Written by: Jim "Porch" Miller

I don't consider myself that much of a Counter Strike Source player.  Yes, I own the game and I will play from time to time.  I've scrimmed several of the maps, and I must say that this community really needs to stop putting de_dust2 on a pedastle.  Nevertheless, my foray into the world of CSS has been, thus far, somewhat limited.  Outside of CSS: Deathmatch, GunGame, or WarCraft:Source, there is not an abundance of mods for CSS that have been picked up by the community.  Speaking specifically, there is no set "competition mod".  The COD Series saw PAM and eventually Promod, L4D has several rulesets and mods to allow for ready up and the like, but CSS has escaped this hindrance merely by utilizing configs made by leagues and issuing a restart of the map at half time.  Overall, to a CSS-outsider, this seems pretty simple.  Afterall, games like COD4 weren't made for competition play, so the neccessity of a mod themed on that aspect of the series is important.  Yet with Source, the game is comp-friendly right out of the box.  However, it seems as though members of the CSS community felt differently.

So, with this firmly on their minds, they decided to create CSP, or CS: Promod.  Obviously, if this mod is successful, it will likely be adopted for competition play and may change the basis of CSS as we know it.  Yesterday, I downloaded and installed the mod.  Yes, you heard me correctly, it has to be downloaded and installed from www.cspromod.com .  This alone somewhat threw me through a loop.  At first, I tried to connect to a server through CSS itself, and all that I succeeded in was receving an error that I did not have the mod installed.  I checked my download cvars and attempted to reconnect, all to no avail.  Finally, I read the FAQ thoroughly (something that one considering playing CSP should do regardless) and proceeded to the download page.  There are two methods of download there, both a zip and an exe.  I opted for the .exe because I was lazy.  The install was quite simple and was over remarkably fast.

After I restarted steam, I had a new entry in my programs for CSP.  It opens its own version of CSS.  From there you can set your options, and there is definitely a plethora of new options specific to CSP, or find a server just like in vanilla CSS.  Several of the cvars I am used to entering in console were different or nonexistent, and the list of changes I could make through the options panel was amazing.  I opted to change my gun models to CS1.6 style and optimize my quick switch animation.
Now for the fun part:  playing.

All the maps you can use for CSP are built around some of the new graphics, so they are "optimized" for the experience.  The first map I played was your basic aim map, and it was over so quickly I didn't notice much other than some changes to the HUD and a little of how the guns aimed and reg'd.  However, when we moved on to CPL Mill, alterations were more apparent.  Firstly, the one thing I enjoy more about CSS than CS1.6 is that when I buy a gun, I buy ammo.  In CSP, one finds themselves at mixture of CS1.6 buy menu and CSP buy menu.  For one thing, only a select few guns are available.  There is no scout sniper, and most of the smgs and assault rifles are removed as well.  It is basically the famas and the m4 for ct, and the terrorists get the galil and ak47.  Also, you have to remember to buy ammo for your weapons.  My first round of playing I didn't notice the choices for primary and secondary ammo and purchased roughly 7 shots from my deagle.  Not a situation you want to find yourself in in a firefight.

You can bind keys to purchase guns, but you cannot simply design a kit and keep it.  I assume the creators of CSP thought this made it more "pro" but in reality all it does is create a royal pain in the arse for players that are testing out CSP.  Until the competitive community switches to this mod, only the hardcore afficionados will likely take the time and trouble to bind and memorize all their buy-menu keys.  The buy-menu itself has to be operated by numbers also, there is no possibility of using the mouse as there is in stock CSS.  This is both helpful and a hindrance depending on your style and typing dexterity.

While playing through the map of course, I noticed that a lot of my shots were registering odd.  The hitboxes seem to have been played with, or if not that, the weapon damage, accurracy, and recoil.  Furthermore whenever I was shot at or grenaded at, this odd wireframe appeared on my screen.  Whether that is stock, I can't hazard a guess, but it certainly was annoying.  A nice addition to the mod is that while some maneuvers, such as bunny-hopping are still allowable, there is no way to disguise your footsteps unless you are crouched.  Furthermore there is a jump delay.

Overall, I enjoyed the mod, and look forward to future versions.  It is, after all, still relatively new, so there are bugs to be worked out.  The site www.cspromod.com offers a veritable cornucopia of information about the mod, servers, and a means of contacting the devs in order to request features.  I personally, would like to see more guns added by the time this mod is finished, but that is something we will have to await.  Meanwhile, why not download this mod and start pubbing some CSP?  There are several American servers to choose from, and, if you're on the other side of the pond, you'll find an even greater variety of servers in the EU.