8 July

HOTW July patch.

Small changes this time around. But It does add the German Fallschirmjager. Along with other minor additions and bug fixes.

Map Changes

Hill 400:

Added cover to left approach of Hill
Increased Spawn Protection for Attackers
Main sections of Destructible Barbed Wire are now Satchel Objectives
Electrocution Sound reduced at a distance

Caen Outskirts:

Increased Tickets for Allies
Increased Capture Time for Final Objective
Added Entrance to trenches for Defenders
Increased Trench defenses and cover
Tweaked some of the textures that contributed to crashes on Ultra

Port Brest:

Added Cover for B Objective Approach
Added Cover for D Objective Approach
Addressed exploit to get out of bounds
Added Fallschirmjäger Skins for Axis

Oosterbeek:

Added missing bot paths near first Allies Spawn
Moved Initial Allies spawn closer to B Objective
Fixed Spawn Protection on E cap that enabled while inside the objective
Increased Time on Final caps by 2 seconds
Spread Allies Spawns apart for defending E

Carentan:

Added details to interiors
Addressed some of the very dark areas inside buildings
Added Covernodes to some of the windows that had none
Increased Spawn Protection for Allies
Reduced areas that Axis can shoot into Allies Spawn
Added Fallschirmjäger Skins for Axis

General Fixes:

Added Fallshirmjager unit set. Smock model by Postamenos.
Added No.32 T-post reticle to the Enfield sniper.
Added markers for the radioman that can be seen by the Team Leader.
Added markers for the Team leader than can be seen by everyone.
Added in new German and British objective and level up sound cues by Karl Feuerstake.
Updated plane sound effects.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed Bren carrier sound volume glitch.
Re-aligned Bren carrier camera with the Bren guns sights.
Fixed Bren carrier fire rate.
Compressed a lot of textures for performance reasons.
Hill400 no longer has 4 different versions.
Assigned a lot of textures correct mip map settings for performance.
Launcher no longer lies about about the mod being installed in the wrong place.
Lots of other boring back-end stuff.

PLEASE give time for servers to up date. Many are in the process of updating right now.
If you join a server and start downloading things from the server press F10 immediatly. Then find another server to try or wait a bit.

6 June

D-Day 2016 Update

Working with Tripwire Interactive, the developers of Heroes of the West mod to RO2/Rising Storm, are proud to announce the release on Steam of an update to the mod to coincide with the anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy on D-day 72 years ago.

The update introduces 2 new maps, the first being a combined arms map featuring the British in a gruelling fight to break out from the Normandy beachhead in summer 1944. The map, Caen Outskirts, introduces the British Bren Carrier troop transport.

The other map, Hill 400, recreates the bitter fighting in the winter of 1944 with the 2d Ranger Battalion struggling against Axis forces in the Hurtgen Forest.

There have been numerous balance, technical and cosmetic additions and fixes introduced in this update, read the notes below to see them.

• Caen Outskirts (Combined Arms)
  
• Hill 400
  
• Updated Vehicle Skins for Western Front:
  
• Panzer IV
  
• Sd.Kfz. 251

• Added Enfield bayonet by Shel100.
  
• Added Scoped Enfield by Shel100.
  
• Added Radioman Role for Germans and Americans.
  
• Added Bren Carrier Transports
  
• Added 2 new British voices

Oosterbeek:
• Extended E Objective towards Defenders Side
  
• Added 2 Seconds to F Objective Capture time
  
• Added Cover to D Objective Approach for Defenders
  
• Moved Defenders Spawn for D Objective closer
  
• Added Cover near Final Defender's Spawn to approach last capzones
  
• Added Radio near Final Allies Spawns
  
• Adjusted Axis Roles
  
  Omaha Beach:
  
• Reordered Letters for D, E, F Objectives
  
• Added new Spawn Zone for Attackers once D is captured
  
• Added Radioman Role to Allies
  
• Adjusted Axis Roles
  
  Port Brest:
  
• Removed one Axis Spawn zone for Objective D
  
• Added Allies Spawn Zone for Objective C
  
• Expanded Spawn Zone Protection after B is captured
  
• Added Cover to B Objective Approach
  
• Added Cover to C Objective Approach
  
• Removed some walls in alleyways
  
• Removed Fixed MG in Objective D
  
• Added Radioman to Allies
  
• Added an additional BAR, MG, and 2 Engineer Roles to Allies
  
• Adjusted Axis Roles
  
• Added Cover for attackers near B Objective
  
• Shifted C Cap slightly towards Attackers
  
• Added open building near Fountain for Attackers to attack D from.
  
  Carentan:
  
• Adjusted Axis Roles

• Axis Engineer G43 replaced by Kar98, Shotgun replaced by carbine. AT grenade added.
  
• Axis Rifleman Hero garand replaced by springfield, Springfield no longer frontline upgrade.
  
• Axis Squad leader has Kar98 added.
  
• Axis Assault no longer has access to the STG44
  
• Axis Radioman now uses MP40.
  
• Allied Radioman now uses Carbine and M3.
  
• Axis Elite Assault added.

• STG44 fire rate changed from 600rpm to 550rpm.
  
• MP40/I removed (This is the Dual Mag version)
  
• Sten gun now has a single shot function.
  
• Allies on Omaha beach now have Assault jackets.
  
• A Few weapons renamed to better represent them.
  
• Players can now accumulate game hours through Steam.
  
• Added German Splintertarn helmet covers.

• Divisional shoulder patches now show up in online games.
  
• Sten bolt no longer detaches from the weapon while blindfiring.
  
• German "Spiderman" gear bug fixed.
  
• German Marksman level 5 no longer spawns with a japanese helmet.
  
• SMi44 Mine kill icon resized to fit.
  
• Bren alt fire removed.
  
• Game mode now properly displays in webadmin.
  
• German Eagle now shows on chest for all variations.
  
• Germans no longer turn invisible in the halftrack.
  
• PIAT launcher is now empty when fired.
  
• Enfield bolt animation no longer jolts into place when manual bolting fast.
  
• Germans, British, and American Army soldiers now bleed correctly when dismembered/decapitated.
  
• Fixed American Airborne's 1st person arms being US marines arms.
  
• Fixed texture bugs on German Hero and some Highly decorated uniform variations.

Please give time for servers to update. If you start downloading things from a hotw server press F10 to cancel and find another one.

The launcher may come up with an error message stating that the mod is installed in the wrong place. If you previously have been able to play the mod with no issues ignore this message and click launch anyway.