Sprays

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Revision as of 09:09, 5 February 2012 by Availn (talk | contribs) (Sprays over 120KB works, just tried it, and other sources confirm)
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This page refers to sprays painted on surfaces in the PC version. For the tool that allows you to spray an image onto an item, see Decal Tool. For items that can be sprayed by that tool, see Category:Sprayable items.

Sprays are a feature of the PC version of Team Fortress 2 that allow players to "spray" (Default: T) their own images on surfaces within a game server such as walls, ceilings, or floors instantly.

The image file can be uploaded to your spray list via the Multiplayer menu by selecting the spray of your choice to be imported from your steam directory. The image file must be in one of the following formats to work correctly: .jpg, .bmp, .tga or .vtf. All sprays must be below 256KB in size, or they won't show up in game.

They can be either enabled or disabled in the game's Multiplayer options tab, but how many are displayed at once, if any, is dependent on the value that mp_decals is set to by the server you are playing on. The value must be above 300 to show sprays, and the higher the value, the more sprays that can be loaded at once.

In-Game screenshots that have been saved using the games screen capture system (default key F5) are already formatted to be used as sprays but will most likely have reduced image quality and be illegible to other players.


Uses

Sprays are used by players for many reasons including;

  • To advertise clans or groups,
  • Lighten up the tension of a match with comical sprays,
  • To grief other players with unpleasant images,
  • To leave their mark on the world using it as a signature,
  • To entertain other players.

The useful application of sprays in-game is almost non-existant, although they can sometimes be used to distract enemies by making them believe that there are certain obstacles in their way that in most cases would want to be avoided such as; crouching Snipers in the distance, Sentry Guns or Sticky Bombs.

Another use for sprays is for Spies to lay a trap for unwary opponents. A Spy equipped with a Cloak and Dagger will place a spray and then lie in wait for an enemy to pause to look at it then backstab them while their guard is down.

Demonstration

Update history

September 28, 2007 Patch

  • Added option to disable Player sprays

November 7, 2007 Patch

  • Fixed crash on importing spray logo that claimed to be a valid jpeg file, but wasn't

January 25, 2008 Patch

  • Fixed crash caused by trying to import a custom player spray

February 14, 2011 Patch

  • Fixed a client crash caused by malformed custom client spray.

April 14, 2011 Patch

  • Fixed a couple cases where custom sprays would not import correctly.

Spray Resources