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There comes a time in everyone’s life when they tire of searching for tiny differences
in the same Valve-made maps, over and over again. But that hasn’t happened to me just
yet so let’s investigate the many small, unannounced changes that have been rolled
out across CS:GO’s main maps this year. A few of you noticed changes to the light
positions on Overpass. But there have been other changes, to other maps as well! What’s
going on? Why are these changes taking place now, and WHY AREN’T VALVE TELLING US?!
What WAS announced was the new retake mode, which required new invisible blocks and commands
to be embedded within these map files to inform the gamemode on how to operate in this new
retake mode. So that’s why new versions have rolled out for all of them. But for many
of these maps, it’s been months since they were last updated. Perhaps not as long ago
as you might think- most were updated back in June to help improve visibility with some
of the new player models in the game, with Vertigo being the map updated longest ago-
and even that was in April of this year! But since then, somebody at Valve has continued
to update the map files for them to remedy small problems or graphical glitches that
they’ve discovered. It’s just that these changes weren’t big enough to justify updating
the maps FOR those reasons, which is why we’re only now seeing these small changes thanks
to retake mode requiring these maps were updated. I suspect most of these updates have been
forgotten even by the mapper who added them, so if I don’t spot them in this video then
nobody may ever know that they had been changed! Which makes you wonder if it was even worth
making these changes, doesn’t it.
So we might as well start with Overpass. YES, the lights have moved. They’ve gone from
being low down on one side, to high up on the other. I suspect this change was made
to reduce the issues with smoke grenades- players running in front of these lights would
block their flare through smokes, giving away their position.
An unintended consequence of this change is that it’s made the corner just here a TAD
darker, and less reflective. I also notice a new clip brush on the truck
at A, which will smooth out movement a bit for players standing on top of this raised
bit. And aside from that, I just saw TINY changes
to the lighting in places, and some of the props appear to have ‘tilted’ slightly.
I pass these things off as being the mapping equivalent of ‘rounding errors’. Like,
okay, they’re not exactly the same, but they’re close enough to how they were that
I don’t care.
Speaking of rounding errors, Train is the most boring map of them all. And for these
kinds of updates, too. One reflection looked a bit different on this tower at A. But aside
from that… pff. An hour of my life wasted.
Onto Inferno now, and this map didn’t really get any changes at all- but everywhere I looked,
reflections looked a bit different. For SOME reason, the reflections on the newest version
of the map AREN’T as dark as in the older version!
I took close-ups of the most reflective bits of the map I found, and aside from discovering
how much this game’s low-res reflections could benefit from Source-2’s improved and
parallax corrected ones, discovered that the new reflections are actually closer to how
they should be than the old ones were. It was quite difficult to figure out what the
dark blobs were in the older versions, but I’m pretty certain they’re from these
textures that are overlaid the base ground textures. In the older version of the map
they appeared almost black- or missing, even! So in this respect, the newer version of Inferno
has better reflections than it used to. But would still benefit greatly from Source 2.
Speaking of reflections, what’s going on in the pond at B? Valve please fix! In the
older version the sky was blue, and in the newer version, more yellowy perhaps because
it’s reflecting the clouds in the 3D skybox now. Ish. But both versions are wrong- since
certain things are see-through that shouldn’t be! This door is rendered completely invisible.
In fact, all props are. The arch ways look really sad. Don’t worry- you can’t use
this to see players who should be hidden behind stuff, since the player models aren’t reflected
at all! This puts the reflection quality somewhere behind Counter-Strike Source’s from 2004.
But it took until this video to notice.
Onto Mirage now, and fun fact: did you know that Mirage is the only map NOT to have any
grenade clips? These are used in other maps on rough surfaces to make grenades bounce
off them in a more predictable way. But maybe Valve doesn’t care about updating THIS version
of Mirage for whatever reason. Mirage 2 confirmed. Still, less work for me to do! I found no
interesting updates in this map, other than slightly different brightnesses on some of
the floors and walls surrounding the brightest, dustiest regions of the map.
It looks like there’s ambient occlusion behind this rug on the wall here.
This plant here is lit more brightly, though which one’s better is anyone’s guess.
And all around the map, props vibrated slightly. Like I said, these might as well be rounding
errors.
NUKE’s an interesting one. Well, compared to this video so far.
See this Valve? Run down the slope… and now you don’t. This has been updated so
that it no longer fades out! Now it’s not like the fade-out would have been distracting-
I’ve tested this from various angles and its fade is safely concealed, out of view,
as you descend the steps… unless you jump, then you’ll see everything pop in and out
of view. Valve, please fix Valve. The only reason I can see for this change is because
the Valve obstructs vision a bit for players stood HERE, so anybody boosted on a player’s
head down here would have a tiny, tiny advantage in this one specific instance.
But then this has been balanced out by this supporting bit fading out from here, which
didn’t used to happen. Exciting stuff indeed. What’s probably MORE noticeable is the change
in lighting. This map was compiled a few days later than the rest of the Valve maps were
back in June, and whoever did it must have used different settings because the lighting
on the props is significantly different between these two versions. There are places where
the older one’s better, and others where the newer one is. But both have problems,
and where different props connect to each other can range from being okay, to being
painfully obvious. Source 2 pls.
My analysis of grenade clipping FINALLY paid off with Vertigo- I discovered this added
clip brush just here, on the rebar. This will make grenades bouncing off them behave more
consistently for set-up throws and stuff. And any fences with that red netting now have
none! I assume this was done to improve visibility with characters stood in front and behind
it, since I guess character models can look more like red netting than they can a distant
skyscraper. And last, we get onto Dust2. And I’ve saved
the best till last! …But funnily enough this was the map I STARTED the testing with,
and then got all excited when I thought the other maps were going to have just as many
quirky changes. Which clearly didn’t happen. Here’s what I found on this map.
Boxes have been given a new texture layer with printed paint stuff on them. This hasn’t
been added to all of them. But the notable additions are the ones on A site just here.
And the ones in long doors, which cleverly point the way players should go, and hint
at the possible boost you can do to get onto the tops of them here.
Lighting on these grass props has been changed significantly, making them appear darker,
blending in with their surroundings better. Same with the thatched roof on the top of
the towers at B. But I think this is one area that looks significantly WORSE in the latest
version.
The trim on the cars has been made a lot more reflective than it was before, which increases
the contrast between it and players stood behind it.
SOMETHING has gone on with the roof between mid and outside tunnel. I think Valve must
have tried to optimise it by adding a hint brush, and possibly by repositioning or removing
some of the satellite dishes. But it’s definitely changed. And you can still see visual problems
when stood in this corner here. Long A has become a bit LESS optimised, with
grass now visible that previously faded out, and the same with these electrical boxes on
the wall here.
And now onto the most exciting bit. Do you see it? I’ll give you a few seconds. YES,
something’s going on behind the palm tree? But what is it?
Valve has decided to fade this window prop out from a shorter distance than before, thinking
it’s hidden enough that people won’t notice. BUT I HAVE NOTICED! And you will, too- especially
when stood in this position, allowing you to see through this house and into short A.
I don’t THINK you can see players through here. They pass quite some way below and probably
aren’t drawn any way. But still, it’s a glaring oversight. Valve, please fix.
This sort of video is a risk. Valve did not announce any changes to these maps. I invested
many hours taking over 1000 comparison shots in search of the tiniest of changes. It could
have been that I wasted several days of my life, and don’t even have content to show
for it! But luckily for me, this time, there were changes to be found. Small changes, but
changes. And if nothing else, it’s shown me that Valve does care about these maps.
They DO load them up and tweak them ever so slightly, every time a bug is discovered,
or something is found they think they could improve upon. Sometimes they get it disastrously
wrong. But I commend the effort.