Patch 177

Patch notes of Steam update #177, released on August 7th, 2026:

Maps

• c1a1a
• Fixed the Freeman's locker room door getting stuck

[*]c2a5a

• Fixed Apache helicopter touching the death trigger on spawn

[*]c2a5g

• Fixed mortar shells hitting the sky from above

Game Modes

• Reworked the default team selection (the 'Auto Join' option)
• Battle Royale
• Restored the end round message shown if multiple players are still in the zone by the end of the overtime period (regression since pre-Steam patch 22)

[*]Hunted

• Team player count balancing tweaks

[*]Sneak vs. Terrorists

• Fixed Sneaks being able to report dead bodies

Player Models

• Fixed HL2 Citizen using Fatass's model properties
• Changed the existing TFC Sniper's token from tfc_sniper to tfc_sniper_hd

NPCs

• Updated non-JB NPCs to ignore players hiding in a box
• Upgraded flash lights for Combine scanners
• Fixed batteries dropped by destroyed Combine scanners couldn't be picked up
• Updated Metrocops to support empty SetPoliceGoal input calls

Weapons

• Fixed Explosive Tripmines not playing their dedicated sound cue when tripped
• Fixed Friction grenades not dealing periodic damage after a direct hit (regression since pre-Steam patch 638)
• Fixed removing Dubstep Gun could leave its lights active

User Interface

• Added visual cues to the team selection panel for inaccessible teams
• Restored textual headshot notifications shown when performing a headshot kill or dying to one
• Fixed attempting to display a hint panel resulting in an infinite loop leading to a crash
• Fixed the Explosive tripmines pickup hint not showing in SvT at all
• Fixed the Pump shotgun alt fire hint showing when the alt fire mode is disabled (ie in Hunted)
• Fixed missing use of the localization token for the 'Random' player model
• Fixed kill notifications having no weapon names/icons during the Midas Touch special BR round
• Idle players will now have a designated icon shown by their name on the scoreboard
• Slighly tweaked the appearance of the damage numbers
• Debug overlays will now smoothly follow entities they're created for
• Rewinding demo playbacks will now remove dangling debug overlays
• Fixed incorrectly used color markers in various localized strings
• Updated Czech and Finnish localizations

Effects

• Fixed certain shadows showing as distorted for objects mistakenly treated as not within view (such as skybox or mirrors)
• Fixed HDR lighting being always enabled on Linux, even on maps with LDR lighting only

VScript

• Fixed the VScript language field from the map properties being ignored at the server side

Miscellaneous

• Mimalloc related tweaks and optimizations
• Fixed client crash when saving the game instructor lessons progress
• Fixed client crash due to an excessive amount of scenes to render in one frame
• Fixed very heavy props starting to glitch when pushed or kicked
• Fixed team assigned objects (ie security cameras) could be damaged by players from the same team
• Fixed track trains set to loop around stop rotating after the first loop
• Fixed per model voice overrides not working for the weapons reloading voice lines
• Removed use of the 'settings' section from the mapadd files shipped with the game
• Fixed sv_maxspeed convar not being used at all
• Replaced sv_showhitboxes convar with new ent_hitboxes cheat command
• Updated jb_admin_* commands targeting players to include @random and @giants groups, plus updated all groups to support reverse selection via preceding ! (ex: jb_admin_slap @!me slaps everyone but you)

SDK tools

• Added 'Max health bonus' and 'Max armor bonus' fields to jb_pickup_health and jb_pickup_armor respectively, allowing them to grant health/armor beyond the standard limits
• Commentary editor
• Restored missing layout files
• Fixed crash on exit

[*]faceposer

• Fixed memory leaks when resampling WAV sounds in PCM format

[*]hlmv

[*]studiomdl

[*]vlocalize

• Implemented text color markers processor