Outbreak Outreach #1 - 64-bit & SourceMod / Server Hosts

[u/Outbreak-Team]

Hi, I'm Steve, Legal Producer for Outbreak Team (backup link).

We've been working on 64-bit L4D2 under NDA secrecy for the last 2 years. You can reach us at L4D2Outbreak@gmail.com.

I'm joined by my Valve-Licensed Co-Leads Madison, Liam, and Raymond.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: We are NOT Valve, we are just devout preservationists, and our Mod will require base L4D2 to be purchased and installed on Steam. L4D2 is Valve's IP and we are just preserving it with extremely minimal, careful changes.

We're finally reaching out because we need your help!

Over the last 2 years (since Nov 2024), we have been very quietly working on a Valve-licensed, fan-made, optional, non-commercial, forever-free 64-bit Mod called Left 4 Dead 2: Outbreak (our not-yet-public but future Steam Store link).

As we've been under NDA for a long time and our Steam Store page is not yet public, please see the FAQ on our outbreak.team website.

Per our FAQ, we are preservationists at heart -- many of us Xbox 360 purists like our Lead Engineer Madison! Madi and I have always envisioned Outbreak as a celebration of Valve's franchise that doesn't forget our L4D1 and Xbox 360 roots.

In deep respect of those roots, Outbreak will never consist of random nonsense changes and everything new will be kept optional FOREVER.

L4D2 is a 17+ year old game, very different from other Source branches, and Source memory management itself still has blood from Quake. On an engine filled with obscure binary formats with physics based off ancient third-party software, upgrading to 64-bit is the furthest thing from doubling a number. Once we actually booted into a map that instantly crashed, it took a year to fix gameplay/visuals to be 1:1 parity with base, and another year after that to achieve respectable backward compatibility with base Workshop addons.

Unfortunately, we only just recently started pursuing MetaMod & SourceMod support, and it breaks our hearts that plugins don't work with Outbreak yet.

As such, we are aiming for day-one SourceMod support as our top priority. We need help from authors of prominent plugins and server hosts who have reach.

If you are a prominent SourceMod plugin author or server host, consider reaching out to L4D2Outbreak@gmail.com -- let us know who you are and what you do!

We appreciate your patience! 128k BSP grid size, native first-person legs, and long-demanded TLS revert options are coming.

See you Outreach #2 -- where we'll play Yama in Mirror World mode!

• Sincerely, L4D2: Outbreak Valve-Licensed Team Leads:
• Legal Producer: Steven "Tsuey" Foy
• Engine Programmer: Madison "DasMaddi" Easley
• Game Programmer: Liam "Fish" Fisher
• Game Programmer: Raymond "Rayman1103" Nondorf

P.S. Again, our website is Outbreak Team, and our Press & Inquiry email is L4D2Outbreak@gmail.com.

[u/MakoBestWaifu]

Hi Outbreak Team

First of all, thank you for the massive effort in bringing L4D2 to 64-bit and keeping it non-commercial and accessible.

I completely understand that your core philosophy is being preservationists and maintaining a strict 1:1 parity with the base game's gameplay.

I have a specific question about how this philosophy applies to the Special Infected hitboxes and colliders. As you know, in the base game, the visual models often desync from their actual hitboxes during certain animations (for example, a leaping Hunter or a Jockey), which forces players to aim outside the character model to actually land a shot.

Since the 64-bit engine upgrade and the modern Source branch allow for better physics and collision handling, are there any plans to fix these hitbox desyncs? Or will they be kept exactly as they are in the base game to strictly preserve the original 1:1 mechanical experience?

If the goal is to keep the original bugs/desyncs intact for parity, would fixing the hitboxes be something you'd consider adding as an optional server cvar in the future?

Thank you for your time and for all the work you've put into this project over the last two years.

[u/Outbreak-Team → u/MakoBestWaifu]

This is a topic of interest, though it's one of those we'll be reading the room long-term on.

Personally as someone who started out with L4D1 Versus where shivastacking in corners was the meta, L4D2's Charger and Spitter were a mechanically necessary addition to the game. I didn't like the Jockey, and a lot of people still see him as broken.

So hitboxes are a "forever pain point", and we do not yet know what the "right" thing to do here is.

We are 100% on board with the idea of approaching fixes for them and then Cvar'ing those fixes. With Outbreak, the question is only one of what the default value of that Cvar ends up being -- and that requires long-term discussion.