CS: GO 23rd January Patch – Content Analysis

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

Front End Changes

Changelog

BACK END

• Significant improvement to server infrastructure to support growing CS:GO community.

UI

• Fixed an alt-tab related memory leak.
• Added ability for Friends Lister to display two columns of friends.
• Added ability for mouse wheel to scroll Friends Lister.
• Added filtering by item name. Players can enter any part of an item name in the text field to filter their inventory.
• Added ability to sort items when selecting items that will work with a tool.
• Players can no longer initiate a vote kick on the final round or match point.
• The 'bomb has been planted alert' now also states the number of seconds that mp_c4timer is set to.
• The voice chat button in the lobby (microphone) now stores it's state from session to session.
• Fixed remaining cases where Blog would take mouse input when if was obscured.
• Fixed Main Menu bar buttons getting stuck in highlighted state.
• Context menu entries are now divided into categories.
• Open Case UI will auto-select a key in cases where players do not need to choose between different types of keys.
• Fixed cases where players could not rename items in Lobby and Pause menu inventories.
• Inventory images will show the thumbnail for a weapon's sticker.
• Buying helmet when you already have kevlar will now update the health/armor HUD icon element immediately on purchase.
• Fixed the freeze cam panel not always having the killer's weapon item data during demo playback.
• Grenades now show player ownership in their name.
• Fixed some vote panel text getting truncated.
• Fixed the health, armor and ammo HUD elements not showing up sometimes when spectating some players.
• Fixed some alignment issues on the spectator follow panel
• Fixed the weapon image in the spectator panel not having a background.
• Realigned the spectator follow panel a bit.
• The gift drop alert panel has been de-holiday-ified.
• Removed the snow from the main menu background.
• Turned off rope and freeze cam holiday effects.
• Fixed missing Cyrillic characters in chat.
• Fixed HUD disappearing when alt-tabbing or starting another app (like hlmv).

MAPS

OVERPASS

[Bombsite A]

• Moved CT van to give more effective cover
• Made CT van climbable
• Moved fences to give more space
• Removed red car
• Widened door into back of A
• Blocked visibility from bridge to canal
• Tweaked position/rotation of truck
• Made corridors and stairs under A wider

[Bombsite B]

• Moved Bombsite B to CT side of pillar, extended area with a platform to give more space and cover
• Made players in sniping room easier to silhouette against the background
• Made cement sacks climbable
• Opened up wall on CT side
• Made bridge wider

[General]

• Moved up CT spawns and pushed T spawns further back
• Increased C4 radius to 500 from 400
• Railings in sniper room no longer blocks bullets or grenades
• Added light to sniper room balcony
• Made upper door in park connector wider
• Made park connector easier to navigate
• Made corridor near T spawn wider
• Brighter ambient lights in canal pipes
• Made climbing thing in playground more solid
• Made bathroom corridor wider
• Made windows in bathrooms breakable
• Added spectator fixed camera positions
• Tweaked soundscape settings
• Fixed various minor bugs

COBBLESTONE

• Added collision to top of trees
• Added more accurate model collision
• Removed particle effects that could be mistaken for grenades
• Blocked a sightline in battlements near A
• Blocked a hiding hole in underpass near A
• Removed light models near statue at B that could be mistaken for player heads
• Removed a portapotty at back of B
• Raised height of center fence near B
• Fixed various minor bugs

Map Updates

Overpass

The images are in a before / after order.

The radar image for Overpass was also updated to reflect the changes.

Cobblestone

The images are in a before / after order.

UI Updates

• Added ability for Friends Lister to display two columns of friends.

• Added filtering by item name. Players can enter any part of an item name in the text field to filter their inventory.

• Added ability to sort items when selecting items that will work with a tool.

• The 'bomb has been planted alert' now also states the number of seconds that mp_c4timer is set to.

• The voice chat button in the lobby (microphone) now stores it's state from session to session.

You can also control this using the new command: "lobby_voice_chat_enabled" - Lobby microphone is enabled when this is set to 1

• Context menu entries are now divided into categories.

• Inventory images will show the thumbnail for a weapon's sticker.

The gift items from the store will soon be expiring.

Pressing F10 will no longer instantly exit the game instead you will be shown a quit prompt. (Leave those poor pubbies alone).

You can now vote on the set of maps for the next operation.

Back End Changes

Updated Strings

String for the new detonation message.

"Cstrike_TitlesTXT_Bomb_Planted" "The bomb has been planted.n%s1 seconds to detonation."

The terrorist side now has a default knife in the inventory.

"SFUI_WPNHUD_Knife_T" "Knife"

All references to "clip" have now been renamed to "magazine".

"TR_UnloadIntoTarget" "Empty your magazine into this target"

"PaintKit_cu_m4a1-s_elegant" "It has been painted cobalt blue and stenciled with the CT logo on the magazine."

etc

New attribute tags.

"Attrib_Marketable" "Can be listed on the Steam Community Market."

"Attrib_Renamed" "This item has been renamed.nOriginal name: "%s1""

"Attrib_CustomDesc" "This item has a user written description."

Standard purchase type flag. (Used in TF2 to dictate the difference between a standard purchase and item rentals etc)

"Econ_Store_PurchaseType_Standard" "%s1"

Strings for the new map vote system.

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_SelectMaps" "SELECT MAPS"

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_SubmitSelection" "SUBMIT YOUR SELECTION"

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_GoToWorkshop" "VIEW ON WORKSHOP"

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_RemindMeLater" "Remind Me Later..."

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_DontWantToVote" "I Don't Want To Vote"

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_Header" "OPERATION VOTE!"

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_Body" "In the last two Operations, we've hosted 14 amazing community-made maps on official Valve servers.nWe want to bring some of these maps back, but we need your help!nSelect the maps you want to see stick around and the most voted for maps will return in the next Operation!"

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_LearnOperationSentence" "Learn about previous Operations:"

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_Learn_OpBravo" "Learn about Operation Bravo"

"SFUI_MainMenu_MapVote_Learn_OpPayback" "Learn about Operation Payback"

Gift items are expiring soon.

"SFUI_Store_Hint_Gift_-_1_Player" "Gift an item to a random player. Item expiring soon"

"SFUI_Store_Hint_Gift_-_9_Players" "Gift items to 9 other players. Item expiring soon"

"SFUI_Store_Hint_Gift_-_25_Spectators" "Gift items to 25 viewers. Item expiring soon"

Filter name string.

"SFUI_InvPanel_filter_Text" "Filter Name"

Select item context menu option.

"SFUI_InvContextMenu_selectActionItem" "Select Item"

New setting is on the way to flag Workshop maps to auto update on launch.

"SFUI_Settings_Auto_Download_Workshop_Maps" "Update Workshop Maps on Launch"

Map Updates

The texture for the pictures on the Cobblestone map have been updated to fade the text out more.

Default Inventory Items

The Terrorist side now has default inventory item for their version of the knife.

Model viewer shot.

Re-render reminder for the CS: GO team was left on the inventory icon textures.

Protobuf Updates

The CS: GO protobuf messages were updated with some new additions (Protocol Buffers are a way of encoding structured data in an efficient yet extensible format). A number of these appear to be direct copies from Dota 2 however it may suggest that a couple of new features may be planned for the future.

Announcement responses which can we used to announce upcoming matches.

message CMsgGCRequestAnnouncementsResponse {

optional string announcement_title = 1;

optional string announcement = 2;

optional string nextmatch_title = 3;

optional string nextmatch = 4;

}

References to the autograph message which is used in Dota 2 which allows for players, casters, personalities etc to provide an item signature to be used on cosmetic items that can only be obtained at Valve events.

message CMsgApplyAutograph {

optional uint64 autograph_item_id = 1;

optional uint64 item_item_id = 2;

}

References to the passport item grant system which was used in Dota 2 as part of the The International 2013's prize pool boosting Compendium to provide bonus item rewards to those who took part in predictions, fantasy teams and more.

message CMsgGCToGCRequestPassportItemGrant {

optional fixed64 steam_id = 1;

optional uint32 league_id = 2;

optional int32 reward_flag = 3;

}