Combine Ether

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

27th September 2010

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

You awaken on a floating island with no clue as to what is happening…
It’s not until you reach the mainland that you find out what’s really going on.

But is it real?

Basic Details
  • Title: Combine Ether
  • File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-combine-ether.7z
  • Size : 26.15MB
  • Author: Tetsu0
  • Date Released: 01 September 2010
  • SOurce: TWHL Map Vault
MapTap Users

Download directly into MapTap [26.15MB]

You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.

Download Options

Download to your HDD [26.15MB]

You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.

Important Note

This map pack REQUIRES SV_cheats to be set to 1 in order to function properly.
If you require more help, please visit the Help page.

Installation Instructions
  • Copy the maps folder into your Half-Life 2: Episode Two folder. (Don’t worry about overwriting)
  • Copy the sounds folder into your Half-Life 2: Episode Two folder. (Don’t worry about overwriting)
  • Launch Half-Life 2: Episode Two
  • Open the console and type map tetsu0_01.
  • Press enter/return or click the Submit button.
  • Play and Enjoy.

If you require more help, please visit the Help page.

2010 Mod Of The Year Award Nominations

None

Panoramic View

None

Gameplay Teaser Video

None

Screenshots

Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Reader Recommendations
Avoid It!
Think Twice
Maybe
Play It Later
Play It Now!

9 recommendations, average score: 3.22 (out of 5), standard deviation: 1.28 (what's that?)
Total Downloads

Please note: These statistics are valid from December 2010

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If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?
Jump to a review
Phillip says Play It!Maybe?Maybe?Think TwiceMaybe?Personal FavouriteThink TwicePlay It LaterThink Twice

21 Comments

  1. Phillip says Play It!

    This is a very inventive mappack. The start is very dream-like and the mid section introduces some top-down gameplay.

    There are a few cutscenes to keep you amused and a little drive too.

    All in all a very interesting release but the Source engine struggled with the views, as you can see in the screenshots.

    Definitely worth a playthrough – enjoy!

  2. soniq24

    Combine Ether — Half-Life 2: Ep2 won’t run for me.
    I believe I followed the instructions.
    Copy the maps folder into your Half-Life 2: Episode Two folder. (don’t worry about overwriting)
    Copy the sounds folder into your Half-Life 2: Episode Two folder. (don’t worry about overwriting)
    Launch Half-Life 2: Episode Two
    Open the console and type map map_tetsu0_01

    Anyone having a problem loading this?
    Any ideas?

    Thanks,

    Soniq24

  3. I think this line of the installation instructions:
    -Open the console and type map map_tetsu0_01

    Should read:
    -Open the console and type map tetsu0_28_01

    Worked for me.

    1. That’s correct. I just copied it from the readme with comparing it with what I used. Sorry about that.

  4. Maybe?

    A curiosity. Very curious indeed.
    The Antlion puzzle drove me nuts. Happily, Grey Acumen rode to the rescue over at the Forum.
    I then finished it making a pile of notes. My wife, a puzzle fanatic, stole my notes would you believe. :rolleyes:

    One play was quite enough

  5. Duke

    I struggled to get to it work as well, but on the 5th try I did manage it. Got as far as the ant lion puzzle and gave up, couldn’t work out what I was supposed to be doing…it was good up to that point though.

  6. Maybe?

    It saddens me to see what could have been a great mod fall to the pits of poor beta testing.

    Let’s start with the good: I liked the idea, and for the very few moments where I wasn’t annoyed, I really liked how he did some of the stuff, like the destroyable house.

    But then we get to the Antlion puzzle. And oh god where do I start. First of all, to actually move, you have to make your Antlion look up (this is top-down) and actually dig half of his body into the ground- THEN YOU CAN MOVE. I mean, SERIOUSLY?

    Then you have to get a crate into a button, but its so painful. Same for when you get a pistol- sure, you have a laser, but it doesn’t matters if its pointing at a CP’s head or crotch, they never get shot.

    After all that, more puzzles and rooms where the important thing to do is to stay on the track- again, IMPOSSIBLE since my Antlion had to be stuck inside the floor to actually walk.

    When I finished the Antlion puzzle, I was so pissed off I could not enjoy the rest of this map. This is a good example of why you always beta-test your stuff before releasing.

    Play it until the Antlion puzzle, then send it to the depths of your Recicle Bin!

  7. Tetsu0

    Hello Everybody.
    First off Thanks for playing! I appreciate it!
    I would like to mention that this map pack was composed for a competition at TWHL.co.za
    I work full time and go to school part time, and finding time to complete everything was hard enough. – There are MANY things that should have been fixed, but had to be overlooked. If I wanted to get the map submitted in time to be eligible for the contest, sacrificed had to be made.

    So the readme is wrong because i’m an idiot.
    And cheats have to be enabled for the antlion game to function properly.
    The game fires a command at the start of the game: M_pitch 0 which locks your view onto the horizontal axis. from there the game should play a lot smoother.
    Also the player cannot be damaged while a point_view control is active, so I had to be creative and create a damage system from scratch – which is also a bit buggy.

    The final battle is also glitchy, I finally figured out how dropships are supposed to work only AFTER I had submitted the pack.

    All in all, it’s riddled with bugs and errors 🙁 my apologies.

    1. Maybe?

      I encourage you to continue your work, it’s not like this mod has to be set in stone. Continue fixing bugs and updating to version 1.1 or even 1.9 for that matter. You have highly creative maps, they just need some heavy polishing. The antlion section alone could have been a shoe in for a personal favorite of mine if not for the numerous glitches and difficulty in aiming.

      I do find it interesting how drastically the visibility of the car is hampered by just a few pieces of scrap metal still in place.

  8. Think Twice

    The first map had promise. A fun journey through the authors floating fantasy world. The rest was just plain frustrating.

  9. Cyo
    Personal Favourite

    You guys are being far too harsh.

    I am currently all the way up to the Antlion mini-game, and to be honest, I am actually enjoying it. True, its quite “buggy” and does need some work (some of the kill functions don’t work when they obviously should) and yes, the antlion is buggy itself, though it seesm to walk well in three ways, normal, tilted up and tilted down. Once you figure that out, it becomes easy. It seems to me that a lot of you are suddenly demanding perfection.

    Tetsu0, continuing modding, it is refreshing to see someone attempt something unique, and the Antlion Adventure definitely made me chuckle. I would recommend trying to fix some of its bugs though.

    This one gets a high marks from me.

  10. Tetsu0

    You know, maybe I should revisit this pack and fix it up. It’s so close to being polished. I’ll work out some more bugs and I’ll let you all know when an update is launched. The website info will be updated as well.
    Appreciate the input from all!

    1. Don’t forget to consider the services of the Beta Tester’s Collective for help with that polishing and further bug tracking. I specifically would be happy to check through whatever updated version you come up with and track down any remaining bugs.

  11. I’ve been in contact with Tetsu0 about a problem with the music files not playing in this mod, and he says he definitely intends to fix some things and release the maps files again.

    I myself have long finished the maps, and personally find the top-down view game idea extremely inventive – especially if you have an idea of how he managed to do it. I will leave it to him to explain if he wishes.

    I think a lot of negative reactions are possibly based on one of two things:
    – the person isn’t entering “sv_cheats 1” in the console when playing the maps, so the top-down game doesn’t work correctly, or
    – the person is having trouble understanding the very different controls and “rules” of the top-down game

    I am going to wait until Tetsu0 re-releases the fixed maps to play them again and then give a proper review.

  12. Think Twice

    Innovative, but extremely buggy. I froze and crashed to desktop at varying points throughout.

  13. Hec
    Play It Later

    Good but a litle bit rough, that antlion part, kind of alien swarm valve game, like the car part and the little combat at the end as a price for being achieved the antlion part, this moder should be making more mods to improve his abbility.

  14. O K– I have read all of the above and I think it is not so bad — But what I need is help with the Antlion minigame.
    I have got the gun, but all I can shoot is myself. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    What am I supposed to do to comlete this minigame?

    Somebody help.

    Phil

    1. Sorted ! ———-“set sv_cheats to 1” before starting map —-
      So now I can shoot things other than myself !!
      Seems a strange way to do things, but, what do I know?
      It’s enjoyable though.

      Phil

  15. Think Twice

    The author definitely had some good ideas. I hope that he continued to make maps because the innovation seems to be there.

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