CS2 patch notes for Dec. 18: Shanghai Major Champions Capsule, weapon animations, Train changes, and more

As a dedicated Counter-Strike 2 player with over a decade of gaming experience under my belt, I can confidently say that this latest Dec. 18 update has brought a breath of fresh air into the game. The Train updates, though seemingly minor, have ignited speculations about its potential inclusion in the Active Duty pool next year.

A new AK animation, Train updates, and more came with the Dec. 18 CS2 update.

Over the holiday season, the Valve team has been busy and today, they released an update for CS2. You can find all the details about this December 18th update in the patch notes provided below.

Included in the update is the champion sticker capsule from the Shanghai Major, as well as a few changes to Train and a few warmup updates. Read on for more!

Train receives minor update as rumors of Active Duty pool changes swirl

After its initial appearance at the Shanghai Major, the train underwent several adjustments related to collision fixes and prop updates. These adjustments addressed some persistent issues such as filling in certain problematic areas and modifying the wetness level in regions of the map that experience rainfall.

CS2 patch notes for Dec. 18: Shanghai Major Champions Capsule, weapon animations, Train changes, and more

There’s not much visually different about it, but some people interpret these changes as a sign that Valve could soon include the map in their competitive rotation (Active Duty pool). Currently, however, you can play Train in casual matchmaking, but it’s not available for premier competition.

With the pro scene concluding for the year, it’s high time Valve implemented changes to the map selection before the new season commences. Many members of the community are anticipating that Vertigo might be replaced by the Train remake, but we’ll only know for certain when Valve officially announces the new maps.

Today’s update also contained several bug corrections related to explosions influencing weapons, enhancements aimed at improving user experience when switching teams during warmup periods, and the incorporation of Map Guides specifically designed for creators working on maps within the Steam Workshop.

Here you can find the complete record of modifications for the December 18 CS2 update, which we’ve highlighted the most significant alterations in this text below!

Full CS2 patch notes for Dec. 18

CS2 patch notes for Dec. 18: Shanghai Major Champions Capsule, weapon animations, Train changes, and more

Shanghai Major

Shanghai 2024 Major Champions Capsule is now available for purchase. The capsule features autographs for each member of the winning team in normal, glitter, holographic, and gold. 50% of the proceeds go to the players and organizations.

Gameplay

Adjusted the threshold at which death notice displays attacker as “flashed.”
Explosions will now more reliably throw weapons around even if multiple weapons are dropped on top of each other.
Weapons will no longer drop on the ground when changing teams during warmup.
During warmup, changing teams now has a two second cooldown.
Added server settings controlling which items drop on the ground during warmup period: mp_warmup_items_drop_policy, mp_warmup_items_nocost, mp_warmup_items_nocount_policy.
- Community servers that run with free non-droppable weapons during warmup can set these settings as follows: mp_warmup_items_drop_policy 0, mp_warmup_items_nocost 1, mp_warmup_items_nocount_policy 251.
Give command will now always drop the held weapon if the given weapon needs an empty primary/secondary weapon slot to be used. For legacy behaviour, which would drop the new weapon on the ground, developers can use “-keep_gear” flag, e.g. give weapon_awp -keep_gear.

Maps

Train
- Improved collision fidelity on various props.
- Adjusted wetness levels on some surfaces.
- Fixed various gaps in map.

Map Guides

Map Guides are now supported in the Steam Workshop for submission and subscription.
Added a selector to pick which map guide gets loaded in practice mode.
Annotations nodes are now visible in the radar.
Added a tool (via console command “workshop_annotation_submit”) to submit a map guide to the Steam Workshop.

Miscellaneous

Added a setting for CPU Cores Usage Preference to control how high performance and power efficiency cores are used by the game on CPUs with variable cores.
Fixed a case where graphics driver could render a corrupt graphics image for weapons in inventory item tiles.
Improvements to weapon inspect animations (see above!).
Improvements to display of extra-long custom weapon names in UI.
Stability improvements.
Added all-new 2025 Service Medal which will be available starting January 1.
Workshop Tools:
- Fixed bug on shadows for low sunlight angles.

2024-12-19 20:42