You’re falling.
Falling down a tunnel.
With others.
They’re dead – you’re not.
Don’t waste your last chance.
- Title: Unexplored World (See Note 1)
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-unexplored-world.7z
- Original File Name: jongeneeljethro_graduationproject.zip
- Size : 17.4MB
- Author: Jethro Jongeneel
- Date Released: 19 August 2013
Technically, these maps don’t have a proper title. The page on the author’s website is called Exploring a New and Unexplored World and clearly that’s not a title you want for a couple of maps. I decided to call it Unexplored World because I had to sue something and that seemed a fair compromise.
The file below contains a very detailed PDF describing the reasoning before the maps. They were his project for graduation and are not simply maps made for fun. See the PDF if you are intersted that aspect of the maps.
Download directly into MapTap [17.4MB]
You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
- Open the archive and copy all the folders into your C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\ep2 folder.
- Launch HL2: Episode Two
- Open the conole and type map jongeneeljethro_garden_part1
- Press Enter tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
This really is a perfect example of why you should be using MapTap. To uninstall these maps you must note each andevery file within all the folders you copied and then delete them manually. With MapTap, it’s just one-click install and uninstall! Plus there’s no need to open the console.
The playthrough/walkthrough below is provided by PlanetPhillip. See more of my playthroughs on this site: VP: PlanetPhillip.
Click on the tabs below to select the size of screenshot you would like.
All sizes are the same screenshots, just in different resolutions.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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136365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 5 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 26 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 15 Mins by Maki
Longest: 0 Hours, 45 Mins by Steve
Total Time Played: 3 Hours, 1 Mins
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I certainly enjoyed these maps for the most part, but feel the author has thought he created more than he has.
He talks a lot about Environmental Storytelling and he definitely has created questions in my mind about the facility I find myself in but just a setting.
I don’t feel there’s any story told, just the possibility of a story.
In addition, I feel it’s a HUGE mistake putting words into the player’s mouth with voice acting. This goes against everything we know if HL, but of course the player is NOT Gordon Freeman and that gives them latitude.
That said, unless the map develops the playing character in other ways and gives my something real, all it does is just replace my thought processes.
With regard to the actual levels, they are generally well made, but have a few errors -my video shows at least one HOM effect.
I also feel that some aspect are wrong: the doors leading to certain sections seem to be made of wood, whereas everything is metal.
Picking holes in this sort of release is slightly unfair as it had other objectives.
All in all, an interesting release where you can enjoy it for what it is or look deeper.
Play it.
Using Gauge
Medium
26 Minutes
First, the installation of this mod is a mess. With this many stray files across several directories, the author should have packaged this as a formal mod. I suspect as a result of this, I didn’t have voice acting… not that I really needed it. Judging by Phillip’s stream, it would have only lowered my impression.
From the start, we get an intro cinematic and I thought it was kind of hilarious how I let myself get sucked right into the grinder because I wasn’t aware I had control at that point.
The level centers around a large machine that appears to process corpses, and perhaps related to it, an artificial garden environment. The two levels are quite symmetrical, open and heavily interconnected. It’s certainly possible to get lost and, unfortunately, you’ve got this obnoxious alarm that won’t stop until you find the button to turn it off. There weren’t any major battles or unique gameplay elements. The mod also ends very abruptly and in an anticlimactic fashion.
Obviously, the narrative was supposed to be the point. However, like Phillip, I think the author is claiming more than is actually here. As far as I can tell, there really isn’t a deeper story – just a lot of surreal visuals and unremarkable gameplay. I might assume that the corpses are processed into the barrels. But then, how does this garden fit into the picture? I could speculate, but the mod offers nothing concrete. That’s a problem when you have a vague narrative – you have to confirm some things in order to keep the audience engaged. If you just keep asking more questions, you will eventually begin to lose the audience because they no longer believe you’ll answer any of them.
I skimmed the PDF, which was sort of interesting, although I would have been more intrigued by actual user research into the efficacy of different storytelling methods, possibly using these maps as a basis, rather than just enumerating the different techniques. It’s always strange to read an academic thesis on ideas that most people already know about, even if they can’t put them into words. Simple, common sense ideas are made to sound so exotic.
I give this a Play it Later because it’s kind of an interesting piece, but it’s definitely on the lower end of that rating.
Manually
Medium
15 Minutes
To be honest, I don’t know why you don’t use MapTap as it solves all those problems.
The user should not be expected to install a third-party program, no matter how nice it may be, to get around lazy mod packaging.
You are right, they shouldn’t be expected to, but if a tool is available that compensates for poor packaging, why wouldn’t users use it?
Because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to comment negatively on it? đ
No, but it does raise an interesting question: Should the review consider installation issues? I say NO, becasue that’s like Amazon reviews giving one star because it came a day late.
I disagree. The majority of user reviews on this web site cite “Manually” as their installation method. The vast majority of people not using this web site will, obviously, install this manually. Therefore, ease of installation matters.
I am also concerned that it alters a core Half-Life 2 script file, npc_sounds_citizen.txt, removing all of the original data needed by Half-Life 2 itself. That’s poor execution and I feel it should be called out for it.
A more accurate analogy would be that a seller gave me a damaged box. It may not change the product inside, but it’s still worth pointing out.
Yes, the vast majority still install manually, but that’s my fault for not doing a better job of convincing them that MapTap is better. And yes, installation does matter, because people not suing this site may have never heard of MapTap, but I suspect that very, very few people have even played this release anyway.
I’m not saying that pointing out a difficult and potential dangerous installation is wrong, far from it, I’m just saying that it shouldn’t be reflected in the recommendation image but commented on in the review. Imagine I found the best HL2:Ep2 map ever made, but it’s installation was an absolute bitch – core files needed to be edited or something other unlikely event. Would I say to people to AVOID IT! because of that? No, I wouldn’t but I would warn them in my review (Assuming I were just a visitor to the site, not the owner).
But, if you see it differently, that’s fine too. I suppose things like this are subjective in their relevance.
I don’t think the PIL was really influenced by the installation method. As I explained in the review, I didn’t feel there was enough to the maps to make them worth much more than that.
To me this was just good enough to be a PIN, mainly because of the concepts, graphics and environments. I agree with the negative comments already made as well.
And I don’t think installation issues should form part of the review. ideally if it isn’t properly packaged, if possible then it should be returned to the author to fix it before it appears here. There should be a standardized packaging method.
I like controlling the location of files so I don’t use the program. Looks like I ‘pay the price’ in time to uninstall this one đ
Manually
Medium
25 Minutes
Please don’t think I am trying to be argumentative but…
You have no control over the location of the files – you put them where you are told to by the read me.
Also in this case, the price might not just be time but also an alteration of your core game files and that’s never a good thing. Even if you make backups you still have to go through the process of deleting and renaming etc.
I challenge you to use MapTap for three release and if you are not happy, I’ll give you your money back.
I agree about the installation issues, but otherwise the map was fine. I figured that the story was about these gardens being used to trap the people that then would be processed, which is more than the story of your usual mod. Still to make the most out of it, the ending should have been better with the player destroying the entry halls or the whole complex. Also in the beginning it should have been more obvious that the cutscene had ended…
I thought that perhaps the gardens were fertilised with the ashes of the dead people.
This was an easy play it now for me given the whole concept of people waiting to go to paradise and instead they are being incinerated and disposed of. My only complaints were the voice put in my head telling me what to do and the ending. I liked the vertical element of the map design when climbing out of the conveyor belt area.
Also, I really don’t understand all the complaining about the installation. How hard is it to copy the 5 folders from the archive to your ep2 folder? I have nothing against the use of MapTap and I think it is a great tool, but I have never used it. I like installing manually so I don’t have a total freak-out when a slightly quirky installation like this one comes along.
Manually
Medium
20 Minutes
As I said in a another reply, I’m not trying to Adding the folders is easy. But what about deleting the files they contain? Did you check each folder? How will you know which files to delete from those folders? You can’t just delete the folders because they could be all standard EP2 folders. What happens if a file in those folders replaces a standard Ep2 file? (yes, you system should tell you but…)
How can you say that if you’ve never used it?
I don’t understand that statement. How does manually installing a quirky instillation avoid a freak-out. MapTap would install it with one click and then uninstall it the same way.
Try MapTap for three releases and if you are not happy, I’ll give you your money back.
Who is “freaking out?” I’m simply making a comment about the installation method and how I think it’s in poor taste to require a user overwrite (or, at least, supersede) a file used by Half-Life 2 itself. That innocent change could easily have long-term ramifications that affect future mods because the user forgot to undo it and suddenly finds that Citizens no longer work right.
Sure this an interesting mappack. But it feels more like a part of an unfinished bigger; work in progress?? I’d like the modder of this work, better use his time to add more maps and keep on building what it seems to be an interesting mod project, than just release it as it is.
Now I don’t know if it’s really unfinished, but by the poor and silly ending I assume the author may have had in mind a bigger story to tell.
The mapping overall is good and quite original, and sure he’s trying to build a facility like black mesa or something like that, the combat also it was OK but it has nothing stunning nor a WOW moment to offer.
I guess that voice acting of the player itself is also a stupid mistake, as it just feels like that: pretty stupid, I mean why we want the starring guy to talk??? Be quiet!!! we don’t have any need to hear his thoughts out loud for god sake!!
Overall it feels to me as an unfinished project more than a clear mod or mappack. so I guess if you play this later is just OK. You won’t get harm if you don’t play it right away neither.
And by reading that the manual installing is a mess, I strongly recommend you to use Map Tap, as is a really cool tool to simplify your life!! at least in what HL map installation respects.
Using Gauge
Medium
20 Minutes
“Exploring a New and Unexplored World and clearly thatâs not a title you want for a couple of maps”.
I canât see whatâs wrong with that title!
Starting off in a meat grinder is definitely wrong; I had â12â health when I climbed out!
This is an interesting portal-like couple of maps with much to explore and see, as well as running unarmed from combine. Close that door!
Working through the complex is fairly straight forward, but the constant thump of bodies is rather disgusting!
Ten minutes in I realised that this was a âSoylent Greenâ factory! I always wondered what foodstuffs those Combine controlled dispensers handed out!
I loved the mix of exploration and combat with interesting visuals. The office areas were very classy.
I did enter a large room early on that was empty! Maybe they were moving?
Great fun and a good couple of maps.
Manually
Easy
30 Minutes
Wow… I was actually surprised.
The level design was great, combat was pretty good (but easy) and the gameplay was really cool. I really liked that chase scene in the first map, so I would really like more of those in other mods.
Overall, there’s not a lot to say here, so I’m just gonna say PLAY IT NOW!
I like this. The atmosphere set was different and quite interesting if a little wobbly in places! I do tend to agree with the comments already posted but that’s not stopped the fun. It’s good with some interesting places to explore. I liked the chase too just before tooling up, I thought this was incredibly well done. Overall, I really enjoyed this even with the lame ending.
Good and bad points to make but it’s worth a quick place that’s for sure.
Manually
Medium
45 Minutes
It looks ok, kinda bland even for the setting. Play is uneventful. The elevator escape was great but overall not much game play. The whole first map you have no weapon.
Not bad with the level design at least. The visuals look really good but I don’t like the combat in the first map where you’re forced to run because you’re unarmed. The real combat begins at the second map which is fine to me at least. There’s nothing “unexplored” in the map. It is just an underground waste disposal.