The avocados are going on vacation this year! BlapBash is officially back for 2022 raising money for SpecialEffect to put fun and inclusion back into the lives of people with physical disabilities by helping them to play video games!
The two-day livestream event will take place on July 30th and 31st starting at 12pm CEST / 6am EDT for 12 hours each day and will feature many familiar TF2 personalities & communities. They’ve got an avocado-jam-packed schedule featuring a variety of events inside and outside of TF2, including their largest ever TF2 crate unboxing and giveaway yet! Catch all the action on the EssentialsTF Twitch channel.
And of course, the famous BlapBash medals are back once again to be claimed starting with a minimum $10 donation. They've also brought back their original medal, now the BlapBash Advocator, as a new reward tier! To donate, head over to the BlapBash donation page and find more info about the event!
(Image credit: Requim, kevin supermarket, agrastiOs, and Tom Yamaza)
Ready up on the plate, slugger! You might have a bat in hand, but you're playing catcher, too!
Another Fortress Faceoffs event is starting soon, so get yourself a ticket to the front row! A unique game mode is in play, combining an American classic with another sport of unknown origin! That's right, it's baseball-dodgeball season! Teams of five Scouts will compete against one another with only one hit of health, taking their pick of skillful leaping or clumsy cleat-eating as baseballs zip through the sky like a Grand Slam out of Fenway! Do your best to dodge the fastballs or you'll be struck OUT for the round! Overcome the AWAY team in a first-to-five frenzy and topple the bracket to become champion of Major League Mayhem! Be part of the fifth Fortress Faceoffs event and make it to the Top 8 to have your MVP plays streamed live!
For this event, bonus regions like South America, Asia, and Oceania can participate for big prizes as well (though games won't be streamed).
In the future, some Fortress Faceoffs events will only be announced on their social platforms (Discord, Steam, Twitter). Watch for new not-so-secret announcements to make sure you can be part of the games and fun!
Sign up today to get your free entrance and overpriced water! The big game starts August 5th @ 1PM EDT / 13:00 CEST (for NA and EU respectively) and will last around 3 days. For more information about event rules, prizes, and more, join the Fortress Faceoffs Discord and claim your spot in the Hall of Fame!
Gentlemen and gentlewomen, rejoice! Soon, it will be time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our streak of heroic cowardly defenses from the robotic nuisances merciless machines. It's because of this occasion that our greatest adversary, Gray Mann, has arrived with a plethora of presents, one of which included a pipe bomb that was not defused on time. Moreover, he has sent his robotic armies for the umpteenth time to try and force us into submission, and recon says that these machines are bigger and badder than ever before. Grab your weapons and Military-Grade Cakes, because it's time to celebrate!
Operation Anniversary Annihilation is a brand new Mann vs. Machine event brought to you by Moonlight MvM that features 6 intermediate, 12 advanced, and 7 expert missions across 17 maps. Complete the waves to earn up to 3 in-game medals! Event servers are available worldwide in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
In addition to sending Gray Mann back to his retirement home, you can also donate to the International Fund for Animal Welfare to support animals in need. Earn up to 3 in-game donor medals for donations of $5, $10, and $15 USD, respectively. Click here for more information on how to donate.
Interested in learning how to create your own MvM waves? Well you're in luck because new submissions are being accepted for the next event! Check out the submission forum for more information. All content creators with an accepted submission will earn a special in-game creator medal!
Have fun, but don’t delay! This tour will implode in just 30 days on August 15th, 2022!
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:
Several fixes to address exploits and stability issues
Added a game server setting, "net_chan_limit_msec", which allows server operators to limit amount of processing time the game server can spend on processing packets for each client per tick. Clients that send packets causing server CPU processing time to exceed configured number of milliseconds will be kicked from the game server.
Added a game server setting, "net_chan_stats_dump" which, when enabled, will dump statistics of each network channel when that network channel is closed. Statistics include messages, bandwidth, and CPU processing time breakdown.
Added a game server setting, "tf_fall_damage_disablespread", to disable random fall damage (default: 0)
Fixed not being able to adjust the offset for a cosmetic item's Unusual effect
Fixed some players seeing [unknown] for their player name
Fixed broken transparency on cosmetics
Fixed lag compensation when melee-ing teammates
Fixed not being able to hit a player's hitbox if it extends outside the player's bounding box during an animation
Fixed jiggle bones rendering in the loadout and item previews
Fixed the Iron Bomber's projectile collision size not matching other projectile collision sizes
Fixed ConVar buttons flickering after being clicked to toggle the value
Fixed The Shortstop shove showing as self-inflicted damage
Fixed Mini-Sentry guns not triggering damage alerts in the HUD
Fixed net_disconnect_reason affecting disconnect messages on the client
Fixed Medi Gun charges expiring too early if a server forces add_uber_time
Fixed network edicts being used for server-side-only entities
Updated mat_picmip to allow values below -1
Updated/Added some tournament medals
Updated the localization files
Updated Mann vs. Machine
Fixed not being able to kick Spectators
Fixed bots not displaying the correct names
Fixed the loading screen backgrounds on Valve servers
Fixed Übercharge charge rate and duration upgrade not working for the Vaccinator
Updated Arena mode
Fixed players being able to late-join the game
Fixed players on team Unassigned being able to kill other players
Get ready! The annual TF2Maps 72-Hour Summer Jam is back for 2022, and the whole community is invited to take part! The 72-Hour Jam starts Friday, July 22nd, at 5pm GMT, and lasts until Monday, July 25th, at 5pm GMT!
For anyone new to the concept, the 72-Hour Jam is a TF2Maps tradition where the community dedicates 3 days of their time to producing cool content themed around Team Fortress 2! This includes maps, models, war paints, animations, videos, paintings, drawings, mods, fan-fiction, woodwork, stonework, legwork, homework, and everything else in-between so long as it's related to Team Fortress 2! Let the waves of creativity rush over you! Post your creation(s) on their web site to show them what you made, and they'll give you a genuine in-game medal to flaunt over random passersby!
This year, the Jam’s charity drive is supporting Doctors Without Borders. Anyone who donates $5 or more to the drive is eligible to receive this year’s in-game charity medal. Donate here!
LAN's are finally back, and so is the LAN Downunder! Teams and players from around Oceania will meet this weekend to crown another LAN champion at the GIC Arena in Melbourne, Australia!
The event will feature a six round Swiss stage, followed by single elimination playoffs on day 2. There can only be one winner! Who will it be? Tune in at 11pm AEST to CappingTV for some jam packed action!
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 an exploit related to clearing the in-game text chat
Fixed an exploit where players could use sv_cheats on secure servers
Fixed an exploit where players could teleport back to their own spawn by changing loadout/class while touching the other team's No Entry gate
Fixed an exploit with the Huntsman in which a player could change loadout to negate the speed debuff when charged
Fixed an exploit with the Ap-Sap where players could spam noises
Fixed an exploit where dispensers could heal through glass on some maps
Fixed an exploit where a Spy could disguise and create an invisible bullet blocking shield at their feet
Fixed laggy animations on Halloween bosses, skeletons, ghosts and other ghoul-like beings
Fixed the Spy using incorrect disguise weapons when disguising as Soldier, Pyro, Heavy or Engineer with no member of the same class on the opposing team
Fixed projectiles sometimes colliding with teammates too early/late
Fixed being able to change names during a matchmaking game
Fixed some HUD images being blurry when using low texture settings
Fixed the Spy's feigned deaths with the Dead Ringer not showing up in the matchmaking quick team status bar
Fixed %killername% and other placeholder names sometimes showing up on the kill cam and stats screen
Re-enabled ability for servers to send disconnect reasons to clients
Added ConVar net_disconnect_reason to use the disconnect reason sent from the client
Removed Headgear option from the Mann Co. Catalog dropdown list
Updated vote system
Both teams can have a kick vote running at the same time
Can have a global vote running at the same time as a kick vote
Fixed sometimes not being able to vote on maps at the end of the round
Updated the El Fiestibrero to fix a problem with the model