Black Mesa – Prolific Popper Guide

Prolific Popper

Prolific popper is a new achievement which came with the 1.0 release of the game. You must kill all 64 protozoans (the purple glowy bois) in the 3 new chapters.

At first I was quite daunted by this, as the 3 worlds took me a long time to get through, but they’re easy enough to get because:

a) The game keeps track of how many you’ve gotten
b) It doesn’t need to be on a single playthrough
c) They’re often in clusters of 3-4

If you’ve finished the game already and just want to do this as quickly as possible, you’re looking at an hour or two worth of work. Most of the poppers are easily visible with no real work, so even without a guide it’s likely you’d get most of them (55+). Only a handful are really hidden.

If you wish to do this as part of your initial playthrough, note that you’ll need to bring the gas canister from Xen with you, as you will need to open the secret room in Gonarch’s Lair.

Note this guide will take you through the quickest way to do this, so you needn’t bring the gas canister with you.

Note on Tracking

If you’ve played through already, and already popped some and would like to better keep track of how many you’ve done, I recommend using the in-game Achievement window:

You can reset your count if you’ve gotten some, by using the command

achievement_reset BMS_PROFILIC_POPPER

(Yes, that is the correct name, despite the achievement itself being called prolific popper).

Xen (37)

Map bm_c4a1a (5)

Start by running up the ramp and around to the left (the usual path) and you will encounter your first protozoan #1 right near a dead scientist. Continue further along and shortly afterwards you’ll find #2 near a diverge in the path which off to the right leads to another dead scientist. Continue further along, jump down to the rock where the first ramp you need to lower is located. Lower the ramp and stand on it and look down to the right and you’ll see #3 flying around.

Keep moving forward until you reach the level that pulls the rock towards you. Take the ladder up the scaffoldiing and you should find another two up here #4 #5. That’s it for here

Map bm_c4a1a1 (0)

There are none here; however, if you wish to pick up the gas canister from here you should do it now.

Map bm_c4a1b (12)

Move past the welcome mat, power up the next door atop the scaffolding and go through it where you’ll be introduced to a tentacle impaling a bullsquid. You should see 2 more protozoans here #6 and #7.

Continue through the level up along the vine walkway, where you will encounter several hounds, and as you reach the top where the waterfall is you’ll see another protozoan #8.

Move through the cave till you reach a body of water which contains ichthyosaur and lillies to jump on, and you will see 3 more floating around #9 #10 #11.

Go through the cave, and all the way along till you get to long jump you need to do (where you have to shoot the plant to lower it). Just past this jump and the drop down you will find 3 more right as you exit the cave #12 #13 #14.

Keep moving through this water, fight off the hounds and you’ll reach a hollowed tree (where you need to shoot the red plant at the top to release the plants) and you will find 3 more #15 #16 #17

Map bm_c4a1b1 (10)

Complete the giant puzzle of opening the plants by shooting the 3 red things, then proceed through to the next area. In the cave you’ll fight a bullsquid, then you’ll be out in an open area where the next 8 protozoans are #18 through #25.

Jump the gap and head up the river to where we see a bullsquid get rekt by a giant hound, then keep going around until the next giant hound where we will see #26 floating.

Right after we get that, enter the cave on the left wiith the dead scientist (another giant hound runs out) where we can see a view of Nihilanth and one is floating out in space #27. Easy to miss

Map bm_c4a1c (8)

Move through the cave and jump over the giant vine wall, and here we find another 3 #28 #29 #30.

Move down the river and fall down the waterfall where you will find another 4 protozoans #31 #32 #33 #34. Be careful as one is behind the waterfall and is easy to miss

Move along and you’ll eventually come to another open space with lillies and many ichthyosaur, and here you will find the next protozoan #35. It flies around quite randomly and can even appear underwater. This is easy to miss.

Map bm_c4a1c1 (2)

Both are at the very beginning but both are very easy to miss. #36 is below all the vine ramps. You may need to walk across some of them and manoeuvre around to spot it, but it’s below them.

The last one is above them all, so from the beginning head UP a ramp, then do a 180 and head up another ramp into a cave above your original starting area. There’s a bullsquid in here, another dead scientist and the last protozoan #37

Gonarch’s Lair (22)

Map bm_c4a2a (0)

There are no protozoans in the first part of this map where you fight the Gonarch (bm_xxxxxx)

Map bm_c4a2b (14)

There are 3 right in the first area here (which is right as you fall down from the initial fight with the Gonarch) #38 #39 #40

Blow up the wall, and further along in the next room you will find another one #41

If you are not doing this in your first play-through and just wish to hurry it along, now is the time to spawn the gas canister and send it on the teleporter (which will teleport it straight to the chamber and ensure the secret passage is open). To do so, type the following into the console

• prop_physics_create props_questionableethics\qe_gas_cylinder.mdl

Exit the console so it spawns, then hover your crosshairs over the canister, and type the following into the console

• ent_setname gas

Now you can throw it into the teleporter and press Use to send it on its way:

This is easy to miss: Go further along to where the Gonarch starts spitting acid at you, blow up the next wall, and go further along till you get to the 3 barnacles hanging from the roof. Jump onto the next stone, and look to the right towards a yellow crystal and you’ll see #42

Keep going until you reach another rock you need to jump onto, which has a blue lantern on it. The next protozoan #43 is right after this jump, it’s hard to miss:

Keep going through here till you get to the area with many bullsquids in it, and you will find 3 more floating together #44 #45 #46.

Right at the end of this map, where the HP fountain, toxic water and lillies are, there is another one towards the ceiling #47. As you end this area and you jump down the hole, there are 4 more in this hole (which can also be got at the start of the next map) #48 #49 #50 #51

Map bm_c4a2c (8)

If you haven’t already, look up from where you fell and get the 4 here #48 #49 #50 #51

Move through the level till you reach the part where you need to destroy several crystals for the water to rise. At the VERY top of it, as you leave the water area there are 3 bubbles #52 #53 #54. A little further along, before the chase scene you will encounter 4 others – they are practically in front of you and impossible to miss #55 #56 #57 #58

The last one for this entire map resides within the secret chamber, which will only open if:
* you’re carrying the gas cannister from Xen
* you put it in the teleporter already
If you haven’t already, you can spawn it now (see the top of this section).
This is easy to miss during the chase, after you cross and bridge and RIGHT before you jump down to fight the Gonarch, there’s an opening that appears on the left. It can take a while to find it when you aren’t sure where it is, but it is there. The last protozoan is in this passageway $59

Interloper (5)

Map bm_c4a3d1 (5)

The only 5 on Interloper are right at the end of the map, in the galaxy room. The easiest way to gets these is to teleport right to the relevant map, which is bm_c4a3d1. Run straight through the first two rooms, up the air vent and they are right in front of you!

Note sometimes using the map command spawns you with no items, in which case you can use give weapon_glock in the console to get a gun to shoot them with.