r/BlackMesaSource • u/confused-mother-fan • Feb 15 '26

QUESTION General gameplay advice

i want to preface that this is not only my first halflife game but my first fps in general.

for most of the game ive been having a blast but things have uh been getging noticebly more difficult for me i didn't really have much ofnan issue till the end of questionable ethics the big shootout with all the marines just took me a while. and then oh god surfave tension while having soke molmenta i love has to be my least favorite chapter so far, it already had a bad start since i was so deleted from questionable ethics i ended up getting softlocked as i was so low on healtht and the game autosaved (borh autosaves and had no manul saves in the chapter) me right infrount of a spilder on. no problem i just selcect new hame and select surface tension. i get through it with relative ease tau canon the copter crowbow the fish and find the exit. from there on i do alright until after i get into the lambda complex where a bunch of vortagunts and alien grunts give me hell but i barely make it into the sewer area.

im currntly in forget about freeman and they have apparently not forgotten about freeman as ive been stuck fighting marines in the outdoor part.

4 Upvotes

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1

u/RazzaWantDopamine Feb 15 '26

There's a room to your right after you climb the ladder full of supplies, health & batteries. Overcharged tau, shotgun right click to the face, or peppering with the machine gun will dispatch the soldiers. Throw snarks (the little bug things) out into the open and they'll provide a painful distraction for the soldiers as you pick them off.

Don't stay out in the open for too long, run behind and around the rocks for cover. Rocket the tank as soon as you can. Right click to turn off the guiding laser to shoot straight rockets then run away. Assuming you don't miss, you should have some rockets left to mop up any soldiers.

Take your time and stay tactical, try not to let your nerves betray you; video game difficulty is largely about training your brain's fight-or-flight system to respond appropriately under stress.

We're all counting on you, Gordon!

2

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 15 '26

So basically do what im doing but better got it...

I think one of my big problems it swapjng weapons theres just so many i know i can go back to the crow bar with up but it still disoriants me anytime im trying to find my shotgun or revolver mid combat.

1

u/RazzaWantDopamine Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26

I see, you're on controller? Swap what I said about "right click" with "left trigger" or "R2".

Maybe practice memorizing where the weapons are on your D-pad during the downtime, the peace between combat.

Also cover is very, very important. Your suit and HP can soak up damage but preventing yourself from taking damage in the first place is the way to go. Run and hide no matter how well-off or ready to fight you are.

2

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 15 '26

On deck anf yeah i know about secondary fire scope for cross bow extra powerfull shot on shotgun grenades on smg. I also do have the aim assiantance ill retry tommrow since it hust crashed, (seriously ive never had my deck hate a game so much)

1

u/RazzaWantDopamine Feb 16 '26

Is it aim assist or auto-aim? I noticed Black Mesa has this auto-aim feature that locks a reticle to the enemies for a strafe & fire kind of thing like Metroid Prime. That may be a bit of a pain for choosing your targets.

2

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 16 '26

Im qute familr with metorid prime

And so far it hasn't inppeded me much and it doesn't activate if your using the scope on the crossbow or the syrae down of the magnum

Although if i may ask... What the hell does the secondary fire on the gluon gun do?

1

u/RazzaWantDopamine Feb 17 '26

Nothing, it just plays an animation like the original Half-Life. I guess Valve was going to add an alt fire mode but didn't. Black Mesa carried over the same pointless secondary fire just as a callback to the old one.

2

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 17 '26

Cool ig- I notice thr pistol is missing its secondary fire in hl2 so im guessing only certain one retain theres in that game

1

u/RazzaWantDopamine Feb 17 '26

Yes.

1

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 18 '26

Well unfortunately my journey has been cut prematurely as the tube that sucks you up in interloper crashes my game no matter what

2

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 15 '26

I just got through it and started lamba core I think my issue was the health and sheild pickups i wpuld pick thrm up too early

Again is surface tensipn supposed to be such a slog? Feels like after that one fight forget about freeman was over in a flash but surface tension felt like it just kept going

1

u/RazzaWantDopamine Feb 16 '26

Surface Tension is supposed to be a high-stakes all-out war setting, that can be a slog for less experienced players.

2

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 16 '26

Well im heading i to xen now so no more soldiers for me!

1

u/RazzaWantDopamine Feb 16 '26

You seem pretty capable. Have fun!

1

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 16 '26

If only my machine was!

1

u/RazzaWantDopamine Feb 17 '26

Steam deck? As far as I know it's got the beef for a souped-up source engine game. Should run Black Mesa at a sickly sweet 60 with the right graphics settings (medium?)

1

u/confused-mother-fan Feb 17 '26

Oh game runs fine with an occasional slowly dosn in more crowded areas, but it crashes like hell

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