Hello Squaddies,

My name is Jenny, and I am the Server Licensing Manager at OWI. Welcome to the fifth 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.




LiQuid Gaming was created back in June of 2019 by our founding Members, Almtree, Apache1, Budge, and Chase. We created this community to be about the players, to make sure that their voice won't ever be lost and cast away because of the indifference of belief. Since then we have grown upwards of 2400 people in the discord and over 450 LiQ Members and reserves!

We love the fact that we care for over 25000 unique players per month with 47 Admins and moderators on our two public Servers, with a goal to help new players learn the fundamentals of Squad so they will fit in well as they fan out into the world of Squad!

We update our rotations bi-weekly using feedback from the community and try to make every layer as balanced as possible. Our main rule is to Play the Objective! This enables us to make sure you are never far away from any action and the games are always exciting!!

With the launch of V1.0 Liquid Gaming released player tracking of all stats on our website www.liqgaming.com, We track all Kills, Deaths, revives, and TK's! so come and play and then brag to your squadmates about who is the best!

Without our Advisors, Staff, Admins, and Moderators, LiQ would not be one of the top Squad communities and the fun social place it is. We thank all of our volunteers (including greeters) for the hours they put in, across all the games that we run and administer.

Visit us at https://liqgaming.com/discord and for player stats https://liqgaming.com/playerstats

Jenny Notes:

When I joined the server, I saw that one of the liquid members created a squad calling it ‘teaching noob players’. When I joined his squad, he was supporting the new players in his squad, giving them direction and answering questions they had about the game. This was very refreshing to see and experience. I had lots of fun on the server, I would highly recommend giving them a go.




A friendship between our now two “Community project managers” developed while playing Squad, thoughts were exchanged, and an idea evolved: A new community looking for communication and teamplay while maintaining the focus on having fun after a day of work. One of our main goals is recruiting new Squad players and beginners of all backgrounds giving us a chance to expand our community and the Squad community as a whole. With the goal of uniting national and international players under one virtual roof, a continuously developing cooperation with groups such as HMC, SSC, BF, and Time led to the creation and growth of what we may now call our “GSG” community.

First and foremost, the capability of military realism to the extent we want. Naturally, team play, communication, and the development of situational tactics play a defining role in this endeavor. Furthermore, the continuously developing and evolving gameplay and content of Squad has kept us hooked for quite a while.

GSG has a good exchange due to the relatively small partner clans. We have a “beginner-friendly playstyle”, a willingness to help and support new players. With the organized events we provide, the team opens as many Squads as possible to play with new players. We also provide tutorials for “Squad Leading” and other roles to help players develop further.

Discord: https://discord.gg/Cq95cYYMaW

Jenny’s Notes:

When I joined a squad on this server, the squad leaders along with the rest of the players chose to speak English to help me understand what was going on. Although they didn't need to as the server advertises that they are a German-speaking server and I had made the choice to join them. I had a lot of fun on the server and appreciated the support from the team. I highly recommend this server for some games.




Originally, ZSU Gaming was simply known as “Z Special Unit” starting out in Mid 2008 as an ARMA unit with only a handful of players, bearing the namesake of an Australian WWII unit. Eventually, as the membership grew to around 200 people close to 2015, ZSU started to move towards a more community-focused group, and in 2018 after a massive rebrand to "ZSU Gaming" we really started branching into the full-blown server host and gaming community we're known as today - supporting close to 300 players over 3 licensed servers when required and being asked for a 4th and 5th for mods and training servers, whilst also still supporting our roots in ARMA. We also started branching out to other games like Space Engineers, Dead Matter, Dual Universe, R6S, and many others. Now reaching 5600 players and rising within Discord, ZSU Gaming is well established as a leader in Australia for servers and the community spirit that Squad tries to instill in its players.

We think something that the community really enjoys about Squad as compared to other games is its reliance on teamwork, which is one of the pillars of ZSU Gaming. You cannot win by being a Rambo, you need to cooperate with your squad and the wider team to win. That's what originally drew us to Squad in the first place. The Oceanic community centered around Australia is a diverse set of people, something the Americans find hilarious (don't worry yanks, we think your accent is funny too), but we play to win, we play to have fun, and the community has prospered as a result of the determination the staff, community representatives and community members of ZSU Gaming put into the game every single day. We couldn't be more proud of what we've managed to achieve with 1/10 the player base of other regions.

Apart from our community itself, we believe providing the players a great environment by

• Purchasing dedicated top spec server hardware - so the game runs as smoothly as possible for the players on our server.
  
• Developing a custom map selection and voting script - so the players have the say on what they play next based on what hasn't or has played previously.
  
• Our large, collaborative and multicultural admin team - Our team is sourced from the entirety of the ZSU Gaming player base - not just those with our tags. We actively recruit players from other communities, countries, groups, and backgrounds who regularly play on our servers.
  
• Providing our admin team with extra tools and dashboards - so they can see what is happening in-game to a high level of detail and can make informed decisions.

Discord: https://discord.gg/zsu

Jenny’s Notes:

I had lots of fun on this server, the players were very welcoming and focused on playing the game. The community on the server also had a great sense of humor which was relaxing to new players on the server. I highly recommend this server for a visit.

Hey Squaddies!

Welcome to the first edition of our new Quarterly Development Update, where we will be giving our community some insight into how development works behind the scenes. In these updates, we will be exploring recent challenges faced by our development team, provide some insight into our process, and provide a bit of discussion surrounding our priorities. Once you’re done reading this update, feel free to head over to our forums to ask your questions in the discussion thread found here. We will compile the questions and answer as many of them as possible!


During the last few months, the team faced a difficult challenge in finding a resolution for the logistics supply bug. The bug was tied to several other issues including the turret-disappearance bug and the passenger seat bug. This made it difficult to investigate and pin down the root cause.

Through the team's investigations, the team discovered that the bug is a symptom of an overarching engine issue. This issue is caused by the client and server’s GUIDs for certain objects in the world being mismatched upon loading a new level. The issue is unfortunately not completely resolved, but it is less frequent with the mitigation the team has implemented. The team is continuing to investigate new solutions to completely eradicate the bug once and for all.

Several months were used to diagnose the source of the problem, and get an acceptable patch to the player base. The interconnectedness of the issue pushed our timeline far beyond what we expected and we ended up spending most of March diagnosing the source of the problem, then the majority of April testing several different possible solutions.

After several tests, we took a new approach reviewing the engineering side of things. During our testing phase, we were able to find a better solution that significantly reduced the frequency of users experiencing this bug. Thanks to the discovery of some previously hidden settings and testing several different engine changes. We eventually found a new understanding of how the engine caches client GUID values and we have been able to make a significant amount of progress.


As many of you know, another issue several players had been facing within Squad was the Vehicle Mesh bug, which caused the armor of the vehicle to become indestructible. This bug came out of the new functionality we created for armor meshes. The new functionality replaced armor meshes with a newly created component that allows us to decouple the armor rating information and information about the physical material used on the mesh.



Previously, armor rating information was embedded into the physical material, causing numerous headaches for our VFX artists and game designers due to the sheer number of different physical materials needed to represent different armor values. The new component the team has designed has allowed us to move away from the physical materials-based workflow, making it simpler to set up and tune armor values without affecting the VFX and audio used for that armor. This also allows us to extend our methods of armor penetration more easily in the future if need be. Unfortunately, this new system had a bug where the projectile would not use the correct value for penetration, and the fix for the bug would cause a crash while using mods that had custom projectiles. This meant that we needed to disable this change until we could get a solution for the crash in place.


In update 2.9 the Forward Operating Base’s (FOB) Exclusion Radius has been increased back to 400m from 300m. This change is intended to reduce the effectiveness of massed FOBs surrounding an objective, and tone down the spawn point spam meta which is a staple of current public games. The spam meta is where teams use the ability to deploy multiple spawn points in close proximity to the surrounding objective area and this is not aligned with the focus of our game.

We hope the exclusion radius change encourages players to put more emphasis on teamwork when picking locations for their FOB placements. In the future, we are looking at more changes to help mitigate this broader strategic meta, and encourage a wider variety of effective strategies. The goal is to better align Squad’s gameplay more closely with our focus on teamwork, communication, planning, and coordination. This alignment would allow and encourage more often a wider range of strategic options with more effective planning.


In update 2.9 a future change to the HAB proxy radius was mixed with a merge and pushed to the live game an update early. The change makes it so that players can proximity block a spawning unit from an increasing radius with more players, 3 at 30 meters, 4 at 40, and so on until 8 players can block it at 80 meters. We are currently reading the feedback about this change from multiple channels and are actively looking for the right way to fine-tune this change that takes into account all of your feedback. You can read a more detailed post from us on the subject here.


The team has been designing a new feature called the helicopter rotor wash system. It allows for helicopters to affect the environment it comes into contact with. For example, when a helicopter flies over a field of grass, it will flatten the grass as the air is blown down onto it. The system is dynamic, so there is no constant shader cost of the effect unless there is a helicopter with an engine on, within 60m of the ground, and within 700m of your player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1_pp1Wv2qU

Wash can overlap from multiple helicopters, causing vast turbulence between them, with a max of 8 active at a time. The active helicopters sort by distance, opening possibilities for future effects from helicopters, other vehicles, or players.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for your deep interest in everything Squad-related! As a reminder, if you have any questions, please head over to the discussion thread in our forums, found here. We will be reading your questions and aim to answer them over the coming weeks.

As always, you can catch a glimpse of the Squad Roadmap. The roadmap has always been our way of providing the community with transparency, but with that transparency comes the caveat that things we’ve discussed may change.

Offworld Out!

Hey Squaddies!

We wanted to take a moment to address the recent HAB Spawn Proximity Disable Scaling rework, and the feedback we’ve been seeing from our player base on this matter so far. This changed the distance at which a Hab can be proxied by enemies (i.e. the HAB Spawn is considered overrun and becomes unspawnable). It will now scale by the number of enemies in proximity to the Hab. For example:

• 2 soldiers can proximity disable a HAB if they are all positioned within 20m of it.
  
• 8 soldiers can proximity disable a HAB if they are all positioned within 80m of it.
  
• Note: A minimum of 2 players is required to proxy a HAB. The maximum proxy range now scales up to 80m (this was previously fixed always at 30m).

You may have noticed that the v2.9 release notes received an edit after release and were updated to include the above details which, as we mentioned during the recent SquadChat, was originally slated for a possible release in Squad v2.10.

Several weeks ago we had planned a playtest for the reworked FOB Exclusion Radius increase, as well as the reworked HAB Proximity Scaling. As we specifically wanted to test both changes together, this was to be done in a separate playtest which included both changes and was a content sandbox separated from our then-upcoming, now live release of v2.9. The HAB Proximity Scaling was intended to be enabled for that playtest and then temporarily removed before the v2.9 release. This playtest was then canceled due to various technical issues, and FOB Proxy Scaling was to be temporarily reconfigured to be identical to v2.8.

At this point, an accidental merge of the FOB Exclusion Radius content, which still included the HAB Proxy changes, overwrote the correct values and resulted in the overhauled HAB Proximity Scaling being released with v2.9. We did not discover the change had slipped through until after the update had gone live.

This was a mistake in our internal release process, which led to the release of this feature earlier than intended and prior to the desired testing. We apologize for the discrepancy between our previous communications, the v2.9 patch notes, and the reality of what shipped in the update. A hotfix at this time specifically to revert these changes would be quite disruptive, and come with new technical problems of its own. This feature, while released prematurely, is meant to address gameplay mechanics that previously encouraged undesirable in-game behavior - lone wolf tactics being utilized to counter larger combat efforts with a FOB/HAB, and overall game pacing.

We know this is a large meta shift, one that the team has been planning to implement for a long time, and we are in the process of evaluating additional possible tuning. We encourage and appreciate all of your comments on this change, especially related to the way spawns affect the pacing and general battle cohesion. Our team is continuing to review player feedback, and this feedback combined with in-game behavior will help us further fine-tune these changes.

We will update everyone once we have had more time to review our tuning and all of your comments. Please keep the comments coming!

Offworld Out!

Hello squaddies,

Today’s update brings in an urgent server crash fix we have been notified about since the release of V2.9, as well as a couple of fixes for some long-standing client crashes.

See below for complete explanations of these issues, and thanks again to those who submitted server crash logs to help us address these as soon as possible.

Be sure to let us know if you continue to experience any of these issues through our dedicated channels and try clearing your in-game cache if you continue to experience residual issues.

• Fixed the Server Crash related to UB32 Rocket Pod & SPG9 Recoilless Rifle’s backblast.
  
• Fixed a problematic and difficult to reproduce client crash that is related to the Particle System and switching maps. The Particle System was reusing a Particle Emitter Instance from a pool, which is tied to the FX System in the current map world, which was persisting to the new map world after a map change, and then re-using one of these instances from the pool, but the FX System it was created with was no longer valid. There has been an attempt to fix the same (or similar) issue with particle rendering, which essentially iterates all particle systems at the end of the match and force deactivates them. This fix has been extended to also reset the particles, and therefore clear the instance pool which should hopefully fix this assertion failure. As we still do not have proper reproduction steps for this, this is not straightforward to test or be certain the issue is resolved completely. If this issue persists, full crash dump logs are appreciated to investigate the issue further.
  
• Fixed a Client Crash when switching maps, related to the vehicle tire configs. After investigation, the client crash was determined to be caused by a race condition in the Tire Config. Tire Configs are modified on initialization and destruction, however async loading initialization can happen on a separate thread and these functions are not thread-safe. Added locks around access to the Tire Configs array, to ensure it is thread-safe. This should address the fundamental issue causing the crash. Some reports of this crash mention that it was happening specifically while Alt-Tabbed, but this is not conclusive.

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

Welcome squaddies to another edition of The Wrench,

Here we highlight some of the modifications the modding community is working on, and how to find their dedicated community spaces.

With mods now available in the licensed server browser, if you are a server owner and like the look of what there is on offer from the modding community, be sure to sync up with the creators to try and organize an event to help get things popping!

With that said, let's show off these mods!

#Decoding incoming transmission
##DECODING
###PROGRESS

I N F O R M A T I O N _ C L A S S I F I E D
J O I N _ D I S C O R D : https://discord.gg/tGSjRGYKYZ

###ERROR _ UNABLE TO DECODE
##FINALIZING
#End transmission





We are working on releasing a v2 overhaul for the steel division mod rebuilding it from the ground up. We are adding new exciting features for the player base to enjoy.





Hawks RAAS Rework is an overhaul of the RAAS Gamemode, set out with express purpose of making Squad Lanes obsolete. And it accomplishes this.

Redesigned to be both as unpredictable as possible, while also maintaining the sanity of those who play, Hawks RAAS Rework is a hybrid between the olden days of Full Random, and the new-school Laned RAAS.

Without going into too much detail, it allows for jumping between lanes in a newly reorganized setup that makes it impossible to know what the point 2-points ahead will be, even after you dig into the layers and learn all the potential caps.

In addition to this, Hawks RAAS Rework implements a variety of standardized faction setups for each of the existing factions within Squad, and these are reused across all reworked RAAS layers. This allows me to address balance changes quickly and effectively, as well as add new content much quicker as OWI releases more vehicles and more factions.

In addition to the RAAS rework, there are also some extra Territory Control and Invasion layers that aim to fill a niche that didn't already exist, like 24 motorcycles storming Basrah Airport.

What all this allows is for you to enjoy the Squad you know and love, in a more unpredictable, novel, and exciting package.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2442357787





This mod aims to add a realistic representation of the modern Dutch Army, mainly the mechanized infantry, or "Pantser Infanterie". I am not using the NFP stuff.

Discord: https://discord.gg/rktAweGz67





Serbian Armed Forces
The SAF mod is here once again to showcase some sweet new things that have been worked on.

The mod is going to bring the Serbian army into Squad, using a mix of old Yugoslavian era equipment as well as more modern weapon systems. Also coming to the mod will be a more Yugoslav-equipped militia force, using old M53 machine guns, SKS's, and the sort.

In this current showcase are the M79 osa anti-tank rocket launcher, some miscellaneous ammunition crates, and an old M59/85 helmet. There is a lot more stuff on the discord server as well.

Discord: https://discord.gg/prKRvP46Aa





Gradac is a 6.5x6.5km (42km²) map, but the playable area is slightly smaller than that. It features a large city near a coastline, a 2.3km long racetrack, several villages, dense forests, military installations, and scattered farming compounds. Gradac will have ~10 villages & the city. The city itself is slightly smaller than Narva and features multiple unique POIs, such as a Hospital, a Construction Site, Industrial District, Urban and Suburban areas.

Currently, it is a work in progress, with the city only having buildings placed, mostly without fences or detailing in the backyards. The villages don’t have much of anything yet. Still, the overall road and forest layout are complete. Playtesting should begin soon™. If you’re interested in joining in on the playtests, following the map’s development more closely, or want to ask questions, join the discord - https://discord.gg/F6pRvdexPt





The VDV sub-faction project aims to bring the Russian Airborne Forces to Squad, as a RedFor equivalent to the upcoming USMC.





Taking lessons learned from previous projects and then completely ignoring them, "Waterlogged" (working title) is a map set in a fictional European mountain pass of strategic importance. The map will feature snow-capped peaks as the backdrop to a lush valley containing dense forests, treacherous swamps and mires, villages and farms, flooded barracks, and dangerous cliff-side roads snaking their way to hilltop camps and outposts. The map is still in the early stages so may take some time before it's in a playable state, but it's slowly getting there.





Priviet Comrade, welcome to Zavod 34 a top secret russian factory town used to produce any armed goods mother russia has to offer.
There is just some minor disturbance here: Foreign forces keep attacking Zavod 34.
Zavod 34 is a small-scale Map with one goal in mind: CQB Action.
The Map has an altered Version of Skirmish (No Vehicles!) and features its own "Team Deathmatch" mode!

Team Deathmatch Settings:
- No Flags to capture
- No Vehicles
- 3 Ammo Boxes per Team on the Map
- 5 Seconds Respawn
- Random respawn around the Map
- Team with at least some Tickets remaining wins

Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2506289822





REBORN is a zombies vs humans PVP mod. Humans start with one life at the beginning of the round and are slowly infected by zombies, turning into an unstoppable horde.

REBORN features 6 modes, including a Super FOB Last Stand mode, Vehicle Escort mode, Extraction mode, and more, on 14 maps and over 60 layers- including 6 custom maps only available in REBORN.

Players have access to a variety of weapons and loadouts to help survive, as well as customized deployables. On night layers, humans have access to tools like glowsticks, flashlights, and night vision.

Humans aren't the only ones using teamwork! Zombies have 6 custom classes to work together to infect the humans.

The mod is in active development, with regular updates. Come join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/89A2a4k63R





Today we are back again with more content to showcase for you guys out there.

We are getting closer and closer to a playtest state and as we said before, we plan to have the mod ready to play by the end of this year.

Today we got 5 new models to showcase for you guys, 2 of them will only be available on our discord and website, so be sure to go check it out.

Discord Link: https://discord.gg/ucXhXEKcaT
Website Link: http://squadbrazil.rf.gd





Hello Wrench readers, Squad: Vietnam is back and this time we have GunTrucks!

We’ve been fleshing out our vehicle pool adding the M131 MUTT, M35 truck, Honda SS50, and yes the M35 Guntruck. The individual customizations that were so Iconic to the Vietnam War have always been in the minds of our team with small details being added from cigarette cartons to graffiti. It only seems right to include the ultimate customization that US soldiers in Vietnam made. The Guntrucks were custom built with many sporting colorful graffiti and various armaments and ours are no different. Praise the Sphere!

We’ll have more for you very soon with our Huey Helicopter and Vietcong character models expected to be completed shortly.

Please head on over to our discord for any questions and for progress updates.

Discord: https://discord.gg/2Z42SbY9jV





We have made good progress on the achievement of the French soldiers of the 2020 faction, here are some examples. We are also working on producing soldiers for the 2010 faction who will have different equipment.

Discord: https://discord.gg/ZCCYEFx

Website: https://smf.tactical-collective.com/

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2198088821





SATCOM is an in-development mod that offers a new game mode. The commander is given access to a RTS-style top-down camera and can build base buildings, automated base defenses, vehicles, give units orders, and order offensive strikes. Teams can collect construction and ammo resources around the map. You can win by destroying the enemy headquarters or breaching it and destroying its SATCOM control terminal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc85u1bwa2k

We're trying to make the swiss a playable faction in Squad. We're not many still lacking helping hands but one of us managed to make an early soldier model. Sadly there isn't much more to say at this stage. The rifle is undergoing texturing work and animation work, vehicles are being worked on etc, but with the year we all had progress has been slow.

Hello squaddies,

Today brings the v2.9 Update for Squad containing a slew of gameplay updates and bug fixes aimed at improving your overall experience while playing Squad.

If you missed our latest SquadChat from Friday 25th June where we discuss some of the changes in this update plus future updates that we hope to make, you can check that out here.

If you like what you see, remember that Squad is 25% off during the Steam Summer Sale until the 8th of July.

EDIT: At the time of original posting, the recent HAB Proximity changes were not documented within the release notes, this has been rectified and we will be closely monitoring community feedback in regards to the meta changes this gameplay update brings.

• Updated the vehicle ammo rack components mechanic:
  
  Designer’s Note: This is mainly a quality of life and UI/UX rework for this component, this is not anticipated to greatly weaken or strengthen vehicle dynamics as it relates to this vehicle component in engagements.
  
  
• An ammo rack will now be set on fire/cookoff when the health of the component falls to 0 HP, instead of the previous 30% HP.
  
• After reaching 0% HP, the ammo rack will no longer be repairable by any means (This is intended to disincentivize player behavior of vehicles camping at repair stations to avoid destruction).
  
• When the ammo rack is on fire & cooking off, the component health indicator on the driver's UI will start blinking red, notifying the driver of imminent destruction. The SFX of rounds being cooked off will still be present, as another indication of the ammo rack component being destroyed.
  
• A burning ammo rack no longer deals damage directly to the vehicle hull, but instead starts a timer counting down to detonation. This ensures the VFX gets a chance to play without being immediately interrupted by the vehicle exploding when it reaches 0 HP.
  
• The amount of time needed for the ammo rack to burn out and detonate is randomized between 15 and 30 seconds.
  
• Disabled the ability to cause instant detonation of the ammo rack by over damage (i.e. tank AP sabot round previously was causing instant detonation & vehicle kill on IFVs ammo racks, which no longer will be possible)
  
  Designer's note: the intention here is to reduce the frequency of one-shot kills, and to give players on the receiving end a clear understanding of why their vehicle was destroyed so fast. This will also increase the survivability of infantry transported in APCs and IFVs, as they will have time to dismount.
  
  
• On ammo rack destruction & start of ammo cookoff, the vehicle will now lose most of its large-caliber ammunition.
  
• Tanks will lose all ammunition for all main gunner weapons, except for the one currently loaded in the main gun, and the coaxial machine gun.
  
• IFVs will lose all ammunition for all main gunner weapons except the coaxial machine gun. The only exception is BMP-1, which will act the same way as tanks.
  
• Damage modifiers on the ammo racks were tuned to give more reward for precisely aimed shots, especially with LATs, HATs, and ATGMs.
  
  Designer's note: Vehicles have different armor values on different parts, which will affect the amount of post-penetration damage done to internal components when shooting from different angles.
  All of these changes mean that the visual and audio effects will be more often perceptible when a vehicle has been ammo-racked, rather than skipping to near-instantaneous destruction. However, if a vehicle’s hull reaches 0 HP while the ammo rack is cooking off, the vehicle will still instantly explode.
  
  
• Overhauled the ammo rack component code, allowing for more related features to be potentially implemented by developers or modders in the future (i.e. ammo rack that doesn't kill the vehicle on cook-off but makes it lose all the ammo, and applying certain amount of burning damage without violent detonation, simulating the effect of blow-out panels and wet covers on the ammo racks).
  
• Updated the FOB Exclusion Radius, this has been increased back to 400m (from 300m).
  This change is intended to reduce the effectiveness of massed FOBs/HABs surrounding an objective, and tone down the FOB spam meta which currently exists.
  
  Designer’s Note: We recognize that the ability to deploy multiple FOBs/HABs in close proximity to the surrounding objective area should not be the primary means to take control of an objective, and will be looking at more changes in the future to help mitigate this broader strategic meta, and encourage a wider variety of effective strategies. We want to align this part of Squad gameplay more closely with Squad’s focus on teamwork, communication, planning & coordination, to allow and encourage more often wider strategic options and effective planning.
  
  
• Reworked HAB Proximity Scaling. The distance at which a HAB can be proxied by enemies (i.e. the HAB is considered overrun and becomes unspawnable) will scale by the number of enemies in proximity to the HAB. For example:
  
  -2 soldiers can proximity disable a HAB if they are all positioned within 20m of it.
  -8 soldiers can proximity disable a HAB if they are all positioned within 80m of it.
  
  
• Note: A minimum of 2 players is required to proxy a HAB. The maximum proxy range now scales up to 80m (this was previously fixed always at 30m).
  
  Designer’s Note: This is intended to reward a cohesive Squad that works together with each other while attacking an enemy HAB. It is intended to give an advantage to a team which is organized and has a plan to execute decisive tactics. It’s intended to give less advantage to players who attack independently, without planning, and attack one by one.
  
  This is also intended to incentivize FOB and HAB placement further from the frontlines, and to devalue and decrease the prevalence of the spawn-wave mentality.
  
  The HAB proximity disable system is static in the live game, with 2+ players within a 30 meter radius disabling a HAB. It’s often observed that when a friendly is seen dying close to a HAB on the minimap, the expected & effective tactic is for the team to quickly spawn on the HAB with enemies just outside, with full knowledge of which direction they are coming from because they had just seen a friendly killed by them. Giving up and quickly respawning with the enemy right next to you is not a tactic that we want to incentivize or reward.
  
  The mindset of “Give up, spawn at HAB” is something that has been noted in the existing meta that is often forced on both the attacking and defending teams as the optimal way to play. This is not intentional, and we believe it undermines our efforts to make Squad about Teamwork, Coordination, Communication, & Friendly Communities. We hope this new change will help to avoid needlessly rewarding players for moving recklessly and alone.
  
  We’ll be monitoring community feedback on these important changes.
  
  
• Updated falling damage and burning damage to no longer cause the player to begin bleeding. The intent is to prevent minor falls from requiring bandage use, costing the player a valuable consumable. This is part of a larger upcoming overhaul of soldier locomotion involving stamina drain, jumping, leaning, etc.
  
• Updated all Armoured Car RWS turrets to now have a collision mesh which will take component damage from projectiles. Armored Car variants with RWS turrets include: RUS Tigr Arbalet Kord, USA MATV CROWS M2 / M240 variants, CAF TAPV CROWS M2 / C6 variants.
  
• Updated Admin Access Levels bit flags. This is a small optimization and should make the checks on access rights a lot faster. It does not affect the functionality of Admin Access Levels on servers.
  
• Updated the Server Browser to add a new reconnect button prompt. This will appear in the Server Browser after a player gets disconnected from a server.
  
• Updated when a player creates a Squad to now be logged in the server log file. This is an admin quality of life improvement and part of our ongoing effort to support server admins with better monitoring tools.
  
• Updated the list of names in the IED Phone. Thanks go to all our Community Play Testers, Wiki editors, and all other dedicated testers that have helped us uncover bugs. You may recognize a few of the names next time you're dialing your IED Phone. These dedicated community members have been consistently turning up to report bugs and help us test!
  
• Optimized the following vehicles by switching to the new turret movement component: RUS/MIL BTR80 APC, RUS Tigr RWS, RUS/MIL MTLB with PKT turret, RUS/MIL MTLB with NSVD turret, MIL MTLB 6MB. All other vehicles are already using this new turret movement component since v2.0. This new turret component is intended to improve overall vehicle network performance.
  
• Optimized grass shaders with improved wind math on foliage, and improved the grass normals and shading.
  
• Adjusted M68 and Z-Point red dot reticles to be smaller and brighter. This should make it easier to line up accurate shots with these reticles without obscuring the target.
  
• Adjusted Transport/Logistics Truck’s and Technical’s engine component armor thickness, reduced from 3mm to 2mm, so now they can be damaged reliably with small arms.
  
• Adjusted INS/MIL/MEA machine gun shields armour thickness. All shields and guns now have 10mm armor.
  
• Adjusted the rail on the G3 Rifle’s ZF Optic mount to include the proper hollowed out hole, so in the future the iron sights could be seen thru the rail to support potential backup iron sights.

• Fixed an issue with players getting disconnected on map change with a "Server is full" error message. The issue would occur when, upon reconnecting after a map switch, the player reached the pre-login stage but had not successfully completed the login, and would lose connection during this time. The player would be removed from the reconnection cache but they would still remain in the pending players list and take up a slot until this connection timed out (InitialConnectTimeout), even though they would never be able to reconnect in this way if the connection had been broken.
  
• The player should now be correctly removed from the pending players list if they disconnect during the connection process.
  
• If the player does not reach the pre-login stage of connection, the player will remain in the reconnection cache and will retain the server slot until the reconnection timeout (default 60s).
  
• If the player does reach pre-login, they will be removed from the reconnection cache and added to the pending players. If the player loses connection during this process they will be removed from pending players and the server slot will be freed instantly.
  
• Fixed a problem with the way steam encrypted app tickets were being sent to EAC. This should improve overall stability around EAC authentication, potentially reducing mass disconnects.
  
• Fixed & improved the error popup coverage for various network errors, where previously the Player would be sent back to the main menu with no popup message.
  
• Fixed an issue with the FOB request map marker not being auto-deleted when a new FOB was built within its relevant area. This functionality was previously lost during an engine upgrade. Now if a friendly FOB gets placed inside the FOB request icon’s radius, it will be correctly auto-deleted.
  
• Fixed an issue with logistics vehicles, wherein certain scenarios the vehicle’s ammo supply points would be reset to 50% of the total vehicle supply capacity when a player rearmed directly from the vehicle.
  
• Fixed an issue with the USA M249 SAW M68 Aimpoint variant having an incorrect weapon zero, the zero is now set correctly to 100m (previously was labelled as 100m but was shooting high to 300m).
  
• Fixed an issue with the Shielded DShK Tripod mesh, where the shield was not visible. This issue started in v2.8.
  
• Adjusted the turret skeletal mesh position on the following vehicles: MIL/INS BMP1 IFV, USA M1A2 MBT, GB FV4034 MBT, CAF Leo2 MBT, RUS T72B3 MBT.
  
• Fixed Mesh Decal Projection Bleed.
  
• Attempted fix for an issue with HE Autocannon explosions incorrectly showing up as UGL explosions on certain surfaces.
  
• Fixed an issue with closed turret vehicles turret collision hitting desynced colliders on client-side.
  
• Fixed an issue with the CAF LAV6 IFV which was incorrectly using the M1126 APC armor values instead of the stronger LAV6 IFV armor values, this issue started in v2.7.
  
• Fixed an issue with the GB FV4034 MBT which had missing effects when the ammo rack component was in a critical low health state and burning.
  
• Fixed an issue with the CAF LAV6 IFV where the gunner could shoot and damage their own vehicle. The gunner’s turret pitch curve was adjusted so that the barrel stays above the collision on the right front side of the vehicle.
  
• Fixed an issue with the INS Modern Technical Transport, which was using a Logi map icon instead of the correct Transport map icon.
  
• Fixed an issue with the INS Modern Technical Logi which had the player collision clipping through the roof.
  
• Fixed an issue with certain Closed Turret Jeeps map icons (BRDM2, LPPV RWS, TAPV M2), which were being displayed incorrectly as Open Turret Jeeps. The map icon should now correctly display these vehicles as Closed Turret Jeeps.
  
• Fixed an issue with the RUS Tigr RWS being displayed on the vehicle list incorrectly as an Open Turret Jeep. The icon should now correctly display on the vehicle list as a Closed Turret Jeep.
  
• Fixed an issue with the wrecks of BTR80 & BTR82A APC's which were casting to the VehicleClosedTop CPP instead of BTR80.
  
• Fixed an issue with AT mines not respecting the maximum placed limit for each kit (currently 10). Land Mines will now remove the oldest placed mine when placing a new mine over the limit (10).
  
• Fixed some issues with wreck meshes for the following vehicles: M1A2, T72B3, FV520 CTAS.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the INS/MIL T62 MBT turret wreck falling through the vehicle when the vehicle was destroyed.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the CAF TAPV Armoured Car where the displayed names on the UI were not reflecting the different TAPV variants.
  
• Fixed a minor visual issue with the CAF TAPV C6 Desert Armored Car, which when switching to smoke launchers, the gun model would visually swap to the M2 variant and would also swap to the woodland camo for the turret mount.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the USA M1A2 MBT, which was missing its turret wreck when the vehicle was destroyed.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the debug function CanDriverSwitchTo3rdPerson which caused a flood of warning messages.
  
• Fixed a minor issue related to the ban log which caused a flood of redundant debug error messages in the log.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with GB FV432 APC where the collision mesh had a material with no triangles assigned.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the RUS/MIL BTR80 & BTR82A APC, the turret wreck was offset and sometimes glitching inside the wreck of the main hull.
  
• Fixed a minor visual issue with the CAF LAV6 IFV where a small part of the mesh from the turret base was floating under the vehicle.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the USA BFV IFV’s turret wreck, whereupon destruction of the turret would fall through the vehicle body.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with Admin Cam where a Player who is actively using Admin Cam could be sent to the ragdoll state by a vehicle if the vehicle runs over the location of the Player's hidden unpossessed solder.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with missing faces on the SKS PU Rifle scope while ADS.
  
• Fixed a minor issue on the Main Menu Entry Map, where the soldier LOD transition distances were incorrect and resulted in the soldiers looking very low-poly at close range.
  
• Fixed a minor issue on the Infantry Tutorial where some remaining soldiers had bad LOD transition distances, resulting in the soldier models looking low poly at close range.

• Added 5 new map layers: Mutaha Invasion v2, CAF Al Basrah Invasion v3, CAF Narva Invasion v1, CAF Mutaha Invasion v1, and CAF Yehorivka RAAS v2. Also updated the server config to add those new maps.
  
• Mutaha Invasion v2 is a clone of Mutaha Invasion v1, but with Midday lighting instead of Night lighting.
  
• Fixed an issue with the following 3 new map layers not being listed on the default server config:
  -Kokan_AAS_v2
  -Sumari_AAS_v2
  -CAF_GooseBay_AAS_v2
  
• Updated Tallil Outskirts Soviet Air Base POI: 3 of the Soviet tube air hangars are now updated with two new entrances and additional props.
  
• Updated Tallil Outskirts bomb craters to be more smoothed out.
  
• Updated the lighting on Al Basrah Invasion v1 (Sunset lighting layer), replacing the HDRI and adjusting lighting for a more realistic look.
  
• Adjusted most Invasion map layer vehicle timer initial delays so Attacker’s have better odds on the first objective. Increased the initial delay for Defender’s MBTs & Mobile ATGMs to 15min (some 20min), and IFVs to 10min.
  
• Adjusted Skorpo Invasion v1 map layer balance to give Attackers better odds of winning. Moved the Militia initial forward spawn point from the Fish Oil Factory to Vaagen Beach. Replaced Militia Spandrel and BMP1 with Technical SPG9 and Technical UB32.
  
• Adjusted vehicle balance on Chora AAS v2 - USA with 2x M1126 APC & 2x MATV versus RUS with 1 BTR82A, 1x BTR80, 1x Tigr.
  
• Adjusted Kamdesh RAAS v4 vehicle balance, removed MEA Simir Kornet Mobile ATGM.
  
• Fixed an issue on Yehorivka Zolota Hillside Bunker POI, the bunkers had an opening where players could access under map.
  
• Fixed an issue on Fallujah RAAS v2 where GB team’s transport truck did not spawn when it should have.
  
• Fixed an issue on Sumari where there was an invisible collision above Souk.
  
• Fixed several issues on Fallujah: Prevented FOB Radio placement behind the grates in the sewers; Fixed floating road splines near the Crash Site POI; Removed duplicate building at Crossroads.
  
• Fixed an issue with Physmats on plaster materials.
  
• Fixed an issue with several Map Loading Screens which were using older Full HD images which did not have the best quality rendering settings for the image.
  
• Fixed an issue on Fallujah Skirmish v2 with the northern out of bounds not being lined up with the road edge.
  
• Fixed some visual errors on the Yehorivka minimap.
  
• Fixed various issues on Fallujah with some floating and clipped objects.
  
• Fixed an issue on the Al Basrah Refinery POI where a Warehouse building had a very small unintended exploitable gap in the wall; this gap has now been closed.
  
• Fixed an issue on the Belaya Tunnel POI where an invisible collision existed at the tunnel entrance due to a landscape visibility mask.
  
• Fixed an issue on Yehorivka AAS v2 where both teams’ IFVs were incorrectly delayed by 20min, now correctly set to 15min.
  
• Fixed an issue on Sumari AAS v2 where the Checkpoint POI map name was offset from the actual capture zone.
  
• Fixed a minor issue on Manic-5 with a floating rock.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with a static mesh having missing faces; the end of the wooden beams on a slanted damaged village house roof could be seen through.

• Updated the file names of Layer Overhaul delay data assets to include the time of initial delay in the file name instead of using “Short”, “Long”, “Very Long”, etc.
  
• Removed the combined stairs from Skorpo Fish Oil Factory Building, since this was an unfinished asset.
  
• Restored the original version of the Aircraft Hangar Bunker Tube and converted the new version with the side door to be an alternative version.
  
• Removed yeho_compound_v2 merged static due to physx errors. Due to prior issues, this asset has already been replaced with a BP variant, so this is just a cleanup to remove the error.

• If you are experiencing issues, be sure to go to Settings -> “CLEAR CACHE” after updating.
  /list]
  
  Known Issues
  • 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. 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 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.

The Steam Summer Sale has begun!

Pick up Squad today for you or a friend for 25% off or complete your OWI Collection with the Tactical Shooter Experience bundle containing both Squad and Beyond The Wire

Offer ends 8th July

Thanks to everyone for their submission on the {LINK REMOVED}form we issued on our socials yesterday, we are still accepting your feedback but as a heads-up we have had a lot of internal discussions and while monitoring the feedback from players, server owners and the modding community OWI have made the decision to re-open mods back into the licensed server browser indefinitely.

The same caveats from Phase 1 of the Open Modding event still apply: If we notice a major disruption to Squad we will pause the ability for mods to appear in the default browser.

Our intention here is to provide more ownership and collaboration to server owners and modders in working together to help provide the different experiences they are facilitating.

Thanks go out to all the server owners, players, and dedicated modding teams that made this event possible! We’ve had a very successful open modding event during the last week!

At this time we are coming to the scheduled end of the open modding event. Instead of ending today, we're extending the open modding to next Monday June 7th so we all get one more weekend of modded fun together.

We ask that all licensed servers remove any non-whitelisted mods by Monday 7th June at 12:00PM GMT.

Before we start lifting restrictions on mods in general, there are a number of issues on our end that need to be addressed, including the following:

• Stability issues relating to mod versioning.
  
• An infinite Loading Screen issue that affects mods with custom factions.
  
• An issue where, after downloading a mod through the game client, the game must be restarted in order to access any map layers which come with the mod.
  
• An issue where installed mods cannot be updated properly through the game client.

These were mostly known issues, and this test run gave us an idea of what to expect when we open the floodgates for the real thing. We are currently investigating these issues.

The team is very passionate about revisiting another testing phase for modding, followed by another open modding event once the most serious issues have been resolved.

We want to thank everyone for the time and passion in making this phase of the open modding event a success, we couldn't have done it without you all :)

Our team has been going over the analytics we have available to us throughout the event and we aim to provide a breakdown of what we learned and discovered from this event and will also be issuing a survey to gauge player feedback from the event. I will share the link once it has been finalized.

Lastly, please note that as this open modding event comes to an end (for now), that does not mean that mods are no longer playable in Squad! Several servers running mods can be found in the Custom server browser, and there are often events scheduled by their respective communities on their social channels. If you like a particular mod, join their communities to keep track of their progress while we work on the necessary improvements on our end.

Good day squaddies,

Over the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed that we have allowed some licensed servers to run modifications as part of their server license; you may even have joined them a couple of times to see what was going on. These tests were part of a testing phase to see what kind of effect this may have if we were to open this for all licensed servers.

Today we will see that test taken to a new limit by allowing all current server license holders to apply modifications to their server so their communities can experience a whole new side to Squad.

For too long now, the modding community’s efforts have been relegated to the Custom Server Browser or had to go through an arduous process to receive whitelisting to allow their mods to be run within the main server browser. As Squad itself is the spiritual successor to a mod project, it hasn’t sat well with parts of the team that modifications would be restricted in this manner. So, we’re going all out and allowing the server owners to freely pick which modifications they may like to play within their servers.

The Open Modding Event - Phase 1 is planned to run from 10am - 26th May 2021 until 2nd June 2021, though if we see an unexpected technical outcome, we may have to close the event prematurely. If this does occur, we will inform you as soon as possible.

To ensure you can see which servers are running a modification, make sure you have enabled the “Show Modded Servers” filter when in the server browser. This will show a Wrench icon next to the server name to inform you that the server is running a modification. If you select a server and do not have the required mod, this should download in the background before allowing you to enter. However, it is strongly advised to visit the Steam Workshop pages of any mods you have tried for complete information and ways for you to feedback to these modding teams to let them know what you think of their work so far.

Following the event, we will be issuing a survey to gather your feedback but make sure you are also following our Squad socials throughout the week as we will be showcasing some of the mods and perhaps which servers are running them at the time.

Before we sign off, there are two Known Issues that people should be aware of:

1. Infinite loading animation (running man) when joining a round:
   This happens when a mod is downloaded in-game, and the player immediately joins a server running the mod with a layer that's using a custom faction setup. The player just needs to restart their game once, and this will resolve the issue for future launches of the game.
   
2. "File Mismatch" bug after mod update:
   This bug happens when a player has an out-of-date version of a mod installed and attempts to join a server using the newer version of the mod. They will be prompted to download the update via in-game but will continue to see a 'file mismatch' message when they attempt to join. For this one, the player must unsubscribe and resubscribe to the mod via the Steam workshop or verify their game files via Steam. The 'File mismatch' error can also be displayed legitimately when a player has a newer version of a mod, but the server runs an older version. In this case, the server requires updating and restarting

A big thank you to the servers that ran as part of the initial testing run, and we look forward to hearing from you all about your new Squad experiences with mods.

• Fixed the Vehicle armor penetration issue.
  
• Fixed bans issued in-game not persisting after map switch.
  
• Fixed a server crash when banning a player via RCON.
  
• Fixed an issue with Ammo Bags and other equipable deployables not having its ghost update state working correctly (displaying green when it should display red) and having the placement error message failing to appear.
  
• Fixed an issue with BMP1 and BMP2 Armor Mesh, removing a material that had no triangles assigned to it.
  
• Adjusted format of the admin name in bans entry, to include both admin's name & admin's steamid.