---
title: "Half-Life support"
description: "How far Evil Engine's passthrough modding support for Half-Life gets today. Mounts from your own install in the order the engine searches it, HD models included. Nothing converts or shows on screen yet."
url: "https://evil-engine.com/games/half-life"
modified: "2026-11-01T19:00:00.000Z"
site: "Evil Engine"
about: "Evil Engine, the passthrough modding engine"
---

[← All games](https://evil-engine.com/games) 

Mounts GoldSrc 

# Half-Life

Mounts from your own install in the order the engine searches it, HD models included. Nothing converts or shows on screen yet.

- **Ticket**: #021
- **Checked on**: Steam, Linux
- **Last checked**: November 1, 2026
- **Files**: 4,354
- **Mount**: `half-life/pc/10211`

## Mounting

3 of 4 done

- Done  

**Finds your copy**  
Picks up the install on its own, from Steam or wherever it lives.
- Done  

**Reads every file**  
Every file reads straight from your copy, in the order the game itself looks them up.
- Done  

**Matches players' copies**  
Your copy is fingerprinted from its own files, so a server can check everyone's match without sending any game content.
- Partial  

**Brings its mods**  
The addon and HD folders mount when your settings turn them on, addons checked on test installs only. Mod folders are noted, not mounted.

## Converting

0 of 4 done

- To do  

**Models**  
Half-Life's formats are older than Source's and need converters of their own.
- To do  

**Textures and materials**  
Its textures and materials turn into Evil Engine's own.
- To do  

**Maps**  
Its levels turn into Evil Engine maps.
- To do  

**Sounds**  
Its sounds turn into Evil Engine sounds.

## In game

0 of 3 done

- To do  

**Shows on screen**  
Converted content actually draws in Evil Engine.
- To do  

**In the spawn menu**  
Its props and models land in your spawn menu, no Plugin needed.
- To do  

**Maps you can visit**  
Pick one of its maps from the menu and fly around inside it.

## Where it stands

Evil Engine finds Half-Life on its own and lays it out in the order the engine searches it: the addon and HD folders over `valve` when your settings turn them on, then `platform` underneath. With HD models off, as they are on the checked copy, that’s 4,354 files. The build number comes from the engine itself, the same one it prints when it starts.

Your copy is fingerprinted as two parts, `valve` and `valve_hd`, so a server running Half-Life’s maps only asks for `valve`. HD models count as a part of their own whether they’re on or off, so turning them on doesn’t change whether your copy matches. Every file in both matched Steam’s own checksums.

## Known issues

- On a Windows copy the HD and addon settings live in the registry, which isn’t read, so both count as off. The `-addons` and `-nohdmodels` launch options aren’t read either.
- Language and low-violence folders follow the engine’s rules but haven’t been checked on a copy that has them.
- Other games Steam installs into the same folder, and mod folders with their own `liblist.gam`, are noted and left out for now.

## Next up

- Converters for Half-Life’s own maps, textures, models and sprites, and its spawn list.
- Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike and the other games that share the folder, each once it mounts the way the engine searches it.
- Checking the language and low-violence folders on a copy that has them.

## About Evil Engine

Evil Engine is a **passthrough modding** engine by Pushbar Interactive. Modding through the games you already own instead of around them: the content comes from each player's own copy and is never extracted, ported or redistributed. The term took off in September 2026 with mods that run two games at once and wire them together by hand, one pair at a time. Evil Engine comes from that lineage and makes the process repeatable: it learns each engine once, maps each game onto shared vocabularies once, and gives mods one API, so every mounted game works with every other. More: https://evil-engine.com/passthrough-modding

- Every page, for agents: https://evil-engine.com/llms.txt
- Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3731310/Evil_Engine