INX game servers blog

As below, an update for TF2 servers & DODS servers has been released:

Required updates for Team Fortress 2 and Day of Defeat: Source are now available. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive them. The specific changes include:

Engine
Enabled Steam Cloud support for key bindings and custom spraypaint images
– Added Options->Multiplayer->Advanced option to toggle off/on: default is on

Team Fortress 2
Added new Highlander mode.
– 9 players allowed per team.
– Restricts each team to 1 of each class.
– Use mp_highlander (0/1) to toggle off/on: default is 0
Added “bots” to the server’s sv_tags convar if the server is running bots.
Fixed a weapon name localization issue.
Fixed the “tf_teamtalk” server convar not controlling text chat between living/dead teammates.
Updated the map CTF_DoubleCross
– Fixed the map not ending correctly when using mp_timelimit.
– Changed to prevent Engineers from building on top of the shack in each base.
Updated the map Arena_WatchTower
– Fixed a case where players could open and get stuck on the starting gates before the round start.
– Improved clipping to prevent people from getting out of the map.
– Optimized the map for better performance.

Jason

An update for Team Fortress 2 is now available. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive the update. The specific changes include:

- Fixed grounded players receiving falling damage from Force-A-Nature shots directly above them
- Fixed the Force-A-Nature firing fewer pellets when tf_use_fixed_weaponspreads was 1
- Updated the achievement icon for the “May I Cut In?” Spy achievement to match the achievement description

Jason

This ran through last night- a pretty hefty update for Team Fortress 2 game servers.

A required update for Team Fortress 2 is now available. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive the update. The specific change include:

Server Browser (for TF2 and DoD:S)
- Added a client-side server blacklist:
– Supports blacklisting of specific servers, all servers on an IP, and all servers on a class C range.
– Saves the server list to a file, and has an Import button to allow easy sharing (cfg\server_blacklist.txt)

Balance changes:
– Reduced the health penalty on The Sandman.
– The Force-A-Nature knockback on target now:
– Only applies to hits that deal more than 30 damage and are in close range.
– Factors in the firer’s angle of attack when determining the knockback direction.
– Has less of an effect on grounded targets.
– The Dead Ringer now:
– Reduces cloak to 40% when uncloaking early.
– Has a 35% cap on the amount of cloak it can gain from an ammo pack.
– Has a quieter de-cloak sound.

Changes / Fixes:
– Fixed a performance & stability issue with AMD processors.
– Improved the stability of the game server -> item backend connection.
– Fixed a rare server crash related to dispensers.
– Added min/max values to viewmodel_fov convar to match the settings in the slider.
– Reduced the number of moons in ctf_doublecross, sadly.
– Demo playback now ignores sv_pure settings, allowing demos to easily contain custom content.
– Fixed a crash related to sv_pure and the wireframe_dx6 shader.
– Players can no longer shoot while stunned.
– Fixed a bug that caused movement speed reductions to not work on stunned players.
– Soldier Rage bar no longer resets when touching a resupply cabinet.

Achievement fixes:
– Fixed the “Second Eye” Demoman achievement.
– Fixed a bug in the “Play Doctor” Medic achievement.
– Changed the requirements for the “Medals of Honor” Soldier achievement.
– Updated description for the “Blind Fire” Demoman achievement to better explain the requirements.
– Fixed an issue that affected several achievements requiring the use of the Equalizer.

Community requests:
– Added “skip_next_map” server ConCommand to skip the next map in the map cycle.
– Added “Play a hit sound whenever you injure an enemy” option to the Multiplayer->Advanced options menu.
– Added server “tf_use_fixedshotgunspreads” convar. When set, shotgun & scattergun pellet spreads will use a non-random distribution.
– Added a “show_htmlpage” command to allow server operators to display custom web pages to clients.

Changes to the TF Bots:
– In KOTH mode, Bots are now:
– More likely to roam around and hunt enemies if there is lots of time left.
– Become more likely to push for the point as time runs down, or their teammates start to capture it.
– Medic bots now:
– Opportunistically “overheal” nearby friends when they can.
– Prioritize healing of injured nearby friends more.
– Don’t focus on Heavies quite so exclusively.
– Don’t spam their Medigun continuously at round start.
– Won’t choose cover far below their heal target so much (koth_nucleus).
– Fight back with their syringe-gun appropriately.
– Various improvements to combat behaviors.
– General bot improvements:
– They no longer stand still on the point when capturing or defending it.
– They choose more varied routes now.
– They choose better defensive spots around captured points.
– They fall back to another weapon when they entirely run out of ammo.
– They adjust their FOV when using zoomed in sniper scope.
– They treat in-range Sentries as the most dangerous threat.
– They fire their weapons is more realistic bursts.
– Engineers use their shotgun properly.
– Added a “virtual mousepad” concept to rework how bots track enemy players:
– They now periodically estimate the position and velocity of the enemy they are tracking, instead of “locking on”.
– After rotating beyond a maximum angle, they will pause for a fraction of a second to re-center their “virtual mouse”.
– Allows for over/undershoot “slop” in aiming. Looks more natural, and allows skilled players to dodge.
– Addresses the “180 spin around and fire”, “Heavy bot is OP”, “Sniper is OP”, and “I can’t fight a Heavy bot as a Scout” issues.
– Tuned Sniper spot finding algorithm to generate more diverse locations, partially addressing the “Predictable Sniper camping spots” issue.
– Soldier bots are more careful to not fire rockets that will explode on nearby geometry and kill them
– Fixed a bug where bots tried to heal from a Dispenser being carried by an Engineer.
– Tuned scoreboard logic to guard against malicious server operators spoofing bot pings to hide the “BOT” tag.
– Added more bot names as suggested by the TF community.

Jason

Ok, here’s the deal. I’ve been so busy with work recently (read support tickets) that the only time I do get to game, its a session with Fifa 2010. Or Tekken 10. At the weekend, on the horrible Xbox 360 console. Which really isn’t good for the Managing Director of INX-Gaming, a game server provider, is it?

There was a time where I would play CS 1.6 for 15 hours a day (and in between answering tickets). We are going back 6,7,8 (I forget) years here. And then came CSS. Then Call of Duty 4. All big FPS games I didn’t half get into and waste some time on.

But then we really grew, and support became rather busy, as did running the company. And as a consequence I just haven’t had the time to devote to online gaming. After a prolonged period of what I call ‘Windows illness’ I lost my rag with the freezes, and blue screens. And I bought a MacBook. The final nail in the coffin. And really, you can’t play games on a Mac. I feel guilty…..dirty even.

So while setting up an office at home, I’ve decided to put aside a nice budget (read Christmas present to oneself) for a PC gaming rig. Woo

Now if I’m going to spend £700-£800 on a decent PC setup, I really need to find some decent games and game servers to play on.

COD4 is really over done for me. Lot’s of time spent on that. I’ve spent so much time on Counterstrike source servers that it would be like taking up an old heroin habit. Not a good idea.

There’s also the consideration that with not much time, we are talking 30 mins here and there for a gaming fix. Let’s face it, if you are going to play Call of Duty 4, or CSS, it’s to be competitive. Or maybe that’s just me?

What game fills that void?

And then I thought….Team Fortress 2. TF2 with it’s cartoony exterior. The laid back atmosphere on the servers. I reckon before people play on Team Fortress 2 servers, they *have* to have a crate of lager next to them. It’s the law don’t you know?

It suits me down to the ground. So as of tomorrow, I might just give Team Fortress 2 game servers a go. Well it can’t harm to form another addiction can it?

What do you guys think?

A required update for Team Fortress 2 is now available. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive it. The specific issues include:

- Fixed client-side perf problem after changing levels on Koth_Harvest_Event.

Linux:
- Add warning if +map is not specified on the command line
- Steam is located by searching .., . and $PATH
- Added -steambin option to specify location steam, overrides search
- Added -steamverify option to add -verify_all when updating with steam

Jason

An update for TF2 servers was released late last night.

A required update for Team Fortress 2 is now available. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive the update. The specific changes include:

Team Fortress 2:
- Added “+quickswitch” command, which brings up a small panel allowing you to rapidly change the loadout of your current class & active weapon slot
- Added server ConVar “tf_teamtalk” to allow alive/dead teammates to talk with each other during a match (default is 0)
- Added 1/2 Bonus Point for healing a teammate with a dropped sandvich
- Updated the class menu to show the local player’s current class
- Updated server ConVar “tf_playergib” to have 3 settings for player gibs: 0: never, 1: normal, 2: always (default is 1)
- Updated “player_hurt” game event to include “damageamount” and “crit” values
- Fixed a rare crash in particle system
- Fixed being able to eat your sandvich (via taunt) and drop it in the same frame
- Fixed not correctly remembering the last weapon if you’re using “remember active weapon” and the last weapon was the weapon in slot 0
- Fixed Medic not being able to release his ÃœberCharge if his team won the previous round and the Medigun was his last active weapon (while using “remember last active weapon”)
- Fixed not remembering the last active weapon correctly if the player didn’t die before the next round restart
- Prevented servers from using steam:// commands in their MOTD text
- Fixed using the regen cabinets to get more health than you should when you switch between weapons with/without max health reduction attributes
- Fixed friendly-fire/spectator exploit using projectiles
- Fixed disguised spies not getting ammo from enemy dispensers
- Fixed thrown sandvich traveling through players before being activated
- Fixed sandviches sometimes spawning inside walls, or being thrown through thin walls
- Fixed fire overlay drawing on hats in DX80
- Fixed an exploit that allowed servers to corrupt client’s item database
- Fixed full packet updates showing cloaked Spies for an instant
- Fixed a prediction error resulting in mis-predictions of crits

Community requests:
- Added new “func_flag_alert” entity that fires an alert when a player carrying a flag starts touching the entity
- Added server ConVar “bot_crouch” to make bots crouch
- Added model override for item_teamflag entity
- Added ability to turn off particle trail for players carrying the item_teamflag entity
- Updated team_train_watcher to support 8 cp/track links (was previously 4)

Jason

A new update for Team Fortress 2 servers has been released.

A required update for Team Fortress 2 is now available. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive the update. The specific changes include:

Team Fortress 2:
- Added “tf_allow_player_use” server ConVar to control players executing +use while playing (defaults to 0)
- Fixed a bug where full backpacks resulted in an item being repeatedly found each time the game is started
- Fixed being able to burn players/buildings that are in the water while standing outside the water
- Fixed teleporting Spies getting stuck in enemy players standing on the exit
- Fixed server log not listing telefrag kills as weapon “telefrag”
- Fixed the Pyro’s airblast pushing Spectators in free-look mode
- Fixed Pyro’s Hadouken killing Scouts that have used Bonk! and are phasing
- Fixed freezecam screenshots sometimes being saved outside the Screenshots folder
- Fixed deathnotice and server log entries not using the unique item names/icons when buildings are destroyed
- Fixed a case where the weapon selection menu wasn’t drawing the images of non-standard items if the player was using hud_fastswitch 1 and using slot7-10 to view the panel
- Fixed CTF HUD not centering the flag panel if there is only one active flag

Community requests:
- Added the ability to set a parent for the item_teamflag entity
- Added OnPickUpTeam1 and OnPickUpTeam2 outputs to the item_teamflag entity
- Added intro movie .mp3 files to the sound/misc folder

Jason

A required update for Team Fortress 2 and Day of Defeat: Source is now available.

Team Fortress 2
- Fixed “r_rootlod” being marked as a cheat, which prevented it from being changed and caused a significant performance loss for some GPUs.
- Changed “The Big Hurt” Scout achievement to be “Stun 2 Medics that are ready to deploy an ÜberCharge.”
- Fixed Announcer overtime bug on KOTH servers using mp_timelimit.
– Due to many requests, added server ConVar “tf_overtime_nag”. When set to 1, it keeps the broken announcer behavior.
- Fixed tournament stopwatch not displaying the time in the HUD.
- Fixed a bug with cloak meter regen and drain rates.
- Fixed Spies not being able to go invis while reloading.
- Fixed pipebombs sticking to saw blades.
- Fixed weapons not being hidden properly during loser state anims.
- Fixed a case where radius damage didn’t reduce damage to self.
– Fixes Demomen taking too much damage from their pipebombs.
- Fixed a case where items would never show up in the backpack, even though they were available to equip.
- Fixed a case where items weren’t being validated properly in class loadout slots.

Community requests:
- Removed centerprint texts for TF_FLAGTYPE_ATTACK_DEFEND CTF game mode.
- Changed TF_FLAGTYPE_ATTACK_DEFEND capture reward from 30 kills to 1 capture.

Updates to team fortress 2 gaming servers and day of defeat source gaming servers have been released

New Content
- Added King Of The Hill game mode.
- Added custom animations played by the losing team during the post-win state. They are moved into third person camera to enjoy them.
- Added lots of new hats.

Additions / Changes:
- Added “Auto Reload” option to the multiplayer advanced options.
– Clip-based weapons that reload a full clip at a time can now have their reloads aborted by firing.
- Pistol now fires at a fixed rate, not based on the speed at which you press the firing button.
- Added a color blind option to add a Jarate icon above enemies who are busy accepting a terrifying existence where they have no dignity.
- Significantly reduced the amount of network traffic being sent.
- Capturing the flag in a CTF game mode gives the entire capturing team 10 seconds of critboost.
- Sappers attached to a teleporter automatically place another Sapper on the other end of the teleporter, if it exists.
– Engineers wrenching a teleporter will repair the other end as well, and remove Sappers from both if they exist.
- Disguised Spies no longer trigger On-Hit effects (like the Blutsauger’s heal).
- Removed self-inflicted minicrits. Fixes Jarate’d Soldiers/Demomen having ineffective rocket/grenade jumps.
- Added an item panel to the spectator cam that shows non-standard items being carried by the player you’re spectating.
- Added an “Inspect” key that allows you to look at items being carried by your team mates.
- Backpack improvements:
– Added drag & drop to move items around. Item positions are maintained on the backend.
– Added multi-select, allowing you to delete multiple items at once.
– Added a new key to the key binding page that opens your inventory directly to your backpack.
– Fixed mouseover panel being incorrectly position when the backpack first appears.
- Cloaked Spies standing in valid backstab positions no longer raise their knife.
- Added current map name and gametype to the bottom right of scoreboard.
- Added class icons to tips on the loadout and loading screens.
- Improved visuals around flags when they’re being carried by a player.
- Improved critboosted visuals, making it much clearer when an enemy has critboost.
- Updated the loading panel to show the game type under the map name during level transition.
- In-game chat dialog now supports full Unicode characters.
- Added BLU main menu background.
- Added response caching for some server queries to help reduce the CPU load from DOS attacks.
- Teammates no longer block friendly radius damage. Prevents nearby teammates causing rocket/grenade jumps to fail.

Map Changes:
- Update PLR_Pipeline
– Increased the starting advantage in the third round if a team has won the first two rounds.
– Fixed carts not continuing to the second round if they’re capped at the same time in the first round.
– Fixed being able to shoot pipebombs over the starting gates in the first round.
– Fixed being able to open the doors in the first round before the setup time was finished.
– Fixed players getting stuck in some doors.
– Fixed players being able to get onto rooftops and out of the map boundaries.
– Fixed other minor bugs and exploits.
- Added community map Arena_Offblast
- Added community map Cp_Yukon
- Update Arena_Sawmill
– Fixed DirectX8 bug where some models would not be visible.
– Fixed exploit with building teleporters outside of the map.
- Updated CP_Granary
– Made a few changes to improve balance based on competitive community feedback.

Item Reworks:
- The Force of Nature
– The enemy knockback now only `works in close range and behaves more like the Pyro’s air blast.
– Enemies cannot be juggled by the FaN’s effect.
– The self-knockback has also changed to respect the firer’s view angle. Looking up while shooting will no longer propel the enemy upwards.
– Knockback is now scaled by damage done.
- The Sandman:
– A Scout will receive 1 point for stunning an enemy and 2 points for a long range stun.
– Stunned players now take 75% of all incoming damage instead of 50%.
– Übercharged players can no longer be stunned.
– Heavies spinning their mini-guns will continue to spin when stunned (whether the left or right mouse button is pressed).
– The minimum distance to stun a target has been reduced.
– The negative attribute has changed from “no double jump” to “-25 max health”.

Fixes:
- Fixed various issues around layout & presentation of items inside the Backpack and “X is carrying” item dialogs.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed players to work around sv_pure.
- Particle files are now protected by sv_pure.
- Fixed critboost effect getting stuck on when you die while critboosted.
- Fixed Timer HUD element backgrounds not being the correct color if you change teams during waiting for players.
- Fixed a couple of issues with the way critboosts affected The Huntsman and the Spy’s knife.
- Fixed an exploit where you could reload The Huntsman faster than intended.
- Fixed Heavy “civilian” exploit.
- Fixed a set of exploits using the DXSupport config files.
- Fixed r_screenfademinsize and r_screenfademaxsize exploits.
- Fixed sentries firing at a fully cloaked Spy if they’re still the closest target.

Community requests:
- Added a HUD element for hybrid CTF & CP maps.
– Supports 1 or 2 flags, and any number of CPs.
– Mapmakers need to place a “tf_logic_hybrid_ctf_cp” entity in their map to enable it.
- Added custom kill server log text “train” and “saw” for deaths caused by these environmental hazards.
Format: “%s<%i><%s><%s>” committed suicide with “world” (customkill “%s”) (attacker_position “%d %d %d”)
- Added new “medic_death” event for server logs:
Format: “%s<%i><%s><%s>” triggered “medic_death” against “%s<%i><%s><%s>” (healing “%d”) (ubercharge “%s”)
– healing is the amount the Medic healed in that life
– ubercharge (1/0) is whether they died with a full charge
- Added “func_respawnflag” trigger entity. It will remove & return the flag if a flag carrier touches it, or if the flag falls into it.

Catching up on the updates here guys. Here was one a few days ago for Team Fortress 2 servers.

A required update for Team Fortress 2 is now available.  Please run hldsupdatetool to receive it.  The specific changes include:

Linux Dedicated Server
* Improved connection logic to help servers that aren’t automatically reconnecting to Steam.

Engine
* Fixed seeing error dialogs if the “-nocrashdialog” command line parameter is present.

Team Fortress 2
* Added an optional per-map particle manifest called <mapname>_particles.txt, which should be located in the maps directory, so map authors can load custom particle files.
* Fixed minicrits resulting in reduced damage for weapons at close ranges.
* Fixed the Cloak and Dagger not regenerating at the correct rate.
* Fixed setinfo exploit that allowed restricted convars to be set while connected to a server.
* Fixed tournament mode being interrupted if mp_timelimit hits before both stopwatch rounds have been played.
* Fixed “jointeam unassigned” exploit.
* Fixed being able to respawn during the chat time before a level change.
* Fixed “sensitivity” ConVar not capping the upper value which sometimes caused a server crash.
* Prevented some exploits based on mat_dxlevel being changed in-game.
* Updated ripple effects for water drips to improve performance.

Jason