Hacksaw

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Hacksaw
Plr hacksaw.png
Basic Information
Map type: Payload Race
File name: plr_hacksaw
Released: December 7, 2023 Patch
(Smissmas 2023)
Variants: Bonesaw
Developer(s): Liam "Diva Dan" Moffitt
Viscaedis
Al "Square" Rodgers
E-Arkham
Aeon "Void" Bollig
Juniper
Alex "FGD5" Stewart
Lauren "Yrrzy" Godfrey
Map Info
Environment: Snowy
Setting: Day
Hazards: Pitfalls, Saw Blade Carts, Freezing Air
Map Items
Healthico.png Health Kits: Smallhealth.png ×7  •  Mediumhealth.png ×6  •  
Largehealth.png ×1
Ammoico.png Ammo Boxes: Smallammo.png ×5   •   Mediumammo.png ×7   •  
Largeammo.png ×1
Map Photos
Loading screen photos.
Map overview
Hacksaw overview.png
Map Stamp
Item icon Map Stamp - Hacksaw.png
Supporters Leaderboard
Push your team's saw into the enemy team's computer terminal to begin the "hacking" sequence, and launch the rocket at their base! Computers aren't the only thing you can hack, however...
Hacksaw publicity blurb

Hacksaw is a community-created Payload Race map added in the Smissmas 2023 update. It is set in a snowy field.

In Hacksaw, players have to push a cart with a big saw attached to it. The saw damages players of both teams and its purpose is to "hack" into the opposing team's computer terminal. Upon a successful hack, a rocket is launched from a nearby pit, which then crashes and explodes into the base of the losing team.

The setup timer is 6 seconds.

Hacksaw was contributed to the Steam Workshop.

Locations

  • Spawns: Both RED and BLU spawns are inside of a large, industrial building.
  • Lobby: The two available spawn exits lead to the Lobby, a large area divided in half with a broken window. This area is separate from the rest of the map with gates that can only be opened by their respective teams.
  • Cart start: Taking the right/left Lobby gate leads players to the starting location of the carts.
  • Garage: Adjacent to the cart's starting position is a sheltered location containing a medium health and ammo pack. There is also a staircase here descending down to the Barn. Lining the Garage's wall are sawblades.
  • First Crossing: Located next to the Garage, a short distance from the carts' starting positions, is the place where the two tracks intertwine. From this point on, the carts proceed into the opposing team's Barn.
  • Giant Pine: Located between the two spawn buildings is a tall and thick pine tree. Located at the base of the pine is a medium health and ammo pack.
  • Cliff Side: The entire map is surrounded by a large death pit. However, located behind the First Crossing — between the starting positions of the two carts — is a platform hanging above the pit that contains a medium health pack.
  • Barn: An extension of the two spawn buildings, it has two floors. The lower floor serves as a passage for the cart, while the upper floor has an opening leading to the Two Computers. The Barn can be quickly accessed by taking the middle two exits from the Lobby.
  • Cliffside House To the left/right of Barn is a small, single-room house bordering the death pit. The house is located opposite the Two Computers building, with a rollback zone separating the two. The side of the house facing the cliff also has a small terrace, on which a small health pack sits.
  • Second Crossing: After passing the Cliffside House, the two carts once again cross paths in an area located behind the Two Computers. A large health and ammo pack are also found here. There is also a small passage leading directly to the pit below the Two Computers, with a small health and ammo pack in it.
  • Two Computers: An unfinished warehouse where the two computer terminals reside. The team has to stay next to cart until the hacking process has reached 100%. Located in between the two terminals is a pit with the rocket at its bottom. Emanating from the rocket is draft of freezing air, which boosts any players out of the pit, while also dealing slight amounts of damage each second a player is caught in the draft.

Strategy

Main article: Community Hacksaw strategy

Update history

December 7, 2023 Patch (Smissmas 2023)
  • Added Hacksaw to the game.

December 15, 2023 Patch

  • Fixed naming conflicts between the plr_hacksaw and plr_hacksaw_event localization strings.
  • Fixed non-zero roll on spectator cameras.
  • Fixed Erroneous clip brushes.
  • Simplified and merged door frames across the map to have fewer obstructions.
  • Removed some cover on each team's balconies that preventing being able to spam Sentry Guns.
  • De-cluttered finale roof so that you can travel from balcony-to-balcony.
  • Lowered rocks between middle and the finale.
  • Adjusted prop fades.

January 9, 2024 Patch

  • Fixed Teleporters being able to be placed in spawn.
  • Removed hint nodes from the hacking sequence.

July 18, 2024 Patch 1 (Summer 2024 Update)

  • Moved Hacksaw to the normal rotation.
  • Updated plr_hacksaw to fix localization issues.

Trivia

  • In the middle of the map, there is a pride flag hidden inside a tree, only accessible through noclip.

Changelog

This is the changelog of the map before it was added to the game.
Changelog:
November 29, 2021
  • Renamed map from "Hacker" to "Hacksaw".
  • Rethemed the map to be winter.
  • Redid the middle area to no longer have the long plank bridges.
  • Reconsidered sightlines across mid.
  • Remade the rocket launch site.
  • Removed health kits.
  • Made it generally more closed off for each team.
  • Changed the final checkpoint.
  • The launch site ramp and console is now a rollback zone.
  • Added a 10 second capture time for the "hacking" sequence, where the payload slowly cuts into the computer console with sounds and particles.
  • You must stand at the payload the entire time, similar to Hightower, in order to not lose progress.
  • Redid lighting.

December 4, 2021

  • Redid fog to be less vibrant.
  • Fog max density decreased.
  • Improved indoor and outdoor fog transitions.
  • Removed snow particles for now.
  • Added a cliff health kit retreat near the payload starting area, and massively simplified the clutter.
  • Removed weird crates that looked like a prop jump.
  • Lightened spawns.
  • Adjusted saw so that you can't die from the sides.
  • Lowered the general height of each team's battlements.
  • Closed off one of the two windows at mid, moved it over, widened it for access, and cleaned up some related sightlines.
  • Fixed snipers cheesing sightlines by standing on balcony fences.
  • Added breathing room to each team's outer balcony.
  • Added pickup patches.
  • Fixed unwalkable displacement triangles.
  • Added a pipe route up to each team's sniper battlement, away from the spawn route.
  • Added push entities to the cliffs so you can't stand on them.
  • Improved clipping above some roofs in mid so that rocket jumping is easier.

January 6, 2022

  • Improved the fog again.
  • Redid the fence room to remove the fence and turn it into a nest room, and adjusted the doorways to prevent an extreme sightline from spawn.
  • Remade the balconies to wrap around and provide better coverage.
  • Extended the cart path by having it briefly travel through each team's building.
  • Changed rocket cliff area to be wider and made the healthkit a full one.
  • Made cliff hut healthkits small.
  • Added little wood platforms outside of various windows to make peeking and blast jumping up to them easier.
  • Entirely remade the finale.
  • Changed some short fences to tall fences to better signify clipped off OOB areas.
  • Made the resupply lockers a bit less hidden.
  • Changed skybox texture as an experiment.
  • Removed OOV sequoia trees because they were too distracting.
  • Returned snow particles.
  • Lowered respawn wave time to 3 (6 max) seconds from 4 (8 max).
  • Shortened sequoias.
  • Closed a spawn exit to fix a sightline.
  • Added a sniping window to each team's battlements that faces the finale.
  • Lengthened setup time.
  • Added some cool stuff that you'll have to see in game.
  • Fixed some misaligned window textures.
  • Fixed missing particle manifest file.

January 10, 2022

  • Added one-way doors around the spawns similar to hightower (dont bother trying to exploit as engi with teleporters i thought of that already)
  • Made the payload dispenser a level 2, but also made it slower
  • Elevator is significantly slower
  • Elevator boost pad launch target is now tied directly to the cart platform, so you will always be launched high enough to reach it
  • Blocked the ability for people on the boost pad to shoot across the map
  • Clipped some little things here and there
  • Removed the color correction for now
  • The sawblades attached to the carts are now smaller, more receeded, and louder
  • Removed grass that somebody thought was a spy

January 17, 2022

  • Updated mid, cliff, and finale.
  • Extended each team's building out to have a new hut.
  • The cliff now has a small ammo kit on each team's slope.
  • Changed the cart to go down to the cliff and loop back up to your team's side with a rollback, and then finally cross back over near the enemy team's battlements at the very end.
  • There is no more elevator, its now just a normal PLR finale for the time being.
    • The cart will need to be held at the saw for an extended period of time like a capture point.
  • Added a doorway with a wooden platform accessible from the finale that allows you to shoot down toward the cliff.
  • The jump pad has been removed (sorry) and replaced with a full ammo cubby.
  • Moved the rocket from the cliff to the finale.
  • Removed big rock at mid, making for a much more straightforward access to the finale from mid.
  • Overlooking windows were moved out and adjusted to be clearer and more obvious while nerfing some of their reach- they also now serve as a partial sentry nest overlooking the new finale.
  • Fixed the wrong sawblade getting bloody when killing a player.
  • Fixed some erroneous clipping.
  • Closed some decorative windows and grates to help optimization.
  • splattered some more bits of team coloring around.
  • Added tons of fades to props -especially out of bounds ones- so that they don't draw if you're on the other side of the map.
  • Fixed large window textures in spawn.

January 18, 2022

  • Fixed blue payload triggering a red victory.
  • Fixed some visible prop fades.

January 19, 2022

  • Fences no longer push you into the death pit.
  • Cliff faces around the map will push you more consistently.
  • The saws no longer insta kill, but instead deal rapid high damage.
    • This gives players a moment to correct their mistake, and not be as badly punished for being too close to the cart when it's taking a turn, while still having the funny highlight of being caught off guard.
    • The cart now gibs you, which will zoom out your screen and show you that the cart killed you better.
  • Tweaked fog and lighting.
  • Changed upper battlements ammo to medium.

January 21, 2022

  • Added fallback material for the rocket model for players on FPS configs.
  • Fixed gutters that players could stand on.
  • Fixed collisions on railings next to the rocket.
  • Adjusted some fog transitions.
  • Lightened up some sniper windows.

February 4, 2022

  • Detailed the map (final custom assets to come in RC).
  • Optimized the map.
  • Added Soundscapes.
  • Added a welcome cam.
  • Adjusted resupply locations for ease of access and readability.
  • Receeded a cliff to prevent a stuckspot.
  • Adjusted little bits of the layout here and there, mainly around stairs to provide for more breathing room.
  • Made final push slightly slower and re-implemented visual and audio effects.
  • Fixed various clipping around the map.
  • Returned the cart to a level 1 dispenser instead of level 2.

February 5, 2022

  • Hotfix to b1 to fix missing sky (you should delete your existing b1 version if you have downloaded it).

February 10, 2022

  • Raised respawn times (from wave time 3 to wave time 6) so that defenders aren't as overwhelmed.
  • Lessened the time it takes to cap (slower than Alpha 6a, faster than B1).
  • Fixed some stuck spots behind trees.
  • Fixed perch spots.
  • Repositioned glowing signs to be larger and more readable.

February 15, 2022

  • Fixed perch spots above wooden doorways and metal roofs.
  • Finale siren can be heard from a much greater distance.
  • Fixed missing fog and soundscape transition in barn windows.
  • Gate triggers are larger to prevent you from bumping into them.
  • Removed red buildings from the 3dsky for being too distracting.
  • Moved wooden planks that were covering gameplay signs.
  • Moved the CP holograms to make it more obvious that the computer is the objective.
  • More detail adjustments.

February 19, 2022

  • Added smooth clipping against lots of retaining walls.
  • Fixed perchable OOB rocks and loudspeakers.
  • Fixed some instances of soundscapes loading incorrectly when outdoors.
  • Fixed RED cliff rollback zone being slightly longer than BLU's.
  • Cleaned up some OOB details.
  • Added some more wires for detail.

February 22, 2022

  • Added some clipping steps around various ramps to make traversal easier.
  • Added screen text that displays hacking progress for both teams (it will have some improved effects in RC).
  • Made payload nodes at the first crossover smoother.
  • Fixed some instances of hacking warning noise looping when hacking wasn't in progress.
  • Fixed incorrect texture scaling on balconies.
  • Fixed doorways with no clipping.
  • Lowered intensity and changed color of indoors fog.
  • Added some arrows to sniper window interiors.

March 1, 2022

  • Redid the 2d skybox.
  • Tweaked environment lighting.
  • Increased outdoor fog start distance.
  • Disabled collisions on crows.
  • Optimized occluders.
  • Removed door in finale that overlooked the cliff.
  • Fixed a rock far from the cliff that could be stood on.

March 20, 2022

  • Gameplay changes.
    • Removed the func_push fences around the map, making all of the wooden fences consistent.
  • Removed clipping around the now un-fenced cliffs, so that you can jump across more of the pit.
  • Removed walkable pipes in each team's battlements that made it too easy to flank players nesting in the upper floor.
  • The upper floor's fence has been replaced with a single open window to provide more cover.
  • Fixed some bits of unwalkable displacements.
  • Optimization.
  • Added lots of area portal windows around the map to make some spots unload when they should.
  • Largely reduced overall amount of props.
  • Replaced all retaining wall props with brushes.
  • Extended retaining walls near the payload starting area to add a bit more cover and occlude more models.
  • Art
    • Touched up various detailing around the map, breaking up some larger walls and adjusting all of the vistas.
  • Prettied up some of the sniping windows to look more visually consistent with other windows across the map.
  • Added custom detail sprites to replace grass props.
  • Fixed various props that were duped and overlapping.

July 27, 2022

  • Reworked the rocket launch area.
  • Lowered height of launch platform wooden walls.
    • Added additional wooden walls for cover.
    • Removed middle entrance to launch platform, you will now have to walk around.
    • Reduced cover around the capture zones.
    • Moved the rocket into the silo and replaced it with an air vent, like a less-clunky version of the old exhaust vents.
    • Moved silo full ammo pack to the cliff.
    • Brightened and opened second window of each team's barn.
  • Extended doorways for cliffside houses.
  • Added more SFX to the computer terminals.
  • Trimmed the corners of some occluders that were culling stuff too soon.
  • Adjusted area portal window distances.
  • Added chicken wire to wooden fences to make them bulletproof.
  • Removed middle sniper balconies.
  • More detailing tweaks.
  • Fixed detail sprites poking thru brushes.
  • Fixed gaps in payload track models.
  • Fixed more perch spots.
  • Fixed being able to stand on some large trees.
  • Smoothed clipping around more beams and objects.
  • Removed collision on OOB props.
  • Optimized more lightmaps.

July 30, 2022

  • Added houses around the launch platform to add more sensible cover and block erroneous sightlines.
  • Fixed up some clipping around the silo.
  • Fixed red side not having a piece of cover near the cliff huts, and added another small piece to both sides.
  • Optimized more lightmaps and visibility.

August 3, 2022

  • The finale now takes 33% longer to hack.
  • Hacking percentage now increments every 5% instead of every 10%.
  • Reworked the barn windows.
    • Fixed clip brush that was blocking a red team window.
    • Added small platform outside of each barn window.
    • Turned a window into a door.
  • Cleaned up some lamps to have no collision and block less sight.
  • Lowered fences behind computer terminals and cleaned up their collision.
  • Restored battlements pipe to return some flankability to each team's upper base.
  • Slightly increased the strength of the silo wind tunnel.

October 27, 2022

  • Added finale FX including various sounds, particles, and animations.
  • Ported all gameplay, optimization, and aesthetic changes from Bonesaw.

December 2, 2022

  • Fixed floating tree props outside RED spawn.
  • Fixed a few problematic brushes.
  • Fixed leftover Bonesaw textures on BLU barn.

December 3, 2022

  • Fixed missing staircase in BLU base.

Gallery