Cosmetic items

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Throughout history, men have worn hats as a way of showing how much better they are than other men. “I buy hats,” a behatted man seems to say. “I am better than you.” In wartime, hats were a useful way of conferring rank, and ensuring that casualties were confined to the lower classes (hence the famous command of “Don't fire till you see the tops of their heads” at the Battle of Bunker Hill by William Prescott, a general renowned for only shooting enemy combatants who were poor). During peacetime, hats have been instrumental for men to let the non-hatted know just who is wearing the hat around here.

Cosmetic items (previously known as hats and miscellaneous items) are items that can be equipped in any one of the three cosmetic slots in the loadout screen. Valve introduced the first set of nine cosmetics (named hats at that point in time) with the Sniper vs. Spy Update on May 21, 2009 Patch, with one hat for each class. The nine hats introduced were the Batter's Helmet, Soldier's Stash, Pyro's Beanie, Demoman's Fro, Football Helmet, Mining Light, Prussian Pickelhaube, Trophy Belt, and Fancy Fedora. Several updates have since added additional cosmetics, including those designed by members of the Team Fortress 2 community through the Steam Workshop or the former contribution page on the TF2 Official Website.

There are currently a total of 1890 cosmetic items. 109 can be obtained in Vintage quality, 1377 can be obtained in Strange quality, 301 can be obtained in Genuine quality (see item quality distribution), 78 can be obtained in Collector's quality, and 1315 of the hats can be painted 29 colors using different varieties of Paint Cans.

While most cosmetics can be obtained through crafting, the item drop system, or bought from the Mann Co. Store, some cosmetics are only available to players via other means. Multiple cosmetics can only be obtained by completing in-game achievements. Other cosmetics have been added as promotions for various Steam games and events in the Steam Store. While it is possible to obtain most of these cosmetics via trading with other players, there is no option to buy these cosmetics from the Mann Co. Store (aside from those released with Total War: SHOGUN 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and the QUAKECON Pack). Only players with the premium account type can receive cosmetics randomly through the item drop system.

With the release of the Mann-Conomy Update, Unusual quality versions of certain cosmetics have a 0.66% chance of being "uncrated" when the player opens a Mann Co. Supply Crate. These cosmetics function in exactly the same way as Unique cosmetics except for the addition of 1 of 79 unusual particle effects, chosen at random from applicable groups (certain effects are only obtainable during special events) when the hat is obtained.

Cosmetics do not affect gameplay. With the release of the July 10, 2013 Patch, Item sets from the Polycount Pack (with the exception of The Saharan Spy set, which adds custom particle effects while taunting) now only provide a visual cosmetic grave marker upon defeating your enemies. However, wearing the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head and the Saxton Hale Mask makes the wearer immune to the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Boo taunt. Additionally, the Bootie Time and Jingle Belt make jingling sounds, possibly giving away the location of the wearer and making them more noticeable.

Some cosmetics have the holiday or event restrictions, meaning those cosmetics can't seen by everyone except in loadout when it's not in holiday or event times. Additionally, Pyroland items can only be seen by yourself and any other players who are wearing an item that allows them to see in Pyrovision or is viewing a player who has equipped an item which enables Pyrovision as a Spectator with the "When spectating, view the world from the eyes of a Pyro" option turned on.

On January 10th 2013, a blog post was made, announcing that, after January 24th 2013, the original nine hats added in the Sniper vs. Spy Update would be retired, making them unobtainable through crafting, random drops, Mann Co. Supply Crates (in Unusual quality only) or the Mann Co. Store any more after January 24th. The only source that was mentioned to be not being removed is existing Mann Co. Supply Crates with any of the hats listed as possible results.

On December 20th 2013, the "Head" and "Misc" slots for player loadouts were merged together to form Cosmetic loadout slots. All items that were previously Head- or Misc-slot-specific could then be equipped in any Cosmetic slot.

List of cosmetic items

Crafting

Main article: Crafting
See Headgear recipes in Crafting.

Paint

Main articles: Paint Can, List of paintable items

Update history

See also: Item timeline
A mock magazine, Hat-Wearing Man, appeared at the end of the Sniper vs. Spy Update announcing the first hats as a bonus.
May 21, 2009 Patch (Sniper vs. Spy Update)

August 13, 2009 Patch (Classless Update)

September 2, 2009 Patch

October 29, 2009 Patch (Haunted Halloween Special)

November 2, 2009 Patch

December 17, 2009 Patch (WAR! Update)

January 27, 2010 Patch

March 18, 2010 Patch (First Community Contribution Update)

April 15, 2010 Patch

April 29, 2010 Patch (119th Update)

May 5, 2010 Patch

May 20, 2010 Patch (Second Community Contribution Update)

May 21, 2010 Patch

June 10, 2010 Patch (Mac Update)

July 8, 2010 Patch (Engineer Update)

  • A second misc slot is added.

July 19, 2010 Patch

August 25, 2010 Patch

September 30, 2010 Patch (Mann-Conomy Update)

October 27, 2010 Patch (Scream Fortress Update)

November 3, 2010 Patch

November 19, 2010 Patch

December 7, 2010 Patch

December 13, 2010 Patch

December 17, 2010 Patch (Australian Christmas)

December 21, 2010 Patch

December 22, 2010 Patch

January 24, 2011 Patch

February 28, 2011 Patch

March 10, 2011 Patch (Shogun Pack)

March 23, 2011 Patch (Japan Charity Bundle)

April 5, 2011 Patch

April 7, 2011 Patch (Third Community Contribution Update)

April 28, 2011 Patch

May 5, 2011 Patch (Replay Update)

May 12, 2011 Patch

May 31, 2011 Patch

June 3, 2011 Patch

June 10, 2011 Patch

June 23, 2011 Patch (Über Update)

July 1, 2011 Patch (Summer Camp Sale)

July 20, 2011 Patch

July 29, 2011 Patch

August 2, 2011 Patch

August 3, 2011 Patch

August 9, 2011 Patch

  • Renamed Tamrielic Relic to Dragonborn Helmet.

August 18, 2011 Patch

August 23, 2011 Patch

August 30, 2011 Patch

September 15, 2011 Patch

October 13, 2011 Patch (Manniversary Update & Sale)

October 27, 2011 Patch (Very Scary Halloween Special)

November 10, 2011 Patch

November 16, 2011 Patch

November 22, 2011 Patch

November 23, 2011 Patch

November 29, 2011 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Fixed certain all-class hats not showing up until the player touches a resupply cabinet.

December 1, 2011 Patch

December 15, 2011 Patch (Australian Christmas 2011)

December 21, 2011 Patch

December 23, 2011 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Added "glasses" equip region to the Brain Bucket.
  • [Undocumented] Removed Scout's headset when equipped with the Brown Bomber.

January 11, 2012 Patch

January 17, 2012 Patch

January 26, 2012 Patch

February 2, 2012 Patch

February 9, 2012 Patch

February 14, 2012 Patch

February 23, 2012 Patch

March 1, 2012 Patch

March 8, 2012 Patch

March 22, 2012 Patch

March 28, 2012 Patch

April 17, 2012 Patch

April 18, 2012 Patch

  • Added LODs on Ghastly Gibus for all classes.

May 3, 2012 Patch

May 10, 2012 Patch

May 17, 2012 Patch

May 31, 2012 Patch

June 11, 2012 Patch

June 27, 2012 Patch (Pyromania Update)

June 28, 2012 Patch

  • Teddy Roosebelt can now get assist credits.
  • Fixed hatless hats not not-drawing correctly.

July 2, 2012 Patch

  • Teddy Roosebelt can now get assists in Pyrovision.

July 10, 2012 Patch

July 20, 2012 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Updated the world model of Scotch Bonnet.

August 2, 2012 Patch (Triad Pack)

August 10, 2012 Patch

August 11, 2012 Patch

August 15, 2012 Patch (Mann vs. Machine)

August 17, 2012 Patch

August 21, 2012 Patch

September 4, 2012 Patch

September 6, 2012 Patch

September 21, 2012 Patch

September 27, 2012 Patch

October 9, 2012 Patch

October 17, 2012 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Vigilant Pin is now tradable, giftable, craftable, and can be used in crafting.

October 26, 2012 Patch (Spectral Halloween Special)

November 16, 2012 Patch

November 29, 2012 Patch

December 20, 2012 Patch (Mecha Update)

January 8, 2013 Patch

January 16, 2013 Patch

  • The Prize Plushy can now get assists in Pyrovision.

January 24, 2013 Patch

  • Updated the equip_region setting for The Bootie Time.

February 14, 2013 Patch

February 15, 2013 Patch

February 18, 2013 Patch

February 22, 2013 Patch

March 4, 2013 Patch

March 12, 2013 Patch

March 19, 2013 Patch

April 3, 2013 Patch

May 13, 2013 Patch

May 17, 2013 Patch (Robotic Boogaloo)

June 3, 2013 Patch

June 6, 2013 Patch

June 10, 2013 Patch

June 13, 2013 Patch

July 10, 2013 Patch

October 2, 2013 Patch

October 10, 2013 Patch

October 29, 2013 Patch (Scream Fortress 2013)

October 30, 2013 Patch

  • Updated Chicken Kiev so it can't be equipped with Cold War Luchador or Large Luchadore.

November 6, 2013 Patch

  • Updated the equip region for Ivan The Inedible to match the other Spooky Companion items.

November 11, 2013 Patch

  • The Grandmaster will now update its model based on the owner's current kill streak
  • Updated the Jupiter Jumpers so they can be equipped with the Mantreads and the Gunboats

November 22, 2013 Patch

  • Fixed a bug that would cause robot "gate hat" items to be craftable. Replaced all Gate hats with Glitched Circuit Boards.

November 26, 2013 Patch

December 18, 2013 Patch

December 20, 2013 Patch (Smissmas 2013)

February 7, 2014 Patch (Strongbox Pack)

February 11, 2014 Patch

  • Updated several cosmetic items that were missing an item_type description.
  • Updated several cosmetic items to count as assisters in Pyrovision.
  • Updated the Medi-Mask to use equip_region beard instead of face.

February 19, 2014 Patch

March 5, 2014 Patch

  • Renamed the Baronial Bouncer to Gilded Guard, Cutthroat's Cloak to Criminal Cloak, and Garrett Badge to Baronial Badge.

April 1, 2014 Patch

April 18, 2014 Patch

April 24, 2014 Patch

May 15, 2014 Patch

  • Updated the equip_region for the Pyromancer's Mask.
  • Fixed the equip_region for tournament medals conflicting with other items.
  • Added the LBTF2 Season 9 tournament medals.

June 11, 2014 Patch

June 18, 2014 Patch (Love & War Update)

July 8, 2014 Patch

  • Added tournament medals for UGC and Tumblr vs Reddit competitors.

August 13, 2014 Patch

August 27, 2014 Patch

September 10, 2014 Patch

  • Added tournament medals for the ETF2L and RETF2 EE22.

September 17, 2014 Patch

September 25, 2014 Patch

October 29, 2014 Patch (Scream Fortress 2014)

October 30, 2014 Patch

November 26, 2014 Patch

December 3, 2014 Patch

December 8, 2014 Patch (End of the Line Update)

December 10, 2014 Patch

  • Updated the equip_region and bodygroup settings for some of the new cosmetic items.
  • [Undocumented] Updated the item type of a number of new cosmetic items.

December 12, 2014 Patch

December 17, 2014 Patch

December 22, 2014 Patch (Smissmas 2014)

December 23, 2014 Patch Patch #2

January 15, 2015 Patch

January 27, 2015 Patch

February 18, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed cosmetics casting shadows at the wrong time.
  • Added OWL 12 6vs6 tournament medals.

March 12, 2015 Patch

March 12, 2015 Patch

  • Added UGC tournament medals: Highlander (Seasons 13 and 14), 6vs6 (Seasons 15 and 16) and 4vs4 (Seasons 2 and 3).

March 31, 2015 Patch

  • Added Gamers Assembly 2015 tournament medals.

April 29, 2015 Patch

  • Added Jaunty Pin 2015.
  • Added ETF2L tournament medals: Highlander (Season 9), 6vs6 (Season 20) and Ultiduo (Season 5).

August 18, 2015 Patch

August 27, 2015 Patch (Gun Mettle Update)

October 6, 2015 Patch (Invasion Community Update)

October 28, 2015 Patch (Scream Fortress 2015)

November 13, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed random client crashes affecting some players with cosmetics.

November 25, 2015 Patch

December 4, 2015 Patch

December 17, 2015 Patch (Tough Break Update)

Bugs

  • Due to a glitch involving high latency, players may equip multiple cosmetics that cannot be normally equipped together.
    • This can also be performed by leaving the cosmetic slots empty, disconnecting the internet (if possible), returning and selecting the cosmetics the user wants to combine and reconnects, the player will have their selection. However, if the player dies or touches a resupply, they will return to normal. This is due to the item server only losing connection after 10 seconds, so the player can trick the item server to apply hats selected, not by confliction.

Trivia

Unused content

  • A crafting recipe exists for smelting three Miscellaneous items into Scrap Metal in the game files. This recipe was once used when the only craftable miscellaneous item yet released was the Camera Beard, which dropped at the same rate as normal weapons. The recipe is currently disabled in-game.

See also

References

  1. "The Mac Update!", Teamfortress.com, June 10, 2010
  2. "History", Teamfortress.com, retrieved Feb. 13, 2012

External links