So this is something I've wanted to talk about for a long time regarding old versions of HL2 and the episodes.

If you've been in the HL community for a while, especially if you're on the SourceRuns side of things you've likely heard of old engine versions of Half-Life 2, the episodes, and Half-Life Source. They're popular due to their different looks and movement from the Steam versions. For example, Half-Life 2 Old Engine uses different lighting and has forward bhopping.

The old engine versions are exactly what they sound like. Old versions of the games from their release on older versions of the Source engine. I'll be going through each one and talking about whether I like them more or not. For more info on this topic I recommend this great video by Richter Overtime where he also discusses the old CSS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7DKoSnu44

Half-Life Source

I will be discussing HLS first since it's the quickest and easiest. Half-Life Source is infamous these days for being the community's second favorite punching behind... you know who, Mitchell.

Why is this game so hated? One video of the Steam version and it should be pretty obvious. This game is buggy and ugly.

That image above is what it's like to play this game. The game is full of bugs, from NPC and monster AI being completely broken, scripted scenes being broken, a bunch of objects being weirdly shiny (though I actually kinda like that), and the HD models pack features stolen HEV textures from a fan mod. Yeah, it's that bad. Also the NPC and enemy placement is broken too, in Anomalous Materials a scientist floats above his chair.

So yeah, this is a horrible version of the game. Most of these bugs came about in 2013 when the infamous and hated SteamPipe update came out. As you can tell, HLS was not properly updated to the newer Source Engine versions and resulted in this. There are some fan mods that do try to fix this game but I would still consider this far inferior to the original. So, is the old engine version any better?

Well, believe it or not, yes! Old HLS has nowhere near the amount of bugs the Steam version does. It flows well, scripted scenes work, there's ragdoll physics and everything! The only problem is some chrome textures looked weirdly dark and purple, but that's not that big of a deal in my opinion. You can get this version either off of Pirate Bay like a man or get it from the HL2 Collector's Edition Disc (which I actually have!)

So now we get into the real discussion here... Half-Life 2 and the episodes. I can't go over Episode 2 since as of now I don't have a copy of old Episode 2. If someone reading has it I gladly urge you to share it with the world.

You can get old Episode One here: https://forums.sourceruns.org/t/half-life-2-episode-one-old-engine-download/3096

When loading into the game the first thing you can tell is the different lighting. Old Engine uses specular lighting, which is very simple and has flaws but I personally prefer it over the steam version's lighting. It's shinier and NPCs have more glimmer in their eyes. Now the different particles I'm a little on the fence about. The old blood particles are smaller, smoother, and more realistic, which I like more. But I like steam's blood effects too due to how big they are. I think I also prefer OE on this one. The old fire is no questions better in OE. Well, kind of. It flickers at a lower framerate which some people might not like, but is more saturated and realistic.

But perhaps the most famous thing are the old vortigaunts. The old vorts in Old Engine are very detailed and look more alien and closer to their Half-Life 1 counterparts. I always love HL1 getting referenced because it is my most favorite game in the franchise.

The last thing I wanna touch on is mod support. Small texture or sound changing mods will likely work with OE, but model changing and new campaign mods probably won't. I love playing HL2 with mods but I'm absolutely fine with a vanilla experience. This may be a deal breaker for some though.

Well, that's about it. There are some other much more minor differences that I won't touch on. While Steam HL2 is a more polished experience I do prefer Old Engine more, It looks better to me overall.