News: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Beta 16/03/2012 Update

As of this week i will try and post update news for CS: GO. If i have time i will post analysis of each update but i make no promises.

This weeks change log is as follows:

• Now Quick Match into Classic Map Cycle
– The map cycle is compose of Train, Nuke, Inferno, Dust, Dust 2, Italy, Office
– At the end of a match players will automatically cycle to a new map in the group
– New voting feature available to players via the in-game menu. Voting allows players to call a vote on the following:
– Kick Player
– Change Map
– Swap Teams
– Scramble Team
– Restart Match
– Surrender

Maps:
– Added Hostage map – Office

• Cs_italy
– Fixed missing texture error
– Fixed displacements inside solid
– Fixed balcony nav mesh
– Adjusted fog values

• De_inferno
– Updated Inferno radar
– Added optimized water to the fountain
– Added the water to the 2nd fountain too (near T spawn)
– Added vis blocking to ruins at fountain
– Updated inferno radar map
– Tuned fog values
– Pulled out fog band in 3dskybox
– Adjusted some model fade distances that were visually popping now
– Increased lightmap res on one surface that looked too dark

• De_stmarc
– Adjusted fog density
– Optimized tree models
– Turned off world shadowing on chain-link fence models so they cast better CSM shadows

• De_dust
– Increased life on helicopter from 15 to 25 seconds
– Added new helicopter path
– Adjusted fog values
– Adjusted various prop fades that were now exposed with new fog settings

• De_dust2
– Fixed red console errors with props that were set to use VPhysics, but have no collision hull
– Fixed odd shaped crack where door connects to wall
– Added new helicopter path

• De_lake
– Fixed gap in wall join
– Fixed reflection effect by the dock pops in/out too near
– Fixed bit of missing geometry
– Removed satellite dish from the roof
– Fixed players getting stuck on rope floats
– Trimmed water line along ground edge to minimize water overlap of geo
– Fixed ‘apartments’ place name

• De_train
– Tuned radar map image
– Adjusted fog values

Gameplay:
• Added new weapons:
– Mag7
– Sawed – Off Shotgun
– XM1014
– Negev

• Added Glock 18 to CT buy menu
• Adjusted player movement in response to pro player feedback with special thanks to J3di and pR
• Adjusted flashbang in response to pro player feedback: effect is 25% stronger and not blocked by players
• Changed it so players drop weapons when killed after being disconnected
• Added clinch to demolition mode. When a team has an insurmountable lead in a match the game will end prior to playing out all of the remaining rounds. The players will be alerted to the clinching round at the start of that round

UI
• Added messaging explaining why match ends in competitive mode when game does not go a full 30 rounds
• Fixed Inventory and Buy menu icons
• Added ability for players to upgrade armor via the buy menu at the reduced price of Kevlar
• Changed ‘My Awards’ string to be more generic ‘MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS’

Mini-scoreboard:
• Removed the miniscoreboard avatar background for dead players
• Testing more opaque team tinting for avatars in mini scoreboard
• Edited opacities on avatar borders
• Added surrender win condition in the win panel
• Added device detection – The game will prompt the player to select an ingame input device if more than one is detected
• Restored chat message that says who and why the winner won
• Fixed chat window to hide when you click the corner [X]
• Updated pause menu
• Fixed left alignment on Options submenu
• Fixed typo “whileflashbanged” is now “while flashbanged”
• Changed Casual mode so now all CT’s receive a Defusal Kit
• Fixed to how muting is set and displayed
• Fixed another case of the disappearing scoreboard
• Fixed awarding the Office Veteran achievement simultaneously with the Italy Veteran achievement

Audio:
• Fixed another case of improper music fade out

Effects:
• Added triggers for the dust particles so they reliably fade away after 15 seconds
• Reduced scale of impact dust significantly; also reduced alphas just a bit

Characters:
• Elite Team ID improvement – Changed keffiya/shemagh to white.
• ST6: team ID fix. – Trying a darker vest/pouch/helmet for distinct value pattern vs elite

General Bug Fixes:
• Fixed occasional crash when earning certain achievements
• Fixed occasional crashes for certain UI popups
• Fixed an assert relating to using a bone index that may not be valid
• Fixed “mp_restartgame 1” NOT setting back Arsenal Demolition game settings such as current weapon on round start.
• Demo mode values were not being reset, nor were players’ items being reset. The mp_restartgame convar now causes all mode values to be reset and all players’ weapons (primary, secondary and grenades) to be destroyed and reset to the proper defaults.
• Fixed achievements not being displayed properly when earned.
• Fixed asserts that occur when the triangle reticle tries to appear over a character that’s head is partially visible. This was causing the reticle to possibly appear in an invalid location while this condition occurred.
• Fixed crash when invalid radar icons are de-referenced.
• Fixed bug where grenades bounced off of the windows in de_lake
• Fixed stutter while spectating a player in the process of ducking.
• Fixed an intermittent crash when attacking with a knife.
• Cleaned up unused sounds causing console spew.

The original post can be found [url=http://store.steampowered.com/news/7613/]here[/url]

The big things, as far as Valve are concerned are the changes to the movement values. They have spent a lot of time going back and forth with a couple of pro players on the private CS: GO pro beta testers forum working these out and the update is what they have finalised on for now. To quote the [url=http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2012/03/movement/]Counter-Strike.net Blog[/url]

“Movement is a hard problem, there are many factors that come into play and both CS:1.6 and CS:S movement have very different feels.

The general feedback on CS:GO has been that the movement feels sluggish and constrained. In a private forum we run for pro-player feedback, pR. came in with some suggested values. We tried them and started a back and forth with him and J3Di. During this we nailed down what you have in today’s update. They were able to give details and suggestions on the general feedback.

Are these values final? Maybe? Maybe not? Maybe for now? We don’t know until more players try them and give us their feedback. This is how the process works and we appreciate all those players helping us get these right……”

So there you have it. The basic 411 on this weeks update. AS i said, i will try to give my personal analysis on each update and i will postback once i’ve had time to play.