Hi,

We're discontinuing the L4D2 server. It has had -0- users for the entire previous month (according to a quick look at the logs). Eventually L4D3 will likely come out and we'll probably move on to that when it does. Sakyosha can go into more details.

There's been some talk of creating a Killing Floor server. At this point I'm not able to administrate it. If someone would take that responsibility I would foot the bill (~$15/m). Please contact either myself or Sakyosha if you're interested. It's not a huge amount of work to administrate a gaming server but there is quite a bit of reading involved as well as troubleshooting issues, solving them and adding requested modifications (brutes immediately comes to mind).

Arty-C / 'Trip'

Playing quite a few L4D campaigns the past few weeks has made me rediscover the desire to try out other community based maps.

http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=4094 - Detour Ahead
http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=4634 - 2 Evil Eyes
http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=3804 - Diescraper
http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=6176 - Dam It 2!
http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=4861 - Death Aboard 2

I'm eager to try these out in a few weeks. Any other thoughts?

Wow, yet another out-of-the-park home run. We're talking about the Custom Campaign "I Hate Mountains". Again, we have an original series of events and not simply a conglomeration of official maps. It truly belongs in any server's permenant rotation.

Why such a high score? This campaign represents every great aspect of L4D, from level design to atmosphere.

This Campaign leaves off directly after Crash Course, and leads you into the Canadian wilderness, through a venerable underground complex, and out into a small maritime coastal village for extraction.

You will notice that the Survivors have a little bit of original dialogue in this campaign - as Valve decided to help out some of the more well-put-together community-made maps by having the original actors do some new lines.

Where "Dead Before Dawn" relied heavily on extra sound/media to really immerse you in the experience, "I Hate Mountains" accomplishes this with pure level design and lighting. The darkness is so thick that your flashlight seems paltry against its oppressive blanket. The campaigns do not have that "shoved-down-your-throat" linear quality to it, and there is a ton of side paths and ways to get lost. While this certainly can be intimidating, it does feel less a "Point A to B" map as it does you are truly in the experience.

Now, as fantastic as this campaign is - I really must point out a few drawbacks and things to be aware of. Firstly - there are some places that you can get stuck - so watch yourself between the rocks and other objects (cars, benches, etc). Another oddity is that the design team seemed to have a hard on for the mini-guns, often scattering them throughout the level without much purpose or versatility. While I appreciate some were used to show hold-out zones no longer viable, some of the guns simply were too limited in their field of fire to be of any use, and often better to be skipped.

They did put their README Into the starting zone; and while I can appreciate it is there for folks who are too ignorant to read the actual txt file, it does take away from the scene a little bit. (Let this be a strong suggestion: READ THE README FILE, AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS).

All in all, this was an action-packed, pulse pounding campaign full of dramatic scenes, dark and gloomy atmosphere, and of course, plenty of zombies!

Keep an eye out for Easter Eggs as well; I spotted a Pulp Fiction reference and a hidden Kodomo - I'm sure there are tons of other little goodies that are fun, but don't detract from the overall feel of the campaign.

And no, I'm not talking about the upcoming "The Sacrifice".

I advise you all to run out and download the latest version of "Dead Before Dawn". In this Excellent campaign you will wander through the rural countryside, through winding streets, and fight throughout a mall (And the mall in this blows away the mall design in L4D2).

The Campaign is LOADED with little tidbits and easter eggs. You will get to hear news reports as the infection begins to spread, stop the one millionth customer from entering the mall, and even see a store that sells authentic Zoey love-dolls.

There were a few minor bugs in the campaign - mostly dealing with bot pathing (so I advise, as always, getting as many people to play with you as possible helps muchly).

All in all; this was a refreshing campaign to play that gives you a rich campaign experience and ranks up there with "Death Aboard" in quality.

There's a new campaign on the server: Detour Ahead

It's a full 5 map campaign and can be downloaded from: http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=4094

Thanks go to gz for the information on it.