L4D2 toolset released on PC

By Robert Purchese Published 4 January, 2010

Build or just play, lazy.

Valve's released a Left 4 Dead 2 toolset that allows the PC community to build maps for each other.

But if you can't be bothered, simply install the add-on support package and reap what they sow. This is a meaty download, but once up and running even Left 4 Dead 1 custom maps will be playable.

Designers, on the other hand, need the Authoring Tools. These behave like the L4D1 toolset but with added features. One of those is Gamemode Logic, which cleverly adapts maps to modes being played; another, Director Logic, knows a good team of Survivors when it sees one and so ups the challenge for them.

Rounding the package off are Scavenge mode support and a full, maybe lovingly illustrated manual to help you get going.

Head over to the Left 4 Dead blog for download locations and other helpful links.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • charming_fox #1 2 years ago

    parp!

  • Caimbeul #2 2 years ago

    I'd love to give this a go but have absolutely no experience whatsover. Anyone know of any idiot guides on using this or similaty tool kits for games?

  • The-Bodybuilder #3 2 years ago

    I really wish the maps being made could be downloaded for 360 users (free of course).

  • penhalion #4 2 years ago

    I stopped playing L4D2 after a few weeks. The five scenarios simply weren't enough and the end of the circus one was just a pain i the ass (infinite rushes until you get near the saferoom!). The so called root change tech made zero difference as all it does is block off a door here or an alley there. Most of the time you don't even notice the difference. It's not like it's in any way dynamic i.e. a stray bullet hits a gas tank and you are now forced to go the more dangerous dark tunnel route or something like that.

    I guess we'll see L4D3 in november then.....

  • StooMonster #5 2 years ago

    I would've played L4D2 to death by now, but still suffering from lock-ups that mean I cannot play through one map of a campaign without my PC being locked up and reset button needing to be pushed. :(

  • Digital_Forge #6 2 years ago

    @Caimbeul The Valve developer wiki is a good starting point, there's also a few other sites such as Interlopers that have a really helpful community. L4D Mods possibly worth checking out too.

    @The Bodybuilder It was said at the Eurogamer Expo (I think) that Valve want to bring the best mods and level to the 360 and charge a small fee, with a portion of that fee going to the creator themselves to help the modding community grow. It's the way forward I think and eventually somebody's gotta give.

    Toolset supports character models too so expect full ports of the original survivors to appear not to mention brand new creations entirely.

    Edit: I'm shit at doing links.
    Edited by 3 at 04/01/10 @ 13:31

  • General_Zod #7 2 years ago

    @penhalion

    Well to each their own, I have played about 20 hours of it so far and I havnt even started the campaigns on expert yet. For me scavenge mode is worth the money I spent on it already.

    @Stoomonster

    Sure your comp isnt over heating?

  • StooMonster #8 2 years ago

    General_Zod: nothing else, from Valve or anyone else, even Batman at 2560x1600 maxed out with highest PhysX overheats the box and causes it to crash; besides I've got some quite serious cooling going on. So I don't think the light-weight Source engine should take it out. My box is tri-SLI though, and with the reported SLI problems with L4D2 I reckon it's prolly related to that.

    But I don't want to pull my box apart to test this theory, I'm just playing through back-catalogue of games purchased but not yet played whilst waiting for a fix from Valve ... but it's been quite a long wait so far. Reminds me of the sound-loop problem in HL2 on a previous PC, that took months before it was finally addressed. Ho hum.

  • The-Bodybuilder #9 2 years ago

    @ Digital Forge.
    I wouldn't mind that at all.

  • hahayou #10 2 years ago

    @Stoomonster

    Tried disabling multicore rendering?

  • charming_fox #11 2 years ago

    paaaaaaaaaarp!

  • hiddenranbir #12 2 years ago

    I hope the L4D2 UI for installing add ons doesn't just mean an URL link which minimizes the game and has you having to browse, download and then install manually for it.