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Team Fortress 2/Unused Textures
This is a sub-page of Team Fortress 2.
 | To do: There's a bunch more TFC textures in materials/models/weapons in the v_models and w_models folders. |
There's quite a few unused textures in here!
Contents
Cosmetics
Unused Duck Journal Texture
After the End of the Line update, a Duck Journal was added that would track Duck XP and Duckstreaks from special Ducks that would drop when players were killed up until January 5th, 2015. There is a texture for the Duck Journal in the files not implemented in the model. It appears to be paintable, and has hidden text reading "LETS EAT!!!", which is a reference to Chica the Chicken, a character from the game Five Nights at Freddy's. Apart from potential copyright concerns, it's unknown why it wasn't included.
Unused Taunts Backpack Icons
The Jungle Inferno Update added in backpack icons for 6 taunts that all went unused. It appears that when Valve migrated some weapons, cosmetics, and other items over to the tf\models\workshop directory from their original directories as part of the update, they accidentally migrated some staging build (in-dev) Workshop content they were testing at the time (if not for the past two years in the cases of Hoodoo Hex, Au Revoir and Santé!) and pushed it in the update.
Oddly, the Santé! icon seems to be a render of the notepad used in the Most Wanted taunt, which was created by the same people.
Unused Fresh Brewed Victory Textures
There are some unused/alternate textures for the Fresh Brewed Victory taunt, including a coffee bean texture (with a Windows mouse cursor on it...) and two tin can textures.
coffee.vtf
whoopass_can.vtf
whoopass_can2.vtf
Note on Pocket Pauling Texture
While not technically unused, there is a low-resolution note on the Pocket Pauling clipboard that's impossible to read in-game, which reads: "Scout is the best of the Teufort nine and he definitely deserves a pay rise and all the chicks in the world." Make of that what you will...
Most Wanted Notepad Names
The model used in the Sniper's Most Wanted taunt show off a list of names, and although it's hard to read the list while in-game, the names are much clearer on the texture. The majority of the names are either taken from TF2 Community Contributors in the Facepunch Community or are references to Valve-owned Properties.
| Name | Who/ What it's referencing |
|---|---|
| S. Nipe | A reference to Sn1pe, the co-contributor of the Most Wanted taunt. |
| S. Quare | References user Square, who is known for contributing many items including the Scorch Shot, the Tools of the Trade, the Heavy Lifter and more. |
| A. Pesquera | References user Druida, who co-contributed the Back Scatter. |
| P. OGO | References user POGO, who contributed the Bigg Mann on Campus, Bozo's Bouffant, and assisted in creating the Robotic Boogaloo update. |
| S. Greg | References user Serious Greg, known for contributing numerous items including the Eye-Catcher, the Skullcap, and the Facepeeler. |
| N. Demente | References user NeoDement, contributor of items such as the Wiki Cap, the Cute Suit, Level Three Chin and numerous items featured in the Robotic Boogaloo update. |
| N. OizBlaz | This is a reference to user Noizeblaze, who contributed the Juggernaut Jacket, Borscht Belt, and the Winter Wonderland Wrap. |
| N. D. Wise | This is referencing the user Napy Da Wise, known for contributing items such as the Deep Cover Operator, Fashionable Maniac, and the Merc's Muffler. |
| Z. Smith | References user Sexy Robot, who's known for contributing the Panic Attack, Flying Guillotine, Pocket Momma; and was also one of the modellers working on the End of the Line update. |
| V. Hideous | This is a reference to user Hideous, who contributed items such as the Western Wear, Graybanns, and Well-Rounded Rifleman. |
| D. Conagher | This is the name of The Engineer, Dell Conagher. |
| W. Overbeck | This is the name of William "Bill" Overbeck from Left 4 Dead. |
| G. Freemann | This is the TF2-ified variation for the name of Gordon Freeman from the Half-Life series. |
| A. Vance | This is the name of Alyx Vance from the Half-Life series. |
| G. Newell | This is referencing Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder. |
| D Tickler | It's exactly what you think it is... |
| Mundy, | The Sniper's real name, which was first revealed as Mister Mundy in the Meet the Director comic. This name is written on the sides of the pages, making it even harder to see than normal. |
A clearer look at the names on the texture.
Items
Bundle Textures
Present in materials/models/player/items/crafting are several textures for a model used in the backpack icons of several item bundles from the Mann-Conomy Update. The model is not available to the public, but the textures made their way into the game for unknown reasons. Most likely, the model would have just used all of these textures as skins, to make the process of backpack icon creation for bundles as easy as possible.
Polycount Pack bundle texture.
The Special Delivery bundle texture.
The Tank Buster bundle texture.
The Gas Jockey's Gear bundle texture.
The Croc-o-Style bundle texture.
The Saharan Spy bundle texture.
The backpack icons for the bundles give an idea of what the model would have looked like.
Polycount Pack bundle backpack icon.
The Special Delivery bundle backpack icon.
The Tank Buster bundle backpack icon.
The Gas Jockey's Gear bundle backpack icon.
The Croc-o-Style bundle backpack icon.
The Saharan Spy bundle backpack icon.
Mann Co. Crate, Chain and Key Textures
Also present in materials/models/player/items/crafting are the textures for models for the Mann Co. Supply Crate model, the chain model for the crate, and the Mann Co. Supply Crate Key.
Texture for the Mann Co. Supply Crate Key model.
Texture for the Mann Co. Supply Crate model.
Texture for the Mann Co. Supply Crate's chain model.
And once again, the backpack icons shed some light on what the model looked like.
Backpack icon for the Mann Co. Supply Crate Key.
Backpack icon for the Mann Co. Supply Crate.
Paint Can
Finally, present in materials/models/player/items/crafting as well, is the texture for the model used in creating the backpack icons for the Paint Cans. This texture appears to be the default texture for the model, as the default backpack icon for the paint can features paint that is a similar-looking brown to that of the texture. Textures for the other paint can colors are not present in the files.
Paint Can model texture.
Paint Can backpack icon.
Characters/Game Modes
RED MvM Robot Textures
The "Mann Vs. Machine" game mode drops the RED team into a tower-defense scenario against an insanely-large horde of BLU robots (though, confusingly, the bots are canonically on the "gray" team, and BLU is supposed to be just as much a victim of their onslaught as RED). All of the robots that are modeled after the player classes have complete standard and Ubercharged textures for being on the RED team (the RED team skin being the default), as well as RED skins for all their giblets, even though they are always on BLU. The textures are "used" when a RED player's model is replaced by a robot model due to a rare bug, but there is no official way to make RED robots appear.
RED Scout Robot
RED Boss Scout Robot
RED Soldier Robot
RED Boss Soldier Robot
RED Pyro Robot
RED Boss Pyro Robot
RED Demoman Robot
RED Boss Demoman Robot
RED Heavy Robot
RED Boss Heavy Robot
RED Engineer Robot
RED Medic Robot
RED Sniper Robot
RED Spy Robot
Female Head Texture
Discovered around May 22nd, 2009 (a day after the Sniper vs Spy update was released), this is a very odd texture that sparked up the "Is the Pyro female?" debate on a few forums. This texture was found in Team Fortress 2's GCF files for a short period of time before being removed. The VTF file itself was incredibly high resolution, coming in at 2048x2048. It was located in tf/materials/models/players/shared_parts/head/female/ before it was removed.
female_head_black.vtf
Minimap Icons
Found in the materials/sprites/minimap_icons folder are 7 minimap icons, potentially remnants of the scrapped commander system.
RED Player
BLU Player
RED Camera
BLU Camera
Spectator Camera
Dead Player
Voice Chat
Old Random Class Icon
An unused icon for the Random Class option that depicts a thick stick figure character. Interestingly, this icon is actually used, alongside a matching "inactive" version, in the June 2007 build.
Unused Random class selection icon.
Inactive Random class selection icon.
Cash Pile
A placeholder texture for a model which no longer exists found in the "models/items" folder. Maybe it was used while developing Mann vs. Machine.
cash_pile.vtf
Unused Game Mode Textures
Alongside the other Casual game mode options, a texture for the Special Delivery game mode exists. However, the only official SD map, Doomsday, is placed in the Misc. category, leaving this graphic for selecting Special Delivery maps unused.
An equivalent texture exists for Arena, which, unlike Special Delivery, has nearly a dozen maps to choose from, some being converted from other gametypes, such as CP or King Of The Hill.
Unused Normal Map for Spy
Within the files of TF2, there is an unused normal map texture, materials/models/player/spy/spy_refractnormal.vtf. This normal map does not resemble the base Spy textures, which led to some confusion as to what it was based on. A while before the Postal 3 source code leak that contained the June 2007 TF2 build occurred, a smaller leak of a few early player textures happened in private Discord servers which resulted in a very early Spy texture leaking. While it's legitimacy is unconfirmed, it is still interesting as the class emblem on its shoulder is highly similar to the Team Fortress Classic symbol for the Scout. The UV layout however, is identical to the layout seen in spy_refractnormal.vtf which could indicate its legitimacy.
spy_refractnormal.vtf
An unconfirmed, though apparently very early Spy texture.
Weapons
Fire Retardant Suit Backpack Icon
The backpack icon for the Fire Retardant Suit has existed in the game files, but has gone unused, for years. This weapon was apparently tested during the 2009 Closed Beta and somehow or another, its backpack icon ended up being shipped.
Fire Retardant Suit bucket icon.
Unused Thermal Thruster Texture
There is an unused Thermal Thruster texture which turns it pink and decorates it with yellow and light blue markings and smiley faces. The texture doesn't fully match up with the current model of the Thermal Thruster, with only the thrusters being correctly textured, meaning it may have been made for an earlier version of the model. It's possible that it was intended to be seen when the player was in Pyrovision mode, but since there's no BLU counterpart, it was likely scrapped quite early in development.
The raw texture file for the Pink Thruster, entitled "c_rocketpack_fun".
Back
Right
Front
Left
Unused Chargin' Targe Textures
The Chargin' Targe, a shield weapon for the Demoman, once used RED and BLU team textures. However, this was changed to a neutral yellow texture for easier identification in the 119th Update, leaving the original skins unused (although the original BLU texture is still used for the backpack icon). On top of this, there is another unused BLU texture named c_targe_blue that is effectively the same texture but with a lighter palette.
Original RED skin (front)
Original BLU skin (front)
Unused BLU skin (front)
Original RED skin (back)
Original BLU skin (back)
Unused BLU skin (back)
Original RED texture.
Original BLU texture.
Unused BLU texture.
Temporary Dispenser Screen
There is a placeholder screen for the Dispenser in the files. It's a simple blue texture with many lines of numbers on it, along with a repeated message saying it's temporary, just so you know for sure. And yes, the weird brown bits are part of the texture.
The Dispenser Screen.
Kill Icons
There are many unused kill icons, several of which actually were used in the game at one point...and some for weapons that have never been in the game at all.
| Kill Icon | Description | |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Likely implemented early on in development for explosive weapons, this icon has been in the files since the game's release. |
|
|
Scoring a headshot with the Ambassador, version 1. This was used in-game from the Sniper vs. Spy Update to the Engineer Update, but was changed to the Sniper Rifle headshot icon for unknown reasons. |
|
|
Scoring a headshot with the Ambassador, version 2. This was included in the game's files, but never used in-game, and is only assumed to be related to the Ambassador. When this was initially added to d_images.vtf and dneg_images.vtf, it was completely black. This was later fixed, but the icon still was never used. See the Oddities section below this box for images of this. |
|
|
A kill icon for killing a laughing player with the Holiday Punch. |
|
|
An alternate kill icon for killing a player with the Wrap Assassin's alt-fire bauble. |
|
|
An alternate kill icon for the Half-Zatoichi, assumedly designed for when a Half-Zatoichi wielder instantly kills another Half-Zatoichi wielder. |
|
|
A kill icon for killing a player via the Third Degree's damage transfer effect. |
|
|
This icon appears similar to the standard Level 1 Sentry kill icon with one clear difference: the Sentry appears to have some kind of laser attached to the top. The icon was introduced to the game's files months before the Engineer Update. Seeing as a sentry that is remote-controlled by the Wrangler weapon uses laser sighting, it can be assumed that this icon would have been for it when it was released in the Engineer Update, but scrapped in lieu of a picture of the Wrangler itself. |
|
|
Scoring a kill with a deflected baseball. |
|
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Scoring a headshot with a deflected arrow. |
|
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Scoring a kill with a deflected flaming arrow. |
 
|
 
|
Scoring a headshot with a deflected flaming arrow. Two versions exist, one found in d_images.vtf/dneg_images.vtf and one in d_images_v2.vtf/dneg_images_v2.vtf. There is a slight difference in width between these icons, and the fire color may also be slightly different. |
 
|
 
|
Kill icon added with the Engineer Update for scoring a kill with a flaming arrow headshot. Two versions exist, one found in d_images.vtf/dneg_images.vtf and one in d_images_v2.vtf/dneg_images_v2.vtf. There is a slight difference in the fire color between them. |
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Baleful Beacon kill-icon. Exists in the VPK files, but the weapon does not yet exist in-game. |
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Flyswatter kill-icon. Exists in the VPK files, but the weapon does not yet exist in-game. |
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Shred Alert kill-icon. Exists in the VPK files. Indicates that the Shred Alert taunt was meant to damage enemies. |
|
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Water Balloon/Paint Bomb kill icon. Appears to be a suicide-related kill icon. Weapon does not exist in-game. |
|
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Water Balloon/Paint Bomb kill icon. Weapon does not exist in-game. |
Oddities
In early versions of the d_images.vtf and dneg_images.vtf files from around the time when the 2nd version of the Ambassador headshot kill-icon was first added, the icon was completely black compared to the rest of the kill icons on these textures.
Stat Clock Leftovers
There are quite a few leftover textures from the development of the Stat Clock item (used as a visual Strange-quality kill counter on Decorated Weapons), which can be found in the "materials/models/weapons/stattrak" folder.
A lot of these are directly from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, including all 10 digits (0-9) for both StatTrak firearms (a visible dot-matrix counter) and melee weapons (scratches into the blade of the weapon), normalmaps and all. These were likely used as placeholders for the final Stat Clock's appearance, to ensure the counter worked properly.
What's more interesting, however, is the stuff that isn't in the CS:GO files. Namely a 14-segmented display variant of the StatTrak digits that is green (including the "ERROR USER UNKNOWN" message that appears when you hold someone else's StatTrak weapon in CS:GO), and a "stattrak_module_head" texture. This latter texture is the same as the standard StatTrak module's texture, but with "HeadTrak™" as the label instead of "StatTrak™". What its purpose would have been in Counter-Strike is unknown.
ERROR (Frame 1)
USER (Frame 3 - frame 2 is blank)
UNKWN (Frame 4)
"HeadTrak™"
Maps/Objects
Badlands Textures
Within the materials/models/props_badlands folder are numerous unused textures for things that were going to be part of the map cp_badlands. Most textures are actually visible, while others are just AO bakes.
Laser Textures
The following textures are all part of a giant laser of death (or maybe peace and prosperity?) that was potentially going to be part of the map.
laser01.vtf
laser_black.vtf
laser_dark.vtf
laser_gray.vtf
Unused Model Textures
These textures are for the unavailable-to-the-general-public models that were meant to appear in the map.
helmet.vtf
jetpack.vtf
Firing Range Textures
Within the same folder are numerous textures prefixed with firingrange, indicating that at one point in time, a firing range area was intended to be part of Badlands. Some textures are AO bakes, while others are fully mapped out, but left uncolored. Models for the textures are not present in the VPKs, but have been found fairly recently.
"firingrange_counter.vtf", "firingrange_headphones.vtf", "firingrange_target_clip.vtf" and "firingrange_target_track.vtf" are all pure white. Nothing much to see there. However, one texture was fully completed; "firingrange_dividing_guard.vtf".
firingrange_dividing_guard.vtf
Spawn Room Textures
There are a few spawnroom-prefixed textures for models such as a bench, a light, a wall-mounted TV and lockers. The models are not present in the VPKs.
spawnroom_bench.vtf
spawnroom_light.vtf
spawnroom_lockers.vtf
spawnroom_lockers_open.vtf
spawnroom_pipes.vtf
spawnroom_table.vtf
spawnroom_tv_wall.vtf
Misc. Textures
The following textures are unused, and not much is known about what they would have been used for.
arms01.vtf
cibles.vtf
The silhouettes seen in "cibles.vtf" are based on Team Fortress 2s concept art rather than renders of the finished classes, and all show noticable differences from the weapons actually used in the game. Of particular note is the presence of Medic's scrapped syringe weapon, and a shotgun.
Pyro Concept Art.
Sniper Concept Art.
Medic Concept Art.
Rocket Silo Texture
| To do: What do "rocket silo", "sack", and "shelf gib" even refer to??? |
The rocket silo model is by default unused in the game, but its texture exists despite the lack of a VMT. Adding a custom rocket_silo001.vmt into the "materials/models/props_spytech" directory alongside this allows the model to appear as it should;
"VertexLitGeneric"
{
"$basetexture" "models/props_spytech/rocket_silo001"
"$selfillum" "1"
}
NOTE: The self-illumination is because there's an alpha channel over the entire texture but the white-looking dots are intended for lamps!
Sack Texture
Similar to the rocket silo, "the sack" has the same problem except this one's MDL file mentions the textures to be in "models\pr7663~1". Taking the sack.vmt from the props_gameplay texture files and dropping it into this newly created folder in "materials\models" allows the sack to appear properly.
sack.vtf
Prop Shelf Gib Texture
Once again, but all the shelf's props (when broken) use the same missing VMT file but once again, this time in "models\props_farm\gibs/". Copying the shelf_props01.vmt and pasting it into the "gibs" directory (if you don't see one, make one!) allows the shelf's gibs to appear perfectly... And curiously, the oilcan has an unused BLU variant!
Team Fortress Classic Leftovers
| To do: There's other textures in places like materials/models/weapons/w_models that appear to be from either TFC or HL1. Figure out which are from what and document them here. |
There are textures for the TFC teleporters in the files as well. They were likely used in place of the current teleporters for testing purposes, or simply just leftovers that were never used at all.
RED teleporter texture.
BLU teleporter texture.
