Source 2004

Source 2004

Developer(s)

Valve Corporation

Release date(s)

October 7, 2004 (original)
October 27, 2005 (, v2)

Platform(s)

Windows, Xbox

SDK

Source SDK (GitHub unofficial archive)

Stub

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Source 2004 is the original build of the Source engine that Half-Life 2, Half-Life: Source and Counter-Strike: Source shipped with, then subsequently updated with the release of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (and Day of Defeat: Source), adding some features which would become standard with Source 2006. The Source 2004 engine was succeeded by the Source 2006 engine branch with the release of Half-Life 2: Episode One.

No current Valve titles hosted on Steam use this particular engine branch, as it is outdated.

It was distributed in source engine.gcf.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines still runs on a custom version of the engine which is more similar to the engine used in the Half-Life 2 leak (unofficially referred to as Source 2003). However, it uses a proprietary texture format, Python for scripting, BSP version 17, and supports Bink videos.

SiN Episodes likely runs on modified Half-Life 2: Lost Coast version of Source 2004, which contains few commands related to the HDR Rendering which was non-functional ("mat_hdr_level"), aside from that it also stripped BSP 20 support from Lost Coast.

The engine versions for this branch are build 2106 up to 2497 (Protocol 5-7). The second version of Source 2004 (introduced with Lost Coast, adding HDR and other new features), started with build 2547 until 2707 (Protocol 7).^[1]

Features

Main article:  Source - Features section

Support for Original Xbox game console

Steam Friends & Parlor Games menu (removed in later version of Source 2006 in 2009)

Shader Model 2.0 only

Anti-aliasing

Up to 6x MSAA. 8x MSAA unofficially supported through mat_antialias 8, but will reset to 4X on next launch. MSAA 8X can be also forced through GPU drivers control panel.

6x MSAA does not work on modern graphics card. Only 4x works.

DirectX 9.0

Uses Direct3D 9.0, with support for these hardware levels:

DirectX 6.0 (dxlevel 60) level (not officially supported, but works)

DirectX 7.0 (dxlevel 70) level

DirectX 8.0 (dxlevel 80) level

DirectX 8.1 (dxlevel 81) level

DirectX 9.0 (dxlevel 90) level

Inputs

Support DirectInput controller only

Since Lost Coast engine update

High Dynamic Range rendering^[2] (DX9 SM2)

A simulation of brightness values outside computer monitors' actual range, and of aperture adjustment. Not to be confused with HDR display output.

While being attributed to Source 2006, this feature was first introduced with Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (which runs on an updated version of Source 2004).^[2][3] Half-Life 2 was also upgraded to the Lost Coast version of Source 2004, but not all Half-Life 2 maps are HDR-compiled by default, leaving the HDR feature unused. SiN Episodes also runs on this version and feature mat_hdr_level console command, but support for HDR was stripped in code which leaves it non-functional.

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

Unlocks greatly improved shader performance.

Commentary System

Allows DVD-like director's commentary to be embedded inside levels. Commentary System was used in Half-Life 2: Lost Coast.

Removed features (post-launch)

64-bit binaries

In December 2005, Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast was updated to add 64-bit support, 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 the Team Fortress 2 branch, without any technical issues. The Titanfall branch also has 64-bit binaries.

Availability

The source code for this branch is no longer officially available. All Valve games that run on Source 2004 are now currently using Source 2013 Singleplayer or the Team Fortress 2 branch (formerly Source 2013 Multiplayer).

An archive of the 2004 SDK is available on GitHub. SDK Base for this branch does not exist as mods using 2004 SDK are base directly on Half-Life 2 (requires older version of the game running on 2004 branch), instead of Source SDK Base.

Usage

See also:  Category:Source 2004 engine branch games

The following games are still based on, or currently using Source 2004.

Valve

• 2005 Half-Life 2 (Xbox)

Third-Party

• 2004 Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (Beta version)
• 2006 SiN Episodes

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 6.0 compatibility level or higher)

Note:Due to Steam dropped support for previous version of Windows, Windows 10 or later is required to run any Source 2004 games that use Steam DRM.

See also

• Source 2006

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), but rather source engine.gcf (which is Source 2004 binaries). Said GCF file was later updated to contain dxlevel 95 on dxsupport.cfg after the release of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast), 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. Differences between games and game versions - SourceRuns Wiki.js.