Source 2013

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This article is about the Source 2013 engine branch. For the documentation on Source SDK Base 2013, see Source SDK 2013.

The Source 2013 Source 2013 engine branch (also called SteamPipe branch) is the final iteration of the Orange Box engine branch. It was introduced by Valve in 2013 to replace the archaic GCF file format with the VPK format introduced in the Left 4 Dead engine branch. Major shifts in content mounting occurred, and all Valve games using the Source 2009 and Source Multiplayer engine branches were upgraded to this branch. Half-Life: Source Half-Life: Source, Half-Life Deathmatch: Source Half-Life Deathmatch: Source, and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Half-Life 2: Lost Coast was also upgraded to this engine branch from the Source 2006 engine branch. The 🖿custom folder was added to make modding easier and was added as a mounting path for each individual Source game.

While SteamPipe was praised for simplifying how the Source engine mounts content and including previously-unreleased Team Fortress 2 code, it also broke countless numbers of mods and worsened problems already present in the Source 2009 branch, requires more space due to some Source 2013 games (except Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, etc...) containing duplicated Half-Life 2 base content, plus introducing more bugs to Half-Life: Source. It also does not have most of the features that the engine branches from the Left 4 Dead engine branch onwards had. However, the engine branch has been polished over time, with various bugs from previous Orange Box branch have been fixed (such as Dropship container gun being non-functional in Half-Life 2, NPCs eyes not blinking, etc...) and is now the main branch in use by modern non-licensed engine mods.

Source 2013 is split into two sub-branches, titled Source 2013 Singleplayer and Source 2013 Multiplayer, which replaced the Source 2009 Source 2009 and Source Multiplayer Source Multiplayer branches, respectively. The two sub-branches are mostly interchangeable, but they use separate codebases, and the Multiplayer branch has some features which are not available in the Singleplayer branch.

Tip.pngTip:Despite the names, both branches can be used for singleplayer.
Due to the benefits provided by the Multiplayer branch's additional features (static prop lightmaps, BSP compression, more ambient cubes per visleaf, and slightly newer code), the Singleplayer branch should only be used if using a base mod such as Mapbase, or if making a single-player mod that does not modify game code.

As of 2024, all Source 2013 games are actively being maintained with bug fixes by Valve and third-party developers.

Engine updates since 2022 to the version of Source 2013 Multiplayer Source 2013 Multiplayer used by Team Fortress 2 Team Fortress 2 have resulted in the creation of a new branch, being the Team Fortress 2 branch Team Fortress 2 branch, which has its own page.

Features

Screenshot of the Gamepad UI from Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2, introduced in 2022.

New since the Source 2009 Source 2009 and Source Multiplayer Source Multiplayer) engine branches are:

VPK files and 🖿custom folder
First introduced on Left 4 Dead engine branch and onwards, it was later available on Source 2013, which replaced the old GCF format. Source 2013 also adds support for reading any files from "custom" folder, which makes installing mods easier without overwriting original game files. In some Source 2013 games, such as Black Mesa Black Mesa, users may need to create the 🖿custom manually. Source 2013 uses VPK version 2.
Linux Linux and other platform support
The engine can now run on Linux, Android (for Nvidia Shield), Nintendo Switch and other operating systems/platforms. However, support for these OS outside of official games may be spotty.
Static prop lightmaps (only in Source 2013 Multiplayer)(also in Garry's Mod)
Static props without bump maps can now use lightmaps (albeit with limitations).
Per-texel color tint masking for models
$blendtintbybasealpha is ported from the Left 4 Dead engine branch Left 4 Dead engine branch. Source 2013 includes an exclusive additional parameter, $blendtintcoloroverbase.
BSP compression (only in Source 2013 Multiplayer)(also in Garry's Mod)
BSP maps and packed files can be losslessly compressed on both server and client.
Direct3D 9Ex / Windows Aero DirectX Extensions (also in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
Improve performance depending on GPU hardware and drivers.
Icon-Bug.pngBug:Cannot be disabled even with mat_disable_d3d9ex 0 (or Windows Aero DirectX Extensions set to "Disabled"). Applications such as Special K still reports the game using D3D9Ex.  [todo tested in?]
Raw mouse input
Directly taking unchanged data from mouse drivers before it goes through operating system enhancements, meaning that mouse input will be exactly 1 to 1.
Steam Deck update
Gamepad UI (only in Half-Life 2 Portal Entropy : Zero 2)
Introduced in 2022, Gamepad UI is a modern controller-oriented UI designed for consoles and handhelds like Steam Deck. With the new Gamepad UI, it was more scalable across any resolution (including 4K and higher), unlike the regular VGUI (which, the higher the resolution, the text and UI will become smaller). This UI can be also enabled manually by using -gamepadui command line argument, or running the game when Steam Big Picture mode is active.
Enabling Gamepad UI will also enable Vulkan renderer. If your GPU doesn't support Vulkan or if you don't want to enable Vulkan, uses -dx9 alongside the -gamepadui command.
Vulkan renderer (only in Windows Linux)(only in Half-Life 2 Portal)(also in Left 4 Dead 2 Portal 2 engine branch CS:GO engine branch Strata Source Team Fortress 2 branch Xengine)
A low-overhead, cross-platform graphics API, successor to OpenGL.
First introduced in 2022 with Half-Life 2 and Portal. Portal with RTX also uses Vulkan as part of the RTX Remix runtime. Using DXVK, a library used to translate Direct3D calls to Vulkan. This is disabled by default, but can be enabled in supported games by passing -vulkan into the game's launch options.
HL2 20th anniversary update
VGUI High DPI support (also in Team Fortress 2 branch)
VGUI are now properly scalable on higher resolutions such as 4K (3840x2160).
Wikipedia icon Bicubic lightmap filtering (only in Half-Life 2)
Introduced in 2024, bicubic filtering is used on lightmaps when r_lightmap_bicubic is enabled, smoothing out aliasing caused by the lower resolution of lightmaps. It can be also enabled by setting the Shader detail to "Very High".
Continue music playback after loading levels
Introduced in HL2's November 26, 2024 Update, music will continue to play after the next level is loaded, instead of stopping completely like in previous versions.

Availability

Gamecode for both the Source 2013 Multiplayer and Singleplayer branches is included in Valve's Source SDK 2013 repository. Full source code (such as Hammer), are not publicly available, but it was leaked back in 2018.

Warning.pngWarning:By default, the SDK 2013 code does not contain many recent updates, new features and bug fixes (such as Dropship gun fix) that was introduced in Half-Life 2 and Portal (since the new Steam Deck Steam Deck and 20th Anniversary updates) respectively, nor the "upcoming" builds on Steam, along with the rest of Source 2013 games. Alternatively you can use the SDK 2013 community repos which have these bugs fixed by default.

Source 2013 Singleplayer

Valve

Third-Party


Source 2013 Multiplayer

Valve

Third-party


Third-party Source 2013 branches

The following games use neither Source 2013 Singleplayer nor Source 2013 Multiplayer, but rather use custom (heavily modified) branches forked earlier versions from both Source 2013 branches, with newer features added on. As such, they may or may not include all features from newer first-party versions of Source 2013, such as LZMA-compressed BSPs or lightmapped MDLs.

System Requirements

These system requirements applies to Source SDK 2013 (and some Source 2013 game) only. Some other games may have their own system requirements.

Windows Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) XP or later (pre-Steam Deck update)
Vista, 7 or later (post-Steam Deck update)
Processor (CPU) 1.7 GHz and/or Dual-core
System memory (RAM) 1 GB (XP)
2 GB (Vista and later)
Hard disk drive (HDD/SSD) 3.5 GB
Video card (GPU) NVIDIA GeForce 6xxx series, ATI Radeon X1600, Intel HD Graphics 3000 (with 128MB VRAM)
Direct3D 9.0 compatible video card (with atleast DirectX 8.0 compatibility level or higher)
Other To play on XP and Vista, run the game without Steam by directly launching the hl2.exe executable. Some games may requires -game <gamename> command line.
macOS macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.3 (up to 10.14.6)
Processor (CPU) 2.0 GHz and/or Dual-core
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD/SSD) 3.5 GB
Video card (GPU) NVIDIA GeForce 8xxx series, ATI Radeon X1600, Intel HD Graphics 3000
OpenGL 2.1 compatible
Sound (audio device) OpenAL compatible
Note.pngNote:By default, 32-bit executable are no longer supported after macOS Catalina (10.15), meaning that SDK 2013 will not work out of the box. User can manually build Intel 64-bit/Apple Silicon executable by following this guide.
Linux Linux
Minimum
Operating system (OS) Ubuntu 12.04, SteamOS 1.0 or later
Other Linux distros supported.
Processor (CPU) 2.0 GHz and/or Dual-core
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD/SSD) 3.5 GB
Video card (GPU) NVIDIA GeForce 8xxx series, ATI Radeon X1600, Intel HD Graphics 3000
OpenGL 2.1 compatible
Note.pngNote:The system requirements for Linux are unofficial, based off Windows/Mac info, as well as other Source games that support Linux, such as Portal 2.

See also