Post

You can't tell me the place at right (where a tank guards the entrance to the lift to the Lambda Complex) is not the other side of the place at left (opposite the dam from Advanced Biological Research Lab).

All the water canals, pools, and machinery underneath the map at right where you emerge from, would make sense, as part of the water works associated with the hydroelectric dam.

This is to me the single most significant detail that challenges OpFor's canonicity.

You can't tell me the place at right (where a tank guards the entrance to the lift to the Lambda Complex) is not the other side of the place at left (opposite the dam from Advanced Biological Research Lab). All the water canals, pools, and machinery underneath the map at right where you emerge from, would make sense, as part of the water works associated with the hydroelectric dam. This is to me the single most significant detail that challenges OpFor's canonicity.

(Edited)
Magic Nipples
Magic Nipples
Aug 18, 2022

Check the top of the building out

Half-Life: Dark Matter

At one time in development it was probably the case that these areas were connected, there is evidence of this in a couple of entities that are left over. However there is nothing in the finished game that mentions this, no one talks about how you must get to the Lambda Complex through the dam, and honestly the idea that you have to trek through miles of terrain to get past a single door is ridiculous!

Red
Red
Aug 17, 2022

Doesn't make sense to me

λlex
λlex
Aug 17, 2022

Or Valve just ctrl+c ctrl+v that brush and mirrored it because they kinda re-did the entire game in a rush … Also to dispute this - when you go in that building to the right, there is no red door on the other side.

λlex
λlex
Aug 17, 2022

Edit: Just realised this is the other end of that area … you have a point!

Reply to λlex
λlex
λlex
Aug 17, 2022

Edit 2: Just went to the area in Foxtrot Uniform where you enter the dam. You enter from a door to the side. Inside there are other areas cut off by falling wall. It’s possible both exist!

Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 17, 2022

I'm pretty sure this is intended but mostly forgotten about by Valve themselves. As the version in C3A1 is based upon the pre-release Surface Tension Dam building and not the final design of it. But this would of been added relatively late in development, likely being right before they changed up the dam in C2A5. Prior to this building being added here, it would of been a helipad and still led to Datacore. It is unknown if this version of the map (the one that links with C2A5) ever connected to Datacore (though is assumed to as Datacore was cut in the Summer of 98.)

Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 17, 2022

and here's a photo of Datacore before it was scrapped from C3A1:

Reply to Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 17, 2022

Additionally, the Dam in C2A5 was being developed sometime in April of 1998. The starting map of C2A5 used to be what we consider "Boot Camp." However, beyond vague aesthetic, it shares nothing in common with the multiplayer map.

Reply to Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 17, 2022

Concept art showing how Boot Camp connected to the Cliffside map:

Reply to Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 17, 2022

and a photo of the first map of C2A5 before it was replaced with the Dam map:

Reply to Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 17, 2022

Concept art also depicts the old ending of C2A4 from the alpha (photo courtesy of Combine Overwiki):

Proto
Proto
Aug 17, 2022

Interesting

3037
3037
Aug 17, 2022

I fixed it in my mod. Merging with one of the Opfor locations

kimilil
kimilil
Aug 17, 2022

huh, so your mod retains the opfor layout or the layout in this post?

Reply to kimilil
3037
3037
Aug 17, 2022

It mixes both.

Ramzej
Ramzej
Aug 17, 2022

good point but you can see that roof is slightly different

kimilil
kimilil
Aug 17, 2022

chalk it up to sloppy map work? some objects exist in post-disaster sector c that isn't there pre-disaster.

Unit-11221
Unit-11221
Aug 17, 2022

So your telling me that if this is Canon, Gordon go ALL the way from the dam, cliffside, etc. Just to go behind that door?

3037
3037
Aug 17, 2022

yup. Not the first time he does it