Update Team Fortress 2 to fix stubborn lagbots and server sabotage

Valve has released another update for Team Fortress 2, this time to combat common forms of server tampering. In particular, the use of ‘lagbots’ is counteracted with a new server setting.

Hosts of servers can post the new update Using the server command net_chan_limit_msec, set a limit on the time the server is allowed to spend processing packets sent by a player. When a player requires too much server computing power, he is automatically removed from the game.

This setting is a direct answer to Team Fortress 2’s lagbot problem; cheaters and other malicious users have been able to crash servers unimpeded for years, critics say. This was often done when a votekick procedure was started against an alleged cheater. Crashing the server simply couldn’t get the cheater banned. Now that happens automatically when a malicious player or bot unleashes a lagbot, a kind of ddos ​​attack on the server.

Also, Valve is adding a diagnostics feature to Team Fortress 2. Server hosts can request statistics of players present in a server with the command net_chan_stats_dump. This concerns information such as sent messages, bandwidth and CPU processing time. Based on this, hosts can more easily identify malicious players and possibly ban them manually.

The update in question follows on from an update released in late June in response to ongoing issues with bots and cheaters. Both updates are in response from Valve to requests from Team Fortress 2 fans to address the longstanding cheat and bot problem within the competitive shooter. That’s why fans started the #SaveTF2 movement.

Despite the considerable age of Team Fortress 2, the 2007 game still attracts a huge audience via Steam. Roughly a year ago, a new player record was set. Also in July of 2022, the shooter is invariably in the top 10 of most played games on Steam, according to figures from SteamDB.

Image via valve