Binary Gamer | Digital Gaming Reborn » Team Fortress

TF2 Friendship ends in one day Comic

AzzX — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:59:39 +0000

There is some bizarreness happening in the world of Team Fortress 2 lately and todays official blog update is no exception. The Administrator is pissed at the apparent blossoming relationship between the Red Demoman and Blue Soldier. If that doesn’t turn all you FPS nuts on, I don’t know what will!

Click the Comic on the right to discover the Administrators evil plans to fracture the twisted friendship of two natural enemies. They are Red and Blue after all…. Potential Demoman and Solder update?

The latest Team Fortress 2 update comes with the following audio files (you tube vid) which people believed had the potential to be a new gamemode, but not so according to Robin Walker from this Kotaku article.

We’ve got something coming, but it’s not a new game mode,” Valve’s Robin Walker says. “The key to understanding the new sound files is to figure out who’s hearing them in-game, and who isn’t.

Alert a friendship has been detected and will be eliminated:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9uvQ_k8gqs

Team Fortress Haunted Halloween Special

AzzX — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:51:37 +0000

The casual gaming FPS phenomena that is TF2 has once again gone all out in a Halloween extravaganza of satanic proportions! We have some Mildly Disturbing Halloween Hats, a new KOTH map called Harvest and some diabolical exploding pumpkins.

TF2 has also received a significant price drop:

From now until 2:00pm PDT, Team Fortress will be available on Steam for the horrifyingly (to our accountants) low price of US$2.49!

Haunted Halloween Special

Five new update-specific achievements will unlock the Mildly Disturbing Halloween Hats—moldering, eldritch veils of such manifold depravity, the human eye will not process the sheer enormity of their malevolence, and out of self-preservation will merely show you paper bags with faces on them. These faces are still moderately scary, though, so brace yourselves for mild terror!

Team Fortress 2 Update 15-10-09

AzzX — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:14:29 +0000

Another Day, Another update. This One I would like to call the “TF2 Dodgy Server update.”

Team Fortress 2:

Added “+quickswitch” command, which brings up a small panel allowing you to rapidly change the loadout of your current class & active weapon slot.
Added server ConVar “tf_teamtalk” to allow alive/dead teammates to talk with each other during a match (default is 0)
Added 1/2 Bonus Point for healing a teammate with a dropped sandvich
Updated the class menu to show the local player’s current class
Updated server ConVar “tf_playergib” to have 3 settings for player gibs: 0: never, 1: normal, 2: always (default is 1)
Updated “player_hurt” game event to include “damageamount” and “crit” values
Fixed a rare crash in particle system
Fixed being able to eat your sandvich (via taunt) and drop it in the same frame
Fixed not correctly remembering the last weapon if you’re using “remember active weapon” and the last weapon was the weapon in slot 0
Fixed Medic not being able to release his UberCharge if his team won the previous round and the Medigun was his last active weapon (while using “remember last active weapon”)
Fixed not remembering the last active weapon correctly if the player didn’t die before the next round restart
Prevented servers from using steam:// commands in their MOTD text
Fixed using the regen cabinets to get more health than you should when you switch between weapons with/without max health reduction attributes
Fixed friendly-fire/spectator exploit using projectiles
Fixed disguised spies not getting ammo from enemy dispensers
Fixed thrown sandvich traveling through players before being activated
Fixed sandviches sometimes spawning inside walls, or being thrown through thin walls
Fixed fire overlay drawing on hats in DX80
Fixed an exploit that allowed servers to corrupt client’s item database
Fixed full packet updates showing cloaked Spies for an instant
Fixed a prediction error resulting in mis-predictions of crits

Community requests:

Added new “func_flag_alert” entity that fires an alert when a player carrying a flag starts touching the entity
Added server ConVar “bot_crouch” to make bots crouch
Added model override for item_teamflag entity
Added ability to turn off particle trail for players carrying the item_teamflag entity
Updated team_train_watcher to support 8 cp/track links (was previously 4)

Team Fortress 2 Update 16-09-09

AzzX — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:42:05 +0000

Some big updates to Team Fortress 2 today with 100 slot support for the backpack and some nifty RPG type sorting options. The Heavy can now ALT Fire a Sandvich to his mates which regain 50% of their health. Tournament mode has also had some improvements. Read on:

ENGINE

If the installation is an HLTV relay we allow clients to connect as HLTV clients even if tv_enable is set to false. A recent exploit fix made it such that we ignore the flag indicating that the client is an HLTV client if tv_enable is false, but it is possible that relays won’t have this ConVar set

TEAM FORTRESS 2

Additions / Changes

* Backpack improvement
- Added support for 100 slots in the backpack
- Backpack can now be sorted by type
- Multi-selection in the backpack is now done by holding down the Ctrl key
* Alt-fire on the Sandvich now drops sandwich:
- A single sandvich can be dropped at a time. Dropping the sandvich removes it from the Heavy
- A Heavy can regain his sandvich by collecting a healthkit while already being at full health
- Eating a sandvich using the taunt method now heals a Heavy to full health
- Dropped sandviches heal 50% of the collector’s health
* Medic regen changes:
- Base regen amount increased from 1/sec to 3/sec
- Regen amount increase since time of last damage decreased from 3x to 2x
- End result of above: Old healing scaled from 1/sec to 3/sec based on time since being damaged (maxed out at 10 seconds). New healing scales from 3/sec to 6/sec
* Blutsauger:
- Replaced “No critical hits” negative attribute with “-2 health drained per second on wearer”
- Health drain stacks on top of the above Medic regen changes, lowering the base regen by 2h/sec
* Added “mp_windifference” server ConVar (default to 0)
- When set to X, matches will be considered won if a team gets X points ahead of the other team
* Added a “Remember the active weapon between lives” option to the Multiplayer->Advanced options dialog
* Added “Disable weather effects” option to the Multiplayer->Advanced options dialog
* Added “Show non-standard items on spectated player” option to the Multiplayer->Advanced options dialog
- If set (default), it’ll show non-standard items being carried by the player you’re spectating
* Tournament mode changes
- New item whitelist allowing tournaments to control what items can be used by players
- Added “item_whitelist_example.txt”
- Added “item_show_whitelistable_definitions” command to get a list of whitelistable items
- Added Tournament mode Spectator HUD
- Added “Use advanced spectator HUD in tournament mode” option to the Multiplayer->Advanced options dialog
- Shows all the members of your team (or both if you’re a spectator) at the top of the screen, along with class/health/respawn time/charge level
- Spectator indices are now shown on the team members, and hitting the corresponding weapon selection key (slot1-slot12 commands) will spectate them
* Changed idle player check to include spectators & players who haven’t chosen a team

Bug Fixes

* Fixed explosive radius detection using an axially aligned box instead of a sphere
- Compensated by increasing the radius of grenades, pipes, and rockets to 50% of what they lost at the corners of the OBB
- Grenades/Pipes radius change: 132->159
- Rocket radius change: 121->146
- End result of above: Explosives have had their radius reduced at some angles, and increased at others. Radius is now consistent, angles are now irrelevant

Fixed Sniper using the reference pose if he has the Huntsman deployed when his team loses
Fixed Spies speaking their response rules lines after killing a player as the class they were disguised as
Fixed Medics getting MedicCallerPanels in their HUD for cloaked enemy Spies disguised as their team
Fixed the Huntsman not firing crit arrows when the Sniper is being CritBoosted
Fixed being able to fire the Huntsman under water if you jump into the water with the arrow charged
Added check to prevent clients using the “firstperson” command to get out of thirdperson view while they’re phasing, taunting or control stunned
Fixed Halo glow effect not being hidden for cloak/disguised enemy Spies
Fixed wearables not destroying their attached particles when they’re removed
Fixed several player & viewmodel simulation issues that occurred when the game was paused
Fixed a DX8-based exploit that allowed modified particle effects to work under sv_pure 2

Community Requests

Added the entindex() of the object being built to the “player_builtobject” game event
Added flag to allow CTF map authors to turn off the Overtime mode when timers expire
Added IgnitePlayer input to TFPlayer

TF2 Update 3-09-09

AzzX — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:07:13 +0000

Another Quick update, I’ll have to check what client explanations of backend inventory manipulation actually means. EDIT: See the New Post as to what this means!

Fixed “not on camera object” particle effects appearing while spectating in-eyes, and not appearing when in thirdperson
Fixed inventory bug that caused some item pickups not to be shown
Added support for client explanations of backend inventory manipulation

Team Fortress 2 Update 1-01-09

AzzX — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:10:19 +0000

Added “tf_allow_player_use” server ConVar to control players executing +use while playing (defaults to 0)
Fixed a bug where full backpacks resulted in an item being repeatedly found each time the game is started
Fixed being able to burn players/buildings that are in the water while standing outside the water
Fixed teleporting Spies getting stuck in enemy players standing on the exit
Fixed server log not listing telefrag kills as weapon “telefrag”
Fixed the Pyro’s airblast pushing Spectators in free-look mode
Fixed Pyro’s Hadouken killing Scouts that have used Bonk! and are phasing
Fixed freezecam screenshots sometimes being saved outside the Screenshots folder
Fixed deathnotice and server log entries not using the unique item names/icons when buildings are destroyed
Fixed a case where the weapon selection menu wasn’t drawing the images of non-standard items if the player was using hud_fastswitch 1 and using slot7-10 to view the panel
Fixed CTF HUD not centering the flag panel if there is only one active flag

Community requests:

Added the ability to set a parent for the item_teamflag entity
Added OnPickUpTeam1 and OnPickUpTeam2 outputs to the item_teamflag entity
Added intro movie .mp3 files to the sound/misc folder

TF2 / L4D Update 22-08-09

AzzX — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:04:14 +0000

Left 4 Dead Engine:

- Fixed an exploit that allowed files to be uploaded to the server at arbitrary locations in the file system
- Fixed a server crash caused by a client packet claiming to be an HLTV client when HLTV is disabled on the server
- Fixed a server crash caused by spoofing a client disconnect message
- Fixed a server crash caused by sending malformed reliable subchannel data

Left 4 Dead:

- Novint Falcon support is now enabled by default

Orange Box Engine:

- Fixed an exploit that allowed files to be uploaded to the server at arbitrary locations in the file system.
- Fixed a server crash caused by a client packet claiming to be an HLTV client when HLTV is disabled on the server
- Fixed a server crash caused by spoofing a client disconnect message
- Fixed a server crash caused by sending malformed reliable subchannel data
- Fixed a server crash related to unbounded settings on some convars

Team Fortress 2:

- Bullet spread algorithm changed to fire a bullet right down the crosshair under these circumstances:
- The first bullet of a spread weapon (except for rapid fire spread weapons like the minigun)
- The first bullet of a non-spread weapon if it’s been >1.25 seconds since firing
- Added a “Disable HTML MOTDs” option to the multiplayer->advanced dialog
- Added “motdfile_text” convar to servers, which allows them to specify a text file that’s shown instead of the HTML MOTD to clients who’ve turned on this option
- Fixed radius damage not tracing out of enemies when the explosion occurs within them
- Fixes rockets & grenades doing no splash damage when fired point blank into enemies
- Added missing snowpuff particles for DX8 players (honest)
- Restored LOD for the Demoman player model
- Fixed being able to alt-fire with the fists while stunned as a Heavy
- Fixed CTF_Sawmill not ending the map when mp_timelimit hits during the middle of a round
- Fixed the “The Big Hurt” achievement not being awarded for players who already have the required count
- Fixed sv_pure not reloading the map’s custom particle file
- Custom particle effects contained within maps must now be placed in the \particles directory
- Fixed another case where items weren’t being validated properly in class loadout slots

Community requests:

- Removed centerprint texts for TF_FLAGTYPE_INVADE CTF game mode
- Changed TF_FLAGTYPE_INVADE CTF game mode capture reward from 10 kills to 1 capture
- Added OnCapTeam1 and OnCapTeam2 outputs to the item_teamflag and func_capturezone entities
- Fixed HUD “carried” image for the TF_FLAGTYPE_ATTACK_DEFEND and TF_FLAGTYPE_INVADE CTF game modes using the wrong team color
- Fixed dropped flag for the TF_FLAGTYPE_INVADE CTF game mode using the wrong skin

TF2 Classless Update, Update

AzzX — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:38:41 +0000

Some fixes for the recent classless update:

Team Fortress 2

Fixed “r_rootlod” being marked as a cheat, which prevented it from being changed and caused a significant performance loss for some GPUs
Changed “The Big Hurt” Scout achievement to be “Stun 2 Medics that are ready to deploy an ÃœberCharge.”
Fixed Announcer overtime bug on KOTH servers using mp_timelimit
- Due to many requests, added server ConVar “tf_overtime_nag”. When set to 1, it keeps the broken announcer behavior
Fixed tournament stopwatch not displaying the time in the HUD
Fixed a bug with cloak meter regen and drain rates
Fixed Spies not being able to go invis while reloading
Fixed pipebombs sticking to saw blades
Fixed weapons not being hidden properly during loser state anims
Fixed a case where radius damage didn’t reduce damage to self
- Fixes Demomen taking too much damage from their pipebombs
Fixed a case where items would never show up in the backpack, even though they were available to equip
Fixed a case where items weren’t being validated properly in class loadout slots

Community requests

Removed centerprint texts for TF_FLAGTYPE_ATTACK_DEFEND CTF game mode
Changed TF_FLAGTYPE_ATTACK_DEFEND capture reward from 30 kills to 1 capture

Classless Day 3 it's Ours

AzzX — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:43:17 +0000

If you launched Steam this morning you may have noticed TF2 updating itself, that’s because the Classless Update is now available. You want hats? God damn we have hats, just what every successful game needs in this day and age. Want to look like a viking? perhaps a giant panda? or maybe something more sophisticated like a JORDY Visor?

I am rambling again, what else do have for day 3?

CTF Sawmill

Arena Sawmill has been re-worked to function as the third official Valve ‘Capture the Flag’ map. Two side access routes have been blocked off to concentrate gameplay, and a building near each spawn point is now accessible. These lead to a flooded underground stronghold that holds the enemy’s top secret intelligence—a flag made entirely out of microfilm. Or possibly nylon. Either way, yoink!

CP Yukon

This abandoned mountaintop coalmine was repurposed by shadowy operatives into a top secret surveillance outpost—one which also, so nobody gets wise, insidiously continues to mine coal. There is also a log hanging in the center of the map—possibly as an example to other logs. Logs that said too much.

Five control points promise a lot of momentum swings in this compact outdoor map, with plenty of tunnels and rocky outcroppings.

And the rest of this huge update:

New Content:

Added King Of The Hill game mode.
Added custom animations played by the losing team during the post-win state. They are moved into third person camera to enjoy them.
Added lots of new hats.
Added koth_Viaduct.
Added ctf_Sawmill
Added community map Arena_Offblast
Added community map Cp_Yukon

Additions / Changes:

Added “Auto Reload” option to the multiplayer advanced options.
Clip-based weapons that reload a full clip at a time can now have their reloads aborted by firing.
Pistol now fires at a fixed rate, not based on the speed at which you press the firing button.
Added a color blind option to add a Jarate icon above enemies who are busy accepting a terrifying existence where they have no dignity.
Significantly reduced the amount of network traffic being sent.
Capturing the flag in a CTF game mode gives the entire capturing team 10 seconds of critboost.
Sappers attached to a teleporter automatically place another Sapper on the other end of the teleporter, if it exists.
Engineers wrenching a teleporter will repair the other end as well, and remove Sappers from both if they exist.
Disguised Spies no longer trigger On-Hit effects (like the Blutsauger’s heal).
Removed self-inflicted minicrits. Fixes Jarate’d Soldiers/Demomen having ineffective rocket/grenade jumps.
Added an item panel to the spectator cam that shows non-standard items being carried by the player you’re spectating.
Added an “Inspect” key that allows you to look at items being carried by your team mates.
Backpack improvements:

- Added drag & drop to move items around. Item positions are maintained on the backend.
- Added multi-select, allowing you to delete multiple items at once.
- Added a new key to the key binding page that opens your inventory directly to your backpack.
- Fixed mouseover panel being incorrectly position when the backpack first appears.

Cloaked Spies standing in valid backstab positions no longer raise their knife.
Added current map name and gametype to the bottom right of scoreboard.
Added class icons to tips on the loadout and loading screens.
Improved visuals around flags when they’re being carried by a player.
Improved critboosted visuals, making it much clearer when an enemy has critboost.
Updated the loading panel to show the game type under the map name during level transition.
In-game chat dialog now supports full Unicode characters.
Added BLU main menu background.
Added response caching for some server queries to help reduce the CPU load from DOS attacks.
Teammates no longer block friendly radius damage. Prevents nearby teammates causing rocket/grenade jumps to fail.

Map Changes:

Update PLR_Pipeline

- Increased the starting advantage in the third round if a team has won the first two rounds.
- Fixed carts not continuing to the second round if they’re capped at the same time in the first round.
- Fixed being able to shoot pipebombs over the starting gates in the first round.
- Fixed being able to open the doors in the first round before the setup time was finished.
- Fixed players getting stuck in some doors.
- Fixed players being able to get onto rooftops and out of the map boundaries.
- Fixed other minor bugs and exploits.

Update Arena_Sawmill

- Fixed DirectX8 bug where some models would not be visible.
- Fixed exploit with building teleporters outside of the map.

Updated CP_Granary

- Made a few changes to improve balance based on competitive community feedback.

Item Reworks:

The Force of Nature

- The enemy knockback now only `works in close range and behaves more like the Pyro’s air blast.
- Enemies cannot be juggled by the FaN’s effect.
- The self-knockback has also changed to respect the firer’s view angle. Looking up while shooting will no longer propel the enemy upwards.
- Knockback is now scaled by damage done.

The Sandman

- A Scout will receive 1 point for stunning an enemy and 2 points for a long range stun.
- Stunned players now take 75% of all incoming damage instead of 50%.
- Übercharged players can no longer be stunned.
- Heavies spinning their mini-guns will continue to spin when stunned (whether the left or right mouse button is pressed).
- The minimum distance to stun a target has been reduced.
- The negative attribute has changed from “no double jump” to “-30 max health”.

Fixes:

Fixed various issues around layout & presentation of items inside the Backpack and “X is carrying” item dialogs.
Fixed an exploit that allowed players to work around sv_pure.
Particle files are now protected by sv_pure.
Fixed critboost effect getting stuck on when you die while critboosted.
Fixed Timer HUD element backgrounds not being the correct color if you change teams during waiting for players.
Fixed a couple of issues with the way critboosts affected The Huntsman and the Spy’s knife.
Fixed an exploit where you could reload The Huntsman faster than intended.
Fixed Heavy “civilian” exploit.
Fixed a set of exploits using the DXSupport config files.
Fixed r_screenfademinsize and r_screenfademaxsize exploits.
Fixed sentries firing at a fully cloaked Spy if they’re still the closest target.

Community requests:

Added a HUD element for hybrid CTF & CP maps.

- Supports 1 or 2 flags, and any number of CPs.
- Mapmakers need to place a “tf_logic_hybrid_ctf_cp” entity in their map to enable it.

Added custom kill server log text “train” and “saw” for deaths caused by these environmental hazards.

Format: “%s<%i><%s><%s>” committed suicide with “world” (customkill “%s”) (attacker_position “%d %d %d”)

Added new “medic_death” event for server logs

Format: “%s<%i><%s><%s>” triggered “medic_death” against “%s<%i><%s><%s>” (healing “%d”) (ubercharge “%s”)
- healing is the amount the Medic healed in that life
- ubercharge (1/0) is whether they died with a full charge

Added “func_respawnflag” trigger entity. It will remove & return the flag if a flag carrier touches it, or if the flag falls into it.

Classless Day 2: King of The Hill

AzzX — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:26:11 +0000

King of the Hill

Time for a completely new gamemode: King of the Hill (KotH) a new map, Viaducts and Koth map updates.

KOTH is an intense new game mode focused around a single central capture point that must be defended for three minutes. Gameplay begins with the point initially locked—after a short time, it will open for capture by either team. Once the point is captured by a team, their team clock will start a three minute countdown. If the enemy team manages to capture the point back, their clock will start counting down while the other team’s clock freezes at the time the point was recaptured.

Viaduct

Viaduct is an all-new map especially built for KotH, set outside of the entrance to a secret underground base. Viaduct is also the first Team Fortress map to take place during a snowfall. Both teams start at the base of a low hill, and will have to climb to get to the capture point at the hill’s peak.