Afternoon "Follow Freeman!" [Map Replacement] (READ DESC.)
So, my other Sandtraps mod got quite popular… So much so that I even inspired someone (aka. eloper, aka. dev… yeah, they used many other names) to make something similar to it for the Follow Freeman chapter. Trust me when I say this, it’s really good! I’m glad I could inspire someone to make that sort of mod out of my first attempt at map replacements.
Here’s the catch though, this mod has been in my plans ever since they commented that one other chapter that could be given the ‘afternoon treatment’ would be Follow Freeman. And I did say that I found myself capable of doing that, but not that I attempted to start working on it not long after he made that comment.
After holding back on it for so long, I decided that if I wanted to differentiate my mod from theirs, I had to give it my own twist. So here’s my VERY belated new years gift:
The entire Follow Freeman chapter with the afternoon treatment.
Backstory aside, let’s talk about how does this fit in the lore, the answer is simple: It doesn’t.
At least with my other mod it more or less "fixed" what many consider to be a consistency error. Though just like I said with that same mod: It may not be ‘Lore-Friendly’ but I don’t think it necessarily breaks it either. People can have their own headcanons and the time that passes between chapters is inconsistent anyway.
Besides, I was surprised to see that this chapter was somewhat infamous in the community too, at least according to some comments from other mods. I’m hoping the lighting makes up for that fact. Coolness factor over everything, right?
If you are a sucker for lore accuracy, just use the other sunset follow freeman mod. I feel like both have different purposes, so I would definitely not consider my mod as a better version. However, I did bring some highly requested features from that mod you might be interested in, so keep on reading!
This mod replaces every map in Follow Freeman, from d3_c17_09 to 13 and the first map of the citadel (d3_citadel_01). Not only changing the skyboxes but other things were adjusted to fit an orange afternoon/sunset, in the same style as my other mod.
That includes: fog that matches the skybox, 20th anniversary update features (such as combine wall bits for the dome on map 12 wink wink), and rotated skyboxes using .vmt files for most maps. The latter wasn’t done on the last two maps for the sake of fixing some horrid lighting.
Again, this mod’s purpose is to make it look as close to vanilla as possible. I’m aware about other map edits for this chapter, but I don’t like them personally and I would need their map sources anyway if I wanted to make any changes. I’m willing to give the map sources from my mod to those who want to modify my work as long as I’m asked for permission.
As a separate add-on, I’ve made the background map with its respective loading screen for the chapter. I didn’t include it in the workshop upload since the game doesn’t load it on startup so I deemed it unnecessary. Here’s how you can install it yourself and have it active on startup:
- Download from the following link and extract the zip’s contents: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ybtJqlw-5XkW7pcUnIvJsnwFmFqOPzNr/view?usp=sharing
- Open the main folder and copy hl2_complete.
- Go to your game files in C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonHalf-Life 2 and paste it.
To revert any changes just remove the maps and materials folder in hl2_complete.
If you’re already using hl2_complete for other mods that add these folders, remove background06.bsp inside maps. Inside materials, remove both background06.vtfs in the console folder and all of the sky_day01_08anff.vmts in skybox.
Use dev’s Sunset Follow Freeman for a more "Lore-Friendly" experience (It won’t have 20th anniversary update features though). Show the original author some support!
Check out my entire collection of mods!
- SillyPowder: Playtester.
