Left 4 Dead: Unofficial VS. Campaigns

CrispyCrispy Jaded GD Join Date: 2004-08-22 Member: 30793Members, Constellation
edited January 2009 in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Death Toll and Dead Air 'unlocked'</div>[Edit] Bah, can't edit the thread title to make it more obvious I don't have a download link for you. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />

I just played a very quick and dirty mod (I think by some French modders at <a href="http://leftfordead-france.com/" target="_blank">LeftForDead France</a>) that allows you to play through Dead Air and Death Toll in Versus mode. Sadly, at the moment only the client files are freely available for download as I think they are still working on the mod. Therefore there is only one passworded server running it from what I can see. Many thanks to Nirgal from these forums for inviting me to play. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

I haven't played Death Toll yet but I played Dead Air from start to the penultimate map and it seemed to work fine. I would guess that Death Toll would be better suited to Versus mode since it's a lot more open.

<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro--><b>Issues:</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
- All levels are completely missing the Special Infected 'ladders', so only Hunters can get to vantage points on top of buildings.
- The tops of Survivor-inaccessible buildings on all levels are see-through (nodraw texture)
- Some levels are not appropriate for Versus mode; specifically the office and apartment sections of Dead Air, which make Smoking and Hunting very difficult.
- Many props (by the look of it prop_physics) only have the specular maps drawn and are missing the diffuse (and possibly normal) textures. This means many common objects like doors, lamps, bins, sinks, etc. look 'greyscale' and 'shiny'.
- Some props have no collision in the Special Infected 'spawn mode'
- In general, the AI Director does not respond accurately to the progress and status of your team by spawning necessary items at the right times:
-- Ammo stashes and weapons are in fixed locations (usually 1-2 per level, so you will probably run out and even if you're doing badly you will have to make do with the basic guns for the first half of the level)
-- On the other hand you seem to get a lot of Medpacks, Pills and explosives; probably too many

Overall it was a fairly good experience, but some sections were just no fun at all for the Infected because they were so heavily biased towards Survivors. Also there were loads of cheap exploits such as hiding in the crane and melee-spamming at the halfway point set piece, and hiding in the tiny room and melee-spamming in the contruction site halfway set piece.

I can honestly see why Valve are taking their time with these Versus campaigns, Dead Air for sure needs a lot of work if it's going to play as well as No Mercy and Body Harvest. There are lots of minor issues in addition to those listed above that make the mod a bit frustrating to play in parts. Like one time I was jumping off the top of a very high roof about to score maximum Hunter pounce damage when I clipped a bit of wall detail just above the Survivor's head, stopping me dead and ruining my carefully calculated attack.

It's still a good laugh, though. Hopefully the full mod will be out soon.

Comments

  • enf0rcerenf0rcer intrigued... Join Date: 2003-03-16 Member: 14584Members
    I've only played the first maps of both death toll and dead air by some strange server glitch. Both were quite fun even in their incomplete form. More important to me is the fact that it's a change in the monotony that is always playing blood harvest and no mercy.
  • sherpasherpa stopcommandermode Join Date: 2006-11-04 Member: 58338Members
    I don't think you need client or server files to do this- I played on frG's server and he just messed with some console commands, AFAIK.
  • juicejuice Join Date: 2003-01-28 Member: 12886Members, Constellation
    Yeah when I tried them it was nice for a few-deaths-worth to play on a new map, until I realized there were no infected ladders sooooo it's pretty much borked.
  • BadMouthBadMouth It ceases to be exclusive when you can have a custom member titl Join Date: 2004-05-21 Member: 28815Members
    i think the makes for L4D knew death toll and dead air weren't suited for versus by testing or they were just too rushed for a release date.

    Personally, I hope they leave death toll and dead air alone as it is and release a few more versus maps.
  • frostymoosefrostymoose Join Date: 2003-09-12 Member: 20799Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1698566:date=Jan 26 2009, 05:42 PM:name=juice)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(juice @ Jan 26 2009, 05:42 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1698566"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah when I tried them it was nice for a few-deaths-worth to play on a new map, until I realized there were no infected ladders sooooo it's pretty much borked.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    The infected ladders are there (some, at any rate), they just aren't labelled.
  • CrispyCrispy Jaded GD Join Date: 2004-08-22 Member: 30793Members, Constellation
    Apparently if you run a server it's as easy to setup as switching to the versus maps using map l4d_vs_<mapname> in the console (dunno if you need to download the map files from that French site or if this means the Versus versions of the maps are already on a default L4D install, I heard it off the grapevine).

    I can only guess that the fact running a L4D server isn't that rewarding has kept most people from discovering this.
  • LikuLiku I, am the Somberlain. Join Date: 2003-01-10 Member: 12128Members
    I'm pretty sure all you have to do is rename the maps and it'll work.
  • ZaggyZaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester
    Done those on a LAN, worked well apart from disconnect issues on certain maps.
  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    Has anyone made a mod to change all the zombies to homeless people yet?[<a href="http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155590/?tag=Zombies" target="_blank">southpark</a>]
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