Level of Detail (LOD). To reduce the number of polygons that need to be rendered, the Source engine will render lower-quality models if the model is very far away. If it moves closer to the player's point of view, it will change to a higher-quality model, with more polygons and more textures. As it continues to come closer, it will gain more detail until it reaches perfect quality.
The advantage of using LOD is obvious: Objects that are far away, where they cannot show much detail anyways, will not use up nearly as many memory and processing resources for the player. In extreme cases, they may not even be rendered at all. It is up to the developer then, to decide how many levels of quality are appropriate for a model, and at what distances they should be "activated" at. For example, in Half-Life 2, the G-man character model had five different models.
Valve’s Team Fortress 2 is about to be invaded by Rift, the upcoming MMO from Trion Worlds. Both companies announced today that Steam customers who pre-order Rift by March 1st will receive two exclusive melee weapons in Team Fortress 2: the “Sharpened Volcano Fragment” and “Sun-on-a-stick.” Additionally, the Valve team is adding a permanent Team Fortress 2 achievement that grants players a redeemable code for an equally exclusive (and terrifying) headpiece in Rift, the “Well Spun Hat.”
Team Fortress 2 players will automatically receive the melee weapons beginning today, while players lusting after the Well Spun Hat must complete the new “Riftwalker” achievement. After applying the code on their Trion account page, Rift players will receive the hat in their in-game mailbox beginning with the game’s headstart period on February 24th.
All Steam pre-order customers will receive the weapons, including those who’ve already purchased Rift through the digital platform. This offer is available to Steam users worldwide.
Item Descriptions:
· Sharpened Volcano Fragment – Melee weapon for the Pyro
· Sun-on-a-stick – Melee weapon for the Scout
· Well Spun Hat – Cosmetic head slot item used to intimidate and frighten other players
edit: Spending two minutes researching this, there's nothing about this on the Rift store page. Probably a dumb rumor
Updates to Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)
Further improved engine handling of server queries.
Team Fortress 2
Added Rift promotional items
New items: Sun-On-A-Stick and Sharpened Volcano Fragment.
New achievement: Riftwalker
Updated several more models with optimizations and new LODs.
Fixed seeing a partial health bar in the upper left corner of the spectator menu.
Fixed the control point progress bar not being aligned properly when using cl_hud_minmode 1.
Fixed the The Essential Accessories hiding the Scout's hat/headphones.
Updated sounds for the Brass Beast.
Updated the Scottish Resistance stickybombs to always glow if they will be detonated by a right-click, including the stickybombs under the Demoman's feet.
Changed default crosshair to be more opaque, like the custom crosshairs.
Fixed some missing surfaces on the bottom of the Pyro's mask.
Fixed the assister's name not being listed in the Fish humiliation and kill notices.
Fixed the Force-a-Nature not drawing correctly in the character loadout screen.
Engineers who hit teammate's sentry guns with their wrench now get kill assists from that sentry.
Made the Jag gift wrappable.
Fixed seeing a badge on the player when a noisemaker is equipped.
Fixed particle effects on the Hustler's Hallmark.
Added FCVAR_DONTRECORD flags to 'bind,' 'bind_mac,' 'unbind,' 'unbind_mac,' and 'unbindall' so they can't be recorded into a demo (fixes having your keys changed when you watch a demo).
Updated Cp_Granary
Added a new entrance to the mid Red/Blue ramp rooms.
Clipping, lighting and perf improvements.
Tournament mode HUD fixes
Fixed seeing an empty alert tray under the stopwatch timer.
Fixed a bug where the time for the tournament mode stopwatch wasn't being displayed.
Fixed the countdown when both teams are ready always reading "0 seconds"
Was going to try to start a game, but I guess the servers need to restart
Posts
I find myself enjoying Welsh accents on the ladies. Take Eve Myles or Joanna Page for examples, both of their voices make me sigh dreamily.
yeah, I was saying that the guy in the comic was John Henry
Hats would have to transfer over between games, of course.
john henry???
With the loud clockwork minigun spinning up and the ponderous but devastating sledgehammer
Seems nifty
wait what
edit: Spending two minutes researching this, there's nothing about this on the Rift store page. Probably a dumb rumor
those weapons look dumb and out of place!
He has 59/373 achievements. There are only 368 at the moment.
It's from this newspost http://store.steampowered.com/news/4947/[/QUOTE]
Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)
Further improved engine handling of server queries.
Team Fortress 2
Added Rift promotional items
New items: Sun-On-A-Stick and Sharpened Volcano Fragment.
New achievement: Riftwalker
Updated several more models with optimizations and new LODs.
Fixed seeing a partial health bar in the upper left corner of the spectator menu.
Fixed the control point progress bar not being aligned properly when using cl_hud_minmode 1.
Fixed the The Essential Accessories hiding the Scout's hat/headphones.
Updated sounds for the Brass Beast.
Updated the Scottish Resistance stickybombs to always glow if they will be detonated by a right-click, including the stickybombs under the Demoman's feet.
Changed default crosshair to be more opaque, like the custom crosshairs.
Fixed some missing surfaces on the bottom of the Pyro's mask.
Fixed the assister's name not being listed in the Fish humiliation and kill notices.
Fixed the Force-a-Nature not drawing correctly in the character loadout screen.
Engineers who hit teammate's sentry guns with their wrench now get kill assists from that sentry.
Made the Jag gift wrappable.
Fixed seeing a badge on the player when a noisemaker is equipped.
Fixed particle effects on the Hustler's Hallmark.
Added FCVAR_DONTRECORD flags to 'bind,' 'bind_mac,' 'unbind,' 'unbind_mac,' and 'unbindall' so they can't be recorded into a demo (fixes having your keys changed when you watch a demo).
Updated Cp_Granary
Added a new entrance to the mid Red/Blue ramp rooms.
Clipping, lighting and perf improvements.
Tournament mode HUD fixes
Fixed seeing an empty alert tray under the stopwatch timer.
Fixed a bug where the time for the tournament mode stopwatch wasn't being displayed.
Fixed the countdown when both teams are ready always reading "0 seconds"
Was going to try to start a game, but I guess the servers need to restart
Remind me who we have to pester to get the servers restarted
not me.
the update changed my FoV.
new entrance
Useless outside of medieval, at least
Aww hell, seriously?
Not enough to buy a game for it, though.
I kinda want to complain over the internet about this unless it turns out I can get that axe without spending sweet moolah
Really? I'd say it's one of the worst items in the game.
play MNC instead? that's my plan.
blog updated again.
http://tf2.com
The curse of a Mac computer forbids me from playing MNC.
I know, but I love the idea of a Volcano Stick.
Time to start saving metal!
Want that axe
So, get ready you butts
The description would be: (My team sucks.)
Proceed
yay, no temptation to slap down fitty bucks on another mmo.
I HATE YOU VALVE