TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

Hey Newbs! I hope you enjoyed the bumper cars, the second coming of the cap-camping Sniper and the aggressive sentry on the final point on Doomsday, and the new cosmetics.  I didn’t update for the October 30th patch, so I’m updating that patch with yesterday’s “apparently that was a bug” bugfixes.  Here’s the TL;DR version and the full patch notes.

Oh–and the Newbs are telling me that most hats are very bugged: lots of hats suspended in midair and lots of other after-death glitches.  Somebody needs to go fix the hats again….

[EDIT: Includes the 11/6/14 patch also.]

1. Valve is asking its gamers to create promotional, classic “Tomb Raider” content.
   • See this TF2 Blog post for more information.
   • Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris releases on 12/9/14 and is currently 10% off (US$17.99).  Apparently the game features four-player co-op play.
2. There is a new server ConVar setting to allow/disallow random critical hits for melee weapons.
3. Updated the target reticle to move the health icon to just above the targeted figure, as opposed to the floating nameplate.
   • Added a ConVar to disable the reticle, so it goes back to the floating nameplate as before.
4. The four promotional cosmetics for Alien: Isolation are now craftable, tradable and giftable.
5. Updated the Necro Smasher so Strange Parts and Halloween Spells can be attached.
   • A Strange Necro Smasher is currently only possible via a Strangifier constructed via Chemisty Set.
6. Updated the Rescue Ranger so other players do not block line-of-sight for its sentry distance pickup ability.
   • [EDIT: 11/6] Also fixed the Rescue Ranger picking up buildings through walls.
7. Various bugfixes:
   • Fixed the Spycicle sometimes not giving the Spy the usual fire resistance.
   • Fixed standard knife stab to play correctly (and not the backstab animation) when crits are disabled.
   • Fixed disguise Spies not showing the correct health to enemies.
   • Fixed the Sniper getting stuck in a zoomed-in FOV after taunting while zooming.
   • Fixed Helltower having the same spell drop list as Carnival of Carnage.
   • Updated Merasmus’s curses to remove all projectiles and empties sentries of ammo whenever players are teleported to the main point of the map.
   • [EDIT: 11/6] Fixed sentries having ammo when still being constructed during Merasmus’s curse.
   • Diasbled server auto-balances during end-of-round minigames.

10/30/14 Patch Notes

• Fixed a dedicated server crash related to the new map sd_doomsday_event and server-wide curses
• Fixed Blue team hearing the win audio instead of the lose audio when Red gets the tickets to the Strongmann machine
• Fixed grenade projectiles doing more damage than expected
• Fixed players changing team to respawn outside of their cart while playing a minigame
• Fixed players being able to use the Eureka effect while in their bumper car
• Fixed a bug that let Engineers move faster while carrying a building
• Fixed the Spycicle not giving the Spy fire resistance
• Fixed The Manngaroo itemset including the wrong item
• Updated the equip_region for the Vaccinator and Quick-Fix
• Fixed a bug where players would not get a kill credit for turning another player in to a ghost
• Updated player ghosts to always use team color
• Updated the new TargetID system
  • Added Advance Option and ConVar to disable floating health icon (tf_hud_target_id_disable_floating_health)
  • Added Advance Option to control the alpha of TargetID nameplate
  • Fixed not showing for disguised enemy Spies
  • Fixed showing the health of cloaked Spies
  • Fixed not hiding the panel when players are no longer visible
• Added ConVar tf_weapon_criticals_melee to control whether melee weapons have random crits. Works separately from tf_weapon_criticals.
• Fixed the knife not playing its backstab animation when crits are disabled
• Fixed round-end crits not working when tf_weapon_criticals is set to zero
• Updated sd_doomsday_event
  • Added spell pickups near the ticket case spawn
  • Reduced mega spell respawn time from 90 seconds to 45 seconds
  • Fixed curses occurring in bumper car minigames
  • Fixed players being able to boost their bumper cars early
  • Increased the damage that bumper cars receive from collisions
  • Players can no longer suicide when in a Bumper Car
  • Replaced large ammo kits near the Strongmann machine with spells
  • Reduced ammo kit size on the bridge from full to medium
  • Updated HHH to use a giant Necro Smasher when attacking players
  • Platform game:
    • Fixed Merasmus giving instructions in the platform game when it gets to the final platform
    • Center tent pole now vanishes when the final platform is reached
  • Soccer game:
    • Added HHH, spawns 45 seconds into the match
  • Duck game:
    • Increased max score to 200

Undocumented Changes

• Removed promo restrictions on Alien: Isolation items.
• Renamed Deadliest Catch to Dadliest Catch.

11/4/14 Patch Notes

• Added the ‘Tomb Raider’ tag to the item import tool
  • http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=14855
• Added The Kritz or Treat Canteen to the Halloween 2014 Community Bundle
  • Players who previously purchased the bundle have automatically been granted the item
• Fixed a client crash that could happen while the server was changing maps
• Fixed the Teleport spell not appearing in Helltower
• Fixed rare spells appearing in regular Helltower spellbook pick-ups
• Fixed disguised Spies not displaying the correct health value to enemies
• Fixed the Engineer not playing the proper response rules while using the Golden Frying Pan
• Fixed the Sniper getting stuck with a zoomed FOV after taunting while zooming
• Fixed maps not loading correctly in the SFM tool
• Fixed a bug in the Workshop import tool related to frame count calculation for taunts that were exported from the SFM tool
• Fixed the Demoman not riding in the correct bumper car position when holding two-handed melee weapons
• Disabled auto team-balance while players are in hell on Helltower and Carnival of Carnage
• Updated bumper cars to deal damage when hitting players not in bumper cars
• Updated the Necro Smasher so Strange parts and Halloween Spells can be applied to it
• Updated the equip_region for the Iron Fist
• Removed the smoke effect from the Tiny Texan
• Updated the Rescue Ranger so players no longer block its ability to pick-up buildings from a distance
• Updated sd_doomsday_event
  • Fixed a bug where Merasmus‘s curses would trigger during the bumper car minigames
  • Fixed players using the tiny-melee-only curse to get outside of the playable area of the map
  • Fixed a bug with the Eureka Effect and with teleporters where players could escape being teleported to the bumper car minigames
  • Reduced duration of the Monoculus spell from 15 seconds to 8 seconds
  • Fixed players being able to construct buildings in the spawn areas
  • Fixed Engineers not being able to build if a Merasmus curse is enabled while they were carrying a building
  • Updated Merasmus’s curses to remove all projectiles and sentry gun ammo when teleporting players to the middle of the map

Undocumented Changes

• Added new main menu classes.
• Added Robot Pyro Collectible Figure Promo.
• Renamed two Unusual effects
  • Haunted Phantasm Jr to Ghastly Ghosts Jr
  • Attrib_Particle86 to Haunted Phantasm Jr

   

11/6/14 Patch Notes

• Fixed a client crash related to the main menu
• Fixed players not creating gibs when they are killed
• Fixed player glow effects not drawing correctly
• Fixed the Rescue Ranger being able pick-up buildings through walls
• Fixed map-placed buildings being removed from the map during a round restart
• Fixed sentry guns having ammo if they finished building after a Merasmus curse had started
• Fixed Engineers being able to pick-up buildings during Merasmus’s third-person curses
• Updated the string used to display the kill stat for the Strange Horseless Headless Horseman’s Headtaker

[N] Obey

*****Currently, Newbs’ servers #09 2fort, #14 goldrush, and #26 are down for repatching. Check back in the next 24 hours.******

Here’s the summary:

1. HEADLINES–see below for article links.
2. Team Fortress 2 had two patches today.
   • Lots of bugfixes, exploits, and some cosmetics’ slot placements.
   • Taunts are now push-to-hold toggles.
   • Updated the Eureka Effect wrench (see below).
   • What’s up with the Bread? (see below)
3. Reminder: Steam Summer Sale usually launches around the last week of July. With that in mind:
   • Craft some Mysterious Cards (see below); they seem to replace coupons as a reward when crafting Steam badges currently.
   • Expect some new Summer-themed Crates and Keys.  Last year we had those nine color-coded Summer Coolers and Summer Claim Checks.

 1. HEADLINES

Click the link in the headline to jump to the pertinent article.  Happy summer reading!

1.  The Dota 2 International for 2014 has raised over US$9 million in prize money, and it still has two months to go. That’s about as much as the prize pool for the annual Masters golf tournament, according to these guys.
2. The most recent Official TF2 Blog post talks about new weapons that Valve have tested and rejected. They are probably getting ready to launch some new weapons in the near future, but expect Valve to be patient, as they have been busy reworking existing, underused items. New items haven’t launched in 18 months or so.
3. The Highlander Open is inviting non-competitive TF2 gamers to put on their best tryhard hat and give the competitive TF2 scene a try. You will still need to form your own group of at least 9 players. Note: Be sure to see their list of Banned Items.
4. Telltale Games is working on a new game that is supposed to explore the origins of Handsome Jack, the mouthy bastard you may or may not have hunted down in Borderlands 2. It will involve some moral-based decisions that will alter the flow of the game to a degree, and will be released as a series of five episodes over a Season (much like BL2′s Season Pass, I’m sure). It will also take place on that ever-present Hyperion moonbase you see in the other games, and is slated for release on October 17, 2014. Here is a 16-minute trailer, courtesy of PC Gamer.
5. ICYMI: Dota 2 had a patch on June 2nd, in case you missed it. Yes, that’s what ICYMI means. You may have learned something useful today. There was another one on May 30th, but the main thing there is that you will score no points if you are playing in an invalid slot (i.e. a Core playing in a Support slot, or vice versa).

2. Team Fortress 2 Patches — June 12, 2014

See below for the full patch notes.

Updated: The Eureka Effect

You can now pick up buildings with the Eureka Effect in your loadout.  Just like before, you can build a teleporter near a point for defense, use your wrench to return to the respawn room and reload, jump back into your teleporter to get back up front quickly, then continue to rebuild your nest. Except now, you can move your buildings later if you need to, just like stock Engineers.

The Eureka Effect now repairs and upgrades buildings at half the normal rate. It’ll take 16 clicks (instead of 8) to upgrade a building, consuming the same amount of metal to upgrade, as it uses only half as much per hit. The initial build should still take the usual time. This replaces the old penalty that denied the ability to move your buildings. And it’s not much of a penalty if you’re Wrangling your level-3 sentry gun!

You can now teleport either to your spawn OR the location of your teleporter exit. You can toggle between the two locations by hitting the reload key (default: R). Consider this the next time you MvM and need to hide before you get ganked, or port over to your sentry gun next to your exit!

Dat Bread

This is probably a temporary thing: when you teleport, one of nine bread models may appear, disappearing in a few seconds.  I wonder if they correspond to the nine TF2 classes… and Archimedes finally gets his pretzel (see top-right corner of the second image)! Maybe we will start defending Rome in MvM or some such.

All I’m saying is, Dustbowl has had rat holes inserted into the buildings of its map for like, a year now.  So what’s that all about?!

Full Patch Notes: Patch 1

• Fixed item descriptions for Strange scores not appearing to update
  • So now when you get killed by the same Strange weapon continually, you should see the weapon increase its increment! Hooray.
• Fixed a bug where damage dealt and healing done Strange scores would stop incrementing
• Fixed an exploit where teleporters could build up a large amount of health
• Fixed a bug where premium accounts would temporarily appear to revert to free status
• Fixed deflected rocket explosion sounds playing repeatedly
• Fixed deflected Black Box rockets not giving health to the Pyro
• Fixed being able to apply the Strange Part: Buildings Destroyed tool to the Flying Guillotine
• Fixed several cosmetic items not cloaking properly for the Spy^[1]
• Added the AsiaFortress Cup Season 7 medals
• Community Request: Added SetCustomUpgradesFile input to the gamerules entity to allow servers to specify a different upgrades file
• Updated the localization files
• Updated the Eureka Effect
  • Can now pickup buildings
  • Repair and upgrade rates have been decreased
  • Can teleport to your spawn room or your Teleporter Exit

Undocumented changes: Patch 1

• Updated the backpack icons for the Director’s Vision, Meet the Medic, Schadenfreude, High Five! and Shred Alert taunts.
• Added a prompt above players in the High Five! taunt pose.
• Taunts that were push-to-hold are now toggles. Pressing the action key once will let the player hold their pose until the action key is pressed again
• Moved the Director’s Vision from the Action slot to the currently unused Taunt slot. fixed in patch 2
• Fixed Spy’s revolvers not using the Spy‘s hand in reload animations.
• Bread now sometimes spawn when using a Teleporter.
• Updated the equip_region of El Muchacho.
• Updated the item type of Brawling Buccaneer and Hornblower.
• Fixed a bug that let players move while taunting.
• Added console commands tf_taunt_move_forward_speed, tf_allow_sliding_taunt and taunt_by_name.
  • I think tf_allow_sliding_taunt allows a function similar to the old frozen-taunt-while-moving.
• Dispensers now cost 70 metal when using the Gunslinger. fixed in patch 2
• Added a white line above the names of the buildings on the Construction PDA menus.

Patch 2

• Fixed a client crash caused by failing to properly parse the item schema
• Fixed not being able to equip The Director’s Vision taunt in the Action slot
• Fixed not being able to taunt with the Spy’s disguise kit
• Fixed the Engineer‘s build menu staying open after changing class^[2]
• Fixed being charged the incorrect amount of metal for a Dispenser when The Gunslinger is equipped
• Updated the description of The High Five! Taunt to better describe the new toggle behavior
• Updated the materials for The Eureka Effect HUD to support mat_picmip

 3. Mysterious Cards

Like I said above, the Steam Summer Sale (in whatever form) will be coming eventually. On June 10th, users who crafted Steam badges began receiving one of a set of ten Mysterious Cards. PC Gamer weighed in with their thoughts, and referred to Reddit for some of their speculative information.

In crafting these cards, I found that I got one random card, numbered 1 thru 10 with a yellow Steam logo, with each badge I crafted. It seemed to replace the usual game coupons I was accustomed to getting–perhaps further evidence of the upcoming sale; do they want to halt the couponing if they’re about to launch a sale?

Lately, they seem to trend for $0.25 to $0.30 on the Steam Market, if you just want to go buy a set.  But you can’t craft a badge with them… YET.

[N] Obey