Since the Toybox Redux back in December, all of us on the team have been reviewing the current Verision 2.0. We’ve always tried to emphasize and stimulate creative freedom and this is what 2.0 allowed us to do. It changed the modded experience for everyone, as traditional mods coupled with the Toybox plugins, gives any average player the ability to go above and beyond the game’s boundaries. We weren’t restrained by ammo, health, or gravity. And now we’re aiming to provide full creative control. That being said, our review and input from fans started to shape what came next in trying to achieve that - and it’s finally here.

I’m pleased to announce Toybox 3.0 - the most complete modded suite for Left 4 Dead 2. It’s designed for traditional gamers and builders alike, all for a collaborative intent.

We’ve expanded the prop selection, nearly quadrupling it. It’s more diverse with a wider range of interior and exterior props, and foliage is also available as a new category. Dynamic Lighting now has an easy and in-depth management system. All kinds of doors can now be spawned and you no longer have to rely solely on saferoom doors for security as a new breakability toggle allows you to make the other doors indestructible. Don’t like the old tankbuster item layout with all its pages? Turn on Item Sorting to get to the item you want faster. Set a desired rotation degree in the menu and use it with the new Axis Rotation Controls, allowing you to rotate by yaw, pitch, and roll. One of the new tools is called AdminOnline, which lists all admins currently in that server. A menu has also been implemented that lists everyone you can VoteKick. But probably our favorite new tool is the Mute Menu, which allows clients to personally mute and unmute anyone in-game. And finally, the Build Log enables everyone to view build activity in the console. It will tell you when someone spawns dynamic/physics props, deletes/rotates a prop, and will tell you the coordinates.

Many more features have been added under the hood in addition to obvious bug fixes. The Basic Build functions by which creation is carried out upon has been revamped. It’s cleaner, faster, and less resource intensive. The plugin has improved ability to monitor and block spam, utilizes a new optimized and faster menu system, and is even able to clean up the map to ensure a lag-free game.

I invite players to continue to provide feedback for the Toybox plugins so that we may improve it even further if patches are needed. So be sure to report bugs at the forum!

I’d also like to personally thank Sub°, pigtailsboy, Avi, and Scrotal Torment for contributing to this project.

In other news, Toybox 5 will be converted from the VIP (v3 Beta Testing) to another 8Slot Public with this new release. However, the VIP Status will still remain. If plugin testing should require another server, a VIP Only may appear again.

I'll be making this brief announce to avoid confusion regarding changes that will be taking place on a few Toybox servers - changes that deal with gamemodes. Currently, a voting feature is present on all servers that allow users to change the gamemode via vote. However, even though users get to make that choice, the gamemode selection is dominated primarily by survival. Nothing wrong with giving the public what they want, but we still want to cater to those that want to play Co-op. And we'll be doing this experimentation on server Toybox 6 by removing survival from the gamemode selection. If you have any questions or would like to comment on this campaign-only server change, feel free to post comments below.

Toybox fans may have also noticed minor changes to the Toybox 2.x plugin which is currently run on all public servers. Most of these changes are bug fixes, but they're all apart of a bigger change: the transition into Toybox 3.0.

So just as a heads up, 3.0 will make its public server release soon.

Toybox is starting to really step out into the world. It's growing, adapting.. and maturing.

A new consciousness is developing within the Toybox community that's starting to become self-aware, as it sees past the mods and servers themselves. It's no longer about the toys or individuals, it's about the community. Toybox is entering an all new frontier for its players and admins, so many changes will be taking place in the coming weeks.

Firstly, with the arrival of a few new admins, comes the Private line of servers starting with Toybox 5. It has invitation-only access, which is granted by the VIP Moderators - those who are respected players of Toybox.

Secondly, for the first time Toybox is looking for admins and monitors. It's important to note that adminship is not a new set of toys to play with. It's a responsibility held by those that share the same desire to better the Toybox Experience for all, and to uphold the values that have been placed to keep that standard high.

More news to come.

209.247.83.60:27015 - Check it. Props to Kennedy for his contribution to Toybox.

Yet another server has been donated to the Toybox line-up. Located back in the US, this will be setup to accommodate 8 players in Coop & Survival. 72.5.86.97:27015