Black Mesa News

Black Mesa is mostly lauded for its reimagining of Xen, but I prefer Crowbar Collective's take on the opening Anomalous Materials section. The reception area with the chunky, CRT security monitors. The changing room with the HEV suit. That iconic little cafeteria area, where you blow up Magnusson's casserole. The original Half-Life has a distinctive, generational aesthetic - the sights and sounds of Valve's shooter are etched into the collective memory of an entire epoch of PC players. But Black Mesa adds a new layer of detail. Once a fan-driven modding project, it's now ten years since Black Mesa first arrived on Steam, and to celebrate, it's gotten a worthwhile update and a severe price cut.

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Crowbar Collective just released a major update to their Half-Life remake Black Mesa, which includes a whole lot of improvements to celebrate their ten year Steam anniversary. There's a lot of upgrades for Linux / Steam Deck players here.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/05/black-mesa-resonance-decade-update-out-now-with-linux-and-steam-deck-improvements-and-a-big-sale/

• Fixes to startup related crashes
  
• Fixes to physics engine related crashes
  
• Steam Deck Improvements
  
• Linux Improvements
  

• Relaxed triangle vertex validation in ToGL to accept structurally valid input even when geometry is ambiguous, resolving various graphical issues in Studio MDL models
  
• Resolved crashes in Hammer and HLMV when rendering high-quality models by increasing vertex buffer limits to match those defined in the original model format
  
• Resolved a crash that occurred during the mortar sequence at the end of the Gargantua chase in the Surface Tension chapter
  
• Fixed an issue where func_rotating entities would unexpectedly stop spinning after a certain amount of time on some maps
  
• Recompiled all weapon models using the updated Studio Model Compiler to prevent visual glitches caused by incorrect or outdated tangent data
  
• Updated bundled DXVK (Windows) to version 2.6.1
  
• Added support for models with a total vertex count exceeding 65535, lifting the previous global limit
  
• Added hit feedback sound effects during multiplayer combat
  
• Removed ALL false positive virus reports (according to VirusTotal)
  
• Refined conflict resolution logic for configuration overrides, especially when auto-configuration clashes with cloud-synced settings
  
• Shadow Quality Mode can now correctly be set to Ultra, without enabling unsupported features
  
• Updated bundled DXVK (Windows) to version 2.6
  
• Fixed secondary camera views rendering incorrectly on brush models
  
• Adjusted CSM depth bias to improve shadow precision on ToGL
  
• Enabled God Rays on ToGL
  
• Revised pickup and run mechanics for smoother player interaction
  
• Significantly improved ToGL binary shader cache, now enabled by default, resulting in faster load times after the first run
  
• Resolved Soft Particles rendering artifacts, which were especially noticeable on ToGL
  
• Fixed behavior of Environment Map Masks in ToGL, where all surfaces were forcibly marked as bump-mapped to reduce shader combinations and work around engine limitations
  
• Fixed auto-aim logic when the player is unarmed
  
• General auto-aim tweaks to improve accuracy and consistency
  
• Fixed certain 4-way blended materials appearing black in ToGL
  
• Completed a full validation pass to ensure all materials are well-formed and error-free within the Material System
  
• Reduced rendering path discrepancies between Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA for improved consistency across GPUs
  
• Added dismissable Rogue Point call to action at main menu
  
• Improved stability of the Hit Sounds system
  
• Fixed incorrectly displayed blinking overlays on brush models in ToGL
  
• Suppressed display of God Rays Disks appearing through walls in ToGL
  
• Bumped shader cache version for ToGL
  
• Added snd_mixahead to auto-config and updated auto-config version
  
• Linux build now uses stricter floating-point math for improved stability
  
• Improved IVP stability by introducing coordinate sanitization in key areas
  
• Fixed Hit Sound system functionality under the Old UI
  
• Fixed a regression affecting Model and Particle browsers in Hammer after the Secondary Camera fix
  
• Addressed display issues causing waterfall flickering in Xen
  
• Introduced a slight vertical offset on teleport to prevent instant ground collision
  
• Fixed a crash occurring in the Nihilanth encounter on Linux
  
• Improved overall performance on Linux, with noticeable gains in the Lambda Core teleport puzzle
  
• Introduced Vulkan layer exclusion rules to prevent certain startup crashes with DXVK
  
• StudioMDL now attempts to generate VTX files with legacy indexing for improved tool compatibility
  
• Prevented crashes in the New UI when encountering unusual server names
  
• Improved runtime stability by reviewing and fixing cases of unsafe use of short-lived data, including uninitialized variables affecting server-side ragdolls.
  
• Introduced force limit on gibs from damage to prevent excessive speeds during explosions.
  
• Resolved an issue that caused the settings to crash due to concurrent exclusive access to the internal game save file during gameplay.
  
• Fixed the missing "_back" cable texture set, addressing visual inconsistencies.
  
• Thanks to npc_pigeon, narkvic, and the community for their efforts in identifying the solution. These additional files effectively mitigate the engine's error messages about missing VMT files, enhancing overall performance in scenarios featuring moving ropes. This is particularly noticeable during the rocket elevator sequence in "On A Rail."
  
• Aligned the Vertex Format in the Skin GBuffer shader with that of the Prop GBuffer shader to ensure consistency across shaders handling similar data.
  
• Updated backup code for statically lit bump-mapped props, ensuring that props are marked as non-statically lit if the static lighting checksum does not match, preventing lighting artifacts.
  
• Recompiled all Inbound Tram models using the newer Studio Model Compiler to resolve tangent-related issues and improve visual fidelity.
  
• Enhanced the Job Pool to support more than 16 threads, optimizing performance for multithreaded tasks.
  
• Updated DX Support Autoconfig to align Intel/AMD GPUs with NVIDIA, ensuring that the game launches at 1080p by default instead of a low 4:3 resolution like 640x480.
  
• Introduced functionality to automatically run auto-configuration if the configuration version differs, ensuring that every installation reconfigures itself on the first launch after an update.
  
• Addressed various issues within the game, resulting in improvements in several areas. Feedback from players who opted into previous beta tests indicates that the sporadic crashing they experienced has been resolved.