Play as the zombies with L4D demo hack

By Robert Purchese Published 10 November, 2008

Plus: split-screen, user map workarounds.

Internet boffins have hacked the PC Left 4 Dead demo to allow players to control the Infected, or zombies as we call them.

There's a step-by-step guide on the Steam forum, plus a reminder that this is an unsupported feature and so has plenty of bugs and balance issues.

But if you're feeling adventurous, why stop there? Another clever clogs has cobbled together some code to allow split-screen multiplayer in the demo. This involves having an Xbox 360 controller lying around and editing some .cfg files.

Finally, there's a chap who's got user maps working in the sampler, somehow. There's a video of the map in question, plus the usual waiver of slightly raw and unsupported content.

The Left 4 Dead demos will be released to the public tomorrow on PC and Xbox 360. However, those pre-ordering the game from Steam have had access since last Thursday.

The full PC version launches on Steam from 18th November, while retailers will stock Xbox 360 and PC boxes from 21st November.

Head over to our Left 4 Dead gamepage to catch up.

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 (31) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • viper_h #1 3 years ago

    This game is made of pure win. Absolutely superb in every way. GOTY for sure.

  • Lebowski #2 3 years ago

    Left 4 Dead in Two 4 One shockerrrrrrrr!

    Rubbish Zombie: "Brians! .... Brians!"

  • muscleblade #3 3 years ago

    @viper_h

    +1

    Definently GOTY

  • ZuluHero #4 3 years ago

    ...but i already gave the GOTY title to Fallout 3 - and it growls at me when i try to get it back...

  • systems #5 3 years ago

    £19.97 in Amazon, so get it purchased! None of this £33 on Steam rubbish.

  • Widge #6 3 years ago

    So really good?
    Considering Steaming this. Whats the price for it on Steam?

    EDIT:

    £33!

    Bugger off!
    Edited by 1 at 10/11/08 @ 12:02

  • mechamonkey #7 3 years ago

    Ive bought Fable2, Gow2, Fallout3, GHWT and Pure lately and all I wanted to play (and did) all weekend was Left4Dead.
    Absolutely terrifying, panic filled amazement - ad thats just the demo !

  • viper_h #8 3 years ago

    I just have to re-emphasise how good this game is.

    Put 13 hours into it since Thursday and it would've been more if I hadn't have been out on Saturday night. All my other games including Fallout 3 are left in the dust because of L4D, and I can't imagine what I'm going to do with all these games when the full version comes out.

    I might have to clone myself, but then my clones would probably just want to play L4D too...

    BTW if you're looking for a decent no-BS L4D server, check out the Space Prison one at 85.234.148.28:27145
    /plug

  • Widge #9 3 years ago

    Is it a bit like an advanced version of the Zombie HL2 mod?

  • christourlord #10 3 years ago

    How so many people consider £33 too much for this game is beyond me. I've already played the demo more than I have played any of the £40 360 games I have bought this year.

  • systems #11 3 years ago

    ^The point is that it's a bit daft to buy it on Steam when it's £13 cheaper in Amazon, which you can install to your Steam account.

  • mashk #12 3 years ago

    Just to reiterate what the majority of people have been saying, this is definitely the BEST game I've played this year, based on the brief demo.

  • bigbadbeasty #13 3 years ago

    Interesting comments.

    I love zombies, I love Valve products, I thought this would be the greatest game ever- Yet when I pre-ordered it over the weekend (with the early demo access) I have found it enjoyable but not really amazing. The atmosphere is great, and the zombie animations brilliant, but I am not sure what I was expecting, it just seems a bit too simple, maybe too shallow. I have found it easy, even on expert, the computer AI is just as good (if not better) than most of the players I have played with.

    I am sure I will not regret buying it, after all you do get to kill zombies, and everyone loves that; but I guess I was expecting more. Hopefully it will provide that in the full release. If not, I may just play it for 30 mins every now and then, when I am in the mood for zombie death.

  • Fab4 #14 3 years ago

    I have a dream...I have a dream that in 20 years time there will be a zombie elected to be president of the United States....they're everywhere fucking else.

  • smoison #15 3 years ago

    Having played on a server with people playing as the infected (CC clan I believe), I have to admit it is SOOOOOOO AWESOME.

    The game very good , only let down by the shitty match making system which is still in the BETA stages.

  • jack_klugman #16 3 years ago

    The atmosphere is great, and the zombie animations brilliant, but I am not sure what I was expecting, it just seems a bit too simple, maybe too shallow. I have found it easy, even on expert, the computer AI is just as good (if not better) than most of the players I have played with.

    Yeah, I rather second this. I don't know what I was expecting either. But the linearity of the levels, with variety only provided by pacing of zombie spawns and seemingly random pickups, plus a couple of bad experiences with uncooperative players at the weekend have left me feeling rather blue about L4D. Its good, but its fallen short of my "games of the year" list.

    Unless the full title pulls something special out of the bag.

    Kudos for full joypad support on PC though.

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #17 3 years ago

    Dammit! I had to keep reading! I had to keep reading until I saw a negative comment! I've looked round the whole internet!
    Edited by 1 at 10/11/08 @ 13:23

  • StooMonster #18 3 years ago

    Game awesome, this hack ... PITA

    Just tried to have a quick blast and all my teammates turned into bots and were replaced by constantly spawning Boomers, Hunters, Smokers and Tanks instead who were played by former teammates.

    Sometimes one of these guys -- names like ÛÅôìã@êƆƊƹƶ -- changed back to human side at one point, then I had Zoey and Zoey (1) and Zoey (2) on my side i.e. more than four in my team.

  • bigbadbeasty #19 3 years ago

    @ CHAZBIGPOTATO

    Sorry mate. I am not saying that is shit, just not as good as expected.

    As for GOTY, the game will have to improve massively to achieve this (not that it is impossible). I was expecting something that would be the next TF2 for me (having played around 400 hrs in the last year). In a way I am kinda glad, at least this shouldn't take up a huge amount of my time, especially with the amount of great games releases at the mo.

  • stodgypudding #20 3 years ago

    Is this demo definatly coming to the 360 tomorrow? This seems to be the only place that says so.

  • jack_klugman #21 3 years ago

    I was expecting something that would be the next TF2 for me (having played around 400 hrs in the last year).

    Again, I concur.

    L4D is undeniably polished and innovative, but it has so far lacked the immediate sense of fun that TF2 provided.

    And its not just down to playing with the right people - so much of L4D's clever inventiveness seems to do away with that necessity, which can only be seen as a blessing - rather the core experience is just lacking in some way.

    But, lacking as I might find it, its clear many (most perhaps?) who play it are delighting in it and, argueably, online cooperative shooters may never be the same again.

  • MrSixer #22 3 years ago

    What size is the demo? Is it the full 7.5 gig? If so, I'll wait for the full game, I think. It'll kill my download limit.

  • StooMonster #23 3 years ago

    @MrSixer Steam says that it is 3200Mb

    Do they mean MB, or is it really 400MB in size?

  • bigbadbeasty #24 3 years ago

    If I recall it was only about 1.5gb (ish). I am not sure if you will have to download everything from scratch upon release though...

  • matrim83 #25 3 years ago

    Split screen zombie killing. Oh please god let this work on the full version.

  • migasUK #26 3 years ago

    definitely getting this on 360!

  • viper_h #27 3 years ago

    Can the haters go moan somewhere else perhaps?

  • bigbadbeasty #28 3 years ago

    Hate?

    I suggest re-reading tbh

  • jack_klugman #29 3 years ago

    Indeed.

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #30 3 years ago

    "Sorry mate. I am not saying that is shit, just not as good as expected. "

    No probs mate, It reminded me of a joke when I went to see Michael MacIntyre the other day in which he was basically saying how we always look on the internet for just one negative comment about things we like/are exited about and just fixate on that one negative thing, so true!
    This game is just receiving positive comments at the moment - exept for a few! ;-), which is a good sign.

  • penhalion #31 3 years ago

    Played this for a few days now and don't actually like it too much. Issues I found were

    Getting a team together (one that knows what the frak they are doing that is) is a nightmare.
    The Zombie spawns are rediculous and constantly had the whole team downed through no fault of our own. The spawn manager shows no signs of being balanced for team skill at all.
    The tanks are rediculously hard to kill even when four people are pumping them full of bullets.
    You can only carry one health pack, which you loose if you heal your teammates. This leads to you getting killed for being helpful!
    The system spawns stuff behind you 90% of the time, so the rear guard always end up getting killed simply because they were at the back of the group.

    I so wanted to like this game but, the more I play it, the more I dislike the whole mechanic.