Re-Balanced Ammo & Damage (READ DESC.)

Uploaded · February 27, 2026

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Author: MNC

Last revision: 3 Jan at 21:25 UTC

File size: 6.13 KB

On Steam Workshop

Description:

"The ULTIMATE ammo count and damage tweaks mod."

(And a fix for automatically setting magazine capacity)

Now I know, this is nothing new. Fact is, this was supposed to be a private mod. This was published as an anonymous request from a friend while I was figuring out Half-Life 2 modding stuff on my own.

Anyway, why re-balanced? I wouldn’t exactly call it like that actually. I’m no game designer and I think HL2 on its own is really well balanced, but then…

Why?

I simply feel like the max reserve ammo count and damage output for some of the base game’s weapons is a little lower than they should be.
You could argue that for the worse ones, they have a higher skill floor and these changes go against their purpose.
While partially true, it’s no secret that the average player will prioritize certain weapons over others which they’ll leave behind. I made this mod so that pretty much all of them are a solid choice in combat for the casual player.
Other weapons take me out of my immersion because their magazine cap is inaccurate in comparison to their real life counterparts.
Yet, no mod has offered a solution to the fact that you need to load a save from Episode Two for the weapon scripts to work, not even a manual installation worked. This was fixed on a random mod for crosshairs and I found that solution accidentally.
Even if it still requires a manual installation, it’s still a solution regardless and I even oversimplified it so that you no longer require external programs.

This mod requires Script MultiLoader (Must be on top of the priority list) in favor of compatibility with other mods, minus those that change the weapon scripts for the Pistol, SMG and Shotgun. These weapon scripts are not the same as the commands ran with the MultiLoader, which is why a manual installation is required.

Extra Installation Steps:

If you don’t mind clicking on a button to make the scripts work, you can skip this whole installation process and use the HL2 Script Loader made by mario1287, which is easier to install. Otherwise, if you want the scripts to work on startup, you may proceed.

Download from the following link and extract the zip’s contents: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rlhqlLZLUFra1wtpXQyxyx3B_Rzn-7cb/view?usp=drive_link

This file contains two folders: "MagFix", required to avoid loading a save from EP2; and "hl2", which includes the weapon scripts meant to be installed manually into your custom folder. The latter is not necessary as I’ve already included them in the workshop upload, but a manual installation ensures it will always work. It also contains extras:

Support for 2.5 Bobux’s Crosshairs credited below and MMod Crosshairs for Base HL2 [gamebanana.com] by mrbramlet.
"MultiLoader Begone", including a skill.cfg file with the values I’ve changed. In case you don’t want to use that mod.

For MagFix:

Found in the main folder. When opened, you’ll find two folders, one of them is a backup for reverting changes.
Copy the hl2_complete folder.
Go to your game files in C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonHalf-Life 2 and paste it, replacing everything.

For the weapon scripts:

Copy "hl2" from the main folder.
Go to your game files and paste it.

For the extras (after following the previous steps):

Open "hl2", then custom, then WeaponScripts and open the extras folder.
Open the folder of your liking and copy whatever’s inside of it.
Go back to WeaponScripts and paste it.

If absolutely nothing works:

Copy everything inside of WeaponScripts.
Go to your game files, then hl2_complete and paste it.
Remove WeaponScripts from your custom folder since it won’t be necessary.

For reverting changes, copy the hl2_complete that’s in the backup for MagFix and remove WeaponScripts from custom. If you installed the scripts via hl2_complete (the one in your game files), remove the files you pasted over there.

Specific Weapon Changes have been moved onto the discussions tab.

Credits:

Marisa Freeman for part of their feedback down in the comments that helped with some of the mod’s updates.

This mod for the file needed to make the weapon scripts work:

HL2 Custom Weapon Crosshairs Standalone; whose solution was inspired by thatmoodyguy. The installation process was further simplified to not require external programs.