Backpack

This article is about the backpack itself. For other uses of the name, see Backpack (disambiguation).

The backpack is a player's personal inventory, allowing for storage for all in-game items. Items are kept in individual slots and can be viewed, moved or deleted from within the backpack interface. Additionally, most tool items can only be used from within the backpack. Items are displayed as pages, with each page displaying 50 items. The backpack can also be sorted by class, rarity, and type.

Before the backpack, there was a simple item selection menu for each class (introduced with the Goldrush update), much like the current class loadout screen but with only weapon slots. Those classes who had updates released could use it to select between the vanilla and any achievement items that had been unlocked. The backpack (along with the class loadout screen) was introduced into the game some time between the Scout and Sniper vs Spy updates, with an initial storage capability of 50 items even though it could only store the 12 unlocked achievement items at that point (which could be comically deleted and never re-earned: April 20, 2009 Patch). The Sniper vs Spy update introduced the drop system proper to utilise this extra space. This was originally designed to supplant achievement weapon unlocking entirely, although achievement unlocks were reintroduced a week or so later due to public outcry. The storage size has since been increased on multiple occasions, and as of the Australian Christmas update in December 2010, the backpack now consists of 300 slots (or 6 pages). The Australian Christmas update also introduced the Backpack Expander tool, enabling the addition of 100 more slots per use to a total of 1000 backpack slots. Free-to-Play Team Fortress 2 players will be limited to a single backpack page (50 slots); once they become Premium players with any in-game purchase, their backpack is upgraded to the standard capacity.

Items, when moved within the backpack, will make a distinct sound based on the properties of the item itself; a distinct sound is usually heard when an item is picked and another when it is put down again. For example, the Eyelander when moved will produce the sound of a sword being drawn, and Bonk! Atomic Punch will make the sound of a pop top opening when it is picked up and the sound of a soft drink can falling to the ground when it is put down. Some items have unique sound effects, such as Ze Goggles, which make a sound that resembles the goggles turning on and off. Noise Makers will play their sound effects.

Update history

April 20, 2009 Patch

Added the ability for players to permanently delete items from their inventory using the backpack menu. This does not reset achievements. Once an item has been deleted it can never be re-earned.

August 13, 2009 Patch

Added drag & drop to move items around. Item positions are maintained on the backend.
Added multi-select, allowing you to delete multiple items at once.
Added a new key to the key binding page that opens your inventory directly to your backpack.
Fixed mouseover panel being incorrectly position when the backpack first appears.

September 15, 2009 Patch

The backpack's storage capability was increased to 100.
Backpack can now be sorted by type.
Multi-selection in the backpack is now done by holding down the Ctrl key.

June 10, 2010 Patch

Added help to the backpack screen.

September 30, 2010 Patch (Mann-Conomy Update)

The backpack's storage capability was increased to 200.

December 17, 2010 Patch (Australian Christmas)

The backpack's storage capability was increased to 300.
The Backpack Expander tool was introduced, enabling the addition of 100 more slots per use to a total of 1000 backpack slots.

April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update)

Backpack can now be sorted by Rarity.
Improved the backpack sorting algorithms.

April 15, 2011 Patch

Fixed backpack being unavailable for some players.

April 18, 2011 Patch

Fixed a few backpack images not drawing correctly.
Fixed players not being able to access their backpack loadout.

May 6, 2011 Patch

[Undocumented] Clicking restore in backpack on a numbered item will now prompt to remove the number as well.

May 12, 2011 Patch

Added a “Show in Backpack Order” setting to the loadout slot select screen.

June 23, 2011 Patch (Über Update)

Free-to-Play backpack rules defined. Free backpacks are limited to 50 items but become standard backpacks upon upgrading to Premium status.

August 18, 2011 Patch

[Undocumented] Brought back the ability to view item levels in the in-game backpack.

September 2, 2011 Patch

Added a checkbox to the backpack dialog that will colorize items based on their quality.

October 13, 2011 Patch (Manniversary Update & Sale)

When sorting the backpack, otherwise-equivalent items will sort by strange weapon rank and crate series number if possible.

November 16, 2011 [Item schema update]

Fixed a bug that would cause backpacks to not display for certain players.^[1]

February 16, 2012 Patch

Steam inventory/trading sort order now matching the in-game backpack.

March 22, 2012 Patch

Double-clicking on a tool in the backpack view will now use that tool.

July 20, 2012 Patch

Fix a bug that caused gameservers to not properly receive client inventory updates. (Frequent cause of the "The server you are playing on has lost connection to the item server" error message.)

August 2, 2012 Patch

Fixed GetPlayerItems web APIs not respecting inventory privacy settings.

September 4, 2012 Patch

Backpack sounds updated for Rogue's Col Roule, Cozy Camper, Scrap Pack, Professor's Pineapple, Scottish Handshake, MONOCULUS!, Manniversary Paper Hat, Party Hat, Googly Gazer, Liquor Locker, and Something Special For Someone Special.

October 17, 2012 Patch

Improved the "Restore" UI for customizing items in backpack.}}

Bugs

The autosort function will not work when a user has more than 520 items.
Occasionally, due to various reasons, items may become "invalidly placed" when placing an item on top of a different item so that one of the items disappear. (Note: The item is not gone from the backpack. The player must then move around items to make it reappear.)
With "Show quality colors" toggled on, if you drag an item into invalid space (Off the border, into the header) The item will reset without its quality color. The quality color will return when you switch the page or highlight the item.
When "Show quality colors" is enabled, the name of the item in the icon will not be visible in the equip menu or crafting menu. However, this does not matter as a box appears with the name along with details of the item.
You can receive items via Steam trade (not in-game) even if you have your backpack full. New items will not be shown in the game's backpack and can't be used in crafting but can be used in game and can be viewed in the Steam inventory. If you remove/trade enough of other items and resort backpack new items will be fully available. Note that sometimes new items can be removed from backpack with no warning after entering a game.
When dragging an item to another page, the pop-up will display the wrong item in relation to where the cursor is.

Trivia

When sorted by class, the class order uses the internal order (which is the same as Team Fortress Classic) rather than the more familiar role-based ordering.