Spring is here and so is the latest update for Half-Life 2: Wars! Beta 2.0.9 features a slew of additions and improvements across the board and HL2: Wars is looking better than ever before. Updates to the HUD and interface in general have continued at a steady pace and various other models, animations and effects have been improved or replaced. The mod now features a singleplayer tutorial map for players unfamiliar with the RTS genre and we have also added a new 1v1 map, hlw_mine by Nqss[RUS], which you can see below:



There is also the usual host of assorted balancing changes and bugfixes which you can read about in detail in the changelog at the end of this post. Click the button below to update Half-Life 2: Wars via Desura. Alternatively, you can download the full HL2: Wars Beta 2.0.9 beta files from Moddb in 7z archive format (extract to your Steam/SteamApps/SourceMods directory).

If you are having trouble downloading from Desura or Moddb use our mirror instead: click here to download 2.0.9. Let us know on our community forum if you are willing to help us out and host a mirror for our releases!



If you haven't tried out one of our releases recently, this is a great one to check out!

WARS BETA 2.0.9 CHANGELOG
Balance and Gameplay:
* Added Rebel Partisan to Rebels Headquarters
* Changes costs of deploying Manhacks to 1 requisition and 1 power
* Added "Upgrade to SMG1" option to Combine Metro Police
* Rebel soldiers must now enter the Rebel aid station be healed (no longer healed in radius)
* Autocast of Heal ability now selects the unit with the lowest health
* Added Charge ability to Hunter
* Added Autocast to the charge ability of Hunter and Antlion Guard
* Reduced Grenade damage radius
* Soldiers now move to their closest cover/hiding spot when possible

Maps:
* NEW: Tutorial map (startable from the main menu)
* NEW: hlw_mine
* UPDATED: hlw_outland (multiblend shader)
* UPDATED: hlw_trapped (more space)
* UPDATED: hlw_base4

Models and Visuals:
* New bonus crate model, including a parachute landing and destruction animation
* Revolutionary Fervor Particle Effect, shown around the Rebel Partisan when the passive ability is active
* Heal Particle Effect, shown when an unit is healed by either the Rebel Medic or Cobmine Regeneration building
* Grenade target area and damage radius is now visualized by a sphere
* New Alternative model for Control Points

Interface and HUD:
* Autocast icon/visual indication on the ability icon
* Tooltip of abilities now shows if the ability supports auto casting and if it is on or off
* Many new and updated unit and ability icons
* Unit and ability icons now fade out properly in the notification messages
* Added a notification to the hud when a control point is lost or captured

Sounds:
* Barracks destruction sound
* Armory destruction sound
* New and updated Move/attack/select/hold position sounds for rebel soldier, combine soldier, Hunter, Strider, Vortigaunt, Metropolice

Fixed:
* Incorrect eye offset combine armory and rebels barracks models, resulting in incorrect LOS checks (e.g. units not shooting the building)
* Potential crash/freeze when right clicking the minimap due faulty position input from the minimap, which in turn triggered an infinitive while loop in a navigation mesh query function
* Progress bar of Control points still being shown in the Fog of War
* State of control points pontentially being incorrect when going in/out the fog of war
* Soldiers trying to move to the same cover/hiding spot
* Units being spawned below the ground in Overrun
* Building animations (e.g. construction/destruction) not being played when the client/player is not the same as the server
* Unit soldiers trying to mount a turret which is already mounted in some cases
* Progress animations/effects of factories not stopped during the building exploding.

Unit Navigation:
* Improved resolving navigation around blocking obstacles

Shaders:
* New lightmapped generic shader variant with team color support (LightmappedBrushGeneric), used by brush based buildings

Misc:
* Added entity "wars_player_follow_entity", which can be used to override and control the player's camera
* Added entity "wars_generic_item", placable and configurable in Hammer (Single Player)
* Added entity "trigger_nobuildings", which denies placable objects/buildings from being placed within this trigger
* Updated Swarm Keeper gamepackage (startable from the console using the command "map dk_map")
* Updated embedded Python to 2.7.4
* Updated CEF Library

It's that time again! Beta 2.0.8 of Half-Life 2: Wars is now available for download. This update adds a new map, hlw_base4, which is a large 4 player map in the Alien Swarm style. It also introduces a lot of bug fixes, some graphical tweaks, and more balancing changes. See the full changelog at the bottom of this post.



Click the button below to update Half-Life 2: Wars via Desura. Alternatively, you can download the full HL2: Wars Beta 2.0.8 beta files from Moddb in 7z archive format (extract to your Steam/SteamApps/SourceMods directory). Note: Many people are having trouble with downloading through Moddb (no mirrors) and Desura (patching works but clean install seems broken).

If you are having trouble downloading from Desura or Moddb use our mirror instead: click here to download 2.0.8.



As always, we welcome and appreciate your feedback, bug reports, suggestions, and comments!

WARS BETA 2.0.8 CHANGELOG
Balance:
* Rebel/Combine soldier AR2/SG upgrade now requires the Munition Depot/Armory. Removed unlock upgrade abilities.
* Reduced costs Rebel Medic from 4 req & 2 scrap to 2 req & 1 scrap
* Reduced research time of Rebel Medic upgrades from 150 to 80 seconds
* Reduced provided population of Headquarter buildings from 20 to 10
* First Combine population upgrade now increases the pop by 10, second by 25 and third by 40 (costs resp. 10, 15 and 25)
* Reduced DPS hunter from 18 to 12, and burst size from 10 to 8

Updated:
* Capture progress of control points is no longer directly lost
* Combine Armory and Rebel barracks now have progress animations/particle effects while producing something

Maps:
* NEW: hlw_base4
* Updated: hlw_meltdown

Interface/UI:
* Updated move order particle effect
* Units can now be removed from the selection by right clicking the unit in the units panel
* Combine Hud: added combine themed control group button texture
* Info/tooltip box now shows the population an upgrade (Combine) or building (headquarters, billet) provides

Models:
* Updated Combine Armory (visuals + construction, destruction and working animations)
* Updated Rebels Barrack (visuals + construction, destruction and working animations)
* Combine Shotgunner now uses the alternative EP2 skin

CPU Player:
* Combine CPU builds less power generators now

Fixed:
* Hunters incorrectly dealing too high damage
* Player can no longer select scrap carried by Rebel Engineers
* Incorrect Manhack model angles
* HUD abilities panel not being updated directly when clicking an unit in the units panel
* Dissolving units being able to still shoot and fight
* Kills not being displayed in hud of single selected units

Performance:
* Improved hiding/cover spot detection speed when there are many navigation areas

Misc:
* Added nav mesh edit commands "nav_coverspot_create" and "nav_coverspot_delete", to manually create and delete cover/hide spots
* Fixed several problems with mounting other games
* Added binding option for "kill_units" in the keyboard options (kills selected units)
* Added option "units_spread", which makes the selected units spread. Can be bound in the keyboard options
* Added material for infected unit with better phong settings
* Updated CEF Library

The next release of Half-Life 2: Wars is here, and we think you'll like this one! Beta 2.0.7 features significant updates both under the hood and over it. The most obvious additions are a big new map and a host of interface improvements including a brand new Combine HUD, an awesome new model for the Power Generators, assorted GUI textures and a custom loading icon animation. The newest map hlw_meltdown is a large outdoor 8 player map designed for 4 teams of two players created by Arietta. Take a look - the first screenshot shows off the new Combine HUD and the others show parts of hlw_meltdown.



Additionally, there have been a lot of balancing tweaks made to the gameplay, a lot done under the hood to improve CPU AI and navigation, and updated fog of war that now keeps track of where you have and haven't explored in the traditional fog of war style. This update is a big one so grab a few friends and check it out!

Click the button below to update Half-Life 2: Wars via Desura. Alternatively, you can download the full HL2: Wars Beta 2.0.7 beta files from Moddb in 7z archive format (extract to your Steam/SteamApps/SourceMods directory). Note: Many people are having trouble with downloading through Moddb (no mirrors) and Desura (patching works but clean install seems broken).

These problems are out of our hands and up to the Desura people to help address, but if you have trouble getting the 2.0.7 files through those methods you can also use our own download mirror by clicking here.



As always, we welcome and appreciate your feedback, bug reports, suggestions, and comments!

WARS BETA 2.0.7 CHANGELOG
Balance:
* Removed Rebel Partisan from recruitable units
* Added attribute Bite, used by headcrabs
* Added attribute Burn, used by Stalker
* Added attribute Medium, used by basic soldiers with SMG1, AR2 and shotgun
* Added attribute Pulse, bonus against light and medium
* Added attribute Plasma, used by Combine Sniper
* Added attribute Mechanic, used by Combine Manhack (cannot be healed anymore)
* Units with attribute "synth" now receive a damage reduction against units with attack attribute "bullet" and "pulse"
* Removed Strider unlock requirement
* Increased Vortigaunt energy from 150 to 300
* Decreased Vortigaunt attack energy requirement from 20 to 15
* Increased Power Generator health from 200 to 450
* Units in cover now receive a damage reduction of 50%
* Increased health of Antlions
* Increased Grenade damage and radius
* Reduced research time Grenade from 120 to 50 seconds
* Reduced research time Combine Mine from 120 to 60 seconds
* Added Combine Mine place ability to Rebel Engineer

Maps:
* NEW: hlw_meltdown

Models:
* New power generator model

Textures/Interface:
* New Game Icon
* New custom loading bar and progress icon
* New Combine Hud
* New rallypoint (model) for factory buildings
* New ground overlay texture for Combine Power Generators
* Updated unit selection circle texture
* Unit/Ability icons are now colored in the faction color (blue or orange) or red when unavailable (recharging, costs, other requirements, etc)
* Updated main menu colors
* Updated player chat box (chat history is now properly shown)

New:
* Strider's Dark Energy cannon ability
* Added Autocasting to Strider's Impale ability
* Added Autocasting to Zombine's Pull Grenade ability

Updated:
* Soldiers now shoot in "bursts", roughly keeping the same DPS
* Canceling a building will now refund half the requisition costs
* It's no longer possible to select the Overrun Combine and Rebels factions in Sandbox (still possible to spawn their buildings)
* Better relaxed idle animations for Rebel Soldiers

Unit AI an Navigation:
* Units now wait until their enemy is into the "engage" distance, instead of automatically trying to move closer
* Added support for entering a garrisoned building from a specified direction
* Units now move away from target if needed for attacking (Combine Helicopter)
* Throttled number of path recomputations when the target changes navigation areas (performance)
* Overrun: Initial spawned enemies now use a precomputed path (performance)
* Combine Manhacks now temporary ignore collisions with other units after slicing (to avoid getting stuck around the target unit)
* Soldiers are no longer selected using the Selection box if they are mounting a gun and the target player selection is bigger than one.

Fog Of War:
* Now keeps track of the explored parts. Non explored parts of the map are made darker.

Optimization:
* Improved speed Fog of War rendering

Overrun:
* Max active enemies at the same time is reduced from 120 to 85 (performance)
* Spawned headcrabs from cannisters now attack move the enemy in Overrun

Fixed:
* Crash/hanging on exit
* Weapon fire effects not displayed when attacking your own or allied units using "Attack Move"
* Attack Move: units still running to target after the target died
* Fixed units being faded out when "Effects Detail" option is set to medium or low
* Unit Portrait video not switching when selecting a different unit in some cases
* Incorrect names and descriptions for Grenade, Combine Mine and Floor Turret unlocks
* Fixed queueing up move orders along cover spots not working correctly (the unit would stop moving at the cover spot)
* "Deploy Manhack" ability can deploy too many manhacks when executing it on groups of metro polices (did not honor the population limit and cooldown times)
* Added missing explosive oil drum model (Sandbox ability "explosivebarrel")
* Factory not showing what's in the build queue when scheduling an ability/unit while the factory is on hold (i.e. powered off)
* Units in cover sometimes not shooting their enemies

Misc:
* Added Alien Swarm Marine with Flamer weapon

The latest update to Half-Life 2: Wars brings a lot of visual improvements to the mod in addition to the usual host of balance changes, code improvements and bugfixes. Our newest developer ProgSys has been hard at work improving the graphical side of the modification and thanks to him we have improved models and textures for control points, manned turrets, the Combine sniper rifle and more, including a building animation for Engineers. Lt_Commander has also created a bunch of updated interface icons and HUD elements which are included in this release.



The map hlw_forest has received a visual update, and the other maps have also been updated to take advantage of our new multiblend terrain shader. You can see a lot of the graphical improvements in action in these screenshots:



Click the button below to install or update Half-Life 2: Wars via Desura (this is the recommended method). Alternatively, you can download the full HL2: Wars Beta 2.0.6 beta files in 7z archive format (extract to your Steam/SteamApps/SourceMods directory).



WARS BETA 2.0.6 CHANGELOG
Balance:
* Rebel aid station now requires the Triage Center
* Rebel engineer must now walk up close to start constructing a building
* Reduced range at which Stalkers start constructing buildings
* Lowered cost of soldier with shotgun in Overrun to 1 kill
* Raised shotgun bonus damage against light from 3 to 21
* Team games: players now receive resources from their allied control points

New:
* Control point model with flag
* Rebels themed mountable turret model
* Scrap model (used by Engineer when carrying scrap)
* Rebel engineer construction animation
* Combine Sniper rifle model

Interface:
* New icons for units, abilities and buildings
* New experimental html based Unit Spawn panel in Sandbox
* Mouse cursor now changes to the capture icon when hovering above a control point

Maps:
* Updated hlw_forest (displacements, multiblend shader and tree sway)
* Updated hlw_slums (removed color correction)
* Updated hlw_battlemounds (multiblend shader)
* Updated or_crashed (multiblend shader)
* Updated or_hill (multiblend shader and tree sway)
* Updated or_trapped (fixed navigation around edges)

Updated:
* Player camera height is now limited to a fixed height, instead of map defined
* Increased search radius of cover spots when ordering units to move to a location
* Better identifiable Rebel Engineer model

Unit Navigation:
* Units now temporary ignore checking for a valid nav mesh below their feet when jumping down an edge, so they don't stop moving (or_trapped navigation problem)
* Units now ignore checking for a valid nav mesh below their feet temporary at the start of following a path, until they find a valid nav area (to avoid problems when starting in an invalid navigation area).

Fixed:
* Incorrect blood color of various units (zombies, manhack, antlions)
* Reliable overflow error message when trying to select around 200 or more units using a selection box
* Player camera height limits are sometimes ignored on map start of "or_hill"
* Combine Elite alt ar2 fire animation not played
* Combine Elite alt ar2 fire broken until you switch weapons
* Units not shooting back at mountable turrets (instead do nothing)
* Buildings incorrectly taking damage during construction
* Incorrect default mouse cursor used ingame
* Headcrab cannisters being launched at invalid locations in Overrun
* Incorrect resource bonus received from random bonus crates in Overrun
* Units sometimes incorrectly trying to shoot while the los is blocked
* Ability Infiltrate cooldown not set after using it
* Team color of unit circle not always updated correctly.

Performance:
* Reduced lag when ordering large groups of units

Sounds:
* New building destruction sounds
* Engineer sounds

Misc:
* Hotkeys no longer automatically overwrite the rts config. The bindings are instead part of the default config.
* Replaced Awesomium by Chromium Embedded Framework

This weekend we have another update to Half-Life 2: Wars for you. Beta 2.0.5 is mostly bugfixes, balance changes and general tweaking, as well as a lot of small improvements - you can now use team colors to show allies and enemies as two colors rather than individual colors, we've updated a lot of the text copy throughout the mod to be a little more descriptive, added an option for "bonus crates" that give a little resource bonus, and more! Check out the full changelog and download at the bottom of this post.

We also have two videos for you that were uploaded this week, one showing off the latest Overrun gameplay (with zombies!) and the other giving a quick overview of the bonus crates. Check them out below, but first we'd also like to ask for your vote in this year's Mod of the Year awards! We have made the top 10 a few times in past years - 10th in 2008 and 9th in 2010 - and the mod has come a long way in the past year or two, so if you like what you're doing show your support and vote by clicking below!





Click the button below to install or update Half-Life 2: Wars via Desura (this is the recommended method). Alternatively, you can download the full HL2: Wars Beta 2.0.5 beta files in 7z archive format (extract to your Steam/SteamApps/SourceMods directory).



WARS BETA 2.0.5 CHANGELOG
Balance:
- Increased costs Combine Metropolice from 2 to 3 requisition
- Reduced costs Rebel soldier from 4 to 3 requisition
- Increased DPS Rebel Partisan from 5 to 10
- Reduced hp Rebel Scout from 75 to 35
- Reduced DPS Rebel Scout from 10 to 5
- Reduced Rebel Partisan bonus accuracy from passive ability Revolutionary Fervor
- Reduced Slash attribute damage bonus from 30 to 25
- Reduced Black Headcrab damage from 80 to 40
- Reduced Headcrab damage from 30 to 20
- Reduced Fast Headcrab damage from 15 to 12
- Reduced Poison Headcrab damage from 80 to 40
- Reduced Zombie damage from 80 to 60
- Reduced Fast Zombie leap attack damage from 75 to 15

Overrun:
* Added Zombine from wave 5 and onward
* Added Poison Zombie from wave 7 and onward
* Added Rebel Veteran to Overrun (Rebels)
* Headcrab Cannister now contains 3 to 6 headcrabs, instead of a fixed number of 6
* Reduced frequency of Headcrab Cannister launches (Zombie wave type)
* Reduced costs Combine/Rebel AR2 soldier from 4 to 3
* Reduced costs Rebel Medic from 3 to 2
* Removed tier2 requirement Combine Mine

Added:
* Support for garrisonable buildings (Sandbox)
* Always show unit health bars using the command "toggle_alwaysshowhealthbars", with default key binding "\"
* Relationship based team colors (cl_teamcolor_relationbased)
* Option for random bonus crates (any game mode, enabled by default)
* Poison Zombie (Sandbox & Overrun)
* Zombine (Sandbox & Overrun), including a pull grenade ability
* Combine Gunship (Sandbox)
* Combine Helicopter (Sandbox)
* Dog (Sandbox)

CPU Player:
* CPU Player no longer sends groups of units to the same control point

Unit AI and Navigation:
* Units now have a max chase distance when auto attacking an enemy. When exceeded, they return to their idle position
* Units no longer auto chase after enemies if they have no line of sight and are not under attack by that enemy
* Units return to their idle position after finishing an auto casted ability
* Air units now build their routes directly to their goal position, except when they are stuck/blocked

Fixed:
* Fixed RTS/FPS config being mixed up due asynchronous write of host_writeconfig
* Minimap sometimes incorrectly showing enemy units
* Soldiers no longer try to move to the same cover spot
* Fixed "single unit" type cast abilities not checking for all units in the selection, but only for a single type (e.g. grenade ability).
* Fixed incorrect client side gun position used, resulting in incorrect weapon tracer effects
* Fixed broken Rebel Medic heal upgrade abilities
* Broken AR2 alt fire ability Combine Elite when the shotgun is equipped (no longer possible to use the ability in this case)
* Unable to switch the autocast setting of abilities (right click ability button)
* Vortigaunt dispel ability now also applies damage to other units than antlions

Misc:
* Updated unit names and descriptions
* RTS Keyboard binding config page now shows more appropriate descriptions for RTS mode
* Added filter entities for player owner "filter_owner" and unit type "filter_unittype" (Hammer)
* Added entity "event_building_listener", which fires events when a building construction is started or finished (Hammer)