Dec 25, 2021

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 - Dark Nation

Our elves have been busy in the workshop this holiday season!

Introducing a brand new map, Les Champs de Losque! This is the first map by community member Cpt. Caverne. We'd like to thank everyone who participated in the map's beta test earlier in the year and provided helpful feedback! We will monitor how the map plays and squash any bugs or game-play issues that might surface in the coming days.

In addition to this brand new map, a new Clash version of Jurques has also been slipped in your stocking!

You can see the full change log below.

And now for a personal aside:

It's around this time of year that we reflect on how we are so grateful to be able to work together and build on a game that has endured for over 13 years. The gaming landscape has changed so much since 2008, and it's an increasingly rare thing that a small dedicated group of people would continue to volunteer their precious time and talents to build upon and improve this free mod.

Thank you to all of our developers and players, past, present, and future.

We hope you all stay warm and safe this season.

See you on the battlefield,
Darklight Games

New Maps

Jurques Clash
Les Champs de Losque

Map Changes

Flakturm Tiergarten Defence

Added some weak artillery for Allies.
Gave Axis a single Panther that unlocks in the middle of the map.
Removed Allied ticket gain from capturing objectives.
Set tickets to use the scaling system.
Fixed Axis spawn hint that would cause players to fall on spawn and break their legs.

Kommerscheidt Advance

Implemented three lines of anti-precap minefields.
Reduced Axis tickets factor to 27 from 30.
Reduced Axis respawn interval by 5 seconds to help prevent them from losing momentum as easily.
Fixed incorrect victory music for the Allies.
Fixed typo in the Intersection objective name.
Added a basic map description and preview image for practice mode.

La Fiere (Day)

Hand-tuned the danger zone to make more sense.

Pariserplatz Defence

Fixed an exploit that would allow players to get under the map.
Placed some spawn hints on the other side of the Reichstag to help prevent the Allies getting bottlenecked in their spawn at the beginning of the round.

Rabenheck Advance

Added a new objective at the bridge, plus new defensive emplacements to go with it (extended trench line, new bunker, cleared some trees and added some new cover for the Allies).
Added anti-precap minefields behind each objective.
Expanded minefield protection around initial Allied spawn.
Implemented anti-tank gun limits.
Reduced Allied respawn interval to 10 seconds from 30.
Reduced Allied ticket bleed rate slightly.
Rebalanced roles and tank loadouts.
Removed a bugged minefield from the final objective.
Gave both teams additional artillery strikes and added several static radios around the map.
Fixed a bug with some fluid surfaces.
Added new raindrop emitters to the river and other bodies of water.
Fixed some bugged objective progression dependencies.

Simonskall Push

Reduced respawn interval of both teams from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.
Gave Allies a small amount of artillery and a radio operator.

St. Marie du Mont Advance

Fixed incorrect victory music for the Allies.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug where AT launchers could fail to spawn a projectile.

Nov 26, 2021

Patch v10.2.673

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 - dirtybirdy

Cagny Recon

Today's weekly update includes a new rendition of the Armored Cagny map that only features light and fast moving vehicles. This version of the map was brought to you by an ace tanker and the menace of the armored server — Klunk.

Worth noting that Allied teams on both Cagny maps have been switched to the British faction which is historically correct for the setting,

Rabenheck

Another notable change was Rabenheck Advance. Apart from a number of bug fixes, the map has been updated with a new Bridge objective and additional encampments in its vicinity.

Full changelog

# Vehicles - [Stummel] Fixed the bug where players could enter non-existent passenger seats. - [Stummel] Fixed the bug where non-crewmen could enter the gunner's seat. # Maps ## Armored Cagny Recon Advance - Added a new variant of Cagny with light/recon vehicles only (Author: Klunk). ## Armored Cagny Advance - Reworked the map to use the correct British faction for Allies instead of US. - Updated minefield timers to not kill players instantly. - Replaced missing mipmap field textures with proper version from DH packages. - Various bug fixes. ## Rabenheck Advance - Added a new objective at the bridge. - Added defensive emplacements near the bridge (extended trench line, new bunker, and extra cover). - Cleared out some trees and added extra cover for the advancing team. - Added anti-precap minefields behind each objective. - Expanded minefield protection around initial Allied spawn. - Implemented AT gun limits. - Reduced Allied respawn interval to 10 seconds. - Reduced Allied ticket bleed rate slightly. - Re-balanced roles and tank loadouts. - Removed a bugged minefield from the final objective. - Gave both teams additional artillery strikes and added several static radios around the map. - Added new raindrop emitters to the river and other bodies of water. - Fixed bugs in objective progression. - Fixed volume issue that could make it difficult to blow up the destructible part of the Siegfried line dragon's teeth. - Various minor bug fixes. ## Simonskall Push - Reduced respawn interval of both teams to 10 seconds. - Gave Allies a small amount of artillery + a radio operator. ## Kommerscheidt Advance - Implemented three lines of anti-precap minefields. - Slightly reduced Axis tickets. - Decreased Axis respawn interval by 5 seconds to help prevent them from losing momentum as easily. - Fixed wrong victory music group for Allies. - Fixed typo in the Intersection objective name. - Added a map description and preview image for practice mode. ## St. Marie-du-Mont Advance - Fixed wrong victory music sound group for Allies. ## Flakturm Tiergarten Defence - Added some weak artillery for Allies. - Gave Axis a single Panther that unlocks in the middle of the map. - Removed Allied ticket gain from capturing objectives. - Set tickets to use the scaling system. - Fixed Axis spawn hint that would cause players to fall on spawn and break their legs. ## Pariserplatz Defence - Fixed an exploit that would allow players to get under the map. - Placed spawn locations on the other side of the Reichstag to help prevent the Allies getting bottle-necked in their spawn at the start.

See you on the battlefield,
Darklight Games

Nov 3, 2021

Patch v10.2.670

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 - dirtybirdy

The weekly patch is out!

This update focuses on fixing a few visual bugs and updating Flakturm Tiergarten to sort out a number of gameplay issues it had.

Flakturm has been known for its harsh first objective that would often turn into a meat grinder and leave Allied team locked at their main spawn. In this iteration, along with other tweaks, the initial part of the map has been expanded to give both teams more room to wiggle.

Check the full changelog for details:

# Bug fixes - Fixed missing textures on 3rd person RPG-43 mesh. - Fixed missing destroyed overlays (burnt effect) on various German vehicles and static meshes. - Fixed a bug where a player's off-map fire support marker would disappear if an "artillery hit" marker was created afterwards. # Maps ## Flakturm Tiergarten Defense - Expanded the initial part of the map (the University building and its nearby street are now accessible). - Re-balanced tank loadout. - Changed the objective layout and spawn point locations. - Removed a number of destroyable walls in Hertzalle to improve the flow in that area. - Added extra cover at crucial locations. - Added more accessible rooms at Sportsplatz Entrance objective. - Reduced the amount of Allied assault troopers to 4. ## Stavelot Push - Fixed the incorrect season setting (affects barrel overheating, and other miscellaneous mechanics).

GItHub

See you on the battlefield,
Darklight Games

Oct 31, 2021

Patch v10.2.668

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 - dirtybirdy

A small hotfix has been released, fixing a few bugs and balancing issues discovered after the previous release.

Check the changelog for details:

[v10.2.668] ## Haunted Pariserplatz Survival - Fixed incorrectly set team ratio values in the previous patch. - Set new team ratios to +50%/-50% in favor of Zombie team. [v10.2.667] # Vehicles - [Stummel] Fixed the bug where players could enter non-existent passenger seats. - [Stummel] Fixed textures on the destroyed mesh. - Fixed the bug that made all half-track based vehicles drive slower since the previous release. # Maps ## Haunter Pariserplatz Survival - Reduced capture times on first 4 caps. - Increased resupply volumes sizes. - Changed team ratios to 60/40 (Zombies/Survivors). - Removed 1 SMG from Survivor team for low player counts. - Added more pickups in objectives. - Adjusted zombie spawn locations. ## Haunted Hattert Clash & Haunted Fury Clash - Reduced the amount of Berserker roles to 3. ## Armored Fruhlingserwachen Clash - Set tickets to infinite (map will end via caps or time limit), fixing an issue where a team could run out of reinforcements early and not be able to spawn until the map time limit ran out. ## Armored Lemberg Clash - Fixed a field texture that was missing mipmaps. - Increased round timer from 45 minutes to 60.

GitHub

See you on the battlefield,
Darklight Games

Oct 30, 2021

v10.2.666 - Halloween Special 2021

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 - dirtybirdy

Keep your eyes open and grab an extra pair of clean underwear: zombies are coming back to the battlefield this Halloween!

At Darklight Games we like to dabble in dark arts, and we couldn't miss out on the opportunity to sneak some spooky stuff into the game once again. This year's Halloween event includes:

A new map: Haunted Pariserplatz Survival.
Haunted Hattert and Haunted Fury maps making a return.
Unique Halloween vehicle skins and zombie characters (available on Haunted maps).
Spooky zombie voice lines.
And more…

All the unholy content is now available on our servers, and will stay on for an entire week from October 30th to November 7th.

Survive the Pariserplatz

A small groups of soldiers of various nations have found themselves surrounded by hordes of undead Nazis in the middle of Berlin. Will they survive? Who knows, but we're sure it will a hell of a fight!

This is a unique rendition of the old Red Orchestra map where you'll be able to pick your side either as a brain dead zombie or a lucky survivor. Zombies can't use weapons, but they are numerous, and they won't go down from a single shot to the chest. Outnumbered and low on supplies, if survivors want to get out of this doozy alive, their only option is to work together and watch each other's back.

New features in v10.2

Along with the Halloween event, today marks a new feature release which includes a couple of fresh additions to German arsenal.

Maschinenpistole 3008

When situation was dire, Germans looked abroad for inspiration and came up with this oddly familiar firearm. Meant as a last ditch weapon, this STEN's foreign cousin can be mainly found in the hands of Volkssturmm troops.

Sd.Kfz. 251/9 Ausf. D “Stummel”

A new modification of the ever-present German half-track has arrived. Equipped with a short 7.5cm KwK 37 gun and a paper thin armor, Stummel might find itself outgunned against heavier armored vehicles; nevertheless, it was proven to be highly effective at blasting through fortifications and fighting lightly armored targets.

The Stummel has been added to the following maps:

Armored Arad Clash
Armored Balaton Clash
Armored Bautzen Clash
Armored Cagny Clash
Armored Celles Clash
Armored Freyneux Advance
Armored Fruhlingserwachen Clash
Armored La Feuillie Clash
Armored Preaux Clash
Barashka Clash
Cambes-En-Plaine Clash
Champs Advance
Cheneux Advance
Fury Clash
Hattert Clash
Kommerscheidt Advance
La Gleize Advance
Nuenen Clash
Ogledow Clash
Putot-en-Bessin Advance
Stavelot Push
Stoumont Advance
Valko Advance
Wanne Advance

Other Changes

Reduced player’s max stamina by 20%. This change drops the maximum distance a player can cross in one go to 200 meters.
Temprorary increased shovel damage for the duration of the Halloween event.
Fixed the bug where internal squad orders were shown on compass for everyone on the team.
Made half-tracks to be treated as armored vehicles in the code (half-tracks now use the same damage model as armored vehicles).

See you on the battlefield,
Darklight Games

Oct 21, 2021

Patch v10.1.1

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 - dirtybirdy

This is a weekly patch that includes recent bug fixes and miscellaneous small updates.

Check the changelog for details:

# Artillery - Reduced the global limit of available artillery guns to 3. - Fixed the bug where artillery markers weren't visible in singleplayer mode. # Weapons - Replaced PPS-43 sound with the original Red Orchestra sound that more closely resembles its real counterpart. - Reduced PPS-43 rate of fire to 650 RPM (was 700). # Vehicles - Fixed the bug where Soviet gunsights were missing a range setting readout. # Miscellaneous - Fixed the voice muting feature. - Fixed the bug where admins could overrun rally points while in "bogeyman" mode (invisible). # Maps ## Hurtgenwald Advance - Fixed broken spawn protection minefield that activated too early. - Increased lockdown timer on trench objectives to 720 seconds (was 360). ## Odessa Push - Fixed broken group objective reliances that prevented objectives from progressing if capped in a certain order. ## Putot-en-Bessin Advance - Increased Allied tank crewman count to 3, - Capped team vehicle limit at 2 and made the M7 Priest ignore the limit (allows Allies to use the Priest and still have 2 tanks active as before). ## Rakowice Advance - Temporarily fixed issue with off-map artillery strikes being marked as "unavailable". - Increased time before anti-precap minefields will kill you. ## Targnon Push - Added gloves to German roles that were previously missing them, such as Squad Leaders and Engineers.

GitHub

See you on the battlefield,
Darklight Games

Oct 17, 2021

v10.1.0 - STEN Mk.V

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 - dirtybirdy

In the previous release, we've started updating and expanding our STEN lineup, which included the reworked Mark II and the new Mark III. Today their younger and better looking sibling has arrived!

The Mark V is now available to our British airborne units, and you can find it on Pegasus Bridge, Oosterbeek, and various Operation Market Garden maps.

The new SMG is sporting a unique feature: a small detachable bayonet.

Armored Frühlingserwachen Clash

Old Red Orchestra veterans might remember the vast plains of this map from the days of old. In this update, Frühlingserwachen is ported to DH and joins the ranks of the Armored Server maps.

Other Changes

Artillery

Increased distance at which artillery splashes are considered too far off-target and not displayed on the map. The value has been bumped to 150 meters.
Increased lifespan of fire requests to 5 minutes (previously 2.5).
Artillery spotters can now see the hit markers for artillery splashes within range of their marked targets.

Constructions

Reduced artillery gun costs to 1500.
Fixed the bug that allowed limited constructions (e.g guns) to be replenished past the maximum amount.
Set the maximum amount of allowed artillery guns to 4 per team.

Weapons

Adjusted proportions on STEN magazine models.
Updated textures on all STENs.

Characters

Fixed the bug that made character faces disappear on dead bodies with winter head-gear.

Vehicles

Reduced M7 Priest resupply delay to 10 seconds.

Maps

Armored Freyneux Advance

Increased Allied tickets.
Removed ticket bleed from Allies (map ends when all objectives are taken).
Gave Allies a little more tank variety (Sherman Jumbo and 105).
Set missing Win music.

Armored Krivoi Rog Clash

Fixed bugs related to objectives.
Increased Soviet artillery amount.
Added a radio to both team's main spawns.
Set Soviet ISU-152 count by 1.

Hurtgenwald Advance

Reworked objectives and objective volumes.
Reworked tank loadouts and made tanks unlock after the first 2 objectives are taken.
Gave Allies an AT role to help clear Pillboxes and Pak guns at range.
Increased Allied respawn speed.
Increased Axis tickets slightly.
Added spawn protection minefield to Allies.
Added objective spawn for vehicles once Pak bunker is taken.

La Gleize Advance

Reworked no-arty and restriction volumes around Axis main to be less restrictive.

Pegasus Bridge Advance

Reduced Allied respawn timer.
Increased Axis respawn timer at the bridge.
Increased Allied team ratio slightly.
Reduced Axis assault trooper role by 1.

Wanne Advance

Fixed anti-portals that could cause graphical issues near Allied main spawn.

Stoumont Advance

Made first objective not re-capturable.
Removed wall along the road behind the Church.
Replaced destroyed half-track static with Panther.
Added AT gun limits.
Disabled vehicle pool constructions.
Reduced the amout of logistic trucks to 2 for both teams.
Added a respawn penalty to Allies at the final objective.

Smolensk Advance

Fixed static radios.
Added artillery strikes for Allies.
Disabled AT gun constructions.
Removed duplicate Axis Squad Leader role.
Reduced setup phase timer.
Other minor fixes.

Klin 1941 Advance

Added pre-placed AT guns into the bunkers on the final objective line.
Implemented AT gun construction limits to reduce “gun spam”.
Made the Pz.IV spawns unlimited, but with a slightly increased respawn timer.
Increased tickets for both teams slightly.
Increased ticket bleed for Soviets when both final objectives are taken.
Added a small ticket bleed when a single one of the final objectives is taken in order to pressure Soviet team to counter-attack.
Disabled collision on tiny rubble props in the trenches that causes players to bounce erratically.
Disabled Karma collisions on static fences so that tanks can drive through them (a temporary change before proper destructible fences are put in place).
Added artillery triggers to various static radios on the map.
Added few destroyed vehicles on the approach to the final objective line to give Axis a bit of coverю

Pariserplatz Defence

Updated Axis spawn points.
Changed respawn intervals for both teams.
Adjusted ticket counts.
Reduced Axis tank count.
Reduced the maximum number of AT guns for Axis.

Arnhem Bridge Push

Reduced map brightness.
Fixed bug where vehicles would fly at last objective.

Armored Gran Advance

Fixed bug that made Axis logistics non-functional.
Reduction of logistic trucks to 2.
Deactivated logistics until Hill objective is taken.
Fixed several weird holes on the map at last cap.

Armored Hill 112 Advance

Added pre-placed AT guns.
Added objective deactivation on the first 2 caps.

Rederitz Advance

Fixed collisions in trenches.
Fixed the bug where some of the rocks had no collisions.

See you on the battlefield,
Darklight Games

Oct 15, 2021

v10.0.0 - Artillery Overhaul

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 - dirtybirdy

At long last, the artillery overhaul is ready! The new system has been designed from the ground up to be significantly easier and much more enjoyable to use!

The primary changes are:

All squad leaders are now capable of marking artillery targets
Artillery pieces now have spotting scopes and range tables
Artillery targets now display the range of the targets
Kill feed messages are now sent to artillery operators for artillery kills
The Artillery Observer role has been removed

Artillery Spotting

Squad leaders now have a more robust and intuitive spotting menu when spotting from binoculars. There is also now a 3D widget to pinpoint the target location when placing markers. No more calling in artillery on the tree right in front of you!

One of the primary issues with the previous system was that no one wanted to take the Artillery Observer role because it was, admittedly, kind of lame. This often left mortar operators with no targets at all, firing blindly into the distance. With all squad leaders being capable of calling for targets, artillery gunners will have more opportunities for getting juicy targets.

Spotting Scopes

Each artillery piece (mortars, pack howitzers et. al.) now have spotting scopes for making more accurate fire.

Range Tables

Long asked for, all artillery pieces now have a calibrated range table, which means no more trial-and-error! All you will have to do is some quick mental math to get your artillery landing on target (well, mostly on target).

Developer’s Note:
In play-testing, artillery fire was much more accurate and responsive than before, and artillery operators had a more enjoyable time playing due to the improved interface, increased collaboration with teammates, and feedback from kills. We will be closely monitoring how these changes shift the meta, and will make changes as necessary to make sure the artillery is not overpowered or oppressive

Pack Howitzers

To complement the new artillery overhaul, this update also sees the addition of three new “pack” howitzers.

75mm Pack Howitzer M1
76mm regimental gun M1927
7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18

These howitzers are light infantry artillery, excelling at long-range, accurate fire with a relatively low flight time. However, unlike mortars, their shallow arc-of-fire makes requires favorable terrain and wide, unobstructed fields of fire in order to be effective, making it more difficult to find an ideal firing position.

We are excited to see how soldiers will put these new battle implements to good use!

Winter Outfits

Baby, it’s cold outside! Our poor soldiers have been freezing their digits and ears off for well over a decade. Finally, our boys have a just received a proper shipment of stylish hand and head-wear to stave off frostbite in colder climates.

Sten

The Sten model and animations have been completely overhauled, continuing our long journey to improving the look and feel of our entire arsenal. As an added bonus, there are now two additional Sten variants, the Canadian Sten and the Sten Mk III.

In addition, the rate of fire has been slightly increased to match it’s real-life counterpart, as well making it easier to handle its weapon sway.

Other changes

Gameplay

Squad leaders can now instantly spawn on rally points that have one spawn remaining.
Command voice lines are now available to all squad leaders (previously only available to Sergeant roles).
Renamed the surrender feature to “Retreat” so players won’t have to make the hard choice between pride and common sense. There’s no shame in a tactical retreat!

Visual Effects

New impact effects for .50 caliber and PTRD bullets.

Characters

Added volumetric epaulets for soviet and polish models
Updated Brodie helmet with improved visuals and added a snowy variant.
Fixed misaligned wrists on character animations.
Fixed 3rd person shovel animations.

Vehicles

Tiger Tank turret font armor has been reduced to a more accurate value, allowing it to be penetrated by the heavy armor piecing rounds of late-war Allied armor.

Weapons

M3 Grease Gun

Reduced reverb on firing sound effect.
Miscellaneous animation fixes.

M1 Garand

Reduced sight bobbing in the idle iron-sighted animation.

RPG-43

Added mini-parachute model.
Miscellaneous sound and animation fixes.

Geballte Ladung

Reduced damage radius from 22 meters to 18 meters.

Panzerfaust

The Panzerfaust may no longer be fired from the hip.

Maps

Rederitz

Added a trench network stretching across the entire right side of the map.
Added more cover all around the map.
Removed armored vehicles.
Added a physical minefield on the right side of the first objective.

Bridgehead

Added objective spawns.
Removed all but one of the pre-placed Platoon HQ constructions.
Limited anti-air and anti-tank gun constructions.
Limited active tanks counts and crewman.
Removed several Axis heavy tanks and reduced armor counts for both teams.
Reduced Allied player count bias from 60% to 55%.
Reduced view distance.
Reduced supply amount.
Reduced reinforcements for both teams.
Objectives no longer give reinforcement rewards
Objectives are no longer able to to be recaptured, and will no longer neutralize first.
Objectives take longer to capture.
Level ends with Allied victory if last objective is taken.
Removed the random artillery on the last objective.

Barashka

Merged Soviet anti-tank and sapper roles.
Reduced Soviet assault roles from 8 to 6.

Cholm

Removed German armored vehicles.
Added German Mortar Operator role.
Added German Radioman role.
Reduce German spawn time by 5 seconds.
Reduced Soviet T-34 and BT7 reinforcements.
Added a single Soviet KV-1.

Grey Gods of War

Added Axis spawn protection.

Kryukovo

Added Axis main spawn protection.

Vossenack

Increased fog distance.

Danzig

Reduced round time to 14 minutes.

Dom Pavlova

Reduced Soviet Machine-gunner rules from 3 to 1.

Lyes Krovy

Removed Axis respawn bonus.
Shifted team ratio in favor of the Germans.

Kreigstadt

Removed German logistics trucks.
Added German Panzer IV. Ausf. J.

Pariserplatz

Plugged the infamous "noob hole" with a dead Tiger — a memorial to all players that got stuck there.
Fixed some Soviet roles being the early-war type.
Merged Soviet anti-tank and sapper roles.
Added Soviet SU-76 and lend-lease Sherman M4A2(76)W.
Removed ISU-152.
Reduced reinforcements and respawn times for a variety of other armored vehicles.

Prussia

Reduced German spawn time.

Riga Docks

Added Axis main spawn protection.

Salaca River

Added Soviet “amoeba” camouflage sniper role.

Targnon

Moved final Allied spawn to a safer area to prevent spawn-killing.

La Gleize

Fixed the bug where one of active objectives ended up in a minefield area.

Gun Assault

Fixed minefields
Reduced team ratio for Allies.
Opened up one of the hedges for an easier access from Axis main spawn to the AT Gun objective.
Fixed spectator cameras.

Jurques

Added more trenches.
Added a cellar in one of the houses at the last objective.
Various minor bug fixes.

See you on the battlefield,
Darklight Games