Now that Beta 1.2 has been out for a few days, we've gotten a lot of feedback about the changes we've made. The feedback about changes made to the speed and sprint in particular are the focus of a lot of complaints. I won't go into the justification for why those were added (see the forums), but it seems that we under-estimated how many people really liked Beta 1.1 movement, and we've also heard from a lot of people who like the 1.2 movement. Hit the polls in the forum and let us know what you think.

As an extra tidbit, here's what we've been working on since 1.2:

* Fixed longstanding HL2DM underwater sound death bug
* Fixed auto team balance keeping you dead
* Performance optimizations on ctf_dirtwork
* Near complete rework and optimizations to ctf_defrost
* Fixed cl_autoweaponswitch not working in some situations
* Added notice for auto team switches

Toying with the idea of restoring 1.1 movement via a cvar. Let us know what you think.

Beta 1.2 is now available! Head over to the downloads page to grab it.

What's new in Beta 1.2?

Maps:
* Added ctf_gunshot
* Updated ctf_2fort_lite
* Updated ctf_curved
* Updated ctf_trainingday
* Updated ctf_lambda_bunker

Features/Tweaks:
* Added ctf_respawndelay for admins to set player delay before respawn
* Added ctf_warmup to allow warmup mode (set to # seconds of warmup)
* Re-enabled sprint and added walk/run speed difference
* Added extra scoreboard stats for captures, returns, and flag carrier kills
* Added cl_autoweaponswitch cvar to not switch weapon on pickup
* Added auto-team balance
* Added second default key (M) to open team selection menu
* Added team selection reminder text to the spectator menu
* Tweaked SMG and pulse rifle damage
* Restored falling damage to Alpha level
* Made rockets dumb fire only
* Changed default spawn weapon to smg from gravity gun
* Improved HUD
* Once you drop the flag, you can't pick it up for 3 seconds

Bug Fixes:
* Fixed bug that could cause crash immediately on joining a server
* Fixed intermission respawn bug allowing players to kill after map is over
* Changed default sk_healthkit value to 25
* Fixed ctf_return_flag entity
* Fixed bounding box on flag being too big
* Fixed incorrect RPG weight

Thanks to everyone who helped us test it and offered feedback!

We're making good progress on the next update, which will include several major new features as well as some map updates. We're hoping to have this ready by next weekend for you guys.

There's a lot of new maps coming along, so if you haven't checked the map forum lately, you should head over there and see what all is available.

Finally, the HL2CTF team sat down to talk to hl2files.com's OmegaMiroku about the mod. You can read it all here.

Words were exchanged, gauntlets were thrown down, and the stage was set.

First match Valve beat us 2-0 on ctf_prisonriot. Second match, we beat valve 3-2 on ctf_defrost. The third match was a stalemate, ending at 0-0 on ctf_prisonriot. This leaves the overall score for the match tied up, so we're going to need to do this again in the near future to settle this once and for all!

We want to give a HUGE thank you to all the Valve guys that showed up to play with us tonight. We really appreciate it!

Beta 1.1 is now available for download!

What's new in Beta 1.1?

Map Updates:
* Updated ctf_prisonriot
* Updated ctf_curved
* Added ctf_lambda_bunker by Trivium

Features/Tweaks:
* Flag does not clip with players anymore
* Mouse over a player shows their name and team
* Added "dropflag" bind to allow players to drop the flag
* Added flag carrier indicator on hud to show who has the flag
* Reduced combine ball lifetime to 3 seconds
* Added extra 1 point bonus for killing enemy flag carrier
* Added extra 2 point bonus for killing enemy near your flag

Bug Fixes:
* Fixed a cheat that allowed players to use invalid player models
* Fixed crash caused by players using invalid player models
* Fixed crash caused by looking up bogus animations
* Fixed spectator movement to noclip
* Fixed bug where players could respawn and kill during intermission
* Bullet holes no longer leave strange marks on rebel flag
* Fixed flag indicator not being reset between levels

Download it now and learn those maps!

We want to be sure to beat up on Valve later today! See the forums for more on this match with Valve!

Lastly, we wish to ask all server administrators to fully upgrade to the new Beta and to note that we have reduced the maximum player slots! Please consider changing your maximum players to less than 24, preferably 16!

Thanks and Enjoy Beta v1.1!

We've got 2 big announcements about tomorrow!

The first is that we'll be releasing a new update for HL2CTF. This new update fixes many of the bugs people have reported on the forums as well as adds several features that have been heavily requested. We've been doing a lot of internal playtesting today with this new update and its loads of fun! The general consensus is that its a vast improvement over Beta 1.0.

The second announcement is that we're hosting a very special CTF matchup tomorrow! The guys at Valve have agreed to play against the best and brightest CTF players that we can bring together. Now's your chance to go up against the Half-Life 2 creators in a CTF game and show them what you've got. We're anticipating a lot of people being interested in playing in this match, so head over the forums to sign up. This match is going down tomorrow (March 2) around 6pm PST and it's first come, first serve!

Beta v1.0 is ready for download! We want to thank everyone to helped us test this build before release as well as all the server admins that are running HL2CTF servers!

Head over to the downloads page and get it now!

* NOTE: If you have the Alpha you must remove it before installing.

What's new in the Beta?
---------------------------

Map Updates:
* Added ctf_2fort_lite by Owner
* Added ctf_trainingday by KingNic
* Added ctf_curved by RipeX
* Added ctf_prisonriot by keved
* Added ctf_export by MagicTMP & Raeven0
* Updated ctf_map01 and renamed ctf_defrost
* Updated ctf_ent_test and renamed to ctf_dirtwork


Features/Tweaks:
* Added remaining HL2 weapons
* Reduced combine ball carry count to 3
* Tweaked weapon damages
* Increased rate of fire of pistol
* Added scoring bonus of 5 points for capturing the flag
* Added scoring bonus of 2 points for returning your flag
* Added team selection option to keyboard config screen
* MOTD now comes before team selection menu on first join
* Added new ammo crate models
* Tweaked player speed
* Increased map intermission time when changing levels

Bug Fixes:
* Fixed env_entity_dissolver message in console
* Fixed dead bodies lying all over the floor
* Fixed bug that allowed players to get extra weapons
* Fixed bug that caused ctf_capturelimit to sometimes be ignored
* Fixed incorrect & missing weapon sounds
* Fixed the missing widescreen background image
* Fixed laser dot remaining if you were killed while holding rocket launcher
* Fixed team name text displaying in wrong position on some resolutions
* Fixed the rocket spam bug

Enjoy!

More news coming soon!

We're doing some final testing on the new Beta version and everything seems pretty solid so far! We think this will be a great release, and we're really looking forward to playing it with you guys! If all goes according to plan in these final tests, we're planning to release a public beta Wednesday evening.

While you wait, head over to inhalflife.de where HL2CTF programmer Patrick "Valtrain" Flanagan sat down with inhalflife.de's molo to talk about the mod. Read the interview here.

Since the DM code was released last week, we have skipped right over releasing the next alpha in favor of going for the first beta of the mod!

As of today (Sunday) we will be having final code and map tests for beta v1.0 and if everything is good to go, we will release shortly thereafter. We will post the news here the moment it is ready along with all of the fixes and anything else we can think of concerning the mod's update.

Stay tuned!

We had a small code test tonight which went well. There are still a few details, but the major bugs have been resolved. We would like to add that the forums have been a major help to us. For those who are unaware, Guest accounts are allowed on our forums, so feel free to drop in and comment anytime!

We also wish to throw out an extra special thanks to the playtesters as well as the following for providing or running a HL2 CTF server for us!

FragDemons.com
Speedwise.net
Guns4Back2School.com
HellzKitchenServer.com
ClanServers.net
MHOGaming.com

Keep an eye out for more news coming soon!