Custom Campaigns

Custom Campaigns are community-created campaigns that can range in size from a full campaign, to a single chapter. Some custom maps are specifically designed for game modes like Scavenge and Survival. Custom content can only be created and used by PC users. Xbox 360 players are unable to use custom content due to technical and financial difficulties regarding porting community-based content over.

Valve is supportive of custom content. They have a SDK for each of their games including Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, which allows for easy creating and installing of custom campaigns. They have also released audio recordings by the voice actors of the Survivors for use in specific custom campaigns and feature some custom campaigns on their online blog.

How To Install
Once a custom campaign is downloaded from a site, the .vpk file is simply placed into the addons folder found in either Left 4 Dead or Left 4 Dead 2 folders. Campaigns are generally created for a certain game; a campaign created for Left 4 Dead may not always work for Left 4 Dead 2, and vice versa, so be aware which game the custom campaign is for before installing.

For Left 4 Dead 2 content, the Left 4 Dead 2 Add-on Support should be installed via Steam, found in Tools. This will update Left 4 Dead 2 to allow running maps properly. Once installed, it does not need to be run at the same time; it will always be active.

Some custom campaigns may not be encased in a single .vpk file; the file may be a zip or rar file containing a number of .bsp and .nav files as well. In this case, the file will generally have instructions on where to place them, but usually, the .bsp and .nav files, along with related .txt files, will be placed in the maps folder.

List of Custom Campaigns
Here is a list of some of the most popular custom campaigns which have been noted by their creators to be 'complete', or at least in the final build, with no major updates planned unless concerning bug fixes. Descriptions are taken from where the map is found, unless no description was given.