October 1999 Press Demo

This is a sub-page of Proto:Half-Life: Opposing Force.

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This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Look into differences between the models for the prototype build and the final release, as well as differences in sounds. I'm also told that the weapons have different stats than retail.

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This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

On September 21, 2021, Magic Nipples and Theuaredead released an October 1999 preview disc of Half-Life: Opposing Force, originally sent to press reviewers prior to release. While this build is dated to be fairly close to release, there are still many intriguing differences in all aspects of the game.

The press demo is dated October 18, 1999 and requires a retail installation of Half-Life patched to version 1.0.1.3.

To do: Map differences. Look through the weapon models and the rest of the rope-related models, as well as start work on the other stuff that needs to be investigated. Pressing 'E' on them allows you to use the ropes in this build. Compare the different sounds to their retail counterparts. Compare the different models to their retail counterparts. Some of the retail maps can work just fine in the prototype, while most don't due to missing models. However, via BSPGuy, these issues can disappear by deleting the missing models and sprites. While the Gonome has the same model in the prototype, the organic blood sprite is different, and the running grunt sounds function pretty well here.

General#

Ropes#

Ropes require pressing the use key to be mounted in this build.

Graphics#

Main Menu#

The background graphic is mostly the same, with big stretched letters under the logo denoting that the press demo is selected. There is also no unique descriptions for the main options, retaining the normal ones from Half-Life.

Armor Icon#

The HUD indicator for armor uses the PCV Vest, which is seen in nearly all pre-release material. The final game uses a shield icon.

Training Facility Sign#

Gene Worm Portal#

Rather than the gene worm's portal being purple and pulsating, it is instead yellow and covered in bright white spots. The texture's aspect ratio is also different.

NPCs#

There are several differences between the character models in the prototype build and the final game.

Baby Voltigore#

The baby voltigores have a darker purple color in the prototype, and have stripes on their backs like their adult forms. If they are put in-game via entity edits, they utilize Alien Grunt sounds as placeholders.

Cleansuit Scientist#

The cleansuit scientist's Einstein and Slick variants lack the shading their faces have in the final game. The cleansuit itself also lacks the interior that it has in the final game.

Drill Instructor#

The drill instructor has a lot of flatter shading than the retail version. The black drill instructor also has a simpler-looking face than the retail release.

Gene Worm#

The gene worm is simply a copy of the G-Man model.

Gonome#

The soles of the gonome's feet have different UV mapping.

Human Assassin#

The human assassin is lacking the silencer on her pistol.

Human Grunt Medic#

The unused black variant of the medic has a different face.

Human Grunt#

The human grunt has several differences in his head bodygroup. The white commander's face is different and matches his appearance in some pre-release/staged images such as this. The white SAW grunt is angrier looking, paler, uses a green bandana, has no facial hair and is covered in camouflage face paint. The black SAW grunt has a different face entirely. Both SAW heads however survived into the final game, the black face texture is used for Tower multiplayer model and the white face is used by the soldier sitting next to Shephard at the start of the game, minus his face paint. The military police's helmet is double-sided, and the major and black commander heads are missing entirely. The shotgunner torso is also nonexistent within the model file. The shotgunner's arms have simpler shading, it uses the aforementioned black SAW grunt arm textures. The gas mask head remains the same as in the final game.

Human Grunt Engineer#

The engineer has a completely different camouflage pattern on his shirt and pants, and a darker PCV vest. The engineer's face is a variation of the human grunt commander face, but with a beard painted on.

Pit Worm#

In the same vain as the Gene Worm, the Pit Worm is a copy of the G-Man model.

Recruit#

The shading on the bottom of the pants is different, and the body is slightly larger.

Player#

The pants are slightly pushed down, the neck and head have different details and the beta model is lacking a deathmatch bodygroup.

Previously Unseen Models#

Ropes#

There are two additional rope models, rope and rope2, which are not found in the final build of Opposing Force. While rope has the same texture as the other rope models found in Opposing Force, rope2 has an unusual texture not shared with any of the other models.

Sounds#

Music#

The demo contains none of Chris Jensen's original soundtrack for Opposing Force, remaining totally silent in both the intro and Welcome to Black Mesa.

Barney Security Guard#

Despite not being present in the demo itself, the dialogue for the security guard found by the nuclear bomb is not muffled.

G-Man#

All of the G-Man's ending speech audio files are included in the files, however, they've all been dummied out with 4 identical copies of a sound of someone grunting.

Human Grunt Dialogue#

There are early alternate takes for dialogue that the grunt was supposed to say. Some of these were dubbed by Randy Pitchford.

Voltigore#

The voltigore has noticeably different sounds, with their pig-like vocalizations being a lot clearer.

Desert Eagle#

The player firing sound for the Desert Eagle is the same as the final, but the firing sound used by NPCs is the one seen in some early trailers and previews. There's also an unused version named _de_shot1.wav.

de_shot1 is a shortened version of pistolf2.wav from Kingpin: Life of Crime.

M249#

The M249 uses a completely different set of firing sounds. The final firing sound is also in the demo, but is not used.

M40A1 Sniper Rifle#

This weapon used the sound of the Team Fortress Classic Nailgun before being given unique sounds. In this build, they are nearly the same as the final's, however, they are played at the correct pitch.

Pipe Wrench#

The wrench uses Crowbar sounds layered with additional sound effects.

Miscellaneous#

The reveille heard at the beginning of the Boot Camp doesn't fade in, and starts immediately.

Weapons#

M249#

The M249 holds 100 ammo in the magazine in this build. This was lowered to 50 in the final game.

M40A1#

The M40A1's viewmodel and worldmodel are copies of the Pipe Wrench model in this demo.