Half-Life Celebrates 25th Anniversary with New Update and Enhanced Steam Deck Compatibility

The iconic first-person shooter (FPS), Half-Life, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and received a significant update on Steam, featuring an impressive array of new content, enhanced graphics, bug fixes, and compatibility with the Steam Deck. Currently, Half-Life can be obtained for free on Steam until November 20th.

In terms of new content, this update introduces four fresh multiplayer maps created by Valve's level designers. These include Contamination, a wasteland facility, Pool Party, an abandoned Xen outpost, Disposal, a radioactive waste plant, and Rocket Frenzy, a satellite launch facility. Additionally, the update incorporates Half-Life Uplink, a mini-campaign that was originally distributed alongside magazines and hardware accessories such as sound cards. Furthermore, the update presents content from the 1999 expansion Half-Life: Further Data, encompassing three multiplayer maps, two beloved character skins (a skeleton with vibrant eyes and the humorously named Too Much Coffee Man), and numerous sprays.

The UI will now scale properly on higher-resolution screens, ensuring better graphics and visual updates. Users can disable texture smoothing on the GL renderer, and various lighting fixes, including GL Overbright support, have been implemented. The classic Valve logo and the original Half-Life menu have made a comeback, allowing players to experience the nostalgia of the game's release in 1998.

In addition, the update includes support for Steam Deck and general controller compatibility. With Steam Networking, players can instantly invite friends and join games. While Half-Life: Source will still be available on Steam, Valve considers this 25th Anniversary update to be the definitive version and will provide ongoing support for it.

Bug Fixes and Change Notes

New Content

Now you can find the full list of changes on the Half-Life website. The complete list of bug fixes can also be found there and below.

Bug Fixes and Change Notes

New Content

Verified on the Steam Deck (and our native Linux runtime has been set as the default).

The original standalone Half-Life demo, Half-Life: Uplink, is now included in the game and can be accessed from the "New Game" menu.

Additionally, four brand-new Half-Life Deathmatch maps have been added: contamination, pool_party, disposal, and rocket_frenzy.

The following improvements have been made to Half-Life Deathmatch:

- Three classic Half-Life Deathmatch maps, namely doublecross, rust_mill, and xen_dm, have been added. These maps were previously only accessible through the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD.

- Exciting new player models have been introduced, including Ivan the Space Biker, Prototype Barney, Skeleton, and Too Much Coffee Man.

Added dozens of new sprays formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD.

Added support for Steam Networking, allowing easy multiplayer via Steam's Join Game and Invite features.

Added the enhanced functionality of Steam Friends Rich Presence, enabling your companions to track your progress in Black Mesa.

Nostalgia

Reintroduced the Valve Intro video in its authentic form. It can be effortlessly skipped using the "-novid" launch command.

Updated main menu to a design inspired by the game's original 1998 main menu.

Changed the default models to the original (non "HD") models.

Gameplay Changes

Improved physics for throwing grenades.

Improved randomness for initial spawn points in multiplayer.

Improved satchel charge controls: primary fire now always throws a new satchel, and secondary fire always detonates.

Fixed push-able entity movement being based on framerate.

Fixed players with high framerates freezing in place on death in multiplayer.

Fixed some cases where the player could get stuck in place on level transitions.

Fixed some cases where characters would interrupt important dialogue with their "greetings" dialogue.

Fixed weapon view-bob angles.

Fixed red barrels at the start of Surface Tension not launching as intended.

Fixed Snarks attacking FL_WORLDBRUSH entities (such as func_walls).

- Snark deployment by crouching and looking down for fixed players has been improved.

- Incorrect values for certain convars ("pausable" and "sv_maxspeed") when transitioning from multiplayer to singleplayer games have been fixed.

Fixed singleplayer auto-aim setting being changed when entering a multiplayer game that disallows auto-aim.

Fixed the flashlight HUD showing empty after loading a savegame.

Fixed rockets in CONTENTS_SKY not always detonating.

Fixed incorrect bullet impact sounds for NPCs.

Fixed gauss gun making a loud static noise if it was charged across level transitions.

Fixed a crash in mods that display keybinds in their UI.

Fixed singleplayer weapons not auto-switching away when exhausted (grenades / snarks / satchels / etc)

Fixed interpolation artifacts when animated models are moved by other entities.

Fixed various buffer overflow vulnerabilities.

UI Changes

The main-menu background and buttons have been revamped, allowing them to adapt to different screen resolutions without distortion. This enhancement enables support for background image layouts up to 3840x1600 resolution.

In-Game HUD now uses double or triple sized sprites when playing at higher resolutions.

UI dialogs and in-game fonts now scale to improve readability at high screen resolutions.

In-Game HUD HEV suit display has been shifted to the left of the screen, and no longer changes position at larger screen resolutions.

Revised

- Introduced a new option called "Enable Widescreen Field of View" to fix non-anamorphic field of views (FOVs) specifically for widescreen and ultrawide monitors.

- Restructured all the Settings screens with enhanced readability and added support for controller navigation.

Updated the Pause menu to be aware of the current gameplay mode.

The default server name and multiplayer player name are now based on the player's Steam Persona.

The Steam platform menu has been removed, now that all its features are in Steam itself.

Fixed application icon rendering incorrectly when using the software renderer.

Fixed player and spray images not updating their coloring on the settings screen.

Input Changes

Enhanced keyboard and controller navigation throughout the system.

Introducing the new "Lower Input Latency" feature: It syncs the CPU and GPU to minimize the delay between input and display output.

Jerky mouse/joystick input has been resolved by addressing the underlying issues. We completely revamped the system, so if you have a personalized Steam Input controller configuration, we recommend rebuilding it using our recently released Official Configuration.

Multiplayer Balancing

Increased the 357 damage from 40 → 50.

Hive Hand reload time has been reduced from 0.5s → 0.3s per shot, and it will be selected at higher priority than the pistol on pickup.

MP5 now always starts with full ammo when initially picked up.

Players no longer drop empty weapons, and any that are dropped are reloaded by what's in the dying player's backpack.

Enhanced client-side prediction to minimize occurrences of erroneous shots, commonly known as "ghost shots". Similar to Counter-Strike, the consideration of hitboxes rather than just bounding boxes is crucial for determining accurate hits on the client.

Resolved the issue of incorrect damage calculation for network-predicted crowbar swings.

Rendering

Added setting to turn off texture filtering when using the OpenGL renderer.

Default gamma has been decreased from 2.5 → 2.2, now that we aren't all playing on CRTs.

Restored OpenGL overbright support.

Added support for UI Sprites and Texture files larger than 256x256.

Added support for UI Font special render modes: "blur" and "additive".

Default resolution is now based on the resolution of the desktop, instead of a 640x480 window.

The software renderer will now accurately exclude incompatible resolutions, except when the display only has one resolution available.

Resolved the issue of the fullscreen software renderer crashing on systems that do not support 16-bit color.

Fixed software renderer being stretched when using widescreen resolutions.

Fixed skyboxes and sky color incorrectly carrying over when transitioning maps in multiplayer.

Fixed the game appearing too dark after modifying video settings.

Fixed MSAA in windowed mode.

Fixed mipmap rendering on studio models.

Fixed gluon gun sprite rendering in multiplayer.

Fixed gluon gun sinusoidal noise being incorrect.

Various optimizations to support the newly increased engine limits.

OpenGL optimizations for the Steam Deck.

Engine Improvements for Mod Makers

Increased maximum limit of dynamic sound channels from 8 → 32.

Increased maximum limit of sentences in the sentences.txt file from 1536 → 2048.

Increased maximum number of entities (MAX_EDICTS) from 900 → 1200.

Increased MAX_PACKET_ENTITIES from 256 → 1024.

Increased MAX_GLTEXTURES from 4800 → 10000.

- Software renderer geometry limits have been increased: maximum spans have been raised from 3000 to 6000, maximum surfaces from 2000 to 4000, and maximum edges from 7200 to 14400.

- The entities Cycler and func_button can now be set as the entity target for scripted_sentence entities, allowing them to speak in multiplayer.

Native Linux Build

Implemented func_vehicle entity support from Counter-Strike, enabling mod-makers to utilize it. A comprehensive SDK update will be provided in the future, but level designers can currently make use of it.

Native Linux Build

Included support for the software renderer.

Improved font rendering.

Many stability and behavior fixes.

Other

Localization files updated.

Miscellaneous security fixes.

Notes

The previous version of the game, known as the "steam_legacy" Beta branch, has been archived and is now publicly visible. This version, titled "Pre-25th Anniversary Build," should be used if any mods or features are not functioning as expected. We consider the anniversary version of Half Life as the definitive version and will continue to support it in the future. As a result, we will decrease the visibility of Half Life: Source on the Steam Store. However, due to its usage by the Source engine community, Half-Life: Source will still be available, but we will encourage new Half-Life players to choose this version instead.

Editor's P/S

As a Gen Z fan, I am thrilled about the recent update to Half-Life, celebrating its 25th anniversary. The new multiplayer maps, restored content, bug fixes, and enhanced gameplay have brought a breath of fresh air to this classic FPS game. I especially appreciate the addition of the original Half-Life demo, Half-Life: Uplink, which allows me to experience the game's roots. The new Deathmatch maps are also a great addition, providing new and exciting challenges for multiplayer battles.

Furthermore, the enhanced Steam Deck compatibility is a game-changer for me. I can now enjoy Half-Life on the go, without compromising on the graphics or gameplay experience. The improved UI and input enhancements make the game feel more modern and responsive, while the bug fixes ensure a smoother and more stable gameplay experience. Overall, this update has rekindled my love for Half-Life and has made me excited to dive back into the game and explore all the new content.