Valve pushed a new Counter-Strike 2 update that adds a TrueView demo playback mode and addresses a handful of gameplay, demo, and animation bugs. The update is focused and small, but the TrueView addition could change how players review matches and study plays.
TrueView reconstructs an observed player’s original experience more accurately by re-running client-side prediction, and it will show the effects of Damage Prediction when the observed player enabled that. It is disabled by default when the demo client version does not match the recorded demo version, and the console variable cl_demo_predict 2 can override that behavior.
We previously covered the Source 2 engine refresh and broader CS2 changes in our coverage of the Source 2 engine refresh and gameplay tweaks, and this update is one of the smaller follow-ups focused on polish and demo playback fidelity.
Patch Notes – Counter-Strike 2 Update
[ GAMEPLAY ]
- Fixed a case where air acceleration was clamped incorrectly while surfing.
- Fixed a case where slowly surfing up a ramp was handled incorrectly due to misidentification as a jump apex.
- Fix a bug causing “Delay Sniper Rifle Un-Scope after Shot” to be inconsistent.
[ DEMO ]
- Added TrueView demo playback, which reconstructs the observed player’s original experience more accurately by re-running client-side prediction.
- TrueView playback will show the effects of Damage Prediction, if it was enabled by the observed player at the time.
- TrueView does not reconstruct the precise timings of rendered frames, so some differences between the original player’s experience and TrueView playback will remain, especially in very slow motion playback. The player’s frame at the time when the mouse was clicked, which is used for hit registration, is shown accurately to the nearest demo playback frame. However, reaction effects such as recoil, muzzle flash, blood splatter, and ragdoll are delayed while playing the game by one or two frames due to the way CPU and GPU work is pipelined, and will not appear at the same time during demo playback.
- TrueView demo playback might not work properly on old demos and is disabled by default if the playback client version does not match the client version when the demo was recorded. You can set cl_demo_predict 2 to override this.
- Fixed a bug causing third person models to not animate smoothly.
- Fixed a bug causing time to lurch forward by one tick when unpausing a demo.
[ MISC ]
- Animation fixes for G3SG1 bolt.
- Fixed developer console scrollbar to accept mouse clicks.
Thoughts or kvetches about demo playback and the surfing fixes belong in the comments; follow the conversation with us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
