SMOD REDUX V8 | Installation / Full Mod Guide [2019-2021]

Overview

Greetings! This guide will show you how to install SMOD REDUX V8, as well as a guide for a majority of the content in the mod, such as the new NPCs, the new weapon arsenal, and much more! This mod was created by Onemanshow and is built upon SMOD40aq.

1. Introduction / SMOD Standalone Installation

Before we begin, please understand that this mod requires:

• Half-Life 2
• Half-Life 2 Deathmatch
• **Counter-Strike: Source
• *Source SDK
• *Source SDK Base 2006

*These are in your Tools tab!
** As far as I’m aware, CSS is required for the Addon Pack!
With that out of the way, SMOD Redux is an overhaul mod for Half-Life 2 based on the original SMOD40a, created by the Author. SMOD Redux overhauls the HL2 campaign to include revamped enemy encounters, new enemies, various new firearms, new game-play features and much more. SMOD Redux was created by Onemanshow.

Due to this mod being older & Valve’s catastrophic 2010 update, you need to tinker a bit to get this mod running properly.

First of all, you need to download SMOD Standalone. The SMOD Standalone installer extracts .vpk archives from Source SDK Base 2006 and moves extracted files to a separate location, To provide independent, yet legal, source of Half-Life 2 files that will survive any Steam or Source Update.
Download it from here[mega.co.nz]

Once you have downloaded the installer, place it in your sourcemods folder and run it. Your sourcemods folder should be located at: Steam/steamapps/sourcemods

Be sure to install the CSS addon as well! Download it here[mega.co.nz]

2. Smod Redux V8 Installation / Configuration

With SMOD Standalone installed, we can now begin the process of installing Redux V8. To start, download the base mod package from here or here: [link]

Once you have this .zip file downloaded, inside you will find a folder named smodredux. You are going to want to place this inside your mods folder inside Smod Standalone. Steam/steamapps/sourcemods/Smod Standalone/mods

You will now have to install a patch file into the smodredux folder, which can be found here or here: [link]

When you open the redux v8 patch file .zip, you will find three folders and a gameinfo file. Extract all of these files and drop them ontop of smodredux. If it asks to replace anything, hit yes.

And finally, we will install the addon pack. Get it from here or here:
[link]

When you download and open the zip file for the redux addon pack, you will see eight folders and three text files. Extract the folders into the smodredux folder. If it asks to replace anything, hit yes.

I know this has been very long winded but we are almost! ready to play. Due to various updates on Steams end and the fact that this mod is older, we will need to change a few txt files. Trust me, it’s easy. Navigate to the inside of your smodredux folder and locate a .txt file called “gameinfo”, open it.

You are then going to replace the Filesystem block of the file with this: (copy and paste!)

And finally, navigate to the scripts folder inside smodredux and locate a .txt file named “addcontents”, open it.

Once inside, replace the entire contents of the file with this: (copy and paste!)

If all went well, you should see smodredux or SMODRedux in your Smod Standalone launcher. If you want the Steam overlay while ingame, add Smod Standalone as a non Steam game!

2a. Alternate SMOD REDUX V8 Installation Methods

If for whatever reason you cannot get Redux V8 to work with the normal install method, a fellow SMODder uploaded a ready to play version of SMOD Redux V8. I’m not entirely sure what it contains as I haven’t had the time to check it out, but the option is there.

Download it here: [link]
Install instructions are hopefully included.

3. Useful Console Commands / autoexec

In this section I am going to be sharing some useful console commands that can be added to your autoexec or for your custom cfg file.

These are a fraction of the commands that are available in Redux V8, most of these are controlled by the menu buttons, which I will now dive into. You don’t have to dive into the hard details of the preset system, but if you are interested, read on into the next sections.

3a. The Menu System | Effects Level Presets

The SMOD Menu System is a new feature introduced in SMOD Redux. It is intended to help players take advantage of SMOD’s customization in a user-friendlier way compared to console commands and configuration maps. Just set what presets you want from the menu and play. Unlike other configuration systems before this does not use a external program or map, Everything is done from the main menu allowing most settings to be changed in-game if wanted.

Each press of a setting on the menu loads the first file and then cycles to the next one (Example: Low, Medium, High). Your settings will save even after quitting out but the cycles will reset. What was loaded on the setting you pressed will be displayed on the upper-left corner of the screen.

Please note that some settings may not fully apply until you restart the map or load a new one. Settings especially prone to this are noted in the menu, although all of them may not fully apply if changed in-game. I will also be showing what commands are used in each of these presets, incase you want to customize your own autoexec to act as an ultimate preset, or something along those lines.

Effects Level – These presets affect the amount of effects SMOD will enable. The settings also heavily affect your performance so please use care of what setting you use.

Very Low-End: Enables none of SMOD’s special effects.

Low-End: Enables lights from fire and muzzle flashes and increases the amount of explosion and bullet impact particles.

Medium: Enables motion blur, Dynamic Lights from fire and muzzle flashes, Special effects with scopes/ironsights, And air distortions with Bullet Time bullets and grenade explosions.

High-End: Enables more blurring effects, Bloom Lighting, And special headshot FX.

Very High-End: Enables advanced blurring effects, New underwater effects, “Fake” HDR Lighting, More effects from bullet impacts and explosions, More Bullet Time distortion FX and more.

3b. The Menu System | Skill Level Presets

Skill Level – These presets affect SMOD’s special AI settings

Easy: Easier then Half-Life 2’s default settings. Plot-Critical Allies are invincible to damage done by you.

Normal: Close to SMOD’s default settings. All Allies can be killed by you now.

Hard: Combine Soldiers will use suppressive fire, are more accurate and throw grenades at your location more often. Allies are less accurate. And you now take locational damage

Very Hard: Combine Soldiers may throw AN-M14 grenades instead of normal ones, Some combine may have protective shields. Enemies are more accurate.

Nightmare: Combine Soldiers throw AN-M14 grenades more often and protective shields are more common. Stronger, color-tinted versions of combine may appear. Enemies are even more accurate. Gibs no longer give health.

3c. The Menu System | Gamemode Presets

Gamemodes – This determines larger alterations to the base gameplay.
Default: The Default Gamemode, base Half-Life 2/SMOD gameplay.

SMOD: Superjumping enabled (Press Sprint+Forward+Jump), Headcrabs may spawn from itemcrates, Enemies and itemcrates spawn coins which can be used at health/HEV recharge stations.

Realistic: Limited Free-Aiming on, Bullet Time is disabled, HUD Health indicator is disabled. Call of Duty-Style Health Regeneration on. Flashlight/Night Vision uses HEV batteries instead of HEV AUX Power. Crosshair disabled. Gibs no longer give health

3d. The Menu System | Gore/Blood Presets

These presets affect SMOD’s amount of Gibs, Blood and Gore. These settings can affect performance in some cases.

Low: No gibbing or other special blood FX

Medium: Ragdolls gib after 75 points of damage, Extra sounds/effects enabled, Ragdolls leave blood decals on impact with floors/walls

High: Ragdolls gib after 50 points of damage, Ragdolls eject streams of blood from fatal wounds, Blood spreads in water.

Very High: Episode 2-style “Goo” effect enabled.

3e. The Menu System | Ragdoll Type & Ragdoll Collide Presets

These presets determine what style of ragdoll physics to use.

Half-Life 2: The Half-Life 2 default.

Enhanced: SMOD’s Enhanced ragdolls

Crazy: Ragdolls will be sent wildly spinning and flying.

Realistic: Ragdolls will be moved very little by bullets or explosions.

Action Movie: Pistols will drop enemies where they stand and shotguns will send them flying. Ragdolls will attempt to fling themselves over railings and off heights. And sometimes will wildly fire their weapons during death.

Far Cry: Stiff Ragdolls like in the Far Cry series.

These presets determine what ragdolls will collide and interact with.

Reduced: Half-Life 2’s default settings.

Other Ragdolls: Collides and interacts with other ragdolls.

Full: Collides and interacts with everything. Even the player and NPC’s. This may cause FPS drops and crashes.

3f. The Menu System | Bullet Time Presets

These presets affect SMOD’s Bullet Time style.

Default: The SMOD Default.

F.E.A.R: F.E.A.R Style BT. Bullets are almost instant-hit, Reloading/Melee animations are faster, The player moves two times faster then normal.

Max Payne: Max Payne Style BT. Player and NPC bullets are a little faster then the default and move at the same speed, The player has no speed multiplier.

Timestop: The world around the player stops in bullet time. Even NPCs.

Script: Makes bullets hit-scan and greatly increases the physics force on everything. Much like the bullet time scripts elsewhere.

3g. The Menu System | Weapon/Movement Realism, Weapon Limit, & Player Model Presets

These presets affect SMOD’s realism settings.

Low: None enabled. SVD has no sway or ballistics.

Medium: Full SVD sway and ballistics enabled.

High: Large-caliber rounds (Karabiner 98k, .357 Magnum, AK-47, SVD, Some Custom Weapons) can penetrate walls and ragdolls.

Very High: Recoil and accuracy on the 9mm Pistol, AR2 and SMG1 is more realistic, You can no longer “bunny-hop” or sprint and shoot at the same time.

This determines how many weapons you can carry.

Unlimited: Carry as many as you want.

15 Weapons: Carry 15 weapons at the same time.

8 Weapons: Carry 8 weapons at the same time.

Category: Can only carry 1 per category (1 Pistol, Rifle, SMG, etc.)

This sets your Third-Person model as well as your Kick model.

Gordon Freeman (HEV): Redux Default Model.

Gordon Freeman (C17 Citizen): Redux Freeman in City 17 Citizen Uniform.

Combine Soldier: Standard Combine Soldier.

Huff alright, that is ALL of the menu presets and what they contain in the .cfg files. I hope this is of some use to anybody who wants to make a custom preset via autoexec! If you skipped all of this, including this page, then uh.. well. ♥♥♥♥. Let’s move on.

4. Basic Gameplay Features

Welcome to the start of the full gameplay related section of the guide! if you aren’t counting the menu presets. SMOD Redux is packed with new gameplay features. I will go ahead and run-down the major features.

• Bullet Time

  Become one with Keanu, and slay in bullet-time!

  Similar to the Slow-Motion features seen in games like Max Payne and F.E.A.R. Bullet Time puts the game world into slow motion. Unlike other bullet time mods for source before SMOD, even bullets are affected and can be seen and dodged. Bullet Time drains the HEV auxiliary power at a fast rate. If you are playing on Very Hard or Nightmare, this is almost required in order to pass some gameplay sections due to the sheer damage output and almost laser-like accuracy of the enemy. Use Bullet Time wisely!

• Quick Kick

  Kicking an explosive barrel into an enemy is very effective!

  A melee attack inspired by a similar move in the game Duke Nukem 3D. The move is fully integrated into the physics engine, so if you kick an object, it will be sent flying. The kick’s damage varies depending on the inertia of the player so a sprinting, jumping kick will deal heavy damage while a motionless kick will do only the base damage. It’s also possible to pick up objects like barrels and kick them at enemies. Kicking is quite useful, as you can imagine. It’ll typically save your ass from death if you are caught with your pants down.

• Ironsights

  *aggressive SMG aiming*

  SMOD adds the ability to look down the sights of some weapons much like in the Call Of Duty games. In some cases this increases the accuracy of your weapon. In normal gameplay this can be useful depending on the situation and weapon type. Ironsights are most useful when playing on the Realism setting due to the fact that you have no crosshair and some slightly spotty free aim.

• Drop Weapon

  What toy shall we use today?

  This allows you to drop the weapon you are holding. Unless you have one of the weapon limit settings on this has little use aside from getting rid of excess weapons you do not plan to use anymore to help select more useful ones faster.

• Leaning

  Steady…steady…

  This allows you to lean out to, for example, see enemies around a corner without being seen in the process. Enemies will not see the player leaning out. Depending on your settings you may or may not be able to shoot while leaning. This can be BROKEN if you are able to shoot from leaning, due to the fact that the enemy cannot see you, allowing you to kill them with little to no resistance. Being able to fire from cover can be toggled with

  smod_lean_gunpos

• Night Vision

  Is this helping?

  This greatly amplifies the light seen and can blind the player’s screen if there is enough around. However the effect is almost useless if there is no light to amplify. It drains HEV aux power at the same rate as the flashlight. Night Vision is typically not used often, but usually works well with the flashlight active.

• Third-Person View

  I know this is a joke and all but… don’t ever play with this.

  SMOD Redux allows you to play the game in Third-Person. SMOD Redux adds a Gordon Freeman player model for third-person and death-cam usage, as well as several key binds for different view points. Third-Person is mainly included for fun as it has some bugs and unfinished features and is not intended for “serious” gameplay. It uses the animations from Half-Life 2: Deathmatch.

  Whew! That’s basically all the gameplay changes in terms of new abilities. Lets talk about the new map changes.

5. New Maps and Map Changes

One of the first things you will likely notice when you play SMOD is the number of enemies, events and more added into the maps. SMOD (And Redux) uses “Mapadds” to do this. Mapadds are text files that allow you to replace, modify or add entities into maps. Not only is the Half-Life 2 campaign modified, but in SMOD Redux the multiplayer maps from Half-Life 2: Deathmatch are also converted into challenging single player side missions unconnected to the main storyline or each other. y no images of these changes? I’d rather you experience all of these on your own!

Half-Life 2 Campaign Changes
• Expect many more enemies in the maps as well as a larger variety of them. Many are randomly spawned when the map is first loaded, so you might be surprised when enemies don’t show up in the same place twice!
• Several of SMOD’s original events have been kept while several new ones have been added.
• While many of the new weapons can be found in (and taken from) the hands of enemies and allies, many more are hidden through the campaign. Explore the game-world thoroughly in order to find them!

  The New Maps
  You’ll need to do extra steps in order to get these working (if they aren’t working on your end)

• Check to see if the map you are trying to play has an .snl file. This can be found in the mapadd/nodes folder. If the map doesn’t have a .snl file then go to console (while the map is loaded) and type in nav_converttoainode then ai_snl_save.
• Check and see if the map has a .nav file. This can be found in the maps folder. If the map doesn’t have a .nav file then go to console (while the map is loaded) and type in nav_generate.

  Doing both of these should fix most of these bonus maps. Best of luck!

  Objective Maps
  These Maps involve a specific goal that is not just killing enemies. These can involve escorts, recovering items, eliminating a specific target, or more complex multi-part objectives.

• Lockdown: You must escort Dr.Kleiner to the computer room so a watermelon can be carried out. Keep him alive and the watermelon intact at all costs!
• Steamlab: Recover 3 boxes of important equipment from this rebel lab overrun with Combine Soldiers.
• Kinyoenta: You must free and escort prisoners from a base taken over by the combine to airboats.

  Survival Maps
  Survival maps have unlimited respawning enemies. It’s a challenge to see how long you last and how many you can take down with you.

• Overwatch: It’s you versus an endless number of Combine intent on taking you down. How long will you last?
• Resistance: This area is overrun with limitless zombies and headcrabs. Eliminate as many as you can!
• Runoff: The Combine and Rebel battle each other while the local wildlife is caught in the middle of it. Help the rebels as much as you can.
• Torrent: Survive against the zombie hoards as long as you can. Weapons are rare in this map.

  Combine/Monster Hunt Maps
  These maps have the simple goal of clearing the area of any enemy forces.

• Overpass: A Combine force occupies this area. Eliminate them.
• Powerhouse: This building has been overrun with a swarm of alien wildlife. Clear them out so the rebels can take this building back.
• Titanic: Clear out all hostiles.

6a. Enemies & Allies

SMOD (and Redux) adds several types of Non-Player Characters (NPC’s) to Half-Life 2 as allies and enemies. Some are based on cut content from Half-Life 2’s development, but others are unique to SMOD.

• Combine Gunship
  They shoot down rockets much more better then in normal Half-Life 2 and push physical objects much more with the shots. Some can even use a special attack; a beam fired from it’s underside that severely hurts the player and kills most citizens and rebels in one shot. The beam attack is very similar to the Strider’s cannon attack.

• Combine Soldier
  On higher SMOD difficulty levels, they are much more aggressive. Pinning the player down with suppressing fire and using grenades much more often. They can also toss incendiary grenades, and wield full body protective shields. As well as having one soldier in every few be enhanced. These super-soldiers will have four or eight times the normal amount of health, will randomly patrol around their post, and have a uniquely colored uniform of dark red (4x health) or dark blue (8x) Such features are only really seen on Hard to Nightmare difficulty.
  
• Metro-Police
  On higher SMOD difficulty levels, they are much more aggressive. Much like the Combine Soldiers. They can also wield arm and face protective shields and one cop in every few will be enhanced. These super-police will have four or eight times the normal amount of health, will randomly patrol around their post, and have a uniquely colored uniform of dark red (4x health) or dark blue (8x) Such features are only really seen on Hard to Nightmare difficulty.
  
  New Enemies
  
• Name: Combine Ace
• Spawn Code: npc_combine_ace
• Health: 100
• First Encountered: Nova Prospekt
• Description: The Combine Ace has more health then other Combine Soldiers and is capable of leaping to great heights to reach a location or throw off the players aim. They also fire their weapons at a faster rate then other Combine. This enemy is based off the Combine Assassin, a cut enemy from Half-Life 2. These will be some of the strongest enemies you’ll encounter due to the sheer speed and hail of bullets they can send at you. It’s best to take them out in Bullet Time with explosives, or a high powered weapon.
• Name: Cloaked Combine Soldier
• Spawn Code: npc_combine_c
• Health: 50
• First Encountered: Nova Prospekt
• Description: The Cloaked Combine Soldier is a normal soldier who is almost invisible. Blood will still show up on his suit if he gets shot though, and the muzzle flash of his weapon and a weapon that’s “floating” can also give him away. Allies will not attack him due to his cloaking so you will need to take them down before they can kill your allies. The model itself seems to be a Combine Elite. This can be a very dangerous enemy from a distance, proving to blend into the walls unless you catch its muzzle flash. If you have a squad of allies, this is a high priority target.
• Name: Killer Scanner
• Spawn Code: npc_kscanner
• Health: 30
• First Encountered: Route Kanal
• Description: The Killer Scanner is a scanner that can fire bursts of lasers at it’s targets. The lasers are slow but VERY painful. Taking large amounts of health from you and outright killing most NPCs if they get hit with a full burst. It has the normal appearance of a City Scanner. This enemy does not show up often. A Claw Scanner variant of this also exists.
• Name: Stalker
• Spawn Code: npc_stalker
• Health: 50
• First Encountered: “We Don’t Go to Ravenholm…”
• Description: The partly cut Stalker now has a proper ragdoll model and has been fully fixed for usage. While it is slow and does not have very much health it’s laser beam can quickly bring your health down and throw off your aim. The Stalker appears fairly often past We Don’t Go to Ravenholm, and can be a pest at best, or a pain to deal with at worst, depending on its position. It’s best to take these down with the Desert Eagle or SVD. Bullet Time is not really recommended as the laser seems to be barely affected by the slow down.
• Name: Rocket Turret, Crossbow Turret, Laser Turret
• Spawn Code: npc_rocket_turret, npc_crossbow_turret, npc_laser_turret
• Health: ∞
• First Encountered: Nova Prospekt (laser turret & rocket turret)
• Description: These are three different variations of the Combine Turret, one that fires rockets, one that fires crossbow bolts, and finally, one that fires laser bolts. The same as the ones used by the Killer Scanner. From what I’ve observed only the Laser Turret and Rocket Turret spawns in the main campaign. Perhaps the crossbow turret is in the bonus maps?
• Name: Houndeye
• Spawn Code: npc_houndeye
• Health: 70
• First Encountered: Route Kanal
• Description: A returning enemy from Half-Life 1 and a cut enemy from Half-Life 2. It can take quite a bit of damage and can charge up powerful sonic blasts that deal damage in a radius around it. First showing up in Route Kanal, the Houndeye makes several appearances throughout the campaign and can be semi-tanky to boot. A full SMG mag or a couple Shotgun blasts will do it in. It can be advantageous to leave one alive and let it take out other threats for you as its sonic blasts cause heavy damage.
• Name: Bullsquid
• Spawn Code: npc_bullsquid
• Health: 175
• First Encountered: Water Hazard
• Description: Another returning NPC from Half-Life 1 and a cut enemy from Half-Life 2. It is a fast and powerful melee monster capable of soaking up a large amount of damage. It also has a spit attack for dealing damage at longer ranges. It cannot be gibbed for health due to the original SMOD never adding it’s special gore or ragdoll effects in. The Bullsquid is encountered less often than the Houndeye, but is very tanky and will usually win most NPC battles. They are best dealt with via heavy weaponry or explosives.
• Name: Zombine
• Spawn Code: npc_zombine
• Health: 100
• First Encountered: Nova Prospekt
• Description: The original SMOD coded in the Zombine from Half-Life 2: Episode 1 but left out certain files required for it to work properly. Redux adds the needed files and it has been added into several maps. The result of a Combine Soldier becoming a Headcrab’s victim, The Zombine is stronger and faster then most types of Zombie. It can also pull out a live grenade and charge you with it. These grenades can be pulled out of their hands with the Gravity Gun. The Zombine functions identically to its appearance in HL2: EP1 & HL2: EP2.

  –Continues into next section–

6b. Enemies & Allies

• Name: Zombie2
• Spawn Code: npc_zombie2
• Health: 40
• First Encountered: “We Don’t Go to Ravenholm…”
• Description: This new form of Zombie takes a page out of SMOD OUTBREAK’s book, and bridges the gap between the normal and fast types. They can run at a sprint and do a great amount of damage in little time if you get cornered. They can also climb and jump to reach their targets. These suckers are agile and deadly if you get boxed in. It’s recommended to prioritize these types out of a normal Headcrab Zombie horde if able.

  

  • Name: Kamikaze Headcrab
  • First Found: “We Don’t Go to Ravenholm…”
  • Health: 20
  • Spawn-code: npc_kheadcrab
  • Description: This Headcrab variant is virtually identical in appearance to Fast Headcrabs, but have an unusual blue hue and move twice as fast. Once a target has been spotted, the crab will let let off a Poison Zombie pain groan, as well as starting to glow bright white which starts a timer. The crab will violently explode if it gets close enough to its victim or this timer runs out, but if killed before either, it will die only with a harmless pop, not leaving a ragdoll. This Headcrab doesn’t show up often, but it’s most common in Ravenholm. These can be useful if they detonate and take out some enemies with itself, but keep an eye out for it. If you hear a Poison Zombie groan but don’t see this thing, try and find it quickly before it sneaks up on you and explodes. Strangely enough in my version of Redux V8 the blue hue doesn’t work…
  New Allies
  
• Name: Friendly Combine
• Spawn Code: npc_f_combine
• Health: 40-60
• First Encountered: “We Don’t Go to Ravenholm…”
• Description: These are Combine Soldiers that are on your side. They can be told apart from enemy soldiers by the rebel label on their arm-pads and their different animations. They are tankier then normal Citizens and are usually sprinkled in with other Rebels in later chapters. Most modders change these guys to an HECU or something more lore friendly but I personally think these are fine. The Redux FINAL version of these npcs are also well done.
• Name: Friendly Turret, Friendly Rocket Turret, Friendly Crossbow Turret, & Friendly Laser Turret
• Spawn Code: npc_f_turret, npc_f_rocket_turret, npc_f_crossbow_turret, npc_f_laser_turret
• Health: ∞
• First Encountered: Entanglement (friendly turret)
• Description: These are four different variations of the Combine Turret, the original turret, one that fires rockets, one that fires crossbow bolts, and finally, one that fires laser bolts. The same as the ones used by the Killer Scanner. These are exactly the same as the hostile ones but friendly to you and your allies. From what I’ve observed none of the variants spawn in the main campaign. Perhaps in the bonus maps?
• Name: Squad Member Grigori
• Spawn Code: npc_f_monk
• Health: 2000 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
• First Encountered: Highway 17
• Description: A Father Grigori squad member at your command. He mainly differs from the normal version in that he has lots of health but does not regenerate it. He seems to only show up once during Highway 17 during a rather tough assault on the bridge, but he is a welcome addition. He functions like a normal Citizen but with a ton more health.
• Name: Squad Member Kleiner
• Spawn Code: npc_f_kleiner
• Health: 8
• First Encountered: Anticitizen One
• Description: A Dr. Kleiner squad member at your command, typically wielding a Laser Rifle. He has very little health and will most likely die before he can even deal any damage. Shows up once during the main campaign, similarly to the Squad Member Grigori.

  That’s all of the new NPC’s you will find in SMOD REDUX V8, now lets go over the items, then the weapons, shall we?

7. Items & Ammo

The original SMOD adds some new items, while REDUX V8 adds some new ammo types. Let’s go over them!

Corned Beef & Sankaba (Corned Beef being the larger can, while the smaller can is Sankaba) are edible food items that are sprinkled through out the Half-Life 2 campaign. They will give the player ten health and ten suit points, and will go over 100 health and suit limit. Some are hidden with hidden weapons, others are found laying on tables. These are always a nice treat!

See that tiny thing? That’s a Soy Bean. Soy Beans are spawned when using the Soy Bean.. well, weapon. It restores 1 health and can go over the 100 health limit. You won’t see these naturally spawn in the Half-Life 2 campaign.

As part of the New Years event (see Easter Egg section), littering Dr. Kleiner’s table are Pochibukuro, Japanese people have a custom known as Otoshidama where adult relatives give money to children. It is handed out in small decorated envelopes. If you are playing on the SMOD game-mode, these will give you between 1 and 9000 money units for buying health and armor at aid stations and chargers.

If you are playing on the SMOD gamemode, you will encounter these small, brightly shining gold coins found hidden in miniature item crates, as well as from killing enemies. Named “power pill” in the code. Once picked up, these coins count towards the player’s money score for purchasing health and battery power from aid stations and chargers. Similar to old-school video game pickups, these coins will disappear shortly after they appear, so a quick grab is a must. These will not appear in any other gamemode.

This small do-dad is a Miniature Item Crate. Appearing only in the SMOD gamemode, these contain the gold Power Pills. These can be dropped from enemies or regular supply crates. These will not appear in other gamemodes.

This right here is Flare Gun ammo, strictly for use with the Flare Gun. It is fairly common throughout the Half-Life 2 campaign. You’ll find a bunch of it when you first acquire the Flare Gun.

Here we have Heavy Rifle Ammo, for use with various heavy weapons. Such as the SVD, Kar98k, or M1 Garand. It is also fairly common through out the Half-Life 2 campaign, and will typically spawn in clusters with the other ammo types later in the campaign.

Normal Rifle Ammo, for us with rifle type weapons. Such as the O.I.C.W, AK47, and M4A1 Carbine. Like the Heavy Rifle Ammo, this is also very common through out the Half-Life 2 campaign and will spawn in clusters with other ammo types later in the campaign.

And the final ammo type: Gauss Ammo. Strictly for use with the handheld Tau/Gauss Cannon. This seems to be the most common of the new ammo types (from my experience) and is rather plentiful. Like with the others, it’ll most likely spawn in clusters with the other ammo types.

Now with the items and ammo covered, it’s time we move to the real meat and potatoes of this mod… the weapons.

8. The Weapons | Slot 1 – Melee & Miscellaneous

This is where the fun begins! I’m splitting up every weapon by category and slot order. If a vanilla HL2 weapon has seen no change, it’ll not be listed in the weapon lists. First image is the location of the weapon in the campaign (if applicable) and the second image is the weapon itself. Let’s start with the first category!

Ol ‘reliable!

• Name: Crowbar
• First Found: d1_trainstation_06 (vanilla)
• Spawn-code: weapon_crowbar
• Description: The Crowbar has seen few changes in SMOD, apart from the fact that it now has an alternate attack, allowing you to throw the Crowbar at a decent distance and with semi-fast air travel. The attack will usually kill human sized enemies in one hit, depending on the enemy.

Beta Gmodding!

• Name: Physics Gun
• First Found: d2_coast_11
• Spawn-code: weapon_physgun
• Description: The Physics Gun is based off a cut weapon from Half-Life 2. It allows you to grab objects from a far range and manipulate them with more precision than with the Gravity Gun. It’s also useful for picking up objects for making bridges or barricades that can’t be shoved aside. Using the scroll wheel allows you to push or pull the object with the beam. Alt fire fires a glue blob that objects and ragdolls can “weld” to. Hitting the use key while lifting something freezes it in place.

Magic *snort snort*

• Name: Gordon’s Magic Stick
• First Found: d1_canals_09
• Spawn-code: weapon_lstick
• Description: Gordon’s Magic Stick, A lightning-throwing magic wand. When the lightning hits a surface, it splits into 3 bolts, and those bolts split into 3, and so on until a certain amount is reached. Primary fire lobs them from the wand, while alt fire generates them at the point where the crosshairs are pointed. This is best used inside a building or room so the lightning can have a better chance at hitting a target.

Are you sure this is a Strider Cannon?

• Name: Strider Cannon
• First Found: d2_coast_10
• Spawn-code: weapon_stcannon
• Description: The Strider Cannon fires a disintegration beam with a large blast radius, much like the ones that Striders use. It can kill things that normally can’t be killed. Be VERY careful about using it though. It can destroy your vehicles or kill critical NPCs and objects, and if you get caught in the blast, it may disintegrate your weapons. Secondary Fire charges up a “shock ball” that can disintegrate any NPCs in it path and shoot energy bolts at those who are not. Beware; Charging for too long can hurt you too! The shock ball is similar in function to the BFG from Doom 2016.

Wa-pang!

• Name: Shovel
• Spawn-code: weapon_shovel
• Description: The Shovel, one of the more iconic weapons. Inspired by Postal 2, it can kill almost anything in a few hits, even Striders. Primary fire swings the shovel back and forth, you auto swing it by holding the primary fire down. Alt fire thrusts the shovel forward in a stabbing motion. In earlier SMOD versions you were able to fly up into the air by swinging the shovel at your feet, but sadly, this is broken.

Fight with honor!

• Name: Sword
• First Found: d1_canals_01 also found in d1_town_01
• Spawn-code: weapon_sword
• Description: The sword has a longer reach then almost any other melee weapon. While it’s attacks are slow they are quite powerful. Alt fire is a slower swing, but with even more damage. The sword is perfect for ammo conservation, especially against Zombies. However, it’s slow swing speed makes it not a great choice for more then 2-3 enemies at once.

The more you eat the more you gain HP!

• Name: Soy Beans
• Spawn-code: weapon_soy
• Description: A box of roasted soybeans. You can toss them at enemies to do damage, and you can eat them afterwords to gain 1 health per bean. They will also light zombies on fire… for some reason. Rather interestingly this weapon is SUPPOSED to show up in the campaign but the mapadd is broken for it, thus, it doesn’t properly spawn. It’s supposed to appear in d1_trainstation_05 as part of the New Years easter egg.

The man with the Golden Crowbar!

• Name: Gold Crowbar
• First Found: d1_trainstation_05
• Spawn-code: weapon_gcrowbar
• Description: A very special weapon. Fires lasers really fast with primary fire in a wide spread. alt fire fires a REALLY powerful blue bolt. This will only spawn if you load up d1_trainstation_05 on Christmas day. The blue lightning bolt homes in on breakable props as well as enemies. This weapon is very powerful.

Put em up!

• Name: Fists
• First Found: d1_trainstation_05
• Spawn-code: weapon_fists
• Description: The fists offer powerful and fast melee attacks. Primary fire throws fast jabs while alt fire throws damaging hooks. If you miss with either attacks, there is a lengthy cool-down period compared to hitting a target. You also gain movement speed while having these equipped, so these are a must when you are bunny hopping or trying to get out of a bad situation.

9. The Weapons | Slot 2 – Pistols

Puff and sting!

• Name: Flare Gun
• First Found: d1_canals_05
• Spawn-code: weapon_flaregun
• Magazine Capacity: 1
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 20/Flare
• Description: The Flare Gun, a weapon cut from the final release of Half-Life 2. The flares it shoots will set an organic enemy on fire. Alt fire shoots a slower flare that goes a a much shorter distance. The Flare Gun is surprisingly useful, primarily for lighting gappoi Combine/Metrocops on fire, thus stun locking them until they burn to death. It’s also useful for Poison Zombies and even shielded Combine.

Alyx Vance’s gun I presume?

• Name: Alyx’s Gun
• First Found: d1_canals_08
• Spawn-code: weapon_alyxgun
• Magazine Capacity: 25
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 150/Pistol
• Description: Alyx’s custom handgun has been fully completed for the player’s usage in SMOD. Alt fire changes its fire mode between semi-auto, 3-round-burst and full auto. Has some harsh recoil in sustained fire. Alyx’s Gun is a close contender for the best pistol in V8 imo, proving to be the perfect backup gun if you are out of ammo on your better weapons. Full auto fire with proper recoil control will cut through zombies or metrocops with no issues, especially if you get headshots.

i pik up weel guans

• Name: Dual 9mm Pistols
• First Found: d1_canals_03
• Spawn-code: weapon_dualpistols
• Magazine Capacity: 36
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 150/Pistol
• Description: The Dual 9mm’s have twice the magazine size and can be fired faster then the single 9mm Pistol. It comes at the cost of having worse recoil, accuracy, and a longer reload time. They seem to use the same animations as the Dual Elites from Counter-Strike Source. These pistols are surprisingly useful, but sort of situational. Only really super useful in close quarters.

Czechoslovak’s rejoice!

• Name: CZ-52
• First Found: d1_canals_01a
• Spawn-code: weapon_cz52
• Magazine Capacity: 12
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 150/Pistol
• Description: The CZ-52 sits between the default Pistol and .357 in power and mag size. It does 2 times the damage of the default Pistol and is the most accurate normal pistol in the mod. In my opinion this is the best 9mm pistol in the mod, being a perfect mix of both the Pistol & .357. It can typically kill Metropolice in one headshot.

He has a powerful weapon..!

• Name: The Golden Magnum
• First Found: d3_breen_01
• Spawn-code: weapon_goldengun
• Magazine Capacity: 6
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 32/.357
• Description: Inspired by the Golden Gun of James Bond fame (or more directly the golden magnum from Perfect Dark), This gold copy of Half-Life’s .357 Magnum kills almost anything in 1 shot. Anything. Unless you use console commands, you won’t be able to use this that much in the campaign.

JUAN DEAG

• Name: Desert Eagle
• First Found: d1_canals_07
• Spawn-code: weapon_deagle
• Magazine Capacity: 7
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 32/.357
• Description: The Hollywood Handcannon. It fires faster and does more damage then the .357 Magnum but has much harsher recoil and is less accurate. Alt fire turns on a laser sight as the crosshair on this weapon is disabled. This is without a doubt the best .357 based weapon in V8, (not counting the Golden Magnum) The lack of accuracy is easily countered with well paced shots. The extra damage means you can kill a normal Combine Soldier in one shot if you hit the body or head, compared to the .357 being only to get one hit kills in the head.

10. The Weapons | Slot 3 – SMGs & Rifles

Ah yes, the best cut weapon.

• Name: OICW [Objective Individual Combat Weapon]
• First Found: d2_prison_03
• Spawn-code: weapon_oicw
• Magazine Capacity: 30
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 120/Rifle & 6/SMG Grenade
• Description: Probably the most well-known cut weapon from Half-Life 2. The OICW is a capable assault rifle with a scope, activated by pressing the Ironsight key and a grenade launcher. Accuracy suffers under sustained automatic fire and recoil can be difficult to control when fired in sustained bursts. The OICW is best used when scoped in. When firing from the scope, the rate of fire is vastly slower. Allowing for better shot placement and accuracy. Firing from the scope uses 2-3 bullets at once, however. The OICW can kill a Combine Soldier in two to three scoped shots in the head. This is one of my favorite weapons in V8.

Why the ♥♥♥♥ does this show up so often?!

• Name: Laser Rifle
• First Found: d1_canals_09 (early), d1_eli_02, & d1_town_05
• Spawn-code: weapon_lasergun
• Magazine Capacity: 100
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 100/H.E.V batteries
• Description: The Laser Rifle fire shoots a constant beam that tears through anything and everything. Alt fire shoots a red beam that generates an explosion on contact that can take down a gunship in mere seconds. This weapon is unique in the fact that it runs off your HEV battery power, which means you have to use it sparingly. This weapon shows up a ton through-out the campaign, and is highly sought after for dealing with Striders or Gunships. It is ridiculously strong.

Avtomat Kalashnikova!

• Name: AK-47
• First Found: d2_coast_01 (early), d2_coast_03
• Spawn-code: weapon_ak47
• Magazine Capacity: 30
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 120/Rifle
• Description: Inspired from the AK-47 in Counter Strike: Source. The AK-47 is deadly, accurate, and hard to control in automatic fire. It’s spread greatly increases if used while moving, much like Counter-Strike. The AK-47 is best used by firing in bursts, while standing still or crouched. The AK-47 can kill Combine Soldiers in 1-2 headshots if used properly. The AK-47 will absolutely shred shields as well. Strangely, if you get the AK-47 early.. it’ll disappear when you load into d2_coast_03. Weird, right?

bomfbomfbomfbomf

• Name: Grease Gun
• First Found: d1_canals_07(early), d1_canals_08
• Spawn-code: weapon_grease
• Magazine Capacity: 30
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 250/SMG
• Description: Heavily based on the Grease Gun from Day of Defeat. It’s slow-firing, but hits consistently harder then any other SMG. It has low recoil and is highly accurate when fired from a motionless position. Accuracy gets bad if you fire on the move. Use and think of this as the SMG version of the AK-47. Burst firing and shooting while standing or crouching is the best way to retain accuracy. You can get the Grease Gun early by killing the Combine Soldiers on the catwalk in d1_canals_07. Most reliable method to do so is to use the Kar98 or the Deagle.

HECU tested, HECU approved!

• Name: MP5
• First Found: d2_coast_04
• Spawn-code: weapon_mp5
• Magazine Capacity: 30
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 250/SMG & 6/SMG Grenade
• Description: Consider this an homage to the MP5 from Half-Life. This SMG is highly accurate with very low recoil. It’s damage randomly swings between that of the vanilla SMG to more then the Grease Gun. Accuracy goes bad if you move while firing. Alt fire fires an SMG grenade. In a way the MP5 is the inbetween of the SMG & Grease Gun, featuring the SMG’s grenade launcher & featuring the Grease Gun’s insane accuracy. The movement downside is circumvented by firing while crouching or standing still. The damage tends to be low however.

Starting to think the Combine are like Nazis…

• Name: MP40
• First Found: d1_canals_01a
• Spawn-code: weapon_mp40
• Magazine Capacity: 32
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 250/SMG
• Description: Heavily inspired by the MP40 from Day of Defeat. Less powerful and accurate then the Grease Gun but has a quicker rate-of-fire and better accuracy on the move. Alt fire swings the weapon in a melee attack. The MP40 is the first SMG you’ll acquire and proves to be pretty effective until you get the Grease Gun. Afterwards this doesn’t see much more use besides breaking open supply crates, or conserving ammo with the melee attack.

RUSH B-

• Name: P90
• First Found: d1_canals_08
• Spawn-code: weapon_p90
• Magazine Capacity: 50
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 250/SMG
• Description: The P90 is a light and accurate SMG with a fast rate-of-fire. It does respectable damage and has light recoil. Alt fire zooms in and slows the rate of fire for more accurate shots. One of my favorite SMGs, the P90 acts as an easier precision based SMG, at the cost of damage. The low recoil also makes this perfect for firing in full auto or in bursts, which is greatly helped by the large 50 round magazine.

“I’m so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tactic00l”

• Name: M4A1 Carbine
• First Found: d2_coast_09
• Spawn-code: weapon_m4a1
• Magazine Capacity: 30
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 120/Rifle
• Description: The M4A1 Carbine is an accurate rifle with a fast rate-of-fire. It has a sound suppressor that makes it harder for enemies to hear your gunfire. Alt fire switches the fire mode between semi-auto and full-auto. A personal favorite rifle of mine in V8, this proves to be highly effective if you nail headshots and fire in bursts. It works decently in full auto but performs the best overall in bursts. The accuracy can be ridiculously good when used properly.

11. The Weapons | Slot 4 – Heavy Rifles & Shotguns

I love this friggin shotgun!

• Name: Jackhammer
• First Found: d2_prison_04
• Spawn-code: weapon_jackhammer
• Magazine Capacity: 10
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 50/Shotgun
• Description: The Jackhammer has harsh recoil but is better for dealing with multiple targets as it is fully automatic. Alt fire toggles the fire mode between semi-auto and full-auto. Here’s a tip, don’t use semi-auto. It’s useless and defeats the purpose of this shotgun. Personally this is a favorite of mine, and is extremely useful later into the campaign. It can drop a Combine Soldier in one or two blasts.

Ping!

• Name: M1 Garand
• First Found: d2_coast_05
• Spawn-code: weapon_m1garand
• Magazine Capacity: 8
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 40/Heavy Rifle
• Description: Heavily inspired by the M1 Garand from Day of Defeat. While it does only half the damage of the Kar98k, it has 8 rounds in it’s clip and is capable of semi-automatic fire. Alt fire swings the weapon in a fairly damaging melee attack. The M1 Garand is rather potent, even with it only having half the damage of the Kar98k. Typically this can kill Combine Soldiers in one shot to the body, but the most reliable method is a headshot. You cannot reload the M1 Garand early, due to how it functions. The melee attack is fairly useful as well, but usually is for smashing crates open.

Yevgeny would be proud!

• Name: SVD
• First Found: d1_canals_08 (early), d2_coast_07
• Spawn-code: weapon_svd
• Magazine Capacity: 10
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 40/Heavy Rifle
• Description: The SVD is an extremely powerful sniper rifle, with a large 10 round magazine. It’ll usually kill any human sized enemy in one hit, whether its a body shot or headshot. Hitting the use key while scoped in makes the crosshair glow red, making it easier to accurately shoot in low-light environments. You will need to take scope sway into account to get an accurate shot so wait a moment for it to decrease if you moved or looked around. Bullet ballistics are modeled for it. Meaning the bullets will drop at long ranges. It’s without a doubt one of the strongest heavy rifles in SMOD. You can get it early by abusing the kicks while in the airboat on d1_canals_08.

It’s Mauser time baby!

• Name: Kar98k
• First Found: d1_canals_07
• Spawn-code: weapon_kar98
• Magazine Capacity: 6
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 40/Heavy Rifle
• Description: Heavily based on the Karabiner 98k from Day of Defeat. The Kar98k is very accurate and damaging. Alt fire uses a fairly damaging bayonet with somewhat poor range. It’s slow-firing due to its bolt action, So it’s best used at long ranges. Accuracy gets bad if you fire on the move. The Kar98k is similar to the SVD in terms of power, without the scope. The bayonet is more useful then you’d assume so, killing Zombies & Combine Soldiers in one stab. The reload time is fairly slow however. In a way this could be considered more accurate than the SVD due to it not having the scope sway. It’ll typically kill any human sized enemy in one shot.

Super Shotgun anybody?

• Name: Sawed-Off Shotgun
• First Found: d1_town_03
• Spawn-code: weapon_sawedoff
• Magazine Capacity: 2
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 50/Shotgun
• Description: By far the most damaging shotgun in the Redux arsenal. At the cost of only having 2 shots and being inaccurate even by shotgun standards. Alt fire switches the fire mode between single-barrel and unloading both barrels at once. If the Jackhammer didn’t exist, THIS would be my favorite shotgun. It comes close however, and can be debated that it is actually even better then the Jackhammer. The Sawed-Off will absolutely devastate anything in close quarters, and is without a doubt the best non explosive weapon for Combine shields, typically destroying the shield & and killing the soldier in one trigger pull.

Y’know this weapons in Synergy? It’s amazing in Synergy!

• Name: Pulse Machinegun
• First Found: d2_prison_05
• Spawn-code: weapon_pulsemg
• Magazine Capacity: 90 gotdamnbobby
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 90/AR2
• Description: The Pulse Machinegun is a handheld version of the Combine emplacement turrets, with respectable damage and accuracy with a 90-round magazine. Best when fired in bursts to maintain accuracy. A rather unique weapon that is found semi-late into the campaign, the Pulse Machinegun benefits the most for laying fire down range and doing chip damage to a large group of Combine Soldiers or Zombies. The large magazine also benefits this type of usage.

Alright now… let’s ♥♥♥♥ some ♥♥♥♥ up.

• Name: M249 Para
• First Found: d3_c17_07
• Spawn-code: weapon_m249
• Magazine Capacity: 120 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 120/Rifle
• Description: The M249 LMG does more damage then the Pulse Machinegun, but has worse recoil and slows you down while you are using it. If the Pulse Machinegun is best used for dealing chip damage to a group, then the M249 is best used to mow down whatever is left over. The magazine size accompanies the entire ammo capacity of rifle ammo, thus giving you plenty of bullets to send down range. The movement decrease can be bad but is far from the worst downside. The reload speed is the worst downside. Unlike most weapons, you may wanna reload after expelling all of the ammunition.

12. The Weapons | Slot 5 – Explosives

N00btubin!

• Name: A35/AEG
• First Found: d2_coast_05
• Spawn-code: weapon_aeg
• Magazine Capacity: 6
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 6/SMG Grenades
• Description: The AEG is a 6-shot semi-auto grenade launcher can deliver a devastating amount of explosives in a very short time. Alt fire zooms in with the scope for long range shooting. The AEG shows up about halfway through the campaign and is a solid choice for dealing explosive damage. The SMG grenades it fires drop off a second or two after being in the air, allowing you to fire this at long ranges. It can deal a great amount of damage to a Strider, and even Gunships if your aim and timing is good enough.

Fire in the hole!

• Name: Sweeeet Banana
• First Found: d1_canals_05
• Spawn-code: weapon_banana
• Description: Exploding bananas inspired from the Worms series of strategy games. Primary fire tosses them, Alt fire makes the banana bunch fly apart and explode in a cluster-bomb effect. Considering how early you can find this, it could be considered pretty OP, while true, it’s not the perfect answer for every situation. You can throw infinite bananas as well, leading to a giant chain explosion if you throw enough. Just don’t crash your game!

“What is this… looks like a camera..?”

• Name: Motion Sensor Bomb
• Spawn-code: weapon_msbomb
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 10/Grenades
• Description: Laser trip-mines like in Half-Life. These are fairly small and you can lob them onto surfaces from a distance. This weapon doesn’t show up in the campaign normally, however, you’ll find planted Motion Sensor bombs as traps for you to avoid. This was originally going to be a SLAM from Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, however, due to custom weapon scripting issues it was kept as a trip mine bomb exclusively. Msbombs can stick to any surface or prop, proving to be very effective for setting up a trap.

Ka-BOOOOOOOOOOM!

• Name: Sticky Launcher
• Spawn-code: weapon_stickybomb
• Description: Another cut weapon from the 2003 leak of Half-Life 2. Fires sticky bombs. Alt fire detonates. The sticky bomb sticks to any surface, prop, and NPC. Much like the Sweeeet Banana, you can have infinite sticky bombs planted. In redux FINAL (the version after this) you can find this weapon in the campaign, however, it’s only attainable via console in this verison.

Atleast it looks cool!

• Name: Singularity Generator
• First Found: d1_eli_02
• Spawn-code: weapon_gravgren
• Description: Inspired by a weapon seen in a trailer for Cellfactor. It brings in objects and sometimes NPC’s around the area before sending them flying away from it and hurting or killing NPCs near it. This weapon is…very situational, and imo is the worst weapon in the mod. It’s not useless but as mentioned prior, it’s hard to use effectively. You can also lose this if you lose track of it after use, as it only appears once in the campaign.

FIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRREEEEEEE!

• Name: AN-M14
• First Found: d2_town_03
• Spawn-code: weapon_anm14
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 10/Grenade
• Description: The AN-M14 incendiary grenade ignites the area around it with flames that persist for some time and light almost anything ablaze, use with care as it can light you and your allies on fire. They will not work underwater. This grenade is pretty damn fun to use and can be utilized as an area denial tool due to the lingering flames. It also has a slightly larger blast radius then normal frag grenades, and can even light you on fire from behind a thin wall or cover. Combine Soldiers on higher difficulties have a random chance to throw this instead of a normal frag grenade, so be careful! Combine Soldiers can also drop it if you kill them right before they toss it. If you throw this as your last grenade in the ammo pool, you’ll lose it forever. So watch your ammo count!

Holy friggin Crossbow bolts batman!

• Name: Spike Grenade
• First Found: d1_canals_08
• Spawn-code: weapon_spikegrenade
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 10/Grenade
• Description: The Spike Grenade when tossed will explode out in a set of 8-10 Crossbow bolts in a circular shape. These Crossbow bolts function the same as the ones fired from a Crossbow, so they can pin targets as well as ricochet off of surfaces. It seems harder to throw and heavier then other grenade types. The Crossbow bolts don’t harm you. This can be fairly situational but not as useless as the Singularity Generator. Much like the AN-M14, if you throw this as your last grenade in the ammo pool, you’ll lose it forever so watch your ammo count!

This system is still alive… I swear.

• Name: UMD Launcher
• First Found: d2_coast_07
• Spawn-code: weapon_psp
• Magazine Capacity: 1
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 150/Pistol duh♥♥♥♥?
• Description: Primary fire shoots an exploding UMD. Alt fire unjams the PSP if it jams when you try to fire it. Damage is based on your health, and the blast radius is determined by your HEV battery amount. This weapon is very gimmicky but also pretty unique. Personally I rarely use this weapon, but it is capable of damaging Striders and Gunships,it can even kill Combine Snipers and Combine floor turrets. And for all of that, it makes this weapon somewhat useful.

13. The Weapons | Slot 6 – Everything Else

Ever wanted to play a strategy game in Half-Life 2?

• Name: Bug Spawner
• First Found: d1_canals_06
• Spawn-code: weapon_bugspawner
• Description: Generates friendly Antlions. They won’t attack you or your allies, although rebels and citizens WILL attack them. Primary fire tosses a regular Antlion, while Alt fire makes a Antlion Guard. Pressing the use key will call the normal Antlions to you, similar to Bug bait. Spawning may by buggy in enclosed spaces, So try to only use them in wide open areas. The Bugspawner is extremely useful on higher difficulties, exclusively because you can create tanky Antlion Guards, which will distract enemy fire and allow you to take them out with little resistance, or even take out enemies on there own. This can be used the most during the beach raid of Nova Prospekt or the first Strider battle in the street wars. Don’t under-estimate this tool!

If only it sucked up the map…

• Name: Hopwire
• Spawn-code: weapon_hopwire
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 10/Grenade
• Description: A partially cut cheat weapon from Half-Life 2: Episode 1. This grenade generates a black hole bringing in everything and everyone around it to destroy it, Including you! Press primary fire once to toss. And once more to trigger it. Only attainable via console, this weapon is extremely dangerous if used improperly. Whatever is sucked into the black hole is completely disintegrated. So you may lose ammo. The range on this is deceptive, and if any NPC is in its range, they will be instantly killed and ragdolled, then sucked inside. Be careful!

Portable Resident Evil movie!

• Name: Beta/Leak Hopwire
• Spawn-code: weapon_hopwire_beta
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 10/Grenade
• Description: The original Hopwire, cut from Half-Life 2. This grenade generates a number of wires that, when walked into, cause the wires and the main grenade to explode. In a way this can be considered an upgrade to the Motion Sensor bomb, as it will cover a larger area. It shares the same viewmodel as the blackhole Hopwire. This is perfect for setting large traps, such as the battle at the lighthouse during Highway 17.

“Don’t let it overcharge! What do you mean overchar-“

• Name: Gauss Cannon
• First Found: d2_coast_10
• Spawn-code: weapon_gauss
• Magazine Capacity: 50
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 100/Gauss Ammo
• Description: A returning weapon from Half-Life and a weapon cut from the final release of Half-Life 2. Essentially the buggy’s Tau Cannon in a handheld form. Primary fire shoots a bolt, alt fire charges up a blast. And yes, you can Gauss Jump with it. Though not exactly like in Half-Life. The returning Tau/Gauss cannon is just as awesome as it was in Half-Life, and to an extent in Half-Life 2. Proving to be a useful precision weapon and movement tool. Bouncing across the beach raid during Nova Prospekt is hilariously fun. A charged shot can kill a Combine Soldier in one hit, however, the shields will completely block Gauss cannon fire, and won’t even damage it. This also applies to the scout car’s tau cannon. Strangely enough, if you are using a custom viewmodel skin, the viewmodel hand with this weapon is still default. Weird, right?

I am Gordon Freeman… and this, is my weapon.

• Name: Minigun
• First Found: d3_citadel_03, d3_citadel_04
• Spawn-code: weapon_minigun
• Magazine Capacity: 999
• Ammo Capacity/Ammo Type: 999/Minigun
• Description: While this massive weapon slows you down while carrying it and takes time to spin up, it delivers hundreds of rounds of rifle-caliber fire to anything unfortunate enough to be in front of it. In a way this feels inspired by the Minigun seen in Serious Sam. You can keep the weapon spun up by holding the alt fire button, but you also need to hold down the fire button while doing so. I’m unsure if this is a bug or intentional, but it makes the Minigun way more viable and easier to use. It shows up twice during the Citadel, be wary though, if you drop your Minigun for another Minigun, The other Minigun will then be empty, I also assume this is a bug.

Found the duplicator tool!

• Name: Stuff Launcher
• First Found: d1_trainstation_06
• Spawn-code: weapon_physlauncher
• Description: Alt fire will tag/copy and disintegrate any prop that’s not part of the map. Primary fire launches a copy of that tagged prop, be it a cinder block, citizen or a car. Also good for clearing away debris. Note that if you clone a NPC like a citizen they will not have weapons. But you can clone one on the ground to give to them. As you can tell, this weapons is ridiculously broken at times. You can copy medikits, suit batteries, or even sankaba & corned beef to give yourself infinite health. This’ll usually break the game in half so use it sparingly.

BURN IT DOWN!

• Name: Flamethrower
• First Found: d1_town_01
• Spawn-code: weapon_flamethrower
• Magazine Capacity: 300
• Description: Fires a stream of flames. It can ignite NPCs, objects, even the walls and floors. The stream can be bounced off walls to get enemies hiding behind them. It’s ammo pool automatically recharges at a semi-slow rate. The Flamethrower is incredibly fun to use and seems similar in design to the one seen in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter. The Flamethrower is also capable of destroying dropship transports and damaging Striders… how? I don’t know. It’s just that damn good.

*aggressive snipping*

• Name: Scissors
• First Found: d1_canals_11, d2_coast_03
• Spawn-code: weapon_scissors
• Description: A weapon inspired from Postal 2. Primary fire tosses a scissor that will bounce around until it hit a number of objects or hits a NPC. Alt fire tosses a spread of 3. The projectiles themselves aren’t very damaging but in high numbers this will shred any NPC. Best used in close quarters however, and you can throw as many as you want. Strangely enough, if you pickup the other Scissors after getting the first pair, the HUD says that the ammo type is Combine balls.

Wasted potential!

• Name: Airboat Gun
• Spawn-code: weapon_abgun
• Magazine Capacity: 50
• Description: A handheld version of the Airboat gun. Acts almost the same as it too. Its ammo pool is rechargeable like the Airboat’s Gun, but it only goes to a maximum of 50. The ammo recharge rate is incredibly slow compared to its mounted cousin, as well as the damage seeming lower overall. It can push props very easily however. Sadly not very useful.

14. The Weapons | Damage Values

Due to Steam having a word limit in each section, I had to write down the damage values here. Split up in order by category. Thanks to Codeshooter/OMS for telling me where to look.

Physics Cannon – Dynamic
Gordon’s Magic Stick – 30 (per bolt)
Strider Cannon – Dynamic
Shovel – 40 (swing) 60 (stab)
Sword – 40
Soy Beans – 1 – 12
Gold Crowbar – 10 (laser) Dynamic (lightning) 1 (melee)
Fists – 10 (jab) 40 (hook)

Flare Gun – Dynamic (flare doesn’t do damage, fire does)
Alyx’s Gun – 5
Dual 9mm Pistols – 5
CZ-52 – 10
Golden Magnum – 9999
Desert Eagle – 50

OICW – 12 (bullet) 100 (grenade)
Laser Rifle – 25 (green laser) Dynamic (200 at center, red laser)
AK-47 – 20
Grease Gun – 10
MP5 – 5 / 12 (bullet) 100 (grenade)
MP40 – 7
P90 – 6
M4A1 Carbine – 10

Jackhammer – 6×9
M1 Garand – 50
SVD – Dynamc (upto 75) / 100 (headshot)
Kar98K – 100 (bullet) 50 (bayonet)
Sawed Off – 9×16
Pulse Machine Gun – 8
M249 Para – 15

A35/AEG – 100
Sweeeet Banana – Dynamic (100 at center)
Motion Sensor – Dynamic (75 at center)
Sticky Launcher – Dynamic (100 at center)
Singularity Generator – Dynamic
ANM14 – 40 (initial blast) Dynamic (fire damage)
Spike Grenade – 100 (per bolt)
UMD Launcher – Dynamic (based on player HP)

Hopwire – Dynamic
Hopwire (betaold) – Dynamic (200 per tether)
Gauss Cannon – 10 (single blast) 10-100 (charge shot)
Minigun – 5
Stuff Launcher – Dynamic
Flamethrower – 1 (fire stream) Dynamic (flame damage)
Scissors – 80
Airboat Gun – 3

15. Easter Eggs

SMOD REDUX is surprisingly packed with some interesting easter eggs. Here is what I’ve found!

Typing impulse 95 into console will spawn a bowling ball and a set of pins, for a small minigame. A bit… strange, but a pretty neat inclusion! You can spawn as much as you want.

Inside Kleiners lab are these rather familiar looking cubes… how’d they end up here? It’s true that the Half-Life and Portal universe are one in the same but.. this is just odd. Kleiner has some explaining to do!

This rather odd prop of some sort of… Japanese advertisement? Is found in Ravenholm. And only in this map. Why the hell is it here? Unsure. The original creator of SMOD, The Author, was Japanese. Hence all the Japanese themed stuff in this mod but, what is the meaning of this, if any?

Now this is a really cool one, and infact, the first Easter Egg I found. If you load d1_trainstation_05 (Kleiners lab) when your PC clock is on December 25th, you’ll be treated to a cute little jingle, various festive decorations, and a very special gift from Santa… or Kleiner. One of those two! If you wanna see this for yourself, just change your PC clock to December 25th and you are good to go!!

I only found out about this one while making this guide… so! Similarly to the Christmas event, load up d1_trainstation_05 on January 1st and you’ll be treated to some Japanese New Year traditions and culture! As you can see, this adds a ton of props to the entire teleport sequence. As well as a nice oriental jingle when the “Happy New Year” message pops up. You’ll also get a ton of money from the Pochibukuro envelopes on Kleiners table if your in the SMOD gamemode.

If you’ve found any interesting easter eggs that aren’t listed here, please let me know in the comments!

16. “Unofficial” Addons [Optional]

Here are some extra “unofficial” addons to further enhance your SMOD REDUX experience.
NOTE: Be sure to backup whatever it is you are replacing! Just incase something breaks or you want to revert back to the original asset!!

Mark V Hand Reskin
Download it here: [link]

I personally use these with the optional LED added. Extract the materials folder for the base skin into your smodredux folder. If you want the optional LED or dirty variants, do the same and override the base skin.

Combine Elite Hand Reskin
Download it here: /https://bit.ly/2MPiHot (MEGA, remove the slash)

I also use these from time to time. Ignore being able to see inside the viewmodel, that’s due to my FOV being too high. Extract the materials folder and drop it into your smodredux folder.

Halo Reach Blood Decals
Download it here: /https://bit.ly/2VRyAyK (MEGA, remove the slash)

Replaces the default blood decals with nicer looking decals ported from Halo Reach. This also adds a few more decals then base SMOD so if you uninstall this, don’t forget to remove those. Extract the materials folder into your smodredux folder.

Bigthunks NPC Weapon Randomizer Table V1
Download it here: /https://bit.ly/2MWUX22 (MEGA, remove the slash)

Fellow SMODDER Bigthunk recently created a NPC weapon randomizer table, basically what this does is that Citizens, Combine Soldiers, Combine Elite Soldiers, Combine Prison Guards, Combine Ace, AND Metropolice will have randomized weapons as dictated by the table. This changes the entire experience of SMOD, surprisingly. For a couple examples, Metrocops can use the default Shotgun, and Combine Soldiers will wield the P90 most commonly, instead of the SMG or AR2. Drop the .txt file ontop of your “scripts” folder inside the smodredux folder. To enable this ingame, type npc_randomize_weapon 1 into console.

Bigthunks NPC Weapon Randomizer Table V3
Download it here: /https://bit.ly/2G9VbmC (MEGA, remove the slash)
A recently updated version of Bigthunk’s NPC weapon randomizer table. Drop the .txt file ontop of your “scripts” folder inside the smodredux folder. To enable this ingame, type npc_randomize_weapon 1 into console. This update includes a fair amount of changes as well as adding the Friendly Combine soldier into the table.

Bigthunk’s NPC Weapon Randomizer Table EX [USE WITH V1 OF THE TABLE]
Download it here: /https://bit.ly/35LmADK (MEGA, remove the slash)

This is the same as the original table, however, it is modified by me to include the Friendly Combine Soldier in the randomizer pool. The weapons are focused on making it a “Rebel Heavy” in a sense. Besides that, this functions the same as the original. Drop the .txt file ontop of your “scripts” folder inside the smodredux folder. To enable this ingame, type npc_randomize_weapon 1 into console.

If you are going to play with either of these tables, I HIGHLY recommend you use this setup.

With this setup, you oddly get a roguelike survival experience where you need to pick and choose what weapons you want to keep, as well as eat gibs to keep yourself alive until you get to a health charger.

Any other “unofficial” addons will be added here if I find anymore I’d like to share!

17. Conclusion / Credits

That’s it for my installation and full guide for SMOD REDUX V8. If you have any suggestions, criticisms, or found out something that I didn’t mention in this guide then please drop a comment below and let me know! If you also have any questions feel free to ask them, I’ll answer them when I can. I’m planning on making a guide for Redux FINAL, the last and latest version of SMOD REDUX. That’ll be coming later down the pipeline however… this guide took me almost two weeks to complete. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the mod and have fun!

The Author: Creating the original SMOD mod that this was based on.

Valve: For Half-Life 2, except the May update. ♥♥♥♥ off with that.

10/11/19 – Initial release.