On April 30th TF2 will switch over to Steam Pipe. What does this mean? But first. Steam Pipe is in a modified Beta. By saying that I mean you can right click TF2 in Steam, go to properties and opt into the Beta. As of yesterdays update, you can still play on non-Steam Pipe servers. This is good. But note your server browser is locked into the beta. So any servers you have not fav'ed won't show up. So to use CSN servers you must have them in your favorites or join via console.
Moving on. What is Steam Pipe? It's an upgraded content delivery system, currently used by DOTA2 and CS:GO that has been rolled out to every other Orange Box game but TF2. So the game conversion itself is a psedo-optimization. Let me explain that. The engine itself is unchanged but the game files are handled different. Why a pseudo-optimization? TF2 is like Gaben. Over the years he gets bigger and bigger. One day he realizes eventually his shit will start clogging the toilet. In lieu of an expensive plumbing rehab, he decides to stick a stint in his sphincter to make his shits smaller. On April 30th Valve will switch over TF2. You do not have to re-download the game! The game conversion takes about 5 minutes. And has a lot of benefits. And a couple fuck you's to those who modified their game assets with skins, sounds, ect. Overall it just means the files in TF2 move from the GCF to VPK. I have converted and now join servers in about 5 seconds. Downloads will be faster overall, including custom content. Any custom content you currently have will be moved to tf2/downloads in your system.
What does this mean to average CSN players? Well the change in content and files may create some incompatibility with certain mods. The core CSN donor system will still be intact when the servers themselves switch over. So everyone should remain unaffected.
I suggest opting into the beta. This will mean you won't get stuck during the live update (for as long... maybe.) What is cool: The change on the server side delivery system means stuff like custom maps will download to clients a lot faster. This opens up the possibility of custom maps to be integrated... maybe. we'll see. Don't start a thread.
Source:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_art ... -QPFN-2491
