Deadlock: Deadlock Map loading Guide

HELLO! deadlock players, some of you may be wondering with its current version how to (more forcefully) load external maps, as putting items in maps/ does not work. Oh boy I am here to help you!
Here is a step by step guide for you!

First we need to locate our “gameinfo.gi” file in our deadlock install, more specifically the one located in the “citadel” folder, as this is where the game tells the engine what to load, kind of similar to an fgd in source 1.

Locate the “FileSystem” line and look for where it states SearchPaths
Now add extra lines similar to the original 2, but edit the last word to the files of the game you want to load ( csgo for CS2, dota for Dota 2 ect ect. You can find the names by browsing the local games files in steam (should be located in the “game/” folder after you select the browse local files) , Here is an example of what mine was like during testing this :

Now, for windows users this is more easily applicable, for linux and mac, if you have alternatives then use those, otherwise refer to part 2.

For windows users, this is pretty much the last step. We now need to create links to the actual games files you want to try and load. We have something called a “Symlink” that can act as copying a file/folder without needing to copy over gigabytes of data to save space.
First I recommend opening powershell as Admin (You might not need this but You probably don’t want to do it again) and type in cd “path to your deadlock game folder”
For example mine would be
cd “F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Deadlock\game”, And press enter, this changes our current working directory for powershell and anything opened by it to our deadlock path.
Next we need to type cmd to create a command prompt instance with all properties inherited from powershell and type into that this :
mklink /d newlinkname “path you want to link”,
For example mine for CS2 was as follows
mklink /d csgo “F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo”
where the csgo refers to the name of the link file we want to create, I recommend keeping these similar to the ones from the original games for organisational purposes but the only requirement is that these and the ones listed in the gameinfo.gi need to be the same, however ones listed in the gameinfo and don’t exist will not cause issues, same as links in the game folder wont cause issues if they aren’t referenced in the gameinfo.

This will then create a link to our cs install which can be read as if it was copied over, saving us tons of space.
It should look something like this now :

Now if you open the game and attempt to load say, dust 2 via console (Console is bound to F7 by default instead for deadlock, you can rebind this in settings if you like) , it will load (But give you a lot of errors, and voila, we are part of the way there to getting CS2 in deadlock!!!
Refer to extra notes for any updates and issues with this

Hello people who either don’t have or cant use the alternative mentioned, I hope you have a lot of space ready!
Similarly to part one we need to create folders with the content we want to try and load in the deadlock game path. However this is the simpler, but less time and space efficient method, we are going to copy over our games content folder over into deadlocks.
Ie putting CS2’s csgo folder (the one in the “game/” folder) into deadlocks “game/” folder.
Now I hope you have a few minutes to spare as you will obviously need to wait.
Now we need to open the console in-game and load say, dust 2 and it will take a second but it will load! (Console is bound to F7 by default instead for deadlock, you can rebind this in settings if you like)

Now since we are loading things from different games the map entities are bound to be different, By default all deadlock players will spawn at 0,0,0 since there is no deadlock spawn entity in the cs2 maps, meaning we will need to enable cheats and noclip onto solid ground in order to not get stuck in a death loop of falling and dying to the void.
After you do this you can noclip again and wander around on the map!
(Due to the above issue, Vertigo is inaccessible due to its height, unless you can teleport the player comically large heights first)
Pictured below is Ancient, A map from CS2, loaded via this method
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3316278809
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3316285359

There ARE issues with this however, as of testing this initially I have not been able to fix some but they all shall be listed here, with this guide updated as I try to break deadlock MORE!
Issues :
* Some Dota maps don’t load, All main Dota maps refuse to load completely, I have no idea why, I am not a Valve employee.

* Any maps that do load don’t have textures!!! I believe this is an issue with Deadlock not having the cs2 shading system judging by console, however it does still render them in wireframe, so its not the worst thing in the world. I haven’t tested for the Alyx maps but I expect it would be the same issue.

* This community map doesn’t seem to have any geometry! Not sure why Deadlock refuses to load packed files, or if its even an issue with the packed files being loaded at all, but loading community maps from CS2 looks like some things do not show up at all, oh and loading Thera instantly Kicks you upon spawn, for some reason??

You Gain infinite ammo while sliding
Also in the gameinfo for deadlock is talk of the supposed L4D3, implying it might (still) exist :

Does this work for other source 2 games? Probably, it’s worth a shot but they already have their own mapping tools so you don’t need to use this workaround anyway, unless it’s just to attempt to load assets from those games.
Will you ever update this guide if you ever get the shaders to work? Probably, or I’ll give a link to the maps should I ever get my hands on Deadlock map-making tools, in which case this guide will likely be useless.
Yes, the Deadlock character is quite large compared to the CS2 character, I would say the scale is similar to that of the HL2 player to Heavy from TF2.

Hope you Have fun running around in a wireframe Dust II! Oh, and please don’t kill me Valve!