Left 4 Dead

Parameter	Description
`-w X -h Y`	Sets screen resolution (or window resolution if using -window). Example: `-w 1920 -h 1080`.
`-refresh X`	Sets your screen refresh-rate (Hz). Example: `-refresh 60`.
`-noborder -window`	Launches the game in a borderless fullscreen window (i.e. very alt-tab friendly). This may result in a minor performance loss. If you experience stuttering, disable Windows Aero.^{[citation needed]}
`-novid`	Skip intro videos
`-autoconfig`	Restores video and performance settings to default for the current hardware detected. Ignores settings inside any .cfg files until this parameter is removed.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\left4dead\cfg\config.cfg
Steam	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\500\remote\cfg\config.cfg
macOS (OS X)

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Syncs save games and settings

Video settings[edit]

In-game video settings.

Graphics option	Option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Up to 16 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		No frame rate or refresh rate cap.^[1]
Color blind mode		Set in Settings, Multiplayer; affects crosshair, HUD and survivor outlines.

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

FoV when playing in splitscreen is easily customizable inside <path-to-game>\left4dead\splitscreen_config.txt

By default field of view cannot be changed. Only changeable option is viewmodel FOV.

Change viewmodel FOV^[2]

Download the FoV addon
Extract the files in <path-to-game>\left4dead\addons\
Bring up console
Type in console/.cfg viewmodel_fov_override XX (where XX is the desired horizontal FoV)

Split-screen without bezels[edit]

L4D split-screen mode was meant to be played on a single 4:3 or 16:9 screen. If you have a different setup then, the image could not entirely fit the monitor(s).

Edit split-screen aspect-ratio^[3]

Go to <path-to-game>/left4dead/
Open splitscreen_config.txt
Look for the paragraph describing your actual split method ("nonwidescreen", "widescreen_horizontal_split", "widescreen_vertical_split")
Change it accordingly to your effective aspect ratio multiplied or divided by 2 (just look if comment says it should be twice or half as wide)
Save changes

Input settings[edit]

In-game control settings.

In-game key map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback

Mouse+Keyboard in split-screen[edit]

Bind controller to 2nd player^{[citation needed]}

Configure x360ce to force controller on the guest slot
Copy x360ce.ini and xinput1_3.dll to the Left 4 Dead root folder
Go to <path-to-game>\bin\ and rename xinput1_3.dll to something else
Follow standard procedure

Audio settings[edit]

In-game audio settings.

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls		Over-all game volume and separate music slider.
Surround sound		7.1, 5.1 surround sound, 4 speaker surround.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		"Silence the audio while the game window is in the background" check box.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	CC	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish

Network[edit]

In-game multiplayer settings.

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	2	Co-op See Local play.
LAN play	8	Co-op, Versus See LAN play. "Versus" mode. Up to 4v4 Survivors vs. Infected.
Online play	8	Co-op, Versus Co-op (4 players) or "Versus" mode (up to 4v4 Survivors vs. Infected).

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP		Use `connect [IP address here]` in the console. Server must have set `sv_allow_lobby_connect_only 0`

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP (outbound)	27014-27050
UDP (outbound)	4380, 27000-27030

LAN play[edit]

You can play Left 4 Dead over a local area network (LAN) connection.

Start LAN game^{[citation needed]}

Open the developer console and type in: sv_lan 1.
After that, type in: map %mapname%, %mapname% is the name of the map (for example, to play on "No Mercy", write "map l4d_hospital01_apartment")

Maplist:

No Mercy: l4d_hospital01_apartment
Crash Course: l4d_garage01_alleys
Death Toll: l4d_smalltown01_caves
Dead Air: l4d_airport01_greenhouse
Blood Harvest: l4d_farm01_hilltop
The Sacrifice: l4d_river01_docks

To clients to join a server, use: connect <ip>:<port> (for example, connect 192.168.1.1).

Notes

You can check your ip by writing net_start.

Local play[edit]

A list of useful commands for split-screen is available below

Playing with 2 controllers^[4]

If you want to play with only a controller and a mouse+keyboard, check Mouse + Keyboard in split-screen

Download custom split.cfg
Extract it inside <path-to-game>\left4dead\cfg\
Launch the game and join or create a match in the mode you prefer
When in-game, open the console and type ss_connect
Add second player to survivor team with cmd2 jointeam 2 command
Load second player keys bindings by typing exec split (all previous bindings are reseted)
Enjoy

Notes

If loading bar gets stuck quickly pause and unpause game

To play a private versus match, open console and use ss_map l4d_vs_#rest-of-map-name#

If you are going to play split-screen without a single 4:3 or 16:9 monitor look above

Issues fixed[edit]

Purple and black broken textures[edit]

A generic fix for this issue can be found on our Source engine page.

Can't unlock Lamb 2 Slaughter achievement[edit]

Enabling the console in Source games^[5]

Open console
Type sv_cheats 1; achievement_reset L4D_ACHIEVEMENT_INCAP_AFTER_SAFEROOM; sv_cheats 0

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	6, 7, 8, 8.1, 9
OpenGL	2.1	OS X only.
Shader Model support	2, 3
64-bit executable		OS X only.

Middleware[edit]

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok	Heavily modified variant.
Audio	Miles Sound System
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Multiplayer	Steamworks

Console commands[edit]

Games running on the Source engine can utilize Source Engine Console Commands for various tasks.^[6]

Enabling the console in Source games^{[citation needed]}

Launch the game
From the main menu select Options
Select the Keyboard tab
Click the Advanced button
Check the box next to Enable developer console (~)
Click Apply

Notes

Press ~ to open the console.

Some commands may first require you enabling sv_cheats. You can do so with sv_cheats 1.

Many servers will not allow you to play with cheats enabled, or will disable them upon entering the server.

Users without a US keyboard could experience some problems.

Creating your own CFG (to run multiple console commands together)[edit]

A CFG is a file that contains a list of commands that when run will attempt to execute them all

Open up a text editor such as notepad and type in all the commands you want separating each with a ;

When done save the file as filename.cfg in <path-to-game>\left4dead\cfg. To run the cfg file, open the console during the game and type in exec filename.cfg If you want the CFG file to run automatically, name it autoexec.cfg.

Useful split-screen commands[edit]

Since Split-screen mode in Left 4 Dead isn't officially supported, there are multiple important key settings which aren't immediately available.

Command	Description
connect_splitscreen localhost [ip-address] 2	Join a LAN or Internet server in splitscreen mode.
[cmd/cmd2] jointeam [2/3]	Assign selected player (cmd) to either survivor or infected team
mp_gamemode [coop/survival/versus]	Change gamemode. If adjusted while in-game it's advised to `changelevel`
ss_splitmode [0/1/2]	Toggle horizontal and vertical screen split (0 is auto selection)
z_difficulty [Easy/Normal/Hard/Impossible]	Change game difficulty
setinfo name Max	Change player 1 name
name2 Tony	Change player 2 name

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Pentium 4 3.0 GHz	Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	7.5 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon 9600 Nvidia GeForce 6600 128 MB of VRAM Shader model 2.0 support	ATI Radeon X1600 Nvidia GeForce 7600 Shader model 3.0 support

OS X
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.6.4
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	7.5 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2400 Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT Intel HD Graphics 3000

MacOS X 10.6.4 or higher (Snow Leopard Graphics Update required)

References

↑ New 120Hz Games Report
↑ How to Change Field of view (FOV) - Steam Community Guides
↑ Widescreen gaming blog post about playing with more than a monitor
↑ Steam thread about local split-screen co-op
↑ Lamb 2 Slaughter working fix right here - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
↑ Left 4 Dead Wikia - Console commands

[1] New 120Hz Games Report

[2] How to Change Field of view (FOV) - Steam Community Guides

[3] Widescreen gaming blog post about playing with more than a monitor

[4] Steam thread about local split-screen co-op

[5] Lamb 2 Slaughter working fix right here - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)

[6] Left 4 Dead Wikia - Console commands

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Developers

	Turtle Rock Studios
	Valve Corporation
Publishers
	Valve Corporation
Engines
	Source
Release dates
Windows	November 17, 2008
OS X	October 27, 2010

Left 4 Dead

Contents

Availability[edit]

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Launch parameters[edit]

Useful launch parameters[edit]

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

Video settings[edit]

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Split-screen without bezels[edit]

Input settings[edit]

Mouse+Keyboard in split-screen[edit]

Audio settings[edit]

Localizations

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Connection types

Ports

LAN play[edit]

Local play[edit]

Issues fixed[edit]

Purple and black broken textures[edit]

Can't unlock Lamb 2 Slaughter achievement[edit]

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Middleware[edit]

Console commands[edit]

Creating your own CFG (to run multiple console commands together)[edit]

Useful split-screen commands[edit]

System requirements[edit]

References