Left 4 Dead Blog

L4D2: Interview with Chet Faliszek about the Hard Rain Campaign

2009-12-18T22:12:00.000-08:00

An old but good video about Hard Rain, with a little bit of scavenge mode thrown in at the end for good measure ...

Left 4 Dead 2 - Guardin' Gnome Achievement

2009-12-18T21:47:00.000-08:00

Dark Carnival just got more fun!

Everyone in the group gets this achievement (so long as one of you makes it into the helicopter with the gnome).

Looks like a nice achievement to try and get!

Left 4 Dead 2 DLC - The Passing - Spring 2010.

2009-12-18T21:00:00.000-08:00

The newly announced DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 is called "The Passing" and is due out in Spring of 2010.

The survivors from the original Left 4 Dead will be reunited with those from the sequel in a small town in rural Georgia, with players controlling the L4D2 characters.

There will be "something new for every game mode plus a new uncommon common and weaponry."

It will be interesting to see exactly what this new DLC offers and how much it will cost.

Souce: left4dead411

Left 4 Speed 2 (Parody)

2009-12-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Just as good as the first one in it's own right I think!

Enjoy!

Shaky Hallows: One to look out for ...

2009-10-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

I must confess that I do not know much about Shaky Hallows other than the videos that have been posted to YouTube, but what I have seen is pretty impressive!

When this comes together this will be much more than your regular custom map - there's a flamethrower (on rails), a train crash, and news reports on TV to name a few. There's even a turret system that will shoot you if you stray outside of playable areas of the map ... and a very nice looking forest so far ...

The intro to some of these videos is very long, so don't let this put you off viewing the actual content. It's worth it!

Shaky Hallows is full of promise, but I have no idea when it will actually be finished.

10 Ways to Annoy in Left 4 Dead

2009-06-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

This should probably be renamed how to get kicked in less than 10 seconds ... some of these are funny to watch on youtube, but annoying as hell when some lame griefer ruins the game ...

Still if you have four more minutes of your life to waste ... here it is:

Resident Evil - Last Escape (Beta 1.0)

2009-06-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

Outatime has obviously been working hard on recreating Resident Evil's Racoon City for Left 4 Dead - and it clearly shows in this Beta 1.0 release of this map.

This map is a complete rebuild of an earlier map and was started 6 months ago ... it's in Beta, so it's not perfect, and players with lower end PCs will likely experience lower frame-rates.

Having said that this map looks really good and will only improve with further development. I quite liked the early "hastily" thrown together version that this grew out of - and as you can see that this version has been nicely crafted and put together so far ... great work Outatime!

I am sure that there will be many people keen to watch the development and completion of this campaign.

You can download the map from here: http://re3.ninthworld.net/?p=64

This youtube video shows the Beta release off in third person view:

Unrest Mod - 8 v 8 Versus!

2009-06-17T15:22:00.001-07:00

Unrest looks like an interesting Mod, not just because 16 players can play 8 v 8 in Versus mode, but also because the abilities of the special infected have been tweaked to make it harder for the survivors to get to the safe house.

Unrest was created by EVOL, the creator of the Hunter Games mod.

Here's what you need to know:

* Zombie hordes are 50 in size instead of 30.

* Smoker tongue range increased 25%

* Smoker pull is almost instantaneous

* Survivors being dragged accelerate much faster (other survivors cannot catch up to them, but are instead forced to attack the smoker)

* Better chance of pulling a survivor who is running around a corner

* Incapped survivors can crawl

* Hunter claw does 8 instead of 6

* Max hunter pounce damage is 50 instead of 25. This scales correctly, so what is normally a 20 damage pounce is still a 20 damage pounce, not 40. For more than 25, you'll have to go pretty high.

* You can have to up 3 smokers and 2 boomers. This way, the survivors never know what they are up against. And, in 8v8 games, this equates to pure chaos.

* Tanks are 7% faster.

* When there are more than 6 survivors, when a tank comes, a second one will immediately spawn. Both will be controlled by human players (no AI).

The combination of these changes should give a faster paced and shorter game for the survivors - which should be a lot of fun playing in Versus mode. So if you get beaten to a pulp as the survivors just make sure that you return the favour when you are playing as the infected ...

There is a Steam Group to advertise Unrest games to get groups of 16 players together here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/UNREST?

In the meantime check out the Unrest gameplay below:

You can get the latest release from the Steam Group page - the current link is here: http://huntergames.org/phocadownload/unrest-1.0.3.zip

Community Map - Death Aboard IV - The Ship

2009-05-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

This, the 4th map the campaign (by Ditpus) takes place on a ship.

The angle that the boat is resting on gives this map a disorienting feel, and again this looks like another great map in this campaign ...

This just leaves The Lighthouse as the finale.

Download: http://l4dmapdb.com/campaign:death-aboard

Extract the files and copy files to: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead\left4dead\

Open the Console and type:

map:l4d_deathaboard04_ship

Links:
Death Aboard III - Docks
Death Aboard II - PrisonYard
Death Aboard I - Prison

Video by Zilla422.

Community Map - Back to School - I - Forest

2009-04-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Forest (by Fake100) is the first map in the Back to School Campaign.

- Forest (by fake100)
- Train station (by romasm)
- Town (by romasm)
- Road to school
- Escape

Download the map from here: http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=76

Extract the files and copy them to: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead\left4dead\maps

open the Console and type:

map:l4d_backtoschool01_forest.bsp

Nicely designed map, great start to the campaign!

Commnity Map - Red Sea - I - The Roofs - Beta 3.5

2009-04-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

The Roofs is the first map in the Red Sea Campaign by SilverRagout:

*The Roofs
*The Metro, school, theater
*Port
*The ship
*Finale on deck

Download the map from here:http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=342

Extract the files and copy them to: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead\left4dead\maps

open the Console and type:

map l4d_redsea01_roofs

This looks like a promising start to the campaign with a versus map also available!

L4D - Matchmaking Changes - Coming Soon

2009-04-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

The SDK is currently in closed beta and will be released after the fairly imminent Survival Pack. Along with the SDK the matchmaking process is being extended to:

* allow for 3rd party campaigns

Valve then plans to add extra features such as:

* find servers running the campaigns that you have installed
* see friends playing on 3rd party campaigns and download those campaigns

An interesting planned feature is to enable team based matchmaking:

* two teams of four players join up to compete in a Versus game.

Skill based matchmaking is also being refined to better try and match players of similar skill who have good pings together.

The blog post detailing these changes is here: http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=2390

Crawl While Incapped / Down - L4D Hidden Feature

2009-03-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

This video shows survivor behaviour modified to crawl when down / incapped by use of the following commands:

sv_cheats 1
sm_cvar survivor_allow_crawling 1
survivor_crawl_speed 15

The speed can be set to what you want but anything above 25 is not recommended as the animation gets flakey.

You will need to have SourceMod installed to be able to use the sm_cvar command.

If you want this running all the time you can add the commands to server.cfg.

All credit goes to Apex: http://www.apex-games.net/?page_id=145

Permission to post this video is here.

Community Map - L4D Death Aboard III - Docks

2009-03-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

Docks is the 3rd installment of the Death Aboard campaign, which is coming together quite nicely now.

The Survivors have a fair amount of ground to cover with a single crescendo event towards the end of the map.

Known bugs:
* All ladders have been changed to fit with L4D's proper settings now. But they are still confusing bots and npcs sometimes.
* The bulletproof glass in the prison is still not blocking bullets
* Water in docks level still not final
* Saferooms might spawn too many healthkits in campaign mode
* Tanks and witches don't spawn in campaign mode.

I'm going to try and see if I can find some servers hosting the Versus map soon - it should be a blast!

Links:
Death Aboard II - PrisonYard
Death Aboard I - Prison

Download: http://l4dmapdb.com/campaign:death-aboard

Left 4 Dead Update - Wednesday March 25th

2009-03-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well, there are no doubt a few welcome changes in this update. I am most happy to see melee fatigue, Boomer vomit passing through common infected, and server fixes. I have never been able to get the sv_search_key (now just "key") to work ...

Game and client changes:

Introduced fatigue to the melee attack in versus mode. You will see a HUD display when your melee swing is cooling down
Boomer vomit will now pass through common infected
Addressed some surround sound detection issues
Fixed a rare crash when exiting Left4Dead on Windows Vista
Fixed a case where the complete all expert campaigns achievement was not being rewarded

Dedicated server changes:

Corrected an issue where Windows based dedicated were sending spurious shutdown notifications to the master causing them to delist temporarily
Fixed dedicated servers not resetting the versus team swap correctly--you could join a dedicated server that had a previous game that was swapped and arrive on the other team than what was selected in the lobby
Renamed the tags for sv_search_key to use "key:" in the server tags instead of "sv_search_key." This should help with issues of the 63 character limit of server tags
Fixed an occasional server crash related to voting

No Mercy 5 - Versus - Molotovs

2009-03-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

On the finale of No Mercy when the survivors are faced with Hunters, a Boomer and a Smoker at the top of the final ladder on to the roof it is common practise to throw a molotov onto the roof to try and snag one of these bosses.

But, if the bosses are all standing on vents (and the Smoker is over by the radar station) you will need to be much more precise with your molotov aim to catch them on fire.

Wbokunic's video shows you how ...

Left4Dead Update - Thursday, March 12th

2009-03-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

It looks like the problems with last nights update have been resolved with this next update earlier this today.

Fixed sv_search_key appearing in server browser
Fixed issue where changing the sv_search_key did not update the master correctly
Fixed master server issue with Linux fork mode that affected availability of Valve dedicated servers
Tank melee attack can now hit multiple Survivors in one swing
Missed from the previous list changes: Fixed acheivements to match stats. Past achievements not previously awarded will be shown in the game UI

Left4Dead Update - Wednesday, March 11th

2009-03-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's update brought a lot of fixes that will be a definite improvement to the game balance on Versus mode. The tank and smoker changes will be particularly welcome in my opinion ...

Versus Mode Changes

Tank melee attack can now hit multiple Survivors in one swing
Fixed Tank punch being able to hit targets behind walls
Fixes to 'Tank parking'. The Tank will now run back and attack the Survivors if he becomes AI due to two players expiring the frustration meter
Fixed a case where a Tank frustration meter could run out right as he was in his death animation and he would come back to life
Fixed a case where the Tank was moving too slowly while crouching and being shot
Tanks now have the possibility of spawning in a slightly different position for the first and second teams
The order that the teams play as Survivors is now determined by which team has the higher overall score. The winning team will play as Survivors first
The Smoker tongue can now target and grab victims through common infected
Increased the cone in which a Smoker can grab a target
The Witch no longer cuts Smoker tongues in a radius around her
Boomers that explode in mid-air will now hit Survivors directly below them with Bile
Reduced the damage that burning Hunters do to pounced victims
Adjusted the time at which players take over from bots to avoid 5 seconds of the bot standing idle while the player finishes connecting.
Fixed some cases where versus score was not being recalculated properly. It is no longer beneficial to pass pills between players at the end of the round or heal other players and then shoot them
Fixed a case where it was possible to spectate an AI infected and hit +use to take them over

Server Changes

Added convar sv_gametype that allows server operators to limit the types of games that will start on their server. Default value is 'coop,versus'. Can be changed to just 'coop' or just 'versus' to limit to those game types

General changes

Fixed a case where players would join as a dead Survivor when a living Survivor was still available
Fixed a case where restarting a level due to the team dying would give more than the max primary ammo on restart
Fixed the speaking icon showing up on the local player during level transition if voice_vox was set to 1
The scoreboard now shows the numeric value of a player's ping

GameUI

Quick match will now try to match to any campaign. Removed the preference to match to games according to the player progressing through all campaigns
Games in a finale are now joinable via the Friends and Steam Group games list

Dead Before Dawn - ModDB Best Upcoming Mod 2008

2009-02-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

Darth Brush's Dead Before Dawn wins the ModDB Players' Choice: Best Upcoming Mod for 2008.

Originally created for the Half Life 2 Mod "No More Room in Hell" it is now being customized and ported to Left 4 Dead.

Dead Before Dawn contains replica locations from the movie Dawn of the Dead, so far including:

* Crossroads Mall
* Anna's House
* The Park

Soon you will be able to see Andy's Gunshop.

This campaign also promises Easter eggs from the movie and a 100% custom soundtrack.

At the moment, this Campaign looks like it will set the bar for the L4D mapping community ...

Left 4 Dead tutorials - from valve!

2009-02-27T22:37:00.000-08:00

This is a great guide that will help a lot of people out until the official SDK for L4D comes out.

Apparently it is an archive of tutorials for the dev Wiki for the L4D SDK (when it comes out).

Download.

This is the listing of the tutorials:

* Getting Started
* Your First L4D Level
* Ladders
* Visibility
* Nav Meshes
* Checkpoints
* Checkpoint Rooms
* Outdoor Levels
* Level Organization
* Level Standards
* Clip Brushes
* Elevators
* Panic Events
* Breakable Walls
* Finale Events Part 1
* Finale Events Part 2
* Finale Events Part 3
* Additional Finale Components
* Nav Flow
* Advanced Nav Editing
* Versus Maps

The original thread is here, man this makes me wish I had time to make a map ...

Community Map - Spray and Pray (Beta)

2009-02-26T22:09:00.000-08:00

This is a work in progress by BrainFood ...

All audio was added post production and is not recorded in game ...

Download: http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/81857

Left4Dead - ESXi Server Performance - Campain Mode

2009-02-17T18:20:00.001-08:00

This is CPU performance of L4D in campaign mode running on ESXi - my CPU is AMD (Dual Core) X2 BE-2400 Brisbane 2.3GHz.

SourceMod - Linux Installation

2009-02-17T16:39:00.000-08:00

Why would you want SourceMod on your server?

Well it can help you administer your server in game and you can also install additional plugins with it. This is what it looks like in game ...

Installation consists of copying files to your server so you will need ftp or SSH access to your server. Before you do this you will need to confirm your Steam ID for use later - simply join a server and then open the console and then type the following and hit enter:

status

The result will give you your Steam ID. Copy and paste it from the console and save it for later.

First download Metamod to your computer and extract the files. Copy the addons folder to your left4dead folder on your server. On my server this is /home/user/hlds/l4d/left4dead.

Next you need to generate a vdf file - choose Left4Dead as the game type and leave the gamefolder blank to download the correct file (click Generate Metamod VDF). Upload this file to the addons folder on your server. On my server this is /home/user/hlds/l4d/left4dead/addons.

Now download SourceMod and extract the files. Copy the contents of your addons folder to the addons folder on the server. On my server this is /home/user/hlds/l4d/left4dead/addons. Copy the contents of the cfg folder to the cfg folder on the server. On my server this is /home/sxl4d/user/l4d/left4dead/cfg.

Next we just need to grant ourselves some admin rights by editing the addons/sourcemod/configs/admins_simple.ini file. On my server this is /home/user/hlds/l4d/left4dead/addons/sourcemod/configs/admins_simple.ini.

At the bottom of the file just add the following line where the Steam ID is the one you saved earlier:

"Steam ID" "bcdefghijklmn"

The Steam ID specifies a player and the next field specifies permissions as per the following table:

Simply reboot the server and you are good to go - connect to your server, open the console and type the following to view the in-game admin menu:

sm_admin

Thanks to KingJulian on this thread for many of these details ...

Left4Speed - Left 4 Dead Parody

2009-02-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

This is probably the funniest L4D parody that I have seen ...

What are the odds!? lol ... Awesome job ...

Connect to Private Dedicated Server through a Lobby

2009-02-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

Well I have tried to do this on and off for a little while now and found a post by MaxRabbit that works for me.

My server config is pretty bare at this point:

server.cfg:

hostname "l4d"
rcon_password "*************"
mp_disable_autokick 1
sv_voiceenable 1
sv_allow_lobby_connect_only 1
sv_region 1
log on
sv_clearhinthistory 0

Server start script:

./srcds_run l4d -secure -maxplayers 4 +hostport 27015 +map l4d_hospital01_apartment +exec server.cfg +sv_lan 0

To connect from a Lobby this is what you do ...

First launch L4D and open up the console and type:

sv_cheats 1
ms_force_dedicated_server x:y

Here x is your WAN IP address and y is the game port (i use 27015).

Close the console and then set your lobby options as normal and the lobby will connect directly to your server!

I am not sure why the sv_search_key way of achieving the same end is not working for me but this will do just fine ...

Versus Maps and Survival Mode Update - Gametrailers

2009-02-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

A little more news from Gametrailers on the anticipated Versus Maps and Survival mode due out this spring.

The new Versus maps will indeed be Dead Air and Death Toll, so no real surprise there.

The survival mode will basically be the four survivors trying to stay alive as long as possible over a range of 12 maps. It reamains to be seen if these 12 maps will be from the existing campaigns or if they will include new content. My hunch is that they will be campaign maps that players already know ...

New L4D Game Mode, Vs Maps & SDK due Spring 2009

2009-02-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

Valve have issues a press release today that says that a new game mode, Versus Maps and the SDK will be released this Spring!

The first L4D DLC is dubbed the "Survival Pack" contains the new Survival game mode and two complete campaigns for Versus mode. The campaings are not specified but it is assumed that they will be Dead Air and Death Toll.

The SDK will also be made available for the PC in the Spring!

There are no details yet as to how Survival Mode will play.

Spring looks to be a good time for killing Zombies!

Tank on Fire ... Faster or Not?

2009-02-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

MarphitimusBlackimus posted an intersting video comparing the speeds of two tanks - one on fire and the other not on fire - in Versus and Campaign modes ...

The results were quite surprising ...

The Campaign Tank on fire is way faster than a regular Tank and the Versus Tank on Fire is a little slower than the regular Tank!

Awesome Video!

Community Map - L4D Death Aboard - 2 PrisonYard (beta)

2009-02-03T19:42:00.001-08:00

The second map of the Death Aboard campaign is already out in beta now. Prisonyard sees the survivors escape the Prison and venture outside ...

The outdoor atmosphere is nice, fairly dark and nicely lit ... I especially like the watch tower area when you first get outside.

It's pretty straightforward to work out where to go, so learning your way round is easier than the Prison map.

There's a lot of wire fence around in this map and I wonder if this might hinder Hunters and Smokers in Versus mode ... there might be some good high spots to ambush from though ...

There is one Crescendo event close to the end with an accompanying horde - and from there it is a fairly straight run through to the safe house.

The map did crash on me once but that seems to be an isolated event so far ...

All in all, a nice looking map (and an improvement in some way on the Prison map in my opinion).

Download: http://l4dmapdb.wikidot.com/map:prisonyard

Video: How to use DemoSmoother

2009-01-31T09:35:00.000-08:00

If you want to add a free-raoming camera to your demo then the DemoSmoother is for you!

Enable the developer console. Start playing and use the ~ key to open the console and then type:

record test

Test in this example is the name of your demo.

When you are done recording open the console again and type:

stop

Exit to the main menu of the game and in the console type:

playdemo test

Check out Mokalokka's video on how to use DemoSmoother ...

Additional Resources:

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Demo_Recording_Tools

Demo Smoother Video Tutorial (CS)

Nova Prospekt Map From Half Life 2 for Left4Dead

2009-01-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

inkofdeath230 posted a video of the Nova Prospekt Map from Half Life 2 for Left4Dead. The map was uploaded by eodwjfj.

You can download the map from here: http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=60508

Looks like a blast! Thanks guys ...

Update: Just gave the map a quick playtest and it was great fun.

For some reason sv_cheats changes to 1 at the crescendo event - not quite sure why. The area that I had the most problem with was the water because there are underwater pipes that you have to jump over and that is quite awkward ... otherwise it's a great map to reminise!

Now we just need Ravenholm!

Community Map - L4D Death Aboard - Prison - Beta

2009-01-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

This map by Diputs is showing some promise and is part of a campaign that will contain the following (yet to be released) maps:

* Prisonyard
* Docks
* Ship
* Lighthouse

The map has quite a roomy feel and Zombies are attacking you before you have even had a chance to pick up any weapons.

There are a couple of different paths that you can take to the safe house and on normal setting the map is quite easy to complete.

The map plays nice and my only complaint so far is with some of the stairs where you can easily miss the next flight down and go past where you want to be going ...

The only known bug so far is that ladders don't work.

The map can be played in Co-op and Versus modes, but obviously Prisonyard will not load once you compete the map.

To play, first download the map from here: http://www.l4dmaps.com/download.php?file=33

Extract the files and copy them to: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead\left4dead\maps

open the Console and type:

map l4d_deathaboard01_prison

I am looking forward to playing the completed campaign when it comes out ...

Left4Dead Update - Friday, January 23rd

2009-01-23T22:47:00.001-08:00

This update:

Fixed an exploit with melee where swapping weapons ignored the intended delay between swings.
In Versus mode, the Tanks' health now reflects the damage he takes from burning.
Fixed an exploit related to the "joinclass" command.

Video: Guide to Playing the Tank

2009-01-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

A great video on how to play the tank ...

New Dead Before Dawn Video

2009-01-18T09:31:00.000-08:00

Despite the limitations of the "hacked" SDK for Left 4 Dead there are some great looking mods such as Dead Before Dawn.

It seems that the official SDK will be needed for some of the map scripting and for fixing a couple of textures but otherwise this mod is looking very polished!

The environment looks well designed and there is obviously a back story too, which is nice.

Between Anna's house, the Gas Station and the Town there looks like there is plenty to do! Obviously some more work is still to be done but I can't wait to play it! Great work!

Watch more video games and play free games at WeGame.

Left4Dead Update - January 15th 2009

2009-01-16T07:38:00.000-08:00

Just a small one this time:

Fixed client crash on certain video cards

Yay updates!

Left4Dead Update - January 14th 2009

2009-01-14T22:31:00.000-08:00

There looks like a lot of needed changes in this update! I've bolded my favourites -it's better that it is harder for Survivors to get to the safe house in Vs mode!

I love the improved Vs HUD too, which shows other infected players health, class and spawn time!

General

Fixed Survivors being able to climb surfaces marked for versus infected only

Fixed a class of SurvivorBot bugs dealing with rescuing downed players
Players can no longer grab ladders while flying through the air after a Tank punch
Shooting near a car with an alarm that has already fired the alarm will no longer make chirping noises
Improved loading time
Fixed mini-gun physics exploit
Fixed propane tanks (and other physics objects) causing players to fall through elevators
Fixed rare achievement bug issues
Fixed several map exploits
Fixed various match making issues
Fixed NAT traversal issuesVersus Changes
Added HUD elements to show status of other infected players
Changed color of infected player name in chat to red
Fixed exploit where players could spawn infected bots
Fixed instance where a Survivor changing to the infected team would be attacked by infected bots
Normalized special infected melee damage
Made the following client commands cheat protected: "Kill" and "explode"
Fixed exploit where infected players could run away and teleport back to gain health
Players can only change teams once per map
Players can't change teams while other players are still loading
Tank spawns at the same % through the map for both teams in versus mode
Made the Tank and Witch spawn directly on the escape route
Increased chance of getting the Tank or Witch
Fixed team swap issue

Hunter

Easier to pounce a Survivor who is meleeing
Increased Minimum damage a Hunter pounce does

Smoker

Fixed Smoker tongue tolerance
Smoker now has to be killed or the tongue destroyed for the tongue to break
Survivors cannot bash someone off the tongue until the Survivor being pulled is paralyzed or hanging
Tongue attacks that fail to paralyze or hang a Survivor will use the shorter ability delay timer
Fixed cases where the ability timer was not using the correct time
Fixed case where you could point at a Survivor but not register a tongue hit
Fixed Smoker tongue not targeting and landing properly through PZ ghosts
Smoker tongue does damage every second while dragging paralyzed Survivors

Tank

Bashable objects now appear with a red glow
Tanks hitting a car with an alarm disables the alarm permanently
Tank frustration timer is only reset by hitting Survivors with rocks or fists
Reduced autoshotgun damage against Tanks

Witch

Witch spawns at the same % through the map for both teams
Avoids spawning within a certain % of the tank
Fixed an exploit where the Witch could be woken up and tricked into attacking Survivors

What's the best VAC ban to date?

2009-01-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

There probably aren't that many reasons why Valve Anti Cheat (VAC) bans cheaters, but some kind soul has taken the time to collate a list of the best excuses!

Some of these are too funny, I especially like the one that complains about being banned for using "undetectable hacks"!

Major Left 4 Dead Update Coming "Soon" ...

2009-01-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

A major update could be accounced by Valve "very soon" - perhaps as early as next week according to Kotaku.

This should include the Software Development Kit (SDK) for PC users and downloadable content (DLC) details for the XBox.

There is speculation that this update may include versus mode for all maps.

Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Video: Guide to Playing the Smoker

2009-01-04T22:41:00.000-08:00

The Smoker can be difficult to use effectively so thanks to Soulcorruptr for another video guide which should help us get our tongues around some more survivors!

Video: Guide to Playing the Hunter

2009-01-04T22:38:00.000-08:00

Another video from Soulcorruptr - this time it's Hunter tactics ... Hunter melee is a nice touch as you can creep up silently and hopefully get a few swipes in at 10 hit points per melee!

Video: Guide to Playing the Boomer

2009-01-04T22:34:00.000-08:00

Need some help playing as the Boomer? Soulcorruptr's video is a great guide ... note that Boomer's no longer explode when they fall from a great height!

Community Map: L4D Farmhouse Defense

2009-01-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it hasn't taken long for community "mods" and maps to make their way on to the Left for Dead scene, despite the lack of an official SDK from Valve (which is expected "soon").

A prime example is Zawbie's map called Farmhouse Defense, where the survivors must simply survive for 20 minutes.

The map has a great "Blood Harvest" feel and the survivors can build make shift barricades to help block the doors from the zombie horde ...

There is also a secret built in to the map that I have not yet discovered and (sadly) a couple of texture glitches with the kitchen counter-top and the conservatory glass, but other-wise the map is top notch!

There is however some tweaking in the console that is required to get the map functioning with a nice onslaught of zombies.

To play the map you need to copy the .bsp and the .nav files to C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead\left4dead\maps (assuming of course that steam is insatlled on your C:\).

Farmhouse-defence.bsp

The map does not come with a .nav file and so you can either generate your own or download that one that I generated.

Farmhouse-defense.nav

Or you can generate your own .nav as follows via the console:

sv_cheats 1
nav_edit 1
nav_mark_walkable
nav_generate

wait until this is complete and then type:

nav_analyze

wait until this is complete and then type:

nav_edit 0
sv_cheats 0

Now restart the map and the survivors and zombies will work, it's just that you will not experience a whole lot of zombies in the 20 minutes that you can play. Entering the following commands in the console should do the trick:

sv_cheats 1
director_panic_forever 1
director_force_panic_event

You can read a full discussion of this great map at this thread. Obviously props to Zawbie for making the map and to l4d_JD and DeAdly for telling us how to make the .nav file and spawn more zombies!

Zombie Defense Posters

2009-01-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

I found these awesome public information posters while surfing the interwebs ...

Here is an example of just one poster that could save your life!

Free Left 4 Dead Sprays

2008-12-31T19:59:00.000-08:00

If you can't be bothered to make your own in-game spray for Left 4 Dead you could always just get one from Left 4 Dead Sprays!

Here are a couple of my favorites ...

Left 4 Dead - Remote Rcon with HLSW

2008-12-31T19:24:00.000-08:00

Need to rcon your Left 4 Dead server remotely? Half Life Server Watch (HLSW) is just what you need ...

The current version of HLSW is v1.3.0.6b and it runs on Windows 2000 and XP (see HLSW system requirements).

Once it is installed you will need to register an email address and password.

Once HLSW is running simply enter the IP of your server with the port:

Type in the Rcon password and click Test. You should see Status: OK.

Click the Console tab and then type in your Rcon command in the field above and then click Send.

And there you have it! A really nice way to administer your server without having to connect a game client to it ... as you can see (below) HLSW also gives you a nice summary of your server details too:

Left 4 Dead - Steam Group Server Settings

2008-12-16T21:27:00.000-08:00

Aside from setting a password with the sv_password cvar in your server.cfg there is another way to make your server private, and that is to associate it with a "steam group".

The advantage of this method is that you can invite players to your steam group and only those players will be able to play on the server - they will also see steam group servers when the game loads (so your server should be easy to join).

So the first step is to create a steam group. Once this is created the group admin (the person who created the group) will need to click on Admin Options and then Edit group profile to get the steam group ID.

Once you have the steam group ID you can edit you server.cfg as follows, (where ###### is your steam group ID):

sv_allow_lobby_connect_only 0
sv_steamgroup ######
sv_steamgroup_exclusive 1

Then just invite your friends to the steam group and everyone should see your server listed in-game just like this:

Left4Dead - Linux - Idle Server Performance on ESXi

2008-12-06T22:03:00.001-08:00

My server is a Ubuntu Jeos 8.1 virtual machine running on VMWare ESXi - my ESX server has an AMD Athlon X2 BE-2400 Brisbane 2.3GHz processor.

As you can see the actual CPU load reported by ESX when the Left4Dead server is idle peaks at 93Mhz which is pretty low if you ask me. (If I kill the Left4Dead server the CPU usage for that virtual machine drops to 6Mhz!)

Once I can get 4 friends playing I will post back the results to see the difference!

Left4Dead MOTD Banners

2008-12-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

Wanna customize your Message of the Day (MOTD) and Host Banners in Left4Dead? Well, here's how to do it ...

Originally I followed this guide but I ran into issues with the host banner which displayed html code rather than the image that it pointed to.

In the above screen you can see my customized host and MOTD banners along with the names of the files that control which images you see - host.txt for the host banner and motd.txt for the MOTD banner. These files are located in the /hlds/l4d/left4dead directory on your server.

Now the images that you select will be resized depending on the screen resolution of the players connecting to your server. So I made my images the following sizes (which should support a resolution of 1920 x 1080:

host banner - 605 x 121

MOTD banner - 1076 x 538

So I created both of my banners as .jpg files and uploaded them to photobucket.

Next we need to look at the html template that we need that will point to the images that we uploaded.

<html>
<head><title>Left 4 Dead 411</title></head>
<body style="margin:0px;padding:1px;background:#000000;">
<img src="URL for host or banner image" style="width:100%;height:100%;" />
</body>
</html>

Copy and paste this into two new files named host.html and motd.html - just make sure that you change the "URL for host or banner image" part according to your URLs for the host or banner images on photobucket.

Upload host.html and motd.html to some webspace that allows public access - I used Sitesled to host mine for free!

On the server you just need to edit host.txt to contain the URL to your hosted host.html file and then edit motd.txt to point to your motd.html URL.

Now in theory you should be able to put the contents of the .html files that we created directly into the host.txt and motd.txt files on your server and have it work - but I found that (for whatever reason) the host banner simply would not work - it displayed html code instead of the banner image. That is why I hosted mine as .html files - and once I did that everything worked.

The only additional issue that I had is that the motd image seems to be resized smaller and then streched slightly (rather than being viewed at its native size) at higher reolsutions - so my advice (if you experience this issue) is to keep your text fairly large so that your MOTD does not look bad.

So here you can see what the host banner looks like in game by pressing the Tab key.

Stuttering Gameplay on (AMD) Dual Core Systems

2008-12-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

I just built a new PC for Left4DEad with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ processor. I loaded XP Pro SP2 and immediately encountered a severe stuttering problem playing L4D.

L4D was completely unplayable ...

So I installed the AMD Dual Core Optimizer and hoped that this would fix the issue - but alas it did not.

The solution that I found was to disable Multicore Rendering in the Video Options as follows:

Let's hope that there is a permanent fix from Valve soon!

Outbreak Achievement

2008-12-05T22:40:00.000-08:00

Today I noticed that I have got the Outbreak Achievement: Catch a rare strain of infection, then pass it on to someone else.

There is some speculation that Valve designated a few players as infected with this rare strain and that these players pass it on to others through some kind of contact, such as covering them in boomer bile, for example. Maybe you have to make "contact" more than once to successfully pass the infection along even?

I remember a couple of days ago getting the Big Drag achievement by snaring the same player three times in a row on a single life as the smoker, so maybe that was when I passed it on? It would make sense to me that the infected are the ones that pass it on - what do you think?

Left4Dead Update - Dec 5th 2008

2008-12-05T22:18:00.001-08:00

This update includes:

Fixed Infected Players melee pushing large objects to block the survivors path
Fixed +lobby exploit
Fixed exploit of "hugging" the Witch from behind where she can't hit you
Fixed players not being kicked from a vote by changing their name before it succeeds
Disabled difficulty change votes from the console in versus mode

Left4Dead Update - Dec 4th 2008

2008-12-05T22:16:00.001-08:00

This update includes:

Finding a dedicated server when starting the game from a lobby is now faster and more reliable
Versus mode is now locked to Normal difficulty
Difficulty on a server is now locked to the one set by the lobby reservation
Fixed lagouts/spikes after level transition
Fixed directory issue with spray logs in some cases
Fixed video settings not saving after closing video options dialog
Corrected a boomer suicide exploit
Several minor localization fixes
Fixed disabling cheats incorrectly resetting data

Left 4 Dead - Private Dedicated Ubuntu Server 8.1

2008-11-30T15:40:00.000-08:00

The purpose of this guide is to create a private server that a community can be built round as the current matchmaking system deployed by Valve otherwise makes this impossible (as the lobby system will connect you to any public and available server out there).

Note: a dedicated server will be installed on either on a dedicated physical machine or in a virtual machine with dedicated resources, and should be configured with a static ip address [either in the networking configuration or via a DHCP assignment in your router]. I have my server running in a virtual machine ...

The first thing that we need to do is download Ubuntu Server 8.1 [click on the tab for the Server edition and then select a download location to download the .iso file].

If you are installing a Virtual Machine boot from the .iso, press F4 on the first screen and select "Install a minimal virtual machine" - this will install version 8.1 of Ubuntu JeOS. Otherwise install a vanilla installation of Ubuntu Server on your box. The first two pages of this guide will show you step by step how to install Ubuntu Server (we will assume that the account for the Ubuntu installation is "l4d" and not administrator).

Note: For my virtual machine I set aside 10Gb of disk space - you may be able to get away with less, but as you can see Ubuntu JeOS and Left 4 Dead occupy almost 3 Gb on /dev/sda1:

Now that we have the preliminaries taken care of let's update the installation:

sudo apt-get update

Upgrade the install:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Install SSH for remote management:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Install Wget so that we can download a necessary file:

sudo apt-get install wget

Create a directory for the Left 4 Dead installation and then cd into the new directory:

mkdir hlds cd hlds

Download the hldsupdatetool:

wget http://www.steampowered.com/download/hldsupdatetool.bin

Make the hldsupdatetool executable:

chmod +x hldsupdatetool.bin

Run the hldsupdatetool:

./hlsupdatetool.bin

Type yes to the agreement and then click enter to continue.

Make Steam executable:

chmod +x steam

Run Steam to download the Left 4 Dead files:

./steam -command update -game l4d_full -dir /home/l4d/hlds

Note: you will most likely be prompted to run the last command again as the first time it runs it will update steam and not install Left 4 Dead.

Left 4 Dead files will now install to /home/l4d/hlds/l4d\left4dead\ - this may take some time, so you may want to make a few cups of tea or something ...

Once the download is complete we need to create a server configuration file [server.cfg] and a script to run the server with particular parameters.

Create a file called server.cfg and copy it [using SSH if necessary] to /home/l4d/hlds/l4d/left4dead/cfg.

Your server.cfg should look something like this:

hostname "Left 4 Dead" rcon_password "myrconpassword" sv_allow_lobby_connect_only 0 sv_password "mypassword"

Change the hostname to whatever you want. The rcon password is for remote administration of Left 4 Dead when the server is running. sv_allow_lobby_connect_only 0 allows for players to connect directly to your server without using the Left 4 Dead lobby system. sv_password sets a password for gamers to play on your server.

Now create a file called autoexec.cfg (in the same folder as server.cfg):

z_difficulty normal

z_difficulty normal sets the default difficulty of the server to normal - you can set this to easy, normal, hard, or impossible.

Next we will create a script to run the game server as follows:

#!/bin/bash cd /home/l4d/hlds/l4d ./srcds_run l4d -autoupdate -console -maxplayers 8 + sv_lan 0 +hostip xx.xx.xx.xx +ip xx.xx.xx.xx +hostport 27015 +exec server.cfg +map l4d_hospital01_apartment

Save the script as "startl4dserver.sh" and upload it to the home directory of the server.

-console: This will display a console that you can type commands into.

-game left4dead: This specifies that the server will run Left 4 Dead.

-maxplayers 8: This will specify the maximum number of players the server will allow, setting it to 8 should allow you to use versus mode, otherwise set it to 4 for survivors only gameplay.

-autoupdate: This will make the server check and update to the latest version when you launch it but this needs a manual fix to work properly.

+hostip: where xx.xx.xx.xx is your WAN address.

+ip: where xx.xx.xx.xx is the static LAN address configured earlier.

-port 27015: This will specify the port for the server to run on [27015 is the default port]. +sv_lan 0: This will force the server to run on the internet instead of just on a lan.

+map l4d_hospital01_apartment: This will specify the map that the server will start with [and must be configured]. You will find all the available map names on your server here: /home/l4d/hlds/l4d/left4dead/maps

At this point you can run the server as follows:

./startl4dserver.sh

To connect to the server from your (LAN) gaming machine you will need to enable the "Developer Console" in the game options as follows: At the main menu, select "Options", then choose the "Keyboard/Mouse" selection. Enable the "Allow Developers Console" option.

You can then use the ~ key to bring up the console and then type:

connect xx.xx.xx.xx

Where xx.xx.xx.xx is the LAN ip address of the server.

To allow internet users to connect you will need to open ports 27000 to 27050 in your router firewall. I also forwarded 27015 directly to the server LAN address just for good measure.

Friends connecting from the internet will then be able to connect to the WAN ip address of your server using the password that you provided them.

Note: if your router supports it you may be able to dispense with +ip and +hostip in your command line. If this is the case you will simply be able to connect to your server from a LAN PC by connecting to you WAN address.