An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

Updated the Festive Rack to fix missing paintable attribute

Updated Musical Maelstrom, Verdant Virtuoso, and Silver Serenade effects to fix max particle count

Updated pl_rumford_event to fix missing materials/models

Updated cp_frostwatch (received via the workshop)

Fixed being able to build on one of the roofs in stage 2

Fixed a door going through the floor in stage 3

Updated cp_gravelpit_snowy via the workshop

Improved clipping

Fixed various perch spots

Decreased fog intensity

Removed unused particle system entities

Fixed a few floating trees

Adjusted vertical positions of snowman bombs

Adjusted lighting on metal sheets in blue spawn

Fireplaces will now light arrows

Added more func_dustmotes

Fixed some visible z-fighting

Minor detailing additions and adjustments

VScript support changes

Fixed lag compensation when friendly fire is enabled

Added better support for meshing player upgrades

Added GrantOrRemoveAllUpgrades method

Exposed currency UI when upgrades are enabled

Exposed upgrade history on the player when playing without a population manager

Via: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/440/view/3622613286455113144

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

Happy Smissmas 2022!

All players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Stuffed Stocking as a gift! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries.

Featuring 5 new community maps: Frostwatch, Frostcliff, Rumford, Frosty, and Coal Pit

Added the Winter 2022 Cosmetic Case

Contains 23 new community-contributed items

The Festivizer can be found as a bonus drop when opening the case

Added 3 new community-contributed taunts to the Mann Co. Store

Taunt: Russian Rubdown

Taunt: Tailored Terminal

Taunt: Roasty Toasty

Added 17 new community-created Unusual effects

8 new effects for Unusual hats

9 new effects for Unusual taunts

All cosmetic and taunt cases will grant Smissmas 2022 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects during the event. This does not include crates.

Mann Co. Store winter sale!

Smissmas runs through January 7th, 2023

General

Fixed some point_camera visibility issues

Fixed some UGC medals using the wrong skin for team RED

Updated backpack images for some older cosmetic cases

Updated winter cosmetic cases to use a winterized sound when opening

Updated several maps to fix localization issues

Updated cp_snakewater_final1

Fixed missing cubemaps

Improved blockbullets

Visual fixes

Via: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/440/view/3631620304673632714

Lower Bracket Finals

Match Date: Monday, December 5th @ 9:30 EST

FroggieLand.com: technomo / Catalyst / Pyrrhus / Townze / Moist Master / exa / virgil / S4rr / Construde

squirtyay: wish / pup / figsy / JohhnyFromCali / nurkz / picklez / DZCreeper / percy / pajaro

squirtyay chose Team B
FroggieLand BANNED koth_product
squirtyay BANNED pl_swiftwater
squirtyay PICKED koth_ashville
FroggieLand PICKED cp_steel
FroggieLand BANNED pl_upward
squirtyay PICKED pl_vigil

Final Maps:
Map 1: koth_ashville_final
Map 2: cp_steel_f12
Map 3: pl_vigil_rc9

Results of their Round 1 Playoffs:
Final Score: squirtyay > FroggieLand
pl_upward: 2 - 1
koth_ashville: 4 - 1

Hey! I wanted to do another prediction poll for the 2nd set of playoff matches, but I didn’t have the time and forgot (whoops). So instead I just thought I would post some analytics from the maps. Won’t be too in depth, but I’ll have all logs linked for easy view! Read the previous related thread here: Round 1

Match 1

Match Date: Monday, November 28th @ 9:30 EST

Team Fun: blank / durr / eX. Hunter / s1n_karma / Honesty / carcin / hyphen / lenny / agb

squirtyay: wish / pup / figsy / JohhnyFromCali / nurkz / picklez / DZCreeper / percy / pajaro

Final Maps:
Map 1: koth_product_final
Map 2: koth_proot_b4b
Map 3: koth_ashville_final

Final Score: Team Fun > squirtyay
koth_product: 4 - 1
koth_proot: 4 - 0

koth_product:

Highest kills per team:
lenny - 48 kills
JohhnyFromCali - 43 kills

Highest damage per team:
lenny - 566 DPM / 17564 DA
JohhnyFromCali - 458 DPM / 14200 DA

Team Stats:
Team Fun: 200 Kills 64040 Damage 10 Charges 1 Drop 9 Captures 3 Midfights won
squirtyay: 113 Kills 43738 Damage 12 Charges 0 Drops 6 Captures 1 Midfight won

koth_proot:

Highest kills per team:
blank - 41 kills
wish - 22 kills

Highest damage per team:
lenny - 554 DPM / 10640 DA
JohhnyFromCali - 441 DPM / 8472 DA

Team Stats:
Team Fun: 243 Kills 91683 Damage 15 Charges 0 Drops 14 Captures 3 Midfights won
squirtyay: 195 Kills 74398 Damage 22 Charges 0 Drops 12 Captures 2 Midfights won

Log links:
prod1 prod2 prodall | proot1 proot2 prootall | combined

Match 2

Match Date: Monday, November 28th @ 9:30 EST

FroggieLand.com: technomo / Catalyst / Pyrrhus / Townze / Moist Master / exa / virgil / S4rr / Construde

The Frauds: yate / Poseidon / Melon / kira / poy / flu walrus / exile / arb1ter / Phish

FroggieLand chose Team B
The Frauds BANNED pl_swiftwater
FroggieLand BANNED koth_ashville
FroggieLand PICKED pl_vigil
The Frauds PICKED koth_product
The Frauds BANNED koth_proot
FroggieLand PICKED cp_steel

Final Maps:
Map 1: pl_vigil_rc9
Map 2: koth_product_final
Map 3: cp_steel_f12

Final Score: FroggieLand > The Frauds
pl_vigil_rc9: 2 - 0
koth_product: 3 - 4
cp_steel_f12: 2 - 0

pl_vigil:

Highest kills per team:
exa - 26 kills
yate - 23 kills

Highest damage per team:
Townze - 447 DPM / 13755 DA
kira - 318 DPM / 9801 DA

Team Stats:
FroggieLand: 160 Kills 60616 Damage 27 Charges 1 Drop
The Frauds: 125 Kills 53852 Damage 23 Charges 0 Drops

koth_product:

Highest kills per team:
TheS4rr - 51 kills
Poseidon - 51 kills

Highest damage per team:
Townze - 447 DPM / 19539 DA
Phish - 390 DPM / 17037 DA

Team Stats:
FroggieLand: 280 Kills 101945 Damage 23 Charges 4 Drops 22 Caps 5 Midfights won
The Frauds: 266 Kills 104320 Damage 23 Charges 0 Drops 21 Caps 2 Midfights

cp_steel:

Highest kills per team:
Townze - 29 kills
arb1ter - 16 kills

Highest damage per team:
Townze - 485 DPM / 13085 DA
Phish - 321 DPM / 8671 DA

Team Stats:
FroggieLand: 117 Kills 51359 Damage 15 Charges 1 Drops
The Frauds: 99 Kills 45813 Damage 19 Charges 0 Drops

Log links:
vigil1 vigil2 vigilall | prod1 prod2 prod3 prodall | steel1 steel2 steelall | combined

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

Implemented VScript

VScript allows mappers to embed script code (Squirrel3) into maps. This system is already being used for L4D2 and CS:GO maps.

Interface with entities and the world like regular Hammer logic

Simplify things that were previously incredibly complicated/tedious in Hammer logic

Interact with and control bots, bosses, player attributes, entities, and game state closely, allowing for enhanced, modified or entirely custom game modes

React to game events and change the outcome of certain things, such as damage calculations

More technical info about VScript for Team Fortress 2 is available on the Valve Developer Community

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/VScript

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/List_of_TF2_Script_Functions

Added the ability to change the skybox dynamically using the skybox_changer entity or SetSkyboxTexture

Added support for custom MvM upgrade files packed into the map

Added point_worldtext, an entity that can show text dynamically, with support for multiple SDF (signed distance field) fonts, multiple colors and a rainbow mode

Exposed several movement related ConVars

Implemented support for func_monitor and cameras

Implemented logic_eventlistener for listening to game events from Hammer logic

Added the ability to pass parameters and delay to MvM populator actions

Improved compile time with VRAD

Special thanks to Jakub and everyone on the GitHub VScript Mega Issue for testing, providing feedback, and submitting requests

Via: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/440/view/3631619851534920463

cayorne Tshirts.png

The idea was for t-shirts? I think if you also compare prices online 20 dollars is reasonable. The post is about t-shirts …

Previous Anti-cheat articles: RGL Anti-cheat Revamp, RGL Anti-Cheat Updates, RGL Anti-Cheat Updates #2

RGL AC Admin Reveal

One of our AC admins has decided to drop her anonymous role for transparency reasons. We would like to state that Samus, Senior AC admin of ETF2L, is part of our RGL AC staff. This might raise some questions for some which will be answered in the following.

Q: Q: Does this mean that the ETF2L AC and RGL AC teams work together on cases?

A: No, Samus is helping RGL AC out of a personal decision to improve the scene. Case evidence is not shared, and the AC teams do not work together and always conduct their independent investigations. There is a general trust between the two AC teams and the staff member involved that makes this possible without having to fear leaks.

Q: Does this mean cheating bans are mirrored by each league?

A: While RGL mirrors ETF2L cheating bans, ETF2L does not mirror the cheating bans of any other league. Evidence always has to be looked at by the majority of the ETF2L AC team before any ban is placed.

Q: Isn’t the additional case workload an issue?

A: A: Samus’ main priority remains with ETF2L, she helps out RGL AC whenever it will not cause problems with her availability for ETF2L matters.

If you have any further questions, you can contact Samus#1445 on Discord.

Improvements since the last RGL AC Update Post

The trial process has been improved with a test case for applicants. This step has proven itself to be valuable, allowing us to pick people with the right skills and mindset for our AC team.

Improvements were made regarding the general overview and archival of older cases, which is essential as reference material for old, current, and future casework.

RGL AC Trial Updates

On October 14, 2021, RGL announced its first RGL AC trials to look for new members that are interested in working to better help the league be free from cheating, as well as have the skillsets to work on the AC team.

It should be mentioned that the RGL AC team has picked up numerous trials in the year to help deal with the case backlog. However, the team has had to deal with trials leaving after several months, staff burnout, as well as schedule conflicts with work and school that have impacted their availability and commitment to deal with casework on the team. In addition, many applicants failed to pass the test case stage due to severe misunderstandings of cheats, jumping to conclusions too quickly, judging situations wrongly, or displaying poor analyzing skills in their reviews, which limits our pool of trials even further. As a result, the trialing process did not go as smoothly as it should have been to deal with this backlog. That being said, we are not interested in lowering our standards with our casework.

As a result, more focus will be put on 1-on-1 teaching with trials to build a more stable foundation for AC in the future and to attempt to reduce potential staff burnout.

Currently, there are five trials on the AC team. If you are interested in joining as a trial, please apply here.

POV Requests of Other Players

Allowing teams to request demos of other players that they played against in an RGL match is a new policy that we are looking to implement. Our current plan is to build the infrastructure by allowing team leaders to submit match logs and demos in the RGL match comms, which will better facilitate these requests. More specific details will be announced in a future article.

Game Exploit Rule Updates

The following have been added to the game exploits list by the RGL AC team.

Reverse Quantum Crouch (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/2195) or any method that causes the hitbox to be bugged, either visually or nonvisually

Bypassing sv_cheats to enable in-game cheat commands *

Killing/hurting players during the setup time of a match

Using record;stop to see decloaked spies ‡‡

Bypassing cl_flipviewmodels to flip viewmodel animations while alive (doing this while dead or switching classes is allowed)

= These exploits result in a Cheating ban rather than a Game Exploit ban.

‡‡ = Clarification regarding when warnings are issued will be explained in a subsequent article.

The following mod has been listed as allowed:

Removing damage particles

The following mod has been listed as not allowed:

Transparent enemy pyro flames (removing your own flames is allowed)

The RCADIA Gaming House is inviting all die-hard and lightweight TF2 fans to their very first Community LAN in Hamburg, Germany! They’re ready to offer an entire weekend full of non-stop mercenary action! Competitive 6s, Highlander, Ultiduo, Silly Hat Contest, Pub Quiz and much more! With Europe’s finest teams attending, you’ll not want to miss this!

The LAN will take place from the 25th to 27th of November, and the stream will start at 2:00pm CET (8:00am EST). You can catch all the action

!

Important Links:

Event Page

Discord

Via: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/440/view/3480748539822421871

forgot to post

wish said in Remove the dispenser block from Upward last:
The soldier can destroy the dispenser, but it telegraphs that the spy wants to cross into upper. A scout or pyro can then just sit where the dispenser was thus preventing the spy from crossing, until the dispenser is rebuilt.

the dispenser block has always been a really strong addition to upward last defense, but its made more egregious when your pyro is at spawn instead of in tiles. before, if the dispenser was dead, it was just the engineer you had to avoid. with the rest of the team at spawn, its impossible to get a lot done as spy because you’re forced to take these ranged fights where your revolver does 20-30 damage.
spy is reduced to enforcer-ing a gun and then just sitting there hoping the defense drops down at some point

Both matches will be casted tonight by RGL. Don’t miss them!

alt text

Hi TFTV,

RGL “recently” ran their Sixes Midseason Cup #2, featuring

cp_sultry_b7 by PigPig (and FlipFTW) cp_mannbase_rc2a by skaz cp_villa_b19 by kevin gator

While I’m grateful for RGL helping playtest the maps and I think exp cups are crucial to getting a more diverse map pool, the cup officially ended 11/2 (Nov 2nd), and despite a few weeks passing (Currently the 21st), communication has been rocky regarding receiving feedback about the maps and their potential to be added to the pool.

As such, I had the thought to take the matter of feedback collection for map improvement into my own hands.

==> UNOFFICAL Feedback Form<==

If you’re interested in leaving feedback on any of the 3 listed maps, please fill out the linked form above, the steps should be self-explanatory.

Individual Map Threads (If you prefer to leave even more direct feedback):

Sultry Mannbase Villa

cayorne

Personally I’d love to see Double Elimination playoffs be shorter, which is something I’d like to talk to Invite players about especially
Mainly in regards to lower brackets finals

Currently, for all Single Elimination divisions, they last for 3 weekends:
Week 1: Quarter Finals
Week 2: Semi Finals
Week 3: Grand Finals + Bronze Match

For Invite and Advanced, it’s:
Week 1: Round 1
Week 2: Upper Finals/Lower Bracket Round 1
Week 3: Lower Finals
Week 4: Grand Finals
Week 5: Bracket Reset

I don’t want to call the consecutive seasons of Invite bracket resets that happened this year “bad luck” with scheduling just because ultimately I think our goal should be to always have bracket resets where there’s no clear winner. It’s more exciting for people trying to track/watch the maps and it’s more fun for the players that want to play a fun intense match.

Looking at it again, I think it could be possible to have comfortable off-seasons while having three seasons in a calendar year if we do the following:

Forfeit the idea of having breaks before playoffs Try to have Lower Finals during an “off-day” rather than a brand new week Although I don’t think it’s necessary at the moment, if we can expand the pool of KOTH maps I think it would be beneficial to have a Bo5 Grand Finals for Inv/Adv eventually

Although as a community we voted for breaks in HL during a previous survey, at least as a player, I don’t think the breaks are needed and can lead to teams losing their momentum. Plus it is ultimately at the expense of shorter off-seasons for any players in playoffs.

Just my personal take on it. Not trying to represent any other admin’s thoughts or the admin team’s position on the subject.

As a new-ish to here person who doesn’t have any idea about sixes:

a fee for individual team member joins etc just seems weird unless it’s directly before/after roster lock or before playoffs(to quote Max Payne, “You play, you pay”). However obviously this would make a lot of low-end teams straight up disband rather than pay up. If we’re talking a fee paid before the first official I’d like it to be a team fee that a team may divide amongst themselves.

Also in the above interest: (If we have individualized fees) I’d like for sub seats to be cheaper(or even free, with only the starter 9 paying) personally as well(along with the requisite lower prize pool cut), as a sub would often be paying for a team they barely if at all get to influence positively or negatively.

I do not know what a ringer fee is, but it’d stress people extra to have to pay up every time they ring someone seeing how common that seems to be in main and below, and no one’s gonna ring for a team if they themselves are paying for it, in fact with a prizepool I’d expect to be compensated for ringing any official as much as I know that would really not happen if it wasnt the final or smth.

I very much welcome a HL league that takes itself a bit more seriously, but there are the Obvious Caveats in that the raised stakes would increase ferocity of arguments and toxicity in general within and between teams, in and outside of matches. This would also significantly discourage lower-end teams from joining in the first place. I don’t know if the “I paid so I must get my money’s worth” will outweigh the team stability issues caused by this, and league growth is important.

This would also reverse the incentive to climb divisions. Where now it’s seen as not a big deal to move up from being dominant in a division to being mediocre in the upper division, depending on fee differences between divisions it probably will make a ton more sense to stay at the lowest div you can feasibly convince the admins to let you stay in.

I’d prefer that the prizepool be distributed amongst all of the playoffs or maybe top half of playoffs, because no one’s playing TF2 to win big, and having it rather feasible that you at least make your money back if you’re semi-decent would be cool and encourage lower-end teams to still try, big high-end prizes are cool for viewers, but really not that big of an incentive. (Example numbers for example distribution: if there’s 12 teams in a league, 4-5-6 would get back 1x their fees, where 1-2-3 would get back 4x-3x-2x what they paid in order)

fees below Main/IM really are a bad idea because of player demographics, high NC being good enough to be good enough for playoffs in AM, and AM(and tbh maybe IM too depending on role/player) really being doable for anyone with 1k+ hours and no comp experience. The amount of unknown quantity players and teams with average ages of 15 makes any given caveat with this system significantly worse, especially in Open divs, souring the new player experience for most teams.

arb1ter np ty!

We are an EU low team looking for an experienced player (preferably main or above) who can give a map talk on bagel and potentially follow up with a few demo reviews on the map. It is our first time playing bagel so keep that in mind. We are available at around the hours of 1pm-6pm EST
Our team:
https://etf2l.org/teams/34509/
Uncle Sam#5892

Constantly bad decision. There’s 14 teams showing up to officials and even less playing scrims at this point in the season. We don’t need any more .500 teams making playoffs.

TF2 Coaching Central is announcing their third North American Newbie Cup, a learning experience and friendly competition for people who are new to competitive 6v6.

Players with no to minimal competitive experience will sign up to be placed on a team of six, led by a coach who will teach the basics of how to play the 6v6 format and help you learn the maps. You’ll have three weeks to learn and practice together as a team, before facing off in a round robin style tournament with a prize for the winning team. Several former Newbie Cup alumni have gone on to play in RGL, the biggest North American competitive TF2 league.

Sign-ups are open now, and the deadline to apply and be placed on a team is November 23. Team and coach assignments will be made by November 25 and tournament matches will be the weekend of December 17-18.

Check out their Discord for more info. Whether you’re looking to dip your toes in competitive, a more experienced player looking to mentor newbies, or even a fresh install, consider joining their community - they welcome all skill levels!

Via: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/440/view/6314637529894932710

Past monthly articles: January, February, March, April & May, June, July, August, September, October

RGL 2022 LAN Pictures

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Missed out on what happened at the RGL 2022 LAN? We have uploaded pictures to an album here.

Global Rule Updates

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[1003.3] - Game Exploits has been updated to include more mods that are allowed and disallowed by the RGL AC team.

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[1003.4] - Map/Weapon Exploits has been updated to include more map and weapon exploits that are allowed and disallowed by the RGL AC team.

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[1005.4.3] - VAC Bans is not adding anything new but is being updated to clarify how VAC bans are handled in RGL.

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Starting next season, [1005.4.4] - Nickname Changes is being updated to clarify that nickname changes in RGL can only be done during the offseason and no more than once a year, starting from the last name change.

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[1007.1] - Player Fees is not adding anything new but is being updated to clarify that unpaid players must be paid up within 24 hours of completing an RGL match.

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[1008.9] - Pauses is being updated to make it clearer that the team pausing the match must alert and check with the opposing team before unpausing the match. Additionally, teams are not allowed to spam or obscure the chat during the unpausing stage.

Traditional Sixes Rule Updates

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[3003.2] - Regular Season Pick/Bans is being updated to include the RGL 6s Advanced division.

Bans

These bans were enacted before the release of this article. If you would like to file a report, you can do so on our site here. Appeals can also be found on the same page.

NOTE: We only look at user-submitted reports. If you do not file a report, then there is a good chance we have not seen it and cannot deal with the situation.

Alting

The following alternate account(s) have been caught connected to existing accounts in RGL by the RGL Anti-cheat team and will be banned:

Magical Wizard Lft AM Medic Hig Probation

Update on the player(s) that have been banned while on probation:

lenny - Use of a racial slur during scrims. Increased length due to being an Invite player. - ** 3 Weeks ** (2nd ban inside of RGL, 1st ban on probation)

After the minimum period has been served, the player(s) can appeal to have the ban lifted if they can show that they’ve improved themselves and how they interact within the community.

League

pix - Assisting in ban evasion - 3 months

fishka - Account Sharing - 6 months

Sportsmanship and Spirit

The following player(s) have/had been suspended for 1-6 weeks for their usage of racist slurs, homophobic or transphobic language, excessive toxicity, flaming, or derogatory language on our platforms. Repeat offenders will get longer ban lengths.

Krusty - Excessive toxicity on an RGL platform (Discord) - 2 Weeks // First Offense

Badass Monke - Use of a racial slur during a scrim. - 2 Weeks // 1st Offense

gorp - Use of a racial slur during a scrim. - 4 Weeks // 2nd Offense

creamy - Excessive usage of racist slurs and comments during a scrim on an alternate account. - 4 Months // 1st Offense

Demos

The following player(s) have failed to provide a requested demo. The first offense during the regular season will be a warning. A second offense during the regular season or the first offense during playoffs will lead to suspensions.

Krusty - Failure to Submit Demos: 2nd Offense - 2 Weeks

D A R N - Failure to Submit Demos: 2nd Offense - 2 Weeks

You can read further details and context about each player’s bans by viewing their discipline history on their RGL profile.