Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (abbreviated CS: CZ or just CZ) is the newer version of the multiplayer game, Counter-Strike. The game was released in 2004 using the GoldSrc Half-Life engine. CS: CZ features a multiplayer mode, which mostly features updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks. Unlike other Counter-Strike games, Condition Zero also contains a single player mission pack with the player unlocking maps and more efficient bots as they pass certain requirements for each map while playing as a counter terrorist. These requirements include targets such as, "Kill 3 enemies with a glock" or "Win a round in 45 seconds." Condition Zero also contains bots with better AI than other Counter-Strike games.
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero maps
Condition Zero maps are generally re-made Counter-Strike maps featuring newer textures and effects. As of 2008, some Condition Zero maps now contain advertising. Several new maps made by Turtle Rock Studio were also incorporated into the Xbox version of Counter-Strike.
Clans and Communities
Clans and Communities are groups of players which play together under a single name, usually displayed as a shortened version known as a "tag" in their in-game name. Clans tend to be more tight knit than communities, and are often made up of around 10 - 50 people. Communities are typically much larger and generally consist of more than 50 players. This group aspect of the game is one of the reasons it is so popular many years after its release. Clans and Communities often run or rent their own servers which they administer themselves.
Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes
Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes were what was left over from Ritual Entertainment's dropped share of development. A series of 18 unconnected single-player missions, Deleted Scenes were originally the focus on the game with standard multiplayer thrown in too. However, after declaring the game gold and handing out review copies of Ritual's work, Valve saw an average review score of around just 60%. The companies retracted the gold status and work on CZ was essentially begun again. The final game contained Ritual's portion, called Deleted Scenes, alongside Turtle Rock Studios's version of the game.
Several weapons from the "lost contents" have made an appearance in Deleted Scenes, including the M72 Light Anti-Armor Weapon, and the M60 machine gun. Some are unfortunately limited to the AI terrorists, such as the machete and Rogue Entertainment's controversial suicide belt. Some reconnaissance weapons including the blowtorch, radio, Fiber optic Camera, and remote control bombs. Players can also carry up to three grenades instead of the usual one. Moreover, the power of players' Kevlar Armor is boosted, better protecting players from many projectiles and bullets.
Some weapons were completely reanimated. This includes the Colt M4A1, FAMAS and Galil with the exception of the SIG SG 552 which uses its "beta animations". Weapon textures are also slightly modified. The weapons are colored a bit differently from their Counter-Strike counterparts, such as the Arctic Warfare Magnum which is now brown instead of green, the Steyr AUG and the Colt M4 Carbine are now two-tone police black instead of the usual colors. It initially came with twelve missions, but later Steam updates added six additional missions that were cut from the initial release. There is a small community for Deleted Scenes, and a few custom maps have been released. Three are by Thearrel "Kiltron" McKinney, a mapper who worked on the game itself.
At the ending credits, a Delta Force soldier rides a Scud missile, clearly alluding to Dr. Strangelove.
List of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes Missions
1. Counter Terrorist Training
2. Recoil
3. Thin Ice
4. Rise Hard
5. Secret War
6. Alamo
7. Pipe Dream
8. Lost Cause
9. Fast Line
10. Truth in Chaos
11. Run!
12. Hankagai
13. Miami Heat
14. Turn of the Crank
15. DrugLab
16. Downed Pilot
17. Motorcade Assault
18. Building Recon
Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter in which players join either the terrorist or counter-terrorist team (or becomes a spectator). Each team attempts to complete their mission objective and/or eliminate the opposing team. Each round starts with the two teams spawning simultaneously, usually at opposite ends of the map from each other. A player can choose to play as one of eight different default character models (four for each side, although Counter-Strike: Condition Zero added two extra models, bringing the total to ten). Players are generally given a few seconds before the round begins (known as "freeze time") to prepare and buy equipment, during which they cannot attack or walk/move (a player can still take damage, having the player drop from a certain height during freeze time was the only way somebody could control the players starting "HP"). They can return to the buy area within a set amount of time to buy more equipment (some custom maps included neutral "buy zones" that could be used by both teams). Once the round has ended, surviving players retain their equipment for use in the next round; players who were killed begin the next round with the basic default starting equipment.
Standard monetary bonuses are awarded for winning a round, losing a round, killing an enemy, being the first to instruct a hostage to follow, rescuing a hostage or planting the bomb.
The scoreboard displays team scores in addition to statistics for each player: name, kills, deaths, and ping (in milliseconds). The scoreboard also indicates whether a player is dead, carrying the bomb (on bomb maps), or is the VIP (on assassination maps), although information on players on the opposing team is hidden from a player until his/her death, as this information can be important.
Killed players become "spectators" for the duration of the round; they cannot change their names until they spawn (come alive) again, text chat cannot be sent to or received from live players; and voice chat can only be received from live players and not sent to them (unless the cvar sv_alltalk is set to 1). Spectators are generally able to watch the rest of the round from multiple selectable views, although some servers disable some of these views to prevent dead players from relaying information about living players to their teammates through alternative media (most notably voice in the case of Internet cafes and Voice over IP programs such as TeamSpeak or Ventrilo). This technique is known as "ghosting".
Mods and scripts
Though Counter-Strike is itself a mod, it has developed its own community of script writers and mod creators. Some mods add bots, while others remove features of the game, and others create different modes of play. Some of the mods give server administrators more flexible and efficient control over his or her server. "Admin plugins", as they are mostly referred as, have become very popular (see Metamod, AMX Mod and AMX Mod X). There are some mods which affect gameplay heavily, such as Gun Game, where players start with a basic pistol and must score kills to receive better weapons, and Zombie Mod, where one team consists of zombies and must "spread the infection" by killing the other team (using only the knife). There are also the Superhero and Warcraft III mods which mix the first-person gameplay of Counter-Strike with an experience system, allowing a player to become more powerful as they continue to play. There is also a Star Wars mod, where you get a lightsaber instead of a knife, have special abilities according to a starwars character, also receive a rank based on the U.S. military ranks, and the objective is to capture the flags. The game is also highly customizable on the player's end, allowing the user to install or even create their own custom skins, HUDs, sprites, and sound effects, given the proper tools. Also some mods have a feature called rollthedice, where something bad or good happens to you when you type rollthedice.
Cheating
Counter Strike has been a prime target for exploitation by cheaters since its release. In-game, cheating is often referred to as "hacking" in reference to programs or "hax" executed by the user.
Typical cheats are:
* Wallhacks, which allow the player to see through walls. These work by altering the display driver to display objects that are normally obscured, or altering game textures to transparent ones. The only objects seen on the hackers screen are those close by. The server will not send you characters of the whole map, so you can not see across the whole map.
* Speedhacks, which give the player increased speed. These work by sending false synchronization data to servers.
* No recoil, which keeps the players gun shooting straight on the y axis without a kickback by removing gun physics. No spread is used to make a players gun shoot straight along the x axis.
* Aimbots, which helps the player aim at enemies. These work by moving the player's view to anticipate an enemy's position.
* ESP, which shows textual information about the enemy, such as, health, name, and distance, and also information about weapons lying around the map, which could be missed without the hack
* Barrel hack, which shows a line that depicts where the enemy is looking
* Anti-flash and anti-smoke, which remove the flashbang and smoke grenade effect. This branched off the wall hack.
Valve has implemented an anti-cheat system called Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC). Players cheating on a VAC enabled server risk having their account permanently banned from all VAC secured servers.
With the first version of VAC a ban took force almost instantly after being detected, and the cheater had to wait 2 years to have the account unbanned[citation needed]. Since VAC's second version, cheaters are not banned automatically. Rather, they are banned according to a delayed banning system, and bans are permanent. Many cheats are still not detected by VAC, and often the only effective anti-cheat solution is a human administrator watching an online game. VAC, while being effective in some ways, has also provided a boost in the purchasing of private cheats. These cheats are updated frequently, as to prevent detection, and are available to those who pay to use them or to those in the community or clan.
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero maps
Condition Zero maps are generally re-made Counter-Strike maps featuring newer textures and effects. As of 2008, some Condition Zero maps now contain advertising. Several new maps made by Turtle Rock Studio were also incorporated into the Xbox version of Counter-Strike.
Clans and Communities
Clans and Communities are groups of players which play together under a single name, usually displayed as a shortened version known as a "tag" in their in-game name. Clans tend to be more tight knit than communities, and are often made up of around 10 - 50 people. Communities are typically much larger and generally consist of more than 50 players. This group aspect of the game is one of the reasons it is so popular many years after its release. Clans and Communities often run or rent their own servers which they administer themselves.
Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes
Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes were what was left over from Ritual Entertainment's dropped share of development. A series of 18 unconnected single-player missions, Deleted Scenes were originally the focus on the game with standard multiplayer thrown in too. However, after declaring the game gold and handing out review copies of Ritual's work, Valve saw an average review score of around just 60%. The companies retracted the gold status and work on CZ was essentially begun again. The final game contained Ritual's portion, called Deleted Scenes, alongside Turtle Rock Studios's version of the game.
Several weapons from the "lost contents" have made an appearance in Deleted Scenes, including the M72 Light Anti-Armor Weapon, and the M60 machine gun. Some are unfortunately limited to the AI terrorists, such as the machete and Rogue Entertainment's controversial suicide belt. Some reconnaissance weapons including the blowtorch, radio, Fiber optic Camera, and remote control bombs. Players can also carry up to three grenades instead of the usual one. Moreover, the power of players' Kevlar Armor is boosted, better protecting players from many projectiles and bullets.
Some weapons were completely reanimated. This includes the Colt M4A1, FAMAS and Galil with the exception of the SIG SG 552 which uses its "beta animations". Weapon textures are also slightly modified. The weapons are colored a bit differently from their Counter-Strike counterparts, such as the Arctic Warfare Magnum which is now brown instead of green, the Steyr AUG and the Colt M4 Carbine are now two-tone police black instead of the usual colors. It initially came with twelve missions, but later Steam updates added six additional missions that were cut from the initial release. There is a small community for Deleted Scenes, and a few custom maps have been released. Three are by Thearrel "Kiltron" McKinney, a mapper who worked on the game itself.
At the ending credits, a Delta Force soldier rides a Scud missile, clearly alluding to Dr. Strangelove.
List of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes Missions
1. Counter Terrorist Training
2. Recoil
3. Thin Ice
4. Rise Hard
5. Secret War
6. Alamo
7. Pipe Dream
8. Lost Cause
9. Fast Line
10. Truth in Chaos
11. Run!
12. Hankagai
13. Miami Heat
14. Turn of the Crank
15. DrugLab
16. Downed Pilot
17. Motorcade Assault
18. Building Recon
Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter in which players join either the terrorist or counter-terrorist team (or becomes a spectator). Each team attempts to complete their mission objective and/or eliminate the opposing team. Each round starts with the two teams spawning simultaneously, usually at opposite ends of the map from each other. A player can choose to play as one of eight different default character models (four for each side, although Counter-Strike: Condition Zero added two extra models, bringing the total to ten). Players are generally given a few seconds before the round begins (known as "freeze time") to prepare and buy equipment, during which they cannot attack or walk/move (a player can still take damage, having the player drop from a certain height during freeze time was the only way somebody could control the players starting "HP"). They can return to the buy area within a set amount of time to buy more equipment (some custom maps included neutral "buy zones" that could be used by both teams). Once the round has ended, surviving players retain their equipment for use in the next round; players who were killed begin the next round with the basic default starting equipment.
Standard monetary bonuses are awarded for winning a round, losing a round, killing an enemy, being the first to instruct a hostage to follow, rescuing a hostage or planting the bomb.
The scoreboard displays team scores in addition to statistics for each player: name, kills, deaths, and ping (in milliseconds). The scoreboard also indicates whether a player is dead, carrying the bomb (on bomb maps), or is the VIP (on assassination maps), although information on players on the opposing team is hidden from a player until his/her death, as this information can be important.
Killed players become "spectators" for the duration of the round; they cannot change their names until they spawn (come alive) again, text chat cannot be sent to or received from live players; and voice chat can only be received from live players and not sent to them (unless the cvar sv_alltalk is set to 1). Spectators are generally able to watch the rest of the round from multiple selectable views, although some servers disable some of these views to prevent dead players from relaying information about living players to their teammates through alternative media (most notably voice in the case of Internet cafes and Voice over IP programs such as TeamSpeak or Ventrilo). This technique is known as "ghosting".
Mods and scripts
Though Counter-Strike is itself a mod, it has developed its own community of script writers and mod creators. Some mods add bots, while others remove features of the game, and others create different modes of play. Some of the mods give server administrators more flexible and efficient control over his or her server. "Admin plugins", as they are mostly referred as, have become very popular (see Metamod, AMX Mod and AMX Mod X). There are some mods which affect gameplay heavily, such as Gun Game, where players start with a basic pistol and must score kills to receive better weapons, and Zombie Mod, where one team consists of zombies and must "spread the infection" by killing the other team (using only the knife). There are also the Superhero and Warcraft III mods which mix the first-person gameplay of Counter-Strike with an experience system, allowing a player to become more powerful as they continue to play. There is also a Star Wars mod, where you get a lightsaber instead of a knife, have special abilities according to a starwars character, also receive a rank based on the U.S. military ranks, and the objective is to capture the flags. The game is also highly customizable on the player's end, allowing the user to install or even create their own custom skins, HUDs, sprites, and sound effects, given the proper tools. Also some mods have a feature called rollthedice, where something bad or good happens to you when you type rollthedice.
Cheating
Counter Strike has been a prime target for exploitation by cheaters since its release. In-game, cheating is often referred to as "hacking" in reference to programs or "hax" executed by the user.
Typical cheats are:
* Wallhacks, which allow the player to see through walls. These work by altering the display driver to display objects that are normally obscured, or altering game textures to transparent ones. The only objects seen on the hackers screen are those close by. The server will not send you characters of the whole map, so you can not see across the whole map.
* Speedhacks, which give the player increased speed. These work by sending false synchronization data to servers.
* No recoil, which keeps the players gun shooting straight on the y axis without a kickback by removing gun physics. No spread is used to make a players gun shoot straight along the x axis.
* Aimbots, which helps the player aim at enemies. These work by moving the player's view to anticipate an enemy's position.
* ESP, which shows textual information about the enemy, such as, health, name, and distance, and also information about weapons lying around the map, which could be missed without the hack
* Barrel hack, which shows a line that depicts where the enemy is looking
* Anti-flash and anti-smoke, which remove the flashbang and smoke grenade effect. This branched off the wall hack.
Valve has implemented an anti-cheat system called Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC). Players cheating on a VAC enabled server risk having their account permanently banned from all VAC secured servers.
With the first version of VAC a ban took force almost instantly after being detected, and the cheater had to wait 2 years to have the account unbanned[citation needed]. Since VAC's second version, cheaters are not banned automatically. Rather, they are banned according to a delayed banning system, and bans are permanent. Many cheats are still not detected by VAC, and often the only effective anti-cheat solution is a human administrator watching an online game. VAC, while being effective in some ways, has also provided a boost in the purchasing of private cheats. These cheats are updated frequently, as to prevent detection, and are available to those who pay to use them or to those in the community or clan.
