Hacking the Left 4 Dead Demo: Split-Screen Co-op, Playable Zombies, and Custom Maps

Fans have had a field day with exploring what's possible in Valve's Left 4 Dead since the demo for the PC version was unlocked for pre-order customers yesterday. After less than 48 hours, a bit of trickery has yielded split-screen play, playable zombies from the versus mode, and even an old friend of Counter-Strike fans, the classic map de_dust.

User TheBusGuy on the Steam forums has written a "guide" to playing with two players on one PC. It requires the use of an Xbox 360 controller connected to the PC, but assuming the player has a controller it's a relatively easy process.

Meanwhile, fans anxious to test drive the zombies from the versus mode can get their fix--in the single-player game, anyway. Another Steam forum thread by user Scuzball explains how to switch over to the undead side and start a game against 4 AI survivors using just a few console commands.

Some players, like Steam user TIHan, are anxious to get started on custom mapmaking for the game. He discovered that Left 4 Dead already has rudimentary support for custom maps when he loaded up Dust, the timeless Counter-Strike map. The result was the video seen below:

[videofeature]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SlXeiRH8VI [img]http://www.shacknews.com/extras/faylor/l4d_prev.jpg[/img][/videofeature]