Counter-Strike 2 gets its first update for closed testers, with new loadout and buy menus

It's been almost three months since Valve officially announced its plans to release Counter-Strike 2, and also started closed testing of the upcoming sequel to its popular multiplayer shooter. This week, Valve rolled out the first update for those testers, and it has quite a few new features.

One of the changes is for the buy menu. Players of Counter-Strike: Global Operations are familiar with the wheel-like interface for its buy menu, but for Counter-Strike 2, it will switch over to a grid interface.

Valve added some more details about the game's new loadout menu and its options:

Head to the loadout to customize the weapons you take into battle! Make your choices for the T and CT sides with four pistols, five mid-range weapons (SMGs and Heavy), and five rifles (yes, you can bring both M4's). Just drag and drop to adjust your buy menu however you see fit.

Here are the full release notes, which include a mention of new Counter-Strike Workshop Tools support for mod makers, and some new features for people who want to make new maps for the game with the Hammer level editor:

[ MAPS ]

• Mirage has replaced Dust II on official Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test matchmaking servers.

[ WORKSHOP TOOLS ]

• Introducing Counter-Strike 2 Workshop Tools which can be enabled and downloaded from in-game settings menu--these tools will allow community contributors to create weapon finishes, stickers, and maps. Note: the Steam Community Workshop does not yet support uploading CS2 maps.
• The level editor (Hammer) now leverages GPU accelerated raytracing to both preview and bake lighting for CS2 maps. This significantly speeds up compile times, but as a result a GPU capable of raytracing is required for Hammer to be fully functional.
  • Hammer GPU Minimum Specs:
  • Nvidia 2060Ti 6gb (2080Ti+ recommended)
  • AMD 6600XT (6800XT+ recommended)

[ WEAPONS ]

• The player loadout has been revised:
  • Players have 1 Starting Pistol slot, 4 Pistol slots, 5 Mid-tier slots (previously "SMGs" and "Heavy"), and 5 Rifle slots, per team.
  • Assign any (side-appropriate) weapon to any slot within its category.
  • Supports drag-and-drop and has been redesigned to fit in on a single screen.
• The in-game buy menu interface has been revised:
  • The wheel has been replaced with a grid showing all purchase options at the same time.
  • Teammate purchases are displayed on the buy menu.
  • Weapon "stats" display has been replaced with simple straightforward descriptions.
  • Players can now refund any purchase that was purchased in the same round and has not been used.
• Existing CS:GO items on the Steam Community Market can be inspected in Counter-Strike 2.

[ SUB-TICK ]

• Sub-tick movement is now more precise and less "floaty" (per player-feedback).
• Releasing movement keys now correctly convey their sub-tick timing.
• The top player of a triple-stack can now shoot.
• Fine-tuned weapon aim punch recovery to be latency-independent during sub-tick recovery on the client.
• Fine-tuned view punch camera shake effect during shooting to be both latency-independent and synchronized with all other sub-tick shooting effects on the client.

[ VOLUMETRIC SMOKE ]

• Improved lighting/rendering when smoke overlaps multiple distinctly lit regions.
• HE grenade effect times on smoke has been reduced.
• Shotguns now create larger holes in smoke volumes.

[ ANIMATION ]

• Adjustments to the viewmodel 'inspect' to remove animation popping.
• Several viewmodel and blending animation fixes.
• Improved traversal animation.
• Jumping into the air and running off a ledge is now differentiated to allow for separate character motion.

[ SOUND ]

• Player's own footstep sounds are now predicted on the client for a latency-independent experience.

[ RENDERING ]

• Improved performance and responsiveness in windowed and full-screen windowed modes.
• Fixed several bugs and rendering artifacts.

[ INPUT ]

• Fixed bug that would cause input to become permanently broken when multiple commands were bound to one key. Multi-binds are back, except for jump-throw binds (which are now a skillful part of CS).
• Commands bound to mouse wheels will now be reliably executed.
• Fixed bug that would cause input to execute incorrectly after taking over a bot in practice mode.
• Inspecting weapons is now predicted on the client for a more responsive experience.

[ VAC ]

• VAC will now live ban and gracefully terminate the match at the end of the round (unless it was the last round and the cheater lost).
• The match will not affect any participants' Skill Group.
• Players that were not lobbied with the VAC-banned player will earn XP for match.

Valve still plans to launch a public beta test of Counter-Strike 2 sometime later this summer.