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Steam & HL2 news - Garmer
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February 5. - 2005
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Valve brought some interesting news regarding both Steam and Half-Life 2 today.
Besides the upcoming release of the Counter-Strike Source map De_Compound (see screenshots
in the post below) Valve has a few other things up their sleeve.
First of all Half-Life 2: Deathmatch will be updated to include the Slam, Stunstick, and the Crowbar
and even though Valve is not yet ready to release the winning maps in their CS: Source mapping contest
the company will be releasing another new map build by Valve themselves.
Second, Valve says it will be adding the high dynamic range lighting feature to the Source engine
in the coming months, and to showcase this they've taken a part of the Highway 17 chapter of Half-Life 2 and
worked it into a single level that incorporates HDR along with some new gameplay.
This short level has been entitled "The Lost Coast," but there is a catch, however.
Even though the level will be released free of charge for Half-Life 2 customers Valve says
that certain hardware requirements must be met in order to play, and that those requirements
will be specificed "soon".
There are already speculations that the Valve/ATI deal will come into play again and that an
ATI powered graphics card will be among those requirements, but you can only imagine the
response Valve would receive from agitated nVidia owners should this be true.
A few early sketches has been released - you can see them below.
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De_Compound sneak peak - Garmer
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January
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A couple of screenshots showing off the upcoming Counter-Strike Source map De_Compound has been
posted on the Steam website providing a sneak peak for the community. As you can see the map looks quite
good but how well it plays will be unknown until sometime in February where it is scheduled for release.
Check out the shots:
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HLSW 1.0.0.40 - Garmer
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January
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One of the comprehensive server tools known as HLSW has been updated to version
1.0.0.40. The changes are quite small but several of the bugfixes are related to Half-life 2.
Here's the full changelog:
1.0.0.40
- HL2: Updated status command parsing
- Server List View: Sorting by AddOns and Anti Cheat Tool works again
- BugFix: Crash on typing "hlguard" in console
- HL2: Rconsection works with new Steam Update
- UT2004: Fixed invalid player count display on server with numplayers = -1
- HL2: Integrated check if logging is enabled if you want to receive server log
- HL2: Support for displaying Unicode characters in host and player names
- Included small memory dump of address stored in EDX to exception log
- New: Plugin inferface (Toolbar support)
- New: Portuguese translations by Diego "Montana" Duarte
Should you be interested in this tool, then this is where you go.
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de_courthouse *final* released - Garmer
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January
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The new Counter-Strike Source custom map de_courthouse, which I wrote about last week,
has received a lot of feedback since its release and thus the creator decided to implement
some of the suggestions. The result is a mew and final version which include the following changes:
- New sewer system with 3 total entrances/exits. This provides a third
route.
- Snipers window with view of alley (for t's mainly).
- Windows looking out from inside the jail.
- Additional window coming out from fire escape.
- Spread out ct spawn more.
- Doors open faster and stay open longer (to reduce the open close issue).
- Swinging shootable lights in the prison.
- New vent system/link 2 routes (in jail that leads outside).
- Broken down door leading into hotel room.
- "Source" Detail in the new areas
There's a couple of teaser screenshots below, and the map can be downloaded from
PAF.
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CS: Source Bot Monday - Garmer
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January
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Doug Lombardi from Valve has revealed that the awaited official bot for Counter-Strike
Source will be released this Monday, so everyone eager to practice against computer-controlled
opponents only have to wait a few more days. The bot is said to feature "enhanced abilities"
and included in the release is also an updated version of de_tides which has been rebuilt
by Turtlerock Studios.
Keep an eye out for the update this Monday.
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Misc. News - Garmer
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January 8. - 2004
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2005 is now a week old and as we enter a new year, Counter-Strike continues to be the
game to play and to be unmatched in numbers of online players. This will propably also be the
year where the community slowly move towards the new CS: Source when hardware is replaced and major
leagues and tournaments announce that Source will be used for their competitions. The process will be slow
though, and unless Valve decide to pull the plug from 1.6 as they did with WON nothing speaks that CS 1.6
wont be played in many years to come.
Below you'll find a description of this weeks Counter-Strike news:
Amped eSports is currently doing comparisons of old CAL maps from 1.6 and their
updated versions as they can be seen in CS Source.
de_prodigy is first in the line and now returns
as a competition map after having been cut for a long time:
All in all, I really like the changes made to de_prodigy. The majority of the strats for the old version can still be used, but they have to be executed differently now. I think the biggest impact on this map from recent changes will be for Ts attacking long A. If a good AWPer is covering long A, or even 2 people, it is very tough to get down the hallway. Heavy smokes, especially since there is no 16 bit, and flashes must be used by Ts if they want to attack long A.
de_aztec has also been compared
and several new useful spots have been introduced in the Source version. Both articles
include a bunch of screenshots as explanation, so go have a look.
Speaking of Source, a forum post on Steampowered reveals that VAC for CS:S is very close now
and should "take a loot of people by surprise". Obviously a new game engine wont get rid of all
the cheaters out there, so the introduction of VAC should be good.
The first Steam, Source Engine and HLDS updates this year, came out two days ago with the following changes:
Steam
- Pressing the cancel button while Steam is loading will bring up the offline dialog
- Fixed 100% CPU use on startup
- Fixed use of quoted parameters in "-applaunch" command lines
Source Engine
- Fixed exception info spam in debugger output window for SDK users
Half-Life Dedicated Server
- Enabled support for new query protocol (fixes HLTV server not appearing in the server browser)
A new map entitled de_courthouse has been released for CS: Source and is described as follows:
This map takes full advantage of the Source engine and is absolutely stunning. This is a mid to large sized map. There are great ambient city noises, sirens and car horns, traffic etc. It really lends to the overall ambience of the map. It sets the mood.
There should be several socalled easter eggs hidden around as well, so if you're looking
for a new Source map this is your thing. 25 screenshots and a download link is available at
this site.
de_courthouse
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Official de_train for Source? - Garmer
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December
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A picture from a CS Source version of the popular Counter-Strike map de_train reached
the internet today, however, I've not been able to track the original source (no phun intended)
of the image, so I'm not really sure if this is official or not. The image is texted "from the Pro Source team"
which could mean that Valve has decided to do the controversial Pro Mode after all but
I don't recall having seen a message from Valve about this, so it's not certain yet.
Anyway, here's the picture showing the halls from de_train:
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Christmas wallpaper - Garmer
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December
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Every year I pull out the same Counter-Strike Christmas wallpaper (one of the first made
as far as I remember) and this year is no exception. I don't remember who made it but it was posted
on Counter-Strike.net which was the primary CS site back in the pre-Steam/Valve days.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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30.000 Steam accounts closed - Garmer
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December
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Not long after the release of Half-Life 2 (and the illegal copies that followed) Valve made
it clear that there was a no-tolerance policy when it came to cheating, piracy and other
illegal activities by closing several accounts. The company continues this policy as aditionally
30.000 Steam accounts has been closed down permanently today, without any second chances for
the violators. Erik Johnson had this to say on the Steam forums:
Valve takes such activities seriously and reserves the right to disable Steam accounts engaging in piracy, cheating, illegal activities, or any other activity in violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement. The accounts that are disabled today will not be reactivated.
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Steam Update - Garmer
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December
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A lovely new Steam update has been released with fixes for both the client, HL2 and the Source SDK.
For instance the offline mode wont fail even though you haven't connected to Steam for more than a month
and the promised Half-Life 2 performance fix is included too, so loading times should be reduced
from now on.
Here's the entire log:
Steam
- Source MODs will now automatically appear in the games list
- Improved startup process for Steam
- Fixed crash when creating a backup that would span multiple DVDs
- Fixed a bug that would unnecessarily validate Steam caches after a cache corruption
- Fixed Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes and Codename Gordon failing to backup correctly
- Fixed a bug where the message “the game files will be deleted and re-acquired” would repeat
- Fixed offline mode failing after not connecting to Steam for more than a month
Half-Life 2
- Optimization to the Steam filesystem to reduce game launch and level transition time
Source SDK
- Simplified debug-launch process for MOD developers. MOD developers no longer need to place a config file in their directory
- Added a registry key for MOD developers to use to locate a user’s Steam installation located at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam\SourceModInstallPath
The update will be applied as soon as you restart Steam...
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De_Prodigy Source shots - Garmer
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December
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As you know several popular maps (such as Train, Nuke and Prodigy) wasn't finished the time CS: Source was released
but Valve promised to convert them at a later time. A few days ago several screenshots of de_prodigy source
was released so apparantly this will be the first map to be added. The looks and texturing has been totally
redone, so besides the shape it's difficult to recognize it, but it looks neat.
Take a look:
De_Prodigy, Source edition
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CPL without SK.swe - Garmer
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December 9. - 2004
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One of the most winning teams in the professional Counter-Strike tournaments through time, SK.swe,
will not attend the winter CPL which kicks off this wednesday. According to Gotfrag the SK organization
has been forced to choose between the german division of SK CS and the strong swedish division, since
only one team from each organization are allowed to participate.
"SK.swe chose to not participate in the winter CPL event in order to provide their German division an opportunity to gain some experience and see what they can do,"
CPLs commissioner, Justin Blanchard, told Gotfrag.
The rule has existed for more than two years and left SK with a choice between SK.de who won a
qualifier and the top-ranked team who've won several events in the past. Nevertheless, the results
from SK.swe hasn't been that convincing lately which might have had an impact on the decision of sending
the german division this time.
A statement from SK should be released shortly.
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HLSW Updated - Garmer
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December 8. - 2004
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Half-Life Server Watch is a gaming- and administration tool which features a wide range of
features and are compatible with most first person shooters such as HL, Quake 3, CoD, BF 1942 etc.
HLSW allows easy connecting, match info on IRC, rcon administration and more, and lately Half-Life 2
has become supported as well. The latest release, 1.0.0.38 includes some bugfixes related to Steam, log support
for HL2 and more:
1.0.0.38
BugFix: Connecting to Steam didn't work
BugFix: Execute Applications didn't work
BugFix: Fixed some crash bugs
HL2: Supporting new steam log command
HL2: Completed log support
New: Plugin interface version
New: Plugin setting dialog
Star Wars: Battlefront support included
Download the latest release from www.hlsw.net.
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The grand final in the CPL Winter Extreme 2004 has been played and the event winner has been found.
Swedish EYEBALLERS and the international team NoA turned out to be the strongest and met each other
with thousands of spectators watching on HLTV. The two teams had fought each other earlier in the
tournament though, where NoA looked like the winners but was defeated and sent into lower bracket in
the end due to them being found guilty in using the flashbug on de_nuke. The final match was played on de_inferno
and since NoA came from the lower bracket they had to beat EYE twice to win.
$30.000
$21.000
$14.000 
$5000
$1500
$1500 
$1500
$1000
