Half-Life

This article is about the 1998 game. For the documentation on GoldSrc and Half-Life SDK, see Half-Life SDK.

Half-Life

Developer(s)

Valve Corporation

Publisher(s)

Sierra Entertainment (retail)
Valve Corporation

Series

Half-Life series

Release date(s)

November 19, 1998 

Windows:
November 19, 1998
PlayStation 2:
November 14, 2001
macOS, Linux:
Beta: January 28, 2013
Stable: February 14, 2013

Genre(s)

First-person shooter

Mode(s)

Single-player, Multiplayer

Platform(s)

Windows, Playstation 2, macOS, Linux

Engine

GoldSrc

Steam AppID

70

Written in

C++

Mod support

Yes, drop-in folders and valve_addon folder.

SDK

Half-Life SDK

System requirements

• Win 7 or later
• 800 MHz CPU
• 512 MB RAM
• 4 GB disk space
• 32 MB VRAM video card

For details, see below

Steam Deck compatbility

Verified

Distribution

Retail, Steam

Official website

https://www.half-life.com/halflife

Links

Steam page
Mods for Half-Life on Steam
ModDB page

Previous game

N/A

Next game

Half-Life: Opposing Force

"They're waiting for you Gordon... in the test chamberrr...."

Half-Life, Valve's debut 1998 title, blends action and adventure with award-winning technology to create a frighteningly realistic world where players must think to survive. Named Game of the Year by over 50 publications, it also includes an exciting multiplayer mode that allows you to play against friends and enemies around the world.

Half-Life is also the debut of the GoldSrc engine, and was followed by a Source engine sequel in 2004, Half-Life 2. It is also ported to the Source engine, and remastered under the name Half-Life: Source.

A PlayStation 2 port of the game was released in 2001, developed by Gearbox Software, which features many changes which were not present in the PC version of the game.

On November 17, 2023, the game received a major update for its 25th anniversary^[1], simulating the retail/WON menu UI,^[3] implementing proper widescreen support with Hor+ FOV and better UI scaling for high-DPI and 4K (or higher) displays, partially fixing support for overbright lighting, and much more. The game was also available for free to keep until November 20. Additionally, Uplink and content from Half-Life: Further Data was added to the game. The downside with this update however, is that several non-standalone GoldSrc mods (except custom content and textures) and games (like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic and more) were initially broken with this update; Valve provides a beta build (steam_legacy) to revert to the version prior to the update, to fix the mod incompatibility.

Content

• Half-Life maps (valve)
• Half-Life HD pack (valve_hd)
• GoldSrc shared (valve)
• GoldSrc code

Chapters

Half-Life has total of 20 chapters, 19 of which are playable. A demo version of Half-Life called Day One can be played up to "We've Got Hostiles!", and ends when the player reaches near the vent area while climbing the ladder down.

There are 14 (15 with Hazard Course) chapters set in Black Mesa and 4 (5 with Endgame) chapters set in Xen.

Toggle chapters Half-Life ChaptersToggle chapters
Hazard Course t0a0	Black Mesa Inbound c0a0	Anomalous Materials c1a0	Unforeseen Consequences c1a0c
Office Complex c1a2	"We've Got Hostiles!" c1a3	Blast Pit c1a4	Power Up c2a1
On a Rail c2a2	Apprehension c2a3	Residue Processing c2a4	Questionable Ethics c2a4d
Surface Tension c2a5	"Forget About Freeman!" c3a1	Lambda Core c3a2	Xen c4a1
Gonarch's Lair c4a2	Interloper c4a1a	Nihilanth c4a3	Endgame c5a1

Todo: put links to the applicable Combine OverWiki pages on the above chapter pages.

Official multiplayer maps

Name	Internal name	Officially added	In HLDMS?	Notes
Boot Camp	boot_camp	1998-11-19 (launch)	Yes
Bounce	bounce	1998-11-19 (launch)	Yes
Contamination	contamination	2023-11-17 (25th Anniversary Update)	No
Crossfire	crossfire	1999-01-13 (version 1.0.0.8)	Yes
Datacore	datacore	1998-11-19 (launch)	Yes
Disposal	disposal	2023-11-17 (25th Anniversary Update)	No
DoubleCross	doublecross	2023-11-17 (25th Anniversary Update)	No	Originally included in Half-Life: Further Data.
Frenzy	frenzy	1999-01-13 (version 1.0.0.8)	Yes
Gasworks	gasworks	1999[confirm]	No	Originally released as an IGN-exclusive map.
Lambda Bunker	lambda_bunker	1998-11-19 (launch)	Yes
Pool Party	pool_party	2023-11-17 (25th Anniversary Update)	No
Rapidcore	rapidcore	2001[confirm]	Yes	The February 2001  Planet Half-Life Mapping Contest winner, by Michael "Wolf" Schulz
Rocket Frenzy	rocket_frenzy	2023-11-17 (25th Anniversary Update)	No
Rust Mill	rustmill	2023-11-17 (25th Anniversary Update)	No	Originally included in Half-Life: Further Data.
Snark Pit	snark_pit	1998-11-19 (launch)	Yes	Remake of Dario Casali's DCDM3 for Quake
Stalkyard	stalkyard	1998-11-19 (launch)	Yes
Subtransit	subtransit	1998-11-19 (launch)	Yes
Undertow	undertow	1998-11-19 (launch)	Yes
Xen DM	xen_dm	2023-11-17 (25th Anniversary Update)	No	Originally included in Half-Life: Further Data.

Additionally, Team9 (team9) and The Hill (thehill) were included in Half-Life: Further Data, but were not included in any updates or patches for the game.

Credits

Main article:  Half-Life Credits

These are the official credits for "Half-Life", as released in November of 1998: Ted Backman TK Backman Kelly Bailey Yahn Bernier Ken Birdwell Steve Bond Dario Casali John Cook Greg Coomer Wes Cumberland John Guthrie Mona Lisa Guthrie Mike Harrington Monica Harrington Brett Johnson Chuck Jones Marc Laidlaw Karen Laur Randy Lundeen Yatsze Mark Lisa Mennet Gabe Newell Dave Riller Aaron Stackpole Jay Stelly Harry Teasley Steve Theodore Bill Van Buren Robin Walker Douglas R. Wood Uncredited Voice work: Mike Shapiro: Black Mesa Security Guards, Soldiers, the G Man Harry S Robins: Black Mesa Scientists, Soldiers Kathy Levin: Hologram Trainer, Black Mesa Train Announcer

Bugs and Limitations

Visit GitHub page in order to prevent duplicate or outdated bug reports at the wiki.

For engine specific bugs, see Bugs and Limitations at GoldSrc page.

System Requirements

Windows (Retail/WON version):

• Windows 95 / 98 / NT 4.0
• 166 MHz CPU
• 32 MB RAM
• 500 MB disk space
• Optional: OpenGL, Glide (3Dfx) or Direct3D 6.0+ compatible video card

Windows (Steam version):

• Windows 7 or later
• 800 MHz CPU
• 512 MB RAM
• 4 GB disk space
• 32 MB VRAM video card

Note:The Steam version is no longer compatible with XP and Vista since the 25th anniversary update.
User using these OS can downgrade to previous version of the game by using the steam_legacy beta branch instead, but note that Steam itself no longer supports Windows versions older than Windows 10.

OS X:

• OS X 10.6.3
• Intel Core 2 Duo processor
• 1 GB RAM
• 4 GB disk space
• Nvidia GeForce 8xxx series or ATI Radeon X1600 video card or Intel HD Graphics 3000

Linux:

• Ubuntu 12.04, SteamOS 1.0
• 2.8 GHz Dual Core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• 4 GB disk space
• Nvidia Geforce 8600/9600 GT or ATI (AMD) Radeon HD 2600/3600 video card
• OpenGL 2.1 or above
• For Nvidia: 310 driver version
• For ATI (AMD): 12.11 driver version
• OpenAL-compatible audio

See also

• Half-Life ports:
  • PlayStation 2 version
  • Cancelled Dreamcast version
  • Half-Life: Source - remaster, ported to the Source engine.
• Black Mesa - Fan-made remake of Half-Life, running on Source engine.
• Half-Life 2 - Sequel to Half-Life
• Half-Life.fgd
• Half-Life SDK
• Mods on VDC

References

References
1. Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update 2. PHL Mapping Contest Results! on Planet Half-Life (archived) 3. As the new game, settings, save/load, and multiplayer menus are kept in the Steam style, and the splash background is done differently from the retail version, the WON menu is a simulation of the old menu, rather than an actual restoration.

External links

• Half-Life on Combine OverWiki
•  Half-Life on Wikipedia