Left 4 Dead

The most stereotypical zombie game you'll ever play, it also has PILLS!

Early HUD images
Several incomplete sets of early HUD images can be found in folders throughout the game's texture files.

Set 1
Set 1 contains images of the Painkiller, Pipebomb and Medkit. All of the images are brown and black.

Set 2
Set 2 is found in /materials/hud/terror/l4d360ui/hud/. These icons are much larger than the previous set and have a white item icon behind a black background. The edges of the black background look like a liquid. An alternate graphic for when an item was selected makes the black background red, making it look like blood. There are icons for the Medkit, Pipebomb, Pistol, Uzi and PEELZ. The Medkit has a different-looking shape when compared to its final version, but the other icon shapes are the same as the final's.

Set 3
Hidden in the same folder containing Set 1 are two icons that have a different style from the rest of the icons: a Medkit and Pills together, and a HE Grenade from Counter-Strike.

Early Infected Select icons
Small, brown and black pictures of the Hunter, Smoker and Boomer can be found in the "materials/vgui" directory. Pre-release videos dating to 2008 show the same style used for the Survivors, so it's likely these icons are from the stage of development that those videos show.

Unused Ammo Count Indicator
In the same directory as earlier, there's a strange-looking ammo counter for the shotgun. It is a stack of right shotgun shells. There are two graphics, one with red shells and another with gray that has “empty” in its name. Based on these two graphics, it seems like a shell would turn gray when the gun was fired. This doesn't appear in any pre-release videos and doesn't seem to fit the HUD graphics shown in these preview videos.

Unused Misc. Icons
Some unused icons showing a zombie being headshotted named “headshot_icon” and a grave with a RIP on it named “death_icon” can be found in “materials/sprites”. There is no hint as to what these images were for and they don't seem to fit anywhere. Their function could have been similar to the kill icons in Counter-Strike.

Unused Infected drawings
Drawings of the regular Infected, Boomer, Hunter, Smoker, Tank and Witch can once again be found in "materials/vgui".

Early level shots
The "materials/vgui/backgronds" directory contains screenshots of the finale levels. These images reveal differences not seen in either the final game or pre-release footage.

No Mercy's finale shows a different skybox texture, a visible street under the building, and a more detailed lower area.

Death Toll's finale appears to have been very different at one point. The building was originally a boat itself, there was no burning city in the background, and the level had blue-tinted lighting. Why the boat was switched to a building is because it was easier to defend.

Dead Air's finale appears to have had some noticeable different at one point. The level was much darker than it is in the final, there is blue lighting instead of the final's, and the location appears to have been much cleaner-looking at one point.

Blood Harvest's finale originally had the right-hand building much closer to the main building and the barn used different textures.

Half-Life 1 leftovers
Leftover HUD images from HL1 can be found in the game's files.

Half-Life 2 leftovers
Like the first game, leftovers such as the Combine energy ball and AR2 muzzleflash sprites from HL2, along with old textures from the Half-Life 2 prototype (like old HUD icons and effects for the Hydra enemy) can be found in the “materials/sprites” directory.

Counter-Strike leftovers
Quite a few leftovers from the original Counter-Strike and Condition Zero are scattered throughout the game's files. The 1.6 character select and HUD images and CZ buy icons can be found in “materials/vgui/gfx/vgui”. These are likely leftovers from Counter-Strike: Source, which also have the same images in it.

Test Textures
Two test textures (possibly bump map tests) can be found in the main “materials” folder.

Unused Reload Animations
Unused "cocking" animations for the Submachine Gun, Assault Rifle, and the Hunting Rifle still exist in the files. These were cut because community wanted Valve to remove them. However, these animations still play, but only in third-person view when reloading.

The Hung Hunter
Within the files there is an animation for the Hunter hanging upside down, most likely for a scrapped attack.



Dragging
Also in the files are unused animations for the survivors being dragged by another survivor.

Hunter Hands
There is an animation for the Hunter's pounce attack in first-person but in the final it goes to third-person on successful pounce.



Crawling
At one point in development you could also crawl while you were down. May have been cut for making revival too easy, but it is possible to do it in modded online servers.

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The White Box
Hidden in the river during Death Toll's finale is a white box that can only be seen by noclipping. Its use is most likely for the Survivors to teleport out of sight for the rescue vehicle.

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The Survivors are "Terrorists?"
An unusual series of text strings can be found in “left4dead_%language%.txt”

"Cstrike_TitlesTXT_CT_Forces"				"Infected" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_CTs_Full"				"The Infected team is full" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_CTs_Win"					"Infected win!" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Game_join_ct"				"%s1 is joining the Infected" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Game_join_ct_auto"			"%s1 is joining the Infected (auto)" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Game_join_terrorist"			"%s1 is joining the Survivors" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Game_join_terrorist_auto"	"%s1 is joining the Survivors (auto)" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Game_timelimit"				"Time Remaining: %s1:%s2. Next campaign is %s3." "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Terrorist_Forces"			"Survivors" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Terrorists_Full"				"The Survivor team is full" "Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Terrorists_Win"				"Survivors win!"

At first glance, these strings are leftovers from Counter-Strike. However, there's something unusual about them; the strings that refer to the counter-terrorists have “Infected” replace “Counter-Terrorist” and the Terrorist-related strings have “Survivors” replace “Terrorists”.

This is because Left 4 Dead initially started life as a internal CS: Source mod under the working title of Terror-Strike, in which the Survivors had to plant a bomb (hense using Terrorists) then defend it from a horde of knife-bots.

Selectable Survivors and Infected
// //Infected Team/class Menu "L4D_pz_team_join_title"	"PLAY AS INFECTED" "L4D_pz_team_join_subtitle" "Select the class you prefer to play. The class you choose may not always be available when you are ready to spawn." "L4D_pz_class_select_title" "INFECTED CLASS SELECT" // //Survivor Team/class Menu "L4D_s_team_join_title"				"JOINING THE SURVIVOR TEAM" "L4D_s_team_join_takeover_title"	"CURRENTLY SPECTATING" "L4D_s_team_join_subtitle"			"Select an available Survivor" "L4D_s_team_join_state_inactive"	"(inactive)" "L4D_s_team_join_state_bot"			"%s1 (BOT)"

These strings seem to refer to a menu that would let you choose a survivor or the Infected in-game. In the final game, you select your survivor in the lobby, and the game selects which Infected you will be dynamically in the middle of a match.

Unused Vocalizations
In the same text file, there are strings containing some voice commands from the Left 4 Dead Beta (but are also visible in GameTrailers videos).

"L4D_rosetta_help"					"Help!" "L4D_rosetta_lightsout"					"Lights Out!" "L4D_rosetta_watchbehind"					"Watch Behind" "L4D_rosetta_followme"					"Follow Me" "L4D_rosetta_staytogether"					"Stay Together!" "L4D_rosetta_whereareyou"					"" "L4D_rosetta_welcome"					"You're Welcome" "L4D_rosetta_heartank"					"" "L4D_rosetta_hearhunter"					"" "L4D_rosetta_hearwitch"					"" "L4D_rosetta_hearboomer"					"" "L4D_rosetta_hearsmoker"					""


 * 7 of these mentioned lines are automatically used, whereas Lights Out'd indicate the Survivors originally had to tell each other to shut off their flashlights manually. In addition, Francis may add they'll see us. also explaining the Common Infected hate intense light in their direction.
 * The hear%zombieclass% strings were most likely cut out when Survivors'd automatically call specific Special Infected out, but for some error in programming they can only call out the Hunter and the Witch.
 * Left 4 Dead 2's Survivors can properly call out all four of the original Specials through custom radialmenus using the "vocalize PlayerHeard%L4D1Zombie" string, but for some reason can't mention hearing Chargers nor Spitters at all.

Upgrades
A line in the file "intructor_lessons.txt" shows that at one time upgrades were planned and could be found randomly during levels. These upgrades are still in the game, but can only be activated by using the command "Survivor_upgrades 1".



Unused Weapon
Listed in the "game_sounds_weapons.txt" is a listing called "Blinding Flash". There is no way to use it but based on the name it may have worked as a flashbang.

Skills
Also hidden in the files are skills but unlike the the upgrades there is no way to activate them and if you try to you will lose control of the character your playing as. Some of the skill names make references to classes in Team Fortress 2.

55. aPackrat 56. aCommando 57. aOpenfire 58. aDefender_0 59. aGuide 60. aKnuckles 61. aEngineer 62. aSprinter 63. aGroupie 64. aClimber 65. aSoldier 66. aDemolitions

Changed Autoshotgun Stats
The Autoshotgun's weapon file has comments in it that seem to have been added at one-point-to-note changes, but were never removed. According to the notes, the Autoshotgun had lower accuracy, higher spread, fired 10 pellets instead of 12 per shot and had a 9 round magazine instead of 10 at one point.

Zombie Dog
There are several sound effects marked for a unused "zombie dog" enemy. These sound files still exist and the attacking sound is used for when the Hunter does so while standing up.

"PlayerZombie.Rage" {	"channel"		"CHAN_VOICE" "volume"		"1" "soundlevel"	"SNDLVL_85dB" "pitch"			"95, 105"

// "wave" "common/null.wav"

"rndwave" {		"wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack1.wav" "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack2.wav" "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack3.wav" } }

"PlayerZombie.Breathe" {	"channel"		"CHAN_VOICE" "volume"		"1" "soundlevel"	"SNDLVL_85dB" "pitch"			"95, 105"

"wave" "common/null.wav"

// "rndwave" // {		// "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/idle/ZombieDog_Growl1.wav" // "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/idle/ZombieDog_Growl2.wav" // "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/idle/ZombieDog_Growl3.wav" // "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/idle/ZombieDog_Growl4.wav" // } }

"PlayerZombie.Attack" {	"channel"		"CHAN_VOICE" "volume"		"1" "soundlevel"	"SNDLVL_90dB" "pitch"			"95, 105"

"rndwave" {		"wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack1.wav" "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack2.wav" "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack3.wav" } }

"PlayerZombie.Die" {	"channel"		"CHAN_VOICE" "volume"		"0.75" "soundlevel"	"SNDLVL_85dB" "pitch"			"95, 105"

"wave" "common/null.wav" // "rndwave" // {		// "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/die/ZombieDog_Death1.wav" // "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/die/ZombieDog_Death2.wav" // } }

"PlayerZombie.Hurt" {	"channel"		"CHAN_VOICE" "volume"		"0.75" "soundlevel"	"SNDLVL_85dB" "pitch"			"95, 105"

"wave" "common/null.wav"

// "rndwave" // {		// "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/hurt/ZombieDog_Hurt2.wav" // "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/hurt/ZombieDog_Hurt3.wav" // } }

"PlayerZombie.Fall" {	"channel"		"CHAN_VOICE" "volume"		"1" "soundlevel"	"SNDLVL_85dB" "pitch"			"95, 105"

"rndwave" {		"wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack1.wav" "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack2.wav" "wave"	"player/PZ/voice/attack/ZombieDog_Attack3.wav" } }

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Screamer
There's an unused piece of concept art in the game for a "Screamer" special infected. Impressively, we don't have to speculate as to what it did, as the developer commentary explains exactly how he worked and why he was cut! ''Thanks, Valve. You're champs!''

"[Jaime Sue] The Screamer was a boss zombie who didn't have any actual attacks; he was bound in a straightjacket. You knew when he was around because of his crazed, maniacal cackling. The trick to the Screamer was that if he saw you, you had a moment to kill him before he ran away. Once the Screamer got away from the Survivors to a hiding place, he would emit a loud howling scream that would cause a huge mob of zombies to attack the Survivors. While there were several exciting moments of knowing you had to chase him down to shoot him before he screamed, dodging zombies all the way, ultimately it proved too confusing for Survivors to discover how he worked, or even to reliably notice him in the crowd. He was cut, and his horde-drawing attack eventually evolved into the Boomer attack."

Scrapped Ending
According to the Developer Commentary and unused sound files there was going to be an ending cutscene after the Survivors got on the helicopter. Judging by the sound files the pilot was to be infected after a failed rescue before the finale. On a related note, the pilot has more unused lines meaning that the pilot was originally going to notice the Survivors.

"[Jess Cliffe] Left 4 Dead was originally going to have a continuous story that started with the hospital campaign. When the chopper pilot picked you up, he would start talking about how he had just done a street pickup and wasn't feeling so well. Clearly, he had just been Infected—and the chopper was about to go down. We found that this left playtesters feeling let-down, instead of rewarded for having survived the challenging campaign. We decided to cut that section of the pilot's dialogue and kept the ending upbeat - reinforcing the players' sense of accomplishment."

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While the ending was scrapped, the zombie pilot story was used in the Crash Course DLC campaign. It begins with the survivors exiting a crashed helicopter. Francis and Zoey mention that the pilot became a zombie. Francis: I still can't believe you shot the pilot! Zoey: He turned into a zombie, Francis. He wasn't going to land the thing! Francis: Well, I guess now we'll never know, will we? -wqnszL2q6M