Black Mesa source code release?

[woom]

Once the full game is completed and released, do the developers intend to release the game's source code to the public? All of the more modern technological features (cascade shadow mapping, 4 way texture blend, deferred lighting, facial feature customization, etc.) would certainly benefit modders since these features do not exist in any of Valve's publically released SDKs, and the company will probably not be releasing Source 2 to the public for a while. Just think of how cool it would be to play HL2 or Gmod on this engine branch, or to add the portal gun to Black Mesa with a mod. However, the legality of releasing it might be an obstacle, since the game's engine could contain some of Valve's own unreleased code. If you guys (especially one of the actual developers) could take some time to answer me, then that would be great. Thanks in advance!

[Forward Bias]

Well, I highly doubt running HL2 or Gmod would remotely work in the way you're thinking (Considering Gmod uses its own modified version of Source). It's not a simple plug and play thing. They had to code this stuff into the maps. Somebody would have to port HL2 to run on this engine.

Also, IIRC getting a working portal gun would be a nightmare because of the way physics worked in Portal/Portal 2. I know people have tried making mods for Gmod but they either broke or just didn't work.

Also, to be honest I really don't think they should publicize the code for a multitude of reasons.

[woom]

Originally posted by Radboy16:

Well, I highly doubt running HL2 or Gmod would remotely work in the way you're thinking (Considering Gmod uses its own modified version of Source). It's not a simple plug and play thing. They had to code this stuff into the maps. Somebody would have to port HL2 to run on this engine.

Also, IIRC getting a working portal gun would be a nightmare because of the way physics worked in Portal/Portal 2. I know people have tried making mods for Gmod but they either broke or just didn't work.

Also, to be honest I really don't think they should publicize the code for a multitude of reasons.

No, i understand how these things work, i just worded that part of my post poorly. Yes, I know that most of HL2's assets would need to be edited to be properly ported, I just meant that doing so would give the sequel a good facelift if it were to happen. Better shadows and BM's face customization system would work good on the citizens (better than cinematic mod, at least). Gmod doesn't have a custom engine branch per se, they have just built a LUA scripting language interpreter into the game and have added a custom html based main menu system through Awesomium. Portal gun mods do not work as well in Gmod as the real thing because implementing portals and their physics through a somewhat limited scripting language built on top of a game not built to support portals isnt as good as making the base game itself inherently support portals through it's own native code. Also portal gun mods usually break because they are super complex to code into a scripting language, and Gmod updates regularly break all addons unless they are very small, and are a pain to fix.

[JamaicanDave]

I'd say no. You have to pay a license fee for the Source code.

[💚SuperMax💚]

I'm all up for releasing the source code to public, cuz' it'll give more room for the modders!

[Tyrek Lannister]

I had no idea this game had light pre-pass render. I thought it was forward rendering like in all other Source games by Valve.

[💚SuperMax💚]

Originally posted by JamaicanDave:

I'd say no. You have to pay a license fee for the Source code.

And i'd say it should be free! (everything in this world should be free tbh)

[woom]

Originally posted by ☢AlieN☢:

Originally posted by JamaicanDave:

I'd say no. You have to pay a license fee for the Source code.

And i'd say it should be free! (everything in this world should be free tbh)

I mean, that's not really how everything works, even now considering Black Mesa costs money to play. He's also right, because Valve does profit off of licensing the full engine to people. However, my main hopes are that either the developers can release the code that they themselves have made, or that Valve themselves will be nice and allow the entire source code to be released fully.

[DIGITAL SPORTS]

Originally posted by ☢AlieN☢:

And i'd say it should be free! (everything in this world should be free tbh)

Valve don't think that, and the engine belongs to them; so we can't think that either!

Originally posted by Afanasiy Shtcherbitskykh:

I had no idea this game had light pre-pass render. I thought it was forward rendering like in all other Source games by Valve.

The Xen Engine (which we will release and test later this month) has a new deferred renderer attached to the existing forward renderer specifically for CSM/dynamic lights only. It's pretty magical.

I think there are probably too many obstacles that prevent us from putting out our source code; as much as we wanted to in the past. But perhaps it is something we can investigate in the future, when we are in a better position to do so. We certainly want to do everything we can to support the modding community - after all it's where we came from!

[woom]

Originally posted by BMS Chicken Chonnage:

Originally posted by ☢AlieN☢:

And i'd say it should be free! (everything in this world should be free tbh)

Valve don't think that, and the engine belongs to them; so we can't think that either!

Originally posted by Afanasiy Shtcherbitskykh:

I had no idea this game had light pre-pass render. I thought it was forward rendering like in all other Source games by Valve.

The Xen Engine (which we will release and test later this month) has a new deferred renderer attached to the existing forward renderer specifically for CSM/dynamic lights only. It's pretty magical.

I think there are probably too many obstacles that prevent us from putting out our source code; as much as we wanted to in the past. But perhaps it is something we can investigate in the future, when we are in a better position to do so. We certainly want to do everything we can to support the modding community - after all it's where we came from!

Thanks for replying. So just to clarify, are some of these "obstacles" preventing you from releasing the full source code legal ones attached to Valve's code? Or are some of them maybe related to the code currently not being in a suitable state for public release due to the need of comprehensive documentation to understand that only the current team members have? Because if any of these are the case, I sure do hope you guys can find a workaround for it. Even if it has to be worked on after Xen is released (by the way, Xen looks awesome, possibly the most visually interesting environment I've seen in a source game hands down) I hope you guys can come to a conclusion of how to handle the code. Best of luck finishing the game, and I hope 11+ years of development pays off!