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This article relates to the game "Half-Life". Click here for more information.

Half-Life

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This article is about the 1998 game. For the documentation on GoldSrc and Half-Life SDK, see Half-Life SDK.
Half-Life
Software Cover - Half-Life.jpg
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Sierra Entertainment (retail)
Valve Corporation
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
Platform(s)
Engine
Steam AppID
Written in
Mod support
Yes, drop-in folders
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, 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

Stub

This article or section is a stub. You can help by adding to it.

The original release of Half-Life included 8 multiplayer maps:

Subsequent updates, patches, and several web-site exclusive releases (such as for IGN and PC Gamer Online) throughout 1998-1999, added the following:

'Half-Life: Further Data', a retail-released series of CDs released in February 1999 with more additional content, included the following maps:

The February 2001 Planet Half-Life Mapping Contest winner,

  • Combine overwiki icon.png Rapidcore (rapidcore.bsp) by Michael "Wolf" Schulz

was added in a patch.[2]

The 'Half-Life: Further Data' content was added to the Steam version of 'Half-Life' in November 2023 in celebration of the series' 25th Anniversary, which also added brand new maps:[1]

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[confirm] 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.

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

References
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