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Proto talk:Half-Life 2: Episode Two/Source Particle Benchmark

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Where to download this?

I want to make some contributions to this page but I don't know where to download this proto. The preceding unsigned comment was added by L337 KR3W (talk • contribs)

I don't know if I can actually link it here, which is a subject of discussion I'm going to create on this page. However, I can let you know that it can be found on the Valve Archive website. If you cannot find it, reach me at foxmccloud45@hotmail.com.
Also, for easier reading, you should sign your messages in Talk pages using ~~~~ so we directly know who typed what. – FoxMcCloud45 (talk) 08:51, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
The Valvearchive.com website didn't have it. Maybe I should email you? L337 KR3W (talk) 11:31, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
You can send me an email indeed but the program is on the Valve Archive for sure. Regarding the Postal III build, I think it's somewhere on the Wayback Machine but I should be able to get a link back somewhere. – FoxMcCloud45 (talk) 11:46, 30 September 2022 (UTC)

Leak or distributed by Valve?

I'm gathering information on the source of this benchmark. In the Valve Archive, it is stored in the Leaks section.

However, there are many contradictions regarding its source.

All public versions I've found so far, including the Valve Archive's, come with a PROViSiON.txt file signed by MaddoxX from the long-defunct www.no-steam.org website.

Some research around this nickname allowed me to find a Russian thread about the Source 2007 source code leak from 2012[1]. They reported that the sources were most likely retrieved by MaddoxX all the way back in 2007, but this is definitely wrong since the source code is from early 2008.

Thankfully, by doing this mistake, they linked to older announcements regarding this MaddoxX dude regarding his 2007 leaks. They noted that the Source Particle Benchmark wasn't actually retrieved by MaddoxX from some hacked Valve server, but was a redistribution of a copy someone got from Valve by email[2].

Unfortunately, they didn't provide any link or source for that information, and pretty much everything from that Internet era has long disappeared.

If you have any information on this, please let us know here. You can also let me know by email at foxmccloud45@hotmail.com if you don't have/want a TCRF account.

FoxMcCloud45 (talk) 12:34, 30 September 2022 (UTC)

In the end, I contacted the BetaArchive community about their copy of the Source Particle Benchmark and they confirmed that it didn't have the PROVISION file. I speculate that the original distribution was a RAR archive named particlebench.rar that MaddoxX simply repackaged with his text file as particlebench-pvn.rar, which was uploaded as a multi-file RAR archive (split RAR archive). This split was most likely due to data upload restrictions at the time. Still, this implies that this was not a leak but a quiet release from third-parties who received the tool from Valve Software. FoxMcCloud45 (talk) 09:58, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

References

  1. Украдены исходники Source Engine 2007, Юрий Цуканов, Half-Life Inside, September 12 2012 (automatic translation) (Wayback Machine, archive.today)
  2. l33t haxxor MaddoxX pwned Valve, Юрий Цуканов, Half-Life Inside, April 20 2007 (automatic translation) (Wayback Machine, archive.today)