Left 4 Dead 2

It started when Left 4 Dead (L4D) fans complained that Valve released games slowly. Valve then created Left 4 Dead 2 ( L4D2) to prove that they could follow a schedule and meet a deadline. However, fans were displeased that Valve announced L4D2 just a year after L4D released since Valve promised continual support for L4D. Fans then protested with a boycott. It failed when some boycotters eventually purchased L4D2 during a Steam sale.

L4D2 would ship with a myriad of problems (e.g., animation errors) that further displeased players. After this debacle ended, people agreed that “Valve Time” could be positive…

Development Info Prototype Info Prerelease Info Unused SoundsGrabbing a bread slicer! Unused ItemsA variety of unused weapons and items! Unused LevelsA variety of unused levels and level features! Revisional DifferencesLeft 4 Dead 2 has seen quite a lot of changes.

Unused Content from the Original Game#

Most unused content from the first game, such as the LAW rocket and Flare Gun sound scripts, are still present in the sequel, as it was built on top of Left 4 Dead.

Unused Models#

Whitaker#

When you bring Whitaker his cola, he will explosively clear the way for you, but you can never actually see Whitaker without noclipping. He shares a similar appearance to the Fallen Survivor.

Gore Effect#

An unused gore effect, which is a gigantic slash down a Common Infected's back, caused by a sharp melee weapon.

shack_deck01#

An untextured model of a wooden deck, placed in a folder named "testing". It may have been used for that purpose.

Hidden Magnum Pistol Text#

You can find the text “1337 WEAPON INDUSTRIES (yOgi) PWN.” and “MADE IN SHYVILLE” engraved on the Magnum Pistol’s barrel. The model also lacks a hole for the bullets to come out of.

Undocumented Launch Options#

-background#

You can invoke this launch option by typing Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code, where Template:User:結衣/Templates/Var is an integer. Normally, when you launch the game, it generates a random background ID at the startup screen. This ID stays constant until you exit the game. This launch option tells the game to use Template:User:結衣/Templates/Var instead of the random background ID. As of version 2.2.2.6, the responsible function resides in the game library Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code. The function will check if the launch option and Template:User:結衣/Templates/Var are present. If so, it will then get the integer value of Template:User:結衣/Templates/Var. If this value is less than 1, it is set to 1. Likewise, if this value is greater than 5, it is set to 5.

Each ID uniquely relates to the background movie and audio for one of five campaigns.

You can try invoking this launch option by following these instructions. For example, specifying -background 5 will tell the game to load the main menu background movie and audio for The Parish.

-playtest#

You can invoke this launch option by typing Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code. When invoked, the launch option tells the game

1. to ignore your game instructor progress
2. to track all used sounds in a list
3. to use the survivors names in the place of the players usernames

in the current session. Your game instructor progress is stored in the file Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code. The game will only write to this file if you invoke the launch option. As of and up to game version 2.2.2.6, you can dump the list of sounds by executing the console command Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code with some caveats. When you execute Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code, the game attempts to write to a logfile located a non-existent network directory path. This will always fail unless you attach a network drive called Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code that has the directory Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code. You cannot change this behavior. Valve later added the ConVar Template:User:結衣/Templates/Code to games released after Portal 2 to control where the logfile is saved. At some point before game version 2.2.2.6, Valve added the ConVar to L4D2. However, you cannot set its value outside of normal gameplay. If you use VScript to set its value, the game will ignore it.

-pressdemo#

You can invoke this launch option by typing -pressdemo. When invoked, the launch option tells the game to issue 'disconnect' to every connected players console if all non-bot survivors die. Any other behaviors are currently unknown.

This launch option tells the game to run in “Press Demo” mode, presumably for the game’s showing at the 2009 E3 conference. In early prototypes like the July 20, 2009 prototype, using this mode enables some extra features, such as the only accessible levels in The Parish "Quarter" and "Bridge", the last two chapters of the campaign.

Unused Animations#

Unused M60 Reload Animation#

The M60 has the same reload animation as the AK-47, indicating that the M60's animation set is based on that of the AK's. Since the M60 never has reserve ammo in normal gameplay, players will never see this.

Hunter Attack#

The Hunter was supposed to be able to pounce in first-person view.

Watch on YouTube

Fire Axe Swinging Animation#

An unused animation of the fire axe swinging down known as swinghard_n_s. This is seen in E3 and other pre-release footage as an "alternate attack" for melees, taking the place of punching and shoving. This animation was also meant to be paired with the unused infected slash, and can even be restored ingame by changing the script.

Unused Infected#

Leaker#

The Leaker is a modified Boomer who is able to "plant" themself on the ground and explode after a short time. According to Chet Faliszek, the Leaker was cut as there was a warning when the Leaker was about to "plant" which made Survivors run away instantly.¹

A console command known as boomer_leaker_chance exists in the game, and is used to determine the likelihood of a spawned Boomer being a Leaker. In-game, the Leaker stops when it is near a Survivor and explodes, leaving behind a small fire.

Fallen Survivor#

Valve cut the Fallen Survivor from normal gameplay before releasing the base game. You could still spawn the Fallen Survivor, but it could sometimes crash the game or drop invisible items. These items appeared to be broken copies of pickups: molotovs, medkits, and the like. When a Fallen Survivor was shot in the chest, a pool of fire would erupt around them like from a Molotov, gas can or explosive barrel. Valve determined that this made horde-clearing too easy.

Valve eventually fixed these issues and re-added the Fallen Survivor in The Passing.

Watch on YouTube

Unused Music#

Lossless Main Menu Music#

In the game files, there are lossless copies of the start-up music have been in the game files since version 1.0.1.0. The game would have played these files, but Valve removed this behavior before publicly releasing the game. The lossless copies have filenames in the format l4d2_c%d%s.wav, where %d is the background ID and %s is _mono if the user has mono audio or the empty string if otherwise.

Unused “Cold Stream” opening music#

This audio would have been the opening theme for the “Cold Stream” campaign but was replaced with a L4D-style one. In the 2020 “The Last Stand” update, it would later be remixed into the opening theme for the eponymous campaign.

Unused Textures#

Leftover Textures#

Unused Background#

This game start-up graphic was presumably used before variations for the five campaigns were made. The standard and widescreen variants of this graphic are identical.

Early Adrenaline Texture#

An unused texture of pain pills recolored yellow. It was used as a placeholder for the adrenaline shot.

Unused Baseball Bat Textures#

The texture atlas "4melee_weapons" contains textures for 4 different melee weapons: the Fire Axe, Frying Pan, Machete and Baseball Bat. However, the Baseball Bat texture inside it appears to be an early version, as the weapon itself uses its own texture file. This texture gives it a metallic appearance.

Unused	Used

There is also a texture for an even earlier version of the baseball bat, simply known as "bat" in the game files. This texture seems to be based on concept art.

Unused Machete Texture#

Much like the Baseball Bat, the texture atlas "4melee_weapons" also contains an early Machete texture.

c1m1_tempname#

A placeholder graphic from the Blood Harvest campaign's finale that was used during Dead Center's development, hence the filename. Four other duplicates of this graphic also exist, which served the same purpose as this one.

Unused Achievements#

Xbox 360 Avatar Awards#

The PC version of L4D2 contains strings referencing achievements for Xbox 360 Avatar Awards. These are unused since Steam does not use Xbox Avatars.

"ASSET_MED_KIT_NAME"                "MED KIT"
"ASSET_MED_KIT_DESC"                "Unlock the Med Kit by beating all five campaigns on any skill level."
"ASSET_FRYING_PAN_NAME"             "FRYING PAN"
"ASSET_FRYING_PAN_DESC"             "Unlock the Frying Pan by killing 10,000 Infected."
"ASSET_GNOME_NAME"              "GARDEN GNOME"
"ASSET_GNOME_DESC"              "Unlock the Garden Gnome by rescuing Gnome Chompski."
"ASSET_BULL_SHIFTERS_SHIRT_NAME"        "BULL SHIFTERS SHIRT"
"ASSET_BULL_SHIFTERS_SHIRT_DESC"        "Unlock the Bull Shifters shirt by winning 10 games of Versus."
"ASSET_LEFT_4_DEAD_2_SHIRT_NAME"        "LEFT 4 DEAD 2 SHIRT"
"ASSET_LEFT_4_DEAD_2_SHIRT_DESC"        "Unlock the Left 4 Dead 2 shirt by winning 10 games of Scavenge."
"ASSET_ZOMBIE_HAND_SHIRT_NAME"          "ZOMBIE HAND SHIRT"
"ASSET_ZOMBIE_HAND_SHIRT_DESC"          "Unlock the Zombie Hand shirt by killing 10,000 Infected."
"ASSET_DEPECHE_MODE_SHIRT_NAME"         "DEPECHE MODE SHIRT"
"ASSET_DEPECHE_MODE_SHIRT_DESC"         "Unlock the Depeche Mode shirt by rescuing Gnome Chompski."

Unused Text#

Dead Center Chapter 5#

"L4D360UI_LevelName_COOP_C1M5"  "5: Fifth Chapter"
"L4D360UI_LevelName_VERSUS_C1M5"    "5: Fifth Chapter (VS)"
"L4D360UI_LevelName_SURVIVAL_C1M5"  "Fifth Survival"
"L4D360UI_LevelName_SCAVENGE_C1M5"  "Fifth Scavenge"

Based on unused strings and a matching placeholder level icon, Dead Center was originally meant to have five chapters instead of ending on the fourth chapter. It seems that this chapter was cut very early on in development of the level as it was never given an official name.

Survival World Record#

"L4D_SurvivalTimer_Description_WorldRecord" "World Record"
"L4D_Instructor_world_record"               "You beat the world record!"

Strings indicating that the game instructor would congratulate you for beating the world record of a Survival map. As of version 2.2.2.6, the game cannot fire the necessary event to show these strings. The localized copies of these strings are still in English.

Bile Bombs#

"L4D_Instructor_notify_it1_jar"         "A Survivor bile bombed you"

An instructor text string meant to be used for when a Survivor throws Boomer bile at an Infected player on Versus.

Alternative Weapon Names#

"L4D2_Instructor_explain_magnum_pistol_get_alt"     "Get Desert Cobra"
"L4D2_Instructor_explain_magnum_pistol_alt"     "Desert Cobra Pistol"
"L4D_Instructor_explain_rifle_ak47_get_alt"     "Get soviet rifle"
"L4D_Instructor_explain_rifle_ak47_alt"         "Soviet Rifle"
"L4D_Instructor_explain_rifle_desert_get_alt"   "Get desert combat rifle"
"L4D_Instructor_explain_rifle_desert_alt"       "Desert Combat Rifle"

Early/alternative names for the Magnum Pistol, AK-47 and Desert Rifle respectively.

Oddities#

Yellow Smoker Shirt#

Icon	Model

While it has a purple shirt in the final game, drawings of the Smoker which appear throughout the game like its Versus icon and the safe room icon for the number of Special Infected kills depict it with a vivid yellow shirt. An earlier revision of the game's opening cutscene hidden in the files of the September 25, 2009 prototype reveals that it really did have a yellow shirt earlier in development, albeit only for a brief period of time.

Early Jockey Design#

Icon	Aug 27 Model	Final Model

The icon for the Special Infected zombies uses early renditions of their designs: the Smoker has the aforementioned yellow shirt, the Boomer's design is from the original Left 4 Dead, and notably for this case, the Jockey has glowing red-white eyes, pale skin, and dark clothes. This version of the Jockey actually appears in the leaked August 27, 2009 prototype of the game.

Regional Differences#

German Version#

Valve made major changes to comply with German censorship laws:

• The Riot Infected were initially cut for possible depictions of violence towards German authority.
  • They were restored in an update without the “SECURITY” label on their armour.
• Only the Tank emits fire particles when burned.
• Neither melee weapons nor explosives can gib infected.
  • Pipe bomb explosions don't emit a red mist when blowing up infected.
• Dying infected quickly disappear.
• The Cricket Bat’s texture lacks bloodstains.

You can observe these features in uncensored versions of L4D2 by invoking the launch option -lv.

Australian Version#

Valve censored L4D2 less to comply with Australian censorship laws:

• The Riot Infected are unchanged but don’t count towards the achievement “Crass Menagerie”.
• Common Infected can be burned but emit no fire particles.
  • They still react as if alight.
• L4D-style pipe bomb deaths.
• Weapon textures are uncensored.
  • The Cricket Bat texture has a Southern Cross and the dates of when Australia won The Ashes.

Valve later released L4D2 uncensored to Australian markets with a patch to convert censored installations.

References#