Syndicate Black Ops (SBO for short) is a hardcore action co-op total conversion mod for Half-Life 1, released in 2001 by the French Streum On Studio[streumon-studio.com], known mainly for their cult classic E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy.


The following guide will explain how to install the mod in 2025, while listing common problems and their fixes.

1. Install Half-Life 1 (ideally through Steam)
   
2. Download the installer
   
   • From the official website[sbo.streumon-studio.com]
     
   • Or from Moddb
     
     
   • You can verify the file's authenticity on Virustotal[www.virustotal.com]
     
3. Start the installer and choose your HL1 installation directory. And that's it!
   

1. Configure Half-Life on Steam
   1. Install Half-Life 1 through Steam
      
   2. In Steam Library, right-click on Half-Life 1 and select Properties
      
   3. In Compatibility section, force "Proton Experimental"
      
      
   4. In General section, add the following launch option:
      
      -game syndicate
      
      
   
   
2. Installation preparation
   1. Download the Windows version of SBO:
      
      • From the official website[sbo.streumon-studio.com]
        
      • Or from Moddb
        
      
      
   2. Install protontricks[github.com] and all its dependencies
      
   
   
3. Install SBO itself
   1. Run protontricks
      
   2. Select Half-Life and click through until the "choose a wineprefix" screen. You can ignore any error warnings.
      
   3. In "choose a wineprefix" window, choose "Select the default wineprefix" and hit OK
      
      
   4. Afterwards, select "Run an arbitrary executable (.exe/.msi/.msu)" and confirm. A dialog window will open up.
      
      
   5. In the dialog window, go to the location of your downloaded "sbo_1.38.exe" file and select it.
      
      
   6. An installation wizard should open up. Click Next.
      
   7. In the location selection, your Steam folder might be hidden from the wizard. If so, you have to manually copy in the path to your Half-Life folder and reverse the slashes to '\' format.
      
      For example (on Debian):
      Z:\home\username\.steam\debian-installation\steamapps\common\Half-Life
      
      
      
   8. Finish the installation and you're done! Try running Half-Life to see if everything works.
      
   
   

Following sections describe common problems that you may encounter while setting the mod up and ways to fix them.

IMPORTANT NOTE - In-game, you can open the console with the tilde (~) key, usually below the ESC button on your keyboard.

1. Find SBO or Half-Life 1 in your Steam library
   
2. Right-click and select Properties
   
   
3. In the launch options field (in General section), add these three settings:
   
   -noforcemaccel -noforcemspd -noforcemparms
   
4. (Optional) It shouldn't be necessary, but in the game options under Mouse check "Raw Input"

Note: For non-Steam copy, you can add the launch options to the end of the "Target" field of a shortcut to the hl.exe:

1. Open in-game console (~)
   
2. Type:
   default_fov X
   where X is your desired value (90, 100, 105,...)
   
   
3. (Optional) To make this permanent, add the default_fov X line at the end of your autoexec.cfg (...\Half-Life\valve\ folder)
   

1. Open in-game console (~)
   
2. Type and Submit:
   fps_override 1
3. Then type:
   fps_max X
   where X is your desired value (60, 120, 144, 288, 300,...)
   

1. Open the Options menu
   
2. In the Keyboard tab, hit "Use Defaults"
   
3. Manually bind "Selection Menu" (e.g. to M)

Voice-chat ducking automatically reduces volume of in-game sounds whenever a player is speaking.

1. Open in-game console (~)
   
2. Type:
   voice_overdrive X
   where X is your desired value (2, 5, 10, 15...)
   
   
3. (Optional) To make this permanent, add the line voice_overdrive X to the end of your autoexec.cfg (...\Half-Life\valve\ folder)

Now that you have everything set up, you may ask yourself: "Where/When do I get to play?"

Luckily for you, there are weekly Game Nights being hosted on Friday by the unofficial E.Y.E community.

For detailed information, you can join the official Streum On Discord server:
- Discord Invite Code: streumon

You can find more information about the nearest session and Steam Group here:
- Next Session Date: syndicateblackops<dot>neocities<dot>org

If you want to host a game of your own, fret not, as thanks to the 25th HL1 Anniversary update, SBO now supports Steam Networking.

You can host your game easily by checking the "Enable Steam Networking" option in Create Server menu, without the need to create a dedicated server.

For better multiplayer experience, you can also use the modified server config available on Gamebanana[gamebanana.com].

Believe it or not, but SBO has still an active modding scene.
Most custom maps can be found on Gamebanana[gamebanana.com].

- Streum On Studio - Creators of the mod (official site[streumon-studio.com])
- Ragu - Creator of the thumbnail
- Boxyt - Creator of the custom map showcase video
- Babitz - Linux installation guide