Distress Signal

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

10th August 2018

A quiet, peaceful mountain pass is about to reel under your arrival.

Follow the instructions and attempt to escape the Combine’s clutches.

Good Luck!

Basic Details
  • Title: Distress Signal
  • Filename: hl2-ep2-sp-distress-signal-unfinished.7z
  • Size : 19.80MB
  • Author: Hannu Korvala AKA Emnu
  • Date Released: 22 August 2015
Author’s Note

This is a unfinished hl2 ep2 “campaign” of mine that I decided not to finish, because of gameplay-related issues. Visually this map is pleasing (apart from some unfinished parts). This whole campaign started as a way for me to learn proper displacement methods.. This is for studying and educational purposes. Now of course if you want to play the “finished” ones just launch distress_signal.bsp and it’ll take you through 2 of the maps. distress_signal_0 and distress_signal_3 are unfinished and raw. Contains .vmf’s and .bsp’s

RTSL Note

This is an UNFINISHED release, meaning it may contain bugs. I have added it to the site as the author has abandoned it, which is a huge shame.

After you have played the main two maps, there are two others; distress_signal_0 and distress_signal_3. They can both be accessed via the console. The “3” is not worth playing but the “0” gives about a 1 minute of gameplay and looks like an alternative to the main start.

Gauge Users

Download directly into Gauge [19.80MB]

You MUST have Gauge installed before using this link.

Download Options

Download to your HDD [19.80MB]
You can still use it with Gauge once you have downloaded it.

Manual Installation Instructions

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

  • Copy the maps folder into your …\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\ep2\ folder.
  • Launch Half-Life 2: Episode Two
  • Open the console and type map distress_signal and now press ENTER.

Video

Screenshots

WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers and are not in the correct chronological order – sorry.

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Reader Recommendations
Avoid It!
Think Twice
Maybe
Play It Later
Play It Now!

15 recommendations, average score: 4.53 (out of 5), standard deviation: 0.65 (what's that?)
Total Downloads
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Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 13 comment(s) with meta review data.

Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 9 Users

Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 32 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 5 Mins by geezer1857
Longest: 1 Hours by Avantgarde95
Total Time Played: 6 Hours, 54 Mins
If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?
Jump to a review
Phillip says Play It!Play It Now!Play It LaterPlay It Now!Think TwicePlay It Now!Personal FavouritePlay It LaterPlay It Now!Play It Now!Play It Now!Play It LaterPlay It Now!Play It LaterPlay It Now!

21 Comments

  1. Phillip says Play It!

    Well, when you play something that has been abandoned or discarded, you have low expectations and this was a pleasant surprise to find it was really well made.

    It’s mostly outdoors areas with smaller buildings in which you need to explore. There are a number of set tasks the developer has created for you and they all seem natural and real.

    The environments look and feel well made and the gameplay has been well-planned.

    This could have been a really good little mod if the author had only finished it. Not being a released mapper myself, I can’t say I understand being so close and not finishing it. It might not have reached his internal ambitions but even with a little bit more work, it could easily have been released as a mod with two maps.

    All in all, this was great fun to play and I have little doubt you will enjoy it too.

  2. Play It Now!

    Yes I agree with Phillip. A good fun map in one of my favourite HL2 environments. Some good combat sequences without being too hard. Apart from the sniper that is. Quite how we were supposed to get rid of him before he got rid of us I don’t know. Well worth a play, wish it had been completed or even gone on a bit longer.

    1. Wesp5

      Yes, a great looking map combo, sadly never finished. As for the sniper, I always keep rockets when I can so getting rid of him was easy :)!

  3. Play It Later

    Maps feedback:
    distress_signal -do not remove the leader of the blue container on the start just because the radar of the car can spot the crate in there later, it makes the map more artificial. -default zombies outside of complex fighting situations are not a threat because they walk slower than the player +the quick backtracking was not annoying but fellt like looking at progressing through the map +environment looks natural

    distress_signal_0 -the big door killed me +great lightning +the second anlion on the start surprised me, but the pistol was strong enough to kill both so it was fair. Fair gameplay surprises feel really good fighting the poisonous zombie for the pistol ammonition was proportionate unlike goodies on distress_signal_2

    map distress_signal_2 –the sniper can shoot you through the hill when aproaching his house in order to throw a granade in there the spawn are unnatural, the two fast zombies and some combine apear without an explaination how they could spawn out off nowere. If you get to a crate of one particular house a hunter and a bunch of soildiers appear which feels like a punishment for opening the crate. The combat was great, and I can see, these delayed spaws are needed to keep the fighting up and prevent all enemies to attack the player at once.

  4. Roy
    Play It Now!

    From the previous reviews I expected it to be fun. I’m happy to say I had more fun than expected.

    I loved the environment. There was a lot of good detail with great use of assets. It made me really wish it was bigger and had been finished as I loved the exploring.

    It had a great location, good combat and good flow.

    The only cons were how a few of the enemy popped up unexpectedly and maybe the sniper. A rocket fixed him. I must confess I always love seeing them on fire and failing out of the window.

  5. Think Twice

    Not sure what happened other than I was driving along and fell into a pit hanging out in space. Is it me or am I dreaming? Not sure why it went that way other than it says unfinished. Went back, after reading some reviews, and it happened again. I’ll check back and try to play it again n another day.

    1. Have you loaded the right map? Check the map names carefully.

      1. Gauge shows map 3 when first opening up, that’s the one you played, not the one you want to play (at all, as mentioned above). Use the drop down in gauge and choose the core bsp.

        This is a great couple of maps! off to play the additional “0” map now.

    2. congoclash

      The 2 maps to play are distress_signal which will lead you to distress_signal_2. The other 2 maps are unfinished duds. With unfinished mods it’s better to load maps through the console.

    3. I just tried to replay it and all is well.

  6. Play It Now!

    Really sad to see this as an unfinished project label. It was going to an interesting story after the Sniper section on the village. Perhaps, as Phillip said, the author wasn’t satisfied with how his project was going to and decided to end it right there.

    Overall, amazing details and perfect use of soundscapes. Feels like an HL2 Ep Two map without doubts – with houses, mountains, and trees on your surroundings. Only one minor complaint would be how to defeat the sniper camping inside the cabin in the mountains. Maybe there was still something missing or “to-do” on this problem, so in this case, it’s forgivable. A great mod to play at any time of the day for sure!

  7. Personal Favourite

    It is the best map I played! It’s so detailed and well made!
    Well planned and it has no player clips! (Except for the tunnel) I could mount on any rooftop to see how beutiful this map looks and how huge it is! The only 2 complains would be: 1. I already collected every secret lootbox before getting into car yet it is still shows up; 2. the sniper is able to shoot throw cliff wich is impossible and makes battle with him unfair.
    I give it my heart! The map makes really hard situations and gives you right tools

  8. Unq
    Play It Later

    This is a pretty good romp with the jalopy in the vein of the vehicle maps in the official games. It’s not as polished, but still a pretty good time.

    This mod can be fairly tough too, some of the ambushes are out of nowhere and some include some major enemies too (hunters, a strider, Elites, sniper). I think some playtesting would have led to more polishing and overall better encounters. As it stands it’s still worth playing and a decent ride.

  9. Play It Now!

    Okay, this is unfinished but boy is it a belter. The outdoor environments are superbly designed with everything attacking in well-planned stages which are always well-balanced. I really REALLY loved these places that highlight so much of what I love about the HL2 universe.

    Yes, it’s unfinished so disappointing but I still think every HL2 fan needs to download this.

  10. Hec
    Play It Now!

    Well, it’s really a shame that this mod is unfinished. The only 2 maps playable were just delightful. Delightful in combat terms I mean. Pretty great combat and ambushes out there! I even died a couple of times but worth it every time.

    I really hope this author continue working on this project, even for a couple of more maps, because he has an excellent base to start working this mod properly.

    I also loved the concept of “Combat on a trip” mod, in which the jalopy charger is vital for the mod itself. Reminded me a lot to the classic “road 17” section in HL2 but with all the forest assets and textures, ep2 has to bring.

    This is a Play it Now.

  11. Play It Now!

    Distress Signal starts off in a really well made area, and sets a calm mood. I was a bit disappointed when after 1 minute the calm mood was broken by combat with combine. There are alot of fights troughout this mod which are reminiscent to the fights in EP2 with small houses, combine and hunters. These fights are pretty well done.
    Altough this is an unfinished mod, I highly recommend playing it.

  12. Anon_1764581

    Try this mod with “Winteric Textures”.
    https://www.moddb.com/mods/winteric-textures

    Very atmospheric.

  13. Play It Later

    nice hl ep2 atmosphere and good gameplay

  14. Play It Now!

    Nice map

  15. Play It Later

    Looks and plays good. Only issue I had was the sniper can shoot through the mountain.

  16. Play It Now!

    Intense, unrelenting combat. Positively thrilling. My blood has never pumped harder.

    Sniper sequence was challenging, with help from the occasional bug.

    Overall a nice segue in the Half-Life experience.

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