Skins & Market
Float value in CS2: why two Factory New skins look nothing alike
When you browse for a Counter-Strike 2 skin on the Steam Community Market, you might notice that two Skins rated Factory New can look completely different.
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Condition Labels Are Separate From Wear Rating
When looking at a CS2 weapon skin on the Steam Market, you will find three fields relevant to condition: Exterior, Wear Rating, and Pattern Template. To Counter-Strike ears, Exterior may be the most familiar of these, a familiar CS:GO label that arrives unchanged on CS2, but the other two fields explain why two skins can both look brand new, but different.
Every CS2 weapon skin has a Wear Rating between 0 and 1. A skin with a very low wear is pristine, and is marked as Factory New. As wear increases, the skin will take on more scratches, blue-black smudges, and faded paint. Steam Community Market pages group this number with five Market-defined exterior tags, from Factory New on the low end to Battle-Scarred at the extreme. These Conditions are a simplification of the Wear Rating, so two skins can look different but be classified the same way.
Wear Bands Aren’t Fixed - Each Skin Has Its Own
The numeric Wear Rating isn’t tied to a fixed set of boundaries in nature. Each skin has its own minimum and maximum, so the same exterior slot, Field-Tested, for instance, will mean different things to two different skins. The boundaries aren’t fixed for a skin. Even between skins, the ranges don’t line up.
Obviously, full float values aren’t labeled on the marketplace. Steam Community Market does show a fraction editor inside each skin’s Market page, with four decimal points. It allows casual buyers to browse and choose only on eye and experience, but more advanced players can browse to find a skin with a specific float. Knowing rough boundaries lets players get closer to a look.
However, what helps trading is exact numbers, so players turn to third-party tools. These publish databases of estimated boundaries for skins in the game.
If you compare the published boundaries for skins with the Steam Community profiles of those skins, there is a consistent pattern of resistance, dulled patinas and bright highlights at the definition edges.
Wear Isn’t the Only Visual Factor
Even if you’ve seen a skin bought on the market before in different float ranges, there’s a chance it will still look different to you. Like in CS: GO, CS2 skins come with a Pattern Index, a pattern logo or decal scheme that is rendered on top of the wear patterns that come with a floating point value.
Wherever you play CS2, whatever interface calls Float Value “Wear Rating”, it isn’t the same as Exterior condition. CS2 skins come in all sorts of styles, patterns, and floats. Those three aspects are what make each skin the one you fall in love with, not any two.
In the CS2 Steam Workshop and Econitem file format, these properties are collected in the item configuration file for weapon finishes. Valve lets trading third parties polish their apps with these CS2 skin properties, in their applications. CS2 skins can come with float in mind-boggling ranges, too. Some skins are said to come out of the box at a well-worn, not factory new, float. Some buyers say they prefer these.
Questions readers ask
Why do two Factory New skins look different?
Because the exterior label covers a range of wear values rather than one value. Two skins can sit at different points inside the same range, and the pattern index is drawn on top of the wear.
Are the wear boundaries the same for every skin?
No. Each finish has its own minimum and maximum, so Field-Tested on one skin is not the same span of wear as Field-Tested on another.
Where is the exact wear figure shown?
On the Steam Community Market listing itself, to four decimal places.
Wear ranges by float
- Factory New0.00 – 0.07
- Minimal Wear0.07 – 0.15
- Field-Tested0.15 – 0.38
- Well-Worn0.38 – 0.45
- Battle-Scarred0.45 – 1.00
Wear is one continuous number; the five names are ranges cut out of it. Each finish also has its own minimum and maximum wear, so two Factory New skins of different weapons need not look alike.
Before you trade
- FloatWear is a number in a range; the five names are cuts of that range.
- PatternThe pattern index is separate from wear and is not shown as a condition.
- StickersApplying is permanent in the sense that removal destroys the sticker.
- HoldsA trade hold is Steam account security, not a marketplace rule.