Guide to improve graphics in Half-Life Source

This is a guide to make this old game look better.

Install AI upscale mod

Download this archive:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/ai-uspcaled-textures/downloads/16x-ai-upscaled-textures-for-half-life-source-07

This mod replaces all default Half-life Source textures with the ones upsclaed through Topaz Labs AI Gigapixel software making the classic game look sharp and modern, while keeping true to the original aesthetic. The archive now contains upscale for both textures and HD models. The archive also includes normalmaps, HD scientists (ported from PS2 version of HL) and fix for missing weapons sounds in HD content.

How to install:

1) Find your installation directory in Half-Life Source properties in Steam and extract hl1_hd from the archive into Half-Life 2 directory with replacing all files.



2) Launch Half-Life Source

3) Enable HD content in settings

4) Restart the game

Turn on ambient occlusion (for NVidia cards)

This trick adds extra shadows to the game. Here's a guide how to enable them.

1) Download Nvidia Profile Inspector: https://nvidiaprofileinspector.com/download-nvidia-profile-inspector/

2) Extract archive and launch NVidiaProfileInspectorDmW.exe

3) In profiles pick Half-Life Source.

4) Press this little button to add execution file (hl2.exe) from Half-Life 2 folder

5) Set Ambient Occlusion to Enabled and Ambient Occlusion setting to High quality.

6) Press Apply Changes and launch the game

Install ReShade

ReShade is a generic post-processing injector for games. It perfectly works with Source version of Half-Life.

Note: It requires a good PC and graphic card for stable frame rate.

To install:

1) Download it from: https://reshade.me/

2) Inject it into hl2.exe found in your Half-Life 2 directory

3) Click on Direct3D 9







4) All shaders should be ticked, then press ok.

5) Move files d3d9.dll, ReShade.ini and folder "reshade-shaders" from Half-Life 2 folder into "bin" folder

6) Download this ReShade preset: https://www.moddb.com/mods/ai-uspcaled-textures/addons/reshade-preset and extract the archive into Half-Life 2 directory (file Half-Life-Source-preset.ini should be in there)

7) Launch the game, press Home button and select this preset in top line.

[CaptainofPie]

list two

[SushiSalamander]

Well, i can't list EVERY single change, since there is a lot...

[CaptainofPie]

what did they change? whole thing seems the same to me

[SushiSalamander]

similar, but they change a lot of things. plus, not everyone can afford black mesa.

[CaptainofPie]

the story of Black Mesa is the same as Half-Life

[SushiSalamander]

Plus, he said that this ''keeps it true to the original aesthetic''

[SushiSalamander]

Black mesa is an entire different experience from this. It changes the story, level design and so much more. it's completely fine if someone enjoys this

[STIR]

i just play black mesa it looks great

[TheBadHumour]

For the lazy people, heres a way to improve it better and more simple:
Get a little game by the name of "Black Mesa"
and your good

[Cold Cash Money Kid]

Bro i actually think that this plus the ultimate fix mod would be infinitely better than Black Mesa