New Tours!

Much like in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, specifically the part where Goldilocks broke into a bear's house looking for a place to sleep, some of you thought the one Tour of Duty we shipped with Mann vs. Machine was too hard. Others of you found it too soft. A lot of you thought it was just right.

In the fable, of course, Goldilocks held the defenseless bear family at gunpoint until her boyfriend Chet got there, at which point things turned truly grim. This is where our story diverges from that true crime drama, because we've sidestepped the issue by adding more Tours of Duty to MvM mode. Now, in addition to Operation Steel Trap (hard), we've got Operation Oil Spill (less hard) and Operation Gear Grinder (very hard). As Chet might say, "You goddamn bears are in for a lonnnnng night."

New Loot!

In the same way that Goldilocks and Chet drove off covered in bear blood and honey with a flatscreen TV and fourteen dollars in cash, we've cooked up some tour-specific loot you can take to your hideout in Florida. Just like the Botkiller heads awarded to survivors of Operation Steel Trap, we've got some brand new spoils of war you can only get in these new tours: rusty, blood-covered 'bot heads for the intermediate-level Operation Oil Spill, and some 24-carat diamond 'bot heads for the expert-level Operation Gear Grinder, so those of you players who survive the tour can show off a little bling to prove it.

(Remember: as always, loot is the only difference between MvM on the unofficial "Boot Camp" server and official "Mann Up" servers. Otherwise the gameplay is identical.)

Improved Matchmaking!

You can now select multiple missions you'd like to play, to maximize the chances of finding compatible players as quickly as possible. We’ve also added some handy buttons that'll let you select all missions of a particular difficulty level, or all missions not yet marked off on a Tour of Duty.

Lastly, like when Chet and Goldilocks beat a retired cop to death in Boca Raton and were sent to separate federal prisons, when your MvM group beat a mission, we used to disband the group. Now we've made it so that when you beat a mission to death in Boca Raton or elsewhere, party the other players on the server are sent back to the matchmaking screen as a group, so you can keep playing together.

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Fixed HTTP downloads on Mac not sending an HTTP referer

Team Fortress 2

• Updated materials/models for the Champ Stamp, King of Scotland Cape, Stovepipe Sniper Shako, and Freedom Staff
• Fixed a server crash that could occur if a Spy was disguised holding the Gunslinger
• Fixed the Lacking Moral Fiber Mask being tagged as a misc item instead of a hat
• Fixed the Gunslinger not accepting "Sappers Removed" strange parts
• Overhealed players that are bleeding or on fire can now pickup healthkits to remove these conditions
• Added tf_dingalingaling_repeat_delay (default 0) which limits how often the dingalingaling sound can play
• Removed outdated tip about the Spy's Enforcer
• Updated the localization files
• Vote system
  • Allow kicking of connected players that haven't joined a team in Mann vs. Machine
  • Added sv_vote_issue_kick_spectators_mvm (default 0) which allows players to kick anyone that isn't team invaders, as long as they've passed the sv_vote_issue_kick_min_connect_time_mvm timer, if enabled
• Mann vs. Machine
  • Added two new tours of duty, each with new unique loot:
    • Operation Oil Spill, with 6 new intermediate skill missions
    • Operation Gear Grinder, with 3 new expert skill missions
  • If a player connects to a MvM game through matchmaking and loses their connection, their spot will be held for a brief duration and they will be given a chance to reconnect
  • After victory on a Mann Up server, the players will be put into a lobby together.
  • Improved matchmaking searching status screen
• Mann vs. Machine balance changes:
  • Explosive Headshots
    • damage is now 150 regardless of upgrade level
    • damage is done in one tick instead of the previous six
    • added a slowing effect based on upgrade level (50%-80% slow, 2-4 second duration)
    • radius still scales with upgrade level (unchanged)
  • Marked For Death duration reduced to 7 seconds from 15 seconds when the target is a giant robot
  • Reduced the "effect bar recharge rate increased" upgrade from 20% increments with an 80% cap to 15% increments with a 60% cap

In just under a month, we'll start accepting entries for shorts made with the Source Filmmaker, Valve's filmmaking tool. You'll be able to submit in five different categories (Best Action, Best Drama, Best Comedy, Best Original Universe and now Best Replay) with the hope of taking home a Saxxy at the star-studded Second Annual Saxxy Awards. So if you've got an SFM opus in you, crack those knuckles and get creating — November 1st'll be here in no time.

Also, a couple of quick changes for entrants:

We've Added a Replay Category

The Source Filmmaker is the perfect resource for creators looking to dramatize the TF2 mercenaries' off-hours — but after we announced the Saxxy rules, we realized we'd under-represented some of the great dramatic, comedic or just plain violently entertaining moments in-game. So we've added a new category to celebrate all the creators out there who'd rather make their movie magic on the battlefield.

You Can Use Non-SFM Tools for Post-Production

Because the SFM didn't ship with a few post-production features, like titling and transitions, we've decided to let people use other effects and editing tools for this year's contest.

Remember, though, that nothing makes us happier than people using and giving feedback on the SFM. We want this tool to keep getting better and better, and to do that, we'll need creative folks like you pushing the SFM in new directions.

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Shared Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Improved the performance and stability of the libraries used for in-game HTML display

Team Fortress 2

• Added new promo items
• Fixed hats sometimes appearing multiple times in incorrect locations when changing classes
• Fixed Demoman shields not reducing explosive damage in non-MvM games
• Fixed the tf_bot_add command using the same name for all of the bots when adding multiple bots simultaneously
• Updated the localization files
• Moved map descriptions into the localization files
  • Map descriptions will still be loaded from the maps folder first if they exist
• Updated Mann vs. Machine
  • Fixed a bug where players could only buy 1 upgrade at a time from the upgrade station
  • Fixed a bug where the Victory dialog would sometimes show during incorrect times

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Fixed a client crash bug caused by overflow of the audio cache
• Fixed a bug that allowed server browser network activity to continue after choosing a server

Team Fortress 2

• Added new promo items
• Unlocked the "What's in the Sandvich Box?"
• Unlocked the "What's in the Companion Square Box?"
• Fixed a server crash related to Demoman bot AI
• Updated the Tin Pot to use the correct skin for each style
• Fixed seeing the fire texture on Gold Botkiller items in DirectX 8
• Updated the localization files
• Updated Mann vs. Machine
  • Matchmaking search criteria supports selecting multiple missions
  • Mann Up servers will retry notification of mission victory to game coordinator, to ensure loot is eventually granted in the case of service disruption
  • Matchmaking will prevent late joining into the a server near the end of the last wave
  • Added a new currency UI element to indicate money that is active in the world
  • Added the tour number to the information on the scoreboard
  • Fixed the Medigun overheal duration attribute causing the overheal effect to decay faster, rather than slower
  • Added the ability to buy projectile penetration for the Crusader's Crossbow
  • Fixed a false positive for the achievement "Clockwork Carnage"
  • Added a new command "bot_hurt"
    • Parameters -name [bot name], -team [red/blue/all], -damage [amount]
  • Fixed the Demoman shields not saving their upgrades upon round reset
• Updated koth_king
  • Reflections fixed for the floors and some glass windows
  • Modified model file for the sign 6 through 9 to avoid Red signs on Blu side of the map
  • Modified light pole to merge bulb and pole into a single model for perf
  • Fixed location where mini-sentries can shoot through a bush without being seen
  • Clipping pass
  • Added glass on footbridge roof and lights nearby
  • Prop reduction for perf
  • Some props changed to non-solid for player mobility
  • Adjusted health and ammo in various spots
• Community requests:
  • Add a new server ConVar "tf_avoidteammates_pushaway" to control whether or not teammates push each other away when occupying the same space
  • Add a new server ConVar "tf_arena_override_team_size" to allow server owners to set the maximum team size in arena mode

It's a well-established fact that every Halloween, all the ghosts, goblins, Draculas, bigfoots, Frankensteins and Area 51 aliens leave their house at the cemetery to scare humans. But what would happen if you snuck down to the cemetery before Halloween? You would die. Of scaredness? No! Of boredom. That's because between now and October 31st, all the monsters are busy having meetings (about terror) and conducting focus groups (to test all the latest scaring techniques). Oh no! What's that chupacabra doing lurking in the shadows? (Answer: Reading a spreadsheet about blood.)

The United Gaming Clans (UGC) Highlander and 6v6 leagues are gearing up for their fall season openers on September 17 and September 19 respectively. UGC has expanded and now features operations in Asia and Australia and teams from these regions are ecouraged to sign up. In addition they will be raffling off an unusual hat and there will be an in-game medal design contest sponsored by Ruskeydoo (Hibernating Bear Heavy set creator). For more details visit the UGC forums.

The European Team Fortress 2 League has announced their 13th 6v6 Season. The prize pool is even bigger this year totaling 2,500€ in addition to featuring prizes from Tt eSPORTS.

Here's the upcoming schedule for the season featuring seven match weeks followed up by three weeks of title playoffs in the Premiership or two weeks of potential tiebreakers for other divisions. More details can be found on the hub page for the season.

• Division Seeding: September 8 - 10
• Schedule Week: September 10 - 15
• Main Season: September 16 - November 3 (7 weeks)
• Playoffs: November 11 - 30

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Fixed a bug that allowed malicious servers to execute restricted console commands on players
• Fixed a bug that allowed malicious servers to prevent players from executing console commands

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Performance improvements

Team Fortress 2

• Added the Fall 2012 crate key to the Mann Co. store
• Fixed The Escape Plan not using the same taunt as The Equalizer
• Community mapping request:
  • Added Parentname to the attributes for func_flagdetectionzone