Blue Shift Complete Guide

Half-Life: Blue Shift★ 4 · 41 ratings2.5k views66 favorites7 min readby [λG] GlovemanUpdated Oct 2, 2024View on Steam ↗

Intro & Story

Is the 2nd Expansion Pack for Half-Life 1 intended as an exclusive for Dreamcast similar to Decay and released by Gearbox on June 12, 2001 for PC

Story
Blue Shift follows Security Guard and Gordon's best friend Barney Calhoun during the events of the Resonance Cascade that Gordon and Adrian occupy. Barney must traverse the Facility and dangers that Gordon and Adrian have pathed a path through to make it to Rosenberg and escape.

History

Blue Shift initially started development as a Dreamcast exclusive mode for HL1 similar to Decay but was ultimately scrapped once the Dreamcast port of Half-Life was canceled. It then became a retail addon pack for Half-Life 1 as the 2nd expansion followed by Decay in 2001.

Full Playthrough

ShiftingTheBar

Blue Shift had its own player peak event aswell in ShiftingTheBar on August 24th, 2024. You can view it here

Blue Shift Remake

If you're looking for a modern remake of Blue Shift you can check out Black Mesa: Blue Shift - A full remake made by HECU Collective available on the Workshop. You need to own Black Mesa to play but is highly recommended.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2424633574

Commands & Launch Options

Open the Developer Console with "~" and then type sv_cheats 1 before entering any commands. If the dev console doesn't open by default, locate the config file and make sure BIND "~" toggleconsole is there or add it to launch options.
sv_cheats 1 - Enables Cheats
God - Invincibility
Noclip - Fly through walls
Impulse 101 - Gives all weapons
Impulse 102 - Gives the HEV Suit
Impulse 200 - Removes Items
Notarget - NPC's ignore you
Maps * - Shows list of maps
map "map name" - loads the desired map *Note you will load with no weapons or suit*
Restart - restarts the current map
Disconnect - Ends your SP or MP session
Developer 1 - Enables Dev mode / 0 disables
Dev_overview 1 - Enables top down view of the current map / 0 disables
fps_override 1 - Overrides the FPS limit / 0 disables
fps_max - Lets you set the FPS limit
give weapon_ - Gives weapon of choice
give item_ - Gives item of choice
Chase active_1 - Thirdperson over the shoulder / 0 disables
Thirdperson - Play in Thirdperson!
Firstperson - Play the default perspective
gl_texturemode gl_nearest - Turns off Texture filtering
Default_fov - Set Viewmodel Distance (Default is 90, while 106 is the correct Ratio for 16:9-1080p.
I reccomend 110 for 1440p)
hud_draw 1 - Turns on HUD while 0 turns it off
violence_agibs 1
violence_ablood 1
violence_hblood 1
violence_hgibs 1
These 4 can enable the Violence and Blood for NPC's. 0 Disables it

Will add more!

Launch Options
If you wish to have stuff automatically set for you you can add them to the launch options peramaters instead.
Locate the game in your library, click on properties and in the "Launch Option" field add whatever you want with - infront of it like this for example
-noborder -windowed -w1920 -h1080

Borderless Fullscreen

To play Half-Life: Blue Shift in Windowed Borderless Fullscreen it works the same for other GoldSrce and Source games.

Library > Half-Life: BS > Properties > Launch Options
-windowed -noborder
After this, launch the game and enjoy!

This also works for all GoldSrce and Source games like Sven Co-op or Team Fortress 2.

FOV

As of November 17th, 2023 Valve has fixed FOV for the 25th Anniversary Update. The game now has the Widescreen FOV option that you can just use instead.

Half-Life's FOV by Default is 90. So keep it at 90 if you have the Widescreen option enabled
If you want a higher FOV of 110 then make sure to disable it

Change Game Option

Normally in the menu the option to change your game appears allowing you to switch to a mod, TFC, CS or Day of Defeat for ex. For whatever reason it disappears but through a small code edit you can bring this back.

Step 1: Locate your Half-Life: Blue Shift directory
Step 2: inside bshift/resource you should find "GameMenu.res" edit this with notepad
Step 3: Find line "14" and delete "notsteam" "notsingle" "notmulti" keyvalues
Step 4: Restart the game and you should see the change game option

Custom Game Menu

Within Half-Life's files you'll find GameMenu. This txt doc in particular will let you change how the main menu appears depending on what you want changed. Whether it be extra buttons, an option that launches a specific map, re-adding the change game option or anything else you might want/need for modding.

Locate it in

steamapps/common/Half-Life/bshift/Resource/GameMenu

If you want your main menu to resemble WON even further with the 25th Update, you can use this custom GameMenu code

{ "1" { "label" "#GameUI_GameMenu_ResumeGame" "command" "ResumeGame" "OnlyInGame" "1" } "5" { "label" "#GameUI_GameMenu_PlayerList" "command" "OpenPlayerListDialog" "OnlyInGame" "1" "notsingle" "1" } "7" { "label" "#GameUI_GameMenu_NewGame" "command" "OpenNewGameDialog" "notmulti" "1" "notsingle" "1" "HelpText" "#GameUI_MainMenu_Hint_NewGame" } "8" { "label" "Hazard course" "command" "engine map t0a0" "HelpText" "Learn how to play Half-Life." } "18" { "label" "Configuration" "command" "OpenOptionsDialog" "HelpText" "#GameUI_MainMenu_Hint_Configuration" } "10" { "label" "#GameUI_GameMenu_SaveGame" "command" "OpenSaveGameDialog" "notmulti" "1" "OnlyInGame" "1" } "11" { "label" "#GameUI_GameMenu_LoadGame" "command" "OpenLoadGameDialog" "notmulti" "1" "HelpText" "#GameUI_MainMenu_Hint_LoadGame" } "14" { } "15" { "label" "Custom game" "command" "OpenChangeGameDialog" "notsingle" "1" "notmulti" "1" "HelpText" "Select a custom game, search the internet for custom games." } "16" { "label" "#GameUI_GameMenu_Disconnect" "command" "Disconnect" "OnlyInGame" "1" "notsingle" "1" } "20" { "label" "#GameUI_GameMenu_LeaveGame" "command" "Disconnect" "OnlyInGame" "1" "notmulti" "1" } "21" { "label" "#GameUI_GameMenu_Quit" "command" "Quit" "HelpText" "#GameUI_MainMenu_Hint_QuitGame" } }

SAVE

If you're looking to wipe your saves and start a fresh playthrough or even backup saves, its super easy and not hard to find.

First, go to your library and the game. Open the properties on it and browse local files. From there you want to locate the Gearbox folder then "SAVE". Within this folder is all your local saves that you can do with as you please.

NOTE: Steam Cloud will also save them so if you don't want them pre-saved disable the Cloud until you wipe the folder and then re-enable it.

Hope this helps!

Chapter Select

Hazard Course
ba_hazard1
ba_hazard2
ba_hazard3
ba_hazard4
ba_hazard5
ba_hazard6

Living Quarters Outbound
ba_tram1
ba_tram2
ba_tram3
Insecurity
ba_security1
ba_security2
ba_maint
ba_elevator

Duty Calls
ba_canal1
ba_canal1b
ba_canal2
ba_canal3

Captive Freight
ba_yard1
ba_yard2
ba_yard3a
ba_yard3b
ba_yard3
ba_yard4
ba_yard4a
ba_yard5
ba_yard5a
ba_teleport1
Focal Point
ba_xen1
ba_xen2
ba_xen3
ba_xen4
ba_xen5
ba_xen6
ba_teleport2
Power Struggle
ba_power1
ba_power2

A Leap of Faith
ba_teleport2

Deliverance
ba_outro

Weapons & Items

Weapons
Crowbar - give weapon_crowbar
Glock - give weapon_glock
Revolver - give weapon_357
MP5 - give weapon_mp5
Shotgun - give weapon_shotgun
Crossbow - give weapon_crossbow
RPG - give weapon_rpg
Gauss Rifle - give weapon_gauss
Gluon Gun - give weapon_egon
Hive Hand - give weapon_hornetgun
Grenade - give weapon_handgrenade
Satchel Charge - give weapon_satchel
Tripwire Grenade - give weapon_tripmine
Snark - give weapon_snark
Ammo
give ammo_9mmclip
give ammo_357
give ammo_glockclip
give ammo_9mmbox
give ammo_crossbow
give ammo_Egonclip
give ammo_gaussclip
give ammo_9mmAR
give ammo_RPGclip
give ammo_buckshot
give ammo_ARgrenades
give ammo_mp5grenades
Items
HEV Suit - give item_suit
HEV Health - give item_healthkit
HEV Battery - give item_battery
HEV Long Jump Module - give item_longjump
Antidote - give item_antidote
Oxygen - item_airtank
Passport - item_security
SODA - item_sodacan

Achievements

After my HL and OF achievements here's some Blue Shift ones for fun. (Valve please add achievements to all 3 GoldSrce Half-Life games -- HL1>BS)

1. BLUE SHIFT
Complete the game on Hard
2. BADGE CERTIFIED
Complete Training
3. B. CALHOUN
Acquire your vest and sidearm
4. GUARD DUTY
In for a long shift
5. DAMSEL IN A BOX
Find and rescue Rosenberg
6. FOCAL POINT
Enter Xen
7. DIRTY WORK
Travel below to recharge a battery
8. DELIVERANCE
Escape

The Revitalized Modpack

Add-ons & Mods

Installing mods/addons for Blue Shift is pretty easy and the same as Half-Life 1.

Installing a Mod or Add-on for Steam

Mods
Step 1) Find the mod you want from ModDB and download it
Step 2) Locate your Half-Life directory. Normally it's in steam/steamapps/common/Half-Life/bshift. This is where "Mods" wlill be unzipped or dragged into. Restart steam and enojy

Addons
For add-ons, GameBanana and ModDB host tons of stuff to find. Once downloaded drop it into the bshift_addons folder and restart the game.

Recommended Mods

Azure Sheep
Challengers Deep
The Masked Prisoner
Infinite Shift
Black Shift
Shift Two

Cinematogrophy

If you're interested in taking cool screenshots or recording background footage thats cinematic, this guide should help out. Shout out to the creator.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1172439308

Other Guides

For Complete guides on Half-Life and Opposing Force you can check them out below

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2308109435
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2308135369

This guide was created by its original author on the Steam Community. Are you the author and want it removed? Request removal.