This article's documentation is for the "GoldSrc" engine. Click here for more information.
This article relates to the game "Half-Life". Click here for more information.

Half-Life

From Valve Developer Community
(Redirected from Half-Life 1)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
English (en)Español (es)한국어 (ko)Português do Brasil (pt-br)Tiếng Việt (vi)中文 (zh)中文(臺灣) (zh-tw)Translate (Translate)
This article is about the 1998 game. For the documentation on GoldSrc and Half-Life SDK, see Half-Life SDK.
Half-Life - Background.png
Half-Life
Software Cover - Half-Life.jpg
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Sierra Entertainment (retail)
Valve Corporation
Release date(s)
November 19, 1998 
Platform(s)
Engine
Steam AppID
Written in
Mod support
Yes, drop-in folders and valve_addon folder.
System requirements
For details, see below
Steam Deck compatbility
Distribution
Retail, Steam
Previous game
N/A
"They're waiting for you Gordon... in the test chamberrr...."

Half-Life 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.

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

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

Official multiplayer maps

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

Additionally, Combine overwiki icon.png Team9 (team9) and Combine overwiki icon.png 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 (Steam version):

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

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

References

CollapseReferences
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