6th January update notes

[Bizzie]

The major changes include:

Server Browser
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)

(Awesome. At least in my opinion. )


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_fixed_weaponspreads" 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

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

(Well, that is the end of multiplayer TF2. Bots all the way! )

[Alex]

Yeey scout nerf!

[Foozy]

Too bad it was a debug build that broke TF2 for me.

[QuadrAlien]

I must admit, the first time I found out about being able to shoot while stunned was a laugh, though it's just as well it's gone, I suppose - Heavies really didn't suffer for being stunned at all.

[Frush]

Goddamit, why do Valve constantly have to play around with the DR?

[tom_armitage]

Finaly they fixed the sodger rage bug.

[Saranday]

Damn, that's an awful lot of bot lovin' - perhaps Valve would rather we all played against bots, ah well, gotta be easier than playing against Foozy lol. Now if they made all bots behave and play like Foozy, that would be one hard game!

Anyway, yeah, at least they fixed the Soldier rage bar problem

[brim4brim]

The major changes include:

Server Browser
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)

(Awesome. At least in my opinion. )

I suggested this to them

Along with about a million others I presume.  Glad to have it.

[Foozy]

Damn, that's an awful lot of bot lovin' - perhaps Valve would rather we all played against bots, ah well, gotta be easier than playing against Foozy lol. Now if they made all bots behave and play like Foozy, that would be one hard game!

Anyway, yeah, at least they fixed the Soldier rage bar problem

"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."

I laughed at that.

The heavy did have aimbot-like aim before. As did the sniper.

[tom_armitage]

Yep, the sniper could also see you aproaching from the side when he was in scope, that was another good one

[Tommeh]

They fixed the s**tty thing about the FaN I always hated, the popup <3

[Demon_Hunter]

Now the heavy is only hitting 1 out of every 10 bullets, if you jump around as scout lol. also, I dont like the fact that they dont play spy

[tom_armitage]

yea, but they would probably be over powered