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Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero cover
Developers
Valve Corporation
Gearbox Software
Ritual Entertainment
Turtle Rock Studios
Publishers
2004-2005 Sierra Entertainment
2005-present Valve Corporation
Japan Capcom
Engines
GoldSrc
Release dates
Windows March 23, 2004[1]
macOS (OS X) February 21, 2013
Linux February 21, 2013
Reception
Metacritic 65
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres FPS
Art styles Realistic
Themes Contemporary
Series Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero on HowLongToBeat
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero on IGDB
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero guide on StrategyWiki
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero on MobyGames
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero on Wikipedia
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike 2000
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero 2004
Counter-Strike: Source 2004
Counter-Strike NEO -White Memories- 2005
Counter-Strike Online (series)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 2012
Counter-Strike 2 2023

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.

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is a remaster of the original Counter-Strike with Bot AI, enhanced graphics, and a singleplayer challenge mode. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes is a linear single-player game based on multiplayer Counter-Strike's gameplay, with inspiration from Half-Life.

The game was originally announced in May 2001 and was in development by Rogue Entertainment. Later that year, the development company went defunct, so Valve Software handed development over to Gearbox Software, who had prior experience with the Half-Life 1 expansion packs. Gearbox overhauled the game's graphics and models, and worked on implementing several new maps and features (including some which went on to be added to future games), but delays and changes in the plan for the single-player resulted in Gearbox pulling out of the project and the single-player development being handed over to Ritual Entertainment[2][3]. Ritual converted the multiplayer maps from Gearbox's Condition Zero into 18 unconnected single-player missions, and the multiplayer portion was handled by Turtle Rock Studios, the developers of the Xbox port. The game was expected to release in early 2003 alongside the Xbox port, but critical reception was poor, so Valve assigned Turtle Rock to finish development. The resulting product was similar to Gearbox's version, but contained mostly remade maps from the original game. 12 of Ritual's single-player missions were released as a bundled side-game subtitled "Deleted Scenes", with the 6 remaining missions being re-added via updates.

The multiplayer service is still online with user-run servers on Steam, and the Steam version continues to get stability updates along with the other first-party GoldSrc engine titles.

General information

GitHub Issue Tracker for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and other GoldSrc-based games
Steam Community Discussions for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Steam Community Discussions for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
SecuROM 5 DRM.
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Retail
Icon overlay.png
Counter-Strike 1 Anthology.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Includes Deleted Scenes. Sold together with Counter-Strike.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
All non-Steam releases can be redeemed on Steam.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Deleted Scenes This is a bonus singleplayer game included with Condition Zero when you purchase Counter-Strike.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Half-Life\czero\[Note 1]
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game>/Half-Life/czero/
Linux <path-to-game>/Half-Life/czero/
*.cfg store the configuration.
This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Half-Life\czero\Save\[Note 1]
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game>/Half-Life/czero/Save/
Linux <path-to-game>/Half-Life/czero/Save/
Deleted Scenes data is under czeror instead of czero.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.[Note 2]
In-game video settings.[Note 2]

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Pre-25th Anniversary Half-Life Update Steam versions are Vert-; game looks cropped when using widescreen resolution.
World map in Deleted Scenes displays improperly in widescreen modes, but is still useable; The 25th Anniversary Update version has a setting for Hor+ called "Allow widescreen Field of View".
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Pre-25th Anniversary Half-Life Update Steam versions are Vert-; The 25th Anniversary Update version has a setting for Hor+ called "Allow widescreen Field of View".
4K Ultra HD
UI becomes too small.
Field of view (FOV)
Can modify with fov cvar (requires sv_cheats 1)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
On by default; can be modified using the gl_ansio[sic] cvar.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
4x MSAA; can be disabled with -nomsaa Command line argument.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Triple Buffering.
Always on for the retail version.Can be disabled using the console command gl_vsync 0
60 FPS
Capped at 100 FPS.
120+ FPS
Use fps_override 1 as a launch command and fps_max xx in the console. Cannot exceed 1000 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

-window -noborder[citation needed]
  1. Find Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (or Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes) in your Steam Library
  2. Right-click the game name
  3. Select Properties
  4. Select Set Launch Options...
  5. Input -window -noborder
  6. Press OK
  7. Launch the game

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game mouse/joystick settings.
In-game mouse/joystick settings.

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.
In-game voice settings.
In-game voice settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Lost with Linux update.[4]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Korean
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation, download.
Serbian
Fan translation, download.
Spanish
Russian

Network

In-game general multiplayer settings.
In-game general multiplayer settings.
In-game advanced multiplayer settings.
In-game advanced multiplayer settings.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
32
Online play
32

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP
Use connect [IP address here] in the console.

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP 6003, 7002, 27010, 27015, 27025
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Detail textures option is greyed out on hardware that supports multitexturing

This can be caused by using workarounds to enable overbright lighting, including for other GoldSrc titles.
Revert changes (Nvidia Profile Inspector)[5]
  1. Run Nvidia Profile Inspector.
  2. On the Half Life profile, set Extension limit to Off. Apply changes.

Notes

If forcing antialiasing through Nvidia Profile Inspector, it will be necessary to change Antialiasing - Mode to Enhance the application setting.
Revert changes (GLIntercept)[citation needed]
  • Delete or rename OpenGL32.DLL.

Black screen on startup

Disable FBO rendering[6]
  1. Add -nofbo in the game's launch options.

Windows 7/Vista Performance Fix

In Windows 7 or Vista with modern hardware, some users may experience extremely low frame rates during gameplay.
Set HL.exe to high priority[citation needed]
  1. Open Half-Life.
  2. Press Ctrl+ Shift+Esc in order to open the Task Manager.
  3. Under the Processes tab, find HL.exe and right click it.
  4. Set its priority to high.

Performance issues with dynamic lights on Intel graphics (OpenGL)

Dynamic light sources being present, such as the flashlight or flickering lights, causes significant frame rate drops and lag spikes on Intel graphics.
Use this GLIntercept config[7]

Note

As this method uses a custom OpenGL32.dll, it should not be used in VAC-protected servers.
Doing this also fixes overbright lighting.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 7 Removed after OS X and Linux support was added.
OpenGL 2.1
Software renderer
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.
Linux

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System
Input SDL
Multiplayer Steamworks

Console commands

Games running on the GoldSrc engine can utilize GoldSrc Engine Console Commands for various tasks.
The console is enabled by default in GoldSrc games, press ~ to open it.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU) 500 MHz
System memory (RAM) 96 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 400 MB
Video card (GPU) 16 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device) Windows compatible


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  2. Deleted Scenes does not have the option to enable detail textures, as the vanilla release build lacks detail textures.

References

  1. News - Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Released! - last accessed on 2023-07-02
  2. Shacknews - Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (archived 2003-01-27) - last accessed on 2002-12-30
  3. .plan File for Randy Pitchford - Blue's News - last accessed on 2002-12-06
  4. Steam HL1 5.1 sound - Steam discussions forums.
  5. Verified by User:SirYodaJedi on 2022-07-23
    valve, pls fix overbright compatibility with detail textures; Direct3D did this perfectly fine
  6. Steam Community - last accessed on May 2023
  7. [citation needed]