Textures

This is a sub-page of Half-Life (Windows).

Unused textures by level#

LAB1 Textures#

All of these textures, descendants of which are used in some places in the final game, are prefixed with "LAB1". What LAB1 originally was is unclear; it could have been a set of lab-related textures intended for multiple levels, or a singular "lab" level.

FLR8 and FLR9#

Textures for carpeted flooring. These were extensively used in the 1997 prototype.

Department of Defense Logos#

What seem to be floor textures bearing the logo of the United States Department of Defense can be found. Most of them seem to fit the unused carpet textures, but there are two that appear to be overlaid on black and white tiles. The DoD logo texture with the black and white tile background can be seen in the Maindemo map for the E3 1997 demo.

MAP3 and MAP3B#

Two images taken from outer space with the sentence "Sample WORDS HERE" near the top of them. While labeled as LAB1, they are located right next to the textures that make up the world map with the Black Mesa logo seen early in Anomalous Materials.

SKR4 and SKR5#

Two textures for a knob switch can be found. These were reused in the expansion packs.

ACS1 and ACS2#

A flashing "access denied" sign, in all lower case, can be found. There are textures for it with none of the words lit up, the word "access" lit up, and both "access" and "denied" lit up.

RESAC, RESLAB, and RESLABB#

Three miscellaneous signs can be found. The first one is blue and has the text "Reservoir access", the second one is yellow and says "Research Labs", while the last one is yellow with an arrow pointing west and the text "Ikea" to the right of the arrow. Someone really wanted to go to Ikea!

CAU#

An older version of the Caution sign found near the start of Unforeseen Consequences can be found. This version uses a darker gray metal background and lacks the screws the used texture has.

Unused textures	Used texture

Hazard Course#

Three unused signs related to the Hazard Course can be found in the game's files.

One of them mentions a "climbing tower", an area unseen in the final game's Hazard Course.

Anomalous Materials (c1a0)#

Locker Names#

There are several textures for names on lockers seen in Anomalous Materials that go unused. They all reference real Valve employees involved in the development of the game. Their filenames label them as c1a1, indicating that the flow between this chapter and the next may have changed at some point.

Unforeseen Consequences (c1a1)#

Control Room sign#

An unused alternate version of the sign saying "Control Room" exists. The used design makes it appear the words are appearing on a screen, while the unused variant has them made out of metal.

Unused texture	Used texture

Caution Sign#

A version of the "Caution" sign found near the start of Unforeseen Consequences with black instead of red font is in the files. It seems the intention was to have it blink at one point. Seems to be in the LAB1 files as well.

Unused texture	Used texture

The Portal Device (Early c1a1) Leftovers#

An unused sign with "Emergency auto lock" on it can be found. It has a lit-up and a non-lit-up version.

LAIDLAW3#

A texture for a book by Marc Laidlaw, the main writer of the Half-Life series. Likely to be placed inside of Gordon Freeman's locker with two other books, although it was left unused.

Office Complex (c1a2)#

Signs#

Office Complex has signs pointing to a "Sec D Admin 1" and "Sec D Admin 2" throughout the chapter. However, there is a sign that says "Sec D Admin 3" that was not used.

There is also a sign for a "Sgt. Harrington", a character who is occasionally mentioned on the announcement system, that was meant to appear in Office Complex. This name is a reference to Valve's co-founder, Mike Harrington.

FIFT BLOODW#

A 50s-styled wall seen in Office Complex, but with blood already drawn on it, can be found. The final game uses blood decals to show gore.

Freezer Box#

Additional textures for the storage boxes seen in the freezer section. They appear to be using real brands; namely Heinz Tomato Soup, Cheez-It, and a company named "Gold Rush".

"We've Got Hostiles!" (c1a3)#

An unused texture of a topographical map. Based on the location in its file name, it was meant to appear during this chapter.

The Security Complex (Early c1a3) Leftovers#

Vent Puzzle Signs#

A leftover sign showing how to complete the vent puzzle in the scrapped The Security Complex chapter found in the 1997 prototype, along with labels for switches key to solving the puzzle, can be found in halflife.wad.

Blast Pit (c1a4)#

Among the textures for the objective lights in Blast Pit is an unused fourth one. It is green and has "Safety Hood" at the top of it.

Power Up (c2a1)#

Two removed signs with "C2A1" in their file names, meant for somewhere in Power Up.

These signs mention a Sector D, which is where the chapter Office Complex is set. This suggests that the developers intended for the areas in Power Up and Office Complex to be connected in some way at one point.

On a Rail (c2a2)#

Two signs with "C2A2" in their file names are in the game, corresponding to On a Rail.

This sign mentions the administrative sections the player travels through in Office Complex, including the cut "Level 3" mentioned earlier. It seems the developers wanted to make another connection between the rail section and Office Complex.

The second sign mentions a "Sector E Surface Transport", which is seemingly never visited. This texture was reused in Opposing Force.

Apprehension (c2a3)#

NGIN_ROOF#

A texture named "NGIN_ROOF" can be found with the rest of the textures used for the train used at the start of Apprehension. It seems the Apprehension train would have a roof at one point, judging by its name.

C2A3ICKY#

A chart showing the Ichthyosaur's skeleton and a scientific-sounding name for it can be found in the game's files. Its filename has c2a3 in it, suggesting it was meant to be found in Apprehension.

This graphic is used in Half-Life: Opposing Force.

Questionable Ethics/Residue Processing (c2a4)#

Signs#

In the final game, C2A4 corresponds to both Residue Processing and Questionable Ethics. This large batch of signs doesn't fit Residue Processing but seems to work with Questionable Ethics (particularly the "CenCom High Security Research Labs" sign).

Alien Research Lab (Early c2a4) Leftovers#

halflife.wad contains a lot of leftovers from the Alien Research Lab incarnation of Questionable Ethics, many of which can be seen in the 1997 prototype. While some of the textures were repurposed (mainly screen images), many were not, leaving them orphaned.

SGN#

SGN1#

CMP2#

SCH1#

"Forget About Freeman!" (c3a1)#

An unused texture with "GEAR" in its name can be found. Based on the name, it was meant to appear in "Forget About Freeman!", where there are two gears the player must slip by in order to proceed. However, both gears use only one texture, while there are three textures labeled "GEAR" in halflife.wad.

The Communications Center (c3a1c) Leftovers#

Graphics for a removed map branching off of c3a1 Forget About Freeman!, where the player had to decrease Black Mesa's security status by sending an all-clear message to an off-site location using a large satellite radio interface. These textures are found in halflife.wad. You can see the textures as they were originally intended in the Build 725 prototype. Lastly, some of the graphics were reused for the Uplink demo, which contained a retooling of The Communications Center.

Xen (c4a1-c4a3)#

Dark orange Xen crystal#

The dark orange crystal seen in Xen has an unused texture related to it.

Green Xen crystal#

Two unused textures for the green crystals seen in the Xen chapters can be found.

Light orange Xen crystal#

Like the green crystals, the light orange Xen crystals have two unused textures too.

Purple Xen crystal#

xeno.wad contains textures for a purple version of the crystals found in Xen that are not seen anywhere during the Xen chapters.

BIOSPHINC1#

An unused texture for the launchers seen throughout the later chapters and Xen exists in xeno.wad.

Uncategorized#

"Days since last injury" sign#

An unused sign that has the text "days since last injury", an empty box above the text, and ironically, a blood splatter on the sign can be found. It appears in various levels from the 1997 prototype.

First Aid boxes#

halflife.wad contains several textures for a first aid box. There are multiple front covers in the files. In the 1997 prototype, boxes using these textures were the only way to heal damage.

Lab Number sign#

An alternate version of the sign to the right of the first door that leads to the Anti-Mass Spectrometer can be found. The metal is of a different style and the "Test Lab" on the upper part is made in the same style as the text on the unused "Control Room" sign.

Unused texture	Used texture

M2 Bradley#

An unused set of textures for the M2 Bradley vehicle found in Surface Tension exists. These textures have a desert camouflage pattern and have much darker lines than the textures used. There is also an unidentifiable logo on the vehicle's side texture that does not appear in the used texture.

Unused texture	Used texture

Security Clearance Levels#

The game contains textures for areas that need security levels 5 through 8. In-game, only the ones for level 3 and 4 are used.

Target#

A black and white version of the target used in the Hazard Course can be found. It is labeled "OUT_TARGT", while the used texture is called "OUT_TARGT2".

This is reused in Half-Life: Opposing Force for its Boot Camp section.

Unused texture	Used texture

G-Man's Inner Briefcase#

The inside of the G-Man's briefcase has two textures that cannot be seen normally. One has a pistol, a piece of paper, and some pencils, while the other has an ID card with the G-Man's face on it.

The relatively mundane contents of the interdimensional agent's briefcase can be explained by the fact the the G-Man was originally supposed to be the "administrator" mentioned several times in the game. This was retconned, giving the admin position to Wallace Breen in Half-Life 2.

According to Marc Laidlaw, it was a running joke that the G-Man would open the briefcase and step into it to use it as a portal, but this concept never materialized. At one point, one of the modelers placed a sandwich inside the case as a joke.

TRAIN3#

The train found in the multiplayer level Subtransit has an unused texture associated with it.

Unused Pictures#

The game has several unused framed images starting with the name PICTURE.

]

Pin-up Images#

The game has three cut pin-up images of... Xena the Warrior Princess?

One of the images is simply called "PINUP", while the rest are called "PINUPXENA".

Cut Posters#

There are also images with the name "POSTER" in them that are unused. All of these are taken from real photographs.

Floor Wax barrel#

BARREL2 is a texture meant for a barrel that says "Extra slippery floor wax" on it. The text below is too compressed to be legible, save for the trademark (TM) at the end.

Portable toilet#

Textures exist for a portable toilet that does not appear anywhere in the game.

Tent#

Textures for a tent that does not appear anywhere in the game can be found.

Satellite Control Sign#

A sign exists for an area called "Satellite Control" that cannot be found in-game. It was used in the Half-Life: Decay level Surface Call.

Data Operations Center Signs#

Two signs exist for an area called "Data Operations Center" that cannot be found in-game.

The red sign was used in the Half-Life: Decay level Surface Call.

Unused Skyboxes#

Half-Life contains several cut skyboxes in its "gfx/env" folder.

Most of these seem to have been meant for Xen.

Alien2#

Alien2 is a trippy space skybox.

Alien3#

Alien3 is another trippy space skybox.

City#

City is a skybox featuring low resolution screenshots of a city.
In an early draft for the conclusion of the game, Gordon was to teleport to a human administrative setting, which allowed for a glimpse of a terrestrial sky.

Unlike most skyboxes, City's textures only exist in TGA format instead of both TGA and BMP.

Neb1#

Neb1 is taken from pictures of outer space, presumably a nebula.

Neb2b#

Neb2b (Neb2 does not exist) is also taken from images of a nebula.

Like City, Neb2b only exists in TGA format.

Space#

Space is a solid black skybox with a whole lot of stars sprinkled on it.

Like the previous ones, this only exists in TGA format.

Xen8#

Xen8 is a purple Xen skybox, similar to the one in the ending sequence. It's set to be used in the mines section of Interloper, but because these maps have no visible sky, it remains unseen. Like the previous ones, this also only exists in TGA format.
This skybox was most notably reused in Half-Life: Opposing Force.

HUD#

Nerve Gas#

Among the sprites for the HEV indicators is an indicator for Nerve Gas damage, of which does not appear in the final game. It depicts a gas mask.

Hidden Happy Face#

The sprite "640hud7" has a little happy face to the right of the graphics for the HUD's ammo icons. Awww!

Hidden Player Spray#

Inside of spraypaint.wad is a unique spray named "PLDECAL". Since sprays are loaded from the "logos" folder, it is unable to be selected normally. It appears to be a bunny and an unknown figure waving hello.

Miscellaneous#

Gradients#

FILL1, FILL2 and FILL3 are generic colored RGB gradients. While these textures don't have any special properties themselves, they are extensively used throughout certain maps as additional light sources, which all remain invisible except for one occurrence during Apprehension.

Pepsi#

Comically low quality textures for a Pepsi vending machine, named "PEPSI_SD" and "PEPSI_FT". The textures in their original resolution are present in Build 725.

Gabe Newell's face#

xeno.wad contains a duplicate of AAATRIGGER, containing a close up of Gabe Newell's face. This texture is mainly reserved for mappers to help identify brush entities. The Gabe variant is best known for sometimes being used in zones to store enemies before they're summoned, particularly early in the game.

Whether Gabe Newell's face or the black and pink lambda is used depends on how the mapper set their configuration for loading textures.

xeno.wad	halflife.wad

Palette Face#

The image palette.bmp is a deadpanning face. Its 8-bit palette data contains a group of gradient colors like its sister file palette.lmp. The file is usually found in the "gfx" folder inside "valve/pak0.pak", or separately in Steam versions of Half-Life.

Moustache#

A graffiti of a "posh" moustache can be found at decals.wad as "{MOUSTACHE".