Respawn
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The term respawn may be used to refer to either the act or event of respawning, the place in which it occurs, or the reappearance of map pickups after they have been used, such as Ammo and Health packs. The game respawns players in waves in order for them to appear together with other players who died at a similar time, thus forcing them to work together. Ammo and Health kits take around 10-20 seconds to respawn.
The initial entry in which a player first joins a map, as well as the creation of new entities (such as the appearance of Skeletons), simply goes by the term spawn.
In Arena Mode, or when matches turn to Sudden Death Mode, players that die do not respawn until the next round has begun.
Contents
Respawn times
The time it takes for the respawn wave to occur after being killed, or respawn time, is variable, and a countdown is shown at the top of the player's HUD when their character has died. Respawn waves occur at regular intervals and are based on the map settings. Most official maps use a 10-second respawn wave time. Those 10 seconds are then modified by the map state, generally reduced for the team that controls the most control points. Each team's respawn wave time is then scaled down when the team has less than 8 players in it. The minimum respawn wave time is 5 seconds, occurring when the team has 3 or less players in it. When a player dies, they are assigned to the respawn wave after the next one. Therefore, if the respawn wave time is currently 10 seconds for the player's team, they respawn somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds after their death. A player's individual performance does not affect their respawn wave time in any way.
Respawn wave time on a server can be altered by changing the mp_respawnwavetime variable.
Instant respawn times
Some servers feature instant respawn times where the waiting period for players to respawn is drastically reduced or even eliminated for all players. Servers can use either third-party custom plugins to enable this feature or the in-built command mp_disable_respawn_times. The amount of time between death and actual respawn can vary if the server forces the Deathcam to be displayed.
Areas
Respawn
The respawn area refers to where newly-joined and resurrected players are placed. On some maps, this may be a separate room from the resupply area. Frequently, the two areas overlap and there is no visible distinction between the two. The use of the respawn area as a separate room is frequently found on Capture the Flag maps. In this case, there are sometimes automatic double doors leading to the resupply area. These doors frequently may only be opened from the inside, and when present provide one of the few safe places during Humiliation.
Players may change class within the respawn area without committing suicide. On most maps, it is also safe to change class within the resupply area, even if they are separate rooms. The point where a player respawns is randomly chosen, but on Control Point maps, it is often determined by which control points their team has control over. It should be noted that changing classes may at times instantly put the player in a different respawn area if more than one is present.
Resupply
The resupply area is a room which is generally safe from opponents and provides players with Resupply lockers to replenish health and ammunition. Depending on the map, this area may be adjacent, separate, or even overlapping to the respawn area. Most resupply areas contain one or more Resupply lockers which instantly provide full health, metal, and ammunition (including refilling all the magazines of the player's weapons) upon opening, while also playing a unique sound. They also are able to remove the effects of Jarate and Mad Milk, stop bleeding, and extinguish afterburn. Using a Resupply locker also allows players to switch between cosmetic items and/or weapons if they have already respawned, therefore eliminating the need to switch between classes in order to update their weapon loadout (unless the option 'Automatically respawning when you change your loadout' is checked). Honorbound Demomen or Soldiers with the Half-Zatoichi out can touch a Resupply locker to switch weapons without losing health. Finally, using a Resupply locker recharges the explosive in the Ullapool Caber and gives another Razorback to a Sniper who has been backstabbed while wearing one. To open a Resupply locker, the player must simply walk near it. It should be noted that Resupply lockers cannot be opened during Sudden Death or by the losing team during Humiliation.
Other purely decorative objects within the resupply area may include lockers in which the various classes keep their personal belongings, free weights, and targets for practice.
Gallery
Resupply lockers, found in resupply areas, return players to full health and ammunition when used.
An open Resupply locker.
Resupply Locker, as seen in Pyroland.
An open Resupply Locker, as seen in Pyroland.
The Medieval Mode Resupply locker used on Degroot Keep, Burghausen, Sandcastle, and Embargo.
An open Medieval Mode Resupply locker.
The resupply locker used on Suijin.
An open resupply locker from Suijin.
The resupply locker on RED team used on Bread Space.
A RED team opened resupply locker from Bread Space.
The resupply locker on BLU team used on Bread Space.
A BLU team opened resupply locker from Bread Space.
The resupply locker used on Sinthetic.
An open resupply locker from Sinthetic.
The resupply locker used on Mannsylvania.
An open resupply locker from Mannsylvania.
The resupply locker on the first stage of Hoodoo.
An open resupply locker on the first stage of Hoodoo.
Related achievements
Spy
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Update history
- Fixed teleporter/spawn doorway exploit.
- Fixed exploit where spectators could spawn into the world without actually joining a team.
- Fixed an exploit allowing players to spawn into the enemy territory at the start of a round.
- Fixed Bonk! ammo count exploit after using a regeneration locker.
- Fixed being able to respawn during the chat time before a level change.
- [Undocumented] Players will automatically be respawned with their loadouts if they switch weapons while in a spawn area.
- Fixed players not being able to fire their weapons right after spawning.
- Updated honor-bound weapons so they can be holstered within a second of touching a supply cabinet.
April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update)
- Items in the action slot no longer swap before returning to a supply cabinet.
- Fixed supply closets regenerating players while they are taunting.
- Fixed the grapple still being connected to players after they die and respawn.
- Fixed an exploit related to Highlander mode and changing teams with instant respawn.
- Fixed an exploit where players could teleport back to their own spawn by changing loadout/class while touching the other team's No Entry gate.
Unused content
- In the VPK files of Team Fortress 2, and in unused sound effects, there is a turret that may have been intended to guard the respawn area rather than the eventual invisible wall, similar to Team Fortress Classic.
Bugs
- Rarely, the player becomes stuck in the respawn wave after dying. The time resets whenever it reaches "Prepare to respawn". This can sometimes be fixed by re-selecting one's class.
- When joining a game, if the player selected a team, the player can be kicked out of the class selection. When going back to the class selection and choosing a class, the player does not respawn. Leaving the game and rejoining the server can fix this issue.
- It is possible to circumvent the disabled respawn after the round ends on the winning team by changing class after the respawn timer would have expired.
- In the PlayStation 3 version of Team Fortress 2, the spawn room gates appear to go underground.
See also
External links
- TF2 Official Website, October 8, 2008 blog post – Explains the reasoning behind the respawn "waves" system.
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