L4D2 Steam News Plaintext Changelog -- Last Stand Refresh

L4D2 Steam News Plaintext Changelog.txt

A small community patch has been released for Left 4 Dead 2's Last Stand update.

For a version of this changelog with direct links to exact files and lines changed, please see:

https://github.com/L4D-Community-Team/Last-Stand-Refresh/blob/main/changelogs/Hotfix_Update_01.md

Valve (C++)

VScript CDirector:

- AreAllSurvivorsInBattlefield() returns true if all Survivors are in the battlefield.
- GetClosestCharacterWhoIsIT( CBaseCombatCharacter character ) returns the closest character who is "IT" to the passed character.
- GetClosestSurvivor( Vector pos, bool bIncludeIncap, bool bIncludeOnRescueVehicle ) returns the closest Survivor from the passed origin, if incapped Survivors are included in search, or on rescue vehicle.
- GetHighestFlowSurvivor() returns the Survivor with the highest flow.
- GetLowestFlowSurvivor() returns the Survivor with the lowest flow.
- GetRandomSurvivor() returns a random alive Survivor.

Response Criteria Commands:

- "TankActive" where 0 means no Tank aggro, 1 means Tank is aggro.
- "Chapter" where 0 is first map of mission, 4 is 5th map, etc.

Assets

Weapons:

- Knife slash pattern is restored to its old behavior, going from left to right instead of left to bottom-right. [knife.txt]
- Knife world animations now swing in the same direction as the viewmodel's. [knife.txt]

Effects:

- Removed faulty LDR fallback materials so that low shader skyboxes no longer render as flat colors or missing textures. [skybox/sky_l4d_*.vmt]
- Added a sway shader to the Blood Harvest corn props. [corn01_dry.vmt]

Props:

- "props_vehicles/deliveryvan_armor.vmt" added $normalmapalphaenvmapmask 1 to both VMT's so the cubemap reflections are properly masked instead of the entire model being covered in reflections.

Special Infected:

- Added render coloring support to the Hunter, Smoker, Boomer and Charger models; includes burned Hunter and Smoker tongue. [infected/*.vmt]
- Sacrifice Tank used the wrong normal map, leading to shading issues mostly on his legs. [hulk_traincar_01.vmt]
- Recompiled VTF with the original alpha from the first game (modified a bit) to give the Witch's hair proper transparency. [witch_hair.vtf]

Accessibility:

- Fixed Audio and Keyboard / Mouse menus in the Options flyout having broken navigation keys when trying to use the arrow keys or a controller. [keyboardmouse & video.res]
- Corrected the string keys for the Tank's rock and claw attack lessons. [instructor_lessons.txt]
- "Jockey Leap" hint had the incorrect ability_use of "ability_spit", and now uses the correct "ability_leap". [instructor_lessons.txt]

Scripts General

- "scriptedmode.nut" fix for: slowpoll interval, slowpoll add function logic, and _entHelper.

Map Fixes

Dead Center

Map 1:

- Restored window clip-hang bugs that were patched with TLS to re-allow access to the rooftop in Coop mode.
- Versus: Tank will now only spawn after Survivors have exited the elevator, and no later than leaving the kitchen.
- Versus: Move Ghost SI exploit kill trigger down a lot to solve a rare issue.

Map 3:

- Blocked a permstuck spot at vending machine alternative path.
- QoL: Added auto-crouch trigger and clips to smooth out movement through the shoplift scanners.

Map 4:

- QoL: Clips for kiosks to assist jumping and booth auto-crouch.

Dark Carnival

Map 1:

- Patched a rarer permstuck spot at the swamp's cargo container.
- Patched an elaborate SI out of bounds exploit.

Map 4:

- Versus: Food cart ladder replaced with better clone and smoothed with new clip.

Map 5:

- Addressed some issues with "THE MAIN ATTRACTION" Achievement by adding more triggers so it no longer fails if any Survivor disconnects or goes idle while on stage.

Swamp Fever

Map 1:

- While scriptedmode is active an additional 3rd wave would occur and director_debug 1 would say something like wave 1 of -1; fixed by adding a delay of 1 second on the second stage. [See Crash Course 1]
- Patched janky ladder near the ferry event.
- By popular community request the TLS Swamp gator is now canonically named Fred.

Map 2:

- Blocked a permstuck spot behind some rocks at the start near the parachutist.
- Blocked a permstuck spot on a cypress knee near the parachutist area dock.

Map 3:

- Blocked permstuck spots at two sets of cypress knees around the event start area.
- Versus: Blocked a permstuck spot for SI behind a bush to the left of the first bridge upon entering the water.
- Versus: Blocked a permstuck spot for SI in the bush near the lantern/event start.
- Versus: Improve SI clipping of first ladder outside saferoom to allow drop through a large gap.
- Versus: Moved a TLS Infected ladder out of the Survivor's way at the start.

Map 4:

- Versus: Blocked a permstuck spot for SI behind a bush in the back of the enclosed hedge area.

Hard Rain

Map 2:

- Restored a shortcut that was patched with TLS; instead fixed the soft-lock where Survivors cannot progress if one player skipped the elevator.

The Parish

Map 2:

- Eliminate a permstuck spot that a previous ladder patch created.

Map 3:

- Versus: New ladder in far corner of manhole drop area to fix permstuck.

Map 4:

- Versus: Reduced a jetstrike trigger after the balcony drop that previously dealt 25 damage per touch (75 total) to Survivors, down to only 2 damage per touch to behave like the other 14 triggers.

The Passing

Map 1:

- Blocked a permstuck spot in a corner behind a floodlight in the top floor after the alarm cars.

Map 2:

- Fixed collision issue with clips on the stairs by the saferoom that caused noticeable teleporting when not on a local server.

The Sacrifice

Map 2:

- Versus: Delete func clip that blocks SI access into end closet.

No Mercy

Map 1:

- Lift anti-grief kill trigger off the ground to prevent an incap glitch.
- Versus: Add clip to patch a ladder shortcut at the start.

Map 2:

- All sets of railings will now appear for all players regardless of graphics settings.

Crash Course

Map 1:

- While scriptedmode is active an additional 3rd wave would occur and director_debug 1 would say something like wave 1 of -1; fixed by adding a delay of 1 second on the second stage. [See Swamp Fever 1]
- Block rare permstuck spot between the boxwreck and traffic light.

Map 2:

- QoL: Clip to prevent gascans from falling between finale buses.

Death Toll

Map 3:

- Blocked a permstuck spot at the top of a rockcliff cluster just after the church bus.
- Blocked a permstuck spot between the cliff rocks and the right side of the mandatory house.
- Versus: Fixed an SI permstuck spot on the barricade by the church.

Dead Air

Map 3:

- Updated clip brushes and navmesh to allow SI players onto a previously blocked pipe that has an Infected ladder leading up to it.
- Updated clip brushes and navmesh so that Survivors may now enter the hallway next to the end saferoom, which was accidentally blocked by a roof clip in the port from L4D1.

Map 4:

- Fix SI player and AI permstuck spot inside the end rubble.

Blood Harvest

Map 2:

- Versus: Fixed SI permstuck beyond the end of tunnel just before end safe room.

Map 3:

- Fix rare permstuck spot in starting saferoom for SI only.
- Permstuck in tree near shed (for SI / RocketDude).

Map 4:

- Versus: Patched fence Infected ladder next to lawnmower room.

Map 5:

- Added missing env_wind; dozens more maps (especially L4D1) also lack env_wind but those will be evaluated at another time.

Cold Stream

Map 2:

- Fix permstuck next to military truck leading to barricade.
- Fix two permstuck spots behind the long hedges on the right of after the military truck leading to barricade.
- Fix a regression with easy event skip clip and a permstuck clip nearby.

Map 3:

- Enlargened a permstuck clip to fully fix it.

The Last Stand

Map 1:

- When the intro finishes, adjust Francis' spawn to be further away from the plywood to prevent him from getting stuck and dying on solo Mutations.
- When the intro finishes, adjust Zoey's spawn to be further away from the truck to prevent her from briefly getting stuck.

Map 2:

- Simplified finale difficulty scaling so it is now only increased on Advanced and Expert difficulties rather than scaling each difficulty differently; the intention is to curb player fatigue and confusion in addition to bringing it more in line with expectations from other finales.
- Lowered the number of required gascans in Single Player by 25% to help compensate for only having bot teammates; Easy/Normal difficulty now require 6, and Advanced/Expert difficulty now require 9.
- The gascan requirement in Multiplayer modes now increases by 1.5x per difficulty; Easy/Normal difficulty now require 8, and Advanced/Expert difficulty now require 12.
- Changed LockTempo from TRUE to FALSE during the Scavenge phase; this allows the game director to tone down the horde when Survivor intensity gets too high (e.g. Survivors getting downed).
- Changed the start of the Scavenge phase to spawn less horde until players start picking up the gascans.
- Added the Final Nail music before the last horde phase on Advanced/Expert difficulties.
- Versus: Fixed an out of bounds exploit to get under a cliffside.
- Versus: Fixed a permstuck spot between a tree cluster and Versus-only fence at the cliff that overlooks the beach.

Mutations

Tank Run:

- Added cm_TankRun key to fix not being able to open the train car door on Sacrifice 1.
- The first map of a Campaign will now spawn two Tier 1 weapons near the start area if no other Tier 1's are nearby.
- Car alarms will now spawn a Tank if triggered.
- Disabled water slowdown for all maps.
- Set Survivor revive health to 50.
- Added auto self-revive mechanic with a delay based on the "survivor_revive_duration" Cvar (default 5 seconds).
- Slight buff to pistol and melee damage against the Tank.
- Fixed issue where the sacrificing player would get auto-revived after restarting the generator.
- Fixed issue where the finale would result in a failed screen if players that jumped off of the bridge to restart the generator got incapped.
- Fixed issue where players going idle, switching characters or leaving the game would break the auto-revive for that Survivor.
- Fixed issue if a Tank was deleted while being biled, it would break the script.
- Fixed issue where Tanks would not retain their slowdown when biled, if they were hit with another vomitjar while already being biled.
- Fixed issue where Survivors could get instantly revived when hit with a car.

Death's Door (community5.nut):

- Enabled heartbeat sound when under 25% health.
- Enabled B&W state when at 1 permanent HP.
- Fixed heartbeat sound when taking over bot.
- Fixed Fallen Survivors being able to drop medkits.
- Fixed temporary health decay in the safe room, loading players will no longer decay temp health.
- Defibrillator now heals 1 permanent + 99 temporary HP (still B&W).
- Safe room respawn now heals 24 permanent + 26 temporary HP (only heartbeat sound).
- Safe room transition now heals 80% of the missing HP to half health of living Survivors, e.g. 1 to 40 (no health effects).
- Fixed an issue that caused the mission to fail for Sacrifice type finales when the player presses the final button.

VS Survival (mutation15.nut):

- Thickened 24 clips across 10 maps to dramatically reduce stuck spawns.
- Map-specific fixes for stuck or confusing spawns on c1m2, c3m1, c5m4, c8m2, c9m2, c10m2, c10m4, c11m2, and c12m3.
- Made it auto-trigger any outputs on the entity used to start Survival if the pre-round timer expires.

Taaannnk!! (mutation19.nut):

- Thickened 24 clips across 10 maps to dramatically reduce stuck Tank spawns.
- Map-specific fixes for stuck spawns on c1m2, c2m2, c3m1, c5m2, c5m4, c6m1, c8m1-3, c9m2, c10m1-4, c11m1-3, and c12m1-4.
- Players no longer need to wait for incapped Survivors in order to progress at areas like elevators.
- Fixed Director variable typo from "BehindSurvivorsSpawnDistance" to "SpawnBehindSurvivorsDistance".

L4D1 Coop & Survival & Versus:

- Set "z_tank_autoshotgun_dmg_scale" to 1 for L4D1 Coop & Survival.
- Set the claw viewmodels for the L4D1 SI to the proper L4D1 models for L4D1 Versus.
- Disabled water slowdown for L4D1 Survival.
- Defibrillators now convert to pain pills instead of medkits; previously, when converted to medkits the game kept trying to spawn more defibs which led to an oversaturation of medkits.
- Changed noise levels for running and talking to their values from L4D1; this will make it slightly harder for Common Infected to notice Survivors, like their L4D1 counterparts.
- Updated "BecomeRagdoll" to instead use "cs_ragdoll" to result in much more accurate L4D1-like looking ragdolls.