The package includes:

• Updated Hammer, the Source level editor
• Suite of command line compiling utilities, such as studiomdl and map compiling tools
• Updated Particle editor
• Updated Faceposer
• Example maps
• Example models: common Infected, a breakable prop, and explosives

More info at the VDC wiki: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Authoring_Tools/SDK_(Left_4_Dead)

• All screenshots get uploaded at once (multi-file uploader).
• All screenshots are automatically added to a map's gallery.

We could really use some help getting more screenshots up! Use the dropdown menu at the left to see maps that need screenshots.

Next is the new featured maps area.

• Can display many maps at a time. Use the buttons to switch between them.
• Shows larger images.
• Generated dynamically. All you have to do is tag a map with "featured" and it'll show up on the front page.

Please help by featuring maps that deserve some attention. Feature your own map if you want.

L4D Map DB now has its own .com domain: L4DMapDB.com. This should be a lot easier to remember and deal with. All old URLs will automatically point to the new one.

• Even though "wikidot" is no longer in the URL, don't forget that L4D Map DB is a wiki. Maps and map updates are coming out at a much faster pace, and we need everyone's help to continue. If you come across maps that aren't on the site, either invite the mapper to join, add the maps yourself, or post a link to it in the forum so someone else can add it.

On the right side of the main page, you will notice a new "New content" section. This provides a more visual list of new maps and campaigns, and keeps the front page always looking fresh. Also check out the new feeds page for more ways to keep track of activity. Lots of little improvements are made all the time that aren't really news-worthy, but you can read the dev log if you care about that kind of stuff.

Mapping:

As mentioned, there are many automated ways of watching for new content, but here is a brief summary of map releases.

• In the Dead City campaign, River Side is finally a "final" release, and Back Alley and Draw Bridge maps have been added.
• Death Aboard campaign has received updates to all of its maps.
• City Naniwa campaign has received updates to all of its maps and added the final map, City Naniwa Tower.
• The Mortuary 01 map updated.
• Back to School campaign has its first map: Train Station, a city map with train station, woods, and more.
• Blood Hospital, a 3-map campaign where survivors escape a hospital.
• Zelda, a Zelda puzzle map.
• Escape from Toronto/Canada campaign (only first map available).
• Fantazyland Castle, a castle defense map.
• Basement, a city map.

For unreleased maps, mrfranswa's The Source looks absolutely stunning.

http://www.l4d.com/LevelDesignDocs.zip
Download and extract the .zip, then open index.html

This contains a ton of helpful info and tutorials for:

• Getting Started
• Your First L4D Level
• Ladders
• Visibility
• Nav Meshes
• Checkpoints
• Checkpoint Rooms
• Outdoor Levels
• Level Organization
• Level Standards
• Clip Brushes
• Elevators
• Panic Events
• Breakable Walls
• Finale Events Part 1
• Finale Events Part 2
• Finale Events Part 3
• Additional Finale Components
• Nav Flow
• Advanced Nav Editing
• Versus Maps

Note that some of these tutorials depend on the SDK, which isn't out yet.

source: list.valvesoftware.com/pipermail/l4dmapper

Thanks to arramus for posting this up in the Forum!

View the new detailed list of campaigns
(or go to "detailed view" on the campaign list to the left)

All of the map category lists (like official, released, work-in-progress, etc.) now have a list of campaigns in the same category. Just click the "view campaigns" button to switch to the campaign list view. This means campaigns can be tagged, which results in much better organization. Thanks to Bobv2 for suggesting these improvements!

Also on the topic of site enhancements: A new page watching/email notification system was recently added. Anytime you create or contribute to a page, you'll automatically start "watching" it and will receive notifications when changes are made. This can easily be turned off if you'd rather not be notified.

A few bits of mapping activity to mention:

• Keep a close watch on the Death Aboard campaign. With the release of Docks (third map), it's quickly developing into one of the best L4D campaigns yet.
• City Minami is now City Naniwa, and has added another map called City Naniwa Subway.
• The Warehouse is a promising start to the Road to Hell campaign.
• Two new "survival/defense" style maps: Cottage of Doom (barricading system) and Gates of Hell (infinite duration defense).
• The School (Survival 101).

Episode 12 of Survivors Diary Podcast released Monday. They've interviewed a secret mapper and discuss many of the maps recently released. Their site ran out of bandwidth, but you can download the mp3 here.

• Raccoon City Streets (first map in Resident Evil 3 campaign)
• Prison and Prisonyard (first 2 maps in Death Aboard campaign)
• The Office Park (first map in Concrete Bayou campaign)
• The Mortuary 01 (first map in The Mortuary campaign)

Also check out the Beta 8 update of Riverside (now Beta 9).

It's great that so many mappers are releasing their maps early rather than making us wait ages for a full campaign. Most maps/campaigns are still in progress, so there will likely be a few imperfections and possibly some bugs. Use this as an opportunity to provide feedback, an essential resource in map development.

We'd also like to unveil the official L4D Map DB poster:

It's intended to show the variety of custom L4D Maps available. Mappers: If you'd like to promote the Map DB, go ahead and stick it in your map. Update: Now also available as a spray at GameSprays.com!

Many thanks to mikeumus of L4DT.com for creating the poster! As you may remember from the last news post, he's offering to make campaign posters. See how the Dead City poster turned out. 9 free campaign posters are still available, so contact mikeumus if you'd like one made for your campaign or map.

In other news, Darth_Brush has released a new Dead Before Dawn video! The last few videos kept showing the same stuff, but this one is 100% new and is narrated by Darth_Brush as he plays.

In the mapping scene, it looks like 2009 has so far been a productive time. Mappers are hard at work on new maps and campaigns, but many are waiting to get their hands on the official SDK before releasing anything. Fortunately, a few mappers have chosen to release their maps ahead of the SDK!

Some notable map releases:

• Riverside - a good quality vs. map in a large No Mercy style city.
• Farm of Death - a "survival" map at an abandoned farm. The farmhouse has an interesting barricading system.
• Orange campaign - a 5 map test campaign that is actually pretty fun.
• City Minami campaign - introduces the new City Minami Highway (moving truck through city streets) plus updates to the first 2 maps.

Stay up to date with L4D map releases by subscribing to the released maps RSS feed.

For work-in-progress maps, Raccoon City Police Department is looking great.

In community news, Survivors Diary podcast episode 7 is out.

Hopefully everyone is finding L4D Map DB to be a useful resource. It's been growing rapidly and becoming very popular as mappers announce new content. Hundreds of sites throughout the gaming world have linked to us with an insatiable appetite for new L4D maps. This excitement for new content is seen in the site stats—we're serving approx. 50,000 screenshot views each day. We are serious about making L4D Map DB a comprehensive, content-rich destination for all L4D maps, so please continue helping out any way you can!

The lack of SDK clearly has not discouraged community mappers, however, as there are a number of promising projects in the works. Some interesting WIP maps that have popped up include Warehouse 23, Parking Finale, the Fatal Attraction campaign, and a new media release for a map in the Urban Decay campaign.

Also, Episode 6 of the Survivors Diary podcast was recently released. Among many other things, they discussed their playthrough of City Minami campaign's alpha release.

Though this is not exactly L4D news, it is great news for fans of co-op gaming: Sven Co-op 4.0 Beta has been released. Sven Co-op is a co-operative mod for Half-Life 1 in which players work together against AI enemies and solve puzzles as a team. v4.0 is the best SC release yet, with many new features and improvements. You can co-operatively play the original HL story, They Hunger Co-op Ep1, or choose from hundreds of original user-created maps. Head over to SvenCoop.com to download the mod (you'll need HL1 installed).

We were busy getting the new theme up and running so we didn't get a chance to post the latest Dead Before Dawn video. If you haven't seen it already, here it is:

In response to the gradual trickle of pre-SDK map releases, we established a new tag called released for any maps that have a playable release (alpha, beta, or final) available for download. Hopefully this category begins to fill up.

Thanks to a sponsorship by Powned.Inc Servers we now have our own L4D server. It's available for any L4D mappers to reserve for map testing.

Episode 5 of the Survivors Diary Podcast (mentioned in the last news post) has been released. Head over to their site to listen to it.

In just the last week we've tripled in the number of daily site visitors, reached #3 on the L4D Top 100 list, and our Steam Group hit 2,000 members. Thanks to everyone who's helped out and spread the word about the L4D Map DB.

L4D Map DB would like to thank the Survivors Diary team for mentioning us in episode 4.

Their podcast is always evolving and improving in response to feedback, so give them your thoughts.

Here's the first one, of the plane crash in Runway Finale:

360° VR (uses QuickTime) | cylindrical image | spherical image

Questions: Like this idea? Is it high enough resolution or would you rather it be more detailed?

Other news:

• a playable beta version of Stronghold Plaza (a versus map) has been released. Help Ghost_Zero find any bugs you notice in it.
• new screenshots added to map 3 of the Yama campaign.

If you'd like to help out, Zombie is hosting a campaign poster creation contest for the map. The name hasn't been decided yet so you're free to choose it. The prize: a building in the map dedicated to yourself and whatever you want in it.

post your entries @ l4dmods.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=673

• No more Flickr. All screenshots are hosted here on the wiki. Anyone can add screenshots.
• Screenshot thumbnails are attractively displayed in random order on the map pages.
• Tightly integrated thumbnailing system (for the map lists).
• Easy access to the original full-size screenshots.
• Easy automatic backups.

If you notice any bugs or have feedback, please let us know.

After talking with Darth_Brush about his much anticipated Crossroads Mall map, we learned that it is actually planned to be part of his Dead Before Dawn - "Everything must go…. back to Hell" campaign. Really looking forward to this! As you can see, he sent us a possible campaign poster, although it's not final (Darth recently decided on the final design, as seen to the right). Hopefully other campaign makers will follow his example and create their own posters. Come back in a day or two for some new screenshots of the campaign and perhaps some other details.

Update: Darth is working on a new video that should be ready soon. We'll post it here when it's done. Also, some newer variations of the campaign poster have been added.

In other news, our Steam group just hit 1,000 members!