Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools released to undead masses

by Griffin McElroy { May 16th 2009 at 5:30PM }

"Sure, the rooftop portion of No Mercy is intense," you often explained to your Left 4 Dead-playing cohorts, "but you know what it needs? More Tanks. Eight or nine more, at least." Your friends attempt to dissuade your mad-eyed vision, but ultimately find it futile -- after all, it's not like you have the ability to summon these hulking meatwalls from the ether, right? ... right?

Tremble in fear, zombocalypse Survivors -- Valve just released the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools it used to create the core campaigns to the general public. Using these grim mechanisms, players are able to "create your own campaign maps, character skins, 3D models, sound effects, and music and load them into the game." Best of all, Valve will be updating the matchmaking system to include player-made levels in the coming weeks. If your interest in L4D is waning, brace yourself -- the game's getting a huge booster shot.

[Thanks, Dan!]

Tags: authoring-tools, left-4-dead, level-editor, valve, zombies

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

brickwalker0 @ May 16th 2009 5:34PM

i cant wait to see what the community will make. im usually not good at these things, but i know a lot of people are.

tbh, i hope this gives me the same sort of enjoyment i got from playing Starcraft UMS maps back in the day.

aah, the good ol days.

Alex @ May 16th 2009 6:17PM

I love downloading User Maps. On FC2 on the 360, I can't use the map editor at all, and the best I ever come up with comes from the Wilderness Generator.
I recommend you download one called Rally Course. It's in the top rated/most downloaded section... I can't remember what.

The Baron @ May 16th 2009 5:38PM

This is what kept TF2 alive for over a year for me. I hope the L4D campaigns are of a similar quality.

Damian @ May 16th 2009 5:57PM

@DWells55: You might as well blame sony also, because the PS3 doesnt exactly support user mods either, nor has any console ever, so dont just blame microsoft.

@NaeemTHM: Dont most devs release the devkits anyway, nt just valve, bethesda did.

Shmil @ May 16th 2009 6:13PM

@ Damian look up Unreal Tournament 3 mods for the PS3

THE Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ May 16th 2009 6:20PM

damian, unreal tournament 3 on ps3 supports user mods. so... ?

DWells55 @ May 16th 2009 7:27PM

I was going to cite UT3 as well, but I've been beat to the punch.

Cameron @ May 17th 2009 11:16AM

C'mon lads be fair - UT3 for PS3 is hardly a great example of a console utilizing mods. There was only a handful, because mods made for the PC had to be "cooked" for the console version. Oh that and i do believe the online community for the PS3 resembles a desert.

DWells55 @ May 17th 2009 10:13PM

While UT3's mod support isn't exactly the best it could be, that's hardly the point. The point is that Sony allowed user modifications to be played on their console. Microsoft on the other hand, repeatedly denies any developer requests for anything like this. Why allow free user content when Microsoft can continue to reap huge licensing fees from microtransactions and other DLC?

DWells55 @ May 16th 2009 5:39PM

And thanks to Microsoft's absurd policies on user content and anything they dub a potential security risk, chances are that the Xbox 360 will be seeing none of this. And since this is user content, Valve would have to license it from them to release it as Xbox 360 DLC, so that isn't happening either.

Sigh. Time to talk my XBL friends into selling their Xbox 360 copies of Left 4 Dead and putting their money towards the PC version.

NaeemTHM @ May 16th 2009 5:42PM

Perhaps your friends are like me, they have weak ass PC's. Personally I use a Mac at home so PC gaming is more or less out of the question.

Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ May 16th 2009 5:50PM

Well, there's always a chance that Valve will do the 'TF2 Trick' again aka turn superior custom maps into official ones, but by the time that happens, no one will be playing L4D on 360 as every console gamer will migrate onto the 'next big thing'.

That's why Xbox Live gaming suffers a lot imho. On PC even the most obscure games will have their own tight-knit communities and ten year old games may still be played on a worldwide scale(CS,Starcraft) while on 360 you're either Halo/CoD or only last a few months.

DWells55 @ May 16th 2009 7:29PM

@NaeemTHM:
Left 4 Dead and pretty much all the source games run pretty well on anything. Hell, Counter Strike: Source works just fine virtualized inside VMWare Fusion on my MacBook Pro. If your Mac is at all recent, dualboot it with Windows and you should be able to run Left 4 Dead smoothly, albeit at reduced settings.

Doug @ May 16th 2009 10:22PM

That's why you spend 100$ on a GPU, and then you can easily play L4D.
If anyone actually cares plop this into your system. If you have anything over a Pentium 4 (lolz), you should be able to play L4D on all high.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131155
Pc gaming isn't expensive, it's just gamers being lazy.

Brian @ May 17th 2009 11:18AM

@Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka):

Halo and cod have lasted more than a few months.

Autopsy15 @ May 17th 2009 3:38PM

@Brian

Buzz Killington was saying that the only games that have an online following past the few months after release are Halo and Call of Duty games, which is partially true. There's also GTA and I can usually get a full game started in Rainbow Six: Vegas 1.

NaeemTHM @ May 16th 2009 5:40PM

Is it me or does Valve seem like the only video game company out there that actually run by gamers? They know EXACTLY how to please the fans.

Could you imagine how cool it would be if Nintendo release a level editor for Mario Galaxy?

THE Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ May 16th 2009 6:23PM

if killzone 2 had a user map editor + support for the maps in ranked matches, i would be in heaven.

StarStabbedMoon @ May 16th 2009 6:32PM

If Nintendo was made up of gamers exactly like everyone else in the western world than Mario would've turned into an italian mob boss with an extreme addiction to psilocybin a looooooooooooooooonng time ago. And we never would've gotten Mario Galaxy. Because he's a plumber in that game, not a mob boss.

Moptimus Slime (PhilosoRaptor is the new Keyboard Cat) @ May 16th 2009 6:40PM

LOL WUT?!?!?

WiredKnight @ May 16th 2009 6:42PM

Epic has a pretty good mod community for the Unreal Engine as well. A few of their designers/develops make frequent visits to their modding forums to help people out. They also have some great documentation for people who've never used it before.

Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ May 16th 2009 5:41PM

They sure took their sweet time...I was half-expecting my map-making-obsessed friend to jizz himself given how much he complained about how long it took...

BUGz @ May 16th 2009 5:43PM

and this is why PC gamers RULE!

Obie @ May 16th 2009 5:47PM

Dawn of The Dead mall please!

Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ May 16th 2009 5:52PM

Waaay ahead of ya, Obie :)

http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12:crossroadsmall&catid=2:news

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ May 16th 2009 6:29PM

My thoughts exactly! Get to it nerds!

Michael @ May 16th 2009 6:58PM

i second that

DWells55 @ May 17th 2009 5:23AM

Thanks Buzz, after seeing that and a handful of other Left 4 Dead mods (which I've been trying to ignore since i own the 360 version), now I have to go buy it for PC too.

B3astofthe3ast @ May 16th 2009 5:49PM

Ah, if only L4D were on PS3, Sony would be all over this!

JerJer @ May 16th 2009 6:19PM

i downvoted you because of peer pressure. everyone was doing it.

Jerk Face @ May 16th 2009 6:31PM

Also, because what you said means you probably have to wear a helmet whenever you get off the short bus and go out into public.

BUGz @ May 16th 2009 6:32PM

i upvoted you because you added "Sony" to your sentence and you got downvoted

DangerMouse @ May 16th 2009 6:37PM

I didn't do anything because I CAN'T SEE SHIT!

B3astofthe3ast @ May 16th 2009 7:36PM

Um, why did I get downvoted? I was simply referring to how open Sony was with Unreal Tournament 3's custom maps, and that they would most likely allow this if the game were on PS3.

Levi @ May 16th 2009 7:47PM

I didn't vote you up or down. I'm not into politics.

Cosmo @ May 16th 2009 11:02PM

There was no reason to vote you down, 360 fanboys just don't want any of their exclusives to come to the PS3, whereas they want all the PS3's exclusives to come to the 360. : /

Nobledevil @ May 17th 2009 5:09AM

I agree with you too, actually, b3ast. This would pretty much be LittleBigPlanet but with L4D content, which would be HOT.

But I guess I'll have to finally get this on PC and maybe use a 360 controller (sorry, just used to that more than m&k).

Autopsy15 @ May 17th 2009 3:42PM

@NobleDevil

Well good luck because everyone on your team is going to hate you when you don't turn around fast enough to kill anything.

Moptimus Slime (PhilosoRaptor is the new Keyboard Cat) @ May 16th 2009 6:04PM

a mod that makes every zombie a tank? Yes please

Joe H @ May 16th 2009 6:31PM

So, does this allow you to place zombies? Or do you just design the map, and then the "AI director" takes care of the rest?

WiredKnight @ May 16th 2009 6:44PM

I haven't gotten my hands on it yet, but I am sure that there are ways to control and fine-tune the a.i. and enemy/item spawns.

Tez @ May 16th 2009 6:35PM

See, I always knew L4D was a good game, but it never really felt like a true Valve title for some reason...

This is more like it.

ExMcCloud @ May 16th 2009 6:35PM

God dammit Valve is GREAT....Do they ever do anything wrong....(Assuming you don't own a playstation)

Moptimus Slime (PhilosoRaptor is the new Keyboard Cat) @ May 16th 2009 6:38PM

Xen says hi

nofriendo @ May 16th 2009 6:36PM

So is this an in-game map maker they are making available, or is it just like a dev kit thing they are giving to you if you're a PC nerd who knows how (and have the time to) reprogram textures and AI mods only to show other few nerds who like (and have the time to) give a shit.

cause if its the former, my amature map making self is all over that.

WiredKnight @ May 16th 2009 6:50PM

Considering your description of the latter, it's neither.

Yes, it's a dev kit available to anyone who owns the game. You can make your own maps using their Hammer world editor. But you don't need to know how to make your own textures or anything else to be able to make your own basic maps. You can make extra maps for L4D, or you can really dig into it and modify how the game is played.

If you make something good, a few people will be interested. If by "few" you mean all the players who are remotely interested in custom content. Which there are _plenty_ of.

nofriendo @ May 16th 2009 6:56PM

But is it editable on the 360 (like farcry 2)? Or do I have to have fancy pant-cy computer?

(patent pending on "Fancy Pant-cy Computers")

WiredKnight @ May 16th 2009 8:03PM

No, it's not an in-game editor. You have to access it through the tools section on Steam. The trade off is that it's way more powerful and offers a wide range of modding abilities.

You don't need an impressive computer to run it either. Obviously, it can limit the scope of your maps, but you can still play around with it.