The big tools update was the survivor models that shipped in the release branch - that update just hadn't been released in the beta branch yet.

General:
Fixed game not launching with 'Error Code 2'. (Arghafragagrr...)

Mac / Linux:
- Fixed buffer overrun which could cause a crash on start-up.
- Fixed an audio bug which could cause a crash on start-up.

EMS:
- Allow scripts to write to sub-directories of the 'ems' folder.
- Script system will use /ems/maps as a fallback path when loading 'entities' files.

Today we're shipping all the beta changes to the public branch, including EMS and Linux. Getting that release ready has consumed most of my attention recently, but now that it's out (and once any issues get ironed out) I'll be able to focus time again on EMS feature requests. I want to thank everyone here for helping us get these new features ready for public consumption - but I still consider EMS to be a work in progress and will try to continue shipping feature updates on a regular basis.

Thanks,
Kerry

Originally posted by shotgunefx:

Thanks Kerry! One thought, I've noticed is that IsDead() becomes true after the ragdolling, so if you're scoring on damage, you'll still need to debounce Tanks as they get that z_tank_incapacitated_health bump when they start dieing.

Quick question on that, would there be any reason to not just set that in the mode file to 1? I imagine it exists for a reason

The tank incapacitated health is a kind of kludge from the early days of L4D that never went away because... you know... it got the job done. :) It allows the tank to stay "alive" just long enough to play his dramatic death animation, and then he dies for real and ragdolls when it hits zero. So you can set it to 1 and it'll work, but you'll lose the death animation and there may be a couple of minor side effects with other systems (like screenshake) that expect the 'fake death to real death' behavior.

Since anyone using IsDead() may be depending on internal game state that results from the real death, would something like IsDying() be useful to indicate that the character has been killed as far as the players are concerned, but is just being a little dramatic about it for several seconds before actually being dead for real?

- Improved scripted template entity spawning performance
- Don't allow Mac and Linux clients to load plug-ins without -insecure

EMS
- ent.GetOwnerEntity() - return an entity's owner
- player.SetReviveCount( count ) - set the number of times a survivor has been revived, and update third-strike state and effects
- player.ReviveFromIncap() - revive an incapped player
- player.ReviveByDefib() - revive a dead player by defib
- player.HitWithVomit() - target a player with a vomit attack
- player.Stagger( position ) - stagger a player away from a position. Use Vector(0,0,0) to just stagger forward.
- player.IsDead()
- Player.GiveUpgrade( upgrade ) - give a primary weapon upgrade
- Player.RemoveUpgrade( upgrade ) - remove a primary weapon upgrade
Upgrades: UPGRADE_INCENDIARY_AMMO, UPGRADE_EXPLOSIVE_AMMO, UPGRADE_LASER_SIGHT
- DropSpit( location ) - drop a spit pool from the specified vector location
- DropFire( location ) - drop a fire pool from the specified vector location

Guess I know what I'll be doing over the holiday weekend...

I wouldn't plan on netprops - it'll take a significant amount of engineering to make that work well from script. As for ChangeLevel, it's non-trivial due to all the different meanings that a level transition can have in L4D2 (continuing, new game, restarting rounds, team swaps, etc.) but we'll try to work out a general enough solution that would actually be useful.

GENERAL
- Fixed possible insta-kill when shoving a jockey who is mid-leap
- Fixed Cold Stream image in Campaign select menu
- Remove ammo piles in Gib Fest Mutation

EMS
- ent.GetEntityIndex()
- ent.EyePosition()
- ent.GiveItem( itemname ) - Give an item/weapon by name. ("health", "katana", "rifle_ak47", etc.)
- ent.GetButtonMask() - returns a bitfield of currently pressed buttons. Recognized buttons are:
IN_ATTACK, IN_ATTACK2, IN_JUMP, IN_DUCK, IN_FORWARD, IN_BACK, IN_USE, IN_MOVELEFT, IN_MOVERIGHT, IN_RELOAD

I tracked down the history of those models - they came in with the first revision of Cold Stream. Before we did the final release we had to remove some content that was unsourced, which was the case for the models you listed. They're still sitting in the release depot because that hasn't been switched over to the Steam Pipe content system yet, but that switch will happen when the beta gets integrated over and then they'll be gone for good. You'll have to either replace those models in your campaign, or extract them from the release depot now and include them in your vpk.

I'll look into those models, thanks! I assume the campaign you're referring to is Downtown Dine?