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Download 672x384 WMV (44MB)


Here's the newest episode. I was pretty liberal about using cheat codes this time, though my justification is for the places I use them, I'm simply doing what I personally would do if I was in the same situation Freeman happens to be in (though I doubt I would end up in the same situations myself). I think this one may be one of the better FM episodes in terms of writing, though the voice acting probably isn't as good as it could be in areas since practically everything I've been producing lately has been a bit of a rush job.

I still need to upload episode 2 of FM here since the downloadable copy has been deleted by Machinima.com for a little while now. I've misplaced the disc where I've burned a copy of it, but I'll find it and try to take care of the link tonight.

As for the downloadable copies, I'm undecided what resolution is best. I'm trying to strike a balance between higher resolution and keeping the filesize low. The series has actually undergone a shrink, though you won't notice it on your end. I recorded old episodes at 800x600, but usually had to encode to 832x624 to avoid encoding errors. For widescreen I've been recording at 848x480 and am currently releasing at 672x384 since that's pretty close to the original aspect ratio and will have a comparable download size to the 640x480 clips. If you have any preference about the resolution, leave it below, just be aware that a larger resolution increases the filesize and time to download. I'm not going any higher than my current resolution for Freeman's Mind, the detail just isn't there for Half-Life 1 to justify it, plus these are just gameplay videos. I'll continue to do Civil Protection at 1280x720. Also I'm still releasing using WMV format only because it keeps hundreds of people from emailing me asking how to play the video. Next to MPG, I think it's probably the most compatible format there is. It's by no means the best though, I might look into releasing higher quality copies in the future. It's not as simple as picking a format, I have to have an understanding of the encoding settings to keep a reasonable balance between size and visual quality.

I'm also far behind on responding to email, but that's something else I hope to get caught up with soon. In the meantime, I'll be spending all my time on The Tunnel, though I may let up a bit because the hours I've been putting in lately just aren't sustainable for me.

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Wow! A new FM episode. Thanks Ross. Downloading it now.
J.C.
P.S. Looking forward to "the Tunnel"

LUVS IT!!!!!!! I LUVS U!!!!!

man machinama seems to be working you like a dog having you pump these out.
It was a good episode. "I am a monkey god!" really made me laugh and the climbing down the rope.

Great part!!!!!
Good job! Let's hope you can have a rest now :)

For resolution I am cool with whatever just as long as it doesn't take too long to download. I'm not too picky about how good it looks. Also good episode.

You can have all the time in the world. Just as long as you keep up the great work! :D Thanks for the new episode!

I think Gordon's getting hysterical. Great episode as always and I cant wait to see his reaction to the Gargantua.

The last few episodes have been fairly good in terms of resolution. If you don't want to increase the resolution, that's perfectly fine. Just please don't lower it anymore. Some of the older videos (Ep. 9) were a little too blurry to make out details. Excellent job and try to take it easy on yourself!

http://www.wuala.com/Freemans Mind/Episodes/Ep 02/freeman_s_mind_episode_2.wmv/

Honestly i wish you would just let the quality go as high as it can and use what ever format you can and post how to play it once, or just let ppl figure it out on their own, as for download times those are pretty mush one minute right now and if that is too long then you tube is always an option. honestly something like 720 vertical looks awesome if memory serves and i'd love to see the vids at that slick level of quality, though i doubt I'll get it.

Awesome! New FM! I think you're doing a great job, Ross. FM is as good as ever and I will never get tired of it. One time I watched this guy play Fallout 3 for 2000 minutes on Youtube. (200 10-minute long videos)

I think FM is a great success.

# 12..... cool

This has to be one of my favorite episodes you have made by-far. It really taps into my own personality. I would totally be the one constantly pressing the button for the moving platform, and saying "Wheeee!" as I made it go back and forth.

Great job on this episode, seriously.

~Brianna

"for download times those are pretty mush one minute right now and if that is too long then you tube is always an option" youtube pretty much destroys video quality and doesn't provide mirrors for downloads.
The only good video sharing site i know that does is veoh, that allows people to both stream and download the original file, i've downloaded loads of hd videos from there in different formats.

Anyway, as for resolution, you're currently in a good place for freeman's mind, 720p would be nice but since it's hl1 it's hardly necessary

awesome episode, freeman is becoming more and more insane with each release :D

I liked that one Ross. The Black Mesa/Half Life joke was the peak for me.
Well done getting the distances right with the whole hanging onto a pipe part.

Take care of yourself-

-Tom

i love how Gordon is getting Crazier in each episode.
shows how as he descending into insanity the deeper he gets in the bowels black mesa.

Yeah, I understand about compatibility. Personally, I'd love to see the videos in H.264; it's probably one of the most efficient formats out there (with a good encoder, of course), and it's a standard and not an M$ proprietary format. You'll also note that YouTube uses it now.

But of course, consistent with M$'s track record with standards, Windows doesn't come with H.264 support. (Though maybe that's changed recently; I don't know.) So yeah, you have to get the codecs yourself, and that's a barrier for a lot of people.

As for MPG, sure it's quite compatible, but MPEG-1/2 is rather old and much less efficient than modern formats. I think I'd only use it as a last resort, or if encoding for a DVD of course.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

-Serbdude

Bwa ha ha! now he has no choice but to work on FM all day which means more glorious episodes for us and less free time for him! Bwa ha ha!

Ross you rock, don't ever forget that. I hope they aren't pushing you too hard and if so i believe you deserve a break. Another great episode as usual. Hope Machinima gives you enough time to take a break and let you get your creative juices back!

The day always gets better when I see another Ross Scott release. I know you are busting ass over at Machinima, but don't over do it eh? Good things take time, and not a lot of people understand that.

Great work. Epic Win!

As far as the downloadable versions goes, the higher the quality, the better I say. Sure, that means longer download times, but so what? If you're really in a hurry, watch the youtube versions.

-SparcMan

Awesome but you speak to quickly its difficult to understand, but great job.
It's almost 2 years the first FM episode came out.

Hey Ross. Just wanted to say: keep up the good work! Your show gives me something to look forward to every week.

Reddit loves your work.

The resolution you chose (672x384) is more than enough for FM. Remember that increasing the resolution increases the number of pixels (and therefore the optimal bitrate budget) by the power of 2. It is better to keep relatively low resolution with a decent bitrate than increasing the frame size but at inadequate bitrate. The "HD" effect will be far outweighed by the increase in compression artifacts.

As for MPG: MPEG1 is not really suitable as it was designed for VCD at 352x240 or 352x288 and is very inefficient. MPEG2 should only be considered if you plan to release your videos in DVD-compliant format for people to author their own DVDs with. The bitrate will be prohibitive for direct download and you will need to think about using P2P for that. I think it will be a waste of your time as people can very well reencode your WMVs to MPEG2 themselves if they need to (as I do all the time).

Ive stuck every other Monday in my Outlook calender as my FM time, roll on the 16th November!

Encode Freeman's mind at 720p (1280x720). Upload raw file to YouTube HD. HD isn't just about seen extra detail, but clarity. YouTube also allows users to toggle it on and off.

While the file is uploading to YouTube, use WMV9 encoder to re-encode video at 640x360. This resolution is perfect for downloading while keeping the correct ratio and avoiding scaling problems.

I believe these suggestions will give optimal choices to your viewers while satisfying your requirements.

Dear Mr. Scott,

We regret to inform you due to overloading levels of amazing in your videos a Mr. Browning's head has just exploded. In order to fix said problem we request more videos. Thank you for your understanding.

-Mr. Browning

Ah, this day had to come finally... right? I was quite upset just a several minutes ago.. several minutes which flipped my mood 180 degrees. Thank you.

What else? It was really good episode, especially the monkey part. I almost fell from chair. Like always, superb work.

Hey Ross, would you ever consider releasing this on a DVD once you're finished? I think it would be amazing! I'd buy it =P.

Maybe 2 disc bonus edition with CP epsiodes too? lol.

It would also be awesome for you to go all the way through the entire half life series, although i'm not sure when episode 3 is coming out...

As usual, your blood, sweat, and tears are appreciated. Have some toxic human french fries on me.

great episode, the part with the giant spider fortress was great, can't wait for the tunnel!

I love your way to use cheats.It makes FM special...seeing you doing the same we did in HL would be boring...you make it special....

Quality is seriosly going up with this episode ;-)

Take Care dear Ross!!!

Nice episode! I've been noticing the quality of these have been going up since episode 16, great work! Also, I heard you say that machinima wanted you to make 3 FM last month (which you did), does that mean it will become the normal production rate?

IM A MONKEY GOD!!!!! You are back in form! First time I have laughed out loud in about 3 episodes. Thanks for the hard work. When you are finished with the series I hope you will sell a single movie length version!

Awesome episode Gor.....I mean Ross.

Great job!
Wisdom comes through experience, you'll find the best resolution eventually.
I think you've got it right, using cheats to assume logic. I mean, Freeman's a doctor, he should be able to use logical reasoning.
Keep on keepin on.

Great job on the episode man and also good luck on the next Cp video im sure it will also be good.

"Anóther episode?!", I thought, "he must really be working his arse off!"
Truly, don't overwork yourself, we want you to live on and make lots of great movies.

Brilliant episode, as always.

By the way, I.. dreamt.. about the Tunnel Trailer. Really! I dreamed! That's how genius the trailer alone already is. But in the dream, a poison-headcrab-zombie came out of it, but that would be impossible as they don't run that fast...

As for the resolution/format, everyone should use FFmpeg. Well, that's not going to happen. The resolution itself is good, the first few episodes were more blurry. As for the format, everything would be fine with me, Winamp and the XP Codec Pack together can play anything.
But if you're looking for a good encoder, you might be interested in FFmpeg (http://ffmpeg.org or http://ffmpeg.arrozcru.org/builds/), it's very fast and supports lots of codecs and formats.

Greetings, GeneralGenius

Thanks for this new episode Ross. =)

I hope things at Machinima.com get better for you.

Thank you!

Dear Ross Scott,

When you go to the Gargantuan part, don't put notarget, please or it will be no fun! Having the beast burn your ass would be funny but it would be stupid if the beast didn't see you.

- BrazilianKidFromEngland

"Look at me, look at me!" lol

Great work, once again!

That was...brilliant.

Your right...this stress and pressure seems to be having a positive effect on the writing for FM.
The jokes and puns were alot wittier than usual. And im not saying the usual is subpar...this one was just standout.

Honestly, I thought the quality of the last few episodes was going down a bit. It was seeming less like freeman's mind and more like some guy saying silly things while playing HL.

BUT!

This episode had my laughing out loud over and over again. It is honest to god one of the funniest things I've seen on the net for a long time!

Really really good, and really really funny! 10/10

I'm not too sure, but does the -h 672 -w 384

-GuyThatLikesFM

For FM the 832x624 is the best format for many people because it is a regular size.
it doens't need so much fast computer to runs it and it's like not so low resolution

For CP 1280x720 needs to stay tha we can see more details on the scenary etc.

FM and CP are THE BEST OF ALL MACHINIMAS!

Great job, by the time you get to FM HL2 I'd be willing to pay for it!

Perfeito como sempre Ross!!!!!!

i love freeman's mind, the entire genre (is it a genre?) of speaking the thoughts of a character, escpecially someone like freeman, is just so funny.
Bravo, good sir.
is there any character-mind-speaky videos for portal?
I would love to see those.
Hell, I'd make them myself, if it weren't for the lack of money/time/motivation/skill... the list goes on...
anyway, I'm rambling.
Thanyou for releasing these great videos, and i look forward to all accursed farm productions.