Original article: January 4, 2010PC Games Hardware has reported about the Cinematic Mod several times. In late December Fakefactory released version 10.10 of the Half-Life 2 modification. The latest version delivers several new features and graphics improvements.

Now Fakefactory has announced in the 3D-Center Forum that he is working on a way to improve the quality of the characters' eyes - The modder is speaking of "ultra realistic eyes”. According to the information revealed the eyes are rendered with real Ray Tracing what results in optically correct refraction and reflections. Furthermore eye movement is not realized by a "floating” iris anymore but the eyeballs are turning correctly.

The final version of the Cinematic Mod 10.10 has been released by Fakefactory on December 28, 2009. Up to now the modder has not yet set a release date for the ultra realistic eye extension, but several screenshots (see our gallery at the end of the page) already give an impression of what the users can expect.

Update: January 7, 2010
Fakefactory has released a video showing first tests of the ultra realistic eyes that he is currently working on. The short clip shows a direct comparison with the original version of Valve's popular game.

Release Notes: CM 10.10

+ Added V70 HD models with advanced jigglebones. Reapply the models with Character Pimper, if you want to use them.

+ Added the complete HL2 buggy-coast sequence at nighttime. This is fixing the time leap from Ravenholm to Coast. If you want the old-style daytime coast levels, just copy the map files from "daytime" (inside HL2 maps folder), but i strongly recommend to give the new night levels a try.

+ Added Buggy headlights and increased flashlight (mainly because of the new night time coast levels)

+ Numerous improvements in several maps (HL2 / EP1 / EP2)

+ Added Ironsight (bind the ironsight key with the ingame options)

+ Added optional hightech-style HD-Combines (available with the character pimper)

+ Added several CVARS for console-tweaking the new features:

"FF_vehicle_flashlightfov_h" = "120" ( def. "120.0" ) - Horizontal headlight cone for buggy. Default: 120
"FF_vehicle_flashlightfov_v" = "60" ( def. "60.0" ) - Vertical headlight cone for buggy. Default: 60
"FF_vehicle_dynamicflashlight" = "0" ( def. "1" ) - Enables dynamic shadows with buggy headlight. (1 = On / 0 = Off) Default: Off, because of shadow cut errors
r_flashlightfar "1000" - Maximum length for player flashlight
r_flashlightfov "65" - players flashlight cone field of view
r_headlightfar "3000" - Maximum length for buggy headlight
"ff_ironsight_hide_quickinfo" = "1" - Disables the quickinfo HUD element. Crosshair alpha was be set to zero in hudlayout.res
"ff_ironsight_disable_crosshair" = "1" - Disables the crosshair while in ironsight mode.
"ff_ironsight_disable_weapon_lowering" = "1" - Disables automatic Weapon lowering while in ironsight mode.
"ff_new_running" = "1" - 0=Off, 1=On (Default), Enables head bobbing and prevents weapons use while running
"ff_staretime" = "15" - Necessary time in seconds, until Alyx reacts to staring.
"ff_enable_vehicle_headlight" = "1" ( def. "1" ) - Toggle the new buggy headlight feature (HL2 only)

+ Added the following settings to the autoexec.bat files (found in cfg subdirs)
mat_monitorgamma_tv_enabled 1
mat_monitorgamma_tv_exp 1.6
mat_monitorgamma_tv_range_max 255
mat_monitorgamma_tv_range_min 1

This gives a slightly darker image with more vibrant colors and more defined details but you should re-adjust your brightness settings in the video config tab or disable the new settings with mat_monitorgamma_tv_enabled "0", especially with low-end monitors and bad blacklevels.