Testing... Testing...
Beta time! We’ve pushed all of Xen and Gonarch’s Lair to the public beta branch on Steam. The technical beta was just 3 maps, the complete Xen and Gonarch’s Lair is 9 maps.
Thank you to all who tested and who will test for us. We think the feedback so far has made the levels in the technical beta significantly better, and it would not have gotten there without the fresh eyes of the community.
Interloper, Nihilanth, and Endgame will follow after this beta and will double the map count to 18 total maps.
Earthbound
Earthbound has had a soundscape overhaul, fixes to game breaking bugs, and recompile of all the maps. If you take a trip through the earthbound chapters and find any game breakers, please let us know.
Soundtrack
Also a reminder, the complete Xen soundtrack is available NOW. You can check it out here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqWbjZ_t9qDlY08FPwztA2wXoil0mzusM
Also available wherever you buy or stream music.
Known Issues
As we posted earlier, here are some known issues in the current beta. Please report any issues you find to the Steam forums or our Discord.
-The flashlight and other dynamic lights occasionally cut out, then return when you go into the next room. We are investigating.
-In the last map of Gonarch’s Lair, Gonarch might be frozen when he should be playing a stabbing attack. You’ll know it when you see it.
-DO NOT USE OLD SAVES. It will cause issues.
-Linux is launching, but we are still working on getting the graphics to display properly. We apologize for this taking so long.
-You will see large black voids in the levels if you look back the way you came. These are the areaportals (an optimisation technique) not interacting correctly with the fog/xog. We have a simple fix for this that will go in for later patches.
-Some props have the wrong material properties. This is most noticeable in Gonarch’s Lair where it sounds like you are walking on boxes instead of rocks.
-We have greatly increased performance across all maps, but there is still a noticeable frame drop in the Xen swamps as you leave the door into the lower swamp.
-Beneathicles (underwater barnacles) don’t respond to Gluon or explosive damage. This makes them a bit of a pain to clear, but will be fixed!
-Long jump sound effect sometimes plays on map load. We haven’t yet been able to pinpoint why this his happening or why it only happens on some computers.
-Knockback Houndeyes occasionally push you into and through walls, causing the player to get stuck.
-Occasional crash to desktop in Gonarch’s Lair chapter. We think it is something related to the mortar attack.
-In order to fix a crash, HEV crystal chargers temporarily do not have a dynamic light.
-Bebcrabs sometimes walk on 2 legs instead of 4… it’s hilarious.
-Gonarch can occasionally run past you in an important chase sequence. We have tweaked the map to fix this, but it may still happen.
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Thank you again to all who have participated, or will participate in the public beta. We may be a bit quiet with updates as we grind and grind in order to wrap the rest of the game up. Hit us up on the Discord if you have any questions!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/
Discord - https://discord.gg/PSZfh8N
Twitter - @BlackMesaDevs
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs