Post news Report RSS Source SDK is free

Following the free to play release of TF2, Source SDK has been accidentally released free, and will remain that way.

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This news comes a little late, but for those unaware due to the recent release of a free Team Fortress 2, the Source SDK will soon become free to use in its entirety, for everyone (confirmed by Valve's Robin Walker in this RockPaperShotgun article). The free SDK was first uncovered in our forums on the 28th of June by an enterprising young man going by the name of Riley, who just happens to be the playtest leader of esteemed Source mods Zombie Panic Source and No More Room In Hell.

This means that all Source mods, made for Valve games (we list around 1,500 for HL2 alone) may eventually be free to play, without requiring you to purchase a Valve game (thou who hasn't purchased a valve game on this site?)

Here is what Robin Walker had to say:

Robin wrote: Yep. That said, your email has triggered a process here that made us re-examine that, and we’re going to just go ahead and make the Source SDK freely available. Thanks for making us better!


When RockPaperShotgun emailed Walker for further confirmation, and he went on to explain:

Robin wrote: We are in the process of getting it all done. It’s a bit messy because we have multiple versions of the SDK, and there’s some dependencies we need to shake out. But yes, the gist of it is that we’re just going to go ahead and make the Source SDK freely available.


Nifty... share this great news!

Post comment Comments  (0 - 50 of 145)
Triden007
Triden007 - - 243 comments

(buried)

What??
Is valve quitting themselves??
What is happening to them?!
Are they offering EA games and anothers games companies a surrender?
This is soooo strange...

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Tycoon-Master
Tycoon-Master - - 115 comments

Maybe once they have made a reasonable amount of money off a game, they release it for free since you most likely are going to download it anyways.

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Cypher05
Cypher05 - - 102 comments

Yeah, all those micro transactions (and some not so micro from the crazies) for hats, weapons, paints, packs, mapper support (which is cool, actually) and all that jazz.

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Isimiel
Isimiel - - 438 comments

mabey there working on a new engine?

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Phenixtri
Phenixtri - - 3,414 comments

A new engine would explain why Half Life Episode 3 is taking so long.

Think about it HL1 on the Gold Source engine in 1998 and HL2 came out in 2004 on the new Source engine. So its logical given Valves history that Episode 3 will be on a brand new engine.

So think about it how could Valve make a new revolutionary engine that's better than Source and other contemporary engines? Can you? Because I cant really come up with anything and thus I can understand why Valve is taking so long with Episode 3. We know they are working on something since we can see their experimenting with games like Portal 1 & 2 with their new features.

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Gkthepwner
Gkthepwner - - 25 comments

The name's been leaked as HL3, though, so that even further strengthens your argument.

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branpurn
branpurn - - 263 comments

Yeah. It'll be HL3 if it's on a new engine, to keep with tradition and all.

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R0807C0K3
R0807C0K3 - - 259 comments

It would probaly look live action :P lol no realy!! every new engine valve releases is state of the art!!

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Ice_Man_120
Ice_Man_120 - - 134 comments

(buried)

If i'm honest, i think they should use an engine similar to CryEngine 3, it would make HL3 amazing.

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Lucífer
Lucífer - - 3,393 comments

Nah. They should make their own engine and not use that over-hyped piece of ****.

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Ice_Man_120
Ice_Man_120 - - 134 comments

(buried)

I didn't say use it, I said make something like it graphics and physics wise, and an easier way of modelling out the map, cant you read you thick illiterate twat and it's not a over hyped piece of ****. Open your eyes before you type.

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branpurn
branpurn - - 263 comments

@Pilchy120 CE3? No, if I had to I'd rather have it on the PC flavor of the engine, CE2.

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Ice_Man_120
Ice_Man_120 - - 134 comments

(buried)

CE2 is good but in my opinion CE3 is better. :)

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dahakapersico
dahakapersico - - 24 comments

my friend they are valve and they want be oringinal no want copy other engine

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ThatOGDon
ThatOGDon - - 231 comments

That OR:
They're doing massive upgrades to the Source Engine to prepare for a full on Half Life 3.

For example, the graphics of Portal 2 are vastly superior to the graphics in Portal. Also, didn't they say that, for DOTA2, there will be "improved global lighting" and "true cloth simulation" built into the Source Engine?

BUT, then again, only Valve knows what Valve has planned...

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yoyobeerman
yoyobeerman - - 74 comments

ya that dose make sense maybe it will even be better that cry engine 3!! just imagine tf2 in source 3!!

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At0M1c
At0M1c - - 37 comments

Yeah i mean there was hat mysterious room sized box at E3 2011 that had the HL2 : Episode 3 logo on it and a always closed door O.o?

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TrashCan-Man23
TrashCan-Man23 - - 683 comments

Looks to me like they're becoming more of a distributor rather than being a developer. Just my thoughts though.

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Also_known_as_Peter
Also_known_as_Peter - - 1,400 comments

Ding a-ding! New engine!

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Brainles5
Brainles5 - - 63 comments

Gabe Newell said in a recent interview that their not planing on making a new engine. source: Pc Gamer.
However its not necessary true. But we shouldnt expect it in a near future.

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Spr09
Spr09 - - 102 comments

(buried)

nah, they'll find a way to make it so you have to pay to get those juicy hl2 mods.

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Amez
Amez - - 514 comments

Sorry bud, but Valve doesn't pull crap like that, and never will.

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SPTX
SPTX - - 324 comments

(buried)

Well, they made you pay for L4D2... full price.

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Jerkakame
Jerkakame - - 818 comments

Because its a game? lol

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Bäver33
Bäver33 - - 468 comments

Well they promised they would make you pay for game content updates, they did anyway.

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PrivRyan
PrivRyan - - 116 comments

??? what
Valve doesn't really charge for game content, except for tf2 of course. although, everything you can buy, you can just get for free with some patience. they never really demand your money.

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rorios
rorios - - 109 comments

but L4D2 is a full game? ****ing L4D2 boycotters....

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(Exchange)
(Exchange) - - 183 comments

(buried)

Valve never pull crap like that?
Only throwing my 20 euros to the trash. It's not crap. It's AMAZING 'cause it's being wasted by the legendary VALVE.
Don't worry Valve, you are doing the right steps to become ActiValve.
Soon we will pay for DLCs, it will move on to subscription fees, and then we will pay-per-minute for Steam.
Feel free to down this comment, you know it's true.

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jo291
jo291 - - 321 comments

So because valve is putting all sorts of things out for free and gives free updates that means that soon they will make you pay for everything?

Durr logic error.

Sorry but that makes no ******* sense.

I can hardly even understand your comment to begin with.

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Ice_Man_120
Ice_Man_120 - - 134 comments

Why don't you all shut up arguing like babies and wait and see what valve are doing.

Stop being so damn petty.

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rorios
rorios - - 109 comments

??? try looking up review or try it a friends copy of a game before buying it and blaming valve that you don't like it and you can't return it. And why would giving things away free with free updates, cause them to start charging for DLC or sub fees?

"oh no! Valve are giving away a game for free, soon we'll have to pay for DLC!" what????

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MorshuLoL
MorshuLoL - - 209 comments

Meanwhile at Activision...

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JoshZemlinsky
JoshZemlinsky - - 348 comments

@Triden007 they still earn more then they can spend, just think about how much money they earn with the Tf2 store and the Portal 2 store (not that i own portal 2, not that i ever will. So i dont know if the stuff in there is free) Think about that, they have no reason to sell Tf2 anymore, because everyone has it. And they'll still earn good on the store.

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SteveZombie
SteveZombie - - 3,730 comments

Are you trolling or just stupid?

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adliikhwan
adliikhwan - - 133 comments

NO YOU MORON WHY WOULD YOU THINK GABE WOULD STOP VALVE ITS HIS SOURCE OF MONEY. VALVE IS THE GREATEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED IN HIS LIFE.

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MajorBanter
MajorBanter - - 110 comments

TF2 fulfilled it's profit margin by a long, long way. Why not make it free?

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orkenuu
orkenuu - - 24 comments

and the most strange thing is that THEY ARE MAKING DOTA 2 what are these guys problem

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SiPlus
SiPlus - - 290 comments

EA is Valve games retail publisher. Valve is developer.

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wlmeng11
wlmeng11 - - 1 comments

That explains why no Valve games have an EA logo on them.

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Dman757
Dman757 - - 267 comments

Man if only someone had posted about this last week Moddb.com

;)

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INtense! Author
INtense! - - 4,100 comments

I missed that, sorry I know i'm late to the party

Reply Good karma+3 votes
Icedecknight
Icedecknight - - 974 comments

Don't worry all the cool kids are late to the parties ;).

Reply Good karma Bad karma+14 votes
Dman757
Dman757 - - 267 comments

Well it's on the frontpage this time so more the merrier!

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Varsity
Varsity - - 1,044 comments

Excuse me? :p Moddb.com

I'd be interested to know which news admin didn't consider this story worth the front page...

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INtense! Author
INtense! - - 4,100 comments

I'm yelling at Moddb.com (henley) the site editor right now for missing that. This was a huge story which a few members on this site broke and we totally missed it.

Reply Good karma+2 votes
BluishGreenPro
BluishGreenPro - - 534 comments

The Source? For free!? Great!... only, I use Game Maker... oh well, I can still appreciate how great this will be for others!

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Sakrath
Sakrath - - 4 comments

ITS FREE :D !!

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Krisz113
Krisz113 - - 15 comments

(buried)

I think the HL (Ep)3 will be the last VALVe game, that i buy (If it's rlease ever). I bought the L4D Now if you had the L4D2, you had the L4D. I bought the Orange box. Now the TF2 is free. (Oh, i'm a premium user, what a wonderful feeling) And now the SDK... Gabe, don't you wana give me the VALVe?

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DarkPivot
DarkPivot - - 699 comments

Oh well, your loss for missing out on some awesome games.

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santap555
santap555 - - 20 comments

(buried)

Me too I feel like you .

I bought VALVE Games for Sorce SDK , But now It'FREE.

we are customer of VALVe. But why They give Many things for Many People for FREE .

What do you think valve ,What do you think about the feelings of your customers.

Please do something for your customers.

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Ark_
Ark_ - - 583 comments

Jeez people really will bitch about anything.

The modding community really seem to be a uncontent and unsuporting bunch :/

"Please do something for your customers."
Like free dlc?

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Icedecknight
Icedecknight - - 974 comments

No please just kill me, I can't live knowing that I spent 20$ bucks on an awesome-but now free game :'( *Gives medic gun* :O

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Evil-Police
Evil-Police - - 81 comments

Unless you're unfortunate, you probably bought the OB a looong time ago like I did. Stop complaining. Chances are they will never ever make their single player games free (Portal was an exception and a promotion for Portal 2), just the multiplayer ones. So calm down kiddo.

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rorios
rorios - - 109 comments

1: The source engine has been out for 7 ****ing years, and you're upset that they're making it free???????????? what?!?!?

2: "we are customer of VALVe. But why They give Many things for Many People for FREE" what wrong with them promoting their games by making things free? It helps give new players a high opinion of valve which will give them even more customers in the future.

3: "Please do something for your customers" .............. urrrrr, free DLC???????????

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MNKYband
MNKYband - - 14 comments

Valve DID do something for their customers.

1. You didn't pay that much for TF2 probably.

2. You have a PREMIUM user now for buying it.

3. They made an awesome game free so everyone without enough money or not wanting to buy it (like me) can enjoy it.

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ashton93
ashton93 - - 478 comments

Pfft, ahaha, seems like you dont know what Valve does for their customers and users

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rorios
rorios - - 109 comments

seriously??? you're upset and don't want to buy anymore valve games because they're using a good tactic to promote a game that's been out for 4 years, and which you could get for hella cheap anyway???? and I'm sick of reading stupid comments everywhere from the left over L4D2 boycott retards who can't get over themselves...

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madcat1030
madcat1030 - - 245 comments

I appologize. You must feel so inferior for buying something when it was new. I bought it when it was new too. I enjoyed it. I still enjoy it. Now people who didn't buy it when it was less than 5 years old can enjoy it too. Honestly, I don't get why people are ****** at valve for making things free. Had you known 5 years ago when you bought Team Fortress, can you honestly say you'd have waited until now to buy it? If not, your argument is voided.

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