Over the last two months the TF community has been hard at work on this year's Halloween showcase, and now it s here! Spend the spookiest day of your life looking at equally spooky mods here, and check out their Steam Workshop here!

• Removed ctf_turbine from the Competitive maps list
• Updated Mann vs. Machine to use the new ping information system already in use for Casual and Competitive matchmaking
  • In particular, parties with members from differing regions should now have a better queue experience

• Added a taunt Unusualifier
  • A new tool that will Unusualify a specific taunt with a random Unusual effect when the tool is applied to the taunt

• Extended Scream Fortress VIII to run through November 16th, 2016
• Fixed a problem causing some players to receive the incorrect number of Merasmissions
  • Players should receive one Scream Fortress VIII Merasmission per day of the event, for a maximum possible of seven as of today
  • Players who received too few Merasmissions will be able to quickly catch up to the intended amount
  • A small number of players who received too many Merasmissions will not receive any for the next few days
• Fixed the Tome of Merasmissions displaying an erroneous maximum number
  • All players will have the opportunity to receive twenty-six Merasmissions during this year's event, regardless of number of Merasmissions completed in previous years
• Fixed a small number of unusuals that did not have the proper displayed quality (unique (golden name) instead of unusual (purple name))
• Updated the model/materials for The El Paso Poncho
• Fixed not seeing the correct display name for featured community maps (example: pl_fifthcurve_event vs. Brimstone)
• Updated the localization files
• Updated mvm_ghost_town to fix error models in the spawn rooms
• Updated pl_fifthcurve_event (Brimstone)
  • Fixed RED players getting inside BLU's 2nd forward spawn
  • Fixed skull's teeth in hell being non-solid
  • Fixed hell's coffin tune and tiny spell song sometimes playing to the next round from previous round
  • Fixed some players dropping into hell's lava in rare cases
  • Fixed big pumpkin in RED 2nd base being non-solid
• Updated pd_pit_of_death_event
  • Fixed an exploit which allowed players to enter the enemy spawn
  • Fixed enemy players teleported to the Underworld spawning in one another
  • Fixed finale particles not being drawn from certain distances
  • Fixed certain overlays not rendering
  • Increased damage over time dealt in the Underworld
  • Added climbable props to the platforms near mid
  • Added a nobuild to the area surrounding the portal
  • Added signs in spawns to make the second door more obvious
  • Adjusted respawn times so that the losing team will respawn faster
  • Adjusted health, ammo, and spellbooks around the map
  • Changed the Underworld buff to use the Purgatory buff from Eyeaduct
  • Players killed during the finale will now turn into ghosts
  • Decreased score limit from 5 to 4 points per player

• Fixed spooky OS X crash upon joining a server
• Fixed not being able to gain progress on Merasmissions

• Featuring 3 new community maps: Brimstone, Pit of Death, and Maple Ridge Event
• Added the Creepy Crawly Case
  • Contains 21 new community-created items that make-up the Creepy Crawly Collection
  • Has a chance to give one of 3 community-created Halloween-restricted items as a bonus item
  • Has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item
• Added a taunt Unusualifier
  • A new tool that will Unusualify the specified taunt with the Unusual effect listed in the tool's description
  • Can be found as a random bonus item when opening a Creepy Crawly Case
• Added two new taunts to the Mann Co. Store
  • Taunt: The Victory Lap
  • Taunt: Second Rate Sorcery (community-created)
• Added 8 new community-created Unusual effects
  • 4 new effects for Unusual hats
  • 4 new effects for Unusual taunts
• Continue last year's event by collecting the souls of dead players for your Soul Gargoyle by killing enemies, doing map objectives, or collecting the Soul Gargoyles that spawn in the maps
• Join Halloween matches by selecting the "Halloween" category in Casual
• Scream Fortress VIII runs through November 9th, 2016

• All players who launch the game will receive a Soul Gargoyle if they don't already have one from last year's event
  • Grants access to Merasmissions and Halloween item transmutations
  • Tracks Merasmissions completed and souls collected
• Added 3 new Merasmissions for the featured maps
  • Completing a Merasmission will give players a classic Halloween item and the chance for a Creepy Crawly Case
• The chance to receive an Unusual item from a case opening has been increased during the event
• All cases and Mann Co. Supply Crates will grant Halloween 2016 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects

• The Competitive maps list has been updated
  • Added pl_badwater and ctf_turbine
  • Disabled cp_granary and cp_badlands
  • Maps will continue to enter and exit this list over time
• Added "Load Saved Settings" and "Save Current Settings" buttons to the Casual mode Map Selection menu
  • Search criteria is now manually saved to give players more control over the default settings when the game is launched
• XP earned in Casual matches has been adjusted to reward players more for their personal contribution to the match
  • XP per point has returned to 6.5 XP per point
  • XP earned for match completion and objective completion now scales based on your score relative to total amount of points scored by everyone in the match
• Increased the matchmaker's priority of matches with imbalanced teams
  • This should reduce the occurrence of extended imbalanced matches when multiple players leave

• Added the AsiaFortress Cup Season 10 tournament medals
• Added LBTF2 6v6 Season 13 tournament medals
• Improved several aspects of texture handling for OS X and Linux clients
  • This should reduce the rate of "Out of memory" errors for players on high texture settings, especially on level change
  • Players still encountering this error can reduce texture quality to medium or lower to greatly improve stability pending further improvements
• Fixed a missing material issue on cp_sunshine
• Fixed players not taking damage when exploding as a bombhead without stunning Merasmus
• Fixed Mann vs. Machine zombies not using the correct skin in Ghost Town outside of the Halloween event
• Fixed a bug with the vote-kick timer in Mann vs. Machine mode
• Fixed taunts not restoring the proper weapon when the taunts are finished
• Fixed the Pomson 6000 playing the shotgun reload sound
• Updated the sounds made when the Scout shoves someone while using the Shortstop
• Updated some Merasmus audio files that weren't playing properly
• Updated the localization files

Experts assure us that ghosts are just hallucinations brought on by carbon monoxide poisoning. Well, experts, have fun explaining the 13 terrifying hauntings that just simultaneously went live in our fully poison gas-free Halloween maps! For everyone else, prepare to experience the spectral horror of carbon monoxide without any of the headaches or lethargy!

Three new Halloween maps! All classic Scream Fortress Maps! All-new contracts! New taunts! And a Creepy Crawly Case with the chance to get our newest unholy Halloween creation: a taunt Unusualifier!

Plus, for all you unusual effects fans: For the duration of the event, all unusual cosmetics that you unbox from any case or crate will have a Halloween 2016 unusual effect, and the chances of receiving an unusual cosmetic across all cases, even old ones, will be DOUBLED. It's usually single! That's TWICE as many chances! And that's terrifying!

• Players will now be randomly selected to participate in a survey at the end of Casual and Competitive matches
• Ongoing improvements to the matchmaking backend to improve match quality and reduce wait times
• Fixed air-blasts sometimes sending deflected projectiles in random directions when the Pyro is close to enemy players
• Fixed a case where players joining community bootcamp servers via the server-browser could not select a team
• Reduced the rate at which players can earn bonus points for extinguishing teammates
• Fixed a case where players could use the Halloween teleport spell to get outside the map
• Updated the localization files
• Community requests
  • Fixed Merasmus not being stunned by bomb-head players on community Halloween maps
  • Added the ability for community Halloween maps to call a truce during a Monoculus or Merasmus fight
    • Can be set via the game rules entity using the SetMapForcedTruceDuringBossFight input
  • Fixed energy weapons not hitting pumpkin bombs, Merasmus props, and RD robots
• Mann vs. Machine update
  • Fixed the Sentry Buster sound being orphaned if the Sentry Buster detonates while invulnerable
  • Fixed zombies not using the correct skin in Ghost Town
• Updated cp_snakewater_final1
  • Changes based on community feedback
• Updated pl_millstone_event
  • Updated bot navigation file, bots now use all routes, won't get stuck so easily and are smarter
  • Fixed woodpile spot where HHH could get stuck
  • Improved clipping on wood piles
  • Fixed missing rooftop texture
  • Fixed a few props flashing at certain angles
  • Fixed a spot in the last area where you could place stickies underground
  • Fixed Monoculus not getting stunned when hit by players exiting purgatory
• Updated cp_sunshine
  • Blockbulleted spiral staircase on the back of second
  • Added medium ammo to mid near choke
  • Removed clipping over wooden arch going into second from valley
  • Reduced the size of the wooden arch
  • Blockbulleted a few undersides of staircases on last that could catch projectiles
  • Removed a ladder on last

Awooo, folks! It s almost that time of year again: Halloween. Normally that d mean we d be putting the final touches on our annual Halloween event, but this year we re working on something even better: an all-new Pyro Pack, improvements to Comp Mode, and a big new update and campaign.

But that doesn t mean Halloween s cancelled. Next week, as always, every past Scream Fortress event will rise from the dead to terrorize your computers for a limited, horrifying time, including last year s Merasmissions. We ll also be shipping some community Halloween maps, all-new custom contracts for those maps, a new Halloween taunt, a new item that gives unusual effects to taunts, and a new cosmetics case!

And it wouldn t be a Halloween pre-announcement blog post if we didn t scare most of you TO DEATH. For instance: What if just now you heard the rattling moon-lit sound of a SKELETON? No, nothing? Everybody still alive? Okay, but what if that sound was coming from INSIDE YOUR OWN BODY? Because there s a SKELETON in there RIGHT NOW? Oh, you already knew that, did you? Well, what if we were to tell you it s STEVE BUSCEMI S SKELETON? How did it get INSIDE you? What did he do with YOUR skeleton? Why don t you ask him, because he s RIGHT BEHIND YOU! No, look down! Farther! Because he s just a puddle of flesh with two BULGING EYEBALLS staring up at you! And a SNAGGLE-TOOTH! That s right, you just BODY-SHAMED STEVE BUSCEMI! Because it was YOU writing this blog post the WHOLE TIME! AWOOOOO!

Happy pre-Halloween, everyone who s still alive after reading that! (Probably not many of you.)

• Fixed some players not being able to click on the new rematch UI elements
• Fixed the end of round music not playing in Casual matches

• Players can now form rematches at the end of a Casual match
  • At the end of a Casual match, players will have 30 seconds to opt-in to a rematch
  • If at least 6 players from BLU and 6 players from RED have chosen to rematch, then a rematch will begin
  • A rematch will use the same teams, map and server
• Players can now re-queue into Casual Matchmaking during the end of a match
  • Players who decline a rematch or simply don't vote in the rematch voting period will automatically be re-queued
• Updated the way XP is earned in Casual matches
  • Players will now be awarded more XP based on their team's performance at the end of a match
  • XP is no longer lost for leaving a Casual match early
  • A breakdown of XP sources is now shown when your XP bar fills up
• Casual matches now more strongly prefer to distribute players to teams based on experience, in order to better avoid creating one-sided matches
• Casual matches are now more likely to start with fewer than 24 players in lower population game-modes or regions, wherein the wait time for a full match would become excessive
  • The current minimum allowable match size in such situations is twelve players
  • The matchmaker will still attempt to place late-joiners into these matches as they become available
• Competitive matches no longer terminate when any player abandons the match
  • Bots will now fill in for players who have abandoned, or temporarily disconnected from, Competitive matches
  • Matches that finish at an advantage or disadvantage (e.g. 6v5 or 5v6, not counting any bots) will now result in larger or smaller skill rating adjustments for disadvantaged wins or disadvantaged losses, respectively
  • Competitive matches that lose more than one player per team will keep the current behavior of ending the match
  • Players who abandon Competitive matches still receive a large skill rating penalty and Competitive matchmaking cooldown, regardless of whether a bot was allowed to take their place
• Greatly improved the reliability of client ping estimates when placing users into matchmaking servers
  • The game client now periodically checks in with the matchmaking server network to estimate ping to each region, and feeds the information back to the matchmaking system
  • This should greatly reduce cases of players being placed in regions to which they have poor ping, even when said regions are geographically nearby
• The scoreboard now shows the connection status for missing and connecting players

• Added tournament medals for ozfortress Season 16 and Season 17
• Fixed an exploit related to the Eureka Effect and carrying buildings
• Fixed Live Streams menu not displaying the list of streams
• Fixed the flamethrower not drawing the Halloween Spell: Spectral Flame effect during Halloween and Full Moon events
• Updated the localization files