Zombicidal

Here comes the best Christmas present of all! According to the Left 4 Dead official blog, the authoring tools (SDK) for Left 4 Dead 2 have been released! In addition, the developers have also released an addon support package for players who just want to use custom content.

Players who are only looking to play custom content (including custom maps for L4D1) only need to download the support package. In Steam, open your Tools tab and look for the entry called “Left 4 Dead 2 – Add-on Support”. Click it and install it. After installing it, you don’t need to run anything. Your game client will automatically be able to play custom content thereafter.

Custom content designers should download the aforementioned file and the “Left 4 Dead 2 – Authoring Tools”. This download adds applications, utilities, and example files.
The new authoring tools are similar to Left 4 Dead’s authoring tools, but there are a number of new additions:

Gamemode Logic: Designers can now make a single map that can behave differently depending on the gamemode in which it is being played. This can dramatically reduce the file size of Campaign add-ons, as the same map can be used for Co-op, Versus, Scavenge, and Survival.

Director Logic: Maps can now alter their layout and behavior depending on how “angry” the A.I. director is. The better the Survivors are doing, the angrier the AI Director seems to get. This allows you to base variable paths and other events on the player’s skill and current conditions.

Scavenge Mode Support! All the elements map authors need to support Scavenge in their maps. This includes game props as well as a full example in the form of Deadline 2, an updated tutorial campaign.

Left 4 Dead 1 map designers are encouraged to compile L4D2-specific versions of their maps in the new tool.

Elunah Developer, Left 4 Dead 2, Patch community, maps, SDK

According to some folks in the L4DMods forums, some community developers have found a way to port the Left 4 Dead 1 campaigns (including Crash Course) to L4D2! Including the maps (and perhaps Survivors) from Left 4 Dead 1 was one of the possibilities that players were most excited to hear from Valve, but so far, we haven’t heard anything official about this possibility since about a week after E3.

For those who are excited at the possibility of integration between the two games, this is as good as you’re going to get for now. The modification allows you to play as the new Survivors in the old maps, with the new Infected. However, there are still a number of bugs. For instance, the baseball bat is the only new weapon that can spawn, though the tonfa and Bile bomb are dropped by UCI. Also, players have been complaining about a lot of lag and crashes, especially in crescendos and finales. Most of the finales will crash before completion.

In order to use this mod legally, you have to own both L4D and L4D2 on the PC. You should also have some experience modding your game files, and should create a full backup before proceeding. Otherwise, enjoy!

Elunah Developer, Left 4 Dead 1, Left 4 Dead 2 campaign, community, gameplay, melee, PC

According to an interview with Valve developer Yasser Mailaka, Valve is looking into ways to bring custom content to Xbox 360 players. The custom content, which is crafted in Left 4 Dead’s SDK, is currently only available for PC players.

Mailaka identified integration with Microsoft’s distribution system and finding a way to filter out copyrighted content to be primary hurdles in the way of the potential offering.

Elunah Developer, Left 4 Dead 1 community, DLC, SDK, Xbox 360

Now that Comic-Con week is over, we’d like to seek respite from all the brain-splattering aspects of the new game and turn our eyes to the lighter side of Left 4 Dead 2.

A main strength of Valve’s games has always been community involvement. While this usually assumes the form of maps and mods, sometimes the community’s content spills out into other realms—in this case, cosplay! This is the first Comic-Con since the release of Left 4 Dead, and a veritable flood of Survivors and zombies alike inundated the convention.

The Tank is particularly impressive. The entire costume was completed in 8 weeks out of a combination of PVC pipes, chicken wire, padding, and various fabrics loaded on top of an ALICE pack. What’s even more impressive is that the hands are fully articulated, controlled by a glove inside the arm. Check out the cosplayer’s description and a lot more pictures at L4DMods.

In a slightly different twist on tributes to Left 4 Dead, Double You Tee Eff recently posted their own frivolous fanfic for Left 4 Dead called Left 4 Sims. If you’re a Sims fan, it’s worth a giggle.

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2, Media comic-con, community, cosplay

There has been a minor update to Left 4 Dead 1.

Updates to Left 4 Dead have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Left 4 Dead

• Lobbies and games you’ve recently joined and left will be ignored for two minutes. This will prevent a player from ending up in the same lobby or game when quickly searching for another
• Restored Find a Game Lobby/Find a Game in Progress to the Create Lobby screen available from the Lobby Browser
• Updated localization text

Fixed an issue where VPK.EXE would not extract all files

Elunah Left 4 Dead 1, Patch community, lobby, Steam

Yesterday, the Left 4 Dead team released a beta version of the long-awaited SDK!

Today we are opening the beta of the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools to the public. It is available as a free download for all owners of the PC version of Left 4 Dead, and can be found under the “Tools” tab in Steam.

The L4D Authoring Tools include modified versions of the same tools we used to produce Left 4 Dead.

Using the L4D Authoring Tools, you may create your own campaign maps, character skins, 3D models, sound effects, and music and load them into the game.

Here’s what’s included:

• Updated version of Hammer, the source level editor
• Updated suite of command line compiling utilities
• Updated Particle editor
• Updated Faceposer
• Example maps, common infected, props, and explosives

This release also introduces a pair of plug-ins for SketchUp, a 3D modeling program you may download for free. You may use these plug-ins to create building blocks and props that can be imported into Hammer for use in game levels.

This should greatly increase the number of custom skins, maps, and mods in the coming months. Get yours here: http://l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=2510

Elunah Developer authoring, community, maps, SDK, tools

The enhanced Left 4 Dead statistics page is back, after appearing on Steam Community pages for a couple days in January. The new page features trendy rounded edges, more careful organization of content, a total time played counter, and compiles long-term statistics (probably starting from the initial release in January). Some of the statistics are still incorrect—such as 100% accuracies with the Minigun or the finales survived—but it’s a fun (if inaccurate) addition anyway. Check it out at your Steam Community profile page today!

Elunah Left 4 Dead 1, Patch community, stats