Happy 2024 Everyone!

We are back from our holiday break and hit the ground not just running, but sprinting. We saw a big rise in players during the month of December and we want to officially welcome all the new soldiers onto the battlefields.

In our December sitrep our canary let some info slip about some things we are working on and, as promised, we will be going into more details about what’s coming. The Devs’ Desk will be going over the latest features being worked on by the development team in addition to what you can expect in the next updates. In the Community Center we will go over some updates about custom maps and the VRML season.

You already waited through December, so let’s not wait any longer.

Before we jump into what's going to be coming out next, we wanted to give you an update about our voice chat system. Many have inquired and made reports about the voice chat system not working, voice being unable to connect, or being unable to hear teammates. Onward was designed so that communication was an important part of the gameplay experience and this is a big priority for us. We are working with our service providers and will be making improvements so the amount of disruptions are addressed.

Our next update will be Update 1.14. This update will have a much tighter focus for what is included because of the amount of work it takes to get these types of features included and running in the game.

In 1.13 you saw some of our maps get a big visual upgrade, not just in resolution, but in the overall feel of the environments. The next map to be upgraded is..… Bazaar!

The markets and hotels appear to be back in business. Make sure to check out the birds in the sky if you visit during the day or the exotic moths that will come out at night. The textures have been improved throughout the whole map. Additionally, the lighting has been improved for Day, Night, and in buildings.

Another one?! You bet!
This time it’s for PVE. Co-Op and Single Player will now have a completely new style of game mode to play that will include scoring and a global leaderboard. Get ready to see how far you can make it.

You wake up and you know today is going to be different. You're not going to start your day going to the base like you normally do. No, today you got called in for a special operation, a contract. After you psych yourself up and get ready, you make your way over to “The Hideout”.

Once you're there you meet up with your squad that will be joining you on this set of missions. You like these folks, for the most part. You just hope VolkH8ter16 isn’t going to try and push everyone to get RPGs like the last mission. I mean, we were able to reload but once our stash was out, PizzaGrunt ended up having to use their knife to get us access to our radios again. What a disaster that was.

Everyone takes a look at the board for the available missions. You discuss all the details with them. You mark which of the missions you think your squad will be able to show off your highest performance, while also being able to get your gear to ensure you are prepared for the next missions. Because you know they will be more difficult.

Once the mission has been decided, you all head to the outpost to talk strategy for how you want to handle this mission and gear up accordingly.

Before you know it, the first mission has started.
After this, 6 more to go.
Mercenary mode is a multi-mission operation where you (solo or with friends) are trying to complete the contract & get the highest score. Choose from a variety of missions with different types of objectives, some of which are totally new to Onward. One of the bigger hurdles will be how you handle your rewards and craft a loadout to be able to scale with the missions as they increase in difficulty.

The majority of our focus for Update 1.14 went into this new game mode. A few features for this mode have been in the works for quite awhile. Some of the elements in this new mode will be familiar to you, yet it will be a completely new way to experience them. It takes everything you know, or don’t, about running ops and challenges you to be able to complete missions and get through the whole contract.

This mode required a lot of design and play testing to make sure elements of the mode were balanced and provided a challenge. Communication will be critical. There are lots of decisions to make throughout the game and sometimes one choice your team makes can cause you to have some major setbacks.

We are thrilled to be bringing something so new and unique to PVE in Onward. Even if you are not a routine PVE player, we think you will want to invest some time being a Mercenary. We will release more details about the mode on our social media channels and in next month's Sitrep.

The VRML just wrapped up a very successful season 15. This season had 73 teams competing. After several months of practice, scrims, and intense battles the finals were down to two incredibly talented teams, The Raptors (Season 11 champions) and Imperial. After 4 Maps, The Raptors had to hand over their title to Imperial. You can check out all the highlights and matches from Season 15 on their YouTube.

Congratulations Imperial!

We wanted to also follow-up on several inquiries we have been getting regarding the removal of custom maps from the Co-Op game mode. When we updated the behavior for the bots in Update 1.13 this caused any custom maps that supported Co-Op to not function properly. To ensure the quality of the maps, we temporarily took these maps down.

The custom map makers are working hard on updating their maps to have the new bots. In fact, some maps have already been updated and are available again. Custom map makers continue to update various maps to be available for Co-Op. Before creating a new lobby, check the workshop to see if the custom map you are looking for has been updated.


As we continue to work on Update 1.14, keep up to date with information that will get shared on our socials and join the official discord to chat with other players.
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Stay Frosty!

Happy December Community,

As 2023 is wrapping up, we are going to be doing this month’s Sitrep a little differently. We want to take time to reflect on everything that has happened this year, showing a summarized view of all the major updates we have made to the game. In the Community Center we will look at some of the improvements to player interactions we have made and different community events people have participated in. Additionally, we will be showcasing some of our devs’ highlights from the year in the Devs’ Desk section.

The Downpour Interactive Team will be taking time off for the holidays to spend time with family and friends. The office will be closed from 12/20 through 01/02. This includes community & support. If you are looking for support during this time, please check our FAQ or our official Discord.

2023 - Code Name: W.O.L.F

W. hat will have the most impact

• What parts of the game can we work on for a large number of our players?

O. ffer assistance

• How can we develop features to solve the problem(s) the players are having?

L. ook for opportunities to expand

• Can the feature be expanded to give more to the players?

F. ortify with testing

• Does this feel like a good solution?

Some of the major features that you saw come into the game in 2023 were the result of us taking the opportunity to be a bit more flexible and stretch our creativity. We wanted to develop new things while also taking on difficult challenges. The team started to look closer at major requests the community was asking us to address. Working closely together to review these topics, having amazing discussions, and forming solid plans for how to move forward; This was the year’s result:

• FOUR New Weapons (MP7A2, SR-2MP Veresk, M240L, & Ultimax 100 Mk3)
  
• THREE New Maps (Egress, FOB Bassett, Cargo: Night)
  
• Regional Servers Implementation
  
• New Animations & Movement system (for Player & Bot Models)
  
• New Tent Hub and Tent Interactions
  
• New Watch Design and Watch Functions
  
• Scores & Global Leaderboards (Shooting Range & FOB Bassett)
  
• New Glove Models
  
• New Game Mode (Fire Fight)
  
• New Main Menu Environment
  
• Loadout Expansions & Cloud Saving (Quest & SteamVR)
  
• NEW NVG Goggles & Filter Colors (Amber Phosphor, White Phosphor, Green Phosphor, and Digital)
  
• New Night Mode Equipment (IR Strobes, IR Lasers, Chem Lights)
  
• Added Basketball - Freeroam Mini Game
  
• Added Quest 3 Graphics & Performance Support
  
• Weekly quick play rotations for PvP and PvE modes

• Added Ability to Simultaneously Hold Weapons in Both Hands
  
• Improvements and Re-design to Social Game Modes (Gun Game, One in the Chamber)
  
• Update to Game Engine
  
• Redesigned Gunstock Calibration
  
• Updated Tutorial & Training
  
• AI Refactor & Co-Op Adjustments
  
• Improvements to Night Mode Equipment (Flare Gun, Laser Sights)
  
• Updates to Environment Graphics & Parity

That’s a lot of big features that got added! Not to mention there was a ton for quality of life improvements and bug fixes not included in this list.

Our developers are the unseen and unspoken heroes behind all the features, updates, and fixes you experience in the game. A passionate team filled with people who have been at DPI and working on this project for several years. We all have different playstyles and skill levels in Onward. This gives us a unique opportunity when we design, develop, and test features. It allows us to look at the wider player base and not focus on any one style or skill set. We also take time to play with the community to make sure we are in touch with what players are looking for.

With the studio now being a smaller team, we have looked critically at our development process and doubled down on prioritizing things that we believe will be the most impactful to the players and continue to push the game forward. This has truly shown how talented and dedicated this team is to making Onward one of the greatest VR tactical shooters.

“The AI refactor has been on my to-do list since the Quest port. Co-op is a large player group, but most of our past updates focused on PvP so it’s nice to do something for them. New navigation and waypoint systems, new cover systems, and moving to a simpler and easier to expand behavior system allowed us to get more bots on Quest than we used to on PC, bring back weapon dropping, and create a better balance to difficulty. We now have a solid foundation to improve future PvE content.”
Dan - Engineering & Environments

“My favorite feature I worked on this year was probably Procedural Gun Game, but that's because I'm a sucker for procedurally generated content. But I think overall, the IR Strobes in night mode are more impactful. They aren't as large as, for example, the leaderboards, but they stand out to me because of how relatively quick they were to implement versus how big of a difference they make in how night maps are played.”
Brian - Engineering

“I have two favorite features that I worked on this year; one was the scanline effect for night vision. Adding them felt like I completed the night vision effect after all this time. My other favorite feature was updating the player gloves. Replacing the old gloves while not affecting any of our animations was a challenge, but the impact of having distinct faction specific gloves in the game was well worth it!”
Guzzy - Art

“A lot stands out to me this year, and going through the list has made me take a step back to see the bigger picture. Despite the challenges that 2023 served up, we’ve managed to hit every single internal release deadline for Onward. Some times more comfortably than others, but we did hit them. And we delivered a lot of fresh content and gameplay while doing so.”
Kasper - Production

“One of the things that I really enjoyed was designing and planning all the unique UI elements for the new …. Oh, we can’t mention that yet? Sorry.”
Whoops - Canary

We are looking forward to sharing more about what is being developed in the January Sitrep.



Hey Everyone! SyrinS0ng here, your friendly fire Community Manager.

“My favorite thing in 2023 was seeing the team work hard on features that would really benefit the whole community. Things like Server IDs and the FOB Basset map, gave players easier ways to connect and meet others. I strongly believe that forming bonds and friendships is always an important part of gaming.”
SyrinS0ng - Community

Seeing players connect while in and out of the game always brings me immense joy. 2023 was a great year in the community. Not only did the team include some very important in-game community driven features, there were also lots of events and custom maps for players as well. I wanted to highlight some of these major events and features.

• Developers making improvements to reporting tool to cut down on toxicity
  
• Developers adding Server IDs so players could quickly find and connect to friends, regardless of platform
  
• Custom Map Makers added 82 New Custom Maps to the game, providing fun new environments to play on, or hang out and practice with your squad
  
• The VRML competitive league had a successful Season 15 with 1227 players in 70 teams, which amounted to 561 matches to compete for the winning title and prizes
  
• VR Charity ran 2 amazing charity events raising just shy of $10,000 to help charity programs for causes like Make a Wish & Suicide Prevention, with hopes to do even more next year

There are lots of ways to connect with other players for a variety of different playstyles. Whether it’s for high scores, creating content, or a good cause; having those moments where you play some amazing matches and you want to keep going until your headset dies is a rush we hope everyone gets to experience while playing. It’s what we will continue to strive for.


Happy Holidays!
~ Downpour Interactive Team

Hello Onward Community,

Overall update 1.13 has received great reactions and feedback. From how good the updated PVE feels to fun rounds of Basketball played on FOB Bassett. However, shortly after update 1.13 was launched we started to get a small number of reports related to performance, map bugs, and PCVR load times. We quickly jumped on reviewing the information coming in and resolving these issues.

This hotfix addresses a variety of things that were ultimately adding up thus resulting in performance drops and FPS stuttering. It also fixes a range of bugs for maps, including aggressive kill spots, culling/popping, and lighting issues. Additionally, while we were packaging this hotfix we opted to include some fixes that were ready to release such as some additional adjustments to Co-Op, A Caster Mode fix, and others. The details of adjustments in this hotfix are listed in the change log below.

Under the Hood
During our QA testing cycles version 1.13 was operating and testing normally and went through the typical process of testing, bug reports, and bug fixes. Testers did not run into any major moments of performance drops or moments that felt like it affected the intended gameplay. Our QA team can’t cover the plethora of devices, connections, and setups that the playerbase could have, so making sure we listen and follow-up with our community is a top priority. When we started to get reports from the community about performance and map bugs, we wanted to address it right away, however, it was difficult to narrow down what the cause might be, so we worked directly with community members affected and also started going through the code to try and identify possible causes.

Maps
We were able to find some map issues like skyboxes for all maps being loaded, instead of just the ones that were needed. That has been fixed. We also went through and reviewed maps to find locations that needed improvements to the occlusion culling (“popping”) and lighting. Those adjustments have all been made in addition to some other fixes.

Performance
We also identified that memory usage in 1.13 had become significantly higher than it had been previously, we found and addressed several causes for that. An example of this is making optimizations to the code that handles the weapons that bots use, addressing performance dips some players might have been feeling in Co-Op.

PCVR has much higher resolution and graphics quality throughout the game. Things such as multiple skyboxes being referenced, amount of shaders loading, and bot weapon handling will have a higher impact on the performance and memory usage for PCVR vs Quest. This caused some PCVR players' load times to increase or be unable to launch the game. As a result, we have made some improvements to launching parameters and cut down on some of the memory being used throughout the game. These adjustments should also additionally help Quest users who might be experiencing some performance issues or longer launching times. We will be continuing to look into this and improve this further in future updates.

For Meta Quest players
Meta Quest recently had an update to the Quest OS that was changing some players' default settings to run applications at 120hz. Onward is designed to run at 90hz. If you disable this setting in your OS, this should get you some additional improved performance while playing.

For PCVR Players
Some PCVR assets may still be using more memory than intended. We are going to continue to look into further reducing the memory used. If you continue to experience issues launching the game, please contact our support team.


Quest - Throwing Utilities
We originally made some adjustments to the Quest throwing dynamics based on information we had received about hardware updates for Quest devices. When testing the adjustments in dev sessions and in our QA process, there didn’t feel to be a difference from the intended functionality. After the update, we again listened to the community and based on the feedback we received, made sure to go back and evaluate if it was the intended experience we wanted the players to have. After review it was determined that it was not the way we wanted the feature to work and we reverted the change. Throwing will now work the same way it did in 1.12.2.

• Enabled dynamic shader memory management for PC to resolve extremely long load times or crashes some players were experiencing
  
• Removed some code that was slowing down update logic for most objects in the game
  
• Optimized logic for pickups run to help with performance
  
• Removed many shaders from our pre-warmed collections that are no longer in the game and may have been slowing down loading for PC users
  
• Lowered overall memory usage

• Fixed player outlines not appearing when in caster / desktop launch mode

• Improved performance of cover and pathing behaviors of bots to resolve stuttering and lagging on the host player
  
• AI now turn flashlights and lasers off on weapons when they drop the weapon
  
• In Hunt, the tablet will now only beep once when the initial scan begins, not repeatedly
  
• Fixed high difficulty bots not being affected by flashbangs as much as they should have been

• Fixed bugs and memory issues related to skyboxes on all maps
  
• Improved occlusion on Downfall (D/N), Snowpeak (D/N), Subway, and the Main Menu improve performance and reduce "popping"
  
• Improved the quality of lightmaps on FOB (D/N) Subway, Cargo (D/N) Downfall (D/N) Bazaar (D/N) Quarantine (D/N) Snowpeak (D/N) Shooting Range (D/N)
  
• Fixed many locations that were spontaneously killing players that walked into them on Suburbia (D/N), Bazaar (D/N), and Downfall (D/N)
  
• Improved terrain quality on Downfall (D/N)

• Fixed several issues reported by custom content creators with the custom content SDK

• Reverted a change that was reducing throwing distance for Quest users by approximately 25%

• A small number of buildings on Quarantine Day appear overly bright when the player is at a particular distance from them
  
• On PCVR, Lighting inside the tent may appear brighter than intended

Hello Onward Community,

Update 1.13 is here and we are thrilled to give you all the details of the work that is in this update. New maps, new bots, new equipment, & much more. Many of these features were able to be completed because of the work put into the previous updates with upgrading our game engine and backend refactors.

Some of the changes we made, such as the AI refactor and environment parity, this current release is not its final form. We will continue to build upon the AI behaviors and overall Co-Op experience. Additionally, for the environments, we were not able to apply upgrades to every map in this update. The maps will continue to be worked on and updated to improve the visuals and performance for both Quest and PCVR.

This update is very feature focused. However, we also did take some time and address some major bugs that players have reported. Let’s start going over those major features and updates that are now available. For the list of details on everything in the update, check the Change Log located below.


FOB Bassett is now available for Free Roam and Social Modes (One In The Chamber, Gun Game, & Spec Ops). This environment is a medium size map designed to be an iconic overseas military station. It includes several locations within it such as a Gym, Rec Room, Infirmary, and a Training Facility.

Social Game Modes will have an opportunity to play on a large scale map with lots of twists and turns and spots to take cover. This will make Social Games more difficult and require more advanced tactics to find your opponents.

This map is also an ideal location for Free Roamers to meet up with their squads and go over tactics, practice maneuvers, or just hang out and play a game of basketball. Two Basketball courts with working scoreboards and weekly leaderboards have been included on the map. One is a single hoop and the other is a full court. Both locations will keep score for 2 point and 3 point shots.




Cargo has been a signature favorite CQC map for many years. With the new method we developed for updating and creating maps, the team decided it was a great time to introduce a night variant. Cargo Day and Cargo Night are the first maps to get an extensive graphics update for Quest and PC players. Updated textures throughout, New roof with directional lighting, and updated collision. Just to name a few.

With the graphical updates, Cargo Night is now one of the darker night maps we have. It offers a more realistic feel for being in a warehouse surrounded by high stacked objects and limited lighting sources. Night vision will be a requirement.




New players will benefit from the updated tutorial. We made several changes to how training is done. We have included improved text and visual representations to help new players understand more complex functions.

The new tutorial teaches you how to maneuver and use interactions based on your settings. Different settings such as Snap Turning, Weapon Grip, and Others will automatically be reflected in the tutorial run through so you can test how the different settings affect/improve your gameplay.

In addition to the improvements made in Training mode, we have added objective details and instructions (previously only visible in Fire Fight) to the whiteboard in all game modes.




The AI for Co-Op and Training has been completely reworked from the ground up.
AI can now take the "direct path" or the "safe path", which allows them to flank you much more often and intelligently. Some other highlights for the new behavior include the following:

• Improved patrolling behavior throughout maps
  
• Adjustments made to AI behavior for difficulty scaling
  
• AI will react to activity based on proximity instead of hearing gunshot sounds made anywhere on the map
  
• AI no longer attacks you all at once. It is now based on a new visual and audio cue system, meaning it is possible to play more stealthily.
  
• AI bodies are now persistent, and do not disappear.
  
• AI will now drop their inventory and you have the ability to pick up items from it. Consequently, ammo boxes are no longer available in Hunt or Evac.
  
• The decision making process has been improved whether throwing grenades, deciding when to flank vs bound forward, or dynamically finding cover for the current situation
  
• AI now has the same health as the player and deals the same damage as a player. This used to vary based on difficulty but now difficulty is handled by a combination of good vs bad decision making chances and reaction times.

• The max bots have been reduced from 128 (6-10 at a time) with the old wave spawning, to 32 (all spawning at once). This means bots will no longer spawn behind you in the middle of the match.
  
• After a few minutes in Hunt, your tablet will periodically scan a few (not all) Volk AI and show them on the map to keep the match going if you can't find that last bot.
  
• Passive difficulty has been added (Bots will not react or engage with players)

Some additional equipment is now available in PVE modes. The ballistic shield and the defibrillators are able to be included in your loadouts. Please note - in previous developer communications it was said the defibrillators will cost 12 pts. However, after multiple tests and design reviews, the cost has been adjusted. The cost is now 14 pts.




Over time, we have been gathering feedback and reviewing what can be done to improve the experience on night maps. A lot of the feedback we received was related to difficulty seeing teammates and being able to clearly maneuver across the environments. We have included several new and updated accessories to help address this.

• NEW NVG Filters Amber Phosphor, White Phosphor, Green Phosphor, and Digital (Multi-Color) - View
  
• NEW Ground Panoramic NVG - No vignette when viewing, greatly increasing your field of vision
  
• NEW IR Strobes - Lights that can be seen on the helmet indicating they are a teammate
  
• NEW IR Attachments - Infrared lasers and infrared flashlights for primary and secondary weapons
  
• NEW Chem Lights - Added to help with signaling and marking locations
  
• UPDATED Flare Gun - Now with Parachute Flares. This means when it is shot into the air it will now parachute in place for an extended amount of time, and illuminates the surrounding area
  
• UPDATED Current laser sights - Distinguishing colors red or green (by faction), additionally they have high and low powered modes

PCVR and Quest maps have been consolidated to use the same map version. Bringing much needed parity and consistency to the environments. It is an important feature to offer a more fair competitive gameplay experience. This also ensures that any future adjustments and bug fixing will be equally applied to all platforms. All the maps have received small updates and improvements to them. Cargo, Suburbia, & Downfall are the first 3 three maps to undergo a more extensive update process.

Quest 2 players will now have improved textures, added assets to better fill in the scenes, and a lot more noticeable details.

Quest 3 players will have increased LOD bias. so you will see less LOD popping. They also have increased resolution, and increased scope resolution.

PCVR Players may notice a few details have been removed like blades of grass, small plants, and some decals. PCVR still retains visual benefits like higher resolution textures, mesh quality, and LOD bias.

REMINDER: All platforms have now been set to using the same maps, however, not all maps have received their full upgrades. We are continuing to work on the maps and will be updating them over time.

Based on feedback received and additional playtesting after Fire Fight was released, we have made impactful changes to improve the game mode and overall experience when playing.

• Increased points awarded for a hard drive capture to 2 from 1
  
• Increased the Victory limit from 3 to 4
  
• Increased the max round count from 6 to 8
  
• Reduced the time the helicopter takes to arrive from 4 minutes to 3:30
  
• Adjusted and added more spawn locations to be more randomized

• Fixed virtual gun stock drifting between eyes as the player turns in real life on PC
  
• Fixed weapons snapping to a slight downward angle when aiming with Virtual Gun Stock on PC

• Improved visual quality of the game on Quest 3
  
• Quest 3 - Adjusted LOD bias to reduce LOD-popping and make renders higher quality from longer distances
  
• Quest 3 - Scopes and drone cameras render at 4x the resolution compared to Quest 2
  
• Quest 3 - Super-sampling at a 10% higher than native resolution was enabled to improve graphics quality
  
• Fixed an issue where, rarely, a player could get stuck in a loop of opening panel links

• Added an icon to show if a player is in the tent
  
• Fixed the green “Friend” icon not appearing on Fire Fight lobbies in the server browser
  
• Fixed some typos in the tent
  
• Added photographs and text explaining every game mode on the whiteboard
  
• The “quick join” buttons now have separate weekly rotations for Core modes, Competitive modes, and Cooperative modes, just like Social modes did before
  
• Hunt and Evac are now separate game modes and can be selected directly from the main menu

• Improved the tutorial and new player experience
  
• The tutorial now takes place in FOB Bassett
  
• Overhauled the way information is presented to the player
  
• Added a small tutorial to the tent the first time you use it

• Made significant improvements and rebuilt AI behavior
  
• Bots now spawn all at once in Hunt, improving the maximum concurrently active bot count from 10 to 32 in the process, and reducing the number of total maximum bots from 128 to 32.
  
• Improved bot patrolling behavior and tactical behaviors, including flanking and taking cover
  
• Improved the variety of weapon loadouts carried by bots
  
• Bots now drop their weapons upon dying, allowing players to pick them up
  
• Bots will occasionally drop syringes
  
• Added a “passive” difficulty level to Hunt in which Bots do not react to players, and tweaked all other difficulty levels
  
• Bots health and damage is now the same as a players
  
• Ammo boxes have been removed from Hunt and Evac
  
• In Hunt, your tablet will scan a few enemies at a time enemies after a small initial delay, a beep will indicate when a scan has completed. Three enemies will be identified by showing an icon of the enemies location.
  
• The ballistic shield is available in Operations
  
• The defibrillator is now available in Operations
  
• Fixed bots losing track of players when assuming a kneeling position
  
• Fixed instances of bots clipping through thin walls and assets, and shooting players through these walls and assets

Fire Fight

• Increased points for a hard drive capture points from 1 to 2
  
• Increased round victory limit from 3 to 4
  
• Increased the maximum round count from 6 to 8
  
• Reduced the time it takes for the helicopter to arrive from 4 minutes to 3.5 minutes
  
• Made spawn locations more dynamic and unpredictable

• Significantly improved parity between PC and Quest maps by consolidating maps to one version
  
• FOB Bassett (Day & Night) have been added for Free Roam, Gun Game, Spec Ops and One in the Chamber
  
• FOB Bassett Basketball Courts with weekly global scoreboards have been added
  
• FOB Bassett Basketball Courts include ability to score 2 or 3 points
  
• Cargo (Night) has been added
  
• Cargo (Day) has new art assets to improve the visual quality of the map
  
• Fixed performance issues on Abandoned Night, Suburbia D/N, and Quarantine D/N for PCVR
  
• Fixed culling issues on Downfall D/N on PCVR

• Updated SDK for Custom Map makers to have the ability to add new bots to custom maps
  
• Custom Maps that originally supported Co-Op that do not have the updated SDK will no longer appear as an option in Co-Op

• Added two variations of night vision goggles. PVS-7 behaves like old night vision, with a tight vignette around your vision and GPNVG-18 goggles have a much greater field of view
  
• PVS-7 is now free and auto-equipped on night maps.
  
• GPNVG-18 goggles have been added but cost 3 loadout points.
  
• Added Three phosphor filters for NVGs (green, white, and amber). These are 0 points, but need to be set in your loadout options
  
• Added a multicolor digital filter for NVGs that costs 3 points
  
• Added infrared strobes to identify friend or foe when using night vision equipment
  
• Added infrared laser and flashlight options for use with night vision equipment
  
• Added chem lights as a one-point equipment item (colored by faction: green for MARSOC, orange for Volk)
  
• The flare gun has been updated to light up the surrounding environment using “pseudo lighting”. The giant pink tint area from it has been removed.
  
• Added parachute flares and made it so that they can set players on fire on a hit
  
• All laser sights now have a low power mode that does not show a beam, and a high power mode that does show the beam
  
• Laser sights are now colored by weapon faction: red for MARSOC, green for Volk
  
• Fixed an issue where the drone battery would not drain in Fire Fight
  
• Fixed a bug where RPG rockets would sometimes not explode on impact
  
• Fixed virtual gun stock drifting between eyes as the player turns in real life on PC
  
• Fixed weapons snapping to a slight downward angle when aiming with Virtual Gun Stock on PC

• Players may become stuck in the Tent when Defibrillated after being downed by one user and then killed by another during Fire Fight matches
  
• Rarely, private servers with an unknown server region appear and behave like public servers to non-host users

Hello Onward Players!

Absolute deLIGHT doesn’t even cover the excitement you showed for the news we shared last month, especially related to the Night Vision features. We are going to be keeping up on that trend this month. You may not think it possible to be more hyped for this update, however, we have some big updates on features you have asked about for a long time.

The Devs’ Desk will be going over the remaining features that will be included in Update 1.13. Make sure to read all the details because there are some things you probably are not expecting. We will also be providing some additional details for some of the features we talked about last month.

Update 1.13 is shaping up to be very impactful no matter which way you play Onward. From the Hard Core Competition players to the Role players, Social Warriors to PVE hunters. This update has features for everyone. The other thrilling part is that all of this will be available before the long Thanksgiving Holiday weekend in the USA!


The Unity update in our last patch set the stage for a lot of the work we have done in this update. Making the changes to major tools and systems beforehand allowed us to make much more meaningful updates to features you have been asking for. Overall, Update 1.13 isn’t everything we are working on, we still have work to do for some bigger features for the game. We have a lot of exciting stuff in development. Being able to release such impactful features to the players and seeing your joyful reactions the past couple months has brought us immense happiness.

As the Quest 3 ships out to people the first thing we are getting asked is “What is the difference in Onward for the Quest 3 vs the Quest 2?”

Some improvements can already be seen when using the Quest 3 based on the improvements in the hardware. In Update 1.13 We've increased the LOD bias for Quest 3 so you will see less LOD popping, and we increased the resolution of both the game but more importantly for scopes, so scopes will be sharper and higher resolution.

More improvements are coming down the road as well, so that is just the first batch.

With the launch of the Quest 3 there are going to be a lot of new VR users and new Onward players. In order to help these new users and also current users become better familiar with Onward’s gameplay and mechanics we have updated our in-game tutorial. The first big change is now the tutorial is located in the FOB Bassett training room. We made several changes to how training is done. We have included improved text and visual representations to help new players understand more complex functions. The new tutorial instructions and updates to AI in training mode should help players feel better prepared for battles when they join PVE and PVP games.

In addition to the tutorial improvements, we have added objective details and instructions to the whiteboard in most game modes.



One more piece of equipment we have included to help with night mode missions is an update to the Flare Gun. The Flare Gun has been updated to have Parachute Flares. This means when it is shot into the air it will now parachute in place for an extended amount of time, and actually illuminates the surrounding area. This is extremely helpful in situations like getting pinned down by enemy fire and needing to signal to your teammates where exactly you are located. Make sure to take caution when aiming the Flare Gun, if shot directly at someone, it will cause them to be engulfed in fire.

FOB Bassett is a US military station located overseas. MARSOC has been stationed there to help provide medical aid while helping fight off Volk forces from trying to take over the areas that contain this country's two most valuable industrial crops: tobacco and sugar extract.

This environment is a medium size map designed to be an iconic overseas military station. It includes several locations within it such as a Gym, Rec Room, Infirmary, and Advanced Training Facility. Social Game Modes will have an opportunity to play on a large scale map with lots of twists and turns and spots to take cover. This will make Social Games more difficult and require more advanced tactics to find your opponents. This map is also an ideal location for Free Roamers to meet up with their squads and go over tactics, practice maneuvers, or just hang out and play a game of basketball.

When we say play a game of basketball, we mean it. FOB Bassett has two ways to play. One is a single hoop and the other is a full court. Both locations will keep score for 2 point and 3 point shots. It also has its own weekly global leaderboard. Basketball can also be good training for improving your grenade throwing skills.







Currently there are 4 different versions of every Onward map. There are PCVR versions (Night & Day) and Quest Versions (Night & Day). This means when we fix bugs, we need to fix them 4 times. This also means that some assets are on some maps and not others causing some visual and cover compatibility issues. With a lot of the updates that have happened over the past several months, we have been able to address this by consolidating our environments to one version. This means PCVR and Quest players will now be on the same version of the maps. This will bring a lot of much needed gameplay parity to PCVR and Quest players. It also ensures that when bug fixes or updates are made to maps, it will be easier for us to keep those fixes consistent across platforms. This is a big improvement for the competitive players. Overall, it means less time spent redoing map fixes and more time for other improvements to the game like making new content and features and fixing bugs.

Before you worry or any assumptions are made, this will not be a graphics downgrade to put all maps on the current Quest 2 versions. As part of this process we have updated the graphics throughout the maps. For Quest players this means improved textures, added assets to better fill in the scenes, and a lot more. For PC Players this will affect details like removal of blades of grass, small plants, and some decals. We've made the decision to remove some smaller details that could provide concealment on PC that Quest players could just see right through.The list of all the work that was done is really long and we think it will be more impactful for us to show you. Images below are examples of Quest and PCVR Graphics in 1.12.2 and what it looks like in Version 1.13. The Version 1.13 view is how all players will see the environments after the update is released.* PCVR retains visual benefits like higher resolution and LOD bias.

It’s important that we also note that all platforms have now been set to using the same maps, however, not all maps have received their proper upgrades. We are continuing to work on the maps and will be updating them over time. Some maps may feel like a complete remaster.



*Note - PC resolution and textures for 1.13 will be a bit better than what is able to be seen in these posted photos vs when in headset. In addition, some work is still being done on maps and environments may change slightly from images shown in the 1.13 versions.

We have been closely listening to your feedback and reports about the new game mode. Based on your feedback and additional playtesting, we have made the following changes in the game mode:

• Increased points awarded for a hard drive capture to 2 from 1
  
• Increased the Victory limit from 3 to 4
  
• Increased the max round count from 6 to 8
  
• Reduced the time the helicopter takes to arrive from 4 minutes to 3:30
  
• Adjusted and added more spawn locations to be more randomized

This is the news a lot of players have been waiting years for. We have made drastic improvements to our AI for our PVE modes. We have made several smaller changes to AI over the years, such as animations and response adjustments. However, what we really wanted to do is completely re-do their behaviors. In Update 1.13 we have been able to do just that. The AI has had a complete refactor done.

• AI can now take the "direct path" or the "safe path", which allows them to flank you much more often and intelligently. Some other highlights for the new behavior include the following:
  
• AI spawn all at once in Hunt. If you clear an area you don’t have to worry about them spawning behind you.
  
• Active bot count has increased from 10 to 32 (8 higher than the previous PCVR bots!)
  
• Improved patrolling behavior throughout maps
  
• Adjustments made to AI behavior for difficulty scaling
  
• AI will react to tactics made around them and not just gunshot sounds made anywhere on the map
  
• AI no longer has a “swarm” behavior and will not all attack you at once. It is now based off a new visual and audio cue system, meaning it is possible to play more stealthily.
  
• AI will now have more intelligent tactics like using how and when they use grenades and taking cover dynamically behind any object.
  
• AI bodies are now persistent, and do not disappear.
  
• After a few minutes in Hunt, your tablet will periodically scan a few (not all) Volk AI and show them on the map to keep the match going if you can’t find that last bot.
  
• AI will now drop their inventory and you have the ability to pick up items from it. Consequently, ammo boxes are no longer available in Hunt or Evac.
  
• Most of the previous SteamVR AI inventory loadouts are back! With some additions like syringes and flashbangs. They will carry a variety of weapons, attachments, and equipment.

That’s right, picking up AI inventory is back! This is something you have been asking for and we have been working hard to bring it back into the game. We would also like to note that this refactor launching with 1.13 is the foundation for work that we plan to build upon to make additional improvements to the AI in the future. For example, in 1.13 the Rifleman AI has returned and we are currently working on other AI types like Snipers, Automatic Rifleman, and more in future updates.

We are excited to see the dynamic improvement this refactor will bring to your PVE experiences. More details on the AI changes will be shared in the patch notes when the update releases.

The AI is not the only major update to Co-Op. Some other highly requested updates will also be added. You can now use the ballistic shield again in Hunt and Evac. In addition, the defibrillator is also available for 12 loadout points.


All this news is HUGE. If you haven’t tried Co-Op or it wasn’t your thing before, you should try it again with all the adjustments that have been made. Make sure you have enough time over the holiday weekend to experience all the new updates.


Our Custom Map Maker Showcase entries are wrapping up and there are some exciting maps to play on. We will be reviewing the maps and announcing the winner on our social media channels soon. Be on the lookout for that announcement and make sure you try out the map for yourself.



Keep your head on a swivel

Hello Onward community,

We have just released another hotfix to address additional issues when Update 1.12 was released. This will fix a variety of bugs happening throughout different game modes and fix some errors that were happening in the settings. Speculative fixes are due to the limited amount of testing we can do on various devices and setups in our QA cycle. If any of the below issues continue to happen, please use our Discord to report the bug(s) you are experiencing.

Changelog

• Fix for hard drive spawn locations that allowed it to spawn outside of accessible map locations
  
• Fix for multiple Uplinks showing up during Uplink matches
  
• Fix for attempting to join Competitive Fire Fight through quick join freezing the game
  
• Speculative fix for players floating in the sky
  
• Potential fix for game settings not saving
  
• Speculative fix for Pimax and Windows Mixed Reality users game not launching
  
• Fix for heartbeat audio staying on when healing yourself
  
• Fixed and bug that would show “Arsonide” and not the default corpsman
  
• Speculative fix for defibrillators not spawning
  
• Adjustment made to prevent more than 3 people joining a fireteam in Fire Fight
  
• Speculative fix for player states not behaving correctly. (Players having the wrong uniform, being invisible, ect.)

Hello Onward Players!

Fire Fight is a hit! When Update 1.12 released, Fire Fight quickly became and continues to be a top played game mode. We are thrilled to see that you are enjoying this new addition. Some bugs did come with Update 1.12 due to some unpredictable behavior that happened due to the Unity update that was done. We are trying to get hotfixes out more quickly to get you back to playing and minimize the impact to your gameplay.

This month we have an update for additional fixes coming, some of the next features that are coming to Onward in the Devs’ Desk and an update on our custom maps in the Community Center.

We are continuing to work on some lingering bugs and should have Patch 1.12.2 coming out tomorrow (9/20). This will include several fixes for bugs in Fire Fight, multiple Uplink spawns, heartbeat audio staying on, and more. The full list of fixes will be published when the patch is released. Patch 1.12.2 will also include a speculative fix for Pimax and Windows Mixed Reality users not launching correctly. The reason this is a speculative fix is due to the limited amount of testing we can do on various devices and setups in our QA cycle. Additionally, this also means that with all the different variables that come with PC gaming, we need to spend more time looking into other PCVR bugs that came as a result of the Unity update.

Next, we wanted to shed some light on some of the features coming to the game.
For the next update (1.13) we are not going to leave you in the dark about our goals to improve some aspects of the gameplay. Our vision for this is to help encourage you to be better equipped for anytime a battle may take place. If you haven’t picked up on the subtle hints yet, we are going to be making updates to how you play at night!

We will be adding updates to Night Vision Goggles for you to choose when making a loadout. There will now be two different versions of NVGs. The current NVGs will be automatically included for free in your loadout by default on night maps. There are also now Ground Panoramic NVGs that can be picked from the loadout options menu for 3 points, greatly increasing your field of vision. Both NVGs will include new customizable filters to choose from: Amber Phosphor, White Phosphor, Green Phosphor, and Digital (Multi-Color). The single color phosphates will be 0 cost for your loadout, unless you want to use the Digital filter. The Digital filter option will require you to spend 3 points to include in your loadout. These new color options and different goggle types should be a huge change to how you view night gameplay.


IR strobes are blinking infrared lights used in real world combat for friend or foe identification. They are being included on the character models on night maps. This will make identifying and locating your teammates easier in the dark environments, and makes night maps actually play different, not just look different. This should also help reduce team killing from not being able to clearly see the players uniform color. You will be able to see this addition located on your teammates helmet when night vision is enabled. Enemy strobes will not be visible for gameplay purposes and to reflect the manner in which these tools are used in real life, so this will not paint a bullseye on your head. Infrared strobes are a server option and can be disabled, but are on by default.

New IR attachments will also be coming to help improve your tactical options when building your night loadouts. IR attachments include items such as infrared lasers and infrared flashlights. In addition, normal laser sights are now colored red and green (by faction), and have high and low powered modes. Low powered laser sights show the dot, but not a beam. As far as throwables go, we’ve added chem lights (with liquid physics) you can snap and shake to activate and mark locations or signal your teammates.

We have seen your comments and delight over the new Main Menu scene, the improvement in graphics quality and the difference it makes on immersion. We are thrilled to announce that this scene will be available as a full playable map. The map is named “FOB Bassett” and will be released for Free Roam and Social game modes. These modes are quicker to implement and we don't want to rush out unbalanced versions of Uplink or other modes on this map. We are looking into extending it to other game modes, let us know in our Discord which mode you think would play well on this map!

Not everything we work on makes it into the next update. Some features take longer than others to develop and some rely on other updates to release first.

You have heard us say for a while that we're working on our AI for PvE modes, well it's just about time for us to deliver on that promise. Our engineering team is working hard on a large refactor of our AI system which includes... We can't wait to share more, so stay tuned as we get further along in this feature's development.

We have introduced a new community program for custom map makers. Around once a quarter DPI will be hosting a Custom Map Showcase. We will be posting a theme for the custom map makers to build a new map made for the showcase. There will be one map submitted per person, and one winner will be chosen for the showcase. The winner will receive a community prize pack and the coveted Purple Pen that they can use in game.

Our first showcase theme is “Spooky / Fall Season”. We have already received a couple submissions that look to be really enjoyable to play on. The first showcase will wrap up around mid October. Just in time to get you some great new maps to fit the season.

Any level of map maker is welcome to submit an entry. Submissions are reviewed for a variety of criteria, anyone has the chance to win. If you are interested in starting to make custom maps join the official Onward discord and head to the Custom Map channels.



The future's looking bright!

Hello everyone!

We have just released a hotfix to address some issues that came up since we released update 1.12 earlier this week. Most notably, we have added lateral translation to gunstock calibration, and fixed a number of issues related to Fire Fight, gunstock calibration, and map voting. The hotfix is available for download now.

Changelog

• Added lateral translation to gunstock calibration.
  
• Set up a customizable far clip plane for custom content authors.
  
• Fixed gunstock calibration not taking the movement of your front hand into account.
  
• Fixed gun "jumping" when you grabbed it when using gunstock calibration.
  
• Fixed scopes and drones occasionally getting stuck with a fisheye effect.
  
• Fixed an issue where players in Fire Fight could get revived but be stuck in the tent.
  
• Fixed player not getting an objective point when retrieving the intel in Fire Fight.
  
• Fixed watch not beeping 30 seconds before the round ends in Fire Fight.
  
• Fixed a spawn point where the intel could spawn outside of the map on Turbine in Fire Fight.
  
• Fixed weapon loadout menus getting stuck with the wrong weapon highlighted.
  
• Fixed map vote refreshing needlessly when players join or leave, or the host changes.

Known issues

• Freehanding your weapon with the physical gunstock option enabled may result in unstable gun rotation at extreme angles.

Hello Onward Community,

As mentioned earlier this month, you didn’t have to wait long for this update to become available to you. We felt your excitement and couldn't wait to get you access to the new game mode, Fire Fire. The team pushed hard to get all the features wrapped up and also did some important additional bug fixing.

Let’s go over the new additions, major features, and quality of life improvements included in this update. For the detailed list of all changes, including bug fixes, make sure to read through the Change Log located at the end of the patch notes.


We updated the version of our game engine, Unity. This update gives us more opportunities going forward to improve the quality of the game. An example of this is we are now able to use Vulkan, which improves performance considerably over the rendering API we were using. It also gives us access to a working version of the SRP batcher, which will help us with optimizing draw calls. The short version of all of that means that in this version performance will be better, and we have a lot of performance headroom that we will be using in the future to improve things like graphical fidelity.

With the major focus of the development team being on the Unity update, we also wanted to find a way to showcase the graphics improvements that are now possible for the game. The new Main Menu environment should give you a fresh new level of immersion when you log into the game. The level of details and graphic quality is something Quest users have never seen before. This is our first environment that is exactly the same on both PC and Quest. Make sure to do a full 360 view of the area when you log in to get the full experience of the new location. We are not going to be providing photos here because we think it will be more impactful for you to see it in the headset.

Everyone has at least once needed to remind themselves what faction they were on when on the battlefield. The easiest way to do that was to quickly look at your gloves. The gloves have always been a signature piece of identifying equipment that is important to the gameplay. It’s one of the reasons we chose them as an additional piece to demonstrate the quality upgrade we are striving to roll out. It might take some getting used to, since some people have been relying on those glove visuals for over 7 years. However, we think they will be a welcomed visual upgrade during gameplay.



This new game mode introduces a completely different dynamic playstyle for PVP. Your team is split into two fire teams (player distribution can vary 4 & 2, 5 & 1, 3 & 3). Each fire team will be deployed to different parts of the map. One player on each fire team will be assigned as the Corpsman. The Corpsman is the only team member who can help bring back critically injured players back to the battlefield using the new equipment item, defibrillators.

Note from the Devs: We understand in real military ranks, Corpsmen don’t carry defibrillators, defibrillators cannot actually bring dead people back to life. This was a design choice we know may feel like a gamified option, same as the syringes. We did this in order to provide a better quality experience when playing. While testing this mode we tried a few different, more realistic healing mechanics and found that with the scale and pacing of Onward, slow healing mechanics were just not fun. It’s the same reason we have a syringe to stop bleeding and pick up downed players. It’s fast and fun.

There are two objectives that must be completed to claim victory. This mode requires strong teamwork and communication as the strategy can change at any given moment. The first is to locate and secure the hard drive. The second is to escape with the hard drive.

The tablet has been updated to scan and locate the hard drive position and it will also indicate where the extraction point is. Scanning for the hard drive will start once the team is deployed. You hear the beep, indicating the scans complete, showing an icon of where the hard drive is located. Once the hard drive is located you can track it in real time.

Note from the Devs: We have made some adjustments to the tablet specifically for this game mode, including additional functionality and some icon changes. Because this game mode requires you to change your tactics at any given moment, it was important to us that we equip you with tools to help your team be able to make informative decisions.

With the added ability for Corpsman to bring players back from the tent, we needed to find a way for players to identify if their teammate is down or back in the tent.
Downed players have a new icon that is a player laying down and reaching up.
Players that have returned to the tent are not shown on the map but they now have a red skull.
This is for Fire Fight only. The new downed icon is used in all game modes to make room for the medic icon. So we're changing some symbols that have been used for almost 6 years.

After about 5 minutes a helicopter will come to pick up the player with the hard drive. Only the player with the drive needs to board the helicopter to win.

If you are downed or bleeding, syringes will work just like in other game modes. If you end up back in the tent, the corpsman can still bring you back. In the tent you can spectate and see which Corpsman is closest to where you went down and use the tent radio to let your team know what happened and where you are.

Note from the Devs: We’ve had a ton of fun playing this mode. Whether we’re playing with a full 12 player lobby or with just 2 players on each team the number of options in terms of strategies really opens up the game. Using smoke grenades to cover teammates as the Corpsman moves into revive people. Faking out players by running off with the hard drive while our team goes the other way, and just fighting in parts of the maps where we ourselves have never had a fire fight before just added to the fun. One particular developer liked to stake out where the evacuation site was to pick off anyone trying to escape. No one game ever felt the same. We’re really looking forward to getting this mode out to you and seeing what strategies you can come up with and hearing your feedback on the mode!

You can create a server for Fire Fight from the multiplayer menu or search for Fire Fight lobbies using the Fire Fight game mode filter option in the lobby browser.

The Gunstock Calibration feature has been completely redesigned. The Gunstock Calibration process is now made in the same environments as the battles. This change alone drastically improves the accuracy of the settings when used during gameplay. We also made additional updates to the feature. You can now calibrate your weapon positionally up and down, in and out, and rotate around your gripping hand. This will help ensure your weapon is aligned exactly where you need it.

We also added the option to set a Universal Calibration. If a calibration has been set for a particular weapon, the “Set As Universal” button will be selectable. After, if clicked the Universal Calibration will be utilized for all un-calibrated weapons.

Once a calibration is saved, when the user equips that weapon with both hands, the weapon should automatically move to that calibrated position & rotation.

Video Instructions for how to use the redesigned Gunstock Calibration can be found HERE


Loadouts have been updated to now allow up to 24 different loadouts to be saved per role, per faction. You will also be able to edit the name of the loadouts. Simply click on the pencil in the upper left corner of the loadout and use the keyboard to make a custom name. With all those loadouts made, it was important to also be able to save them.

Your Loadouts, Gunstock Calibrations, and game settings will now automatically save and reapply in the case of something like an application uninstall/reinstall. The data is saved to your account via Cloud Saving. This means if you share your headset and game library, each account will have their own Loudouts and settings automatically applied when the accounts are switched. Whenever settings are changed and saved during gameplay, the Cloud Save will be updated. Please note, Quest App and SteamVR are different platforms and different accounts. Any Loadouts and Settings made on Quest are not transferable to a SteamVR account.

*This option is not available on Oculus PCVR software due to Cloud Saving not being offered on the platform.

You can now see how your scores stack up against other players, not just in the lobby, but throughout the whole game. The current week's Global Scores for Killhouse runs and Marksman targets will now be displayed on both scoreboards throughout Shooting Range lobbies. Scores will reset every Wednesday at 12AM PT.



Some changes to the Quest OS system when Update 1.11 launched caused some of the features people used to connect to their friends to no longer function correctly. In order to get these features working correctly again we needed to rework some of the code and have it go through the full development process.

While we were reviewing some of the Quest OS changes and working on getting these functions working again, we made some changes to how some of the direct OS inviting works.
One of the major changes that happened on the OS side was people on your friendslist are now able to directly join your game sessions without requiring a direct invite. We reviewed the implications this might have for players who use private lobbies and overall game functions.

We made the decision, in an effort to protect the intention of private lobbies, to disable the ability for people to be able to join private lobbies via the join on friends option from the OS friendslist. In order to do this, we had to additionally disable the ability to send direct invites to OS friends while in a private lobby. The best way to connect to your friends when in a private lobby is to send them the lobby code and password.

For Public Lobbies, direct invites and the newly added join on friends from the OS friendslist feature is available.

The “Show Friends Only” filter should work the same as before for friends who are on the same platform.

Now that the full implementation of the updated reporting system has been rolled out and we have had some time to review the reports and feedback. Upon review, we have made some adjustments to the system. The system was already designed to protect players from spam reporters and others making reports with malicious intent, however, we have heard your concerns and have additionally added a max number of reports that can be made per 24 hour period by a person. This setting will work in conjunction with the already included settings to keep false reports, spamming, and retaliation reports to a minimum.

As with the other details about the design of this feature, we will not disclose what the max is set to, in order to protect players from others that would try to manipulate the system. Users will not be notified that they have reached their max, they will simply stop counting against other players. We suggest people use their allotted number of reports per day to report players that are breaking the community guidelines. Players found continuing to try and abuse or manipulate the system against other players will have actions taken against them, such as temp bans or as far as permanent banning from the game.

This is not the only adjustments we are looking into for the system, simply what we were able to implement during the ongoing development of this update. We are continuing to look into other additional methods and options to continue to advance this system.

If you are concerned about a report not counting or simply want to make sure evidence is provided for a player's behavior, you are encouraged to continue to use the method of emailing the evidence that shows the player’s in-game name and the behavior that breaks the community guidelines. Our customer Service team will be happy to help you and process the reports.

This image shows the effect of the reporting system on the player base over time as it rolled out.

• Performed an engine update
  
• Added the ability to save loadouts to the cloud, rename them and delete them, and increased the amount of unique loadouts a player can make
  
• Loadout save slots expanded to 24 slots per role, per faction
  
• Restricted a player's ability to join friends in private games to prevent people from joining private lobbies they were not invited to
  
• Updates made to Reporting System to set max number of reports per day per player
  
• Added a small delay to the radio cut-off to prevent a sudden cut in the middle of someone's sente…
  
• Improved the height scaling of player characters to prevent player characters from Appearing to stand on their Tip Toes
  
• Fixed footstep volume not changing based on the player's speed
  
• Fixed an issue with the dominant hand setting not being followed when using the spectator goggles
  
• Fixed dominant eye setting not affecting which eye is selected for taking photos and videos, and for casting on PCVR
  
• Fixed some server settings reverting to default when they had been changed and the host sets the lobby as private, then back to public

• Global Scores added to Killhouse and Shooting Target scoreboards
  
• Redesigned the way Gunstock calibration is done
  
• Added new loading screen art for Shooting Range and Tanker
  
• Added support for higher quality visuals for the watch on PCVR
  
• Added the setting to have the game now automatically recenter a player upon entering the main menu and tent. It is ON by Default and can be disabled.
  
• Fixed the description of the Locomotion setting being inconsistent between the main menu and tent settings menus
  
• Fixed map votes appearing too quickly in private lobbies
  
• Fixed an edge case where the class selection buttons lost functionality if the player was spam-clicking the UI
  
• Fixed servers hosted by friends not showing up in the server browser when the Friends Only filter was enabled
  
• Fixed the red visual indicator on the controllers when going through the tutorial using Rift S controllers only appearing on the left eye
  
• Fixed an inconsistency in the description of the "thumbstick only" control mode for weapons
  
• Fixed inconsistencies in the description of several weapons' caliber type and updated weapon information displayed in the tent
  
• Fixed an issue where the UI would become offset in the tent when a player would resize the desktop game window on PCVR
  
• Fixed the red skull icon on players you down but not kill as a round ends
  
• Fixed the red skull icon on players that are killed as the last player in Uplink not appearing consistently
  
• Fixed an inconsistency in the description of the Free Roam game mode
  
• Fixed an inconsistency in the description of the Assault game mode
  
• Fixed tooltips not appearing correctly for the Gun Stock, Radio Position and Holster Side settings

• New player downed icon in all game modes
  
• Added an option to vote to stay on the current map during a map vote
  
• Added the ability to click the spectate goggle to use them
  
• Fixed players not being able to initiate a map vote after canceling the countdown in the tent
  
• Fixed players spawning out of bounds the first time they put on spectator goggles in the tent
  
• Fixed the audio beep and haptic feedback not playing when a player refreshed their loadout on Shooting Range and Free Roam

• Added a display that shows the number of bots remaining in Hunt for players in the tent
  
• Fixed bots not responding when being shot with a silenced weapon from long ranges
  
• Fixed the 30-second audio signal in Evac

• New Game Mode Fire Fight added
  
• Added new tablet icon for Corpsman when in Fire Fight game mode
  
• Fixed the description of Escort which stated that respawns are enabled in this game mode
  
• Fixed team boundaries not being enforced in Assault after completing the first round
  
• Removed the word "suicided" from competitive Uplink lobbies
  
• Fixed users observing a black screen when attempting to spawn in as the match timer ends in Assault
  
• Fixed an issue in Escort where the match would not start if the host was both the VIP and had previously spawned in during another game mode
  
• Fixed players being able to change the game mode after a round of Assault in a private lobby
  
• Added & Updated various Assault Mode Objectives to Select Maps

• Fixed player's camera being rotated 45 degrees when putting on the spectator goggles on several maps
  
• Fixed scenery appearing too bright on night maps
  
• Fixed players being able to pass through various assets and reach out-of-bounds areas by recentering their playspace
  
• Fixed the flashlight effect bleeding through solid objects on several maps
  
• Fixed shell casings being inconsistent about interacting with certain types of colliders between Quest and PC

• Fixed an issue on Bazaar where users were able to access unintended areas

• Fixed various assets appearing completely black in the tent

• Fixed players being able to exploit bugged colliders on Downfall allowing them to reach an unintended rooftop position
  
• Fixed an exploitable collider on Downfall

• Fixed flickering on the watch compass coordinates when the watch is on the right hand on Egress

• Fixed irregular shading on the Veresk and MP7A2 on Quarantine

• Fixed players being able to pass through glass windows on Tanker
  
• Fixed various assets appearing completely black in the tent

• Fixed players colliding with water objects in Turbine, causing areas to become inaccessible

• Fixed loading screen art flickering when loading into custom maps
  
• Fixed an issue where players received a generic error when loading into a server running an older version of a custom map than the player had installed

• Fixed players becoming invisible when revived by a syringe in specific circumstances
  
• Improved the drone's compass visuals
  
• Fixed player icons being reduced in size on the tablet when a player was downed and revived
  
• Fixed the fire selector on the 552 Commando not indicating the proper fire mode
  
• Fixed several issues with the timed explosion of the RPG-7 munitions
  
• Fixed an issue where if a player's height setting was incorrect, weapons would appear offset to other players compared to the height they were being held at
  
• Fixed the iron sights not being highlighted when a player unequips a previously selected optic
  
• Fixed the description of the M249 stating that belt-fed weapons have to be loaded manually at the start of a round
  
• Fixed the air drone propellers spinning after the drone had been destroyed
  
• Fixed the air drone audio sound effect lingering in the launch area
  
• Fixed the M203 grenade launcher not being subject to the same limitations as other grenades in spawn jail

• Rarely, some users are unable to pick a team after transitioning to a new custom map
  
• Rarely, private servers with an unknown server region appear and behave like public servers to non-host users
  
• Quest users can experience numerous issues when placing their headset to sleep before a map transition and waking it during or after the first round in the new map
  
• On Snowpeak (Night) Collision blocks movement when users attempt to ascend the stairs of watchtowers on PCVR

Happy August Onward Players!

This month we have lots of information to provide you about the development progress for Update 1.12. We will be revealing new features being added to the game and updates to some features we discussed last month. We will also be going over a topic that has been on everyone’s mind: Fire Fight! We are giving you some developer insights into its creation and a detailed description of the new core game mode and what players can expect from it.

In the Community Center we will discuss some development changes to the previously announced Reporting System update roll out as well as upcoming league events you can join.

Let’s jump right into the Devs’ Desks to start talking about the stuff you really want to hear about.

Before we get into all the information related to Update 1.12, we want to make an official update to a previously announced feature from several months back. We have paused development on the Iraq map, Intercept, for the foreseeable future. We understand you were really looking forward to it, and we felt it best to be upfront and notify you about this change as soon as the final decision was made. Now, let’s start discussing the things we are working on.

Update 1.12 continues to move forward and quickly. We are excited to announce that we have some game additions that have been highly requested by the community going into it. With the back-end changes that we made earlier in the year, it gave us the opportunity to finally develop these features and make them available to you.

Even though gunstock calibration was already in the game, we made some major changes to how it operates. One of the first things that was requested the day it came out, was the ability to calibrate vertically. We not only made that update, but several others to how it operates overall. Let’s start at the beginning.

Gunstock Calibration will no longer be done in the tent, but after you load into a map. This ensures that calibrations you set are exactly what you will be using during gameplay. After you load into the map, you will grab your tablet and you will see a “Calibrate Gunstock” button. (Make sure you have the “Physical Gunstock” setting applied in your settings menu before loading into the map.)





Additional updates that have been made are that the front hand's rotation is no longer taken into account. Only the back hand's (pistol grip) rotation is used. We also included a Universal calibration setting. A weapon can be set as the universal calibration and will be applied to any weapon without its own calibration.

We know this will be a big improvement to gunstocks and help improve your overall accuracy while using them. Now that we have these really nice gunstock calibration settings, it would be really nice to save them. Good thing, that’s another addition to this update!

You just made the perfect loadout. You were able to spend all your points and get that tactical edge you were hoping for. Loadouts will now be saved in the cloud in case you ever have to reinstall the application. Your Loadouts and any Gunstock Calibration settings will save to your account. Additionally, your progress through the tutorial, first time user experience, and most of your game settings will also be synced, so you will not need to do all of that again.

But Wait, There’s More! Not only did we make cloud saving possible, also increased the number of loadout slots for each role to 24! . Additionally, you can edit the name of the loadouts so you have an easy way to know which loadout is for which situation. This should help you be able to really fine tune your set-ups and be able to swap them in and out when you want to change tactics quickly.

There are some limitations to this feature. Due to cloud saving not being supported on the platform, this feature will not be available to players using Oculus PCVR. Also, because the cloud saves are linked to your account, cross-platform saving or importing/exporting is not available. If you play on Quest and SteamVR those will be different cloud save files, so calibrations and loadouts will need to be made per platform.



Last Update we introduced the Revamped Shooting Range & Improved Killhouse. Since then we have seen you share some amazing runs and shots of accuracy. Once players started to improve their scores they started asking for a way to see how they match up against other players. This request led us to developing the Global Leaderboards.

Players will now be able to see how they compare to the top Marksman and Killhouse runners throughout the game. The Global Leaderboards reset each Wednesday, so make sure to grab your opportunity to snag top spot or defend your title before the next reset.




You may have seen some of the sneak peeks and hints on our social media channels about Fire Fight. We have seen your questions and guesses about what the new game mode is and how it will work. Some people came VERY close to describing what the game mode will be. Let’s start the deep dive into what Fire Fight is and what you can expect from the game play.

Introduction
Fire Fight was designed by Tribly, a Military Veteran and a veteran developer at Downpour. His vision was to introduce a new way to play that would require strong teamwork along with objectives that could change the gameplay at any given moment. Coordination and the ability to think on your feet will be very important for game sessions. During developers testing sessions no two game sessions ever felt the same.

Gameplay
There are two objectives you must complete to claim victory for your team. Locate and secure the hard drive. Then, once the extraction team has landed, at least one person from your faction must evacuate with the hard drive.

To cover more ground your team will be split into two fire teams and deployed to different parts of the map. Embrace the fire team dynamics of fire and maneuver, or link up to consolidate your forces; the choice is yours. Beware, splitting up of the team and randomized deployment applies for the other team as well. They could be anywhere. So move carefully, communicate, protect your Corpsman, and you’ll make it through.

Each fire team will be assigned a corpsman to provide additional medical support to your team. Syringes are good to bring for bleeding and injured squadmates, but they won’t cut it for a mission this tough. The Corpsman is equipped with a new tool, the defibrillator, to heal critically wounded or incapacitated squadmates to bring them back into the fight. The Corpsman is just as well trained and equipped as others on the team but they are the only ones that can use the defibrillator so make sure you protect them.

Your tablet has been updated with software to scan and locate the hard drive position and it will also indicate where the extraction point is. Scanning for the hard drive will start once the team is deployed. Make sure to work together and get into positions while it scans. When you hear the beep, indicating the scans complete, you need to be ready to push forward and find it. Once the hard drive is located you can track it in real time so you can change maneuvers with your team to intercept in case the enemy is able to capture it before you do.

After your team has had its boots on the ground for a set amount of time, the extraction team will land and you will need to get the hard drive to the extraction point. Move quickly because there is a set time to complete this mission.





This game mode introduces many new firsts for Onward. It is the first game mode where both teams are performing the same objective. It is also the first introduction of the ability to bring severely injured teammates that have returned to the tent back to the battlefield, and the first to introduce multiple fire teams to a faction. Finally, it’s the first game mode that can be played with up to 12 players!

With all that information we know you are excited to try all this out! You won’t have to wait too much longer.

Last month we notified you about our plan to roll out the updated reporting and banning system. As the roll out was happening members throughout the community showed some concerns and provided us feedback about how players were being affected. We reviewed the feedback and concerns and made adjustments, reducing the amount of days the temp bans would last. The day we made the change we made an announcement on our Discord that included the following immediate changes.
Players who received a notification of a two week ban have been reduced to 3 days. If the date your ban was issued was older than 3 days ago, your ban will be cleared.
Players who received notifications of 1 month bans have been reduced by 2 weeks. Your times will be reset and show the new date of when the ban will lift when you next log into the game.
Bans will continue to roll out with the updated time frames of warnings, 3 days, 2 weeks, permanent (depending on how many reports are on the account)

We have completed rolling out this system so all notices to affected players have been issued. We are already in the process of looking into further adjustments and we are continuing to monitor the process and listen to feedback.


Take your passion for virtual reality and Onward to the next level! The VR Master League is calling all VR/Onward enthusiasts and gamers to embark on a world of virtual reality competitions and games. About VR Master League: The VR Master League is a dynamic community that brings together VR gamers from all around the globe. Whether you're a seasoned VR pro or just getting started, our league provides a platform for players of all skill levels to connect, compete, and elevate their VR experience.

Thrilling Competitions: Showcase your skills in exhilarating weekly matches. Challenge yourself and others in head-to-head battles that test your skills, strategy, and teamwork. Community & Friendship: Forge lasting friendships with like-minded individuals who share your love for VR gaming. Our community is supportive, welcoming, and dedicated to growing the VR gaming ecosystem together.

Joining the VR Master League is simple and rewarding. Head to our website, create your player profile and explore the ongoing leagues and events. Engage with our community, make friends, and jump into competitions that align with your interests and skill level.

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