CS:GO Beta Updated With cs_italy, New Guns, More Invites

[Ennui]

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta received its usual Friday update this evening, featuring the classic hostage rescue map cs_italy added to quickmatch. Additionally, four new guns (the FAMAS, Galil, P250 and infamous Dual Berettas) were added along with a host of gameplay tweaks and bugfixes and the Arsenal: Demolition map St. Marc.

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The official Counter-Strike blog was also updated with a post concerning the status of the beta, and you can check out the full beta update changelog on Steam. On top of all that, a fresh wave of beta key invites has been sent out to users who filled out the CS:GO beta survey, so restart your Steam client to see if you got lucky!​

 

[Vegeta897]

How many people took the survey anyway? I'm wondering what percentage of that they're knocking out each time they release a new wave.

 

[Ennui]

Probably a small amount. I'd guess the number of people who signed up via the survey is in six digits at least, and the beta is currently >50k. CS is the most successful multiplayer PC shooter of all time so demand is high!

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

I read somewhere on SPUF that Valve overhauled the shadowing engine, although it appears to be precalculated still. Source looks good.

 

[Ennui]

I read somewhere on SPUF that Valve overhauled the shadowing engine, although it appears to be precalculated still. Source looks good.

Yes. It wasn't just an overhaul - they replaced the shadow engine completely in the update from the week before this one (the one introducing de_lake and Arsenal: Demolition mode). And it is in fact a global dynamic shadows system (as you can see from the greatly improved dynamic lighting on weapon viewmodels). I am not sure if any shadows are still prebaked or not but my impression is that even the level lighting is totally dynamic.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

Yes. It wasn't just an overhaul - they replaced the shadow engine completely in the update from the week before this one (the one introducing de_lake and Arsenal: Demolition mode). And it is in fact a global dynamic shadows system (as you can see from the greatly improved dynamic lighting on weapon viewmodels). I am not sure if any shadows are still prebaked or not but my impression is that even the level lighting is totally dynamic.

Hm, I wonder if this is the lighting (real time radiosity) Valve stated they had working back in 2004-2005, but cut it from the engine do to hardware constraints. Now, with the majority of steam users having DX10/11 systems, Valve can turn implement them to Source. Alot of PC games have it, and it looks good in source.

 

[Schru]

It's just dynamic shadows. Not to say I'm not pleased with the way it's looking.