Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead

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Developers
	Valve Corporation
Engines
	Source
Release dates
Windows	November 17, 2008
macOS (OS X)	October 27, 2010

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead	2008
Left 4 Dead 2	2009

Key points

Left 4 Dead 2 includes all Left 4 Dead campaigns, Left 4 Dead 2 will likely be the preferable game to purchase.

A hack enabling split-screen co-op is available; see Local co-op.

Runs on low-end hardware

General information

Official Left 4 Dead Blog

Unofficial Left 4 Dead Wiki

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Green Man Gaming
Steam
Retail

All versions require Steam.

Essential improvements

Launch parameters

To learn how to add launch parameters, see Launch options.

Useful launch parameters

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.
-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

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/500/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Syncs save games and settings

Video settings

In-game video settings.

Field of view (FOV)

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.

Instructions

Split-screen without bezels

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).

Instructions

Input settings

In-game control settings.

In-game key map settings.

Mouse+Keyboard in split-screen

When you connect only a controller, this is automatically assigned to the first player

Instructions

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Localizations

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

Network

In-game multiplayer settings.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	See LAN play. "Versus" mode. Up to 4v4 Survivors vs. Infected.
Online play		8	"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	27014-27050
UDP	4380, 27000-27030

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

LAN play

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

Instructions

Local co-op

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

Instructions

Issues fixed

Purple and black broken textures

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

Can't unlock Lamb 2 Slaughter achievement

Instructions

Other information

Console commands

Games running on the Source engine can utilize Source Engine Console Commands for various tasks.

Instructions

You can also have the console open by default on launch by following this guide:

Instructions

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

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.

Launch options

View this Steam Support Article regarding launch options as well as the relevant Valve Developer wiki page for further information and a list of useful Source engine launch options.

Instructions

Useful split-screen commands

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

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7	7
Processor (CPU)	Pentium 4 3.0 GHz	Intel Core 2 Duo E4600
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	ATI Radeon X1600 Nvidia GeForce 7600

macOS (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