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CS2 Update: Night Ancient Brings Map Tweaks, New Skins, and Performance Upgrades

The latest Counter-Strike 2 update adds nighttime versions of Ancient and Shoots, refreshes Ancient with updated shaders and blending effects, removes a key angle in A Main from Temple, and improves rendering performance across most maps. The patch also introduces new items like the M4A1-S | Solitude skin and Deluge Music Kit, animation fixes, and various quality-of-life improvements.

This update comes ahead of the Esports World Cup 2025, which starts on August 20 and will be held in a LAN format in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The first match-ups of the 16 participating teams are already known and available to watch.

Valve’s patch for CS2 focuses heavily on Ancient. The map now has a nighttime variant available in Casual and Deathmatch modes, while Shoots gets its own night look for Arms Race. Alongside the darker lighting, Ancient’s visuals have been fully updated with the latest CS2 shaders. This includes new blending options for map materials, such as wetness and moss effects. The update also adds an “ancient_zoo.vmap” file with all assets and blending examples, giving mapmakers tools to match the new style.

Gameplay-wise, players can no longer hold A Main from inside Temple on Ancient. This change removes a common defensive sightline, potentially shifting how both teams approach the area.

CS2 Update: Night Ancient Brings Map Tweaks, New Skins, and Performance Upgrades 1

CS2 patch notes from the August update based on the Steam post from Valve.

New Items and Cosmetics

Deluge Music Kit Box is now available in both standard and StatTrak versions.
M4A1-S | Solitude is introduced as a limited-time weapon skin in The Armory.

Animation Improvements

Sawed-off shotgun deploy animation modified, with shell penetration fixed during reload.
Deploy and quick inspect animations improved for all knives, as well as for AK, Galil, AUG, and PP-Bizon.
Deploy animations enhanced for the AWP, M4A4, and M4A1-S.
Legacy SSG08 models receive improved animations.
Deploy inspect delay removed for most weapons.
XM1014 no longer blocks the crosshair during reload.

Miscellaneous Updates

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Rendering performance improvements across most maps.
Rendering resolution and aspect ratio can now be changed in fullscreen windowed mode.
fps_max can no longer be altered while connected to a server, preventing a bug that allowed bunnyhopping by temporarily limiting FPS.
Fixed an issue where certain weapons could fire sooner after redeploying.
No more delay when alt-tabbing from a 4:3 in-game resolution to a 16:9 desktop.
BLAST.tv Austin Major stickers are now 75% off.

The combination of Ancient’s night setting, shader improvements, and small but impactful gameplay adjustments should noticeably affect both casual and competitive matches.

Vitalii Diakiv

Vitalii Diakiv writes gaming blogs and guides, focusing on the latest announcements and games matched with pop-cultural phenomena. Second, he covers esports events Counter-Strike 2, Marvel Rivals, League of Legends, and others.