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PSA on "sv_allow_point_servercommand"
By Dom
A Quick Public service announcement about to sv_allow_point_servercommand. Everyone should know the information found here so that hundreds of the same question about why a custom map doesn't seem to work doesn't have to be asked.
   
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Dom
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Category: Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Maps or Levels, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer, Secrets, Walkthroughs, Weapons, Workshop
Languages: English
Class: Demoman, Engineer, Heavy, Medic, Pyro, Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Spy
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19 Jul, 2015 @ 7:20am
22 May, 2016 @ 5:48am
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Hey everybody, Dom here. Quick public service announcement: on June 2nd, 2015 the patch that added the custom-map workshop also added something to Team Fortress 2 that should be explained.

“Added sv_allow_point_servercommand to disable point_servercommand entities. Defaults to "official" Valve maps only. Can also be set to "disallow" and "always"”

What this means is a new command was added to the game. This command disables point_servercommand entities depending on the setting. When set to ‘official’ they still work on Valve maps only, when set to ‘always’ they work on all maps and when set to disallow they never work. So what is a point_servercommand?

Point_servercommand entities are logic entities in Team Fortress 2 and other source engine maps. They’re powerful and a valuable tool for map makers. When making a map they can use in conjunction with other logic entities to put commands into the console. A point_servercommand basically acts like a person manually putting console commands into Team Fortress 2’s developer console.

One thing to note, for clarification: a point_servercommand acts like the person hosting a map is putting in console commands. This means joining a server running a custom map with a point_servercommand will have no effect on the person joining. Maps run on servers can’t input commands onto the console of clients connected to the server. The point_servercommand runs the commands on the server’s console. If the client actually hosts the map, than the point_servercommand inputs commands in the client’s console.

If latter the client disconnects from a server with a custom map and then hosts the map, than it’s now running the maps and the point_servercommand can be used to input commands on the client.

Usually point_servercommand are harmless. It’s hypothetically possible to use them for malicious intent. A map maker could set up a map that has a one to run the command “unbind all” for example. They would have to tell someone to download the map and run in on their client. This would case the person running the map to have all their keys unbound, which would be bad. With the addition of the Team Fortress 2 map workshop the number of players downloading and running custom maps increases. It makes sense that Valve would implement a command to protect them from someone who might add a malicious map to the workshop.

What’s bad about the implementation of the sv_allow_point_servercommand command is that it breaks a lot of custom maps. The most notable map broken is tr_walkway, a popular training map. A lot of my maps are broken as well, like the hoard mode maps, sentries versus bots and even an upcoming project. The default setting for this command is to only allow the point_servercommand entity on official Valve maps. I suggest everyone not really interested in downloading maps off the workshop simply change their setting for the command to always. At lest remember that the command exists and refer to it if ever a downloaded custom map doesn’t seem to work correctly.

Thanks for watching. Au revoir.

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https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/June_2,_2015_Patch