CS2’s latest update allows groups of four to play Premier mode

The two biggest parts of today’s Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) update are the ability to join matchmaking for Premier mode with a party of four and jump-throw binds.

Right in the middle of the CS Asia Championships 2023, Valve dropped a new update to CS2. Previously, players faced frustration due to a bug causing inconsistent jump heights after pressing movement keys post-jump. This issue has now been resolved.

Also added in this patch is the ability to queue with only four party members for Premier mode. Before the patch you required either a full team of five or less than three. Now, the developers have found a way to make four-person parties fair. The solo player will receive vote-kick immunity, hopefully lowering the amount of needless kicking.

CS2 Pro Reactions

As you’d expect with a patch like this, the CS2 pros are already starting to weigh in.

“Really nice fix to this bug. If you noticed before, if you fell anywhere then the ENTIRE map would hear it so you had to be extra careful. No more though! 🙏”
– EliGE (Complexity)

“Can’t wait to solo Q again and not get vote kicked thank you ❤️ good update”
– karrigan (FaZe Clan)

“Might be the best update @CounterStrike have done so far”
– olofmeister (FaZe Clan, Inactive)

“Changed jump land sounds to have the same maximum audible distance as footstep sounds […] These are also huge”
– SPUNJ (Caster & Analyst)

“Good changes but give us bob”
– fl0m (Mythic)

Screenshot of Counter-Strike 2, a player with an M4A1-S playing on Anubis

Full Patch Notes for 2023-11-08

You can also read the patch notes on Steam.

Maps

Mirage

Fixed clipping on bench in palace
Lowered the height of box on A site to match CS:GO

Gameplay

The visual and audio feedback from sub-tick input—such as movement acceleration and muzzle flashes—will now always render on the next frame
Random numbers used for shooting spread are now synchronized between clients and servers by default. This makes tracers and decals match their server-authoritative trajectories more closely. Note: Spread has been synchronized on Valve official servers since 10/14
Fixed a bug where pressing a movement key immediately after jumping resulted in an inconsistent jump height

Matchmatching

Parties of four are now able to queue for Premier mode
Added vote-kick immunity for solo players who get matched on the same team with a party of four players
Adjusted the algorithm for re-establishing CS Rating after a period of inactivity in Premier mode

Audio

Reduced the maximum audible distance of grenade bounce sounds
Improved occlusion filter quality
Addressed issue where sometimes headshot dink sounds playing as feedback for the attacker could be mistaken for incoming damage
Lowered volume of sound for headshot damage with no armor from a victims perspective to bring it inline with volume of other headshot sounds
Changed jump land sounds to have the same maximum audible distance as footstep sounds
Changed volume falloff curve of jump landing sounds to better convey distance
Improved molotov extinguish effects to sound better when multiple are playing at once
Brought back spark sound feedback when bomb defuse is cut short due to player spinning
Fixed issue where at very close proximity, a victims death groan could be mistaken as coming from the attacker
Fixed a case where unsilenced m4a1-s did not have any distant gunfire sounds

Effects

Improved performance of blood effects at close range
Improved bomb light visibility from back of bomb
Reduced muzzle flash during quickswitch from scoped rifles
Reduced the strength of the kill streak HUD effect after five kills

CSTV

Added setting “tv_record_immediate” to control when CSTV demo file will start recording content. If the setting is enabled then content will start at the moment when tv_record is executed on the server. If the setting is disabled then content will start recording from tv_delay earlier
CSTV demos can now be recorded without delayed CSTV spectating enabled. Requires setting “tv_record_immediate 1” and executing “tv_record” at the moment when recording should start

Misc

Adjusted wear values of some stickers to better match CS:GO
Fixed a bug with workshop tools that would prevent light_environment from baking static shadows in some circumstances
Improved quality of ‘Performance’ HDR rendering mode
Enabling the upload of workshop maps for Wingman mode