Left 4 Dead 2

Version Differences

Retail copies of the game use Steamworks as its DRM, therefore all copies of the game are tied to a Steam account.

Cut/Uncut

Some versions of the game you purchased or get gifted via steam are cut, the German version being the best example, in which there is almost literally no blood, literally no gore and the corpses disappear mostly before they hit the floor.

Uncutting

If you live in the USA and one of your German friends gift you the game via Steam, you'll have the cut version even though it's not necessary in your country.

There is a way to uncut the game without downloading a gore patch. You simply click Start and then click on run (or press windows+r) and type: regedit, after that you find \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\VALVE and then rename the folder called Valve to Valve_old.

This has worked for all people whom ever did it right and is NOT illegal. If you were to contact costumer support for this, it's what they'd tell you to do, but there are no sources indicating that it will work if your PC/Laptop is actually in Germany since it's necessary there.

If you are from Germany (or any other country where you can only buy the cut version of Left 4 Dead 2), you can try Left 4 Uncut, a tool which enables the "uncut mode" by patching the memory (which means that it neither changes any file on your hard drive nor does it get you VAC banned). If you want, you can create a script which executes the memory patcher and starts Left 4 Dead 2 afterwards. As a Windows 7 user, just create a new .bat file in your start menu path (%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam) and add the following content:

@echo off
start "" "Path\to\your\left4uncut.exe"
ping -n 3 127.0.0.1 > NUL
start "" "Path\to\your\Steam.exe" -applaunch 550 /WAIT

Change the paths accordingly, remove the old Left 4 Dead 2 link from your start menu (if it exists) and enjoy playing the game as it was intended to be played. (Note: The cryptic line with ping just ensures that the script waits three seconds before it starts Left 4 Dead 2 (since there is no sleep command), so the memory patcher has had enough time to start up. It's possible that you don't need this line or that you have to increase the time the script waits, this is different from system to system. Adjust it the way you need it.)

Patches

Valve has periodically release updates often to stabilize the game and less often adds more content to the game in the form of DLC. All copies of the game use Steam so it will automatically download the latest update whenever released. You can view the patch notes through Steam's news page.

Console Commands

Games running on the source engine can utilize Source Engine Console Commands for various tasks. To use the Console you need to enable it first by going to options -> Keyboard/Mouse -> Allow Developer Console and change it to enabled. To open the console command window press the tilde key in the upper left hand corner of your keyboard (`~). Some console commands require that the server has sv_cheats set to 1 in order to be allowed.

Common Commands

This is a list of common commands that do not require the use of sv_cheats

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• bind "key" "command(s)": This binds a command(s) to the set key
• chooseteam: Allows you to change team in versus
• cl_colorblind: Set to 1 for high contrast crosshairs. Set to 2 for specific color changes intended to help common types of color blindness.
• cl_showfps "0-2": Displays the current FPS (0 = off, 1 = real time, 2 = average over the past few seconds)
• cl_crosshair_alpha "0-255": Set the alpha value of your crosshair
• cl_crosshair_blue "0-255": Set the blue value of your crosshair
• cl_crosshair_green "0-255": Set the green value of your crosshair
• cl_crosshair_red "0-255": Set the red value of your crosshair
• cl_crosshair_thickness "#": Set the thickness of your crosshair
• cl_drawprogressbar "0-1": Turn healing progress bar on and off
• cl_fov "#": Sets the field of view
• cl_showhelp "0-1": Turns hints on and off
• clear: clears console command window
• differences: shows convars that are not at their default values
• exit: Closes the game
• help "command":Displays information about a certain command
• retry: Tries to reconnect to current server

Common Commands That Require "sv_cheats"

To turn on sv_cheats open the console on the main menu and type "map" "mapname" (without the quotes) then once the map is loaded type sv_cheats 1 into the console. Note this will prevent you from earning achievements until you restart the game.

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• adrenaline_duration "#": How long the effects of adrenaline lasts (default is 15.0)
• adrenaline_run_speed "#": How fast one runs while under the effects of adrenaline (default is 260)
• buddha "0-1": Take damage but will not die
• cl_drawhud "0-1": Turns hud on and off
• give "item name": Gives you the item (example "give rifle" will spawn the tier 2 rifle)
• givecurrentammo: Gives you ammo for your current weapon
• god "0-1": Makes you invincible
• firstperson: Changes view to firstperson
• map "mapname": Changes map
• thirdperson: Changes view to thirdperson
• thirdpersonshoulder: Changes view to thirdperson from the shoulder

Director Commands

These all require sv_cheats to be on

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• director_no_bosses "0-1": If set to 1 bosses will not spawn
• director_no_mobs "0-1": If set to 1 mobs will not spawn
• director_no_specials "0-1": If set to 1 special infected will not spawn
• director_force_panic_event: Starts a panic event
• director_force_tank: Forces a tank to spawn
• director_force_witch: Forces a witch to spawn
• director_panic_forever: Endless panic event
• director_stop: Stops the director from spawning enemies
• director_start: The director will resume spawning enemies

Spawning the Leaker

The Leaker was to be a new special infected that caught survivors on fire by committing suicide near them. However it was cut in favor of Spitter. The Leaker is quite buggy as it was never meant to be in the final version of the game and as such does not take damage other then from itself during suicide.

List of commands in the order they must occur:

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• sv_cheats 1
• boomer_leaker_chance 100
• z_spawn boomer

Creating Your Own CFG

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 ";" (remove the quotes). When done save the file as filename.cfg in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead 2\left4dead2\cfg (NOTE: This directory may be different depending on your installation location and what OS you are running). To run the cfg file, open the console during the game and type in "exec filename.cfg" (remove quotes).

Playing Local Co-Op (Splitscreen) on PC

Unlike its console counter-part, Left 4 Dead 2 does not natively support split-screen without the use of mods or CFG/console commands.

CFG Files and Console Commands

Split-screen is possible with the use of console commands and CFG files created by the user. There is a Steam thread that explains the process and shows what to enter and what configs to create.

Main Menu Mod

GameBanana has a UI mod hosted on its site, created by "SFKTeam - Kaotic", that adds a split-screen option to the main menu including toggling between horizontal or vertical split-screen.

System Requirements

Not supported: OS X 10.5.x, ATI X1600 or X1900 graphics, NVIDIA GeForce 7 graphics or Intel graphics less than Intel HD 3000.

Linux

On the 17th of July, 2012 Valve announced that Steam would be coming to Linux. They also announced that they had successfully ported Left 4 Dead 2 to Ubuntu 12.04. More on this here.

See Also

• Left 4 Dead
• Source