Left 4 Dead beta Francis available now, mod tools updated

Valve has dug out old Turtle Rock version of the original Left 4 Dead, and has released the beta version of Francis as a mod.

Valve bought Turtle Rock Studios while it was developing Left 4 Dead; the team has since gone indie again. This version of Francis dates back to pre-acquisition days, and you can grab him from Steam Workshop for use in Left 4 Dead 2. In a post on the game's blog, Valve said it can't promise it will release the other characters, but will give it a go.

Francis is enabled by an update to Left 4 Dead 2 which is mainly in support of modders - in fact, Valve invited one prominent modder to work in its offices for a few months in order to help it develop better tools. This initiative has now borne fruit, with a number of useful updates including:

• Starter Kits: • These are Zip files which include all the compiling files (Reference/Animation DMXs, Reference/Animation SMDs, QCs, and the VTA Morphs) used to create each Item, Weapon, Special Infected, and Survivor. In addition to providing a useful reference, these kits allow modders to start with a fully functional asset and then replace pieces incrementally instead of starting from scratch.
• Maya Files: These are the skeleton rigs that are used for each Item, Weapon, Special Infected, and Survivor. These allow modders to replace a model by attaching a new custom mesh skinned to the rig. Also included are all the animation scenes for the Items, Weapons, and Special Infected.
• Tutorials: In order to compile model files from SMDs and DMX, people will need to setup the SOURCE SDK TOOLS. This tutorial will show people how to set everything up and how to address issues and fix them.

Hit the full blog post for more information.

Thanks, Shack News.