived a regular life going to work, paying their bills, watching Monday night football, and now they are part of a secret army with the sole purpose of fighting for the right to live free.

    You will spend most of the game alone progressing from one area of the city to another and eventually meeting up with parts of the rebellion along the way. The Citizen is quite action packed due to the amounts of Combine resistance. It will be a great benefit for you to find a certain utility that Gordon Freeman wore as he battled enemy territory. As your journey begins, you will have to use some stealth tactics, solve puzzles, and spring traps. The puzzles are very reasonable and realistic. They break up the progression like movies where its never easy to go from “A” to “B”, instead you have to use logic and your surroundings. Tips will appear on the screen to keep you from becoming confused in case you were not paying attention and admiring the amazing graphics. You will also get to take a ride on the speedboat to cover more ground.
    There will still be resistance from the Combine and you can either choose to drive by or stop and take them out. There are so many aspect of The Citizen to describe but the most exciting way to experience it is by playing.

    The levels are extremely realistic and detail where you can see the mapper spent time placing the lighting and random debris. When you first wake up in the concentration camp it is very cinematic because of the interesting contrasts in your room due to the rugged textures and the glow of the lamp on the floor and ceiling. Most of the levels have interesting lighting in this way to keep City 17 from looking plain. In The Citizen you will roam through many different environments like city streets, sewers, abandoned theaters, flooded streets, underground freeways, subway stations, a church and a lot of city ruins. The variety of environments is outstanding and really meets the expectations from playing the original Half Life 2. As I replayed The Citizen, I am amazed at the convincing detail of each area in the city. It would be a shame for anyone to just run through the levels fighting off waves of Combine without admiring the city.

    Sound plays a large role in games even though we don’t pay a lot of attention to what we are hearing. But when you play a game that has poor sound or the sound effects don’t enhance the experience, then you won’t be able ignore them. The Citizen does a great job at putting the sounds right where they need to be. For example, each character has their own voice, either from the original game or custom recorded voices to enhance their personalities. I admit, these are not “voice actors” but the pass well enough to progress the story. Amazingly each character has appropriate animation to match the custom voice. I can’t imagine the hours of trial & error to get each person to actually look like they are speaking. On top of that, there are many characters with custom voices to talk to. There aren’t any particular new sound effects that I noticed but triggering the background music was used very well when you reached a battle scene.

    Another interesting aspect to The Citizen is you get to wear a Combine suit to become undetectable to the enemy so you can slip by enemy forces. This is a very cool addition to the mod because it’s something I haven’t seen before. How many times have you wanted to pull an Indiana Jones and spy on the enemy as one of them? Now you will finally get to see through the eyes of the Combine. Don’t let it get to your head though; you are still part of a rebellion.

    Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half Life 1, 2 and 3
    – Some areas are hard to maneuver through.
    – Some bugs.

    Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half Life 1, 2 and 3
    – Many detailed city environments.
    – Varied action (stealth, teamwork, undercover).
    – Interesting and suspenseful story.

    Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half Life 1, 2 and 3
    After finishing the entire mod I felt like I’ve played through a new episode of Half-Life 2. I really enjoyed the fighting and exploring through so many creative areas of the city. This was a huge successful project that ranks in my top five mods. The ending was kind of a let down because I expected to keep playing after escaping City 17. I’ve read that the creators are working on a Citizen 2 and I hope it continues the story.

    Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half Life 1, 2 and 3

    Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half Life 1, 2 and 3

    Reply
  239. Chris Fox

    Well that review made me smile a lot 😀 Thanks!

    Sorry about the delay for the update.

    It IS coming. I promise.

    Reply
  240. Mel

    I am having the same problem has comment 24, that is, being killed by my own people when returning to the room thinking that I was releasing them.

    Is there a solution? how do I play-on?

    Reply
  241. cubedude89

    restart from the autosave or restart the map.

    Reply
  242. Mel
    Maybe? - revised

    Thanks cubedude that worked.

    Mixed feeling about this one, Lots of good work plenty of action, different texture and interior settings first class NPC and voice acting. However, it did not keep me interested throughout being a bit dark in places and too much follow the squad content for me.

    Reply
  243. Chris Fox

    If I don’t hear from Kasperg this week then I will release the update as I currently have it.

    It will include all the bugfixes for the main levels, but unfortunately not the new secret section.

    Reply
  244. Kasperg

    @Chris, my DSL router broke down and I’m still waiting for a new one to arrive :'(
    I have made some more upgrades in most of the maps, so I’ll try to send you those vmf’s as soon as possible.

    Reply
  245. Chris Fox

    OK dude, good to hear you’re still with us! 😀

    I’ll await your communication…..

    Reply
  246. Chris Fox

    My internet has gone down as well! (I’m posting this from work)

    So I won’t be around in the evenings like usual, until it gets fixed.

    Reply
  247. Kasperg

    @Chris: In any case, I’m going to send you the files to your yahoo address (the one in the readme)
    @Everyone else: Besides our internet problems, part of the delay in the update is due to the amount of progress I’ve been doing for the sequel.

    Reply
  248. Chris Fox

    @Kasperg: There’s an issue with map 2 in the new version that needs addressing before release. I sent a video of the problem to the address that you sent me the materials etc from.

    @Everyone else: There’s only one little thing we need to iron out before the update is released! 😀

    Reply
  249. andyb

    Good to hear.Hopefully I’ll have a working vid card by then lol

    Reply
  250. Chris Fox

    Well I thought everything was back on track, but Kasperg doesn’t seem to be back online yet, and I need him to take a look at this problem we’ve got with the update.

    Sorry for the continued delay, all.

    Reply
  251. Kasperg

    @Chris, I swear I wrote you a lengthy reply to that last email about that problem in the second map…
    Any chance it could have slipped into your bulk mail folder?
    We still can’t use msn @uni, but I didn’t know yahoo mail had these type of issues… 🙁

    Reply
  252. Chris Fox

    Just saw the reply. Yeah it did go to my Bulk folder. Stupid mail client!

    I’ll reply soon.

    Reply
  253. Chris Fox

    Update:

    The new version will definately be out THIS WEEK!

    I promise!

    Reply
  254. MikeS

    Update:

    The new version will definately be out THIS WEEK!

    I promise!

    Great! I stopped playing the last version in readiness for the updated “Citizen’.

    Reply
  255. Chris Fox

    Version 1.1 Details

    Ok I’ve sent the new version to Phillip, so new download links should appear pretty soon.

    Changes in the new version:-

    * Overlay problems for people running in DirectX7 mode are fixed.
    * Fixed the squad turning on you in certain circumstances.
    * Fixed being able to get into jail without offending.
    * Fixed the churchbell spawning too many NPCs.
    * Improved skyboxes in some maps.
    * Some minor general gameplay changes.
    * Some minor acting scene and cue changes.
    * Some lighting additions and changes.
    * Some decal additions and changes.
    * Additional detail work in some areas.
    * Additional dramatic music at the ending.
    * A small scene has been added to the secret ending, along with Andy B’s Explorer Award plaque.
    * Added texts to indicate when an easter egg is found.
    * Repositioned all existing in-game text.

    I’ve most likely forgotten some too. 😀

    We hope you enjoy the new version of The Citizen!

    Oh, and by the way, here’s a teeny little bit of a teaser for you:-

    http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5131/citizen2uu2.jpg

    😀

    Reply
  256. MikeS

    We just need Phillip to put down his gamer-eyez for long enough to upload it now!

    Reply
  257. PlanetPhillip

    Okay, I’ve added a working link to version 1.1 and posted this back on the frontpage.

    Reply
  258. Kasperg

    @Phillip, the screenshots currently under “Version 1.1 Screenshots” are only teaser screenshots for Part 2. Some people might think Part2 is out when they read that in the front page.

    Reply
  259. PlanetPhillip

    @Phillip, the screenshots currently under “Version 1.1 Screenshots” are only teaser screenshots for Part 2. Some people might think Part2 is out when they read that in the front page.

    Fixed, my mistake. I just emailed Chris and asked him about it but you commented first. Sorry about that.

    Reply
  260. CrowbarSka

    I’ll give this another go. Hopefully I can get past the auditorium this time without getting shot by my buddies! 😉

    Reply
  261. MMAN

    Cool, I’ve been waiting for the patch to play this after I heard it was coming and some of the bugs people had.

    Are you supposed to not be able to sprint even after getting the HEV? I’ve tried reconfiguring the controls in case the key was broken or something and it still doesn’t let me.

    Reply
  262. CrowbarSka

    MMAN – I get that same problem. It makes it very difficult to avoid snipers and striders.

    Reply
  263. Berrie

    Gonna try the update and all the easter eggs.
    On the new screens some of that stuff looks really clean and not worn down enough. For example the casino seem like it’s been used yesterday.

    Reply
  264. JohnXmas

    Damn! I’m trying to dl this rar for the 5th time today… It always stalls around 80 megs or so. This time I used some dloader: that thing shows more than 2000 resumes after 2 hours and only 82 megs are in. Wtf? Am I the only one with this problem? It’s not a usual FileFront feature here… Any mirror maybe?

    Reply
  265. Zeek
    Maybe?

    I originally got stuck with my squad mates turning on me so I tried this new version and have completed it, it’s good work but I have to say it’s not in my top ten, story is good but the gameplay is a bit too obvious and easy in comparison to some of the other mods out there – as someone else has said maybe it’s one of those mods that doesn’t suit everybody’s game style and I don’t think it’s as good as Minerva so it has to be

    Reply
  266. Kasperg

    maybe it’s one of those mods that doesn’t suit everybody’s game style

    Yes. As a matter of fact, I don’t know of any mod that suit’s everybody’s game style (or full fps games for that matter).
    We did include different types of gameplay styles so everyone could find something to like. Npc interaction, stealth sections, exploration, fast paced combat etc. Between those, Chris and I directed our efforts to the types we liked most. That’s one of the liberties of developing a project for enjoyment instead of making a product that will have to sell according to the target players. 🙂

    Reply
  267. MMAN
    Play It Now!

    First, the mod sticks out for trying to have some sort of story (and progression based on it), the ending felt pretty abrupt, but as there’s apparently going to be a sequel things will hopefully get resolved there. The architecture and lighting is great and there are several unique and interesting puzzles and set-pieces. On the other hand, the great design made some of the gameplay feel a little schizophrenic in comparison, with the occasional badly judged combat sequence or scripted event (the main one that sticks out is where you have to run past a bunch of manhacks, but no clue is given to this, so I ended up killing about fifty thanks to a helpfully provided infinite ammo crate, before realising I had to run past). It also has maybe a little too many comedic moments and eastereggs (literal and otherwise 😉 ), to the point where it harms immersion a little, although I really liked some of the moments that were part of the plot/dialogue, like the bombed wall. The voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag, although most of the worst voices had small roles, so I didn’t find them too obnoxious. As a side note-and I can’t really single out this mod too much-I haven’t seen a single HL2 pack with custom dialogue have subtitle support, and this is no exception, are subtitles really that hard to add?

    The good far outweighs the bad, as even be inclined to say I found it second only to Minerva as an overall experience.

    Now to find all those easter eggs 🙂 .

    Reply
  268. MMAN

    Damn, I WALL OF TEXT’d my review.

    As another note, there’s that “no running with the HEV” issue, that I’m still unsure on whether is a bug or is intentional. The first area also has enemies who don’t drop their weapons when dead, which felt cheap.

    Reply
  269. Mark

    It looks like a good mod, but the first map or so was almost unplayable due to stuttering and lag. I can play Source 2007 games at max settings, this is ridiculous. Currently I’m stuck trying to figure out how to open the gate near the basketball court. I killed the sniper and went through the building. The girl is just standing there, I thought maybe she’d open the gate after her boyfriend got sniped on the way to do it. She was saying something, but I couldn’t find her in time to hear it all before she walked out from wherever she was hiding. Any help?

    Reply
  270. Kasperg

    @Mark: The whole conversation between the girl and the sniped victim revolved around finding a certain wheel to open the door. I *think* it’s mentioned about four times in those conversations.

    About the sprinting ability, I can’t give an answer right now. I think it works in my installation of The Citizen, although I admit the first time I used the sprinting ability in the HL2 saga was in that energy bridge in Ep1 with the weird vortex. The control config is the default one created by the SDK. We’ll investigate in any case.

    Reply
  271. IDM

    I dont know if anybody is having this problem, but the game crashs after about five minutes of play. I keep saving before it crashs so I’ve managed to get quite far, but it is getting a little frustrating. I played this when it first came out and did not have this problem. Any ideas?

    Reply
  272. Chris Fox

    What kind of crash? Straight to desktop?

    Any error message?

    Reply
  273. IDM

    It crashs to black screen, then flickers a little, then back to the Steam account page.
    At the bottom I get a tab that says “engine error” when I hit the tab it tells me; Failed to lock index buffer in CmeshDX8::LockIndexBuffer

    Reply
  274. Oopla

    In The Citizen V1.0 I had to rebind the sprint key for it to work.

    Too bad about the church “bug” being fixed. I sort of thought of it as a feature.

    Cool to see The Citizen 2 is in the pipes, will it require the half life episodes?

    Reply
  275. Oopla

    Just out of curiosity IDM, does this happen in any other Source games?

    Reply
  276. IDM

    Yes when it started on the Citizen it also started happening on other mods as well, trying to figure this one out before reload ing The Citizen.

    Reply
  277. CrowbarSka
    Play It Later - revised

    I finally finished The Citizen today (and I was so close to the end before as well!). I think my original criticisms still stand, but now that I’ve finished it I do respect it as a well-rounded, nicely paced, complete story.My three pieces of advice for a sequel would be:

    1. Play test and debug… a lot! There were a lot of minor glitches which, while not preventing me from continuing, did detract from the overall experience. Spend more time testing and polishing. I saw in the credits that you only had about 4 testers… I think you should have more.

    2. Work on your visuals. The maps were nicely laid out (except the airboat sequence which was one of my main gripes from before) but could have done with a little work on things like texturing and lighting. Overall it was quite good though.

    3. Please please please reconsider your voice actors. They were really bad! I don’t mean to offend those people but they were very obviously reading from a script, and not a particularly good one either. Work on making your dialogue more realistic and using fewer clich lines. Some of the characters (particularly Larry) sounded so half-assed when saying things that would have clearly made him very angry or emotive, such as the scene in the room above the speech area. I also think it would be good to add some dialogue between characters as there was very little, it was mainly just characters talking to the player.

    Hopefully my comments come across as helpful and not too harsh, but I think if you improve these elements your future work will be much better!

    Reply
  278. Kasperg

    @CrowbarSka
    1)We’ll be more careful with play-testing next time. Although we have learned the lesson that some bugs can even be avoided before with better planning.
    2)It’d be great if you could be more precise in that point. I’m quite happy with the way lighting and texturing were improved for this version. It could be tweaked to infinity, but we (or at least me) have a limit as to how much work a map deserves.
    3)I agree the voices are not commercial quaility, but those were the resources we had at the time. None of the voice actors did a bad job on purpose. Some of them might seem to be joking while talking, but I just take it as part of the humour in this episode.
    We haven’t still decided how we will approach voice-acting in the sequel.

    Reply
  279. CrowbarSka

    Texturing and lighting is a difficult thing to criticise without using specific examples, of which I can’t remember any off the top of my head. If I had to sum it up I would say try to ‘theme” areas with different colours. A lot of areas had lighting that was too close to white to really make it have much of an effect. You can change the mood of a scene dramatically by using stronger colours.

    The Combine areas towards the end would have been an excellent place to use a lot of cold blue lighting but I didn’t really see much, and the warm reds and browns in the wood panels only served to negate this effect.

    I understand that good voice actors are difficult to come by without paying wages. I didn’t really have a problem with the humour… Well, I’ve already said what I didn’t like about it really.

    Oh, one thing I forgot to mention: I really liked the Breen-cast room, it was a nice way of explaining a little bit of HL2’s behind-the-scenes stuff.

    One question: what became of the squad at the end? I was expecting to go through and open a door for them but then never saw them again. Will this be explained in the sequel or are we just supposed to forget about them? Or was that a couple of them on the train?

    Reply
  280. Kasperg

    The fate of some of the characters will be explained in the sequel. The part where you got separated from them was our way of getting away from some cliches. We asked ourself the question “What if… the player had to scape without being able to know what happened to the rest of the squad?” This could probably happen in real life, in a real war, and we thought it’d be a nice touch and would make people think.
    About the Combine areas, we deliberately decided to use those colours to free ourselves from the overused Citadel themes. We honestly don’t think the Combine would need to change the materials of a building they have captured to suit their theme. Some Combine spotlights were (in our opinion) enough. It’s also worth noting that I had recently played Minverva and replayed Ep1 when I came up with the theme for the building, and specifically didn’t want to go for the well-known blueish Combine theme.
    I think this and some other choices we made, are considered wrong by a “standard HL2 design” point of view, but are valid from a real logic perspective.

    Reply
  281. CrowbarSka

    Very valid points about the Combine influence. I know a lot of people weren’t hugely keen on the Citadel areas. Even so, many other areas could still have benefited from more mood lighting in my opinion.

    I look forward to the sequel nonetheless, and congratulate you on finishing this large project!

    Reply
  282. Zeek

    Kasberg,
    Sorry if my comment came over a bit hard, I realy do appreciate you guys (and gals) out there that take the time and effort to produce these mods – I can’t do it – I just play them and give my honest opinion – and I will play citizen 2 and any other mod you and Chris make.

    Reply
  283. Kasperg

    Zeek, there’s nothing wrong with your opinion, don’t worry about that. What you said is true, and we have proof all over this page that some people liked it more, some less. It happens with every game/mod I know, and it’s probably the reason why I don’t have a favorite game. They all have some stages, levels or chapters I always want to avoid while replaying. Even HL1 and HL2!
    I would still like to hear about what parts were disappointing (airboat ride was been noted, don’t bother mentioning it 😀 ) and which ones were liked best. We will analyze the factors that go into each other and work from there.

    Reply
  284. Oopla

    I think that the best way to handle the bugs would be to offer a PlanetPhillip closed beta, so we could test it for you before it goes public.

    Not that I have any ulterior motives or anything 😉

    Reply
  285. grumbleCake

    Arrrrrggh! I am angry like pirate! Will we ever get an answer about Sprint being disabled? Is it intentional or not? Why can I sprint in every other HL2 mod I have played?

    Reply
  286. CrowbarSka

    Yes, I’m very curious about the lack of sprinting as well.

    Reply
  287. Kasperg

    I’ve just played the second map again (the one where you get the hev suit) and had no problem whatsoever with sprinting once I had the suit. I used the “End” key for sprinting in the configuration menu.
    Am I the only one who is able to sprint?
    We never touched any configuration options regarding this feature, I can promise that…

    Reply
  288. megaman951

    I think I got a bug – in “sneaky business, part2” my screen turns black when I put the Combine Elite suit on. I can still move and switch weapons, I just can’t see anything

    Reply
  289. Kasperg

    Megaman951, add “-dxlevel 70” to the game shortcut parameters in Steam.
    It seems the code in the VMT doesn’t work as the SDK documents said it would, and running in DirectX 8 (as I assume you are) doesn’t choose the lower setting for the material. A shame, really. It’s only an extra line of material code, but I don’t think we’re going to re-update it just for that.
    This is one of this moments were one wished the mod was intented for a precise videogame console and not the ambiguity of PCs.

    Reply
  290. Chris Fox

    I thought the sprint was disabled on purpose. There’s a global entity which turns it off in every map.

    You can sprint, Kasperg? :-O

    Personally, I dislike sprint. When I play through HL2 etc. I never use it unless a specific area demands it to progress. Gordon might be able to run that fast; but I didn’t think a normal citizen should be able to, even with the suit.

    In my opinion being able to sprint would ruin areas of Citizen far more than not being able to sprint does. You could utterly destroy some of the set-pieces in Citizen with the sprint ability – and the work required to allow sprinting and still prevent scenes from potentially collapsing is just not worth it – especially when I don’t even like sprinting in the first place.

    Besides, if not being able to sprint bothers you THAT much, then I don’t think Citizen is the mod for you anyway…..

    Reply
  291. Kasperg

    Well, I’m not exactly sure how, but I’ve been able to sprint. I’m not sure if it’s related to having cheats enabled or running in developer mode.
    As I said before, I played through HL2 without paying attention to sprinting and don’t think it’s a must either. But I understand some players like it, and combat (specially shotgun based) is very different. The library level in The Citizen is very different with and without the ability to sprint, and so is the confrontation with the strider…

    Reply
  292. megaman951

    yeah I’m running on DX8; adding that DX7 parameter fixed the problem. But now I’m stuck, right after killing the traitor my crew goes into a room with a TV camera in it. What the heck am I suppose to do ? I’ve searched like everywhere

    Reply
  293. Kasperg

    If your crew has reached the room and the conversation has taken place, part of the squad should leave the room, and you should follow them into a new area. I don’t know what problem your having exactly, but those are the events that should take place in normal circumstances.

    Reply
  294. MarkSA
    Play It Now!

    I thought this mod was worth playing.

    Lot’s to recommend about the mod.

    The voice acting wasn’t that bad, I’ve heard worse.

    Reply
  295. megaman951

    my crew just goes into the room and nothing happens, none of tem are talking, they just stand there. oh and the leader guy stays in the theater area, he doesn’t follow. I don’t know if that’s suppose to happen or not

    Reply
  296. Kasperg

    He should follow you. Go near him and he should head to the room. If he doesn’t (I hope that’s not the case, I’d be surprised), just load a previously saved game. I’ve never run into much problems with that sequence.

    Reply
  297. Fred Carver

    I’ve just started “The Citizen” and it looks great. I like the voice acting so far.

    Question – I went to the garage, went underground, and I’m in the room with five switches. Tried a few combinations, but nada. Any hints?

    Reply
  298. Kasperg

    Both doors have something in common (besides their shape)and at the same time that “something” is different in each. Look closely!

    Reply
  299. Fred Carver

    Thanks – I went back a little later and figured it out. I thought at first that the loose pavers on the floor might make a pattern that would translate into a code. Then I thought I’d have to backtrack and search for a code and didn’t feel like taking time to do it then.

    I’ve seen only one minor bug. I picked up a pallet and threw it out of the way onto a pile of dirt and garbage. It sank out of sight, but I was able to pick it up again and move it to another corner.

    I miss the sprint key, but I’m surviving without it. It seems just right on normal difficulty.

    I’m at the point where we got a little rest. I must say this is a fantastic mod. I’m enjoying the adventure and it brings a smile to my face to see all the nice features you put in.

    Bravo to everyone on the team.

    Reply
  300. Chris Fox

    Thanks Frank. 🙂 I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

    About the physics objects disappearing through some surfaces – this was a bug introduced (vey kindly) into HL2 by Valve themselves – one day after an SDK update it started happening for everyone.

    There is (was) a workaround which involved adding a parameter to the compile options for each map. For some time, this fixed the problem, even though I’m convinced it made compiles take a little longer.

    But now it seems that it might not be the case anymore. All the Citizen maps use the workaround (and it worked fine for version 1.0) but I’ve noticed myself that it didn’t seem to work this time around.

    That’s really irritating, and along with the still-broken-Hammer-model-viewer ranks in my top two most annoying things about mapping for Source right now.

    Reply
  301. SupaComix
    Play It Later

    Right its been a while since I did some reviews for things but here is my review of the Half Life 2 modification: The Citizen.Set during Half Life 2 the story takes place where you are attacked by the combine and then decide to go join the rebel forces. (seems fair) and thus your adventures take you through City 17.

    Now I am blown away by the originality of this mod. There are loads of mods taking place during the Half Life 2 timeline and what not but this one gets top points for how it does something different. Instead of leading fights against the combine to take control of a key military facility you fight to take control of a theatre/studio thing.

    The maps where extremely well made, and the levels were well thought out. New textures were added and some cool features were introduced. When you pick up the combine uniform and wear it you actually see through the goggle eyes of the metro cops and even the red eye of the super combines (the ones in white with a red Cyclops eye). Brilliant, never seen that done before!!!

    Most of the voices were original to, though I think that some of the accents were a bit off, that or your voice actors are pretty bad. Either way they helped bring a new level to the story telling.

    There was even new graffiti, I even spotted a Planet Phillip icon once or twice within the mod which I thought was a handy little advertisement. Even father Grigori appeared in the story preaching (though not clearly in the way of where he was heading) to a bunch of civilians which was very amusing. The animations of the characters were spot on as well, even the G-man played a part within the story.

    However, some bits of the mod let it down slightly. Firstly the story line was too co-incidental, a lot of the story happened just by pure luck and large co-incidence. Which sometimes is fine but unlike other key game stories its not really worked for. The end of the story wasn’t really clear either, though it was interesting.

    And either the combat was short or I’m an exceptional player but a lot of the fight scenes lasted for a few short seconds and a lot of the time you were spending running around shooting at nothing. Though I did like how some of the map was played through stealth, sneaking around picking up disguises and such, even though I thought I picked up a disguise and walked right up to the combine and they didn’t even look at me. They just turned around and continued their walking pattern, and I wasn’t even in disguise.

    The one final thing that really lets the map down is that there are way too many loading points. The opening credit sequences is great but as soon as you get attacked by the combine (less than 3 seconds later) its another loading screen. You get out of the building another loading screen. You cross the road another loading screen. I may be exaggerating but that’s something that happens often. And unless you a patient person then I don’t suggest you play this mod just because a lot of it is spent waiting for the maps to load.

    So all in all a great mod, despite the criticism, it’s a good mod. So download it and give it a play.

    Reply
  302. Kasperg

    Thanks for the review!
    And yes, I think you are exaggerating a bit on the amount of loading screens.
    There are some choices to be made about that. Would you prefer bigger levels with huge loading times or medium levels with normal loading times?
    As a gamer you can decide what you feel works best, but as developers we need to split the levels according to a wider criteria, for example the one of compiling. We can’t (for example) combine the church map with the next map and have to wait 1 hour to compile each time we want to test it.
    I know it sounds a bit like an excuse, but it’s what we were thinking. For the sequel, we are planning to make the most out of each map in terms of gameplay. The problem is that people can always find wrong anywhere they look, and we’re bound to get comments such as “Spending too much time in each map and backtracking/other made it boring”.
    I’m just throwing out the question. What do most players prefer? If you take a look at the first HL2 map after Gordon returns to City 17, it’s smaller than most (if not all) maps in The Citizen. You barely walk down a street, see Dog fighting against an APC and you’re back to a loading screen. Compared to the amount of loading times in those C17 levels, I think The Citizen does a similar job.

    Reply
  303. YOHO
    Play It Now!

    Hello Chris and Jose,Thanks for this very enjoyable mod. A true classic. Liked the idea of the combine disguise suit. Will play it again and hopefully find all the egss (and the secret ending). Will look out fot part 2

    Reply
  304. hero twin
    Play It Now!

    I loved how fresh the whole experience felt, like there were places to explore and things to find, this is definitely a one of a kind mod.

    I appreciated the ratio of time spent in combat / out of combat, I much prefer the adventure and exploration but do like to fight sometimes.
    Thank you both for putting so much work into it!

    Reply
  305. George Myers

    Whenever I download this mod it comes with CRC errors for 8-10 files inside. Is there another way to obtain it?

    Reply
  306. Chris Fox

    George, you could try downloading from this page:-

    http://twhl.co.za/vault.php?map=4868

    Although you probably won’t get an amazing transfer speed.

    Reply
  307. PlanetPhillip

    Whenever I download this mod it comes with CRC errors for 8-10 files inside. Is there another way to obtain it?

    George, sorry for not helping sooner. I will upload it to my Filecloud server tonight and post the link first thing in the morning. I just downloaded it and didn’t receive any errors.

    Have you tried downloading it a second time?

    The MD5 for this file is:
    227ad750f6cc6a7fc9232fbc9a7a63a5

    (Let me know if you don’t know that that is or how to measure it)

    Reply
  308. Pace

    Great Mod guys! I think the Phillip’s “better than Minerva” is going a bit far, but then I am rather a Minerva fanboy. I had a lot of fun with The Citizen, it’s nice to see effort put into story telling, and a sense of immersion, rather than just pure combat. I thought for the most part the voice acting was pretty good, though as has been said, sometimes it helps to actually “act’, rather than just doing the voice, but I don’t want to seem too critical, it certainly wasn’t bad. (I did have a little trouble understanding that Scottish sounding guy though.)

    (one minor bug I had which I don’t think has been mentioned: the ammo for the rocket launcher always read 3, no matter what it actually was. Oh, and please bring back sprint!)

    Reply
  309. Anschluss

    I am not very pleased so far. I have just entered the “slipping by” area and I don’t see how there is any way to avoid getting spotted and killed. Everything is too dark as well.

    Reply
  310. Chris Fox

    I don’t see how there is any way to avoid getting spotted and killed.

    Try finding a way to open the locked door on the upper level. You can *easily* do this without alerting the guard (don’t go near him). It involves going down the spiral staircase and pressing some switches in the right order. In fact, it’s very easy. The guard will NOT see you unless you get much closer to him than you need to.

    There are other ways to get out of there, this is only one of them.

    Everything is too dark as well.

    Turn your brightness up in the settings. I noticed when putting the mod together than it always resets to a pretty dark setting when it gets installed on a new computer. Not sure exactly why this happens.

    Reply
  311. Kasperg

    Are you playing version 1.1 ?
    The original room (sixth screenshot earlier in this page) was a bit dark (not in my screen though) but the updated room has a very powerful light that should let you see anything, even if your brightness is low.

    Reply
  312. George Myers

    The MD5 for this file is:
    227ad750f6cc6a7fc9232fbc9a7a63a5

    (Let me know if you don’t know that that is or how to measure it)[/quote]

    I thank you for the other source and I have just for the heck of it dled it a few times and now from TWHL I use 7-Zip to test the file and it finds the errors. It’s the latest from them. Maybe I’ll try another unzip.

    Reply
  313. George Myers

    I forgot to say it plays however and it’s really an interesting mod. The easter eggs are interesting.

    Reply
  314. Fred Carver
    Play It Now!

    I finished The Citizen a couple days ago, and it was enjoyable all the way. Now that I’ve gone through it once, I want to go back, try some new approaches and see if I missed anything.It’s really great to hear that you are working on part 2. I’ll definitely be watching for it!

    Reply
  315. Anschluss

    Okay, now after outrunning the CPs (can’t sneek past them), groping my way through the darkness of the garage to the hole in the ground, I am now stuck in an also ridiculously dark room with five red buttons.
    What do I do?

    Reply
  316. Chris Fox

    What do I do?

    Well, I’d recommend you go play something else. I have a feeling this mod is not really for you.

    Reply
  317. Anschluss

    I have a feeling this mod really sucks and most of the people impressed by it also seriously think Independence Day was a good movie.

    Reply
  318. Kasperg

    @Anschluss: The way Chris responded to you was caused by the way you automatically associated your bad monitor configuration with the darkness of the mod. A lot of people have played even the previous darker version but they haven’t complained about any “ridiculously dark” room in particular, which makes me think your brightness settings could be more at fault.
    The fact that you see a dark room and the puzzle doesn’t seem obvious doesn’t mean there aren’t 14 more maps in the mod enough to impress some people, or at least offer them an enjoyable playing experience.

    Highlight below to see how to solve the puzzle:
    Switch combinations are represented by the number right next to each door.
    And by the way, Independence Day IS a good movie if you judge it by what it’s trying to be instead of comparing it to The Shawshank Redemption or The Godfather.

    I don’t know if you review maps or mods often, but you could do as I do: If I have nothing positive or constructive criticism to say about a map/mod, I avoid commenting on it. The world doesn’t care if you wasted your time on something you didn’t like. Either you congratulate map makers for the effort of giving you a product of their hard work for free, or you contribute in a polite way to help them with their possible mistakes and ensure that their next releases will be better.

    Reply
  319. Tony
    Play It Now!

    I think Steam set the brightness settings for LCD’s I always have to turn it most of the way up for my Plasma .
    Great mod

    Reply
  320. Chris Fox

    Thanks Tony. I’m glad you had fun. 😀

    Question for everyone:

    Has anyone played through Citizen in widescreen mode? If so, did you have any problems?

    The reasons I ask is, there’s one guy emailing me with a problem that I’ve never seen before. I think that it might be related to playing in widescreen mode, but I’m not sure, and I have no way of testing it myself.

    Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

    Reply
  321. Mel
    Play It Later - revised

    I have been reading all the posts with interest and now well through the game for the 3rd time I am thinking of adding a review.

    In the mean time a few comments come to mind.
    For me The Citizen is a good mod, but that it, a good mod. There are many aspects that excel most of which have been well documented. Also the above posts contain a sprinkling of negative aspects, most of which appear to be down to personal dislikes as opposed to faults with the mod.

    However, this mod does not rank in my top ten HL2 list. It’s hard to nail down why but for me it lacks buzz, I never experience those moments of ‘shit’, “what the hell’, ‘that was great’, ‘must play through that sequence again” – I guess you get the picture.

    There is so much great work gone into this mod with plenty of quality mapping and design, but for me the end total is good but not great.

    Reply
  322. andyb
    Play It Now!

    Anyone got all the eggs yet?I’ve done it 3 times but still get the normal ending.

    Reply
  323. Chris Fox

    Not sure what’s going on there, Andy. 🙁

    It worked in testing…

    Reply
  324. Anschluss
    Think Twice

    “The world doesn’t care if you wasted your time on something you didn’t like.”
    You sure seem to care.
    I’ll admit, my computer is a tad dark, but I managed to play through the Ravenholm mod almost problem free-and that was, as you’d expect, a rather dark game.
    “If I have nothing positive or constructive criticism to say about a map/mod, I avoid commenting on it.”
    If something has a problem, I call it out.
    But thanks for your help.

    Reply
  325. Chris Fox

    Anschluss! Turn your brightness all the way up in the game settings!

    You might have done this already, but I don’t know. You haven’t said what you have it set to. You’ve just said “It’s too dark!” several times.

    Also, you seemed to disregard my advice about the first map. It is very easy to avoid that metrocop at the start of “Slipping By”. To activate his AI, you have to get pretty close to him, and on the same level as him too. He can’t see above him. In fact – he can’t see at all. He’s completely inactive until you step into a trigger surrounding his feet which extends for only a short distance (or if you damage him, that switches him on too).

    Here’s one of the peaceful solutions for you:

    1. Enter Room, walk down the first staircase and then across the metal walkway to the spiral staircase.
    2. Go down the spiral staircase, stand in front of the two switches at the bottom.
    3. Press the left hand switch, and then the right hand switch.
    4. Go directly back up the spiral staircase.
    5. Exit through the door near the top of the spiral staircase. You are now outside, and there will be no more cops between you and the garage (where, if you hang around for more than two seconds, you’ll meet a character who turns the lights on and introduces himself)

    That’s the easiest way to do it.

    @AndyB – if you’re still struggling to get the new secret ending to see your award plaque, I can mail you a special saved game 😉

    Reply
  326. Fred Carver

    Hi, Chris –

    Just saw your post about widescreen. I played through it in widescreen at the native resolution of 1680×1050. I had no problems whatsoever. Thanks again for this great mod!

    Reply
  327. Chris Fox

    Thanks Fred 😀

    An additional question for you:

    Was it the old version you played, or the updated one?

    Reply
  328. Tony

    Question for everyone:

    Has anyone played through Citizen in widescreen mode? If so, did you have any problems?

    The reasons I ask is, there’s one guy emailing me with a problem that I’ve never seen before. I think that it might be related to playing in widescreen mode, but I’m not sure, and I have no way of testing it myself.

    .

    I use my Panasonic 50PZ70 as my main monitor so everything I play/use is at widescreen settings ,I’ve not had problems with anything.

    Reply
  329. Tony

    It appears I spoke too soon,I just tried to play the mod & it came back with a cannot find “thecitizen_BG_widescreen.vtf” background image error .I had to copy the vtf file & rename it with “widescreen” added to get the mod to launch .

    Reply
  330. andyb

    thanx Chris. Planetphilliphelp at gmail . com

    Reply
  331. Chris Fox

    If anyone gets the widescreen problem you can solve it the way Tony did, except there are two files you need to copy to fix the problem completely.

    In the folder shown in the error message,
    make copies of these files:

    thecitizen_bg1.vtf
    thecitizen_bg2.vtf

    Then rename the copies to:

    thecitizen_bg1_widescreen.vtf
    thecitizen_bg2_widescreen.vtf

    This will fix the problem for both of the loading screens.

    Sorry, widescreeners! Not sure what’s happened here!

    Reply
  332. Kasperg

    My mistake. I thought we actually only needed a particular VMT file for the widescreen backgrounds. It seems the tutorial I used was wrong, since the engine seems to look for those VTF files no matter what you’ve written in the VMT files.
    What’s the point of having a VMT text file for a material if the engine is going to ignore it?
    At least it’s something we know for the future.

    Reply
  333. Anschluss

    My brightness settins are as high as they’ll go (1.6). I remember going into the room with the CP-I would crawl along the upper level to the spiral staircase and I would still get spotted (and shot and manhacked) while I was still on the upper level. The only way to go was to run as fast as I could to the levers and back to the door. Bug?

    Reply
  334. Kasperg

    I would crawl along the upper level to the spiral staircase and I would still get spotted (and shot and manhacked) while I was still on the upper level.

    I’ve just spent five minutes in the upper level running, jumping etc, and the CP didn’t attack me. I opened the map in Hammer and rechecked the triggers. It might be a bug, because that’s certainly not the way we wanted players to experience that room.
    I still encourage you to continue, as the story improves and gameplay becomes more tradional in the later levels, while still adding interesting things to the recipe.

    Reply
  335. Chris Fox

    He pressed the do-not-press button.

    Reply
  336. andyb

    As Chris said you did not follow the normal route you decided to skip it and try your luck.While you still can get through it I’d suggest restarting over and listening to every person in the first part.

    Reply
  337. Fred Carver

    Paging Chris Fox – re comment 327 above. I just saw your question and checked. It was v1.1.rar that I installed. Thanks again! PS I don’t know if Jose looks in on these posts, but thanks to him for this comment in the interview your team did for PP… Quote –

    Jose:

    As I mentioned earlier, I have played but a few of the great number of HL2 single player mods and episodes out there. I think all of them have very polished gameplay but I wouldn’t know exactly which one to place above the rest. I have good memories of certain areas from each of them in terms of gameplay. I could mention Riot Act as being one of the most solid ones, yet it doesn’t offer the new areas and themes of Awakening etc. Perhaps Rock24 had the best balance of story/combat/puzzles/level design. – END QUOTE

    I had played Rock 24 but I hadn’t tried The Awakening and Riot Act. Just finished both of them and they were great! Thanks for the tip. Can’t wait for Citizen 2!

    Reply
  338. kalkin
    Play It Now!

    The Citizen is purely awesome – I don’t have enough words to describe my satisfaction after playing it. It is so much fun to explore the maps, looking for the easter eggs while noticing all the hilarious details. The combat is mostly on the light side which I find OK in this case. Others have complained about the voice acting but I really like it the way it is. And I really have no problems about the lack of sprint – again given the nature of this mod it is absolutely OK.

    My only complaint is related to the easter eggs – while I agree that is good to have variety in difficulty this is really taken to extremes in my opinion. Number 15 is an absolute no brainer while number 8 I only discovered by mistake – I did uncover it but noticing the handle? Come on… 🙂

    In conclusion this is really a top mod and yes it rates higher than Minerva for me – right there at the top with Offshore! Cannot wait to play The Second Citizen 🙂

    Reply
  339. Kasperg

    I’m glad you liked it kalkin. We are yet undecided as to what will be the approach to secrets in the sequel. The way it works now, they can be safely ignored by any player who wishes it, but in turn they miss some things (besides the secret ending) which we feel everyone should have gotten a chance to see/hear.

    Reply
  340. peterx
    Play It Now!

    This mod was great really liked it!! 😀

    Anyway is there any “official” homepage for this mod?

    Reply
  341. peterx

    And one more question!

    Is there any way to put this mod on moddb? It would be easier to follow its news or sequel status… 🙂

    Reply
  342. Kasperg

    This is the closest thing to a homepage we have. I’m not sure what else we could include if we did have one. We have download links here, screenshots, trailer and a sort of forum.
    I’ll see what we can do about moddb though. It’ll probably make it more known to other people.

    Reply
  343. PlanetPhillip

    It would be easier to follow its news or sequel status…

    Why? I ask this because I want to ensure PP is the best it can be. What is it about ModDB that makes following updates easier?
    You can subscribe to this post and be informed of any updates in the same way Watchers are at ModDB.

    The same goes for sequel status. It will be on the frontpage as soon as the authors are ready to announce it.

    It’ll probably make it more known to other people.

    I can’t argue with that. Although at least every PP reader is a confirmed SP fan.

    Reply
  344. kalkin

    Kasperg or Chris, I also have a question about the battle in the library – not sure if I found a bug or not.

    Upstairs in the library there are two floors with bookshelves – first one has lots of combines hidden amongst the bookshelves, second one has the chargers at the top of the stairs. In my first try I entered the second floor and killed lots of combines but then they eventually got me. After that I decided to try an alternative approach and go to the second floor first. I found the chargers and been happy then I entered the floor and heard the advisor and ran back to the staircase to get myself in a better position. During that I heard lots of noises of combine death – when it was silence I entered the floor again and there was nobody there anymore (except the medic :-)). Then I went downstairs and all combines were now dead – had nobody to fight anymore. My question to you is if the death of all the combines was a bug or a feature? 🙂

    Reply
  345. kalkin

    Sorry made a mistake – wanted to say that in my first try I entered the *first floor*…

    Reply
  346. Kasperg

    If you heard the sound of the angry advisor, it’s probably its telepathic attack that hurt them. If the advisor is shot in that sequence, he retaliates with this attack. Combine minds are more vulnerable to it than humans.

    Reply
  347. Chris Fox

    Yeah, the advisor isn’t picky about who it kills.

    If the combine soldiers shoot it by accident, it will waste them without hesitation.

    The main reason for that, is that the advisor isn’t really an NPC, so it has no AI.

    Reply
  348. paddyL

    I played the earlier version of this mod and had do probs at all. Really enjoyed it.
    This version keeps crashing after the opening sequence, as soon as I leave the first room – keep getting this message:
    failed to lock ventex buffer in CMeshDX8::LockVentexBuffer
    Help if you can please.

    Reply
  349. Kasperg

    This error is usually related to drivers for some specific cards in Source games.
    My advice would be to run the game in Directx7 (adding “-dxlevel 70” to the shortcut properties) and if that doesn’t fix it, replace that map with the one from version 1.0. The file is thecitizen_part1.bsp

    Reply
  350. paddyL

    Thanks Kasperg, I’ll try that.

    Reply
  351. max

    wow what a big let down, at the beginning of the level “sneaking around part 2”, I pick up the combine Elite suit, and my whole screen just go black, I can still walk and see my health, but I cant see where im going cause its pure black. I have a very good system, n im running dx9, how do I fix this problem?

    Reply
  352. Kasperg

    @max, you’re probably running Directx 8.0 without knowing it, since the overlays work for DX7 and DX9.
    The fixes are two: Either you add the “-dxlevel 70” parameter and play that part of the map in DirectX 7, or type “ent_fire elitemask stopoverlays” in the console with the currents settings you have to remove the mask.
    I’m assumming you’re on DirectX 8 because the screen turned white in DX7, and black in DX8.

    Reply
  353. Max

    uh no, actually I just checked with the dxdiag command, and im running directx 9, so thats not the problem. so why am I still seeing pure black?

    Reply
  354. Kasperg

    No idea. If you don’t wont to use any of the two fixes I suggested, you can go into your SourceMods\The Citizen\materials\citizen\ folder and rename the file “eliteoverlay2.vmt” to “eliteoverlay.vmt”
    It’s probably the best option.

    Reply
  355. Chris Fox

    dxdiag only tells you what version of DX you have installed, not what particular applications are actually using.

    So yeah, you have DX9 installed, but HL2 could still very easily be running in DX7 or 8. Check your launch options.

    Reply
  356. Max

    ok its telling me in options that hardware directx level is 8.1, while the software directx level is 9.0. but how do I change it from 8.1 to 9?

    Reply
  357. Kasperg

    Buy a new gfx card. If your hardware level is DX 8.1, you can’t have more than that without (as the name indicates) chaning your hardware.
    But if you do the thing I said in my previous post, you won’t have any problems with that part.

    Reply
  358. Max

    ok thx got it

    Reply
  359. geekofalltrades
    Play It Later

    A good, solid mod, well worth your time. To start on the positive side, this mod has a real feeling of isolation going for it; in spite of the “rebel with the resistance” plot point, you feel the whole time like you’re compleletely on your own, much like you do in the “Route Kanal” chapter of Half-Life 2. This feel might not suit some, but I personally found it very satisfying. The easter eggs give you a real incentive to play through again. I managed to find about half of them, and given the chuckle-inducing radio program played at one of them, I really do want to go through again and find them all.

    Level design can be hit and miss, but for the most part, I liked it. The library section was especially fun to do battle in, although it was a bit cramped. The same can be said of the opening airboat section, as has been mentioned above. The airboat wasn’t necessary to complete the level (I got frustrated and ditched it about halfway through), but it was also slightly too long and dull to do completely on foot (the fact that I had inexplicably lost the ability to sprint didn’t help this at all). A few wonky plot points also tarnished my experience slightly. I really liked being bounced around the various rebel outposts at the beginning of the game, but the opening “borrowed TV” gimmick wasn’t terribly amusing or relavent to the plot.

    Be warned that the following paragraph *might* contain spoilers. The ending of the game nearly ruined it for me (though in retrospect it’s still well worth playing). A tip to the developers: when a boss enemy is introduced, especially one that directly antagonizes the player (which yours did twice), the player expects to eventually face off against it and give it a good, satisfying thrashing, not for another protagonist to step in and rescue them. The actions of this particular “protagonist” were also extremely out of character. (Hopefully that’s vague enough so as to not spoil much). With a more satisfying conclusion, I wouldn’t have hesitated to give this mod five stars.

    Reply
  360. Kasperg

    The conclusion will come after the next few chapters. The ending doesn’t seem like one for some people because the current release has only two chapters: “The Citizen” and “The Soldier”. It’s like playing only the first chapter of Minerva when it came out. Not entirely fulfilling.
    We are also balancing the possibility of adding a prequel chapter. This could be an unlockable bonus map or be ready to play from the start. Any preference regarding this?
    The third chapter will be available for everyone in the next release even if the player hasn’t played The Citizen before. We realize some people might want the sequel to be a separate download, but we’re reusing some material from The Citizen and would like to add the next chapters to the existing ones to make a bigger and more satisfying experience.

    Reply
  361. Mel
    Play It Later

    What ever you say about this mod, i.e. whether you find the early level repetitive and limiting in gameplay, or whether you consider the later combat levels too intension and prolonged, there is no escaping the fact that this is a mod of substance. Personally I found some of the early levels a bit boring but enjoyed the more intense levels which required a learning curve to survive and beat your way through. In conclusion, I feel that whilst this is a major piece of work that very much enriches the custom mod world of HL2 it is however, a bit too long in duration and I think it would make a better mod edited and reduced in length. Anyone having played through could list sections and levels that were a bit repetitive and would not detract much from the playing experience if deleted or edited. As it stands this is still a very good mod with far more positives then negative aspects, and if the team ever followed-up with a sequel I am betting it would be a master piece.

    Reply
  362. Lars

    Looks promising, but… How do you get past the keypad in the sewers near the leeches?
    It says the “keypad looks fragile”, and I tried throwing bricks and things at it, but no dice.
    I see a key under a grate, connected to a dial across the canal; unresponsive.

    Looking forward to a walkthrough…

    So far I’ve enjoyed the humor. If it says don’t push the button… don’t push it!

    Reply
  363. Kasperg

    @Lars: If you’re playing version 1.1, there’s something more obvious with which you can hit the keypad.

    @mel: I actually agree with you in a way. Even though I love Half-life 2, I feel it has quite a few boring levels (the vehicle sections among them) that I could do without and always try to skip while replaying the game. At the same time, I’m sure some players do like them and they might not like my favourite parts of the game. Every player is a whole world and it’s impossible to please everyone fully. If not even the skilled people that are living out of this are able to do that, it would be unlikely that people who map for fun would accomplish such a feat.
    Things aren’t as absolute as you might think, and the games/mods you consider to have a perfect balance of length and gameplay are probably flawed and boring for someone somewhere in our big community 🙂

    Reply
  364. Lars

    Wow, is it just me for whom typing on this page is really slow? Is it because of the number of comments? I’m getting less than 1 character per second showing as I type!! (I’m using Firefox.) Now I’m typing this comment in a text editor so I can just paste it in the browser.

    I figured out the way forward, after I posted. Kasperg, thanks for the hint (which I just saw now).

    — spoiler alert —

    My biggest problem was that I had no idea there was a you-know-what available. I believe the exit to the canal was supposed to be a “gate”, where the heavy boards require you to discover the you-know-what b4 you leave the area. But I was able to break through those boards with bricks, and that was a couple of weeks ago, so I didn’t even think about going back to see if I could get that other door open; I figured it was just decoration, like so many Combine-locked doors.

    Speaking of which, the switch combos to open those two doors seem arbitrary… are we supposed to be able to figure them out logically, or just play around till we discover them? I tried assigning the switches different values like bits in a register, hoping to match the numbers on the doors, but I couldn’t get that to work.

    Also figured out the wheel/grate/key thing. Fun!

    All nice puzzles, now that I’ve figured them out. 🙂

    I would submit the above as feedback though, regarding the not-quite-effective gate, and the seemingly-arbitrary switch combos.

    Reply
  365. Mel

    Kasperg, I would not dispute anything you said in response to my comments. My comments are only addressed to The Citizen mod which I enjoyed in large parts. Most mods of this duration will have sections where the tempo is down-beat by comparison; this should be where the unexpected occurs, not necessary action but any thing to keep the players interested. I loved some of the old HL mods by Arrow that sudden opened up into a huge area of artistically structured design and a wonderful use of light, but I am getting carried away. After what was for me a low key first section of the mod it grows into a great example of how to stage pitch battles. If you just breeze through Combine encounters, fun they maybe, however if in the case of The Citizen you need to work through your approach and tactics then sequence become far more memorable and I through this was one of the strengths of the mod.

    Reply
  366. Kasperg

    @Lars: thanks for pointing out that you can break the board with bricks, because that’s certainly a bug that we’ll have to fix for the next release.
    SPOILERS AHEAD: Actually, you have to break the boards with the crowbar, which is in the room you didn’t open. The bricks are used to get the crowbar. The crowbar enables you to break the fragile keypad. About the arbitrary door combinations, they’re actually written next to each door. This was a problem in version 1.0, but the brightness in the rooms has been increased in the update enough to be able to see it. You’re not the first to get stuck there, but we’re still not sure what’s going on because other players associated the numbers with the combination quickly. Maybe an extra door open upon arrival with the right combination as an example is in order.

    @Mel: I know some of the maps feel a bit like filler compared to others, and the proximity of loading points makes it even worse. In the sequel maps we’re trying to make every map and every area to count story-wise. I don’t know if it’s possible, but we’ll try!

    Reply
  367. Mel

    I will look forward to that. Thanks for the great game giving hours of fun; I can not start to imagine the hard work, time and effort that must have gone into the making. Also thank you for your after sales service.

    Reply
  368. dethtoll

    Been playing this mod for a while, enjoy it, but you should add new subtitles to the new dialogue. I’m hard of hearing and it’s a bit hard to follow- the only character I’ve understood almost completely so far is the guy in the shop.

    Reply
  369. Kasperg

    We’ll probably add English, French and Spanish subtitles for the next release if possible. We didn’t include them in v1.0 or v1.1 because it’s not exactly an easy and automatic process.

    Reply
  370. dethtoll
    Play It Now!

    Finished it. I LOVE this mod. I never liked the street battle sequences from the original HL2 but this mod makes it amazingly fun. I love the pacing and flow of the mod, and you’ve done the setpieces (such as the store fight) quite well. I question a couple of the music choices (I wouldn’t have picked that particular song for the library throwdown, personally- maybe use something custom?) but overall this is a very good mod, with enough polish that I can overlook the parts where it lacks.One suggestion for the next version: Make Larry’s televised speech longer and more emotional, like he’s trying to really rally the troops.

    As it is now, it’s flat and lacks any real oomph and is kind of a weak payoff for all you went through just to do it. I felt a bit cheated.Also… one thing that always bothers me is when a mod “breaks canon”, especially when it’s otherwise very good, and the Young Advisor’s teleportation doesn’t really seem right- the Combine aren’t supposed to be able to teleport locally (i.e. from one point on Earth to another, it has to be inter-dimensional.) I would suggest he float down from above and chase after you in the tunnel.Otherwise, wondrous mod and eagerly anticipating the next version.

    Reply
  371. pkgamer11

    im not going to rate this because I have baarely started it but I absolutely hate the stealth parts beacause there is no stealth! the manhacks just pop out and chase you around while the combine shoot you to death! and when I grab the crowbar I cant make use of it because I end up getting spotted and shot to peices! so I guess I wont be able to finish it or even start the game unless someone gives me some tips…

    Reply
  372. Kasperg

    If you’re being chased by manhacks and metrocops, you have probably not been stealthy enough. My tip is to replay that part and see which of your actions are getting you in trouble, as it’s possible to go through unnoticed.
    @Everyone starting to play this mod: think for a moment about the situation. You’re a citizen under the Combine regime, trapped in a guarded apartment building. You’re not the all powerful Gordon Freeman. Act accordingly and be resourceful!

    Reply
  373. pkgamer11

    haha I got past that part by bunny hopping around and smacking the cop in the face lol im on the airboat part now and I like it so far…

    Reply
  374. sbenrap
    Play It Now!

    This is a GREAT mod (and seriously, you need to noclip a bit to appreciate the thought behind it).

    I’m currently on a quest for the easter eggs: any chance of pointers to where to find easter eggs 3 and 4?
    It seems so far like there’s an easter egg per map (I found 1,2 and 5), and seems like I missed 3, 4 despite the fact I’m doing a fine combing of the surroundings… (and I really want to see the secret ending)
    Even a general area too look in would be good…

    (If this is considered against site policy (since it may spoil the search for some) I can be reached at gmail with the Name I used for this post (I don’t mind in getting a full list if you have one 😉 )

    Reply
  375. sbenrap

    Found them! 🙂

    On to egg 6!

    It does seem like there’s an one egg per map so far… (the 3rd one is evil btw 😉 )

    Reply
  376. Kasperg

    Yes, there’s one easter egg per map. Although most of them only require you to look in the right places, some of them are much harder and demand more thought and performing several tasks as a build up.

    Reply
  377. Chris Fox

    Glad you’re having fun, sbenrap!

    The third egg is indeed a bit evil – but isn’t the hardest to find I don’t think. It’s probably the toughest one you just have to find — but as Kasperg says there are a few of them which are more involved and need you to do something more than just find the place.

    If you want a list, look in the text file that came with the mod download. At the bottom of it are our email addresses. Drop us a line and one of us willl reply to help you out.

    Reply
  378. Lars
    Play It Now!

    Just finished this mod.
    Enjoyed it.
    Kinda quirky in places, but definitely shows creativity and some
    coherent themes.
    I didn’t know about the stealth possibility, so I guess I just blundered through.
    I agree with mel that the final speech was pretty weak / anticlimactic.
    The guy acted like he was taking a big risk to send out a message, and
    then the message was vacuous.
    Other than that though, enjoyed the plot twists and the interesting
    surprises.
    As far as quality is concerned, this is one of the best mods I’ve played.

    Reply
  379. Kasperg

    I agree with mel that the final speech was pretty weak / anticlimactic.
    The guy acted like he was taking a big risk to send out a message, and
    then the message was vacuous.

    Perhaps, but the truth is they never planned to give out a speech. The rebels had a particular objective they couldn’t accomplish, and sending out a message was an afterthought. I think I would’ve done a worse job in that situation. We’ll try to improve those aspects in future projects. For the moment let’s just say that Larry was a bit apathic after having lost some friends, seeing a Combine advisor up close, having a friend turn against him, missing his objective and knowing that the Combine knew where he was and he could die any moment. 🙂

    I’m glad you liked it.

    Reply
  380. Will_b_1991

    I know this is really noobish but I have had bad expericnce with mods like this and I wanted to be sure, when I downloaded this file it says I do not have the programme this is no trouble but what programme do I need and will it cost me money. PS good on you for making a mod where your not always on ur own all the time,the one gripe I had with hl2 was tht you only had allies on the later stages, I seem to spend my time on hl2 making battles where you have allies to help, also any help on how to create medics etc and how to make them do realistic things like crouching behind cover would be very appreciated,cheers, and yes I know im a noob.

    Reply
  381. Will_b_1991

    i managed to get on, sorry about tht, was really enjoying it until I had to put the super combines costume on, the screen went all black and I could still move around but I cudnt see anything so im styuck, any advice? or fixes?

    Reply
  382. Kasperg

    The options are these:
    -Add the “-dxlevel 70” parameter to the game shortcut in Steam and play that part of the map in DirectX 7
    or
    -Type “ent_fire elitemask stopoverlays” in the console with the current settings you have to remove the mask.
    or
    -Go into your SourceMods/The Citizen/materials/citizen folder and rename the file “eliteoverlay2.vmt” to “eliteoverlay.vmt”

    I’d go for the third option without a doubt.

    Reply
  383. Will_b_1991

    cheers if the worst comes to the worst ill just put buddha on, oh and the mod is awesome, the areas with the rebels are very fun it makes u feel like ur involved instead of just skirting around the edge of the fray like in hl2. how do u get ur npcs to crouch and move around so well, can u only do it by extensive scripting or is ther little commands like ent_fire that you can use in game?cheers for the great mod

    Reply
  384. Chris Fox

    I’m glad you’re enjoying it WIll 😀 Thanks for playing!

    About the npc sequences, each position that every NPC gets into is an individual scripted sequence which (usually) has the flag enabled to make the npc loop the ending action. So for example, the character crouches down, and then loops a static sequence of him being crouched to make him look like he’s staying in that last position.

    Later on, when we want the NPC to move again, we cancel the sequence which causes the npc to stand up again and then we just trigger another sequence to move him wherever.

    There are other ways to do it, for sure, but I find this method very reliable.

    Reply
  385. Ol" Scratch

    erm, when I go to the specified folder, there is already an “eliteoverlay.vmt” file, I went and renamed it to “eliteoverlay.vm”, then renamed “eliteoverlay2.vmt”. I’ll let you know how it worked.

    fake edit: to get around the slow type, open notepad or somesuch and type your post there, then cut’n’paste it. 😉

    Reply
  386. Ol" Scratch

    Okay, just finished it!

    All in all, damn good mod. Some artifacting/tearing, especially during the first sequences, but overall the play is good, the music excellent, and the voice acting passable. Leaving me hanging in the graveyard was a nice touch, would’ve been cool to see Gordon Freeman’s tombstone there.

    Oh, the “black screen” fix worked, good call.

    I agree with the prior comments, tho: more testing on more varied/weaker hardware, I think my rig (P4 3Ghz, 1.5G RAM, MSI GeForce FX-5950 Ultra AGP w/512MB RAM) might’ve been the source of the “tearing”, tho I’m not close to certain on that.

    Beyond that, good job folks, I’m looking forward to the last installment as we speak. Thanks for the hard work!

    Reply
  387. Lirical Disaster
    Play It Later

    The only thing I can faithfully say is that this mod seems very hardware intensive.
    If you were only able to play half life 2 with some workarounds, maybe youll need a better graphic card. Or play automtic bullet-time at every battle point
    and even in some other areas. I did have this problem with the original half life 2, but it wasnt as bad as with this mod.
    Anyways, four stars because I had fun regardless of speed xD

    Reply
  388. Kasperg

    I tried to make the mod completely playable at +25 fps in my 5 year old rig, but there are some spots where the amount of NPCs is very high.
    I say this because it’s actually the props, character models, explosions and physics the ones that account for most of the frame rate drops in the Source engine instead of the actual architecture which was usually the case in HL1.
    The truth is, just because its a HL2 based release, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go some steps beyond the hardware requirements of 2004 and assume most players PCs will be able to handle the maps. Optimization is mandatory, but low-spec machines are not our target right now. Think that modders and mappers aren’t getting any payment in return for their work, and for that reason they don’t have a real obligation to satisfy a customer’s needs. As long as our own machines have no trouble with it, we’ll probably try to make the best out of the engine and our imagination. It’s hard to control without a universal parameter like wpolys and epolys in HL1. The +showbudget command in the Source engine tells you what is consuming more resources, but only relative to your computer.
    We could always add some hardware requirements in the mod’s main description to warn players with old machines, because most people probably never check out the readme files.

    Reply
  389. Anon-01504
    Avoid It!

    Sorry, but I thought the people who made this mod should’ve put a little more work into gameplay instead of just voice acting.

    Reply
  390. Kasperg

    Sorry, but I thought the people who made this mod should’ve put a little more work into gameplay instead of just voice acting.

    There are dozens of HL2 mods you can play for the gameplay you speak about (which I ignore what it includes because this mod has a bit of everything). Voice-acting is actually a rare thing so we do not regret the focus we gave it.
    To be honest, I don’t download new maps or mods for gameplay. I only do so if there’s a chance I’ll see either an interesting story or an interesting location. Maps and mods with “great gameplay” but none of the two things I just mentioned are almost NEVER going to be better than what I have already played in HL2, Ep1 and Ep2, so I just don’t bother.

    I’m sure that we could’ve done something 100 times better if we had used the great ideas for awesome gameplay you probably have, but we weren’t so fortunate. 🙁

    Reply
  391. Chris Fox

    Anonymous – until you are more specific about the reasons why you didn’t like the gameplay then we can’t do anything about it. Your comment is completely unhelpful and gives no details whatsoever about any problems or frustrations you had.

    So you could elaborate, or you could remain useless. Your choice.

    Reply
  392. Neil

    Hey just like to say congrats to the new 1.1 release I saw it today on MODDB and decided to download it. It was worth it! I loved going about city 17 instead of trailing off like you do in hl2. Also the army of rebels at the end was a really cool thing, sneaking about the offices with the rebels. And the gman saving the day was just so funny haha. Good job everyone that made the mod. Cant wait for part 2.

    Reply
  393. andyb

    TWHL Video Review

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuGAnjFsT3c

    Reply
  394. defau2t

    About to play. Found this on moddb. Is this the one with the funky voice acting?

    Reply
  395. Kasperg

    About to play. Found this on moddb. Is this the one with the funky voice acting?

    Since there are around 8 different voice actors, you might find variation in the quality of their voices. Whether this keeps you from playing a 16-map mod which is made of more than voice acting is entirely up to you.

    Reply
  396. defau2t

    ^haha.. no.. I don’t judge mods entirely on the voice acting.

    I liked the mod alot. Lots of fun. And now I get to burn a couple more hours playing it again, to find the easter eggs. I only ran into maybe.. 8 first time through. The voices were great for something like this. The part with the girl, and her buddy gets shot by the sniper, her shriek/yell/shout of distress, I laughed at that.. Sounded like one of the b movie sci-fi screams, before the giant ant is about to bite your arm off. It was good though.
    I only ran into one bug. After the church, go across to the building, one girl at the ground floor, your proceed to go all the way up the stairs.. screenshot.. I opened the red door and then shot at the two combine soldiers, the door closed 3 or 4 times and I had to open it again (I never went out the door). After killing the 2 combine, the door wouldn’t open back up, and I couldn’t get through the window, so I loaded back at the last savepoint, which was just seconds back.
    Can hardly wait for the next set of chapters. Great job, and thanks.

    Reply
  397. GoodDog

    Its a very good mod .
    Very beautiful maps, wonderful scenario and scripts…
    I dindn’t notice any bug.
    To my mind : to download immediately !!!

    Reply
  398. Chris Fox

    Thanks for the nice comments. We’re glad you had fun!

    Reply
  399. lalabox
    Play It Now!

    This was a brilliant mod, I’ve played it through fully four times now. (One time I went through looking for all the easter eggs, found them all, but didn’t get the special ending. Turns out I had sv_cheats 1 on, which I left on from earlier by accident) There were some really great moments in this, the bits with the squad, the stealth and the end of the line all stood out. And some very memorable characters. Oh, practically no bugs either. Although I can’t see why people would find it less of a hassle to walk the airboat bits. I wasn’t that hard. Brilliant maps as well, in all respects.

    Just a few things that I want to ask or issues that I want to bring up:
    1. When, in the rebel’s room where he gives you the key (only his name wasn’t memorable. Angelus or something), is it some sort of weird side effect that placing the bottle on the fire causes it to rise up to the ceiling?
    2. Peole have mentioned the metrocop mask restricting their view, but for me, there were two eye-shapes, and then the rest of the screen was only slightly darkened, was that intentional?
    3. I got all the easter eggs, and after the train scene, it faded to black, and then stayed black (although turning around revealed this “window” which looked at the citadel, and you could see the silhouette of my weapon. I’m afraid I don’t have a screenshot, unless pressing “print screen” saves the image somewhere. I reloaded and it was fine.
    4. The first time I played it through, the voices were all distorted (kinda distant and scratchy) and the ammo counter didn’t show up properly. But upon reloading it was fine.
    5. please, Please, PLEASE put in subtitles. Although the sound quality seems to improve every time I play through, some of the conversations, especially the radio with Belinda, are kinda hard to follow.
    6. Bring back the sprint button! It just doesn’t feel right without it. Although I have gone through the messages and read your reasons, I just thought I join the non-existent petition.
    7. Finally, although it is a really minor point, in the streets, steve was a girl, in the building he was a boy. Kinda odd.

    Despite, those little niggles, and some other even more minor ones that I haven’t bothered putting in, this was a really, really great mod. Good job. Looking forward to part 2.

    Reply
  400. Kasperg

    Glad you liked it!

    1.The pushing gas effect was something I added for fun even before the we knew a mod would be made and left it there.
    2.Initially, the mask was totally opaque except for the eyes, but we decided to add a bit of transparency because it was indeed difficult to move around.
    3.Game screenshots can be taken with the F5 key and then checking your Half-life 2/hl2/screenshots/ folder
    4.There are still some problems with the RPG ammo counter, but we never touched anything related to that. It’s something we can’t fix.
    5.Subtitles are planned, and in more than one language too.
    6.It might be possible.
    7.Good observation! It’s the kind of thing no-one notices on a first run. I don’t think it was intentional but it’s funny.

    Reply
  401. Gavinda

    Just started playing, seems good so far. Cant wait to get through it and leave a fuller review.

    Reply
  402. RaezorBurn

    I am having trouble getting past the intro level. When loading part1 the game crashes, typically on wav files not being found/loaded. I can load part2 fine using cheats. I saw on an earlier post that Kasperg recommended using the v1.0 bsp for part1 to get through a similar problem, but I am unable to find any DL for v1.0. Anyone have a link for v1.0?

    Reply
  403. Kasperg

    I have just uploaded the 1.0 version of the first map for you. The .ain file goes inside the maps/graphs/ folder.

    w w w sendspace dot com /file/crwdiu

    Reply
  404. Zeth King
    Play It Now!
    Reply
  405. Chris Fox

    RaezorBurn,

    If you can email me a dump of your console where the errors occur, I might be able to thelp you more. My email address is in the text file included in the download.

    Personally I’ve never seen this problem happen before. And I’ve tested a lot, on many different PC’s, all using the same download.

    Something else is wrong somewhere.

    Reply
  406. Simón
    Play It Now!

    Thank you Kasperg, Playbus and everyone else involved for a great mod. I personally experienced no significant bugs, and the mod ran basically as smoothly as the main game. At least as immersive as Half Life 2, given I felt tense from the moment my health number appeared, and I was impressed by both the voice acting and the scripting. *Spoiler* I was actually moved by the flowers in the church, and the delivery of lines by the rebel stating they were the only flowers in the city… In my opinion this added a level of realism absent even from Half Life 2 itself. *End Spoiler”.

    It seems some disagree, but I enjoyed the voice acting throughout. It has been called “flat” and “bored’, but this is probably based on the (imho) melodramatic filmlike delivery of the original. To me, the atmosphere of The Citizen is distinct, in that the protagonist is essentially ordinary, and fittingly, so are the rebels. Tbh, I was hooked from the preacher in the first building, and was spured on throughout by the prospect of the next dramatic sequence. Larry’s speech is not inspiring, but this seemed more realistic than if he were some master orator. Also the squad leader in the end sequence is not constantly excited, but his speech perfectly conveys his situation: An exhausted soldier just getting on with the job.

    As others have stated the street action in many ways surpassed the tedious end sequences of Half Life 2, and I found the fighting in this game far more challenging. This felt like a return to classic games like catacombs, but with all the modern trimmings, and en engrossing if familiar storyline. I would reccomend buying HL2, for this mod alone.

    Reply
  407. Chris Fox

    Thankyou Simon, for your insightful and generous review! It cheered up my morning!

    Reply
  408. AlexDOK
    Play It Now!

    Best mod of the last time! SUPER!

    Reply
  409. Volvo

    nice and detailed mod BUT, it has very bad pacing.

    also inm stuch in the church

    Reply
  410. Anonymous

    @Volvo You might find the pacing bad, but then again you’ve only played 50% of the mod so far! Maybe your opinion will change after you finish it.

    Reply
  411. RaezorBurn

    Chris, the best I can do for a console dump is right when the “Loading” image appears transitioning between intro and part1. After that the game crashes to an “Engine error” dialog with the following in it: “CAudioSourceMemWave (different wav file each time.wav): GetDataPointer() failed.” and then I am unable to get the console; unless there is a way that I am not aware of?

    Sorry about posting this here, but the text file with email addy was not in the map Zip.

    Console dump before crash:

    Game.dll loaded for “Half-Life 2”
    maxplayers set to 1
    Heap: 256.00 Mb
    Parsed 23 text messages
    execing config.cfg
    Can’t use cheat cvar cam_command in multiplayer, unless the server has sv_cheats set to 1.
    4 CPUs, Frequency: 3.6 Ghz, Features: GenuineIntel SSE SSE2 MMX RDTSC CMOV FCMOV
    GetAllManifestFiles: Unable to load maplist.txt
    execing valve.rc
    execing autoexec.cfg
    Spawn Server thecitizen_bg1
    Begin loading faces (loads materials)
    End loading faces (loads materials)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vhysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/row_upscale.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/row_upscale.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/propsbuildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/row_upscale.mdl)
    execing skill.cfg
    Game started
    Initializing renderer…
    Warning: using WorldTwoTextureBlend on a non-displacement surface (material: nature/blendgrassgravel001a). Support for this will go away soon.
    Dropped unnamed from server
    Reason: Disconnect by user.
    Loading game from SAVE\half-ife-034.sav…
    Spawn Server thecitizen_intro
    Begin loading faces (loads materials)
    End loading faces (loads materials)
    Loading game from //MOD/SAVE/thecitizen_intro.HL1…
    execing skill.cfg
    Game started
    Initializing renderer…
    ] condump
    console dumped to condump000.txt
    Free Sound List is full!
    Could not AllocSound() for InsertSound() (DLL)
    Free Sound List is full!
    Could not AllocSound() for InsertSound() (DLL)
    Free Sound List is full!
    Could not AllocSound() for InsertSound() (DLL)
    Free Sound List is full

    …..Repeats the “Could not AllocSound()” error seemingly forever.

    Reply
  412. Chris Fox

    Well, it’s definately a sound problem. The console dump suggests to me that it’s a driver problem, as it doesn’t specify any of the mod’s actual sound resources within the error.

    So, you should try re-installing your soundcard drivers with the latest available version.

    I hope that fixes it for you.

    Reply
  413. PlanetPhillip

    I’ve updated the 1.1 Mirrors list with two new mirrors

    Reply
  414. lalabox

    How goes the work on part 2? I’ve seen all the brilliant screenshots. The river bits look epic in their detail and design.

    Reply
  415. Kasperg

    Up to now we were still discussing ideas and concepts concerning the story, but now we’re already joining the maps together, recording voices, face posing etc.
    We are going to cut out some of the maps that have been seen in the teaser screenshots to concentrate on quality vs. quantity.
    As I think I said before, we want every area to be meaningful in relation to the plot and characters, so some of these maps (the most generic ones and uninspired in terms of design) were out of place in the mod time line.
    And for those interested, the player will face moral (and other) choices throughout the mod.

    Reply
  416. andyb

    Sounds very cool.what do you estimate the eta to be? 6 months?

    Reply
  417. Kasperg

    It could be much less, we don’t know yet. Think that some areas from the sequel have been in the making since days after our first release November 2007, so you could say this one has been in development for as long as we took to make the first release!
    I’m not exactly sure how it will compare in terms of duration. I can say that the loading points are spaced apart more 🙂 This was apparently an issue for some people, while the loading points in the City 17 maps in HL2 were even worse.

    Reply
  418. andyb

    Not an issue for me I don’t think.Anyway get it out soon and keep us updated on the progress.Tell Chris to quit hiding also and give out some info lol.

    Reply
  419. Anonymous

    Good to hear that it’s going well. All the screenshots look great and different from all the standard eastern city architecture which is getting a bit annoying now. It looks really great. Keep it up.

    Reply
  420. Chris Fox

    Progress on Part Two has recently taken a relative upturn. The maps themselves have been in development for some time, as mentioned above by Kasperg, but lately we have begun making an intro, and actually sticking the maps together and implementing the basics of gameplay. The beginnings of the mod are coming together at last.

    The ideas we have for the new sections are different and will offer the player various deep choices in how to progress. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but we are pressing hard to make the story engaging – and as non-linear as the engine (and our inexperience with coding) will allow.

    Personally I am focusing a lot on the NPC’s and trying to make them as convincing as possible. I’ve got more experience with voice acting now and I’ve also figured out the expression system to an extent – so you can expect scenes in Part Two which are more complex and engaging. I’m working hard to pull on your heartstrings and actually stimulate real emotions using the npc characters. I want you all to cry while you’re playing it. I want you to really not to know which of the three (or four) available paths you should take – or who you should help and who you should leave behind – and yet at the same time not bore you with the choice. Those are my goals. I’m going to put a lot of heart and soul into this one.

    We have a really talented modeller on board now – whom, depending on certain things, may well make it into the frontline credits for Part Two. With his contribution we should be able to create situations which were not really possible in vanilla Half Life 2.

    As for the timeline, I’m not sure. “Probably in the first half of next year” is about as accurate as I think I can get right now!

    Keep watching…

    Reply
  421. bernie
    Play It Now!

    hey guys, absolute great work, I am impressed…and all for free…woooooooooooooooww and 1000 thanks to you…great fun, best gameplay since a long time, great mapping, atmo, really big big thanks from me…how long did it take to do such a great thing??

    Reply
  422. Chris Fox

    Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it. We enjoyed making it for you.

    As for how long it took – if you played the most recent version – it was about 12 months of work for the two of us.

    Reply
  423. Jeff

    It was a great mod, up until the Elite Combine suit rendered me sightless.

    The author mentioned elsewhere that this was a directx v7 flaw that was fixed. I’m running directx v8.1, so color me confused.

    I don’t think I can get past a certain door without the suit, so I’ll have to abandon The Citizen. 🙁

    Reply
  424. Kasperg

    It is only a DirectX 8 problem as of now, but no patch will be issued to correct it.

    Instead, the fix is very easy:

    Go into your SourceMods/The Citizen/materials/citizen folder and rename the file “eliteoverlay2.vmt” to “eliteoverlay.vmt”
    That should solve the problem completely. Enjoy!

    Reply
  425. Jeff
    Play It Now!

    That’s a good enough patch for me! 🙂 Thanks!

    Reply
  426. Chris Fox

    The DirectX7 problem did get fixed with the 1.1 patch – unfortunately at the same time we broke the same thing for people using DX8 (by accident). So we didn’t really fix that problem, we just moved it to a different DX level.

    D’oh!

    But yeah, the fix is easy enough and so if we ever do patch it properly, it will be when the next major release comes out. It’s not worth patching on it’s own.

    Reply
  427. Ade

    The last two links give a 404.

    Reply
  428. PlanetPhillip

    ast two links give a 404.

    Removed, thanks. This is why I don’t like using external links. Anyway, how do you keep finding these errors. I have visions of you clicking every link on every post! 🙂

    Reply
  429. Ade

    Lol, just the ones for mods that I’ll be considering in the near future! No f`in way am I clicking every link on every post (even if I wanted to, I don’t have the time atm, since I still don’t have Internet at home, RDS provider in my country s***s a**), but if you want me to, I will click every clickable item on this site :))

    Reply
  430. Rockygryphon

    So I realize I don’t have the state of the art (high end) machine, but I seem to load a new game normally, but when the combine show up, they kick the door, stand there until the back one collapses in death and I’m stuck in that invisible boxed in area of the room. If I sv_cheats 1 and noclip, there’s just the room and the hallway in the map and black everywhere else. I’ve put “-dxlevel 70” into the launch options in steam with no success. Everything else seems fine except the plot stops there.

    I REALLY want to play this mod.

    Any ideas? Thanks.

    Here’s my console message text:

    Game.dll loaded for “Half-Life 2”
    Both ConVars must be marked FCVAR_REPLICATED for linkage to work (r_VehicleViewDampen)
    maxplayers set to 1
    Heap: 256.00 Mb
    Parsed 23 text messages
    Both ConVars must be marked FCVAR_REPLICATED for linkage to work (r_VehicleViewDampen)
    execing config.cfg
    Can’t use cheat cvar cam_command in multiplayer, unless the server has sv_cheats set to 1.
    2 CPUs, Frequency: 1.4 Ghz, Features: GenuineIntel SSE MMX RDTSC CMOV FCMOV
    GetAllManifestFiles: Unable to load maplist.txt
    execing valve.rc
    Spawn Server thecitizen_bg1
    Begin loading faces (loads materials)
    End loading faces (loads materials)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/row_upscale.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/row_upscale.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/buildingskybox_002a.mdl)
    SOLID_VPHYSICS static prop with no vphysics model! (models/props_buildings/row_upscale.mdl)
    execing skill.cfg
    Game started
    Initializing renderer…
    Warning: using WorldTwoTextureBlend on a non-displacement surface (material: nature/blendgrassgravel001a). Support for this

    will go away soon.
    execing chapter1.cfg
    Dropped unnamed from server
    Reason: Disconnect by user.
    Spawn Server thecitizen_intro
    Begin loading faces (loads materials)
    End loading faces (loads materials)
    execing skill.cfg
    Empty ambient_generic (ambient_generic) at -1291.31, -246.00, -35.00
    Game started
    Initializing renderer…
    copper1: unknown scripted sequence “copper1”
    ERROR! models/police.mdl missing ACT_DIESIMPLE

    Reply
  431. Kasperg

    Rockygryphon said:
    “when the combine show up, they kick the door, stand there until the back one collapses in death and I’m stuck in that invisible boxed in area of the room.”

    After that sequence, the game should automatically load the next map. If this doesn’t happen, enable the game console and type: map thecitizen_part1

    Reply
  432. naltex
    Play It Now!

    I know I’m late to the party, but this is still a fantastic mod.

    Reply
  433. Rockygryphon
    Play It Now!

    I did get it to work. Of course I was so disappointed the normal sequence didn’t work, but then I cleaned up some junk config files that I had created for other things which tinkered with shield/ammo limits, etc. Once those were removed and I had a stock config, everything worked after restarting steam. Also, I took the earlier post advice and launched with the directx 7 option. Everything worked fine in this mod and a few others afterward. Very nice mod by the way. Thanks for an excellent play.

    Reply
  434. aq_guy

    DLed and installed this mod per instructions, looks like fun. I do have HL2 onboard, installed, running fine, etc. And I’ve successfully run other mods, such as Minerva.

    Citizen seems to launch OK, get to the main menu screen, select NEW GAME, hit the START NEW GAME button in the box that comes up, and…….nothing happens. I waited about 15 minutes on it.

    OK, I have NOT waded through all 433 messages to see if this if someone else has had this issue.

    If this has come up before and there is a link to a discussion of a fix, just point me there

    Thanks

    aq_guy

    Reply
  435. Mel

    OK I may have had this problem, if not with this mod then with others. Find the name of the first map then enable the console and load the map and you are off and running.

    Reply
  436. aq_guy

    Got it sorted, incomplete loading of the file during extraction for some reason.

    Thanks anyway Mel.

    Reply
  437. Anonymous

    Sorry didnt find out about this place until after I had sent a post to mikes. My problem is I cannot even run citizen.
    Heres what I have done,,,,,,,, I turned off steam, Downloaded citizen 1.1 , decompressed and put the resulting folder into the sourcemods folder, rebooted steam and it does not show up in the games list.
    Mikes suggests looking for the folder called citizen and putting it into the sourcemods folder. I found that in the Materials folder and copied that to the sourcemods folder, so now in the SM folder (got fed up of typing sourcemods) I have CITIZEN and THE CITIZEN, but still not showing in the games list. Has anyone else had this problem??. I do Hope someone can help me please as I cant wait to play it after looking at the reviews
    lensturn

    Reply
  438. andyb

    You need to put the “citizen” folder back into the materials folder where it belongs.Once thats done make sure your folder structure is correct and it doesn’t go \steamapps\SourceMods\The Citizen\The Citizen
    Also make sure the gameinfo text is is there.Another thing is in my games menu ,for me atleast,The Citizen is listed with other mods that start with a C not a T so if you have alot of mods installed as I do you may of missed it.

    Reply
  439. PlanetPhillip

    Also you should check that the file you downloaded is not corrupted. I use a little application called Hashcalc (http://www.slavasoft.com/hashcalc/index.htm)

    This application checks the contains. The MD5 is : 227ad750f6cc6a7fc9232fbc9a7a63a5

    Let us know what you have and we’ll see if we can offer some other options

    Reply
  440. Lensturn

    first of all thanks for the replies. Right now down to the nitty gritty, The CITIZEN is back in the materials
    and the THE CITIZEN folder is in STEAM\STEAMAPPS\SOURCEMODS\ which is has been all along and the GAMEINFO TXT is in that folder, and in my games list I only have a few mods so I have not missed it.
    Now to hashcalc, I have downloaded it and installed it but which file do I check and do I only check the md5 option please,
    (always said I was thick). Once again thanks lets hope we can fix it.
    All the best for Xmas
    Lensturn

    Reply
  441. Lensturn

    Sorry got it figured out Phillip checked the rar file and got the same number as you.
    Lensturn

    Reply
  442. PlanetPhillip

    Ok, if the MD5 is the same that’s one thing we can stop worrying about.

    Next, my installation path is this:< em>C:Program FilesSteamsteamappsSourceModsThe Citizen.
    What is yours?

    Below is a screenshot from my Steam Games list. I have added it to show you how the mod is lsited and also to show you the icon, in case that helps:

    Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

    To be perfectly honest I am out of ideas at this point. I may get you to check the gameinfo.txt file next.

    Reply
  443. Lensturn

    I am very grateful as I know you could be doing something else, ( sounds like a grovel) to begin with, my folders are the same as yours so here is my games list :
    Half-Life 2:…. 100% ready
    Black mess B….100% Third party mod
    Minerva: M…. 100% Third party mod
    Outbreak: E 100% Third party mod
    Powerstatio…..100% Third party mod
    Counter)stri… Pre_load complete
    Half_Life 2 Pre_load comp
    Looks like We are getting stuck now
    Well we will see
    Cheers
    Len

    Reply
  444. Lensturn

    ha………………………..I have just spotted some thing Philip….I have got Half_life 2 episde 2 and Citizen looks as if it is half_life 2. Could that be the problem?????
    Len

    Reply
  445. PlanetPhillip

    I have got Half_life 2 episde 2 and Citizen looks as if it is half_life 2. Could that be the problem?????

    YES! I think that’s it, although it might still appear in your list, I don’t know. You definitely need Half-Life 2 to play this. In my defense, it does say Half-Life 2 in the title. 😉

    Reply
  446. Lensturn

    I feel a right wally for not taking enough notice, anyway lesson learnt. I have plyed HL1 and thought it was great but Ive been out of it for a while, (no not jail) and I have missed HL2 but I am going to get it, Perhaps you could recommend a good place to get it, I mean cheaper than pc world.
    Thanks once again and I hope I never bother you again.
    Len

    Reply
  447. andyb

    HL2 is $20 on steam
    HL2 Ep1 is $10 on steam

    You can also wait and see if someone gives away a free one in the forums.It doesn’t always happen but it has happened.

    Reply
  448. lensturn

    Hi again…I have just been to PC World and got EP1 & 2 in 1 pack although I already had EP1 so now all I want is HL2.
    thanks all the best
    Len

    Reply
  449. Anonymous

    Hey guys how and where do I install the .rar file completely confused

    Reply
  450. andyb

    You extract the mod from the rar file using winrar and put the folder into the source mod folder of steam.
    http://www.rarlabs.com

    Reply
  451. sm69ny

    In anticipation of The Citizen 2, I decided to go back and play the first one again. Unfortunately while doing so I discovered I never finished it, although I enjoyed the gameplay. Seems I’m stuck at the part where you have to put the Elite Combine suit on — because I put it on and then can’t see a thing. I tried the “ent_fire eliteoverlay stopoverlays” that Kaspberg suggested, but no luck. Any help would be appreciated.

    Reply
  452. Chris Fox

    The best option is to go into the following folder, where you installed the mod:

    SourceMods/The Citizen/materials/citizen

    and rename the file called:

    eliteoverlay2.vmt

    to

    eliteoverlay.vmt

    And that should sort things out.

    Since version 1.1, this problem only happens for people running the mod in DirectX8 mode. So you could always just play in DirectX7 mode, if your system can’t handle 9.

    DX9 mode has no problems with the overlay.

    Reply
    1. Robspace1

      Chris-I’m having the same problem as others have posted. In the start, where you talk to the guy on the stairs about his tv. He says nothing, and even though I bring the other tv to him, he says and does nothing, so, end of game.
      I’ve installed the update from here as well as from Moddb and it makes no difference, same problem. I have Direct x 9 running and my system is fine. I just played Mafia 2. I played this when you first came out with it, and I’d like to replay it before your new one, which is out now. If there’s anything else I can try to get this working, please let me know.
      I don’t really care to move alot of files around, but as I remember, this really is an outstanding mod. Thanks for all the work, and too bad Steam makes changes that effect the way these mods and other games function. Steam needs to really do more testing as they are so big and any changes they make should really be annilized before being done. Your mods are good and I thank you for all the fine work.

      Reply
  453. Nicolas Rufino dos Santos

    The Citizen; without a shadow of a doubt, is one of the most downloaded mods and accessed by users the world’s Steam. I could not fail to write a review of one of the most acclaimed mods by players of both Half-Life 2, such as First Person Shooter in general. Read this comprehensive review very carefully, and understand why a simple mod can be as significant and successful for the world of games.

    The Citizen is a mod (modification of a game, in which case, is the Half-Life 2) launched less than 1 year after the worldwide success of following the complex story of Gordon Freeman: The Half-Life 2: Episode Two. The mod was the same reference the game launched in 2004, bringing its unmatched graphics produced by the Source Engine. The focus of The Citizen is the fact the player can finish the Half-Life 2 and its episodes (Episode One and Two) in the skin of one of the rebels, who have become slaves because of the invasion of alien race and that the mod Combine, fighting fighting strength of the Combine in City 17. At the time of the events of Half-Life 2.

    The user of Steam to download this mod can play in different maps of the Half-Life 2, while in the same city in which case the plot of the game. New maps were produced by the mod team, showing the same 17 that the City Valve showed the Half-Life 2. Users who play The Citizen can have fun on a single server itself Single-player and can destroy all weapons available to the Empire in the chaotic Combine City 17.

    And the incredible quality of The Citizen not to there, some models to source materials of Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two were added to the mod, giving more royalty and developments in the Source Engine graphics. Unlike many other mods approved by fans already registered with Steam, The Citizen is now updated with the graphics of the game’s official Valve. He was not abandoned by his team of production and development. What advantage, because of The Citizen be below the other mods already produced until now.

    Unlike Half-Life 2, in The Citizen, the player can not be in the skin of Gordon Freeman, Alyx and neither of the other important characters, like Dr. Kleiner and Barney Calhoun, for example. As with Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, drawing the Combine, the player may only be the rebels, who – following the same pattern in the history of Half-Life 2 and Episodes – are allies of Freeman, Alyx and Calhoun, and that have the same goal in three games: the final destruction of the alien race Combine.

    Half-Life 2 in general (including episodes) has not been any drastic change to be included in The Citizen. The production team of the mod was very faithful to the original content of Half-Life 2. The weapons remain the same, for example. Since the classic Crowbar, to the RPG (Bazooka) were added to the mod. The audio from The Citizen is also identical to the three games of the series Half-Life 2, since the low perception of sounds (such as shooting the gun, for example), even the songs that were included in the soundtrack of the game.

    The Citizen is not just a mod done by any one team that has in mind only the fame and money. Only by playing it, you feel that the mod has had much work to be produced correctly. The team probably shed much sweat make it 100% and send it to the Steam. And remember that only the most mods voted by users of Steam part of its list of games. That is, only the quality of mods go Steam, and even then, it is extremely difficult to be partner of Steam. The mods bands are like, only the good quality can contract with a record label.

    Without doubt, The Citizen is one of the most acclaimed mods by players, because they include the most sensational of the game successful Valve Software: Half-Life 2.

    (Entered for the Orange Box Prize)

    Reply
  454. Chris Fox

    Well, it’s clear that the above review is positive, so thankyou Nicolas Rufino dos Santos!

    I assume you must have used an automatic translator – unfortunately a lot of your meaning is lost on me!

    One thing though … this isn’t an Orange Box mod 😉

    Reply
    1. PlanetPhillip

      Chris, he didn’t use an online translator, but wrote it directly in English. The reference to the Orange Box, is for the competition, not related to the engine used.

      Reply
  455. vicpas

    Alo, Nicolas.

    Você parente do Oteniel Rufino dos Santos?

    Reply
  456. Chris Fox

    Chris, he didn’t use an online translator, but wrote it directly in English

    I still can’t understand very much of it.

    Reply
  457. Adam

    This looks and sounds great but I can’t get it to show up in steam. i’ve placed it in C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\SourceMods twice and restarted steam and it does not show up.

    Reply
  458. Adam

    I have the Half-Life 2 episode pack. Is version 1.1 for the orange box set or is it supose to work with this as well?

    Reply
  459. Ade
    Play It Later

    I’m not sure if anything I’m about to comment hasn’t been already said in these 10 pages.
    The beginning was oh so boring, the action was little and those doors and buttons were frustrating, as I didn’t even think to look on the walls for numbers, I only do that in Point and click games, so I just permuted the buttons to open the doors.. But it paced up and I enjoyed the final parts, especially the stealthy one and the library fights. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Advisors being used. This is my third mod for hl2, but I imagine they’re hard to use.
    The dialogue is mediocre, but I also have a favorite, the speech before the infiltration. Don’t laugh now, but I was expecting to hear “This is SPARTA” at some point, to lighten up the crowd. Also, as it has been mentioned before, I would have loved to have a npc that would stick longer than a map’s length, or a whole squad, not just passerbys. Two thumbs up for the squad action type in the end.
    The story and the idea were believable, but could’ve been more connected to hl2. The maps are smaaaaaaaall, I’m tired of the loading screen popping up so often.
    I didn’t encounter any bugs and the airboat ride was ok for me. I loved the special views. The ending, although hard to create, left me wanting more, or an explanation, wasn’t an actual ending, but this way, I’m looking forward to playing the sequel.

    Reply
  460. Kasperg

    Ade, I think you’ll enjoy the sequel a lot. Squad action, npcs that stick with you for longer periods, an interesting story that’ll keep you motivated at all times, better dialogue, better scenes, maps that last longer etc.
    But I do recommend everyone to replay the HL2 City 17 levels in the “Anticitizen One” chapter to see really small maps and really close loading spots. You’ll find they are much worse than what you actually find in “The Citizen”. But I guess since it’s Valve who made them we should forgive them and expect amateur mappers to do better than them all the time. And the “Highway 17” coastal maps too. Now those were long loading periods and really short maps!

    Reply
  461. Kyouryuu
    Play It Now!

    The Citizen is a great mod. I’d say it’s certainly in my short list for favorite Half-Life 2 mods, though it’s not the best. It brings a number of interesting new ideas to the table and sells them with skill and visual panache to spare.

    You are cast as a concerned citizen who, after being roughed up by the Combine, decides to exact revenge by joining up with the resistance fighters. The mod covers a nice arc, from being led to their clandestine base of operations by someone-who-knows-someone, culminating in going on a mission with your newfound friends. It’s pretty compelling, actually.

    Visually, the mod is wonderful. This is a busy set, with lots of little details, at least up to the noticeably sparser later areas. Like Half-Life 2, it smoothly segues from one area to the next. You always feel like you are making progress. I liked the frequency of friendly NPC encounters. Towards the end, the mod gave that same feeling of aloneness and isolation that HL2 did when your squad left.

    Perhaps the highlight of the mod, however, are the unique gameplay ideas it offers. It attempts stealth gameplay and it mostly succeeds, which is quite a feat. There’s the feeling that you’re part of a sizeable force, as you march along with your plentiful comrades. The airboat sequence, though claustrophobic, feels authentic enough. The easter eggs are a neat diversion and promote replayability. Basically, the mod spend a fair bit of time doing non-combat tasks to supplement combat, which is something I love.

    So, what didn’t work?

    The biggest problem was the voice acting. Quite frankly, it was awful. People either had accents that made them difficult to understand, or they simply weren’t in the moment, mostly erring on the side of being too calm. While each voice is distinctive enough to make the individual characters stand out, they don’t have the sense of the urgency that the situation demands. This comes to a head in what seems like a pivotal speech, complete with a Breencast monitor and everything, which didn’t engage me at all. The dialog, as written, was fine. It’s all in the delivery.

    Beyond that, it’s a hodgepodge of minor criticisms. I think the mod went on a bit long; I could have done without the third “stealth” segment. It’s a bit too giddy with irritating Manhacks, sending them at you in infinite supply in a few circumstances. I also thought the loading was too frequent, justified by Valve or not, mostly during the airboat sequence. The final levels feel sparse and don’t make good use of the intriguing objective the player is given. Some contrivances, like access cards, felt out-of-place and gimmicky. Lastly, I didn’t care much for the library segment. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to take cover from the Giant Bouncing Balls of Doom ™ when they are ricocheting around the stacks at insane speeds.

    All that said, The Citizen is still a fantastic mod. If you’re a gamer who wants non-stop intense battles, this isn’t your mod. For the rest of us, who demand more substance in our modding diet, you’ll find it here.

    Reply
  462. Kasperg

    Thanks for the review! We’ve certainly improved on most issues for the sequel. In such a way that making these first two chapters go in the same file as what’s coming next would lower the average quality of the release (or at least we think so).

    Some contrivances, like access cards, felt out-of-place and gimmicky

    I don’t recall having made any access cards at all. Do you remember exactly where you found those? We are not fond of keys and keycards (although you do have to use one in the church and two for a couple of easter eggs) so we did our best to avoid them.
    If you are referring to the different doors for metrocops and elite soldiers opening, there are no access cards required for them. They operate on a shape recognizition pattern so having the correct disguise should be enough to open them.
    The voice acting delivery, mainly towards the end, has been discussed a lot. Wether having certain non-melodramatic dialogue as oppossed to the film-like delivery of the retail game is good or bad, is not a one sided issue in my opinion. I have never been in such a situation as these characters go through, so I (and face it, most of us) have no idea how each person would react or talk like. Larry (who has the most lines in those final segments) is supposed to be a rather calm person who used to own a car repair garage. He’s not really the Morpheus-like character Valve would’ve made him be had “The Citizen” been their project (father Grigory anyone? That’s more comical than realistic). In any case, he’s a rather important character in the sequel and you’ll have a chance to better judge him in many other situations.

    Reply
  463. Kyouryuu

    It must have been access cards to the Easter Eggs then because, yeah, there weren’t critical path doors that required them. My memory must be blurring between mods! I actually thought at the time that the Combine doors were a bit confusing. For whatever reason, I didn’t put two-and-two together, getting the suit and being able to open doors. Though it makes perfect sense in retrospect.

    I can understand the issue with the voice acting and the choice between melodrama and calmness. I’m sure it’s not easy for a person dubbing an anime, for example, to put themselves at the helm of a giant robot about to save the world. But I think that games as a whole have come a really long way on this front in the past few years, so it’s important to find that line and use it to your advantage as the situation demands. One thing that can spice up voice acting is to have your actors place emphasis on certain words. Instead of an even delivery, punctuate the key words in your sentence. That alone can make a world of difference!

    As far as Larry is specifically concerned, I expected a tone of calm urgency. The kind of tone you’d expect a schoolteacher to use in a fire drill, for example. His delivery was a bit detached and uninterested, I felt. In the sequel, let’s tune the delivery. You plant the right mental picture in someone’s mind, especially if that means finding a more realistic analog for the mood you want to convey, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

    Reply
  464. Anonymous

    Fantastic mod,
    couple of bugs though
    in the lecture hall, after you jump down if you go around picking up ammo, the rebels see you and start shooting at you, likewise when you let them out of the gallery unless you use “notarget” to get past that bit.

    Also when you get to the train, I cant get the rebeld to board. so for me its the end, or was it meant to be the end anyway.

    Reply
  465. Kasperg

    Did you play version 1.1? Because those bugs you mentioned were fixed long ago.

    Reply
  466. not Anonymous now!
    Play It Now!

    Hi, thanks – quick response, yes I already found and downloaded 1.1 but was already threequarters way through the old version, I tried movingmy saves to 1.1 but things go all queer!

    Ho Hum, just have to start over, huh life is sooo hard!

    Yo. and thanks for a really great mod

    PS. looking forward to 2 I like the idea of alternate ways through levels, that was great feature of Duke and Wolfenstein 3d that somehow got lost when games moved up from DOS. Every time you played you in effect got a different game, especially in Wolf” where the enemies all started moving about the moment you entered a level, so you came across them in different places depending on your speed of progress. Lots more gore in those days too.

    Reply
  467. Kasperg

    It’s more alternate choices than alternate ways through the levels. Doing a real alternate levels thing would push the sequel to 2010 or 2011. I don’t think anyone wants that 😀

    Reply
  468. Black Dog

    To: Chris Fox
    Thanks for the heads up on the widescreen fix!

    To: Mr. Phillip
    I’ve gotten mods from Moddb when I first started playing mods, then I found “planetphillip.com’. I haven’t looked back.
    Moddb can’t hold a candle to “planetphillip.com’!
    MODdb, WHO?????????

    Reply
  469. PlanetPhillip

    Moddb can’t hold a candle to planetphillip.com!

    Thank you for your kind words. Being more specialized than ModDB allows me to focus but even though I don’t agree with everything ModDB does, we have to recognize they have done a fantastic job of bringing modding to more players than ever before.

    Reply
  470. TheOneKK

    Im not sure about you lot but when I extract it to my default sourcemods folder when I restart steam its not in my games menu!

    Any ideas?

    Reply
  471. Kasperg

    Some people for whom that happened didn’t have HL2 installed, just Ep1 or Ep2. Full standard HL2 must be correctly installed for The Citizen to show up.

    Reply
  472. TheOneKK

    But I can’t afford it right now so that just sucks!

    Reply
  473. Kasperg

    Why would you download mods for a game you can’t afford? Makes no sense whatsoever 🙁

    Most of the content you’ll find in The Citizen consists of HL2 materials, models and sounds. I believe there’s no other way to play it than having the full game.

    Reply
  474. Theguy

    WHERE DO I DOWNLOAD IT

    Reply
  475. PlanetPhillip

    @Theguy:
    Firstly, please stop shouting.

    Secondly, look under Version 1.1 Downloads.

    Enjoy.

    Reply
  476. Visitor
    Play It Now!

    The Citizen is a very exceptional mod and I enjoyed playing it a year ago. However, now it crashes more frequently than ever. The crashes ONLY occur when the map changes into the next map. I see the LOADING screen for a minute or so before it crashes with an “HL2.exe has encountered a problem and must be shutdown sorry for the inconvienence etc…” then it throws me back to desktop. Occasionally, another error message follows it with the dreaded “Internal driver error in IDirect3DDevice9:: present()”

    Here are my system specs:

    OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
    SP: Service Pack 3
    Processor: Intel Pentium D Processor 820
    Memory: 1024 MB of RAM
    Hard Drive: 250GB Hard Drive Space
    DX: DirectX 9 (latest version March 2009)
    Graphics Card: ATI Radeon Xpress 200
    Sound Card: Realtek High Definition Audio

    I don’t think it has anything to do with the lack of memory because I used this handy link to disable many useless background services:

    https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6721-RYHB-2201

    My Hard Drive is not full either, as I have only used a quarter of it.
    I’d appreciate any help anybody can offer. Thanks!

    Reply

  477. Pingback: Geek-Gaming » Blog Archive » The Citizen

  478. Zockopa

    Well done mod. One of the few good ones for HL2 so far. Ive no problem with the voiceacting or the small puzzles at the beginning. In my opinion the whole mod
    is very good fan content.

    Reply
  479. gsp1995
    Personal Favourite

    I’ve played this mod last years I guess, though I found it on ModDB and just now I noticed It’s also for Planet Phillip. But anyway, this mod is absolutely very fun, entertaining and I loved so much the Infiltration mission. Just plain awesome! I’am very excited to play The Citizen 2.

    Reply
  480. Anon_214665

    I’m getting a runtime error every time I try to launch the mod.

    It says that the application has attempted to run the C runtime library incorrectly or somesuch.

    I can’t seem to fix this.

    Could someone help?

    Reply
    1. PlanetPhillip

      Have you had any problems running HL2 or other mods, since receiving this error?

      Reply
      1. Anon_214809

        No, I haven’t. I’m not sure what the problem is.

        Reply
        1. Anon_214810

          WAIT, OF COURSE I HAVE!!

          I just realized that I get the SAME error with Half Life 2!!

          I’ll reinstall that.

          Reply
          1. Anon_214821

            Reinstalled, and to no avail. Still getting the engine error.

            Reply
  481. Anton Bergström

    When I start the mod from Steam, I get an error message that says that it can’t find background image in materials/console/thecitizen, and the file it can’t find is thecitizen_bg1_widescreen.vtf. There was no such file that was included in the mapp that I downloaded.

    Reply
    1. Anton Bergström

      Oh, never mind. Figured out that I just needed to add the “_widescreen” to thecitizen_bg1.vtf file.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Thank you! Thank you! This fixes my problem nicely.

        Reply
  482. Kasperg

    I was looking through the Reader’s Recommendation section and was intrigued when I saw The Citizen.
    Is there any reason why all the “Too buggy” recommendations for this mod automatically became “Avoit It”?
    To further question this fact, most of the “Too buggy” recommendations were related to a mistake that was fixed in the 1.1 version 🙂

    Reply
  483. Jasper

    I played before version 1.1. Had a few problems but got through.
    I didn’t leave a comment, just glad to get to the end!
    I need to play 1.1 before you two come out with Citizen 2.
    Thanks for the gee up. Don’t know the answer to your question though Kaspberg.
    Any chance of hanging on for a couple of weeks? Please?

    Reply
    1. Jasper
      Play It Now!

      One more PIN. Your mod must have the record number of PINs of any mod.
      Here’s another one.
      Found 15 out of 15 Easter eggs. The one early on in the warehouse was an SOB to find. Nearly missed it.
      There’s already loads of comments and I agree with all the good ones so I’ll not bore everyone to death by adding more.
      The niggle that stopped me giving this a PF was the very very long Rebel Base part after the Strider. The Strider followed by the Combine fight was hard and most enjoyable.
      Version 1.1 played just great.

      Reply

  484. Pingback: The Citizen 1.1

  485. rikersbeard
    Personal Favourite

    Well playing “The Citizen” has been very rewarding for me. It was fun to play with just the right levels of discovery and action. The sneaky, weapon less beginning was a little tricky as it was so dark but it did encourage the use of some grey matter. And a pasting from the guard helped to motivate me!
    I loved the use of the airboat, both on water and off. And the various tasks needed to get it through the gates.
    Many little touches made this so enjoyable. The little graphic touches like posters and notices and the odd characters of the resistance. The humorous scenes were nice light touches to a somewhat sombre game, even when they involved explosives!
    Nice to see a little stealth action in a mod and the use of combine disguise was a treat. But that was where the fun ended for me……
    The latest steam update arrived to end my campaign on chapter 13, (see vid walkthrough above)!
    So how do I rate a mod where I had to finish the last four chapters watching the walkthrough on You Tube?

    Well I enjoyed it more than any other mod so far!
    Graphically very pleasing with a nice textured and gritty look to the maps, great sound and fx. Although having the ” easter eggs” as Easter eggs was a little surreal.

    So I say “Play it now”. IF YOU CAN!

    Reply
    1. Kasperg

      Yep. If you can 🙁
      I’m glad you at least go to play some of it while it worked!
      If we release the sequel (expecting all updates until then will allow us to) we will surely try to fix whatever we can to make it work with the new engine, even though some changes like the amount of simultaneous surfaces the engine can draw (lower now) will make that trickier than it seems.

      Reply
    2. rikersbeard

      It’s back thanks to a fantastic new patch!
      All I can say is PLAY IT NOW!
      You never know when the water may again boil the data…….

      Reply
    3. rikersbeard

      UPDATE

      I have finally finished this mod thanks to the update.. I left a long gap before replaying so I could enjoy it almost fresh. And I must admit I still love its quirky characters and humour along with the action. Bravo to all involved……..
      My only niggle is the ending. I finished it on the train, then found dog and the credits rolled. Nice music! So I checked out the vid-walkthrough here and found the missing box of “Monster” cereal. So I replayed and got the message, “found 15/15 Easter eggs” and expected a different ending, but I got the same one! Is there a difference?

      Not the greatest ever mod but the most enjoyable. If that makes sense?

      Reply
  486. Guille

    Hi, I want to play this mod but steam won’t show the mod in my games list (aka library)

    As a side note I don’t have HL2 retail title but I have all of it’s content due I have Garry’s Mod. Except for some random ep1 texture-sound I have been able to play most mods I found.

    Is there any way to tell steam to load The Citizen through Gmod?

    Reply
    1. Kasperg

      No idea. It’s designed to run with standard HL2 (although it doesn’t work properly after the last big Steam update).
      The mod is based on AppID 220 which is Half-life 2. If you don’t have that game installed, the shortcut will not show up. I don’t see how not having HL2 is a side note though, considering both this site and Moddb specify this mod is for Half-life 2.

      Reply
  487. ELBUF

    I downloaded and installed it. Put it in my source mod folders but when I start it. I get a message saying Node graph build out of date/unseccesful or something to that extent. Then certain things are missing from the game. The first citizen you talk to about the TV doesnt say anything. And theres a women downstairs missing. Please help me I really want to play this mod.

    Reply
    1. Kasperg

      Latest Steam update broke the mod. We would need to add script files to every scene in order for the sound to work again for those scenes.
      The mod contains roughly 170 scenes, so that update won’t be ready anytime soon, I’m afraid 🙁

      Reply
      1. Timppa

        I tried noclipping through the citizen who was blocking the stairs (Because he was glitched.) After that I found myself from noclip jail.

        Reply
        1. Kasperg

          The Noclip jail only happens if you go through walls etc. I think it’d be possible to skip the citizen in the stairs without too much trouble. But at the moment, I don’t think the mod is worth playing if people are going to have to noclip their way through the dozens of scenes that actually trigger game events.

          I guess just looking and walking around the maps is the only possible thing to do right now without much trouble.

          Reply
          1. Timppa

            I know, I just accidently touched a wall. But yes, it isn’t worth playing like this.

            PLEASE fix it. D:

            Reply
  488. Will

    I agree, this looks to be a promising mod, if only I could get past the guy on the stairs. I now actually feel a bit isolated, seeing as no-one is talking to me after I just got beaten up by the Combine…

    I walk out of the room and try to go downstairs and nothing happens, please help? I’ve tried giving him the T.V. but since that no-one is talking it does nothing.

    Please help?

    Reply
    1. Jasper

      Hi, Will.
      Phillip has posted a link in the main post.

      Follow the instructions and all should be well.

      Reply
  489. rayx

    Hi all,

    the mod won’t start when configured to wide-screen resolution after installing the update.
    It usually just doesn’t start without any errors except the windows error sound. But once I saw an error message that it couldn’t find the file background_wide something.

    Regards,
    rayx

    Reply
    1. Timppa

      Crashes even after the fixes. Cannot find materials/console/thecitizen_bg1_widescreen

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        I’m having this exact same problem! Please post the fix as soon as possible!

        Reply
  490. Timppa

    Never mind, I invented a fix to the crashes at startup. I post it here after I have completed the mod :p

    Reply
  491. Burn

    Hi. So my brother just downloaded this mod earlier today after the latest Steam update. Whenever the game starts up it says something about a node, and then in the first level the guy by the stairs won’t talk to you and neither will the woman upstairs.
    So, I tried downloading the fix-which, to my dissapointment, didn’t come with any readme files or instructions-but it didn’t work when I put it into The Citizen folder. So, I decided to put all of the files in the fix into the folders that don’t have the correct files/don’t have all of them. But it still didn’t work. My brother and I are at a dead end right now. Please tell me how to install the fix? Thanks.

    Reply
    1. PlanetPhillip

      Even with the fix, it seems that the voices don’t work. See here for more details: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1289845

      Reply
  492. Fluorescent
    Personal Favourite

    I love the ‘dO NOT TOUCH” buttons

    Reply
  493. keithinvietnam
    Play It Now!

    Being a parallel timeline mod, The Citizen definitely gives you the feeling you’ve re-entered the Half-Life 2 world after the 7 hour war, but perhaps some days later than Gordon Freeman makes his mysterious reappearance. The storyline starts innocently enough, and is driven forward by numerous custom voiced character interactions. Similarly played out to the original game, you progress by solving puzzles or completing “mini goals.” There’s a lot of variety here, and particularly rewarding are all of the details meant for avid Half Life fans. Also, to replace Valve’s achievements, the designers included special easter eggs which are sometimes very challenging to locate. They are numbered, so if you miss one, you can go back to an earlier saved game to search more carefully. I managed to find all of them by this method, which unlocked a special area near the end of the mod. The developers also managed to come up with an extremely ingenious way to prevent players from cheating (ie., by using the noclip command) to find the sometimes very elaborately presented easter eggs.

    The maps are very reminiscent of those in Half Life 2, though I found them to be somewhat claustrophobic, and the outdoor areas seems rather contrived at times, sometimes ending too soon, and not always based on realistic conventions of a city landscape. That said, there was much variety in the maps as well as gameplay, but I would love to see what the developers could do with some outdoor or more expansive maps. A lot of actions in The Citizen are based on the sequence of things, and as I understand, this is why the player is not allowed to sprint. I felt at a loss in certain battles without this ability, and also my not following the proper sequence the developers intended resulted in getting stuck in some maps – forcing me to load and earlier saved game, and falling victim to certain death (including a swarm of manhacks) in others. This and some of the strange actions of enemy NPCs took away from the playability of The Citizen, but once I went back a saved game, it was easily forgotten as I re-entered all the fun to be had.

    Right before its abrupt ending (to be continued wit a sequel,) The Citizen just begins to feel like Half-Life 2 in a way that made me try to remember “how did I get here, exactly,” which I see as a good thing, because it makes you feel like you are actually in the game, living it. To push that feeling even more, the developers also employed nicely done lightmaps which change according to the time of day as you progress, along with custom music, and well thought out soundscapes. I also really enjoyed the very unique and original effect of wearing a uniform as a disguise, forcing me to think in a more stealthy way with my gameplay. In the end, I just wish it didn’t have to end so suddenly, though there will be another entry in the Citizen story coming soon, and that makes me pretty happy.

    My Ratings
    GAMEPLAY MAP DESIGN
    Playability: Mini Review Bar System Detail: Mini Review Bar System
    Originality: Mini Review Bar System Puzzles: Mini Review Bar System
    Challenge: Mini Review Bar System Battles: Mini Review Bar System
    Storyline: Mini Review Bar System Lighting: Mini Review Bar System
    Variety: Mini Review Bar System Audio: Mini Review Bar System
    Notes on getting the mod to run properly

    This mod is not compatible with the Mac version of Steam/HL2, as of October 2010. To get this mod working for me in the latest update of HL2 on Windows, I had to do three things:

    1. Download & unzip the hl2-sp-the-citizen-fix-v2.zip patch available on this The Citizen page right here on PlanetPhillip.
    2. Copy the contents of the folders of the above zip archive into the same named folders of the original The Citizen mod, overwriting files when necessary.
    3. If you have an older videocard which is only DirectX 8.x compatible, you will need to follow these fix instructions also given here on Planet Phillip: Go into your /SourceMods/The Citizen/materials/citizen folder and rename the file “eliteoverlay2.vmt” to “eliteoverlay.vmt.” If needed, rename the original “eliteoverlay.vmt” to “eliteoverlay-backup.vmt” first.

    Reply
  494. OG Loc
    Personal Favourite

    One of my favorite mods! A life of a citizen huh? I think it was pretty too original to have the HEV Suit instead of something else. Some parts of the mod were really funny, like the broken TV, DO NOT TOUCH buttons, the theater posters, and more!

    Reply
  495. s.anchev
    Play It Now!

    Another PIN for this mod’. I’ve played it long ago, but never posted a review.

    Seeing the amazing work on Citizen 2, there were clearly changements between the 2, and this was better for the 2, I can say 🙂

    The first part of Citizen 1 is weak, IMHO : it is long, you go from NPC A to NPC B to NPC C, just for speeches, there is some “puzzles” sympathic with some buttons, I understand that Karsperg and Fox wanted to put you from “simple citizen” to “resistance member”, step by step, but this part was cool but clearly a little boring.

    Then, the airboat part” wasn’t clearly enjoyable : Having played Forward Motion, I can tell people can make entertaining airboat levels… And here that wasn’t the case. This was more like the infamouso-boring Buggy sequence of Coastline to Atmosphere.

    However, it gets better and better!!! Numerous squad assaults in the team, numerous scripted sequences and interesting story very well-developed!!!

    The “map10” in the rebel base is truly EPIC and there is many things to do. I laughed with the woman locked by a facetious member (Marcus) and two levels later, it gets more interesting as Marcus (again) re-do the joke… with a darker end… The final level was magnificent, this is clearly well-done, we really feel in the boots of an underground resistance team such as the times of French resistance in WWII, I was holding my breath till the end.

    So, a PIN for an overall perfect mod but with a weak beginning. Overall, one of the best mod’s of HL so far, especially with its sequel now 😀

    EDIT : I praise also your limited use of the G-Man. At first, I wondered why he appeared just so little. But this is clever : he appears at the beginning because he took an interest on the hero, but he has to follow first on Gordon. Then he appeared just if the hero is clearly in overwhelming trouble. Great!

    Reply
  496. john
    Play It Now!

    Just finished citizen 1. the patch on mod db does work. wow what a great mod, thank you for all your hard work. the parts with the adviser were great. now off to citizen 2 while my guns are still warm.

    Reply
  497. Tonester

    Haven’t played this for a while so thought I would give it a go before playing the second part. However, when I add the fix, I cannot load up the game. Anyone else getting this error?

    Reply
    1. tommiezat

      Yes I tried to replay this and dloaded it plus the fix located on PP site and ModDB and I could not get it to work.

      Reply
      1. Tonester

        Thank you for replying tommiezat. Glad to know it isn’t just me. Does anyone know if there is/will be a fix for this? It is obviously another Valve update that has once again ruined our enjoyment.

        Reply
  498. s.anchev

    Sorry for you guys, but I’ve played it from beginning to the end one week ago, I re-tried it today and it works perfectly.

    Have you installed the patch from July 2010?

    Reply
    1. Tonester

      I did install the July patch. I did reinstall it last week with the patch and it worked fine. At the church, I minimised my screen to check something and hl2.exe crashed. When I went to restart it, I heard a Windows error and the game just didn’t start. Tried reboot but still the same problem. Uninstalled the whole game and tried again but still had the error sound. Tried without the patch but the triggers don’t work so couldn’t advance. Added the patch and had the same error sound, so it appears the patch no longer works even with a fresh download.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        I’m having the same problem, using the patch. If I try to launch the game in forced high resolution (my native 1920×1080), then it crashes as soon as it starts. However, it will start in 1280×1024 or any other 4:3 resolution, and then I’m able to change it in the in-game menu. So I’ve had to tell steam to launch it in 1280×1024 in order for it to work, and then change the resolution every time I play.

        It’s fairly annoying, but reproducible so I know it’s a bug. I don’t know what the cause could be, and I’ve tried everything short of trying to edit the mod directly.

        Reply
        1. Anonymous

          I just found a fix!

          In The Citizen mod’s materials/console/ folder, find the file thecitizen_bg1.vtf, make a copy of it in the same folder, and rename the copy thecitizen_bg1_widescreen.vtf. Then do the exact same process for thecitizen_bg2.vtf, renaming the copy to thecitizen_bg2_widescreen.vtf.

          This fixes the high resolution launch crash completely.

          Reply
  499. Joji
    Personal Favourite

    This mod is my personal favorite. Heck it’s one of the best mods I played!! Voice acting was kind of disapointing, but the bad accents? Well, in real life, you will see people with bad accents, so bad accents are realistic. So deal with it. 😛 They are good!

    Gameplay was amazing, lighting, and I hardly saw any glitches at all. Perfect mod. Though, the part where you’re suppose to get into the vent to open the door for your 3 comrades at the near end, was kind of disapointing since you have to leave them. 🙁

    And the scene right before the credits was a little odd. Someone explain it to me please? Thanks…

    What is really interesting about this mod is Chapter 2, where you …SPOILER REMOVED BY PHILLIP… Very very interesting!! Great job guys!!

    Overall, I’d give this mod a 9/10. 😀

    Reply
    1. PlanetPhillip

      Well, in real life, you will see people with bad accents

      Yes, but in real life you can ask people to repeat things in different ways.

      Reply
  500. Dsmracer

    Can’t get passed the guy in the stairs and he won’t speak. I tried the usual fixes listed and the update but to no avail. Anyone able to get this fixed?

    Reply
    1. Kasperg

      If it doesn’t work, you must have extracted the contents of the patch in the wrong place, as the mod does indeed work with those files. I hope you sort it out.

      Reply
  501. Max

    Scene ‘scenes\bully_gogettv.vcd” missing!
    Scene ‘scenes\chico_speech.vcd” missing!
    Scene ‘scenes\breen_dance.vcd” missing!
    Scene ‘scenes\chico2_taketv.vcd” missing!
    Scene ‘scenes\bully_itsbroken.vcd” missing!

    I hae just downloaded the mod and save, and this keeps on showing in my console at the apartment level. Any ideas on how to fix?

    Reply
  502. tyronesdaddy

    I tried playing the Citizen V 1.1 and cannot get anyone to talk to me. It seems that scripts do not run properly in the game, I am guessing due to Steam updates. Is there going to be an update in the future to fix this? BTW the Citizen 2 works fine.

    Reply
  503. ID10T

    Excellent Mod, the Sin Bin for noclip was a cool funny idea, very good game play, Half Life should be more like this imo. Keep up the good work..can’t wait to play part 3… 🙂

    Reply
  504. Olrick
    Play It Now!

    This mod is beautiful, very well made. Hard to believe it was accidental when you see the level of details. All is there from the uninteresting but important crates to that funny scene with the girl trapped in her locker.
    Even if you don’t understand English speech very well you can enjoy the story in addition of the actions phases. On that point using an advisor makes a valuable difference cause they are rare, and now, we know that we mustn’t bug the GMan.

    Reply
  505. Hec
    Personal Favourite

    I don’t know why I didn’t reviewed this one, but as with the “The Citizen” saga (currently only TC1 And TC2) this mod is a great Must Play Classic, just the simple but inmersive story and layout and the whole atmospheric feeling of being a rebel fighting against the CMB, makes this mod very fun and entretaining, one of the best delivers in HL2 moding scene.

    As I say you just must play this if u haven’t as this is a classic, also I recomend to play this mod first and then the 2nd release just to be more into the whole story line this mod sets.

    Reply
  506. wunnle

    All links are down at the moment. Anyone has a copy?

    Reply
    1. Sparks

      Yes, ModDB does, the page is here.

      Follow the link to the mod’s download page (here) and install it as normal.

      But valve broke it when they broke HL2 (thanks GABEN) so now you can only run it in an old and clunky version of the game engine, which causes various problems whilst playing but is better than nothing.

      So before running the mod, download the patch (here) and copy it on top of the mod’s files, overwriting where prompted. Restart steam and launch the mod from the Library tab. If you’re lucky, valve might let you play what’s left of it for a few days before they extrude the next poisonous update. Oh, too late – steam(turd)pipe is already upon us. Joy.

      Reply
  507. wunnle

    Well, I found mod from another site. I have a new problem. After I copy files on the fix, game does nothing when I pressed play in steam.

    Reply
    1. Sparks

      Clarification pls – you installed the mod, then you installed the patch on top of it (overwriting the original files), the mod shows up in steam Library but when you click on the mod’s name, it doesn’t launch, steam just does nothing?

      All your other HL2 mods launch ok?

      Reply
      1. reve_etrange

        Yes, that’s exactly right – I have the same problem (installed mod, patch, steam does nothing, other mods work).

        Reply
        1. reve_etrange

          The solution is to install the Source SDK Base 2007, then it works.

          Reply
  508. Ade

    I can’t seem to find comments pagination.

    Reply
    1. PlanetPhillip

      Mmm, true. I’ll look into that now.
      /EDIT/ okay, fixed, but lacking style. So, they are just simple numbers and links.

      Reply
  509. Anon_1262543

    I can’t start the game from the main menu. I click “New Game”, then it shows me an empty box with two buttons on the bottom: “Start New Game”, and “Cancel”. It does nothing when I press the former.
    This is what I got on the console:

    maxplayers set to 1
    Heap: 256.00 Mb
    Parsed 23 text messages
    execing config.cfg
    Can’t use cheat cvar cam_command in multiplayer, unless the server has sv_cheats set to 1.
    Can’t use cheat cvar dsp_dist_max in multiplayer, unless the server has sv_cheats set to 1.
    Can’t use cheat cvar dsp_dist_min in multiplayer, unless the server has sv_cheats set to 1.
    Can’t use cheat cvar r_ambientfraction in multiplayer, unless the server has sv_cheats set to 1.
    2 CPUs, Frequency: 3.2 Ghz, Features: GenuineIntel SSE SSE2 MMX RDTSC CMOV FCMOV
    GetAllManifestFiles: Unable to load maplist.txt
    execing valve.rc
    CModelLoader::Map_IsValid: No such map ‘background01’
    map load failed: background01 not found or invalid
    `
    I also have another problem: I cannot input anything on the dev console. It simply closes after typing the first letter. This also happenned on Garry’s Mod and any other game on the Source Engine.

    Reply
    1. Ade

      http://www.planetphillip.com/posts/get-mods-working/ last post worked for me

      Reply
  510. embutidos ibéricos

    What’s up Dear, are you genuinely visiting this website daily, if so after that you will absolutely get pleasant experience.

    Reply
  511. Daniel

    The guy at the top of the stairs on the first map won’t talk to me. I hate how Valve have completely broken mods with their engine updates… I really can’t be bothered searching if I need fixes or not for every mod I want to try…

    Reply
  512. Quarter-Life
    Play It Later

    There’s both good and bad with this mod. For instance, the quality of the level design and combat is pretty great. But their custom voice acting is almost always terrible, even when the lines themselves are not. The mod is highly creative and original, but the execution of their ideas is rather poor. However, I don’t really blame the modders. A lot of work obviously went into this mod, and the modders’ creativity was probably outstripped by their limited resources (in which case I’d rather have what they can produce than not have it at all). For example, in telling their story the modders have the NPCs programmed to do a number of things that I just don’t think HL2 content was made to do, consequently making the NPCs act very awkwardly. Nonetheless, one could still see what the modders were trying to do with the content they had to work with, which is still impressive. I look forward to playing the Citizen 2, aka The Citizen returns.

    Installed:
    Using Gauge
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    2 Hours
    Reply
  513. Leo Garkin

    Hi, I hope I’m commenting right. I’m not really used to this every three days comments must be posted or you can only post them on certain things. So sorry if I offend anybody I did not know what I was doing. So I have no idea how to download mods. I didn’t know where to post this so I thought here was good. I have looked up many ways to do it. I’ve extracted them into source mods and restarted steam many times. Am I just an idiot or do other people have these problems. Sorry if I’m just some newbie that is just annoying. I don’t have much relations apps (like Skype) but you could contact me though steam though my account. Thanks, bye.

    Reply
    1. PlanetPhillip

      I have sent you an email Leo.

      Reply
  514. Yoshi678
    Play It Now!

    This mod caught my attention about 3 months ago, but I couldn’t get it to work so I dropped it. But then I came back to it when I figured out how to fix it. And now, here’s my thoughts:

    The Story

    This plot is nothing special. The mod description tell you you’re a citizen fed up of being pushed around by the Combine so you join the rebels. Yeah, you do just that. You wander your apartment block for a bit looking for a way to get into the resistance being redirected from one guy to the next. Suddenly you’re underneath a garage and then 10 minutes later you’re shooting combine soldiers to defend a storefront. I make the pacing sound frighteningly fast but it’s not that bad. This mod’s quite short and so’s it’s story. You eventually shoot your way to a rebel base and then go attempt to assassinate Breen. This idea would have been more interesting if it wasn’t Breen. Who else it could be? I don’t know, thing is though, you know how it’s going to play out long before you begin the assault. Because we know how Breen dies, you presumably kill him when you shut off the dark energy reactor at the end of Half-Life 2 (This mod’s plot happens besides Day 1 and 2 of Half-life 2’s plot.). So of course you’re not gonna get him, and almost all tension is lost. You’re just wondering how spectacularly the plot will fail. (Spoilers: Not too bad but you of course don’t kill Breen. Whup-de-doo.) The ending isn’t grand but it’s not disappointing either. In typical Half-Life fashion, it’s a cliffhanger.

    The Presentation

    This mod looks nice. It has custom assets where needed and none of them look bad or notably out of place. Otherwise? It looks as good as Half-Life 2 did, even if level geometry is a bit rough in places, especially towards the end of the game. Musically speaking, it’s rocking a few custom tracks which fit the Half-Life theme, otherwise it’s using tracks from Half-Life 2’s OST. Which I don’t mind. The sound design is where things get a bit muddy. For one, there’s some voice acting to be heard here and sadly it’s not very good. It sticks out like a sore thumb against Half-Life 2’s voices. Not to make it sound too bad. It’s perfectly clear despite the lack of subtitles. You won’t lose sleep over it. The game features a number of sequences of character interaction. Such as becoming part of a rebel squad and listening to a motivational speech once or twice. Harmless stuff that doesn’t last terribly long.

    The Gameplay

    This game is very short. Only an hour and a half long tops even for rusty players. But, with it’s short run time we get some variety. There’s some simple puzzles to start, then some shooting, then a quite poorly designed airboat section. Sorry, it’s just too cramped for my liking. The airboat’s handling doesn’t accommodate for the tight spaces you have to weave through. You kill a couple of snipers here and there. Listen to some characters babble for a bit, and then off to shoot some more Combine soldiers and do some stealthing around in Combine suits a couple of times. And then shoot some more, then the game’s over. But every map is designed well enough that it never gets anything less than enjoyable. This mod is a fun ride from start to finish, even if it starts a bit slowly. I only have one major gripe, and even then, it’s not game breaking. I can recall a couple of occasions where scripted events just wouldn’t get going. I’d then have to kill myself either via rocket launcher to the ass or the console. Not everyone will have that problem though so I suppose it’s a nitpick. The game gets a bit carried away with enemy density towards the end but is otherwise well balanced in terms of difficult. Not much else to say there.

    Overall a good time. It’s not perfect, oh god no. It’s quite rough around the edges when it comes to the map design. When your’re done? Jump into the sequel. “The Citizen Returns.” If anything, play this game to set up the sequel like you do with Episode 1 to set up the plot of Episode 2. Either way, Play it now.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    1 Hour, 10 Minutes
    Reply
  515. Ttiki
    Personal Favourite
    Review:

    This is a great game
    It was a really fun game to play. There isn’t big/new mechanic, but it was fun to play.
    The story is not bad at all, the link with the caracter is cool.
    The only things that seem weird is the fact you’ve found a suit in the sewer… But the game know that, and will be playing with this! Like the npc think you are Gordon Freeman. (You see what I mean?)

    “Mechanic”

    The mapping is really good, and easy to play, what I mean is, there is not one single map where you are lost because of, I don’t know, lots of props that block the way, bad mapping that hide the way…
    There isn’t any new mechanical gameplay, besides the combine disguise part.

    Personnal favorite parts

    When you enter the broadcast buildings to kill Dr.Breen. Infact, I LOVE when you disguise as a combine!
    And the other part I really like is the beginning of the game.

    In conclusion

    Go and download all the files, and play it now!

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Easy
    Playtime:
    1 Hour, 30 Minutes
    Reply
    1. gfreeman

      Any Idea how to get this mod working?

      Reply
  516. gfreeman

    Ive done all the things for the fix but now i’m getting a message saying “could not load libary client”.
    Anyone know how to fix?

    Reply
  517. Kasperg

    I’m just dropping by to mention that today marks exactly ten years since the first release of “The Citizen” (v1.0).
    I could’ve never imagined how popular this mod would become (even with its flaws) and that it would be downloaded 75,000 times here and in moddb.

    I want to thank everyone who was involved, including of course anyone that played, reviewed etc. I feel lucky to have been able to share what was my hobby back then with so many people around the world!

    Reply
  518. gfreeman
    Personal Favourite

    It took me around half a year, of hard sweat and annoyance to finally get this mod working, And oh boy did it impress. Whilst not of Valve quality this mod gives us a glimpse into what Valve might have done had they employed they same expansion methods on Half-life 2, as they had done with the original. It offers alot of fun, interesting ideas and puzzles. The voice acting isn’t great but the actors had clear passion for creating a new half life experience.

    Hopefully when we get half life 3, we shall see The Citizen return.

    My favorite half-life 2 mod (not inc episodes)

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    4 Hours, 20 Minutes
    Reply
  519. ddb
    Think Twice

    I went into this mod expecting a masterpiece, as it in the Hall of Fame. But the mod slowly got worse and worse. The ‘puzzles’ in the game included: pushing a set of buttons randomly until you guess the correct combination, and walking around aimlessly until you find a key of some sort.

    The voice acting was a good idea, the citizens in Half Life have little personality other than small jokes, but the execution was horrid. The mic quality varied in quality and the voice actors had little to no experience. It didn’t come off as charming, but cringy.

    The airboat section might be the most egregious section, I abandoned the airboat about half way in favor of walking, as controlling the airboat in a confined space is not easy, or fun. Other than that it was only kinda bad. I found the level design awkward and confusing, and difficult to navigate. Whenever I felt like I was getting some momentum I was stopped by a lengthy and awkward scripted sequence.

    The enemy placement seemed to follow the old NES style of game design: Add so many enemies that it takes you 5 times to complete a section, artificially inflating the games length, and difficulty. I had to quit at the Bookworm chapter. There where dozens of Combine Elites in a small, enclosed space with no cover, all shooting me at once. I remember there being at most 2 medpacks in that area, and one medic.

    Another terrible thing is almost every level had to update its node graph, and the overall blocky look I felt like I was playing a beta build of a mod, not a full release.

    I get this mod is a decade old, and it hasn’t aged well, but I don’t think it deserves a place in the Hall of Fame.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    1 Hour, 40 Minutes
    Reply
  520. Winterman
    Play It Later

    I guess the fact that this is valued as one of the best mods of all time is because of when it was created. I think it’s not that great these days. Still, this mod is impressive for people who worked in a tiny group to create this.

    Almost everything is OK, from the gameplay (except the fact that you somehow cannot sprint) and map designs. The maps feel like actual places, especially for the theater. Props to the creator who populated the store with grocery stuff too! But I feel like the Airboat and stealth sections could have been better. The Airboat section was too short and the stealth section would flow better if you cut out the gunfights that erupt in-between.

    The story and voice acting are this mod’s shortcomings, but the story has much more issues. It was weird for me to see some nobody, a regular citizen, emerging as a Resistance second-in-command in no time. Jesus, it was weirder when you are suddenly recruited by talking to a random woman who appears to live in the same apartment as you. Oh, and you manage to accidentally bump into an HEV suit randomly lying around. Later in the mod, you and the Resistance attempt an assassination on Dr. Breen. You pretty much know where this is going. The plan will fail in one way or another, since you hear Breen dies at the end of Half-Life 2. The Combine Advisor shows up too, for no reason whatsoever. The ending is straight up confusing too.

    I’m not sure if some part of the plot tries to reflect on the Citizen’s doing anything to get by. Such as ringing a bell to alert the Combine to the Rebel’s presence in the church and you straight up leave your comrades behind at the end of the mod.
    For this small team, this is impressive. But I’m not sure why does this is praised so much.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    4 Hours
    Reply
  521. Outl3ts
    Play It Now!
    Outl3t’s review for “The Citizen”

    This is a pretty good mod overall. It’s not the best mod out there, but I think it definitely deserves its hall of fame slot. I think it goes to show what a small group of people working in their spare time can do. Overall, for people too lazy to read the reviews, play it. You won’t regret it and it won’t take too much time. Now, onto the review.

    Gameplay
    The gameplay of this mod is alright. Not the strongest ever, but not weak. It has a lot of interesting ideas, such as a stealth section and a tight airboat corridor, but these ideas aren’t explored to their fullest potential. The puzzles are weak, but I’ll take easy puzzles over impossible ones any day of the week. I rarely found myself in situations that were way too hard, but had a constant challenge throughout. The absence of the of the gravity gun, while not at all new (at least I think), makes for some interesting challenges for players that are used to it, but it’s not much of a distraction. The map design facilitates the gameplay quite well, especially in the library section. Some minor complaints include maybe a few too many snipers early in the game and some occasional bugs, but nothing too serious, at least for me.

    Map Design
    This is one of the stronger points in the game. From some occasional jokes, to the flooded streets of the city, to the warzone soon after you emerge from the underground, to the civic center, these maps are very good. They really capture both City 17 and Combine architecture, at least in my mind. Some of my favorite sections from a visual standpoint are just outside the Elvet theater, the library in the Civic Center, and the underground train station. Honestly, you have to see them to appreciate them. I would use these maps for my desktop wallpaper or have framed pictures of them, to be honest. Really, go check it out.

    The Story
    Spoilers ahead. It’s good. Not great, but good.
    As the desc. states, you play as a random citizen, probably on the day Nova Prospect was destroyed. After getting injured in a Combine raid on your home, you join the Resistance, culminating in an assassination attempt on Dr. Breen. Ultimately, if you can get past the amateurish voice acting (although I do enjoy Larry’s idiosyncratic delivery) and slightly too fast pace, it holds up okay. Not Valve quality, but better than some AAA games these days.

    Overall, I would say play this mod, as well as it’s sequel, The Citizen Returns. It will not be a wate of your time.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    2 Hours, 45 Minutes
    Reply
  522. dwfuji
    Maybe?

    Pros:
    – Excellent brush, texture and FX work throughout
    – Believable Half Life vibe to the level designs
    – Solid combat sometimes necessitating dropping down a difficulty level
    – Interesting use of text prompts to simulate an inventory for keys
    – New rebel and Combine voiceovers (but see Cons below)
    – Nice small details like posters, graffiti and handwritten notes add depth

    Cons:
    – Often inappropriate choices of background music that are out of tempo with the action
    – VOs are not mixed or FX processed (reverb etc) very well, making scenes seem stilted
    – Not much investment in the character – who are we, and why do we care?
    – Levels are sometimes too tight, especially in the airboat section

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    2 Hours
    Reply
  523. Oaklizard2047

    This mod is bad at doors and voice acting.

    I cant distinguish an unlocked door from a locked one. My suggestion is to put handles on the unlocked ones. The way it guides the player on the beginning is also bad, however it become better after that.

    For the voice acting is too deep. I dont understand most of Larry’s dialogue. And it doesnt have much emotion put into it.

    But for the rest of it, its actually pretty fun. It has a good amount of combat, and they did have balance, if you know what i mean.

    So the point is, this mod is great. It’s just sucks at some aspect. But probabaly because there were only two people working on it. So i guess they did a pretty good job.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Easy
    Playtime:
    6 Hours
    Reply
    1. Oaklizard2047

      I recommend PLAY IT NOW, somehow it doesnt appear…

      Reply
  524. Korgi
    Maybe?

    Am not particularly sure why this is so highly reviewed. While I encountered almost no issues while playing the experience itself wasn’t amazing and had some issues.

    Pros:
    -Well made levels with minimal/no clipping path finding issues for player AI

    -Neutrals
    -Weapon names are slightly bugged
    -I wish it was a bit longer and had a clearer story.

    -Cons
    -Audio is buggy and you can’t hear it if you move away or turn around you can’t hear anything.
    -Combine suits are a bit buggy.

    Installed:
    Using Gauge
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    2 Hours, 30 Minutes
    Reply
  525. MetalGearToaster
    Play It Now!

    The Citizen

    An excellent mod all around, it kept me entertained for the whole duration.

    The voice acting is certainly… voice acting, but it doesn’t detract anything from the experience, especially because of the time the mod was released.

    This mod is definitely worth your time.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Hard
    Playtime:
    2 Hours, 25 Minutes
    Reply
  526. Daken50
    Play It Now!

    Great looking. Plays good. A lot of dead spots. Could have used a few more combine here or there in some spots. Lots of loads. Short maps. Replay ability.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Easy
    Playtime:
    40 Minutes
    Reply
  527. Tuberculosis
    Personal Favourite

    One of my favorites

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Medium
    Playtime:
    3 Hours
    Reply
  528. SpankyMcBemsi
    Think Twice

    This mod is absolutely broken on modern Source SDK/Steam Pipe.

    1. The Sprinting is broken, while you’re supposed to be able to without a suit it doesn’t.
    2. The scripted AI is absolutely buggy
    3. Audio issues.

    I’d avoid or play The Citizen 2 till a patch or fix comes out by the creator or a third party.
    Not only that a whole intro sequence is played out while manhacks bounce around above the ceiling if you’re dumb enough as I was to press a button marked “DO NOT PRESS”.

    Installed:
    Manually
    Difficulty Played At:
    Hard
    Playtime:
    15 Minutes
    Reply

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