The Combine have taken control of a important rebel supply route.
It’s fallen on you to clear out the Combine, so that the resistance can restock it and resume operations.
It’s a big area and they have got themselves pretty well set in.
Take your time and make sure you clear the whole area and make sure you stop that DAMN weapon ASAP!
Good Luck.
- Title: Saint Black Mountain
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-saint-black-mountain.7z
- Size : 13.5MB
- Author: Fodderstompf
- Date Released: 23 March 2013
Download directly into MapTap 13.5MB]
You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link. Also, note that if you delete this release via MapTap, you will not have a separate copy save on your computer.
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
- Copy the saint_blackmountain_map3.bsp into your C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\ep2\maps folder.
- Start Steam if it’s not already running.
- Launch Episode Two
- Open the console and type map saint_blackmountain_map3 and press return.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
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Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 8 Users
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Average: 0 Hours, 55 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 30 Mins by Daken50
Longest: 1 Hours, 30 Mins by dino_yoshi13
Total Time Played: 8 Hours, 12 Mins
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Considering this is described by the author as being “littered with problems”, I had a lot of fun.
The first part is a little bland and plain, but once you enter the main area you get into some great fights.
The exploring is generally worth it, but the mod shines mostly from the indoor areas, that are both detailed and fun to play.
Yes, you can see out of the map sometimes and yes the balance between area detail is bad, but what there is, is very good.
This was a fun and challenging map to play and I have no hesitation in saying I think you will enjoy it too.
Using Gauge
Easy
42 Minutes
First thing I noticed is that the displacements and brushwork were at times a little too basic the environment wasn’t very convincing but I’ve definitively seen worse.
The amount of combine this map throws at you is quite unrelenting and some seem to spawn behind the player and in places the player has already cleared it which sort of destroys any sense of progress. Observing the visual language it is clear where you have to go but not in what order. I’m not 100% sure this is the case but as far as I could tell once you complete an objective you get a wave of enemies, once you’ve defeated the wave the next area becomes accessible (this wasn’t entirely clear). This system is made a bit frustrating purely on the merit of the battle area being quite large. Unfortunately this can mean that NPC’s can get lost and that leads to an tedious scenario where you’re searching every nook and cranny for the missing NPC.
Later you get a car but the way the road is built it isn’t actually very practical to use as it was hard to stay on the road and once you fall of it’s fairly hard to get back on again, while being fired at by the weapon Phillip mentioned you’re probably better off on foot.
Once you understand how everything is working it’s quite fun, there is enough health to not be frustrating and not so much that it takes away the challenge it feels tense although some areas (the last building in particular) have enemies coming from just too many directions, you get shot from above, below behind and in front, there isn’t really enough cover. Also I was getting a weird bug where Gordon was holstering his weapon when aiming at some enemies (like he does when you point your gun at an ally) not sure why this was happening but it does seem to put a delay on shooting.
All in all it’s ok, it’s challenging and fun but also buggy, short on detailing, confusing and at times frustrating.
Manually
Easy
50 Minutes
I saw that holstering bug too during the final battle. Very odd.
Didn’t like this one too much.
The goal of the level, although it’s not readily apparent, is to destroy four Combine generators with the side objective of finding the Gravity Gun to dislodge their energy balls. The generators reside within buildings spread out across a very large, open area with little cover. Each building has a bit of a theme going on – one seems to have a barnacle infestation, another is keen on sentry turrets. Initially, not all buildings are open. The level has a pattern where after an energy ball is removed, dropships arrive and you need to kill every last Combine they spawn before the next building is unlocked. Unfortunately, the Combine can spawn pretty much anywhere, including places you’ve already been, so hunting them down is extremely tedious.
And that brings me to the twist – what do these Combine generators power? One of those “suppression devices” from the Nexus Building – the laser that fires down from above and damages anything in a one mile radius. It attacks you aggressively all throughout the mission, dealing a near constant amount of damage as you traverse between buildings or hunt down Combine.
Now, in theory, you don’t have to do this on foot. You’ve got a car. Well, problem with that is the roadway is elevated a good two meters above the surrounding terrain and is extremely narrow. It basically makes the car useless. If it sloughs off the side of the road, it high centers itself and gets stuck. And by the way, here comes the suppression laser again.
Put all this together, and you have a pretty frustrating level, even despite the tons and tons of health pickups. While no one thing does an exceptional amount of damage, it whittles you down with constant pot shots you simply cannot avoid.
So, how to make it better? First of all, fix the damn road. There’s no excuse for it. Bring the terrain up so it better meshes with the roadway or, better yet, make the road into a displacement so it can contour with the terrain. Second, make all four buildings available from the start and allow the player to choose the order they want to follow. It promotes replayability and nothing is gained from forcing the player to hunt down backspawning Combine. There’s more than enough combat without the dropships. Third, tone down the combat and learn when to leave the player alone. Don’t have this constant trickle of infinitely spawning enemies attacking me every 10 seconds while I’m trying to navigate a confusing set of catwalks and stairways. Fourth, tone down the radius of the suppression device or, if you can’t, make it fire less frequently.
This map has some great high-level ideas and offers a lot of potential for interesting, non-linear gameplay and exploration. Unfortunately, it doesn’t live up to that potential in its current state.
Manually
Easy
45 Minutes
JUST ADVICE: MAP TAP FAILED ON THIS ONE
Are you using the latest Beta version? That one can manage Steampipe installations.
Yeah Phillip, I downloaded the last BETA MAP TAP version here in PP.com and it said it just went wrong, I have already install it manually and works fine.
Can you give me more information about exactly what happened when you tried to install it.
On the same basic topic, but the HDD download, the instructions above on here say move the folder in the usual way when there is a mod instead of a map, and look for the mod in the Library tab. However after extracting the zip, there is no folder, just a readme, a bsp and a graphs folder. And the readme is wrong too, it references moving the bsp but doesn’t mention moving the graphs. Perhaps if the MapTap version also doesn’t have a folder then that’s why it won’t work?
Yes, that was my mistake. I have now updated the instructions to reflect the fact that it is just a map, not a mod.
Need a bit of help if possible. I lost count of the generators destroyed, but I believe I got them all.
Now I have 2 striders pacing around, and have no rockets left to deal with them. All the soldiers have been killed and the laser that fires from above is not working. Is that the end of the map?
There is a box of rockets outside the shack where you found the rocket launcher.
Many thanks!
The idea of this map is interesting, you are tasked with shutting off a suppression device out in the forest, and then have to make your escape.
What I liked: The detail work inside the buildings was fantastic. There was nice use of the vertical space inside the buildings for battles (something rarely seen in maps). The crossbow came in very handy in this map, but I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody else found it. It was very well hidden.
What I didn’t like: I felt the space between different buildings was too far, because the suppression device would always get in a few hits before you could get to the next building. You did give us a car so we could outrun it. The only issue was the car was very hard to drive through the level because of the road raised far off the ground. It would have been better to sink it into the ground and build the terrain around it.
The inside battles, while well done had too many enemies attacking at one time. Every time one enemy hears you, they all come running and attack you, which becomes a hindrance on the design of this level. If the inside of these buildings were included in a game with stealth elements, the level would probably be better received. The layout of the buildings feels very much like a stealth type scenario; stealth just doesn’t work well in HL2 on a large scale.
When your trying to turn off the suppression device, the outside battles feel completely unnecessary. Not only that, but the combine regularly got lost trying to navigate to where the player was located. This also probably plays into the space between buildings being too large, but it could have also been alleviated by giving the AI more than one route into the buildings.
One other thing to do would be to give the player visual clues of where they are supposed to go next. The issue right now is that the path through this level is unclear, as you can’t see the combine doors open. Either some clever level restructuring or monitors to let the player know what the next objective is would be more helpful than doing nothing.
My recommendation: I gave this mod a rating of maybe because the level has much unfulfilled potential. If the creator would move the buildings closer together and eliminate many of the unnecessary enemies, this could very well be a solid map.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Hey And thanks everyone for giving my map a go
nleaving a appropriate review i love reading them.
First of i shall mention that Ive had this map in development for a pretty long time long enough to grow bored of it.hence the reason its flawed in many ways.
Its released in a state as is.That and running into sources limits.
I could come up with excuse for those flaws but the majority boils down to the wanting to be done with it. And a Maybe recommendation seems like a spot on recommendation. might have hoped on a play it later as it has some things going for it.. 😀
Spoilers Will follow..
Visuals
I feel like the map does have a lot of detail as it runs into the brush limit. causing weird stuff to happen;
HDR Compiles not working,explosions not rendering,sparks not showing,3D skyboxes not working etc.
this Being the main reason of giving up on “perfecting” further.
I am fairly proud of the inside area’s and the brick detail i got going for it
The main industrial buildings took a lot of work.
And as far as industrial environment go i feel like outdoing the inside of the buildings would push my limits of patience and creativity. although the lightning could have been way better.
The start Chasm.
As described as the least interesting part of the map i shall certainly agree.
I felt like having some sort of build up but did not really succeed with natural environmental work.
The Brick Buildings zone.
Wanting to give this place a formal rebel outpost run over by the combine feel.
I would say its quite successful as there is loads of destruction. still patrolling combine.goodies.
The slope Down.
I adore the vista of what you’re about to get into.Big looming industrial buildings,overrun by combine equiped to kill.
The central hideout.
Once again a once been rebel hideout cleared out by The Combine.
Not anything special but it does manage to give the feel “a place to stay”.
The yellow building.
the inside has a nice pathway running trough.
My idea wass to make it a Combine Headcrab Canister stock gone wrong.
There are loads of barnacles,to navigate trough.
Slowing down the pace of the map. in retrospect it could have done with more better placement of planks, goodies.
The Green building.
Probably my personal favorite it oozes the feel of a working oil plant
With pipes going absolutely everywhere.The climb is steep and interesting.
But the way Back down felt uninteresting and rather boring
The blue building.
Even though i feel like its the weakest of the three
i like the way you progress trough it and felt like the combine is using it the most
The exit.
Quite frankly a boring tunnel. yes..
Gameplay.
The Gameplay is obviously rushed.
I had a lot of ideas but not the patience to get it right.
The Main objective gets described at the start With some text.
“Free the supply route of the Combine Forces.”
Its not for to long you notice The Combine have settled in good.
Once again there’s to much not working.
The combat is laid out as i enjoy it. Hard with Baddy’s surrounding You from every direction. Closing in. Its very challenging But there’s plenty of Goodies all around to get trough. I feel like any map should be fun on hard.
There’s quite a few hidden caches rewarding you “greatly” for exploring.
easing your fight.
The pathing ore lack there off is mainly cause i like it that way hehe.
As mentioned numerous times there was a great opportunity for hub based content and i had the intend of doing so but in the end i gated if off.
I did try making it more obvious to showcase opening gates with sound,light but it just did not work.. to much entitydata and what not.
Combat.
The start chasm.
You leave the spawn and get quickly spotted by a couple of combine
Setting the tone for the map Being verry combat heavy.
The brick buildings zone.
This might be my favorite fight of the entire map its challenging.
Depending how you approach the environment the way it plays out changes dramatically. Keep a move on I would recommend.
That being said its still average and nowhere what it could have been.
The slope down.
Being introduced To the Combine might by a couple of Suppressing shots.
From the mortar its time to face it straight on.
Basically playing the dodge game towards your next objective.
There is a car because one of the playtesters asked for it i felt it both added and detracted to the map.But liked the option.
Maybe the placement would have been better of elsewhere.
The central hideout.
This might be one of the more important places as it function as a “hub”
cover in between the main objectives.
Its stocked full of supply’s.trying to reinforce the attraction for players to take cover luring them in.
The yellow building.
This is probably the slowest passed part of the map.
Originally You would have been stripped of all weapons having to
gear up inside and take extreme care of the barnacles.So yes there is a way to get trough untouched.very carefully!
Technical difficulty made me come back from this idea. but its still kind a there.
The Green building.
I like the combat as is maybe it encourages you to stay at the entrance to much even then it plays out rather enjoyable.
Then followed by a easy journey up,originally i had re spawning enemy’s until you pushed ‘m back With your return journey being repopulated with combine mines. Considering the map was just a bit to combat heavy already its been removed.
The Blue building.
Once again the combat builds up.
to a unseen high obviously this was to be expected considering its the building housing The Combine Mortar.
Making progress in here will be challenging as i meant to.
Its littered with sentrys. pace yourself slow,aim well and you will be successful.
The final Battle.
The final battle takes place around the central hideout.
Against 2strider reinforced by a steady stream of dropped in soldiers.
once again its a real challenge on harder difficulty’s but just as rewarding to get trough.
The end.
Its a simple end progressing towards the white forest.
With a little thanks from myself.
TLDR.
Fairly good looking tough combat,confusing layout,enjoyable.
Manually
Hard
1 Hour, 15 Minutes
If you’re running into the brush limit I’ve heard about a program called propper.
( http://www.moddb.com/games/half-life-2/downloads/propper )
It converts map geometry into models which should help reduce your brush count although I’ve heard this can take a toll on performance.
I find it surprising that the barnacle building can be completed without killing any, I’ve got to try that.
From what I’ve seen on the Steam forums, modders have struggled to get Propper to work post-Steampipe. And personally, even if they did, model lighting kind of sucks in Source. It never really compares to the lightmaps on world geometry.
Rating your own map, that’s a first! 🙂 Thanks for the heads up in the readme as it helped not to take the errors as seriously. However I couldn’t forgive the road not being level with the ground.
I gave it a PIN because, despite its flaws, the gameplay, concept and building interiors were so good. There is so much potential evident, I do hope you take a clean sheet of paper with some new idea and, take what was learned by this one, and make another map! Perhaps just reduce the detail levels a bit and concentrate on the visual continuity.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 15 Minutes
Well, it’s time to put some balance into those recommendations. Because really, I think is kind of unfair to see many “maybe” in there. and I say is unfair, because this map was pretty big and indeed have cool combat from the beginning till the end of it.
Obviously we don’t have the best lighting technical aspect in this map, and for my liking it was just way too illuminated in the outdoors and very, very dark in some indoor parts. Being said that, I think is maybe the poorest aspect of this map.
Now, the great thing about, is the concept, which I loved, because it’s like a real resistance military mission, you know, go there boy, and do whatever it takes to destroy the pulse mortar-cannon in that mill warehouse!!! I love the concept and the very peak hardcore close combat once you are near to your target, and after you destroy it.
The only things I’d have add in this one may be, some hunters to add some more hardcore combat action, and maybe some helicopter instead of those 2 Striders, also the location of the jalopy car was strange, as I believe it was located in the last building right next to the exit…, I may have not seen it at the beginning just lying there in the middle of the road, but it was weird it was there at the end.
In conclusion, overall a entertaining, fantastic real military mission HL2 combat map you should try it, I’d love to see some more maps like this, and I think this is a map perfect to be polished, and maybe adding a resistance squadron helping your way out would be just great!
Manually
Medium
45 Minutes
great map
I must say that I was pleasantly pleased by this map when I first tried it.. some of the reviews seemed a little off putting but I gave it a go and enjoyed it right from the start. Even though I didn’t get why I seemed to start off as a cave dweller! Anyhow, those outdoor scenes really worked for me and I enjoyed rolling some grenades down there on the enemies. Moving along to the ruins area was a blast for me as I kinda got a feeling of some of my older map faves from my BF1942 days. I enjoyed this aspect and clearing out each building was really well done.
As you knock out each generator the combine come along once again and this is a blast as they’re not just magically appearing out of nowhere which can be so annoying in a game. I actually got enjoyment from zooming in and watching the little fellas approach lol
The lights on the grounds outside just didn’t work. One the one-hand I was glad this wasn’t an annoyingly frustrating dark map to play but this was just a blinding mirror-oppossite!
The car .. well.. I think this has been covered already by others here. It just didn’t work.
But this map has another negative for me. Never have I hate a suppressor more!! I’ll leave that for you to decide though, just an imho moment!
Those are the bad points for me, but the good was certainly the map style. I like the openness and the explorational element. There’s lots of good out/indoor scenes to blast your way through and there’s never an annoying lack of ammo too. All in all, it’s not perfect but I did enjoy this map. I’d love to see more open – style maps now. Thanks 🙂
Manually
Medium
40 Minutes
It’s pretty intense which I didn’t care for. I would have liked the crossbow even quicker and more ammo, there are lots of great sniping spots.
Manually
Easy
30 Minutes
Love the combat in this game, very challenging yet beatable. The visual looks good as well, the map is very explorable.