A new mod for Half-Life 2 is currently underway called Rival City. While the mod is early in its development, the goal, focus, direction, and drive is very much present and alive in the members already on the team. At this point, we are presently recruiting members so that we can form a production schedule to get the proverbial ball rolling.

Already written is a 30 page outline of exactly what the game is shooting for. This is an excerpt that gives a synopsis of what we’re shooting for.

Goal of the Project

The goal of the Rival City project is to create a persistent ongoing world about an active city and its street racing and street fighting circuits. Players will create personas for themselves that will have a role in the circuits. Player formed street teams will fight and race for money, bragging rights, and the control of sections of Rival City. In addition to creating a living and dynamic community, we also intend on creating unique and fun gameplay that will bring players back for more.

Rival City

Rival City’s actual name is San Rivera, the city of hopes and dreams. San Rivera came into its own in the 1940’s, marking its claim as one of the more prominent port cities in California. Built close to the Pacific Ocean, the architecture of the city has an exotic feel, especially along the upscale suburban section called Rivera Heights. San Rivera’s business district in the heart of the city is where one can most of the underground and illegal gambling activity, although there have been rumors of the reported races and fights taking place in San Rivera’s Downtown area, Chinatown, and the low-end South Rivera. Only the most daring of racers have held races on the visually stunning Rivera Skyway, the suspended highway system above the rural and laidback Chase Hollow.

Rival City Street Circuit

The Rival City Street Circuit started in the spring of 2005 when some of the most known street racers and fighters wanted to create an organized league to attract the best competitors in the city and beyond. While waged matches take place all over Rival City, the Street Circuit has begun its strongest attempt at organization in the Business District. Nightclubs, parking lots, basketball courts, and other places are used as stages for fighting venues where thousands of dollars are up for grabs. As competitive as things have gotten in the Rival City Street Circuit, there are two rules all competitors live by: No guns, and stay true to your word.


Some of the features we are looking to implement are:

• Persistent Map System (A large city section that allows players to race or fight in several venues on the same map)


• Online Ladder System


• City Sections being ‘ran’ by player-made street teams by leading in Ladder stats


• Player-made Street Teams(clans) competing in both the street fighting and racing circuits with connections to both through money and players’ characters.


• Character Creation and Stats Upgrading


• Complete Car Customization


• Completely New Fighting System Designed for the Keyboard and Mouse


• Multiple Fighting Styles with Customizable Move Lists and Special Moves

All of these features are explained in full detail in the complete Rival City Outline, and I’ll gladly show anyone who’s seriously interested in the mod the full outline. To apply, or to become part of the community, head over to our forums

Sorry for the delay in updates. We promise to be more regular on them now. In the past few weeks Rogue Threat has made leaps and bounds in its production. We have:
Created many weapon models
Made quality concept art
Designed schematic and playable alpha levels
Done quality programming research
Revised and elaborated on many story elements
Gained notable media attention
And much more!

We have updated our Team section, check it out and see all our new team members!

Also, I can announce a few things Rogue Threat will include:
RT will include Multiplayer, however the details and play types are being decided on.
RT will have dynamic new HUDs and User Interfaces thanks to our skilled programmers.
RT will include an optional built in MP3 Player.
RT will include maps focused on more interactive level design and destructible options, our mappers have already show eagerness in this area and are willing to invest the time.
RT will include High Definition Range Lighting or a simulated equivalent.

Also, look forward to a upcoming media update and a new media page!

Another thing to note is that we have seen a lot of support in having community members contact news sites about our site, but please don't contact them on updates that do not show any media, however fourm posts are always encouraged. Thanks!

Al3xand3r, don't worry about adding this piece of news to Planethalflife. :) If anyone is interested, they would be going here anyways. Ok, back to the news.

Our team right now consists of 3 members brought over from the Periculum team. First one is Jeff Ingraham, the coder which is bringing most of the features to life. Without him, we may not get features such as the RTS style camera for Building placement, nor would we have the heart and sole of the game, being able to build a defense. He deserves to be recognized. The second worker is me, Brad. We are a small team with big intentions. Though not many mods with big intentions can further without a much larger team. Therefore, I am putting up a help wanted sign. :P

Here is a list of job openings:
*Mapper
*Static Mesh Modeler
*Weapon Modeler and Rigger
*Character Modeler
*Model Rigger, Animator
*HL2 Texture Designer
*Coder
*Graphic Designer
*Sound FX Creator
*Musician (5 years of work required)
*Other (If other, then please state it)

If you are interested in the areas above, then please email a short resume to the mod leader by clicking here.

Oh, and we promise to get the ingame screenshots and trailer in the comming weeks. We won't pull a Valve on you, don't worry.

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Finally, the first ever map screenshots. These screenshots are from the early version of the 326 BC map based on the stronghold concept from the last news report. You can see that it almost looks totally different since we wanted the map to feel authentic and actually place you back in time when Romans ruled the earth, so to speak.

There are a couple of things I must add. Since this map is at a early production stage, you will see that the buildings have no doors, and windows, while there also are no real detail in the map. It looks wide open and empty, but we reassure you that this map will be populated with lots of details like market stands, statues, pottery, plants, and possibly civilians. Thanks and enjoy. We hope to have some ingame screenshots soon and a lil video showing of some new features.

An update is available for Counter-Strike: Source and the Source Engine. The update will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Counter-Strike: Source

• Added buy favorite system


• Added location names to voice chat


• Soundscape files will be loaded properly for custom maps


• Fixed tinnitus effect for HE grenades playing twice


• Fixed the Five-Seven's price not matching the value in the buy menu


• Fixed case where money and chat HUD icons sometimes being the wrong color at round start


• Target IDs will no longer show when mp_fadetoblack is active


• When mp_humanteam is active human teams will be allowed to spectate


• The "hostage" field of the "hostage_rescued" event is filled in correctly


• Equipping the silencer is canceled if the player switches weapons


• Fixed problems with the hostage shack door in cs_compound


• Fixed "Hostage Rescue Zone" not showing up properly in chat and under the radar


• Players can only change their names once every 10 seconds, with a max of 5 times every 10 minutes


• "Enemy Spotted" hint text doesn't show for players behind smoke clouds


• Flashbang effect can't be reduced by hitting escape or turning off the HUD

Source Engine

• Fixed registry handle leak in VCR mode


• Added explicit engine error when trying to render too many decals in a frame


• Sound files will work properly when in a packfile now.

The team is hard at work at getting things ready, Prall has added this Inner Sphere standard BA to fight it out with our Elemental. As soon as we finish off our animations, we should have more updates and a video out.

We now have openings for a mapper, modeler of weapons and a texture artist.

Ok, so we're down to major 2 items on the list of much todo. I've only got the pounce to implement having just sorted out death notices... My aim is to get them sorted out tomorrow, I think the pounce will take the longest - but then I thought the secondary fire delay would be troublesome and it was a 5 second job!

What this means is, we'll be dumping a press release out either tomorrow evening or some point wednesday to a bunch of HL2 / gaming sites. Which will hopefully bring in a veritable horde of followers to the fold...

I'm going to try and organise at least one dedicated server to be up and running on wednesday, but that depends on a little bit of luck!

Our Taser model has been uploaded to our media section. I just can't wait to "jolt" someone with electricity watch them explode. Perin will be showing of some new screens soon. I placed a new POLL on the site and if you see a melee weapon we haven't added I would love for you to email in what you would like to see. We may just add it. I still cant find a Lead Coder for the mod and if you code mods and want a big challenge on your hands then lets chat shall we

Thanks to those who email in with support and ideas and the fact you like the mod. I appreciate the kind words!

We have a quick update for you scurvy dogs, showing some great concept art as well as a little update where we are at, and what you can expect from Mist Mod in the near future.

Below are the newest concept art of the CT Brute, Captain, Musketeer and Swashbuckler, as well as the BB Musketeer and Swashbuckler, by our talented artist Mike Perry, you can find both the profile and full body shot in our Media Gallery.


We are also pleased to show you the Cursed Pirate "Brute" character model, modeled by Jackal Hit. With one of the latest additions to the staff, RaptorRed, we have finally found a talented UV mapper to prep these models for our skinners, so expect these character models to come alive very shortly!
Also, we would like to welcome some new additions to our talented team; Neoptolemus (level design), RaptorRed (UV mapping), Porthos (2d gfx), Jaboo (skinning), Spartan (public relations), and A655321 (Voice). This now brings us to a full development team, with 29 active staff. We still have positions open in several fields, so if you feel you have the talent and dedication to join our crew, please send us an email.

We would like to congratulate Valtrain on another successful release of HL2 CTF mod, "Beta 1.2" You can check out this excellent mod- here. Valtrain has coded us to an advanced internal alpha, with several maps, weapons, and unique features. You can expect screenshots and videos of in game content within the coming weeks, as we skin the player models and animate the remaining weapons, which Athul has done an amazing job at thus far.

Thank-you for stopping by, we encourage you to sign up in our forums and chat with us in the Mist irc channel; #mistmod on the gamesurge network. If you'd like to idle there, that would be great as well.

Now get back to the bilge pumps ye scallywags!

A new patch for Science & Industry is released today that mainly fixes a few bugs caused by the "startmatch" command. This patch is for servers only. Players do not have to download it. Changelog:

• Fixed a server crash that could happen when performing a "startmatch" command


• Fixed dead scientists respawning after a "startmatch" command


• Fixed players not being able to plant as many tripmines as they should after a "startmatch" command or after their tripmines had been disabled by an EMP cannister


• Fixed players being able to place more satchels than they should after switching to spectator and then back to a team


• Fixed players going slightly faster after dying while holding the briefcase and being under the FEV secondary effect


• Disabled radios from being planted too far vertically from the scientists


• Forced a server-side Tau Canon fire effect when running out of ammo

Our host Oktagone has been struggling the past month. As a result the ESF site will be moving to a new sever in Texas. We are unsure when the move will happen and whether it will cause any downtime or not. You can read more on the current situation at the Oktagone site.

Over the past month Pcjoe has been slaving away on a new fx scripting system for ESF. The fx system will allow anyone to use an ingame editor to create and control particles systems, models, sprites, animations, camera manipulation, and much more. The fx system will be heavily used, but not limited to melee and transformation effects. In short, ESF will have the power to allow people create special fx without having extensive programming knowledge. As and example check out this kick ass radial blur effect that can be done with the fx system.