Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life: Alyx
Developer: Valve Publisher: Valve Platforms: Windows, Linux Released internationally: March 23, 2020 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused objects. This game has unused models. This game has unused cinematics. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material.

To do: A lot left over from Half-Life 2 and its episodes. Personal files left by developers. Much more to be discovered. All the leftovers should probably be on a subpage of its own. npc_headcrab_fast entity. Document the now patched-out content in the Day One release. Document the unused content in the Mod Tools.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

The long-awaited Half-Life: Alyx takes place roughly 5 years before the events of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, and is Valve's first major installment in Virtual Reality. It features the perspective of the series' very own Alyx Vance as she embarks on a journey to save the human race, deprived of a crowbar and forced to settle on a pair of lackluster Russells.

Subpages

Unused Models From Half-Life 2 leftovers, to placeholders, all the way back to prototypes, this page has it all.

Unused Entities

Unused Weapons

Tripmine

There is a version of the tripmine that can be placed on a wall by a player. It was created specifically to be used by the player because it will not spawn properly if placed on a wall in the editor.

Unused Text

Loading screen text

Some text strings which were meant to be shown during the loading screens can be found in hlvr_english.txt.

// Game Tips
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_COUNT"		"22"
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_1"		"THE CITADEL, THE COMBINE'S super-structure, is currently under construction."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_2"		"GRAVITY GLOVES: Russell invented the gloves to pull items towards from far away — even those attached to enemies."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_3"		"RESIN: The Combine use resin to construct weapons and other technologies."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_4"		"WEAPONS: You can quickly switch between your hand and previous weapon by tapping the weapon selection button."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_5"		"TIP: Store extra items by placing them in the locations near your wrists."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_6"		"THE BLACK MESA INCIDENT: A failed experiment with an alien substance created the disastrous event known as THE RESONANCE CASCADE."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_7"		"XEN: Portal storms, a byproduct of THE RESONANCE CASCADE, have allowed aliens, creatures, spores and fauna to teleport to Earth."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_8"		"BLACK MESA is a former research facility whose experiments accidentally opened an interdimensional rift between Earth and a borderworld called Xen."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_9"		"THE RESISTANCE: Still in its infancy, the RESISTANCE is an anti-Combine insurgency led by former BLACK MESA researcher DR. ELI VANCE and his daughter ALYX."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_10"		"HUMAN LIFE: Humans have been unable to conceive since THE COMBINE established a GLOBAL SUPPRESSION FIELD."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_11"		"THE SEVEN HOUR WAR: Earth's surrender to THE COMBINE was negotiated by DR. WALLACE BREEN, the administrator of BLACK MESA."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_13"		"GORDON FREEMAN: prevented a XEN invasion during THE BLACK MESA INCIDENT. He has been missing ever since."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_14"		"THE COMBINE completely subsume their host subjects during the creation of a new entity."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_15"		"THE SEVEN HOUR WAR. THE COMBINE used the rift opened by THE BLACK MESA INCIDENT to travel to Earth and occupy the entire planet in a single confrontation."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_16"		"HEADCRABS: The nature of the relationship between the Headcrab and its host is still not fully understood."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_17"		"BLACK MESA: ALYX VANCE'S mother did not survive THE BLACK MESA INCIDENT."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_18"		"VORTIGAUNTS: Once enslaved by THE COMBINE, THE VORTS share a singular consciousness."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_19"		"BLACK MESA: ALYX VANCE was an infant during THE BLACK MESA INCIDENT."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_20"		"BLACK MESA: ELI VANCE worked and lived with his family at BLACK MESA when THE RESONANCE CASCADE occurred."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_21"		"QUARANTINE ZONES: The rift opened by the BLACK MESA INCIDENT has allowed alien flora and fauna from the XEN borderworld to infest localized areas of Earth. These areas have since been quarantined."
"HLVR_LOADING_SCREEN_TIP_22"		"THE COMBINE: Nobody knows where they come from or the nature of their ultimate goal."

Additional strings further down the file categorize these blurbs according to which maps they should show up in, with every map save for the last four (a4_c17_water_tower through a5_ending) being accounted for. One string shows up in this section that isn't listed above:

"CITY 17: A former cosmopolitan city, CITY 17 is now home to THE COMBINE'S human administration."

Partially Unused Video

intro_world_heist

The video call from Eli is cut off around the 46-second mark, leaving 6 seconds unseen in-game.

Developer Tools

An earlier manifest in the Half-Life: Alyx Steam depot was discovered to have developer tools used by Valve for debugging purposes. This manifest no longer exists on the server, however, backups have been made.

No VR mode

There is a version of the engine DLL that allows the game to be run with the novr parameter, allowing the game to run without a VR headset. With a little bit of fixing, the game can be run on a standard display with mouse and keyboard controls. However, since the game was built from the ground up as a VR title, most of the VR functions will not function. This leaves the game impossible to complete via normal means. It was most likely meant to quickly test aspects of the game without having to put on a headset each time.

(Source: Valve News Network)

Half-Life 2 Weapons

In novr mode, it is possible to spawn all of the Half-Life 2 weapons. They were most likely ported to Source 2 to test interactions with the environment and enemies.

(Source: Valve News Network)

Personal Folders

There exist several folders scattered throughout the game files which are titled "Personal". These folders contain different developer's names and multiple "test" files, and may have been a designated area for developers to test their own content.

readonly_tools_asset_info.bin

A file called readonly_tools_asset_info.bin was discovered to have a plethora of data relating to files that had been removed from the game. It includes the names of each file, their path, and the size, however, it doesn't contain the actual files themselves. A link to this file is below.

Download Half-Life: Alyx readonly_tools_asset_info.bin File: HLA_Readonly_tools_asset_info.7z (3.5MB) (info)

It is possible to force the development tools to read the data from this file, which will cause the built-in asset browser to display the contents as if they existed in the release build (without the actual data, of course). In order to enable the functionality, replace the existing readonly_tools_asset_info.bin in the hlvr folder and add this line to gameinfo.gi:

disable_readonly_assets 0

Oddities

Headset Model Name

At the beginning of the game, a drone hands Alyx a headset and it tells her to put it on. Internally, this headset's model name is "commentary_node.vmdl".

In November 2020, this made more sense when Developer Commentary mode was released, and, sure enough, the commentary nodes were glowing orange radio headsets. Valve intended to ship the game with developer commentary included, hence the model's presence and usage in the base game, but the chaos of moving to work-from-home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in them deferring it until later in order to get the game released on time.

(Source: ecumber05)

(Source: Valve)

Health Syringe Parameter

One of the health syringe's parameters is "Physgun can ALWAYS pick up. No matter what." This is a leftover parameter from the original Source engine, explicitly used by the func_physbox entity to handle its interactions with the Gravity Gun.

(Source: ecumber05)

Unseen Melon

Since Half-Life 2, the developers have been placing melons in maps of the series. In Half-Life: Alyx, there is one melon in the game, although it is hidden and can't be seen via normal means. It was discovered by YouTuber MarphitimusBlackimus.

(Source: MarphitimusBlackimus)