The Team Fortress 2 summer update that Valve promised back in February has arrived, and as promised, it's a big one, with all new maps, cosmetics, taunts, and unusual effects. But don't thank Valve for it—thank the TF2 community members who actually made all this stuff.
The whole thing was a brilliant move by Valve: It gets all of the plaudits for yet another beefy update to a 16-year-old game, yet had to do none of the work to make it happen. Which is a bit of an exaggeration, I'm sure someone at Valve had to collate this stuff and make sure it didn't violate any policies or copyright laws, and there were probably some buttons to push and stuff to click on and all that. But the actual work of making it? Hey, that's somebody else's problem. It feels like something you'd read in a Mann Co. Catalog.
Anyway, regardless of where it all came from, the update is here, and it's a big one. It's got 14 new community-made maps—Sharkbay, Rotunda, Phoenix, Cashworks, Venice, Reckoner, Sulfur, Hardwood, Pelican Peak, Selbyen, VSH Tiny Rock, VSH Distillery, VSH Skirmish, and VSH Nucleus—along with 25 new community-made cosmetic items available in the Summer 2023 Cosmetic Case.
There's also a half-dozen new taunts available in the Mann Co. Store, and 20 new Unusual effects, eight for taunts and 12 for hats. Summer 2020 Unusual effects, rather than the Normal unusual effects (which is kind of an oxymoron, right?) will be granted on all cosmetic and taunt cases for the duration of the summer event.
Somehow, Valve has also found a number of other things to fix and improve in Team Fortress 2, and all credit where it's due, that's Valve's doing, not the community's. I guess this really is a group effort.
The Team Fortress 2 Summer 2023 update is live now—the summer event runs until September 15. The full patch notes are below.
- Security and stability improvements
- Fixed the Mann vs. Machine upgrade panel closing after receiving a matchmaking party invite
- Fixed an exploit related to the ConTracker and being able to move/shoot while it's deployed
- Fixed the Strange Count Transfer Tool not being able to transfer stats for Sandvich items
- Fixed the Engineer not being able to move for a short period of time after doing The High Five taunt
- Fixed missing No Headphones style for the Universal Translator
- Fixed Engineer teleporter audio that was referencing the dispenser by mistake in Spanish
- Fixed incorrect alpha channels for the Smissmas 2021/2022 Cosmetic Case models
- Fixed the Winter 2019 War Paint Case not being shown in the Mann Co. Store
- Updated/Added some tournament medals
- Updated pl_enclosure_final to fix localization issues
- Updated cp_gravelpit_snowy
- - Boosted volume of snowman explosions
- - Added occluders to C to improve performance
- - Improved clipping
- Updated cp_steel
- - Prop collision cleanup and improved player clipping
- - Explosive splash bug collisions on stairs, props, etc., around the map
- - Spawn point issues (collision, prop blocking, clipping, etc.)
- - Fix Pyro door exploit on A
- - Fix choke and spam issues into Blu & Red spawns
- - Fix Pixel walk collision issues
- - Fixing ceiling clipping and stuck spots including exploits
- - Clean up geometry in spawns, the spawn locations and their exits
- - Fix roof readability issues, with sticky and rocket jumping
- - Fix rare double death bug when falling into pit
- - Fix Cliff stuck spots and ledges in E pit
- - Removed head glitch tele spawn on A-B connector
- - Fix rare overtime cap bug
- - Fix Red team getting stuck in spawn door to A
- Updated cp_mossrock
- - Fixed numerous perch points
- - Fixed players being able to get under Blu spawn
- - Fixed a location where a teleporter could be build out of the map
- - Fixed collision on rock near final point so it is more accurate to the visuals
- - Fixed lots of small visual bugs
- - Fixed some small exploits
- - Improved optimisation
