📷 Original Texture Source Photography from Half-Life 1

[@karenlaur01]

I got chased out of Costco TWICE getting those food photos, lol.

[@lymphoid]

What the heck!! Lol. Thanks for stopping by!

[@karenlaur01]

@@lymphoid My pleasure! I was working on a bio for a work project and was trying to find a texture I did for HL, and found this post! Thanks for the warm fuzzies!

[@ramiams862]

@@karenlaur01 Sounds like it was an adventure to get all of these textures. Thanks for giving my childhood game an amazing charm

[@Cozmixcartoons]

You did good work 👏 Excellent game

[@EagleEye517]

"Karen Laur" I'll never forget this name from the Black Mesa train ride in the beginning among the others. Truly a legend

[@CameronWasmund]

imagine working freight at some grocery store and someone comes in and takes a picture of the potatos you stocked and puts them in one of the greatest video games ever made and that one box is seen by millions of people.

[@sam-sp5zk]

Lol I can Imagine My Face Put In those One of those pictures

[@hahahayden1]

@@sam-sp5zk narcissist moment

[@officialMXX]

The most popular box of carrots I know!

[@youremybiggestfan]

Imagine my surprise when i met my friends grampa and realized hes the scientist in Half-Life..

[@mybloodyvacuum]

@@youremybiggestfanreally?

[@MarphitimusBlackimus]

It's also worth noting that most, if not all, of Karen Laur's photo references were taken in and around the Seattle, Washington area, near where Valve's offices were, and several locations and landmarks can be identified today. For example, the canal photos seen at 4:24 through 4:35 were taken at Ballard Locks, a popular tourist attraction in the city. On a side note, the Half-Life Wikia/Fandom you show at 0:07 was abandoned almost a decade ago and hasn't been maintained in that time. The entirety of the wiki's staff, myself included, created and moved over to the Combine OverWiki, a fully community-owned and run wiki free of advertisements and the rest of the obnoxious pop-ups and embedded videos you see there.

[@mes0gots0its]

Damn, I remember when the split from Wikia happened. It's already been nearly 10 years? Time flies.

[@D0Samp]

There's nearly the same issue in the Doom community where the old wiki on Fandom still attracts a lot of attention despite Doomwiki forking off in 2011. In fact, I only learned about the Anti-Wikia Alliance just now.

[@DogsRNice]

Yeah it sucks the fandom wikis show up in searches so much even though independent wikis are often better A really good example of this is the Mario wiki

[@Leitis_Fella]

Were the photos of the buttes and mesas from the Columbia river traps? Or did she actually travel to New Mexico to get those photos? Traveling seems impractical so I'm guessing it's from E. Washington State

[@fllthdcrb]

If the entire admin staff is gone, is there no way to take down the existing wiki? Or would that cause too many problems? Are there possible compromises?

[@famalam943]

Honestly the most interesting of all hl trivia. Seeing the real world images of what’s burned into my memory playing hl as a kid was strangely beautiful. Also reminded me of an earlier time of 90s computer encyclopedias for some reason. It’s new & nostalgic at the same time. Wonderful stuff

[@nickbecerra9580]

It's so surreal seeing all these HL assets existing in the real world

[@Clazzette]

the fact bugs are used for textures in this game, this legit gave me a scare. and dude, this was actually informative content. thanks for showing us these!

[@gottagofastfaster]

But it's just pictures of bugs that took their skin to game, there's nothing scary.

[@Clazzette]

@@gottagofastfaster fear is subjective. such could be scary for me, but not for you.

[@gottagofastfaster]

@@Clazzette alright. Just saying.

[@DogsRNice]

@@gottagofastfaster phobia of insects is a real thing (I am glad there were no wasps in this lol)

[@uncertaintytoworldpeace3650]

But they are us

[@xx445]

Daaaamn crazy seeing those red container textures original source, theyre used all over GoldSrc engine games

[@offspringfan89]

Funny that I associate those containers more with Counter-Strike, specially cs_assault and de_train maps.

[@KaraokeNig]

Famous container. I am almost certain many of us would stop with this strange familiar feeling while walking pass by this . Like, wait a minute... you know

[@pinguyN00T]

It is incredible the level of realism that valve has wanted to include, despite the limitations of that era have been very good at innovating graphics and not only in textures even in AI.

[@ozmobozo]

And this was a different millennia

[@TheEngieTF2]

Man, I thought the desert skyboxes were only pixelated art. But no, it's actually a real place. Just like the Windows XP background

[@TheEngieTF2]

@@manitoba-op4jx lmao I know the original photo just that I forgot the name of it

[@DogsRNice]

Fun fact: the original default windows 10 wallpaper is also a real photo though obviously of a set specifically made for that purpose In fact the window is capable of displaying all sorts of patterns. There’s a video out there of it but it’s unlisted so you’d have to find a link to it

[@mykytashcherbyna]

@@DogsRNice and that default photo, where a girl running near sea, it's stock photo with girl photoshopped inside...

[@dealloc]

@@DogsRNice The video was uploaded by Ryan Lewis on Vimeo and was a promo for Windows 10. It's not hidden. Search for "The making of the Windows Hero Desktop Image".

[@congacyrus7859]

i love the desert background

[@Dalek22comments]

It's so surreal seeing this. I never honestly thought the textures in Half-Life were real, they seemed too perfect to be real. I thought all of them were photoshopped. To think some of the doors and big machinery were train doors of all things! Thank you Karen for your amazing pictures and work.

[@nathanfish1998]

Considering they used a photo of a real charred corpse as a texture in the sequel, it's not that surprising to me

[@mr.101.8]

They were photoshopped, but that doesn't make them unreal. Photoshopped photos are still photos

[@nathanfish1998]

@@mr.101.8 Photoshopped after, yeah, but still had real photography involved

[@IamBatdman]

4:17 3_2216.BMP is used as a ceiling texture in Surface Tension. And 3_2219.BMP is used in Unforeseen Consequences.

[@TheEngieTF2]

I wish they would use that famous "Cobble stone" texture at least once

[@Catzenrome]

I know which one your talking about

[@pepperonipizza5516]

@@Catzenrome I guess that’s why call it famous

[@PouLS]

I think it would kinda not fit in the game

[@alexdietrich7975]

What about CS1.6, a map literally named de_cobble, I think they reused the assets again for CS Source version of Cobble as well. A lot of the extra textures went towards their side projects as to not waste time and money

[@Sgt.McHale]

@@alexdietrich7975 you do know that cs is a mod? It's not uncommon for modders to reutilize unused content, it's unlikely valve gave these textures to them, perhaps before value acquired Counterstrike

[@FenNick1994]

At around 5-6 years old, this game was my first memorable encounter of rusted metal and often with flakes of paint coming off it. I have had a fascination for it ever since. Nice to see the origins.

[@xanious3759]

half-life is likely the reason i have a fondness for industrial environments

[@varahunter68]

@@xanious3759 same

[@JettJamesGD]

Some of these textures, specifically the doors, are so iconic that I don’t see them as “real-world photos used for half-life”, I see them more as “half-life textures in real life”. That probably made no sense but maybe you get what I mean

[@AndrewDasilvaPLT]

I completely understood and agree with the dole boxes and military doors.

[@gabrielchcosta]

3:53 that container is classic

[@MrNiba34]

The wall texture at 3:30 is actually from P000598 (shown at 4:08)

[@grayfruit]

wow! not to be that guy, but I think I recognize a couple of these IRL locations. I've lived in Washington all my life and I'm 100% sure a few of those desert shots are of Dry Falls over in eastern washington (as well as many roadside shots in that same area), and this may be a bit of a stretch, but I'm almost certain those interior grocery store shots are the Costco in Grace, WA. I'd also say that the machinery parts look reminiscent of Gasworks Park in Seattle, but I really don't think they match the coloration of Gasworks or the shape of any machinery I've seen there, so probably not. really fun to think about!

[@lymphoid]

There's an official deathmatch map called Gasworks

[@grayfruit]

@@lymphoid wow even cooler! map doesn't really resemble the park in any way but that's probably a cheeky little reference.

[@Adamek1926]

Went to check the Gasworks Park on Google maps, the what looks like a giant gas tank on the top left at 2:39 can be viewed in Street View from south of what's labelled as "Brown's Point" on the map. So if you take that short path and look northward at the end of the tube reaching furthest to the left, you can spot it. The photos are from the late 90s, so the park must've been painted over to make it look prettier and less decrepit.

[@koruton9925]

So this was the video you were referring to! What a find at 3 in the morning

[@albeceldariu]

That Texture Archeology is very cool, I've been watching videos about it and I was wondering when a HL one would pop, very nice one! Your content is very cool, deserves more subs.

[@gash7278]

the xen levels' skyboxes always looked very similar to microscopic imaging of cells and other micro-organisms to me. and now I see that those images were also used, so my hunch was kinda correct, good to know I guess.

[@aarontheperson6867]

yess when u meet wit gman i could totally tell at least a few

[@JamesKelly89]

This is an amazing case study for aspiring game developers. I really like how she creatively used pieces of her source photography to create one texture.

[@itsallgoodman4339]

This channel is blessed. Someone who’s actually making contents about this 20+ years old game that never stops to amaze me is such a great thing. Appreciate your efforts, wishing you could keep doing this!

[@mr.101.8]

Now, after watching this video I finally understood what gave half life 1 graphics that special feeling. It was the perfect mix of digital art and low Res photography. After studying some textures original files I've even seen real textures with shadows drawn over them. Blur made it hard to distinguish what was real and what was not.

[@offspringfan89]

I have no words to describe how fascinating this find is! 23 years later and we're still talking about HL1. Kudos to this guy and MarphitimusBlackimus for uploading videos with trivia about HL games, and Karen for making the textures and releasing the reference photos.

[@SusieFanK]

I did recognized a bunch of them the moment i saw it, it's just that legendary. Half-Life 1 is a masterpiece, even when it comes to the in-game textures.

[@tenebriswoof8675]

6:13 hatch is i believe is the door from that bunker in "We've got hostiles" chapter (I'm not sure) 6:17 It looks more like A boxes from office complex 1:31 you know this fence reminds me of l4d2 level... 2:15 The 8th one looks like a kitchen floor from office complex 3:08 The textures from 3rd to 8th It seems like a cargo from the beginning of the game When you sit in the tram Pbglobs and trachea Look like xen skybox texture

[@fridaycaliforniaa236]

Imagine being one of the persons whose objects were randomly used as textures for the best game ever... « _Hey, look son, this was one of my crates, back when I worked at this old depot, 30 years ago_ »

[@DJ3lectrical]

I wonder if someone will one day do a remake/upscale of the game textures using these original source images.

[@Xeller_real]

:)

[@DJ3lectrical]

@OSLover030 Indeed.

[@something7836]

@Marty Fourre 120 frames per second photo

[@alexdietrich7975]

​@@something7836 too bad photos only go 90fps ;(

[@lostsektor]

Specially with the skyboxes photos they look really low res nowdays in game

[@maikatideibaskapanaumrqlatupa]

You become so used to seeing some of these textures that they look out of place when you see them surrounded by other objects irl.

[@Andres33AU]

I love this, this is so fascinating to see, especially when you recognise the textures, and do the whole "Leo pointing at screen" meme, haha. The microscope pictures at the end look like they were used for Xen, but I think more specifically the Xen you see in Opposing Force (the sky especially).

[@fenn_fren]

The olden days where you could take low-res photos around town, plaster parts of them all over your game, and people would praise how good the graphics look.

[@AustinDallasPictures]

at 4:55 8500 - it can be found in residue processing in a part when you surface for air and fill up on health. it looks especially good in the AI upscale

[@Povilaz]

Idk why but I _love_ watching texture source videos.

[@fogdasher3795]

3:52 That one made it in CS later on , and many other great goldscr mods . I think it might be the most well known Hl texture there is, other that the wooden boxes one ofc .

[@lymphoid]

Yes sir. It also got a blue variant in opposing force, and blue and yellow varients in Uplink

[@niccbilac]

I like this texture sources, honestly, i would be more happy if i could see other texture sources, like for the whiteboard ones, like that whiteboard from "apprehension" next to getting the crossbow and others.

[@vladurban6036]

1:33 P000643.bmp... i remember placing those boxes in the barn on the CS country style map in WorldCraft map editor back in 2002.

[@Spaghettiboy359]

I adore stuff like this, old data like this doesn't survive very often

[@mz9391]

There's a lot of photos that made it as textures/props for the HL2 Leak instead - from the ones seen in this video it's the hatches and ship doors,a few walls,the wire spools,the pallet with the tires,the big metal gates for the canal levels and so on....

[@HemmTBM]

I love how in most of your videos you're not talking, but in this one you just out of nowhere you talk

[@four-en-tee]

damn, i can't believe there's cheez-itz in Half Life Fucking love this game

[@ConscriptDavid]

coming back to these after the recent documentary is wild.

[@MakarovFox]

seems like fun taken pictures for a game

[@kickerguy]

I remember seeing something on that Valve Archive website about someone who shared an image of some of the texture sources a few years ago and said something along the lines of "I have them, and no one else has them" before abandoning the account they used Not sure how true it is, though, seeing how I can't find the message or image on the forum it was sent in

[@Tamamo-no-Bae]

I remember that too

[@kitano47]

what a legend she is, its really trippy seeing some of this stuff. My brain is telling me I know this picture very well but i cant work out where (i have never been to america). hudnreds of hours on half life and thousands in the hammer editor!

[@hiimuziwannaplay2497]

2:59 OPEN A SILO DOOR IT'S A ONLY WAY OUT OH MY GOD WE'RE DOOMED

[@mehaniq]

ahaha

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Seeing half-life textures in real life places feels really surreal.

[@Shep-1701]

It's pretty cool that Xen used all sorts of textures from insects and microscopic pictures

[@juggernaut6832]

In Half -Life 2, it was recently discovered Valve used a real burned corpse face for the texture of one of their torched bodies model. It apparently came from an autopsy book

[@VictorCampos87]

I recognized a lot of other textures from source images. Examples: Bullettin boards, the rusty textures and the freezer door at 4:17.

[@abrahamalviarez5870]

As 3d artist, making textures for games/renders are just the best part of the whole process!!

[@midlowreborn]

i'm going to eat all those beetles

[@lemone12]

@gmodvideomaker2007 steaks are dead cows too

[@mattc7420]

The attention to detail in this game is still staggering to this very day.

[@racer927]

2:10 Now that's creative; I never would've guessed the exhaust shield would come from that photo. 6:01 Studio.jpg is a photo of Kelly Bailey's equipment where some of synth presets provided parts of the soundtrack, such as the credits theme.

[@littleloss8339]

That is so cool man. I've always wondered how the texture were made and and where they originated from

[@doitallYT]

Excellent video! I've been staring at these textures for years during my various playthroughs, it's awesome to see where many of them originated from

[@pezus553]

thanks for making this video, I stumbled upon these images about a month ago but I sometimes I couldn't figure out which texture was which, with you showing the bugs for the xen textures now I do :)

[@youremybiggestfan]

Omg this is the most incredible thing ive seen in a while. Halflife is one of my all time favorite games even though i havent played it in over 15 years. I had it back in 98.

[@spiderplant]

Imagine stumbling on one of these things in the wild and being like "OH NO THE GAME IN REAL LIBE!!"

[@7Andy77]

Nice piece of history. It was oddly satisfying and soothing to watch

[@luleta1644]

oh wait, when did you start using a mic, i love this! (im too smooth brained to read)

[@unfa00]

I hope one day they'll find the full quality sound files from Half-Life...

[@yester30]

I'll admit, very fun to point to one of the pictures in a folder like "hey I've seen that"' and have you zoom it out for comparison

[@Vedad1944]

Kudos to Karen for texturing the entirety of one of the best shooters ever. Apart from Xen, very little people liked it 😂

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

It was a really cool concept, it just felt rushed lol

[@fireaza]

It's pretty wild to think there was a time when you could make a fully-complete 3D asset for a video game by taking a photo of something and slapping it onto a model.

[@nikolasoskic9006]

this is so fascinating, thx for showing us

[@AbdullahEkici34]

I always say: Where did this textures came from? And I learned where they came from. Thanks to you

[@RoastCDuck]

Just went outside and took random photos at everything to the point most of the images look generated by an AI, games back then had really creative developers.

[@DarkHoodness]

6:14 - wirecrate1.jpg - "Huh, I guess the alien disaster isn't slowing down production, any. Today's episode is brought to you by the number '8'! Just what are we shipping, anyway? These looks like engine parts..." This is gold, videogame archaeology. It's amazing to see how the textures have been modified to fit into the game - And how a few of them were even left untouched.

[@mehaniq]

this wirecrate1 from "blast pit" bottom location

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

Radiation Hazard should look into these texture sources.

[@Orang3Eric]

4:23 They appear between Gargantuar Chase (Surface Tension) and just before Forget About Freeman near the green water (The tactical map puzzle)

[@Orang3Eric]

They use the 3_2221 and 3_2222 images

[@emisorano]

I now identify myself as a Half-Life one development file gascan.jpg. That image is truly enlightening.

[@Josh-le6lu]

I recognized quite a few, especially the grey freezer door. I'm a sucker for old used industrial equipment. Each object tells a story and likely played an important role in American jobs for many years before being decommissioned and scrapped. All built by intelligent people to make work more efficient. The feeling of accomplishment is my kinda high. (When I can't afford the good shit)

[@مستركريبتو]

im so happy this was recommended to me, thank you for the great video

[@ikagura]

Texture archeology is great

[@securityofficerthefonz5835]

When these dropped a while back, I took the cheezit texture and turned it into an HD remake.It looks pretty neat now

[@supersonicbros23]

it belongs in a museum

[@jamesmiIIer]

Ah, no longer in the ears. Much better! Thank you, Lymphoid. :)

[@BlazeIsaquilla]

first ever KAREN W

[@forple8930]

4:38 the texture 3_2239.BMP is used in Residue Processing, as well as infamously used on de-nuke's metal walls in CS 1.6. Unlike most textures, this one also has a case of being fully randomized with it's pattern, much like a few other textures.

[@CommanderSp00ky]

I can't believe all this... thank you Karen Laur!

[@karenlaur01]

Most welcome!

[@CommanderSp00ky]

@@karenlaur01 😱😱😱

[@lambdaweaponscache5394]

This is pretty interesting to see- I just recently got a gaming PC for 3D modeling but also downloaded and am almost done with her first half life. It’s really fun and I’m looking forward to playing its DLC and sequel!

[@hl2betafan]

deadass thought this was marphy black for a moment cause i thought he did a voice reveal

[@Nomadnetic3]

This feels like ancient forbidden knowledge.

[@KaraokeNig]

:)

[@GILLS133]

wow, amazing content. Thank you!

[@qlitch]

I love stuff like this sooo much

[@_Zemlya]

20 years ago you could make primitive model and wrap it with the photo, which was taken 5 minutes ago, and model for the game is ready

[@cptcrogge]

"We need more textures, grab some cameras!"

[@CATASTEROID934]

It makes me wish I took photos of the rooms and corridors of Culham Science Center whilst I still worked there.

[@TheCarson116]

Fascinating...interesting how the original photo of the truck's exhaust pipe texture at 2:08 is actually _not_ of an exhaust pipe but of something that even I can't identify! As at least one other person has said the texture at 3:31 is not the one used in that part of that map; "P000598" at 4:07 appears to be the one that was used. In response to your question, I recognize "wirecrate1" at 6:11, most prominently in "On A Rail" where numerous crates with that texture on them are being moved across two tracks.

[@UltimatusVirsus]

How to make a level from another world step one, take a weird looking insect step two, done

[@bzqp2]

Whoa, storing all that in BMP files on the 90s HDDs must have been painful.

[@bzqp2]

Also I love the Nine Inch Nails reference at 4:55 xdd

[@CaveyMoth]

I wonder if other texture artists ever coincidentally used the same pictures to make textures for other games, and if they ended up looking different or similar.

[@DanielTejnicky]

Looks like fun afternoon at trainyard, next to the shipyard xD

[@daesplays8737]

Half-Life textures don't exist, they can't hurt you. Half-Life textures:

[@115justus]

amazing that still in 2021 we find things to discover from a game that was made in 1998

[@4556vahg]

so it means that half life has kind of foto-realistic graffics

[@Shrek_es_mi_pastor]

Oh! This is that one moment when the definition of something can mean another thing and there's a philosophical debate around what's the actual meaning

[@dustypaint]

Half Life developers: "How much more data can we fit into a 400mb game?" Gabe: "Yes."

[@Palexite]

The thing about Valve’s texture engine is that their photoshopped to work as tiles to make it seamless. So the textures don’t stretch out when using it on bigger walls.. It must be extremely hard to do that with real life images.

[@KaraokeNig]

Not extremely hard. I have made lots of original textures, even those that repeat for my maps. There is a technique for it. It requires skill.

[@zeynaviegas]

godamn for some reason this made me realize how much i love the first half life game

[@dxfan18]

I always wondered what those food boxes in the freezers were

[@denifnaf5874]

4:20 that door on the bottom right appears several times in half life