Groovy

The sound.cache files are not needed, just delete them.

What do I do about combining workshop.vpk.sound.cache files? Combining those obviously will just replace them with whichever one I dragged it onto.

If the subtitles in ep2 are broken in like: You only see the ep2 subtitles
Then you need to either pack separate mods into a single one, or unsubscribe from other mods

About the "40 mods" context, i currently have 33 active so unsure if it's already that bad this way.

it should be located in
steamdirectory/Steam/steamapps/common/Half-Life 2/hl2/custom (same paht for lost coast, ep1 and ep2, just with their respective folders)

if the folder doesn't exist, create it yourself, then put the mod in there, like

custom/EPIC WEAPON MOD (the mod folder should contain all its neccesary stuff inside, like the models, sounds, scripts, etc.)
vpks also work, just put them there and they'll work perfectly

Lol. Nice. Where's the custom folder located? Closest I can find is like 4 empty "workshop" folders.

yes it does, i tried it myself and it does work
the game considers it a single mod

I wonder if packaging separate mods together works...

Yeah, idk why it happens, it applies to both "manually-installed" mods (put in the custom folder) or workshop-downloaded mods, so ye, you need to be careful

Idk if valve is ever gonna fix it, tho

Oh my god, THAT'S why subtitles disappear!? Is because of having 40+ mods? That is so, SO stupid.

I have been scouring my mod list thinking it's a mod that's messing up the subtitles, but nope, some stupid hidden arbitrary mod limit breaks them, smh.

Indeed, it was just swapping the left & right channels

Crazy how valve couldn't be bothered to make such a simple fix

daring calling that thing a minigun

Yes and no
If you have 40 mods installed, then that's why, since for some reason there's a mod limit until the subtitles break (if you have 41 mods or more, the subtitles disappear)

This breaks the subtitles.

Ah, surprised valve doesn't just make a bug-report feature

Nope, the hunter minigun is still broken even after the 20th anniversary update, so idecided to upload this mod here aswell

Doesn't this only apply to Gmod hunters though? Like aren't the HL2 sounds already fixed?