[ FRANCE ]

– Introducing the X-ray Scanner for users in France:

— The X-ray Scanner allows users to reveal the item inside any container.
— Each user’s x-ray scanner comes preloaded with a one-time exclusive non-tradable item—the P250 | X-Ray.
— Users in France must first claim this item to use the x-ray scanner again.

In France, every container must first be placed into the X-ray Scanner to reveal the item inside before purchasing a key. The X-ray Scanner will consume the container and reveal the item inside. To use the X-ray Scanner again, the revealed item must be claimed; it is not possible to scan another Container without claiming the revealed item.

In France containers can no longer be purchased from Steam Community Market, but can still be sold.

[MISC]
– Berlin 2019 tournament items are no longer available for purchase.
– Enabled display of overhead equipment for teammates by default.
– Fixed simulated grenade trajectory preview ending one tick too soon.
– Fixed water sounds to not play for simulated grenade trajectory previews.
– Fixed a bug in deathmatch AI where bots wouldn’t shoot breakable items in certain situations.

[ MISC ]

– New console commands for practicing grenades and perfecting grenade trajectories:
— cl_grenadepreview: show a live update of the grenade’s trajectory while the pin is pulled.
— cl_sim_grenade_trajectory : Freeze the trajectory of the currently equipped grenade for the specified number of seconds. Useful for studying the path of long range smokes that go out of view.
–sv_rethrow_last_grenade: Recreate the last grenade thrown on this server. Useful for testing the same flash against multiple positions.

– Fixed deathmatch behavior tree to support FFA matches.

We’re back from the incredible StarLadder Berlin Major. While the teams were busy with record-breaking 60-round matches, the community was busy as well: tournament items for this major will pay out over $11 million for participating teams and players!

During the Major, we followed conversations in the community about leagues, media rights, and the future of CS:GO events. And while we typically don’t weigh in on these conversations, there are a few issues we want to clarify to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Leagues

We make it free to get a license to operate a CSGO tournament because we want to get out of the way of third parties creating value for our customers. Often that value comes from experimentation–tournament operators experiment with presentation, technology, formats, locations, etc. We support experiments that are scoped large enough to identify new and interesting opportunities, but not so large that if they fail it would be hard for the ecosystem to recover. With t...

[ MISC ]
– Updated engraving on the Major Champions and Major Finalists trophies.
– Fixed rare cases of showing an uninitialized MVP panel.
– Several stability improvements.

[ SDK ]
– Users can now create a game authentication code allowing third-party websites and applications to access their match history.
– Website and application developers can find more information here:
– https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Counter-Strike:_Global_Offensive_Access_Match_History

[ MISC ]
– Updated deathmatch bots with an experimental decision framework based on behavior trees.
– Fixed picking up weapons embedded in playerclip brushes.
– Allow fps_max setting as low as 49 for PAL 50 Hz production pipelines.
– Allow Overwatch-style GOTV demo files playback using anonsuspect parameter to playdemo command.
— Example command: playdemo myfile.dem 76540440404404 anonsuspect
– Several game stability fixes.

[ MAPS ]
– Updated radar for Vertigo.

Congratulations to Astralis, who won a record-breaking third straight Major Championship and their fourth overall.

AVANGAR’s path to the Grand Final met the brick wall of Astralis, who took hold of the series from the first few rounds and never let go.

Thank you to everyone who watched the Major, and to StarLadder, the teams, and the players for an incredible event.

Finally, there’s still a chance to support your favorite teams–player and team items are up to 75% off!

The final eight are ready for the Champions stage of the StarLadder Berlin Major at the Mercedes-Benz Arena!

After a hotly contested Legends stage, ENCE and NRG finished 3-0, Vitality, Astralis, and AVANGAR finished at 3-1 while Na’Vi, Liquid, and Renegades made the cut with a 3-2 record.

Watch live coverage beginning Thursday on Steam.tv, on the official Twitch stream, and in-game on GOTV to see which team will become the next CS:GO Major Champions. Don’t forget to make your Playoff picks now in the Pick’Em Challenge before the matches begin!

If you haven’t already purchased a Viewer Pass, you can get it now for 40% off. You’ll get unlimited Major graffiti and Steam chat flair for the duration of the Major as well as an upgradable Event Coin and the chance to earn or purchase Souvenir Tokens which you can redeem for a Souvenir Package from the match of your choice.

[MISC]
– Fixed a bug which allowed changing certain development-only material settings at game launch.
– Fixed context menu of match streams being too large and sometimes not fitting on screen.
– Main menu news images should now load more reliably when running under Perfect World launcher.
– Community game servers can no longer display unsafe html in disconnection messages.

The Legends have arrived.

Congratulations to mousesports, North, G2 Esports, NRG, CR4ZY, Vitality, Avangar, and DreamEaters, who all advanced from the Challengers Stage. They’ll face off against the Legends this week–may the best teams win.

If you’re joining us late, you can still get the most out of the 2019 Berlin Major. The Viewer Pass is now 20% off!

With a Viewer Pass, you’ll get a Berlin 2019 Event Coin, challenges to complete, unlimited Team Graffiti, Steam.tv Flair, and exclusive access to Berlin 2019 Souvenir Packages. Don’t forget to set your Pick’Em predictions before the first Legends Stage matches start on August 28th.

Tune in August 23rd at 12:00 PM CEST for the opening matches of the StarLadder Berlin Major’s Challenger Stage.

Watch the matches live on steam.tv, in-game through GOTV, or on Twitch.

Purchase the Berlin 2019 Viewer Pass via Steam or in game and receive an upgradable Event Coin that unlocks exclusive access to Berlin 2019 Souvenir Packages. New for this tournament, you can play competitive missions to upgrade your Event Coin or purchase additional Souvenir Tokens.

Don’t forget to make your predictions in the Pick’Em Challenge! (Passholders should get their picks in before the stage begins for a chance at the Diamond Tournament Coin.) You will also receive free unlimited Team Graffiti for the duration of the Major and Steam.tv team flair. Detailed information about Viewer Passes, Souvenir Packages, and the Pick’Em Challange can be found here.

Support your favorite teams and players with Berlin 2019 Team and Autograph stickers. As always, 50% of the proceeds from sticker and Viewer Pass...

[ BERLIN 2019 ]
– Updated autograph stickers for dexter, VINI, ableJ, KSCERATO, yuurih, ANGE1.

[ LINUX ]
– Updated Linux dedicated servers Steam Client layer to the latest version which significantly improves TCP reconnect timeout in case of upstream connection drop.

[ MISC ]
– Added client-side settings to limit incoming invite sounds: cl_invites_only_mainmenu, cl_invites_only_friends.

[ MAPS ]
– Recompiled Nuke to fix several lighting problems on static props.
– Recompiled Overpass with an additional clipbrush at the back of A site.

The 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major is just weeks away, but you can start supporting your favorite teams now!

The 2019 Berlin Viewer Pass, Team Stickers, and Player Stickers are now available for purchase. 50% of the proceeds go to the players and organizations taking part in the StarLadder Berlin Major.

Viewer Pass

With a Viewer Pass, you’ll get a Berlin 2019 Event Coin, new challenges to complete (including missions and the Berlin 2019 Pick-Em Challenge), unlimited Team Graffiti, Steam.tv Flair, and exclusive access to Berlin 2019 Souvenir Packages.

Every time you upgrade your coin, you can redeem a Souvenir Package of the match of your choice. Souvenirs will feature one of the MVPs from that match, so watch the Major and make your choice!

Want more? Purchase the ‘Viewer Pass +3’ to start off with three Souvenir Tokens, or purchase as many Souvenir Tokens as you’d like once you’ve activated your Pass.

Team and Player Stickers

Team stickers and player autographs are also now available ...

[ BERLIN 2019 ]
– The “Berlin 2019 Viewer Pass” and the “Berlin 2019 Viewer Pass + 3 Souvenir Tokens” are now available for purchase. 50% of the proceeds go to the players and organizations taking part in the StarLadder Berlin Major.
– With a Viewer Pass, you’ll get:
— An upgradable Berlin 2019 Event Coin.
— Access to the Berlin Pick’Em Challenge.
— Unlimited team graffiti for the duration of the event.
— Steam.tv team flair.
— Access to Berlin 2019 Souvenir Packages.
— All-new Viewer Pass Missions.
— Ability to purchase additional Souvenir Tokens.
– Team and player autograph stickers are available for purchase.

[ MISC ]
– Improved calculation of client packets processing time to account for dedicated server systems where clock can jump backwards.
– Optimized client-side processing when kills are scored with StatTrak weapons.

[ MAPS ]
– Breach has been updated to the latest Workshop version.

[MISC]
– Fixed a bug where picking up weapons would sometimes fail when they were occluded by other weapons or grenades.
– Reduced friendly fire damage from Zeus-x27 in Danger Zone matches.
– fov_cs_debug will now respect floating point values.

[MAPS]
– Updated Seaside and Breach with the latest versions from CS:GO Steam Workshop.

Breach:
– Improved clipping
– Fixed hole in bushes at mid
– Removed window on top of ladder
– Removed a bunch of pixelwalks

Seaside:
– Re-added trigger_bomb_reset to water zone
– Fixed boost spots in T-spawn and outside B Deck.
– Fixed some pixel spots on T-Side Bridge and behind Bombsite A.
– Blocked various boost exploits.
– Blocked various bomb stuck locations.
– Fixed buggy door graphics.
– Fixed misc graphical issues.

Today’s update is all about maps, with significant changes to Vertigo, and an update to the map pool!

We’re welcoming two maps to the pool: Breach, a defusal map set in a spacious corporate building, and Seaside, an old community favorite. They’ll be replacing Workout, which has been removed from official matchmaking.

Scrimmage!

Ready to try out these new maps? In addition to Deathmatch and Casual game modes, Breach and Seaside (as well as Ruby) are now available as Scrimmage maps on the Competitive tab.

When you play a Scrimmage map all of the competitive rules are the same, but there are no restrictions on players in your party, and your Skill Group will not be adjusted or displayed after your match.

So jump into a scrimmage, and try out something new!

[GAMEPLAY]
– Added Breach and Seaside to Defusal Group Sigma.
– Removed Workout from official matchmaking.
– Added “Scrimmage Maps” to official competitive matchmaking. Scrimmage maps include: Ruby, Breach, Seaside.
— When playing Scrimmage Maps in official competitive matchmaking: there are no restrictions on players in your party, your Skill Groups will not be adjusted after the match, your Competitive Wins counter will not be incremented upon winning the match. Abandoning the match after you ‘ACCEPT’ will result in a penalty.

[LINUX]
– Game server logs on Linux are now using a separate thread to write the data to filesystem which improves performance of the game server main thread.

[MISC]
– Fixed a regression which prevented cycling grenades with TAG grenade.
– Fixed a rare crash related to bump mines and breach charges.
– Mute spinner on in-game players can now be dragged all the way down to zero.

[MAPS]
– Fixed an unintended boost position on Overpass.

Vertigo:
– New approach to B...

[ NETWORKING ]
– Added a game server network channel traffic analysis framework for each client connection.
– 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. Enabled CPU processing time limits on official game servers.
– 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.

The time has come for you to put your Danger Zone skills on display–Danger Zone now has skill groups!

Your skill group will be visible in the main menu and as a spectator after your match has concluded. Your skill group is a mark of your recent performance, and players of all skill groups can participate in matches together.

Ready to rise through the ranks? You’ll need to go on a hot streak if you want to get to the top!

[Danger Zone]
– Added skill groups to Danger Zone.
– Skill groups are visible in the main menu and as a spectator after your match has completed.
– Danger Zone skill groups are driven by your placement in recent matches.
– Players of all skill groups can participate in matches together.