All for Dust

A new music kit featuring Amon Tobin, “All for Dust,” is now available! From the producer who brought you the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory OST, Amon Tobin lends his unique aesthetic to CS:GO… this time through tube amplifiers. Dust off this new kit, good luck and have fun!

Enemy Spotted Since CS:GO’s release in 2012, some of the most common feedback we’ve received has been about the challenge of spotting characters in the world. Because every map in the game features significant variety of lighting and detail, even characters designed to read well in a map might get lost when viewed from a particular angle in a particular location. We’ll continue to address feedback about specific problem spots by making adjustments to maps, but today we’re also shipping several new improvements to the way characters are rendered. Boosting Player Contrast To improve character read across all maps and locations, we’ve added a new graphics setting called ‘Boost Player Contrast’ which is enabled by default. It’s a special post process filter that applies to stationary characters, creating local contrast so that characters stand out from the background. This is now enabled by default and you can find the new setting in Video->Advanced Video->‘Boost Player Contrast’. Here’s what it does:

— Increases the character’s contrast against the background at far distances.

— Strengthens edge pixels for characters at far distances.

— Creates a small blur around a character to reduce background noise.

— Creates a small contrasting halo around a character when there is no color difference between the character and the environment. In addition to the changes above, we modified the textures of some character models (and custom-authored the coarse mipmap levels in some cases), and adjusted fog. In CS:GO, fog is applied separately to characters and the rest of the world. To help characters stand out from the background at longer distances, we’ve decreased the fogging on characters across all maps (and slightly increased the world fog in Dust 2). Map changes In addition to the ‘Boost Player Contrast’ setting, we’re continuing to improve visibility by changing specific areas of maps.

A Closer Read Jump into a server and see how the characters look! Today’s update should improve character read in most cases, but we know that there’s more to be done. If you identify specific situations where you think the new tools aren’t helping you, please contact us at CSGOTeamFeedback@valvesoftware.com using the subject line “Agent Read”. Include an explanation of what happened and a link to a screenshot.

Hammer Time

Today we’re releasing the Warhammer 40,000 Sticker Capsule, featuring 17 unique stickers from the 40K universe. From the paper Full Buy sticker to the foil Chaos Marine, collect and apply them to your weapons today; the Capsule is now available in-game! A Change of Scenery

The next time you launch CS:GO you’ll find a new Video Setting which allows you to change your main menu background. Whether you prefer a light or dark feel, Anubis or Phoenix Facility, there’s something for everyone. Small Details

Lastly, we’ve recently added kill feed icons for blind kills, kills through smoke, and no scope sniper kills. Today we’re adding a new kill feed icon when players die from C4 explosions. Look for these the next time a CT forgets their Defuse Kit!

Change Your Tune Today’s update includes an experimental warmup mode, a way to view (and copy) players’ crosshairs while spectating, a new set of Music Kits, and more! The Masterminds Music Kits Introducing the The Masterminds Music Kit Box, featuring music kits from seven composers. Standard and StatTrak music kit boxes are now available for purchase. Warming Up

Get a few reps in before the match begins with an experimental 1v1 warmup mode! The experimental warmup is currently limited to Wingman matches on Train and Vertigo, and may be added to other maps and Competitive Matchmaking in the future. Share Your View Wondering how your teammates see the world? As a spectator you can now view other players’ crosshairs. By default you will see crosshairs of your friends and party members, but you can change your settings to view everyone (or just your own). See one you like? Click a player on the scoreboard to copy their crosshair. There’s more in today’s update, view the release notes for details!