User talk:Marphy
Contents
- 1 Disambiguation
- 2 Lists
- 3 My reverts
- 4 Hello there
- 5 Articles I'm Working On
- 6 Re: Comments about your recent edits
- 7 Alien Grunt
- 8 Appearances in Day One
- 9 Perpetual Testing Initiative and canon
- 10 Re:About your Half-Life 2 Beta Leak WC Mappack userpage
- 11 Re: Your email
- 12 File types
- 13 Youtube
- 14 Half-life 2: Survivor articles.
- 15 Hi Marphy
- 16 Audio script for Half-Life
- 17 Contesting the Speculation
- 18 The 3rd HL1 PS2 demo
- 19 HLA model images
- 20 Articles I Have Edited
- 21 Request for Translation Support
- 22 Using YouTube to spread awareness of the Overwiki
- 23 Countering Vandalism
- 24 Request to Delete Flawed Pages
- 25 A bunch of 404 errors
- 26 New possible Laidlaw email
- 27 Cheat codes for console HLs
- 28 Half-Life promotional disc for Dreamcast dumped by TOSEC project
- 29 Why was Portal: For Science deleted?
- 30 About the Synth page
- 31 Hey
- 32 Rolling my previous unregistered changes into my account
- 33 Orange Box soundtrack
- 34 OverWikiFiles' domain has expired
- 35 Missing mods recreating original games and add-ons
- 36 Half Life Pro SDK CD
- 37 The file uploading guide is broken
- 38 HL:A weapon images
- 39 New pages
- 40 Unacceptable
- 41 Wallace Breen's name Trivia
- 42 Edits not saving
- 43 Help for adding Images of HL:SDK and Recent Max Leak Content
- 44 Brazilian Portuguese interwiki
- 45 Transmissions: Element 120
Disambiguation[edit]
Hey, disambiguation pages must always be followed by "(disambiguation)" at the end. Please remember that! Klow (talk) 10:19, 27 February 2013 (GMT)
- That is not consistent with the wiki standard for formatting article titles. See Wikipedia:Disambiguation#Naming the disambiguation page. The ambiguous term should be the name of the disambiguation page itself. If there is no main topic article, creating an additional page with the "(disambiguation)" tag is redundant, needlessly inflates the total page count, and puts more stress on the server due to the requirement of an additional redirect. Marphy (talk) 11:40, 27 February 2013 (GMT)
- We always did that to clearly differentiate actual content articles and simple redirects. So when the wiki is fixed, I'll rename it.
Lists[edit]
Just so you know, I created 2 lists. Brands and food. You suggested we created the latter after telling me that the vending machines didn't belong in the BMRF article, it was indeed a good idea. Klow (talk) 15:09, 3 March 2013 (GMT)
My reverts[edit]
Hey, don't think I'm starting an edit war, we just seem to misunderstand each other. We'll soon talk about this on Steam. Klow (talk) 09:50, 17 April 2013 (BST)
Hello there[edit]
Hi there!
This isn't strictly relevant to the Overwiki, but as a relatively new editor, I just wanted to take the time and introduce myself! I am ThePerson5. Nice to meet you! ThePerson5 (talk) 17:47, 24 April 2013 (BST)
- Greetings, and nice to meet you too. You've done a fine job making constructive edits and your Recurring themes article has come along quite well. Much appreciation for your contributions; it's a pleasure to have you aboard. Marphy (talk) 04:15, 24 April 2013 (BST)
- Thank you, it is a pleasure to be here! ThePerson5 (talk) 17:47, 24 April 2013 (BST)
Articles I'm Working On[edit]
Hello again,
I restructured the Combine article a bit; I think it is a bit cleaner and better organized now, but you can take a look at it to see what you think.
Thanks,
ThePerson5 (talk) 19:47, 25 April 2013 (BST)
- The article structure is a definite improvement over the previous version. Good work tidying it up. However, if you're referring to the Cleanup tag, I'm afraid I can't comment on that as I don't know why it was originally added. I don't have time to scrutinize the article itself as I'm working on a number of HL1-related articles at the moment. Nonetheless, at a glance, I'd say this is easily worthy of either Safe or Good status. I'll leave you to be the judge of that. Marphy (talk) 20:16, 25 April 2013 (BST)
- Cool, I'll keep working on it. ThePerson5 (talk) 20:24, 25 April 2013 (BST)
Hey there,
I cleaned up the Half-Life 2 storyline article quite a bit, so perhaps you could take a look.
Thanks,
ThePerson5 (talk) 20:26, 29 April 2013 (BST)
- I just took a look. Once again, your edits have brought a much needed improvement to the page. Thanks for taking on some of these longer articles. Although, I personally believe all of these "Related achievements" sub-sections really clutter up the presentation, but I know you're not responsible for those. Those can be reviewed at another time. Marphy (talk) 04:33, 30 April 2013 (BST)
Hello again, you may be interested to know that I've done some major work on cleaning up the MINERVA article. Perhaps you could take a look.
Thanks,
ThePerson5 (talk) 04:28, 7 May 2013 (BST)
Hi again, I just have a question about a particular article. I'm planning on cleaning up the Half-Life storyline article, since it seems to be in desperate need of revamping, but I'm not really sure how to even approach it. It seems to be written literally as a fanfic; is this intentional? What work would you recommend I do on it? Cheers, ThePerson5 (talk) 17:53, 7 May 2013 (BST)
- Indeed, somehow that article was written with a completely inappropriate tone. I couldn't tell you why as that must have happened years before my time, but it definitely doesn't belong here. As for advice on how to approach the clean up, you should take a look at this older revision of the article before the odd fan fiction writing took over and salvage as much as you can from it. It's not complete, but it's written in the correct tone. As for everything else, I say gut it and rewrite it from a clean slate. The Half-Life 2 storyline article you've already worked on serves as a fine benchmark as to the quality these storyline articles should try to achieve. Marphy (talk) 19:03, 7 May 2013 (BST)
Hi, me again. I've been working on the Half-Life 2: Episode Two storyline article, and I cleaned up some parts, but it looks fine to me overall. Do you suggest any major changes I could make? ThePerson5 (talk) 04:01, 14 May 2013 (BST)
- You've already done much of the work on the article, but I wouldn't have had any major suggestions. What you're doing is great. Once again, thanks for attending to these storyline articles. I'll give all of them a final sweep to remove that pesky cleanup tag soon. Marphy (talk) 04:55, 18 May 2013 (BST)
- Coolio, glad I'm being of help! I'll keep working. ThePerson5 (talk) 06:23, 18 May 2013 (BST)
Re: Comments about your recent edits[edit]
Hi!
Sorry for not being so often on Steam lately, I'm currently not at home, in another timezone, and that completely destroys communication between us.
For the part of your message regarding the Locations article - okay, I understand your point of view and I'll try to make the article better asap.
For the second part - the Multiplayer template is still in "development" (I left it messed up since my internet access was brutally cut off) so thanks for pointing out things that you find stupid.
I was planning on making a separate article about player models but since redlinks are not allowed and making a stub with literary no content (listing every model in every game would take some time) wouldn't be good, I just left Gina, Colette and the robots.
I was thinking about adding some kind of link to a category/HL:D storyline article that would simply be called "HL:D locations"; aren't the HL2:DM locations already listed in the "maps" section?; listing HL2:S maps would be a good idea (but - if talking about consistency of categorizing - you also didn't create articles regarding them and put them in the old template).
You also said (in the change log) that I shouldn't mix official and fan-made content - I didn't want to make a separate template for a few articles and I thought that adding Synergy, Sven Co-op (which are, I think, notable multiplayer mods), and some other ones will be okay.
Those two categories will be removed - for now - but I'll probably add them again, most likely with modified names and (of course) content, later, when everything will be included. 18 () 15:01, 25 August 2013 (BST)
Alien Grunt[edit]
Hi!
Don't you think that having the Greek/Latin species name in the first line of Xenian fauna articles would be better than in the BTS section? In my opinion, it gives them an encyclopedic taste and makes the wiki look more professional. And while the overall concept of creatures could change during redesigning, I don't think that such trifle like the species name would matter both before and after changes, because it doesn't affect the gameplay or the plot in any way. It's a fun fact to know, and it's also present in other articles. 18 () 18:57, 18 November 2013 (GMT)
- The OGR preview articles date back to September 1997 and are severely outdated. They pre-date several core concepts of the finished game, including Gordon himself, and make numerous references to things that changed or never made the final cut (the Alien Grunt article, in particular, names "thornets" and "chub-toads"). It is presumptuous to believe these previews still reflect the final product. We should not selectively choose what information we choose to present from a source, especially when we're fully aware that the source in its entirety may be obsolete. Blindly reporting information from old, non-finalized sources is what lead to the 10 years/20 years timespan confusion in HL2's storyline. This mistake would not have occurred had people been more prudent in treating Raising the Bar as outdated behind the scenes information, not an authoritative tome on everything Half-Life.
- As we are the Half-Life wiki, our goal should be to strive for complete and researched reliability. In the case of the OGR Monster of the Week previews, the information is still present in the articles, but they should explicitly be noted as being outdated and placed in the behind the scenes sections as that's what they are. The other monster articles are in need of this change as well. Marphy (talk) 20:31, 18 November 2013 (GMT)
- So why don't we have something like that then?
- "The Alien Grunt, originally identified as Xenotherium myrmex, is a primary combatant of the Nihilanth's Xen army."
- ―{{{2}}}
- As I said, it makes the article look more professional and imitate a real world creature characteristics. 18 () 20:02, 19 November 2013 (GMT)
- That would be wholly misleading as that wording surreptitiously combines facts and outdated information in a single sentence without identifying what's verifiable and what's obsolete. Similarly, we don't introduce the G-Man as being "originally identified as the Administrator" in his article because we know that's now anachronous. We're aiming to inform the readers, not deceive them.
- We're not trying to make fake "real world" encyclopedia articles. We are a real encyclopedia, and every article should be written in an appropriate encyclopedic fashion. The OGR previews are severely and demonstrably outdated and suitably being treated as such, hence why they're relegated to the behind the scenes sections. Marphy (talk) 14:30, 20 November 2013 (GMT)
Appearances in Day One[edit]
Hi!
Since you're an expert in the canon subject I have a question - is an appearance of a normal item, like an armor vest or a grenade, in Half-Life: Day One canon? The game itself isn't - since the template - but I haven't ever seen any article that in the "List of appearances" sections mentions Day One as a non-canon material. 18 () 08:52, 10 February 2014 (GMT)
- For now, just treat Day One as being canon and also the first appearance for the item. This may change in the future, but it's best to be consistent for the time being. Marphy (talk) 14:13, 10 February 2014 (GMT)
Perpetual Testing Initiative and canon[edit]
Hi!
I am not sure whether Perpetual Testing Initiative is canon... The Multiverse may be but as the article says: "1st Universe, also known as Earth One. It is not in fact the actual Portal universe; This is due to Cave Prime canceling the GLaDOS project in response to Computer!Cave's universe, as well as Greg being his assistant, as opposed to Caroline." It just doesn't fit into the Half-Life and Portal world. What do you think?
BTW, should "Perpetual Testing Initiative" be italicized? PeTI isn't just an editor. 18 () 09:49, 11 February 2014 (GMT)
- As noted on the canon page, you shouldn't be so deeply concerned with "canon" status as this nomenclature is patently false by Valve's own declaration. I would remove all instances of it from the OverWiki, but the damage was already done many years ago and we just have to compensate for the term's proliferation to avoid further confusing an already confused problem. That said, the Perpetual Testing Initiative is an official release set in the Portal universe and consequently also the Half-Life universe. There is absolutely nothing to suggest it should be discredited as being part of the official storyline. Hence, the game should be treated just as any official Half-Life or Portal game would be.
- And yes, PeTI should be italicized as it is the title of the DLC. It is on my list of things to do, but I would certainly welcome your help if you wish to tackle that issue now. Marphy (talk) 18:08, 11 February 2014 (GMT)
- Well, there's a sort of a discrepancy between the storyline according to Portal 2 and that according to PeTI so I thought that we should decide which one is THE one. So I guess I shouldn't mark PeTI non-canon in the "List of appearances" section?
- BTW, I'm also not sure about these topics:
- When to use the "Aperture Science" prefix? I think it would be better to move the majority, if not all, of articles about Portal stuff, except characters' ones, to pages including the prefix in their titles, for consistency.
- When can we resurrect the Featured Article Queue? It's been a while since the last update (not counting the anniversary event) and I don't see any particular reason to have it put on hold. The Combine article could be a candidate for being featured, maybe after adding more information to the BTS section.
- Also - you have my support in removing the Spoiler and Notawalkthrough templates. It should be done asap. 18 () 18:36, 11 February 2014 (GMT)
- I have modified the wording in the PeTI article, but the idea is that the multiverse allows for numerous different universes to coexist. The very point of the multiverse is that there is no "one" universe. They are all correct. However, this fact has little bearing outside of the PeTI DLC itself as the rest of the games are all part of a different, singular universe.
- As for the name of the Aperture Science item articles, go by what they're called or referred to. The joke is that most items are prefixed with "Aperture Science", but this is not true for all of them. For example, unless you can find it called different elsewhere, the Long Fall Boot is never prefixed with Aperture Science.
- I also want to reinstate the Featured Article queue, but we don't have enough articles prepared in advance, and I don't want to use the old Featured Articles as they are all in dire need of a review. Marphy (talk) 21:09, 11 February 2014 (GMT)
Re:About your Half-Life 2 Beta Leak WC Mappack userpage[edit]
Oh sorry about that (the link to torrent), i was trying to create a page with information of the maps. I will create again the page without links, greetings. TuningBEB2008 (talk) 19:55, 6 August 2014 (BST)
Re: Your email[edit]
Hey, I got your email, but when I replied it didn't get through. I sent an email to the guy at ValveTime who was keeping an eye on the wiki for us, nothing back as of yet. I can't access the configuration myself to disable registration, so just waiting on him I guess. Bramblepath (talk) 08:54, 29 September 2014 (BST)
- Thanks for getting back to me. I did receive the forwarded email you sent to Kris. I hope this matter can be looked into in the very near future as the bots don't appear to be letting up any time soon. Marphy (talk) 11:45, 29 September 2014 (BST)
- User registration has been disabled for now. I'd suggest putting a notice on the homepage. If anyone wants to register an account, then a bureaucrat can do that for them in Special:UserLogin. I added the bureaucrat role to your account so you can keep on top of this. Thanks for getting in touch. Bramblepath (talk) 17:52, 3 October 2014 (BST)
File types[edit]
Hello, Marphy. I would like to upload a nihilanth sound file but they're in .WAV format and if you could tell me how to convert them to .ogg that would be helpfull. ARetardedPickle (talk) 00:47, 13 February 2015 (GMT)
Youtube[edit]
Are you MarphitimusBlackimus and is the Barnz in the Half-life: alpha deathmatch video Barnz? Just curious. — Prtaler (about | complain) 10:57, 6 January 2016 (GMT)
- Yes, those are us. Marphy (talk) 04:54, 8 January 2016 (GMT)
Half-life 2: Survivor articles.[edit]
Hello Marphy, Do you think HL2:S articles are really necessary? AYKO (talk)
- Yes, the subject matters related to Survivor warrant their own articles. This is a fairly large topic that has yet to be appropriately covered, and previous attempts to introduce Survivor content here into existing articles resulted in the Survivor material dwarfing the base content, such as in the Lockdown article. Marphy (talk) 23:12, 29 August 2016 (BST)
Hi Marphy[edit]
I haven't edited this wiki for along time, but i recently discovered that all the sound files i uploaded for the quote pages are now gone, so here's my question: Why did they deleted all the voice sound files for the quote pages?
--Lebert130 (talk) 01:14, 26 September 2017 (MSK)
- The audio files for the quotes were removed from the wiki because they were creating an excessive demand overload on the server, rendering the whole wiki unusable. They may return, but the wiki software isn't designed to handle such a large number of audio files, so an external hosting solution would be the future approach here. Marphy (talk) 11:19, 26 September 2017 (MSK)
Audio script for Half-Life[edit]
Dear Marphy,
Would you, please, investigate the Audio script for Half-Life?
1. Download https://www.fileplanet.com/archive/p-34353/Half-Life-Audio-Script
2. Run hlsubtls.exe
3. Open subtitles.doc in Notepad
Please check NIHILANTH AUDIO and DESERT (EPILOG).
Thank you for your time and assistance. — Unsigned comment by 77.70.70.126
- Yes, I've seen these, and they've been documented before. You can read an article covering the original epilogue along with some comments on it from Marc Laidlaw himself here: http://www.valvetime.net/threads/never-before-seen-half-life-development-documents.256932/
- This article does gloss over the Nihilanth section, but I am familiar with those, and I plan to cover it on some greater manner in the future and also carry that info here to the wiki. Marphy (talk) 01:00, 28 July 2019 (MSK)
Contesting the Speculation[edit]
Hello Marphy! I see that the latest two additions I added on the HECU and 200- date were pulled from the main pages, on the grounds that it was heavy speculation rather than credible information. I would like to contest that argument for several reasons. The HECU were part of Earth’s various government military forces to engage the Combine in the Seven Hour War, and Dr. Breen signed the surrender at the United Nations building (as shown on the cork board in Eli’s lab) dissolving any and all governments and their armed forces. Unless you have a source to contradict that, the HECU makes an indirect appearance coming in the form of the US Government and it’s military.
The other source of information towards the 200- section of the 2003 date, comes directly from the official Valve-approved book, Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. I have the direct PDF of the book on hand as evidence of this source. I can understand why you would’ve deleted this section since it was worded in a way of speculation and I can rewrite that, but there is no other mention of this date anywhere the wiki as part of the timeline and it would be a disservice to not include it as part of the development history of the Half Life timeline. True that Marc said that the date is incorrect of 1998, as 200- is the current canon year, but I do wish to include his original notes for fans to deduce their own opinion, of where the timeline is set based off the ambiguous date.
Thank You! — Unsigned comment by User:Kleric
- The "Appearances" section in articles is for, if not outright appearances, explicit mentions or acknowledgments of the subject matter within the games or other media, and the HECU is objectively never brought up again from Half-Life 2 and onward. If their continued activity, or absence in this case, was referred to in an out-of-universe context, then it could be mentioned somewhere else in the article, like the disappearance of the Controllers indicated externally by Marc. However, we have no such similar explanation for the HECU as they vanished without a trace never to be recognized again.
- Also, be careful what you're stating as fact here. Certain points are correct, but you've extrapolated a lot of non-existent details. We know Dr. Breen ended the Seven Hours War by managing Earth's surrender and that he was rewarded by the Combine with "power", given the one line of dialog stating just this, but that's it. We've never been told anything about how the war transpired, the terms of the surrender, how it was orchestrated, and so forth. Eli's cork board shows a picture of the United Nations building, but it's never stated the surrender happened there or that Breen was present in it. We don't know what happened to the world's governments or armed forces other than the fact that they're no longer around by the events of the sequel. We cannot state with any certainty what the specifics of the surrender were without beginning to speculate, and stretching this to apply to the HECU is even further presumptuous speculation since, as established, they're simply never mentioned again after Half-Life.
- Regarding the "2003" date from Raising the Bar, the date itself patently has no relevance to the games as they are in their released state. The book covered the whole range of development in its encompassed titles, includes the earliest stages of these games before most concepts were finalized. We have specific confirmation from Marc himself (communicated to an administrator of this wiki, no less) that the year Half-Life occurred in was deliberately kept vague, and this remark came long after both Raising the Bar and his brainstorming notes featured within. The "2003" date thus explicitly no longer has pertinence to the current writing and should not be placed in the main body text of the article to suggest that it might.
- However, as far as including a mention of this fact in the article, the date is indeed valid and verifiable development material. It'd be best relegated to a "Behind the scenes" section which this article currently lacks, but the article as a whole is still in dire need of large review and cleanup. I know this "2003" date is missing from this article since I originally removed it years ago, but it's not high on my priority list to reintroduce until the rest of the article has been dealt with first. Note that another obsolete date mentioned in Raising the Bar is Half-Life 2's original timeline, initially set to be "10 years" after the first game. This date once accepted as a truth in the community despite being sourced from incredibly early story vignettes. Only when an overt contradiction came about did many realize they had assumed wrong. That is why these articles take great pains not to blindly introduce speculative or outdated information. Marphy (talk) 03:34, 9 January 2020 (MSK)
Thank You Marphy for the peer review! I rest my case on HECU section, especially since you were kind enough to allow my research of the historical evidence of their United States urban camo BDU's on the trivia section. Information on the HECU might change going into Half Life: Alyx, but that has yet to be seen. I would like to see that 2003 date entered into a behind the scenes section eventually, despite it being disproven by Laidlaw in the current canon. If you need additional sources or photos from the Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar book, I will be happy to supply it. Kleric (talk) 07:59, 9 January 2020 (MSK)Kleric
The 3rd HL1 PS2 demo[edit]
Hello.
I don't know whether you're interested, but i've found pics of another HL PS2 demo (neither the Jampack Summer 2002 demo, nor HL: Uplink from the 57th issue of the US official PS Magazine in June 2002, it seems to be a different demo from both of those).
I personally don't have access to it, some guy on the Half-Life 1 subreddit page posted the pics:
It increases the number of different existing PS2 HL1 demo versions to 3.
If you have any further info on this 3rd demo to provide or make a video review of, it'd helpful. — Unsigned comment by 31.173.82.139
- Yes, I've seen this disc before, and I tried bidding on the eBay auction for the disc shown in that second picture to no avail. Nonetheless, this demo disc has been dumped before and is floating around (Half-Life (USA) (Demo) (SLUS-29014)), and I've downloaded it. The game content in this demo is identical to the Jampack Summer 2002 disc. The only difference is that this standalone demo disc plays this short trailer at startup. Marphy (talk) 22:06, 2 February 2020 (MSK)
HLA model images[edit]
How come the Half-Life: Alyx model images you uploaded have white backgrounds despite being PNGs? I don't think the fact that older model images have white backgrounds is a good reason not to take advantage of the PNG format's support of transparency, since they look the same in an infobox anyway. Can the model viewer you're using export images with transparent backgrounds? Rjd1922 (talk) 19:49, 17 July 2020 (MSK)
- These model images are all taken in Valve's own Workshop tools, and none of them support any manner of exporting renders with transparency. The only way to add transparency to these images would be through manual cutout methods, and there are no manual methods that guarantee against loss of image data, so they will be presented as-is for the sake of accuracy and thoroughness. Marphy (talk) 22:27, 17 July 2020 (MSK)
Articles I Have Edited[edit]
Administrator:
For the last few months I have been engaged in the cleanup and renovation work of a substantial amount of Combine-related articles, which include nearly all pages related to weapons, personnel and technology. My humble work consists of the integration of bullet point lists, removal of repetitive statements, formatting and grammatical improvements and, in the case of the Overwatch Voice, complete renewal. I have painstakingly endeavored to make the text as concise as possible without distorting the intentions of my predecessors, and thereby I implore your attention, when convenient, to oversee the alterations I have done and, if feasible, provide me your precious feedback, be it advice for improvements, qualification as good, or order for reverting. Your approval would be my greatest honor.
cordially yours, Requiem (talk) 16:30, 2 September 2020 (MSK)
- I've been monitoring all of the activity on the wiki, and your edits have been of great help. I don't have any particular suggestions to offer here other than anything pertinent I've already said in my edit summaries. Your contributions to the wiki are of tremendous benefit and value to the readability and presentation of the articles, for which I and the other admins and readers alike owe you much gratitude for. Marphy (talk) 23:20, 2 September 2020 (MSK)
Much obliged, Administrator. My other question is that is the creation and editing of user pages completely discretionary? Requiem (talk) 13:28, 3 September 2020 (MSK)
- You are welcome to create and maintain your own user page, although they currently don't have any immediate use in standard wiki functions or activities. The only major guidelines about them is that users shouldn't go overboard with non-pertinent content and to not upload any images or other files only intended for the personal user space. Marphy (talk) 06:08, 4 September 2020 (MSK)
Request for Translation Support[edit]
Greetings, Mr.Marphy.
May I ask if it's allowed to have another translation language on the Wiki, say, simplified Chinese (zh-hans)? And what's the requirements need to be met if it's possible?
I have experience of translating Wiki pages into zh-hans on Team Fortress Wiki and enthusiasm to contribute in another field of sharing.
Best regards.Dereko (talk) 15:52, 29 November 2020 (MSK)
- I'll check to see that the backend supports additional languages for articles. Making the translated article itself is simple enough as they're simply subpages of main articles. For example, you can see Chumtoad has a Polish translation available in the sidebar, and that translation is located at the page Chumtoad/pl. A simplified Chinese translation would be located at Chumtoad/zh-hans, similar to the TF2 wiki.
- However, one limitation on this wiki compared to the TF2 wiki is that none of our templates support automatic language switching. The Polish Chumtoad article currently uses separate versions of the regular templates, and that won't do when it comes to continued support and maintenance. It would take a significant updating of most of our templates to address this, and that isn't likely to happen anytime soon. Unfortunately, there historically hasn't been great interest in translating articles on the wiki. You are more then welcome to begin contributing translations at this time as we need to begin somewhere, but at the moment, I can only say that the overall state of support for translated articles here is still in its infancy. Marphy (talk) 08:06, 30 November 2020 (MSK)
- How about creating a project for this? Maybe that woud increase the interest? qabRieL (talk) 20:04, 18 December 2020 (MSK)
Using YouTube to spread awareness of the Overwiki[edit]
Hello, Marphy. I am aware (as is most likely everyone else on this wiki) of your YouTube channel. As you know, your videos regularly garner vast amounts of views. I wanted to ask you to consider mentioning the Overwiki in your videos, in the description, comments or the videos themselves. I am not asking this because I fear the Overwiki is in danger of being forgotten or anything of that nature, however there is of course the lingering Half-Life Fandom wiki. Unfortunately, when someone searches “Half-Life wiki”, at least in my experience, the very first result is the Fandom wiki. Given the likely fact that many may see this first and completely ignore all other results, I think it may be a good way of showing fans of the series that there is a better option, along with of course spreading general awareness.
Regards, Winterson (talk) 17:04, 14 February 2021 (MSK)Winterson
- I do link to the relevant OverWiki articles in the video descriptions, assuming they're in a presentable state. I'm haven't felt inclined to mention the wiki within my videos themselves, although I will mention that I cannot use the end screen feature to direct link to the wiki regardless as the feature only accepts a small number of eligible sites. Ultimately, it's a double edged sword as heavy external linking can end up actually suppressing the videos due to YouTube's aggressive linking policies. I freely show the wiki when applicable and do not shy away from linking to it when pertinent, and that's probably the best balance I can achieve at the moment. Marphy (talk) 07:12, 16 February 2021 (MSK)
Countering Vandalism[edit]
Recent days saw a sudden spike in vandal behavior, presumably carried out by the same person. Should higher protection statuses be instated for the victim articles, for instance a semi-protection?Requiem (talk) 04:41, 6 March 2021 (MSK)
- The amount of activity as of recent is entirely manageable and does not warrant additional action beyond simply reverting the changes which is trivial. There are no articles being targeted right now. Marphy (talk) 13:36, 6 March 2021 (MSK)
Request to Delete Flawed Pages[edit]
Administrator:
I'd like to request the deletion of a few mis-created pages, namely Main Page/zh and Template:Thumbnails/zh-hans.
Requiem (talk) 05:56, 19 April 2021 (MSK)
- I've deleted
Main Page/zh
and movedTemplate:Thumbnails/zh-hans
to Template:Thumbnail/zh-hans. Marphy (talk) 06:18, 19 April 2021 (MSK)
Request to deleted duplicated template Template:Headcrab Infobox zh-hans. Standardized template already exists at Template:Headcrab Infobox/zh-hans. Requiem (talk) 05:22, 14 December 2021 (MSK)
A bunch of 404 errors[edit]
Hi. I just want to inform you that in this entry, in its section for unused sounds in Episode One, the sound files are unplayable. I've checked the links to the file within the source code, and I've encountered 404 errors. Since for some reason the files are gone, guess you have to reupload them online from tcrf.net or the game's resources. 31.173.81.116 03:27, 11 August 2021 (MSK)
- Thanks for the report. These files were intentionally deleted a while back as part of the plan to offload all quote sounds to an external host, but as that process has been inactive for a while, I've restored these particular G-Man lines in the mean time as they're a particular curiosity among the bunch. Marphy (talk) 06:38, 12 August 2021 (MSK)
- Thank you for reuploading although the 6th, "not this time", is still missing 31.173.87.99 18:31, 12 August 2021 (MSK)
New possible Laidlaw email[edit]
Hi. A Reddit user claims to have received a message about Gearbox stuff from Laidlaw in 2008, he provides a screenshot:
https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/p17giw/comment/h8ccx1h/
I think it should be added to the unverified Laidlaw's emails article which is protected from anonymous editing 31.173.86.14 08:40, 13 August 2021 (MSK)
- Unless there are particularly special circumstances, we're aiming to decrease the number of unverified Marc Laidlaw emails, not add more. The email you linked doesn't convey anything that isn't already covered by Marc's existing unverified correspondence regarding Race X, so there's no big loss in excluding another email that's both unverified and redundant. Rather, this message could actually be of use if this user on Reddit would reach out to myself or any other wiki administrators to attempt to verify it, assuming it can be. Marphy (talk) 17:32, 13 August 2021 (MSK)
Cheat codes for console HLs[edit]
Hi. I've created the lists of cheat codes for console versions of Half-Life 1, check out the pages Half-Life (Dreamcast port) and Half-Life (PlayStation 2 port). I'm not sure whether it's appropriate to simply add those sections to the main articles, perhaps should be moved to subpages like Half-Life (Dreamcast port)/Cheats and Half-Life (PlayStation 2 port)/Cheats. Additonally, a couple of notes on my side:
1) I somehow never found a full list of cheat codes in a single source, be it GameFAQs or IGN, or whatever, I'm confused as to why. Guess nobody bothered to fully brute-force the codes' section in the DC HL leak?
2) in the Dreamcast port's cheatlist, the last chapter for Blue Shift section is a red link. Needs a redirect.
3) I don't know what the Get Well Soon Code does. Perhaps you do?
Additionally: Maybe you or someone else will create the pages/sections for the console Orange Boxes (PS3/Xbox 360) and original Xbox (HL2)? Although they'll probably require a separate page like List of cheats for the console versions of Orange Box games since there're no separate entries for those console versions (guess because unlike PS2 and DC versions of HL1, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions have no any notable differences). Or even create a page like List of cheats for the console versions of the Half-Life and Portal series' games and move DC and PS2 codes there as well?
Regardless, thanks for the attention 31.173.85.193 05:37, 14 August 2021 (MSK)
- I've formatted the list of Dreamcast cheats, and I'll do the same for the PS2 cheats in time. They're small enough additions that they're fine to include within the main articles. As for the DC cheat codes, the situation is complicated as there's conflicting information available, some of which has no clear source, and we're working with a leaked and incomplete build to verify it which is unreliable for a number of reasons. I'll look into this more later.
- As for cheats in the console versions of The Orange Box and HL2, I don't see why they couldn't be included in the main articles as well. They just need to find a spot to fit in. Marphy (talk) 09:11, 15 August 2021 (MSK)
Half-Life promotional disc for Dreamcast dumped by TOSEC project[edit]
Hi. I don't know if it's relevant or not to the wiki, but perhaps you might get interested and find a place to put some info in, some sort of a promotional Half-Life disc for Dreamcast, they say:
TOSEC project has just dumped it for their unverified GD-ROM images, unfortunately there's only one dumper, so it goes as unverified with a small possibility of badly dumped GD image, even though it says it was checked and works on an emulator:
https://archive.org/details/tosecdcunverified20190822
Goes under the "Half Life Video v0.800 (2000)(Havas Interactive)(NTSC-PAL)[White Label].zip"
I doubt that a single video can take 100+ MB, maybe there're other materials on the disc? Also, Havas Interactive is the same company that shot the movie HL: Uplink. Might be something interesting. Anyways, up to you now
31.173.86.13 23:29, 16 August 2021 (MSK)
- I checked the files on the disc, and it only has the video shown in that YouTube upload. I may upload a version of this video to the OverWiki channel since that upload is very low quality, but there's otherwise no additional info to be found here. Marphy (talk) 23:50, 16 August 2021 (MSK)
Why was Portal: For Science deleted?[edit]
It said it was for spam, but it's an actual eBook. Seriously, just search "Luke Arnott" in Amazon. — Unsigned comment by Logray
- Define "non-notable..." Like, I just created the article. I was planning to have it start small. If you want I can make it bigger, than release it. I'm fairly new to the concept of editing wikis. — Unsigned comment by Logray
About the Synth page[edit]
Hello, well, Synths were never called "biomechanical organisms", not once, it's the other way around actually. The "The Final Hours" statement strongly suggests they're robots, Backman was asked if striders are just creatures the combine jam machinery into, he replied: "No, they're scanned and recreated synthetically." If they recreated organic synthetics, they would still be creatures with machinery jammed into them, would they not?
However, I do have concrete evidence, Laidlaw states with all words in the book Raising the Bar that they're robots. That's what the book says: "One of the main new alien races in Half-Life 2 are the Synths, or “Synthetics," an all-encompassing term for the creatures the Combine uses as shock troops for its invasion force. Says Ted, "These were created or were taken over a long time in the past. The idea was to start them off like androids or synthetic creatures that have been enslaved by the Combine through their conquests and wars. They are not creatures at all. They are really synthetic things. They are robots, but they are self-replicating and they evolve." They are also called "Self-replicating robots that evolve" by Dhabih Eng, he also said: "When designing the Combine's larger creatures, it was necessary to keep in mind that these lumbering war machines were possibly once organic creatures-"
Even the game shows no evidence of them being organic, they literally explode and there's no blood, no guts, nothing. The only ones that might be organic are hunters, they might not even be synths, they might be the same as combine soldiers, they're the only ones that are vulnerable to gunfire and they bleed when shot, and the only ones that can be disintegrated by the energy balls, those only disintegrate organic stuff.
About Advisors, Advisor Pods are indeed synths, but not the advisors themselves, advisors shouldn't be on this list. Kol9 (talk) 04:50, 4 June 2022 (GMT-3)
- Here are the pages in the official Prima guide that state that Synths are "biomechanical organisms" (as opposed to the Combine's fully mechanical implements like Hunter-Choppers, Manhacks, Scanners, etc.) as well as specifying the Advisor as being a Synth: https://imgur.com/a/OBaHfdV
- Note that this information isn't just from the Half-Life 2 guide as this is all reiterated in the subsequent Episode One and Orange Box guides as well. The game guides represent the means in which the finalized storyline, plot details, and lore are conveyed to us. The problem with the Raising the Bar book is that it's all inherently covering pre-release development stages of the game, hence we have to take everything it says with a grain of salt. There's no way to truly be certain if the information revealed here is still relevant to the final product unless it's clearly restated or if it's straight up contradicted. In this case, the wording used to describe the Synths in Raising the Bar and the Prime guide are quite similar, yet the later released Prima guide goes out of its way to explicitly and unambiguously identify Synths as being biomechanical.
- As for a few other details: Hunters are indeed Synths (not only specified as such in the Orange Box guide but also in early previews, e.g. this), and The Final Hours of Half-Life Alyx does not call Synths "robots". In fact, the word "Synth" never appears in any of the games, in any of the developer commentary, or in the entirety of The Final Hours. The exceedingly little finalized information we know about Synths comes from the Prima guides, one of the only sources to even use that name.
- And finally, note that, despite not yet calling them "Synths", Half-Life 2 previews from as early as mid-2003 specified parts of the Combine race as being biomechanical. See here: "Doug introduced me to a host of new, biomechanical enemies." Marphy (talk) 11:33, 4 June 2022 (MSK)
Prima Guide is just a play guide, it's not a lore book, it is focused on gameplay information, it's hardly a reliable source. It states that shield scanners are equipped with a machine gun, does that make it true now? It states that headcrab shells are called "Parasite Bombs", even though they're called "Headcrab Canisters". It also calls Advisors "Overseers" This name was never mentioned anywhere by anyone ever. Advisors have also never been called Synths, Marc Laidlaw stated that their race evolved to be dependent on their technology.
It states about Advisor Pods: "It is thought that these vessels, are container pods that house Combine Advisors, although this theory is yet to be proved." Why would a book with access to official lore information talk about theories and not know if they're true? It also doesn't know if the advisor's physic blast is actually a psychic blast. It also doesn't know what Hunters are in episode 1. This book is not the result of proximity to the development of the game and interviews with the Devs.
Raising The Bar followed development up close and has interview quotes from the devs, Prima Guide does not, I have no reason to prioritize a gameplay book. Also, the book was released in 2004, the same year as Prima Guide and the same year Half Life 2 was released, Raising the bar also contains all the retail content. Episode 1 Prima is mostly a copy paste from hl2 prima, as well as Orange Box.
The link comment calls soldiers biomech troopers a line below, that doesn't prove he was talking about Synths.
Marc Laidlaw has an entire article talking about Synths and how he based them off of Bishop from aliens, why would he change mind all of a sudden just when the game was finished.
Also, this is stated in the book: Prima Games has made every effort to determine that the information contained in this book is accurate. However, the publisher makes no warranty, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, effectiveness, or completeness of the material in this book. Kol9 (talk) 20:16, 4 June 2022 (GMT-3)
- The information given in the Prima guides came directly from the developers themselves, including Marc Laidlaw. The guide's biography for Gordon, which is given in the same section that describes the Synths, is from Marc's own hands and dates back as far as April of 1998 (and then specifically updated again by Marc just for the guide), meaning the guide had access to all of the series' established storyline canon from the past half decade and beyond. If you're not going to accept the official and authorized guides which demonstrably sources the actual developers' final intent as being an official and authorized source, then there's little more to discuss here. This wiki is based on truth and accuracy as supported by citing facts from official sources which are independently verifiable by anyone who reads it. It is not an invitation to start speculating and fabricating theories based on conjecture and certifiably outdated information.
- And to reiterate the point further, the guides are a direct line to the developers' plans which were never indicated elsewhere and had no other way of being communicated. The original Half-Life Prima guide gave us the first use of the term "Vortigaunt" which never appeared in the game yet it became the alien race's ubiquitous title come the sequel. Marc Laidlaw himself is on record saying he worked on the guides, per his own words.
- Raising the Bar covers the pre-release development stages of the game, requiring us to take everything it says with a grain of salt. Blindly following everything it says at face value is why it was mistakenly assumed Half-Life 2 was set "10 years" after the events of the original game when Valve themselves would simply declare one day that it was actually "nearly two decades". It's just not reliable when it comes to conveying the developers' final intent, only an early stage of it.
- You say Marc Laidlaw based Synths on Bishop from Aliens, but the article itself correctly states this notion came from Ted Backman. You can't well argue a point if you're confused by your own cited information.
- The aforementioned CVG preview covered a closed door presentation that we had never seen, but thanks to the Half-Life 2 leak, we can trace every single event described in the article to the precise map that was being demonstrated. The "biomechanical enemies" match the description of the Combine's Synth enemies, including an accurate account of e3_terminal in which a "gargantuan biomech", which we can identify now as a Combine Guard, breaks down a door, and we know the Combine Guard is a Synth. The author was obviously being fed this information and terminology directly from Valve as he would not know names like Antlions, Scanners, Striders, and so forth at that time on his own.
- And for the record, all published Half-Life 2 media have verifiable errors, including Raising the Bar, and this is very well known. Raising the Bar describes concept art of a man with an eyeparch as being Doctor Eli Vance, yet by Marc Laidlaw's own vignette, the man with the eyepatch is Dr. Kleiner. This book is far from being above being littered with such errors. This comes up all the time, yet we can reasonably identify these inconsistencies and contradictions and account for them. However, nothing about the guides' descriptions regarding Synths suggests it being an error. Quite the opposite, as these descriptions (which, again, are reiterated through every subsequent version of the guides) remain consistent with what we know. Marphy (talk) 04:29, 5 June 2022 (MSK)
Hello, sorry for taking so long, I've away from my computer for quite some time.
I took another look at raising the bar and you are right, Ted Backman is really inconsistent in his statements, calling them robots, organic and inorganic. Shield Scanners were also mentioned as "bio-mechanical".
As you know, Marc Laidlaw stated that the book was wrong in calling antlion workers and guardians a subgenus and a genetic mutation, and said someone might have said that off the cuff, so that's a possibility for this book. There's also the claim that hunters are a modified strider, which Laidlaw didn't agree to be correct. There's also mistakes like Shield scanners being equipped with machine guns, headcrab shells being called "Parasite Bombs", claiming that Stalkers do not attack you, that it is a conjecture to call advisor pods "escape pods" and that it is a theory that they house advisors, when it was evidenced in-game, and who knows what else. Had Laidlaw not been asked about those first two, we would never know they are incorrect, I wouldn't take everything in this book blindly if I were you, not everything in there is reliable. He also states "Game guides are generally written in great haste and with varying amounts of input from the team" So not everything there has been verified by the devs.
I particularly don't believe advisors to be Synths, I don't see any reason to why they would be and they have never been hinted in any way to be. Kol9 (talk) 05:30, 12 November 2022 (GMT-3)
Hey[edit]
I apologize for the edit of the They Hunger page Dabu (talk) 07:26, 8 August 2022 (MSK)
Rolling my previous unregistered changes into my account[edit]
Hello. I haven't made many changes on the wiki over the years, but there still were some, including just recently, after which I decided to make an account. Is it possible to merge those edits with this account? And to have them then show signed by this acc, and not the IP? Cvoxalury (talk) 15:17, 27 September 2022 (MSK)
- Changing the user attribution on IP edits would require manually altering the database, and that's not something I have access to. While not impossible, unfortunately, I believe this request cannot be accommodated. Marphy (talk) 20:02, 27 September 2022 (MSK)
Orange Box soundtrack[edit]
Hey, I saw that you deleted my contribution about the Orange Box soundtrack being added to YouTube on December 7th. My source was that I saw it being uploaded with my own eyes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3vb5Fg0bss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKr1VjfXCx8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIYAPPE4x_Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8draeRBaEBQ etc. so I suggest the information be added back in.
--86.75.115.1 23:03, 14 December 2022 (MSK)
- Those videos aren't available in the US, so I can't see anything in your links. However, that's a moot point as I've already added a cited statement sourced from the label itself saying they've added the soundtrack to all streaming services, YouTube included. Marphy (talk) 02:50, 15 December 2022 (MSK)
OverWikiFiles' domain has expired[edit]
I hope you still have backups. --Ljcool2006 (talk) 01:29, 29 January 2023 (MSK)
Missing mods recreating original games and add-ons[edit]
Hi there. I think since there're articles on Guard Duty (mod) and Operation Black Mesa, then there possibly should be articles on other prominent mods recreating the content of the original games and expansion packs?
- Black Mesa: Blue Shift: [1]: a mod in development by "HECU Collective" and shouldn't be confused with Guard Duty by "Tripmine Studios". We will actually have 2 remakes for Blue Shift!
- Peer Review: [2]: a mod in development by "PSR Digital", recreating HL: Decay (the dev also has the recreated-on-source-engine Hazard Course and HL: Uplink available in Steam Workshop, links: [3], they probably need their separate articles as well)
- Project Lambda: [4]: a UE4 recreation of the tram ride from HL1
178.176.77.16 20:24, 18 April 2023 (MSK)
- Also, probably Black Mesa: Classic: [5]: a demake featuring Black Mesa maps reworked back from Source to GoldSrc engine. 178.176.72.58 00:00, 21 April 2023 (MSK)
- New articles can certainly be created for mods that are noteworthy, but we also wish to avoid becoming inundated with small, non-notable, or unreleased (and likely never will be) projects. We don't have an exact policy in place at the moment regarding this, but generally, the first go-to criteria checks are if the mod has actually been released or if it's received a great deal of recognition and notoriety, hence establishing notability even if not finished. Tripmine Studios' projects have garnered a lot of attention over the years, certainly fulfilling the latter criteria. Of the projects you listed, only Project Lambda has been released (and is really only a small asset demo which the creators have stated won't be developed further), but they're all relatively well known at this point, and Black Mesa: Blue Shift and Black Mesa: Classic have released playable demos which give the two more substance than most projects.
- That said, you're welcome to create these particular mod articles on your own. I always have numerous priorities on the wiki that need attending to, and I'm short on time, so I wouldn't be able to do it myself, but we certainly welcome and encourage you to start these pages, at least giving them the foundation that sufficient articles can be built from. Marphy (talk) 06:32, 22 April 2023 (MSK)
Half Life Pro SDK CD[edit]
Hey, would you be able to create an ISO rip of your half life SDK CD? would be a great addition for preservation, the versions online don't go below 2.1 and I have reason to believe the CD might be version 1.0 — Unsigned comment by Woxetaby
- I don't have an ISO version, but here are all of the files extracted from my pro SDK disc: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4X6_GM5D7D_VGlQVXhrTEUzZXc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-yLLvXyv0HOWbX1OtlsSlng
- However, as described in these tweets, the contents are nearly identical to the one of the publicly released versions of the SDK. There are a very small number of differences (which I don't have a list of on hand, unfortunately), but they're unfortunately extremely trivial. Marphy (talk) 23:16, 10 June 2023 (MSK)
The file uploading guide is broken[edit]
I don't know if you're the right person to ask about fixing this, but I couldn't find anyone else. So, the guide on https://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Special:Upload is a bit broken. It doesn't have anything for the location thingy, the links on the cat subject and cat type sections lead to a Russian 404 page, and I'm not sure if his is intended or not, but you're required to use the cat type thingy despite the guide recommending to only use it if "you are aware of how the image categorization system works". -Gulliblepikmin 01:44, 10 August 2023 (MSK)
- Thanks for the report. More updated guidelines for the Information template for uploaded media is located at the Information template page itself. Unfortunately, the text on the uploads page cannot be updated at this time. Marphy (talk) 06:42, 10 August 2023 (MSK)
HL:A weapon images[edit]
Hello, i wanted to ask this: Why haven't anyone uploaded images of the wepon (reference to John Freeman) upgrades yet? It would be really cool to see the upgrades in better detail Mhrtxn (talk) 17:54, 18 November 2023 (MSK)
- No such images have been uploaded because no one has made any such images yet. If you feel there's content absent from the wiki at the moment that warrants including, you and anyone else are free to contribute this material at your leisure. Marphy (talk) 18:13, 18 November 2023 (MSK)
New pages[edit]
Hello, am trying to make a new page about the VR pistol or the SIC Sawer P250 from E1M1 since i saw no page existed but i can't find where to make it, i need help Mhrtxn (talk) 17:33, 19 November 2023 (MSK)
- It's highly unlikely we need a new dedicated page on the VR pistol. Its role eventually evolved into the final game's Alyx's Gun, and the relevant information can simply be incorporated into the development/behind the scenes section of that article. Marphy (talk) 04:40, 22 November 2023 (MSK)
Unacceptable[edit]
Hello Marphy, you know me as the guy who uploaded those 144°p screenshots of the preorder skins. Due to what you said in the last edit of Alyx's pistol, i am angry at you. Listen, i know it was low quality and modded, but i ain't got valve index nor HL:A so i gotta use what i got, for example i used a youtube video to get the images you deleted. Am trying my hardest to update the Alyx weapon pages since it looks unfinished without images of the weapons with pre-order skins in-game, so please don't be too harsh with me — Unsigned comment by Mhrtxn
Wallace Breen's name Trivia[edit]
Hello. Why do you think the deleted trivia shouldn't be in the article? Most of the main cast all have BTS info on such things and it feels relevant enough. Perhaps at least a shortened version (without historical trivia) could be left in? Cvoxalury (talk) 18:52, 3 March 2024 (MSK)
- This sort of name trivia has been part of an ongoing removal pass for some time now, and there are still some such trivia points remaining on the wiki. Some characters do have behind the scenes information related to their names, such as Gordon, Adrian, Barney, and so forth. These have been directly stated by the developers as cited, so their relevancy is not in question. However, searching for the etymology of each individual first and last name is original research, and while such research can be warranted in cases, the issue is that stating the historical meaning and definitions of these names in the articles is presumptuous, effectively speculation. Unless actually stated by them, there's nothing to suggest that the developers put such thought and credence into the historical origins behind their name choices, hence this original research lacks pertinence to the wiki. For example, Odessa Cubbage's first and last names may pose some interesting historical connotations, but we know Marc chose it simply because he saw a funny name in his email's spam filter. Delving into and explaining the etymology of the name offers only speculative relevance. Marphy (talk) 03:32, 4 March 2024 (MSK)
Edits not saving[edit]
I'm not entirely sure if you're the one I should be asking about this, but for the past while I haven't been able to edit for more than a minute or two without getting the message "Sorry! We could not process your edit due to a loss of session data. You might have been logged out. Please verify that you're still logged in and try again. If it still does not work, try logging out and logging back in, and check that your browser allows cookies from this site." when trying to save an edit. Might you happen to know what could be causing this? -Gulliblepikmin 00:35, 30 May 2024 (MSK)
- Has this issue been able to significantly impede your ability to make edits? I've experienced this error message as well, but I simply had to press "save changes" again and the edit would successfully go through. This is an inconvenience, but it's a very minor one. So far, the problem hasn't warranted immediate action since it's trivial to get by, but if you're having more severe consequences like completely losing edits or never being able to get an edit through at all even when trying to save it a second time, we'll have to investigate it more urgently. Marphy (talk) 05:28, 30 May 2024 (MSK)
- It's been more of a large annoyance than anything else as I can copy the page data and edit summary to temporary notepad tabs, and can thankfully just press my web browser's "go back a page" button to re-access my edit for copying in the event that I do get the "Sorry! We could not process your edit" message. The reason I reported it in the first place was due to being unsure if it was a problem only on my end or not. -Gulliblepikmin 16:23, 30 May 2024 (MSK)
- To be clear, do you completely lose your edits when this error message appears? Are you getting logged out when it happens? When it occurs for me, I still remain logged in, and my edit is still saved. The edit itself just simply doesn't go through, hence only needing to press "save changes" again to finally make it live. I have not experienced it myself in a while, so I can't replicate what I was experiencing back then (and what you're experiencing right now). Marphy (talk) 02:55, 31 May 2024 (MSK)
- I seem to be experiencing what you're experiencing, or at least something similar to it. Next time I make a large edit I'll check if the "save it again" option works. -Gulliblepikmin 03:51, 31 May 2024 (MSK)
Help for adding Images of HL:SDK and Recent Max Leak Content[edit]
Hi there, I'm a New user who's been thinking of Adding Images of Content from Both the HL:SDK and The Recent .max File Leak that occured back in April. I'm considering this since I've seen people on the Old Facepunch forums show off content in the SDK that doesn't seem to be mentioned on the Wiki. (Such as Ted Backmann Barney being in the c2a4_sterilzer .Max Files (Despite the Animations being already mentioned on the Advanced Biological Research Lab Page), The Revised "Wide Eyes" Barney making up most of the 3ds max Files for Barney Along with the Old Shotgun and RPG Viewmodels (The rpg .max files happen to be broken while the .SMD file Appears Fine) plus i've seen Other stuff not yet mentioned when i went through the .max Files myself). Some Places of this info being mentioned include these Posts - https://web.archive.org/web/20160607143108/https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1253345&page=120 (At the Bottom of the Page) / https://web.archive.org/web/20181016003037mp_/https://forum.facepunch.com/games/ujfl/Half-life-2-Cut-Content-Is-it-me-or-dose-the-cut-content-look-better-than-what-we-got/160/#postypdjt (Version on the Newer Forums) as well as this one Where It shows the RPG_launcher.smd plus another Old Barney Render. - https://web.archive.org/web/20190612095724mp_/https://forum.facepunch.com/games/sqrb/VALVE-CUT-CONTENT-V2-1-Digging-through-Valve-s-trash-since-2003/23/#postnqcrp
Now for taking Images of this Content (Plus the 2024 .max File StufF) for the Overwiki, I wonder how to handle this Stuff image-wise? (i don't know if GIMP is alright to be used as an Alternative for Photoshop or InfranView) Any Suggestion on how to present this Content are welcome as i'm unsure of how to showcase the max file stuff.--HoodwinkedHalfLifeFan (talk) 12:38, 2 July 2024 (MSK)
Opps! Just to be clear, I was only trying to add a timestamp but ended duplicating the above post unintentionally. --HoodwinkedHalfLifeFan (talk) 13:43, 2 July 2024 (MSK)
- What issues in particular are you having with the images here? Capturing them in the right format? Determining the best settings and way to present of the content? I'll say that a great deal of this content is extremely technical and esoteric in nature. While these are interesting findings, it's difficult to illustrate in a clear manner to the average reader what they're supposed to be seeing in an untextured model that looks nearly identical to another existing model. Marphy (talk) 08:32, 4 July 2024 (MSK)
Brazilian Portuguese interwiki[edit]
I tried to put a interwiki link on Half-Life for the Half-Life/pt-br page I just made and it didn't work, I guess it just needs to be allowed by an administrator, so can you do that, please? Tusk Act Minus 1 (talk) 05:08, 23 August 2024 (MSK)
- Support for the Brazilian Portuguese language ("pt-br" prefix) has been added. Marphy (talk) 06:39, 23 August 2024 (MSK)
Should I only use official translated names for creatures? Like using Chupa-Crânio for Headcrabs but keeping Houndeye as Houndeye, and if it's something simple to translate or a title instead of a name like the Bug from Xen or Antlion King (Antlion has an official translation) can I make the page's name the translated version or should I like use the English name and put a literal translation in front of the first mention of the name, something like this: O Antlion King (Formiga-Leão Rei) é uma Formiga-Leão de seis olhos cortada de Half-Life 2. Tusk Act Minus 1 (talk) 03:01, 15 September 2024 (MSK)
- If an official translated name exists, use that where applicable. If no official translated name exists, then unfortunately I can't say there's one consistent rule than can be followed since there are going to be many exceptions and edge cases to deal with. I'd say your suggested approach is a sensible means to go about handling such names. Marphy (talk) 17:50, 15 September 2024 (MSK)
Transmissions: Element 120[edit]
Hi, I recently made an edit to a couple of pages for the mod. Is there much point in keeping information about the achievements separate from the main page? It seems extremely redundant because of how bare-bones the central article already is, and in my opinion, it'd be a good idea to follow the same procedure as the other games' pages for general consistency. Cheers. Georgian Bankrobber (talk) 17:57, 12 September 2024 (MSK)
- The full list of achievements is a long and fixed table of information that's largely extraneous to the encyclopedic documentation of the subject (more akin to a game guide) that also takes up an inordinate amount of space in an article. It was decided some time ago to relegate these lengthy and intrusive tables to their own dedicated subpages so as to not overwhelm their base pages. Of the achievements we currently have listed on the wiki so far, the only article that acts as an exception to this rule is Portal: Still Alive, and this particular subject matter is exceptionally minimal when it comes to material to cover (although, as noted, the article could still use some illustrative images). The Transmissions: Element 120 article you brought the achievements back over to is a much bigger topic that offers a fair amount of information to cover, and while a mod is not as substantial a topic as one of the full commercial titles, there's certainly more the article could be doing right now (including adding images, again as already noted). Just as they would prove to do so in most other articles, placing the complete achievements list here would unnecessarily take up a disproportionate amount of article space. For now, the most likely course of action related to these achievement tables would be to move the Portal: Still Alive achievements to their own subpage rather than undo how the majority of dedicated achievement subpages have already been set up. Marphy (talk) 01:10, 13 September 2024 (MSK)