Penetration - Half-Life 2

Has anyone played this and had a problem with it? I went into the tunnel between the first and second sections, and when it stopped to load, the computer hung hard, forcing me to kill it manually (hard shutdown); when I turned it back on, now it won’t boot at all, goes to a blank screen after POST, and… nothing. No activity, no disk activity, blank screen.

If anyone has any suggestions, I’m open to ‘em.

Thanks in advance.

I had one hang up just prior to going into the first tunnel. No problem after reboot. It’s not a bad mod other than that one bad spot. Pretty much standard action.

the only crash bug i had was when i didnt stay still in the gas chamber in the citadel & the 2nd time when i did stay still it went a’ok.
3rd time i got stuck after the gas chamber scene with a combine guard missing me with his shotgun after gunning down the vortigaut.

Tho overall this sp mod was truly awesome in the gameplay & level design.

Hope the author makes more or a continuation to this mod in the near future.

Update on the crash: got the MBR fixed, was playing last night, when the game crashed twice, both times a error message popped up, saying “The instruction at ‘0×241fe49b’ referenced memory at ‘0×0d92f438′ could not be ‘read’. Clikc OK to terminate program.” The first instance was as I was entering the next tunnel, and it was attempting to load the next level; the game terminated, and restarted ok, and played thru the next level. The next time, I had died in the canyon with the howlers, and when I saved the spot where I respawned, the game hung with the same error message.

I’m guessing that it’s likely that hang may have helped contribute to my problem, coupled with me havint to manually kill the machine. If anyone has any input on this, greatly appreciated.

the screens look great, and because i’m a real sp freak i would love to play this sp-Mod. but because of all the comments with crashing messages i have decided NOT to install this one. specially the comment Old Scratch made me very afraid. i can’t take the risk of having big windows problems now, i have to much on my disk that i can’t loose at this stage.
so, i’m asking Ha1fer (the maker) to look over his Mod again and to take out to bugs/errors. please do so, it can’t be so that your work will damage others peoples computers or software. crashing takes out the fun of gaming.
don’t get me wrong, i know all to well as mapper myself what kind of problems you all can get in to while making a mod (Coastline to Atmosphere), but you just have to keep fixing the thing untill it can be played. Baltic and i had months of work to get all the cliches out of our Mod.

leon

The instruction at ‘0×241fe49b’ referenced memory at ‘0×0d92f438? could not be ‘read’. Click OK to terminate program.

I used to experience this type of issue frequently when playing HL2. Found a reference at Valve and it has worked ever since. From the Run screen type MS-Config and check the box for “hide all microsoft services”. Basically, like AI said above and I had no crashes.

Leon (post 9):

Actually, I suspect the disk problem was my fault, because I POR’d (Power-Off Reset) my machine when it hung; again, I suspect that the popup message was hidden because I was hitting keys to try to get something to happen during the hang.

Besides, if it does manage to render your drive not bootable, you could (short of a true backup–HINT!) pull it, set it to slave, and image a new drive with a fresh copy of winblows; that way you don’t lose your data completely.

Phillip, I’d rate this, but for some reason I can’t rate, it won’t let me.

BTW, this is almost like a forum at this point, mebbe a “Quote” button on each post would be helpful.

Is there a walkthru for this? I’m stuck in the city section with the whalecopters shooting me up (funny thing, one of them got stuck *in* a building–talk about “shooting fish in a barrel!”), I’m out of rockets, can’t find anymore, and can’t find the exit to the section.

I just want to say i had no problems playing this, it was great fun, well made and ran perfectly on my old computer. Only thing i didn’t like was the cliffhanger ending! Part 2, please!

After the Lost city well designed but a little pointless Ha1fer come back with a new project. This time The g-man will use you to penetrated a base (city 18) to destroy their leader(?) and take back a combine teleport to escape. This release consist of a more consequent mod featuring a lot of huge well design area and a straight formard gameplay not to challenging except the first rocket launcher combat. This one regarding architecture is really impressive (even if sometimes untrue design) causing a huge waiting time during loading of every section and also a lot of slowing down (framerate) certainly due to the oversize of each part (especially last one) a part from those small glitches the experience is convinsing an enjoyable

This is a very high quality map pack, well worth the download. The plot is opaque, and while this does not impair overall gameplay, it does leave you with a “huh” feeling at the end. The real strength of this release is in the mapping, which is flawless throughout, with the exception of the outdoor level, which was a bit bland. The use of HDR is a nice enhancement but is never overdone. An excellent release for HL2, one of the very few to deliver a worthwhile, sustained single player experience.

Wow, I’ve had this for a long time; I thought I posted my thoughts already, but apparently not.

This is a very well-crafted mod. I’ve been reading all about everyone’s bugs and crashing problems, and I must say that I didn’t have any. The game ran very smoothly for me.

To be honest, I didn’t even know that this mod had any type of a story until I read the little blurb up at the top of this very page. The lack of story doesn’t do anything to make the mod any less enjoyable, however.

My only gripe would be with the shipping yard in the very first level; there simply aren’t enough enemies there. If I were to pick a nit, I would say that the GMan’s appearance on the outskirts of what I now know to be City 18 was very out of character for him.

Overall, I found the maps gorgeous and the gameplay satisfying.

I can only echo the comment above by Booman. I thought this mod was great, getting better the further I got. I like dthe waterfront setting, the jeep section, the apartments and the final combine stronghold. The only bit I disliked was the outdoor section where the fast zombies were the main threat. There are a good mix of enemies and battles to be had.

It froze on me three times, necessitating a ctrl+alt+del moment, which was a pain, but I’m glad I played it. One of my favourites.

Review
Before compiling this review I played through the mod once more and I was pleasantly surprised as well as being reminded just what a good mod this is. So much, that I went back and updated my personal records giving the mod a higher ranking than I originally scored it.

This mod oozes quality from beginning to end, just taking in the opening dockside setting of boats, wharfs, warehouses with dockside hardware, all surrounded on one side with tree capped hills and open ocean on the other. It’s worth wandering around to take in all the fine detail as well as some superbly crafted buildings and structures.

It’s almost sad to leave the setting having found the road buggy, but the mission is awaiting and you are soon speeding the coastal roads, when confronted with the first and one of the tough encounters the mod has to offer. The open road architecture is on par with that of the original HL2 game, if somewhat condensed in duration.

Having left the road and the buggy for the open canyon terrain packed with howling Zombies, here again is fine detail applied to the scenic surroundings as you progress and fight off the hoards of zombies towards City 17.

The action opens up among the streets littered with debris, and yet again the author crafts great detailed settings mixed with Combine encounters supported by formidable hardware. I know I keep repeating this point but the quality of the mapping is tremendous. Nothing seems left to chance with City 17 apartment blocks, streets and scattered content inviting the player down every alley and street.

So far apart from a quick sortie into the tenement buildings for supplies and progress to the adjoining street, all the environmental settings have been outdoors (three cheers for that). No cramped settings with boring tight surroundings, or encounters not affording room to swing a cat (sorry cat lovers - I have a cat and she’s called Whisky). So far the mod has taken place within the big outdoors (thank you mister author). I just wished others would follow your lead.

Finally, the mod takes a deep breath and enters the inner world of the Combine stronghold , the Citadel. The architecture is on a massive scale with vaulting heights and grand openings with wide linking corridors and the ever waiting Combine. To be honest, the inner Citadel is one of my less preferred HL2 environments. However, here again the author gets it right with a nice balance of combat within atmospheric surroundings lasting just before any boredom sets in.

Not much in the way of negative aspects. Of course it will not be to everyone’s liking. Some may think that it needs more intense engagements, with no puzzle solving or climbing about needed. In some ways a few of these elements of gameplay will take a back seat when the choice of environmental settings are the big outdoors.

Other than a few burnt-out and abandoned cars that appeared scaled down in size, a somewhat uninspiring musical soundtrack and a weak story line, I am at a loss to raise much in the way of faults.

Negatives
- None worth highlighting

Positives
- Plenty

Conclusion
If you have not played this mod then go do so now. If you have already played it then go play it again. It’s better than you thought.

My Recommendation

While there’s nothing seriously wrong with this mod, there’s nothing that makes it stand out from the crowd either. There was a sequence set in the streets that was quite good, but the Citadel seemed a bit boring.

kalkin Said:

Chianti Said:

This mod is great so far, but I’m stuck in the same way fragmaster describes above: I get to the gas chamber, then wake up and see the Vortigaunt open my cell. Then a Combine takes the Vortigaunt out and begins shooting me. I can’t move at all at this point. My health stays the same, and the Combine keeps shooting endlessly. It makes no difference if I remain still in the gas chamber or in the cell. I’ve tried quite a few times now, with the same result. I guess the mod ends here for me.

I know this comes really late but when you get there wait for the door to open then if you’re looking down you will notice another thing that goes around your waist releasing you - after that just press the ‘use’ key and you’ll get out. You will have to jump down and figure out what to do afterwards

As for the rating - there is a really good set design and layout, very nice flow through the maps with combat on the light side and no real puzzle. Unfortunately there is no excitement, I haven’t really felt involved when playing this, quite bland overall. So it has to be:

Hi everyone.
I just wanted to say that this is a good mod…. no GREAT MOD and well worth the effort of playing it.
The only problem that I had besides trying to figure out that I had to use the “use” key to get out of the cell as others did I see. Was I could not shoot down the first gun ship ( to tuff for me ) so the only thing I did was to open the force field and get back into the buggy and get out of there ASAP.

Congratulation to all involed in making this mod.
Leo

BTW, you can destroy the first gunship (this is in level 2) by using the rock outcropping near the cabin as cover. The stash of RPG ammo isn’t too far behind the rocks, but accessing the stash will make you temporarily vulnerable to the gunship. Timing your shots well and being willing to take some damage, it is possible to destroy this enemy. I did it, but I had to die several times before succeeding.

Very good.