Powerlord

TF2 just got what appears to be a client-only update. From the looks of it, the Crusader's Crossbow model got updated, some bot AI files got updated, some translation files got updated, and there is likely a new Mann Co. Store bundle for all the non-set weapons from the Australian Christmas update (Fists of Steel, Back Scratcher, Candy Cane, Boston Basher, Claidheamh Môr)

Starting on Friday, cp_steel was crashing the server whenever the server switched to it.

OH HEY, I have some cool news. After not getting a normal hat drop since April 20, 2010 (the day the new drop system went into effect; I got a Gentlemen's Gatsby that evening), I finally got a random drop hat. It was one of Pyro's new hats, the Madame Dixie. OH, OH, but it gets better! A few hours later, I got a SECOND random hat drop. This time, I got a Towering. Pillar. Of Hats. I can only assume the second hat was either Valve fixing a bug in the hat drop rate (seriously, 8 months and 2 days is a frickin' long time) or an effect of the Double Drop Rate week. P.S. If someone needs a Fists of Steel or Jag, I have extras that I got from crates. I'll take a look at it sometime today. Edit: cp_steel appears to be working again.

If you want Machinarium, consider getting the Humble Indie Bundle #2... which now includes everything from the first Humble Indie Bundle if your donation is greater than the current average price (currently $7.58).

Double Drop Rate week starts tomorrow! Also, expect a "stocking stuffer" from Miss Pauling: A Stocking Stuffer Key that will open Festive or normal crates. Also, servers will be restarted shortly, as soon as the last part of the server update is completed. Edit: BLU and RED are back up.

Team Fortress 2 - The Blighted Beak is now a misc slot item. - The Buffalo Steak Sandvich's speed boost no longer stacks with other speed boosts. - The Rocket Jumper and Sticky Jumper now have no max health penalty, and have damage vulnerabilities instead. - Duel fixes: ---- Duels can no longer be initiated when the round is not fully running. ---- If you challenge someone that has already challenged you, the duel is automatically accepted. ---- Fixed an issue where a dueling mini-game item was marked in-use even though the duel was rejected. ---- Duels are now refunded if a server plugin forces a participant to switch teams. - Loading screen: ---- Only shows the duel leaderboard if you've been dueling, or if your friends have been dueling. ---- Shows your personal stats whenever it's not showing the duel leaderboard. - Custom hitsounds: ---- Must now be specified by replacing the 'tf/sound/ui/hitsound.wav' file. ---- Can now be used under sv_pure 1/2. - Improved performance on Degroot Keep. - The "Fabricate Class Headgear" recipe no longer has a chance of creating all-class hats. - Fixed spectator mode sometimes ending up in a state where you were half-embedded in your spectator target. - Fixed a bug in the Kritzkrieg's animations. - Fixed round restarts not cleaning up weapons correctly for a frame (fixes a variety of weapon attribute issues, such as players having less health or less ammo than they should) - Fixed painting issues in several of the Australian Christmas hats. - The Sniper scope is now visible when viewing First Person Spectator mode on a zoomed Sniper. - Medieval Mode's auto-roleplay now ignores text beginning with '!' or '/' (so SourceMod commands aren't modified) NOTE: Valve hasn't pushed this quite yet. We will be updating RED and BLU when it is.

A new required TF2 update is expected to be pushed "soon" according to the Half-Life Dedicated Server mailing list. I'll post the patch notes when it's out.

Before I forget, here are the new crafting recipes: Buffalo Steak Sandvich = Sandvich + Crit-a-Cola Boston Basher = Tribalman's Shiv + Sandman Claidheamh Mòr = Chargin' Targe + Homewrecker Candy Cane = Kritzkrieg + Pain Train Back Scratcher = Axtinguisher + Scotman's Skullcutter Jag = Scrap Metal + Scrap Metal + Southern Hospitality Fists of Steel = Scrap Metal + Scrap Metal + Gloves of Running Urgently I have an extra Skullcutter, Crit-a-Cola, or Chargin' Targe if someone needs any of them for crafting.

Valve updated TF2 earlier today and kind of FORGOT to mention it on the server mailing list. Anyway, here are the notes: Updates to Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include: Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM) - Fixed an engine crash caused by too many precached models in some community maps. Day of Defeat: Source - Fixed an exploit where clients could prevent weapons from recoiling properly. Team Fortress 2 - Added several crafting recipes for new weapons. - Added a ton of items to the store. - Added a ton of items to the random drop list. - The following hats are now paintable or have had their paintability improved: Pyromancer's Mask, Detective Noir, Madame Dixie, Buckaroos Hat, German Gonzila, Flipped Trilby, Coupe D'isaster - Fixed a spelling error on the "Pyromancer's Mask". Corrected the name of the "Claidheamh Mòr" to the joy of our Celtic players. - Made "Le Party Phantom" a misc slot item. - Fixed a client crash caused by custom stats panels. - Fixed a bug where some new items weren't being dropped correctly. - Removed displaying the top 10 players in the leaderboard if you have never won a duel. - Updated the localization files. - Fixed a regression in Tournament Mode item whitelists. ----- Also added "mp_tournament_whitelist", a convar that allows servers to specify a whitelist file to use. So... hopefully the first thing mentioned fixes cp_steel. This also means we have crafting recipes for most (all?) of the new weapons.

For whatever reason, KF servers will appear on both the Steam Server Browser's Friends tab and Internet tab, but not on the Favorites tab.

Just to let people know, I just updated the melee only plugin. It should be working again. This update also got rid of the Melee Only Sudden Death mode.

Based on previous experience, the packs rarely go on sale. TellTale Everything Pack is the only one I can think of that has.

Yes. Daily deals end at 11am PST and are replaced with new ones. There's also a single daily indie deal on the second packs page that will change daily. The packs all remain on sale the entire two weeks.

I'll warn you right now, watch the items, particularly the packs. It's not immediately obvious unless you take a closer look at it, but the TellTale Holiday Pack for $30 is only the Sam and Max and Poker Night At the Inventory games. As opposed to the Telltale Everything from the summer sale, which had all 3 Sam and Max seasons, plus Wallace & Gromit, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, TellTale Texas Hold 'Em, and Tales of Monkey Island for $50 (just $20 more) and it dropped to $25 during a daily sale... Edit: I forgot to mention, the Valve Complete Pack is likely cheaper this year because Valve's only 2010 release was free. Also, the Valve Complete pack does not contain Portal 2, as it hasn't been released yet.

One of the best deals this week is the Valve Complete pack for $49.99. Ignoring the lies on its pricing page, it normally sells for $99.99, and is usually $74.99 on the Holiday sale. If that's too much for you, The Orange Box is $14.99. Come on, get it so you can play Team Fortress 2 on OCR's servers!

As a reminder: LOG IN TO STEAM. TODAY. Otherwise, you forfeit your chance to win the grand prize.

We tried the mirror maps tonight. In my opinion, they suck. Badly. Just stick with the stock versions. cp_temple wasn't that popular either. cp_biodome might show some promise, though... I don't think we played the last one.

Not that I'm aware of. The hlds_linux mailing list implied that it happens on stock servers, so even without SourceMod, etc... installed, it was still happening: "Since this update, it seems the modelprecache table is now full on certain official maps. Just try and load cp_steel and you'll see your server crash due to a full table."

I only checked to see if they'd download correctly and show up in the nomination list... from the quick look I took, they do mess with your head a bit.

To get the ball rolling on custom maps, I've added the current features maps from both TF2Stats (Hi FireSlash!) and TF2Maps to the server's nominate list. Those maps are: CP Temple Version: final File: cp_temple A 4cp attack/defend map using the textures from cp_egypt. It is similar to Gravelpit, except it has one point BLU must capture at the beginning. Once point A is captured, points B and C can be taken. CP Biodome Version: Beta 1 File: cp_biodome_b1 A 5cp symmetric map. It is a mix of indoor and outdoor areas, split into roughly 5 buildings inside a biodome. Still a work in progress, though... the author details things he's fixed that will be in the next version, due out after the holidays. Mirrored Maps - Series 1 Version: final Files: cp_lwobtsud cp_tiplevarg pl_retawdab Mirrored versions of Dustbowl, Gravelpit, and Badwater. CP Axle Version: Beta 3b File: cp_axle_b3b A 5cp symmetric map. New version expected soon. Note: On the nominate lists, the mirrored maps are not in alphabetical order. They are instead placed directly after the maps they mirror. Edit: While I was at it, I made a few fixes here and there. They are: Updated TF2 Logger. Updated SDKHooks gamedata files. Apparently, while it still appeared to be working, any plugins that depend on it could crash said plugin when they tried to use it. This includes the stat logging plugin. Updated Mapchooser Extended to consider cp_degrootkeep a non-custom map.

TF Wiki says it does 35 average damage, but the first time you hit someone with it, it does an extra 150ish damage. Anyway, on a different subject... Right now, cp_degrootkeep runs for the normal 30 minutes. Given how short its rounds are, I was wondering if we should shorten that to 20 minutes or maybe even 15 minutes? Also, people mentioned adding customs, but I don't recall anyone actually giving any suggestions... so... give us suggestions!

I've removed it from both the normally chosen maps and nominate lists, but that doesn't stop an admin from forcing the server to change to it.

Do not, I mean DO NOT, switch the server's map to cp_steel for any reason. It crashes the server.

According to tf2b, there is an item in the game now named "Box of Fancy hats." Presumably, this contains all the non-set hats and is only sold through the store... but it is not yet listed in said store.

If you're a Spy, it will one-hit kill you... it does considerably more damage.