Tutorial: Setting up a Mod: Part 1 - Custom Game feature Last edited 3 years ago2020-09-10 21:47:32 UTC

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This tutorial is for the WON version of Half-Life.

Putting Your Mod Into the Custom Game Menu

I know you've been thinking in the past, things like: Blue Shift's too short. I could do better. DarkStar had far too many Headcrabs, or I need new weapons for HL, but I don't want to alter any code, models or skins.

Seems like you're wanting to create a mod! And why shouldn't you? After all, there are some great examples out there. A Mod doesn't have to be a whole new game with new weapons and ideas, after all, Mod is short for modification. A modification of the original game.

Anyway, back to business. Go into your Half-Life Valve directory, mine looks like this:

C:\Sierra\Half-Life\valve

You'll find a file called liblist.gam. Right click on it and select Open With and choose Notepad, or a text editor of your choice. You'll see some text which reads:
// Valve Game Info file
// These are key/value pairs. Certain mods will use different settings.
//
game "Half-Life"
startmap "c0a0"
trainmap "t0a0"
mpentity "info_player_deatchmatch"
gamedll "dlls\hl.dll"
gamedll_linux "dlls/hl_i386.so"
Looks pretty simple, eh? Yeah right!

Now go to C:\Sierra\Half-Life, and create a folder with the name of your mod. This won't be the final name, so abbreviate it if you wish. Now select the original liblist.gam file, copy it, and paste the copy into the new directory.

I'm making a mod right now which is HL in a nuclear power plant, so I created a directory called npp, and put the liblist.gam there.

You must create some more files for this to work. Go into "npp" or whatever you have called your folder, and create a new folder. Call it cl_dlls.

Now go into the Half-Life\valve\cl_dlls folder and Copy the client.dll file and Paste it into your mod's cl_dlls folder.

Now create another folder called dlls. Go into the Half-Life\valve folder again and find the dlls folder. Copy hl.dll and paste it into your new dlls folder.

You now only really need one thing. A maps folder. Create one in your mod's folder.

Modifying the liblist.gam

Let's edit the liblist.gam in your new mod's file.

To change the name of the mod, delete Half-Life from the first line and replace it with the mod's name.

Now, put the BSP of the first map of the mod into the maps directory. Change c0a0 to the name of the BSP. If you have created a training map, change t0a0 to the name of the trainmap's BSP.

The rest can be left as it is.

If you are making a multiplayer mod, however, you need to add a new line.

Enter in:
type multiplayer_only
This means that the New Game and Hazard course options on the main menu will be disabled. This also means you don't need a startmap and trainmap.

My nuclear power plant mod's liblist is something like this:
// Valve Game Info file
// These are key/value pairs. Certain mods will use different settings.
//
game "Nuclear Power Plant"
startmap "foyer"
trainmap "t0a0"
mpentity "info_player_deatchmatch"
gamedll "dlls\hl.dll"
gamedll_linux "dlls/hl_i386.so"
As you can see I left the original Training map t0a0 so the old HL hazard course is available. And the first map that will run when I start my mod will be foyer.

Now load up HL, and go into the custom game menu. There you will see your shiny new mod! Activate it, and it will load.

CONGRATULATIONS! Also, try loading HL with the parameter:-game <insert mod's directory here>. This is -game npp for me. This allows you to run the mod straight away.

Send in those mods!

6 Comments

Commented 15 years ago2008-04-30 17:03:17 UTC Comment #100605
and then what i do?! to make a custom menu, models....
Commented 15 years ago2008-10-03 03:58:01 UTC Comment #100606
Nice Tut, and where can we get this NPP MOD? (im asuming you didnt stop working on it like I always do with MY mods.)
Commented 15 years ago2009-03-26 16:19:21 UTC Comment #100607
kc8kjp made a minimod template example map, here:
http://twhl.co.za/vault.php?map=4249
Commented 14 years ago2010-03-08 07:56:04 UTC Comment #100608
gamedll "dllshl.dll"
should be
gamedll "dlls/hl.dll"
Commented 13 years ago2010-07-24 09:04:26 UTC Comment #100609
how do i run it on steam?

edit: figured it out
Commented 1 year ago2023-01-20 01:23:30 UTC Comment #105012
I put the type "multiplayer_only" in my liblist.gam and it didn't work. any help?

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