Three cheers for the exceptionally long and uninspired thread title, which is only loosely related to the actual content.
So anyways, in search of a fresh gaming experience (Rune having run most of its nostalgic course), I decided to check out the latest version of SMOD: Tactical, which was one of my favorite mods for HL2 back when I was into that.
The new version was apparently developed under new management, and I have to say that either I've been away for a long time or this new dude is a demon. SMOD:Tac 5.56 is an absolute gem, and I mean that very sincerely. I went through the mildly entertaining process of configuring some of the specifics (when choosing the amount of gore I wanted, I was given a choice between "Realistic", "Action Movie" and "Horror Movie". I picked horror, naturally), I hopped onto the map selector that directed me to the little zombie-infested locale known as dm_motel. I was expecting a fine little blast fest between me with my ultra-powerful boomsticks and the shambling headcrabbed horde.
Boy was I in for a surprise.
I'm dropped into the creepy, slightly burning motel and run an inventory check. I've got a knife (useless), a decent pistol, and a shotgun (woohoo! Don't need to go looking for one), and both my guns have a fair amount of ammo. This is gonna be easy.
It is at that moment that I take a peek around my surroundings. A distant movement catches my eye, and I peer through a smoky haze to glimpse a zombie ducking back behind a wall in another room. Three things strike me about this zombie... First of all, he doesn't have a headcrab. Second, he looks relatively normal, wearing a rather disgusting plaid shirt over a decidedly intact torso.
Third, he is most certainly *not* shambling.
A noise gets my attention, and I look off to my left, where another zombie has popped out from around a corner. We stand there, looking at each other for a few moments, and then he unleashes a bloodthirsty grunt and comes charging at me, head lowered and hands clutching greedily.
Lemme tell you something... I don't know if it's how "normal" this guy looked, or how he hunched over to run at me, or if it's just how damned fast he was, but I felt my heartrate skyrocket.
I frantically brought my shotgun up to bear and blew the sucker's head off, but that got the attention of two more. And these weren't your standard brainless bee-line zombies, no. They didn't like being out in the limelight too much. They much preferred splitting up and running around walls to catch me before I could shoot them.
When that little spat was over, I sat back in my chair and thought "Whoa... That was awesome!". I then realized that I had at least thirty more of the buggers to do away with. I pumped my shottie and got to work.
I was really, really impressed with how he'd overhauled the zombies. Before, they were just pathetic little targets waiting to get obliterated by your scoped M4A1, but now they were fast, dangerous, downright scary encounters. And I couldn't have been happier.
Well, actually, there was one little oddity. A few of the zombies decided to stop what they were doing and wave at me cheerfully. Not sure what that was about.
Anyways, after clearing out the zombie infestation, I saw the words "Mission Complete" appear on the screen, and then I crashed to the desktop. I figured it was excusable, and decided to load up the HL2 campaign and see these blighters in Ravenholm. After one decidedly long loading time after another, I managed to start up the campaign.
Not soon after "Half-Life 2" appear did the game crash to desktop again. Both of these times had been without the courtesy of an illegible error message, just that useless Microsoft dingbat response where it asks you to send an error report.
Numerous attempts later, at various stages of the campaign, and I still crash to desktop just a second or so after loading up. I decide to leave off on that and try out one of the specialized SMOD:Tac maps, see if it was any more stable there.
Two more crashes later and I'm starting to get annoyed. As impressive as that zombie map is, it doesn't make for an entire mod. Especially if it crashes as soon as you're finished redeadifying the inhabitants (it should really just respawn the things... Then you could have all sorts of fun).
I try a few things in vain attempts to solve it, and then give up and wander off to other entertainment sources (new ZP video today, woohoo!). Just a little while ago I remembered having similar difficulties with another mod, and I seem to recall trying to play native HL2 and finding the same problem, thus proving that the problem was not inherent in the mod itself. On a whim, I tried out ol' native just now, and sure enough, it's crashing without so much as the drop of a hat.
Now comes the fun part. I remember fixing the problem by simply uninstalling and reinstalling HL2... Which, after the second attempt now, still hasn't worked.
I'm curious about a couple things now... First of all, has anyone else here experienced a sudden Half-Life 2 failure like this? And if so, how did you identify the problem/fix it? Or did you?
I thought it was a one-off corruption the first time around... But now I'm intrigued. It seems strange to me that HL2 would suddenly stop working for some unknown reason...
I'd like to start this off as a personal help thread, to see if I can get some help in getting this doozy rolling again. Once the show is back on its feet and ready to blow things up in a disturbingly entertaining manner, then the discussion may gleefully careen into the psychotic happy funland that is SMOD (and its various spinoffs/modifications).
Thanks in advance to anyone who decides to lend a helping hand.
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Topic: Mid-Half-Life crisis, or "How I learned to stop worrying and love SMOD" (Read 2399 times)