Pass Time and other update and community stuff

I’m supposed to be working right now, even though I’m supposed to be on holiday too, but oh well. I want to write articles. Work can go fuck itself. Anyway, there’s a TF2 update that’s appeared out of nowhere. Apparently, Valve have been hanging out with with Bad Robot, who do films and stuff, and working with Escalation Studios (some other gaming company), and they’ve basically made TF2 Rugby. I’d call it Football or Soccer, but they are both lame sports. Rugby is what Saxton Hale would play, after ultimate fighting and hockey.

This new Pass Time game mode (who thought of that name? Seriously?) is, well, your average ball game, just with guns and stuff. Teams have to carry a ball into the enemy team’s base. Whoever is carrying the ball can’t attack and enemies can snag the ball back by meleeing them. There’s little buffs too. I (or aabicus) will write a proper article about it some time in the near future, including strategies and fun stuff and all that. Surprisingly, we DID get a whole new map (complete with secret areas)

Being a Beta, there’s already been some bugs to come and go. Someone forgot to make the ‘Jack’ (the mine-shaped ball) immune to the Short Circuit, which had the amusing effect of turning the game into even more deathmatching madness.

They also did some other fixes as well, including:

• Fixed a crash caused by a client sending malformed network data to the server
• Added a new hat ‘The Finder’s Fee’
  • Will be awarded going forward on a case-by-case basis to those who report major economy-breaking bugs or remote-code-execution bugs, and provide detailed information and steps to reproduce
  • Well deserved congratulations to the first recipient, Nathaniel Theis
• Fixed visual bugs caused by picking up weapons with special attributes
• Fixed the Mann vs. Machine Medigun shield not being re-created after switching away from the Medigun and back while the charge is draining
• Fixed some alignment issues in the HUD meters for the Mann vs. Machine rage knockback and Medigun shield
• Fixed left-hand view models not displaying Stat Clocks correctly
• Fixed being able to use the tournament_readystate client command when using per-player ready status mode
• Fixed seeing a HUD mp_timelimit timer for maps that don’t end the round when the map timelimit runs out
• Fixed some missing VO sounds for the Demoman when laughing
• Fixed being able to use the Restore action on Killstreak Kits
• Fixed character loadout menus so they display the particle effects for all equipped Unusual items
• The Huo-Long Heater can now accept Posthumous Kills strange parts
• Updated the Australium Grenade Launcher to fix the wood material being shiny
• Updated the backpack images for the Gun Mettle Campaign Coin
• Updated LODs for several weapons and the sentry gun
• Updated Mann Co. Store prices for foreign currencies to current USD equivalents
• Updated the localization files
• Updated Koth_Suijin with the latest changes from the authors
  • Added cover around the point preventing cross-point sight line
  • Opened second window in point building
  • Tweaked pickup amounts and positions
  • Widened space between stairs to point and bridge railing to allow easier movement
  • Clipping improvements
  • Improved lighting in dark areas
  • Fixed an issue where engineers could build on outlying islands
  • Fixed an issue where engineers could trap teammates by building teleporters in spaces with restricted movement
  • Fixed an issue where the spawn room doors could be held open by an opposing team member
  • Optimization improvements
• Maps Workshop Beta
  • Fixed a common crash when loading some compressed maps
  • Fixed various issues running workshop maps on listen servers
    • Listen servers no longer unnecessarily fetch a second copy of the map
    • Listen servers no longer cause the client to crash upon the second load of the same workshop map
  • Added -ugcpath parameter for dedicated servers to control location of downloaded workshop content
    • Defaults to steamapps/workshop
    • Multiple servers sharing the same UGC directory is currently not supported, and will not go well
  • Added server command tf_workshop_map_status to view currently tracked maps and their status
  • Enhanced handling of updated maps to ensure the newest available version of the map is always used on level change
  • Improved handling of workshop maps in a server’s map cycle
    • Workshop maps in the map cycle will be automatically fetched and updated in the background
    • Workshop maps in the map cycle will have their names updated to the canonical name once known
  • Map votes now work with workshop maps
    • A known issue is that the full workshop map name is currently shown instead of the friendly name
  • Community request: Updated the FindMap and CanProvideLevel API for server-side mods. These functions now always expose the full workshop names for maps when known, even if not the map is not yet installed

Later patch notes mention updated LODs for the Revolver and various bug fixes for Pass Time. Good to see the Medi Gun Projectile Shield fixed. Kinda wish they’d make up their minds on the correct writing of the word Medi Gun (is it Medigun or Medi Gun? I always do the latter, as that’s how it appears in-game) but it’s nice to have bug fixes. Thankfully, Valve has also seen our hate about Suijin and is working on that too.

Community-wise, there are two upcoming events, one of which I think Reima would be very interested in. Remember that Demoknight contest we did on SPUF, where we all just went Demoknight and tried to get as many heads as possible? Turns out some other community is doing the same. But they get featured because they’re doing it for 12 hours and there’s prizes involved.

There’s also Gimmicks, Guts and Glory, where the best teams in Europe will attempt (and probably fail, but I hope not!) to beat world champions Froyotech. It’s invite only, but it’ll definitely be fun to watch if you enjoy 6v6 action.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Time to abuse the hell out of Pass Time and its bugs before they all get patched, then realise that it’ll be abandoned like Mannpower and Asteroid.

Also this picture is fucking terrifying.