HL2: Orange Box Thread
- Thread starter RobertR1
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It's worth a Rent at least to check out Portal. For those that don't check it, regardless of loyalty, you will be missing out on a rare gem.
I will be sadly disappointed if they don't do a follow up game on it.
RE: any performance issues on PS3, if there are any, it won't effect Portal much. Your not shooting enemys, the levels aren't huge, and I haven't seen anyone complain about Portal performance on PS3. You NEED to check it Patsu. If anything just for Portal alone.
I will be sadly disappointed if they don't do a follow up game on it.
RE: any performance issues on PS3, if there are any, it won't effect Portal much. Your not shooting enemys, the levels aren't huge, and I haven't seen anyone complain about Portal performance on PS3. You NEED to check it Patsu. If anything just for Portal alone.
djskribbles
Legend
Kotaku's hands-on with the final build - part 1.
so far, they said its fine. they'll have part 2 up tomorrow.
so far, they said its fine. they'll have part 2 up tomorrow.
That doesn't sound that bad actually.
What I'm really interested in though, is how does the normal single-player stuff play? I am one of those that hasn't played HL2 yet (completed HL1 though) and would be satisfied enough if at least the single player experience runs somewhat smooth.
Anyone with some info or personal experience would be very much appreciated!
What I'm really interested in though, is how does the normal single-player stuff play? I am one of those that hasn't played HL2 yet (completed HL1 though) and would be satisfied enough if at least the single player experience runs somewhat smooth.
Anyone with some info or personal experience would be very much appreciated!
I thought I read somewhere that the Orange Box version of HL2 would feature all of the visual upgrades in Ep. 2, (HDR, etc.), but the IGN review says that it's basically a port of the xbox version with upgraded textures, and that it's not even really on par with the original pc version (I forget the exact wording they used).
Would anyone with the game care to comment on that?
Would anyone with the game care to comment on that?
I completed Half Life 2 yesterday (I unlocked all achievements in this game :smile, and from my experience 360 version has some jaggies which you would never bother with, and whilst textures look less impressive than PC, it is still major improvement in contrast to the original xbox version. AF is very impressive IMO.
Motion blur and shadows whilst turning on flashlight are additions to the X360 version as far as I know.
, and from my experience 360 version has some jaggies which you would never bother with, and whilst textures look less impressive than PC, it is still major improvement in contrast to the original xbox version. AF is very impressive IMO.Motion blur and shadows whilst turning on flashlight are additions to the X360 version as far as I know.
The PC version on what settings? It's better than on the lowest settings, but not as good as when on the highest settings. You cannot simply look at any PC game and say "it looks like x" without taking into account the system it will be running on.
I know it has HDR. They did fail to meet the 60fps goal they stated. Reviewers are mixed, with IGN stating the above and others saying it looks like the PC version.
Maybe true in many games, but HL2 on the PC is a pretty old game. You could have 8800GTX SLI and still not get better settings than one would get with a 6800GT at 720p. I would have to look, but I don't even think HDR has been added to HL2 yet on the PC side (just LC, Ep1, Ep2, Portal, TF2).
It would be nice if someone took a look at HL2 to see what is there and what is missing. Shadows and HDR are the big additions to Source since the release of HL2.
One more "great port" from EA?
Originally Posted by IGN
Unfortunately, our complaints don't stop there. The remainder of our criticisms are to blame for the discrepancy in scores between the PlayStation 3 version of the game and the 360 version (the PS3 version, after all, wasn't handled entirely by Valve). The PlayStation 3 Orange Box performs far worse, and this fact just isn't up for debate. While framerate issues aren't as problematic in Half-Life 2 and Episode One, Episode Two suffers a great deal, especially during the episode's larger battles. We regret to say that some sections border on being unplayable because of the stutters, which often cause your aim to be thrown off and timing shots to be very difficult. The problem isn't persistent throughout, but when it hits, it hits hard.
More troubling still is the difference in load times. Almost all the PS3 load times are at least five seconds more than the 360, but loading a saved game/loading after death is particularly awful. These clock in at about two to three times as long as the 360 version, which slows down the gameplay considerably. Even though the PS3 Orange Box sports a quicksave feature, any benefit of this option is lost considering the overall abundance of loading.
Even in Portal, a short title that often requires a little trial and error, this problem is massive. The 360 version takes about three seconds to load your last checkpoint if you die. The PS3 version takes seventeen. It hurts.
We must also mention that during all of our Team Fortress 2 play sessions, there was a very startling delay when using explosive weapons like the Soldier's rocket launcher or the Demoman's grenade launcher. When you pull the trigger to fire, there's a very brief but noticeable delay between the recoil of the weapon and the actual delivery of the explosive. This can seriously screw up your timing when trying to lead a rocket shot, or similar attacks.
Furthermore, a few of our play sessions were laden with so much lag that they became completely unplayable. We were told that this was the result of a European server being used accidentally, as opposed to a US one which will be up and running when the retail version hits shelves, but be weary that this problem may pop up again.
Less dire but perhaps more puzzling is the difference in color throughout the games. While this may just be a result of using our particular monitors, the PS3 version seems darker than its 360 counterpart. The difference is slight and, again, could be an isolated incident, but it's worth noting nonetheless.
So is the PS3 Orange Box still good? Of course -- considering the content alone -- but these issues, especially in Episode Two, drastically hurt the gameplay. If you can tolerate these problems and work around them, we still recommend picking up a copy -- the overall experience is enjoyable. It's just sad to see such a wonderful game hurt so badly by the porting process.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/840/840505p3.html
(17 seconds loads with old engine ! what does in happem with this guys!)
Originally Posted by IGN
Unfortunately, our complaints don't stop there. The remainder of our criticisms are to blame for the discrepancy in scores between the PlayStation 3 version of the game and the 360 version (the PS3 version, after all, wasn't handled entirely by Valve). The PlayStation 3 Orange Box performs far worse, and this fact just isn't up for debate. While framerate issues aren't as problematic in Half-Life 2 and Episode One, Episode Two suffers a great deal, especially during the episode's larger battles. We regret to say that some sections border on being unplayable because of the stutters, which often cause your aim to be thrown off and timing shots to be very difficult. The problem isn't persistent throughout, but when it hits, it hits hard.
More troubling still is the difference in load times. Almost all the PS3 load times are at least five seconds more than the 360, but loading a saved game/loading after death is particularly awful. These clock in at about two to three times as long as the 360 version, which slows down the gameplay considerably. Even though the PS3 Orange Box sports a quicksave feature, any benefit of this option is lost considering the overall abundance of loading.
Even in Portal, a short title that often requires a little trial and error, this problem is massive. The 360 version takes about three seconds to load your last checkpoint if you die. The PS3 version takes seventeen. It hurts.
We must also mention that during all of our Team Fortress 2 play sessions, there was a very startling delay when using explosive weapons like the Soldier's rocket launcher or the Demoman's grenade launcher. When you pull the trigger to fire, there's a very brief but noticeable delay between the recoil of the weapon and the actual delivery of the explosive. This can seriously screw up your timing when trying to lead a rocket shot, or similar attacks.
Furthermore, a few of our play sessions were laden with so much lag that they became completely unplayable. We were told that this was the result of a European server being used accidentally, as opposed to a US one which will be up and running when the retail version hits shelves, but be weary that this problem may pop up again.
Less dire but perhaps more puzzling is the difference in color throughout the games. While this may just be a result of using our particular monitors, the PS3 version seems darker than its 360 counterpart. The difference is slight and, again, could be an isolated incident, but it's worth noting nonetheless.
So is the PS3 Orange Box still good? Of course -- considering the content alone -- but these issues, especially in Episode Two, drastically hurt the gameplay. If you can tolerate these problems and work around them, we still recommend picking up a copy -- the overall experience is enjoyable. It's just sad to see such a wonderful game hurt so badly by the porting process.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/840/840505p3.html
(17 seconds loads with old engine ! what does in happem with this guys!)
I have some old ss of HL2 although it got the Cinematic mod but in these ss it is the better trees and some textures (dont have the game installed right now). Some things from HL2 was several pre-baked scene shadows (buildings, some other stuff) but that may be the same for the other HL2 versions.
Gabe is such a stinker for this. Considering they love doing lots and lots of physics work, I'd imagine they'd be all for Cell, with it's monsterous floating point performance even if it's a pain to work with. Besides Havok 4.0 if I remember right is being aimed for use on the PS3.
As has been mentioned numerous times in this thread, Valve did not do the port. EA did the port.
I'm doubtful Gabe cares though. It was most likely offered to them by EA to do the port. Personally I think they should not have let EA do it, as it does look bad at Valve having a port of their games done in such poor fashion. But at the end of the day, Gabe (the public face of Valve) doesn't much care I'm willing to bet, he simply has a strong dislike of the PS3. I do find issue with the way you phrased things however. Epic engine was designed to be on more platforms than one, so it's not to shocking the UE3 engine does this, though I'd say that engine has other issues on the PS3, Epic seems to know how to get around it.
Sorry if I sounded snarky Skyring. I have great respect for Valve's story-telling ability and HL2 is/was a gorgeous game.
I guess a better comparison of porting talent will be how ETQW goes on PS3...in a way ETQW/HL2/etc all have their roots in modified Quake engines, right? Better comparo than UE3 games?
I guess a better comparison of porting talent will be how ETQW goes on PS3...in a way ETQW/HL2/etc all have their roots in modified Quake engines, right? Better comparo than UE3 games?
Any PC engine over to consoles should be interesting as a comparison, though Source was/is a completely new engine from Valve. I'm actually very interested to see ETQW ported to the PS3, more so Mega Texture and the PS3s memory pools. UE3 to me is representing a new breed of engine that is designed almost specifically to be multi-platform.