On November 13, 2024, Valve announced "the return of the momentarily lost classic, Train". The map came back to CS2 rebuilt, with layout changes and a new look, in Competitive, Casual and Deathmatch. The same update reworked parts of Overpass, replaced the four community maps from June with Basalt, Edin, Palais and Whistle, and added damage prediction, the first map guide and the Charm Template number in charm descriptions. It added no new items.
What the update added
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| Train | Rebuilt map added to Competitive, Casual and Deathmatch |
| Overpass | Visual updates to Canals and B site, a Heaven drop-down rework, many line-of-sight fixes |
| Community maps | Basalt and Edin in Competitive, Casual and Deathmatch; Palais and Whistle in Wingman |
| Removed | Community maps Thera, Mills, Assembly and Memento |
| Damage prediction | Optional instant hit and kill effects on your own screen |
| Map guides | A Train guide with four Terrorist grenade line-ups |
| Charms | Charm Template number shown in charm descriptions |
Train is back
Train is one of the oldest maps in the series. The Counter-Strike Wiki dates it to a 1999 beta of the original game, and CS:GO's version was rebuilt in December 2014 and later spent years in the Active Duty pool. It hadn't been one of CS2's official maps until this update.
Valve's post said there was "plenty of classic Counter-Strike in every inch of this map", but that it had also mixed up the gameplay "to keep you Train veterans on your toes". The map also got a full visual overhaul: Valve joked that the train yard was "now 60% cloudier" and guaranteed rain. The post didn't list the layout changes. According to the Counter-Strike Wiki:
- Bombsite A was overhauled and pushed back, and most of its train cars were removed.
- The Popdog passage was extended up to the locker room, and the area is now called Longdog.
- Cover on Bombsite B changed, and a sightline was blocked to make it easier for Terrorists to enter the site.
- The Terrorist spawns moved back.
Valve's own follow-up notes use the new name. The November 14 patch let players climb the crate stack outside Longdog, and the next day's patch closed a gap by the Longdog exit.
Fixes came quickly. Within a week Valve improved collision on the orange train at B, stopped players colliding with the radio and gave it a new sound, added a clip over the platform gap in T spawn "for clumsy players", removed an unintended boost in B Halls and added collision to the broken ceiling at B. On November 19 it improved movement around ladders and fixed more gaps.
The update also introduced map guides. Train got the first one, which shows four simple Terrorist grenade line-ups. You load it from Play, then Practice, with "Load Map Guides" switched on. A set of annotation console commands lets anyone create, save and load their own guide files. Our March 2026 article covers how map guides grew from there.
Overpass changes
Overpass had been out of the Active Duty pool since April 2024, when Dust II took its place (see our April 2024 article). Valve said it now received "a number of updates based on community feedback". The release notes list 24 changes, which fall into a few groups:
- Canals and B site: visual updates and performance improvements.
- Heaven: the drop-down mechanics were reworked, a shelf was made to "look less like a player", and props and lights were adjusted so players are brighter.
- Lines of sight: a sign now blocks the view from Long boost to CT spawn, some train station windows were made opaque, a tree was deleted, a crate lid on A was moved, and lamps at A that could look like player heads were removed.
- Movement: the handcart behind the B barrels and a concrete block behind the cement bags at B were removed, and many small props no longer affect player movement or grenade bounces.
- Visibility: fog was adjusted, a chain-link fence in Alley and a small fence at Party were removed, and a light was added behind the B barrels.
Follow-ups fixed a lighting bug on B and footstep sounds on mud, and on December 3 Valve replaced the railing inside Heaven with a wall.
Four new community maps
The four community maps from June 2024, Thera, Mills, Assembly and Memento, left all game modes. Four others replaced them. The credits come from each map's Steam Workshop page.
| Map | Mode | Setting | Workshop creators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basalt | Competitive, Casual, Deathmatch | Iceland | RZL, Yanzl, Oliver |
| Edin | Competitive, Casual, Deathmatch | A historic Scottish city | Slimek, Peake, KlixX |
| Palais | Wingman | Rooftops of Paris | tchick, Quoting, Art Verina |
| Whistle | Wingman | A historic British railway station | seth, Quoting |
Valve said Basalt "returns". It was one of the maps in CS:GO's Operation Riptide, which ran from September 2021 to February 2022, and its Workshop page calls the CS2 version "Basalt reimagined in Source 2 with new layout changes and fresh new graphics". Edin is a 5v5 defusal map in which the SAS protect heritage sites from the Phoenix faction. Palais is a fight over one bombsite across the rooftops of Paris, with the GIGN defending a historic museum and community garden against the Anarchists. Whistle fits the theme of the update: its Workshop page describes protecting "the classic locomotive" on the platform of a historic station.
Other changes
- Damage prediction: your game can play the effects of hitting someone straight away instead of waiting for the server to confirm. Valve warned that it can occasionally be wrong, for example because of aim punch, tagging or a death your game doesn't know about yet. Body shot and headshot effects are off by default, kill ragdolls are on, and prediction switches off when your ping is high.
- Charm Template number: charm descriptions now show it. Our charms guide explains what the template changes, and the charms update article covers how charms arrived in October 2024.
- Flashbangs: the third-person animation of a blinded player now matches how blind they really are, with the arm over the eyes only when fully blinded.
- Grenades: the line-up reticle got axis labels, and the grenade preview camera now shows the result of a jump-throw while you hold the jump key.
- Other maps: fixes on Ancient (lighting, collision gaps, wallbang spots and a stuck spot), Italy, Mirage and Shoots.
- Settings: new radar options for map blending and background opacity.
Where it stands now
Train didn't wait long for competitive play. It joined the Active Duty pool, replacing Vertigo, when Premier Season Two began on January 28, 2025. In March 2025 the original Train collection left the weekly Care Package list and the Train 2025 Collection arrived in the Armory, with an AWP | LongDog that shares its name with the rebuilt map's new area (see our Train 2025 article). Train left Active Duty again on January 21, 2026, when Anubis returned, as covered in our Season Four article.
Overpass returned to Active Duty in July 2025 and was replaced by Cache in July 2026 (Season Five article). Basalt, Edin, Palais and Whistle were removed on May 7, 2025, when the next batch of community maps arrived (May 2025 article). The update before this one was the Armory in October 2024.
Sources
- All Aboard! — Counter-Strike 2 news
- Counter-Strike 2 Update (November 13, 2024) — Counter-Strike 2 news
- Counter-Strike 2 Update (November 14, 2024) — Counter-Strike 2 news
- Counter-Strike 2 patches/November 13, 2024 — Counter-Strike Wiki
- Train — Counter-Strike Wiki
- Basalt — Counter-Strike Wiki
- Basalt — Steam Workshop
- Whistle — Steam Workshop
