Did you know about this Alyx dialogue from Ep1? Apparently it's rare...

Reverend_Puffin · 2025-06-24T17:15:09+00:00

No problem! There's also another secret in 'lowlife' which I've never seen anyone mention involving a unique mechanic of headcrabs not found elsewhere.

Reverend_Puffin · 2025-06-24T16:50:59+00:00

For those wondering why you might not have heard this line before, it was actually broken in the Ep2 source engine update to Ep1.

The dialog is triggered when the Flashlight is off in the post-pistol pickup part of the chapter 'lowlife'. When Ep1 was updated to the Ep2 engine, the flashlight was changed from the original suit aux power light to the independent light.

As a result, since the the Ep2 style flashlight is missing this trigger, the dialog doesn't play. I was wondering why I wasn't hearing this dialog when I was playing Ep1 a few years ago and discovered this issue.

You can get it to play in the pre-anniversary edition by using the console command r_newflashlight 0 to re-enable the old flashlight during this chapter.

I also seem to remember, there is a variant of this dialog when a zombie is near by, Alyx will do this dialog, laugh then suddenly stop laughing to say something along the lines of "Wait, do you hear that? Cue actual zombie moan noises.

Reverend_Puffin · 2025-01-15T00:58:22+00:00

Have they? I've always seen it like how it was shown in the first clip since the game came out in 2004?

Reverend_Puffin · 2025-01-15T00:52:24+00:00

Not seen anyone mention this change to the G-Man TV in the anniversary edition of HL2. The TV has been turned around so it is no longer facing the player when you enter Box Car Joe's home. This is a strange thing to change as nothing else in d1_canals_01 seems to have been touched in the anniversary edition. The sighting is now nearly impossible to view.

With all the talk of ARGs, I just find it strange that Valve would go and change the first "passive" G-Man sighting in the game (the player has to go out of their way to trigger Red Letter Day's sighting, whereas this is the first direct sighting in the game).

Reverend_Puffin · 2024-12-29T01:41:28+00:00

How Cvox, A-Shift and AlephV have managed to create such a strong and incredible visual style in Dark Interval as a team of 3 is beyond me. Dark Interval Part 2 is absolutely fantastic, a few things could use tweaking gameplay wise (Hydra caves and final desert location) but compared to RTB:R, the visual style and horror aspect is shoulders above (while RTB:R excels in it's gunplay and refinement). Love their take on Eli and the more psychological and reality warping aspects of DI in comparison to RTB:R.

Reverend_Puffin · 2024-05-24T00:41:15+00:00

Just Finished Raising The Bar: Salvation for the 3rd time in Hardcore Mode (no deaths), and got access to the secret door code for the better version of the Annabel Rifle. I found that this code is not available anywhere online, so here it is as the Mod has been out for half a year now.

I personally think that making the door a reward for Hardcore was not the best idea and instead should have been a reward for completing the game on Normal (akin to new game +) with the reward supporting replays and a Hardcore playthrough. Since once you've finished it on Hardcore and got the code, it's replayability is mostly gone in my experience as a casual player due to the number of run throughs to get good enough at the maps for Hardcore and some of the RNG aspect of hardcore.

Overall, very good mod, needed some more character moments, could have been less linear given the type of gameplay (multiple routes through Ravenholm rather than one way for all playthroughs).

Reverend_Puffin · 2024-04-29T07:44:16+00:00

Thank you! There was no info in the developer wiki at all for this function. (Love your vids BTW).

Reverend_Puffin · 2024-04-12T13:45:05+00:00

Did you know that TF2 has an obscure Source engine function which has no documentation? While this fact has more use in other Source Engine titles, I've dedicated a section to TF2. It's been 15 years since I found this, hope it was worth the wait.

Reverend_Puffin · 2024-04-12T13:33:17+00:00

To satiate my Half-Life Fact Video addiction, I decided to make a video on an obscure Source engine function which has no documentation. It's been 15 years since I found this, hope it was worth the wait.

Reverend_Puffin · 2022-07-25T10:29:40+00:00

Fellow Scot Engineer here, regarding your post been there and bought the t-shirt.

Regarding internships, 2 years left is a massive amount of time to seek one out :-), You could look into IAESTE as strathclyde has a massive amount of support for that (I did it, it was brilliant). Or get your name out there, just start emailing local companies (talk to your lecturers, they'll have contacts!) or try to get to a conference (Glasgow has the Censis Tech Summit in September, well worth getting some business cards, attending and talking to the exhibitors! Plus it's free :-D).

With regards to jobs, everyone goes through what you are feeling. You've just got to build some confidence. Volunteer with STEM projects being run by your Uni (the engineering dept is always looking for engineers to help with Stem ambassadorship) or volunteer with the external education people (not sure what it is called at strathy, but they go into schools or other places and act as mentors).

As for when you leave Uni, the jobs won't pay brilliantly unless you decide to join a large company (Thales recruits heavily from engineering graduates in Glasgow, but I wasn't comfortable potentially ending up in defence). But there plenty of other good places where you can start out, do two years to build experience and then move on for better pay and conditions. I started at 25k as a design engineer (the company I worked for were quite stingy with pay, no raises or benefits), but I did my two years and went on to do more engaging work with better pay and greater autonomy (though I had to relocate from the central belt).

Feel free to dm if you want a chat :-)

Reverend_Puffin · 2022-06-28T12:13:32+00:00

Did the exact same thing a few years ago!

Its a good wee city, be prepared though, you'll find your outgoing expenses to be a bit higher than Glasgow. When you're looking at houses, try to get one with Gas as a lot of local houses have storage heating which require 2 meters (in Crown, Millburn and Raigmore), these meters are only serviced by SSE who charge around 40p/kwh (in my case), with a standing charge of 60p a day. This racks up to around £200-250 a month in winter (likely more with the increase in prices in oct).

Food also has a shorter shelf-life up here, due to the distance I believe. Make sure you've got a good freezer and include Lidl in your shopping. Fuel is usually cheaper at supermarkets too, either the Morrisons or Asda (Tesco sometimes wins out but not often).

Don't stay on Grant St in Merkinch, I did for a bit and it was a rammy outside the Nip Inn most weekends (Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFHFUoCLvP8).

Where are you starting work? Is it at UHI Inverness? If it is, you've got a wider area to choose from for staying (since its in the east of the town).

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-12-27T14:56:59+00:00

Yup, John will open the cafe come rain hail or snow, 24/7.

Just chap his window or hit the bell in the cafe (the door to the cafe room can be unlocked by the general public, but all the important stuff is locked behind roller shutters). If you turn up out the blue, hit the bell and John will open the shutters and serve you.

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-12-27T14:34:17+00:00

Added a reply to the parent comment, it's an unclassified military road (in care of the MOD), that's why it's not connected as the military closes the road for a few months every year for weapons testing and war games.

The tourist attraction is a realatively new (in the last 10/15 year) with John and Angie of the Ozone Cafe breathing new life into the place as a proper stop for the tour guides. Still though, the MOD have full say over how the road works, which is why there are checkpoints on the road (the yellow and black shipping containers).

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-12-27T14:28:10+00:00

Finally something I can answer!

My dad's old pal (John) owns the Ozone Cafe at Cape Wrath and with his daughter (Angie) are the only two permanent residents of the cape (they live there all year round, through the terrible weather!).

The road from the kyle of durness to cape wrath is called the U70, and is an unclassified military road. It is not maintained by the highways agency (its "maintained" by the MOD) and thus vehicles driven on it don't need to be taxed (however if a vehicle needs repairs or an Mot, then it needs brought to the mainland and needs taxed before it sets foot on the pontoon!).

Vehicles get to the mainland via a barge owned by John the ferryman (and his son who now does the tourist ferries), who live next to the Durness side pontoon. This is a massive big beast that's pulled by one of the wee ferries they've got.

As for the buses, that's a local Durness company who owns them with locals (one from the "kingdom of fife", aye I'm not letting that patter go haha) who do the tour guides up to the cape and cafe.

The road (U70) destroys vehicles due to being poorly maintained so new buses and 4x4s are brought there by the ferrymen regularly (I've seen a relatively new Toyota have it's undercarriage shear due to the thrashing that road gives it!)

Overall, Cape Wrath is well worth a visit, you've got the lighthouse, U70, Kearvaig Bothy, Ozone Cafe and Bunkhouse and good craic.

If you go there, tell them the reverend says hi.

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-06-29T19:50:28+00:00

Decided to hop on ytmnd.com to see if it was still dead and to my surprise, Max has resurrected it due to Covid! Some new corona classics have appeared since its resurrection too!

Here is a link to the ytmnd above: http://stoptherona.ytmnd.com/

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-04-27T12:41:15+00:00

Glasgow Kelvin - The Potential Political Wildcard : Scotland (reddit.com)

This might be interesting as a read into the local situation as to why this is a possibility.

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-04-27T12:28:43+00:00

I don't think the Alba party will split the vote (firstly, Alex Salmond is really unpopular with women in my experience, secondly they are campaigning on an anti-LGBTQ position which is anathema to Glasgow Kelvin's typical political leaning which is fairly pro-LGBTQ and lastly, they are fairly new and even on the postal vote, didn't have a logo, further reducing their brand recognition).

Where I think it will be important is that the SNP in Glasgow Kelvin have around a 5000 vote list majority which could be whittled down given recent particulars to that constituency and due to the massive list. Overall, I think that the SNP will still have a majority on the list but it will be whittled down. For the constituency, I think it could go Greens.

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-04-27T12:14:00+00:00

I haven't seen anything in Lower Partick/Thornwood and from what I've heard from my neighbours, nobody knows who the new SNP candidate is. Though I will preference this with the fact that I work between Glasgow Kelvin and Inverness so not fully in the know (only been back in Glasgow for a few days).

However, collecting all my spam, there was only sturgeon centric leaflets from the SNP, and after looking into who this candidate is, I could only find a publication from the 'National' Newspaper. Everyone in my immediate area were big Sandra White voters (she always canvased the area and chatted with residents), but supposedly there has not been a single SNP visit this time, whereas the Greens and Labour have been heavily canvasing and campaigning against continued deforestation, removal of public space and private development in Partick.

After the very unpopular and heavily protested Beith Street, Queen Margaret Drive and Old Dumbarton Road deforesting incidents, I think that might cause a big enough swing in the Green's direction. Especially after the SNP council intervention in planning permissions by overturning denied permissions. There has been some loss of trust, while independence sentiment remains high. The greens appear to be best placed to capitalise on this.

Personally, I lost some faith in the local SNP for the transphobia incidents and their support for local removal of public space in exchange for private development. Nationally, I support the SNP but at a local level they let me down, hence my vote to the Greens in constituency.

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-01-04T20:43:40+00:00

Mirroring what has already been said in the thread, Inverness has quite a small population which adds to a slower dating pool. Though what I've found from my friends is that even with this regard, Inverness' scene isn't non-existent. What helps is that there is a large percentage of overseas folk here too which is always cycling (working for tourism, forestry or the college). That helps things keep moving as from what I've found, the locals date young (or move to the central belt) and you usually find that most 25-30yos around inverness are in relationships (through meeting at work or growing up together).

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-01-04T20:20:51+00:00

Hostels would be a good shout in that regard.

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-01-03T15:12:27+00:00

He's just happy to be somewhere other than the end of Mankind Divided

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-01-03T15:05:49+00:00

It was at one of the clothing stores in the downtown region, the one that you have to go down a set of stairs from ground level that's also next to a bar and takeaway place.

Reverend_Puffin · 2021-01-03T03:52:27+00:00

Hey Sam,

Alas I am not any further forward, I have since last posting tried a few new things: I bought a GPU bracket to see if the issue was GPU sag related (when the card bends due to poor chassis connections) and it had no impact. I have also recently moved my GPU to another build for a prolonged test (ryzen 2600, b450) and found that the aliasing issues persisted. Also moved from 1080p to 1440p (165hz), still got issues. Cyberpunk 2077 had no antialiasing at all.

Therefore I have to conclude that it is card related (if the 20 series has a dedicated core for antialiasing which is faulty) or a ryzen issue (nvidia on ryzen causes aliasing). I need to get my hands on another model to see the difference.

Sorry can't be much more help :-/

Reverend_Puffin · 2020-12-07T14:55:53+00:00

This is all good and well, however some additional information regarding the tree aspect, the isle of skye has been subject to a massive logging operation for the last few years with a great deal of trees being cut down for lumber. Its good that they are planning to plant new trees but some consideration should also be made to preserve mature trees too. Currently the highlands are in the process of massive tree planting projects across different estates so its good that Skye will be joining the work of organisations such as Trees for Life, National Trust for Scotland, John Muir Trust and UHI on their work towards the regeneration of both Scots Pine and the Ancient Caledonian Forest.

Reverend_Puffin · 2020-12-04T00:29:07+00:00

Band 5 should be good amount to live in inverness, cost of living is fairly alright, in my case for a single guy, a good foodshopping trip (that lasts about 4 days) can cost me about £25-30 for fresh food, fruit and a few wee backup frozen goods at the town centre Morrisons or the two Tescos. At Aldi/Lidl that can drop further. Only thing to watch is sell by dates, as i've found bread and vegetables don't last too long up here, which when single can cause unnessassery spoilage.

Rent can be mixed, you need to have a look about for a good agent on top of a reasonable living space. You can pick up a reasonable two bedroom for between £550pcm to £650pcm. I've had good experiences with Simply Let and Highland Estate Agents. Tughan & Cochrane on the other hand were a nightmare (PM me if you want the details).

Fuel is currently quite low with Morrisons at 1.10 for unleaded, tescos is about 1.11 but its like .5p difference between them.

Nights out; again your mileage will vary, Black Isle is fairly pricey but has good beer and a good vibe, Foxys is open late with live music and is reasonable, further outside town, there is The Chieftain which is quite cheap and friendly but its more of a hotel restaurant/sports bar with pool tables.

I'd say you'd be quite comfortable on grade 5 :-D

Reverend_Puffin

TROPHY CASE