So, Valve just released a new patch for Counter-Strike 2 and I’ve gotta say, this one’s got something interesting. If you’ve been running practice matches or firing up games using the “map” command, there’s a little tweak that could make things feel smoother.
CS2 Patch Notes for September 11, 2024
- Practice matches and matches started with the “map” command will now run in engine loopback mode to match the CS:GO offline default. Engine loopback bypasses most networking code for the host, resulting in one less tick of latency for the local player. Engine loopback can be disabled by appending “loopback=0” to the map command-line (e.g. “map de_dust2 loopback=0”).
Basically, practice matches and matches started with the “map” command are now gonna run in engine loopback mode. What does that mean? It’s kind of a fancy way of saying the game will bypass most of the networking stuff for the host. Why does this matter? It results in one less tick of latency for local player, yes, one tick! Doesn’t sound like much, but hey, any reduction in latency is a win, right?
If for some reason you don’t want this change, you can turn it off. Just append “loopback=0” to the command line (like “map de_dust2 loopback=0”). Easy peasy.
To me, this is more of a quality-of-life improvement, especially for those who grind offline or wanna test stuff in peace without the hassle of networking. I’m excited to see if this makes a noticeable difference for the players who take advantage of it.
