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

Runs on low-end hardware

Left 4 Dead campaigns have been officially ported to Left 4 Dead 2 for free

Left 4 Dead's Community is inactive, most players have moved on to Left 4 Dead 2

General information

Official Left 4 Dead Blog

Unofficial Left 4 Dead Wiki

Steam Users' Forums

Steam Community Discussions

Essential improvements

Launch parameters

To add launch parameters:

1. Right click Left 4 Dead within Steam and select Properties
2. Select Set Launch Options
3. Add your launch parameters and click OK
4. Close the properties window and launch the game with the specified launch parameters.

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	Skips the Valve logos and cinematic 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.

Video settings

File:Left 4 dead video settings.jpg

General settings.

Split-screen without bezels

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

Instructions

Input settings

Mouse+Keyboard in split-screen

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

Instructions

Network settings

Local split-screen co-op

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

Instructions

LAN Play

You can play Left 4 Dead in a local area network.

Instructions

Other information

Console commands

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

Instructions

Useful split-screen commands

Since split-screen mode in Left 4 Dead isn't officially supported, there are lots of key settings which aren't available immediately

Command	Description
connect_splitscreen localhost 2	Add the second player to the game
map <map-name> gamemode	Play that map in the selected game mode
ss_splitmode [1/2]	Toggle horizontal and vertical screen split
setinfo "Max"	Change player 1 name
name2 "Tony"	Change player 2 name

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7	Windows 7
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	7.5 GB free	7.5 GB free
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6600 128 MB ATI Radeon 9600 128 MB	Nvidia GeForce 7600 128 MB ATI Radeon X1600 128 MB

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