Installation

Half-Life 2 and Episode Two mods have different ways of installation, and some of them have some custom versions used only for speedrunning. This section will explain the most common methods, and the exceptions will be mentioned under the mods’ own sections. Note that this guide is solely for Windows, there is no guarantee for Mac and Linux working with these methods.

Steam

Steam mods are the easiest to install. Search up the mod from the Steam store, and press the green “Install now” button under the preview images and videos. After that, you can launch the game from your Steam library.

Source / Episodic Unpack

Some of the mods need Free OoB movement for the fastest route possible. This is not possible with Steampipe versions, so we need to downgrade the mods to older version of the game. Both Source Unpack and Episodic Unpack can be downloaded from here.

After you’ve downloaded the corresponding pack for your mod, there are two different ways you can proceed, depending on the mod:

1. Move the mod folder inside the Unpack folder. After that, copy Half Life 2.bat or Start Episode 2.bat. Edit the bat and change the -game to the name of the mod’s folder (for example -game “Exit 2”) -- Delete the mod’s own bin folder if it exists.

2. Combine these folders into the ep2 or hl2 folder and replace: maps, models, materials, scenes, sound and particles . Launch the game with either Half Life 2.bat or Start Episode 2.bat.

! Note: It is recommended to backup the ep2 or hl2 folder in case something goes wrong

The folder should look something like this for Method 1, note the Exit 2 folder and Exit 2.bat

Sourcemods folder

Download the mod, and move the mod to the sourcemods folder. The sourcemods folder is located at Steam\steamapps\sourcemods - if you don’t have one, create it. You should see only one folder per mod inside the sourcemods folder and multiple files/folders inside that one. This means that be sure you don’t have e.g. sourcemods\icemod\icemod

Extra step for SDK 2013 mods:

If the mod tells you to have SDK 2013 as “upcoming”, this is what you have to do:

1. Install Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer

2. Go to your Steam library

3. Right-click your Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer and select properties

4. Select Betas

5. Change the Select the beta you would like to opt into: into upcoming - upcoming

Save stutter fix for 2013 SDK mods

If you are experiencing save stuttering and game freezes occasionally when saving, then install Source SDK 2013 Multiplayer from the Tools section in Steam, then take FileSystem_Stdio.dll from steamapps\common\Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer\bin and put it in steamapps\common\Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer\bin

Fixing the mods that got broken after Steampipe

Within the mods folder, there’s a file called gameinfo.txt - open it, remove everything from the SearchPaths section (keep the curly brackets as is) and replace them with these if it's a mod for HL2:

                game_lv            hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
                game+mod        hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
                game+mod        hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
                game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
                game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
                game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
                platform        |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
                mod+mod_write+default_write_path    |gameinfo_path|..
                game+game_write    hl2
                gamebin            hl2/bin
                game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
                platform        |all_source_engine_paths|platform
            

If the mod is for EP2, replace the SearchPaths section with these instead:

                game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
                platform |gameinfo_path|.
                game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
                game+mod ep2/ep2_english.vpk
                game+mod ep2/ep2_pak.vpk
                game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_english.vpk
                game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
                game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
                game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
                game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
                game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
                game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
                game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
                platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
                mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
                game+game_write |gameinfo_path|.
                gamebin episodic/bin
                game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic
                game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
                platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform