Half-Life: Source

This page documents information about a game or software that has been unlisted (hidden from searches) on digital game stores (such as Steam), but the game can still be purchased or downloaded.

Half-Life: Source

Developer(s)

Valve

Publisher(s)

Valve

Series

Half-Life series

Release date(s)

November 16, 2004

Genre(s)

First-person shooter

Mode(s)

Single-player

Platform(s)

Windows, Linux

Engine

Source 2004 (original)
Source 2013 Singleplayer (current)

Steam AppID

280

Written in

C++

Mod support

Yes (custom folder)

SDK

Source SDK
(See Half-Life: Source Level Creation)

System requirements

Windows 

OS: Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
Processor: 1.7 GHz or Dual-core, requires support for SSE
RAM: 1GB
DirectX 8 capable GPU
Network: Internet connection
Storage: 5 GB available space
Mouse
Keyboard

Linux 

OS: Ubuntu 12.04 or later, SteamOS 1.0 or later, other Linux distros are supported.
Processor: Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.0 GHz, requires support for SSE
RAM: 1GB
Graphics Acceleration: Nvidia GeForce 8600/9600GT, ATI/AMD Radeon HD2600/3600 (Graphics Drivers: Nvidia 310, AMD 12.11), OpenGL 2.1
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 8 GB available space
Sound card: OpenAL Compatible Sound Card

Steam Deck compatbility

Playable

Distribution

Retail, Steam

Links

Steam page
ModDB page

Previous game

Half-Life

Next game

Half-Life 2

Half-Life: Source (also referred to internally as "HL1Port") is a "digitally remastered"^[1] port of Half-Life to the Source engine.

As a Source game, it benefits from Source's physics simulation (including ragdolls), improved flashlight, cubemapped reflections, enhanced NPC AI, more realistic lighting and shadows, fog, and water effects, while retaining most of its original assets.

In many cases, maps were modified to better take advantage of these capabilities, with 3D skyboxes and displacement ground being added to outdoor levels, brush cables being converted into ropes, the "crate jumping" section now physically dangling the crates from the ceiling and swaying beneath your feet, and certain puzzles also being adjusted to use the physics system.

In 2004, Doug Lombardi explained the rationale behind the port:

In terms of graphics, Half-Life: Source is the most straightforward of the Source porting work done thus far. These ports began as tests to see what MOD authors would experience if they attempted to bring their HL1 MODs forward to Source. HL: Source was the first test, and proved quite informative. But unlike CS: Source, which included new art and audio throughout, folks here had pretty firm opinions about not changing the content in HL1.^[4]

Initially, the remaster received generally positive reviews, with fewer technical issues than it later gained a reputation for, however it was still criticized by some fans that were expecting a full remake. As a result, Black Mesa began development shortly after.

Beginning in 2013, with the SteamPipe update, the game has been updated to the Source 2013 engine, and installs as a subdirectory in Half-Life 2's folder. This update introduced issues not present in the original release, some of which are severe, along with integrating a fan-made HD content pack. Today, Half-Life: Source has been largely abandoned by the community, with the game being delisted from Steam search results in 2023 with Half-Life's 25th anniversary.

We now consider this anniversary version of Half-Life to be the definitive version, and the one we'll continue to support going forward. Therefore, we'll be reducing the visibility of Half-Life: Source on the Steam Store. We know Half-Life: Source's assets are still being used by the Source engine community, so it'll remain available, but we'll be encouraging new Half-Life players to play this version instead.

— Valve, 25th Anniversary Update changelog^[3]

Unlike the primary releases of Half-Life 1 and 2, Half-Life: Source has never had its code published by Valve. Nevertheless, it has leaked multiple times. This leaked code has been used to create fan mods that largely fix the game's outstanding issues, but aren't available on Steam.^[2]

Half-Life: Source had almost all of its supporting code stripped in later versions of Source. In the Alien Swarm - SDK, nearly every HL1_DLL definition was removed, along with some legacy render effects and features like spheremaps that were only used to preserve aspects of Half-Life's look on Source.

Bug: Half-Life: Source is currently not playable on Linux due to a bug introduced with 20th anniversary update. The game will continue to work on Windows, however.

Trivia

• The Steam store page for Half-Life: Source shows the wrong release date of the game. This game was released at the same time with Half-Life 2.

See also

• Black Mesa - Similar concept, but on a more advanced version of Source with completely new graphics and design.
• Half-Life Deathmatch: Source - Multiplayer counterpart of Half-Life: Source.
• Configuring Hammer for Half-Life: Source
• Half-Life: Source FGD
• Half-Life: Source Bugs

References

1. Half-Life: Source on Steam Half-Life: Source is a digitally remastered version of the critically acclaimed and best selling PC game, enhanced via Source technology to include physics simulation, enhanced effects, and more. . 2. Most of the Half-Life: Source bugs are unofficially fixed by Half-Life: Source Fixed.. Retrieved on May 07, 2024.  3. Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update. Steam - News. Under "Notes" section: We now consider this anniversary version of Half-Life to be the definitive version, and the one we'll continue to support going forward. Therefore, we'll be reducing the visibility of Half Life: Source on the Steam Store. We know Half-Life: Source's assets are still being used by the Source engine community, so it'll remain available, but we'll be encouraging new Half-Life players to play this version instead. Posted November 18, 2023.. Retrieved on May 07, 2024.  4. HomeLAN Fed : Half-Life 2 Interview. Retrieved on Dec 26, 2025.