Build ID: 8378834 (Client) / 8378845 (Dedicated Server)
Download size: 118 MB (Client) / 72 MB (Dedicated Server)

⛔ IMPORTANT: CLEAR YOUR OLD FILES

If you are coming from V1031 or have not updated your game since CTE, you need to delete all contents in the following locations (copy-paste these into your File Explorer address bar and hit Enter):

1. %LOCALAPPDATA%\GroundBranch\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor
   
2. Documents\GroundBranch

⚠️ Not doing so will cause various asset and input issues in your game.

If you are coming from a recent CTE version, clear them anyway to be sure.

Patch V1032.1 has been released!

This patch focuses on fixing issues with the original V1032 release that came out earlier this year. But in typical BlackFoot Studio fashion, in some cases we couldn’t help ourselves and added some new content.

Please note that we didn’t manage to squish every bug — and likely created some new ones — so we anticipate that there will be a much smaller and hopefully quicker V1032.2 patch in the near future.

Things we didn’t manage to get enough testing or flashes of inspiration to pin down include floating pistols and floating smoke grenades, among other things. So please continue to file bug reports (using the in-game bug reporter, if possible) and make sure to provide all relevant details, including any interesting things you did before the bug happened, as well as the game mode played, server type (self-hosted vs. dedicated server), player count, map and so on. Your reports are greatly appreciated!

Some issues we’re just leaving for now (e.g. a few AI problems) as the relevant systems are being overhauled in the next update, and it’s not a very good use of our time to fix up difficult-to-find bugs in code we’re about to throw out.

So thank you for your patience, please bear with us on the stuff we didn’t fix, and we hope you enjoy this little update!



A great deal of small and large tweaks and fixes were made to the animation work that had been put into the game in V1032.

When you fix a lot of things, you tend to break a few things in the process, and these fixes are no exception. There is going to be a further overhaul on the animations in V1033, so we’ll probably live with the small number of animation issues that remain and focus on the V1033 work now. In more detail, here's what was done:

• Back-ported the UE5 animation warping code to improve walk/run/sprint transitions and handling
  
• Reworked much of the blending layer, removing superfluous logic while trying to maintain as much of the original underlying animation as possible
  
• Improved checks against switching items/reloading while sprinting
  
• Changed the default mesh space movement additive to use smoother "first person" torso additives to create smoother movement, sightline, and so on
  
• Improved the IK elbow pole targets to fix the "chicken wing" elbows
  
• Varied the magnitude of the finger pull animation when dry-firing
  
• Toned down the dry-fire animations on a range of weapons
  
• Refined fire selector animations
  
• Tweaked fire selector animations to have better blend and dampen when in ADS
  
• Improved the handling of held items while sprinting
  
• Fixed the head transform clamp offsetting the head when pitching up/down; or, in plain English: fixed wonky neck when aiming or looking up and down
  
• Removed the head transform change when aiming with a handgun
  
• Reduced head movement when using an offset or elevated ("piggybacked") secondary sight
  
• Improved the blending of upper body montages to fix/remove jitters
  
• Reduced weapon shifting when crouching
  
• Added a tweak to prevent the "pants hiking up" issue with some recoil animations
  
• Tweaked sections and blend-out times of the handgun reload animation to stop the first section playing part of the second
  
• Fixed the flicker that happens at end of reload animations
  
• Fixed weapon position transitions being cut off when switched quickly
  
• Updated the aim and head IK code to ensure the correct item transform when using dynamic IK targets
  
• Rearranged the sightline bone handling in the character blending layer to detach sightline from item bone movement/rotation while moving
  
• Fixed the left elbow when using right-hand overlay and crouching
  
• Tweaked animations at low and high speeds to match up better without leg splits when going from idle to moving
  
• Updated idle rifle animations on the Main Menu backdrop

• New default builds have been provided for all weapons, with an emphasis on practical builds with a variety of attachments and grip placements — special thanks to Prowlaz and Trav for taking the time to make these! (In some cases, you will have to lower the weapon and use freelook (default [Tab]) to see the Wristwatch face)
  
• Fixed Chest Rig (JCR) placement in the Customize Operator screen
  
• M9A3 now has recoil
  
• SDASS sights should now line up correctly
  
• The NVG Head Mount is updated to asynchronously load Night Vision Goggles when the headset is attached to character and not to encode it
  
• Reloading will now eventually cycle through different compatible magazine types (e.g. from Primary Ammo to a 20-round STANAG or 35-round PMAG) once you run out of ammo for the current magazine type
  
• Fixed bug where going into locker with NVG enabled would leave lasers in NV mode after you unequipped NVG and left locker
  
• MK4 3.5–10x scope now has the magnification adjustment ring set up to move according to current magnification level
  
• Entering the Customize Operator screen (e.g. interacting with locker or workbench) will now hide the HUD, including the stance indicator

• The Rangefinder now uses a different trace channel so it will not hit blockplayer actors any more (such as the invisible walls on The Farm's outdoor shooting range)
  
• Fixed the Rangefinder's night vision mode
  
• Night vision spectate mode generally fixed up, but some issues remain (for example with Rangefinder NV mode)
  
• Physics collision handling updated

• Added icon for Shemagh (Head)
  
• Shemagh (Head) skins "Mint Green" and "Mint Tan" changed to "Foliage Green" and "Tan" respectively
  
• Added advanced effects setting to turn volumetric fog on/off
  
• Turned off volumetric fog in all but Epic setting
  
• Adjusted default TAA settings for more stable image (less flickering) and to be a little sharper
  
• New advanced settings added to help tune TAA and overall color/contrast of the game
  
• Added controller/gamepad sensitivity settings (Settings › Controls)
  
  • Left and right analog stick sensitivity now customizable via "Left Gamepad Sensitivity" and "Right Gamepad Sensitivity" settings
    
  • Changed a few setting names/tags to avoid confusion between mouse and controller inputs
• Fixed eyelashes showing through eyewear lenses
  
• Lighting tweaked and old fog removed from Arena and Arena II (should fix Ready Room fog issue on those maps)
  
• Redundant entries cleaned up in DefaultScalability.ini and DefaultEngine.ini
  
• The After Action Report (AAR) screen can now be closed by tapping [Esc] or [Spacebar]

• More complex audio stuff hooked up again in the Rig map, though acoustics on Rig are still overall simplified a bit to prevent excessive performance loss
  
• Reverb send levels of footsteps modified to improve directionality
  
• Distance at which gunshot tails transition to mono was lowered to improve directionality
  
• Increased interior ambience level on Rig
  
• Modified mix presets:
  
  • Increased gear movement sounds level when walking/running
    
  • Low Dynamic Range: slightly increased difference between loud and quiet sounds, reduced sprinting level, reduced difference between different weapon types
    
  • Medium Dynamic Range: increased difference between loud and quiet sounds
• Big pass on VOIP and Commo Rose to fix bug where everyone hears Commo Rose audio and sees it in their own name
  
• PhysMats added to stair actors to improve footstep sounds on metal stairs
  
• Max footstep sounds distance clamped to 80 meters — footsteps further from local player than that will not be posted
  
• Metal deck surface assigned to concrete footsteps for diversity (e.g. on Rig)
  
• Missing spatial volume tags added to Rig
  
• Addded G3A3 and MK14 charging handle sounds
  
• Hooked up glass shatter sounds to Wwise and temporarily removed glass impact sounds until we can set them up to work with Wwise (for performance gain)
  
• Miscellaneous VOIP fixes
  
• AI bark manager created to prevent excessive reuse of AI barks in a short space of time

Team insertion points for the Team Elimination game mode have had a bit of an overhaul, and we’ve provided some new missions to thank you for your patience as we worked on this patch and the next main release. In more detail:

• The Team Elimination game mode and validator were changed to add mutual exclusion spawn groups, and tweaked to improve the randomization of spawn points each round
  
• A pass was done on all current Team Elimination missions to adapt to the new system, setting up mutual exclusion spawn groups as needed
  
• Tentative fix for players being auto-balanced in DTAS (Dynamic Take and Secure) after spawning in with the (now) enemy team; one consequence is that late joining during PreRoundWait is disabled if auto-balance is on
  
• The confusingly named "747 (Plane Only)" Terrorist Hunt mission was renamed to "747 (Plane and Nearby)" and supplemented by a new "747 (Plane Interior)" TH mission which really does do what it says on the tin
  
• Added new 747 (Plane Interior) Deathmatch mission for (much) lower player counts
  
• Added new Rig (Decks 1 and 2) DTAS mission to complement existing Decks 3 and 4 DTAS mission
  
• Added new "Storage Facility (Storage Cavern)" DM map
  
• Added new "Storage Facility (Underground)" DM map
  
• Added new "Storage Facility (Underground)" TH map
  
• Fixed an off-screen insertion point for Storage Facility TH map
  
• Bad laptop fixed in Depot's Intel Retrieval mission
  
• Wobbly tree on Compound fixed
  
• New NavmeshBlocker actor added in the mission editor as a temporary fix (until we get the new AI in the next big update) to keep AI within specific parts of the map
  
• 747 (Plane Interior) TH, 747 (Plane and Nearby) TH, Compound (Compound Only) TH, Small Town TH, Run Down TH and possibly 1 or 2 other missions were updated to include the new NavmeshBlocker feature to partition the map and keep AI within the mission area

• Updated Server Browser to ensure it stops refreshing the server list if you try to connect
  
• Added -RandomMapStart=N server command line option to start from first map (if N=0) rather than random pick (if N≠0), as was previously always done
  
• A basic anti-cheat function was added to stop players playing when it is detected that specific files are missing (e.g. flashbang FX) — we can’t completely prevent players from cheating, but we reserve the right to prevent the easiest/laziest methods!

---

{LINK REMOVED}Discord / {LINK REMOVED}Steam Community Hub / {LINK REMOVED}Reddit / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

Today, we’re taking a little break from working on the V1032.1 patch for a special announcement.

It is no secret that bots in GROUND BRANCH are still very bare-bones and have a long way to go, which is why AI will be one of the main focuses of our upcoming major releases. As many players are aware, developing human-like tactical AI is, to say the least, extremely tricky even for large triple-A studios — let alone a small team like BlackFoot Studios — and capable AI developers willing to take on a niche project like ours are not easy to come by.

While game development can be an infinitely deep can of worms, it is made a little bit easier today by solutions such as Epic’s Unreal Engine and the ecosystem of plugins that support it. Enter Kythera AI: a middleware toolset that greatly enhances and facilitates AI development with features like their 2D navigation system (which includes formations, contextual pathfinding and character avoidance), automatic markup (to help generate cover and vaulting points, for example), spatial query system (which will help with combat maneuvering, among other things) and advanced behavior trees.



With that introduction, and as you have probably guessed by now, we are excited to announce that the Kythera AI toolset is now fully licensed for GROUND BRANCH! We very much look forward to resume AI development from V1033 onwards, as well as start giving players a more realistic and immersive PvE experience with Kythera’s partnership as we move forward. In John’s own words:

“

Great AI is crucial for us, and as a smaller studio without dedicated AI engineers, Kythera AI is the perfect solution. Their toolset easily integrates with our existing work in Unreal and lets us provide comprehensive, intelligent AI that we can maintain and continually improve. We can’t wait to roll out the first of these updates in the near future!

”

So there you have it, folks. Our AI has gone bare-bones for long enough, and as promised, we’re picking it back up very soon — with a leading industry solution to boot. While this will not mean state-of-the-art tangos and squad AI at the press of a button, we are confident that in addition to giving us the technical support we need, Kythera will offer a better foundation for our AI and generally make our lives much easier while developing it.

We’d like to thank Kythera AI for their partnership, and we can’t wait to start putting their tools to good use. To find out more about Kythera AI, check out their website here.

---

{LINK REMOVED}Discord / {LINK REMOVED}Steam Community Hub / {LINK REMOVED}Reddit / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

Build ID: 8098273 (Client) / 8098322 (Dedicated Server)
Download size: 4.1 GB (Client) / 433 MB (Dedicated Server)

⛔ IMPORTANT: CLEAR YOUR OLD FILES

If you are coming from V1031 or have not updated CTE in a while, you need to delete all contents in the following locations (copy-paste these into your File Explorer address bar and hit Enter):

1. %LOCALAPPDATA%\GroundBranch\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor
   
2. Documents\GroundBranch

⚠️ Not doing so will cause various asset and input issues in your game.

If you are coming from a recent CTE version, clear them anyway to be sure.

Roughly a month and a half ago, the first testing build for GROUND BRANCH V1032 went live on our Community Test Environment (CTE) app.

And after and a very busy holiday season, no less than 13 public test builds and well over 1,000 bug reports, V1032 is now finally available on the main branch as a stable release!

If you are among the few who decided to wait for it, we hope this version of the game leaves as good an impression as it has for many of our community testers. And if you're among those who have been waiting for a price drop, we got good news for ya:


As part of the Steam Lunar New Year Sale, GROUND BRANCH is 30% OFF on for an entire week — until February 3rd.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/16900/GROUND_BRANCH/

❤️ Consider buying directly from our store!

Buying the game from the GB Store ensures that we get the full cut of the purchase.

💰 Use code GB1032 at the checkout to apply the 30% discount.

Please note the GB Store can only charge US dollars (via PayPal) and has no regional pricing!

You know the drill: go tell that friend of yours who's on the fence, spread posters around the neighborhood, maybe grab an extra key or three to gift your buddies. Just don't let it go to waste.

Alright! Moving on!



A fully comprehensive list of changes would be unrealistic for such a complex update, so we're going to keep things more summarized with these release notes while still covering as much as we can afford. Let's get to it.

Upon first loading up a mission (or into server), you will likely notice that the Ready Room has been slightly renovated and now sports a more somber and concrete-y look.

Walk into the Ops Room, and you'll se a slight rearrangement: the Ops Board screen is now much larger, and its contents a little easier on the eyes:


The Ops Board as seen during a round of the updated Intel Retrieval game mode. Note the "Intel Search Areas" field which indicates possible intel device locations (represented by the red circles on the map)

Functionally, not much has changed: you still set the game mode options and time of day, and then pick your preferred insertion point. It's all just laid out better, and the satellite/drone map images should be a lot easier to visualize.

Every single character asset in GROUND BRANCH has been updated from V1031. That's right: every asset (save for the Holster, which was updated in V1031) from the character heads all the way to the dump pouch has received a new model and textures in this update.


It's not just you: Male 02 (second from left) is an absolute dreamboat

On top of that, several entirely new items were added, such as the Shemagh (which can be worn as a scarf or head cover), the Ghillie Hood/Trousers, the Work Boots, the Flannel Shirt and the list goes on.

Keep in mind that not all of the old assets were recreated: some were replaced by a different item, while others were scrapped for various reasons (usually just not being in line with a certain generation of gear).

💡 Although we probably will not be adding new gear models for a while, we will be adding more skins as we go, and anything that we don't end up adding ourselves — whether models or skins, pre- or post-release — will most likely be modded in by the community.

For information on what is definitely planned, {LINK REMOVED}check out our roadmap.

Unfortunately, the new facial hair will have to wait. Due to the assets being made specifically for each individual head, they require additional logic that our programmers could not get to just yet. Beards are expected to be back in V1033 at the latest, possibly alongside some basic hairstyle choices.

❗ Clipping is both known and expected with the large amount of possible asset combinations with several layers of animation on top. Eradicating clipping in a game like GB is virtually impossible even for AAA studios, but we hope to be able to improve particularly bad and noticeable cases as we go.

❗ Certain pouches now use an open design, meaning that the magazine is exposed. Although the magazine may not currently match what you are carrying, making it so is on our list. As an example, the SMG/PDW pouch will always show an MP5 magazine — for the time being.

🎨 More skins are on the way, as are tweaks for the current ones. Spotted a bad camo? Let us know.

As teased in the last couple Intel Updates, we also have entirely new models for the following items:

• MK14 EBR: Based on the Mod 1 variant, this battle rifle by Cody Cudmore is replacing the more precision fire-oriented MK14 Mod 2. Has its own suppressor too.
  
• MK46 (Mod 1): A 5.56 NATO light machine gun replacing the old MK48 Mod 0. Suppressor still pending!
  
• Updated M4-series and HK416-series models (all assets by Bakr Assad aka Raider3D):
  
  • M4A1 SOPMOD: The classic M4A1 with a KAC quad-rail handguard.
    
  • M4A1 Block II: The SOPMOD Block II variant with a full-length quad-rail handguard.
    
  • M4A1 Block II (FSP): Same as Block II, but with a cut-out for the original "A2-style" front sight post (FSP).
    
  • MK18: Still based on the Mod 1 variant, but now fitted with a Magpul CTR stock for some variation.
    
  • HK416D: One of the most widely used variants of the HK416, with a 14.5-inch barrel and "Crane" stock.
    
  • HK416D CQB: A short-barrel variant of the HK416D, also known as the D10RS.
    
  • All M4 and HK416 variants can now also be fitted with a 20-round STANAG magazine.

We have also finally added a G3 battle rifle, specifically the G3A3 variant. It's one of those weapons mainly meant as an OPFOR gun, and as such doesn't allow much customization just yet — but you can add a top rail adapter for optics (the adapter uses a placeholder model).


Top to bottom: MK14 EBR, MK46 and G3A3

💡 None of the weapons have different skins to choose from anymore, but that is only a temporary bummer — new paint jobs are under development.

The following weapon attachments have all received new models:

• HWS 553
  
• HWS EXPS3 (comes in both black and FDE)
  
• T-2 Micro
  
• Specter DR 1x/4x (currently FDE only)
  
• G33 Magnifier (3x) (black and FDE)

And these new models are replacing older items:

• The MBUS and Micro folding iron sight pairings replaced the previous iron sights.
  
• The MK4 (3.5–10x) variable-power scope replaced the M-233 (12x). It features a Picatinny rail mount for red dots.

❓ WHERE DID THE [INSERT OBSCURE ITEM THAT WAS YOUR WHOLE REASON TO BUY THE GAME] GO?
Models may need to be replaced or dropped for a variety of reasons during development. The Galil SAR, for example, was removed due to being an old and low-detail model which made it impossible to animate properly. Although not all removed assets will necessarily make a comeback, there is always a chance that they will be either reintroduced later or modded in.

In V1032, we are introducing several gameplay features and mechanics to help players navigate, coordinate and fight better.

https://youtu.be/rEcuA38cICM

You can now hold the Reload key (default [R]) to estimate the amount of rounds you have left in your magazine or belt. The HUD icon indicates the status as being one of the following:

• Fairly full
  
• About half-full/empty
  
• Nearly empty
  
• Empty

Icons, timings and animations for the mag check are all subject to change, so let us know how it looks and feels to you.

💡 We also plan to allow the magazine to stay out (with the icon in view) for as long as the Reload key is held down, as well as automatically displaying the status icon when a used magazine is being loaded in.

You can now easily figure out where you are in relation to objectives and teammates by tapping [M] or selecting the Tablet item from the Equipment menu ([4]).


The Tablet during a round of Intel Retrieval. Note the markers for players (diamonds), objectives (red circles) and extraction point (arrow going up). Players can now also organize into Team Elements (more info on those in the next section)

The Tablet is automatically equipped on all players and displays the following information:

• Your location and bearing
  
• Your teammates' location (with indicators as to whether they're above or below you)
  
• Team roster and elements (more on that in the next section)
  
• Objective areas and extraction points (Intel Retrieval)
  
• In-game time
  
• Time remaining for the current mission or round

If used well, the Tablet can drastically reduce friendly fire, as well as improve overall situation awareness.

💡 To put the Tablet away, tap [M] again or simply select a different item. You may find yourself using the Tablet most often during Intel Retrieval missions.

💡 If your teammates are killed, their markers will disappear from the Tablet, but their names will remain listed.

As shown in the Tablet screenshot in the previous section, players can now also assign themselves — or be assigned by a server admin — to one of four Team Elements: Alpha (A), Bravo (B), Charlie (C) and Delta (D). Team Elements are akin to fireteams or squads.

Team Elements are displayed next to player names (in the Ready Room and when spectating), as well as on the Session Roster screen and the Tablet. At the moment, they are merely an aid for teamwork and coordination, especially by organizing and color-coding player markers on the Tablet.

Upon joining a session, players are automatically assigned to Alpha. To change to a different Team Element, press [Esc] and access the Session Roster tab in the top menu bar. Then, simply click the letter icon next to your name, and choose a new Team Element from the list.

💡 REASSIGN AND REGROUP AT WILL, BABY
Your Team Element can be changed at any time — even during a mission/round.

💡 In due course, there will be features such as Team Element-specific radio channels.

Movement speeds for walking and sprinting were slowed down slightly but noticeably. As with most such adjustments, these new speeds are not necessarily final, but they seem to feel better to most players so far.

As part of the animations update (more on that in a bit), recoil should now feel more pronounced both due to actual recoil animations, as well an added layer of camera shake — all subject to change, as usual.

Weapon collision has been reworked to use short-stocking, a technique in which the shooter progressively moves the stock over their shoulder in order to continue pointing the weapon forward if there isn't enough room in front of them to keep the weapon fully extended.

This change allows players to remain combat-effective to a much larger degree than in V1031 (where the weapon would be pointed up as soon as weapon collision was detected).

The Close Ready pose for pistols has been updated to be a lot less compressed (close to the chest), ensuring that you actually know where it is if it's ready to shoot. It feels a lot nicer too.

You can now set your preferred aiming (ADS) sensitivity per magnification ("zoom") level under Settings › Controls:

❗ NOTE
The number value is for how much the sensitivity should be scaled for a given magnification level. For example, a value of 1.0 would make a magnification level use the same sensitivity as the Normal Sensitivity. A value of 0.5 would make it half as sensitive, while 2.0 would make it twice as sensitive and so on.

Smoke grenades have been beefed up a bit to give more effective concealment. Performance may suffer if you spam a whole lot of these, but it's a stop-gap solution until we have these effects remade and optimized.

Your Wristwatch has a few new functionalities related to different game modes.

• In all game modes, a "time remaining" warning will be briefly shown on the watch at 5, 2 and 1 minute(s) remaining.
  
• In Intel Retrieval, you can now turn on the "Proximity Alert" mission setting (on the Ops Board) to get a vibrating alert when within 5 meters of the intel device.
  
• In the new Dynamic Take and Secure (DTAS — more on that in the Game modes section), your watch will display DTAS-specific information:
  
  • Approximate distance to the flag once placed (in meters). Also present in Fox Hunt mode, indicating distance to the Asset.
    
  • Direction of the flag once placed (yellow arrow).
    
  • When in range of the flag as a defender, a green alert will pulse.
    
  • When in range of the flag as an attacker, a yellow alert will pulse.
    
  • When the flag is being captured, a red alert will pulse (defenders get no warning of flag captures).

Animations have of course received the first stage of a major overhaul.

It is a massive improvement over V1031, but keep in mind that a lot of it is a work in progress and still fairly janky in a few areas. Here's the rundown:

• Reprocessed all existing character locomotion animations for new skeleton. (Locomotion will be entirely redone over the next few updates with mocap.)
  
• All weapons have completely remade animations for shooting and weapon manipulation (reloads, fire selector, mag checks etc.).
  
• First pass on custom foregrip hand poses:
  
  • The character's support hand will grip the weapon depending on which type of foregrip is equipped (if any):
    
    • Angled foregrip: "Thumb over bore" grip ("C-clamp")
      
    • Stubby/short foregrip: "Thumb break" grip
      
    • Full-length vertical foregrip: "Beer can" grip
      
    • No foregrip: Hand pose varies depending on the weapon.
  • Some foregrips will cause the left elbow to stick up — this is a known issue.
• Added camera recoil animations.
  
• Added basic idle character animations (only visible on other players).
  
• Reworked weapon positions and transitions.
  
• Body part-specific death animations, including extended death animations that have a 11% (1 in 9) chance of happening.
  
• First pass on basic ladder climbing.
  
• Vaulting now has an associated animation (which is pretty bugged, per the Known issues section).

💡 WIP ANIMATIONS
V1032 is largely the groundwork for the animations overhaul — the first part of an ongoing process with many iterations to come.

V1032 features two new maps, a map overhaul and various smaller map-related changes.

❗ Please keep in mind that map visuals, performance, audio and design are all an ongoing development.

One of the most highly anticipated additions in GROUND BRANCH history, Compound is set in an undisclosed Pakistani village with flat terrain featuring crop fields, a main road and several man-made structures from small sheds to multi-storey houses — one of which appears suspiciously fortified.



Compound can be played in any of the existing game modes.

🔈 Soundscapes (ambient audio) for Compound are not yet finished.

Rig — reliable sources claim it's short for oil rig — is likely the largest map in the game now. Comprised of multiple decks, each with sublevels, it's a gargantuan tactical nightmare.



Rig can also be played in any of the existing game modes.

🔈 Rig currently uses downgraded soundscapes and sound occlusion due to audio stutter issues we have not been able to fix yet.

Storage Facility has received an overhaul to include a new industrial area at the top of the hill and a new route down into the tunnels, which have been spruced up and expanded in various ways. The dock area has also been extended.

💡 The new Storage Facility is also currently undergoing a visual update, as will all older maps eventually.

• Power Station has a new entrance west of the Substation insertion point leading into the tunnels.
  
• City's central area was changed to add a new route to the previously "unconquerable" stairwell.
  
• Run Down has a new stairwell access to the roof.
  
• New and improved props have been put into various maps, most notably Tanker.
  
• Terrain materials have had a "de-tiling" pass.
  
• New water has been added to multiple maps.

Intel Retrieval has received a major overhaul. Here's what changed:

• Instead of searching multiple laptops for the intel, there is now a target laptop to search and extract.
  
• Approximate search areas are described and indicated as red circles on the Ops Board and Tablet.
  
• By default, there will be one true location and one false location, but the number of possible locations can be changed under Mission Parameters.
  
• The true laptop location and the extraction point will usually have additional AI guarding and/or patrolling them.
  
• Please note that the visual search location circle is approximate, and you should treat the location text as definitive (for example: on Tanker, one search location is "Whole of Deck 3", so search the entire deck rather than just the circle mark).

Terrorist Hunt has not fundamentally changed, but it benefits from the new AI placement system to ensure less predictable placement and more replayability.

DTAS is an entirely new PvP game mode (actually a recreation of a game mode in the early 2000s UT mod Infiltration) where both teams spawn in a random spot on the map.

The Defenders then have a short amount of time to place a flag, which marks the centre of a capturable zone. The Attackers must capture the zone, by getting a minimum of 2 attackers in range. The defenders can block an attack by getting a minimum of 2 defenders in range.

The Attackers can win by wiping out all defenders; the Defenders can win by killing all but one of the attackers.

Our own Matt "Fatmarrow" Farrow — who programmed this game mode — created a short video explaining how it all works:

https://youtu.be/2kVKXO6jRyo

As with most game modes, admins can tweak several parameters to their liking.

Fox Hunt is a further new game mode hidden within DTAS.

When there are insufficient numbers of players on the server to start a DTAS round (by default: 6), the Fox Hunt mode will be engaged.

• In this mode, one Defender is designated The Asset, and all players will receive an approximate distance (but not bearing) to their position.
  
• Attackers win by eliminating The Asset.
  
• Defenders win by keeping The Asset safe until time runs out.

A reduced time limit is automatically applied when Fox Hunt mode is engaged.

This mode remains unchanged, but has been extended with the possibility of player and/or team reinforcements (respawns). This is still an experimental addition. When you die, the game will try to respawn you near a teammate, but will fall back to the additional spawn if necessary (this is to try and mitigate spawn camping in the reinforcements mode).

The core gameplay remains the same, but a visible search area is automatically computed (based on the laptop locations) and displayed on the Ops Board.

This very non-tacticool but classic game mode now allows you to specify a target frag limit or time limit, to allow a winner to be decided.

You can also specify a minimum number of players: if there are fewer human players than this limit, additional AI enemies will be spawned to make up the numbers.

The Camp Peary Training Facility (aka The Farm) has received a few small updates:

• Targets for the regular shoothouse were rearranged, and many more possible target locations were added.
  
• The Ops Board, light switch and Target App screen were moved around a bit for better usability.
  
• The Ops Boards received some basic instructions on how to use The Farm's facilities.

In addition to the Ops Board overhaul, other UI updates can be seen elsewhere. Perhaps most noticeably in the Customize Operator screen, which has received entirely new icons.

The item selection menu has also received a much-needed upgrade and now displays items on a grid, with items being directly customizable (no more selecting and then clicking the cog to edit) and custom item names being set in orange so you don't have to search as much for your builds.



Here are some of the other main changes to look out for in the UI:

• A lot of the text has been increased in size, which should make things a lot easier to read in 1080p and below.
  
• You can once tailor the AI difficulty straight from the game — no more INI file editing. To set your own values for the "Custom" AI difficulty, simply click the Advanced AI Setting button at the bottom-left of the Lone Wolf and Host Game screens and start editing.
  
• Mission Settings now have an advanced settings category, which is hidden by default on the Lone Wolf and Host Game screens.
  
• A brief description of the game mode type is now also given on those screens, and the map description is now displayed on each map tile.
  
• If you try to select an OPFOR count over 30 (the recommended maximum), you will get a warning message and the OPFOR count itself will be displayed in red as a performance warning.
  
• The After Action Report (AAR) has been overhauled and expanded. In addition to individual results, different tabs may now display team results, rounds won/attempted and more, depending on the game mode. (For the full set of AAR tabs, try new game mode DTAS.)

Basic AI behavior remains the same, but some (mostly cosmetic) changes have been made:

• Callouts are now less frequent.
  
• The placement of AI on maps has been overhauled to make it more random, yet still plausible. In Intel Retrieval, AI is now spawned conditionally in some places, so that laptops and extraction zones are more heavily guarded than other areas of the map — which can give you a clue as to the laptop location if you observe carefully.
  
• AI loadouts have been updated slightly to account for inventory/asset updates.

💡 A more significant AI update is planned for the next major release, V1033.

The sound department (aka Mikson) has seen a lot of work, from all-new reload SFX to dynamic range options. Here's what got done:

• New reload sounds for all weapons to go with the new animations and assets.
  
• Audio mix overhaul: adjusted levels of all sounds to make sure gunshots and explosions sound more powerful.
  
• Dynamic Range presets (Settings › Audio):
  
  • Full: Gunshots and explosions are significantly louder than other sounds. Recommended for headphone users.
    
  • Medium: Recommended for speaker users.
    
  • Low: Gunshots and explosions aren’t much louder than other sounds. Recommended for speaker users playing at night and for players with impaired hearing.
• New Channels option: Binaural. Recommended for headphone users for more accurate sound navigation. Not recommended for speaker users!.
  
• Re-implemented panting sound for low stamina. It starts fading in when stamina drops to 50%.
  
• Added crouching/standing up SFX.
  
• Added water footstep SFX.
  
• Added pain and death sounds for bots. These are still placeholders, consistent with current voice lines by Daeln Murphy.

❗ As mentioned in the "Maps and level design" section, soundscapes for new maps Rig and Compound are unfinished. You may also notice some sound anomalies in Run Down due to faulty acoustic portals.

• Almost every mission (i.e. objectives, spawn points, AI placement etc.) has been reworked and the AI behavior slightly tweaked.
  
• Certain game modes now allow you to play on sections of a certain map. For example, you can now play Team Elimination on City (Streets) or City (Subway), which are versions of the original City map restricted to the areas above the ground and underground, respectively.
  
• The Mission Editor was reworked to be a bit more user-friendly. To access it, type [editmission] in the console when in a Lone Wolf level.
  
• New features in the Mission Editor include laptop-supporting meshes (meshes that automatically spawn with laptops when placed for Intel Retrieval or Uplink), mission meshes (additional meshes that can be placed in a specific mission, e.g. to block line of sight for spawns, or to block players from parts of the level), and mission-blocking volumes (invisible walls to block players from places where they shouldn’t be).
  
• Also see the new (and somewhat invaluable) Validate Level command in the file menu.

• New command admin motd will broadcast the server MOTD (message of the day) to all players on the server.
  
• The admin resurrect command has been altered to respawn players at their death location always (rather than where they might be spectating, if their body has disappeared). A new [admin resurrect all] version is available, which does what it says on the tin.
  
• New command admin resurrectnear (also accessible as admin resnear) will respawn players in the vicinity of a teammate rather than where they died. You can also add 'all' to the end of either command (e.g. admin resnear all) to resurrect all players in the vicinity a teammate.
  
• Map voting is now limited by default to maps that are included on the server map list.

 
We'll start gathering reports as soon as they start rolling in, so expect hotfixes and patches in the upcoming weeks.

To all of the CTE testers: thank you for helping us get to the main branch!

We hope you enjoy V1032. Stay safe and we'll see you soon.

---

{LINK REMOVED}Discord / {LINK REMOVED}Steam Community Hub / {LINK REMOVED}Reddit / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

CTE Update #13

We wanted to get a few more important fixes in before the 1032 release tomorrow.

Changelist:

Game:
Build ID : 8089799
61MB

DS:
Build ID : 8089823
31MB

CTE Update #12

Well we thought the last build would be our last, but a few issues are still happening that must be fixed.
The good news is we definitely will be releasing 1032 to the main branch sometime within the next 4 or 5 days and it will be included in a popular Steam sales event. ;)

We really want to make sure this is a very solid release.

Game:
Build ID : 8066024
56MB

DS:
Build ID : 8066031
27MB

CTE Update #11

This is what we hope to be the last CTE update before moving 1032 to the main branch. Just about there!

Game:
Build ID : 8053926
136MB

DS:
Build ID : 8053938
80MB

- squads in tablet layout now placed in two columns and should scale down with large player counts
- ready room floating name sizes tweaked
- minor changes to UI effects and layout
- freelooking with tablet fixed
- new animation selector implemented (using new GOAP plugin) with new equipping and unequipping animations implemented
- fix for red dots disappearing on firearms
- detonator is now droppable
- drop and pickup actions made less janky
- kill house target app now disallows starting with 0 enemy and disallows changing enemy/friendly count during a round
- general stability and crash fixes
- art pass on AOR-1 and AOR-2 camos
- added equip/unequip sounds for tablet, grenade, binos, breaching charge
- various sound fixes including on training level
- log warnings generally cleaned up - should make things a bit less laggy
- added missing rifle to shoulder/shoulder to rifle anim actions
- fixed weapon collision trace start ended up behind capsule in high/low ready rifle (i.e. the rogue collision when backing into wall)
- added ambient cubemap to Ready Room to help with overly dark metallic surfaces like weapons and shell casings
- tweaked sway intensity to make aiming down iron sights easier
- fixed AI barks not working at all
- fixed rangefinder not being usable
- new sounds for handgun end reload animations
- mag check icon cleaned up
- tweak to M14 recoil when not aiming down sights
- replaced MP5 straight mag in pouches with the in-game curved mag
- fixed M14 not showing ammo out message
- fixed various bugs in spline mesh tool
- added breach charge attachment sockets to a few more doors that had been missed, affecting Compound, Tanker, City and maybe other levels
- spline meshes in Compound converted to static meshes due to out of sync collision - should reduce log spam and hopefully also reduce rubber-banding
- default setup of various platforms swaps out long grenade types for frags
- added City (Streets) and City (Subway) terrorist hunt missions, and replaced existing full map mission with a combination of these two
- fixed floating laptop in Compound intel retrieval missions

CTE # 10

Only a couple big items left to fix. Should be counting days until final 1032 release and not weeks now.

Big thing for this build is we updated Wwise (Sound engine) to take care of some bugs. Hopefully most, if not all the big sound problems we have had in the CTE builds are now gone or severely minimized.

Known Issue:
- kit restrictions are a work in progress and likely to be bugged, especially if you change them mid-game

Game:
Build ID : 8029971
119MB

DS:
Build ID : 8029976
41MB

Changelist:

CTE Update #9

The changelists are getting smaller as the outstanding issues get resolved. We have a few known issues to be aware of though.

Known Issues:

Main Items:

Game:
Build ID : 8008453
117MB

DS:
Build ID : 8008467
59MB

Detailed Changes:
* Removed some badging on a couple vehicles
* revised the new map voting restrictions to avoid using admin commands (causing disconnection of non admins starting votes)
* took out a load of logging from various game mode scripts
* Changed default behavior for bShowStanceCrouched and bShowStanceStanding to True
* Easy way to help new players have an idea how the weapon posture/stance stuff works.
* Fixed small collision issue with tarp on Power Station roof
* Changed spatial volumes priority in Ready Room to 20 to make sure it's always highest - should help with hearing the other team from customization room.
* Fix for black ceilings in and wall LOD incompound
* adjusted BP_Door_Swinging so that breach charges should work better - now uses sockets in door meshes with a backup
system if no sockets found
* updated and improved breach charge placement - now uses socket rotation to determine correct side of door for charge
(is much more robust)
* added additional phys geo to G33 magnifier to make sure it blocks offset rails that would otherwise clip with it in the
down position.
* updated WBP_StanceIndicator to update logic related to high/low ready when also engaged.
* Cleaned up balaclava head mask as some areas of the face were masked out that shouldn't have been
* Added icon for map tablet
* updated BP_Firearm_Master
* removed param from ChangeReloadHint() and renamed it to just ShowReloadHint().
* updated ShowReloadHint() show alternate reload hints based on ammo compoent, chambered round type etc.
e.g. if mag with ammo is in firearm, but there is no chambered round, it will prompt user to tap reload to wrack the bolt.
* updated shotguns to not have separate UseMainHand anymore.
* slightly tweaked GBCharAnimAction to try to fix issues with getting locked into manually pumping the SDASS
* moved some logic from GBKitFunctionLibrary to GBAssetManager.
* updated GBAssetManager
* updated GetValidSkinNames() and RestrictedAsset() to add AssetTypeName param.
* renamed GetValidSkins( ) to GetValidSkinDataAssets() and added AssetTypeName param.
Skins are stored based on the asset type they are associated with as they do not have a primary asset id.
* created RestrictedPrimaryAsset() for use with assets that do have a primary asset id, to save using RestrictedAsset() with AssetTypeName set to None.
* updated GBGameState to support changing UseTeamRestrictions game rule mid-game.
* no longer have to restart the map etc.
* updated BP_Platform_XXX
* fixed socket names on meshes.
* updated default setup to make sure correct names were being used.
* should fix misc floating pouches, overlapping pouches etc.
* updated default team kits & restrictions
* Blue team can use Black, Blue & Navy.
* Red team can use Tan, Khaki & CoyoteBrown.
* updated WBP_ServerBrowser to make the password text box use the "password" setting to hide the password being typed in.
* removed unused WBP_Friend

CTE Update #8

We are almost there for a full 1032 release as we believe we have hit the main issues.

Main Items:

Game:
Build ID : 7997724
73MB

DS:
Build ID : 7997739
35MB

Detailed Changes:

CTE Update #7

We are getting a lot closer to a full 1032 release, but have a few more things to take care of.

We think we took care of most of the customization issues, though it is possible some still exist. It's a deceptively complex system to debug given how many way things can be used.

There are also still some audio issues on a few maps. Those will hopefully be ironed out very soon.

Main Items:
Continuing to add more missing icons to the UI
New dialog in customization letting you know if you do not have ammo equiped for one of your firearms
New 'Out of Ammo' icon when reloading (Temp icon)
Fixed issues with equiping different sights and removing others
Fixed binocular sensitivity being ignored
Overall customization replication should be more reliable


Game:
Build ID : 7985502
66MB

DS:
Build ID : 7985523
39MB

Detailed Changes: