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.
Please note: These statistics are valid from December 2010
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This mod is NOT suitable for use with MapTap
1st October 2007
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If this post has more than 50 comments they are separated into pages of 50 comments
11th October 2007
Yes, I had the same problem. With the graphic problems it’s not easy to see and maybe jump from where you are, I needed to noclip. Be warned once you reach the surface the graphics will be so bad that I dont think you will be able to finish the game.
It would appear that you need HL2 Episode 1 loaded to play through part 3 of MM. I have yet to load Episode 1 but have been told this will fix the graphic.
11th October 2007
That’s a misleading statement. In the description of the mod it clearly states you need Epsiode 1. The way you say it makes it sound as though nobody was told and it was accidently discovered.
11th October 2007
Not only is it not a misleading statement but it’s meant to be a helpful statement. I am not in the habit of posting misleading statement and dont take kindly to your comment.
Did it not cross your mind that post 50 is playing MM3 without Epsiode 1?
11th October 2007
I didn’t question its helpfulness but it impression.
I haven’t suggested your are.
I didn’t mean to offend. However, I stand by what I said.
Yes. Did it not cross you mind to simply say:
You need Epsiode 1 to play the third part of Minerva”.
11th October 2007
I am totally lost to understand the point you are trying to make.
Post 50 is stuck at the same point I was stuck which is being ampered due to the graphics issue. I do not have Episode 1 loaded and after finding out you need it for level 3, I attempted to see if it was possible to play though without it. This is possible until you reach topside again.
I was trying to convery my experiences to post 50 and can see no way that this is missleading.
I am allowed within reason to choose my own words when posting
17th October 2007
I’ve created a new category for Episode 1 mods and moved MM into it.
18th October 2007
Although I thoroughly enjoy Mr. Foster’s Minerva trilogy from carcinogenisis and downhill struggle I was slightly disappointed with the third chapter (not the mod itself) however the fact that episode one is required detours me from continuing to advance in this fantastic trilogy. I have played ep1 at my friends house and found it to be below my expected standards (although you cannot expect too much from episodic content) therefore I did not purchase the addon. I hope that when episode 3 is released (assuming it is the final installment) I can buy the bundle and remove myself from my gaming predicament. Regardless I highly approve of this mod to any hl2 player! (I have recently returned to this site and may create an account in the future thanks for the astounding site phillip keep up the good work!
25th November 2007
i only have episode one without halflife2. can i still play this? and if so where should i install it to?
26th November 2007
Can someone with more knowledge on this help our friend Xanatos out? I haven’t a clue about this one!
8th December 2007
Just the best HL2 mod I’ve played, as simple as that. Proper design, fabulously executed, good, if frustrating puzzles, and challenging combat, edgy and very atmospheric….Without giving any spoilers, the only teensy bit that upset me was when being picked up by the chopper at (what I presume was) the end I got the dreaded “Internal error in Direct3D” thingy, which considering the fact I’d played it through without any glitches or even particularly low frame rates at all was a tad annoying….Otherwise, 10+ out of 10.
I’m not sure about getting stuck in the lift, I took the stairs….;)
@ Xanatos, I had no idea Ep1 was available without HL2, seeing how affordable HL2 is, go on, treat yourself!
(Oops….but it really is that good!)
18th December 2007
I finally got around to play the third part of this mod and while the level design is outstanding, it seems I didn’t really understand the story. Why is there a cannon firing into the installation? I mean who has access to that technology? Also while fighting the gunship in the end the game crashed when I tried to enter the bunker all the time. I had to cheat myself a rocket launcher to finish it…
29th December 2007
31st December 2007
A piece of art like no other mod i played, a wonderfull use of HL2: ep1 content, well made maps, a simple but great story, nice musics, some egnimas.
Anything in this mod is perfect, play it right now !
13th January 2008
HELP! im stuck in map 4a. wat do i do after meeting the first group of zombines?
27th January 2008
DISASTER !!! ?
I’ve been quicksaving all game and so don’t have a safe point to return to.
I’m just past the room with the very large turbine that’s moving very quickly, where there were stalkers who fired red lasers as you enter the room.
A few minutes previously, after my weapons were taken away in the disintegration room, I received the message that said look for an armory. I looked, didn’t find one, and since everyone kept shooting at me, I kept running.
Now, with no weapons, not even a trusty crowbar, I’m in a sealed area with 3 supply boxes, which I can’t open. There’s an alcove about twenty feet across guarded by a security system that turns on a force field everytime I get within ten feet of it. I’ve tried everything I can think of and nothing works.
Please don’t tell me I missed an armory and have to start the game all over again!
27th January 2008
Shawn, I too got stuck in this room for a long time, so it happens to others too!
Now, you need to think of two things:
What powers the forcefield? and Boxes can be useful if you do the right thing with them.
Hopefully that’s not too obvious. If you still can’t figure out what to do, I’ll post the direct answer.
28th January 2008
Great reply–thanks for getting back to me.
Lol–well, at the time I posted 65 I had tried heaving the boxes around to try to break them in case there were useful goodies inside. Couldn’t break them open. Second, I tried leaning the boxes against the force field, hoping that when I first moved away, then moved closer, that the force field resuming would shatter the boxes. No luck there, either.
Third, I tried throwing a box at the plug powering the force field, but it doesn’t reach it with much force, certainly not enough to knock the plug loose.
Fourth, I tried stacking boxes to trhow from closer to the plug, but that didn’t help.
Fifth and last, I stacked the boxes to try to get on top of the hardware near the plug, but wasn’t able to climb onto the hardware.
I’m extremely open to suggestions!
28th January 2008
Shawn, it certainly sounds like you have tried plenty of things.
I won’t be any more cryptic. I did this then jumped and threw. I think you just have to get it at the right angle. For me it worked second throw.
Please don’t hesitate to ask if you get stuck later on.
30th January 2008
I found out about this mod from watching the ModDB mod of the year awards, where it came 5th in the Released Awards.So i thought that looks like an interesting mod and got downloading. I late realised that i required Half Life 2: Episode 1, and then after shortly re-installing it i was underway.
After about an hour later the mod was completed, but fear not. I am an excessively speedy player but I enjoyed every minute of it. The basic premise is that you are a human turned combine who rebelled and is now working for the rebel forces. You have been sent to investigate an Island full of combine.
Now the opening shot of the mod is just amazing, you know the person who mapped this is indeed skilled in their art form and I thoroughly give them full marks on it. The maps are both impressive, realistic and are quite professional, I felt like I was playing one of the games made by Valve.
You are guided by someone who I think is working from somewhere else, anyway their name is Athena and most of their text goes around mythology. Though whenever they have something to say you have to stop what your doing, find a little hiding place and get reading as its such a long set of lines. This was both annoying and interesting because it usually meant that there was some development in the story line.
Anyway, after doing a Half Life 2: Episode 1 reactor shut down sequence styli, everything goes to pot. Massive explosions etc, well I won’t give the rest of the story away.
Minerva is an interesting and both enjoyable mod, there are parts where you are constantly hounded by the enemy meaning that you have to solve the puzzles under fire meaning that you have to think quicker. It’s a good job there is a lot of ammo given to you.
So to wrap up, there is nothing bad I can really say about this mod, minus the lengthy speech by Athena but that’s relevant to the story line. Everything was awesome; a lot better then the usual single person made modifications that are out there.
30th January 2008
Phillip,
YOU
ARE
THE MAN!
Thanks for the tip. It worked like a charm. Oddly enough, it worked for me on the second try, too.
I originally didn’t pursue this particular option very far because I lose trust in the modmaker when obvious things to try, earlier in a game, have no effect–such as, in this mod, with the bundle of girders near a locked door. The modmaker here allowed the girders to swing, so I tried a lot of things, pushing and pulling to try to get some real momentum going in order to get the girders to smash the door open. I even hauled the exploding barrel over, got the girders rocking, and timed the barrel’s explosion to give the girders an extra kick. Turns out all you needed to do was press a couple of dumb switches. That being the case, why the irritating red herring of letting the girders swing, making us think agility and problem-solving ability can do the trick? A lot of time wasted, unnecessarily, imo.
Rant over, and thanks again.
30th January 2008
You are welcome.
17th February 2008
It would have been nice if the cryptic gibberish that is Foster’s website had mentioned that Episode 1 was required to play this mod.
17th February 2008
Well, I mentioned it in the post above, but I know what you mean.
24th February 2008
This mod completely blew my expectations out of the water. To think that the brunt of this project was contributed by a singular person is even a more astounding achievement.
The architecture & mapping aspect is on par with the content released by Valve, themselves. When playing this mod, I am reminded of being in Nova Prospekt and The Citadel all over again. It would be easy to dismiss all of this as derivative, if you didn’t consider the amount of meticulous detail and economic use of space when conglomerating all of these into a singular location.
Foster also does a good job on balancing the gameplay. He makes good use of enemy and item placement, so I found myself reloading the game (on Hard) a couple times – not because I’m unnecessarily overwhelmed, but because I needed to refine my tactics. It’s a shame that I was basically squaring off against only two enemy factions, although introducing another one would probably convolute the already tight mapping. He even threw in a couple environmental puzzles and all of them left me scratching my head for a bit.
The story was excellent too, you are guided throughout the mod by a series of text transmissions by an omnipresent superior. You are constantly berated and led around like a meat puppet, which leads to a nice plot twist later on.
It took me 2-3 hours to finish this and I want more. Luckily, Part 4 is coming in the future. This mod is worth the hype.
5th March 2008
Is the default location of ‘Half-Life 2 – Episode One’ C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\(username), and what is the name of the folder please? Thanks…
13th March 2008
It does. It says external module required, click the link and it brings you to steam’s game page.
11th April 2008
Impressive! A bit more and it could have been sold as stand-alone expansion! Great work! Thanks a lot!
20th April 2008
I am no expert (by a long shot) and just spend too much free time trying out as many mods as I can. Minerva is a game I keep returning to. I guess that makes it my favourite. The messages add a little dark humour and keep it alive and moving. Great idea!
Playing on a (now ageing) Acer Ferrari 4000 laptop, this mod does not tax the graphics as many do. Too many mods I have to bin as 1 frame / sec is not helpful in a battle.
Thumbs Up – especially for lower spec PC’s.
26th April 2008
okay so… this was one of the first mods that i ever downloaded and it one of the only ones that i find myself going back to play again and again.
The map design is amazing, there are some parts whilst your trying to solve a puzzle that you just want to look around instead. The plot’s pretty brilliant as well.
The combat side of things can get a chaotic especially when you have no gun but it’s at a level where you just need to keep trying and you’ll get there.
12th May 2008
Okay, I need help. DL’d, installed, had no old saves from the first two, so started part three from the menu, and I end up with absolutely nothing, and no way to get to the armory to protect myself. I can’t figure out how to get past that initial part where you go down the elevator and run around the passages, pull the plug, flip the switch, watch the big door open, then have the combine come in and shoot at a defenseless me, not even a gravity gun. Am I missing something, or just plain stupid?
14th May 2008
Okay, I was plain stupid, I found the ramp that dropped. I finally finished the levels, and DAMN do they make a great mod!! Clean, intense, bug-free, and with a character–in Minerva–that was funny and interesting. Sometimes frustrating, in trying to find a way out, but overall one of the all-time best mods out there, period. Awesome job, Adam, well done!
26th June 2008
Amazing atmosphere, brillant design, stellar artistic direction.
Too few munitions (on hard). Some places throw endless enemies at you.
8th July 2008
i really enjoy the game but i cant figure out what to do after you uncover the plasma thing……someone please help!
18th July 2008
Well, ….. A awsome legend…
20th July 2008
Adam has been hired by Valve, to work on HL2 Ep 3.
(Read his Blog – have no link now, too tired… can someone please help out?)
Even though I find loosing one of the best modders extremely annoying, …
… as this time that modder went up a level, I can stand the pain.
Play Minerva – or better: Let her play with you – to see what has to be done to get hired by a top-notch company.
It can be done.
But as this is the first time I hear of that kind of ascension, I presume we won’t see it happen very often…
20th July 2008
http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/blogsheep.php?action=articleinfo&id=76
9th August 2008
Im on the Pegasus part of Minerva but I see to be stuck at the glass elevator that won’t work. It’s just after the metal door that when you shoot them down a gaggle of headcrabs and combin converted attack through . After killing them all I walk through the door to a central circular area but the elevator won’t work and the only way to go seems to be WAY down, quite a drop. Not sure what to do next :-/
9th August 2008
Look up and see what you can shoot.
23rd September 2008
I’m not going to mince words. This is the best single player mod for Half-Life 2 and it really is no wonder why Adam Foster was hired by Valve. Minerva rivals most of the Episodic content Valve itself has produced. That’s right, I had more fun with this than all of Episode 1.
It’s not without a few minor annoyances, but then what mod isn’t? First, having the roller mines on the beach when you start off was annoying. Because you have no clear way of destroying them without a Gravity Gun, you’re constantly doing a little dance around the rocks to get them away from you. By corollary, it can be further argued that the mod in general relies a bit too heavily on “automated” defenses, like sentry turrets. Again, without a Gravity Gun and often a limited supply of grenades, some of these encounters can be frustrating. When there is one turret, you can walk up with an oil drum for a shield. When there are three triangulated around the room, it doesn’t seem fair.
Second, some of the time based switches are a little awkward. As an example, take the part where you need to ram the hanging beams into the door. The trick is that you have to do the whole thing not once, but twice. I can’t think of many instances in Half-Life 2 proper where that is ever done; it’s usually push the button and move on. Here you push the button, and the button looks like it’s finished, so you move on, not realizing that the button re-enables itself a few moments later. There was another part deeper in where a door takes its sweet time opening for some reason.
Third and last, the second puzzle that involved turning a valve was frustrating. There are actually two valves, which is a tad difficult to ascertain when you have an endless stream of Fast Zombies and Zombine hounding you. The Zombine, especially. When you have tight little corridors, and the Zombine pulls out his grenade, you’re going to get hurt real bad. Again, another thing that could be mitigated with a Gravity Gun. It should be noted that this is not indicative of other puzzles in the mod, where you are allowed to move around and consider the puzzle without duress.
In conclusion, this is still the best HL2 mod ever. This is the one everyone else is compared against. It’s going to be a long time before any mod even comes close.
29th September 2008
Here’s my review of MINERVA: Metastasis as it appeared on my site:
“The true method of knowledge is experiment. So, strapped to the underside of a stolen Combine helicopter, you’re part of my latest scientific investigation. Objective: To infiltrate and observe this peculiar little island a few miles off shore, its heart burrowed out by our ever-loving benefactors…”
This is essentially what purpose the unknown neutralagonist has in store for you, the protagonist of MINERVA: Metastasis.
MIVERVA: Metastasis is a singleplayer mod for HL2 and HL2: Ep1 that focuses on a type of storytelling similar to System Shock and Portal, with an unknown, neutral-sided, individual instructing you to do it’s every bidding as though you are part of it’s property. Without giving too much away, the author of the mod, Adam Foster, succeeds doing this type of narrative extraordinarily well, and delivers a story so compelling that you won’t be able to wait until the end. Well, you’ll kind of have to. Originally released as an episodic map pack, Adam Foster later released a package with the mod in it’s entirety.On to the review.
Pros: A captivating style of storytelling similar to Portal and System Shock combined, eye-popping scripted sequences, puzzles that require not only logic, but the ability to use logic under fire. A pretty well-balanced difficulty that is still challenges you even on the easiest setting, exhilarating firefights in different imaginative settings, first playthrough will take about two and a half hours, loading times that occur about once every thirty minutes, smooth pacing.
Cons: The addition of some voice acting would’ve made the overall package come alive even more, but I suppose that it wasn’t really needed. The bottom line: The greatest singleplayer map-pack/mod ever created. The author took three painstaking years to bring this package to perfection and he has indeed done just that. Kudos to Adam Foster.
Mod Graphics: 10/10 Mod Sound: 10/10 Mod Gameplay: 10/10 Mod Stability: 10/10 Mod Story: 10/10 Overall: 10/10
N O T E : Mr. Adam Foster has joined Valve Software, congrats to him!
~sauerfreak
29th September 2008
Hi, Players,
I am stuck in the level “metastasis_4a” inside of the elevator that stopped in the middle of the way near broken glass and near two red words “Error”.
Can you help me to go out or inform me how to go ahead?
Thanks.
29th September 2008
Vicpas, It’s been such a long time since I played this I can’t remember where you are. However, I am guessing that you don’t have Episode One installed because those big red Errors are because it can’t find something.
I’m sure somebody will help with being stuck though.
30th September 2008
Thanks, Phillip
I’ll install Episode One and will try again.
15th October 2008
It’s been said better here already, but this plays like a finely polished gem! Valve’s gain is, well… our gain too!
16th October 2008
I have played 1 and 3 and loved them both, but I can’t find 2 for dowload anywhere? Any suggestions? The Minerva webpage is screwed up after Pt 1′s page.
16th October 2008
I think you have misunderstood. The link at the top of this page is for ALL 3 parts. If you have played around the island, enter down inside the Combine structure and made your way back to the top then you’ve played everything.
BTW, please don’t put false URLs in your details, just leave it blank if you don’t have a page you want to link to. Thanks.
17th November 2008
I’m delighted to inform you that we’ve finished the language packs for French, Polish, Russian, German, Italian and Spanish. They are available on Adam Foster’s site and in a growing number of locations.
28th November 2008
If you are still not convinced that Minerva Metastasis is utterly superb then let me assure you of this mod’s outstandingness by stamping it with this orange “Personal Favorite” badge of awesomeness.
Edit:I removed your other post as I think 1 is more than enough to get your opinion across.2 in the space of 4 minutes is a bit to much.Phillip will decide when he comes on wether both are allowed,as I think it’s spamming. – andyb
4th December 2008
xanitose you DO need hl2 and hl2 ep one i just checked srry dude
6th December 2008
“xanitose you DO need hl2 and hl2 ep one i just checked srry dude”
My experience four months ago was that I only needed HL2episode1 to play Minerva Metastasis. I didn’t need HL2.