Half-Life: Ray Traced is a new mod currently in development that is aiming to add full path-tracing to the 1998 classic from Valve, Half-Life. Like the impressive Quake 2 RTX, path tracing is essentially full ray tracing for all of the game's lighting. With the result being '90s visuals given a very cool make-over.

Which you can see in this teaser trailer for the mod project.



Modder sultim_t notes that the project is using hardware accelerated ray tracing to render realistic global illumination, reflections, refractions, and soft shadows -- building on existing mods adding ray tracing to Half-Life. The difference here of course is full path tracing.

The mod is currently in development with the playable version set to debut at sultim_t's Github

With the sort of background detail that will, no doubt, blow you away. In terms of classic first-person moments the opening on-rails ride in the original Half-Life is one for the books. Full of mystery, excitement, and no real idea of what to expect. Plus, it also sort of pioneered the idea of story telling or cinematic sequences in a first-person game without the use of cut-scenes, just pure environment.

Check it out.



This is part of the Unreal Engine 4 Half-Life project by Project Lambda - which may or may not recreate more of the game.

Thanks to Psycho for pointing this out on our forums.

Sven Co-op, a Half-Life mod that enables gamers to take part in various cooperative game modes through working together to take down enemy NPCs and solving puzzles as a team, has received an update. Since its initial release in January, 1999, over 1000 custom cooperative scenarios have been created for the mod. Sven Co-op also allows the Half-Life, Half-Life: Uplink and Opposing Force single-player campaigns, and also Neil Manke's They Hunger, to be played cooperatively.

Here’s a snippet of what has changed or been added in version 4.6:

• They Hunger Co-op: Episode 2
  
• A new boss monster: The Kingpin
  
• Many new and improved maps
  
• Greatly improved HLSP and Opposing Force storyline support
  
• Half-Life: Uplink co-op
  
• Lots of powerful new mapping features
  
• Tons of bug fixes and changes (egShock rifle secondary fire can now charge player HEV suits)
  
• AI improvements
  
• All-new custom sounds for the Bodyguard

Grab the download locally from AusGamers here and to find out what else has been added or tweaked, head on over to the change log right here.