HL2: stacking barrels?

[Ninja Dodo]

I didn't want to read the other threads to avoid spoilers so this may have been covered, but...

I'm at this point in the game (route canal) where, I'm pretty sure, you're supposed to stack a bunch of barrels in shallow water so that you can climb into a big pipe with a red light that leads into the next room. The problem with this is that I've spent about an hour stacking these damn things and I've managed to get to a pretty respectable height from which, compared to situations earlier in the game, I should be able to jump up into the pipe... but the game is just not having it. Couple this with the fact that water isn't very easy to get around in and you're continually interrupted by lack of oxygen... ten attempts later I am getting pretty annoyed with this.

Am I going the wrong way entirely? Is the game just being annoying for no reason and should I just get a savegame or use cheats?

Any thoughts welcome...

[Jackal]

I'm not 100% sure where you are from your description ND. If you're in shallow water, then oxygen shouldn't be a problem. Just as a general pointer (and this may seem super obvious, but I forgot at first), make sure you're doing a sprinting jump. I'm so used to games being in "always run" mode, that I forgot about the sprint feature.

There is one section in deeper water that you cannot jump into, though, so can't answer your question for sure.

[Marek]

I don't remember this part of the game, so you'd have to be more specific.

For some reason everyone thinks that stacking things is the answer to everything in HL2, but it's not. If you find yourself trying to stack things for more than 5 or 10 minutes, you're probably on the wrong track, as the designers would never force you to fuck around with barrels or boxes for an hour.

[Erwin_Br]

If you're talking about the blue floating barrels; put them in the cage underwater.

--Erwin

[Ninja Dodo]

Okay, specifics time.

I just dropped out of an air vent, blew up some flammable barrels to get rid of a swarm of flying saw-thingies, then went up on a platform, (lots of devices and pipes everywhere that you can't interact with) went into another room, lots more pipes, a ladder on the right that goes way down into some water and on the left a big fence that blocks the way into an adjacent room. Down in the water is a crate with some health stuff. As I can't seem to get anywhere from here I backtrack into the big room and decide to throw the 8 or so brown metal barrels that are lying around into a small hole in the floor with a ladder. The hole leads to a pit with water that is shallow enough to allow stacks of barrels to come out of it, but deep enough to require swimming. A huge pipe connects the pit with the room I mentioned before (the blocked off by the fence). The pipe is just out of reach.

Getting warmer?

[Marek]

Ermmmm you did it all wrong, and if you can't go back to the big room you should reload a savegame. You should inspect the room with all the pipes a little more carefully. Don't just use the ladder; jump onto the pipes and check them out. The solution can't be seen from the ladder or from the bottom of that room, but it can be seem if you look better.

[Ninja Dodo]

Well I saw another air vent somewhere but I couldn't seem to get to it. Anyway, I'll have another good look around.

[Erkki]

I know the room but can't remember the solution. [edit] oh, I think I remember there's a valve that you're supposed to turn somewhere. Possibly on the pipes Marek mentioned.

I got stuck there too,

there is indeed a valve amongst the pipes in the tall room, turning it causes the water level to rise, thus allowing you to reach the red pipe in the other room.

edit 2: doh, i totally clicked 'edit' instead of 'reply' and fuXored your post, i am half asleep.. SORRY!! >_<

[Ninja Dodo]

Upon closer inspection I found the valve. It flooded the room so that I could swim through the offending pipe.

Still, in an ideal non-linear game, my solution - though somewhat overly complicated - should've worked really. No non-linear twinkie for you, HL2.

It's still friggin awesome though.

[Jake]

Kenty is naughty.