CSGO mod shows why Valve should copy a Valorant feature

Counter-Strike has a longstanding issue with smoke grenades, so could Valve’s tactical shooter turn to Valorant for the answer?

While CS:GO has reigned supreme as the top FPS esport for years, the game has had a troubled past with weapon balancing (too soon?), various map glitches, and utility usage.

Of course, these have been ironed out to a point where Global Offensive is in a pretty good position right now, but one issue that has persisted is the inconsistency of smoke grenade textures.

Valve

Alpha sorting issues in CS:GO causes GPUs to render the in-game elements inconsistently, which can lead to player silhouettes forming inside the smokes.

Counter-Strike modder ‘ZooL’ has turned to Valorant – the tactical shooter which is garnering attention from all corners of the esports world (and for all the right reasons) – in a bid to find a solution for the issue.

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Essentially, Valorant’s smoke clouds are clear-cut in the way that they consistently block out the same cross-sectional area on a map, while offering the same render each and every time.

ZooL ran around each smoke grenade to highlight any irregularities and the render held strong, completely blocking out the location of the enemy bots.

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The modder also attempted to use a molotov (which has also been known to cause player silhouettes to ‘glow’ inside the smoke, and again, no outline was visible.

Of course, the graphic looks completely foreign in CS:GO, given the distinct visual differences between CS and Valorant. But it definitely offers an option for Valve to look into, as none of their previous updates have offered any form of solution.

Given that inconsistencies in crucial elements like smoke grenades can hinder the game’s competitive integrity, this could be something that Valve wants to prioritize on their snag list — and ZooL could be the person for the job.