CS:GO Open Beta Announcement!

[Duplolas 1]

Straight from CounterStrikeGo.com :joyous:

 

FEB 14TH

CS:GO BETA EXPANSION UNDERWAY + UPDATED!

That’s right folks – the wait is now (partially) over. A few hours ago Valve updated the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta and launched the proper CS:GO beta (as opposed to the previous stress test). Notable features of the update include Dust2 now being the default map for matchmaking and the addition of popular maps Inferno, Nuke and Train to the custom match map selection. In addition to other numerous small changes and bugfixes, three new weapons – the Nova shotgun and the PP-Bizon and MP7 SMGs – have been added as well.

 

 

 

You can see the full changelist at the end of this post or by visiting the Steam News page. In addition to the large update, Valve updated the official CS:GO website over at Counter-Strike.net with a sexy new layout and a blog post detailing their plans for expansion of the beta, which begins now! The top 500 players of CS:GO have been given gift keys that they can give to a friend, and additionally the top 7000 most active players of previous versions of Counter-Strike (CS 1.6 and CS:Source) will be given free access to the CS:GO beta this week. Valve also has said that major community sites (presumably places like ESEA and HLTV) will be given keys to distribute on their own. We aren’t sure if we are on that list or not but once we know we’ll post more about it.

 

For everybody else, Valve will be releasing a short survey in coming weeks that players can fill out in order to be added to the list for getting a CS:GO beta key. We’ll let you know the moment that survey appears. For now here’s the full changelog for today’s CS:GO patch:

 

Game Design Issues:

- Changed QUICKMATCH default to competitive de_dust2.

- Added new maps to local match options: de_inferno, de_train, and de_nuke.

- Added new weapons: Nova shotgun, Bizon and MP7 SMGs.

- Created a CT-specific version of the Molotov: the incendiary grenade.

- Reworked starting cash and bonuses in Casual mode.

- Made kill cash awards weapon-specific: AWP pays out $50/kill ($25 in Casual Mode). CQB weapons pay out $900 ($450). The rest pay out the usual $300 ($150).

- Limited total number of grenades that can be carried at one time to three, each of a different type.

- Adjusted stamina penalties for jumping. It should be easier now to jump up to multiple objects in a row without getting exhausted.

- Changed weapon recoil cycle to be controlled by a recoil index which is incremented on each shot.

- Reduced movement penalty greatly when players are hit by friendly fire in casual mode.

- Implemented skill-based matchmaking system.

 

Map Issues:

- Reduced dust particle effects on de_dust and de_dust2. Initial dust fades out after about 20 seconds.

- Updated the nav mesh on de_Dust to improve bot pathing.

- Corrected the problem with the bomb being plantable below the ledge on bombsite B in de_dust.

- Fixed multiple issues with players being able to get to positions that should be inaccessable or non-visible in de_dust and de_dust2.

- Fixed problem with black lines appearing around helicopter in de_dust when helicopter is shot.

- Fixed several aesthetic issues and reported exploits on de_dust2.

 

Stat/Achievement Issues:

- Fixed a problem with the fun facts that could cause a claim of more than 100% accuracy for players.

- Fixed a bug that allowed players to earn the ‘Lost and F0wned’ medal while controlling a bot.

- Added FCVAR_CHEAT flag to the bot_kill command so it can’t be used to earn medals

- Updated some medal icons and descriptions to reflect criteria for getting them better.

- Made players who controlled bots during a round ineligible for fun facts.

 

UI Issues:

- Fixed classic crosshair not showing up in first-person spectator mode.

- Fixed a bug that could cause chat spam when a player changes his/her name.

- Redesigned and repositioned the win panel to allow greater visibility of the game.

- Hid voice status and weapon panel when HUD is hidden.

- Added option in game settings that, when active, closes the buy menu upon purchase of an item.

- Redesigned the buy menu.

- Moved player team ID from crosshair to player.

- Expanded the chat window, making it easier to keep track of chat history.

- Changed the UI font for greater legibility.

- Made the chat lines behave like a Windows edit control.

- Added a scoreboard icon that indicates when a player is in the process of switching teams.

- Made music respond to volume slider.

- Made chat box disappear after ENTER is pressed.

- Fixed the ‘pop’ visible when the main menu appears when playing in 4:3 or 16:10 aspect ratios.

- Added COUCH and DESKTOP play distance options that control hud_scaling and viewmodel_fov convars.

- Fixed problem with not being able to switch from windowed to full screen mode.

- Removed crosshair spreading behavior when wielding the knife, grenades, or bomb.

- Made scoreboard title display correctly above scoreboard in standard def.

- Redesigned front-end screens, layouts, and scoreboard to reflect new look for CS:GO.

- Improved the messaging for when money is awarded or subtracted. HUD now shows additions and subtractions more clearly, and money events are also reported in chat.

- Fixed menus to render correctly in resolutions greater than 1920×1200.

- Fixed a bug in which the scoreboard could occasionally disappear.

- Added player avatars to the choose team screen.

- Fixed problem with UI tint resetting after the choose team screen was opened via the pause menu during a game.

- Fixed EDIT and CLEAR buttons on the settings screen sometimes not appearing correctly.

- Fixed bug in settings with the acceleration amount slider not resetting correctly when defaults are restored.

- Fixed incorrect audio feedback when mousing over empty rows in the settings screens.

- Fixed bug that could occur when binding keys in the settings screens, making it impossible to navigate away from the currently active field.

- Made the EDIT MIC option in the settings snap to the correct area of the controls screen.

- Fixed a case in which throwing a grenade or dropping a weapon and picking up another failed to display the new weapon on the inventory section of the HUD.

- Disabled left and right toggles on spectator UI when there’s no one left to spectate.

- Added a separate icon for the CT-specific knife in the weapon select and death notification text.

- Fixed a bug in which remote players controlling a bot were showing up alive again on the mini-scoreboard instead of showing the bot as alive.

- Restricted team chat to team members only.

- Fixed some problems with the REBUY command that could result in purchasing items other than what you had purchased in the previous round.

 

Other issues:

- Fixed problem with two different pieces of music playing at the same time over the choose team screen after completion of a match.

- Added three new mixgroups to handle different weapon sound types.

- Restricted the round end warning music cue to playing only when a bomb has not yet been planted. If it’s currently playing, it will stop once the bomb has been planted.

- Added new music cues for domination and revenge.

- Fixed series of bugs in which the wrong weapon was seen during a reload or weapon switch, resulting in odd-looking weapon poses.

- Fixed problem with camera stopping inside of players’ heads during freeze cam.

- Fixed a bug that could cause the spectator camera to be placed halfway through the floor occasionally.

- Fixed excessive console spew.

- Fixed a crash that could happen when selecting a team without Steam running.

- Fixed hang on black screen when players attempt to connect to servers that forbid connection.

- Fixed crash that could happen while changing the video settings.

- Fixed blurry shadows on players who are walking or running.

- Fixed blood so it doesn’t show brightly through the fog.

- Fixed the visors showing through smoke.

- Reduced issues with smoke grenade and fire volumes being visible through thin floors.

- Fixed some of the problems with weapons penetrating character geometry in third person.

- Addressed an issue which caused bots to shoot over players’ heads often. The bots will likely feel more difficult now.

- Fixed aliasing artifacts caused by not using centroid sampling when MSAA is enabled. Some players may need to update their video card drivers in order to see the change.

- Fixed a bug that caused a player to show as alive briefly after being killed while controlling a bot.