Counter-Strike 2 gets a Beta with a fancy new animation system

While I still sit here waiting for Danger Zone to return (please Valve), Counter-Strike 2 just got a big Beta upgrade with a new animation system.

Going by previous updates it seems they were messing with the chickens first for a while with this new system, that's now rolled out into an opt-in Beta for actual player characters. This continues their very slow and gradual improvements to CS2.

In the initial announcement Valve said:

Today we're shipping a beta build that updates CS2's animation system to Animgraph 2, which reduces the CPU and networking costs associated with animation. Along with the technical work involved in switching to the new system, all third person animations have been re-authored and, in many cases, adjusted in response to player feedback.

To try it out look for the animgraph_2_beta option in the game properties:

The actual changelog:

[ ANIMGRAPH 2 ]

The CS2 animation system has been updated to Animgraph 2, which reduces CPU and networking costs associated with animation.

• All third-person animations have been re-authored, and in several cases adjusted in response to player feedback.
• Smoothed in-air crouching transitions in first and third-person.
• In support of Animgraph 2, the logic adjusting player height on sloped surfaces has been refactored.
  • Player height on ramps is now consistent and no longer depends on approach direction.
  • As a result of this change, grenade lineups on sloped surfaces may have changed.

[ ENGINE ]

• Updated engine code to the latest version of Source 2.

[ CS SCRIPT ]

• Added function GetRoundRemainingTime.

[ GAMEPLAY ]

• Player occlusion now uses a GPU query to prevent players clipping through thin walls when none of their bounding volume is visible.

[ SOUND ]

• Mix adjustments to help accentuate jump landing sounds during combat.
• New c4 equip sound.
• Minor adjustments to ambient sound levels.
• Fixed missing ambient sounds on team selection and end of match screens.
• Fixed missing sounds in the main menu UI
• Mix tweaks while taking damage
• Fixed bug where DeathCam music cue was causing volume ducking for too long.
• Vertical occlusion is now more gradual at the edges of transition points in Nuke and Vertigo.
• Various map audio adjustments in Baggage, Shoots, Ancient, Nuke, and Vertigo.