About time!

Apr 19, 2009
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1,722
Kotaku said:
deadair.jpg

While the campaigns that shipped with Left 4 Dead were all pretty good, you do get sick of them after a while. Which is where custom, user-generated campaigns come in.

Next week, Valve will be updating Left 4 Dead so that these custom missions - like the Resident Evil 3 mod we showed you earlier in the day - are both more prominent within the userbase and are easier to download and play.

Firstly, with this update map creators will be able to package their content into a single file (a .VPK). This will make displaying, downloading and installing the campaigns a cinch for other users. The game's matchmaking system will also be updated to reflect this, with "extensive support for custom add-on campaigns". Valve explains:

When creating or searching for a lobby, a new option named "Add-on campaign" will let you select from among the add-on campaigns that you have installed. You can then find games or lobbies as well as create a lobby for that campaign. You can invite your friends, too. If they do not have the campaign installed, they will automatically be offered and an option to download it.

Neato.

This is all going to be made possible via the release of the game's SDK (authoring tools), which after a stint in beta are going to be officially rolled out to the userbase next week. This update will include the source files for all original campaign maps, making both the creation of new maps and the editing of existing ones a lot easier for the general population.

Of course, cynics may point to this as an attempt by Valve to silence the angry mob upset at the impending release of Left 4 Dead 2, and keep them happy with user-generated add-ons rather than official ones. Those cynics are welcome to their opinion; I'm of the belief that with these tools the mod community can come up with stuff just as good, if not better than anything Valve can come up with.
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So we can now say good by the the old maps and hello to the new ones!
 
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Gaw

L4: Comfortable Member
Apr 21, 2009
167
24
How strange, it has been posted here but not on L4Dmaps.net

:/
 

Anda02

L1: Registered
May 30, 2009
29
2
Yay! I've been thinking about L4D maps, and I'm glad they finally got this stuff goin'.
 

Dr. Spud

Grossly Incandescent
aa
Mar 23, 2009
880
854
I haven't seen any good custom L4D campaigns I'd play over the defaults. Actually... I don't think I've ever seen a finished one in general.

Remember the whole "Left 4 Dead 2 coming this Fall" thing? Yeah, that kind of killed the incentive to map for the first game...
 

Shaar

L3: Junior Member<BR>toboruin
Aug 7, 2008
231
206
/me waits for the impending release of left 4 orange
 

MungoKing

L3: Member
Jul 12, 2008
148
47
I haven't seen any good custom L4D campaigns I'd play over the defaults. Actually... I don't think I've ever seen a finished one in general.

Remember the whole "Left 4 Dead 2 coming this Fall" thing? Yeah, that kind of killed the incentive to map for the first game...

The L4D2 team has stated that L4D custom maps will work in L4D2.
Ars Technica said:
The SDK will be coming out of beta in the next week or so, and Faliszek points to that to prove that Left 4 Dead will still be updated. Also, all the maps created with the SDK will work on the sequel.

Original story here
 

Dr. Spud

Grossly Incandescent
aa
Mar 23, 2009
880
854
yeah I know all about maps working with L4D2, and I've talked a lot about it.

Put shortly: I wouldn't spend 3 months making a good campaign, only for L4D2 players to see and it and go, "oh... that's an old map" and go on to play the official campaigns with new features.
 

Radaka

L420: High Member
May 24, 2009
491
244
I'm going to agree with Dr. Spud, and personally, I'm going to just stick to mapping for TF2. I don't see this game either dying or getting remade anytime soon.