TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

A few assorted things here….

1. Terraria’s desert-themed patch is now live
2. 2K Games offering free copies of its remastered Bioshock games to owners of original versions
3. TF2 patched

Terraria Patch 1.3.3 Is Now LIVE

In this major patch, deserts get some love and attention. Now every newly-created map will feature a pyramid, and there are new biomes for (hardmode) underground desert, underground corrupted desert, and underground hallowed desert. And a bunch more stuff; here is the patch notes.

 

Bioshock Games Have Been Remastered

Ahead of the official launch of the Bioshock Collection, 2K Games has made owners of the older versions of the games a free copy of the remastered games that they already own, whether on Steam or not!! The gaming news site Rock Paper Shotgun did a write-up about how to acquire the remastered versions.

 

Full Patch Notes: Sept 12, 2016

• Fixed an exploit related to not respawning in the spawn room at the beginning of Casual and Competitive matches
• Fixed Pyros griefing teammates by attacking them with the flamethrower
• Fixed Medics getting a permanent speed boost after healing a charging Demoman
• Fixed Medics getting the Demoman’s charging speed when using Mediguns other than The Quick-Fix
• Fixed the Strange Razorback double-counting the number Spies shocked
• Fixed a bug related to the Sniper‘s zoom and taunting
• Fixed players being able to pick-up the PASS Time jack while they are stunned
• Increased the matchmaking system’s preference for matching large pre-made parties against each other in Casual Mode. This should result in more balanced matches, but may cause a slight increase in queue times for larger parties.

[N] Obey

When TF2 suddenly introduced their casual and competitive modes and removed quickplay, a lot of problems became immediately apparent. Two weeks have passed since the launch, and I can say that both modes have much improved. Let’s dig into what has changed now that quickplay no longer exists–and see what else is going on:

1. Heavy vs. Pyro ends Sunday, August 14th. Pyro is winning, 55% to 45%, at this time.
2. {N} Olse has a signup on the forums for his next Newbs XCom 2 write-up.
3. Terraria patched
4. Short tutorial on TF2 Matchmaking
5. Full patch notes from July 28

 

XCom 2: Newbs Edition!

It’s that time again: {N} Olse will write up an account of how us Newblets will save the world in 2038! Just sign up on the forums by creating a character according to his guidelines. Olse will play thru the game with characters designed by Newbs’ specifications, and then fictionalize that outcomes for a story for you to read!

 

Terraria Patch 1.3.2 is now Live

So what’s new in Terraria? Here you go:

• Having a Party Girl in your town will occasionally cause town members to throw a Party. Party Girl and Clothier sells different stuff during a Party, including a piñata that looks like a pig.
• You can now choose what kind of evil corruption is in your world during world creation, as long as you have a world savefile that has unlocked Hardmode.
• A lot of bugfixes.

This isn’t much of an update, but developer ReLogic says that a future patch will create a biome out of the Underground Desert, and its hallow/corrupt/crimson hardmode variants, so there’s that to look forward to.

Also, they have been hard at work on Terraria: Otherworld for some time. The game is going to be a more RPG-centric game with more concrete goals, skill trees, NPCs with deep personalities, etc. They’ve hired a new art director and have decided to rework much of the game, so I don’t think you’ll see it enter beta in the next two years.

I continue to mention Terraria news because a lot of Newbs players own and play Terraria.

 

A Short Tutorial on the New TF2 Matchmaking

Helpful links:

• My TF2Newbs Guide on the Items of TF2 is great for beginners.
• In case you missed it, I wrote up A Close Look at TF2 Class Rebalances and all of the item changes.

Note that the option “Quickplay” no longer exists. Now, you can choose from the following options when you hit “Find a Game”:

• Casual: After a short wait, you’ll join a game (occasionally in-progress) randomly selected from the map options you’ve checkmarked.
  • No penalties for leaving in the middle of a match.
  • A typical match tends to take 10-30 minutes.
  • You can level up your Casual Rank by scoring points and winning matches.
• Competitive: After a short wait, you’ll join a 6-on-6 match on a randomly selected control point map.
  • Big penalties (in Rank, cooldown before joining next match) for leaving in the middle of a match.
  • A typical match tends to take 5-20 minutes.
  • Your Competitive Rank can go up or down depending on the match results.
• Mann vs. Machine: After a short wait, you’ll join a team of players that fight a bunch of computer-controlled robots.
  • Boot Camp is free-to-play, and some servers allow more than 6 players.
  • Mann Up requires tickets, limits the party to 6 players, and provides rewards for completing missions.
• Community Servers: Opens the Server Selection window so you can select a Favorited server, one you’ve played in your History, or search for one on the Internet.
  • This is how you can find our TF2Newbs servers!
• Training: Complete solo practice missions to learn how to play TF2.
• Create Server: Launch your own server, choosing any map that you have preloaded into your TF2 files. You can have players join and/or bots can play as well.

Casual Play

Casual Play replaced Quickplay for the following reasons:

• You will typically (but not always) join a game before the match has begun. A Valve server identifies 24 players (or up to 32, depending on the server) currently searching for a game, then starts the game by pulling them all in at the same time.
  • I’m not sure if Casual Rank is a variable in which players will join you in a match, so players of all levels of Casual Rank may be lumped together in a server.
• The server will attempt to pull in players a little while after a player abandons the server or disconnects.
• Autobalancing is disabled, but votekicking was enabled once more after the July 28th patch. So you can complete an entire match (each team gets to attack and defend once, or best two-out-of-three rounds on symmetrical control point maps, for example) with the same team of players.
• If you want to play with your friends, you can Create a Party beforehand. Your entire party will then be on the same team.
  • If you invite them to a game after the match has begun, there is no guarantee that they will join your side–they cannot join Spectator, and will be assigned a team when they arrive.
• There is NO penalty for leaving a Casual match. You can join another match at any time, and you get credit to your rank, based on your play up to the point of leaving/disconnection.

Oh, and you do get to choose the map and game modes you wish to play! Under each play format, you can click open a window to enable/disable specific maps. Use this function when you want to play on a specific map right now, or you only want to play on a list of your favorities. Note that only official Valve maps, unlike the beta map Asteroid, are available.

(In the above picture, slightly fewer players are searching to play Hoodoo than Borneo. If I begin the search, I may ended up at a Hoodoo or Borneo map, but not an Upward map, and never at a Payload Race map.)

 

Competitive Play

This has come around because serious TF2 players have wanted this option for years. Valve’s Comp Play is still quite different than the competitive leagues out there, but they are much more accessible, since you don’t have to join a team, organize practices, discuss strategies, or work around item restrictions. So consider it Comp Play Lite if you wish. But here are the features:

• TF2 Comp Play still revolves mostly around 5CP maps, so only the following maps are available (randomly selected for the match):
  • Badlands 5CP (not KOTH)
  • Foundry (just added!)
  • Gorge CP (not 5CP)
  • Granary (just added!)
  • Gullywash
  • Metalworks
  • Process
  • Snakewater
  • Sunshine
  • Swiftwater (just added!)
  • Vanguard (just added!)
  • Viaduct KOTH
• You can Create a Party–and it is recommended that you do so–but you can also jump in with solo or with a partial party.
  • There are no class limits, no item restrictions, and no votekicking or autobalancing. But if you choose Sniper, you better be good, or you’re going to hear about it from your party.
  • Currently only 6v6 is supported, but other modes such as 9v9 may be supported in the future.
  • You don’t get to choose your map.
• Random critical hits are disabled. You only get critical hits when a buff or uber grants them to you; this is typical of most comp leagues out there.
• This is Ranked Play: your party will face a party of similar average Rank.
  • Your Rank can go up or down after a match depending on match won/loss, points scored, and other elements of your play.
  • There is a hidden ELO in the game, which is represented by your Rank. If you were to always play at the same relative skill level, your Rank will rise to that level and then stay roughly the same.
• There are penalties for abandoning a match.
  • You will receive a greater loss of Rank than if you had merely lost the game (since the July 28th patch).
  • A “cooldown timer”, which won’t let you join another match after an Abandon, is enforced.
    • If you have played only a few games, the cooldown timer is much greater (hours’ and days’ cooldown).
    • Each Abandon increases this cooldown timer before you can play the next match.
    • All of this is designed to prevent the player who tries to leave a match in order to avoid incurring a loss. A player with lots of losses has an accurate Rank; a player with lots of Abandons is not a team player that ruins the game for everyone.

Community Servers

Don’t want to play on a Valve server? Join a community server for any of the following reasons:

• You want to play on our TF2Newbs servers! Of course you do.
  • To join server #04, a 2Fort server: open your console, and type the following:

    • connect server4.tf2newbs.com

  • Then, Favorite us so you can find us again quickly!

• You want to play on a server with alltalk, class limits, randomizer, or other options
• You want to be able to join spectate, change sides, vote for an autobalance, or just wander around exploring
• You want to play on a server with admins that can help when there is a problem, or you want a family-friendly server
• You want to find a trade server, a Sniper-friendly server, a jump server, or an MGE server
• You like to play on a server that has regulars that frequent the same playing space, and can chat with while gaming

Playing games is a social act, and so it makes sense to build and support a community where people can gather to play their favorite games.

 

Create a Server

Can’t find any active server to play on the Asteroid map? Feel like practicing your Soldier skills against a bunch of Engineer bots on Dustbowl? Do you want to invite your friends to a map you’ve made yourself? Use “Create a Server” to do all of these and more.

It is necessary to be familiar with console commands to load bots, use cheats, and otherwise make changes to the server. Hit the tilde (~) key to open the console, where you can type in commands.

Bots need a navigation mesh to be able to play a map; without one, they stay in spawn. If you’re using a map other than one of these, then you will need to generate a mesh for the bots with a command, which may require several minutes and will restart the server.

 

Full Patch Notes: July 28, 2016

• Matchmaking
  • Competitive Mode
    • Abandon penalty times are now longer for first-time abandoners with a low number of games played
    • Abandoning a game now results in significant rank loss. This loss is always greater than losing a given match.
    • Fixed an issue where players could drop and reconnect too many times before triggering an abandon
  • Casual Mode
    • Matches can now start with fewer than 24 players when there are not enough compatible players in queue
      • The match will still add additional players (up to 24) as they become available
      • This should improve queue times for low-population regions and game modes
    • Added maps cp_gullywash, cp_snakewater, and koth_probed
    • Fixed not being able to cycle between spectator modes
• Weapon viewmodels
  • The field-of-view slider has been re-added to Adv. Options menu (range: 54 to 70 degrees)
    • This feature is now allowed in Competitive Mode
  • Improved and fixed many animations when using a higher viewmodel field-of-view
  • Removed custom animations from the sv_pure whitelist because it was being exploited
  • Adjusted The Cow Mangler^(sic) and Black Box reload animations to be slightly faster (they now match the default rocket launcher)
• Your class portrait will now always be the innermost in the match status HUD (top center) and will have a slightly brighter background
• Added the Prinny promo items to the Mann Co. Store
• Added the Florida LAN 2016 community medal
• PASS Time update
  • Fixed achievement items (e.g. Civilian Grade JACK Hat) not cloaking with the Spy
  • Tweaks and fixes for all maps
  • Fix pack speed not being updated sometimes
  • Aiming players will no longer receive pack speed bonus
  • Some adjustments to reduce average round length
    • Overtime will end immediately if the winning team touches the ball
    • Overtime won’t happen if it’s impossible for the losing team to win
• Fixed players being able to avoid a vote-kick by reconnecting to the server at the right time
• Fixed the pd_watergate HUD not drawing
• Fixed Engineer teleporter exits sometimes detonating when used due to invisible geometry
• Fixed getting a black screen if the chat window was open when the match stats were being shown
• Fixed weapons not being hidden during some taunts for the Engineer, Medic, and Soldier
• Fixed Spy cloak causing the HUD 3D Character to cloak for the player the Spy is disguised as
• Fixed a client crash related to the animation system
• Fixed a bug where players in looping taunts could sometimes cause other clients to drop from the server
• Fixed not seeing particle effects for Unusual versions of Baseball Bill’s Sports Shine, Ritzy Rick’s Hair Fixative, and Texas Slim’s Dome Shine
• Fixed hearing the “team wipe” Announcer audio at the incorrect times

Undocumented changes

• Fixed Rocket Jumper viewmodel not being affected by Use minimized viewmodels option
• Updated the localization files.

[N] Obey

Lots going on now! The short version:

1. TF2Newbs’ 2Fort Contest runs the entire month of June
   • Player with most active playtime for June wins an unusual hat
   • First player to first reach 30,000 and 50,000 points will win 10 keys each
   • Two server-starting players on #04 eligible to win metal or hats each day
   • Three server-starting players on #04 also eligible to win a key each week.
2. HLStats reset June 1st
3. LMAOBOX hack users successfully banned by VAC
4. Plenty of Newbs are playing the Overwatch beta
5. Terraria patch 1.3.1 is now live
6. Steam Summer Sale 2016 runs from June 23rd to July 4th

1. TF2Newbs’ 2Fort Contest Starts June 1st

TF2Newbs’ six 24/7 2Fort servers (#01, #04, #05, #09, #19, #21) are hosting a series of contests during the month of June, with monthly, weekly, and daily prizes! See the forum post for questions and more information.

 

Monthly Points Race

TF2Newbs’ six 24/7 2Fort servers (#01, #04, #05, #09, #19, #21) will host a month-long points contest!

The first player to reach a total of 30,000 points will win 10 keys!

The first player to reach a total of 50,000 points will also win 10 keys! (The player who wins the 30k prize is ineligible for the 50k prize.)

Note: These rewards are measured by HLStats’ points system, not the TF2 client points. Follow this link to see how points are awarded.

Longest Playtime Award

The player who has been actively playing for the most time on TF2Newbs’ 24/7 2Fort servers while HLStats is enabled (that is, a minimum of 4 players) for the entire month of June will win an unusual hat! The hat to be won will be announced at a later date.

 

Weekly Achievement Contests

Each week, three additional stats contests will be announced for achievements, such as Headshot Kills, Amputator Kills, or Buildings Destroyed. A little bit like a week-long Contract, the person with the highest number of points scored for that goal during the week will win. One Mann Co. Key will be awarded to each other the three winners (maximum one key per player, per week).

Note that this contest counts all credit across all five TF2Newbs servers for the entire week. “Weeks” in this case start from Mondays at midnight PDT through the next Monday at midnight PDT.

 

#04 Server Starter Awards

Server #04 will feature daily prizes awarded to random players who jump in to the server whenever an “server starting” announcement is made.

Once the server start announcement is made, the next time the server maintains at least 8 vs. 8 players for several minutes (not counting spectators), then admin {N} Wife will note a list of players credit with helping that day. Anyone in Spectate at the time the list is generated will be disqualified from the list of eligible players for this award that day.

From that list, two random winners will be chosen. The prizes on weekdays are one refined metal, and the prizes on Saturdays on Sundays are a random hat!

Also each week, the three players who earn the most server starting credits for that week will earn a prize of one Mann Co. Key each.

Admins may give away other prizes at their sole discretion. |N| Koans has said that he may give away Steam games to those who start #05 on their own initiative.

 

Eligible Servers for the Contests

Copy-and-paste these commands into your TF2 console to jump straight to the server. Don’t forget to favorite them for later!

connect s1.tf2newbs.com 
connect s4.tf2newbs.com
connect s5.tf2newbs.com
connect s9.tf2newbs.com
connect s19.tf2newbs.com
connect s21.tf2newbs.com

 

2. Stats Reset June 1st

The HLStatsX software, which counts server-side points and ranks users, will be reset on all servers on June 1st. Everyone will be reset to the base 1,000 points. This coincides with the latest TF2Newbs contest.

 

3. LMAOBOX Hack Users Banned By VAC

We’re all tired of having servers quickly empty when some jerk enters with an obvious hack: a whirlwindy-stormy audio, headshotting, shooting through walls, and running around indestructibly. The admins of TF2Newbs ban these hackers, a thankless, sometimes time-consuming task. And now, we can rejoice, as one of the worst scourges of the virtual world (especially Valve servers!) is now effectively blocked by Valve’s VAC system.

PC Gamer reports that the LMAOBOX cheat is now detectable by VAC, Valve’s Anti-Cheat system, causing current and recent users to be permanently VAC-banned (meaning they can’t play on any Valve-owned server of any Valve game on that account). Such users are typically unwelcome on TF2Newbs’ servers also. Heck, the cheat has been so pervasive that spamming chat about the use of such a cheat is a bannable offense on Newbs’ servers, Skial, and other TF2 communities.

You should never use this hack, especially since the recently publicized source code has been found to be riddled with malware. Friends don’t let friends use LMAOBOX.

 

4. Got Overwatch?

It comes out Tuesday, May 24th, and it may just be the next coming of Team Fortress 2. We’re discussing it on the forums.

What is Overwatch? It’s a first-person shooter with character classes and short-term objectives, much like Team Fortress 2. Overwatch is by Blizzard, the creators the Diablo, StarCraft, and WarCraft franchises. Overwatch isn’t available on Steam, and is exclusive to Battle.Net, which is Blizzard’s proprietary gaming service. Nor is it free-to-play; the standard retail price of the game is US$59.99.

Overwatch is also a creative license, with digital comics and animated shorts–gee, also like TF2! Here’s a YouTube demo of some of the classes.

 

5. Terraria Patch 1.3.1 is Now Live!

Click here for the full patch notes. Gamepedia is very buggy, so here’s a summary of the PC version update:

• Lots of upgrades to the wiring system, including wiring gates (AND, NOR, XAND, etc.), actuators, tools that can remotely and wirelessly trip actuators, and more.
• Lots of new statues added, including many of the mobs/monsters in the game, that can be attached to wires to spawn their respective mobs.
• Controller support for PC version.

Terraria, the 2D Minecraft-like digging and crafting game that just hit its 5th birthday, got its first patch since its mega-patch last August. Since modders continue to experiment with Terraria’s limits, developer ReDigit continues to apply patches that help with specific objectives. In this case, a logic system has been implemented in the wiring system to allow, for instance, a door to open only if two switches are both opened, for traps to be affixed to walls and ceilings, and to have remote controls and projectile-triggered buttons to trip your wired masterpieces. Geeky stuff to be sure, kind of like those mana farmers in the Minecraft modding community.

Terraria is an action game for US$9.99 with cute visuals and a robust crafting system, worth the price even when it’s not on sale…

 

6. Steam Summer Sale 2016 is Soon!

Speaking of sales, numerous reports link a source that seems to confirm that the twice-a-year Steam sale will occur at the end of June [June 23rd to July 4th, to be specific]. This is a good time to buy games, as most games sold by Steam go on sale at some point during the bonanza, often from 33% to 75% off. Terraria for $2.49 (75% off) is common, and any game that is at least a year old is often found for 50% off. Flash sales of perhaps twelve-hour duration feature the best sales, so users check in frequently for the favorite games.

Hail Gaben! (Please note that this is a different video from the old one.)

 

[N] Obey

Since Terraria is another game that Newbs members play–another half-silly, half-serious, casual-yet-deep war simulator–I’ve been posting Terraria updates in this blog as well as TF2 and Valve news.  Huzzah: Terraria’s first update in more than a year!

Below are MILD SPOILERS of what can be expected of this patch. Full patch notes will not be posted here; go to the Official Terraria Wiki for detailed patch notes.

New Features to Be Found in Terraria 1.3:

1. You can now create a world in “Expert Mode“, which does the following:
   • Tougher, smarter monsters with improved AI. Some monsters scale in difficulty as you complete events.
   • Enemies and pots drop more loot.
   • Boss health scales in multiplayer based on number of players.
   • Does NOT create the world in Hardmode.
2. “Lunar Events” are Hardmode, post-Plantera events that proceed after killing Cultists (see above) that spawn at the Dungeon entrance after Golem has been killed. These events will change several surface biomes to a temporary event version.
3. “Martian Madness” is a Hardmode, post-Golem event that creates waves of Martian enemies and a unique boss. Just look for the probes on the surface world….
4. Changed the spawn order for NPCs. Some cosmetic-oriented NPCs (like the Painter) only show up after you have a minimum number of other NPCs housed.
5. Chlorophyte can now revert the spread of corruption/crimson back to standard terrain, and turns dirt blocks into mud blocks.
6. Solid blocks and trees now show damage after beginning to mine/destroy them.
7. Over 800 new items to discover, including yo-yos, bouncy dynamite, and beach balls. Plenty of new stuff can be found by fishing in the Underground Hallow and the Underground Corruption/Crimson.

I’m not sure this is the full “Lunar Update” they promised over a year ago, nor do I think that this will be the final Terraria patch. I mean, you can’t go up into space and land on the moon, yet….

But apparently “Terraria: Otherworld” will soon be a thing! Think of a Terraria game where you enter a corrupted, ruined world and attempt to revert it back to a less corrupted state.

[N] Obey

Hark! Yet another minor TF2 update, again adjusting the two beta maps!  But wait–there is some other stuff going on….

1. Demomen can no longer detonate sticky bombs while taunting.
2. Strange ranks are no longer displayed on the web.

Also, Terraria now has an updated official website, which has some spoilers for the upcoming Lunar Update!

TF2 Full Patch Notes

• Fixed a client crash related to the robot destruction HUD
• Fixed an exploit where players could circumvent successful kick votes
• Demoman can no longer detonate sticky bombs while taunting
• Strange Ranks are no longer displayed on the web (Trade, Steam backpack, Market) and only show ‘Strange’ as a prefix
• Default value for convar sv_vote_issue_scramble_teams_cooldown has been increased to 20 minutes
• Fixed sound clipping issue for the Demoman’s Spent Well Spirits taunt
• Added Jarate lightwarp preset to the Steam Workshop importer
• Updated the model/materials for the Neckwear Headwear to fix a lighting issue
• Updated pl_cactuscanyon
  • Increased amount of time the middle gates remain open before and after a train passes in stage 2
  • Adjusted spawn times at end of stage 2
• Updated rd_asteroid
  • Removed env_sun from the skybox
  • Optimized skybox performance
  • Lowered Scout/Sniper damage against robots
  • Fixed doubled-up health kits on the bridge
  • Added area portals to the base interiors to improve performance
  • Continued art-pass process
  • Fixed zebra-style art on static props on systems that used lower texture quality
• Added experimental cpu_frequency_monitoring convar to detect thermal throttling. If you have TF2 performance problems on Windows, add “+cpu_frequency_monitoring 2” to the TF2 command line to see if CPU thermal throttling is an issue. If the displayed CPU frequency percentage drops below about 80-85% then you may have a problem with your CPU slowing down due to overheating. If it drops below 50-55% then you may have a serious problem. CPU overheating can be caused by overclocking, insufficient cooling, insufficient airflow, failing or dirty fans, or other causes. The CPU frequency results are displayed with cl_showfps or net_graph. For more detail see https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2715-YIPD-6873

[N] Obey