Jill announces TF2 beta branch in Steam Discussions

[Micnax]

I remember the model browser used to be the default green, but it changed in an update and has that present issue of crashing when searching sometimes.

VAAAAAAAAALVE

 

[worMatty]

Jill is talking about the compile tools they use to compile the game, not the mapping compile tools.

Taken from the HLDS mailing list:

[hlds] Heads up - Updated system requirements for TF2 dedicated servers, likely mod breakage - Beta available

Hey everyone,

Following up on the warning email we sent a long while back, we're making good on our promise and changing our build toolchains for the TF2+SDK2013 games' dedicated server. TF2 is being updated first, with the other SDK2013 games to follow.

There are two things that may affect server administrators that you should be aware of:



The Linux dedicated server now targets the Steam Runtime

The Steam Runtime is a common runtime target based on Ubuntu. For srcds, this largely means linking against a more recent glibc than may be available in some server distributions. Administrators should check that the provided beta still runs in their environment of choice. Those who are on older or incompatible distributions have several options:

- Switch to a distribution more compatible with the Steam Runtime, such as Ubuntu LTS

- Make use of a chroot/container/VM environment to run srcds. The tools linked below include a script for creating a chroot that can be used for bootstrapping Steam Runtime environments.

- Use the Steam Runtime tools linked below combined with some dynamic linker magic to use the runtime libraries on an incompatible distribution, e.g.:

steamrt=/path/to/runtime
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="bin:$steamrt/usr/lib32"
LD="$steamrt/usr/lib32/ld-linux.so.2"
"$LD" ./srcds_linux "$@"
More information about the Steam Runtime and utilities for obtaining it can be found here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime


The compiler toolchain used for all editions of srcds has changed

Along with the client builds, all server builds have been updated to a newer compiler. Windows builds now use the MSVC2015 tools, while Linux builds now use a newer edition of GCC with differing command-line parameters that affect codegen.

This is expected to break mods that expect certain ABI behaviors or look for certain signatures in order to hook functions (such as SourceMod). We have separately spoken with the SourceMod team and they are working on supporting the new setup. Maintainers of other mods should test them against the beta release below.

Our previous warning also indicated that this would change the _srv naming of the linux binaries. We have decided *not* to adjust this, and the separate _srv build and naming remains unchanged.



Beta

We've made a beta branch available for TF2 with these new changes. The remaining SDK2013 games will be updated in the near future, and we will provide a beta for them at that time.

The beta is compatible with the current TF2 public release - servers may safely convert to it and continue serving both beta and non-beta clients.

The beta branch is titled "toolchainbeta" with no required password. It can be accessed with SteamCMD via:

app_update 232250 -beta toolchainbeta

These changes may be promoted to an official release of TF2 as soon as next week, so we encourage all server administrators to test their setup against the beta before then.



Let me know if you have any questions or concerns

- John

 

[Werewolf]

I think both @BigfootBeto and @Hyperion beat you to that punch, @worMatty

 

[Yacan1]

I know this is "nothing" by their standards, but honestly really exciting to see that is something they are working on. Really glad that these are at least being acknowledged and allowed to have an open beta program. Awesome news.

 

[Asd417]

(Sudden flashback of Cocktus Canyon)
nvm I think the beta system is awesome.

 

[Powerlord]

This is, more or less, an update to make TF2 use newer system libraries.

What this improves other than allowing Valve to use the C++11 standard, I have no idea.

(Well, there's also the Steam runtime thing on Linux, but that doesn't explain why they updated it on Windows.)

 

[Werewolf]

What this improves other than allowing Valve to use the C++11 standard, I have no idea.

Well, speculate? What *could* Valve use the C++11 standard for?

 

[nickybakes]

That and preview render issues with translucent models.

I know this isn't exactly what you're talking about, but I thought it may be useful:
If you place the model down in your map and it doesn't show up entirely like the hay pile, or the water cooler, you can click this button to preview prop fades, and the full models will show up and you can see them.

 

[theatreTECHIE]

Well, speculate? What *could* Valve use the C++11 standard for?

Just found this: http://cpprocks.com/9-reasons-to-start-using-c11/
So perhaps it could allow TF2 to be more optimised, so yay for people complaining about frame rate.
Also it could allow the team to work faster, so it's quicker for them to rollout updates, so yay for everyone?

 

[Asd417]

This is, more or less, an update to make TF2 use newer system libraries.

What this improves other than allowing Valve to use the C++11 standard, I have no idea.

(Well, there's also the Steam runtime thing on Linux, but that doesn't explain why they updated it on Windows.)

The question is, will they do it at a cost of time. I hope so

 

[Werewolf]

Would I be wrong in thinking that instead of trying to update TF2 to the Source2 engine, they are trying to update TF2's source engine to a pseudo-source1.1 to properly accommodate the past changes to the game? So they aren't making a new engine, they are just doing a long overdue overhaul of the foundations to make sure it will work in the future.

 

[Vel0city]

Would I be wrong in thinking that instead of trying to update TF2 to the Source2 engine, they are trying to update TF2's source engine to a pseudo-source1.1 to properly accommodate the past changes to the game? So they aren't making a new engine, they are just doing a long overdue overhaul of the foundations to make sure it will work in the future.

But why? The company's moving over to Source 2 with both new titles and older still-maintained games, so you'd think they're getting the current game ready for a port as to use a unified engine within Valve. Spending time and resources on yet another version of the current old engine seems like a counter-intuitive thing to do.