As the name suggests Minerva: Metastasis : Parts 1, 2 and 3 contains all 3 parts of the Metastasis trilogy. I am writing this introduction without having found time to play the third part, so I can’t really add any useful information. If you are new this series I highly recommend playing it now.
- Title: Minerva: Metastasis Trilogy
- File Name: hl2-ep1-sp-minerva-metastasis-trilogy.7z
- Size : 148.35Mb
- Author: Adam Foster
- Date Released: 01 October 2007
An interview with Adam Foster is available. It is in PDF format. You may be able to open this directly in your browser, depending on which one you use and its version or alternatively you can download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
Click on the thumbnails below to open a medium size image. WARNING: The screenshots may contain spoilers.
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Please email me about a broken link and I will do my best to repair it as soon as possible - thank you.
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This mod is NOT suitable for use with MapTap
1st October 2007
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2nd October 2007
I’ll update the post later this afternoon, after I’ve play it. I’m very disapointed that this requires Episode 1 because I feel that if I was a player who only had HL2 and I had played the first two parts I would feel cheated.
I’ve requested an interview with Adam, so if he agrees I’ll try and discuss this point with him.
2nd October 2007
You know what, Phillip? After some thought, I completely agree with you.
However, you have to give it to Adam for embracing new technologies.
I HAVE read about a few ‘in-development’ mods (Mostly defunct now, I suppose.) that would have required Counter-Strike: Source. I actually find this more outrageous, especially considering we (As in the visitors of this website.) are MOSTLY affixed to singleplayer games. (Unless you’re like me and got the HL2 collector’s edition which actually came with CS:S.)
I’ll try and download this, (Big size + shaped internet = bad!) since I’ve been waiting for ages to fire up number three! (And it’ll be great to play through one and two again!)
I just LOVE Adam’s attention to detail, as well as his very fluid pace and extremely solid gameplay. I also love the mysterious atmosphere and back-story. It really draws you in!
2nd October 2007
WHoa partIII is outta there then my man. What is that? NEver heard of this game for quite some time tho. Part I and II are great. Just to compress it for who does not know. The player is guided by a misterious voice thru a Combine Facility. Initially striking thru outside defenses, going to an old WWII bunker full of computer, depot of Citadel pods, some corpses of latter dead rebels and it’s key in advancing thru: Liberating a shield that conceals a passage to an underground facility. There the player will see the fabrication of the so famous Headcrab Canisters, Some soldiers put on stasis and a big architeture on a base, and then, getting to a very gigancitc door… Leading to part III.
Fun to see this here, will download soon again play thru I and II, again too, and then drool all ove part III and it’s ending. About the technologies, well, the game sould’ve been made accesible to everyone, yeah, there are a good ammount of players only with an Half Life2 copy or not even that, maybe just a Half Life Deathmatch, but they also could have access to that. Depending on the so good technology presented on EP1, since key feature was the HDR, not bad at all, then maybe it was well worth it to make in EP1 technology.
2nd October 2007
I played it and it’s really awesome! Part 3 is certainly the best part. This is a must download.It’s maybe a downfall that Episode 1 is required, but part 3 uses a lot of content from Ep1 (in a very good way). You more have to look at it as an Episode 1 mod, rather than a HL2 mod.
2nd October 2007
It’s Minerva, for anyone who’s played the earlier ones that’s all that needs to be said, and for those who haven’t need to do so.
Part 3/4 is just as good as the earlier parts, with some decent puzzles too. It also contains one of the only gunship fights that I’ve actually found thrilling (as it throws a few curve balls at the “walk to crate, shoot rockets until you run out, walk to crate again” concept)
2nd October 2007
I’ve added a few screenshots which definitely contain spoilers.
I guess I’m about half way and having fun. Full review to follow.
2nd October 2007
ZAWMG OMG HOLY HELLISH LIGHTENING BOLTS! IT’S OUT! Gonna play it now!
3rd October 2007
Well, I think any true Half Life gamer is going to have Episode 1 already. If Adam would have held his release date a bit until after The Orange Box was released this month, then everybody would have Episode 1.
Would absolutely love to play this just to get to part 3, but it instantly crashes during the opening sequence. Bummer!!
EDIT: I decided I would manually load to map 2 and start from there but tried it from the beginning just in case and it runs fine now. I can’t tell you how many times it crashed on me during the opening sequence though. Just as I was getting ready to go to bed too!
3rd October 2007
Wow. This is an excellently crafted mod. After already playing parts 1 and 2, I was excited for part 3. It’s arguably better than the first two and builds upon what made the first two parts great whist providing some refreshing gameplay.But overall, this mod hits hard the dominant point – It was damn fun!
Gameplay is excellent and flows well. Enemies were placed excellently in good amounts. Great fire fights ensued. Some decent puzzles are thrown in there two, although I’ll admit some are quite clever. There were some great ideas chucked in there too. I especially liked the section where you were without weapons for a period of time. Although it was a bit tedious at times I enjoyed that part thoroughly.
I will state one problem with gameplay, though – While mostly balanced, at times the difficulty was inconsistent. While there’s nothing wrong with going from easy and building up to difficult, it constantly bumps up and down. I was switched difficulty settings a few times, in fact.
Another thing is that the zombines where overused throughout the final stages of the game. They were sort of almost just ‘thrown’ in there. But that’s just my opinion. It’s just a bit tedious having to constantly face the same enemy for a long stretch. (Although a few soldiers broke it up at parts.)
Also, to nitpick here, I found the amount of fast headcrabs frustrating. I hate the things in large amounts, as they are VERY annoying. Still, that’s just where my tastes come into it.
I could nitpick some more, but I can’t, because gameplay is just too damn fun and the – um – ‘fun factor’ far, FAR outweighs these little ‘problems’.
Design… Is absolutely brilliant. It’s extremely well crafted. Brushwork, trimwork, texture work – Everything falls together nicely. The detail is amazing, too. There is also quite a variety in design elements, which provide for some constantly refreshing visuals. Layouts were also great, complementing the gameplay. The atmosphere and detail found in the final stages of the game is immense…
Seriously, Adam’s design is on par with Valve’s level design. At times, he even surpasses it. (That’s just what I think… Others may beg to differ.)
Another thing about design is the vistas and set-pieces. They are fantastic, well crafted and are placed nicely.
About the Ep.1 requirement… To be honest, I’m not too angry about it, because A LOT of the stuff here makes use of Ep.1’s technology. It would’ve taken ages for Adam to recreate everything from scratch, thus we wouldn’t even have this morsel as of writing.
To be honest, Adam’s made good use of Ep.1’s content. VERY GOOD use of it.
What else can I say about this mod? Well, I have to say that the custom music is great. This and HL2’s (Plus Ep.1’s) music is also placed very well within the maps, taking great advantage of the situation. However, at times, new music would kick in as a previous track had failed to complete. (IE Overlapping.) The previous obviously stops to let the other play. I recall this happening about 2-3 times. Unfortunate, but I’ll live.
To be honest, I can’t think of much else. Pretty much all of this mod’s ‘problems’ are reserved for nitpicking, which clearly shows how much quality oozes from this mod.
Overall, I highly recommend this mod—
No – I FORCE you to download this mod! It is most definitely worthy of your hard drive, so take a gander and embrace the magic that is MINERVA: Metastasis!
3rd October 2007
Crap. Once AGAIN I’ve forgotten to mention something.
I love this mod’s storyline. I also love the dialogue from the text messages. It’s very well written and very clever, too.
I laughed a few times, as well.
Much like the design, the plot all falls together quite nicely. I was immersed in it completely, mostly during part 3 which was superb.
3rd October 2007
I will play through part 1 & 2 again before playing part 3 for the first time.
3rd October 2007
What can I say besides that? Don’t miss out on this one. Epic.
3rd October 2007
Wow… I just played this start to finish and I have to say it’s the best ‘mod’ I’ve played so far. I use inverted commas for mod because there is very little custom material. However, Foster uses Valve’s material superbly to a professional level. This man has to work in game design! The industry needs him!
I thought the use of Episode One’s content was definitely permitted and really anyone who owns HL2 should own a copy of Episode One aswell. It’s very cheap! The finale was simply awesome.
SPOILERS BELOW!
Backtracking can often be a bore, but there was plenty of new surprises to keep you entertained on the way back up, putting some great action in areas that were previously eerily lifeless (such as the WW2 base). Clambering round the wrecked Citadel-esque areas was very well crafted.
END OF SPOILERS
I enjoyed this mod just as much as Valve’s own campaigns and I look forward to more games from Adam Foster.
3rd October 2007
have a problem with the non paved ground in the first ep.(metastasis) if i pick up & drop stuff on the non paved ground including killing combine they disappear into the ground and i lose whatever stuff i could have used, and the floor texture in ep.2 has a serious high gloss shine with krieg light reflections. did not have this prob with the hl2 mod. really dislike hl2 ep.1, i had removed it, but reinstalled for metastasis ep.3. valve needs to hire adam for future episodes, because metastasis is by far superior to hl2 ep.1.
4th October 2007
I am getting big red ‘ERROR’ captions all over part 3 plus pink and black checkered screens and walls in places. I downloaded via PP and played through part 1 & 2 without any missing content. Read through all the above but can’t see any reference to this issue.
Would seem something is missing from the download relative to part 3 only. Any ideas?
4th October 2007
Adam Foster has so to speak “put the iceing on the cake” with this one, just finished it up at 11:00 pm cdt, my eyes are killing me! It had what I like “tough fights” lots of action, great graphics, and NO frame rate drops! Kicked the AA/Af settings all the way up, ran very smooth, kinda like a good shot of Captain Morgan! Hey Mel sounds like some graphic stuff is missing or not loading! This is a must DL!!
4th October 2007
AI, I am stuck.
I have got to the point where you need to push two light buttons one at the end of two gantries that over look the big central beam. I dont see what if anything these trigger, the lift is not triggering and can not see where or what else to do.
4th October 2007
Mel, try seeing if this helps you out.
4th October 2007
Pay attention to your messages. There’s plasma buffers around you that need to be disabled so you did miss what the buttons actually triggered. Good news is don’t fret, you still haven’t disabled them. Trust me when I say you’ll know when they’re disabled!! Try finding something handy in a nearby weapons chest.
4th October 2007
I really hate doing consecutive posts, but I started and finished this last night/morning. I was a little disappointed at the thought of having to play from the very beginning but now I am so glad that I did. Everything flows together so well and it wouldn’t have been half as good if not played from the beginning.
This mod is absolutely fantastic. Definitely the best mod I’ve ever played and now have to change my favorite on the bio page.
Encountered ZERO problems (with the exception of the opening scene crashing). Gameplay is exciting AND fun, graphics are simply amazing, and the story is well put together, clever and intelligent. It left me quite breathless in some areas.
You must, must, must
4th October 2007
Something else I forgot to mention. Honestly, she’s hit the nail on the head with that there sentence…
***SPOILERS***
When Minerva (?) fires the satellite and the screen faded to black – Honest to god, I had this huge emotional rush with that line “I’m truly sorry.”
***END SPOILERS***
No other mod has immersed me within its storyline/plot/characters this much since I played Todesangst 2: Der Echte Feind and Mistake of Pythagoras!
And that’s saying a lot.
4th October 2007
This is, quite possibly, one of the best single player mods for Half-Life 2 I have ever played, and I think I’ve tried all of them.Everyone else has given their own thoughts on this, and there’s little I can add to them. The sheer level of detail in the maps is astounding, the gameplay is consistantly challenging, the effects are breathtaking and the scale of the whole thing is amazing.
If you can, play this. I canoot recommend it highly enough.
4th October 2007
I have a similar problewm as Mel. I can see what the two buttons on the gantry do.
ATTENTION SPOILER!!
I throw in the 4 genades and the green lights turn orange. I can even make it quick enough to have them orange all at the same time. Then I throw another one at the central shaft and it gets zapped anyway. And then ofcourse the lights reset to green. What am I missing here?
4th October 2007
***SPOILERS***
I only have a vague idea of where you are. I suppose you’re on the third map, during the chapter just before ‘Pegasus’, (Can’t remember the name of that one.) where you’ve been told to destroy all of the nodes?
If I’m right, then throw a SECOND grenade into each node after you throw your first grenade into them. They should turn red and the energy ball should fling off it. Your first time doing so will have Minerva message you saying that you’ve got three to go.
Am I right?
***END SPOILERS***
4th October 2007
***SPOILERS***
Oh yeah, the buttons up on the gantrys OPEN UP the nodes. (The doors covering them.)
***END SPOILERS***
4th October 2007
The reason for the superior graphics in the whole Minerva Metastasis series was that Adam used a Mac computer, but how he ported it to a PC I wish I knew! BTW to #23 above, you need more than 1 grenade! Phillip, I hope you can get an interview with Adam Foster, it would be interesting!
4th October 2007
ATTENTION SPOILER!!!
Manual_Monaro,
You were right, you have to chuck in 2 grenades for each one. Thanks.
4th October 2007
And now I’m stuck again in map 4b, the last one. I’m at the energyshield, just after the area with the turrets. I can’t see how to shutdown the field, or find another exit. Would appreciate any suggestions…
4th October 2007
***SPOILERS***
There’s a series of pipes with valves/wheels on them. You have to turn each one to eventually reach the third (Or maybe there was just two? Can’t remember.) one which blows a hole and allows you to continue.
The first was a bit tricky. In the turret room, with the barricaded door, go up to the catwalk that overlooks the hallway on the OTHER SIDE of that door and shoot the boards covering it. Go through the door, turn the valve.
Return to the catwalk and walk along until you reach another pipe/valve. Turn it etc. etc.
That should be the jist of it. Sorry I can’t be more specific.
***END SPOILERS***
4th October 2007
What an epic release… Now that is THE Mod. The content of the entire Episode 1 have been used properly, oh damn, that underground facility blowing up like in EP1, so well made. You can see the entire structures of everything, from the “headcraps” containers to soldiers resting on their beds, to the entire huge dar energy device powering the fabrication of canisters and so on. This is the best mod I have ever played for instance, although I cant remember any other else for now that caused impact that big, since I am an old battleworn veteran on Half Life 1 and 2 Mods. Still, this one impressed me and made me iimerse much inside the game. I could put more than one of the “Play it now”, but you get the message.
4th October 2007
By the way Philip, this is not supposed to be a trilogy, but a Four chapter saga being the last one after the explosion of Chapter3. See, the name is Pegasus if I remeber well. 4 chapters.
4th October 2007
Yes, I know about Peagsus but Adam Foster always claimed it was a trilogy. You’ll also notice that the homepage linked to above has three images, which I presume is to emphasize the trilogy part. I bleieve that the Pegasus title refers to the fact that the player was “saved” by Minerva to fight another day.
I could be wrong and just don’t have time to search through his older posts.
4th October 2007
That doesn’t really make a difference, it’s still the same engine. Minerva utilises HDR lighting which may have been quicker to render using a Mac but other than that there would be no difference, he’s still user the Hammer editor.
4th October 2007
The first thing he did was install Windows XP on his MAC, then he continued building the mod.
4th October 2007
Does Hammer even run on a Mac?
Or even HL2?
4th October 2007
If you have followed Adams adventursome blog the Minerva was done on a Mac laptop, a powerbook I believe, it bellyed up and he got his new one and installed WXP on it, Two of my friends are professional graphics artisis that only use Macs, I see proof not conjecture! sorry for getting off track! This is still a great piece of work and will be played again!
5th October 2007
I am having big problems running this mod and have had to give it up. Part 1 & 2 are fine but Part 3 has graphic issues. As I previously posted, I am getting the big red ‘ERROR” captions all over the maps plus pink and black checkered walls and panels in places. I managed to continue playing until I got back to surface level where all the sky graphics have gone mad making it impossible to play.
I have reinstalled a few time and downloaded again all with the same result. On all occasions the game extracts to the source file but does not show up in the Steam menu.
I have been running the game via the desktop shortcut. Following the link given by Goddess it would appear that others are having the same problems, however what recommendations given there don’t appear to solve the running problems. HELP.
5th October 2007
SPOILERS AHEAD
Thanks again, Manual_Monaro. What I’d missed was getting access to the second valve. You have to shoot some planks to open a door, then get back to the turret room, go through the door, use the second valve etc. There were three in all.
So now I’ve finished it. Whay can I say that hasn’t already been said about this mod. It’s simply the best so far I think. So I’ll just say:
5th October 2007
People having graphical problems, do you have HDR enabled? If so, try disabling it. I haven’t had this problem but it’s just a thought. Let me know if it makes a difference.
5th October 2007
To the best of my knowledge I dont have HDR enabled. How do I check for sure?
5th October 2007
A question to anyone whole as downloaded MM3 sometime during the last 3 or 4 days.
1) Did it auto extract into both your steam source file and sream menu.
2) Are you having any graphic issue with levels 4a & 4b.
3) Are you running through the desktop shortcut.
4) are you running any other way either then through steam or the extracted desktop shortcut.
5th October 2007
The download provided here has the broken installer – try the proper download link to get the fully working one.(The old one would start the game as a HL2 mod if started from the desktop shortcut, not an Episode One mod – resulting in all the strange problems people are getting.)
I appreciate people trying to mirror the download for me, but when they don’t keep it up-to-date it does get a little frustrating. Especially as I probably have several gigabits per second of mirrors of my own – with no advertising, no sign-up or anything, just a single click on the download link…
Anyway, glad people have enjoyed playing it when it has worked properly – and thanks for all the comments!
5th October 2007
I have updated the file to the latest version.
6th October 2007
To Cargo Cult.
I downloaded ‘Metastasis_Patched’ directly from the link you supplied. The result is bigger problems then I had with the pre-patched version. The patched version does not appear in the steam menu plus the desktop shortcut does not run the game direct as before but takes me to the steam menu which is pointless as the game is not there.
I have tested other game files in and out of the steam source folder and they all appear in the steam menu so have’nt a clue why the MM3 is not, whether it’s the patched or otherwise version.
This means that with the patched version I can not run the game at all.
7th October 2007
With my Core2 Duo 2.66GB, Geforce 8600GT, & 2GB Ram, I had no problems whatsoever with the graphics, map changes, or anything else for that matter. Adam is just a brilliant mapper, and I hope he’s working on another one. So I’ll chime in with all the others and say that this is the best map-pack I’ve played!
8th October 2007
I played the mod from the beginning to really experience the whole story and well….
AMAZING!!!!
This IS the best mod I have ever played. I would love to review it but I’ll leave that up to Mel because he’s the HL2 guy.
Part 3 truly completes the story and doesn’t leave you hanging…
I will play this over an over. What a great mod. It required a little under 2 hours to play the entire thing. And what an experience! Everything is so professional that is as great as HL2. I love the Episode 1 content and he used it wisely. I’m sorry if you don’t have Episode 1 but this mod is a great reason to get it.
9th October 2007
had much the same problems as mel,and got a blue screen system shut down.dumped the game as well as drivers and what ever else steam support suggested, crashed at the start of steam an froze,gave it my blessings{!@$@@ %$$@@#@ you} then did the bad shut down.woke this morning to a happy pc, steam and the hl2 series works,now to download this and try again.
9th October 2007
Make sure you have HL2 Episode 1 loaded.
9th October 2007
got em all i think the pc was lonely,not enough play time:)
11th October 2007
Amazing mod so far, but I’m having a little trouble*SPOILER WARNING*
— after everything blows to hell and you’re on the way out, you take the lift back up but it stalls. I can’t find a way out, I’ve tried crawling, ledge jumping and a variety of other things. The only though I have is there have been a variety of error graphics throughout the later stages for some reason. One of them is hanging in mid air just within jumping distance from the edge of the lift/broken glass. Is there supposed to be some kind of object you can jump onto and run up onto the path/gantry a little away from the lift there?
//end spoiler>>
Cheers
Saurus