Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Take a new look at Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project, created by the community with Nvidia's modding platform. Behind the remaster is Orbifold Studios, made up of four of Half-Life 2’s best mod teams.

I've replaced the original 1080p video with the 4k one from Nvidia's YouTube page:

 

[//DEVIL//]

This looks good. I am in. I never played half life 2. So will be a good starting point for me as I am allergic to ugly graphics.

 

[analog_future]

Can't wait to play this.

Black Mesa + this would be a great way to play the Half-Life games in 2023.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

Please stop rubbing the tip around the hole and just shove it in already. Give us Half-Life 3!

 

[GHG]

What strikes me about this trailer is how good the original still looks.

Some games are timeless.

 

[Senua]

This looks good. I am in. I never played half life 2.

Is there a 4k video anywhere? 1080p youtube compression looks like donkey dung

 

[VeganElduderino]

Far out!
Do you guys think will see HL3 in this lifetime?

 

[amigastar]

I've seen people calling HL 1 and 2 overrated. I love HL1 but 2 was a mixed bag for me. But i can't remember 2 very good so i will be playing it again.

Far out!
Do you guys think will see HL3 in this lifetime?

Wasn't Half Life Alyx kinda HL3?

 

[Senua]

I've seen people calling HL 1 and 2 overrated.

You'll always find people calling things overrated dude you just gota try them yourself. But the vast, vast majority of people who have played Half Life 1&2 love them

 

[amigastar]

You'll always find people calling things overrated dude you just gota try them yourself. But the vast, vast majority of people who have played Half Life 1&2 love them

Hmm yep, sounds reasonable.

 

[Senua]

4k version here

 

[KyoZz]

Looks amazing, and I love how it keeps the identity of the original.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

This looks like it will be a good tribute while modernizing more of what we know and love.

 

[amigastar]

Is there a Release window for this RTX project?

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Wonder if this could work with the excellent VR mod.

If so, putting them together you'd get an almost Alyx-level VR journey through the original.

The VR mod was so good already--impossible to play the original once you experience that--so I only imagine playing it with this upgrade.

 

[rofif]

Kinda disapointing.
I just replayed hl2 and... those of you who played hl2 like me over and over again but didn't do so in last 3-5 years.... maybe let it go and keep your good mmories

 

[Arsic]

This looks good. I am in. I never played half life 2. So will be a good starting point for me as I am allergic to ugly graphics.

Same as you. I tried HL2 a few times and couldn’t get into it at all.

I tried HL1 with Black Mesa and I got like 60% of the way though and didn’t get the appeal at all. Felt like a big nothing burger.

I assume we both need to play HL1 to “get” HL2, but I’ll just have to watch a YT video recap and hope it does it justice.

 

[kiphalfton]

Can't wait to play it in 5 years, when it's done.

 

[TVexperto]

they replaced assets? ... and im out

 

[Hudo]

What strikes me about this trailer is how good the original still looks.

Some games are timeless.

I agree. Half-Life 2 is really one of these timeless games. I still play it from time to time and it is still great fun.

But it also hurts because..you know... Half-Life 3...

 

[Moses85]

This looks good. I am in. I never played half life 2. So will be a good starting point for me as I am allergic to ugly graphics.

Ill put you into the

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

I never played half life 2. So will be a good starting point for me as I am allergic to ugly graphics.

I envy you

 

[VeganElduderino]

I've seen people calling HL 1 and 2 overrated. I love HL1 but 2 was a mixed bag for me. But i can't remember 2 very good so i will be playing it again.


Wasn't Half Life Alyx kinda HL3?

not sure ! I never played it , I want a Quest3 basically to play Alyx

 

[nikos]

I remember getting bored with Half Life pretty quickly when it released but I’ll give it another shot.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I wouldnt say HL2 still looks "amazingly good" Even back then on release it had the most blurry washed out textures, you can literally count pixels so imagine how obvious that is 20 years later. Anyway I wish they added these projects to consoles especially since Orange Box has been delisted so unless you bought it before, you cant play HL2 on xbox.....or PS.

 

[VeganElduderino]

You'll always find people calling things overrated dude you just gota try them yourself. But the vast, vast majority of people who have played Half Life 1&2 love them

the fact that HL1 and 2 was ahead of its time on the graphics side was a major factor, back then it was incredible!
so yeah, maybe if someone tries it today and dint see the evolution of games could be the reason they call it overrated

 

[amigastar]

not sure ! I never played it , I want a Quest3 basically to play Alyx

I have a Quest 3 and Alyx. Played it for about 75 min and i plan to get to it again. It is really like HL3 imo.

 

[VeganElduderino]

I have a Quest 3 and Alyx. Played it for about 75 min and i plan to get to it again. It is really like HL3 imo.

awesome! I need it!

 

[DryvBy]

This looks good. I am in. I never played half life 2. So will be a good starting point for me as I am allergic to ugly graphics.

Just wait until you get to the driving bits. It was horrible then and aged really bad today. I love HL2 but let's be real with that segment lol

 

[bender]

I've seen people calling HL 1 and 2 overrated. I love HL1 but 2 was a mixed bag for me. But i can't remember 2 very good so i will be playing it again.

I don't think the series recaptured the greatness of the original until Episode 2. Even still, Ravenholm RTX will be a treat.

 

[Robb]

Looks great!

 

[sigmaZ]

Looks worse?

 

[CamHostage]

Looks amazing, and I love how it keeps the identity of the original.

Eh, it changes he identity of the original a bit. The paint cans for instance have a specific brand logo in the game, but then they get replaced with general library paint cans (I assume that's where they're from) and the branding is changed. It's a little thing, one of those who-cares changes (and it looks like the label might still say "Flavia" in smaller print,) but there's a number of little things like that seen to be changed just in the video. (This is being done by a fan group of modders under Valve/NVIDIA supervision, so ultimately the updates will be respectful, but details were one one way originally for a reason.)

Not a big deal, overall they're doing a nice job capturing the vibe and relighting/redressing the scenes, but thankfully it's on PC and you can choose to run the original or the mod, I don't think this RTX Remix will quite be held universally as the definitive version.

 

[Rubim]

I've seen people calling HL 1 and 2 overrated. I love HL1 but 2 was a mixed bag for me. But i can't remember 2 very good so i will be playing it again.


Wasn't Half Life Alyx kinda HL3?

It's a prequel that changes the ending of HL2 EPISODE 2.

 

[rofif]

I agree. Half-Life 2 is really one of these timeless games. I still play it from time to time and it is still great fun.

But it also hurts because..you know... Half-Life 3...

About that… I just replayed it on Christmas and for the first time ever it dragged on. It began aging. I don’t know why now out of tens of replays I did of that game. It’s my tradition to play it between Christmas and nye

 

[Hudo]

About that… I just replayed it on Christmas and for the first time ever it dragged on. It began aging. I don’t know why now out of tens of replays I did of that game. It’s my tradition to play it between Christmas and nye

Had the same experience with Command & Conquer Renegade last year. It's a bit sad.

 

[RickSanchez]

Looks amazing! Can't wait!

 

[Jesb]

Better to just forget about this ever existed.

 

[brenobnfm]

Not sure if i like it, changes too much the art direction.

 

[Putyouinmyoven]

This looks good. I am in. I never played half life 2. So will be a good starting point for me as I am allergic to ugly graphics.

What happens when you look in the mirror?

 

[Kikorin]

Source engine is timeless. RTX can add something, but the game still looks awesome and this is from 2004. Released 20 years ago and still unbeliveable, especially if you put in the physics stuff that are unmatched in other FPS.

 

[Skifi28]

What happened to Morrowind remix? I don't think I've heard anything about it again. I don't care about being impressed by a fancy trailer/tech demo, are these things actually releasing at some point?

 

[Puscifer]

What happened to Morrowind remix? I don't think I've heard anything about it again. I don't care about being impressed by a fancy trailer/tech demo, are these things actually releasing at some point?

RTX Remix tool enters beta at the end of the month, good chance a literal modder will get it done before the official one. All I want to know is how easy it is to use because I wanna get some folks together for New Vegas RTX at this point

 

[Senua]

RTX remix beta is out now right? Anyone tried it?

 

[metareferential]

This and the VR mod.

Can't fucking wait.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Buggy Loop]

New update



Seems to be almost ready for prime time. Can’t wait.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Still wonder if the HL2 VR mod could be ported on top of this (any info on that? I guess I should check whatever discord for that modder). I wouldn't have the power to run that right now, but one day it could be incredible to see.

EDIT: basically this still seems to be their official position, that it's too difficult

 

[MMaRsu]

Holy shitballs!

 

[SF Kosmo]

Still wonder if the HL2 VR mod could be ported on top of this (any info on that? I guess I should check whatever discord for that modder). I wouldn't have the power to run that right now, but one day it could be incredible to see.

I think some of the same people are involved, so maybe someone will want to try, but there are a lot of really big technical challenges you would have to solve. Path tracing is pretty hard to make work with VR, not just because it's incredibly heavy and VR demands a high frame rate and stereoscopy, but because it adds a lot of latency to the stack due to denoising, upscaling, and reconstruction.

Latency is a bigger deal for VR, you really feel it in ways you don't necessarily in 2D. A lot of VR games use forward rendering because even the normal latency in Unreal games is noticeable, so path tracing might feel really bad even if you were able to get there on frame rate.