I'm thinking about buying Half-Life 2: Episode One. I also like experimenting with the Source engine for Half Life 2 in Hammer like camera/monitor systems, refractive materials, shiny materials, physics, lighting, input/output etc.

So what new features could I gain (mapping-wise) if any from installing and mapping for Episode One?

Thank You

Really, just new models, characters and their animations, textures and sounds, cause everything that is not game specific gets updated across all Source powered games. So the possibilities to make a game for HL2 to look like EP: 1 with HDR and Phong shading are all there for you already with just owning HL2. I don't believe however that you can use the commentary system in HL2 it's only for EP:1.

A-matter-of-fact, you don't even have to own any source game with the free Source SDK Base released, which showcases the latest version of the engine for testing any map.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Thanks Riven. So how can I enable Phong Shading? And what is the commentary system?

Phong Materials
Commentary System
HDR basics

And as for the Source SDK base, I believe you can get that only if you own a Source engine game, the benefit is that people don't necessarily need to own HL2 in order to play Source mods.

I'm not sure if HL2 has the dynamic interactions system from Ep1, with Alyx engaging in hand-to-hand combat with zombies and whatnot, as IIRC that's in the NPC classes, so you'd need the Ep1 NPCs or custom-coded ones.

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o