Valve’s latest Counter-Strike 2 update is aimed entirely at map makers, with new scripting tools for hostages, console variables and round control. A new line in the game’s text files has drawn more attention, but Valve has not said what it is for.
Valve pushed the update on . The release notes contain a single section, map scripting, and list no gameplay changes for official game modes. It is the first update since last week’s patch to the demo viewer and AUG reload animations.
New tools for map makers
Map scripting lets creators of community maps and modes control the game with code. The update adds:
- Hostages: a new CSHostage object tells a script whether a hostage is being picked up, carried or rescued, and who rescued it. Scripts can react when a hostage is picked up, dropped, rescued or killed, and see which hostage a player is carrying.
- Console: a new top-level Console export reads console variables and changes them with Console.SetConvar, which is not restricted by sv_cheats. Instance.Msg is renamed Console.Log, and the client and server command functions move here.
- GameRules: another new export starts and ends warmup, reads and adds to a team’s score and ends a round with TerminateRound. Functions for warmup, freeze time, rounds played, the round timer and team money move here from Instance.
- Precache: Instance.Precache tells a script whether assets have loaded on the server, on the client or for all players, and can release them again.
- HUD and radar: radar elements can now appear in every game mode, not only Rush, and two new custom HUD layout classes apply when the team menu or chat is visible.
Moved and renamed functions still work in their old location but are deprecated. The rest of the notes are bug fixes, including a crash in GameRules.AddTeamMoney, along with more detailed warnings for script errors and better autocomplete for the map_workshop command.
A datamined string
The update also added a localization string that is not in the release notes. Dataminer Gabe Follower spotted it shortly after the release.
The new entry, Team_Cash_Award_Generic_Negative, shows a minus sign followed by an amount and the words “team income”. It sits directly below an existing entry that shows the same message with a plus sign.
This is a datamine, not a confirmed feature, and Valve has not commented. The release notes do mention a related change: GameRules.AddTeamMoney now supports a custom amount without a specific reason, which could explain why a generic money message is needed for scripted modes. Whether the string also points to changes in the economy of official modes is unknown.
