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[VIDEO] Guide to Team Fortress 2's Utility Maps
By Dom
A VIDEO guide to all Team Fortress 2 maps that aren't meant for normal gameplay.
   
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Created by
Dom
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Category: Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Maps or Levels, Modding or Configuration, Secrets
Languages: English
Class: Demoman, Engineer, Heavy, Medic, Pyro, Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Spy
Posted
3 Oct, 2016 @ 6:00am
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Note: This is the video's script and may not be formatted well for reading.


Hey everybody Dom here. Today I’d like to talk about Team Fortress 2’s utility maps.

In Team Fortress 2’s game files there are hidden maps that are not meant to be used for normal gameplay. These maps serve specific purposes such as aiding in developer work and testing things within the game. They’re used by Valve and the community alike to improve Team Fortress 2. So what are the utility maps?


Itemtest

Itemtest is a small simple map made from a section of blue’s spawn room on cp_gorge. The map was added December 2010 during the Australian Christmas update. In its original incarnation it had a main room and a hallway but has since received updates to improve usability and add hidden rooms.

The purpose of Itemtest is to test cosmetics, paints and partial effects. Before it was part of the game testing items required replacing game files for custom files and was a longer and more tedious process. Items are tested by being placed on bots that spawn scattered throughout the main room.

The map was added to the game alongside the console command itemtest. This command brings up a user interface where bots can be spawned in and equipped with cosmetics. From this interface custom configurations can be saved and loaded. The interface also has some controls for manipulating bot behaviour. Controls such as telling the bots to couch and fire their weapons.

Besides itemtest another command was added called itemtest underscore botcontrols. This command functions as a quick way to only bring up the bot controls found in the itemtest interface.

The last thing to note is the itemtest and itemtest underscore botcontrols command aren’t dependent to this map. They can be used on other maps.


mvm_example

Mvm_example was released August 2012 during the Mann versus machine update. It’s a small fully functional mann versus machine map with developer textures on the walls.

The purpose of the map is to be used as an example of a mann versus machine map. It’s intended to be used by map makers and people interested in making their own mann versus machine missions.

The map’s only available to people who have Source SDK installed. It also requires being manual installed by moving the files into Team Fortress 2’s directories. For these reasons not everyone has this map.

Mvm_example comes with a navigational mesh, a mission in the form of a pop file and a vmf file. The vmf file is basically the raw map before-compiling. It can be viewed within Hammer world Editor. Valve placed notes throughout the map to help explain how everything works and what function everything has.

The pop file included is formatted in such a way to showcase most things possible. It contains comments to explain how things work so people can make their own mvm missions.


background01

Orange box games like Half-Life 2 and Portal have animated main menus. The way they accomplish this is by loading up simple basic maps when the game is launched. These maps work like dioramas and exist behind the main menu’s user-interface. They usually have a fixed camera and showcase a small portion of the game.

The computer version of Team Fortress 2 doesn’t have an animated main menu background and thus doesn’t use this feature. The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 version of Team Fortress 2 do use this feature. When these versions of the game launch they load up the map Background01 in the background.

Besides just looking nice as a main menu background, the map has a secondary function on consoles. It works as a way to pre-load many of the commonly used assets of the game to improve load times. Behind the camera where no one would see are some of these assets. There are props, player models and weapons. There are also errors. These errors exist because Team Fortress 2 used to use w_models and v_models but has since switched to using c_models for both and the map was never updated to go along with this change.

It’s still possible to use background01 for its intended use on the computer. By using the console command “map_background background01” the game will load up the map as a background to the main menu.


cp_cloak

The map is a big room with windows that showcase the 9 classes in a void. It has 2 spawn rooms and a control point in the middle. Capturing the control point wins the round for a team. The map is poorly made. It has bad lighting, off-grid geometry, a leak, a conjoint skybox, lacking respawn room-functionality and is over-all barley functional.

Cp_cloak was added to the game when Team Fortress 2 had its file system updated to the Steam Pipe system in May 2013. The map was added alongside background01. Since it was added in conjunction with Valve overhauling the way their file-distributes works it isn’t clear if it was added intentionally.

The exact purpose of cp_cloak is unknown but from what’s known it’s possible to speculate what functions it served. The map was probably a general test map. The use of huge class faces suggest testing facial animations. The lighting, decals and single-controlpoint-gamemode could have also been tested.

Lastly the name of the map suggests its purpose was to test the spy’s cloaking functionality. Since the map was added alongside background01 and that map existed before the game launched it could be cp_cloak is also old enough for such a thing to be tested.

Due to the map being mysteries, weird and having no ambient sounds the Team Fortress 2 community interprets the map as being creepy. The map is equated to being like creepy pasta. It could also exist as a red-herring or a joke on Valve’s part towards determiners.


Training mode was added to Team Fortress 2 June 2010 during the Mac update. With it came the addition of 2 new maps: tr_target and tr_dustbowl.

tr_target

This map is a small warehouse with an open space in the center that connects to small hallways. Like itemtest the map is made from an existing location, blue team’s first spawn room on payload Thundermountain. Technically tr_target existed before Thundermountain was released so which map is copying which is debatable.

The purpose of tr_target is that it houses Team Fortress 2’s basic-training tutorials. Tutorials consist of selecting a class, loading into tr_target and completing all instruction-props on screen. Originally the map only supposed basic Soldier training but has since been updated to support more classes.

tr_dustbowl

Tr_dustbowl is another tutorial map. It’s essentially cp_dustbowl but with modifications. The map works like a mini singleplayer campaign where bots play the roles of teammates and enemies. Players are walked though the 3 stages of dustbowl with scripted events and it’s impossible to lose because there’s no timelimits.


And that just about sums up everything noteworthy about utility maps in Team Fortress 2. They exist to help developers, as a remnant of the past, and to act as tutorials. Thanks for watching. Like if you enjoyed or learned something new and subscribe for more videos like this one. Au revoir.


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