Team Fortress 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Philippa Warr)

Scream Fortress VIII

Team Fortress 2‘s [official site] annual Hallowe’en festivities are upon us and, although there are nowhere near as many of them as Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror episodes, the Roman numerals are still contriving to make Alice feel hideously old. So that’s something!

So what’s the haps this Hallowe’en-tide? … [visit site to read more]

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress? More like Scream Fortr oh, I see Valve already did that, as it's the name of TF2's annual Halloween event. Joe brought the slightly disappointing news that there would be no all-new giant spookathon this year; instead, the game is getting a few new titbits, while all the old Scream Fortresses will be returning, as with last year.

The TF blog announces that Scream Fortress VIII has just kicked off, bringing with it "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!" Yeah, that's right, an Unusualifier look it up in your Lexinomicon.

What's more, for the duration of Scream Fortress VIII, "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," says Valve. Double-things are almost always good news whoever heard of Single Fine, for example?

Team Fortress 2 - Valve
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:

  • Fixed spooky OS X crash upon joining a server
  • Fixed not being able to gain progress on Merasmissions
Team Fortress 2
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:
  • Fixed spooky OS X crash upon joining a server
  • Fixed not being able to gain progress on Merasmissions
Team Fortress 2 - Valve
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:


Scream Fortress VIII has arrived!
  • 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
During Scream Fortress VIII
  • 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
Matchmaking
  • 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
General
  • 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
Team Fortress 2
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:
Scream Fortress VIII has arrived!
  • 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
During Scream Fortress VIII
  • 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
Matchmaking
  • 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
General
  • 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
Team Fortress 2


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!


Team Fortress 2

After six years of consecutive harrowing Team Fortress 2 Halloween events, Valve took last year off to work on its then new Invasion update. It seems the same is true this year, as the developer is instead "working on something even better."

Similar to last year, every prior Scream Fortress event will briefly return including 2015's Merasmissions while a new Pyro Pack, improvements to Comp Mode, a new update, a new campaign, community maps, and a new taunt are but a few of the things TF2 is introducing to ensure All Hallows' Eve doesn't pass us by.

In typical Team Fortress fashion, here's some weird words taken from the game's blog:

"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!"

Make of that what you will. No exact date just yet, however you'll be able to revisit your favourite TF2 Halloween events at some stage "next week."

Team Fortress 2 - Valve
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:

  • 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
Team Fortress 2
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:
  • 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
...