CS:GO User Explains What Causes the Annoying ‘Water Bug’ and How to Avoid It

An audio bug has existed in CS:GO for a long time, crippling maps like Inferno, Overpass, and Ancient, as they have water present on it. The critical 'Water Bug' is related to areas with liquid present on them and leaks audio across the map, giving away crucial information. Valve has either ignored or failed to resolve this long standing issue, as it is still present in the game to this very day.

Talking about this water bug, a CS:GO user 'sv1st' has come forward with a possible breakthrough, explaining how the game-breaking bug actually works and a temporary solution that players can adopt to avoid it. This might also be a huge help to Valve when it comes to understanding the issue better and coming up with a viable solution.

CS:GO water bug explained: How it works

The annoying water bug which has existed in CS:GO for a long time and has even been called out by professional players like Martin "STYKO" Styk, Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, and more, has finally been explained in detail by a CS:GO user 'sv1st'.

While everyone was aware of the effect of the critical water bug and its consequences, it was not clear how this bug actually worked. The user conducted experiments in order to solve this mystery and this is what the outcome was according to him.

When a player runs through water in CS:GO, the game gives that character an 'on-water' attribute, which basically means that water sounds are applied to that particular player's character.

The same 'on-water' attribute is applied to a dead player when they are spectating their teammate run through water. This is done by the game to allow the spectating player to also hear the water sounds.

However, all this is just from the spectating player's point of view, server side things are a bit bizarre. When the spectator receives an 'on-water' attribute, the game automatically attaches the same to their virtual dead body as well, no matter where it is on the map. So now, all the other players on the server can hear water steps coming through that particular corpse.

Basically, if a player gets taken down during a game and they start spectating their teammate running through water, the spectating player's virtual dead body on the map will start emitting water sounds same as their teammate's. This is how the footstep sound is audible across the map, giving away key information.

A simple solution to avoid this water bug on maps like Inferno, Overpass, and Ancient is to simply not spectate a player passing through an area with water.

This is not a perfect solution as sometimes all the remaining players might be moving together or they might be in a 1v1 situation, but until Valve provides a solution from their side this is what players can do to mitigate their loss.

Hopefully, Valve will take note of this explanation and it helps them in devising an effective plan on how to tackle and solve this water bug permanently.