Half-Life (Dreamcast)

Half-Life
Developers: Gearbox Software, Captivation Digital Laboratories Platform: Dreamcast This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused cinematics. This game has debugging material. This game has revisional differences.

This game was never completed and/or given a public release. As a result of this, keep in mind that the developers might have used or deleted some of the content featured here, had the game actually been released.

The Dreamcast Half-Life is a port of the Windows original (also including the then-exclusive Blue Shift expansion) that was canned shortly before its planned release in 2001 - though not before its Prima strategy guide had been shipped to some retailers (who in turn practically gave them away to anyone interested in a copy).

Three builds are available:

• 1638 (dated April 20, 2001), found on August 28, 2018.
• 1659 (dated May 15, 2001), released on February 27, 2023.
• 1672 (dated May 23, 2001), leaked on January 10, 2003.

Originally, build 1672 was leaked by the warez group Xanadu as a raw dump in Nero's NRG format. As it is not compatible with the console, it required manual work to be made bootable. A CDI rip by the group MUDS followed soon after, but with downsampled audio to minimize file size. Over time, working, bootable repacks were released in CDI and GDI formats, repurposing the bootstrap of Crazy Taxi to launch the game. The community has also ported mods, expansion packs, and other Goldsrc engine games to this build, such as Counter-Strike, or Gunman Chronicles.

To do: Top priority: New build released: Dated May 15, 2001 (8 days older than latest) Numbered 1659 Lots of info in this page Look through the April build for any differences. Debug console? (1) (2) Look through the models. Make videos of the unused levels and intro as running on Dreamcast hardware.

Unused Maps

Deathmatch Office

Present in the Half-Life directory is a map file called dm_office.bsp. While multiplayer was planned for the Dreamcast port at some point according to mentions of Multiplayer in the Prima guide, it was either cancelled or not implemented at the time of the available builds, leaving this map as the only remnant of a multiplayer mode. This map was implemented into the Head-To-Head mode in the PlayStation 2 version.

Note that the video uploader was playing this map under the Steam version of Half-Life.

(Source: Marphy Black)

Intro

Present in the Blue Shift directory is a map file called cam1.bsp. This is a short non-interactive introductory cutscene, showing off the beginning of Barney Calhoun and Gordon Freeman's day prior to the incident.

Note that the uploader was using his own custom models in this video while playing this map under the Steam version of Half-Life, for it would look a bit different if loaded under the ported Dreamcast engine (i.e., model stuttering).

(Source: Marphy Black)

Unused Graphics

Menu Backdrops

Original retail versions of Half-Life had unique images for the loading and console screens. These screens seem to be early variants for Blue Shift. They're located in CACHED.WAD under the Blue Shift directory.

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  The console background.

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  The loading screen.

Blue Shift

Within Blue Shift's BARNEY.WAD of the April 20, 2001 build are a few early textures meant for the power cell.

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Within the same WAD file are a few textures meant for the chapter Power Struggle of Blue Shift, with coolant misspelled as "coolent".

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Miscellaneous

A miscellaneous grid texture that doesn't appear anywhere.

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Oddly, two logos are featured in BARNEY.WAD that likely might have been used in a demonstration of the HD models.

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