Reduces CPU load by up to 40%.
In CS:GO’s first patch following the IEM Katowice Major, Valve has introduced an option which can reduce CPU memory use by around 40%.
In addition to reducing hardware strain, Valve’s also increased the voting time before matches transition to the next map on official servers, and updated a few communication options as well.
If you want to start reaping the benefits of lowered CPU consumption, you’ll need to input “-d3d9ex” as a CS:GO startup command in your Steam client. Do be warned that it’s still early days for the update, so you might encounter a few graphics problems. To report any issues, send an email over to [email protected] with the subject “D3D9EX”.
Todays Release Notes are up. Weve done some work to reduce CPU usage (by up to 40%), added features to sanitize player names and avatars, and increased the map vote time after a Casual match has ended. Full notes here: https://t.co/uQh7PpeOBL
CS:GO (@csgo_dev) March 6, 2019
If you’re playing ranked matches on the official servers, the voting time has been increased before you transition to the next map. This might seem like a small change, but it’s always nice to have a bit more time to think things through and prepare before heading into battle.
Elsewhere, Valve has added a few extra quality of life improvements to the in-game communication systems. Here’s a breakdown of the changes:
- Mute the enemy team
- Block communication from everyone except players you are friends with, or players in your matchmaking party
- Hide avatar images
- Change names of players not on your friends list to something neutral
Additionally, and with CS:GO’s first Major of the year behind us, the Katowice 2019 graffiti can no longer be applied in-game.
To round things off, Valve has fixed a scoreboard issue where a player’s rank icons sometimes didn’t get removed when the player was replaced with a bot. A minor addition, but every little improvement helps!
