Hello squaddies,

Thank you for your patience as we worked on solutions for the “Logi bug” which has been a prevalent issue during recent Squad games, and a big thank you to those of you who joined in on the UAT tests over the previous weekend to help us test if this solution was viable for release.

As well as bug fixes, this update includes a reworked gameplay update which we are referring to as the “Recovery State”, older players may know it more commonly as “Dead dead” though now with some adjusted functionality. Our intention with the Recovery State is to temper aggressive playstyles after a player has been revived during combat.

If you are experiencing residual issues after the update, be sure to go to Settings -> “CLEAR CACHE” after updating.

Let us know in the forums how your experience is with this update by visiting this link, and we’ll see you on the battlefield.


Added back “Dead Dead”, reworking its functionality in what is now called the "Recovery State":

• This mechanic was removed in Alpha 13, but now makes a return with new UI and UX features.
  
• When an Incapacitated player is revived with a Field Dressing, they will enter the Recovery State. Being downed while in this state results in immediate death, with no chance to revive.
  
• The state is indicated by a skull icon in the bottom right of the HUD and by a fullscreen desaturation and blur post-process effect. This effect impairs combat effectiveness.
  
• If untreated by a medic, the Recovery State will end automatically after 60 seconds.
  
• If healed by a medic, the Recovery State timer will be shortened based on the percentage of health. If healed to full health, the Recovery State will end immediately.
  
• This feature is designed to temper aggressive play after Revive, reinforcing the importance of triage and re-org after taking casualties. The intention is to encourage players to stay in cover and communicate when they get revived, rather than rushing back into the fight like lemmings. That should never be an effective strategy. Players should depend on each other for cover and situational awareness after revives.
  
• Please note that this is not the same as Insta-Death, where massive damage kills a soldier instantly without the chance to revive. That feature will get its own tuning in the future.

Other changes related to the Recovery State:

• Post Process effects for Low Health, Bleeding, Incapacitation have all been reworked. Transitions between effects have been smoothed out.
  
• When insta-killed or when giving up, you will now see your vision fade over a couple of seconds, rather than immediately returning to the spawn screen.
  
• Added an option in Settings to use various Player Controls with a Double Tap Control scheme.
  
• Added functionality to use both toggling and holding controls at the same time by double-tapping the given control.
  
• This works for sprinting, aim downing sights, leaning, crouching, and freelook.
  
• All of the controls are individually configurable, so the player can decide which modes they want for each control.

• Updated all vehicle hulls, turrets, wrecks & emplacements with a new armor mesh component, which will allow for more dynamic armor penetration calculations in the future.
  
• Updated RAAS Lanes randomization logic, to make sure that the random number generator used is initialized properly. This should improve the random factor in the RAAS layers, making them less predictable. The RAAS map layers themselves are still pending analysis & rework in terms of configuration to improve randomness even further.
  
• Updated all Vehicles using Open-Turrets to now be able to use A/D controls to Left/Right Traverse, similar to vehicles with Closed Turrets.
  
• Updated the Deployable ZU-23 to also now be able to use A/D Controls to Left/Right Traverse.
  
• Adjusted Character Ragdolls to include a minor tweak to the way the momentum is carried forward to the ragdoll. Further tuning and adjustments are still planned and are required in order to give the ragdoll more weight and consistency with the momentum.
  
• Updated firing sounds for all G3 Rifle variants to have a more beefy characteristic report, to showcase the larger caliber and older cold war tech doctrine that these weapons represent.
  
• Updated logging in the server ban.cfg file, to include which admin did each ban entry.
  
• Updated and optimized the remainder of Vehicle Skeletal Mesh LODs - Jeeps, all Vehicle weapons, all MBT turrets, all IFV turrets, FV107, BRDM2, TAPV. This optimization should improve overall performance, especially for players with a low-range CPU.
  
• Adjusted all M249 LMG variants to have increased deviation from 6 to 12 MOA, for gameplay balance and for authenticity according to RL references.
  
• Adjusted INS Modern Technical engine sounds to have increased volume over range.
  
• Adjusted Skeletal Mesh LOD optimizations on Jeeps to extend the range in which the wheels are animating, as they were getting culled in too close range, which made it noticeable enough to see the cull.
  
• Adjusted Vehicle HUD with a minor change to extend the max length of ammo icon rows from 10 icons to 12 icons. Vehicle HUD should now properly show the number of rounds for the BMP1 IFV, M1A2 MBT, and Leo 2A6M.

Potential Fixes for the following issues which are all symptoms of the same root issue:

• Logistics Supply UI issue (aka the “Logi bug”) - Occasionally vehicles that carry supplies will be bugged for some players, resulting in those players not being able to use the supplies, including loading, unloading, and rearming from the vehicle.
  
• Missing Turret in Vehicle Issue” - Occasionally vehicles have their turrets missing from the round start.
  
• Player stuck on the spawn screen after entering certain seats on the vehicle issue - most frequently happens on APCs.
  
• The root issue stems from a player’s client unloading some data at the round end, which the server assumes it still has loaded. When the client reloads the data on the map switch, it uses the wrong GUID for various components (which is what the server and client use to sync up parts of the game). The client then no longer understands what the server is sending as there’s a conflict between the GUIDs used for some components, which results in symptoms like not loading in vehicle turrets, passenger seats, the Supply UI, and other components fully / properly.

• Fix for the log getting spammed with “EAC Unknown Client”. This was an issue discovered during our ongoing investigation efforts to resolve all known mass disconnect issues. We are still actively investigating the resolution for mass disconnects with the help of server hosters.
  
• Fixed an issue with UI chat not displaying Kicks and Bans, they are now once again visible in the in-game chat text/logs.
  
• Fixed an issue with the CAF LAV6 IFV where the main gunner experienced camera shake when the pintle-mounted C6 machine gunner was firing.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Random Server Rotation option which incorrectly allowed the same map layer to run twice in a row.
  
• Fixed an issue with Helicopter burning Effects, where the vehicle was showing as in flames, even though the vehicle was not yet in the critical health state. Helicopters should now only show flames when they are in the critical burning health countdown.
  
• Fixed an issue with the ZU-23 elevation animation stuttering in the pitch axis for the gunner.
  
• Fixed an issue where the UI would incorrectly show a Player using the recruit kit after joining a squad and picking the rifleman kit.
  
• Fixed ammo bags being unable to deploy on slopes.
  
• Fixed landmines being able to be placed on extreme slopes.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Vehicle Info Card on the Command Menu which allowed the Player to hover over enemy vehicles to see if they were active or on their respawn timer.
  
• Fixed an issue with server log spam when Players try to shoot in the main base.
  
• Fixed an issue with CAF Crewman SL kit role not rearming the Repair Kit when the player switches to a CAF crewman SL outside of the main base.
  
• Fixed an issue with the GB Rifleman body using the wrong material, resulting in awkward-looking textures.
  
• Fixed an issue where wrecked vehicles were not getting the relative location of the turret correctly.
  
• Fixed several issues with the Streamer Stealth Mode options, where several notifications were not hiding Player names, such as Connected and disconnected notifications, various Commander notifications, various Teamkill notifications, Server Names in the Command Menu.
  Fixed an issue with Streamer Stealth mode still having a visible server name while in the Team select menu.
  
• Fixed an issue with landmine detonation, where occasionally Players would see the detonation effects of the mine without it actually detonating - mine damage and VFX should now always happen at the same time.
  
• Fixed an issue where MIL was using the INS FOB Radio and was also using the deployable INS Oil Barrel Walls. MIL now uses the correct FOB Radio and Log Wall deployables.
  
• Fixed some minor typos in the Medic Bag and Field Dressing notifications when attempting to heal dead or enemy players.

• Added new map layer Sumari AAS v2.
  
• Added new map layer Kokan AAS v2.
  
• Updated Fallujah Skirmish v1 to use Morning Lighting instead of Night.
  
• Adjusted Mestia AAS v1 to add a Ural transport truck for MIL so the team has enough vehicle seats for all 50 players at round start.
  
• Adjusted CAF Al Basrah Invasion v2 to increase the attacker team success rate on the first capture point.
  
• Adjusted CAF Fallujah Invasion v1 to increase attacker success on the first point.
  
• Adjusted Fools Road Skirmish v2 Main Base protection zone to be larger for both teams’ main bases, from 50m to 70m.
  
• Fixed an issue with Al Basrah Insurgency v1 where GB Helicopter would sometimes explode if it spawned on the easternmost Helipad.
  
• Fixed an issue on CAF Fallujah RAAS v1 where CAF and MEA tanks were spawning at different times.
  
• Fixed a display name issue for CAF Al Basrah layers.
  
• Fixed an issue on Tallil RAAS v4 where the RUS BMP-2 IFV respawn timer was incorrectly set to 15sec, now correctly set to 15 min.
  
• Fixed an issue on Yehorivka RAAS v 1, one M1A2 MBT initial spawn delay was 20min, should now be 15min to be in line with all other MBTs on the layer.

• Added v2 Eastern European apartment variants that have roof access.
  
• Added new camera manager to handle Post Process FX. Search for "Camera Manager" in the Content Browser.
  
• Added shortened Railroad Tracks as props.
  
• Updated Vehicle Spawner Hard References.
  
• Updated SQRotorBladesComponent to now be blueprintable, allowing to create blueprint subclasses of it.
  
• Updated Vehicle spawner will now skip initial spawn delay if Specific Vehicle is specified.
  
• Updated MI8 CAS Kord aim offsets.
  
• Enabled Global Clip Plane.
  
• Fixed an issue with mods using custom PlayerControllers, that was causing loss of admin permissions & voice chat functionality for players who were on the server during the transition between maps that are using different PlayerController classes.
  
• Fixed Equippable Deployables not using their placement error data tables. Make sure your custom items have a Placement Failure data table set. See Engineer Sandbags for reference.

• Occasional Player (Client) crashes in various circumstances. Detailed crash reports help us fix things faster, and we truly appreciate those that have filled out and sent in crash reports.
  
• Various Kit icon issues - Occasionally the kit and weapon in the deploy screen squad list will show up as a white square instead of the kit.
  
• The deploy screen squad list will sometimes display incorrect players that are not actually in the squad.
  
• SL icons sometimes incorrectly show up for player kits in the spawn screen squad list (and outside of the squad list).
  
• SL icons show up for every kit on ammo crates when rearming.
  
• Player kit role icons are sometimes not being displayed on certain menu screens.
  
• HAB will sometimes show up as "red/unspawnable", even when it is in fact spawnable. Fix has been applied but there still remain some alternative ways to reproduce this issue.
  
• Some players may be experiencing very low-res textures after the v2.0 release. If you are experiencing this issue, you are likely under the minimum recommended specs for VRAM (4GB). This may be mitigated by ticking the “unlock pool size” box in the settings menu under the textures tab, but it may come with more performance stutter.

• Player (Client) occasional crash at the end of a round, upon map switch, due to a UE4 Particle Crash bug upon seamless map travel. Actively pursuing a fix for this crash.
  
• “Ghost Player in Vehicle issue” - Occasionally entering a vehicle makes a player permanently take up a seat in that vehicle. This issue is a high priority to fix.
  
• "Mass EAC disconnect issue" - Occasionally upon the end of a round and when a map switch occurs, the majority of a server population will be disconnected with a “Server Closed Connection” message. Closely working with EAC to resolve this issue.
  
• "FOB teleport bug" - Occasionally upon digging a FOB down, players within a certain radius of the FOB will be teleported outside of the FOB radius in a random direction.
  
• Commander – When the commander changes to the UAV camera, he cannot hear local audio anymore, even though he still sees local audio transmissions in the bottom left corner. Others can still hear him when he talks. Additionally, when leaving the UAV camera, he hears all of the local audio broadcasts at the same time, originating from the point where they were initially transmitted from – even if the person doing the transmission has moved afterward. This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature does not currently work with Helicopters. This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature can freeze a vehicle in the air if used too close to a tree.
  
• Occasionally a player does not spawn at a Rally Point. This often happens when numerous players are spawning in at the same time — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Server performance may periodically dip when a server has a high population and high load. We are continuously working to improve server performance and optimization.
  
• ATGM projectiles desync for other players that are not the gunner, however, what the gunner sees should be the actual synced projectile. This is an inherent problem, and the solution is currently in long-term development.
  
• “Alt-tabbing” out of Squad during a loading screen freezes the Player (client). The recommended solution, for now, is to run Squad in the “Borderless” mode. This can be changed in Settings -> Graphics.
  
• The audio module for Squad is initialized at the game start. If a player does not have a microphone plugged in at launch, or accidentally unplug their microphone and then plug it back in, Squad needs to be restarted to get the microphone to work again — This issue will likely require an engine upgrade to UE4.25 to be fixed.
  
• SFX bug while Firing in full auto. If the player presses the fire button for a short period, the sound effect gives the impression that you fired more rounds than you did — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Localization for most language translations is currently out of date. We plan to push a full localization pass in a future release as we lock down the text that needs to be translated for the game.

• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – Insurgent / Militia Handheld Drone does not move in local.
• Local/Offline issues currently have a lower priority.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – UAV hovers in one position instead of moving along the flight path in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – CAS does not do damage in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Vehicles: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Tracks, Wheels, and other components are not destructible while on the Jensen’s Range in Local play.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Weapon damages: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Weapon damages with both Infantry and Vehicle weapons are not accurately replicated.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Scoped Emplacements: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, if a player exits an Emplacement while looking through the scope, the Scope remains on the Player’s HUD until they get back in the Emplacement and then Scope out.

Hello Squaddies,

My name is Jenny, and I am the Server Licensing Manager at OWI. Welcome to our fourth edition of the server spotlight. This feature will highlight some of the community servers that we think you may want to check out, share information about them, and show what they are up to or where they excel.
Whether they are old or new, it's always good to highlight the fantastic stuff our established server owners are doing every day.


Never Play Alone is an international gaming and entertainment organization that was founded in 2018 with the mission of building a community of content creators, tech enthusiasts, and aggressively average tryhards. The mindset of "never play alone" remains the guiding principle as the organization evolves into a lifestyle brand that markets influencers, creates unique apparel and develops proprietary software.

Squad affords communities who play First Person Shooters the opportunity to communicate, coordinate and conquer together in a 100 person server which complements our organization's motto, "Never Play Alone" perfectly. It is our pleasure to offer a "come as you are, leave when you wish" style of membership to any mature players (18+) looking to maximize the fun of a realistic shooter with like-minded adults. Our fantastic game administrators and Squad enthusiasts, Predator-B and Greyghost, have even developed a Nuristan mod for the game!

GAMING: The primary glue that binds all members of Never Play Alone are the games we play. At any given time, Never Play Alone sponsors or hosts servers for 15+ games simultaneously. For games we host, we ensure appropriate trained and vetted staff cover both seeding efforts and aggressive administration of the servers according to detailed and concise guidelines developed by each of the game's biggest fans and the NPA staff.

COMMUNITY: Our friendly and welcoming community is completely inclusive and embraces the free flow of ideas and gaming styles of a diverse community of players. Our members find like-minded friends within 20+ areas of common interest where they interact daily to share stories, meet new people, and even arrange in-person gatherings. We responsibly monitor all of the platforms our members use, from social media to our multiple game servers, and ensure a safe friendly environment. We do this through daily personal team interaction and proprietary software developed and managed by the members of our great community!

PROFESSIONALISM: We only partner with the most professional organizations. We're currently partnered with Discord, DreamHack, Nitrado, Extra-Life.org, and Arma apparel. While maintaining a fun and friendly environment is a top priority, the senior community staff members also focus on long-term strategic business goals. All of our public interactions, posts, videos, streamers, and branding follow established guidelines in order to reinforce that Never Play Alone is the most professional community with which to partner.

https://discord.gg/NPA

Jenny’s Notes:
I had lots of fun on the server, the community was very engaged and focused on the game. Some of the players told me that they never play anywhere else as they enjoy the server and feel the admin team is one of the best. I would highly recommend visiting this server.

And last but not least we have:


Elite Gaming Corporation [EGC] was started in November of 2020 by a group of friends who met on Squad and had the desire to create their own server and gaming community. EGC currently has over 300 active members who have built incredible relationships through the love of Squad and gaming. Our community’s motto is “For Gamers, By Gamers”, meaning the decision-makers of this community are dedicated to ensuring our server and community caters to all gamers! We know what makes this game fun and have curated our server rules, active admining, and map rotation to ensure just that.

Elite Gaming Corporation’s community consists of die-hard Squad fanatics! We all feel that Squad brings a completely different type of gameplay than your normal FPS. You have the FPS side where you get to pew-pew bad guys and you also get that strategic side where you constantly have to be communicating with 49 other players to win a game. Another aspect that we love about Squad is that you can play the same map 50 times and have a completely different experience each time! Playing Squad brings our community members closer with one another, and we’ve even had instances where members found that they live in the same city, or work a similar job. Squad has brought hundreds of people together from all different walks of life together, to play an awesome game.

Elite Gaming Corporation was founded on the premise of providing a fun gaming experience for every gamer. We strive for absolute inclusivity regardless of race, religion, or sexual preference, and we remain steadfast in ensuring this commitment to inclusivity is ever-present on our licensed servers. We also focus on making new players feel welcome to our server! At any given moment, you will find our members Squad Leading and helping out players who are newer to the game.
We currently have over 300 members who come from many different walks of life: different countries, ages, and occupations. We also have a very large Active Military Member and Military Veteran population!

We also have Training and Events we host every week along with our Competitive Team playing events during most weekends!

To close out, our members and staff are really what makes us great! We have over 40 staff members that put in hours upon hours a week to make EGC the community that we are and couldn’t thank them enough for making EGC one of the top servers and communities in Squad!

https://discord.gg/EliteGamingCorp

Jenny’s Notes:
I very much enjoyed playing on this server, the admins are supportive and game-focused. The players told me they love the server as they have an engaging and active admin team. I highly recommend this server.

Hello squaddies!

Today we have an updated edition of The Wrench, before we begin though we just want to let you know about the Open Modding event that will be occurring from May 12 to May 19, in which all licensed servers in the main server browser can run mods without the need for the mod being whitelisted. We'll be sharing more information about the event next week but here is an updated look at just some of the mods currently in development.

EDIT: 6th May 2016 -Due to an SDK update potentially dropping next week, we will be pushing the Open Modding event by one week. The new date for the event will be May 19th to May 26th. In the meantime, the open mod testing on a few select servers will continue. Thanks for your understanding.


Sanctuary is inspired by old-school CQC maps with 10 tickets per team.






Steel Division focuses on nighttime layers featuring lights, night vision, and more air and ground support. They don’t have any unique command support call-ins yet but plan on adding a thermal UAV and an AC130.





The Croatian armed forces will bring another NATO member country to Squad using a mix of old Soviet, Yugoslav, and modern NATO equipment. In addition to the new equipment, the mod will also include two maps set in Croatia.

Shown here are the LKW 5t mil gl 4x4 truck, PLASTIKA M93 hand grenade, and the HS Produkt VHS-D2 (all used variants of the VHS-2 will be included).

Discord: https://discord.gg/YvvRGCY94J






The French faction is coming, they’ve been testing the initial scaled-down version of the mod during the testing phase leading up to the open modding event. Their plan is to select and recreate the equipment of the French ground forces from 2010 to 2020.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fd8KhhVdxY36uI0Ex8HYNUEmSOTQIkB4/view?usp=sharing
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2198088821






The Brazilian army team aims at having an initial release and playtest by the end of the year. They plan on representing equipment being used by the Brazilian Army since 2010. The mod will also include two maps, one representing the Amazon rainforest and an urban map, possibly set in a favela or other large Brazilian urban center.

Please go check out their discord and website for more Info
https://discord.gg/ucXhXEKcaT
http://squadbrazil.rf.gd






Set in a fictional valley in north-western Russia, Dorilsk is Rookheim’s debut into map creation. Originally just a testbed to learn UE4, it has now been refined into a playable state. The map is characterized by thick spruce forests surrounded by highly defensible positions that will require coordination, teamwork, and a lot of firepower to both take and hold. POI:s include a radio tower, villages, river crossings, camouflaged camps, a construction yard, a swamp, ruins, and a hastily fortified airfield. The map features, among others, an invasion layer where an under-equipped RGF will have to stage a desperate defense against attacking Militia forces.






This is a zombie MOD, which allows players to experience the absolute firepower of human beings in a Squad, and also the sense of oppression and despair brought by zombies. Currently, it has 7 modes and 13 maps, and 53 maps are playable. More camps, gameplay, and guns will be added in the future. At the same time, the game environment in the MOD will also allow new players to quickly adapt to and participate in the game.

Hives (Destroy the zombie nest)
TheLost (Human survival in a given amount of time)
Extraction (Human survival in a given amount of time) AI
LastStand (Defend the last stronghold of mankind)
LastStandV2.0 (Defend the last Stronghold of mankind) AI
VIP (Protect the VIP to survive within the specified time) AI
Battleground (Battlefield mode, stay tuned for the next version)

https://b23.tv/P4vGVG





REBORN: SQZ is a PvP zombie mod pitting 1-life humans against an ever-growing team of zombie players. Similar to "infection" modes in other games, humans spawn at the start of the round and survive as long as possible. The zombie team has a variety of classes and abilities to try and spread the virus, while the humans' best weapons are communication and teamwork.

REBORN features several custom modes:
Last Stand - Humans build & defend a SuperFOB until time runs out or they are overrun.
Hives - Humans search for the main zombie hives and attempt to destroy them.
Extraction - Humans capture relays to reveal an extraction zone and escape.
Escort - Humans drive & protect an APC as it travels between refueling stations.
Survival - Humans place a FOB and send out parties to capture supplies.

REBORN features 11 maps, including 5 custom maps built specifically for the mod! More vanilla maps will be added and custom maps are always in the works.

Other changes include a custom scoreboard (counting infections, kills, & revives), balance changes, custom FOB deployables, custom human classes, night vision, and more! The mod is under active development, including community map submissions and feedback. Come join the HORDE!

https://discord.gg/89A2a4k63R






The Wake Island Crew proudly presents: We manage to get our lazy selves up and update the Mod to Squad 2.6 with all the comforts that come along with it including better water thanks to the addition of screenspace reflections. Wake features a wide variety of game modes from AAS over Invasion to Skirmish and TC. We hope that Wake will someday get the chance to be played on every server.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2010827510






Greetings from the Squad: Vietnam team! It’s been some time since we’ve shown our work in The Wrench. Boy, do we have a lot to show. Our team has been hard at work creating everything from grass to grenades and all under the ever-watching eye of our master optimizer Hoover. We set out to accurately recreate the Vietnam War theater and we aren’t going to disappoint.

Our US Army faction is taking shape equipped with so many iconic vehicles and weapons. US troops will take to the skies in Hueys with door gunners laying down a river of lead while on the ground their counterparts roll through the rice paddies and jungles of Vietnam in style in their M113 APCs. Supported by commander asset call-ins such as Cobra attack helicopter strafing runs and F4 phantom delivered napalm strikes the US faction packs a punch that will make the Vietcong wary.

Wary but not defeated, our Vietcong faction will wage a guerrilla war against the western invaders using all manner of equipment. It will be no surprise to learn that Chinese and Soviet-made small arms like the AK47 & Type 56 will be commonplace with even captured US weapons making their way into VC hands. Ever the formidable foe the Vietcong faction like their historical counterparts have adapted to the heavily armed US forces, using all manner of RPGs, explosives, and traps to level the playing field.

Lastly but by no means least a word from our flagship map creator Tuaam. Upcoming with Squad Vietnam is a 3.5x4km map designed around a mix of irregular close and long-ranged combat. Players will experience the marshy and dense lowlands of the Mekong Delta which can be aptly described as a scrutinizing game of cat-and-mouse. The new map, "Mekong Encounter" is a mix of rice paddies, rivers, and villages with landmarks like our riverside town, which has been marked by local skirmishes between US and NLF forces and lies in ruin. The U.S Army must defend its Military Base and airfield, which is under attack by VC mortar fire and irregular attacks. The Vietcong, on the other hand, must assault the Base and drive the US out, by first securing the Island Plantation and then capturing the stronghold town. Both fight to the bitter end in a game of hide-and-seek, where one has the upper hand of secrecy while the other has the policy of sheer destruction.

We hope to deliver the in-depth Vietnam war experience that so many Squad players crave, all while running silky smooth thanks to our focus on quality and optimization. Make sure to join our discord for weekly teasers and updates as well as checking out our Instagram page for background on some of our assets. - Giddy

https://discord.gg/2Z42SbY9jV
https://www.instagram.com/squad_vietnam_mod/







Plymouth is a fictional US-based map centered around an island suburbia. With Russian ground forces advancing through the hilly mainland to the flatter coast, and then to the main island, it should provide a map with a heavy focus on strong defensible positions it will allow for a truly unique experience in Squad.

We have just deployed a v2.6 hotfix to address your concerns with players abusing the new client-side "demo recording" functionality to find enemy positions. This new update will disable client-side demo recording on servers by default, though servers can still choose to enable demo recording for players, either for everyone or on an admin permissions level basis. We opted to push this hotfix now, particularly to alleviate these concerns for the tournament matches that are scheduled this weekend.

This hotfix does not include a fix for the logi supplies issue yet; this is still actively being worked on. It seems to be a case where loading things in the wrong order causes this (and other issues, like the less common 'missing turret bug'). Our initial fix attempts did not fully remedy this in our internal testing, so investigation will continue.

Thanks for your reports of these and other issues. Happy shooting!

Hello Squaddies,

Today brings the new Squad Update V2.5 containing more bug fixes and updates to assist the V2 release. Included as part of this update is a new Replay functionality that will allow you and your squad to capture those glorious moments of play from within the game client itself to share later.

Be sure to share your best (or worst) moments with us via our social channels with the hashtag #CanIGetARally so we can help spread your amazing feats and be let us know if you encounter any issues via our Discord channel here.

If you are experiencing certain issues after the update, be sure to go to Settings -> “CLEAR CACHE” after updating. This will resolve common issues after updates.

• Optimized most Skeletal Mesh LOD’s. This means that most meshes will now correctly LOD (crush down) bones on characters, weapons and vehicles as they get farther and farther away. For example, vehicle antennas and steering wheels will no longer animate/be activated when they are too far from the camera to be seen, and at extreme ranges the wheels and suspension will no longer animate. This saves precious VRAM and CPU usage. It will benefit all players, but is expected to particularly benefit players with 8 or less GB of VRAM, and those with weaker/older CPUs. The meshes updated include: All Character Meshes. Most Infantry Weapons. Most Vehicles.
  
• Added new Replay functionality and UI. You can find this under the Replay tab in the Settings menu.
  
  1. You can now create and manage recordings of gameplay easily via this menu. Includes the option to automatically record your multiplayer games.
     
  2. After playing a round, an automatic replay is created, you can rename these to save them permanently.
     
  3. Automatic replays are automatically deleted when over the maximum number of automatic replays set by the user, starting with the oldest replays.
     
  4. Note: recordings made locally in this fashion may not include data from far away entities, or things that were not replicated to the player during play.
     
  5. Also includes a small fix to an issue in the settings menu UI where if you clicked on a tab more than once, it would push you back to the Game settings menu.
     
  6. Note: There are still some issues to resolve with using Replay functionality. Fast forwarding/rewinding on the demo often causes a crash. Also Grenade throws won't be seen on a replay. Sometimes weapon firing audio cannot be heard. These are the same longstanding issues that will be addressed in time.
• Added a notification message in the Server Browser when a player is attempting to join a server running with modded content.
  
• Updated teamkill bans to once again be displayed in the text chat.
  
• Updated ZU-23 Anti Air Gun with a new Targeting Sight Reticle. Includes emplacements and vehicles.
  
• Adjusted HAB activation delay to 20s (was 10s).
  
• Adjusted the INS Mosin Nagant M38 Carbine variant Max Damage Value from 120 to 94. This change does not affect full-length Mosin Nagant rifles.
  
• Adjusted the GB L85A2 LDS Sight to have a thicker Reticle for better visibility in all lighting conditions.
  
• Adjusted CAF LAV 6 commander and open-top mg seats (Seat 3 & 4) to no longer require Crewman kit roles.
  
• Adjusted the RUS/MEA BMP2 IFV to no longer require a crewman role for Seat 3, the vehicle commander.
  
• Adjusted Helicopter mouse deadzone to be a much smaller value so mouse movements on low DPI are much more responsive.

• Fixed an issue with color banding. This was caused by r.SceneColorFormat being clamped to 0 to avoid exploits, changed it to be clamped to 4.
  
• Fixed an exploit related to Commander Assets which could be intentionally cloned/spammed in certain High Packet Loss situations.
  
• Fixed an issue where, if a round ended while a player was bipoded, that player’s camera would be permanently clamped in the next round, as if they were still bipoded.
  
• Fixed more desync issues with the FOB Bleedout progress bar.
  
• Fixed more potential settings exploits.
  
• Fixed an issue where modded servers were being incorrectly listed as Vanilla servers. Server Browser should now show all mods that are loaded on a server.
  
• Fixed an issue with map boundaries where Tracked Vehicles that drove outside the map boundary would only have 7 seconds to return to the area of operations, instead of the full intended 20 seconds.
  
• Fixed an issue with the MEA Simir Kord & RUS Tigr Kord, where the vehicle’s weapons would require 50 ammo points to rearm upon spawning.
  
• Fixed an issue with the MEA Simir HMG, which previously had an instant rearm time. It now has an 8 second rearm time, in line with other Vehicle HMGs.
  
• Fixed an issue with the INS Mosin Nagant Rifle where partial reloading would incorrectly add an extra 6th round.
  
• Fixed an issue with CAF soldiers tongues and teeth using a glove texture.
  
• Fixed an issue on the Infantry Tutorial where US Soldier models were changing to lower quality LODs at too close a range to the camera.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Helicopter tutorial where players were unable to get in another helicopter for a few minutes after crashing their current helicopter.
  
• Fixed an issue with the M2 ACOG missing a luminescent dot in the reticle.
  
• Fixed an issue with the TK Autoban time being set incorrectly by default.
  
• Fixed an issue with the RUS 1P78 Scope 3P Mesh missing LODs.
  
• Fixed a Client Ensure issue related to Capture Point Neighbors.
  
• Fixed a potential race condition in the RCON connection handling, which could cause server crashes.

• Updated Sumari Skirmish v1 lighting.
  
• Adjusted Fallujah lighting saturation and angle of the morning sun to prevent/reduce potential shadow artifacts.
  
• Adjusted some of the level and layer map names to use the map's full name.
  
• Adjusted Al Basrah Invasion v1 vehicle layout, GB has 1x FV520 CTAS IFV, INS forward vehicles are now only Minsk Motorbikes, Modern Technical +BMP1 Turret now respawns.
  
• Adjusted Chora AAS v3 Flag layout to be identical to AAS v1, but with USA vs RUS.
  
• Adjusted the ExcludedLayers.cfg to no longer include all the map layers in comments.
  
• Fixed an issue on Yehorivka with a compound causing graphical anomalies, replaced yeho_compound_v5 with a newly created prefab.
  
• Fixed an issue with Track Attack Game Mode where vehicles were not spawning.
  
• Fixed an issue on Narva TA v1 with floating repair stations and ammo crates for both teams.
  
• Fixed an issue on Gorodok RAAS v3 where the actual in-game boundary did not match the minimap boundary.
  
• Fixed Mutaha AAS v2 from being listed in ExcludedLayers cfg.
  
• Fixed an issue on CAF Fallujah RAAS v1 with one of the two MEA T72AV MBT’s spawning instantly instead of being delayed by 15 minutes.
  
• Fixed an issue on Skorpo Invasion v1 with the map boundary spline intersecting with the tunnel in grid O18-1-3.
  
• Fixed an issue on Yehorivka AAS v1 with an incorrect respawn delay for GB FV107 Recon Vehicle (was 10 seconds now set correctly to 10 minutes).
  
• Fixed an issue on Kohat AAS v1 with an incorrect initial spawn delay for one of MEA helicopters (was 60 minutes, now 6 minutes).
  
• Fixed an issue with Tallil RAAS v4 BMP2 IFV having an initial 20min spawn delay when it should not have.
  
• Fixed an issue on Fools Road Skirmish v2 with the location of the RUS Main Base protection zone.
  
• Fixed an issue with CAF Belaya RAAS v2 the RUS Helipad was not inside the main base resupply zone.
  
• Fixed an issue on Yehorivka RAAS where the GB LPPV had no space to spawn.
  
• Fixed a typo in layer name of CAF Jensen's Range.
  
• Fixed an issue on Goose Bay Invasion v2 and CAF Yehorivka Invasion v1 where the MIL T62 was using the wrong camouflage.
  
• Fixed an issue on Sumari AAS v1 where the GB LPPV had no space to spawn.

• Updated all Blueprints which switch meshes based on map Biome (Handheld Rally Mehs, etc) to default to the first Biome in the array if they are fed an undefined or unrecognized Biome.
  
• Updated experimental MI8 and MI17 CAS Helicopters to use the HMG Kord as door guns.
  
• Adjusted the license plates on some static mesh cars to now use a string of numbers and letters instead of Arabic writing, increasing flexibility for these assets in a wider variety of Biomes.
  
• Removed broken vehicle bay handler component from BP_PlayerController. This is also a significant memory optimization, as it prevents dependencies from being loaded.

• "Logi Bug" with resources being unavailable for certain players when they interact with logistics-enabled vehicles.
  
• Various Kit icon issues - Occasionally the kit and weapon in the deploy screen squad list will show up as a white square instead of the kit.
  
• The deploy screen squad list will sometimes display incorrect players that are not actually in the squad.
  
• SL icons sometimes incorrectly show up for player kits in the spawn screen squad list (and outside of the squad list).
  
• SL icons show up for every kit on ammo crates when rearming.
  
• Player kit role icons are sometimes not being displayed on certain menu screens.
  
• HAB will sometimes show up as "red/unspawnable", even when it is in fact spawnable. Fix has been applied but there still remain some alternative ways to reproduce this issue.
  
• Some players may be experiencing very low-res textures after v2.0 release. If you are experiencing this issue,you are likely under the minimum recommended specs for VRAM (4gb). This may be mitigated by ticking the “unlock pool size” box in the Settings menu under the textures tab, but it may come with more performance stutter.

• Occasional Player (Client) crashes in various circumstances. Detailed crash reports help us fix things faster, and we truly appreciate those that have filled out and sent in crash reports.
  
• Player (Client) occasional crash at the end of a round, upon map switch, due to a UE4 Particle Crash bug upon seamless map travel. Actively pursuing a fix for this crash.
  
• “Missing Turret in Vehicle Issue” - Occasionally vehicles have their turrets missing from the round start. This issue is a high priority for us to fix, and we are actively in the process of debugging the issue.
  
• “Ghost Player in Vehicle issue” - Occasionally entering a vehicle makes a player permanently take up a seat in that vehicle. This issue is a high priority to fix.
  
• "Mass EAC disconnect issue" - Occasionally upon the end of a round and when a map switch occurs, the majority of a server population will be disconnected with a “Server Closed Connection” message. Closely working with EAC to resolve this issue.
  
• "FOB teleport bug" - Occasionally upon digging a FOB down, players within a certain radius of the FOB will be teleported outside of the FOB radius in a random direction.
  
• Commander – When the commander changes to the UAV camera, he cannot hear local audio anymore, even though he still sees local audio transmissions in the bottom left corner. Others can still hear him when he talks. Additionally, when leaving the UAV camera, he hears all of the local audio broadcasts at the same time, originating from the point where they were initially transmitted from – even if the person doing the transmission has moved afterward. Will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature does not currently work with Helicopters. This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature can freeze a vehicle in the air if used too close to a tree.
  
• Occasionally a player does not spawn at a Rally Point. This often happens when numerous players are spawning in at the same time — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Server performance may periodically dip when a server has a high population and high load. We are continuously working to improve server performance and optimization.
  
• ATGM projectiles desync for other players that are not the gunner, however, what the gunner sees should be the actual synced projectile. This is an inherent problem, and the solution is currently in long-term development.
  
• “Alt-tabbing” out of Squad during a loading screen freezes the Player (client). The recommended solution, for now, is to run Squad in the “Borderless” mode. This can be changed in Settings -> Graphics.
  
• The audio module for Squad is initialized at the game start. If a player does not have a microphone plugged in at launch, or accidentally unplugs their microphone and then plugs it back in, Squad needs to be restarted to get the microphone to work again — This issue will likely require an engine upgrade to UE4.25 to be fixed.
  
• SFX bug while Firing in full auto. If the player presses the fire button for a short period, the sound effect gives the impression that you fired more rounds than you did — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Localization for most language translations is currently out of date. We plan to push a full localization pass in a future release as we lock down the text that needs to be translated for the game.

Local/Offline Issues & Bugs (these currently have a lower priority):

• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – Insurgent / Militia Handheld Drone does not move in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – UAV hovers in one position instead of moving along the flight path in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – CAS does not do damage in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Vehicles: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Tracks, Wheels, and other components are not destructible while on the Jensen’s Range in Local play.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Weapon damages: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Weapon damages with both Infantry and Vehicle weapons are not accurately replicated.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Scoped Emplacements: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, if a player exits an Emplacement while looking through the scope, the Scope remains on the Player’s HUD until they get back in the Emplacement and then Scope out.

Hello Squaddies,

Today we have a small hotfix to address the following issues:

- Fixed the INS/MIL Drone not having inputs for up and down movement.
- Fixed Music Volume setting not affecting loading screen music.
- Fixed the FOB Bleedout HUD icon, it was previously missing a red circular timer.

Hello squaddies,

Today brings the v2.4 update, aiming to provide a slew of bug fixes and some further systems changes since the v2.3 release.

While we are here, we believe it’s best to inform you that since the release of v2.0, the project leads of Squad have been formulating a new release process to help improve the cadence of releases and will hopefully allow the team to release more minor changes and bug fixes, while other team members can focus on large content drops or massive overhauls of mechanics/features that are further in the future. Ideally, this will also help us tackle our backlog of issues and provide a bit of spring cleaning for Squad in some of the most sought-after places.

With that said, You may have noticed that since V2.0 we have been able to deploy more updates on a regular basis which is the beginning of this new release process. There’s still some fine-tuning to be done to ensure it works for all disciplines, and realistically, likely some initial hurdles in incorporating this new structure into releases as we continue. OWI is committed to providing more frequent updates, which will steadily improve the game experience for all, and we hope you’ll see that very soon with these process changes.

Now, onto the notes!

• Fixed two Server Crashes related to UI and map rotation.
  
• Fixed an issue with the vehicle card info in the Command Menu Screen not providing the correct information about vehicle spawn times and tickets.
  
• Fixed an issue where TAA could not be turned fully off. Now turning this setting Off will completely remove all anti-aliasing. Note, many rendering features rely on TAA to work properly. To avoid graphical artifacts, only turn TAA Off as a last resort. If you continue to experience blurriness after updating please try clearing your cache within the Options menu.
  
• Fixed an issue with Servers always skipping the first Map Layer in rotation.
  
• Fixed an issue that allowed teams to have one extra HAT per team, caused by an error in the logic regarding HAT01 and HAT02 being counted separately in the total pool of HAT kits.
  
• Fixed an issue that allowed teams to have too many LAT kits, caused by an error in the logic regarding LAT01 and LAT02 not being counted together in the total pool of LATs per-team.
  
• Fixed an issue with the LAT kit Squad limit notification warning, which was incorrectly using the TEAM limit warning text.
  
• Fixed an issue with the SA330 Transport helicopter, where the Pilot had an exposed foot.
  
• Fixed an issue with the A10 airstrike not spawning as many projectiles as intended.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Stamina bar would be stuck on the UI when in the admin cam.
  
• Fixed a UI issue where the next map was not showing in the Scoreboard after it was changed by the admin command.
  
• Fixed a UI issue where the Scoreboard menu was not displaying the current map layer name.
  
• Fixed an audio issue with the L85 and AK74 firing sounds being too low volume.
  
• Fixed an issue where certain Admin Commands were accessible on licensed servers when they should not have been.
  
• Fixed various potential Settings exploits.
  
• Fixed an issue in the server browser, where the Game Mode column was not properly aligned.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Streamer Support, Team Kill, and Vehicle Claim notifications which were unintentionally showing the full player name when this feature was enabled in Settings.
  
• Fixed an issue with the configurable Automatic teamkill bans for servers not being included by default in the new Server.cfg.
  
• Fixed an issue in the Audio Settings Menu where the Microphone input would show up as Empty after clearing the cache.
  
• Fixed an issue where enemy soldiers were sometimes not visible for Vehicle Gunners.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented some Squad Leaders from being given Incendiary Grenades on Insurgency Map Layers.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Scoreboard Menu would not display Kit Role icons under the role column.
  
• Fixed a Server Crash related to the SqPlayerController.
  
• Fixed an exploit where Deployable Emplacements could unintentionally have infinite ammo when placed in a specific way.
  
• Fixed an issue with the GB NLAW HAT rocket going off to the left in Direct Fire mode by making sure the target lateral speed for the missile is always zeroed if the PLOS targeting system is disabled.
  
• Fixed an issue with the server browser with blurry map thumbnails for Goose Bay Kamdesh, Kohat, Manic-5, Mutaha, Tallil, and Tutorial maps.
  
• Fixed a minor typo in the name of the GB FV107 CVR(T) Recon Vehicle.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with a broken material for the front grill of the US M939 Truck.

• Updated CAF LAV6 IFV to now be equipped with a C6A1 MG open-top turret for seat 4.
  
• Updated CAF characters to use the new improved skin shaders.
  
• Updated CAF Grenadier to now use the C7A2 + C79 Scope + proper M203A1 CAF UGL variant.
  
• Updated Kit Limits for Heavy AT kit, now limited to 1 max per-squad and 2 max per team.
  
• Updated GB Elcan LDS scope reticle for increased authenticity.
  
• Updated the SL Vehicle Claim system to have an added 4-second cooldown to prevent claim fighting. This should prevent one SL from being able to immediately override another SL’s vehicle claim by being the last to interact with the vehicle.
  
• Adjusted LAT 02 (with Scoped Rifles) kit roles to have 2x frag grenades for the following factions: CAF, GB, MEA, RUS, USA.
  
• Adjusted the kick/ban messages so that successful kick/ban should appear in the game chat just as they used to. Additionally, if a kick/ban attempt fails, the command executor will be notified.
  
• Adjusted the helicopter pilot’s seated pose to show their left hand on the collective and right hand on the cyclic.
  
• Adjusted A10 impact and splash damage values to match SU25, and slightly increased deviation.
  
• Adjusted Ammo Rack cook-off start threshold and burning rate on all MBTs. The burnout time should be between 8 and 22 seconds. Single-shot burnout can be caused only by a TOW or Konkurs. HATs and MBT main guns should require at least 2 hits. Note that after 2+ ammo rack hits in some cases there might not be a cook-off afterward (or a very short one) depending on how much HP the ammo rack has left.
  
• Adjusted Mosin Nagant firing sounds to have an increased volume.
  
• Adjusted names of some sub-factions, shortening them slightly, and standardizing the nomenclature.
  
• Adjusted Sub Faction names to include the name of the faction in a truncated manner ("CAF") before the sub-faction name.
  
• Adjusted CAF kit geometry to remove Boonie hats for all kit roles except Sniper.
  
• Adjusted CAF Grenadier inventory to remove Binoculars.
  
• Adjusted CAF LAV6 IFV’s Gunner FOV 1st zoom level from 3x to 1.5x magnification, to reduce tunnel vision effect with the 1st zoom level.

• Added the ability to use Joystick action mappings as inputs. This is for the native support of buttons and triggers on various Joystick setups.
  
• Added options for keyboard-only flight bindings for helicopters.
  
• Added experimental hybrid controls for switching between joystick, keyboard, mouse during flight.
  
• Added Joystick HAT switch quick-look controls.
  
• Added Helicopter keybinds for picking up and dropping supplies. This currently does not work for ground vehicles. Note: these can be bound to Joystick buttons.
  
• Added recentering keybind for helicopter freelook.
  
• Joystick axes are no longer bound by default, to reduce the chance of conflicts. Players will need to manually bind their joystick axes until the feature is out of an experimental state.
  
• Updated the Joystick Menu UI with improved presentation, and renamed many options for clarity and consistency.
  
• Added Free Look for helicopters while in third person (Jenson’s Range/Modded Gameplay only).
  
• Fixed an issue on the Joysticks menu where the “lock-free look” feature would be displayed behind the joystick curves on certain resolutions.
  
• Fixed Joystick settings not being able to be reset to defaults.

We appreciate any feedback pilots can provide on this experimental joystick support. We anticipate releasing a more polished version with bug fixes and more quality of life improvements in a near-future release.

If you are having issues with Helicopter flying, and you are not using a Joystick, go to Settings -> Controls -> Helicopter Axes to unbind any axes bound there.

Please Note: Multiple Joysticks/Rudder Pedals/HOTAS input is not currently supported. There is currently no differentiation between device IDs. You may be able to get around this if your joystick software can combine all HOTAS axes into a single virtual input device. Full Multiple Joystick Support is planned in the future, but it will require an extensive complete overhaul to the Control Settings.

• Added new map layer: Mutaha AAS v2 - GB vs RUS
  
• Added new map layer: Goose Bay AAS v2 - CAF vs RUS.
  
• Added new map layer: Chora AAS v3 - USA vs RUS.
  
• Updated Fool’s Road tunnels with a post-processing transition so player view darkens more gradually.
  
• Updated Yehorivka Invasion v1 team vehicle balance.
  
• Fixed an issue with vehicle spawns on Invasion v2 vehicle loadouts.
  
• Updated the number of tickets for both teams across all Insurgency layers. Attackers now get 200 tickets and defenders get 1000.
  
• Adjusted Fallujah to remove additional water planes and water sounds from the sewers.
  
• Adjusted Fallujah minimap to reflect gameplay boundary more accurately in the South East quadrant.
  
• Adjusted CAF Goose Bay Invasion v1 so the CAF defender’s no longer have forward spawns for infantry and LAV6’s, to allow Attacker’s a better success rate on the first objective.
  
• Adjusted Mutaha Skirmish v1 lighting to sunset (was sandstorm).
  
• Adjusted Gorodok RAAS v3 to lower the initial helicopter spawn delay to 6 minutes (was 20 minutes).
  
• Adjusted CAF Goose Bay RAAS v1 to have reduced tank delay from 20 minutes to 10 minutes for both teams.
  
• Adjusted CAF Goose Bay RAAS v1 RUS vehicle loadout swapping Tigr to BTR82A.
  
• Fixed an issue on Tallil Tanks v1 and v2 with incorrect vehicle respawn times. Tanks and IFVs should now respawn on these 2 map layers in 5 minutes instead of the regular 10 minutes for IFV’s and 15 minutes for tanks.
  
• Fixed an issue on Narva AAS v2 with blocked GB LPPV vehicle spawners.
  
• Fixed an issue on Yehorivka AAS v1 with blocked GB LPPV vehicle spawners.
  
• Fixed an issue with the building collisions on the Narva Hospital POI.
  
• Fixed an issue on Fools Road with black wheat fields.
  
• Fixed an issue with floating roads at Al Basrah Airfield POI.
  
• Fixed an issue on Goose Bay with missing collisions on various fences.
  
• Fixed an issue on Goose Bay with a wall that could be passed through on the second level of a garage.
  
• Fixed an issue on Fallujah with some rocks that infantry could clip into to gain an advantage.
  
• Fixed an issue on Skorpo AAS v1 where the USA protection zone was colliding with helicopter rotor blades. Also increased the protection zone height to match the RUS protection zone.
  
• Fixed an issue on CAF Al Basrah Invasion v2 where CAF vehicle repair stations and ammo crates were floating and outside of the CAF Main base.
  
• Fixed an issue with Kamdesh Invasion v1 where INS vehicles were not spawning correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue on Manic-5 with a bad rock face.
  
• Fixed an issue on Goose Bay with a bad rock face.
  
• Fixed an issue on CAF Mutaha AAS v1 which was displaying the incorrect Map Loading Screen image (was incorrectly showing up as Mestia).

FOB Bleedout Progress Bar currently has a regression and does not display properly in v2.4. The fix for this issue will be deployed in the next update.

• Occasional Player (Client) crashes in various circumstances. Detailed crash reports help us fix things faster, and we truly appreciate those that have filled out and sent in crash reports.
  
• Various Kit icon issues - Occasionally the kit and weapon in the deploy screen squad list will show up as a white square instead of the kit.
  
• The deploy screen squad list will sometimes display incorrect players that are not actually in the squad.
  
• SL icons sometimes incorrectly show up for player kits in the spawn screen squad list (and outside of the squad list).
  
• SL icons show up for every kit on ammo crates when rearming.
  
• Player kit role icons are sometimes not being displayed on certain menu screens.
  
• HAB will sometimes show up as "red/unspawnable", even when it is in fact spawnable. Fix has been applied but there still remain some alternative ways to reproduce this issue.
  
• Some players may be experiencing very low-res textures after the v2.0 release. If you are experiencing this issue, you are likely under the minimum recommended specs for VRAM (4GB). This may be mitigated by ticking the “unlock pool size” box in the settings menu under the textures tab, but it may come with more performance stutter.

• Player (Client) occasional crash at the end of a round, upon map switch, due to a UE4 Particle Crash bug upon seamless map travel. Actively pursuing a fix for this crash.
  
• “Missing Turret in Vehicle Issue” - Occasionally vehicles have their turrets missing from the round start. This issue is a high priority for us to fix.
  
• “Ghost Player in Vehicle issue” - Occasionally entering a vehicle makes a player permanently take up a seat in that vehicle. This issue is a high priority to fix.
  
• "Mass EAC disconnect issue" - Occasionally upon the end of a round and when a map switch occurs, the majority of a server population will be disconnected with a “Server Closed Connection” message. Closely working with EAC to resolve this issue.
  
• "FOB teleport bug" - Occasionally upon digging a FOB down, players within a certain radius of the FOB will be teleported outside of the FOB radius in a random direction.
  
• Commander – When the commander changes to the UAV camera, he cannot hear local audio anymore, even though he still sees local audio transmissions in the bottom left corner. Others can still hear him when he talks. Additionally, when leaving the UAV camera, he hears all of the local audio broadcasts at the same time, originating from the point where they were initially transmitted from – even if the person doing the transmission has moved afterward. Will be addressed in a future update.
  Vehicle Reset Feature does not currently work with Helicopters. This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature can freeze a vehicle in the air if used too close to a tree.
  
• Occasionally a player does not spawn at a Rally Point. This often happens when numerous players are spawning in at the same time — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Server performance may periodically dip when a server has a high population and high load. We are continuously working to improve server performance and optimization.
  
• ATGM projectiles desync for other players that are not the gunner, however, what the gunner sees should be the actual synced projectile. This is an inherent problem, and the solution is currently in long-term development.
  
• Vehicles parking brake gets stuck “On” if a player exits the vehicle while holding the parking brake (Default Spacebar). When encountering a vehicle that appears healthy but is not able to move, try hitting Spacebar to turn the parking brake “Off’ — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• “Alt-tabbing” out of Squad during a loading screen freezes the Player (client). The recommended solution, for now, is to run Squad in the “Borderless” mode. This can be changed in Settings -> Graphics.
  
• The audio module for Squad is initialized at the game start. If a player does not have a microphone plugged in at launch, or accidentally unplug their microphone and then plug it back in, Squad needs to be restarted to get the microphone to work again — This issue will likely require an engine upgrade to UE4.25 to be fixed.
  
• SFX bug while Firing in full auto. If the player presses the fire button for a short period, the sound effect gives the impression that you fired more rounds than you did — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Localization for most language translations is currently out of date. We plan to push a full localization pass in a future release as we lock down the text that needs to be translated for the game.

Local/Offline Issues & Bugs (these currently have a lower priority):

• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – Insurgent / Militia Handheld Drone does not move in local.
• Local/Offline issues currently have a lower priority.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – UAV hovers in one position instead of moving along the flight path in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – CAS does not do damage in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Vehicles: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Tracks, Wheels, and other components are not destructible while on the Jensen’s Range in Local play.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Weapon damages: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Weapon damages with both Infantry and Vehicle weapons are not accurately replicated.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Scoped Emplacements: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, if a player exits an Emplacement while looking through the scope, the Scope remains on the Player’s HUD until they get back in the Emplacement and then Scope out.

NOTE: Due to character limits on Steam these are not the full release notes, those can be found on our website here with more information and images

Hello squaddies,

It’s finally here. v2 of Squad is now available to download and we can’t wait for you to see all the new toys we have in store for you, from huge features in the Map Layer Overhaul to a slew of new content for your favorite factions and long-awaited improvements to the Helicopter flight model.

Thank you for your patience while we worked on getting v2 ready for release and a big thank you to those in the community who helped us test builds as part of our User Acceptance Tests (UATs) and reported issues that they discovered.

Note: These changes were all in the previous playtests on the Squad Testing app.

Remember to go to Settings -> “CLEAR CACHE” after updating, to ensure there are no residual issues after the update.

Without further ado, let’s get into the juicy stuff:

• Located on the Labrador coast between Lake Melville and the Churchill River, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest population center in the region. Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay is the home of 5 Wing of the Royal Canadian Air Force; its aircraft provide airspace defense to a large portion of Canada's Northeastern territory.
  
• This map replaces Nanisivik; providing an immersive, polar environment with vehicle warfare and an improved experience for infantry gameplay.

Map Layer Overhaul Phase 1

• Greatly reduced loading times for all maps and layers.
  
• This feature lays the groundwork for more asymmetric sub-factions, with great variety in vehicle/kit/deployable composition and count. It also makes possible many smaller features like the improved Command Map Vehicle List.

Graphics Settings Menu Rework and new Rendering Features

Overhauled the Graphics Settings menu and added new graphics rendering features. This was designed from the ground-up to minimize the gameplay advantages of using one quality setting over another. It includes more granular options, new rendering features, and higher overall fidelity, with a focus on optimization.

Network Optimization for Vehicles with Closed Turrets and Helicopters

• Extensive network optimization pass on Vehicle Turrets. This provides a significant improvement to network bandwidth usage, which leaves more headroom to replicate things like character and vehicle movement.
  
• Extensive network optimization pass on Helicopters. This has greatly improved the smoothness of helicopter movement replication for passengers and observers on the ground. It’s not perfect, of course, so we look forward to your feedback.

Performance Optimizations

• Overhauled Texture Streaming behavior, greatly reducing graphics memory usage. This has allowed us to increase the quality of many character, weapon, and vehicle textures, while simultaneously improving performance.
  
• Removed Mesh Distance Fields from all movable objects, such as vehicles and weapons. This allows better caching of Distance Fields, reducing GPU load.
  
• Disabled Mesh Distance Field on a lot of small foliage (trees, scatter/debris meshes). This should improve performance for maps when Ambient Occlusion and/or Far Shadows are enabled.
  
• Optimized Mesh Distance Field resolutions for large foliage.
  
• Optimized Lashkar Valley, Kamdesh, Mestia, and Skorpo by setting more aggressive cull distances on pine trees.
  
• Optimized rock walls, coal piles, and other assets by removing unnecessary tessellation.
  
• Optimized grass post-process shader by reducing unnecessary complexity by up to 80%.
  
• Optimized skybox lighting.
  
• Optimized TOW discard effect.
  
• Optimized and fixed some issues with Impostor post-process shader (distant trees).
  
• Optimized vehicle smoke generator effects.

HAB Spawn Activation Delay

This new feature for the HAB includes an Activation Delay timer before a HAB is ready to be spawned.

• There are 3 ways that a HAB Spawn point can be affected in Squad, all 3 will incur an activation delay timer. The current activation delay time is 10 seconds, this timing may be adjusted in future updates.
  
• The HAB Activation “delay to spawn” is indicated on the HUD around the HAB icon, in the form of a circular progress bar (similar to a medic health bar). This will be displayed on the Command map screen as well in a future update. This HAB Activation delay indicator is only visible when a delay is counting down.
  
• “Spawn is Activating” text will be displayed when the spawn delay is counting down and the delay indicator is visible on the HUD when within range of that FOB.
  
• The intention behind this Spawn activation delay is designed to change the spawn dynamics surrounding HAB’s, to incentivize more planning, and reduce the amount of “Teleportation hopping” that occurs with newly built HAB’s. This delay is primarily intended to prevent instantaneous spawning off the HAB.
  
• This also is intended to incentivize the defense of FOB/HAB to be less about spawn intensity, and more about positioning and overall area control.
  
• This is intended to prevent teams from abusing the spawn system via instantly spawning on a newly created HAB, and to encourage players to defend the HAB for a short period upon completion to ensure the spawn point becomes active.
  
• These changes will also give opponents a bit of breathing room and time to secure the area after overrunning a HAB or partially destroying it without fear of having enemies spawn back in the moment the HAB is rebuilt to the threshold or when enough players have either left or are killed within the HAB overrun proximity radius.
  
• This change, in combination with the next update that will contain the HAB Proximity Disable Scaling feature, is an intentional Design decision to adjust the pacing and gameplay surrounding the usage of the HAB’s Spawns, and their impact on the flow of the gameplay.

Helicopter Flight Improvements

• Rewrote large parts of the helicopter flight model, and tuned it to create a smoother and more realistic experience. More tweaks will be made in future patches.
  
• Unified acceleration calculations for all phases of flight. Handling should be more natural and consistent throughout the entire flight envelope.
  
• Mitigated the “see-saw” effect and reduced sudden acceleration at low speeds by adjusting the X-axis acceleration curve.
  
• Improved energy retention through high-speed turns.
  
• Made it easier to achieve the helicopter’s maximum speed.
  
• Rotor efficiency now scales depending on flight conditions. Rotor power is multiplied up to 1.3x when meeting the air at a high angle of incidence (J-turns and steep flares) or when traveling at high speeds (Translational Lift).
  
• Reworked “weathervane” effect to ensure the helicopter always settles nose-first.
  
• Reduced residual thrust when the engine is disabled, forcing (survivable) crash landings.
  
• Increased Pitch, Roll, and Yaw sensitivity.
  
• Fixed weird weathervaning behavior caused by helicopter inertia calculation not accounting for the change in rotation between frames.

Deployables Refund Mechanic

• Refunds 80% of the placed deployable cost, if it was dug down without being built fully after placement. This mechanic is intended to reduce the penalty for accidental bad placement of the deployable.

Infantry Kits Refund Mechanic

• Refunds 80% of the ammo cost of the Players previous role when changing roles at an ammo crate. Should not refund ammo for weapons/magazines which have been expended.
  
• Refunds ammo when a kit role is changed from FOB ammo crates or vehicles.
  
• It will technically be possible for the total ammo in an ammo source to increase if the player goes from a high-cost role to a low-cost role.

Main Base Protection Zone QoL Update

• Updated the Main Base Protection Zone to prevent friendly infantry and vehicles from being able to fire weapons. Infantry will still be able to use medkits, bandages and repair tools inside the Protection Zone.
  
• The design intention with this change is to remove the amount of excessive distraction at the Main Base, especially during Staging Phase.

AAS & RAAS Ticket Changes

• Adjusted RAAS & AAS Ticket Gain and Ticket Loss for Flag Capture to +60 and -10 (was +50 -20). This is intended to help losing teams make a comeback if they successfully counterattack a lost Capture Point, and also to encourage proper logistics planning to hold points that are captured.

Body Dragging Tweaks

• Improved the responsiveness of body dragging by doubling the trace size and increasing the angle limit. This should allow players to more easily grab bodies and not have them auto-drop as easily. Note that you still have to look directly at a body for the “press F to drag” prompt to appear, but triggering the prompt is not necessary for the drag command to work.

• Added new weapon: INS Mosin Nagant – 3 variants: Carbine with Irons, Full Length with Irons, and PU-1 Magnified Scope option. Can be reloaded via single cartridges or stripper clip.
  
  
• Added new weapon: INS RPD Light Machine Gun – a classic 7.62x39mm machine gun with some serious firepower.
  
  
• Added new weapon: RUS RPG28 Heavy Anti-Tank – a modern disposable anti-tank rocket launcher utilizing a massive 125mm Tandem HEAT warhead at a much flatter trajectory, capable of devastating enemy armor. Comes equipped with an optic and can be ranged out to 500 meters.
  
• Added new weapon: GB NLAW Heavy Anti-Tank – a modern semi-smart, fire & forget Anti-Tank missile system, the warhead uses PLOS – Predicted Line of Sight. You can switch between “Direct Attack” and “PLOS” weapon modes by pressing the X (adjust sights) key. PLOS mode will track your mouse velocity for 2-3 seconds, which will program the missile. Once fired, the missile will continuously turn to follow the velocity you programmed.
  
• Added new Canadian weapon variants: C7A2 and C8A3 Foregrip variants, C7A2+Iron-sights, C7A2+Eotech, C8A3+Iron-sights, C8A3+ M203+C79A2 Elcan.
  

• Added new Vehicles: INS Modern Technicals – 9 variants: DShK, M2, BMP1, Mortar, UB32, ZU23, SPG9, Logi, Transport.
  
• Added a new ‘Alternate’ INS Technical (found on Fallujah Invasion v1, v2, v3).
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB FV107 Recon Vehicle – a new class of vehicle, this is a light & fast armored recon vehicle, similar to the Russian-made BRDM-2 Scout car, but with more armor and firepower.
  
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB LPPV Armored Jeep – 2 variants – GB gets a highly mobile light attack vehicle, serving as counterpart to M-ATV and Tigr. It comes in 2 versions, with a remotely operated turret and a dual LMG open turret!
  
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB FV520UA CTAS IFV – GB gets an upgrade package for the aged FV510 IFV with modern features like stabilization and increased firepower with a new high rate of fire 40mm autocannon! This is the latest cutting-edge modern IFV that GB is deploying, which is supplementing the older FV510 variants, but not completely replacing them.
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB SA330 Transport Helicopter – GB now gets their own unique helicopter. This is a powerful and agile helicopter with similar lift capabilities as the UH60M, but with slightly more construction & ammo capacity.
  
  
• Added C6A1 RWS Variant for the TAPV.
  
• Added a new unique Remote Weapon Station for several GB vehicles that apply.
  

Added new and improved Streamer Support Option to the Settings Menu (these can be turned on and off individually):

• Hide Server name from Score Screen (Tab)
  
• Hide all but current Squad names from Command Menu / Spawn Menu.
  
• Hide Server name from End of Game Screen
  
• Hide Server Information from Faction Select Screen ( Server Title, Rules
  
• Hide Automated Server Broadcast messages
  
• Override Squad custom names with Squad 1, 2, etc…
  
• Hide Player names in Command Menu / Spawn Select Menu.
  
• Hide all names on Score Screen.

• Added new loading screen images for all maps. Note: currently loading screens will only be displayed when first loading into a server. Upon map change, the loading screen will not be displayed. This will hopefully be rectified in a future update.
  
• Updated the Command Menu Vehicle List to now include active spawn timers for all vehicles on your team. When a vehicle is destroyed, the vehicle list will now show the spawn time actively count down until the vehicle spawns. “Single-Use” vehicles (seen on Invasion Game Mode) will be displayed in gray to indicate they do not respawn.
  
• Updated Server Browser to show currently loaded Factions, Unit Types (mostly Combined Arms until we add new types and Generic Layers), and time since match start.
  
  
• Fixed an issue with the Server Browser Favorites not saving properly. This will only work currently on licensed server. The in-game tooltip is outdated and does not reflect that.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the MEA radial menu Deployables button having the wrong tooltip text.
  
• Audio Settings now has a droplist for selecting input/output devices
  
• Removed a redundant slider in Game Settings that caps the maximum FPS
  
• Added a separate slider in Graphics Settings to cap the maximum FPS while in the menu

• Updated Middle Eastern Rock collisions.
  
• Updated the chain-link fence kit by optimizing material use, updating collisions, and standardizing LODs.
  
• Updated fences and other flat surface objects to use a planar thickness shader to give a better appearance of having thickness.
  
• Fixed the green large trash bin material appearing excessively polished, now looks less reflective and more matte.
  
• Fixed an exploitable collision on the stairs of an industrial office building.
  
• Fixed the collision of the rooftop on the small wooden office building.

• Layer Overhaul has added new flexibility to the modding system, and a bunch of new requirements. Mod teams will need to update to have compatibility with v2.0/Layer Overhaul. See the full documentation here for more info.
  
• Added a holo dot sight into the main Attachments folder.
  
• Updated the currently unused L128A1 GB shotgun with a holo-dot sight mounted.
  
• Fixed up animation settings on the unused Shotguns.

• Added New Admin Tools for managing teamkills and observing problem players.
  
• Fixed a potential exploit where players could potentially disable atmospheric fog on certain map layers.
  
• Fixed a potential exploit that could detect concealed assets such as Radios/Habs or Rally points.

• Occasional Player (Client) crashes in various circumstances. Detailed crash reports help us fix things faster, and we truly appreciate those that have filled out and sent in crash reports.
  
• Player (Client) occasional crash at the end of a round, upon map switch, due to a UE4 Particle Crash bug upon seamless map travel. Actively pursuing a fix for this crash.
  
• Commander – When the commander changes to the UAV camera, he cannot hear local audio anymore, even though he still sees local audio transmissions in the bottom left corner. Others can still hear him when he talks. Additionally, when leaving the UAV camera, he hears all of the local audio broadcasts at the same time, originating from the point where they were initially transmitted from – even if the person doing the transmission has moved afterward. Will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature does not currently work with Helicopters.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature can freeze a vehicle in the air if used too close to a tree.
  
• Occasionally a player does not spawn at a Rally Point. This often happens when numerous players are spawning in at the same time — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Server performance may periodically dip when a server has a high population and high load. We are continuously working to improve server performance and optimization.
  
• ATGM projectiles desync for other players that are not the gunner, however, what the gunner sees should be the actual synced projectile. This is an inherent problem, and the solution is currently in long-term development.
  
• Vehicles parking brake gets stuck “On” if a player exits the vehicle while holding the parking brake (Default Spacebar). When encountering a vehicle that appears healthy but is not able to move, try hitting Spacebar to turn the parking brake “Off’ — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• “Alt-tabbing” out of Squad during a loading screen freezes the client. The recommended solution, for now, is to run Squad in the “Borderless” mode. This can be changed in Settings -> Graphics.
  
• The audio module for Squad is initialized at the game start. If a player does not have a microphone plugged in at launch, or accidentally unplug their microphone and then plug it back in, Squad needs to be restarted to get the microphone to work again — This issue will likely require an engine upgrade to UE4.25 to be fixed.
  
• SFX bug while Firing in full auto. If the player presses the fire button for a short period, the sound effect gives the impression that you fired more rounds than you did — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Localization for most language translations is currently out of date. We plan to push a full localization pass in a future release as we lock down the text that needs to be translated for the game.
  
• Track Attack Game Mode has been temporarily removed, as it had compatibility issues with Layer Overhaul. This events-based game mode will be fixed in an upcoming minor patch.

• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – Insurgent / Militia Handheld Drone does not move in local.
• Local/Offline issues currently have a lower priority.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – UAV hovers in one position instead of moving along the flight path in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – CAS does not do damage in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Vehicles: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Tracks, Wheels, and other components are not destructible while on the Jensen’s Range in Local play.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Weapon damages: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Weapon damages with both Infantry and Vehicle weapons are not accurately replicated.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Scoped Emplacements: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, if a player exits an Emplacement while looking through the scope, the Scope remains on the Player’s HUD until they get back in the Emplacement and then Scope out.

REMINDER: Due to character limits on Steam these are not the full release notes, those can be found on our website here with more information and images

NOTE: Due to character limits on Steam these are not the full release notes, those can be found on our website here with more information and images

Hello squaddies,

It’s finally here. v2 of Squad is now available to download and we can’t wait for you to see all the new toys we have in store for you, from huge features in the Map Layer Overhaul to a slew of new content for your favorite factions and long-awaited improvements to the Helicopter flight model.

Thank you for your patience while we worked on getting v2 ready for release and a big thank you to those in the community who helped us test builds as part of our User Acceptance Tests (UATs) and reported issues that they discovered.

Note: These changes were all in the previous playtests on the Squad Testing app.

Remember to go to Settings -> “CLEAR CACHE” after updating, to ensure there are no residual issues after the update.

Without further ado, let’s get into the juicy stuff:

• Located on the Labrador coast between Lake Melville and the Churchill River, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest population center in the region. Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay is the home of 5 Wing of the Royal Canadian Air Force; its aircraft provide airspace defense to a large portion of Canada's Northeastern territory.
  
• This map replaces Nanisivik; providing an immersive, polar environment with vehicle warfare and an improved experience for infantry gameplay.

Map Layer Overhaul Phase 1

• Greatly reduced loading times for all maps and layers.
  
• This feature lays the groundwork for more asymmetric sub-factions, with great variety in vehicle/kit/deployable composition and count. It also makes possible many smaller features like the improved Command Map Vehicle List.

Graphics Settings Menu Rework and new Rendering Features

Overhauled the Graphics Settings menu and added new graphics rendering features. This was designed from the ground-up to minimize the gameplay advantages of using one quality setting over another. It includes more granular options, new rendering features, and higher overall fidelity, with a focus on optimization.

Network Optimization for Vehicles with Closed Turrets and Helicopters

• Extensive network optimization pass on Vehicle Turrets. This provides a significant improvement to network bandwidth usage, which leaves more headroom to replicate things like character and vehicle movement.
  
• Extensive network optimization pass on Helicopters. This has greatly improved the smoothness of helicopter movement replication for passengers and observers on the ground. It’s not perfect, of course, so we look forward to your feedback.

Performance Optimizations

• Overhauled Texture Streaming behavior, greatly reducing graphics memory usage. This has allowed us to increase the quality of many character, weapon, and vehicle textures, while simultaneously improving performance.
  
• Removed Mesh Distance Fields from all movable objects, such as vehicles and weapons. This allows better caching of Distance Fields, reducing GPU load.
  
• Disabled Mesh Distance Field on a lot of small foliage (trees, scatter/debris meshes). This should improve performance for maps when Ambient Occlusion and/or Far Shadows are enabled.
  
• Optimized Mesh Distance Field resolutions for large foliage.
  
• Optimized Lashkar Valley, Kamdesh, Mestia, and Skorpo by setting more aggressive cull distances on pine trees.
  
• Optimized rock walls, coal piles, and other assets by removing unnecessary tessellation.
  
• Optimized grass post-process shader by reducing unnecessary complexity by up to 80%.
  
• Optimized skybox lighting.
  
• Optimized TOW discard effect.
  
• Optimized and fixed some issues with Impostor post-process shader (distant trees).
  
• Optimized vehicle smoke generator effects.

HAB Spawn Activation Delay

This new feature for the HAB includes an Activation Delay timer before a HAB is ready to be spawned.

• There are 3 ways that a HAB Spawn point can be affected in Squad, all 3 will incur an activation delay timer. The current activation delay time is 10 seconds, this timing may be adjusted in future updates.
  
• The HAB Activation “delay to spawn” is indicated on the HUD around the HAB icon, in the form of a circular progress bar (similar to a medic health bar). This will be displayed on the Command map screen as well in a future update. This HAB Activation delay indicator is only visible when a delay is counting down.
  
• “Spawn is Activating” text will be displayed when the spawn delay is counting down and the delay indicator is visible on the HUD when within range of that FOB.
  
• The intention behind this Spawn activation delay is designed to change the spawn dynamics surrounding HAB’s, to incentivize more planning, and reduce the amount of “Teleportation hopping” that occurs with newly built HAB’s. This delay is primarily intended to prevent instantaneous spawning off the HAB.
  
• This also is intended to incentivize the defense of FOB/HAB to be less about spawn intensity, and more about positioning and overall area control.
  
• This is intended to prevent teams from abusing the spawn system via instantly spawning on a newly created HAB, and to encourage players to defend the HAB for a short period upon completion to ensure the spawn point becomes active.
  
• These changes will also give opponents a bit of breathing room and time to secure the area after overrunning a HAB or partially destroying it without fear of having enemies spawn back in the moment the HAB is rebuilt to the threshold or when enough players have either left or are killed within the HAB overrun proximity radius.
  
• This change, in combination with the next update that will contain the HAB Proximity Disable Scaling feature, is an intentional Design decision to adjust the pacing and gameplay surrounding the usage of the HAB’s Spawns, and their impact on the flow of the gameplay.

Helicopter Flight Improvements

• Rewrote large parts of the helicopter flight model, and tuned it to create a smoother and more realistic experience. More tweaks will be made in future patches.
  
• Unified acceleration calculations for all phases of flight. Handling should be more natural and consistent throughout the entire flight envelope.
  
• Mitigated the “see-saw” effect and reduced sudden acceleration at low speeds by adjusting the X-axis acceleration curve.
  
• Improved energy retention through high-speed turns.
  
• Made it easier to achieve the helicopter’s maximum speed.
  
• Rotor efficiency now scales depending on flight conditions. Rotor power is multiplied up to 1.3x when meeting the air at a high angle of incidence (J-turns and steep flares) or when traveling at high speeds (Translational Lift).
  
• Reworked “weathervane” effect to ensure the helicopter always settles nose-first.
  
• Reduced residual thrust when the engine is disabled, forcing (survivable) crash landings.
  
• Increased Pitch, Roll, and Yaw sensitivity.
  
• Fixed weird weathervaning behavior caused by helicopter inertia calculation not accounting for the change in rotation between frames.

Deployables Refund Mechanic

• Refunds 80% of the placed deployable cost, if it was dug down without being built fully after placement. This mechanic is intended to reduce the penalty for accidental bad placement of the deployable.

Infantry Kits Refund Mechanic

• Refunds 80% of the ammo cost of the Players previous role when changing roles at an ammo crate. Should not refund ammo for weapons/magazines which have been expended.
  
• Refunds ammo when a kit role is changed from FOB ammo crates or vehicles.
  
• It will technically be possible for the total ammo in an ammo source to increase if the player goes from a high-cost role to a low-cost role.

Main Base Protection Zone QoL Update

• Updated the Main Base Protection Zone to prevent friendly infantry and vehicles from being able to fire weapons. Infantry will still be able to use medkits, bandages and repair tools inside the Protection Zone.
  
• The design intention with this change is to remove the amount of excessive distraction at the Main Base, especially during Staging Phase.

AAS & RAAS Ticket Changes

• Adjusted RAAS & AAS Ticket Gain and Ticket Loss for Flag Capture to +60 and -10 (was +50 -20). This is intended to help losing teams make a comeback if they successfully counterattack a lost Capture Point, and also to encourage proper logistics planning to hold points that are captured.

Body Dragging Tweaks

• Improved the responsiveness of body dragging by doubling the trace size and increasing the angle limit. This should allow players to more easily grab bodies and not have them auto-drop as easily. Note that you still have to look directly at a body for the “press F to drag” prompt to appear, but triggering the prompt is not necessary for the drag command to work.

• Added new weapon: INS Mosin Nagant – 3 variants: Carbine with Irons, Full Length with Irons, and PU-1 Magnified Scope option. Can be reloaded via single cartridges or stripper clip.
  
  
• Added new weapon: INS RPD Light Machine Gun – a classic 7.62x39mm machine gun with some serious firepower.
  
  
• Added new weapon: RUS RPG28 Heavy Anti-Tank – a modern disposable anti-tank rocket launcher utilizing a massive 125mm Tandem HEAT warhead at a much flatter trajectory, capable of devastating enemy armor. Comes equipped with an optic and can be ranged out to 500 meters.
  
• Added new weapon: GB NLAW Heavy Anti-Tank – a modern semi-smart, fire & forget Anti-Tank missile system, the warhead uses PLOS – Predicted Line of Sight. You can switch between “Direct Attack” and “PLOS” weapon modes by pressing the X (adjust sights) key. PLOS mode will track your mouse velocity for 2-3 seconds, which will program the missile. Once fired, the missile will continuously turn to follow the velocity you programmed.
  
• Added new Canadian weapon variants: C7A2 and C8A3 Foregrip variants, C7A2+Iron-sights, C7A2+Eotech, C8A3+Iron-sights, C8A3+ M203+C79A2 Elcan.
  

• Added new Vehicles: INS Modern Technicals – 9 variants: DShK, M2, BMP1, Mortar, UB32, ZU23, SPG9, Logi, Transport.
  
• Added a new ‘Alternate’ INS Technical (found on Fallujah Invasion v1, v2, v3).
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB FV107 Recon Vehicle – a new class of vehicle, this is a light & fast armored recon vehicle, similar to the Russian-made BRDM-2 Scout car, but with more armor and firepower.
  
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB LPPV Armored Jeep – 2 variants – GB gets a highly mobile light attack vehicle, serving as counterpart to M-ATV and Tigr. It comes in 2 versions, with a remotely operated turret and a dual LMG open turret!
  
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB FV520UA CTAS IFV – GB gets an upgrade package for the aged FV510 IFV with modern features like stabilization and increased firepower with a new high rate of fire 40mm autocannon! This is the latest cutting-edge modern IFV that GB is deploying, which is supplementing the older FV510 variants, but not completely replacing them.
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB SA330 Transport Helicopter – GB now gets their own unique helicopter. This is a powerful and agile helicopter with similar lift capabilities as the UH60M, but with slightly more construction & ammo capacity.
  
  
• Added C6A1 RWS Variant for the TAPV.
  
• Added a new unique Remote Weapon Station for several GB vehicles that apply.
  

Added new and improved Streamer Support Option to the Settings Menu (these can be turned on and off individually):

• Hide Server name from Score Screen (Tab)
  
• Hide all but current Squad names from Command Menu / Spawn Menu.
  
• Hide Server name from End of Game Screen
  
• Hide Server Information from Faction Select Screen ( Server Title, Rules
  
• Hide Automated Server Broadcast messages
  
• Override Squad custom names with Squad 1, 2, etc…
  
• Hide Player names in Command Menu / Spawn Select Menu.
  
• Hide all names on Score Screen.

• Added new loading screen images for all maps. Note: currently loading screens will only be displayed when first loading into a server. Upon map change, the loading screen will not be displayed. This will hopefully be rectified in a future update.
  
• Updated the Command Menu Vehicle List to now include active spawn timers for all vehicles on your team. When a vehicle is destroyed, the vehicle list will now show the spawn time actively count down until the vehicle spawns. “Single-Use” vehicles (seen on Invasion Game Mode) will be displayed in gray to indicate they do not respawn.
  
• Updated Server Browser to show currently loaded Factions, Unit Types (mostly Combined Arms until we add new types and Generic Layers), and time since match start.
  
  
• Fixed an issue with the Server Browser Favorites not saving properly. This will only work currently on licensed server. The in-game tooltip is outdated and does not reflect that.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the MEA radial menu Deployables button having the wrong tooltip text.
  
• Audio Settings now has a droplist for selecting input/output devices
  
• Removed a redundant slider in Game Settings that caps the maximum FPS
  
• Added a separate slider in Graphics Settings to cap the maximum FPS while in the menu

• Updated Middle Eastern Rock collisions.
  
• Updated the chain-link fence kit by optimizing material use, updating collisions, and standardizing LODs.
  
• Updated fences and other flat surface objects to use a planar thickness shader to give a better appearance of having thickness.
  
• Fixed the green large trash bin material appearing excessively polished, now looks less reflective and more matte.
  
• Fixed an exploitable collision on the stairs of an industrial office building.
  
• Fixed the collision of the rooftop on the small wooden office building.

• Layer Overhaul has added new flexibility to the modding system, and a bunch of new requirements. Mod teams will need to update to have compatibility with v2.0/Layer Overhaul. See the full documentation here for more info.
  
• Added a holo dot sight into the main Attachments folder.
  
• Updated the currently unused L128A1 GB shotgun with a holo-dot sight mounted.
  
• Fixed up animation settings on the unused Shotguns.

• Added New Admin Tools for managing teamkills and observing problem players.
  
• Fixed a potential exploit where players could potentially disable atmospheric fog on certain map layers.
  
• Fixed a potential exploit that could detect concealed assets such as Radios/Habs or Rally points.

• Occasional Player (Client) crashes in various circumstances. Detailed crash reports help us fix things faster, and we truly appreciate those that have filled out and sent in crash reports.
  
• Player (Client) occasional crash at the end of a round, upon map switch, due to a UE4 Particle Crash bug upon seamless map travel. Actively pursuing a fix for this crash.
  
• Commander – When the commander changes to the UAV camera, he cannot hear local audio anymore, even though he still sees local audio transmissions in the bottom left corner. Others can still hear him when he talks. Additionally, when leaving the UAV camera, he hears all of the local audio broadcasts at the same time, originating from the point where they were initially transmitted from – even if the person doing the transmission has moved afterward. Will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature does not currently work with Helicopters.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature can freeze a vehicle in the air if used too close to a tree.
  
• Occasionally a player does not spawn at a Rally Point. This often happens when numerous players are spawning in at the same time — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Server performance may periodically dip when a server has a high population and high load. We are continuously working to improve server performance and optimization.
  
• ATGM projectiles desync for other players that are not the gunner, however, what the gunner sees should be the actual synced projectile. This is an inherent problem, and the solution is currently in long-term development.
  
• Vehicles parking brake gets stuck “On” if a player exits the vehicle while holding the parking brake (Default Spacebar). When encountering a vehicle that appears healthy but is not able to move, try hitting Spacebar to turn the parking brake “Off’ — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• “Alt-tabbing” out of Squad during a loading screen freezes the client. The recommended solution, for now, is to run Squad in the “Borderless” mode. This can be changed in Settings -> Graphics.
  
• The audio module for Squad is initialized at the game start. If a player does not have a microphone plugged in at launch, or accidentally unplug their microphone and then plug it back in, Squad needs to be restarted to get the microphone to work again — This issue will likely require an engine upgrade to UE4.25 to be fixed.
  
• SFX bug while Firing in full auto. If the player presses the fire button for a short period, the sound effect gives the impression that you fired more rounds than you did — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Localization for most language translations is currently out of date. We plan to push a full localization pass in a future release as we lock down the text that needs to be translated for the game.
  
• Track Attack Game Mode has been temporarily removed, as it had compatibility issues with Layer Overhaul. This events-based game mode will be fixed in an upcoming minor patch.

• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – Insurgent / Militia Handheld Drone does not move in local.
• Local/Offline issues currently have a lower priority.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – UAV hovers in one position instead of moving along the flight path in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – CAS does not do damage in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Vehicles: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Tracks, Wheels, and other components are not destructible while on the Jensen’s Range in Local play.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Weapon damages: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Weapon damages with both Infantry and Vehicle weapons are not accurately replicated.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Scoped Emplacements: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, if a player exits an Emplacement while looking through the scope, the Scope remains on the Player’s HUD until they get back in the Emplacement and then Scope out.

REMINDER: Due to character limits on Steam these are not the full release notes, those can be found on our website here with more information and images

Hello squaddies,

Welcome to the latest iteration of our UAT builds. The team has been busy working on the issues that you wonderful folks have been finding throughout our previous UAT builds.

Our current intention is to hold a playtest event this Sunday, 21st Feb 2021 (full details to be finalized in another post, keep an eye on our socials for info). We want to put this build through its paces and see if any critical issues would be detrimental to the release of v2.0.

If things are looking good, this will likely be the final UAT that we release, and V2 will release shortly after. Fingers crossed. We’d love you to join us on Sunday for the playtest to ensure we understand how this build runs on full servers, and we hope you are looking forward to a full release soon.

Read on to find out more on how to report any issues that you find and a complete list of changes and known issues so far with UAT #5


Help us playtest this release! If you encounter an issue, we truly appreciate players that write up bug reports and give feedback in our reporting channels on our Discord server. Channels are: #v2-beta-feedback and #v2-beta-bug-reports.

• Some players may notice a slight increase in edge blurriness with higher AA Samples, or flickering with lower AA Samples. Forcing image sharpening through the gpu driver could reduce this blurriness, as well as the sharpening value ingame may help mitigate the effect. If you notice any of this, please list your hardware, graphics settings and the issue you encountered specifically.
  
• The new Vehicle Turret system currently has an issue with drifting when low sensitivity is used, this affects Stabilizer both On and Off.
  
• The new Vehicle Turret system has an issue where the turret stays moving and desyncs when using the hunter-killer designation right before exiting.

This build includes a networking improvement to turrets and helicopters.. If you encounter any desynchronizations (such as a helicopter not replicating properly, or strange vehicle turret behavior), please video it and send it our way through the channels listed above. This would help us immensely!

• Overhauled Texture Streaming behavior, to improve performance for low and high settings. This has allowed us to increase the quality of many character, weapon, and vehicle textures while also decreasing memory usage.
  
• Optimized / Disabled Mesh Distance Fields on a lot of small foliage (trees, scatter/debris meshes)
  
• Optimized Mesh Distance Field resolutions for large foliage.
  
• Optimized Lashkar Valley, Kamdesh, Mestia, Skorpo by setting more aggressive cull distances on pine trees.
  
• Optimized rockwall coal material and other assets by removing unnecessary tessellation.
  
• Optimized grass post process shader by reducing unnecessary complexity by up to 80%.
  
• Optimized ADS blur with small reductions of constant overhead cost.
  
• Optimized skybox lighting.
  
• Optimized TOW discard effect.
  
• Optimized and fixed some issues with Impostor post process shader (distant trees).
  
• Optimized vehicle smoke generator effects.

• Fixed an issue where the deployment menu would show players as recruits when they actually were not.
  
• Fixed kits in Role Select Menu missing title text.
  
• Fixed names kit names not appearing when mousing over roles in the Quick Role Select panel.
  
• Fixed an issue with all Recruit kits missing ammo and bandages.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Vehicle List in the Command Menu not sorting vehicles correctly by vehicle type/alphabetically.
  
• Fixed an exploit where the MATV engine could be destroyed by small arms when shooting it through the wheel well.
  
• Fixed an issue with the INS BRDM2 having double vehicle wrecks.
  
• Fixed an issue with the INS Spandrel using the RUS Spandrel vehicle wreck.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with incorrect name and description text of Mosin Nagant variants.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the INS Rifleman 06 Mosin Rifle clipping in Role Select menu.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Modern Technical BMP1 using the wrong map and vehicle list icons (both now use Jeep Anti Tank icon).
  
• Team Select Images now change to reflect the biome of the map in play.
  
• Fixed Equippable Rally Point texture not respecting map biome.
  
• Fixed CAF Handheld Rally Point using the wrong texture.
  
• Fixed an issue with FOB Radios appearing in radial build menus.
  
• Fixed an issue with CAF deployable menus where Ammo Crates and Mortars would show up in all menus.
  
• Fixed an issue with CAF Ammo Crates showing duplicate Rearm buttons instead of the Change Kit buttons.
  
• Fixed an issue with mine explosion VFX not correctly displaying at distant LODs.
  
• Fixed an issue with the T62 MBT where hits were not playing impact VFX.
  
• Fixed an issue with GB Rifleman 02 using the wrong material.
  
• Fixed an issue with CAF goggles showing through smoke.
  
• Fixed an issue with the CAF Eotech reticle size being dependent on resolution & mesh UVs causing artifacting.
  
• Fixed more vehicle turrets to no longer make annoying rotation turning audio effects.
  
• Fixed vehicle-launched ATGMs not causing splash damage to infantry.
  
• Fixed vehicle reset menu back button wrong size and position.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Infantry Tutorial where two voiceovers would get triggered at the same time inside the Motherbase.

• Updated Al Basrah Airfield POI to have more detailing and better game flow for Invasion layers. Also expanded the helipad area and moved the radio antenna for improved Helicopter landings.
  
• Updated & Improved the TAA support of dithering post processing shaders used on things like road sides.
  
• Updated the chain-link fence kit - Optimized material use, updated collisions, standardized LODs.
  
• Updated fences and other flat surface objects to use a planar thickness shader to give a better appearance of having thickness.
  
• Fixed a concrete wall used on Narva and other maps which was missing bullet collision.
  
• Al Basrah: Fixed floating roads and fence materials.
  
• Al Basrah: Improved alignment of minimap.
  
• Al Basrah: Fixed log spam caused by texture issue.
  
• Al Basrah Skirmish Layers: Fixed Commander enabled.
  
• Al Basrah, Fallujah, and Kamdesh layers: Fixed blocked vehicle spawners.
  
• Belaya: Fixed invisible player collision at the bunker entrance to the Train Tunnel.
  
• Belaya: Optimized landscape under tunnel.
  
• CAF Belaya AAS v1: Rebalanced vehicles.
  
• CAF Chora RAAS v1: Fixed flipped logi.
  
• CAF Jensens v4: Fixed CAF available on both teams.
  
• CAF Goose Bay AAS v1: Fixed bad spawners.
  
• CAF Goose Bay Skirmish v1: Fixed showing up as RAAS game mode.
  
• CAF GooseBay AAS v1: Switched teams to CAF vs RUS .
  
• CAF Gorodok RAAS v1: Fixed wrong Faction Setups.
  
• Fallujah: Fixed exploitable rock.
  
• Fallujah: Fixed a glass refraction artifact on environment static bus.
  
• Fallujah: Lightened minimap and fixed wrong minimap being used in leveltable.
  
• Fallujah Invasion v2: Fixed flipped INS vehicles
  
• Fallujah Invasion v1,v2,v3: Fixed INS not being able to lean inside their Main protection zone.
  
• Jensen's Range: Fixed z-fighting walls and sidewalks.
  
• Jensen’s Range: Removed blockouts that were causing invisible collisions.
  
• Kokan: Fixed floating and mis-aligned meshes.
  
• Logar AAS v1: Updated the teams to now be RUS vs MEA.
  
• Mestia: Fixed an issue with wall graffiti causing z-fighting.
  
• Skorpo: Fixed mud having a backwards normal map.
  
• Yehorivka: Fixed wrong materials on merged houses and fixed floating bush.
  
• Skorpo Skirmish v1 and AAS v1: Fixed US main base protection zone collision overlapping the water.
  
• Tallil RAAS v1: Set factions to USA vs MEA using Air Assault sub factions (6 heli per team).
  
• Tallil Invasion v3: Moved INS secondary Main Base to be located on the north east edge of the map, in order for it to be out of the combat area.

• Improved the responsiveness of body dragging by doubling the trace size and increasing angle limit. This should allow players to more easily grab bodies and not have them auto-drop as easily.
  
• Updated SU25 Air Strikes to now deal splash damage to light skinned vehicles.
  
• Updated A10 Air Strikes to decrease the impact and explosive base damage and also decreased the explosive radius: base damage within 3 meters, falls off to zero in 10 meters radius. Expected results: 16 direct hits to destroy HAB, 39 splash damage hits to destroy HAB, 8 direct hits to destroy a tank.
  
• Adjusted the ADS camera position of the CAF C7A2 Rifle iron sights.
  
• Adjusted the RUS Kamaz Truck engine hitpoints to be Increased from 600 to 1500.

• Added new Grenade, Frag and UGL explosion effects with better performance and improved visual fidelity.
  
• Updated the Kit Role select mouse-over tooltips to be more descriptive. Tooltips should now always explain why a kit is unavailable, starting with the most restrictive ruleset.
  
• Updated all rifle aimpoint optic shaders: Adjusted reticle size, brightness, and colour, Added improved lens effects, Implemented physically accurate parallax effect. Affects the following aimpoint sights: CAF Eotech, USA/MIL M68, MEA Z-Point, RUS 1p63.
  
• Updated IED phone detonator to improve the look of the phone screen.
  
• SDK: Moved deployable spawners on all layers to a separate sub-folder.