Was Half-Life 2 Better on Day 1?

In this video, I compare the original release versions of Valve's 2004 games Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life: Source to determine what's better between those and the versions currently available on Steam.
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[@RichterOvertime]

Yo! I still occasionally get comments about this vid, so I wanna leave a statement here: This video isn't great. It's a rushed upload I made when I only had a few thousand subscribers, and I never thought it would wind up getting as many views and as much attention as it has. There's definitely a few things I would go back and do differently. For one, I flubbed and said that the Vortigaunts and shotgunner were introduced in Episode one, when they were actually introduced in episode two. for two, There is a weirdly lazy and dismissive tone to this video, where I repeatedly say "I'll look into X later" or "Y *feels* different but I'm not sure if it is". Obviously, this is weird, as I should have looked into these topics while researching the video instead of putting them off for a future date for no real reason. And finally, the video would have greatly benefited from more side-by-side comparisons. I don't know why I didn't do more of them. That's all. Thanks 4 your time!

[@karveka4371]

No "Victim of the Moon" outro? Traitor!

[@DesolateLavender]

Have people ported the old textures to Gmod as a mod? I'd love to use them.

[@isaiahsimmons5776]

@@DesolateLavender of course. the vortiguant easily. just look like up these keywords: vortiguant retail 2004 reskin. idk about metropolice tho. tho maybe turning mat_phong 0 would do a trick. idk. and combine reskins, idk but u can probably find them with those keywords: retail 2004 or whatever. not all have have to be reskins tho. could be hexes etc.

[@DesolateLavender]

@@isaiahsimmons5776 Fair enough. Thanks for the help!

[@slimekingjuniyore]

wait weren't the shotgunner textures in the modern steam version?

[@spoono]

The reason the SMG sounds different, in my opinion, is that it's fire rate actually got changed in episode 2. You can see that on the wiki. It sounds different because the sounds kind of cut off each other

[@pillgrimm]

It doesn't even sound beefier, wtf is he talking about

[@SwanChairUh]

This has to be it.

[@DavidBrown-zp5br]

Yeah to me it almost sounds like a few milliseconds are cut from the firing noise/it’s been compressed so much you’re losing the more defined bass that exists in the original release. An analysis of the corresponding releases sound files would easily put this one to bed but I’m def not signing up for that job lol

[@ahmettay2382]

@@DavidBrown-zp5br yes, it's compressed as hell in steam build. that's right

[@shyawkward]

Something i have also noticed is that a slight pitch shift for each shot is present in the old sound but not the new one.

[@NephilisThylord]

Fun fact: if you hold m2 on the 9mm while shooting with it, you can store shots, when you let go of m2, it releases all of the at once, turning the pistol into a shotgun. This is known as pistol charging. Edit: fuck I should probably clarify that this is only possible in the day 1 build, in the latest version of the game you can’t do it.

[@pipe8248]

i dont Believe you

[@KinerfV4]

@@pipe8248 It’s more or so a beta bug that I guess was obscure enough that it wasn’t patched out of any beta until the release

[@deqnq1705]

reminds me of ULTRAKILL's piercer

[@whatisfzeroanymore2nd]

@@pipe8248 there's a video you can look up that demonstrates it

[@NephilisThylord]

@@pipe8248 you point??

[@nolram]

I think the reason the atmosphere in some areas feels different is due to the lighting changes made after Lost Coast and its HDR lighting technology. Also, assets in new versions aren’t really encrypted - just compressed and packed into lots of larger files, which was/is a thing done to make things load faster from storage on HDDs.

[@TRRDroid]

Actually HDR and other improvements to Source, which required map files to be updated, weren't even added to HL2. That's one of the reasons why HL2 Update exists.

[@nolram]

@@TRRDroid Oh, I wasn't quite sure about it - since the skyboxes that come with HL2 now are HDR compatible. Sorry, mistake on my part.

[@boxfigs1710]

But they didn't even recompile most of the maps with HDR lighting. They may have recompiled select maps, though, I think.

[@radiocaster2k]

I believe that HDR was implemented into Half-Life 2, but none of the maps were updated to accommodate it, so they all look slightly off

[@Ultizer]

The 2004 build of source handles baked lighting/shadows differently, the new build on Steam also broke some effects such as the sun glare in the canals.

[@DerArvel]

The Day One experience includes downloading a 16 Mb Update via Steam that has to be downloaded with an ISDN or a 56k Modem from a massively overclocked server since everyone worldwide wanted to do the same. This needs to be included as well.

[@cattysplat]

Also running Steam in puke green UI with a legendary reputation for super slow updates to steam itself.

[@stpedro-ht9ng]

@@cattysplat oh i'm so thankful i only got in on steam from 2009 onward when it was mostly solid

[@jasethemuss86]

I had 1.5mb fiber... Virgin in London at least saw the future pretty early in the UK.

[@Templarfreak]

3:48 from what i understand, the Scout Car is intentionally programmed with a pre-disposition to drift to one side (i forget which side), simulating an unbalanced wheel axel and thus adding a bit to the personality that its a very rustic and haphazardly-put together vehicle, and in the past this drifting may have been stronger. 4:11 --it sounds like to me that this much older version of the game did not have direct/raw mouse input, which sounds like it could make sense as doing such a thing back in 2004 was a really tricky and annoying thing to do even if you weren't trying to make it cross-platform compatible-- EDIT: read replies for more details

[@Megabobster]

as far as mouse input it also might not like modern windows a whole lot. i wonder if it would work better on XP

[@Templarfreak]

@@Megabobster well if its not using direct / raw mouse input, that means if you have any mouse acceleration settings on in windows it will be affecting the game's camera movement

[@SweatyFeetGirl]

the problem he describes is an issue with mouse polling rate . modern mice have values of like 1000. older engines do not support that value and show those problems he described. setting the polling rate to 125 will fix it! i made a comment above regarding this, upvote it so more people can see it :)

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

the mouse input in the source engine is also very sensitive to vsync

[@int3rned497]

I can confirm that the original scout car was much more difficult to steer. When I came back to play the game I was surprised to see how much better I've gotten at driving in video games - but this video shows me why lol

[@snakefoolery2177]

The Day 1 vortigaunt textures look more like the Half-Life 1 vortigaunts

[@peppermillers8361]

For sure, although I really like healthy looking Vortigaunts in Episode 2. A HD version of the original textures would work for NPCs like the All Knowing Vortigaunt in Route Canal.

[@oneblacksun]

@@peppermillers8361 Or all the vortigaunt slaves you see.

[@Agustin_Leal]

@@peppermillers8361 In my opinion the og Vort textures are way better than just having human skin

[@peppermillers8361]

@@Agustin_Leal you mean the healthy skin? It's not a bad texture, but the original textures are pretty low-poly.

[@InnuendoXP]

@@peppermillers8361 what? textures don't have polygons, models have polygons

[@arthurconanthebarbarian1288]

Metrocops with old shiny shading makes them look really nostalgic, like those from pre-release promos or Concerned webcomic

[@PowerUpT]

6:54 Holy crap, the AI is acting like real people!

[@jockeyfield1954]

*groups of friends goes to random part of the map, gets in triangle formation, does nothing for a few minutes* "Sector clear." *rinse and repeat*

[@julianfahrenschon3902]

The way they moved out as a unit after fucking around... really hit home.

[@PuffishSwish]

its self aware

[@goob_shade5562]

Fun fact: those like alien transport pod things that the combine used at the light tower level, where you park the scout car and fight with some rebels, the gun on the pod didn’t move around to shoot at you unlike in the older builds, but because they optimized half life 2 for steam deck they patched the bug and now the gun swivels around again

[@thealandude9146]

Yep, they fixed the Dropship gun so it works properly on the Lighthouse Point fight

[@sarcasmenul]

yup, noticed it this weekend when one dropped me like a sack of shit in a second. when I tried blasting combine soldiers stepping out

[@Ultizer]

they also broke characters blinking and only fixed that recently.

[@isaiahsimmons5776]

@@Ultizer ur thinking about episodes i think.

[@norwegianboyee]

Lol i replayed HL2 and was going to casually walk up to the dropship and shotgun blast every soldier in the face as they were doing the idle spawn animation. Then i get surprised as the machine gun instantly homed in on me and chewed down half my health and kept me behind cover for the soldiers to actually spawn in and be a threat.

[@TacBans]

one very minor detail i feel like no one ever talks about is that in launch HL2, ammo pickups are displayed with the ammo type, like pistol ammo shows a pistol caliber, RPG ammo shows a rocket, etc. In current HL2, it shows a number next to the weapon for the ammo you picked up.

[@dooplon5083]

even post update?

[@Gulliblepikmin]

No, it definitely shows ammunition icons for pickups.

[@marcellosilva9286]

@@Gulliblepikmin Yup, beat Episode 2 a few weeks ago, aside from the weapon and number of ammo you picked up, they also show you the type of round that it fires.

[@heftymagic4814]

@@marcellosilva9286 thats because the version was ported from ep2

[@Jaywalked]

The graphical errors in Half Life 2 might occur because of the newer graphics drivers which the old version wasn't built for.

[@Mr.Crawlyo]

I run a intel 520 honestly it sucks for most new things but scource games couldnt run any better

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

It only plays well with modern NVIDIA cards, afaik all AMD or Intel chips will have broken fog and flashlight on the day one build.

[@FinnLovesFP]

@@varvarvarvarvarvar ye, it seems to work fine though on my one retro PC that has a Radeon X1950 512mb. Though for newer cards, if your flashlight is broken when playing the game, you can still use the OG Gold Source Half Life's Flashlight. and works exactly the same. It's not preferred for sure, but it's better than the flashlight being picky what it actually illuminates. For the command, just put this into the console. "r_newflashlight 0"

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

@@FinnLovesFP I can fix the flashlight with dgvoodoo. But fog remains helpless.

[@nolongergabe]

the steam release is trying its hard to run on new graphic drivers

[@kazimierzthearchivist2786]

All I can really say is, there's something about playing these games on a 4:3 ratio that feels so comfortable and nostalgic to me. especially after school, on an autumn night, booting up the game with the last bit of sunlight. your book bag and homework sprawled across your bed and the autumn leaves crunching in the distance. booting up that crappy old computer you got from your uncle after he upgraded to a modern laptop, memories. I'm not even that old and I just have great memories associated with just a simple 4:3 CRT monitor.

[@detail___5387]

This comment gave me huge nostalgic feelings, those were great times.

[@kazimierzthearchivist2786]

@@detail___5387 I really want to get another 4:3 monitor just to re-live that experience, I really enjoy that type of comfy/cozy experiences. I'm glad I could make you feel nostalgic for a truly good time in gaming.

[@cattysplat]

Still remember playing Half Life 2 Death Match with my friends, it was incredible physics for 2004, especially throwing random objects and blasting rolling drums with the gravity gun, or those crazy bouncing grenades. I thought the future was going to be incredible. Ironically still the best physics in a multiplayer game to this day.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

Half Life 2 supported widescreen since day one you know? At least thats was the way i personally experienced the game. I had a 4:3 display for consoles but a widescreen 1366x768 monitor for PC. That resolution is somehow nostalgic for me and i still use it to this day, lol. Is resource free and still looks good enough.

[@muratsmg62]

The old ragdolls somewhat fixed in Steam HL2 in Steam Deck update Both Vortigaunt and Combine Shotgunner current textures were added in EP2 not EP1 infact, Shotgunners did had EP1 in development *At the time it was called Aftermath* I don't really recommend Day 1 build due to map glitches you shown us, So I might recommend the launch build/release build which is same as Day 1 build but idk Also the blood particles were nice, I didn't like the current ones, They seem to fit with Brutal Half-Life 2

[@themertaza318]

Oh YEAH the poopy green Combine Soldier did exist, but didn't make it into the final game.

[@catches07]

Wait, so if I play right now, it will have those kind of ragdolls shown in the Day 1 Build?

[@muratsmg62]

@@catches07 Kinda

[@Kaspar_Houser]

Yes!!!! The blood particles were so much better in the old builds!! I remember orange box version had great blood particles

[@SeanTylerismyname]

CSS wasn’t available day one.

[@PanMannYT]

What would have been cooler was if people had the Day 1 Source SDK Base. But we have 2006 only.

[@jetski8839]

source sdk base 2004 exists somewhere

[@PanMannYT]

@@jetski8839 really do hope we find it.

[@alface935]

@@PanMannYT Yeah I Hope They Found One Day

[@Daburubareru]

@@jetski8839 that's 2006 and CSS

[@jetski8839]

@@Daburubareru what

[@11Stormtrooper]

Valve should add the Day one build as an opt-in version to select in the game settings, like selecting a beta version

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Yup, it just comes down to offering the version. KSP for example offers practically everything from the latest 1.12.4 back to the ancient 1.0.5

[@golarac6433]

I think node graph rebuilding only happens when they are not on the disk or do not match the version of the map youre playing. After it was generated on your computer once it shouldn't appear anymore. Steam version ships with them already to save time

[@cameronmactavish6501]

Something I noticed coming back to HL2 recently for nostalgia playing: something happened to jumping on inclined surfaces. It showed up the worst in the initial seesaw physics puzzle, where I wasn't able to make the jump due to my character just immediately landing after hitting jump because of the incline. That definitely wasn't in the original version of HL2. It bleeds over to Black Mesa, too. You can't jump while running up ramps, which makes the Gargant Den run a real pain since you can't use your long jump when ever there's a ramp.

[@BudgetBuildsOfficial]

I’ve only ever played through Hl2 properly on the Original Xbox (uses the original 04 port as a base), and honestly I think this hits home on a good few of the reasons why. Very interesting to watch. Just felt meatier to play.

[@aolson1111]

HL2 on Xbox sucks balls.

[@xXSgtWolfXx]

"meatier to play"? learn to speak english. I understand what you mean and all and I agree but that sentence sounds retarded.

[@daemonspudguy]

Oh, hi Hamish!

[@jpfootballs]

I’m happy these more varied videos are being made, very refreshing

[@RPbirdzz]

I'm not sure if this is true but apparently in HL2 the weird visual bug of blood stains on Ragdolls disappearing when you shine the flashlight on them isn't present in the day 1 build, though I saw a video a long time ago showing that but I don't remember if it's true

[@tyrians]

Hah yeah, that's an on and off bug that doesn't always happen but sometimes does. Decals are weird in source.

[@kilzial2204]

This is still a fairly common bug in Garry's Mod even today lol

[@D00MNUKEM90K]

Its true, I've encountered it multiple times.

[@recklesflam1ngo968]

This still happens in GMOD today and it's annoying lol.

[@D00MNUKEM90K]

@@recklesflam1ngo968 Its because of the source engines "Spaghetti Coding" that makes that happen, it actually also happens in l4d, l4d2, cs:go, and tf2.

[@Kaibear]

As for the boxes that are visible at around 5:20: Please take into consideration, that HL2 was originally released on WinXP, had different graphic cards and shaders and graphics driver support. It just might be the case, that the issue is a result of new tech not being compatible.

[@SianaGearz]

Yeah that would have for sure rendered correctly on DX8, early DX9 era drivers. There were after all only two driver families to consider, and they too patched the drivers to make the game run correctly and didn't get into a spec lawyering confrontation with Valve to prove that their driver works correctly and the visual glitch is how it should be, and just made things work because it was quicker and easier. Today the vendor driver no longer provides DX8 or DX9 functionality, instead it's a Microsoft-developed translation layer within the Direct3D software stack, so whatever they happened to deem right, well that's how it it's going to be, they aren't going to adjust it for every game that came out decades ago; it runs how it runs, take it or leave it, if it has any bugs that weren't present in vendor drivers decades ago, they aren't ever getting fixed. And there are numerous of these functional discrepancies, potentially DX9 translation bugs.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@SianaGearz Yeah, DX 9.0, DX 9.0a, DX 9.0b, DX 8.0, DX 8.1, and for the unfortunate even DX 7 was supported on the original release. I've seen DX 9 era cards perform better than DX 11 era cards in the same games, I've seen DX 9 hardware under XP perform better than DX 12 hardware under 10 There is a good reason people build retro machines to run old games properly.

[@Steinerrides]

I've recently played the day one build on a pc from 2004 running windows xp. It has a Athlon 64 3400+ and a nvidia 6800 gtx. The game ran very well and I never experienced visual glitches. I think those are due to modern hardware running an old game and not so much that the game was unpolished when it released.

[@SweatyFeetGirl]

the problem you describe at @4:20 is a problem with mouse polling rate. if your mouse has a polling rate above 125HZ older games tend to have this problem. you can fix that problem by just lowering your polling rate from a crazy value like 1000 on modern gaming mice to 125! upvote this please so more people can see it :)

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

It is really game dependent. CoD games had the issues at least until 2015, while the original Unreal runs perfectly fine even with 1000 hz

[@penggrin]

upvote?? dam

[@SweatyFeetGirl]

@@penggrin when i wrote this comment it had no upvotes lol :D but i'm glad people will see this and have an easy fix

[@penggrin]

@@SweatyFeetGirl на ютубе не апвоуты а лайки, я это иммел ввиду

[@CodeNameBhop]

As someone who owns the Half-Life 2 Collectors Editon, i do love the original game such as Textures, Models and sounds and everything about it. I agree with mostly everything you said. I didnt have any issues with the mouse movement and yes, the vehicle parts (aside the mudskipper) felt like the ground was covered in oil. All the visual glitches happened to me as well, such as in the scrapyard. I did feel more immersed in Half-Life 2 on the day one build.

[@cilginogrenci]

The dirtier Vortiguant textures look a lot more like how they did in HL1 in my opinion, which I like. The new textures feel far too smooth, it's as if they're a different species.

[@lionocyborg6030]

Same here.

[@alfo2804]

I don't think either of them get it right. The original HL2 model looks like foreskin and the Episode 2 model looks like latex. The original HL1 Vortigaunts looked like their skin was mottled on their backs and clearer on their underbellies, a pattern in roughly the same distribution as human hair. I think the skin on Doom Eternal's mancubus shows what the original Vortigaunts' skin should look like in HD.

[@alfalldoot6715]

"As if if they're a different species" you must be blind then and unable to function as a normal person.

[@itdobelikedattho8112]

​@@alfo2804foreskin?

[@the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

From what I've been told about it, the way HL2 renders distant environmental fog is now somewhat broken after multiple modern compatibility updates and rendering changes. This is visible in multiple maps in HL2, including the first map (the alleyway where you first see a Strider is supposed to be a bit foggier than it currently is).

[@ksysinf]

is may or may not be bugged depending on your os, graphics card, driver and compatibility mode. some people never have it glitching, some people can't have it fixed. being struggling with this bug for years

[@danielmiller3781]

The original build also has buggy friendly NPCs, during cutscenes there is a good chance that they will freeze and softlock the game. Not an issue anymore on later versions though.

[@flamingo-stabbingo]

Imagine releasing a game that is completed, and you can play it on day 0. Ah, what strange times those were.

[@Duckbusinessman]

@the hevy man I prefer having to wait an extra 2 years for quality of life improvements and better gameplay balancing and promised mechanics from before release. Just to have them make it all have micro transactions

[@anueutsuho7425]

Hey, Nintendo does that. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is amazing.

[@Prenz01]

The gmod port is best cause more mods Best moment was 720 double jump headshot quickscoping mossman just before she escaped with a 20mm

[@peppermillers8361]

Ehhh, but the maps also barely work because Half of the scripted sequences don't function or something.

[@M0D776]

@@peppermillers8361 really? I remember playing the whole HL2 campaign in Garry's Mod with no problems at least like 1 or 2 years ago

[@julianfahrenschon3902]

HL2 campaign in GMOD is really god damn fun.

[@Luka2000_]

You know that an 18 year old game is a masterpeice when people talk about it to this day. Even though i played half life 2 relatively late for the first time i was lucky enough to experience it first in an old gaming arcade where you could play the og valve games in their earliest versions or mods (half life 1 sierra version, team fortress classic, vampire slayer, richochet and half life 2 day 1 version wich i enjoyed and when i replayed the game on my pc a month later i saw the difference immedieatly (the fire effects, vort textures and gordons suit looking much more shiny wich i kinda like) still i wish that i could go back in time and experience half life 2 again for the first time but im also very happy what became of it. This is a very nice video discussing an topic that hasnt been really discussed in the past and you did it wonderfully!

[@jesserogalski1402]

I didn't have a good gaming PC when I was younger, so I was stuck with the highly gimped Xbox version of Half-Life 2 until they finally released the Orange Box on the 360. I'm mainly a PC gamer nowadays; now playing this thing at 4K/144fps with a bunch of insane graphical mods installed. It has been quite a journey for just one game lol

[@Luka2000_]

@@jesserogalski1402 same

[@anomalocarislover7254]

I played it for the first time a little over a year ago and it is already one of my favorite games, it really is timeless.

[@urazsoktay5275]

Well said. Half Life 2 is the best fps game ever.

[@bonkmaster97]

If you found interesting that cs source still had players playing then I recommend you giving the orange box team fortress 2 ports a look, both ps3 and xbox versions still have players playing them, the xbox version has more players than the ps3 version since its backwards compatible.

[@Helperbot-2000]

Nah the really impressive atuff is that you can find people playing ricochet

[@wyattbottorff2473]

TF2 wouldn't open on my PS3 when I tried a week or so ago. I was concerned it wasn't supported anymore

[@av3nger3]

5:15 I don't think that is because of the build being inferior at that point in time at all. I think it's because the newer builds are more compatible with new graphics cards and their drivers. The old Half-Life 2 build is going to be more subject to glitches because it was meant to run on D3D9 with ancient drivers and cards...and we run everything on D3D12 now. I played the December, 2004 build of HL2 and onward and never remember these issues.

[@mindfortress105]

"feels" "feel" "I don't know" "should check later" great video bro

[@rx1834]

yeah garbage

[@RichterOvertime]

It's pretty bad yeah. I like to think my vids have gotten better since tho

[@CharcharoExplorer]

The improved bloom or HDR into the new build + the dynamic shadows from the flashlight + better textures on certain enemies or items make me prefer the new build over the old one.

[@jeuse5518]

I kinda miss the 4:3 videos... they feel so characteristic for your channel, good vid tho Also, as a Venezuelan myself, I'm not impressed there's still people playing old CS S builds as here piracy is not penalized. People here tend to pirate CS 1.6 and play on Venezuelan servers in a canaima, I can tell you from experience

[@nnikitov57]

so why can't they pirate a newer version of the game? you don't even need a torrent for that

[@theonlyplain]

I feel sorry for you living in venezuela

[@Franshela]

La pirateria es ilegal, vayas dónde vayas, incluso en Estados Unidos vos podes descargar juegos piratas y no van a ir a tu casa a arrestarte porque no tiene la bola mágica para saber. Pero sí, en Latinoamérica se juegan más juegos piratas sobretodo en cibers y escuelas.

[@jeuse5518]

@@theonlyplain Venezuela ain't that bad tbh, people just exaggerate it

[@jeuse5518]

@@nnikitov57 who knows... nostalgia?

[@cozlo847]

You should do a video comparing older versions of Garry's Mod (GMOD 9, GMOD 12, etc.) I recently went back and tried some of these old versions and it was really fascinating, especially since gmod 9 actually still has some servers running!

[@UnrelatedAntonym]

Something to note about your day 1 experience today, I feel that the visual bug with the white/grey/black void bars could be due to (I presume) running it on newer hardware and drivers. I'm just speculating.

[@nawimnot]

the shotgun animation in hl1 source is badass

[@Vincent654]

Half Life 2 Retail was my first experience with this games, thanks for clarifying why I always felt something was different in my steam copy rather than my dvd copy

[@Erkorlad]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Phong shading and the previous system both use specular mapping. The only difference between the two is the method of application: Prior to Source2006, models used $envmap, which used their specular map (usually stored in the alpha channel of the normal map, but that may vary from model to model; I haven't scoured HL2's older files to confirm this) to display the closest cubemap on the level. Phong shading, however, uses a lot more variables that I don't comprehend in detail because I'm not a 3D graphics developer; just a person with concerning amounts of knowledge regarding the Source Engine. While both use the same textures to create an effect, the application and end result are vividly different. That doesn't really make what you said wrong, though, if -I'm- even correct, but I thought the added food for thought in this comments section might elevate it to a greater level of consciousness than the average comments section.

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

The day one build didnt have plastic Phong sheen that tf2 benefited from

[@ford4793]

I'm actually very nostalgic for the Xbox version of the game from 2004. The menu screen is really atmospheric playing the ambient music from point insertion with a cool photo of Gordon and alyx with the citadel behind them. The game looks like ass because it's in like 480p or something like that, but I'm still nostalgic for it. It was the first time I played it.

[@quint3ssent1a]

Yeah, even if HL2 is pretty dated by now and zoomers talk shit about it, I feel nostalgic about it too. First few minutes were such a flex of tech, it felt unreal.

[@punishedblowstein1111]

I've been playing that version lately and it is so much fun to see how they "optimized" the maps, also going out of bounds

[@Viper-jr4sp]

@@quint3ssent1a I was 5 when it came out played it almost day one when my older brother bought it Im almost 23 now still go back to it but like you said the younger zoomers won’t ever give it a chance

[@Daburubareru]

I'm nostalgic for that era too especially the orange box one

[@Ultizer]

Xbox version came out in late 2005.

[@leegofilms]

2:30 the smg’s fire rate was changed. Which might explain why the current version just sounds like noise, and you can’t really hear the “character” of the sound as much

[@Skazzy3YT]

Is there a source for the half life 2 smg fire rate being changed? I feel like some random person made an edit to the combine overwiki 11 years ago with misinformation and that just spread around for years.

[@leegofilms]

@@Skazzy3YT you can play the earlier builds and look at the code between versions. It was changed. You can see it and feel it.

[@Skazzy3YT]

@@leegofilms I uploaded a video of the earliest collectors edition build 2153 and the smg fires at the same speed. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5-5hZ6airB-itU

[@CAPTAIN_CLOCK]

@@keytracer Honestly, same. Both sound the exact same to me.

[@homeygfunkoffacherryfruitl4971]

Wow this is awesome. I used to swear up and down for years that there was a change in the overall quality of the visuals after the Orange Box engine update aside from the obvious stuff like some particles and textures being changed. I legit thought I was going crazy or something so the fact that this video popped up when it did sets my tormented mind at ease.

[@DanielBreadly]

Fire: GIF in 3 fps Richter Overtime: OH YES

[@RichterOvertime]

true

[@SomeRandomPiggo]

better than a png sliding up for 1 second

[@StandleyParableIs2Good]

Please talk about Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Half-Life Deathmatch Source. :)

[@FlyboyHelosim]

I noticed the shotgunners got a new skin when I went back to the game one day after not having played it for a while and had to update it beforehand. I thought I was going crazy with these minor changes I was seeing. To me, it kind of made the shotgun Combine more distinctive and stand out almost like squad leaders like the squad leader grunts in HL1 distinguished by their berets.

[@dmer-zy3rb]

4:15 jittery mouse movement in older games often means that the game cant handle the high polling rate of modern gaming mice. only fix is to lower the polling rate in your mouse software (125 is the default and what 99,9% of people used during the release of HL2)

[@themirach34]

In cs source day one if you click right click on usp and quickly change the weapon and change to usp again it will quickly make your gun suppressed without any animation so you don't have to wait for it. This bug actually can be used in cs 1.6,1.5 and more but it cutted in the new version of cs source

[@chogpamp7209]

Richard Overtime

[@kleinerstudios3598]

Didn't know you would make a video on it, also you should've noted the different models on the combine scanners, good video none the less.

[@resserection1]

Also I feel like while specular mapping looks weird sometimes. It's removal makes most things look way too flat compared to before, removing a lot of the game's atmosphere. LIke now the metrocop boots aren't even shiny, and just have a flat gross looking texture that's supposed to have a shine to it that they broke.

[@bgrz]

If only there was a way to run the latest version and compare the two...

[@Axl4325]

7:13 venezuelan here, afaik CS is a very popular game here, especially source and 1.6 because of the very low requirements. If you go to any cyber cafe, it has a version of counter strike installed. I guess that there's people that somehow only play that version so they have a few servers running

[@ben-brady]

The gunship at the lighthouse section of cost had it's turret broken in newer versions so you can now just camp the spawn point and not get shot.

[@atlev]

Apparently they fixed it in the steam deck update. Haven't tried it out myself, though.

[@WastedPotentiaI1]

@@atlev yea they fixed it,

[@EnclaveFanboy-118]

It is possible to fix Half-Life Source with mods to make it more like the Day One Build, it's still a bit buggy but nowhere near as bad as the Steampipe update.

[@lambda2657]

i genuinely believe the half life 2 we got is way better than the beta

[@Kevin-uj4uu]

i prefer the the atmosphere of half life 2 because it has a dark tone while not being visually dark. half life 2 beta is just grimdark in a pretty generic way. ive never played anything or seen a movie that has the strange atmosphere of half life 2. going through the weird absurd canals that are grounded in realism yet not quite like anything that actually exists on earth. the sun is out but everything is abandoned and only life is alien life and combine soldiers that are hunting you and the sounds of the combine overwatch as you go through these abandoned areas. mean while beta is some generic grim dark shit

[@spoono]

@@Kevin-uj4uu absolutely agree with you man, I've never understood people who go out of their way to "prove" how the beta was going to be better than retail

[@Helperbot-2000]

Yeah same here, Valve obviously scrapped it for a reason or two because they wanted to make the game better

[@AJ-po6up]

Fuck that, beta was better, and that's a fact. The consul is badass.

[@Helperbot-2000]

@@AJ-po6up nah, hes a worse dr breen

[@realityveil6151]

4:45 I laughed so hard at "Who's going to pepper you with nerf ddarts and who's gunna run up like POW POW POW". I'm actually replaying HL2 and those shotgunners are NO JOKE. The only combine to ever kill me are those dude, and sometimes the white-suits if they get me in a bad spot.

[@leegofilms]

Some other things not mentioned: Combine Dropship guns worked on day one (they don’t work currently), and soldiers ai was…different. Much slower reactions, but that’s only noticeable if you spend a lot of time with them

[@jackawaka]

the dropship guns got patched with steam deck I think, not sure about the ai

[@leegofilms]

@@jackawaka Does the screen still flash white in ep2? Figured they'd close these issues on the github repo

[@leegofilms]

@@jackawaka just tested it, and you’re right! That’s great! Wish they had put that in the patch notes…

[@H3Vtux]

The first few months of this game's release I played it so many times I lost count, was just absolutely mind blown. Needless to say every sound/location/quote/model I had pretty much memorized. I noticed whenever I would replay every few years that things kept changing, very minor stuff, and wondered if that first version was lost forevor. It's interesting to see other people have the same question. Nice video!

[@chasefreedman14]

I can verify that there’s even more that was downgraded, one example being the citizen’s face textures, which originally were the regular face maps, the reason this is a downgrade is because the original face map textures were actually higher quality than the retail faces, but it’s possible when valve modified the textures for no reason they had to reduce the images file size in order to edit the image on whatever application was available at the time (2001-2004), this could have also been done to mask the edits made so they didn’t have to apply so much detail to make it look photorealistic with the rest of the image

[@PiPi_AE86]

True, i have a dvd with a 2004 build of half life 2 (if i remember correctly it wasn't release build but close enough), and when i was a kid, i compared them with episode 1 and 2 ones, the result is that original ones oftenly used bgra8888 (wich means almost 0% texture compresion, like a png image compresion) format and/or 1024x1024 resolution, where the newer ones are dxt5 (like a jpeg, very noticeable texture compresion, especially on normal and bump maps) and oftenly 512x512 res. Newer ones are a lot worse but this downgrade is somewhat "camouflaged" by the use of phong textures and other new material shading implementations, but still you can see the bad quality through phong reflections. So, i replaced newer textures including albedo, normal maps and phong with 2004 ones, to get "hi-def" textures with new texture shading wich looked really really nice. Also i want to add that 2004 builds had the awesome ragdoll and prop collisions enabled, and they were somehow broken and disabled since episode 1 'till today's builds of valve's source engine games (half life franchise, portal 1 & 2, l4d 1 & 2 i think, css and csgo).

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

That was 100% a console optimization that carried over due to crunch and negligence

[@Myne1001]

I've seen in some videos that some NPCs are broken in early versions. Like the two NPCs in the queue at the train station at the beginning never move. Also Day 1 had prop flying too.

[@rizzo-films]

Nice! Would be cool to see a comparison, though. I kept thinking at least a screenshot of the updated version would pop up, and it's been years since I've played it so I have no idea what the difference is lol. Now I'm wishing I had a physical version of HL2 so I could check it out myself, I remember having such a wonderful experience playing this on release!

[@larsfinlay7325]

Imagine being a Venezuelan in CSS. You're practicing counter strike every day just waiting for the Maduro regime to end so you can play pro CS in EU. a beautiful dream

[@WilliamTell1313]

How you going to make a comparison video without even comparing most of the things? The only thing I remember you actually doing a comparison with was the SMG sound. No fire comparison, no ragdoll physics comparison, etc.

[@seattleraf]

That feeling when you’re old enough to say the only version you played was the OG one in 2004. Fantastic game then and glad to see it still has a healthy fan base!!!

[@ksysinf]

something to note that wasn't mentioned there: 1) the outdoor lighting in the current build is broken. You can see how sun is shining through in original build and how there is none in the current at 2:36. This applies to all maps with sun. Later on in the canals when you drive against the sunset it's very bright for the moment in the original build and just washed out in the current. The lighting in the Gregory scene at 3:00 is also much more drammatic in the 2004 version. 2) There are a lot of bugs introduced in patches that brake game mechanics in ways that are not immideatelly noticeable. For example, combine flying carrier's machinegun can't turn in the current build, making some drammatic fights during driving section trivial and not nearly as engagging as they were before. Buggy can't outrun the train on the bridge requiring you to wait before it passes. Also, preplaced models have their frames reset - you can see how the very first combine APC in the beginning of the game has it's wheels buried in the ground. Overall, there are a lot of small things that may not make current version unplayable, but once you know what it's missing it becomes kinda crippled experience. Also, bugs mentioned in the video may or may not be encountered on individual basis. For once I haven't encountered black walls bug nor "node graph" in my experience with the original builds

[@lionocyborg6030]

I always liked the original fire effects (I saw them in my Game of the Year Edition box I got in 2007). I always thought they looked more realistic despite the lower frame rate of their animations. The new ones are saturated with bloom and too much smoke. Granted, tons of smoke is also realistic but still. I wish there was a mod for current Half Life 2 that restored all those effects and behaviours from my GOTY disk, bad stuff from then be damned. I don’t mean a sourcemod folder one either but a total file replacement for the main game ala certain GTA or Tomb Raider mods.

[@nothingtoseehear5012]

You could have done side by side comparisons of saying 'i think' and 'maybe' and 'i don't know' the entire video.

[@GenesHand]

Old HL2 was unplayable for me, it used to give me really strong head aches and nausea for some reason, I think it had to do with the FOV, and the illumination bugs are probably caused by incompatibilities with modern GPUs and Drivers, a lot of old games look broken when you play them on modern systems. Any chance of covering the Japanese Arcade games from Valve? HL Survivor, L4D Survivor and CS Neo. CS Neo even has a visual novel lol

[@Templarfreak]

its very unlikely, but its _possible_ that a contributing factor was bloom. i have not heard a lot of people having motion sickness problems due to bloom before, but its not _entirely_ unheard of. modern HL2 uses real HDR instead of bloom (although you can change it back to bloom in the video options)

[@J.DeLaPoer]

Same here, I was only good for about 20 minutes at a time without headaches and nausea, for the first time in my life (gaming since the 80s). I have noticed the same thing with some other games, and in my case it's definitely due to low fov. Bottom line, console/tv fov of 70-75* is ok from across the living room. On a monitor 2ft away it's like walking around with a pair of binoculars permanently strapped on and does bad things to the brain. This is why pc games need either _minimum_ 90 fov or just have adjustable fov, as used to be standard until recently. The "consolitis" trend going on for the last f'ing decade or so of devs being lazy with low fov and no option on pc releases needs to die. *75 was the original, locked fov of hl2 at release and I think it's still the default. ~90 is the natural, normal human fov at desktop monitor viewing distances. For 75 to appear normal to the brain you need to be ~25ft away.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Jup, I always remember that 90° horizontally is the expected FOV on a 4:3 display, which translates roughly to 106° on 16:9 when keeping the same ~74° vertical space.

[@ieatthighs]

@@Templarfreak uses hdr instead of bloom? aren't they completely different things that can be used in the same time?

[@Templarfreak]

@@ieatthighs Generally speaking in Source Engine no, you can't use Bloom and HDR at the same time on the user-side. Maybe you can as a developer/modder/map maker, though. Bloom and HDR are meant to accomplish the same thing. Bloom is an outdated and archaic version of HDR, that isn't considered a "true" HDR, mainly because it can cause effects such as crepuscular ray-like artifacts and "glowing" in scenarios where it wouldn't actually happen in real life. For the actual HDR setting, you can't use Bloom and "Full", as the true HDR is called, at the same time and as far as my understanding goes the Bloom checkbox doesn't actually do anything. In modern use cases, Bloom is typically not used as a stand-in for HDR anymore but is instead used to deliberately cause those glowing effects that in the past were seen as unintended side effects of how Bloom works.

[@TheSixteen60]

Other notes: The alt ammo counter for the MP7 and Pulse Rifle don't show the actual ammo icon in the older build so it's just the single number. And even weirder is that when you pick up ammo, it only shows the bullet icon in the older build compared to the newer build where it also showed the weapon icon.

[@Asas_TV]

hell yeah, have been curious about the changes from day 1 to current version. Knew some differences but never knew them all, awesome video

[@Sliphantom]

I used to go back and play Half Life 2 once every couple years or so, but stopped when I heard that Valve was actually breaking things with updates (that one train comes to mind). Even if that isn't the case anymore, I really hate this surprising disrespect Valve has for its own creations. I shouldn't have to worry about whether or not the HL2 I launch on Steam now is the same one as the HL2 I first played almost 15 years ago. Maybe some of the changes they've made are for the better, but maybe the people who grew up with these games don't want a better version - they want the version that they played. I just wish there was an easily accessible "definitive version" of HL2 I could play - one where all the bugs and inconsistencies are ironed out but where the core functions of the game remain intact.

[@ConnieFWill]

you can play the 2006 dvd release with a little bit of elbow grease, but it has most of the same issues from the video only difference I've found is the textures don't glitch out in Black Mesa East

[@ConnieFWill]

also secuROM is still the fucking devil all these years later

[@-AAA-147]

@Jo Ke *cough* *cough* TF2 *cough* *cough* Also OP's comment reminds me of how George Lucas fucked over the original Star Wars trilogy.

[@punishedblowstein1111]

Don't get me started on WON Half-Life 1

[@punishedblowstein1111]

@Jo Ke That's why I have old PCs lying around

[@luccifrfr2145]

is half life 2 better on day one idk but i know its better without richter o

[@RichterOvertime]

true

[@vyl-za]

There's so much here I would never have caught onto myself without this video - having played the original day 1 release myself.. I really miss the old crosshair! (the bars without the HUD info on them)

[@latternouveau3392]

Your videos keep getting better and better

[@RichterOvertime]

I appreciate that

[@TheGreenTaco999]

4:00 you literally just did not press shift to go faster which you NEED to do, that's just you not pressing a button, not jank controls

[@koopa_knight]

CS:S Day 1 currently has more players than Deathmatch Classic. Probably more than Ricochet. That's actually pretty impressive, considering how hard it is to get to.

[@lentekal]

That day 1 fire looks a lot like the fire used in one of the first Portal trailers. Which would make sense

[@TiberianFiend]

I played the day 1 version on the day HL2 was released. I don't remember those black bars. That might be an issue with newer hardware/software. I do remember the sound stutter after load glitch, which you didn't seem to get.

[@casmith1998]

I actually pirated a 2004 build of HL2 years ago just because I noticed so many subtle differences between how HL2 was when I first played it compared to how it is now. for whatever reason, the lighting seems sharper in the original build. shadows are much more striking and really make textures illuminated by a light source pop more. I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but compare Ravenholm from the 2004 build to how it looks today. the differences are subtle, but the original is more atmospheric, in my opinion. also, I personally prefer the secular mapping over phong. it is, without a doubt, hit or miss, but I honestly think the game looks visually flatter without it. I’m also in the boat of preferring the original fire effects, despite them being 2D sprites lol

[@Ultizer]

The lighting/shadows are done differently in the original build, it tends to look better. This video misses quite a few changes.

[@coffee0093]

Does cl_ragdoll_collide 1 work on this version? it makes it so ragdolls can physically touch/pile up on eachother which imo is more entertaining/realistic

[@QUINTIX256]

Much of the graphical jank would probably be a whole lot less frequent on contemporary hardware and drivers.

[@steviebeavie1]

Good vid, re the sound of the guns and compression, don't forget what happened at launch with choppy sound and quick subsequent patching. It was completely unplayable for day 1 or 2, sound chopped like crazy. I still couldnt resist playing though.

[@arturaragaodantas863]

4:32 whats "node graph out of date. Rebuilding..." What does it mean?

[@Lunar2049]

it means the node graph is out of date, and it is rebuilding.

[@arturaragaodantas863]

@@Lunar2049 thank u very useful adivise!

[@slickcalf985]

A node graph is a tool used for NPCs to be able to move around the map. If the current node graph was out of date, it would be rebuilt at the start of the level.

[@jasperfox6821]

I own the original xbox version of Hl2, and there are definitely differences, and it's one way to play the original game.

[@thej2241]

I remember pirating Half-Life Source a while back, and being incredibly confused when Kleiner wasn’t training his legs with his desk, i guess now I know why.

[@ESToomere]

3:00 the old fire was just 2D sprites so if you looked at them from above, they became flat - you can try out in the same spot in Ravenholm if you go after the goodies to the high left from the vent atop the generators- why do I know this off the top of my head.

[@anomalocarislover7254]

The original vortigaunt texture makes me think of half life 1 vortigaunts.

[@hypedlele]

7:00 in fact the old css (css v34) is much better then the steam version and its pretty safe cuz there is stuff like css client mod(some russian mfs made a client for old css which has alot of updates and its much better then steam verison) the servers in us are empty but the Russian ones are booming and the europian maxfps were having alot of players till they closed in August 2021 cuz of setti master servers having problems and that was lowering the amount of players

[@qtluna7917]

I am no expert so forgive wrong lingo, but I can give a rough outline of one of the security problems with old Source online play: There is (or used to be?, Haven't played CS:S in ages) a server command that allows admins to execute a control input on a connected client. That functionality allowed two problematic things: 1. Changing the clients config files, (slightly annoying to have to redo the options, but it's fine). 2. Allowing for remote code execution, via the config files. (Server would download a file with harmful code onto the system, and the config file would cause that code to run with the next game start)

[@braincloud6098]

I watched tons of HL2 videos during the 00s because it took a while for me to get my parents to get it for me. When I finally played it on 360 I immediately noticed the new episode 2 style blood effects, and also how the lighting on your guns was way shinier / greasier looking in 04. I also sort of vaguely noticed that thing about the SMG sounds, though I'm not sure if your description matches what I felt. For me it was more like each bullet wasn't spaced out evenly, so some bullets cut off others or something. Anyway, I'd kill for a mod that is mostly modern HL but uses the old blood and weapon lighting effects.

[@Tomiply]

"I have to look more into it later." Bro, you're making a video about it. Shouldn't you know for sure when making the video? xD 2:11 Also, what? The current build sounds beefier to my ears, listening in Sennheiser HD 560S headphones. There's more bass frequency in it.

[@im_allergic_to_potassium]

7:05 as a mexican I can confirm that those servers are from school computers

[@coenisgreat]

There’s also the old ‘power shot’ glitch for the pistol. If you hold down right mouse, then left, the weapon will ‘charge’ a shot for every period matching the standard firing animation, hold this for about 18 second, then release right mouse and every shot in the pistol will be fired at once

[@viktext-o5508]

Excellent video as always! Mind to tell the outro track name? Sounds like a real banger!

[@deus_nsf]

Interesting video but missing a lot of important info on Half Life 2 V1.0, especially when it comes to lighting and textures. A lot of advanced features that were in the works during the beta couldn't be finished on time, like the bloom lighting, HDR lighting, and detailled textures, so they sadly had to be scrapped, meaning that 1.0 has significantly flatter ligthing, underwater effects, colors, and especially textures which look extremely blurry without the detail layer that bring a lot more granularity to them. Half Life 2 V1.0 is an interesting curiosity, but it looks significantly worse than the modern build, especially compared to the Update mod.

[@Memoquin]

I though the OB update for HL2 and Episode 1, bringing the new textures and engine features from Episode 2 was pretty good. Much happier with the current build than Day 1.

[@CoreDump451]

I want a build of Portal 1 before the SteamPipe update so much! So many of my favourite custom maps and mods are broken and no workaround has fixed them entirely :(

[@SlyNine]

Really glad you brought up the animations. I thought I was just viewing it through rose color glasses. But I always felt the animations were better then when I play it now