Latest News

Hi there! What a year. We have lots of stuff to go over!

Just a few days ago, we released our latest update: the 2.1.3 Patch! It comes complete with weapon rebalances and reworks, visual overhauls, and plenty of brand new festivities. As usual, a few members of the team decided to make a fun little preview video. This was initially uploaded to Twitter or X or whatever, but now you can view it here on the blog or on YouTube!


Speaking of the blog, we haven't forgotten about our community roundups! We've taken a look through all of your awesome submissions, and plan to feature submissions each month, starting in 2024! We're always looking for community content to feature on our socials, so please be sure to email us if you'd like the chance to have your stuff shown off!

Last but not least, we would like to thank everyone in the community for all of their kind comments and feedback this year, and everyone who made the Fight or Flight update possible. It's been a very long road. All that leaves now is the eternal question: when is the next update? And the answer is... soon! Very soon! Early 2024 soon! We won't reveal too much yet, but we have been working on some pretty interesting stuff, and we can't wait for everyone to get their hands on it.

That's all for now. Happy holidays, and here's to 2024!

The 2.1.3 Patch for Team Fortress 2 Classic has been released. To apply this update to TF2 Classic, use the latest version of our downloader. The major changes include:

Important Changes:​

• Linux Client support is now officially discontinued. Please read this FAQ page on how to continue playing on Linux.
• Full Lambertian lighting is now enabled by default for all materials using Phong shading. This can be toggled in the Video Settings.
• The Steam Overlay is now disabled by default. To enable again, launch the game using the -fixoverlay launch option.
• We have temporarily disabled the Medi Gun sound collage feature introduced with version 2.1.0 to address some crashes (#272). As such, Attribute Manager compiler optimizations have been enabled again. (Thanks Sappho & Avast Antipony)
• We now have official SourceMod support. This allows for automatic gamedata updates for server owners. Please update to the latest version of SourceMod and TF2Classic-Tools.

Weapon Changes:​

• Updated the Brick:
  • Implemented unique killfeed icon for Engineer building destruction (Hunter R. Thompson)
• Updated the Harvester:
  • Afterburn tick heals while active no longer apply while crit is ready
  • Crit now instantly heals for 195HP upon hit
  • A sound cue audible to all players now plays when crit is ready
  • Wearable now has critglows when crit is ready and weapon is holstered
• Updated the Mine Layer:
  • Increased clip size and max active mines to 6 (from 4)
  • Reduced player detection radius of proximity mines by 20% of their explosion radius
  • Reduced detonation delay of proximity mines to 0.4s vs enemy players (from 0.5s)
  • Now uses the Rump Shake taunt
• Updated the Minigun:
  • Each stored Chekhov's Punch crit now takes 1.5s of firing to deplete (from 0.75s)
  • Improved responsiveness when switching between revving states, especially noticeable when tapfiring on high ping
• Updated the Anti-Aircraft Cannon:
  • Overhauled weapon model (Mazern, SamDum)
  • Improved responsiveness when switching between revving states, especially noticeable when tapfiring on high ping
  • Implemented lag compensation to the delayed explosion
  • Overhauled killfeed icon (Hunter R. Thompson)
• Updated the Sandvich:
  • Can now be critboosted
  • Consumes one Chekhov's Punch stored crit when thrown or eaten
  • Critical Sandviches heal 3 times the amount of health of a non-critical Sandvich when eaten, allowing for overheal
  • Thrown critical Sandviches heal as much as a full health pack
• Updated Chekhov's Punch:
  • The chain wearable now critglows in both first person and third person
• Updated the Kritzkrieg:
  • Updated the world and view models to include a higher polygon front and a less polygonal hose
• Updated the Fishwhacker:
  • Overhauled first person animations (Ventrici)
  • Damage now deals increased knockback to all nearby players
  • Added -45% damage penalty downside
  • Removed self marked-for-death on miss penalty
  • Removed no random critical hits penalty
• Updated the Tranquilizer Gun:
  • Implemented unique killfeed icon for deflected dart (Hunter R. Thompson)

Gameplay Changes:​

• Updated Arena Mode:
  • Killed players now drop health pickups that can only be used by their killer's team
  • If a team gets eliminated, any remaining health pickups they own become neutral
• Raised afterburn condition duration for Pyros to 0.5s (from 0.25s)
  • This allows for Flaregun combos in certain situations
• Ragdolls are now affected by explosions
• Active Teleporters now emit a heal particle when they get repaired from the other end and also emit spark particles when the other end gets damaged
• Spies now gain double the amount of cloak from building gibs
• Sapper outline is no longer visible when sapper is not yet ready to be placed
• Damage over time conditions (bleed, afterburn) no longer apply on the very same tick as damage
• Cloaked Spies now correctly take 20% less damage even from crits

Map Changes:​

• Added ctf_penguin_peak
  • Created by Erk, Chin, Phi, & Another Bad Pun
  • Assets by SamDum, Square, void, Stuffy360, & Diva Dan
  • Winter themed version of Pelican Peak, with slippery ice, snow, and... penguins!
• Updated koth_lakeside_final:
  • Water sources around the map now use modern custom materials, instead of water_well
  • The fog distance has been slightly tweaked to account for the newer radial fog, revealing some previously-invisible skybox detail
  • The sun angle has been slightly tweaked to allow sun to shine into the water temple
  • Cubemaps in the team spawns and water temple are now parallax-corrected
  • Brush materials inside of the water temple are slightly reflective, for a wet "pseudo-phong" look
  • The sand-tile blend material used in many places now has a proper $blendmodulatetexture
  • The map's stone floor material now has a proper bumpmap (the same one as the concrete floor texture it was derived from)
  • The lightmap scale has been adjusted across the map to make shadows less blobby where it was previously noticeable
  • A few playerclips have been converted to blockbullets where appropriate
• Updated pl_upward:
  • Fix exploit where you could build teleporters in RED's final spawn
  • Fix some pixelwalks and minor clipping issues across the map
  • Reduce map size from 36MiB to 11MiB
• Updated tc_hydro:
  • Replaced use of water_2fort_expensive (which visually regressed in a previous update to look almost invisible) with a new waterflow_hydro_daytime material
  • Cubemaps across the map now have their boundaries set in most cases (this took four hours)
  • Reduced map size from 65MiB to 36MiB
• Updated vip_badwater:
  • Added sound to the spinning fan in RED's spawn
  • Added envmapmask to the floor tile in BLU's forward spawn
  • A boulder that was erroneously changed to a prop_dynamic in a previous update is now a prop_static again, meaning that it should be less glitchy to walk on top of
• Updated vip_mineside:
  • The now-obsolete game_text_tf entity has been replaced with env_instructor_hint
• Updated cp_mountainlab:
  • Rounds are no longer interrupted by the map timer running out
  • Lightmaps are much sharper across the map
  • Parallax-correction applied to the map's cubemaps
  • Other minor visual tweaks
• Updated ctf_2fort:
  • Water appearance slightly adjusted to be more clear

Mapping Changes:​

• We have a new collection of particles that were collected from other Valve games, environmental_fx.pcf, consisting of a handful of odds-and-ends which may prove useful to mappers, including lava_smoke, dust_ceiling_rumble, flies, leaky_pipe, leaky_roof, pipe_drips, sprinkler_system, steam_jet, steam_low_vent, and lots of variations thereof.
• Updated Game Instructor:
  • Now has a stylized, team colored background, akin to the one used by game_text_tf
  • Hint text now properly supports localized strings and can include newlines
  • Added filters for class and team to env_instructor hint
• Updated tf_logic_arena entity:
  • Added RoundTimeOverride keyvalue for overriding round time
  • Added switch_teams keyvalue. If enabled, teams will be swapped around on a new round
• Updated item_healthkit_small entity:
  • In Arena mode, small health kits assigned to a specific team now have unique assets to signify which team they can be used by
• Updated tf_logic_domination entity:
  • Added outputs for each team that trigger every time team score updates
• Updated math_counter entity:
  • Now uses float values for I/O instead of integers
  • Added SetMinValueNoFire and SetMaxValueNoFire inputs
• Added several math related entities from Mapbase:
  • math_counter_advanced
    • A special version of math_counter with advanced inputs, outputs and keyvalues for advanced operations and specialized calculations
  • math_clamp
    • Clamps input values between the specified min/max, which can be integers, floats or vectors
  • math_bits
    • Performs calculations involving bits and bit operations
  • math_vector
    • Allows for operations on vectors like "0 0 0" or "2509.677 384.001 204.5"
  • math_mod
    • Modifies and outputs input values with the specified value and operator. For example, it could be configured to add 2 to each value sent to this entity, outputting the result each time. This is to create I/O "pipelines" that demand instant operations limited by, say, using a math_counter with delays
  • math_lightpattern
    • Replicates baked light patterns and fires outputs accordingly
  • math_generate
    • Generates numbers from a variety of algorithm, mostly taken from material proxies. (e.g. a sine wave)
• Ported several soundscapes from Left 4 Dead 2 and Alien Swarm
  • These are in scripts/soundscapes_canada.txt and are unlisted by default. The pack intends to cover unusual environments that weren't adequately covered through preexisting soundscapes, such as for caverns, mineshafts, volcanoes, snowstorms, extremely large interiors, and swamps. It also includes numerous utility scapes that can be used when creating custom ones, and entries are all documented to make it clear how they're meant to be used. Read the file's introduction for more information.
• Added func_areaportal_oneway to the FGD
• Added new entries to the game_sounds_tf2c soundscript:
  • Ambient.Lightning_strike
  • Ambient.Thunder
  • Ambient.LargeFanLoop
• Backported beam_spotlight from Left 4 Dead
• Implemented OnSuddenDeath output to tf_gamerules

General Changes:​

• Boioing and Stomp suicide commands are now properly shown to all players
  • Has unique killfeed text
  • Can be toggled client-side with tf2c_boioing
• Implemented loadout page grid and pagination
  • Can be toggled via tf2c_loadout_grid
• Implemented -defaultscheme launch options
  • Allows for loading any custom client schemes. The game will append the value to the file name of the Scheme it loads
  • The default value for Wine/Proton is "linux", so the game will load "resource/ClientScheme_linux.res" instead of "resource/ClientScheme.res" by default
  • For Wine/Proton users, this may break Custom HUDs. For backwards compatibility, passing no values to -defaultscheme reverts to the old behavior
• The VIP no longer instantly respawns all dead teammates if they change loadout in spawn or use the respawn command
• Added support for closed captions (currently in English only), by SilentFox03/Kiri
• The default font for closed captions is now antialiased, and uses Lato
• Unclamped mat_picmip, r_lod and r_rootlod
• Added server list refresh button
• Added mp_scrambleteams_auto_arena convar for autoscrambling even on arena mode
• Updated bot_teleport command:
  • Passing no arguments will now select a random bot to teleport where the crosshair is aiming, as long as one exists
• Re-implemented tf_bot_reevaluate_class_in_spawnroom from live:
  • When another player changes class, friendly bots currently inside a spawn room who are that same class will switch to another class
  • Uses same logic as tf_bot_keep_class_after_death set to 0 to evaluate a balanced team roster
  • Respects tf_bot_force_class value
• Added cl_load_custom_item_schema command:
  • Allows loading any item schema on demand
  • Takes the file name of the item schema as an argument. Please note that the file has to be present inside a /maps folder
  • Not compatible with cl_reload_item_schema; reuse the command to reload
• Added cl_print_item_schema_items and cl_print_item_schema_attributes
  • Prints names and IDs for all currently loaded items and attributes the console
  • Use alongside con_filter_text (and con_filter_enable 1) to search for specific lines in the output. Useful when using give_econ or playing on devtest_equip
• Added tf2c_allow_maptime_reset
• Added tf2c_sapped_building_outlines
• Added tf2c_vip_persist
  • If enabled, the player who is the current VIP does not change to another class on round restart
• Fixed Stickybombs and proximity mines becoming invincible against bullets if they get moved without becoming airborne
• Fixed mines sinking into func_brush and func_breakable entities
• Fixed physics projectiles blocking func_door from opening or closing
• Fixed physics projectiles blocking func_tracktrain movement
• Removed several old and deprecated Logitech LCD integration features
• Fixed crash regarding Spywalk indicator elements missing on custom HUDs
• Fixed crash regarding VIP bots trying to boost teammates who had just disconnected
• Fixed longstanding issue with Payload HUD causing incorrect control point icon scaling when using minmode HUD
• Fixed Party Hat wearables being drawn in first person when spectating
• Implemented Winter holiday; can be activated with tf_forced_holiday 3
• Added support for Steam API chat filtering
• Chat messages are now shown in color in console
• Updated cURL to version 8.5.0 to patch some vulnerabilities
• Added several new attributes
• Updated localization files
• Updated medals

Heyo,

The imminent 2.1.3 patch is shipping with a new default look for our lighting! This new shading method utilizes Full Lambertian shading, causing more abrupt and noticeable shadows on player models and Engineer buildings.

Players might recognize this lighting style from the promotional shots given out to journalists shortly before Team Fortress 2 went gold. Changed right before TF2’s official release in 2007, TF2 Classic has restored and modified it to make it usable in 2023. Our version is slightly altered to maximize player visibility, and can be toggled at any time in video settings, or by using the ‘tf2c_new_lighting’ console command.


We find this shading helps our visuals feel even more illustrative and brings the game even closer to the work of its artistic inspirations, like J.C. Leyendecker. We hope you enjoy this refined look for our characters!