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BMS Classic - Surface Tension (v1.05b)

BMS Classic started out as a simple mod aiming to undo some of the changes brought to Black Mesa in 1.0 and 1.5, such as unnecessary railroading, insultingly excessive handholding, questionable balance decisions, and watered-down combat. Since then, it's evolved into an attempt to bring together the best parts of Black Mesa and Half-Life and expand upon them.

Bringing back HL1 setpieces that didn't make the cut for one reason or another, adding incentive for the player to explore and investigate off the beaten trail, trusting players to be able to think and reason their way through puzzles without force-feeding them the answer, expanding upon areas of the facility to make it feel more alive, and making the player have to think about how they fight to survive - that's what BMS Classic aims to do.

Many maps have also received an additional detail pass, making them more atmospheric and immersive by way of enhanced/reworked lighting and improved water visuals. Attempts have also been made to improve performance on some particularly troublesome maps, but given Source's limitations, there's only so much that can be done.


It depends. Other chapter mods, such as the Chapter Overhaul mods or VOX Restoration mods, aren't compatible. BMSC extensively edits many of the game's maps, so any other mods that edit maps are going to run into conflicts. Compatibility with some of these mods (namely the VOX Restoration mods and Black Mesa Character Expansion) is something I'd like to investigate further down the line.


BMSC is primarily a joint effort, between Vassago Rain and myself. Some chapters also have additional support or resources from other modders, as listed in the Contributors section.

It's important to note that BMSC is fundamentally a two-man effort. There's only so much we have the time, resources, and ability to do. As such, we've had to make decisions about what does or doesn't get added/changed. We're just two people with a love for Half-Life doing what we can here, to try and realize Black Mesa's full potential. If you have specific questions about why certain changes were made, or why things were added/removed/etc., feel free to ask.


This download is the BMSC edition of Surface Tension - easily the most daunting of all the Earthbound chapters. Combat has been significantly overhauled from start to finish (enemies are smarter, more co-ordinated, and more numerous, all but a select few Alien Grunts have been swapped out in favour of the smarter, more dangerous Xen Grunts, and the Knockback Houndeye from Xen has been integrated here and there - better watch your step!), some missing encounters and setpieces from HL1 have been restored (such as the ever-infamous Tentacle field on B and the building bombing on F), numerous bugs and oversights have been fixed, particularly troublesome maps have received an optimization pass (looking at you, H), and the overall detailing has been greatly enhanced, making Surface Tension into the bloody warzone it's supposed to be.

A more detailed changelog can be found in the Workshop download folder - for this addon, that'll be somewhere like Steam/steamapps/workshop/content/362980/2496234328. The contents of the changelog can also be found in the pinned discussions.