Posts

Showing posts with the label standalone mod

Case Closed - Dunkelschwamm

Image
       Case Closed is one of the many singleplayer Half-Life mods ported over to Sven Co-op. We go around and see all the familiar sights around Black Mesa, especially the sewers, and eventually we are able to get out. SCMapDB page Original map author: EraSerx Conversion author: Hezus Date of original mod release: 2001 Date of final Sven Map release: 2005 Maps in package: 10 Map review of Case Closed (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | July 9, 2023 | 3163 characters      Case Closed is a conversion of a singleplayer mod called Case Closed. Play a singleplayer walkthrough which journeys players through funky testing labs, maintenance rooms, sewers, funky testing labs, maintenance rooms, and sewers!      Most of what is on display is standard Half-Life action stuff, but it plays decently well in Sven Co-op. I'd say I think some maps could stand to be stitched together for the sake of this, as they often end right after grabbing some HEV or equipment. This leads to some

Case Closed - GrandmasterJ

Image
      Case Closed is one of the many singleplayer Half-Life mods ported over to Sven Co-op. We go around and see all the familiar sights around Black Mesa, especially the sewers, and eventually we are able to get out. SCMapDB page Original map author: EraSerx Conversion author: Hezus Date of original mod release: 2001 Date of final Sven Map release: 2005 Maps in package: 10 Map review of Case Closed (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | July 9, 2023 | 4977 characters      We return back to Black Mesa once again in a port of a single player mod that puts us in the shoes of a janitor. We wander through familiar sights, mostly sewers, fight familiar enemies and eventually we hit a cutscene of our extraction and the map just kind of lingers there forcing me to end the map manually.      As soon as we start the map I notice something, I am lagging. My teammate doesn't have the same problem and I am hosting, it gets better in some rooms and worse in others so it is very obvio

Bridge the Gap - Dunkelschwamm

Image
      In this mod conversion we hunt down a button that will raise a bridge so we can cross some sort of divide, a crevasse if you will. The download includes the original mod and a 2.0 rework with massive visual changes but very little difference in gameplay. SCMapDB page Original map author: UrbaNebula Conversion author: Mikk Date of original mod release: 2020 Date of final Sven Map release: 2021 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Bridge the Gap (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | May 21, 2023 | 3085 characters      Bridge the Gap and Bridge the Gap 2.0 are a couple of walkthrough maps which do the same thing in very different flavors. Bridge the Gap 2.0 is a fairly standard Black Mesa themed map, with many environments easily paralleled with chapters from Half-Life, giving it a homogenous and forgettable appearance though very nicely executed. The original, by comparison, looks like some really bizarre interesting N64 port with a style I feel like I haven'

Bridge the Gap - GrandmasterJ

Image
      In this mod conversion we hunt down a button that will raise a bridge so we can cross some sort of divide, a crevasse if you will. The download includes the original mod and a 2.0 rework with massive visual changes but very little difference in gameplay. SCMapDB page Original map author: UrbaNebula Conversion author: Mikk Date of original mod release: 2020 Date of final Sven Map release: 2021 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Bridge the Gap (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | May 21, 2023 | 4790 characters      We have two versions of the same level, the original and a 2.0 rework. The bsp files are differentiated via underscores but nowhere on the map page does it say which one is which. So let me tell you right now the one with the underscores is the 2.0 rework and I can tell by the motd that comes with it. We played the 2.0 rework seriously and then came back and quickly cheated through the original to compare the two.      The map itself is a pretty standard

Echoes - Dunkelschwamm

Image
      The original Half-Life: Echoes mod was released in 2018, and one year later the Sven Co-op conversion came out. It's a more modern conversion of a more modern mod. It's got striking visuals and great sequences and the converter did a great job making it ready for cooperative play. SCMapDB page Original map author: James Coburn Conversion author: kmkz Date of original mod release: 2018 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package: 15 Map review of Echoes (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | April 21, 2023 | 5248 characters      Half Life Echoes is a mod for Half-Life which is ported here to Sven. Having just played through it, I think this whole 14-map extravaganza can be broken down into the following: set-pieces, environmental art, gameplay, and story.      The set-pieces of Half Life Echoes are mostly pretty good. There's long-form puzzles, like a giant grinder that needs multiple explosives shoved into it, or leading enemies into one

Echoes - GrandmasterJ

Image
      The original Half-Life: Echoes mod was released in 2018, and one year later the Sven Co-op conversion came out. It's a more modern conversion of a more modern mod. It's got striking visuals and great sequences and the converter did a great job making it ready for cooperative play. SCMapDB page Original map author: James Coburn Conversion author: kmkz Date of original mod release: 2018 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package: 15 Map review of Echoes (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | April 21, 2023 | 4696 characters      Buckle up for a long cinematic adventure, we have a highly praised Half-Life mod converted for Sven Co-op and it has been lovingly ported. This mod has some great production and we start off strong with a cutscene and voiceover that all players can see! Cutscenes often leave players out but that doesn't happen here and that indicates the quality level of pretty much the whole map series.      I can see right in the fir

Boomario Pacman - Dunkelschwamm

Image
      Wakka Wakka, welcome to first person Pac-man. This map was ripped from another mod called 'Boomario', look it up on moddb if you want. I don't know how the map works in the mod, but here players get crushed by Pac-man again and again until they escape. SCMapDB page Original mod author: Diz Conversion author: Pastacake Date of original map release: >2014 Date of final Sven Map release: 2020 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Boomario Pacman (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 15, 2023 | 2151 characters      Boomario Pacman is a port of a man from a mod that I guess is called Boomario. It seems like it's meant to be a troll map for players to savescum in, or in this case, meander about with respawns until players solve it.      The premise is terrible and simple: navigate a confusing maze where every wall is the same color, full of respawning enemies including grunts, while the players are equipped only with melee weapons, as an invin

Boomario Pacman - GrandmasterJ

Image
      Wakka Wakka, welcome to first person Pac-man. This map was ripped from another mod called 'Boomario', look it up on moddb if you want. I don't know how the map works in the mod, but here players get crushed by Pac-man again and again until they escape. SCMapDB page Original mod author: Diz Conversion author: Pastacake Date of original map release: >2014 Date of final Sven Map release: 2020 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Boomario Pacman (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 15, 2023 | 1661 characters      Boomario is the name of a mod for Half-Life over on moddb and from the description I can guess that this is the origin of this map. Players are thrust into a Pac-Man game where zombies and human grunts, some reskinned to be Half-Life 2 Combine, litter the maze and respawn infinitely. A big yellow Pac-Mac ball roams the halls and splatters everything in it's path. I should also mention we are only equipped with a crowbar and wrench and t

Black Mesa Sideline - Dunkelschwamm

Image
    Here is a short mod converted to work in Sven Co-op. The banner itself even says the length is about 20 minutes, which I find is accurate. Story and gameplay-wise it is a very standard Black Mesa adventure. SCMapDB page Original mod author: ToTac Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original map release: 2007 Date of final Sven Map release: 2013 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa Sideline (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 1, 2023 | 2808 characters      Black Mesa Sideline is a port of a mod called Black Mesa Sideline, but for Sven Co-op! I haven't played the original mod so I have no idea what is different.      While the map is Black Mesa in theme, it looks pretty gorgeous throughout. Techjunk lines the industrial halls, ruined fan blades spin forlorn, subtle volume light brushes illuminate pathways, and it all looks really good. It's helped that there's also an abundance of setting in this small map, from deep complex corridor

Black Mesa Sideline - GrandmasterJ

Image
      Here is a short mod converted to work in Sven Co-op. The banner itself even says the length is about 20 minutes, which I find is accurate. Story and gameplay-wise it is a very standard Black Mesa adventure. SCMapDB page Original mod author: ToTac Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original map release: 2007 Date of final Sven Map release: 2013 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa Sideline (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 1, 2023 | 2580 characters      Here is a short, one map, mod converted to Sven Co-op. It's not a lazy mod, there are no level transitions to the previous maps! The mod is a fairly standard Black Mesa themed map where we are collectively Gordon Freeman and we are skipping our destiny of saving the world and simply escaping.      This map may be standard Black Mesa, but it looks great. There are a ton of details, like bulging walls, crumpled doors, and natural looking rock walls. The level layout is fairly straightforward,

Between Two Worlds - Dunkelschwamm

Image
      Between Two Worlds is a Half-Life 1 mod that, as best I can tell, was released in 1999. What we have on the Sven Co-op map database is the first three levels just dropped right into the map folder with zero work done on converting it to actually work. It's playable at the very least. SCMapDB page Author:Andreas Bauer Date of release:1999 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Between Two Worlds (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 16, 2023 | 5175 characters      Between Two Worlds is a Half-Life modification by Andreas "Widowmaker" Bauer. You can learn more about it here: https://www.runthinkshootlive.com/posts/between-two-worlds/      Hosted here on Sven Co-op Map Database is the first three maps of this 9 map mod. It's odd that the rest of the maps aren't included, as my buddy and I threw the last 6 maps into Sven Co-op and they worked about as well as these maps do- which is to say they're abrupt, poorly optimized for co-op pl

Between Two Worlds - GrandmasterJ

Image
      Between Two Worlds is a Half-Life 1 mod that, as best I can tell, was released in 1999. What we have on the Sven Co-op map database is the first three levels just dropped right into the map folder with zero work done on converting it to actually work. It's playable at the very least. SCMapDB page Author:Andreas Bauer Date of release:1999 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Between Two Worlds (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 16, 2023 | 4758 characters      From what I can gather, this is an unfinished mod for Half-Life that got dropped into Sven Co-op wholesale with zero modification to adjust it for cooperative multiplayer. What we get off the map database is the first three maps of a mod that really isn't all that good.      We start off in a glass dome with a scientist walking over to a button. He presses the button and I guess that button just sets off resonance cascades because that's what happened. My teammate broke out of the glass a

Unholy - Dunkelschwamm

Image
      Don't let the fancy title screen that looks like the X-Files fool you, this is a Black Mesa adventure. Players take on the role of scientists trying to escape the disaster, unsuccessfully. SCMapDB page Original map author:LetKyx Team Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original mod release:2004 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package:4 Map review of Unholy (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | February 11, 2023 | 3117 characters      Unholy is a Half-Life mod converted to Sven Co-op. The mod is a short 4-map walkthrough starring two scientists discussing the story of their daring escapades through the Black Mesa complex as the resonance cascade wreaks havoc.      Throughout the story, players can expect to very slowly gain weaponry, only ever achieving as much as a basic boilerplate loadout of an MP5, pistol, revolver, and shotgun, with some hand grenades to round out the very final encounters. Most of the map involves battling xen creat

Unholy - GrandmasterJ

Image
      Don't let the fancy title screen that looks like the X-Files fool you, this is a Black Mesa adventure. Players take on the role of scientists trying to escape the disaster, unsuccessfully. SCMapDB page Original map author:LetKyx Team Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original mod release:2004 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package:4 Map review of Unholy (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | February 11, 2023 | 2613 characters      Unholy is a Half-Life mod that takes place back in Black Mesa, this time we play as a scientist and the twist is we aren't as cool as Gordon Freeman. Honestly the whole thing is mostly vents and is mercifully short.      We start off with a cutscene, I get to see it but my teammate who joins after the map starts does gets to watch a wall. After turning off survival mode we get into the map proper and its a lot of vents. There are some rooms, some hallways, tons of vents, and it is all Black Mesa themed so it

Black Operations: Special Forces - Dunkelschwamm

Image
      Black Operations (not to be confused with Blackops, a different map) is a Half-Life mod converted over to Sven Co-op. It uses many new textures along with impressive detail to tell the unnecessary story of how the United States acquired the nuke used to destroy Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Original map author: Little_Otis Conversion author: Shinkichi Date of original mod release: 2005 Date of final Sven Map release: 2010 Maps in package: 13 Map review of Black Operations: Special Forces (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 28, 2023 | 6245 characters      Black Operations: Special Forces is a walkthrough mapset which follows the exploits of a Black Operations soldier who gets in way over his head. Throughout there is setpiece after setpiece, lots of very inspired material, some puzzles, great action, and some exquisite aesthetics to tie it together.      Throughout this map players take on the role of a Black Ops grunt. The main way that this affects gameplay

Black Operations: Special Forces - GrandmasterJ

Image
      Black Operations (not to be confused with Blackops, a different map) is a Half-Life mod converted over to Sven Co-op. It uses many new textures along with impressive detail to tell the unnecessary story of how the United States acquired the nuke used to destroy Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Original map author: Little_Otis Conversion author: Shinkichi Date of original mod release: 2005 Date of final Sven Map release: 2010 Maps in package: 13 Map review of Black Operations: Special Forces (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 26, 2023 | 5947 characters      This map series is a conversion of a standalone mod by the same name. We follow a Black Ops soldier named Declan Walker whose job is to plant the nuclear bomb that takes out Black Mesa. The map description says we're getting back a mysterious briefcase from a Black Mesa scientist. Spoilers, but that briefcase is the nuke. We're also in Metro City but manage to plant the bomb in Black Mesa anyway, the story

Base Attack - Dunkelschwamm

Image
       Converted from a standalone mod of the same name, this map series takes players to an underground base that looks suspiciously like Black Mesa to liquidate some obsolete personnel. There is only one map here and it has its ups and downs. SCMapDB page Original map author: DAVLevels Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original mod release: 1999 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Base Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | October 1, 2022 | 2451 characters      Base Attack is a pretty well made walkthrough action military map with lots of gunplay, some really interesting architecture I haven't seen since, and a lot of content for one map.      Players assume the role of some infiltrating force making their way into a military base and blowing up their coolant system. To do that, you must shoot everybody many times. The map starts with some cramped entrance areas. There's some fun destructibles, and the map introduces p

Base Attack - GrandmasterJ

Image
      Converted from a standalone mod of the same name, this map series takes players to an underground base that looks suspiciously like Black Mesa to liquidate some obsolete personnel. There is only one map here and it has its ups and downs. SCMapDB page Original map author: DAVLevels Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original mod release: 1999 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Base Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | October 1, 2022 | 5749 characters      The story behind this map is invading a top secret research facility in the very classy Area 69 and killing everybody inside due to some vague clandestine reasons. Since it was originally a singleplayer mod ported over to Sven Co-op it has survival mode on by default, like all mod ports seem to have.      The map starts off and its looking a little blocky. This is to be expected, the original mod was released in 1999, there is a lot of effort put into level details but th