User talk:Klow

Archived talk: 1, 2, 3

Steam Group?
I see the Wiki has a Steam Group now, which must be new. I have joined it, I'm SScagnetti.--YabbaMyIcing 03:27, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I created it yesterday, to spread the word. ;-) You'll also see that the automatic welcomes are doing fine, and signed by the last connected admin. Klow 03:43, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh that's awesome. I have just looked at one or two but I think the layout is great. It really encourages people to get a real account!--YabbaMyIcing 03:46, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
 * It's a pretty recent addition to Wikia, it makes things easier for us. Klow 04:41, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Wiki's official stance on articles about machinimas
We do not like them, right? Because there is a new one here and I don't think we have any other articles on any specific machinimas from where I have looked.--YabbaMyIcing 20:44, 2 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Just my two cents i think we should only have machinimas that is supported by Valve.--Jack Black 22:24, 2 May 2009 (UTC)


 * It all depends on their quality and notability. And I don't feel like checking that right now. ;-) Klow 23:52, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

HECU images
Hey, I really like the pics you did of all the Scientist, Security Guard and Black Ops character models. Would you mind doing the same for the HECU? Thanks.--68.46.2.49 19:41, 5 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm of course working on it. ;-) Klow 19:44, 5 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Hey Klow do you by chance have the Race X mosit.Malekron 16:19, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Mosit? Klow 16:27, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * You know the green vegetation on trees.Malekron 15:58, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
 * You mean the thingy that produces the Spore Launcher ammo? Did you mean "moist"? Klow 16:15, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I think he did. Do you know when you'll have the HECU pics up?--68.46.2.49 15:41, 17 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Soon, my friend. That doesn't take 5 minutes. I also need to upload separate pictures at the same time, plus add proper info to each pic. Klow 15:59, 17 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Done. Check the HECU images category for the complete list. I don't think I'll upload every single HECU soldier from Op4, too many of them. Klow 22:15, 17 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks, man, really appreciate it. One more request (I'm doing an in-universe newspaper on the Back Mesa Incident for Journalism, hence my harassing you): do you think you could get a screenshot of the HECU fighting some aliens? It shouldn't be too hard to snag a shot from OpFor or HL1. Again, thanks.--68.46.2.49 20:19, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Reviving the Wiki
Klow, I really like this wiki and I feel it should not lose people because of low traffic. Therefore, I propose to revive, if you will, the wiki by first


 * 1) Starting an affiliate program started so the wiki gets known on other sites that Half Life and Non-Half Life users visit frequently
 * 2) Going to extreme lengths to expand on "stubs" and to clean up those vast amount of articles that need it (I will be glad to help on this and any other projects)
 * 3) Either expanding or possibly moving games that don't have to do with Half Life ex. Day of Defeat and TF2
 * 4) Starting advertising the site on more forums by possibly making a banner of some kind or small icons (I am happy to do anything that involves graphic designs)

These are just some ideas I have to help get more visitors, and more active participants on this great wiki page. Respond back with what you think. I will be glad to help with any projects on the site.--Thelastlambda 23:45, 6 May 2009 (UTC)


 * You seem to be a pretty good contributor, and that message confirms this. So this wiki is not really to revive, since it has a fair share of notability, even though it could use more, I'll agree. It was worse before, and I helped improving it (that's just true). Now when I look for stuff about the Beta on Google, I tend to end up here or on forums quoting us. We also get higher and higher in the search results (like for the Beta stuff that was impossible to find easily before). We also have a lot of original material and many original screenshots (most of them, actually). I created a Steam group, which is expanding quite fast (around 50 members after its creation a week ago - it's not the greatest, but it's quite ok). We are also ready for a Wikia spotlight, but I'd like to launch the featured articles first (and I really should get to it - but it doesn't take 5 minutes, would need a template to put in the article, but when we have 6, we are done for 6 months). That would also create a lot of new visitors. Launching some "official" friendship with other notable websites would also be great. I asked for helped on several forums some time ago, but the answer was not that great. Maybe it changed now. So when a new friendship is done, proper banners should be made. Signatures for forums could be cool too, and very efficient. I'll do the whole thing when I make the Wikia Spotlight banners and I could even create a category for any possible banner. Since I made the current wiki design, that'll help for consistency. For any other non-canon subjects, they are just part of the phenomenon and their history is somehow linked, but must not be too expanded. The TF2 class articles should for example be merged or removed, since they are trivial for the HL universe. Voilà, that's what I had in mind tonight. Hope that helps, and thanks. Klow 00:00, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Other Source games article cleanup
Now that we have the walkthroughs nearly fully gotten rid of (I'm about to clear out and redirect the Episode Two ones), do you think we can work on deleting the DoDS and Team Fortress articles? They both don't really belong here and even have their own wikis in Wikia. Tell me what you think we should do.--YabbaMyIcing 12:04, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * If we do this, maybe we should also remove the TF2 article, the TF2 class articles, and all Counter-Strike articles. I think we should keep them, since, though trivial, they are somehow related to the thing. Klow 12:14, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * And as long as the summaries and chapter lists on the article pages (HL2 + episodes) are not removed, merged into the storyline articles and replaced by proper links, the job is not done yet. Also, redirecting is not enough, the categories must be removed. And I understand the new cat system doesn't help this. Klow 12:15, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Which categories still need to be gotten rid of? I finished the redirects and summaries so I guess there are just a couple of those categories and possibly some templates as well.--YabbaMyIcing 12:42, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Done. There are only the Portal test chambers left. Klow 12:43, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Dude, you above all need to remove the cats INSIDE the articles to be redirected. Klow 12:50, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I thought since they were red links they would go way on their own. I'll fix that now.--YabbaMyIcing 12:55, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Of course not. ;-) It's long, complicated process. If you could also think about the 4 plot summaries that need to be merged and replaced by a link, that would be cool. Just do as I did, do it sentence by sentence, distribute them in the proper chapter sections, then only after that the rewrite comes. Klow 13:00, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * What four plot summaries? Are those even more separate pages?--YabbaMyIcing 13:06, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Would that help: This was done in all 4 GoldSrc game articles. You also need to modify each game article and move the plot summaries properly into the storyline articles, and only keep what's interesting in both sources (game article and walkthroughs). Klow 13:09, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Ah, I think I see what you mean now. You want me to make sure that all of the plot summaries get taken from the main game article and redistributed into the storyline article where appropriate?--YabbaMyIcing 13:22, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * My point exactly. Those are good and if they stay, it will be redundant. And it's a waste to rewrite summaries from scratch if they already exist. And it doesn't make sense to create those articles if they are not prominently linked in the main game articles. Klow 13:26, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Just as an FYI, I've moved the DoD-related articles over to the Day of Defeat wiki. I should probably grab the TF ones while I'm at it. Darkman 4 13:47, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Images
When I take my gun pictures, I try to focus ONLY on the gun. I feel that things like the HUD and anything unnecessary get in the way and should be deleted. Also, with my pics, I try to make it so that there is a contrast between the gun and the background in order to clearly define the gun's shape. If that means i have to have a light gun on a dark background, then so be it. Darkman 4 04:15, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Well the contrast was actually better in the ones you recently replaced... Klow 10:28, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

The Old Team Fortress 2 Builds
Hey, I just did some pages on the old Team Fortress 2 builds over at the Team Fortress Wiki. Figured you might be interested, since you like beta info.

http://teamfortress.wikia.com/wiki/Team_Fortress_2:_Brotherhood_of_Arms http://teamfortress.wikia.com/wiki/Team_Fortress_2_(Invasion) Darkman 4 22:24, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Hu-oh, interesting. Where did you get that stuff? Klow 22:25, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Strange how they always tend to develop a game then start another from scratch, then releasing it. Klow 22:27, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I got most of the stuff from the first article from http://www.planetfortress.com/tf2/, while the second is salvaged info from Archive.org's archive of Team Gaben's old wiki. Darkman 4
 * Good thing, this Archive.org. Hope our Team Gaben friends won't sue and replace every pic by Swastika pics! Klow 10:02, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Old Air Exchange map
I know you are the master of HL2 Beta, so you have probably seen the better version of this, but when I was looking over Gmod.org today I found a copy of one of the old Air Exchange level maps from the beta version. It is missing some from the original vmf I would imagine and it contains some headcrabs the guy who ported it threw in for effect, but it shows a very short part of the level in which Gordon was entering the facility. If you are interested here is the link, http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=12990. If you go to his account on there you also see he has the old citadel model he put onto the overlay of the city from HL2. I haven't downloaded that one, but it looks like it really shows the prototype citadel model well. --YabbaMyIcing 05:17, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * This map is fan-made, no map of that part exist (although it's pretty good). And I know HGrunt and his Gmod profile (he is from the HL Beta Project and he is very nice on Steam). Some of his screens are on this very wiki, like most (if not all) of the Skyscraper screens are from his fixed maps. Check "d4_palace_01". Voilà, I guess you expected that kind of blasé answer. :-P Klow 12:07, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

hi
hello klow, my name is Big McLargeHuge. I mostly hail from the Thief Wiki, so I know how it is to be in a wiki that is very small. When I first joined, it was around 200 hundred articles. Now have just broke the 2600 milestone, so I'll be happy to help out yous all in anyway I can. Im a pretty good guy, even though I eat mittons.
 * Hi! Don't forget to sign properly! I actually discovered the Thief wiki today, and that's great that that universe has its wiki, it deserves it. The Combine OverWiki is small, but actually there's not much to say. The number of articles is pretty normal for the universe, and we might remove some more. I just hope a future Wikia spotlight helps us a bit. IF you want to help, go here: Category:Maintenance or there: OverWiki:Layout Guide. Thanks. ;-) And what is a mitton?... Maybe you meant "mitten", but that wouldn't help. :-P Klow 02:10, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

The way we at thief gained a large numer of articles is the, 'No Stone Underturned' policy. It really adds on once all the 'meat' articles are taken care of. The problem though is that FPS dont exactly focus on a lot of characters. I don't want to brag, but look at this labor of painful love: http://thief.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Character I've had my hand in almost everyone of this entries. Day-um. So I learned that nothing is no insegnificant that it cant have it's own article. No, mitton. It's an elusive German Italian French-Canadian beaver.Big McLargeHuge 07:05, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Spotlight Again
I'm sorry you thought I was ignoring you; I do the requests every few days and sometimes don't get through all of them. I didn't remove your new post; I moved it to the top of the page with the new requests.

I noticed today that your main page is sysop-level protected. One of the spotlight criteria is that it be unprotected for editing, or at least protected only against anonymous accounts. The idea is that it's silly to have the first page everyone sees be uneditable, while saying that anyone can edit the wiki :). I'm not sure how I missed that last time you asked.  I can't see that there has been any vandalism on the page to require a higher protection.  Could you please drop the protection level?

You don't need to make the spotlight image; wikia staff does that. -- Wendy (talk ) 19:08, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Space Shuttle and satallite
Hey Klow do we need a space shuttle article and satallite article since they are referred in the developer commentary as critical blows to both the Xen forces and the Combine?Malekron 16:24, 25 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't know. And "satallite" is not a word, you know. ;-) Klow 17:34, 25 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Actual they both served critical story elements in H-L 1 and H-2: Episode 2. In H-L Gordon lauched a shuttle to the satellite and establish contact in order to reverse the incident (but he found it out it failed). As in Episode 2 another rocket was lauched to destroy the Super Portal and suceeded by the use of both satellite and shuttle.Malekron 16:47, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
 * How about the unknown synth, Im guessing that it is a variant of the Crab synth.Malekron 16:12, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Which one? Klow 16:23, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * You know the concept image of the crab synth where there is a little synth beside it.Malekron 16:27, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Dunno what they are. Klow 16:29, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Hello
I know it's been a while since we last talked. But I usually have better stuff to do. I only come on this website for times I am bored. I am sorry about the bad edits. Isn't there anything I can do to help you guys feel better? Also, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Doctor Hax (well you can see that). My real name is in my user page. What is your name? Also, you know American music right? I seen discussion saying that you are not in America. Thank you. --Doctor Hax 17:38, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Greetings! I'm a French-speaking Belgian. If you want to help, you can pick something here. Klow 17:46, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Panther Eye
It's model and textures are in the Half-Life SDK. The one in the SDK is the red variant. The SDK also has some other interesting things, such as the old weapon models and textures. You can download it here http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/189/Half-Life+Full+SDK+v2.2 Darkman 4 13:07, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot, I knew you had the answer. Klow 13:30, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Textures
There are two types of textures; model and map. Map textures are stored in .wad files. To replace the default map textures, you must put the .wad file containing the new textures in /steam/steamapps/(yourusername)/half-life/valve.

Model textures are stored in the .mdl file. To replace them, you must open up the .mdl file in HLMV,, click on the "Textures" tab, find the texture you want to replace, then hit 'Import Texure" and find the replacement texture. Note that the new texture must be the exact same size as the texture being replaced. Otherwise, HLMV will give an error. Darkman 4 17:06, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Ok thanks. Actually I just wanted to check sth, not replace anything. Do you know where is stored the female scientist sheet? Klow 17:17, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Ravenholm
Wow! You created a Ravenholm map in Garry's Mod.org? I didn't even know you had Gmod (seen it in discussion pages). I will try it out later and let you know how it turns out. Maybe one day you can help out teaching me how to use the Source SDK. If you don't mind that is. Thanks, and one more thing: HAAAAAAAAAAAAX! (Throws computer) --Doctor Hax 20:14, 27 May 2009 (UTC)