Source SDK Base

Source SDK Base is a game/tool available to all Steam users which is locked to a particular engine branch. Compared to basing your mod on a "real" game, use of SDK Base massively increases your potential audience and prevents incompatible engine updates from breaking your code.

Versions

There are currently two versions of SDK Base: the original Source 2006 version (AppID 215) and the superior Source 2007 version (AppID 218).

Alien Swarm deserves mention here too, as it is also freely available and also provides source code.

Todo: Make a page explaining which game to pick.

Content

• The stock gamecode is a duplicate of Episode One's or Episode Two's, depending on which version (see below) you are using. But the only content available is that of Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast: while Zombines and Hunters exist in the code and can be spawned, they appear as errors because their models are not available. If you want to use episodic things, you will need to mount the appropriate game.
• SDK Base might provide mods with Lost Coast's content, but dedicated servers do not. Multiplayer mods should either not use anything from Lost Coast, or include what they do use in their dedicated server download.
  Tip:In Source 2007 or later you can remove the sourcetest SearchPath from gameinfo.txt and Lost Coast will disappear. Unfortunately, doing this under Source 2006 (Episode One) will make the game crash immediately!

Fixes

There are two small glitches:

1. The main menu has a "Visual Stress Test" option instead of anything useful. Copy resource\GameMenu.res from another suitable game into your mod.
2. Episode Two's flashlight and weapon pickup icons do not appear. Open resource\ClientScheme.res and add this to the Fonts section:

   		WeaponIconsSmall
   		{
   			1
   			{
   				name		HalfLife2
   				tall		32
   				weight	0
   				antialias 1
   				additive	1
   				custom	1
   			}
   		}
   

Content (2007)

• Source SDK Base 2007 (sourcetest)
• Source SDK Base + Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (sourcetest)
• Source 2007 shared (hl2)
• Source shared (hl2)
• Source 2007 engine branch

Content (2006)

• Source SDK Base + Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (sourcetest)
• Source shared (hl2)
• Episode One engine branch