A new Team Fortress 2 update has arrived, featuring several updates aimed at resolving the FPS game’s notorious bot and cheat issues highlighted by the recent #SaveTF2 campaign. TF2’s new patch features an improved kick voting system designed to allow FPS game players to remove problematic bot accounts from servers more quickly, and fixes an exploit that allowed players to enable cheats on seemingly safe servers. .

The June 21 Team Fortress 2 update allows both teams in a match to take a vote to kick at the same time, and also allows these votes to occur at the same time as a global vote. Instead of more substantial solutions to deal with bots, this should at least act as a check against the endless tide for players trying to keep their servers in check.

Also, you can no longer change your name during a game; it was often used by bots to duplicate real player names and cause confusion. Another potentially problematic exploit allowed players to activate the ‘sv_cheats’ command while playing on a secure server, allowing them to employ in-game cheats. This particular hack has now also been fixed.

There are also a bunch of other fixes, including some for some long-standing issues. Most notable are fixes to dispensers being able to heal through glass walls on certain maps, spies using the wrong weapons when masquerading as certain classes not present on the enemy team, and a particularly nasty vulnerability that allowed spies to create invisible and impenetrable barriers. by dressing up as other classes.

Reception on the game’s subreddit has been largely positive, with fans mostly happy to see some form of action being taken after Valve’s promise that it was looking into the issue. Several players highlight the double vote kick and the blocking of mid-match name changes as highlights. User obbyfus notes: “Now we can kick bots twice as fast. On the other hand, bots can also kick us twice as fast. But if there are so many bots, there’s no point in being on the server anyway.”

While fans see this action as a positive start, the general consensus seems to be that more is required. “It’s not enough,” says obbyfus, “but I really want to say I’m glad they’re trying, at least a little bit.” Another user, xiren_66, states: “This is a good start. But please don’t leave it at that, Valve. This helps, we appreciate it, but it feels so small.”

In the meantime, it remains to be seen what will happen, if anything, with the two main TF2 mods returning to action following Valve’s radio silence. Additionally, the free-to-play game will play host to a community-run TF2 MvM charity event running through mid-August.