What is a 'synth' and did you fight them?

[Tantalus]

I was messing around with HLMV, and I found a model called 'synth'. They resemble an antlion somewhat, but more 'robotic'. Did you fight them on HL2, and if not, why are they in the folder?

 

[Ames]

If you haven't finished/played HL2...

Spoiler

They're in the Citadel when you're riding in the coffin thingy, you only see them walking.....

 

[The Dark Elf]

moved to the HL2 section

 

[Tantalus]

If you haven't finished/played HL2...

Spoiler

They're in the Citadel when you're riding in the coffin thingy, you only see them walking.....

Oh, ok. Thank you.

 

[CookieCuttah]

Dammit they looked like a bunch of fun to fight...Its like you fight all the enemies you see in the promo videos and nothing else! I wanted to be suprised.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

The new headcrabs made me jump first time, when you turn the electric switch off in ravenholm. I loved the shock. The synths might be in HL3, considering theres quite alot of info on them in Raising the Bar, it seems silly to cast them aside forever. Combines riding synth-back? ya never know

 

[Steve]

Actually, the Striders, Gunships, and Dropships are all "Synths"...they're any of the organic-robotic enemies in the game.

Spoiler

The ones at the end of the game are just a specific kind of synth, called mortar-synths.

 

[CookieCuttah]

So synths are like a pallete to make other beings from?

 

[Mechagodzilla]

They're alien creatures that the combine took over that have been modified so much over time that it is impossible to tell the mechanical parts from the organic ones.

 

[CookieCuttah]

Now that it's mentioned there is a definate likeness...The Strider and the gunship...And I always wondered what the hell the gunship is since its basicly alive with mechanics attached..

 

[JHD536]

Well, the name is Mortar-Synth, so It's probably an early version of a fire support/bombardment lifeform.

 

[BetaMaster]

Synths....Break it down....Synth. Now, what else begins with "synth"? And I swear, if you say an alien race in Half-Life 2, I will slap you sooooo hard- Er, yeah. Synthetic. The Synths are kind of like the Stalkers or any other race modified mechanically. They probably have no biological features left except vital necessities. Kinda interesting, I think.
By the way, I'm getting Raising the Bar for Christmas, hopefully. Woo hoo.

 

[RomeoJGuy]

The synths are combine stuff that is a combination of all the races it has captured thus far.

Also it is very likely to see them in hl3 as they have animations setup for them already for attacks.

 

[Calm_Blue_Ocean]

It's possible that we may see these things in HL3, but it's also possible that they were ideas that were never finished or never worked well. There are several creatures in the HL1 SDK that never made the game (the kingpin, the skubat, the one-eyed frog, and some others whose names escape me). Most of these have some animations but no A.I. or hitboxes etc. If you want to see these, play Darkstar, a classic HL single player mod that shows these critters off quite nicely. The maker of this mod (Neil Manke) had to ensure that the player could not come into contact with most of these creatures as they lack death animations (you could include the G-man in this group), can't move around effectively or react to the player, and some of them are not solid entities (i.e. the player can walk through them). The HL2 mortor synths, advisor, etc. are also like this (make a map in Hammer and you will see what I mean).

 

[smokinjoe99]

anyway to get closeup pics of the 2 synth creatures in the last level? noclip (to fly out of your coffin) doesnt work, i dont know of any other way, i want to see these cool guys up close...

 

[KagePrototype]

anyway to get closeup pics of the 2 synth creatures in the last level? noclip (to fly out of your coffin) doesnt work, i dont know of any other way, i want to see these cool guys up close...

Use model viewer in the SDK.

 

[HadouKen24]

Odds are that if you actually have to ask the question "did I fight them?"...

...you probably didn't.

 

[kupocake]

There are several creatures in the HL1 SDK that never made the game (the kingpin, the skubat, the one-eyed frog, and some others whose names escape me). Most of these have some animations but no A.I. or hitboxes etc. If you want to see these, play Darkstar, a classic HL single player mod that shows these critters off quite nicely. The maker of this mod (Neil Manke) had to ensure that the player could not come into contact with most of these creatures as they lack death animations (you could include the G-man in this group), can't move around effectively or react to the player, and some of them are not solid entities

Later HL1 mods were able to make something off these monsters... I think "Point of View" made the Bats and Chumtoads into Snark-like creatures... was the Kingpin really in the SDK? That's the big proto-gonarch thingy isn't it? I may have to have a look at the SDK or some mods someday... also, there was that huge one-eyed, purple "panther" thingy in Azure Sheep / Point of View that was supposed to be in HL1...

These dead concepts are all very interesting IMO. Of course, if they'd been completed they wouldn't have been half as fun as they are in their current "what if" capacity . One day, I expect those Mortar synths will be modded to be proper enemies. There are some interesting pictures of them in RtB btw...

 

[BattleShip Ron]

anyway to get closeup pics of the 2 synth creatures in the last level? noclip (to fly out of your coffin) doesnt work, i dont know of any other way, i want to see these cool guys up close...

Use noclip but don't go in the coffin. You will also find a couple of gunships parked there too. You can't push them in noclip mode but if you fire a grenade at them they float away like they are suspended in space until they hit something to stop them.

 

[BattleShip Ron]

Here are some close-ups:

http://home.cfl.rr.com/battleshipron/hl2_3d/50003.jpg

http://home.cfl.rr.com/battleshipron/hl2_3d/50004.jpg

http://home.cfl.rr.com/battleshipron/hl2_3d/50006.jpg

 

[kupocake]

Seems to me that the Mortar synth is supposed to be driven... this is against the style of the other synths, which seems to basically be that they're mechanical creatures who're compelled to fight for the Combine. They look kind of interesting, but I doubt they would have added much to the game...