Greetings, Scientists!
Today, we’re excited to introduce a major performance and visual update on the Black Mesa Public Beta Branch! The Black Mesa Research and Development team has been working around the clock to deliver performance optimizations and graphical improvements across the facility, along with a brand-new UI!
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Improved Performance
We’ve made significant performance improvements across many environments.
Expect higher frame rates and smoother performance in particularly demanding areas, including the Xen chapters.
All-New Reflection Types (Parallax Cubemaps)
We’re introducing Parallax Corrected Cubemaps (PCCs), a new rendering technology that improves reflections throughout Black Mesa.
Previously, the game used standard cubemaps to capture the surrounding environment from six directions, stitched those views together into a seamless 360-degree image, and used that image to create static reflections on surfaces.
PCCs take this a step further by projecting those reflections onto a local virtual bounding box, such as a room or hallway. As the player moves through the space, reflections shift with their surroundings, creating a more accurate and convincing result.
Improved Lighting
The team also vastly improved the baked lighting model and fixed several dynamic lighting bugs. This includes:
Improved bounce lighting
Improved lighting for static props so they blend in much better with the environment
Outdoor image-based lighting for much improved indirect lighting
Improved dynamic lighting through transparencies and bug fixes
Fixes to normal maps that had their green channel flipped, resulting in incorrect lighting
And much more!
Brand-New UI with Full Controller Support
We are happy to present a new, faster, cleaner menu system for Black Mesa! Over the years, we've received lots of feedback and bug reports, plus many requests for full controller support and a more responsive menu. This updated UI is specifically designed to save time, reduce clutter, and make key actions easier. It supports keyboard/mouse, gamepads, and the Steam Controller!
We’re Waiting for YOU in the Test Chamber
These improvements are rolling out to the Black Mesa Beta Branch in chapter bundles, so we can test and refine them incrementally.
The team has already implemented a ton of fixes and improvements. Below are some of the biggest items we are looking for feedback on in the beta:
Crashes, visual errors, or other regressions
Areas where performance has worsened
Areas where the new reflections don’t look quite right
UI and Steam Deck feedback
Any other issues you encounter while playing
Joining The Beta
The first bundle covers Chapters 1-5, Inbound through “We’ve Got Hostiles”. If you are interested, hop onto the beta branch and help us test these changes!
How to opt in:
Right-click Black Mesa in your Steam Library and select Properties
Click the Game Versions and Betas tab
In the Selected Game Version window, select public-beta
Download the update and launch the game
Report crashes/errors to the #mesa-beta-bash channel in our Discord
This will be a rolling beta, so be on the lookout for game downloads!
Thanks to everyone who has been doing early testing in Discord. We've already received some great feedback, and it is always great chatting.
Patch Notes
Here are our detailed patch notes on our website, which we'll be updating throughout the betas:
