Hohoho! This should be interesting *rubs hands with glee* Let me be the first.

Have you seen the engine? Do you know how to retexture the map? Heck, we don't even know whether the texturing works the same way. Heck, we know NOTHING because it hasn't been released yet. And no, a leaked alpha is not the game.

And besides, texturing is probably half the work in a HL map. So you have less than half complete...

There are certain restraints to computer games. Things like "We don't have an infinte number of polygons to work with" and "Games cannot compute mllions of photons working at the speed of light". Little things like that. It helps to know the capabilities of the engine before starting off on making something look more "realistic". So You can't port a "rich, detailed photo of a concept" without losing some of that richness and detail. You really need to learn how to work with HL for making the best maps. You can't port reality.

Simple question. What are the r_speeds in each of the pictures? Anything greater than 1500, and you're screwed. Because no matter what, the engine can't handle it very well. Games are not designed to scale infinitely based on GPU specs.( And a hundred pounds is a huge lot of money to play a game.)

I can tell you with enough confidence that it probably will play bad. I see a room FULL of carved cylinders and pointless detail (the wall lights). That's enough reason for me. Fix it, or prove me wrong. And No, "My GEFRCOE FX5900 pwns j00000!!11" is not a valid reason.

Like Vash said: "Welcome to the snarkpit. We'll eat your legs"

Some images in this post have been automatically down-sized, click on them to view the full sized versions:

Carve isn't part of my vocabulary, and I appreciate the advice!!!, thankyou and keep it coming. This pillar was made at 24 sides apiece, I could cut the w_polies in half if I switch down to 12, that would bring the r_speeds to about 1500 w_polies. I could also cut the amount of wall lights down. Smoke a J and relax a bit guys.

speaking as someone who has had to repeatedly re-texture other peoples maps on several occasions, i can tell you this... not making a map for HL2 on the pretense that you might have to re-texture it is a poor choice, it can be done, and would be easier since its your map to begin with, i have re-textured several maps in the past 5 years, and none of them were my creations, it was tedious, but not overwhelmingly so.

the stolen alpha hammer has the option of, using the HL2 materials wads, or the HL1 wads, by simply clicking it into the path.. maybe the released version will too.

as to the engines ability to render, it is on several magnitudes greater than HL1 in its ability to draw without slowing down, but no where near U2's ability, as per the alpha, which i suspect, consist of maps not fully compiled properly, so the engine works harder than necessary.

even if porting ends up being a chore, IMO its worth the effort, if you bare in mind some bits of info..

1) the entities will not be the same.
2) the materials will have alternate settings, to allow for wood to act like wood, stone like stone, and steel as steel.. you will need to render these once its ported.
3) from what i have seen, large portions of the HL2 maps are not constructed from world solids as in HL1, you may be forced to reconstruct things such as stairs and brick-a-brack, in order to render a quality release.

anywho's even if i am wrong on all counts, any mapping at all, is good mapping.. keeps those creative juices flowing so to speak..

/ 2 cents