Valve kills alias fixes in CS2, community responds

William Davis Published 19/10/2023

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.

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.

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.

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