Valve Community

Netday is dedicated to custom maps of high quality only. Maps are added regularly (at least one per week). It also covers mods like Dystopia, Portal Prelude and JailBreak. The map reviews are both in English and in French. It is advert free and features direct download to all files.

Mod DB is the largest website dedicated to supporting independent development of games, including mods, indie games, and user generated game content.

Planet Half-Life is the daddy of them all. It’s been online longer than most and is generally updated daily.

TF2 Maps is a community mapping site based around an active forum. It offers map downloads, tutorials, servers, developer blogs and user galleries.

HL2Mods is a simple and easy to use directory of mods for Half-Life 2. It covers Episode One and Two but doesn’t make a distinction. The site is easy to navigate and allows visitors to rate and comment on each mod. The search function is comprehensive and very useful. It’s a great site for finding basic information about mods.

Amphibian Mods describes procedures for installing and running single player mods for popular first person shooter games. The site is also a showcase for quality mods and map packs which have been made by fans between 1999 and today. The site illustrates methods for installing and running mods from command lines, including how to make shortcuts directly to each mod or map. All mods and maps can be ready to play directly from a shortcut, as in the example on this page, without having use the in-game menu or console. This site also acts as a quality filter for the huge number of mods and maps which are available.

The Snarkpit has been online since 2001, making it one of the longest running websites that covers Valve’s games. It has had a number of redesigns over the years and always adds new features. It’s focus is maps and mods for a wide variety of games and mods. The site has an active forum and plenty of downloads. Many of the articles are quite short but they are still a good read.

PlanetPhillip.com contains the most comprehensive database of single player maps and mods for the Half-Life series of game on the Internet. In addition the site contains Phillip’s blog, which includes topics such as game ideas and mod stories, commentary on gaming topics, weekly poll questions, interviews with mod authors and more.

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