Does the new CSGO patch mean Chlorine is coming to competitive?

M Alzamora Published 05/05/2020

CSGO’s latest patch shows that Valve is continuing its work on the flagship shooter by introducing specific kill feed notices for penetration, blinded, and no-scope kills, as well as a specific icon for kills made through smokes. The patch also does some cleaning up, including adjustments to the G3SG1’s textures, changing the way attackers hold any stolen AUGs they happen to find, and introducing the ability for players to buy certain “coupon” items directly from the Steam Store.

One of CSGO’s two new maps from its last patch, Chlorine, also received a large list of changes that could signal it could soon come to the seven-map competitive pool. The change list for the map includes fixes for pixel boosts, bomb-stuck spots, and most importantly the lighting, something that game files have shown is an area that will be heavily changes when Counter-Strike moves to the Source 2 engine.

CSGO’s kill feed gets a facelift with new icons

The patch includes brand new icons that are used in the game’s kill feed. What’s interesting is that most of these icons were present in Counter-Strike’s files as far back as October, meaning that the kill feed update in particular was most likley a planned upgrade and not a response to the current Valorant hypetrain.

The icons include the following:

Kill through smoke
No-scope kills (only for the G3SG1, SCAR-20, SSG 08 Scout, AWP)

There is also now an icon that shows the status of the shooter. This update included an icon to show if the kill occured when the shooter was blinded by a flashbang, as shown below.

Additionally, some of the icons appeared in game files with CSGO’s prior patch. This could mean that CSGO’s art team is ahead of those responsible for implementing any changes to the game’s code. While that doesn’t mean much on its own, it could also mean that CSGO might see a large and feature-rich update sometime in the near future.

Over the past several patched dating back to January, Valve has added updated versions of the kill feed icons to CSGO but hasn’t implemented them until now. The headshot, revenge, suicide, and smoke grenade impact kill icons have been in the game for some time, while a new penetration icon was also added in this recent patch.

We can’t show the code due to Valve’s standing policy to submit Dignital Millenium Copyright Act claims against publishing Panorama’s code, but we can say that icons for Revenge, Domination, Penetration, Headshots, Flashbang impacts, and Suicides all have sections in the UI’s code.

All new icons are in a .svg format, making them easier to resize. This could mean CSGO is coming to televisions, either through another console release or through Steam’s upcoming Steam Global release. All new icons include a line in thieir code to stretch themselves but preseverve their aspect ratio. The other icons only have the “stretch” attribute.

CSGO items in the Steam Store?

As WIN.gg reported several months ago, Valve has started to accelerate its plans to sell Counter-Strike items through both the CSGO main menu and the Steam Store itself. The ability to purchase all “coupon items” from the Steam Store was added today. Make no mistake, just because Valve has named them “coupon items” doesn’t mean that this isn’t a store or these items are discounted. Virtual items cost nothing to make besides the initial art or recording costs, so any money given to Valve here makes an impact on their future plans and the CSGO economy as a whole.

Any items bought through the Steam Store encourages Valve to offer skins and other items directly to the customer, bypassing the Steam Market place where Steam gets a smaller cut and devaluing items users have already listed. Instead of getting a 15% cut of the sale price from the sale of the Stat Track Masterminds Music Kit Box, for example, Steam receives the entire sale price.

What’s more, there’s no actual store page or listing for the hundreds of items currrently available from CSGO’s main menu. This means that the update lays the groundwork for users to be able to browse a Steam-run store for skins, music kits, and display items just like Riot’s League of Legends client and many other free-to-play games currently on the market. Despite what some may believe, this is a big change and highlights several reports showcasing Valve’s slow, steady crawl towards monetizing its massive player base.

For more information on CS:GO, the Steam Store, and Valve’s measured steps to increase revenue, check out these articles:

1v1 warmup modes added to CSGO’s Inferno, spawn protection removed

Valve has added it’s one versus one warmup mode to Inferno Wingman, making it the fifth map to feature the new warmup settings alongside Train, Overpass, Nuke, and Vertigo. Additionally, developers have completely removed sapwn protection in these arenas, and bullet holes and blood splatter will be automatically removed at the start of each encounter. Devs also removed spawn protection from the warmup showdowns, something that had hindered the flow of the gamemode.

At the same time, Valve has changed the way that terrorists hold any stolen AUGs that they may have in the buy menu as well when viewed by other players. These are surprising changes, especially considering the weapon’s limited popularity and the fact that Ts cannot purchase the weapon.

That said, Valve’s attention to detail here is a sign that CSGO’s rennisance hasn’t gone unnnoticed. The new pose results in a better animation for Ts that pick up the AUG.

Chlorine seens major changes, could indicate esports debut

One of CSGO’s newest maps, Chlorine, saw a massive list of changes in Counter-Strike’s recent patch. While the majority of the changes cleaned up the map by removing boosts and spots where the bomb could become stuck, its size, as well as the addition of several actual changes to the map for balancing may hint at its future in competitive Counter-Strike. Mirage is oddly available in both the unranked Scrimmage and Competitive play game modes, signaling that it could be the next map on its way out for an update. Mirage has had the longest run in competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, going back to its original update in November 2013.

Chlorine now has many more bamboo fences across its playspace. These fences do little to affect how the map plays, but many make it so that certain custom models stand out much more. Valve has been quiet about the visual issues the models, introduced with Operation Shattered Web, have caused. Updates to CSGO’s maps, however, aren’t small changes. Tweaking Chlorine so that these models stand out easily is a sign that the map might have a future is CSGO’s esports scene. These fixes were accompanied by changed to the actual layout of the map, something that these one off maps don’t usually see.

Chlorine Map Changes

– Made bombsite A plant zone bigger
– Fixed wooden door on B being bangable
– Added cover for T’s on middle
– Removed foliage models in some places
– Removed a head peek angle from CT mid to A bombsite
– Removed water from lazy river at CT spawn

Chlorine sightline and model contrast changes

– Removed bamboo fence near CT upper on A bombsite
– Added bamboo fence near T main on A upper, moving the gap closer to the tank
– Added bamboo fence near big rock on A upper to cut direct line of sight from CT upper to T main entrance
– Added bamboo fence on the back of CT main entrance to A bombsite for better visibility
– Added bamboo fence near tank on B bombsite
– Added bambo fences in high traffic areas for better player model contrast

Devs tweak Chlorine lighting, hinting at larger role

Finally, changes were made accross the board to Chlorine’s lighting, a surefire sign that the map will be with CSGO players when the game mirgrates at least some of its systems to Source 2. The majority of Source 2 leaks, mainly through Dota 2’s frequent updates to games’ shared files, revolve around lighting and shadows in Valve’s competitive FPS.

Any lighting changes are very important, especially in the context of these leaks as shown underneath Chlorine’s lighting changes.

– Tweaked ambient color light to make it bluer
– Tweaked textures in lazy river tunnel and connector to make them more vibrant
– Tweaked lazy river texture to make it brighter
– Tweaked sky box to be less purple
– Added light source on lazy river tunnel near CT spawn
– Added light source on B upper
– Made main lights on B bombsite brighter

CSGO devs fix crosshair and internal bugs in latest patch

There were several other smaller fixes included in the patch, most of them involving behind the scenes coding fixes for crosshairs, including showing borrowed crosshairs in the menu, coding bugs when copying crosshairs, and missing code when players attempted to copy certain crosshairs.

Patch might nerf Panorama custom backgrounds

This next change might mean that custom Panorama UI’s are gone for good

CSGO’s Panorama UI accidently allowed players to change the background of the main menu, and many have taken advantaage. The Steam Workshop is full of guides on how to do this, but Valve may have axed the customization options in this latest update.

On sv_pure servers, meaning all matchmaking and some third-party servers, users who have loaded “asset files” into their computer memory will be automatically be kicked from the server.

It’s unclear what assests the developers are referring to, and it doesn’t look like players will be banned for whatever these assets are, at least not now. But Valve’s focus on this aspect might be a sign that harsher penalties are in store for those messing around inside CSGO’s code.

M Alzamora

About M Alzamora

There are few things that writer M Alzamora loves more in life than Pokemon. And there are even fewer things that she loves more than her favorite Pokemon, Eevee. But M’s appreciation for gaming isn’t just limited to Nintendo’s famous pocket monsters. She’s interested in every type of game across every genre of gaming, and she has the credentials to prove it. M’s work has also been seen on Working Classicists and gaming sites.

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