sourceserver.info

Quoted from "Fletcher Dunn"

We're trying out different way to release updates that will hopefully reduce disruption to your communities.

New builds are now available for the client and dedicated server for CS:S, DoD:S, and HL2:DM. These builds have the same PatchVersion and are network compatible with the current build. (It's an "optional update" for servers.) To obtain these builds, you need to opt into the prerelease beta.

To opt into the prerelease beta on the client, right click on the game in the game list and select Properties, select the "Betas" tab, and select the "prerelease" beta. (This is a public beta and does not require a password.)

To select which branch to sync the dedicated server to using steamcmd, you need to pass "-beta prerelease" to the app_update command. For example, if you are using a SteamCmd script file, you might have something like this:

login anonymous
force_install_dir cstrike
app_update 232330 -beta prerelease
quit

(I am told that it is possible to pass the -beta switch on the steamcmd command line, through some magic combination of quoting, so you can avoid having to create a script file. Hopefully some kind soul will figure out how to do that and share it.)

Switching between two steampipe branches is really fast and easy, so if there's a problem, you can switch back quickly. (Opting out of the "steampipe beta" was really painful because it was switching between two entirely different content distribution systems --- that will never apply again.)

If no big problems are detected, we'll make these builds the official build on Monday.

Our current plan is to always keep the prerelease branch active, even if it is the same build as the main branch. This way you can stay opted in. In other words, "prerelease" actually means "the latest available build".

We're not sure if every update we release needs to go out as a prerelease first.

Here are the change notes for the builds we are releasing today:

Source engine games:
* mapcycle and motd files now reside in the cfg folder by default, or in the root as a fallback.
* Default mapcycle and motd files are now shipped as cfg/xxx_default.txt, and will be used if the filename convar is at the default value and no custom file is found in the cfg folder or the root.
* mapcycle file can contain blank lines and //-style comments
* mapcycle file loaded from the custom folder.
* Greatly reduced memory usage on the client and server
* Added some hardcoded rules to the "end" of sv_pure rule list.
* Fixed some filesystem calls not properly obeying pure server rules.
* Fixed model bounds and simple materials consistency checking rules. (Fixed Counter-Strike server spew.)