CS:GO update brings more changes to competitive matchmaking pool – January 31 patch notes

The developers of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at Valve released another minor update for the incredibly popular PC game on January 31 / February 1. Here’s everything you need to know about the patch.

As we stated after the release of the January 24 CS:GO patch, it is unlikely that we will see any game-changing updates until the conclusion of the IEM Katowice Major on March 3, but the devs seem determined to continue to tweak and improve the current maps in the matchmaking rotation.

The last update focused on removing maps like Subzero and Austrian from official matchmaking – replacing them with the likes of Zoo and Abbey – and the January 31 patch seems to be dedicated to improving those replacements.

Zoo was added to the matchmaking rotation in the January 24 update.

Both Zoo and Abbey are now available in competitive matchmaking, rather than public matches alone, and have received numerous tweaks to their appearance and other improvements along with the new version of Vertigo, which was also added to the competitive matchmaking rotation on January 24.

Abbey’s skyboxes have been opened up in a number of locations, offering a more diverse range of options for grenade usage. A number of minor glitches have also been addressed along with optimization improvements.

Abbey received a number of tweaks in the latest patch.

Zoo’s changes are more visual than practical, with the developers noting that they have replaced and changed a number of small sections and even removed the ‘dead guy at T spawn’.

The full January 31 patch notes for CS:GO are as follows:

MAPS

Zoo and Abbey are now available in Competitive matchmaking.

Zoo:

– Visual updates overall to match present standards
– Replaced SWAT with FBI
– Reduced the amount of corners/spots at B site
– Removed glow effects from wall mounted fixtures to prevent smoke exploits
– Replaced foliage at interior lower mid to improve sightlines
– Raised ceiling in connector between T spawn and A mid
– Moved swinging tire out of the way of sightlines
– Increased infographics’ resolution
– Removed dead guy at T spawn
– Disabled collision on some foliage
– Fixed minor visual glitches

Abbey:

– Opened mid skybox allowing T’s to throw grenades from river area
– Opened mid skybox allowing players to throw grenades from A bombsites
– Opened A skybox allowing T’s to throw grenades from right alley
– Replaced window model with wider one in library (T’s side of middle)
– Added block bullets brushes in some places to prevent full penetration
– Optimization
– Removed bomb stuck spots
– Enabled collision on window models
– Reduced size of clip brushes in some places
– Added missing overlays
– Fixed various clipping issues
– Added new 3d skybox
– Removed tiny mountain
– Added some color to the map
– Added building on mid

Vertigo:

-Made door into B site from CT side twice as wide
-Improved collision model of large HVAC units
-Blocked visibility under HVAC units
-Tweaked layout of staircase leading up to B site
-Blocked visibility from T spawn to B site catwalk
-Added some props near staircase to minimize fall damage
-Tweaked layout of bombsite B target
-Brightened ambient sunlight

 MISC:

– Fixed game state integration truncating long workshop map names.
– Fixed localization strings in some languages displaying numbers with zeroes after decimal point.