Tired of Half-Life 2 environments? Well now you can fight the Combine in a Japanese setting. Play in 18 levels, all with new textures. The gameplay is Old School hence the name. The gameplay consists of killing the enemy and finding keys to open the door to the next area. Simple and fun.
“Beta 1 is ready to download! There are some little things you have to know! If you find any bugs please tell me.
1. The game is made with and for HDR. I advise you to use HDR or you could have some bad surprises.
2. In each level there are 4 keys, when you take a key it must be display on the bottom of the screen. There is a little bug and sometimes it doesn’t display, just save and load game and and normally it works again.
3. There is no autosave so don’t forget to save sometimes.
- Title: Old School
- File Name: hl2-sp-old-school.7z
- Size : 221.23MB
- Author: Al Bundy
- Date Released: 29 May 2008
Download to your HDD [221.2MB]
- Extract the old School folder into your Sourcemods folder
- Restart or start Steam.
- Old School should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image. All screenshots taken without HDR because I didn’t like how the mod looked with them!
The images below come from the the first 9 or so levels.
WARNING: The screenshots may contain spoilers.
Please note: These statistics are valid from December 2010
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2,106Overall
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0Today
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0Last 7 days
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6Last 30 days
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126365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 1 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 2 Hours, 35 Mins
Shortest: 2 Hours, 30 Mins by KaptainMicila
Longest: 2 Hours, 39 Mins by ArctixSnowPup
Total Time Played: 5 Hours, 9 Mins
This release is currently not in a collection
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Well, where do I start? Firstly, let me say that I haven’t finished this mod but believe I am around half-way through. There seems to be 3 levels per section I I have played up to section 3, I think.
Next, is the reason for the Play It Later recommendation. There’s little doubt it’s a very good piece of work but I find the basic gameplay quite repetitive and the Find the Key, Open the Door style a little boring. Of course most gameplay mechanics work like this but as the saying goes It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do.
Regulars readers know I generally prefer smaller, perfectly polished maps or mods, so my hesitancy shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.
To many of the areas are bland and simply take you from one place to another, where as other areas are very well laid out and fun to play.
The secret areas aren’t too hard to find, although it would be nice to show the statistics at the end of the section, that way I could replay them if I missed areas.
Considering one person made this then they should be very pleased with themselves.
You should definitely play this but set aside a few hours at least to play through it. Oh, and as the author says, don’t forget to save at the start of each level because it doesn’t do it automatically, as I found out to my shock and horror!
HDR?
Heh, is this some kind of spiritual sequel to Shadow Warrior? I see at least one texture from that game in this.
Im stuck in 1-3, in the pool area, what the heck am I suppose to do ?
Playy it now!! I have played it before, I got it from moddb. Some chapters seen to have more levels while others don’t. It’s pretty well designed in which seens to be a “futuristic” japanese city while in the final levels and in the beginning and the middle it varies a lot. The mod itself doesn’t seen to show any kind of plot, but who cares anyway? The HDR is extremely well designed here, making things clear and bright, colorful. This is a mod that will be very sucesful and altough it appears to be in beta stage, the fact is that it’s very long, but don’t worry, that is a good conotation.
This is a long one! Has been playing very well so far, it’s got a touch of “Prey” in there! The keys haven’t been to hard to find, ya gotta look tho. I don’t think I”ve played a Japanese theme mod of this length before this one! Gotta take a break so I can’t rate it yet! 😉
ive played through a good half or more of this mod til I reached a level where im on a balcony & down below is a mass of combine & a river of lava bordering the area with a portal leading to a spiked pillar room with no Keys.
Anyways the levels are massive some intresting ideas were put into this mod beta
I saw one visual eye candy in a sewer with blue water reflecting off the walls.
Gameplay is repeative theirs no shortage of items alittle too much.
The Levels are based on Old school shooters based on the Build engine & a few surprise tv shows.
Some new enemies & wepaons & Items of course TC wise Including the Katana sword.
Menu Music is a nice touch.
Still its for gamers who want Little puzzles & brain work just Pure Action even if its repeative
Some areas are diffcult but can be solved.
With Community help & alot polish this be good for the Run-N-Gun Crowd.
Cool and “big” boring mod
High Dynamic Range
I’ll open the mod and check. BRB
okay, if it’s the pool with the large drop and waterfall then look really careful at the bottom of it. You’ll find a switch. Good Luck.
i’m sorry, but when I was half ways with the 3th map I HAD to stop, otherwise I would have been killed, so bored I was. I seem to remember reading that this was made by a 15 year old, or was that another new mod here. even if so, its still a collection of doors and keys, keys that always lay exactly at the other side of the map, what makes that you have to go back and forwards, not to mention the times that you do this looking for keys that are exactly again on the other side of the map, lots of empty rooms, or rooms with just one table in it.
really, the rest does look good enough, so the mapper clearly is skilled enough to make it a bit more challanging. seems it made more sence to the mapper to make 18 maps, as some really interesting maps.like fragmaster said above, the mapper clearly looked at Shadow Warrior, (made on the editor called The Building engine, first used for making 3DRealms Duke Nukem 3D!). but even Shadow warrior, that was the same qua doors and keys, was much more interesting. it had a lot to offer, and this mod is all about keys and doors, and the keys are as far as possible placed from the doors.
another problem that I have with this mod is that it doesn’t use the great AI options of HL2. all combines are made out of npc_maker entities, none of them attack or do some other nice thing. they all just spawn and stand there untill they see the player, a real waste. there fore I really am sorry to say, that I can’t give this mod more then just a Play it Later. I already wanted to stop in map1, but the waterfall made me think that there would be more to see, and also the end button, (what is exactly tjhe same as in Shadow Warrior) made me want to play on. I am a HUGE FAN of the first hour of Shadow Warrior, made loads of sp-maps with it, therefore I had to see what this mod was all about. but its nothing, it doesn’t do the game Shadow Warrior any good.
sorry, but, I just have to be honest!!!
leon
This mod has 18 levels? I’m only on level 6! I think it’s getting better, at least for me! Now I’m in a level simular to “Bioshock” (at the beginning). This isn’t the quality of Spy-maps or others but enjoyable just the same!! I cranked it up to “HARD” for a better workout!! This is only a beta?? 🙂
AI, yes it’s in beta stage. You are actually in the last level already, man. This one is quite a long one. How did you like the beginning of it? VERY likely to Bioshock, the water and the fire reflecting on the water … Just wait ’till you see the end!! There is a nice “wallpaper” when you beat the mod.
Boring in the beginning, but it gets a bit better as you go along. Several bugs (but none too serious) and lots of repetitive texturing. But at least the combat and a few of the puzzles are challenging. “Old School” is definitely the right title for this mod….if you liked “find the keys, open the doors, hit the Exit button to move on to the mext map, ad nauseam” in the early 3D shooters, you might like this one. Duke Nukem even makes an appearance.
mh, missed that one clearly, because I stopped in map3 as I described. would have loved to see my old friend again, maybe I will pick the mod up again.
leon
I thoroughly enjoyed this large mod. It is unashamedly “find the key, open the door”: 4 different coloured keys on each level, find them all and off you go to the next level. There are firefight sections and platform sections; combine, zombies and those bloody antlions; and a surprise at the end. There is homage paid to Prey, Bioshock and even, soundwise, to Stalker. The maps are clever, well designed and in places really have you puzzling over how to achieve an objective. I played it straight through it got me that hooked, and although it is somewhat repetitive I still recommend it very highly.
I got to level three before falling asleep, sorry, this one’s not for me….Purple & black striped surfaces in places, but it was the simple frustration of the dull exploration tasks, the poorly placed enemies, when there were any, and the nonsensical storyline, such as it attempted to be…..The whole thing I’m sure was mapped quite competently, better than anything I could do, but just didn’t light any candles for me…..
Despite the frustrating lack of auto-saves, this mod has quite a bit to offer. There are a number of interesting set pieces interspersed among the somewhat crude levels. Combat can be brutal, with enemies appearing out of a cloud of smoke. It was very satisfying searching out the secret areas. While she may not be the best looking gal, you can still have a good time with her.
I had another go, and after the first three, or four maps it did pick up a bit, and I found myself almost enjoying it….I don’t know which map I’m on now, but it’s the one with the floating islands, teleports, and impossible to get to places….I have absolutely no idea how to get through this at all. Did anyone manage to complete it?
Personally I thought this mod was great for a beta mod. Once the maker polishes it out I think it would be pretty close to perfect. I was glad to finally find a long high quality mod rather than the little 1-2 map shorties that most people submit. Honestly I wish that there were more mods around this length if not the same gameplay styl2.
Hello,
I’m friend of leader of the mod, and I help him.
Soon a new beta , the beta 2 for orange box, map fixed and new secret room.
Bye bye !
Personally, I thought this was a good mod. It was very repetitive, but no bugs. Not the best, but certainly not the worst! The whole key thing can get a bit annoying, but not bad. Definitely worth a try, and I personally give it a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. Again, the best part about it is that I found no bugs. Hats off to the authors.. For what it is or was… GOOD JOB
I am on level 6 (lwr6) and have found the red key but can’t find any of the others keys to progress, any help would be welcomed.
mel not sure if this is the way to go but I went back to where you start the map and picked up the wooden pallet
out of the water just around the corner is a chainlink fence with a key on the other side prop the pallet against
the fence upright and you can climb overand back.
There is an elevator there which I seem to remember finding later but this pallet way also works
Thanks nige that worked for me.
What’s the trick to getting this to show up in Steam? I did the download and the installer supposedly put it in sourcemods and it says to click the icon, but there is none. Any ideas?
As far as I know there is no trick.
Things to consider:
Have you restarted Steam?
Navigate using explorer to your SourceMods folder. Is it definitely there?
Some people seem to have C:\Program Files\Steam” and others “C:\Program Files\Valve/Steam”. Maybe that makes a difference.
Before I got the “Orange Box” version of HL2 the folder was named “Valve”, after I removed the old HL2 and installed the “Orange Box” the folders name is “Steam”! I’ve had the same problem with a few of the older mods!Some of the older self installers will create it’s own “C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam” on your drive, so be wary of where your install goes!! 🙂
Yea, I have the Orange Box version and Valve is not in the path to the Source Mods folder.-I’m always changing that. thanks-I liked the game alot. Thought it had good puzzles and I liked the Japenese settings. Real nice and different.
My installation of Steam is as follows:
E:\ProgramFiles\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\Sourcemods\HL2os
All my other mods appear on Steam except this one! Can you help me with this problem?
Thanks in advance.
Look for a folder called steam in the programs folder on your C or E drive
X:\ProgramFiles\Steam\SteamApps\Sourcemods\HL2os
Then move it to the right place
Hi andyb!
I did what you mentioned and it stilldoesn’t work!
Is it possible that I should uninstall HL2 and then reinstall Orange Box full and reinstall the mod?
i’m very confused…
TKS!
Only thing I will suggest is you do a search and find the folder called HL2os and put it in the proper place.
a new version of hl2 old school is available on moddb maybe it help you 😉
Thanks a lot gg! The new version on Moddb installed correctly and works great!
I’ll sleep better tonight…LoL!
im stuck at final stage after finding the bronze key
Have you found it by now? It’s not really hidden (though I was grumbling before I found it).
I thought this mod was a lot of fun. Well, aside from the platforming, and even that was fun-ish.
It is definitely reminiscent of “old school” video games. (Boy am I out of practice when it comes to looking for secret rooms…)
The only thing that could have been better, in my opinion, is the final battle. (I think I’m remembering the right mod.)
MAN!!, what can I say on this one, I just loved it!!, is pure HL OLD SCHOOL puzzle style, I really appreciate this mod and must be on my PF list!!!
This modification had some minor problems possibly even more than when it was first created thanks to Steam updates. Luckily, I found most of the problems you could easily bypass if you have a basic understanding of Half-Life 2 mainly the commands.
Two maps were completely corrupt Map LWR8 and Map LWR14, but you could open the console and instead put the name of the next map in such as, map LWR9 to bypass this problem.
You may also need a few commands to get your equipment and weapons back. However, when I had played through this modification I still played it in a legitimate way.
I didn’t start off with more then what I had when having to skip each of the corrupt levels to continue on with the modification. I made sure I had the same amount of guns, ammunition, and health I started with from the previous map.
It is possible to finish the end map, but it is very unstable the only way I was able to get to the credits was by using the command ai_disable 1, and then eliminating the N.P.C.’s with the katana to make sure the crash wasn’t being caused by a sprite or something of that nature.
Also, once you finish the modification you will notice none of the chapters have unlocked. This is another error that can be bypassed just go into the CFG folder you will than see a file labelled Autoexec and a command labelled sv_unlockedchapters.
There will already be a number in it just change it depending on how many chapters are in the modification like this, sv_unlockedchapters “15”. Now all the chapters will remain open.
I don’t know what I played: a mod or a totally complete game?
This mod was something really fun, and it really gave me the “flashbacks” of old games where you needed to get all the keys to get the ultimate objective: kill everything and finish the level!
The spawn system was incredible and the “ninja style” gave to the game a more “ninja themed” game than I tought!
9/10! (some textures problems, but probably it was my problem)
Using Gauge
Hard
2 Hours, 30 Minutes
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Recommendation was removed, you have to at least write a reaction or basic thoughts on the experience.
Man, I’d love to see the end of this mod but it is so broken that I’ve experienced two unplayable levels. lwr8 and lwr17. I gotta love the finale of lwr17 where you get to fight your clones but everytime I shoot one of them, the game crashes. I can’t do anything about it and there’s no way I can progress. lwr8 is where I experience huge fps drops and eventually crash. Speaking of fps drops, I’ve been experiencing them in other levels as well. It got to the point where I had to skip levels and cheat my way out due to their unplayability.
Okay, to clarify all this, supposedly I should’ve sin the repetitive levels and combat but that’s how “old school” works. It is designed to make it look like an arcade style. I stated the main issue before which is the broken mod and unplayable levels, they’re the reason why I gave this tons of deductions.
Finally, I was able to finish this mod. I still do not know why my game crashed during the finale where you get to fight your clones. But still, quite a fun experience only for the first time. It’s just that the game gets pretty old quick. Therefore, my point still stands, still “play it later.” If you really want an old school FPS style, just play Doom or Wolfenstein.
This was a very long map. It was way too long. It’s the same premise for all 18 playable maps (not including the ending) with different stages. Find 4 keys escape to the next stage. I didn’t even find all the keys, but still somehow made it to the end. I did use a few SMG grenade exploits in a few spots, but this map is so boxy and player clipped that it was hard to actually use that exploit. Never had enough health to begin with. NOTE: I died many times, but not because of lack of health. I was very tired when I finished this map so I got pretty sloppy.
Usage of space and world brushes: 5/10
It’s truly old school source. Boxy rooms and boxy brush details. I could still easily tell the difference between the maps, but this map could’ve easily been better since it was released 4 years after half-life 2 was released.
Visuals 5/10
Visuals were bare bone minimum. I wasn’t too impressed to say the least. I did like the style of each stage. I could tell what was going on in the background and around me.
Gameplay: 4/10
Please think twice about playing this mod. It took me 2 hours and 39 minutes… in one sitting without restarting. I did get lost a few times, but it was just that long.
The keys are easy enough to find, you get plenty of ammo and heath. The biggest trouble I had was when it came to the ninjas. If you played the dojo level (training level) you’d know what I mean. Near invisible combine elites. Also, there is a load of smg metropolice. Like a lot of them.
Final Score: 14/30 – 46%
Final Comments: Took me about 2 hours and 39 minutes. Don’t even bother playing this one. It’s really not worth it. Didn’t crash once though.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours, 39 Minutes