Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life: Alyx

Developers
	Valve Corporation
Engines
	Source 2
Release dates
Windows	March 23, 2020

Warnings

This game requires a virtual reality headset (see VR support for details).

Half-Life

Half-Life	1998
Sven Co-op (unofficial mod)	1999
Half-Life: Opposing Force	1999
Half-Life: Blue Shift	2001
Codename: Gordon	2004
Half-Life: Source	2004
Half-Life 2	2004
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch	2004
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast	2005
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source	2006
Half-Life 2: Episode One	2006
Half-Life 2: Episode Two	2007
Portal (series)
Half-Life: Decay (unofficial port)	2008
Black Mesa (unofficial remake)	2020
Half-Life: Alyx	2020

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Steam

All versions require Steam DRM.

The game is also bundled with Valve Index (headset only, full set, or just controllers) units indefinitely.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Use -novid command line argument

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\game\hlvr\cfg\ <path-to-game>\game\hlvr\SAVE\S*\personal.cfg
Linux (Proton)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/546560/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\game\hlvr\SAVE\S*\
Linux (Proton)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/546560/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

Performance Options

This game requires a virtual reality headset (see VR support for details).

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		By default, games spectator runs at 1920x1080. Use -w <width> -h <heigh> launch parameter to adjust.
4K Ultra HD		See widescreen.
Windowed		Use -window launch parameter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		If used resolution matches desktop resolution, game runs in a borderless fullscreen mode.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Configuration files suggest texture filtering is being used. However, there is no in-game option that allows adjusting this setting.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		No in-game option.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Frame rate is capped at headset's refresh rate.

Input settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Input remapping can only be done through SteamVR's "Controller Binding" settings menu.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Controller types

Tracked motion controllers
Button/gesture prompts		In-game prompts (such as tutorials) will change based on motion controller type, and the controller binding settings in SteamVR.

Additional information
Haptic feedback

• 

  Accessibility Options

• 

  Spectator Options

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		"Master Volume", "Game", "Combat Music", and "Character Voice".
Surround sound
Subtitles		Includes options for font size, subtitle width, and subtitle speed.
Closed captions		"Subtitles & Closed Captions" under the Subtitles options menu.
Mute on focus lost		Only when SteamVR dashboard is opened.
EAX support		Uses SteamAudio HRTF, DSP, and audio occlusion.

• 

  Volume Options

• 

  Subtitles Options

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

VR support

This game requires a virtual reality headset.

Headsets	Native	Notes
HTC Vive		Also native Valve Index support.
Oculus Rift		Through SteamVR, no native Oculus SDK support.
OSVR
Windows Mixed Reality		Through SteamVR.
Devices	Native	Notes
Tracked motion controllers		See Input settings for details.
Traditional controller
Keyboard/Mouse
Play area	Native	Notes
Seated
Standing
Room-scale

Issues fixed

Subtitles and closed captions not working

If language that Steam client is set into is not supported by the game, no subtitles or closed captions will show at all.

Change Steam language into supported one Change Steam clients language into one of the ones supported by the game, e.g. English.

Copy subtitle file and rename it to match your Steam clients selected language Navigate to <path-to-game>\game\hlvr\resource\subtitles\ Copy desired language for subtitles e.g. closecaption_english.dat, copy it into same folder and rename it into your Steam client language, e.g. closecaption_finnish.dat if your Steam client language is in Finnish. Navigate to <path-to-game>\game\hlvr\webui\localization\ Repeat the process, copy e.g. hlvr_english.json and rename copy to e.g. hlvr_finnish.json

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

No middleware information; you can edit this page to add it.

Enabling the console

Command line See Command line arguments. Add -console -vconsole. Open the console by pressing ~.

Increase movement speed

Use the +hlvr_continuous_normal_speed 200 +hlvr_continuous_combat_speed 200 command line arguments Notes hlvr_continuous_normal_speed is the standard movement speed when using continuous movement. hlvr_continuous_combat_speed is the movement speed during combat when using continuous movement.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5-7500 AMD Ryzen 5 1600
System memory (RAM)	12 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 580 6 GB of VRAM

Total size after installation at March 23, 2020 was 68 GB.