Gameinfo.txt

For Half-Life 1/GoldSrc, see liblist.gam.

gameinfo.txt is a KeyValues config file that describes a Source mod. Apart from containing metadata like the name of the mod or a link to the developer's website, it also defines which games it depends on and the SearchPaths that the engine uses to look up resources. It is stored in the mod's root folder. Source, the SDK tools and Steam rely on it.

The SDK launcher generates a gameinfo.txt when you run the "Create a Mod" wizard. This will work fine for development, but before release you should manually update it.

Note:Booleans are represented as 0 or 1.

Note:If a string contains spaces or tabs you have to wrap it in "quote marks".

UI settings

Name

game <string>

The name of the mod in ASCII. Displayed in Steam and used as the window title. Only displayed in the main menu if title isn't specified.

title <string>

title2 <string>

These are the Unicode strings displayed in the main menu of your mod. They might be different from the strings displayed in Steam and on the desktop if you are using a fancy font.

title2 (and 3, 4, etc.) are to enable you to apply different styles to different parts of your title.

Note:It's likely your title won't display right until you edit ClientTitleFont in resource\clientscheme.res to change its font. The default ("HalfLife2") only has a specific set of characters and won't display most text properly.

Template:EP2 add

Rather than displaying the title/title2 text on the main menu, display the content in resource\GameLogo.res. See Adding Your Logo to the Menu.

Options

type <singleplayer_only | multiplayer_only>

Affects which tabs appear in which order the Options panel. May also affect Steam's download speed. Omit if your mod has both SP and MP modes.

nodifficulty <boolean>

Hides the difficulty tab (this happens automatically if your mod is multiplayer_only)

Template:EP2 add

Shows the Portal options tab

nocrosshair <boolean>

Hides the multiplayer crosshair selection menu

advcrosshair

Enables special advanced crosshair options.

Todo: How to implement.

nomodels <boolean>

Hides the multiplayer model selection menu

nohimodel <boolean>

Hides toggle checkbox for cl_himodels, which was used in GoldSrc. Only displayed properly if cl_himodels exists in the first place!

Steam games list

developer <string>

Your team's name (or just yours!)

developer_url <string>

Your or the mod's website. Must start with http://.

manual <string>

URL to the mod's manual; can be a local file.

icon <string>

Local path, relative to gameinfo.txt, to an uncompressed 16x16 TGA that will appear as your mod's icon in Steam. Do not include the file extension. The larger 32px pixel icon that appears in Steam's Detail View should be placed next to the 16px one and called <icon>_big.tga.

Note:For transparency to work, the TGA must be saved in 32-bit mode with active alpha channel.

Miscellaneous

hidden_maps <subkey>

Maps in the subkey do not appear in the "create server" dialogue (but can still be loaded from the console).

Syntax is mapname 1, with one entry per line. Don't include .bsp. Remember to open and close the subkey with { and }.

Template:EP2 add

When false, prevents the engine from creating nodegraphs.

Template:EP2 add

Path to a FGD, relative to Hammer's location. This is used by the compile tools, but not by Hammer.

Template:EP2 add

The default location in which to look for instance VMFs.

Template:L4D add

Prevents the game from running under DirectX8, which does not support the full range of graphics effects, also prevents Studiomdl from producing .sw.vtx and .dx80.vtx files for models, as they aren't needed.

The FileSystem key / How to mount content

SteamAppID <int>

The AppID of the game the mod is to be based on. The mod will have access to all of this game's content, and will not be playable unless it is installed.

Tip:For most mods this will be either 215 (Ep1) or 218 (OB), both of which point to different versions of the Source SDK Base.

Note:Your mod won't be protected by VAC if it is based on a single-player game.

AdditionalContentId <int> (MODS ONLY)

Another AppID that the mod has access to. This feature was added to the SDK source code but somehow never made it to Valve's other games; you will have to build your own binaries to use it. If you need to mount multiple apps, make these changes.

Note:Your mod will run regardless of whether or not the user owns the game that you mount content for. If the game isn't owned the content will not be mounted, and error signs will appear everywhere instead.

Bug:The engine understands this command, but the SDK tools unfortunately do not. The best solution, currently, is to copy the content of the game to a location on your hard drive and add an absolute SearchPath to it (see below). Remember to delete the SearchPath before you release.  [todo tested in ?]

ToolsAppId <int>

This is the AppID of the SDK currently in use. Currently, the only valid ID is 211 (the Source SDK).

Todo: What about the L4D Authoring Tools?

SearchPaths

SearchPaths is a subkey within FileSystem. It contains a Game key for every search path. When the engine needs a resource file it traverses the search paths, stopping when the desired file has been found, hence the order of the search paths is important.

A search path is either relative to the SteamAppID's root directory (i.e. where hl2.exe is located) or absolute.

There are two variables that you can use:

• |all_source_engine_paths|
  Root folders of both the SteamAppID game and any AdditionalContentId games you have mounted
• |gameinfo_path|
  Folder containing your mod's gameinfo.txt

Automatic localization

Source automatically creates localised search paths. If you mount hl2, then when your mod runs in French hl2_french is automatically mounted just above it.

Todo: Does this also apply for the mod folder?

(Different languages can have different AppIDs, but don't worry. Steam handles all that internally.)

Example

The following code would mount the content of Episode Two and Portal:

FileSystem
{
	SteamAppId	420	// Ep2
	ToolsAppId	211
	AdditionalContentId	400	// Portal

	SearchPaths
	{
		Game	|gameinfo_path|.	// Your mod folder should always come first
		Game	|all_source_engine_paths|ep2
		Game	|all_source_engine_paths|episodic	// Ep2 also uses some Ep1 content
		Game	|all_source_engine_paths|portal
		Game	|all_source_engine_paths|hl2	// HL2 should always come last
	}
}

Episode Two comes first and so has priority. This means that you won't be able to use portals, as the Ep2 binaries will be loaded - but you could pitch GLaDOS against a pack of Hunters!

If you did want to use Portal's binaries, you would simply promote its search path above Ep2's. But if there are custom binaries in |gameinfo_path| (your mod's folder) then they will be loaded in both cases.

Source 2013 Example

The following code would mount the content of both Episode Two and Portal on 2013 engine branch:

FileSystem
{
	SteamAppId					243730				// Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer
	SearchPaths
	{
		// No /custom/ folders because they can interfere with mod content and shouldn't be in mod gameinfo.
		game+mod+mod_write+default_write_path	|gameinfo_path|.		// Mod
		gamebin					|gameinfo_path|bin		// Mod's Binaries

		// Using SSDKBase13 path, then back to /common/ and then using Portal folder. 
		// |all_source_engine_paths| magic help here too.
		game				|all_source_engine_paths|../Portal/portal/portal_sound_vo_english.vpk 
		game				|all_source_engine_paths|../Portal/portal/portal_pak.vpk 		

		// Base Half-Life 2 Content: ep2, episodic, hl2
		game_lv					|all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|ep2/ep2_english.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|ep2/ep2_pak.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_english.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
		platform				|all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk

		// Find loose files that are not in the vpk's
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|episodic
		game					|all_source_engine_paths|hl2
		platform				|all_source_engine_paths|platform
	}
}