Valve released a short update for CS:GO last night and it's got many people confused. There are just three points to the October 15 CS:GO patch notes. Let's go into detail on what each one of them actually does.
The vicious cycle of CS:GO updates ever since Valorant's release has cooled off a bit as Riot Games' shooter did not live up to the unreasonable expectations of replacing Valve's FPS as the go-to 5v5 multiplayer experience. We still get some improvements from time to time and improving existing features is what this most recent update is all about.
Today we are shipping a beta depot aimed at improving seeking while watching demos. More information in today's Pre-Release Notes: https://t.co/CJNo080jlO
— CS:GO (@CSGO) October 13, 2020
October 15 CS:GO Update
Let us first lay out the patch notes and then we will explain what they mean in plain words.
- Text Filtering now makes use of Steam Text & Chat Filtering.
- Added a new setting “demo_index” — when enabled, playback of demo files will create full-frame baselines to improve performance of seeking forward and rewinding within demo files.
- Adding an option for using uber shaders which replaces the launch option -noubershader. This setting is defaulted off for users on Intel and on for everyone else.
- Miscellaneous fixes
Text Filtering
Text Filtering was introduced back in June to battle toxicity within CS:GO. Of course, CS:GO trolling and ordinary douchery can never be defeated, but we admire Valve's attempts of at least limiting it to audio. Until this update, Text Filtering only worked in the game itself. Now it expands into Steam Text & Chat.
Demo Index
When you work for an esports media company and your main game is CS:GO, you sometimes have to deal with viewing CS:GO match demos. There are worse things in the world for sure, yet there aren't many as tedious as this chore. With the new Demo Index that process should become at least a little bit more bearable. It boosts performance and speed while time-jumping in a match demo, neutralizing a large portion of the charming lags and freezes that usually come with the view.
Uber Shaders
This seems to be the most confusing part for the average CS:GO gamer. What are these uber shaders and should I be keeping them on or off? In the simplest terms, shaders are connected to how a game displays different objects and environments. Normal shaders are aplenty and take care of many small rendering duties. Uber shaders are simply a larger, more complex shader that takes on multiple tasks.
- READ MORE: Things You Didn't Know About CS:GO
Now that we have a basic idea of what uber shaders are, the question remains what enabling them would do for your CS:GO experience. The effect is pretty much this: hitches, stutters and similar minor annoyances go away in exchange for a few frames per second. Like many performance-related fixes, it really depends on your machine. If you can afford the loss of FPS, then turning uber shaders on is something you'd want to do. If not, keep it disabled.
Stay with EarlyGame for more quality CS:GO content. You can also check our YouTube channel for some visuals if reading's not your main thing.
