Source 2006

This article is about the Source 2006 engine branch. For the documentation on Source SDK Base 2006, see Source SDK Base.

HDR was one of the features first demonstrated with Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, a tech demo. HDR was later added to Day of Defeat: Source (2005) and Source 2006. This image compares between LDR, LDR with Bloom and HDR.

The Source 2006 engine branch, also known as the Episode One engine branch, and the last Old Engine branch, was first introduced in 2006 with Half-Life 2: Episode One, with previous multiplayer games (, , and ) also being upgraded to the Source 2006 branch then. Some features of Source 2006, such as HDR rendering and color correction, are first demonstrated in 2005 with Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Day of Defeat: Source (both of them likely appears to run on later version of Source 2004). Half-Life 2 was also upgraded to this branch, but does not utilize any new features (HDR, color correction) from both late Source 2004 branch and Source 2006, aside from BSP 20 (because one of the maps was recompiled with changes).

It was distributed in base source engine 2.gcf. It was succeeded by Source 2007 (also known as Orange Box) branch, but the branch still receiving engine updates until December 2009, and in 2010, all first-party Valve games (except and ) have upgraded to Source 2009. This branch requires Half-Life 2 content to operate.

The engine versions for this branch are 2761 (EP1) up to 4044 (Protocol 7).^[1]

The SDK and SDK Base game for this branch are free to all Steam users.

Features

New since Source 2004:

High Dynamic Range rendering (DX9 SM2)

Originally introduced in Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (runs on newer version of Source 2004), but generally attributed to Source 2006.^[2] A simulation of brightness values outside computer monitors' actual range, and of aperture adjustment. Not to be confused with HDR display output.

Film grain post-processing effect

Used in Day of Defeat: Source.

Color correction

Alter the color balance of an image to achieve a desired effect. For example, in Day of Defeat: Source, the color has been adjusted to be more desaturated.

Phong materials

Diffuse reflections for skin and other roughened surfaces on models.

Facial animation upgrades

More detail and intenser shapes for close-up performances.

Commentary System

Allows DVD-like director's commentary to be embedded inside levels.

Dynamic interactions

Dynamic interactions between NPCs using special animations.

Lightwarp textures (DX9+ SM3)

1D textures that tint a material per-texel depending on their brightness.

Direct3D 9 - Shader Model 3 (DirectX 9.0+ feature level/dxlevel 95)

Unlocks greatly improved shader performance.

Detail prop shapes

Improved detail sprites that sway in the breeze and bend away from nearby players.

BSP version 20

New BSP version, with new lumps.

Patching levels with lump files - update entity lumps, changing a .BSP file's entities without recompiling the maps.

Note:Some features above are only available with Direct3D 9, dxlevel 95 (DX9.0+ level) or later.

Removed features

DirectX 6.0 (dxlevel 60) compatibility level

Support for DirectX 6.x GPUs has been partially dropped, but still usable.

Steam Friends & Parlor Games menu

Originally present before it was eventually removed in favor of Steam Overlay which is introduced in 2009. Servers for Steam Friends feature was also shut down.

64-bit binaries

Originally, Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (runs on early version of Source 2006, with the former also upgraded to that branch) had a 64-bit version of the engine, allowing it to access more than 2GB (4GB with LAA) of RAM, and increase performance slightly. However it was later discontinued and removed due to its instability on some systems. 64-bit support was later reintroduced with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (on Mac/Linux), and later Team Fortress 2 branch, without any technical issues. Titanfall branch also have 64-bit binaries.

Availability

Game code for the 2006 branch is included in the now-deprecated Source SDK app. To compile the code for 2006 branch, see Compiling under VS2005.

All Valve games introduced with Source 2006 and previous titles that are upgraded from Source 2004 to Source 2006 are now currently using Source 2013 Singleplayer or Team Fortress 2 branch (previously Source 2013 Multiplayer).

Usage

See also: Category:Source 2006 engine branch games

The following games still run on Source 2006:

Valve

• 2006 Source SDK Base 2006

Third-Party

• 2006 The Ship: Murder Party and The Ship: Single Player
• 2006 Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
• 2007 Eternal Silence
• 2007 Fortress Forever
• 2007 INSURGENCY: Modern Infantry Combat
• 2007 Iron Grip: The Oppression
• 2009 NEOTOKYO°
• 2010 Vindictus
  • Heavily modified, and uses proprietary file format to store game files. Also support Direct3D (DirectX) 11.

Known issues

Bug:All Source 2004 and 2006 games suffered from the gray fog bug, which was affected on newer GPUs (since GeForce 8000 series or newer AMD/ATI GPUs) and newer drivers. This has been fixed on NVIDIA systems since driver version "516.5x" (confirmed on RTX 3060),^[3][4] but likely still present on AMD/Intel. This issue is not affected when using dxlevel 81 or lower, only dxlevel 90 or higher.

Bug:Switching resolutions in some of Source 2006 games, may cause the right side of the HUD (ammo) to be improperly scaled. Some console text such as one that displayed by enabling cl_showfps or cl_showpos 1, will be either cut off or completely hidden.  (tested in: GMOD 9, HL2 old engine)

System Requirements

Minimum Specs :

• OS: Windows 98 / ME, 2000, XP or later
• CPU: 1.2 GHz
• RAM: 256 MB
• Nvidia GeForce FX 5700, ATI Radeon 9500 (with 128MB VRAM)
• Direct3D 9.0 compatible video card (with atleast DirectX 7.0 compatibility level or higher)

Note:Due to Steam dropping support for previous version of Windows, Windows 10 or later is required to run any Source 2006 games that use Steam DRM.

References

References

1. Source Engine Build List - Google Spreadsheets. 2. See PDF. Lost Coast did not use base source engine 2.gcf (Source 2006 binaries), and DODS only used it after an update. Also SiN Episodes, a Source 2004 game which seems to be built on Lost Coast engine, have non-functional HDR console command mat_hdr_level, but also does not support BSP 20 from Lost Coast.. 3. Source DirectX9 grey fog bug a0divided: This bug basically only happens while using DX9 with games that run on pre-Orangebox versions of Source, like Sin as mentioned above or HL2 & EP1 before the 2010 engine update. But what's interesting is that this bug was fixed at some point by Nvidia, at least on their newer cards with the latest drivers. I currently have an RTX 3060 Laptop GPU with driver 516.5 and the fog actually works properly on DX9. Unfortunately, I think it's still bugged with AMD or Intel GPUs.... Retrieved on December 05, 2025. 4. Verified by leonidakarlach (talk) 01:36, 14 September 2024 (PDT): Appeared to be fixed. Using RTX 3060 (desktop) and driver version 560.81. Using something like DgVoodoo2 would break this again..