Classic Counter-Strike maps: Dust to Inferno, 1999-2001

Dust and Nuke arrived in Counter-Strike Beta 4 in November 1999, and cs_office came with Beta 7.0. Version 1.1 added Dust II and Inferno in March 2001. The official map list on counter-strike.net, archived in December 2003, names an author for each of them and for Train.

Key dates

• Counter-Strike beta 2 released: fall 1999
• Beta 4 adds de_dust and de_nuke: Nov. 5, 1999
• Version 1.1 adds de_dust2 and de_inferno: March 13, 2001
• Inferno rebuilt for Counter-Strike: Source: 2005
• Train remade for CS:GO: December 2014
• Nuke redesigned for CS:GO: 2016
• Dust II visual revision in CS:GO: October 2017

The maps at a glance

Beta 4: Dust and Nuke

According to the Counter-Strike Planet version history, Beta 4 added the Sig P228 pistol, the Steyr Scout sniper rifle and HE grenades, along with a “new gameplay scenario involving C4 bombs.” Its new maps were de_nuke, de_dust, de_prodigy and cs_station.

Dave Johnston wrote that Beta 4 went out on Friday, Nov. 5, 1999. Bomb defusal was a new game type introduced alongside his map, he wrote, since all earlier Counter-Strike maps had featured hostage rescue.

Dust

Johnston was 16 when he started. He wrote that he built the map after seeing early Team Fortress 2 screenshots, and that he asked texture artist Chris “MacMan” Ashton for lookalike textures. The long road, the archways, the dividing wall and the trim all came from those screenshots, he wrote. He designed the rest of the map himself.

Playtesting changed the layout. Johnston wrote that Jess Cliffe suggested moving the second bomb spot, which he had placed in the underpass, into the Counter-Terrorist spawn. He had been treating bomb defusal like capture the flag, with the bomb starting at the Terrorist spawn, and he made the change.

On the day after release, Johnston wrote, hundreds of servers were already running. That was also the day the first “Dust 24/7” server appeared. He later summed up the map’s standing:

“For a long while Dust was the world’s most-played Counter-Strike map and it’s still the one for which I am best known.” – Dave Johnston, The Making Of: Dust

Dust changed in almost every beta release that followed, Johnston wrote. Beta 5 added a crack in the wall of the Counter-Terrorist sniper nest overlooking the underpass, meant to expose snipers. By CS 1.6, he wrote, it had more crates and cover, a custom skybox and tweaked sunlight. Version 1.1 listed de_dust among the upgraded maps.

Nuke

Beta 4 also brought de_nuke. Valve wrote in its 2016 announcement of the reworked map that Nuke was “first released in November 1999.” The official map list credits it only to the nickname MEEEEDIC.

Beta 7.0: Office

The Beta 7.0 version history lists cs_office among the added maps, alongside as_highrise, cs_arabstreets, de_foption and de_vegas. Dual Berettas, a redone knife model with a secondary attack and a new player model came in the same release. The official list credits the map to Alex “Hobbit” Manilov, who is also listed as the author of de_prodigy from Beta 4. Version 1.1 later put cs_office on its list of upgraded maps.

Version 1.1: Dust II and Inferno

Counter-Strike 1.1 added cs_thunder, de_vertigo, de_inferno, de_dust2 and de_rotterdam, and it upgraded de_dust, de_cbble, de_vegas, de_aztec, cs_office, cs_siege and cs_italy. A spectator mode and new map-cycling rules came in the same release.

Dust II

Johnston wrote that a sequel took a long time to cross his mind. Cobble, which he also made and which some saw as Dust’s spiritual successor, had not found the same audience, he wrote. He first called the new map “Dust 3” and hoped no one would notice, assuming everyone would keep playing the original.

Brian Martel of Gearbox gave feedback during development. Johnston wrote that Martel suggested arrows pointing toward the bomb locations to support the floor markings. Those arrows were later added to the original Dust and to all other official maps, he wrote.

Johnston wrote that Cliffe insisted the map join the official rotation under the name Dust 2. Cliffe also helped balance it by suggesting new spawn and bomb locations. It shipped in Counter-Strike 1.1 in March 2001 and, Johnston wrote, received no further layout tweaks after that.

Johnston wrote that the map became popular in clan matches, where Dust had become ill-suited. He also wrote that it later took the “most-played map” crown from Dust, sharing it only occasionally with Aztec.

Inferno

Narby, also known as Barney, wrote on the Barney’s World page for the map that the build took two weeks, using Worldcraft 3.3 and Zoners 3.3.3. He wrote that he was “not entirely sure of the inspiration for this map” and that it “all came together at the end.” The map contained 20 spawn points and two bomb locations. Its briefing places it in a rebel stronghold in a Middle Eastern village, where rebels try to bomb an oil pipeline. Narby wrote that an updated version, build 22, was included with CS 1.3.

Valve’s Counter-Strike update history, as archived in December 2003, shows continued upkeep. It lists a new version of de_inferno and fixes for a streetlamp, floating staircases and bullet penetration through railings.

Train

The official list credits de_train to Chris “Dogzilla” Mair. It is set in a trainyard and train station, with many ladders, high platforms, long angles and tight corridors. The map was remade for Global Offensive in December 2014.

What came next

Several of these maps were rebuilt for later games. Inferno was remade from the ground up for Counter-Strike: Source in 2005, changing large parts of the map and moving its setting from the Middle East to Europe. It returned in CS:GO in 2012 and was revamped in 2016.

Valve’s version of Dust II for Counter-Strike: Source was a renovation, Johnston wrote, done after the one for the original Dust. The CS:GO version was developed by Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment, he wrote, with the Source proportions as its base. A significant visual revision followed in CS:GO in October 2017.

Nuke received a complete redesign in 2016 as part of Operation Wildfire. In its announcement, Valve wrote that the goals were to give Terrorists more tactical options and to improve readability. Changes included a new route over Hut to the Rafters at A site and a Decontamination room, or “Decon,” on the route from Tunnels to the lower site. Valve also changed the vents linking the two bombsites from an “H” shape to an “S” shape. Another update followed in 2018.

Train left the competitive map pool in May 2021, replaced by Ancient. It returned in January 2025 in place of Vertigo and left again a year later when Anubis took its place. As of July 2026, the seven Active Duty maps in Counter-Strike 2 include Dust II, Inferno and Nuke.