Overview
GoldSrc is a 3D graphics engine developed by
Valve Software and based on
id Software's QuakeWorld engine. Like its predecessor, the GoldSrc engine was responsible for a surge in the sales of PC graphics cards and was instrumental in the development of 3D gaming as we know it today.
Name
The name GoldSrc was given retroactively after the engine's source code repository was split following the completion of
Half-Life. The new "Goldsrc" branch referred to the
Half-Life engine that was shipped to retail while the "Src" branch was continually updated leading to the creation of the
Source engine used in
Half-Life 2 and subsequent
Valve games.
Modification
Based on an engine already known for its modification potential and built by a company who has since become known for its support of modifications; the GoldSrc engine allowed users to shape the world of
Half-Life as they saw fit. Fans have created a huge number of mods on top of GoldSrc using tools provided by the game developers themselves. Modifications such as
Counter-Strike and
Day of Defeat have gone so far as to be picked up by Valve themselves and ported to the newer
Source engine as saleable products.
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