Mods

Valve has yet to release the mod tools for Left 4 Dead 2 (we assume they are coming soon-ish) but in the meantime that hasn't stopped some enterprising mod creators from shoehorning the characters, new zombie bosses and items from the just released shooter sequel into the original Left 4 Dead campaigns.

The L4DMods.com site has the full instructions on how to make this happen. The site puts up plenty of warnings that this kind of thing is not for folks who are unfamiliar with opening up and altering a PAK file but as you can see from the above screenshot it is possible to get Coach, Nick, Noelle and Ellis up north to battle the infected.

[Via Kotaku]

One of the more interesting mixes of first person shooter and real time strategy was Command and Conquer: Renegade. The title, made by Electronic Arts' now defunct Westwood Studios and released in 2002, was highly anticipated but while it got good reviews for the most part it was not a huge sales success (in fact a planned sequel was canceled due to the low sales of the original).

For some time a Unreal Tournament 3 mod team has been working on Renegade X, which brings the multiplayer design of C&C: Renegade to Epic Games' shooter. But the recent release by Epic of the Unreal Development Kit has caused many mods to be re-released as stand alone games. Now it looks like Renegade X could be moving in that direction. In a message board post announcing the release of the latest UT3 mod version the development team announced that thanks to the UDK release, " . . . there is a great chance Renegade X will become a standalone game in the future." The announcement emphasizes the fact that this stand alone game will still be free to download and play due to EA's holding of the C&C game rights. Still fans of the original could be looking at a Unreal Engine 3-based version in the months to come. You can check out a gameplay trailer from the latest UT3 mod release after the jump:

[Via Blue's News]

Nazis. Dinosaurs. Without a doubt these are two of pop culture's biggest and most used groups of bad guys. But what if these two totally different groups suddenly joined forces? That's the uber-cool premise behind Dino D-Day. The upcoming Source Engine based game has the Nazis bringing in the big lizards to help them in their quest to take over the world in World War II. The game comes from new developer Digital Ranch Interactive which has just released a free Half-Life 2 mod that serves as a demo for what they have planned for the full game. You can download that mod right now at Big Download.

Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to Digital Ranch Interactive's co-founder Abe Scheuermann to find out more about their plans for the game, his reaction to how well the mod release has been received and more.

The Torchlight Editor (TorchED) allows users to create custom content for Torchlight. Much of what users are can look forward to getting their hands on is detailed in a video, where Runic Games highlights the features of its development tools.

Download Torchlight Editor v1.0 (383 MB)
Download the Torchlight v1.12 Demo (418 MB)
Check out all Torchlight downloads

With the Dragon Age: Origins Toolset, users can create custom adventures for Dragon Age. The toolset can only be installed on a machine that has the full Dragon Age: Origins game installed. The EclipseRay Lightmapper Source Code is an optional add-on.

Download the Dragon Age: Origins Toolset (472 MB)
Download the EclipseRay Lightmapper Source Code (6 MB)
Download HD Dragon Age: Origins Toolset Trailer (80 MB)
Check out all Dragon Age: Origins downloads

Originally designed as a Unreal Tournament 3 mod, Prometheus is now available as a stand-alone and free to play game made using the Unreal Development Kit (UDK).

Also known as Prometheus version 4.0, the demo includes:

• A full circle storyline with three new levels
• New awards for tracking progress
• Additional custom textures, meshes and animations
• Bonus original weapon
• New custom layering music system and new voiceovers
• Seamless cutscenes
• New Epimetheus menu with active previews of individual quantum state histories
• Dramatic improvements to the quantum state character movement and firing accuracy

"You're never alone when you have a clone. With the Prometheus Device, you control Einsteinian Physics laws of time and space. Create distinct past, present, and future Quantum States of yourself to solve puzzles and accomplish mission goals in this single player co-op game. You'll need to keep your wits and memory sharp using an original game play mechanic presented in multi-dimensional format inspired by Portal and Mirror's Edge."

Download the Prometheus UDK Demo (321 MB)
Download HD Prometheus Gameplay Trailer (142 MB)
Download the Unreal Development Kit (562 MB)
Check out all Unreal Development Kit downloads

While certain upcoming military shooters have yet to reveal if they will have any mod tools, Codemasters' recently released Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising game has a full mission editor for anyone to make their own maps and missions in the game. Now PC processor maker Intel will be rewarding folks who come up with the best missions for the game in a new contest.

People who own the game can use the mission editor to submitted their creations to the contest (they have to have, among other things, an Intel i7 processor as one of the mission's objectives). Deadline for entries is November 29. After the top 12 are decided by the game's community via their votes, the winners will be determined by a jury of people from Codemasters, Intel and others. The people who create the top two missions will each receive a gaming PC valued at over $2,000.

With the Darkest of Days Level Editor, players can create their own custom maps and scenarios. For more information about the tools and how to use them, please visit the official forums. You might also want to pick up the 'Instant Action' patch, which allows players to revisit any completed level in the game. The playable demo can be downloaded here.

Download Darkest of Days Level Editor (56 MB)
Download Darkest of Days v1.05 Patch (181 MB)
Download Darkest of Days Demo (784 MB)
Check out all Darkest of Days downloads

This mod adds the 'Dead Before Dawn' Campaign to Left 4 Dead. It's inspired by the movie Dawn of the Dead. Installation instructions are shown after the jump.

"The custom campaign Left 4 Dead fans have been clamouring for has finally arrived, bringing Valve's zombie shooter to the Crossroads Mall--the setting for Zack Snyder's zombie movie remake Dawn of the Dead.

Dead Before Dawn contains 5 maps--the sixth, the finale is not included in this beta--for both co-op and versus play. For that complete shopping mall experience, there are hundreds of new props along new music, new voice-overs and randomized special events. "

Download Left 4 Dead 'Dead Before Dawn' Campaign (1.1 GB)

Gallery: Left 4 Dead

As some developers continue to dodge the question on whether or not they will release or support third party mods for their games (*cough* Infinity Ward *cough*), Valve is actually fulfilling a promise they made last month. Namely they have now released all of the character model and animation sources for their multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2.

But Valve is throwing out some extras as well. They have gone ahead and released some of the models and props they used for their various "Meet The" movies they made for the various Team Fortress 2 characters (the first ones come from the "Meet The Sniper" film). These models are not meant to be used in playable maps but they are still kind of cool for mod makers to have for use in maps and/or fan-made films.

Developed by the Broken Glass Studios mod team, this is the version 1.0 beta of The Dark Mod for Doom 3.

"The Dark MOD is a total conversion for Doom 3, turning it into a dark and moody stealth game inspired by the Thief series by Looking Glass Studios. We have created a toolset with revamped gameplay, AI, graphics, HUD and weapons to allow fans to create missions in a gothic steampunk universe."

Download The Dark Mod (1.4 GB)

It's clear that a lot of PC gamers who were hoping to enjoy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 are very upset at the surprise decision by developer Infinity Ward to abandon dedicated server support in favor of a matchmaking service hosted by the developer. Many PC gamers enjoy the freedom of hosting their own servers, allowing for mods to be run on their own machines and generally having more control of their own multiplayer experience.

A few hours after the "no dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2" decision was revealed, an interesting "tweet" from Digital Illusions' Battlefield producer KM Troedsson was made. While Modern Warfare 2 was not named, it's clear he had the game in mind when he wrote, "Dedicated servers FTW. What ever secures a better online experience is a given for us." Hopefully that means DICE will continue to release that kind of support for future Battlefield games for the PC, including Battlefield Bad Company 2, the PC port of Battlefield 1943 and the (officially unannounced) Battlefield 3.

[Via Kotaku]

Gallery: Battlefield Bad Company 2

It's the old cliche of showing barrels in first person shooters. Sometimes the barrels have no real world reason to be there in a level. They are just around for you to take a gun and shoot it, causing a big explosion that you hope will take out some enemies.

So how about an environment that is filled with barrels? Lots of barrels? Barrels that are just waiting for, say, a Redeemer fired by a player in Unreal Tournament 2004 to start the biggest chain reaction of explosions we can remember seeing in a YouTube video? There's no need to wonder about those questions. Just check out the video above for the answer. Oh, and check this post on the BeyondUnreal message boards for some info on how the video was made (here's a hint: the video isn't rendered in real time).

The current lead developer behind the popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients has made the suprising announcement that he is "now leading a team at Valve". Presumably he means the same Valve that has mostly worked on first person shooter game titles like Half-Life and Left 4 Dead. In his announcement on the official DotA page "IceFrog" (that's the only name he goes by) he stats that now he has "all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love. I look forward to revealing more specific details when the time is right."

This would certainly be a change of pace for Valve if they decide to develop a DotA-like game. The mod has become an inspiration for a number of current and upcoming commercial games including Demigod, Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends (who have former DotA team members as part of their dev team).

[Via Shacknews]