Mécanique
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— Le Soldier
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Les mécaniques de Team Fortress 2 définissent les règles et les capacités des joueurs, les serveurs et les éditeurs de contenu. La compréhension de ces mécanismes permet d'avoir un gameplay simple et plus complet.
Sommaire
Moteur
Team Fortress 2 fonctionne sur la version Orange Box du Moteur Source, conçu pour fonctionner sur PC, X-Box 360, PS3 et Mac. TF2 est optimisé pour les formats de jeu à 24 joueurs ou moins (18 sur X-Box 360 et PS3), bien que les serveurs peuvent accueillir jusqu'à 32 joueurs s'ils le désirent (PC / Mac uniquement). Toutes les actions du joueur et les options sont traitées comme des commandes console et les variables connu sous le nom de ConVars.
Classes
Il y a neuf classes jouables dans Team Fortress 2. Elles sont classées comme "attaque", "défense" et "soutien", même si ces catégorisations n'ont pas d'impact sur le gameplay. Les capacités et les statistiques des classes peuvent changer en fonction de l'équipement.
Scout: Une classe d'attaque avec une vitesse de déplacement de 133.33% et de 125 points de vie, spécialisée dans les combats rapide pour blesser puis courir et les objectives de capture. Peut faire un double saut et capturer les Points de contrôle (et pousser le Wagon) à un taux équivalent à 2 personnes.
Soldier: Une classe d'attaque avec une vitesse de déplacement de 80% et de 200 points de vie, capable de s'adapter à une variété de situations. Peut faire des rocket jump.
Pyro: Une classe d'attaque avec une vitesse de déplacement de 100% et de 175 points de vie, idéal pour les combats fermés et le soutien du groupe. Peut enflammer les ennemis mais il ne prendra jamais feu.
Demoman: Une classe défensive avec une vitesse de déplacement de 93.33% et de 175 points de vie spécialisé dans les zones difficile d'accès et dans la puissance de feu. Peut faire des sticky jump.
Heavy: Une classe défensive avec une vitesse de déplacement de 76.67% et de 300 points de vie qui excelle dans le traitement et la réception de dommages subis.
Engineer: Une classe défensive avec une vitesse de déplacement de 100% et de 125 points de vie qui se spécialise dans le soutien pour de l'interdiction de zone. Permet de créer, réparer et mettre à niveau les bâtiments.
Medic: Une classe de soutien avec une vitesse de déplacement de 106.67% et de 150 points de vie qui met l'accent sur l'amélioration de la longévité et l'efficacité de ses coéquipiers. Régénère la santé passivement et peut déployer des ÜberCharge.
Sniper: Une classe de soutien avec une vitesse de déplacement de 100% et de 125 points de vie idéal pour l'élimination de cibles à longue distance. Peut Tirer en pleine tête.
Spy: Une classe de soutien avec une vitesse de déplacement de 100% et de 125 points de vie idéal pour des interruptions secrète et l'assassina. Peut se déguiser, se rendre Invisibilite, et poignarder.
Des codes de jeu existe pour la classe du Civilian, bien qu'il n'ait jamais été officiellement inclus dans les modes de jeu.
Combat
Le combat est le principal moyen par lequel les équipes adverses se dispute les objectifs. Team Fortress 2 a une variété de mécanisme influent sur le combat.
Dégâts
La plupart des armes accorde des Dégâts sur les points de vie. A moins que le serveur soit modifié, les armes ne causent pas de tir ami, mais de nombreuses armes sont capables de nuire à leur utilisateur. Les dégâts de l'arme sont soumises à un certain nombre de variables, mais la grande majorité des armes n'infligent pas de blessures de localisation (les principales exceptions étant le tir en pleine tête du Sniper et le poignardage du Spy). La plupart des armes infligent beaucoup de dégâts aux cibles qui sont à proximité mais sont réduit plus les objectifs se trouvent loin, cependant les Mini-Crits ne sont pas soumissent à ce dernier, et les Coups Critiques ne sont soumis à aucune distance. Le modificateur de dégâts à distance est basée sur la distance entre l'attaquant et cible touchée (par opposition à la position de l'attaquant quand l'attaque a été faite). Les dégâts explosifs sont réduits lorsque la distance entre la cible et l'explosion augmente. Bien que la plupart des armes explosives peuvent nuire à leurs utilisateurs, elles ont tendance à accorder une réduction des dégâts pour l'utilisateur des attaques portées contre lui même.
Sauf désactivé par un paramètre du serveur, la plupart des armes ont un modificateur aléatoire pour les dégâts (environ de ±10%) et peut devenir semi-aléatoire pour les coups critiques (la plupart des armes ont entre 2 et 12% d'occasion de produire des dégâts, sachant que la plupart des armes de corps à corps, ont entre 15 et 25% de chance et que certaines armes ne reçoivent pas coup critiques aléatoire. Les coups critiques ne sont pas soumis aléatoirement aux dommages ou aux modificateurs de dégâts basés sur la distance. Les attaques critiques sont généralement accompagnés par l'équipe avec des couleurs et des effets visuels et sonores d'un choc électriques (que l'on perçoit plus nettement sur les projectiles explosifs). Quand vous êtes touché par un coup critique, un texte apparaît au-dessus de la tête de la cible, et un son distinct est joué lorsque vous êtes frappé, et le joueur est soumis à un fort recul. Le multiplicateur de dégâts pour les coups critiques varie selon les armes, et est habituellement d'environ 200-300% des dégâts de base. Toutes les attaques critique ne peuvent pas être aperçu leurs utilisateurs, mais ils peuvent fournir des indices visuels ou sonores qui suggèrent ce qu'ils font.
Une variété d'armes et les effets de statut peuvent entraîner des Mini-Crits. Les Mini-Crits fonctionnent de manière similaire aux coups critiques, même si les dégâts sont augmenté de 35%, Ils offrent moins de reculs que les coups critiques, et ne produisent pas les mêmes effets audio-visuels. Bien que n'étant pas soumis à des dégâts sur les longues distances, les attaques Mini-Crit auront une augmentation des dégâts si la cible se trouve proche. Si une attaque est à la fois une mini-Crit et un coup critique, elle ne fonctionnera que seulement comme un coup critique. Comme les attaques critiques, les attaques Mini-Crits ne causent pas de dégâts d'augmentation pour leurs utilisateurs.
Les Bâtiments ne sont pas soumis à des dégâts supplémentaires, comme les coups critiques et Mini-Crits, ni même les attaques de distance. De même, les attaques faites par les bâtiments eux-mêmes ne sont pas soumis aux modificateurs de dégâts à distance, et ne peuvent pas envoyer de coups critiques, mais il existe quelques méthodes pour faire des attaques de Bâtiments Mini-Crits.
Détection des Coups
La plupart des armes sont des armes avec projectiles ou des armes avec des projectiles instantanés. Les armes à projectiles, comme le Lance-Roquettes, produisent des objets en mouvements avec le positionnement et les effets déterminés par l'état du jeu du serveur, qui peut les rendre moins fiables pour les joueurs avec une latence élevée. Les projectiles ont généralement des règles uniques de physique appliquée afin de le séparer du joueur, et la vitesse du joueur n'est pas utilisé dans la détermination de la vitesse initiale des projectiles. Les Projectiles ne sortent pas du centre de l'écran, mais du côté où l'arme est tenue (a la main droite, le Soldier produit des roquettes à partir de son côté droit). La détection de la collision des projectiles n'utilise pas de modèle conforme de Hitboxs, au lieu de ça elle utilise de simples et grandes Hitboxs qui entoure le modèle du projectile du joueur (par exemple, le Heavy debout a la même détection de coup des projectiles que le Scout accroupi. Les attaques du Pyro sont basées sur les particules de flamme (par exemple les attaques du Lance-flammes) suivis de la plupart des mécanismes des projectiles des armes).
Les armes avec projectiles instantanés produisent instantanément des coups réussis ou manqués au lieu de projectiles. Les armes de corps à corps et a ball sont généralement des armes à projectiles instantanées. Les armes à projectiles instantanées détermine la collision sur l'état du jeu de l'attaquant (par opposition aux projectiles, qui n'utilisent que l'état du serveur de jeu), qui peuvent produire des non raccord lorsqu'il y a détection de coup ("J'étais déjà à couvert; comment cela m'a t-il frappé ?"). Les armes avec projectiles instantanés produisent les dégâts à partir de centre de l'écran, même si les effets visuels semblent indiquer le contraire. Les armes (sans les corps à corps) avec projectiles instantanés utilisent d'assez précise modèle de hitboxs (un Heavy debout serait en effet une cible beaucoup plus grande qu'un scout accroupi); les armes de corps à corps utilise le même grand Hitbox utilisé par les armes à projectiles. La plupart des armes (sans les corps à corps) avec projectiles instantanés utilise des attaques à tir rapide ou des attaques de propagations (tels que respectivement le Mitrailleuse et le Fusil à Dispersion). Par défaut, la directivité de leurs attaques sont aléatoire, si le serveur via une cvar tf_use_fixedweaponspreads normalise la propagation des balles elles feront leur première d'attaques en série de tir rapide tout à fait exact. Aucune armes n'as de recul, mais seuls l'Ambassador à son viseur qui s'agrandit après le premier tir.
Recul
La plupart des armes produisent au moins une sorte de reculs (bien que beaucoup peuvent être très faible ). Le modificateur d'attaque inclus les dégâts de reculs, le statut (Coup critique ou Mini-Crit), et les effets des armes spécifiques. Le recul peut être utilisé pour manipuler les positionnements et les mouvements des joueurs, en particulier ceux des ennemis en jonglant et soi-même par Rocket jump ou Sticky jump. Certaines armes et des capacités, telles que le Eradicateur et le Tir d'air comprimé, sont basées sur la fonctionnalité du recul. Les cibles d'ÜberCharge sont moins influencés par le recul des ennemis que s'ils étaient des cibles normales, et le Spy déguisé n'est pas soumis aux recul des armes de l'ennemi.
Weapon types
Each class has a unique set of weapons at their disposal occupying weapon slots 1, 2 and 3 (often referred to as primary, secondary, and melee, respectively). Some classes may have additional slots, such as the Engineer's PDA and Spy's Disguise Kit. The choices players make in choosing weapons and items constitutes their loadout.
Most non-melee weapons require Ammo for use. Weapons that use Ammo can be either reserve-based (having a limited clip size and requiring reloading from stored ammo, such as the Pistol) or fully-loaded (capable of using all ammo without reloading, such as the Minigun). Reserve-based weapons either use magazine-style reloading (reload fills loaded ammo in single, one-time animation, such as the Revolver) or sequential reloading (reloads ammo from reserve one at a time, such as the Shotgun). Reloading can be interrupted by attacking or changing weapons, though time spent reloading (beyond the last carried ammo increment, in the case of sequential weapons) is wasted. When reloading a sequential reload weapon, a different animation is used for reloading the first ammo than subsequent ammo (for example, an emptied Grenade Launcher takes 1.24 seconds to reload 1 ammo, plus 0.6 seconds for each ammo after that).
Many weapons that don't use ammo must be refilled instead (such as Jarate). Refilling can usually be done by waiting for a set time, going to resupply, or respawning, though exceptions exist (such as the Chargin' Targe). Some weapons without ammo require manual refill based on specific requirements, such as the Medi Gun (which requires refill for ÜberCharge, though not for healing) and Buff Banner.
Status effects
Status effects include a variety of weapon-induced player conditions, such as Fire and Bleeding. All status effects are removed by death or class change, and most are removed by ÜberCharge. Some can be removed by submersion in water or healing.
- ÜberCharge: An ÜberCharged player is invulnerable to all forms of damage other than map effects. ÜberCharged players can be identified by their bright team-colored shimmer and glowing eyes. Caused by the Medi Gun.
- Crit boost: All attacks from a player under the effects of a Crit boost result in Critical hits. The weapons of such a player glow with team-color electricity. Caused by the Kritzkrieg, Killing Gloves of Boxing, Frontier Justice, and the Chargin' Targe; also occurs after capturing the Intelligence, First Blood, collecting a Halloween pumpkin on a Haunted Halloween Special or for the winning team during humiliation.
- Mini-Crit boost: All attacks from a Mini-Crit boosted player become Mini-Crits. Mini-Crit boosted weapons glow with electricity based on team color, with a slight yellow tint (greenish blue for BLU, orange for RED). Caused by Crit-a-Cola, Buff Banner, and the Chargin' Targe.
- Overheal: An overhealed player's health is above 100% (limited to 150%). Overhealed players produce health icon-shaped, team-colored particles. Caused by the Medi Gun, Kritzkrieg, Eyelander, Powerjack, and Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker.
- Fire: A burning player takes damage over time (an effect known as "afterburn"), to which Pyros are immune. From most sources, this deals 3 damage every half-second over 10 seconds for a total of 60 damage (Degreaser only deals 2 damage at a time, totaling 40). Caused by the Flamethrower, Backburner, Degreaser, flaming arrows, and the Flare Gun.
- Bleeding: Bleeding players take damage over time. Bleeding duration is based on the source (either 5 or 6 seconds), dealing 3-5 damage every half-second. Caused by the Southern Hospitality and the Tribalman's Shiv.
- Slowdown: Some weapons can reduce enemy movement speed on hit, with varying efficacy. Caused by Natascha and the Shortstop.
- Jarate-soaked: Attacks made against Jarate-soaked players become Mini-Crits. Jarate-soaked players are tinted yellow and drip yellow particles. Caused by Jarate and the Sydney Sleeper.
- Milk-soaked: Players who attack Milk-soaked enemies are healed for 75% of the damage dealt (does not overheal). Milk-soaked players drip white particles. Caused by Mad Milk.
- Evasion: Evasion prevents enemy weapons from damaging a player, though it has no impact on knock back or the induction of status effects. Evasive players produce an afterimage distortion effect behind them, and attacks against them cause flashes of text indicating misses. Caused by Bonk! Atomic Punch.
- Damage Softening: Players benefiting from damage softening are immune to extra damage and knock back from Critical hits and Mini-Crits, and take 35% reduced weapon damage overall. Such players have a glowing ring around their feet (an effect shared by the Buff Banner's Crit boost effect). Caused by the Battalion's Backup.
- Fleeing State: Fleeing players move at -10% speed, cannot move while crouched, and cannot fire or change weapons (though they can taunt). Such players can be recognized by their change in character animations, which vary by class (most can be characterized as looking "frightened" or "impatient"). Caused by the Sandman, humiliation, and Ghosts.
In addition to these status effects, players are subject to changes in statistics and abilities based on weapon and item set choices in their loadouts.
Environment
Depending on the map and server, the goals and rules of TF2 gameplay can change dramatically. By understanding these variables in gameplay (and how to parse them in the Server Browser), players can find a game environment that suits them and fully contribute to their team's goals.
Objectives
Maps are made based on a variety of game modes, which are used to determine the objectives for both teams. Teams may compete over the same goals (such as in Push Control Point and King of the Hill maps) or oppose each other in an offense vs. defense setup (such as in Attack/Defend Control Point and standard Payload maps).
Many game modes use control points, which are captured when a player whose color does not match that of the control point stands on it for a set time. The capture time varies by map, and its speed is increased when more players stand on it (though each player beyond the first provides diminishing returns). Capture is halted when an opposing team member stands on it in defense, and capture progress is gradually undone when no capturing team mates stand on the point. Control points cannot be captured while "locked." Payload carts are pushed and halted the same way control points are captured, though instead of capturing a Payload cart, the pushing team tries to bring it to a checkpoint.
In all official maps with offense vs. defense game modes, BLU plays offense while RED plays defense. In such maps, BLU tends to have faster respawn times, but RED is given a setup time to prepare a robust defense.
- Arena: Players spawn only at the beginning of the round, with no respawning. After a set time, a neutral control point unlocks, which can be captured to win the round. If all members of a team die, that team loses the round. Has first blood and automated team assignment/shuffling by default. Official arena maps don't have resupply cabinets.
- Capture the Flag (CTF): Teams work to capture the opposing side's Intelligence faster than their opponents do the same. Any player can pick up an enemy's Intelligence, and their team gains a point if that player returns the enemy's Intelligence to their team's own original Intelligence spot. The Intelligence drops on command or when its carrier dies; it's returned to its original location if it remains on the ground for a set time after being dropped.
- Control Point, Push (CP): Each team starts with two locked control points and fight for the middle, neutral control point. From then on, at any given time, each team's furthest control point is unlocked, while all others are locked. Teams must capture all five control points to win the round.
- Control Point, Attack/Defend (CP): If the offensive team captures all of the defense's control points before time runs out, they win (if defense can prevent this, they win). In most maps, only one or two control points are unlocked at a time (the notable exception being Steel).
- King of the Hill (KOTH): Each team has their own countdown timer, and a team wins when their countdown timer reaches zero. A team's timer counts down while they own the control point, but is frozen while that team does not have ownership of the control point.
- Payload (PL): Offense pushes the Payload cart in a manner similar to capturing a control point, trying to reach checkpoints instead of finishing point captures. The Payload cart supports allies as if it were a level 1 Dispenser. Offense wins if the cart reaches the final checkpoint (if defense can prevent this, they win).
- Payload Race (PLR): Essentially identical to Payload, but instead of offense vs. defense, each team pushes their own cart in an attempt to reach the finish before the opposing team does.
- Territory Control (TC): Each team is randomly assigned territories, and rounds consist of each team trying to contest one of their opponent's control points (while the opposing team tries to capture one of theirs). Most of the map is locked during gameplay, consisting of only one territory vs. one territory. After enough successive wins, a round takes place at the losing side's base point, which they must defend against the offense-only opposing team.
- Training Mode (TR): Training maps are for practicing skills against obstacles and/or bots and learning through tutorials. They are often played with only one human player, or at the very least, no opposing human sides.
Map elements
Players start the round in their team's respawn room, where they can change class and loadout. Most respawn rooms contain resupply cabinets, which fully restore health, restock weapon ammo, refill most item meters, and remove most negative status effects, though a similar effect can be achieved by class switching. Upon dying, a player waits to respawn in a respawn wave, which typically come at ten- or five-second intervals (the exact wait time for respawning varies by map, team color and size, objective status, and server settings), at which point they appear at their team's furthest respawn room; respawn rooms can be earned by capturing points or pushing Payload carts to checkpoints, and can be lost if the opposing team makes such progress themselves.
Many maps make use of doors. Although their visuals suggest otherwise, doors are handled by the server as being either completely open or completely shut, alternating between the two instantly. Most doors are opened when a player of the appropriate team(s) approaches them from the appropriate side(s) (most doors away from respawn areas open for anyone coming from any direction), closing when no such players are nearby anymore. Some doors remain locked until certain conditions are met, such as control points being captured or Payload cart checkpoints being reached. Some effects, such as Jarate and Mad Milk splashes, can go through doors.
The boundaries and surfaces of maps are not determined by visual elements, but invisible surfaces that determine where players and projectiles can go. All maps--even outdoor ones--have player ceilings and walls, though they may be invisible, and projectiles may even appear to go through them. Additionally, many surfaces and objects in the game that appear to take physical space are completely ignored for collision detection, with players and projectiles passing through them as if nonexistent; these surfaces can be used for hiding stickybombs or spamming targets from cover.
Maps usually have pickups placed in various locations. Map-specific health and ammo pickups will remain in place until grabbed, respawning after a ten-second delay. The map health pickups restore 20.5%, 50%, or 100% health based on size (pill bottle, first aid tin, and ice cooler, respectively); similarly, the map ammo pickups restore 20.5%, 50%, or 100% ammo and 41, 100, or 200 metal based on size (small grey metal box, medium beige metal box, and large wood crate, respectively). When players die, they usually drop weapons that can be picked up for 50% ammo and 100 metal (unless the dropped item was an Engineer toolbox, which drops 100% ammo and 200 metal); destroyed buildings also leave behind metal debris, which can be picked up for ammo and metal. A Heavy who dies with a Sandvich or Dalokohs Bar active will instead drop that, which can be picked up for 50 health points (75 for Scouts).
Server settings
Server settings can have a strong impact on gameplay in terms of performance and game balance. Players can select what kind of server on which they want to play using the Server Browser, filtering based on tags (which include game modes and changes to respawn times), player count, map, latency, and the like. Generally, servers closer to the player's location will have reduced latency, resulting in faster connection and more accurate hit detection. Game smoothness is also affected by the server's hardware and networking settings, especially at higher player counts or when running some mods.
Servers can run scripts and configs just as a player can, with commands from clients issued by rcon. For more unique functionality, there are numerous server plugins to modify gameplay or provide administrative or stat assistance, the most common being SourceMod and HLStatsX. Instead of running plugins, servers can use logs to interact with third-party match-making programs, such as TF2 Lobbies, which let them see stats out-of-game.
There are a variety of server settings that can change gameplay without running plugins or external programs. These include...
- Respawn times: Respawn times can be changed to either be shorter or effectively removed entirely. These can cause fluctuations in map and class balance, though combat is more steadily provided.
- Damage settings: Servers can disable random criticals, random damage spread, and random pellet spread with ConVars. This is most commonly done on competitive servers and those that frequently play arena maps.
- Max players: While TF2 was originally designed for 24 players or fewer, servers can raise the limit to 32 at the cost of performance. This can cause in increase of spam that slows objective progress, but ensures a greater amount of combat in the map.
- Objective specifics: Map objectives can be specified from the server. For example, the CTF game mode can be played to a certain capture count, to a certain time limit, or both. Related options include disabling Crit boosts from First blood or Intelligence capture, changing the map time limit, and using a win difference mercy rule.
- Pure: The sv_pure ConVar dictates what kinds of custom files are allowed on the server. When set to 0, clients can use any custom content they wish. When set to 1, clients are allowed to use any files on the server's whitelist. When set to 2, clients may not use any custom content besides those specifically allowed by Valve.
- SourceTV: Servers can enable SourceTV to allow a large number of spectators to watch the game without risking interference. SourceTV acts like an observer player, taking up a server slot while not playing on either team. Unlike players, SourceTV broadcasts its spectator view from the server's IP address (using a different port).
- Special modes: There are server modes that can be applied to any map regardless of game mode, including highlander and tournament modes. These are more commonly reserved for private events and competitions.
Other common rule areas that vary by server include team size/balance rules, alltalk (cross-team) voice chat, and ping limits.
Configuration
There are a variety of ways to configure the Team Fortress 2 client. The choices players make in setting up TF2 can have impacts on game interaction, performance, and presentation. Most of these methods of customization are not available on console versions of the game, save main menu options.
Program setup
Some aspects of a player's machine, operating system, and Steam settings can affect TF2, and after a long history of updates, Team Fortress 2 has required an increasing amount of system resources to play at optimum frame rates. Additionally, some program features enabled by default may be undesirable for certain players, either due to performance issues or personal preference.
Steam, by default, enables both Steam Cloud synchronization and the Steam Community In-Game Overlay, which can be changed under Steam Settings. Within Steam's interface, players can also change launch options. As the name suggests, launch options are TF2 settings that are applied when the game is launched. Launch options can be accessed by opening the Properties of Team Fortress 2 in the Steam Library and clicking "Set Launch Options...". Launch options are separated by spaces and start with either a dash (if the command is not accessible through console commands) or a plus sign (if the command is a console command). Launch options can be used to achieve a variety of effects, including...
- Smooth Alt+Tabbing: Players who wish to view other windows and programs while running TF2 can run it in windowed mode with no border. This can be reversed with the full-screen launch option (-full). Example (for 1440x900 resolution): -window -noborder -w 1440 -h 900
- DirectX Level: Due to performance or personal preference, running TF2 in a low DirectX level may be ideal. Example (for DirectX 8.1): -dxlevel 81
- Disabling Extraneous Features: Memory usage and performance drops can be minimized by disabling unused features. Example: -novid -nojoy -noipx -nocrashdialog
In addition to the Steam options, launch options can be specified for individual shortcuts to Team Fortress 2 by adding them to the file "C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe" -applaunch 440 as a shortcut target. For example, this shortcut target would run TF2 full-screen with no intro video:
"C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe" -applaunch 440 -full -novid
Video card and sound card configuration tools can be used to override game settings. For example, some video card utilities can change mat_picmip to values outside the normally-allowed bounds in Team Fortress 2, though this can be considered cheating.
Team Fortress 2 can be subject to operating system influences on mouse control. While this can be mitigated through launch options and registry edits, the easiest method to override this is by enabling Raw input (m_rawinput 1).
Customization
The most straightforward way for a player to customize their TF2 experience is the in-game options panels. In essence, the options panels are user-friendly ways to set ConVars, which can otherwise by set manually using the developer console. These panels are...
- Keyboard: Allows for simple key binding (can be done in command console with bind "KEY" "COMMAND"). The advanced options allow for fast weapon switching (change slots without confirming with the attack key) and enabling developer console (an important option for anyone using console commands).
- Mouse: Contains options for mouse and gamepad control. The "Raw input" option gives users more reliable mouse aiming by bypassing operating system mouse settings.
- Audio: Has a variety of sound-related options. Closed captions do not work without custom files.
- Video: Allows for some control of display settings, though some settings found in launch options and fps configs are missing or disabled. The advanced video options panel has the field of view (fov) slider, which can be increased to grant the player wider vision in-game.
- Voice: Has simple controls for in-game voice chat.
- Multiplayer options: Contains a great variety of gameplay-related options (mostly in advanced options) and content download control.
These settings are stored as ConVars in config.cfg, found in the cfg folder (which is usually found in C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\STEAMLOGIN\team fortress 2\tf\). By default, config.cfg is saved to the Steam Cloud.
In addition to the menu panels, ConVars can be changed with more specificity using scripting. Scripting allows for more advanced and uniquely tailored controls, dynamic player settings, and more optimized performance (performance scripts are usually just called "configs"). Script files are located in the cfg folder (usually found in C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\STEAMLOGIN\team fortress 2\). The file autoexec.cfg runs on game startup, and the class-named files (such as scout.cfg) each run when first spawning as the appropriate class. Most scripts are made using bind, alias, game commands, and/or ConVars; the wait command may be used to produce automated, chronologically sequenced functions, though a number of servers disable this with sv_allow_wait_command 0.
Many aspects of the TF2 interface can be customized by editing the Heads-up display, or "HUD". Most custom HUDs always work regardless of server settings, unless the HUD uses customized material files, which constitute custom content and are disabled by sv_pure servers (most HUDs only contain /resource/ and /scripts/ files, which are allowed in all pure settings).
Tools
There are a variety of first-party (some in-game and some not) and third-party tools to assist in playing, editing, and analyzing Team Fortress 2. These include...
- Demo Recording and Playback: Players can record demos of gameplay (record FILENAME in console) to watch or share later without using the resources necessary for live video capturing. Demos can be played with the console command playdemo FILENAME and captured to video using the startmovie command. PREC is a common, Valve-approved add-on to TF2 that automates demo recording.
- TF2 Tool Mode: TF2 can be run under a "tool mode" with the launch option -tools. The tool mode allows access to the Commentary editor, Material editor, and perhaps most notably, the Particle editor.
- Source SDK: The Source engine Software Development Kit, or SDK, is a set of programs that come with all Source engine games and run through Steam, including the Model Viewer (commonly used for posing wiki images) and Hammer editor (used for making maps). The SDK can be accessed in the Tools subsection of the Steam Library, and has its own wiki.
- GCFScape: One can examine and extract the contents of TF2 using GCFScape, a third-party application used by most custom content editors. GCFScape can also be used to validate or defragment game files. In order to view and edit VTF files extracted using GCFScape, VTFEdit is commonly used.
These tools, in addition to modeling and sound editing software, can be used to edit a variety of TF2 gameplay elements, though their actual presence in-game is based on server settings (most notably with the sv_pure command and file whitelists).
User-made content can be submitted to Valve through the contribution page. Content deemed worthy of inclusion becomes official game content, with the author credited and rewarded for their contribution.
