Half-Life 2 Hands (Evolution)
Through out the development of Half-Life 2, the hands of Gordon Freeman changed appearance several times. These hands span from being fairly complete and consistent across several weapons, to being broken or corrupted because of unknown circumstances. This page tracks the fingerprints of the past and lends a hand to those unfamiliar with the inconsistencies, trivia, and mysterious factoids of the hands that hold Half-Life 2's diverse arsenal across development.
Contents
Version 0: No Hands
Some view models existed during development but had no hands to speak of. This may be due to the weapons being cut very early in their production, or the model being replaced by a later variant before further work could be made on this iteration.
Weapon Used On | Evidence | Hands Condition |
---|---|---|
HKGR9 | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | N/A |
HMG1 | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Hands have bones but no mesh or animation |
Jaytest | Leak MDL | N/A |
Physics Gun | test1.SMD in "Work" folder in model sources | N/A |
Irifle | Leak MDL | N/A |
Manhack | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | N/A |
Missile Launcher | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | N/A |
Version 1: Leather Suit
The first main iteration of Half-Life 2's viewmodel hands. Referred to as the "leather suit" or "Hyper" hands by the community. Their name comes from the fact that the original suit design for Half-Life 2 more-so resembled a leather gimp suit than the classic H.E.V. suit from all other renditions. This iteration of the hands assumedly lasted from 1999 to some time in 2000, getting changed due to poor feedback from Gabe Newell.
The textures of this hand model were found in the 2003 Half-Life 2 leak's Flaregun materials folder. Despite them being long since obsolete, their appearance gives us insight on to the earlier stages of Half-Life 2's development from a long-gone era.
Weapon Used On | Evidence | Hands Condition |
---|---|---|
Flare Gun | Materials folder in Leak and Materialsrc, "Old" folder in model sources | Right hand presumably used a seperate unique texture |
AR1 | Speculated, one of the first weapons added to HL2, hands match the same proportions as 2000 Physgun | N/A |
Iceaxe | Speculated, one of the first weapons added to HL2 | N/A |
SMG1 | Speculated, one of the first weapons added to HL2 | N/A |
Renders
Textures
Version 1.1: Flare Gun
The Flare Gun has its own unique right arm texture, presumably used for a very old version of the Flare Gun model (of which we have the animations for, but no trace of a mesh).
Renders
Textures
Version 1.2: Half-Life 1 Retexture
After the design of the leather arms was criticized internally at Valve, there seems to have been a brief period of time where the "Leather Suit" hands were quickly changed to make use of Half-Life 1 textures.
We thankfully have this piece of history due to a left arm being present on a very early version of the Physics Gun model. Interestingly, the textures used on the hands are much higher quality than those used in the original Half-Life.
Once stripped of its textures, however, it seems that the arm's mesh is directly taken from the Leather Arm iteration, allowing us to make accurate recreations of what the leather arms would have looked like.
Weapon Used On | Evidence | Hands Condition |
---|---|---|
Physics Gun | Leaked 3DS Max file, leaked VRM file | Only contains left arm, mesh is baked into pose and unrigged |
Renders
Textures
Version 2: "Red" H.E.V. Suit
The longest-lasting iteration of the H.E.V. arms, as seen on many viewmodels in the 2003 Half-Life 2 leak. It can be assumed that this version of the hands was used from 2000 to 2002, although we do not have concrete evidence to suggest exactly when these hands were fully phased out of development.
Weapon Used On | Evidence | Hands Condition |
---|---|---|
AR2 | Leak MDL, reference SMDs in model sources | Left arm has no upper arm, right arm is only a hand with no back face |
Binoculars | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains right forearm |
Brickbats | Leak MDLs, reference SMDs in model sources | Only contains right arm |
Immolator | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains left forearm |
Crowbar | Old in-game screenshots | N/A |
Fire Extinguisher | Leak MDL, Reference SMD in model sources | Only contains right forearm |
Flare Gun | Leak MDL, Reference SMD in model sources | Both arms have no upper arm |
Gauss Cannon | Leak MDL, Reference SMD in model sources | Only contains left forearm |
Grenade | Model thumbnail found in CSS 2003 beta build | N/A |
Guard Gun | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains left forearm |
Iceaxe | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains right forearm |
Physics Gun | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains left forearm |
Pistol | Old in-game screenshot, model thumbnail found in CSS 2003 beta build | N/A |
Rocket Launcher | Leak MDL | Only contains left forearm |
Shotgun | Old in-game screenshots, E3 2002 trailer, model thumbnail found in HL2 2003 beta build | N/A |
SLAM | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Both arms have no upper arm |
SMG1 | Speculated | N/A |
SMG2 | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Both arms have no upper arm, right forearm is cut short |
Sniper Rifle | Leak MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Left arm has no upper arm, right arm is only a hand with no back face |
Stun Baton | Leak and retail MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains right arm |
Renders
Screenshots (Missing Models)
Textures
Version 2.1: Physcannon and Bugbait
In the leaked model sources for Half-Life 2, these more detailed versions of the Red H.E.V. hands can be found in the older iterations of the Physcannon and Bugbait models. What makes these stand apart from the previous iteration is how their forearms contain more mesh detail, such as a thin metal rod and a modelled indent where the primary red metal is.
Weapon Used On | Evidence | Hands Condition |
---|---|---|
Bugbait | "Source" folder in model sources | Contains full version of right arm with correct textures |
Physcannon | "Old" folder in model sources | Both arms have no upper arm, UVs and textures are broken |
Renders
Version 2.2: AR1
The AR1's view model has a unique hand mesh that is different from other iterations. Despite not having any fitting textures (instead just using the AR1's "TEXTURE2" that the main gun uses), the mesh has UV maps and its shape resembles the grey forearms seen in early promotional artwork of Gordon Freeman.
Renders
Version 3: Grey Forearm
Although no models of this era of arm is known to exist, it has a destinct resemblance to the final game's H.E.V. arms, but with the notable difference of not having any color to the forearms. This could either be an oversight by the artist or influenced by a design of the H.E.V. suit that briefly existed.
Version 4: Orange Arms
The final iteration of the H.E.V. hands before development concluded. This iteration uses the modern "Valvebiped" rigging in most of the viewmodels where it is present (compared to all previous iterations that use a HL1-style "Bip01" rig) and the arms make use of a single texture sheet, as opposed to all textures being seperated.
Version 4.1: Pre-Final
This version of the texture can be found in the "Source" folder of the V_Hand model. The texture is an earlier version of what is found in both the 2003 leak and final game. The most striking difference is the white leather present on the inner thumb and fingers.
Renders
Textures
Version 4.2: Final
The final hands seen in the 2003 leak and the final game. The white leather is replaced with a more fitting grey tone and more shading detail is added across the texture sheet. The final game's texture has a lower resolution than the previous iteration, being downscaled from 1024x1024 to 512x512 resolution.
Weapon Used On | Evidence | Hands Condition |
---|---|---|
357 | Final MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Both arms have no upper arm, right hand has no rigging |
Bugbait | Leak and final MDLs, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains right arm, part of mesh is removed for optimization |
Crossbow | Final MDL, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains left arm |
Crowbar | Leak and final MDLs, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains right arm, fingers are unrigged and mesh is baked into a pose |
Grenade | Leak and final MDLs, reference SMD in model sources | Left forearm cuts off half-way, part of right arm mesh is removed for optimization |
Gravity Gun | Leak and final MDLs, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains left forearm, arm is unrigged |
Irifle/Pulse Rifle | Final MDL, reference SMDs in model sources | Only contains right forearm, arm is unrigged |
Pistol | Leak and final MDLs, reference SMD in model sources | Both arms have no upper arm, right hand's fingers have no rigging except thumb and index, part of right arm mesh are removed for optimization |
RPG | Leak and final MDLs, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains left forearm, arm is unrigged |
Shotgun | Leak and final MDLs, reference SMD in model sources | Only contains left forearm, part of mesh is removed for optimization |
SLAM | HL2 Deathmatch MDL, reference SMD in HL2DM model sources | Both arms have no upper arm |
SMG1 | Leak and final MDLs, reference SMD in model sources | Right arm has no upperarm, right hand has no rigging, part of right arm mesh is removed for optimization |
Stun Baton | HL2 Deathmatch MDL, reference SMD in HL2DM model sources | Only contains right arm, fingers are unrigged and mesh is baked into a pose |