Counter-Strike
Barking Dog Studios (additional development)
Maverick Developments (training level - removed since 1.5)
Valve Corporation
June 19, 1999
Windows (standalone):
November 9, 2000
macOS, Linux:
January 24, 2013
Counter-Strike (CS for short, retroactively refering to Counter-Strike 1.6) was first released as a Half-Life mod under the name Half-Life: Counter-Strike on June 19th, 1999. The Counter-Strike Mod was developed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe until April 12th, 2000, when 
Valve announced that the Counter-Strike developers and Valve had teamed up. Since then, Counter-Strike has been available to buy. The latest version of Counter-Strike is 1.6, released on September 15, 2003, a few days after Steam launched, since then, the game continues to receive updates, like many other GoldSrc games. Since the release of later Counter-Strike games, it was commonly and retroactively called Counter-Strike 1.6 (CS 1.6 for short) to distinguish it from other Counter-Strike games.
Counter-Strike later become one of the most popular FPS franchises, and was widely played in tournaments since 2000s. Two new Counter-Strike games were later released in 2004 on PC, titled 
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and 
Counter-Strike: Source respectively.
Dedicated server
Versions
The first beta version was released in June 19, 1999, as a Half-Life mod. Counter-Strike was officially launched in November 9, 2000, as version 1.0. Counter-Strike was previously available in two versions, retail and mod, the retail version was sold at retailers, it installs the game to separate directory and does not require Half-Life to be installed, while the latter was a mod which was released on the official website, and available to download for free, but it requires Half-Life to be installed. The mod version also came with few maps not available in retail version (due to legal reasons but those maps can be downloaded through official website), which are later removed months before Counter-Strike 1.6 was released.
The final major version of Counter-Strike is 1.6, released on September 15, 2003, few days after Steam launched. Since then, Counter-Strike, like many other GoldSrc games, now only receiving minor updates (such as engine and security updates). Previous (WON) versions of Counter-Strike, such as 1.5 are still remains playable online until 2004 when WON master servers were completely closed, forcing user to use direct IP workarounds, patching the game to use WON2 servers, playing LAN/Offline or simply update to 1.6.
Since then, Counter-Strike is available to purchase on Steam and does not require Half-Life to be purchased to play.
Maps
Official maps
Counter-Strike maps use the following prefixes: de_ for Bomb Defusal, as_ for Assassination, and cs_ for Hostage Rescue. Counter-Strike previously also used to have a Training mode and map (tr_<number>) at launch, before it was removed with the release of CS 1.6.
Version 1.6 of Counter-Strike has the following official maps included:
Hostage scenario:
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Bombing scenario:
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Assasination scenario:
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Limitations/Bugs
Warning:This game is no longer actively updated and only receives engine and security updates. Furthermore, the game is currently bugged due to the 
Half-Life 25th anniversary update.
Workaround: ReGameDLL_CS may solve some problems but introduce others. This is a server-side mod; clients do not need to modify their installation to connect to servers running ReGameDLL_CS.
Bug:Cycler entities disappear at the start of a new round. Use env_sprite instead, which can be used for MDL or BSP models, despite the name. [todo tested in?]Use GitHub in order to prevent duplicate or outdated bug reports at the wiki.
Bots
Warning:There are no bots in the game, unlike some later titles.Workaround:All Counter-Strike 1.6 maps can be run in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero to use CS_Bot.
Workaround:A third party option can be used:
- zBots had commands like bot_nav_merge https://forums.alliedmods.net/showpost.php?p=268544&postcount=14
- YaPB https://yapb.jeefo.net
and others. See http://www.bots-united.com.
Mods
There are a few mods that significantly change the gameplay.
Notes
- Client-side fps_max is capped at 100 (on Steam version), formerly 72 (WON/Retail, like
Quake) but can be changed with 3 commands:
gl_vsync 0// Disable VSync (Vertical Sync) - this options prevents screen tearing at the cost of lower and varied FPS and more input lag.fps_max 100// Replace 100 with your desired FPS value.fps_override 1
- Some sources advocate against setting fps_max above 100, as it can cause player movements to slow down significantly (most noticeable when jumping).
- The server-side tickrate is 60.[confirm]
- Counter-Strike had built-in voice communication since 1.3.
Trivia
- The pirated copies of 1.6 in Russia, most of Asia and several other countries had a menu theme that is not in the Steam version. The most frequently used track was the main theme made from
Condition Zero Deleted Scenes by Zak Belica, as well as a cut-down version which was also played on the Xbox version of 
Counter-Strike.
Tip:This behavior can be replicated by placing an MP3 file named 
gamestartup.mp3in the
cstrike/media/folder.
- The font used for the menu title in 1.5 is facelift. The font used for the menu items is Silk Remington Pro Seven.
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