Source 2006

Source 2006

Developer(s)

Valve Corporation

Release date(s)

June 1, 2006

Platform(s)

Windows

SDK

Source SDK
Source SDK Base 2006

Predecessor

Source 2004

Successor

Orange Box branch
(2007, 2009/MP)

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 all previous games on Source 2004 upgraded to this branch. 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 runs on a updated version of Source 2004 when initially released). 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 were recompiled with changes).

Source 2006 (circa July 29, 2006‎) also introduces Source SDK Base (the 2006 version of SDK Base was later renamed to Source SDK Base 2006). Mod that are based on SDK Base instead of directly on Half-Life 2 will prevent incompatible engine updates from making the mod unusable.

It was distributed in base source engine 2.gcf. While it was succeeded by the Source 2007 (also known as Orange Box) branch, Source 2006 continued receiving engine updates until December 2009, and in 2010, all first-party Valve games (except and ) were upgraded to Source 2009. This branch requires Half-Life 2 content to operate.

The engine versions for this branch are 2733 (EP1) up to 4044 (Protocol 7).^[1]

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

Features

Previously introduced since Source 2004 (/ engine update):

High Dynamic Range rendering (DX9 SM2)

HDR rendering (also known as HDR lighting) simulates brightness values outside computer monitors' actual range, before downconverting to  Standard Dynamic Range. This mainly involves "blooming" colors above 100% brightness into neighboring areas and adjusting a virtual camera aperture to compensate for any over-exposure that results. HDR rendering gives gives richer colors, better contrast and finer gradients. Not to be confused with HDR display output.

Originally introduced in Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (runs on newer version of Source 2004), but generally attributed to Source 2006.^[2]

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.

Commentary System

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

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

Unlocks greatly improved shader performance.

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.

New since Source 2004:

Improved prop_static lighting

Static props without normal maps or phong can now be lit by VRAD per-vertex, instead of at runtime based upon their origin or $illumposition.

Phong materials

Diffuse reflections for skin and other roughened surfaces on models.

Facial animation upgrades

More detail and intenser shapes for close-up performances.

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.

Detail prop shapes

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

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 is still usable.

Steam Friends & Parlor Games menu

Originally present before it was eventually removed in favor of Steam Overlay which is introduced around September 2007. Old Steam servers eventually get shut down years later, which make Steam Friends no longer functional.

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 the 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,  Nvidia PhysX, 64-bit.

Known issues

Bug:All Source 2004 and 2006 games suffered from the fog bug that makes it more dense than usual, 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),^[4][5] but is likely still present on AMD/Intel. This issue is not affected when using dxlevel 81 or lower, only dxlevel 90 or higher.

Additionally, using any D3D9 wrapper (which translates to D3D11, D3D12 or Vulkan), like dgVoodoo 2 (even on systems with newer NVIDIA drivers that fixes this issue) on this branch, can also cause this issue.

Note:This driver fix also makes VGUI UI (on DirectX 9 mode) looks dark exactly like DirectX 8 or lower. However, VGUI (in DirectX 9) will still look bright on Source 2007 and later.

  (tested in: , v34, )

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)

Important:All Source games prior to Left 4 Dead engine branch or Source 2013 are known to have slower Alt + Tab ⇆ and can occasionally crash easily, especially when running on modern version of Windows.

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:As Steam dropped support for previous version of Windows, and this branch requires Steam (unlike Source 2013), all Source 2006 branch games will require Windows 10 or later. Source 2006 games are still currently playable with the last version of Steam running on Windows 7/8/8.1.

References

References

1. Source Engine Build List - Google Spreadsheets Updated Source Engine Build List - VDC. 2. See PDF. Lost Coast did not use base source engine 2.gcf (Source 2006 binaries), and so with Day of Defeat: Source, the latter only used it after engine update in 2006. Also SiN Episodes, a Source 2004 game which was built on DODS / Lost Coast version of Source 2004 engine, have non-functional HDR console command mat_hdr_level, but also does not support BSP 20 from DODS/Lost Coast.. 3. Confirmed by downloading older versions of Day of Defeat: Source through Internet Archive (Steam2 Chunks archive from 2005-2009). The release version of DOD:S (runs on Source engine build 2497, dated Sep 8 2005), support HDR out of the box. It also have Commentary System (which is unused in this game, but later used in Half-Life 2: Lost Coast). --leonidakarlach (talk) 09:21, 17 April 2025 (PDT). 4. 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 September 14, 2025. 5. 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..