I've played Black Mesa when it was still released as a fan project and not a standalone game for sale. (And probably to rake in some extra cash, because it doesn't needed much work anyway.) Without any, or just minior tweaks necessary. Valve said any GoldSrc game can easily be ported to the new Source engine. Half-Life: Source was/is more like a demonstration. no gameplay/level/bugfix overhaul projects exist as far as I'm aware. the vanilla game also has a hires pack, but the youtube vids didn't impress me. Notes: looks like the community is still patching the old WON version, but didn't check it myself (haven't seen my HL1 cd for a long time and I can't be bothered to sail through piratebay). definitely not your cup of tea if you want classic. Black Mesa is recommended only if you specifically seek what it offers - playing HL1 through HL2 glasses (yes, I repeat myself sometimes). if you don't care about that, the steam port is also perfectly fine. So, which one to pick? I'd probably go for Half-Life Source if you want the classic with just a bit more pepper on the top, the gameplay is vanilla, and the few (engine) fixes are enjoyable. some are ok, some are definitely inferior, and some are straight out of the bad fan mission territory. all voiceovers are new, even ones that did not need replacing. unwanted new music that doesn't really fit.
#Xash3d half life physics full
ran into some annoying friendly AI bugs (would not expect that from the full steam version). a lot of deviations from vanilla on every field. plays like, well, HL2 running the HL1 story. as mentioned, this is a complete reimagining of HL1 using the HL2 engine (and background). max mouse sensitivity way too low, time for cfg editing again. no support for Opposing Force or Blue Shift. could really use a set of higher res textures and objects with more polys to feel more in line with the updated engine. shoddy ragdoll effects, I'd take the classic death animations over this any day, sloped surfaces be damned. few unnecessary additional effects, making some stuff look shiny where not really appropriate. the single most annoying HL1 thing fixed, the bloody physics interactions on pushable/pullable objects.
improved AI pathfinding, much appreciated. feels and plays very close to the classic game. the classic game ported into the Source engine. mouse seems much less smooth than the old non steam version, time to go edit cfgs I guess. only opengl and software, d3d support has apparently been dropped (along with the ultra legacy stuff like 3dfx minigl and powervr sgl). one ugliness is that they've couldn't be bothered to actually render the main menu background image in widescreen for some reason.
#Xash3d half life physics plus
this is the classic game, plus 32bit rendering, widescreen support and steam integration, that's pretty much it. gave about half a hour each, and here's what I've got As ports, remakes, reboots and stuff are all the rage lately, I've decided to have quick look at all the Half-Lives available (steam summer sale making this a very cheap endeavor) - Half-Life (steam), Half-Life Source, and Black Mesa.