Valve kills alias fixes in CS2, community responds

CS2 players were outsmarting Valve by using special alias commands to get around subtick inconsistencies, but now the developer is cracking down even harder.

Subtick servers were one of the most exciting features announced with the reveal of CS2, but now that everyone has a chance to play on them, the reception is very mixed. Pros began developing their own techniques to get around subtick inconsistencies, but Valve has decided to remove such fixes for unknown reasons.

Esports players are angry and tournament organizers have taken it upon themselves to fix the problem.

The specific problem was related to jump heights. Depending on server response times, players could jump throw grenades on different ticks, resulting in different grenade landing spots. After noticing that server response times could affect grenades, pros began using special alias configs in their autoexec files to circumvent it.

they removed alias's ability to remove subtick without actually fixing the default jump key

everytime you jump it's a different height

and now theres no fix👍🏾 https://t.co/qZyvTvUCon pic.twitter.com/GPeibn1pbD

— launders (@launders) October 17, 2023

However, in a patch on October 17, 2023, Valve effectively removed these binds. The patch appears to have been intended to help keep jumpthrows consistent, but problems still persist.

With the alias fixes now unusable and grenades still landing where they shouldn’t, the esports scene has taken it upon themselves to fix what Valve won’t.

Alias fixes kept for CS2 esports tournaments

While the autoexec change is annoying to many less-competitive CS2 players, the pro scene itself has taken a firm stance against Valve’s decision.

In a first for CS2, tournament organizer ESL has announced that it will continue to play out IEM Sydney on an older version of CS2 in order to maintain autoexec configs that fix jump height and other issues. The decision was publicized by head referee Michal Slowinski through social media on October 17.

We will not be using the latest patch for today's matches at IEM Sydney; we don't want to use something untested & it also includes quite a big change with aliases that most teams are using at the event – we don't want to force teams into a change when we can avoid it.#IEM

— Michal Slowinski (@michau9_) October 18, 2023

CS2’s first LAN will play out on an older version of the game, circumventing Valve’s alias changes. This isn’t the first time a tournament has chosen to stick to an older patch, but with CS2 receiving frequent updates, it’s a clear signal to Valve that removing autoexec fixes is abhorred by the pro scene.

The developer has to respond, but expect either a fixed alias system or legal integration sometime in the following week.