Physgun

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Physgun
Production information
Affiliation	Resistance
Technical specifications
Damage	Varies depending on the target
Magazine/reload type	16 Sticky Bomb-like welding balls (cannot be reloaded)
Maximum ammunition	16
Ammunition type	N/A
Accuracy	Varies with distance
Range	Short to high
Usage
Used by	Gordon Freeman
Game information
Entity / spawn codes	weapon_physgun

 

The Physgun, or Physics Gun, is a weapon cut from Half-Life 2, and first shown at E3 2003. It can be found in the playable Half-Life 2 leak. It is the predecessor to the Gravity Gun.

Overview

Concept art for the early "prototype physics manipulator" being held by Eli Maxwell.

• The Physgun model is very similar to that of the Gravity Gun. The differences are some texture variations, a red wheel turning when operating in the place of the orange (or blue) glowing parts of the end of the Gravity Gun, and a beige pipe above. The gauge is very similar, and is held with the same tape in both weapons. The pincers are quite different, and simpler. However it has no worldmodel.

• Using its blue beam, the Physgun is useful when the player is unable to reach objects too far to be taken with the Gravity Gun, acting as a long range version of the latter.

• While holding the primary fire and the Use key, the mouse scroll button can bring the target towards and away from the player.

• When holding an object, its weight in pounds and kilos is shown.

• The version of its model is v35, which needs to be converted to v37 to appear.

• The Physgun's beam is also able to kill enemies and allies. It will also push Antlions extremely far.

Sending a car flying with two weld tanks attached to it in the map "dangerted.vmf".

• The Physgun's secondary fire (with a red beam) produces a Sticky Bomb-like ball (as it is the same model) that the player can use to "weld" two props together, when throwing a ball on each prop (the balls need to touch each other for the welding to work). When two props are weld together, using the primary fire on one of them will have the ball of the other produce sparks. The ball(s) of a prop will also change its color when the prop is selected. Gameplay wise, this option is very unstable and difficult to use efficiently. Sometimes the red beam will change and attach the prop to the ground after a few seconds. When the attachment is achieved, a flare sound also used by the Flare Gun and the IRifle will be heard. This feature is reminiscent of what can be achieved in Garry's Mod, and hints at a possible sandbox physics feature (even multiplayer) removed from Half-Life 2. Indeed, in the playable Half-Life 2 leak, the Physgun is able to perform simple to complex physics contraptions similar to those featured in Garry's Mod, and without making changes to the game settings. The WC mappack map "dangerted.vmf" (named after the Citizen ragdoll present in the map, male Citizen 02, Ted) for instance is a sandbox map that the team used for testing physics with the Physgun. Furthermore, two canister models, "W_WeldTank.mdl" and "W_WeldTank2.mdl", were apparently designed only to be weld to specific objects and make it fly away when ignited, as they contain volatile gas. They were removed from the retail files, hinting at their purpose being nil in the final game.

Trivia

• The Physgun is featured in popular mods such as Garry's Mod and SMOD. Its functions remain the same except that it is able to freeze objects. Another Garry's Mod feature is the ability to rotate objects, among others.

• In the Half-Life 2 files, several texture files for HUD weapon icons can be found, most of which still containing the icons for almost all of the cut weapons. The Physgun is among them.

• The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device features Physgun-like functionalities in the Portal 2 Sixense MotionPack DLC.

Gallery

• 

  HUD icon.

• 

  Alternate icon, without caption.

• 

  Sticky Bomb model.

• 

  "W_WeldTank.mdl".

• 

  "W_WeldTank2.mdl".

List of appearances

• Half-Life 2 (First appearance) (Game files only) (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (Non-canonical appearance) (As "prototype physics manipulator")

References