Index
Good morning...
Welcome to the Goldsrc guide. This hand-written guide is provided for the edification and entertainment of readers of June Gloom 3D. Please keep your limbs inside the margins at all times. In this guide you will learn about the Goldsrc engine and the games that it powers. These include games such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike. Built on the idTech 2 engine that powered Quake and Quake II, Goldsrc is a robust engine.
Run, think, shoot, live
Half-Life was a landmark in the history of the first person shooter. It serves as a symbol for when shooters "grew up." There are the games that came before it... and the games that came after. Nobody had seen a game quite like it (nevermind that it's clearly inspired by Marathon...) While today it's more obvious that the line between it and its predecessors isn't so clear as we once believed, it still represented a major sea change in how first person shooters were produced and presented. It also served as the basis for a large modding community that has had a major impact on the industry.
They're waiting for you, in the test chamberrr
Valve has continued to maintain Half-Life and its engine-fellows over the nearly thirty years since the game was released. Despite its somewhat dated graphics (which can easily be updated a bit, thankfully) Goldsrc remains one of my favorite engines, right up there with the Build engine.
Vicarious reality
Here's almost every commercial (or freeware) game to use Goldsrc, including the new ones, sorted first by series alphabetically, then main title, then expansions. Almost all of these are either commercial products (or bundled with one), or mods offered on Steam; the sole exception is Natural Selection, which never saw a Steam release yet remains an important piece of history.
Base Defense (2012)
PLut
A singleplayer/co-op game oriented around horde-mode gameplay and RPG elements, with the premise being something to do with fending off an alien invasion.
Counter-Strike (1999/2000)
Minh Le and Jess Cliffe/Valve
The classic multiplayer shooter, one of a spate of terrorism-themed games released in the two years before 9/11 made it all seem so damn prescient. Originally released in 1999 as a free mod for Half-Life before being picked up for a mixed freeware/commercial deal. (It's complicated.) The original commercial release came with a bunch of popular mods and games.
Counter-Strike Neo (2003)
Namco
A Japanese-exclusive version of Counter-Strike, reconfigured for arcades and presented as an anime-influenced cyberpunk setting. It runs in a specialized version of Linux.
Counter-Strike XBox Edition (2003)
Valve, Ritual Entertainment, Turtle Rock Studios
A specialized console version developed by Ritual Entertainment, serving as a sort of middle point between the original retail release of Counter-Strike and what would eventually become Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (2004)
Turtle Rock Studios
An updated re-release of Counter-Strike, though it went through a lengthy development process with no fewer than four studios working on it, finally culminating in Turtle Rock Studios tossing out most of the previous work and going back to basics. Introduced the official bot to PC audiences, so it's got that going for it.
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes
(2004)
Ritual Entertainment
The third iteration of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, developed entirely as a linear single-player experience (akin to Half-Life) before being scrapped as the obvious money loser it was doomed to be. Well, I like it. Included with Condition Zero as a bonus game.
Counter-Strike Online (2008)
Valve, NEXON
A spin-off version of Counter-Strike intended for Asian markets, with microtransactions and all that good stuff you expect from Asian gacha.
Counter-Strike Nexon (2014)
NEXON
A spin-off of a spin-off, this one went through a number of names and
changes, originally being known as
Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies. A very strange title, and so far the only one in the
Counter-Strike Online sub-series to see a western
release.
Cry of Fear (2012)
Team Psykskallar
A piritual successor to Team Psykskallar's Half-Life horror mod Afraid of Monsters; one of the first modern mods to get a Steam release. Play a depressed Swedish kid trapped in a nightmare world of Stockholm. Features some fancy new graphical effects.
Day of Defeat (2000/2003)
Day of Defeat team
A team and class-based World War II themed multiplayer shooter at a time when the genre was really taking off. Originally released as a free mod, before being picked up for a retail deal.
Digital Paintball Redux (2017?)
Digital Paintball
team
The modern-day incarnation of a long-series of paintball-themed mods going back to Half-Life: Paintball around the turn of the millennium. People still play paintball?
Another multiplayer mod oriented around (at the time) contemporary combat
and weapons, often seen as a slightly more realistic take on
Counter-Strike. Was included in the original retail version of
Counter-Strike.
Gunman Chronicles (2000)
ReWolf
Yet another mod-turned-retail cult classic, with a really weird development
history. The story has something to do with weird space worms and some guy's
vendetta against the player character in the far future. I dunno, it's
basically Unreal with cowboys. Effectively abandonware now.
Half-Life (1998)
Valve
The original classic that completely changed the face of first person shooters for the next decade. The game that launched a thousand mods. Play a scientist at the Black Mesa Research Facility who triggers an alien invasion on his first day. Oops!
Half-Life: Uplink (1999)
Valve
Rather than your typical demo showing a small portion of the early part of the game, Half-Life's demo was a stand-alone story, lasting maybe an hour, using a lot of content that was cut from the full game. There's been a lot of remakes and restorations; it's now an official playable campaign with Half-Life's 25th anniversary update.
Deathmatch Classic (2001)
Valve
A freeware mod for Half-Life, essentially a remake of Quake 1's multiplayer in the Half-Life Deathmatch context. Was released for free in Half-Life's 1.1.0.7 patch.
Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999)
Gearbox
The first official expansion pack for Half-Life, putting you in the boots of one of the Marines assigned to put down the alien invasion at Black Mesa.
Half-Life: Blue Shift (2001)
Gearbox
The second official expansion pack for Half-Life, though it originally began life as an expansion for the Sega Dreamcast port, which was ultimately canceled (thanks to the demise of the Dreamcast and Sega exiting the hardware market). It comes bundled with a graphics enhancement pack originally developed for the Dreamcast port. YMMV on if it improves the game's look or not (I like it.)
Valve, Gearbox
After the Sega Dreamcast port of Half-Life was a failure to launch Valve and Gearbox would try again. The official PlayStation 2 port features further enhanced graphics, as well as a co-op expansion called Decay that has never had an official PC release -- though an unofficial version has floated around the internet for years.
Absolute Redemption (2000)
Maverick Developments
An early mod for Half-Life intended as a fan-made sequel. Originally released as Redemption and getting a commercial release as a pack-in with the commercial version of Counter-Strike.
Delta Particles (2021)
Yuri "XF-Alien" Epifantsev
A single-player mod set in the Half-Life universe. Developed
over the course of a decade and ultimately achieving a Steam release. You
play an engineer at an unrelated research facility hundreds of miles away
from Black Mesa when the Resonance Cascade causes mass chaos.
Half-Life: Absolute Zero (Early Access 2023)
Cobalt-57
An attempt at recreating the early days of the Half-Life scene, including tons of scrapped and unused beta material from Half-Life's development. Still in active development.
Half-Life: Before (2009)
Creashock Studios
Another mod set in the Half-Life universe. I can't tell if this is a prequel or what, but it doesn't seem to be very well liked. Something about parallel dimensions...
Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. (2017)
Future Games Select
Escape from a high-tech prison in this mod developed by ex-Valve employe Cayle George, who previously worked on Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2. Apparently very well received.
Team Solo
Yet another fan remake of Half-Life: Decay, the previously PS2-exclusive expansion. Still not out yet, but intends to rebuild the game for a smoother single-player experience.
RETROtastich
Another mod set in the Half-Life universe. Play another scientist trying to escape from Black Mesa. Apparently a remake of a much older mod from the late 2000s.
Half-Life: MMod (2010/2023)
MMod
Team/Gunship_Mark_II
A gameplay mod for Half-Life that improves AI and audio-visual effects, and enhances the player's arsenal. The original 1.0 version dates back to 2010.
Half-Life: Restored (2020)
Vect0R
Another attempt at restoring cut and unused content to the game. YMMV if it's any good or not.
Half-Life: VR Mod (2022)
Max Makes Mods
Everybody's got Alyx fever, so here's a silly VR remake of Half-Life 1.
Hard-Life Development Team
After decades of playing Half-Life 1 it's pretty much old hat, but this mod seeks to reintroduce challenge into the classic game.
Crystice Softworks
Basically a sort of arcade game where you fend off hundreds of Half-Life's iconic li'l parasites across a variety of environments.
Sven Co-op (1999)
Sven Co-op Team
The classic co-op mod, initially intended to allow co-op play through Half-Life but has since been greatly expanded with a variety of campaigns, some unique to Sven Co-op.
Heath Games
The sequel to Half-Rats: A Fever Dream. Play a drunken gunfighter in need of money and trapped in a haunted company town in late 19th-century Michigan.
MuddaSheep
An updated compilation release of a classic trilogy of puzzle mods with an edgy, sadistic theme: Halfquake, Halfquake Amen, and Halfquake Sunrise.
Gearbox Software
One of many versions of this James Bond-themed game, the PC version was developed by none other than Gearbox and used the GoldSrc engine, unlike the console versions which used a predecessor to Eurocom's EngineX.
Unknown Worlds
A sci-horror multiplayer RTS/FPS hybrid where you join a squad of marines fighting against alien abominations; it's unique for requiring human players to serve in the "command chair" and direct the rest of their team. Unlike every other item on this list, it is neither a commercial product (or bundled with one) nor is it on Steam as a mod; nevertheless, it was important enough to include.
Valve
A free mod developed by Valve and later included in patch 1.1.1.0. The oddball in Valve's back catalog -- essentially a sort of futuristic event out of a game show or American Gladiators or something like that where you must knock players off platforms.
Valve
After Counter-Strike this is probably Valve's most famous mod. Initially began life as the venerable Team Fortress mod for Quake, but Valve hired the development team to make a sequel. The rest is history. And if you're wondering how this ties into Team Fortress 2's lore, well... the way they made it work is certainly a choice.
WANTED! (2000?)
Maverick Developments
A western-themed mod by the Redemption/Absolute Redemption folks. Originally began life as a Quake II mod, and it really shows. It was included with the original retail release of Counter-Strike as a pack-in title, hence its inclusion here. Personally I don't think it's very good.
Zombie Panic (2004)
Zombie Panic Team
A co-operative zombie survival horror game.
Anomalous materials
While Goldsrc remains proprietary with no source code release, there have been a few unauthorized implementations of the engine. Here they are.
FreeHL: A clean-room reimplementation of Half-Life 1 and Half-Life Deathmatch using QuakeC, intended for the FTEQW source port.
ReHLDS: A reverse engineered version of the Half-Life dedicated server tool that intends to fix a bunch of old bugs.
OGS: A clean reimplementation of Half-Life using id Tech 2 code. Doesn't seem to have been touched in a while.
Xash3D: A reverse engineering of Goldsrc using the leaked Half-Life 2 code from 2003. Technically illegal, but Valve seems to have kinda shrugged about it so long as nobody's trying to make money.
Fire in the hole!
Half-Life came out just as online multiplayer was really taking off, so almost all of the commercial games that use the engine are multiplayer-oriented, which is pretty funny. You can play just about any of them online using Steam, but there are other methods, especially if you prefer to use your older WON.net-era CD-ROM copy of Half-Life and its brethren.
Wait, Nightfire had multiplayer? Wait, people still play it?
One of the bigger multiplayer gaming networks these days. In addition to the games specifically listed below, it might work with the mod version of Counter-Strike?
- Half-Life
- Half-Life: Opposing Force
- Day of Defeat
-
Team Fortress Classic
Spiritual successor to the old WON.net. Should play just about anything
that ran on your old CD-ROM version of Half-Life.
Press B to open Buy Menu
Base Defense Steam
Counter-Strike/Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Steam
You can't get these separately anymore. Comes with
Deleted Scenes. Pretty good deal if you ask me.
Counter-Strike Neo
Not really available anymore, but it's possible to emulate it.
Counter-Strike Online Korean website
Intended for Asian markets and thus not really available in the West, but that hasn't stopped someone from setting up an English language implementation.
Counter-Strike Nexon Steam
Cry of Fear Steam
Day of Defeat Steam
Digital Paintball Redux Steam
Firearms ModDB
Gunman Chronicles
Out of print.
Half-Life Complete bundle (best value) Steam
Includes Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Team Fortress Classic, and Half-Life 2. Half-Life was recently updated to include the Uplink campaign as well.
Deathmatch Classic Steam
Absolute Redemption ModDB
Delta Particles Steam
Half-Life: Absolute Zero Steam
Half-Life: Before Steam
Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. Steam
Half-Life: Decay: Solo Mission Steam
Half-Life: ESCAPE 2.0 Steam
Half-Life: MMod Steam
Half-Life: Restored Steam
Half-Life: VR Mod Steam
Hard-Life Steam
Headcrab Frenzy! Steam
Sven Co-op Steam
Half-Rats: Parasomnia Steam
Does not come with the original Half-Rats: A Fever Dream. For that you'll need to go to ModDB.
Halfquake Trilogy Steam
James Bond 007: Nightfire
Out of print.
Natural Selection ModDB
Ricochet Steam
Wanted! ModDB
Zombie Panic Steam
an immense world of delight
Like lots of games from the era, Half-Life had a ton of mods. (Just look how many have official Steam pages...) There's more than I could ever reasonably list on this page, but I don't have to, other folks have done it for me.
runthinkshootlive - The preeminent source for single-player Half-Life mods and maps, with an eye towards material set in the same universe.
A comprehensive list of all single-player Half-Life/Source mods that are worth playing - what it says on the tin.
Multiplayer mods at the Valve Developer Community - A non-exhaustive list of multiplayer mods for all of Valve's games.
ModDB - Lots of mods here.
Someplace else...
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