SourceCoop

The rapid improvements in the hardware processing power heavily influence the development road maps of software products, which is the case of game engines as well, with programmers facing the opportunity of creating new iterations that enhance the gameplay in terms of physics, graphics and performance.

While many older titles could benefit from these improvements, developers usually have to prioritize upcoming games that carry on with the storyline, which is why remastering projects are sometimes dealt with by third-party studios or dedicated fans. One example is Black Mesa, an excellent remake that can be enjoyed with friends using SourceCoop.

In an attempt to push the boundaries of what can be achieved on the newest hardware, Valve followed up on their first successful flagship title with Half-Life 2 in 2004, running on the newly improved Source engine, which featured complex facial movements for NPCs, three-dimensional skyboxes and an advanced physics engine that supported dynamic ragdolls for an increased degree of realism.

Given the success of the first Half-Life game, the company decided to port it to the Source engine so that the gameplay would benefit from the improvements. However, a wide variety of bugs ensued, leaving enough players disappointed in the port itself to prompt a team of tech-savvy fans to embark on a quest to give the critically acclaimed title a better remake, culminating in the Steam release of the Black Mesa mod.

Being an overhaul in every sense of the word, the game not only featured fully reworked models, sounds and textures, but even the maps themselves went through drastic changes that modernize the look and feel of the levels, thus making it a must-play for all Half-Life fans, which is where the app at hand comes into play.

While a number of servers are readily available through the mod’s browser, those who want more control over their experience can install the Metamod:Source plugin environment before implementing the SourceMod server modification tool that allows them to embed the extension into the original mod and execute a number of configuration commands.

Once installed, players have the option to enable the third-person mode, respawn with the previously picked up weapons and gadgets to avoid having to trace back their steps and set up a voting system to select the next level or custom campaign map democratically.

Whether you want to provide the community with a custom co-op server or you simply wish to create your own private one to maintain control of the parameters and levels, SourceCoop’s flexible array of commands may be the right tool for the job.