{ Counter-Strike is Dead } -- |.Friday, January 14, 2000 .| I regret to inform everyone but Counter-Strike............*sob*.......Counter-Strike is over. Due to a negative mood of the cs fans we have decided you guys don't diserve CS and we are giving up. I'm very soorry it came to this. The forums will be opened. We won't close them but this site will be closed in a few weeks. So go to the fourms and flame all you want. All the rules are lifted etc. Again Counter-Strike is being shut down. I'm sorry. |.cliffe.|

{ Site update } -- |.Thursday, January 13, 2000 .| The 5.2 release (client and server) will take place sometime soon. Gooseman is working out a few snags. It won't be a very big download, so don't fear. Also, just a bit of site news. As you may have noticed, all pages are upated with the new design. The info page has the cs manual, the readme, and a new .fgd help file for mappers. The help file was written by Chris Mair of Barking Dog. The newest mapping fgd itself is also up. The CS FAQ has also been updated and revamped. There you can get the scoop on MTG, John Jensen, rze, and other such bosh. A lot of people have e-mailed me about the font I used in the main graphic (the "cs font"). So I've uploaded it to the site if you want to download and use it. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for it. In moderator related news, Articcom's fro was involved in a near fatal accident yesterday after a haircut. His fro is resting at home today with family and friends. |.cliffe.|

{ 5.1c testing, etc } -- |.Saturday, January 8, 2000 .| Server admins, if you are having any type of trouble with lag or crashing, I urge you to upgrade to the latest 5.1c build that we are testing. Our admins have reported greatly reduced crashing and lag. You can grab the windows 5.1c .dll here and the linux .so 5.1c here. And once you've installed this new build, please head to this thread on the admin forum and post feedback. Your help is very much appreciated. Remember Leon's 747 map that you've all e-mailed us 1000 times about? Well, you thought it was dead.. and so did we. However, Markus (maker of cs_station) is taking up the cause and is working on the map once again. Lestat, everyone's favorite ass face, has posted pictures of it in this thread. Looking nice, go comment on it and join in the flame wars. David from the kick arse music group Seventh sends word that they moved their site to here and promises a new CS influenced cut very soon. |.cliffe.|

{ New design and test server } -- |.Friday, January 7, 2000 .| As you can see I've redesigned the web site. It's in an effort to streamline the looks of cs.net sits. Hopefully soon CSN and Clanworld will follow. If you have any comments or problems with the new design, please e-mail me. Pages will be converted in the coming days. Also, please connect to the servers 63.75.210.45 or 63.75.210.28 , these are Valve's 5.1c debug servers. Please connect, you'll be able to play with more stars like Gooseman, rze, lestat, anarchy, etc. lol. Then please email me with feedback. Mainly, how was the lag? Thanks. |.cliffe.|

{ "rocka-my soul in the bosom of Abraham..." } -- |.Thursday, January 6, 2000 .| 5.1 is still being worked on. As we speak, code is being hacked and written by Goose and Barking Dog. However, admins, if you are having crashes I urge you to update to the 5.1b test builds. Most admins who have tested them have reported a drastic reduction in crashes. They still aren't perfect (that's why they are test builds) but should help stability. Grab the windows version here and the linux over here. Mail me with feedback on it. Again, this is just for stability. Lag issues are currently being worked on. I posted about serverdoc for windows yesterday. Not to leave you linux zealots out, here's a linux server restarter. And now.. a note from BizzyBlaster: As a server, if your outgoing bandwidth use is too large, turn off ghost transmission by specifying "mp_ghostfrequency 0". As a client, if your incoming bandwidth use is too large, turn off ghost reception by specifying "setinfo ghosts 0". I should say more, but I can't think of anything about that. And please stop e-mailing us about the Peter North player model for beta6. That's just too many blasted polygons! The "weenie-whip" has been confirmed -- isn't that enough?? EVERYBODYY... YEAAHH!!! ROCK YERR BOOODDDYYYYY!! YEAAHHHH! CSclanworld is auctioning off a bit of Arcticom's fro, that's about the extent of their news and total output. Ah well. And coming up: an interview with RzE, maybe even as l33t as mine. |.cliffe.|

{ * /me slaps arctic's fro around a bit with a large trout } -- |.Wednesday, January 5, 2000 .| Just an update about what's going on with the patch. 5.1 is currently being tested and it's going pretty well. If you are an admin and want to take part in the experimental pre-release testing, stop by the admin forum. The current plan is to release 5.1 as a server side only patch as soon as we get it totally stable. Then 5.2 (which may be a client patch too) will fix the lag problems further and other outstanding bugs that need fixing. And speaking of the lag problems, Gooseman posted to the forum a bit of information. I'll quote it: I'm working on re-coding the chasecam modes. It won't be as powerful as the current ones but the current ones are the major source of lag (this is apparent when you start killing 4 or 5 players). The lag becomes unbearable in heavy firefights (excessive packet loss for my cable modem! I even got flooded out of 3 servers last weekend). So I had to totally re-code the chasecam mode. It might not be ready for BETA 5.1 but let's keep our fingers crossed. If I can fix up the chasecam mode, I think I'll have solved the lag concerns.. So as you can see, the CS team, Valve, and Barking Dog will not rest until 5.x is crash and lag free. In the meantime, admins, if you are still having frequent crashes, I recommend using serverdoc to restart crashed servers. It will be useful until 5.1 has been released. Yes, the college I attend, Virginia Tech, lost the Sugar Bowl (National Championship) tonight to Florida State. This is quite sad since I would have liked to put it in the faces of rze and scud. Oh well. And speaking of rze, don't forget to visit the rze shrine, a splendid place indeed. Who knew that rze was such a star and stud? Also, rze and scud are keeping CSnation afloat with up to the minute CS news. Seriously, these guys don't sleep and they get the scoops fast. Bookmark them for rze's sake. |.cliffe.|

{ * /me slaps jizzpack around a bit with a large trout } -- |.Monday, January 3, 2000 .| As Gooseman stated, we're working closely with Valve and Barking Dog to track down the crashing bug[s] in beta5. And we'll be working with the server admins to help test out newer, stabler builds. We apologize that beta5 is rather crash prone and we're working furiously to get it stable. Stay tuned here for news this week on 5.1 developments. It may turn out to be a client patch as well to fix other bugs... Now onto a couple issues people are having and some tidbits that I think may be helpful. If you are having problems with frequent crashes, Lestat says that the variables mp_limitteams 1 mp_chasecam 0 and mp_ghostfrequency 0.5 have worked for him to reduce crashes greatly. Give that a try. Also, read Gooseman's update below about pushlatency and rate settings. It's *very* important if you are getting a lot of packet loss. This from the forums: you may have noticed that it is lagging a lot of people. I thought it was the new beta but then i realized that my Rate and my pushlatency values have got deletet with the new beta 5 installation. Then i resetup my rate and my pushlatency and now it is not laggin anymore. OK people just go and check your rate and pushlatency values!!!! the command for the Rate is rate the command for pushlatency ist pushlatency ISDN users should set up the rate from 4000 till 6000 Modem users (56K) should set it to 3000 till 4500 Pushlatency should be set up - half your ping . if your ping is 200 set your pushlantency to -100 or something near that. the default rate is 2500 and this is the reason for the lag everyone is talking about Again, the 5.1 patch is being worked on. We're trying to stabalize the servers and get it out asap. Again, we're sorry about this mess. Stick in there... In hosted site news, the resplendent rze has taken over full time as chief of staff over at CSnation, the CS news source... that features scud and rze, a tight combination. Also, CSskins is open for business once again. Matt has you covered, literally. And Anarchy Design is back and better, with all sorts of stuff. Ok, that's all. Also, the guys from Seventh are making some really nice CS music. Their website is here. Give David and co. a visit. |.cliffe.|

{ } -- |.Saturday, January 1, 2000 .| Ok, there have been reports of increased lag. Part of this is due to the fact that the config.cfg has default settings for 'pushlatency' and 'rate'. It'll help your lag if you do the following. For regular modem users (HPBs) set your 'rate' to 3500. For cable modem users you should set your rate to a higher number (e.g. 8000). As for pushlatency, you should set it to -half of your ping (e.g. if your ping is 200, set 'pushlatency' to -100). That should help the lag a bit. As for the crashing bugs, we're working on squashing those right now. Just hang tight and we'll have a server side patch available soon. |.gooseman.|

{ /me runs } -- |.Thursday, December 30, 1999 .| The time has come. The CS Team, Barking Dog Studios and Valve Software are proud to present Counter-Strike Beta 5.0!! Head over to the downloads page to start downloading. There are 2 files for windows users, a beta4 to beta5 upgrade (12 megs) and a full beta5 installation (31 megs). The linux port is also available for linux server admins. Beta5.0 features: New Content: - Added Benelli XM 1014 fully automatic shotgun - New Hostage model and two new skins. - SAS model added as a selectable CT - Added maps cs_backalley and de_train - Updated maps cs_station, de_nuke, de_dust, and de_prodigy - New icons for HUD (money, weapons, armor, timer, C4, defuse Kit, scoreboard) - Added buy zones, reload zones, hostage, and bomb target zones to HUD. Gameplay Changes: - C4 is now an equipment item in slot 5 (to plant, select then hold down fire) - C4 can only be planted in bomb delivery zone - To defuse a bomb Counter Terrorists must target C4, press and hold the USE key - CTs can defuse C4 without a defuse kit in 10 seconds - CTs can defuse C4 with a defuse kit in 5 seconds - A progress meter is added showing CTs their progress defusing a bomb - A progress meter is added showing Ts their progress planting a bomb (this takes 3 seconds) - Defuse kit now an item which can be purchased - Nobody starts with a defuse kit - Defusing bomb wins round for Counter Terrorists - C4 can be dropped for other teammates - Hostages are automatically rescued at hostage rescue zones - Counter Terrorist and Terrorist teams are now labeled - Individual frags can be toggled on or off - Ghosts can be made visible to other ghosts (client defined) - Pre-Round grace timer standard setting 6 seconds (server defined) - Three observer modes: classic ghost, locked chasecam and freelook chasecam ( press jump to toggle) - Auto-find teammate in observer mode (primary fire) - New radio messages and organization of radio keys (standard, group and report messages) - Can hear other players reloading - Mission briefing added to maps (can also be invoked during round) Context Sensitive Help System: Terse Auto-help - Round start notification (i.e. hint to purchase items) - Observer mode notification Verbose Auto-help - What to do with hostages (CTs rescue, Ts protect) - What not to do with hostages (injuring/killing) - How to lead hostages - Looking at a friend for the first time - Looking at an enemy for the first time - What not to do with friends (injuring/killing) - What to do with enemies (win by killing all enemies) - Picking up C4 for the first time - Out of ammunition for the first time - In a bomb target zone for the first time - In a hostage rescue zone for the first time Auto-ID - Friend (name and health displayed) - Enemy (name displayed; health displayed only if observing) - Hostage (health displayed) For a full list of what is new in beta5 view the readme here Note to Server OPS : DO NOT RUN CS_ASSAULT. There's a bug in our code that will crash the server whenever someone blows up the satellite dish. Don't forget to visit the newly opened CS Forums for some lively beta5 discussion and flame wars. Thanks to all the CS Players who made beta5 possible. Spamfest 2000 was a success. We hope you enjoy beta5 into the new year. Oh, and if you want a sneak peek at the new terrorist model and new MAC-10, check out this interview I did with the fine folks of 3d Palette |.cliffe.|