Jan 13, 2022

Squad - OWI_Wedge

Hello Squaddies,

It’s Jenny here, the Server Licensing Manager at Offworld Industries, with another Server Spotlight. Now you might be asking yourself what exactly is a Server Spotlight, well this is a chance for me to highlight some of the great community run Servers that help provide amazing experience for Squad players from around the world! Hopefully after reading about some of these great servers, you’ll want to check them out for your next game!

Whether they are old or new, it's always good to highlight the fantastic stuff our established Server Owners are doing every day.

Enclave

Started with the community in mind, Enclave is a Server that wants to ensure that their players can voice their opinions and be heard! Here player opinions can directly influence gameplay. From the start, the Enclave community has grown through the influence of its members. The server staff welcome all types of players from any background, experienced players, new players, and those all the way throughout that spectrum, giving them a chance to enjoy the game and to be part of the Enclave community.

Link: Discord (URL Link)

Jenny's Notes: I recently visited this server and thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent there. The atmosphere is welcoming and engaging, while the admins continue to support their players within their community. I did join one of the admins’ squad and they clearly explained to their squad what they will be doing and offered support to new players. I highly recommend visiting this server, just to hear Commander Bear's Helicopter speech, which is as fun as it is informative.

BaD: Broken as Designed

With experience over the years in various online gaming communities - the team behind the BaD: Broken as Designed Server have been involved in many great organizations. Wanting to build one that could really last the test of time they built from their collective experiences, apply the good, and create a welcoming space for all. [BaD]'s primary goal, their only goal really, is to serve as a place for folks to gather, be themselves, and play games.

The team at BaD hope that their name, "Broken as Designed", conveys the nature of their community. Perhaps a little more relaxed than true "mil-sim" (as an example, they do not have ranks and all of their members are equal). Perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek. Plus, being competitive at heart, they find that it's always fun winning while having "bad" in their tags.

Link: http://www.brokendiscord.com

Jenny's Notes: I really enjoyed this server, while I was on it the admins jumped into squads supporting new players. Helping the newer players they explained how to use their mics and how to type while in the game. All of the players were very engaged in the game with admins and experienced members from this community working alongside new players. I highly recommend visiting this server.

The 8th Infantry 'The Fighting Eagles' [8.FE]

Created in Jun 2019, this community was started by two friends who had very quickly grown to love the game of Squad!

The pair met many new people through playing the game and their time in Squad reached a point where it became more than just friends playing together and morphed into a tight knit community that aims to attract players with a compelling playstyle, camaraderie, and the server community’s ability to play the game in a serious manner while also having fun. Before the friends knew it, they had gained enough members to warrant giving their community a name! Wanting to honour the US 8th Infantry Division ‘Pathfinders’ they chose the server’s name.

On The 8th Infantry everyone has a part to play, there are so many ways to play the game and in so many other games teamwork is an option that is not always necessary. In Squad your shooting ability is not everything, A good medic supporting his squad is more important to the team than a great marksman any day.

The team behind the [8 FE] server also enjoy the Squad clan community as a whole, priding themselves on having good relations with fellow clans and communities as well as participating in squad community events.

The Eagles are a mix of young and old, serving and non-serving, all races, creeds and religions, experienced players and people who have just bought the game.

What makes this community amazing is their sense of family, they believe in looking after their own, their community is a place of betterment, encouragement and enjoyment, Not just in Squad but in all walks of life.

The admin team commits to seeding every Thursday and Sunday, with a good mix of time zones across North America & Europe.

Link: Discord (LINK URL)

Jenny's Notes: I had lots of fun on this server, I received a nice warm welcome and joined a squad with one of the members. They focus on supporting new players on their server, giving them assistance to teach them on how to play the game in a way that works for their server. I saw the admins act professionally while dealing with any issues that occurred during my visit. I would highly recommend joining this server for a few games!

Dec 27, 2021

Squad's 2021 In Review

Squad - OWI_Wedge

Hello Squaddies,

2021 has been quite the difficult year. Here at Offworld, we had certainly hoped to accomplish more. We’ve touched on this with you all previously, but we wanted to share some final thoughts and a recap with our amazing playerbase as we prepare for the holiday break…

We started strongly with the release of V2.0 at the start of the year. This update included a number of significant changes to Squad including a significant Map Layer Overhaul which was similar in scope to an engine update, new content for your favourite factions, balance and gameplay changes, and long-awaited improvements to the Helicopter flight model. Also included was a new map based in Canada’s Goose Bay. For a full list of what we delivered with V2.0 see our launch blog [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/02/24/squad-update-v2-0/]URL Link[/url]].

As is the case in game development nothing ever goes quite to plan and within a week we had identified and addressed a number of critical issues which were fixed with the V2.3 Hotfix [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/03/04/squad-update-v2-3/]URL Link[/url]]. We would address more issues, and make some gameplay improvements with the V2.4 Update a few weeks later [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/03/25/squad-update-v2-4/]URL Link[/url]]. The V2.4.1 Hotfix would arrive the next week with more fixes.

By the middle of April we had another significant update to Squad with V2.5 containing more bug fixes for V2.0 but also new replay functionality, allowing players to relive their most exciting moments from Squad. V2.5 came with a number of other updates, which are worth going over in its launch blog [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/04/14/squad-update-v2-5/]LINK URL[/url]]. A few days later we addressed player concerns over the ability to abuse the client-side “demo recording” functionality to expose enemy positions during gameplay with the V2.6 Update [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/04/17/squad-hotfix-v2-6/]LINK URL[/url]].

Also in April the JoinSquad forums returned after being offline. If you have not had a chance to do it please register for the forums as it’s a great place to chat with your fellow players about the game. We’ll be utilizing our forums even more in the new year, so we hope to see you all there! [[url=https://forums.joinsquad.com/]LINK URL[/url]]

The team continued to improve gameplay, and address outstanding issues in May’s V2.7 Update [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/05/13/squad-update-v2-7/]LINK URL[/url]]. Unfortunately that build had more issues than normal and so the team refocused again releasing the V2.8 Update shortly afterwards [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/05/19/squad-update-v2-8/]LINK URL[/url]].

While we had done extensive work providing gameplay updates and focusing on addressing technical debt in Squad, by that point in the year the team realized that players were anxious for more content. With our emphasis for new content on Amphibious we realized that we would likely not have anything out in a timely manner. Thus knowing about the great work our Mod Community was doing with Squad we ran the Open Modding Event with the aim of increasing usage of mods within the player base as well as allowing Licensed Servers to support mods. This Open Modding Event started in May and ran through the first week of June [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/05/26/open-modding-event-phase-1/]LINK URL[/url]]. There was some technical work that we had to do on Squad behind the scenes to best support mods, and ensure that a mod would not have the ability to prevent players from even being able to run the game but we were glad to be able to provide this new support to our modding community, and let more players access mods on a greater variety of servers.

Near the end of June we began to hold playtests for what would become the start of the V2.12 Update that is currently in progress. With a significant overhaul to how lighting and shadows work in Squad the update touches on a great number of aspects of the game and has proven harder than we anticipated to release due to how much of the game the Shadows and Lighting overhaul impacts..

June also saw the release of Squad V2.9 containing a slew of gameplay updates and bug fixes aimed at improving your overall experience while playing Squad [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/06/28/squad-update-v2-9/]LINK URL[/url]]. V2.10 was released in the first week of July to address some issues that stemmed from the release of V2.9 [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/07/07/squad-update-v2-10/]LINK URL[/url]].

In August the Squad team released V2.11 with changes to spawn mechanics at HABs/FOBs, and a number of quality of life changes, including Saveable Keybinds, and most importantly the new map Anvil which was originally developed by Midnight Interactive for the Australian faction [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/08/18/squad-update-v2-11/]LINK URL[/url]].

We understand that players are keen for the Australian faction to come to Squad. When we purchased it from Midnight Interactive it became apparent that significant additional work was needed. We have to ensure that the faction works with the improvements made by the dev team during layer overhaul as well as improvements and fixes made to the game engine. With other priorities being the focus of the Squad team we have not had the opportunity to dig into the bulk of the work to complete the faction and bring it up to releasable standard.

In September we resumed testing for the V2.12 Update, which also features gameplay improvements alongside the lighting and shadow upgrades [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/09/29/squad-playtest-this-weekend/]LINK URL[/url]]. Given the technical issues that we have had with other releases, and the wide ranging changes in V2.12 we are being cautious with the release, striving to ensure that it is rigorously tested before it’s release. We have already pushed it back after running into technical issues with the update, but now barring any further issues being discovered during the Playtest sessions we aim to release it in the first part of 2022.

In October we had the first Squad Developer Q&A and took questions on our forums [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/10/29/october-squad-developer-qa/]LINK URL[/url]]. It’s part of a renewed focus on open two way communication between us as developers of Squad and you the players. Your feedback is always welcome, and in fact has been extremely helpful throughout the history of Squad’s development and the lessons that we took from the Q&A [[url=https://joinsquad.com/2021/11/25/learnings-from-our-first-qa/]LINK URL[/url]] will help guide us as we go forward into 2022 and beyond. We also promised a second Q&A in December, but with the team focused fully on preparing V2.12 for launch in 2022 we are postponing it. The next Developer Q&A will come in the New Year.

It is clear to us as a development team that we have not released enough content for Squad this year and that we promised much more than we delivered.

Some of this was because we had to focus on improving what we call technical debt, fixing underlying issues with Squad that are not noticeable to players on a day-to-day basis but can greatly affect future development on the game.

Another issue was dealing with patching issues with Updates after their release. While having to address bugs, and fix issues after a major release like V2.0 is common in software development for a small development studio like Offworld Industries, having to shift to fixing issues unfortunately throws further development out of schedule far more than it would at a larger studio where a game team can have multiple groups organized to tackle parallel tasks. That is not an excuse, or an apology, it is simply a reality that as a studio we have to live with as we organize our priorities, and when making promises to you the player community.

At times in our eagerness to tell you about the things that we are working on that excite us, and that we know will excite you, we have naively overpromised and under-delivered.

We are looking at ways of improving our internal work flows to catch more issues before they’re released. We are also working towards staying focused on content creation and release so that we can get out the long promised updates like the USMC faction, the Australian faction, and the Pan-Asian faction as soon as possible.

As 2021 closes we are proud that we have begun to improve communication between you the players, and us the developers of Squad. In 2022 we hope to continue that improvement, and pair it with an increase in content being released for the game.

Whether you’re a longtime veteran of the game, or a fresh recruit in 2021, we’re thankful for your support of Squad and look forward to seeing you in the game soon.

Sincerely,

- Offworld Industries

Sep 22, 2021

The Wrench - September 2021

Squad - Krispy

Danish Armed Forces Mod (by Viktor)

This mod aims to represent the armed forces of Denmark as they stand today. The mod will include custom rifles, vehicles, and custom-ish soldier models.

Better Armor Layers (by Zezacle)

Better Armor Layers catered to the hearts and minds of all those armor squads out there. (And sadly, to all the AT players too.) Sometimes, you just want an armor-focused match, but there isn't quite the Layer you're looking for. BAL aims to scratch that itch with RAAS layers with brand new layouts and vehicle-centric gameplay. Rarely should a crewman be aimlessly wandering around Main Base without a chariot to ride into battle. This also means that Infantry players are going to have to play smart and coordinated, feeding ammo to their ATs, and placing those ever pesky ATGMs. Ever wanted a Tank on Kokan? Yeah. We've got Tanks on Kokan.

Additionally BAL has brought the 6v6 Tanks game mode to your favorite maps like Gorodok, Yehorivka, Narva, Mutaha, and more, while also spicing it up by making it Random Advanced and Secure (RAAS Tanks).

Whether it’s Events, Memes, or general variety in the layer rotation, BAL can provide a fun experience to all. This Layer Pack is in its early days, and that means there is much more content planned for it, including brand new Invasion, AAS, and RAAS layers, eventually covering every map in Squad.

See you on the battlefield. (Don't Ammo Rack me please) - Zee, Mod Author.

For a complete overview of Better Armor Layers, join the Discord: https://discord.gg/KqCgSpqD2v
For a better marketing schpeel, check out the Steam Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2583205870

Japan Ground Self Defence Force (by Gunslinger and the JGSDF Mod Team)

We are creating the JGSDF as a playable Faction in Squad. Our goal is to make a faction that is balanced but feels different enough to be worth the effort. We want the JGSDF to be fun to play but also fun to play against. We're still looking for Blueprint Specialists, Modding Experts, Animators, and 3D Artists, especially for environment Art. If you want to know more or support us please join us at our discord.

Visits our Discord for more information on the Mod: https://discord.gg/UCZZ5Kt3B8

Raid Mod (by [RWR] Robez)

Raid Mod is a brand new PvPvE game mode for Squad that features a hardcore ruleset, full kit customization, and a dynamic, mission-based gameplay loop. In this mode you will become the soldier you idealize, taking into the game whatever weapons and equipment that you need to complete diverse missions to gain tickets and personal currency that can be used to buy even better equipment and assets. However, when you die out in the field you lose anything that you brought in with you, any reward you gained, and are sent back to main to join a new squad and try again. Compete against members of the other team to complete the AI/PvP based objectives and then return to main to collect your reward. Raid Mod is currently in Alpha status so join the discord to see updates and be informed when we hold future playtests: https://discord.gg/Wx9ss89t.

French VBL (by Tactical Collective)

BORIS is currently working on the texture of the Véhicule Blindé Léger for the French Faction. This will be our recon amphibious vehicle, and different versions will be available:

VBL Mag 58/AANF1
VBL Milan
VBL .50 Cal
VB2L Mag 58 with turret

Discord: https://discord.gg/ZCCYEFx

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

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

Brazilian Armed Forces Mod (by Smoking Snakes Dev Team)

Hey guys we are here once again to showcase another WIP, this time we have the EE-9 Cascavel a Brazilian made reconnaissance vehicle, equipped with a 90mm cannon, capable of firing multiple projectiles such as:
APFSDS, HESH, HEAT-T, HE rounds.

Treason (by JJ)

TREASON is a game mode inspired by popular games like Mafia, Secret Hitler, and Trouble in Terrorist Town. Commissars and Comrades work together to uncover the treasonous comrades. The Traitors work in secret to kill all innocent players and carry out their plot!

Featuring a variety of unique custom maps and tools to play, TREASON will be a great mode for taking a break from the stress of leading those blueberries into battle with something a little different :-)

The mode is still in development, but expect to see a playtest soon!

https://discord.gg/uH8pUBYhWe <- Link to my personal Mod Hub with information on all my projects.

Hawk’s RAAS Rework (by EyeOfTheHawks)

Now with more layers than ever!

Hawks RAAS Rework looks at tackling the predictability of laned RAAS, redesigning from the ground up how point selection works. Its been dubbed "GRAAS" or "Good-RAAS".
With this new generation method, you'll experience point configurations and areas of the map that you may have never seen before.

Now with well over 100 distinct layer configurations, Hawks RAAS Rework is the perfect supplement to any server, giving you a classic Squad experience with a new twist. Don't bother loading up Squadlanes, because it won’t work, it’s the RAAS experience we always wanted.

Some of the changes since you last saw me on the wrench:
- Added standardized CAF faction templates
- GRAAS Layers on Goose Bay, Manic-5, Anvil, Fools Road, and more!
- Point balance changes to help speed up the early game, so there's less waiting around
- A bunch of new experimental Invasion and TC Layers

Did I mention it’s only 40MB and has workarounds for the "infinite running man" bug that's bothered us all since day 1?

Be sure to check out the workshop page (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2442357787&searchtext=hawks+raas+rework)
and the Discord (https://discord.gg/mCEH6xZW6M)
and the google doc with more layer information (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y_OZTQ9n-tIxoJ3beW9umqOQ2DuakL1vzvvN2AV2CZI)

Keep an eye out for a server near you running it!
And as for that last screenshot, some things are best left a surprise

Grand Falls (by BaronVonBoyce and Gunslinger)

Located on the US-Canada border, Russian forces are approaching from their previous victories during their amphibious landing in Labrador and seizure of the Manic-5 dam, Canadian and NATO forces will have to hold them here or risk Russian infiltration into the American homeland.

Grand Falls is a 4x4.5km map with the goal of capturing the feeling of a North American suburb and small town. It is in an early-playtest stage and remains unoptimized. Some small optimizations have been made in the most recent updates, including an erosion pass on the terrain courtesy of Wunda to help reduce the feeling of the landscape being ‘too smooth’.

Aug 26, 2021

The Wrench - August

Squad - Krispy

Hello squaddies,

We’re back again with another version of The Wrench, your number one source for knowing what the modding community has been up to, and to get updated on how their work is progressing.

Oh boy, have the modding community come through with some delightful-looking mods for y’all to admire.

As always, if any of these mods catch your attention, be sure to join the mod teams Discords, or provide feedback via their Steam Workshop page (if available)

Now, on to the creations!

PGM HECATE 2 by Tactical Collective

Titoonet is presenting us the PGM Hecate 2, a long-range precision rifle chambered in .50BMG (12.7mm), used by snipers in the French army. The rifle is equipped with a Scrome J10 (x10 zoom) scope that will allow shots from 500 to 1800 meters. We are thinking of a few ideas to balance this rifle in-game, for example, reduce standing accuracy a lot, low ammo, or a lack of short-range ranging options on the scope

Discord: https://discord.gg/ZCCYEFx

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

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

Squad Masters Mod by Mjölnir Husky

The Squad Masters Mod started as a small mod for the Squad Masters BLITZ tournament.
But it grows fast into a caster/streamer-friendly system with alot of features.

Now the mod should be a system for better squad streaming for caster and viewer.
Every AAS vanilla layer is added to the mod to be usable for nearly everyone.
Every Event that wants to use vanilla AAS or RAAS layers should be able to use this mod.
So the caster and the viewer have a much more friendly system to understand what happens on the map.

Caster Cam Features:
- Kill feed
- Radio built and proxy ranges
- Radio health info
- HAB Siege Status, sphere, and ranges
- Rally point siege ranges
- Rally point spawn timer
- Flag Info with capture status
- Kill/Death/Downed info
- Vehicle health info
- Add/Change team logo (128x128px)
- Add/Change event logo (64x64px)
- Add/Change team names
- Teleport by clicking on the Spawnmap
- Stick with the cam on players/vehicles
- Change the stick height and range

And more is being currently worked on.

View more here: https://streamable.com/n3afgr
Visit the Steam Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2504260929

Dutch Armed Forces by Victor

A Squad Mod that aims to add an accurate representation of the Dutch Armed Forces into the game.
Read more on their progress over on their site here: https://sites.google.com/view/dafmod1

Visit their Discord: https://discord.gg/FaSEnuc79v

Squad_JO by LaughingJack

https://youtu.be/lad7qYkEKDs

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240351000

Squad_JO is a Gameplay modification of Squad, based on the classic game Joint Operations from 2004 - "western democratic" coalition forces versus "rebellious anti-western" allies.
It retains Squads' organization & communications but removes much of the structured role-playing elements required by players, allowing for a more accessible playing style that highlights 'playing the objective'.

With headshots and knife attacks killing outright and no rally points, this makes for a more deadly game that puts a greater value of life on the player and encourages smarter play, with plenty of room for tactical styles that don't rely on the 'FOB-crafting' meta.
The Mod includes Multi-faction teams, modified Gamemodes for AAS, PAAS & TKOTH, and numerous new assets. It also includes numerous gameplay layers for a bunch of Squad-vanilla maps as well as two classic Joint Operations maps; Black Rock Beach and Dormant Volcano Isle.
The mod is now in its final stages of completion of all the basic changes to gameplay and visual elements. The mod will be updated to v1.0 very soon but is totally playable as it stands and is cooked for Windows and Linux servers. Future additions will be the CAF and Aussie factions when they are available within the SDK.

For more in-depth details, please see the description and change notes on the Steam Workshop page.

Grand Falls by BaronVonBoyce and Gunslinger

4x4km

Grand Falls is a town located in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. It's situated on the Saint John River. The town derives its name from a waterfall created by a series of rock ledges over which the river drops 23 meters.

Located on the US-Canada border, Russian forces are approaching from their previous victories during their amphibious landing in Labrador and seizure of the Manic-5 dam, Canadian and NATO forces will have to hold them here or risk Russian infiltration into the American homeland.

Squad: Vietnam by the Squad: Vietnam Team

Squad: Vietnam update time!

We get asked on a daily, sometimes hourly basis when we’re going to be releasing our mod and we wanted to give a quick shout out to our ever-growing and patient community. We’re nearing 6k Discord members and know many of you are eager to play. We very much appreciate all the support and understanding of our focus on quality over an early release.

Those of you who have been following the mod for a while will be glad to hear that our flagship Mekong delta based map is coming along nicely. We’ve added another member to the mapping team and hope to be featuring it in a Wrench edition very soon. Until then you can catch a few sneak peeks and even a SQD:VN themed wallpaper over on our Instagram.

Recently we showed our Huey helicopter over on our discord. The Huey along with napalm and the M16 are some of the most iconic Vietnam War-era US arsenal pieces we can think of. Po our very talented Huey modeler with assistance from advisers has spent hours making sure it’s perfect and we can’t be happier with the results. So here are a few extra renders for everyone.

Join their Discord

Platoon Mod by MoiDawg

Platoon is a mod set on re-imagining the fundamental Squad gameplay loop.

In typical Squad gameplay, quite often players are subject to walking simulators, but that isn’t because Squad is a slow-paced game. Instead, this is because Squad is an incredibly fast-paced game that rewards those who capture objectives quickly, and not necessarily those who win firefights.

In many games, the most efficient way to capture an objective is usually one Squad Leader running around and placing multiple radios with a HAB on them. For an average game of Squad, this results in uncoordinated hordes of enemy attacks requiring defenders to go out and overrun HABs, play hide and seek with radios, and destroy one FOB while the three other spawn points are still allowing attackers into the objective. FOBs are glorified team spawns, wave spawns are tiresome, and many games can be won without memorable firefights all because of strategic teleportation around the map.

Platoon aims to re-imagine the FOB, create the ability to establish fire support areas around the map, re-imagine a player’s interaction with objectives, and also create more interesting unit cohesion between infantry, vehicles, command assets, and emplacements. Most importantly, Platoon hopes that every game can result in memorable and entertaining firefights.

Join us as we create new gameplay interactions, new game modes, and a new way to enjoy the game we all love.

Here is a link to our Discord server

Koshtantau by duramorph

Koshtantau is a map with high mountains, steep slopes, and dense forests. In the middle of the map, there is a radio station on a mountain top that can be reached through a long tunnel from the valley. There are several checkpoints alongside the road system. The map also contains an iron mine, a worker camp, a scrap yard, and a crash site.

Factions
-Russian vs. Militia

Current Layers
-Koshtantau_AAS_v1
-Koshtantau_RAAS_v1
-Koshtantau_Invasion_v1
-Koshtantau_Training

Check out our Steam Workshop page here.

South African Border War: Operation Savannah (Angola Map) by Springbok

A conflict theatre set during the South African Border War/Angolan Civil War of the 1960s to 1980s.

Japanese Ground Self Defense Force by JGSDF Mod Team

Hello, we are the JGSDF MOD Team and aim to create the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force as a playable Faction for Squad. Even though we are a relatively new mod, we're glad that our team already has some very talented people helping from the Squad Modding Community! We do not have any ETA on the mod yet and our main goal is to make a balanced yet fun faction while also having fun and learning while we create this faction. If you want to know more about this project or if you want to actively support and help us, please come around to our Discord.

Greetings from the JGSDF MOD Team!

VDV Russian Sub-Faction by VDV Mod Team

We first want to thank you for the interest shown in the last Wrench. For this reason, we have listened to you and have created a public discord.

In the last Wrench, we showed you the Jump Helmet and RPG-22, since that we were able to welcome new members to the team and work on new things like the SVDS and Mi-8 retexture.

SVDS

VKS Grey Mi-8

VKS Green Mi-8

If you are willing to join us, we are looking for Military Advisors, 3D Artists, UE4 Developers, etc. you can apply in #📩-apply-here.

You can also head over to our discord for any questions, will be glad to answer those.

Brazilian Armed Forces by Smoking Snakes Dev Team

Hey guys!

For you out there that doesn’t know us, we are a dev team that aims to bring a Brazilian faction for Squad with unique vehicles, weapons, maps, command actions etc.

Today we have some more work in progress to showcase for you guys, this time we brought the Guarani with actual textures, unfortunately, we didn´t have time to prepare decent textures for the other 2 models, I hope you guys can understand.

Please go check out our discord and website
http://squadbrazil.rf.gd
https://discord.gg/ucXhXEKcaT

Aug 18, 2021

Squad Update: V2.11

Squad - Krispy

Say hello to V2.11 squaddies,

Here at Squad HQ, our team has been taking on feedback since our last update regarding the changes to spawn mechanics at HABs/FOBs and within this update, you should see some new changes come into effect.

Alongside these updated changes, we have a quality of life change to improve everyone’s overall experience with a new “Saveable Keybinds” function that allows you to save multiple keybind presets with all-new preset slots.

Most importantly though, with V2.11 we have a new piece of content arriving, with the map Anvil. Anvil was originally developed by Midnight Interactive for the Australian faction, and although the Australian faction isn’t ready for release quite yet, we didn’t want to hold up the release of this brand new battlefield any longer while our team gave the faction some finishing touches.

A large chunk of our development time on Anvil was spent bringing the map in line with the newer visual standard we are trying to accomplish for future Squad maps, while also increasing accessibility for infantry units moving between the plateau and the canyon basin.

As a quality of life improvement, we have also added more road access on the plateau to promote better vehicle movement, while these updated road networks also hint at future locations for possible additional POIs. We have also improved routing of infantry movement within most major POIs.

Other work has been focused on heavily increasing cover and concealment on the plateaus for infantry, while at the same time adding a handful of minor POI’s throughout the map to cover empty areas between major POI’s.

With Anvil, we have begun working with the entirely new lighting features the team has been developing to reflect future style changes across all maps in a later update. Keen eyes will also notice that the gameplay layers for Anvil have been tweaked and rebalanced since its original showcase, as well as the MEA faction being added to some map layers - as it did not exist when the map was first showcased.

We look forward to hearing your feedback, and we’ll see you on the battlefield!

System & Gameplay Updates

Added new map - Anvil. This map is based in Afghanistan, featuring a unique canyon environment with villages and farms in the valley and rocky desert terrain above.

Note: the map was originally developed by Midnight Interactive for the Australian faction, and although the Australian faction isn’t ready for release quite yet, we didn’t want to hold up the release of this brand new battlefield any longer.

Once the Australian faction’s optimizations and standardizations are complete, they will be featured on Anvil and Lashkar Valley, adding to the variety of other maps and factions in Squad’s vast catalog.

Anvil AAS v1 - USA vs RUS, 5 CP’s, 350/350 tickets, 1x helicopter per team, Mid Day lighting.
Anvil AAS v2 - USA vs RUS, 6 CP’s, 350/350 tickets, Mid Day lighting.
Anvil Invasion v1 - RUS (attacking) vs INS (defending), 6 CP’s, 200/800 tickets, Dawn lighting.
Anvil Invasion v2 - RUS (defending) vs INS (attacking), 6 CP’s, 800/200 tickets, Night lighting.
Anvil RAAS v1 - RUS vs MEA, 4 CP’s, 400/400 tickets, 1x helicopter & 1x mbt per team, Mid Day lighting.
Anvil RAAS v2 - CAF vs MEA, 9 CP’s, 300/300 tickets, 1x helicopter & 1x mbt per team, Mid Day lighting.
Anvil Skirmish v1 - USA vs RUS, 5 CP’s, 200/200 tickets, Mid Day lighting.
Anvil TC v1 - RUS vs MEA, 56 Hexes, 400/400 tickets, Mid Day lighting.

Added a new Saveable Keybinds Feature in the Controls menu:
--You can now save your custom keybinds as a preset.
--You can switch between presets instantaneously thru this new menu without restarting Squad.
--Any edits done to key bindings in the Controls menu will be automatically saved to the current loaded preset.
Updated the FOB Exclusion Radius mechanic to now have the possibility of varying exclusion distances depending on the map layer. This change gives designers the ability to lower the FOB Exclusion Radius on smaller maps and layers, allowing for more flexibility in FOB placement where maps have fewer viable placement locations, and preventing centrally placed FOBs from blocking most other viable FOB locations on more compact layers. This change also allows for the possibility in the future to increase the exclusion radius on larger maps, if desired, as well as allowing modders to potentially tweak these values in a more granular manner.

--Reduced the FOB Exclusion Radius from 400m to 300m on the following map layers: All Skirmish map layers, Chora, Fools Road, Kokan, Logar, and Sumari.

--Added a new Map Layer Info popup UI in the Command map, which will indicate specific information about the map layer. It currently includes the FOB Exclusion Radius in meters.

Integrated the CAF faction assets into the main game. This creates an internal workflow improvement, which means the CAF faction will no longer require separate building/installation. This will also benefit modders, who will now have access to CAF content in the modding SDK.
Updated the “Soft-Dead-Dead” system, which will no longer impact the Incapacitated revive times from most infantry small arms. Any damage taken that is less than 260, (which is a headshot with 7.62mm) will no longer decrease Incapacitated revive times.

Designer’s Note: The original design intention with this mechanic was to help reduce mass revive spam, which is no longer necessary due to the implementation of the post revive recovery state. Getting hit by high caliber rounds will still reduce Incap times, this is unchanged. This is intended to emphasize the threat that these larger vehicle/emplaced weapon systems pose to infantry.

--.338 Lapua & .50cal headshot = 30sec revive time.
--30mm AP bodyshot = 120sec.
--30mm AP headshot = Instadeath.
--All 120mm headshot/bodyshot = Instadeath.
--Close proximity to IED = Instadeath
--These higher caliber values may change in the future.
Updated the Admin command ‘ListSquads’ to now include which player created the squad.
Updated the HAB map icon to no longer have borders while it is NOT in an active & spawnable state.
Updated the HAT Ammo Rack damage modifier, so now the RUS T72B3 MBT’s ammo rack can be cooked off with a single ATGM from the side, instead of two ATGM in v2.10.
Adjusted the burnout rate for helicopters when in a flipped/unrecoverable state. Helicopters are considered to be in a flipped/unrecoverable state whenever the tail or main rotors are blocked by a collision with world objects. When in this state, a helicopter will begin to take burnout damage after 90 seconds. After entering burnout, the helicopter will slowly take damage and will be destroyed after ~60 seconds (was previously 300 seconds).
Adjusted the ticket loss for all light and medium class APC's from 10 tickets to 5 tickets. This includes the following APC’s: USA M1126 M240, GB FV432 M2, GB FV432 RWS GPMG, RUS/MIL/INS BTR80, RUS/MEA/MIL MTLB VMK, INS MTLB PKT, RUS MTLB 6MA, CAF LAV3 C6.
Adjusted the INS/MIL T62 MBT ammo rack component size. The T62 has two separate ammo racks, as per real world spec. Previously, the T62’s forward ammo rack component was mistakenly emulating the shape of the T62’s fuel tank, which envelopes the ammo compartment - while the shells themselves should only extend about half-way forward. The size of this forward ammo rack has been reduced; the rear ammo rack compartment was also excessively large, so it too has been reduced in size. These changes should make it more difficult to destroy the T62 ammo rack, and also more closely reflect the real world dimensions of these components.
Optimized the Post FX shader for improved performance.
Minor optimization for ground vehicle base class to apply best code practices. The SQGroundVehicle initialization of VehicleMovement component initialization, and the subsequent children of said class, has been updated.
Added the BugItGo command to non-editor builds - this command allows people in admin cam to move to predefined locations instantly, while maintaining a specific viewing angle using precise coordinates. To get these coordinates, you can use the command SqBugit in-game, which will output a screenshot and a text file to C:\Users\<your user>\AppData\Local\SquadGame\Saved\BugIt\WindowsNoEditor. In the text file, you will find a section stating BugItGo, followed by a line of coordinates. When reporting map bugs, you can attach that info. to a report to help us find the location of these bugs quicker.

Bug Fixes

Second Fix attempt at a long standing Client Crash when switching maps, determined to be related to the vehicle tire configs. Further investigation determined the cause was more likely a slightly different threading issue where a TireConfig could report as being destroyed before destruction has actually completed causing a desynchronisation, which is resolved by improving the check to make sure the object is fully destroyed.
Second Fix attempt for a problematic and difficult to reproduce Client Crash that is related to the Particle System at the end of a round when 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. This fix ensures emitter instances are always reset as the map is changing which should hopefully catch all occurrences of this issue.
Fixed an issue with desynced vehicle components occurring when the vehicle comes to an abrupt stop. Vehicle components such as logi truck supplies, camo netting, exterior bags, exterior ammo cans, etc, as well as the driver/passenger camera would become offset/desynced, resulting in visual oddities.
Fixed an issue with the HAB map icon staying red after the spawn point activation sequence completed.
Fixed an issue with the radial menu where kit roles would show up with SL icons for every kit when rearming at ammo crates.
Fixed an issue with vehicles floating in the air or sinking in the ground when they naturally spawned on a map layer. Most commonly experienced with GB HX60 Trucks, RUS Kamaz 5350 Trucks, and Modern Technicals with BMP1 Turret.
Fixed an issue with backblast and muzzle overpressure components not working on certain emplaced weapons/vehicle turrets. This component’s line trace was sometimes hitting the owning actor and not dealing damage to soldiers in the effect cone, as well as some effect cones not being positioned correctly. Affected vehicles/emplacements: All Kornet & TOW launchers (emplacement + vehicle mounted), BTR82A autocannon, BMP1 cannon and BMP2 autocannon.
Fixed an issue where an infantry player’s reload would unintentionally complete even if the player got into an emplacement or vehicle. Now, if a player initiates a reload and enters an emplacement or vehicle, the reload will be cancelled upon entering the emplacement/vehicle.
Fixed an issue with the ranging on the CAF grenadier rifle (C7A2 w/ M203A1 w/ C79A2). The base ranging of the rifle was set at ~300m (rather than 200m, as intended/in line with the other CAF kits); the offset persisted at higher ranges.
Fixed an issue with the RUS Kamaz 5350 Truck, which had excessively tinted glass windshield/door windows, as seen from the inside of the vehicle cabin.
Fixed an issue with the CAF TAPV Armoured Car, where the RWS gunner seat was incorrectly receiving radial damage with frag rounds.
Fixed an issue with the CAF TAPV armor collision mesh, which had an opening in the back where the hatch is located.
Fixed an issue with the controls where being crouched or prone, and holding down forward while ADS, then tapping the Sprint key would cause the soldier to focus zoom, rather than initiating a sprint, as intended. Hitting the Sprint key while aiming down sights and moving forward while being crouched/prone will now initiate a sprint.
Fixed an issue with the INS Alternative Technical DShK (M1151 Technical DShK), where a redundant shield component in the turret was colliding with the vehicle mesh, affecting the vehicle’s ability to climb hills in a straight line while transitioning from the 2nd to 3rd gear.
Fixed a minor issue with the MIL/INS Emplaced DShK Emplacement, where the shield armor mesh had a duplicated component.
Fixed the in-game name of the Tigr-M RWS Armored Car to include “Kord” in the name.
Fixed the in-game name of the CAF LAV III APC to include the gun variant (C6 or M2).
Fixed a client log spam issue where there was a divide by zero error in the Map Horizontal/Vertical Bar widget.

Map Updates & Bug Fixes

Added an experimental map layer for server seeding: Sumari Seed v1. This layer has the same capture point configuration as Sumari Skirmish v1, but includes some helpers for seeding a server:
--2 pre-captured flags for each team (the middle flag is still neutral).
--Temporary Forward spawn points and ammo crate close to the middle flag; these expire after 10 minutes.
--Single use forward spawned Logi Truck.
--No Staging Phase.
Updated the Infantry Tutorial to include Community Playtesters’ names in text on the foot lockers. You may recognize a few of the names next time you're in the Infantry Tutorial. Thanks go to all of our Community Play Testers, Wiki editors, and all other dedicated testers that have helped report and reproduce bugs. These dedicated community members have been consistently turning up to report bugs and help us test!
Adjusted the defenders initial forward spawns on the following Invasion layers:
--Removed the defender’s initial forward spawn on the following Invasion map layers: Chora Invasion v1, Chora Invasion v2, Fools Road Invasion v1, Mestia Invasion v1, Mestia Invasion v2, Skorpo Invasion v2, Sumari Invasion v1.
--Belaya Invasion v1 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawn from Gabukay to Nikola.
--Belaya Invasion v3 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawn from Depot to Gabukay.
--Fallujah Invasion v1 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawn from Bus Terminal to Muallimin.
--Fallujah Invasion v3 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawn from Police Station to Warehouse.
--Gorodok Invasion v2 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawn from Gain Processing to Mechanic's Homestead.
--Kamdesh Invasion v2 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawns from Paprok to Manyal and from Kushtoz to north-east of Kushtoz.
--Kamdesh Invasion v3 - moved the defender’s initial spawn from Parun to Manyal.
--Kohat Invasion v2 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawn from Suni Khel to Ali Abad (left some hidden bikes on Ali Abad and Malak Abad).
--Lashkar Invasion v1 - moved defender’s initial forward spawns from Derapet to Lashkar and from Nangalam to Gulestan.
--Yehorivka Invasion v1 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawn from West Novo to Scrapyard.
--CAF Goose Bay Invasion v2 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawns from Drilling Site to Churchill.
--CAF Lashkar Invasion v1 - moved defender’s initial forward spawns from Derapet to Watapur and from Nangalam to Lashkar.
--CAF Manic-5 Invasion v1 - moved defender’s initial forward spawns from Patrol Base to Cannabis Farm.
--CAF Manic-5 Invasion v2 - moved defender’s initial forward spawns from Firebase Mississauga to Penstocks.
--CAF Yehorivka Invasion v1 - moved the defender’s initial forward spawn from West Novo to Lower Stepne.
Adjusted Fools Road Destruction v1 and Gorodok Destruction v1 to remove the forward spawned vehicles for defenders.
Adjusted CAF Manic-5 Invasion v2 defenders LAV6 IFV initial spawn time to 10 minutes (was 5 minutes).
Adjusted CAF Al Basrah Invasion v3, added an initial delay on both CAF LAV6 IFV’s and replaced the North VCP Ruins CP with River crossing CP. Also replaced Island Suburbs CP with Canal CP.
Fixed an issue on CAF Yehorivka RAAS v2 where the RUS helipad supply zones were offset.
Fixed an issue with some Skirmish layers having the incorrect setting for minimum # soldiers to capture a flag (was 3, now 2) and incorrect flag capture time (was 120sec, now 90sec). Affected layers were: Belaya Skirmish v1, Mutaha Skirmish v1, Tallil Skirmish v3.
Fixed an issue with Fools Road Skirmish v1 not having enough vehicle spawners to spawn the RUS Tigr during Staging Phase.
Fixed an issue with Sumari TC v1 where MEA started with 100 less tickets than USA.
Fixed CAF Narva Invasion v1 not using fog of war.
Fixed CAF Manic-5 RAAS v1 minimap being offset by 10m.
Fixed a minor issue with a European shed asset which had missing player collision on the small portion of the roof ledge.
Fixed a minor formatting issue with the following map layer data assets that were missing "v" in the name: Belaya RAAS v1, Belaya RAAS v2, Belaya RAAS v3, Logar v1, Sumari Insurgency v1.
Fixed a minor issue with Kohat RAAS v1 and Kohat RAAS v2 where 2 CP's were named Sarozai Highlands.
Fixed a minor issue with Mutaha Invasion v2 where it had night time ambient sounds playing instead of the day time ambient sounds.
Fixed an issue on CAF Goose Bay where stairs were missing at the Train Derailment POI.
Fixed a minor visual issue on 2 Narva house statics and the large industrial garages at BluFor Main.

SDK Updates

Added CAF faction maps and assets to the SDK.
Updated the editor tool TraceViewToggle to have an offset between the lines of output, so the text does not overlap, making it a lot easier to read.
Updated all Single Use Faction setups to use standardized naming.
Updated all Single Use Faction naming.
Updated SquadGame.uproject to enable python plugin, this is an editor only stock plugin from Epic.
Added an editor debug tool for toggling infinite ammo.
Added an initial Foliage LOD Generator tool.
Added a new variant of the Train Car Flat, that does not include the metal poles.
Added a new European rock set.
Cleaned up the deprecated role data assets in the Gameplay folder.
Layer Data Assets now have a FOBRadius Data Table Row Handle near the top, which is used to select preset sizes for FOB Exclusion and Construction radii.
--This lets you control them on a per-layer basis.
--It is possible to use a custom data table to implement your own custom radius scales specific to your mod.
--Note that this DTRowHandle overrules the Range value set in SQRestrictionFOBInRange (see Settings/Deployables/Other_Restrictions folder), as long as FOBRadiusTableColumnName is set to a column which exists in the Data Table.

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

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).
Player kit role icons are sometimes not being displayed on certain menu screens.
“Extremely Low Res Textures” - 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.
"Logi bug" - Occasionally, vehicles with construction resources will have these resources be unavailable for interaction to certain players when they interact with Logi Trucks and Helicopters. This issue may be linked to the “Missing vehicle turret bug” and the “Glitched vehicle passenger seat bug”. There is a fix attempt pending for a future update.
“Missing vehicle turret bug” - Occasionally, vehicles have their turrets missing from the round start. This issue may be linked to the “Logi bug” and “Glitched vehicle passenger seat bug”. There is a fix attempt pending for a future update.
“Glitched vehicle passenger seat bug” - Occasionally, when entering a vehicle’s passenger seat, the player will be permanently stuck in that seat with a fixed camera position. The player is then unable to leave the seat until the vehicle is destroyed. This issue may be linked the the “Logi bug” and “Missing vehicle turret bug”. There is a fix attempt pending for a future update.
“Ghost player in vehicle bug” - 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. Hopefully this issue should be resolved now.
"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 UAV VOIP bug” - 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 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.