About the Game
Relive Half-Life
Black Mesa is the fan-made reimagining of Valve Software’s Half-Life.
Black Mesa: Definitive Edition
Update 1.5 brings together all the improvements to graphics and gameplay across 15 years of development to create the final version of Black Mesa. There has never been a better time to pick up the crowbar and play!
Single Player Campaign
You are Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist at the Black Mesa Research Facility. When a routine experiment goes horribly wrong, you must fight your way through an interdimensional alien invasion, and a bloodthirsty military clean-up crew in order to save the science team... and the world!
Features
A completely reimagined and refined single player campaign, including all new and expanded Xen levels
19 chapters of fighting through top-secret labs, running atop harsh desert landscapes, sneaking into abandoned railways, and leaping across dimensions
Mind-Blowing graphics and effects, never before seen on the Source Engine
Face off against an army of classic enemies, updated with new features and engaging AI
Wield an arsenal of military hardware, scientific prototypes, and the iconic crowbar through incredibly detailed environments
The all-new soundtrack and voice acting create a more immersive experience than ever before
50 Fun and challenging achievements
Multiplayer
Frag your friends across 10 iconic maps from the Half-Life universe, including:
Bounce
Gasworks
Stalkyard
Undertow
Crossfire
Workshop
Create your own mods, models, and maps with the Black Mesa Source SDK, then share it with the community on the Steam Workshop.
Steamworks
Collect the full set of trading cards, backgrounds, emoticons, and achievements! Featuring Steam Cloud, Steam Workshop, closed captions in multiple languages and full controller support.
Screenshots
19 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
Hello Scientists! We've deployed a hotfix surrounding issues recently reported to improve your experience around the facility.
Changelist:
Resolved a rare issue that prevented the game from launching and triggered a 'Failed to load the Launcher DLL' error in specific scenarios.
Hello Scientists! We've deployed a hotfix surrounding issues recently reported to improve your experience around the facility.
Changelist:
Replaced old bone separation logic for ragdolls with a trace-based solver that resolves occluded or embedded bones:
Ensures hierarchy-correct traversal by sorting bones by tree depth before applying fixes.
Uses trace normals and parent-to-child constraints to reposition bones without excessive separation.
Scales inherited velocity by mass ratio and biases resolution based on contact direction.
Added debug overlay (r_debug_ragdoll_separation_solver) for visualizing correction passes.
Minor cleanup of redundant vector normalization and more consistent use of safe math.
Fixed incorrect animation state when unarmed in multiplayer.
Fixed grenade fuse continuing after the owner's death in multiplayer matches.
New DLL directory resolution functions are now enabled by default for improved security and compatibility.
Added support for the -disablenewdlldirectoryfunctions flag to disable SetDefaultDllDirectories and related APIs, allowing an alternative (legacy) DLL loading codepath.
Significantly improved Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM) quality in applicable materials.
Enabled Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM) functionality in ToGL.
Fixed normal mapping issues related to the dynamic lighting on Brush-based geometry,
Bundled a minimal set of required runtime dependencies from:
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (VC++ 10.0) SP1 Runtime
Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 (VC++ 12.0) Runtime
Microsoft DirectX End-User Runtime
LunarG Vulkan Runtime and Loader
Updated DXVK (Windows) to version 2.6.2,
Added -enableprocesspowerthrottlingstate flag. By default, setting the process power throttling state is disabled unless this flag is specified.
Hello Scientists! We've deployed a hotfix surrounding issues recently reported to improve your experience around the facility.
Changelist:
Replaced old bone separation logic for ragdolls with a trace-based solver that resolves occluded or embedded bones:
Ensures hierarchy-correct traversal by sorting bones by tree depth before applying fixes.
Uses trace normals and parent-to-child constraints to reposition bones without excessive separation.
Scales inherited velocity by mass ratio and biases resolution based on contact direction.
Added debug overlay (r_debug_ragdoll_separation_solver) for visualizing correction passes.
Minor cleanup of redundant vector normalization and more consistent use of safe math.
Fixed incorrect animation state when unarmed in multiplayer.
Fixed grenade fuse continuing after the owner's death in multiplayer matches.
New DLL directory resolution functions are now enabled by default for improved security and compatibility.
Added support for the -disablenewdlldirectoryfunctions flag to disable SetDefaultDllDirectories and related APIs, allowing an alternative (legacy) DLL loading codepath.
Significantly improved Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM) quality in applicable materials.
Enabled Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM) functionality in ToGL.
Fixed normal mapping issues related to the dynamic lighting on Brush-based geometry,
Bundled a minimal set of required runtime dependencies from:
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (VC++ 10.0) SP1 Runtime
Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 (VC++ 12.0) Runtime
Microsoft DirectX End-User Runtime
LunarG Vulkan Runtime and Loader
Updated DXVK (Windows) to version 2.6.2,
Added -enableprocesspowerthrottlingstate flag. By default, setting the process power throttling state is disabled unless this flag is specified.
Changelist:
- Resolved IVP related crashes in the "Office Complex" chapter when resuming from a save file. This fix potentially safeguards other chapters from having similar crashes.
- Potentially fixed cases of Alt+Tab related crashes.
- Fixes to startup related crashes
- Fixes to physics engine related crashes
- Steam Deck Improvements
- Linux Improvements
Full patch notes:
- Relaxed triangle vertex validation in ToGL to accept structurally valid input even when geometry is ambiguous, resolving various graphical issues in Studio MDL models
- Resolved crashes in Hammer and HLMV when rendering high-quality models by increasing vertex buffer limits to match those defined in the original model format
- Resolved a crash that occurred during the mortar sequence at the end of the Gargantua chase in the Surface Tension chapter
- Fixed an issue where func_rotating entities would unexpectedly stop spinning after a certain amount of time on some maps
- Recompiled all weapon models using the updated Studio Model Compiler to prevent visual glitches caused by incorrect or outdated tangent data
- Updated bundled DXVK (Windows) to version 2.6.1
- Added support for models with a total vertex count exceeding 65535, lifting the previous global limit
- Added hit feedback sound effects during multiplayer combat
- Removed ALL false positive virus reports (according to VirusTotal)
- Refined conflict resolution logic for configuration overrides, especially when auto-configuration clashes with cloud-synced settings
- Shadow Quality Mode can now correctly be set to Ultra, without enabling unsupported features
- Updated bundled DXVK (Windows) to version 2.6
- Fixed secondary camera views rendering incorrectly on brush models
- Adjusted CSM depth bias to improve shadow precision on ToGL
- Enabled God Rays on ToGL
- Revised pickup and run mechanics for smoother player interaction
- Significantly improved ToGL binary shader cache, now enabled by default, resulting in faster load times after the first run
- Resolved Soft Particles rendering artifacts, which were especially noticeable on ToGL
- Fixed behavior of Environment Map Masks in ToGL, where all surfaces were forcibly marked as bump-mapped to reduce shader combinations and work around engine limitations
- Fixed auto-aim logic when the player is unarmed
- General auto-aim tweaks to improve accuracy and consistency
- Fixed certain 4-way blended materials appearing black in ToGL
- Completed a full validation pass to ensure all materials are well-formed and error-free within the Material System
- Reduced rendering path discrepancies between Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA for improved consistency across GPUs
- Added dismissable Rogue Point call to action at main menu
- Improved stability of the Hit Sounds system
- Fixed incorrectly displayed blinking overlays on brush models in ToGL
- Suppressed display of God Rays Disks appearing through walls in ToGL
- Bumped shader cache version for ToGL
- Added snd_mixahead to auto-config and updated auto-config version
- Linux build now uses stricter floating-point math for improved stability
- Improved IVP stability by introducing coordinate sanitization in key areas
- Fixed Hit Sound system functionality under the Old UI
- Fixed a regression affecting Model and Particle browsers in Hammer after the Secondary Camera fix
- Addressed display issues causing waterfall flickering in Xen
- Introduced a slight vertical offset on teleport to prevent instant ground collision
- Fixed a crash occurring in the Nihilanth encounter on Linux
- Improved overall performance on Linux, with noticeable gains in the Lambda Core teleport puzzle
- Introduced Vulkan layer exclusion rules to prevent certain startup crashes with DXVK
- StudioMDL now attempts to generate VTX files with legacy indexing for improved tool compatibility
- Prevented crashes in the New UI when encountering unusual server names
- Improved runtime stability by reviewing and fixing cases of unsafe use of short-lived data, including uninitialized variables affecting server-side ragdolls.
- Introduced force limit on gibs from damage to prevent excessive speeds during explosions.
- Resolved an issue that caused the settings to crash due to concurrent exclusive access to the internal game save file during gameplay.
- Fixed the missing "_back" cable texture set, addressing visual inconsistencies.
- Thanks to npc_pigeon, narkvic, and the community for their efforts in identifying the solution. These additional files effectively mitigate the engine's error messages about missing VMT files, enhancing overall performance in scenarios featuring moving ropes. This is particularly noticeable during the rocket elevator sequence in "On A Rail."
- Aligned the Vertex Format in the Skin GBuffer shader with that of the Prop GBuffer shader to ensure consistency across shaders handling similar data.
- Updated backup code for statically lit bump-mapped props, ensuring that props are marked as non-statically lit if the static lighting checksum does not match, preventing lighting artifacts.
- Recompiled all Inbound Tram models using the newer Studio Model Compiler to resolve tangent-related issues and improve visual fidelity.
- Enhanced the Job Pool to support more than 16 threads, optimizing performance for multithreaded tasks.
- Updated DX Support Autoconfig to align Intel/AMD GPUs with NVIDIA, ensuring that the game launches at 1080p by default instead of a low 4:3 resolution like 640x480.
- Introduced functionality to automatically run auto-configuration if the configuration version differs, ensuring that every installation reconfigures itself on the first launch after an update.
- Addressed various issues within the game, resulting in improvements in several areas. Feedback from players who opted into previous beta tests indicates that the sporadic crashing they experienced has been resolved.
Be sure to let us know how things are working!
Well this has been excruciating. We apologize for any scares and the inconvenience of having the game get reported as a virus.
We have fixed the issue and also put up a number of other patches! Here are the patch notes:
Antivirus False Positive FIXED!
We’ve implemented a temporary fix to stop antivirus programs flagging bms.exe as a false positive. We have a permanent fix in the works, so that this issue will not happen again.
Downloading the update is all you need to do to have the game NOT get reported by your antivirus or Windows Defender (sometimes you have to restart Steam).
Temporary Removal of DXVK
As a result of our antivirus hotfix, we had to temporarily disable DXVK as a launch option. We plan to bring this back online as soon as possible in a future patch.
Improved Controller Support
- Fixed an issue which prevented some Steam Deck users from climbing ladders or using trams
- Fixed an issue where custom controller bindings were not persisting
- Fixed an issue where controller camera movement would not obey iron sights sensitivity
- Reworked Gyro Aim which is now handled separately in accordance with Steam Input best practices
- Also added “in_gyro_look_yaw_sensitivity” and “in_gyro_look_pitch_sensitivity” console commands for controlling gyro sensitivity.
- Revamped default controller layouts:
- Official Layout for Black Mesa - Standard Controls. Our official bindings for devices without gyro support
- Official Layout for Black Mesa - Standard Controls. Our official bindings for devices with gyro support
- Official Layout for Black Mesa - Steam Deck Controls. Our official bindings for Steam Deck, adding trackpad support for the main menu
- New Steam Input Game Actions:
- “Quick tripmine” - for quickly placing tripmines.
- “Quick frag” - for quickly throwing frags.
- “Use crowbar” - for quick crowbar switching.
- “Quick tripmine” - for quickly placing tripmines.
- Added a console command, “steam_input_show_bindings” which will bring up the Steam Input configurator via the Steam Overlay.
- A helpful guide on controller troubleshooting with Steam can be found here
Gameplay
- Fixed an issue where auto-aim would aim at items the player was holding (like ground sentries)
- Adjusted auto aim values in skill.cgf to have a longer range and be more magnetic
Dedicated Server Fix Soon
- Still testing internally but we did fix:
- Build process for dedicated servers (a compile switch was missing)
- This should resolve some crashing issues with dedicated servers
Auto-Aim
As mentioned in the patch notes, we completely overhauled the auto-aim feature within the game. This can be configured by changing console settings in the game. Details here.
If you would like to change the settings for the auto-aim permanently, all you have to do is go to Black Mesa\bms\cfg\skill.cfg and edit the numbers at the bottom of the text file.
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8672783/98517dc2a112094de272bd117c08e3fedd0d580a.jpg
We are interested to hear what people think of the auto-aim (most of us are terrible at playing the game with controllers).
Known Issues
Video Settings Crash
We are aware that if you change certain video settings WHILE in game, it can crash the game to the main menu and not let you resume the autosave it just created. We are looking into this!
Some UI Elements Need Localization
New HUD elements and controller options need to be localized
Invalid Game Configuration
If you get a message like below, simply restart Steam and re-launch the game.
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8672783/f7939bb3e51f0c489d0bd109d6b02b7a0936fa32.png
Previous Necro Patch Notes:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/362890/view/4174347361777844150
Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thanks to everyone who helped us test AGAIN.
We’ve just released an update to Black Mesa. Our goal was to improve performance, improve controller support, and fix a number of issues, without breaking your save files.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/
Here are the patch notes!
Key Updates
- Improved performance of the game (Vulkan, UI optimization, New Renderer/New Post Post Process Optimization)
- Fixed cases where game would crash on startup
- Fixed UI flickering and artifacting
- Fixed crash in the first map of Interloper that players were experiencing
- Improved controller support using Steam Input
- -Click here for detailed notes on adjusting controller support
- Fixed hitch when weapon decals are first applied to gun
- Re-enabled weapon decals by default
Rendering/Performance
- Ported the game to DXVK 2.3.1 (first launch option)
- Performance enhancements have been implemented for the New Renderer and New Post-Process systems, particularly noticeable in scenes featuring water
- Fixed moss shaders and direction control for both vertex lit shader and skin shader (for props with/without phong)
- Fixed halflambert/warp/specwarp related problems across all the shaders
- Unlocked the even higher graphics setting in options menu
- The lighting quality settings in the New UI have been updated to reflect recent changes.
- Monitors and refract views can now leverage the New Renderer features
- God Rays support has been added for the sun and local lights
- -Note: God Rays are intentionally turned off for monitors and reflection views
- Improved the blending quality of normal maps within 4-way blending
- SpotLight cookies should now work on any orientation. Cookie sprite sheet no longer needs to be square.
- Black Mesa now requests high-performance power management on Windows, which should reduce power throttling impacting performance
- Implemented the ability to dump environment variables (-dumpenvironment launch option), assisting in resolving potential issues
- Lots of misc graphics fixes
- Disabled CPU-based backface culling for Func_Brush models
- Disabled CSM for viewmodels for secondary cameras
- Fixed flicker near Light Volume edges
- Fixed Xog artifacts with cheaper water
Controller Support
Controller support for Black Mesa has now been given the love and attention it has been seeking. Black Mesa now fully supports and integrates with Steam Input, allowing both us as developers and you as the community to create your own custom controller bindings and share them!
With Steam Input now implemented, we now have partial support the following devices:
- Xbox Controllers
- Playstation Controllers
- Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers
- We have also implemented proper Gyro support for Steam Deck!
To get started, simply navigate to the Steam Controller Layout configurator and select one of our official layouts and hit 'Apply Layout'.
Details on how to use it here.
User Interface
- Modified the Game/UI rendering synchronization, aiming for stable UI presentation across all three available modes
- Updated the UI frame limiter logic to enhance the smoothness of frame pacing, which was particularly noticeable when vertical synchronization was active
- Improved performance by optimizing the texture lock implementation within the UI
- Resolved the issue where the UI occasionally failed to render at full size after resolution adjustments
- Fixed alpha blending of UI with background map
- Added a number of missing translators, including the 2012 mod translators (need to track down a list of who did what language)
Bug Fixes
- Interloper A crash fix
- Resolved the issue where the Tau Canon would crash upon the owner's demise
- Addressed a potential hang issue upon exiting the game
- A reflection bug involving Xen fog at extreme angles has been fixed
- Transparency issues in fake water have been resolved, and it now supports New Renderer, New Post-Process, and CSM
- Resolved outline artifacts present in alpha-tested materials
- Resolved an issue where view models were improperly identified within one shader, leading to lighting and shadow inconsistencies
- Fixed a bug related to the Diffuse Warp when using more than eight slots in the atlas
- Fixed a Workshop Client issue related to double initialization, which had the potential to cause crashes
Known Issues
- Alt-Tabbing while using Vulkan can sometimes crash the game
- Anti-virus can sometimes flag the game as malicious even though it is not (we’ll see what we can do about this)
- Minor UI overlap errors on some ultra wide monitors
- Some UI elements need localization
Next, we may look into more robust fixes that might break saves and switching over Linux support to Proton, but we don’t have a timeline for that.
Blue Shift
Also, here is a sneak peak at what the HECU Collective has been up to with Black Mesa: Blue Shift. Check out their ModDB page and Discord for the latest news on their amazing work!
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8672783/66ef4435f0922c72a337233bb0d03ab5237126be.jpg
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8672783/2a36c5e776a19330f1e1ee7b57ba465a4f7b1385.jpg
More to come. Thanks to our community for all the help testing and bug reporting! This went very smoothly thanks to your work.
Hope everyone is having a great spring!
Discord
Current Release
Not available
System Requirements
How to Install
setup.exe
Troubleshooting tips
• Run Redist/_CommonRedist installers if game won't start
• Add folder to Windows Defender exclusions
• Run as administrator
Download
Direct link available
9.2 GB
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Download Black Mesa for PC with a direct link or via torrent. Get the full version of Black Mesa for free. Black Mesa is a Action released by Crowbar Collective.