TF2 Maps | Beginners’ Guide to Team Fortress 2 Maps

Team Fortress II (TF2) is the second game in the Team Fortress installment series. It was developed and published by the Valve Corporation, Electronic Arts and Buka Entertainment in October 2007. The plot revolves around two brothers and their ensuing disputes. Each of the two brothers has hired a team of mercenaries to help them destroy each other’s properties.

Table 1: Overview of TF2

Team Fortress 2 has a lot of maps that need to be installed in it. These maps are essential to Team Fortress 2’s gameplay since they are the exact places where the game is going to play. Simply put, Team Fortress 2 requires players to select locations of their choice in the gaming universe with the help of maps downloaded where they wish the combats to take place. For this reason, there are over 100 maps provided b the Team Fortress 2 developers and some of them have been designed by players only. The latter were incorporated into team Fortress 2’s design at later stages.

Kinds of TF2 Maps

Team Fortress 2 has different kinds of maps catering to different kinds of situations. These maps are classified under various categories. These include Capture the Flag, Control Point (Attack/Defend), Control Point (Standard), Territorial Control, Payload, Arena, Payload Race, King of the Hill, Training Mode, Control Point (Medieval Mode), Developer aid, Special Delivery, Mann vs. Machine, Control Point (Domination), Robot Destruction, Manpower, Pass time and Player destruction.

The Most-Played Maps in Team Fortress 2

While gaming communities may suggest otherwise, some of the most-played maps in Team Fortress 2 consist of maps which have not been much appreciated generally. Following is the list of 5 most played maps of Team Fortress 2 based on the stats calculated over time.

1. 2Fort Invasion: According to statistics, a total of 16% Team Fortress 2 players use a 2Fort map for playing the game. This might come as a surprise for many players since a lot of negative publicity about this map has been seen on the internet. This map has good lights and visuals.
2. Turbine: As per the statistics, the Turbine is used by a total of 8% Team Fortress 2 players most of the time. Turbine has got good visuals, multiple exits, and interesting pathways
3. Upward: The technically impressive Upward is played by 6% of the total online Team Fortress 2 players over a varied period of time. This map allows players to combat in deserts, barren waste lands, and islands. The choice of location also allows different characters on the combat teams to play their parts productively. For example, huge covers provide a place for spies to hide while open spaces provide engineers and mercenaries the battle ground.
4. Dustbowl: One of the most popular attacks/defense maps is Dustbowl. Tying with Upward when it comes to percentage statistics, Dustbowl is also played by 6% of the total Team Fortress 2 population. Dustbowl is used by attacker BLU to launch attacks on defenders RED in a desert. The environment of the map is sunny and dry with ample daylight. This map consists of 3 stages to be conquered by the combating teams. Dustbowl provides for health kits and ammo boxes, something which is lacking in the 2Fort Invasion map despite being the most played Team Fortress 2 map.
5. Koth King: According to the statistics, Koth King is sued by 3% of the total Team Fortress 2 population. Koth King commonly referred to as King, is known for its aesthetics and multiple routes. The center location of the map is both, well-spaced and covered. This provides an opportunity for players to hide and take cover behind objects while keep combating in open space too. Last but not the least, King uses vertical space really well. It makes use of bridges and connectors to provide players escape routes combat fields.

How to Develop your own Map?

Players who really would like to experiment with arenas of Team Fortress 2 can develop maps of their own using the ‘Hammer’ tool provided by Steam Corporation. The following are the steps to create custom Team Fortress 2 maps.

1. Locate the Hammer file: For this go to the ‘Steam’ folder, navigate to the ‘Stem Apps’ folder, then click on ‘Common’ and then ‘Team Fortress 2’. After entering the Team Fortress 2 folder go to the ‘Bin’ folder and locate the Hammer.BAT file. Double click on it to run it and after that double click on Hammer.exe file to launch the map maker.
2. Once you double click the above-mentioned file, elect ‘Team Fortress 2’ and the map maker gets launched automatically.
3. Download ‘Ultimate Mapping Resource Pack’ which is essential for creating maps with Hammer.
4. Install the pack and hit close.
5. Go back to Hammer editor and click New.
6. A black window pane opens with four divisions, three of which offer a 2D view and one 3D view.
7. The three 2D view windows give Top, Side and Front view. Creators can hover on to them get a detailed view.
8. Users can toggle between the kinds of view they want in a 3D view window too.
9. Various tools such as entity tools, block and brush tool, texture application tool and browse tool help in the creation of a map of your choice.
10. The entity tools help users create entities in a map whereas the block and brush tools help them create floor and buildings.
11. The texture application tool helps with smoothing out the graphics where a browsing tool helps searching for every bit of information available in mapping options from various Valve games. In order to skim down results to a particular game type, type in the game’s name in the filter box
12. Users can select backgrounds, environments, and climate from these options.
13. Once a user learns how to play around with these tools, it is easy to create a map and view its 3D preview in the top left window pane.
14. The Ultimate Mapping Resource Map downloaded earlier comes in handy towards the end of the map creation process.
15. For detailed tutorial refer to videos on YouTube which go into further details and guide from selecting brush type to rotations.

Almost all bits and pieces of information about maps in Team Fortress 2 have been provided above. Users can now create their own or use one of the most popular maps listed in the guide.