Steam News

Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2, and Source Engine Updates Available

April 19, 2006, 4:15 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to CS:S, HL2, and the Source engine have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Counter-Strike: Source

• Removed FCVAR_ARCHIVE from cl_minmodels
  
• Added a workaround for linux servers sometimes being frozen after changelevel
  
• Linux dedicated server -condebug captures all console output now
  
• Fixed an exploit when joining a team that could spawn live spectators
  
• Fixed mp3 player advancing more than 1 song during level transitions
  

• Fixed bug where NPCs would ignore hintbrushes that should block line of sight
  

• Fixed really long game directories not being able to upload game statistics
  
• Fixed listen server host not being able to hear sounds from bsp .zip files
  
• Fixed demo smoother not being able to select samples in certain demo files
  
• Fixed partial-HDR exploit in DX7 allowing wireframe materials
  

Source Engine and Dedicated Server update

March 20, 2006, 4:02 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to the Source Engine and Windows Dedicated Servers have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Source Engine

• Fixed Garry's Mod failing to spawn new entities (was failing due to "userinfo" command change)
  
• Fixed background music playing after joining a game if the game was launched via a desktop shortcut
  

• (win32) Fixed "Steam Validation Rejected" error when connecting to a game server
  

Source Engine SDK Update Released

January 17, 2006, 4:23 pm - Valve - Product Update

A major update to the Source SDK has been released on Steam. Included in this update are several features and fixes for the tools in the Source SDK.

New SDK Features

• High Dynamic Range lighting now supported in the tools
  
• Day of Defeat: Source support now included
  
• New Hammer Editor features:
  
  • VGUI Model browser with real-time 3D view
    
  • Map autosave/backup
    
  • Model and displacement rendering in 2D views
    
  • Many other small improvements and bug fixes
    

Source Engine Update Available

January 9, 2006, 3:35 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to the Source Engine have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Source engine

• Fixed problem users with ATI cards were experiencing with overly shiny cube maps

Counter-Strike: Source Update Available

December 20, 2005, 5:10 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to Counter-Strike: Source have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

Source Engine Update Available

December 2, 2005, 3:24 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to the Source Engine have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Source Engine

• Fixed "Extra App ID set to 211, but no SteamAppId" error when launching Source SDK tools

Source Engine and Half-Life 1: Engine Updates Available

October 3, 2005, 5:11 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to the Source Engine and Half-Life 1: Engine have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Source Engine

• Fixed loading error when trying to debug Source MODs using the SDK
  
• Fixed a startup crash in Windows 98
  

• Fixed name exploit causing client crash

Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2 and Source Engine Updates Available

May 13, 2005, 12:00 am - Valve - Product Update

An update is available for Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2 and the Source Engine. The update will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

CS:S

• New map: de_inferno
  
• New map: de_port
  
• Updated Counter-Terrorists player model with new headgear and color scheme
  
• C4 red flash displays properly if the bomb is planted under water now
  
• C4 explosion damage is no longer affected by water
  
• When a map is loaded, an associated .cfg file is automatically evaluated. This cfg file must be located in the cstrike/maps/cfg folder and be named <mapname>.cfg. For instance, the file cstrike/maps/cfg/de_dust.cfg will be evaluated when the map de_dust is loaded. This is useful for per-map rules, bot rosters, etc.
  
• Added new route to roof of hostage shack in cs_compound, and improved bot navigation in the map
  
• Players must now target another player for at least a half second before the player ID text hint shows up
  
• Grates/chain link fences no longer affect bullets
  
• Counter-Strike player ragdolls are now affected by ragdoll magnets
  
• Fixed a bot crash caused by finding too many hiding spots in a region
  
• Bots no longer attack enemies that are very far away unless they have a sniper rifle, or the enemies are shooting at them. Instead, they track the enemy and move to a better attack position
  
• Bots understand +use doors now and will pause to open a door before continuing through it on their way to whatever they were doing
  
• Bots use less CPU now, especially when in combat with far away enemies
  
• Extended the syntax of the bot_add, bot_kick, and bot_kill commands to also accept "t" or "ct" arguments.
  
• Fixed bug where bots would stop and become unresponsive if they wanted to hide in an area with no hiding spots
  
• Improved bot navigation on the windows and ledges of cs_italy
  
• Fixed recording value of cl_interp in demo files and restore value during playback
  

• HTTP downloads from the game server system support downloading .bz2-compressed files
  
• Disable old style (non-challenged) server queries by default (use the sv_enableoldqueries cvar to change this behavior)
  
• Added cvar tv_delaymapchange to delay map changes caused by frag/time limit until the whole game is broadcasted via SourceTV
  
• Fixed lag compensation invalidating bone cache for players moved back in time.
  
• Fixed lag compensation interpolation error between 2 ticks
  

• Fixed some NPC actions not being properly randomized
  

• Fixed memory leak in relay servers by releasing receive tables correctly
  
• Bandwidth output in tv_status in kB/sec rather than bytes/sec
  
• Running a new map command (spawning a server) shuts down TV relay in same process
  
• Fixed SourceTV chase cam following ragdolls of dead secondary targets
  

Half-Life 2 Update

November 24, 2004, 5:00 pm - Valve - Product Update

The changes in this release are directed at reducing the problem some users are experiencing with sound stuttering. The sound stuttering is not indicative of a sound problem, sound stuttering is only a symptom of texture thrashing on your video card or AGP memory. For information on how to reduce texture thrashing visit this link on our support site:

http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=280

This update will fix sound stuttering that users were experiencing that would last for longer than a few seconds during normal gameplay. This update will also eliminate this same behavior following a quicksave or autosave. There will still be a short pause while the autosave happens, but not the more drawn out stuttering behavior.

We are still investigating another performance problem on some hardware, which will manifest where the game is getting into a state where performance drops to less than 5 fps and does not recover or crashes.

Next week we will be releasing the Source SDK, along with a surprise for the community.