Community and Workshop maps render now
Demos from community servers that use Steam Workshop content (maps like Favela, Amalia and Lake, or server add-ons like XPLAY.GG’s) now render into evidence reels and highlight clips. We fetch the Workshop content ourselves, so there’s nothing to set up.
A demo from a community server lists the Steam Workshop items it was played with in its header. Until Sep 23 we analysed those demos but stopped every render at map unsupported. That covered two kinds of match: community maps such as Favela, Amalia, Lake, Sub-Zero and Downtown, and official maps on servers that load their own add-on, like XPLAY.GG’s Dust II and Mirage servers.
Why they used to fail
No Workshop demo had ever rendered for us, and we assumed CS2 couldn’t load the maps. When we looked properly, the game had never started: one step of our recording pipeline couldn’t tell what kind of server the demo came from and quit after about two seconds without reporting an error.
Fixing that step was half the job. CS2 only loads a Workshop item that Steam lists as installed, so our render machines now download what each demo needs and register it with Steam before they start recording.
What happens when you render one
- We read the Workshop ids from the demo and download those items from Steam. Anything we already have is reused, so only the first render on a new map waits for a download.
- The reel is built the same way as on an official map: every kill of the player you picked, round by round. Highlight clips work too, and pick your best rounds as usual.
- Demos recorded on rented servers render as well. Our first community-map demos came from a server rented from DatHost.
Map names, previews and radars
Community maps now show their Workshop name and preview image on your dashboard, on player pages, on the upload page and in Community Overwatch, instead of a file name like de_favela_d_prefab.
The 2D replay has radars for five community maps: Favela, Amalia, Lake, Sub-Zero and Downtown. Each radar comes from the map’s own files, and we checked every one against real player positions from a match on that map before switching it on.
You don’t need to subscribe to the map on the Workshop or install anything. Upload the demo and render it like any other.
How to use it
- STEP 1Community-server matches aren’t in your Steam match history, so upload the .dem file on the Analyze page.
- STEP 2When the analysis is done, pick the player on the scoreboard and press Render evidence. For your own best rounds, open the match from your dashboard and press Render clip.
- STEP 3The first render on a map we haven’t downloaded before takes a little longer. If the download can’t finish right away, the report says Preparing Workshop content and tries again every 10 minutes.
Known limits
- Private, friends-only, unlisted, removed or banned Workshop items can’t be rendered. The report says that’s the reason, and it doesn’t count against your renders.
- Among community maps, only Favela, Amalia, Lake, Sub-Zero and Downtown have a 2D radar so far. On the others the 2D replay can’t be drawn yet and says so. We add radars by hand after checking them.
- Sub-Zero’s own radar image is cut off on the east side, so players around T spawn drop off its edge in the 2D replay.
- A community map we haven’t added yet shows a name made from its file name and a plain tile until we add its Workshop details.
- Reports that stopped at map unsupported before Sep 23 don’t retry by themselves. Open the match and render it again.