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Half-Life 2 - Lost Coast Details

Posted by Zonk on from the too-much-flare!-i-can't-see! dept.

Eurogamer.com has some more details on the mini-expansion cum tech demo that is "The Lost Coast". The release will be specifically for high-end PCs, and is intended to show off the places that Valve can stretch the Source technology into. From the article: "If you jump out of a dark space into a light area you're going to be blinded. It's going to be really bright until your eyes adjust. It can be used the other way around, too. Hide from a monster in a dark area and it will take a couple of seconds to go from a silhouette to detail..."

17 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Flashbangs... by Nos. · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you jump out of a dark space into a light area you're going to be blinded. It's going to be really bright until your eyes adjust Is this really any different than flashbang grenades we've seen in CS?

    1. Re:Flashbangs... by Grygonos · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually yes it is...I can't remember specifics.. but I had the misfortune of watching Attack of the Show on what used to be TechTV. They previewed the technology and it was quite amazing. The light is just hotter (if you understand hot in terms of light) than light without that technology. Very interesting stuff, but hard to describe until you see it.The flashbang effect is a whiteout, that fades back in. this is totally different.

    2. Re:Flashbangs... by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 5, Informative

      Is this really any different than flashbang grenades we've seen in CS?

      Yes. Very different.

      I've posted links to it before, but here's a great demonstration of high-dynamic-range lighting, albeit taken to GPU-bullying extremes.

      Basically, lighting in current games has very little range. A seemingly 'dark' room may actually be only slightly dimmer than the bright summer day 'outside'; in the case of lightmaps, it goes from 0 (pitch black) to 255 (as bright as possible). If you've had any experience with photography, you'll know that real life has a much greater range - for example, this was several thousand times brighter than this.

      HDR can give back that variation, with lightmaps (or whatever) done with floating point, for a lighting range of 'well, lots'. Various post-processing effects are possible, such as 'bloom' and true motion-blur (specular highlights don't get turned into grey for each sub-frame) - basically, it's a much more realistic model of how light works.

      Because output to the monitor is still 0-255 per channel, it gives the player an 'eye' which automatically adjusts to the ambient brightness. So, if you immediately step from a bright, sunny day into a dark monastery (for example), your eyes will need time to adjust.

      Hmm. Someone needs to do a Thief-style game with HDR... ;-)

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    3. Re:Flashbangs... by smallguy78 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's not been mentioned that HDR effects aren't going to be visible on flatscreen lcd screens, because of the limitations of the brightness scales they can display.

      More details: here

      --
      Nothing costs nothing
  2. So where are the screen shots? by mc_barron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perchance I am mistaken, but where are these "amazing" screenshots? Oh that's right, they're in the magazine that I have to buy to view.

    So what do I call an article that raves about something that I can only actually see if I pay money? An advertisement.

    How about we start labeling this fluff for what it is?

    1. Re:So where are the screen shots? by avalys · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Or you could walk into the bookstore, grab a copy of PCGamer, look at the screenshots, put it back on the shelf, and walk out.

      All for free.

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      This space intentionally left blank.
    2. Re:So where are the screen shots? by br0ck · · Score: 5, Informative

      You forgot a step.

      Fly to the UK, walk into the bookstore, grab a copy of UK PC Gamer, look at the screenshots, put it back on the shelf, and walk out.

    3. Re:So where are the screen shots? by FsG · · Score: 4, Informative

      Or you could just download the PC Gamer issue from BitTorrent.

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      I made a PHP/MySQL library that prevents SQL injection & makes coding easier!
    4. Re:So where are the screen shots? by glob · · Score: 2, Informative

      HL2 mod that add HDR effect to single player:
      http://www.neotokyohq.com/

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      nostrils
  3. Concept Sketches by karn096 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Theres some concept sketches up on IGN heres the link http://media.pc.ign.com/media/492/492830/imgs_1.ht ml the concept sketches are in the center..the others I believe are just typical halflife2

  4. High-End PCs by Mumpsman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The release will be specifically for high-end PCs

    Great! I look forward to playing this in 5 years when the components become affordable. That is if Steam is still running...

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    No battles to the death are recalled. Mumpsman can hit to attack and cause brainsmashing.
  5. Interesting... by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been saying for some time I'd like to see a FPS incorporate light discipline and sound discipline - in other words, standing in a doorway with bright light behind you makes you a good target for the bad guys, waving your flashlight around needlessly lets the bad guys know where you are, making lots of noise lets the bad guys know where you are....

    Imagine having to dive from a brightly lit room into a dark room quickly (in order to not get shot when you are in the door), then having to wait for a while to let your eyes adjust, then flipping a light switch and watching the bad guys shoot out the lights....

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  6. Are they trying for realism? by ivan256 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you jump out of a dark space into a light area you're going to be blinded. It's going to be really bright until your eyes adjust. It can be used the other way around, too.

    It seems to me that in real life, it's not the ambient light where your are that causes your eyes to react, but how bright what you're looking at is. Why should it make any difference that you've moved from/to a dark/well-lit area if you're still looking at the same object that is still illuminated the same way?

    1. Re:Are they trying for realism? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "dont you remember in school, going out for recess and being blinded?"

      Wow. Tough school.

  7. HDR's been done by Lucia_Inverse · · Score: 2, Informative

    you can see the night and day diffrence HDR makes by loading up farcry 1.31 and entering the HDR lighting command in the console with a geforce 6 series card. also you can google for screenshots

  8. Everquest by Kaenneth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Everquest had the player characters 'eyes' adjust for many years now, when you step into a cave, the brightness slowly rises, when you step out, the glare slowly fades...

  9. Strategies by phorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Advanced lighting introduce a lot of new gaming strategies that correspond to real life.

    How about having a level wherein a realistic sun moves over time (as it gets towards night). Shadows will move, causing good sniping spots to come and go. On a bright day, you might even want to sit in a corner right near the sun, so anyone looking towards you will be blinded as you snipe em.

    A new function key could be added as well. How about closing your eyes so that you don't get blinded, or perhaps so that you can adjust for an upcoming dark room. Maybe a "shades" item might come in handy.

    A lot of real-life tactical situations can evolve around light and shadows, so they would definately add a lot to FPS games, and perhaps even other genres such as RTS (moving in for the kill when the sun is positioned so that you have shadow from a mountain, etc)