Counter-Strikes: Global Offensive is known for having quite a steep learning curve, leaving many newcomers struggling to get to grips with the game.
Among the most reported feedback is the sense that enemies can be hard to spot for the untrained eye. All too eager to keep improving on the eight-year-old title, Valve has pushed out a new update that should ease the initiation process for green players.
The update introduces a new graphics setting, dubbed Boost Player Contrast. In a blog post sharing the news, Valve describes it as ‘a special post-process filter that applies to stationary characters, creating local contrast so that characters stand out from the background.’
Boost Player Contrast features several small visual tweaks that, when combined, allow players to spot enemies without interfering too drastically with the overall graphical feel of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or introducing an undue competitive advantage. In many ways, it’s a balancing act.
As for the details, Boost Player Contrast includes an increase in character contrast compared to the background when seen from a distance; clearer edge pixels at a distance; a slight blur effect around characters to lessen background noise; and a contrasting halo effect when the color of the character and background are similar. Alongside, Valve has also rejigged the textures on several character models and made adjustments to fog to make characters stand out from further afield.
Valve also notes that the problem manifests itself in different ways depending on the map and specific location due to the variety of lighting and detail. Some changes are being introduced with the patch (notably by increasing the world fog in Dust 2), but the developer says it will be making more map-specific tweaks in the future.
The Boost Player Contrast is available right now and will be set as default. If you don’t get on well with the changes, you can turn the setting off in Video->Advanced Video->‘Boost Player Contrast.