Team Fortress 2 Update Released
October 21, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
Scream Fortress VIII has arrived!
- Featuring 3 new community maps: Brimstone, Pit of Death, and Maple Ridge Event
- Added the Creepy Crawly Case
- Contains 21 new community-created items that make-up the Creepy Crawly Collection
- Has a chance to give one of 3 community-created Halloween-restricted items as a bonus item
- Has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item
- Added a taunt Unusualifier
- A new tool that will Unusualify the specified taunt with the Unusual effect listed in the tool's description
- Can be found as a random bonus item when opening a Creepy Crawly Case
- Added two new taunts to the Mann Co. Store
- Taunt: The Victory Lap
- Taunt: Second Rate Sorcery (community-created)
- Added 8 new community-created Unusual effects
- 4 new effects for Unusual hats
- 4 new effects for Unusual taunts
- Continue last year's event by collecting the souls of dead players for your Soul Gargoyle by killing enemies, doing map objectives, or collecting the Soul Gargoyles that spawn in the maps
- Join Halloween matches by selecting the "Halloween" category in Casual
- Scream Fortress VIII runs through November 9th, 2016
During Scream Fortress VIII
- All players who launch the game will receive a Soul Gargoyle if they don't already have one from last year's event
- Grants access to Merasmissions and Halloween item transmutations
- Tracks Merasmissions completed and souls collected
- Added 3 new Merasmissions for the featured maps
- Completing a Merasmission will give players a classic Halloween item and the chance for a Creepy Crawly Case
- The chance to receive an Unusual item from a case opening has been increased during the event
- All cases and Mann Co. Supply Crates will grant Halloween 2016 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects
Matchmaking
- The Competitive maps list has been updated
- Added pl_badwater and ctf_turbine
- Disabled cp_granary and cp_badlands
- Maps will continue to enter and exit this list over time
- Added "Load Saved Settings" and "Save Current Settings" buttons to the Casual mode Map Selection menu
- Search criteria is now manually saved to give players more control over the default settings when the game is launched
- XP earned in Casual matches has been adjusted to reward players more for their personal contribution to the match
- XP per point has returned to 6.5 XP per point
- XP earned for match completion and objective completion now scales based on your score relative to total amount of points scored by everyone in the match
- Increased the matchmaker's priority of matches with imbalanced teams
- This should reduce the occurrence of extended imbalanced matches when multiple players leave
General
- Added the AsiaFortress Cup Season 10 tournament medals
- Added LBTF2 6v6 Season 13 tournament medals
- Improved several aspects of texture handling for OS X and Linux clients
- This should reduce the rate of "Out of memory" errors for players on high texture settings, especially on level change
- Players still encountering this error can reduce texture quality to medium or lower to greatly improve stability pending further improvements
- Fixed a missing material issue on cp_sunshine
- Fixed players not taking damage when exploding as a bombhead without stunning Merasmus
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine zombies not using the correct skin in Ghost Town outside of the Halloween event
- Fixed a bug with the vote-kick timer in Mann vs. Machine mode
- Fixed taunts not restoring the proper weapon when the taunts are finished
- Fixed the Pomson 6000 playing the shotgun reload sound
- Updated the sounds made when the Scout shoves someone while using the Shortstop
- Updated some Merasmus audio files that weren't playing properly
- Updated the localization files
October 12, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Players will now be randomly selected to participate in a survey at the end of Casual and Competitive matches
- Ongoing improvements to the matchmaking backend to improve match quality and reduce wait times
- Fixed air-blasts sometimes sending deflected projectiles in random directions when the Pyro is close to enemy players
- Fixed a case where players joining community bootcamp servers via the server-browser could not select a team
- Reduced the rate at which players can earn bonus points for extinguishing teammates
- Fixed a case where players could use the Halloween teleport spell to get outside the map
- Updated the localization files
- Community requests
- Fixed Merasmus not being stunned by bomb-head players on community Halloween maps
- Added the ability for community Halloween maps to call a truce during a Monoculus or Merasmus fight
- Can be set via the game rules entity using the SetMapForcedTruceDuringBossFight input
- Fixed energy weapons not hitting pumpkin bombs, Merasmus props, and RD robots
- Mann vs. Machine update
- Fixed the Sentry Buster sound being orphaned if the Sentry Buster detonates while invulnerable
- Fixed zombies not using the correct skin in Ghost Town
- Updated cp_snakewater_final1
- Changes based on community feedback
- Updated pl_millstone_event
- Updated bot navigation file, bots now use all routes, won't get stuck so easily and are smarter
- Fixed woodpile spot where HHH could get stuck
- Improved clipping on wood piles
- Fixed missing rooftop texture
- Fixed a few props flashing at certain angles
- Fixed a spot in the last area where you could place stickies underground
- Fixed Monoculus not getting stunned when hit by players exiting purgatory
- Updated cp_sunshine
- Blockbulleted spiral staircase on the back of second
- Added medium ammo to mid near choke
- Removed clipping over wooden arch going into second from valley
- Reduced the size of the wooden arch
- Blockbulleted a few undersides of staircases on last that could catch projectiles
- Removed a ladder on last
September 28, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Fixed some players not being able to click on the new rematch UI elements
- Fixed the end of round music not playing in Casual matches
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
September 27, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
Matchmaking
- Players can now form rematches at the end of a Casual match
- At the end of a Casual match, players will have 30 seconds to opt-in to a rematch
- If at least 6 players from BLU and 6 players from RED have chosen to rematch, then a rematch will begin
- A rematch will use the same teams, map and server
- Players can now re-queue into Casual Matchmaking during the end of a match
- Players who decline a rematch or simply don't vote in the rematch voting period will automatically be re-queued
- Updated the way XP is earned in Casual matches
- Players will now be awarded more XP based on their team's performance at the end of a match
- XP is no longer lost for leaving a Casual match early
- A breakdown of XP sources is now shown when your XP bar fills up
- Casual matches now more strongly prefer to distribute players to teams based on experience, in order to better avoid creating one-sided matches
- Casual matches are now more likely to start with fewer than 24 players in lower population game-modes or regions, wherein the wait time for a full match would become excessive
- The current minimum allowable match size in such situations is twelve players
- The matchmaker will still attempt to place late-joiners into these matches as they become available
- Competitive matches no longer terminate when any player abandons the match
- Bots will now fill in for players who have abandoned, or temporarily disconnected from, Competitive matches
- Matches that finish at an advantage or disadvantage (e.g. 6v5 or 5v6, not counting any bots) will now result in larger or smaller skill rating adjustments for disadvantaged wins or disadvantaged losses, respectively
- Competitive matches that lose more than one player per team will keep the current behavior of ending the match
- Players who abandon Competitive matches still receive a large skill rating penalty and Competitive matchmaking cooldown, regardless of whether a bot was allowed to take their place
- Greatly improved the reliability of client ping estimates when placing users into matchmaking servers
- The game client now periodically checks in with the matchmaking server network to estimate ping to each region, and feeds the information back to the matchmaking system
- This should greatly reduce cases of players being placed in regions to which they have poor ping, even when said regions are geographically nearby
- The scoreboard now shows the connection status for missing and connecting players
General
- Added tournament medals for ozfortress Season 16 and Season 17
- Fixed an exploit related to the Eureka Effect and carrying buildings
- Fixed Live Streams menu not displaying the list of streams
- Fixed the flamethrower not drawing the Halloween Spell: Spectral Flame effect during Halloween and Full Moon events
- Updated the localization files
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
September 20, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Internal changes to the way the client talks to the Valve gameserver network in preparation for future changes to the matchmaking ping system
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
September 15, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Fixed a case where crouching was used to see outside of the playable area. This could be exploited to place buildings at invalid locations.
- Fixed regression that prevented valid building placements
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
September 14, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Fixed a regression in Mann vs. Machine where stunned bots could not pick-up the bomb
- Fixed being able to damage enemies through gates with the Cow Mangler 5000
- Fixed an exploit related to placing buildings outside of the playable space
- Updated the localization files
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
September 12, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Fixed an exploit related to not respawning in the spawn room at the beginning of Casual and Competitive matches
- Fixed Pyros griefing teammates by attacking them with the flamethrower
- Fixed Medics getting a permanent speed boost after healing a charging Demoman
- Fixed Medics getting the Demoman's charging speed when using Mediguns other than The Quick-Fix
- Fixed the Strange Razorback double-counting the number Spies shocked
- Fixed a bug related to the Sniper's zoom and taunting
- Fixed players being able to pick-up the PASS Time jack while they are stunned
- Increased the matchmaking system's preference for matching large pre-made parties against each other in Casual Mode. This should result in more balanced matches, but may cause a slight increase in queue times for larger parties.
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
September 9, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Fix the Righteous Bison projectiles colliding with, but not impacting, some doors (ex. the BLU spawn doors of cp_mountainlab)
- Updated the localization files
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
August 29, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Fixed the Short Circuit causing lag compensation problems on the server
- Fixed sappers sometimes only being applied to one Engineer teleporter
- Weapons can no longer be juggled to bypass the weapon's re-fire rate
- Fixed a server crash related to sending an invalid client command
- Fixed players being able to teleport out of the spawn room using the Eureka Effect at the beginning of a round
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine players receiving abandon penalties after playing at least one wave
- Fixed Refill Ammo canteens not refilling the ammo for all weapons in Mann vs. Machine
- Fixed mini-sentries not having full health when they are built quickly during the setup time on Mann vs. Machine maps
- Fixed the scoreboard badge panels not updating properly when teams would change sides on attack/defend maps
- Fixed Casual and Competitive mode badges incorrectly displaying the level 1 badge when at max level
- Updated the materials for the Mistaken Movember to fix a transparency problem
- Updated the model for the Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol to fix a problem with shading
- Updated the Frontier Justice so the "Revenge crits are lost on death" attribute is displayed as a negative
- Strange Part: Allies Extinguished can now be applied to Strange Sydney Sleeper rifles
- Added the Tip of the Hats 2016 community event medals
- Updated the Salty Dog to hide the Scout's headphones
- Fixed the Borneo map stamp using the incorrect image in the Mann Co. Store
- Fixed the game not properly honoring the steam per-game language setting
- Fixed a bug with the Cow Mangler 5000 reload speed
- Updated the localization files
August 23, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Added "Party Hat" and "Noise Maker - TF Birthday" item grants to players who don't already have them during TF2's birthday
- Fixed some classes not displaying the particles when using the "Noise Maker - TF Birthday" item
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
August 19, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Fixed a common server crash that primarily occurred during Mann vs. Machine matches
- Fixed a memory leak for OS X and Linux clients
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
August 16, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Competitive Mode
- Players in the first tier of ranks (1-6) now lose substantially fewer rank points on match loss
- Players with high win/loss ratios in recent matches now earn bonus rank points in order to accelerate their progress toward a more appropriate rank
- Added report player context menu on scoreboard
- Requires mouse input mode on the scoreboard (see Adv. Options)
- Fixed a potential security issue (thanks to Justin G., aka sigsegv, and Linus S., aka PistonMiner, for this report)
- Fixed an issue with The Righteous Bison and Pomson 5000 hit detection where projectiles were being removed when colliding with invisible entities
- Fixed a display issue with combat text damage numbers against Engineer buildings sometimes being incorrect (such as with weapons that do reduced damage against buildings)
- Removed the damage effects and pain sounds when using the Rocket Jumper and Sticky Jumper
- Updated PASS Time view model positions to support using FOV 70
- Updated the animations for the Sharp Dresser to fix a clipping problem
- Updated the localization files
- Updated cp_sunshine to fix some clipping issues
- Updated cp_metalworks
- Adjusted the height of the ceiling in the room behind the second control point
- Added some slight visual detail to various concrete rooms throughout (team color stripe)
- Adjusted the height and width of various doors throughout the level. Mostly focused on primary paths into combat areas, with an eye towards standardizing door sizes where possible.
- Fixed an angled playerclip brush above 2nd control point that players could surf on (thanks Photon)
- Adjusted height of 'tank' in L room behind 2nd control point
- Moved two tall spotlights back into a clipping brush at mid to avoid very small collision issue (thanks Bilbert)
- Adjusted some clipping issues by turning rooftop brushes into displacements/func_brushes throughout the map and disabling collision (thanks Bilbert)
- Clipped off some glass windows at 2nd
- Added crate to cargo containers at mid, allowing scouts to get onto the highest cargo container
- Added props to the clipping ramp around the final control point to indicate collision
- Replaced brush fence on the platform in alley with a metal prop to solve an asymmetrical shadow bug (thanks Bilbert)
August 14, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Updated menu content for upcoming end of the Heavy vs. Pyro war
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
August 3, 2016 - TF2 Team
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
- Fixed map objectives (e.g. flags, capture points, carts) sometimes becoming unresponsive in Casual Mode games
- Fixed a case where players could be late-joined into games playing a map that they didn't have selected
- Updated the tooltips for the Sticky and Rocket Jumper to include the PASS Time JACK in the list of items that can't be picked up while they are equipped
- More fixes and improvements to weapon viewmodels when using wider/larger weapon field-of-view settings
