Dear Valve and others, recently, Valve released an update that fixed the
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive server browser, this was great for
community servers and we really appreciate it! While players are now
discovering well-made community servers, there are still issues, future
requests, and recommendations I want to share that if addressed, will
strengthen the CS:GO community.
First, I want to talk about a major issue with community servers.
Community servers have been crashing since the 2014 Halloween update
which, from the crash traces, are caused by calls to the SlerpBones
function. A few crash traces can be found here:
https://crash.limetech.org/6jxgu7ajkkdp
https://crash.limetech.org/kvkk6phebljg
https://crash.limetech.org/zfacuirpsxks
https://crash.limetech.org/plf2gkrygqyw
https://crash.limetech.org/sp2exjhm3o5m
These crashes aren't caused by plugins (as you can see in the crash
traces, often happen without any initial SourceMod call). In order to
rule it out as the root of the problem, custom models have been
recompiled using the new player model's skeletons (with the required
attachments and bones for the Halloween masks). The crashes, however,
kept occurring. This issue is damaging to custom game modes that rely
heavily on model changes at arbitrary points of the game (zombie
servers, for instance) because the crashes will often flush away the
player base. Another thing, it appears the issue existed in the CS:GO
beta, but since community servers had custom player models for a while
after the beta without any problems, it may have been fixed:
https://list.valvesoftware.com/pipermail/csgo_servers/2012-May/000781.html
Sadly, the problem is back (or perhaps it is an unrelated one that
happens to be in the same spot) as of now. Despite not being entirely
sure of when the crashes occur, we have noticed that it seems to be
related to either blending animations after a player has its model
changed or when players are on moving entities and get their models
switched.
Second, I want to talk about a limitation with the community servers in
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. There is a maximum speed/velocity
limitation that applies to the ground. Community developers attempted to
unlock this limitation but were not successful. (it seems to be
hard-coded somewhere) There is a plugin called Zombie Reloaded, which is
a famous plugin spread across many popular CS:S/CS:GO servers. This
plugin has a feature that knocks back zombies (players) when they are
impacted by bullets, but in CS:GO, this core feature does not work
properly due to this limitation. There is a work-around in CS:GO but it
doesn’t feel enough like CS:S which turns players away from CS:GO. This
work-around sets the zombie’s speed to a high value while being knocked
back and resets their speed back to normal when finished. The fact that
when we set the zombie’s speed to a high value and knock back works fine
(we cannot keep this on because the zombie will run too fast), leads us
to believing there is a maximum speed limitation with the ground. When a
zombie jumps into the air (off the ground), the knock back works well.
I’ve done some testing with the “sv_maxspeed” command, and concluded
that knock back works with the value set to -1500, but the zombie is
knocked backwards, while the value is set above 500, the knock back is
too little. (due to the limitation) The last thing is, when the zombie
is knocked back, they will instantly come to a stop when hitting the
maximum speed limitation. (“cl_showpos 1” displays the current velocity
of the zombie, and the velocity doesn’t go above 200.00 when being
knocked back with intense force) It is difficult to find where the
problem lies in CS:GO itself, but I would first suggest raising the
“CS_PLAYER_SPEED_RUN” in the “_ZN9CCSPlayer17GetPlayerMaxSpeedEv”
function. (which is currently set to 260.00)
Third, I want to talk about an issue in Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive. Players cannot join off their friends. The “Join Game” button
is not available, even if they are playing on a community server. Ever
since the CS:GO server browser was fixed, many players are discovering
new servers, and they ask/tell their friends to join them, but their
friends cannot due to this problem. Another thing I would like to talk
about is the “View Game Info” feature. Many other Source Engine games
show the server information (host name, player count, map, players list,
etc), but in CS:GO, it shows CS:GO as the game and the game’s current
score. The current “View Game Info” is fine for competitive servers, but
it should give more details for community servers.
Fourth, I want to talk about an issue in Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive. If net graph is higher than one (and the server has
“sv_max_allowed_net_graph” set to higher than 1), the net graph is reset
back to 1 on map change. This small issue can bother server operators
who like running net graph 2-4 at all times. Net graphs higher than 1
show server performance which is important to many server operators.
Fifth, I want to talk about adding a new feature to community servers in
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In Counter-Strike: Source, players can
use sprays, which are images that are sprayed wherever your cursor is.
(if you are near a solid brush) The community loved this feature and
many players miss it in CS:GO. I understand not having this enabled for
competitive servers, but this feature should be added for community servers.
Sixth, I want to talk about adding better chat color functionality in
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In Source Engine 2009 games
(Counter-Strike: Source, Team-Fortress 2, etc), hex color support in the
chat is available for plugins to use. In Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive, hex color support in the chat is not available for plugins to
use. Users who have played Source Engine 2009 games are stunned this
isn’t available in the newer Source Engine and would appreciate it if
the chat color functionality was improved.
Seventh, I have a future request for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Weapon sounds are too loud for many players, but the general game volume
is fine. The weapon sound’s volume should be decreased by default and
adjustable (a separate option) for players. Many players would
appreciate it if this request was implemented.
Eighth, I want to talk about an issue that crashes clients in CS:GO.
When a client alt-tabs out of CS:GO and a map change occurs while
they’re alt-tabbed out of the game, when they alt-tab back in, CS:GO
will crash. I’ve enabled “condebug” in the launch settings and captured
the crash in a log file. (with “developer” set to 1)
http://gflclan.com/gamemann/crash1.txt
As you can see, it spams lines and crashes the client. This issue
bothers players that regularly alt-tab out of CS:GO. I have a GeForce
GTX 970 as my video card, an Intel I5 2500K as my processor, and 8
gigabytes of DDR3 ram. I am not the only person having this issue and
I’ve tried fully reinstalling the game but this issue still exists. This
is only an issue in full screen. (non-windowed)
Ninth, I have a suggestion for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Players
do not like the fact that custom server/map sounds are adjusted under
“Music Volume”. Many players do not prefer to hear the CS:GO music and
adjust the “Music Volume”. There should be a “Custom Sounds” adjustment
option where players can control the volume of custom server/map sounds.
Tenth, I want to talk about a few missing features in Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive. These features are “centertext”, “keyhint”, and
“hudmsg”. These features are available in other Source Engine games, but
not available in CS:GO. If these features are added, it will allow
plugin developers to show information on different locations of the screen.
Eleventh, I want to talk about a missing feature in Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive. In other Source Engine games, the client supports
“DIALOG_ASKCONNECT”, but in CS:GO, the client doesn’t support
“DIALOG_ASKCONNECT”. There were a few plugins that relied on this
feature and the plugin developers would appreciate it if this feature
was added to CS:GO.
Twelfth, I want to talk about a few small issues in Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive. One issue is you can’t type “!” in the chat while
running. This issue can be annoying depending on what community server
you are playing on. At times, there are game modes that require you to
run, and you may need to type a SourceMod command in the chat that
starts with “!”. Now, yes I know you could do this with “/” but most
players are familiar with the “!” character. The second small issue is
at times, the “h” character will stop working. You cannot type the “h”
character in the chat or console. Originally, I thought this was an
issue with my client only, but I discovered a few other players had this
issue as well. There is no pattern it when it stops working, only occurs
randomly.
Thirteenth, I have a future request for Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive. Not many players are familiar with the server browser and
don’t know how to add servers to their favorites. When a player first
joins a server, it should ask them whether they want to add the server
to their favorites or not. (saves and there should be a setting in the
options menu where it toggles whether to ask the player or not on new
servers) Another nice thing to add is a sidebar on the main CS:GO menu
where it displays favorited servers.
Fourteenth, I have a future request for Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive. Currently, bullets do not go through teammates. There are a
few game modes that would work better if this was toggable server-side.
There should be a command to enable/disable bullets going through teammates.
One of the last things I want to talk about is the maximum edicts limit.
The maximum edicts (2048) is not enough for the CS:GO community servers.
I know 2048 sounds very high and people will say servers shouldn’t be
using close to that number, but CS:GO alone takes up 300 edicts. While
maps and plugins are getting larger, the maximum edicts should be
doubled (4096), which allows community servers to enable larger
features. A few well-made maps ported from CS:S to CS:GO crash with an
engine error (“No free edicts”), due to CS:GO taking up 300 edicts alone
and the map having too much detail.
Finally, I want to talk about the CS:GO model precache limit. The limit
is currently 1024 which is fine for models, but this table also includes
materials. Servers have been crashing with “Warning: Table
modelprecache is full, can't add materials/XXXX.vtf”. This issue
restrains the community servers from playing large maps with many
materials and models which can be played in Counter-Strike: Source fine.
When “dumpstringtables” is ran on one of my servers, I get these results
for the models precache table: http://pastebin.com/FMW3ruEK.
Toward the bottom, you can see this table includes materials. My
suggestion is to keep the models and materials precache tables separate.
Overall, I hope Valve can address these issues, future requests, and
recommendations. Valve and the community will both benefit if these are
addressed. I am willing to help with testing if needed.
Thank you for reading.
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