Addon Support L4d2 Download

[Pavan Outlaw]

Sincethe August 20, 2010 update, L4D2 fully supports custom sounds. Instructions provided by Valve are available in the L4D2 Campaign Add-on Tutorial article. This article covers how custom sounds are used in L4D2, file management, and testing.

Many L4D2 mods replace existing sounds without packaging a sound cache.This is the only option if you want to avoid having your users modify game files directly, since addon sound caches have the lowest priority and are overridden by higher-priority sound caches.As of version 2.2.2.6, the engine will happily accept replacement sound files with these properties without rebuilding the sound cache:

Your replacement's properties should be close, if not identical, to the original's to prevent abnormal playback.The following will occur if you attempt to play a replacement sound without rebuilding the sound cache:

For example, the song to the rolling credits, music/unalive/themonsterswithin.wav, plays over almost every other sound. If that sound file (along with the soundscript entry) is moved to the different directory, the music will behave differently. The player will hear other sounds mixed into the ending credits, such as zombies moaning, survivor remarks, soundscapes, etc.

A feature called soundmixers may be the script behind priority/ducking of sounds. The location of a sound file within the sound directory dynamically controls what is played in the foreground and what is softened or muted. The script is located in scripts\soundmixers.txt within pak01_dir.vpk. See GCFScape for details on how to extract the script for viewing.

Per-map soundscripts appear to be the only way to create custom or modified soundscript entries. Brand new soundscript entries can easily be created or an existing soundscript entry like Event.Tank can be safely overridden for a single map. When testing or shipping, the result is a maps folder that contains a _level_sounds.txt for every map within the campaign.

All official in-game sound effects, vocalizations, and music rely on soundscripts to tweak the sound to the desired channels, volume, pitch, etc. With maps/_level_sounds.txt. You can customize existing entries without causing conflicts with other addons and official campaigns. Simply copy the entries you would like to change to the per-map soundscript.

A lot of music entries rely on Map Properties > Post-Fix String found in Hammer and nav mesh attributes in-game. For example, the Post-Fix String of the map c5m1_waterfront.bsp is "BigEasy" and it plays its style of intro music in-game, where the nav mesh is marked PLAYER_START and CHECKPOINT.

Custom soundscapes in L4D2 appear to work well without the need to modify the official soundscapes manifest. They are "per-map" text files like soundscripts, but are instead located in the scripts folder: scripts/soundscapes_.txt. Soundscapes usually use .wav files, where looping is typically involved. .mp3 files may also work (looping not supported).

Because Soundscapes are "Per Map" every single map of a campaign needs one.

To avoid copy-pasting the entire script and keeping track of changes across all soundscape files, you can create a "master" soundscape which has all the content it needs, while all other soundscript files simply "include" the master script. So all changes in the master are automatically loaded into all other scripts.

like so:

Testing a custom soundscript entry is as simple as creating an up-to-date sound.cache, restarting the game, and then playing the sound within a map. As noted in the add-on tutorial, sound.cache is built with the console command snd_buildsoundcachefordirectory ..\left4dead2\. When the sound cache is successfully created or updated, the console will output the number of sound files found in the add-on sound directory.

As mentioned in the L4D2 Campaign Add-on Tutorial, the final, and most likely separate, VPK will contain all the unique assets to your campaign or single map. In terms of custom sound, simply copy over the sound folder and per-map soundscripts that you have been working with. Congratulations on shipping!

No one actually asked these but here's something that someone might ask without reading through the whole website.

When the campaign will be released?

15th of February 2011!

How many maps will it have?

5 maps total.

Will this campaign require Left 4 Dead add-on support installed?

No, this is made only using left 4 dead 2 content. No Left 4 Dead 1 content is currently being used that is within the addon pack. The addon support isn't even needed anymore. All the files are included in L4D2 these days already.

Who is making this map?

Just one guy, me

Why are you doing this?

Because i like to do so. I enjoy playing games such as Left 4 Dead 2 so i want to give something back for the players who like it too. Besides, there aren't many good campaigns available for it anyway.

Noob! You can't map!

I have over 3 years Hammer experience from CS Source and Team Fortress 2. How about you?

How this campaign is different from others?

I have my own plans which i will not reveal just quite yet, so no one else takes benefit from them. It will however have unique look and plays like the Valve maps. Smooth and enjoyable. Not too "custom". It will be designed for all difficulty levels so you will not have overwhelming odds to get through it.

Would this map run on Xbox360?

I do not know the requirements for having a map running on Xbox360 nor i have seen how L4D2 is different on Xbox360 compared to the PC version. There is an option in hammer where you can disable certain models on Xbox360 and other things. Atleast i have tried to make this campaign and it's maps as light as possible so it could run on Xbox360, but that would require some Valve intervention. Currently custom maps on Xbox360 are not possible, at all.

What is Hammer that you spoke of?

It is the main tool of Left 4 Dead 2 Authoring tools kit. A view from the first map of the campaign in Hammer editor.

What's the Pelipurkki thing?

It's a finnish community i run mostly for Valve games. Servers for mine and others pleasure to play on. Free of charge.

Whats this ICS thing?

It's a nickname i use. The domain ics-base.net was a clan website, long time ago for the game Vietcong. ICS stands for I Can't Shoot. I owned the domain so i kept it and wanted to do something for the people under it. I kind of took the name ICS to myself too. No, it's not airsoft thing. I don't do that stuff.

Why there is a PayPal donation button?

I think it like this. I have PayPal account and when i get this done and if people like the campaign, they can press it and give their thanks as sum they like to enter. It's not required, encouraged anywhere else at the site or by me anywhere. I'm only saying that to answer this question. No, i do not request you to give your last money to me, please don't. It is only there so if you really want to press it and give something back. If you don't feel like pressing it, i'm fine with that. No hard feelings and i won't be sad about it. I like to test out things and this is beeing one of those tests. I'm not delaying this campaign due to that button or how much money i get with it. No, It has nothing to do with the progress of the campaign or the release. I am still building this as fast as i can and when i have freetime and interest. When it is ready, i will release it, for free, for everyone without any regrets.

Thanks. Be sure to submit your questions and get back once a while to keep up-to-date on the progress!

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