User modifications

User modifications, or mods for short, are alterations that are made to a piece of software (usually a game) in order to customize its content and/or allow players to alter or modify various aspects of the application. Modifications can include aesthetic changes (alteration, removal, or addition of new models, textures, or skins), auditory changes (alteration, removal, or addition of new music or sound effects), or core gameplay changes.

Skins

Skins (commonly referred to as textures) are user-created modifications that change the appearance of weapons, hats, player models, or any other part of a game. Skins are unofficial and not supported by Valve. Some weapons, such as the Homewrecker, Dalokohs Bar, and Vita-Saw, were originally created as skins and were eventually incorporated into the game.

Skins can be created, downloaded, and installed by players; they usually aim to change the materials, textures, or models of a particular aspect of a game such as a weapon or character. Most skins are client-side, meaning that they show up only for the person who has them installed. However, server owners can apply server-side skins that are viewable by anyone who joins the server.

Skins are used almost entirely for cosmetic and aesthetic purposes. They can range from simple retexturing to full-on recreations of certain game aspects. Skins do not change the stats or effects of any items or any aspects of the game except in the case of skins deliberately designed as "cheats", such as a skin that re-textures walls to be transparent.

There are many popular websites that feature skins for Team Fortress 2 that can be downloaded by players.

Players can create their own skins using material-modifying or image-editing programs, such as Photoshop, or 3D modeling and animating programs, such as Blender or 3DMax. Multiple tutorials on different aspects of skinning are available online.

Testing skins

Previously, creators of new models had to use cheats in order to test and view their community skins and models. With the addition of the contribution page, individuals have been able to submit their creations to be judged and added to Team Fortress 2's items database. With the addition of the map Itemtest, mod makers are now able to test their models more effectively so that they may be contributed.

Installing skins

Skins are typically accompanied by instructions outlining how to install them. However, most are installed somewhere under the directory steam/steamapps/<accountname>/Team Fortress 2/tf.

Sound modifications

Sound modifications are user-created modifications that change the music or sound effects of a game's weapons, characters or classes, voices, objects, maps, locations, or any other part of a game's audio. Sound modifications are unofficial and not supported by Valve.

Sound modifications can be created, downloaded, and installed by players. They usually aim to change the sound effects, music, or speech for a particular aspect of a game, such as a weapon's reloading or firing sound or a character's voice responses. Most sound modifications are client-side, meaning that they are audible only for the person who has them installed. However, server owners can apply server-side sound modifications that are audible by anyone who joins the server.

Sound modifications are used almost entirely for novelty purposes or entertainment. They can range from simple music or sound effect changes to full-on audio replacements of certain voice responses or weapon sounds. They are often used in conjunction with new weapon skins or models in order to create a unique weapon and accompanying sound effect set. However, sound modifications do not change the stats or effects of any items or any aspects of the game (except in the case of sounds deliberately designed as "cheats", e.g. increasing the volume on the Spy's decloaking sound effect in order to make it more noticeable).

There are many popular websites that feature sounds for Team Fortress 2 that can be downloaded by players.

Players can create their own sound modifications using sound-editing programs such as Audacity. Multiple tutorials on different aspects of sound modding are available online.

Testing and installing sound modifications

Sound modifications are typically accompanied by instructions outlining how to install them. However, most are installed somewhere under the directory steam/steamapps/<accountname>/Team Fortress 2/tf. Once installed, sound modifications should work immediately whenever the default sound effect would normally be played.

User modifications as cheats

While most sound modifications and skins are used to improve or slightly alter the auditory and visual aspects of the game respectively, some modifications are designed in order to attempt to provide users with an unfair advantage. These include, but are not limited to:

• Materials
  • Seeing players/items through walls.
  • Glow-in-the-dark enemies.
  • Colored bodies with different colored heads.
• Models
  • Show only the hitboxes of players.
  • Skewed to show locations.
    • "Giant head" to see player locations behind obstacles.
    • "Bubble" around pickups.
• Particles
  • Attached to models to make them more visible.
    • Show the location of cloaked Spies.
• Sounds
  • Increasing the volume of certain effects in order to alert players from a larger distance, such as:
    • Sentry Gun beeps.
    • Spies decloaking.

Due to their nature, these kinds of cheats are not detected by VAC, which only deals with external programs or altered game code. However, there is some protection for servers if the 'sv_pure' console variable [default 0] is set to '1'. and a whitelist is created. or to '2', which forces all players on a server to use Team Fortress 2's default content. For more information, please see the Pure Servers article on the VDC.

External links

• GameBanana
• TF2Mods