Pool Day Returns to Map Pool in Latest CS2 Update

Valve's latest CS2 update (dated 25th June 2024) introduces five new community-made maps across various game modes. Despite the excitement around these additions, the lack of a new Operation to celebrate the franchise’s 25th anniversary left the community disappointed.

New Maps

Nevertheless, two highly anticipated workshop maps made their way into the game, Mills and Thera, for both 5v5 game modes and Deathmatch. Thera, created by FMPONE—the talent behind Cache—holds special interest. It served as the testing ground for the Source 2 map-making tools before diving into the Cache remake.

Meanwhile, Assembly and Memento are the latest additions for Wingman players, marking a significant update after a nine-month wait. These maps were long-standing favorites on the Steam Workshop, making their inclusion a welcomed addition to the mode.

Pool Day, a map dating back to Counter-Strike 1.6, has also made its way back with a new polished look and as chaotic as ever. The Arms Race matchmaking will feature the map with an easter egg hidden around the map.

Hint: Check the lockers. 

Competitive mode changes

Another notable change includes an overhaul to the map-based skill groups in Competitive mode. Players now only need two wins to earn a skill group, a significant reduction from previous requirements. Additionally, Valve reshuffled the distribution of current assigned groups, giving players a chance to earn new ranks.

On top of this, there’s a new MVP panel, as well as animated MVPs in Premier and new ways to optimize your video settings.  Here are the full patch notes:

[ MAPS ]

Community Maps

• Added community maps Thera and Mills to Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch map groups
• Added community maps Memento and Assembly to the Wingman map pool
• Added community map Pool Day to the Arms Race map pool

Nuke

• Fixed c4 stuck spots

Ancient

• Fixed c4 stuck spots, holes in the world, and non-solids causing problems

Vertigo

• Fixed c4 stuck spots and clipping

Anubis

• Fixes for grenade collision and clipping

[ UI ]

• Updated the MVP panel in all game modes
• Added all-new animated MVP panels to Premier matches
• Added several new MVP conditions and adjusted prior MVP rules

[ GAMEPLAY ]

• In Competitive Matchmaking, after you earn two wins on a map per-map skill groups.

[ VIDEO SETTINGS ]

• Settings Recommendations

• Added a Settings Recommendation popup if your display's refresh rate is below its maximum at startup. Using your display's highest refresh rate is generally recommended.
  • Added a Settings Recommendation popup if NVIDIA G-Sync support is detected but not enabled at startup. Using G-Sync is generally recommended if your system supports it.
  • Added a Settings Recommendation popup if NVIDIA G-Sync is enabled but not V-Sync and/or NVIDIA Reflex. It is generally recommended to enable all three settings together when available. Note that applying these settings will limit your frame rate to your display's refresh rate or slightly lower, which is usually the smoothest-looking and lowest input latency settings combination. See https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/418E-7A04-B0DA-9032 for technical details.
• Removed "Main Menu Background Scenery" and "Item Inspect Background Scenery" settings from the Video Settings page. These settings are still available on the Main Menu and in the Item Inspect screens respectively.
• The "Refresh Rate" setting now shows your display's current refresh rate in Windowed and Fullscreen Windowed modes.
• Removed the "Laptop Power Savings" setting which has never actually been configurable in CS2.
• Added a "Frame Pacing" section to the Advanced Video settings page.
• Added an "NVIDIA G-Sync" row to the Frame Pacing section which tells you whether or not G-Sync is active with your current display settings. This row may not show if you're using the Vulkan renderer or if you're not using an NVIDIA graphics card.
• Added "Maximum FPS In Game" and "Maximum FPS In Menus" sliders to the Frame Pacing section. These control the fps_max and fps_max_ui convars respectively.
• Increased the default "Maximum FPS In Menus" setting from 120 FPS to 200 FPS.
• The Advanced Video visual preview now uses the "In Game" maximum FPS instead of the "In Menus" maximum.
• Visual preview in Advanced Video now reflects "In Game" maximum FPS setting instead of "In Menus".

Featured Image source: Valve

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