We have just released a Hotfix for Update 8.0.1!

• Made balancing adjustments to the USA/TLF M1064A3 M120 Mortar:
  - Scaled back the range of the M120 Air Burst round’s lethal damage, these rounds now have a much smaller lethal radius, but have a larger wounding radius
  - Decreased the maximum firing range from ~3600m to ~2000m. Minimum firing range was also decreased from ~650m to ~370m.
  - Increased the load time of each round from 3 seconds to 5 seconds
  - Increased the minute of angle (MOA) dispersion for all rounds
  - Increased the cost of ammo cost from 30 to 50 ammo points per round
  
• Added ATGM Tutorial text to Jensen's Range

• PLA ZTZ99A MBT - Fixed a bug where the armor values were much stronger than intended.
  
• MEA/INS/IMF BMP-1 Tracked IFV - Fixed a bug with the wire VFX.
  
• CAF C7A3+C79A2 Rifle variants - Fixed a bug where the C79A2 sight would clip into the camera and be unusable if the weapon was ranged to 800m.
  
• RGF BMP-2M Tracked IFV - Replaced the Kornet reticle with a new one that doesn’t look so similar to the ATGM FOV indicator.
  
• RGF BMP-2M Tracked IFV - Fixed a bug where the Kornet was not causing screen shake when fired.
  
• RGF BMP-2M Tracked IFV - Fixed a bug where the Kornet ATGM was incorrectly referred to in the UI as “Wire-Guided.”
  
• RGF BMP-2M Tracked IFV - Fixed a bug where repair rearm stations were rearming five Kornet missiles instead of the intended four.
  
• RGF MT-LB VMK APC - Fixed a bug where users were unable to start the engine on desert maps.
  
• RGF BRDM-2 Spandrel - Right-clicking while in the Konkurs gunner seat no longer causes the reticle to disappear.
  
• USA M113A3 Tracked Logistics - Fixed a bug where the map icon was incorrect.
  
• USA/USMC M1151 Mk19 Light Car - Fixed a bug where the woodland version of the M1151 Mk19 left behind a desert camo wreck.
  
• USA M7A3 BFIST Tracked ARV - Fixed a bug where the woodland version of the M7A3 left behind a desert camo wreck.
  
• AK-74M GP-25 + 1P78 Weapon Skins - Fixed a bug where the weapon’s appearance would change back to default when equipping the Grenadier GP-25 smoke grenade.
  
• Fixed a bug where the beam-riding ATGM FOV radius (red circle) was failing to scale when zooming in and out.
  
• Fixed a bug where the MEA, PLA, PLANMC, and PLAAGF units only had one HAT Kit available instead of two.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the ADF Mechanized Unit to be missing their ATGM emplacements for offensive. They now have access to place 1 TOW per FOB.
  
• Fixed a bug where ADF Units were missing their RHIB Logi on Boat variants.
  
• Fixed a broken reticle on the NSV Tripod.
  
• Fixed a few visual bugs with the VFX for wire-guided ATGMs.
  
• Fixed a bug where the M2 Bradley and BMP-2 were missing their barrels when switching to the ATGM.
  
• Fixed a bug where some ATGMs did not have the correct zooming functionality.
  
• Fixed a bug where the length and angle of the blast cones for gun-launched ATGMS were incorrect.
  
• Fixed several visual bugs with the TLF Grenadier soldiers.

And that's all for today!

Today, we are releasing the Squad 8.0 Patch Notes EARLY. The update will be released June 12th, 11AM PT (7PM BST).

We've got a long list to get through today, so stick with us to the end!



This update brings new units for the RGF, USA, and TLF factions and an overhaul of our anti-tank guided missile system. We’re also improving our loading screens and releasing a new pack of weapon skins.

• 37th Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division (Armored)
  Joining the USA faction as their Armored unit, the 37th will use M1A2 main battle tanks, supported by M113A3 APCs, as logistics vehicles and armored personnel carriers for the infantry. They will also receive the new M7A3 BFIST IFV, an M2A3 IFV variant lacking the TOW ATGM.
  
  
• 1st Cavalry Regiment (Mechanized)
  Filling in the Mechanized unit in the USA faction roster, the 1st Cavalry Regiment will use M2A3 IFVs, supported by M113A3 APCs, as logistics vehicles and armored personnel carriers (including a Mk19 variant). They will also receive our new M1064A3 mobile mortar carriers, utilizing a heavy 120mm mortar but at the cost of not having deployable mortars on their FOBs.
  
  
• 497th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (Support)
  The 497th will join the USA faction as their Support unit. They will receive three M939 logistics trucks supported by M1151 MRAPs, M113A3 APCs, and M1064A3 mobile mortar carriers. They can deploy an extra HAB and ATGM similar to other conventional faction support units.
  
  
• Mk19 AGL Emplacement: A Mk19 automatic grenade launcher (AGL) emplacement can be deployed to and built on ADF, BAF, CAF, TLF, USA, and USMC FOBs on Air Assault and/or Light Infantry units. Note: The Mk19 is currently a placeholder for the German GMG automatic grenade launcher that should be used by the BAF and CAF factions. We plan to add more types of AGLs for other factions in the future.
  
  
  
  
• M113A3 APC: The M113A3 is an iconic, mass-produced armored personnel carrier. It will appear in-game with an unarmed logistics variant, an M2 heavy machine gun variant, and a Mk19 automatic grenade launcher variant. It will appear on the USA Armored, Mechanized, Support units, the CAF Armored (Logistics variant), and TLF Armored & Mechanized units (Logistics variant).
  
  
• M1064A3 Mortar Carrier: The M1064A3 is a mortar-carrying variant of the M113A3 APC. It uses a powerful 120mm mortar. It will appear on the USA Mechanized and Support units and the TLF Support unit.
  
  
• M7A3 “BFIST” IFV: The M7A3 Fire Support Team is a recon variant of the M2A3 IFV that swaps out the TOW launcher for an advanced optics and sensor pod. This vehicle will replace the standard M2A3 on the USA Armored unit and appear on the Mechanized unit.
  
  
• Mk19 Vehicle Variants: The USA and USMC factions will now gain access to M1151 and MATV Mk19 variants, which will appear on the USA Air Assault unit and the USA & USMC Light Infantry units. The USMC also get a RHIB Mk19 variant on their Amphibious Assault Unit.
  
  

• Land Forces Logistics Command Battle Group (Support)
  Joining the Turkish Land Forces as the support unit, they will use three BMC Logi trucks, supported by Cobra II MRAPs and ACV-15 APCs, and receive the new M113A3 M120 mobile mortar carriers.
  
  
• UH60 Helicopter: We’ve reskinned our UH60 helicopter for use with the TLF. This vehicle will use PKT door guns, available in Air Assault and Support units for the TLF.
  
  

We have also updated the uniforms for existing TLF troops to be more authentic. Go check them out!

• 205th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (Mechanized)
  The 205th will fill in the mechanized unit for the Russian ground forces faction. It will focus on the new BMP-3 and BMP-2M infantry fighting vehicles, supported by MTLB APCs as logistics vehicles and armored personnel carriers.
  
  
• BMP-2M IFV: A modern modification of the BMP-2 IFV, notably using additional weapon systems - an automatic grenade launcher and a quadruple Kornet ATGM launcher system replacing the Konkurs on the BMP-2. This vehicle will be available for the RGF Mechanized unit.
  
  
• BMP-3M IFV: A modern upgrade to the BMP series using a 100mm cannon, 30mm autocannon, coaxial machine gun, and Bastion anti-tank guided missiles. This vehicle will be available for the RGF Mechanized and Amphibious Assault units.
  
  
• T-90A Tank: A third-generation main battle tank to replace the T-72 series. It will use armaments similar to the T-72B3 already in-game but will have upgraded frontal & side hull armor and frontal turret armor. We have plans to differentiate this vehicle further from the T-72B3 in the future. This vehicle will be available for the RGF Armored, Combined Arms, Motorized, and Light Infantry units.
  
  
• BMP-1AM IFV: This is an upgraded BMP-1 variant that uses the same 30mm autocannon turret found on the BTR-82A. It will replace the BMP-2 on the RGF Armored unit and appear on the Mechanized unit.
  
  

• Added a technical truck with a mounted Kornet ATGM to the IMF and INS factions’ Light Infantry and Motorized units.

• Added the RGO Impact Frag Grenade as the standard fragmentation grenade to the VDV faction.

• Updated the CAF TAPV with its authentic armament, a 40mm automatic grenade launcher (C16), and a 7.62 machine gun (C6) combination turret. This will now be the only TAPV variant. Note: The Mk19 is a placeholder for the German GMG automatic grenade launcher that should be used for the C16.

We’ve reworked our existing anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) to extend their features, introduce various nuances, and update their visual effects.

ATGMs now have various strengths and weaknesses based on their guidance method. For example, wire-guided ATGMs (like the TOW) have an easier time hitting moving targets, but are less accurate at long range compared to beam-riding ATGMs (like the Kornet). At this time, the differences are tuned on the more conservative side, as our main goal is to move these weapons away from being effective anti-aircraft weapons to open the door for more dedicated anti-air weapons in the future. Future iterations to ATGM characteristics may be made to ensure this goal is achieved.

Wire-Guided ATGMs (TOW, Konkurs, HJ-73C, AT-3 Malyutka, HJ-8, F2 MILAN)
Strengths: Easier to hit moving targets without losing guidance.

Weaknesses: Terrain and obstacles can foul the wire, and they have less effective range and accuracy than Beam Riders. They cannot fire on the move.

Beam-Riding ATGMs (Kornet, Bastion, Refleks)
Strengths: Greater accuracy at long range, can be fired on the move, more resilient guidance system.

Weaknesses: It is harder to hit fast-moving targets at medium/long ranges and is vulnerable to IR smoke countermeasures.

Vehicle-mounted smoke dischargers are now accurately represented with their infrared countermeasure qualities. Their smoke will now confuse the guidance systems of ATGMs, causing a loss of guidance that will likely cause the missile not to hit its target. The distance at which smoke canisters explode has also been increased from 25m to 50m. This change only affects smoke deployed from vehicle-mounted smoke canister launchers. The ‘driver smoke’ that vehicle drivers can deploy or hand-held smoke grenades do not possess IR blocking capabilities.


We’ve added new loading screens that include gameplay tips.

• Added a Seizure Warning screen as part of the start-up process.
  
• Made several quality-of-life improvements to vehicle recovery times. The intent is to reduce frustration when resetting vehicles since the current vehicle handling implementation and physics system can result in some wild vehicle behavior.
  
• Reduced base time for teleport recovery to 20 seconds, down from 30.
  
• Decreased the time added for rotating a vehicle with recovery by 90%, now 180 degrees rotation should add only 4 seconds to base recovery time, down from 40.
  
• Increased the time window for consecutive recovery attempts to receive the speed bonus to 30 seconds, up from 15.
  
• Increased the speed bonus for consecutive recovery attempts by 44%. With the new base recovery time, the consecutive attempt to recover a vehicle should now take 3 seconds, down from 8 seconds.
  
• Removed helicopters from all conventional Armored units, except for the VDV, which will continue to have a helicopter but on a 30-minute delayed spawn. The intent is to provide a more meaningful trade-off when selecting conventional armored units, which will be due to the lack of air-mobile logistics for the entire round duration.
  
• Improved bullpup rifle (EF88, L85A2, QBZ95-1) gunplay characteristics. The intent is to make bullpup weapons feel better and more effective in combat.
  
• Clear Sights now cancels when Steady Aim is held, even if the sway is too high to see through the sights.
  
• Added a new Accessibility setting under "GAME" settings - "DISABLE WEAPON MODEL BLUR". This setting prevents the Depth Of Field effect from blurring your weapon when not aiming down sights, helping prevent eye strain.
  
• Set all weapons using the C79A2 magnified optic (CAF C7A2/C8A3/C9A2) to default to 100m zero from 200m. Although 200m is the authentic range on the C79A2 optic since the difference between 100m and 200m zero is more negligible in real life, the presence of additional gravity on our projectiles makes this a usability issue for players who may often shoot too high when aiming at targets at 100m.
  
• Reduced the recoil of the TLF SOR-109T SMG. The intent is to make this weapon feel better and more effective at short range.
  
• Slightly increased weapon stabilization time after deploying a bipod.
  
• Consolidated INS and IMF armored/non-armored technicals and Urals into "Technical HMG", "Technical SPG", "Technical Logi", "Technical Transport", "Ural Logi", and "Ural Transport". Different variants will spawn randomly.
  
• Consolidated ADF PMV Mag58 and PMV Mag58 x3 into "PMV". Different variants will spawn randomly.
  
• Consolidated USMC M1151 armored and non-armored variants into "M1151 M2", “M1151 M240", and “M1151 Mk19”. Unarmored and armored variants of each will spawn randomly.
  
• Toned down the brightness of the blue color on the PLANMC character uniforms.
  
• Adjusted the maximum number of certain fortification deployables with either a high limit or no limit for conventional factions. The intent here is to reduce the defensive potential for non-support conventional units.
  
• Conventional Support units can have a maximum of six bunkers and four observation towers per FOB.
  
• All other conventional units can have a maximum of four bunkers and two observation towers per FOB.
  
• Increased teamwide availability of the Heavy Anti-Tank role from 2 to 4 on conventional factions’ Light Infantry and Air Assault units. The limits for how many HAT roles can be in a single squad have not changed. The intent is to make up for the lack of heavy vehicles in these units by providing more availability of anti-vehicle infantry roles. Note: Along with this change, the TLF Air Assault unit can now access a HAT role using the M2 Carl Gustav.
  
• Added a voting setting for server owners that allows them to show a unique map only once within voting options (for example, if this option is on Fallujah AAS v1 and Fallujah Invasion v1 will not show at the same time in voting options).
  
• Added voting settings for server owners that limit the number of options for each game mode that can be shown within voting options (for example, can only show 1 Invasion layer, 1 AAS layer, but up to 4 RAAS layers).
  
• Added a voting setting for server owners to only trigger voting for the map, not the factions or units. Units will be chosen randomly from all available units on that layer and will take into account the faction & unit skip settings and the symmetric matchup setting.
  
• Added an admin command to enable and disable voting.
  
• Added an indicator to the unit preview screen that informs players when game elements like commander abilities, boats, or helicopters are unavailable on the selected map.
  
• Adjusted text on the voting screen for clarity.
  
• Added music for faction voting and SFX to the result screen.
  
• The default keybinds for rotating deployables in placement mode are now Q and E (formerly Left Arrow and Right Arrow).
  
• Intel XeSS upscaling is now supported and appears as an option on the graphics settings menu
  
• Updated the DLSS plugin settings.
  
• Added the special characteristics of the INS and IMF factions to their descriptions on the unit info screen.
  
• Reduced the number of T72B3 for VDV Armored from 2 to 1. The intent here is to reduce the overall firepower of the VDV Armored unit, which previously had two T-72B3 tanks in addition to their two Sprut-SDM1 tank destroyers.
  
• Reduced the number of LAV-25 IFVs on USMC Armored from 2 to 1. The intent here is to reduce the overall mobile firepower of the USMC Armored unit, which previously had two LAV-25s in addition to their two M1A1 tanks.

• Fixed a bug with the server browser that displayed all servers even when a language, playstyle, experience, or map rotation filter was used.
  
• Fixed a bug with the server browser that could cause the game to freeze for 2 seconds when the server list was refreshed.
  
• Fixed a client crash that could occur after playing the startup video.
  
• Fixed a bug that could allow players to vote twice during voting.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause players to be stuck in voting flow when map layers are set up incorrectly.
  
• Fixed a client crash related to using mortars.
  
• Reduced the third-person volume of the RGF BMP2 IFV’s cannon.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused helicopters to behave strangely after being reset with a teleportation command.
  
• Mods should now correctly show details in the server browser.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to shorten the VDV AK-12’s reload animation.
  
• Fixed a bug where the VOIP UI could break if a player lost connection to a server while talking.
  
• Corrected the zeroing on the PLA DTC041A-30 Autocannon.
  
• The CAF HAT role now has the correct munitions.
  
• Fixed a bug that interrupted VOIP transmission if a player clicked on the map after dying.
  
• Added missing RPG hit effects to the side hull of the USMC AAVP APC.
  
• Fixed a bug that could interrupt ADS if the player pressed space during the crouch-stand transition or while prone.
  
• Fixed a visual issue with BAF backpacks.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the backblast of emplaced and vehicle-mounted anti-tank weapons to be offset.
  
• Fixed a visual issue with the PLA soldier vest.
  
• Fixed a bug in the tutorial where characters could get stuck in a “T pose.”
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed the TLF faction to have 2 AR MG3 Irons roles in a squad instead of the intended 1.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented the IMF M2 HMG (with shield) emplacement from zooming during ADS.
  
• Adjusted the way that Invasion POIs are numbered on the Interactive Layer Map Details Screen so that it makes more sense.
  
• Fixed a visual bug with how the Quad Bike e-brakes in the water.
  
• Fixed a bug with the custom browser that could cause empty lines to appear amongst filter results.
  
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the Team Select Screen to refresh unnecessarily.
  
• Fixed inconsistent rotation for the C6A1 FLEX MG on the CAF LAV III Wheeled APC.
  
• Added the missing Amphibious Assault unit icon to the voting screen.
  
• Fixed a bug that could prevent a team from voting, instead presenting them with the results of the other team’s vote.
  
• Fixed a bug where using the AdminRestartMatch command during the voting phase could cause issues with the next round’s voting phase.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the player’s legs to change location after exiting an emplacement.
  
• Fixed a collision issue that allowed the USA/USMC Quad Bike to drive through some other vehicles.
  
• Fixed a visual bug with the USMC AAVP7A1 APC.
  
• Fixed a visual bug with the USA M4 M203 with Underbarrel Grenade Launcher.
  
• Fixed a bug where the M1151 map icon used the image for an open-top jeep instead of an AT jeep.
  
• Fixed a minor visual issue with TLF soldier gloves.
  
• Fixed an animation bug with the KNT-76 that could cause soldiers using it to look odd to other players.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Crewman’s repair kit was causing clipping while playing the Join Me gesture.
  
• Fixed a bug where the NLAW caused the Overwatch gesture to look strange.
  
• Fixed a bug with the muzzle flash VFX on the VDV BMD-4M and PLA ZBD04A IFV.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented the player’s cone of vision from appearing on the minimap while manning the turret on the BAF FV107 Tracked ARV.
  
• Fixed a bug with using freelook while using a weapon with a deployed bipod.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused players to clip through the wall of the PLA CSK131 Jeep when sitting in the back.
  
• Fixed a bug with the idle third-person soldier animation for players using the PLA QJY88 MG.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the turret mount on the PLA ZBL08 IFV to change color based on distance to the vehicle.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the soldier’s arm to clip through the ammo box when firing while aiming down sights with the TLF MG3 MMG.
  
• Fixed some bugs relating to the Team Select Screen and Mode Info screens appearing when they shouldn’t.
  
• Fixed a bug with the Team Select Screen that caused the map info popup to appear stretched out in wide resolutions.
  
• Fixed a visual issue with the rockets on the backs of soldiers using PLA and PLANMC PF98 HAT roles.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the USA/USMC Quad Bike to take damage when the ammo box on the front carrying rack was shot.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the Insurgents acronym to be missing from the available units list on the voting screen.
  
• Fixed a bug where multiple map layers had "None" as the lighting layer on their info screens
  
• Fixed a bug with soldier animations in the tutorial.
  
• Fixed a bug with the TLF MPT-76 UGL’s inspect animation.
  
• The USMC Combined Arms (large setup) unit now has one M939 Logi and two AAVC logis as was intended.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause clipping during the Flex emote.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the TLF MG3 Machine Gunner to have a pair of Soviet field binoculars.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the wrong kit information to appear when hovering over kits in the role selection screen.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused Fireteam map markers to be removed when a new fireteam lead is assigned.
  
• Fixed a bug where vote requirements could be disabled through the Admin Cam Tool but not re-enabled.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented the IMF Infiltrator Kit Role from counting towards the 3 available Fire Support Role slots.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused Squad map markers to be removed when being promoted to Commander.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused grenades thrown above players in the prone stance to bounce off of their character model.
  
• Fixed a bug that kept modded factions from working properly in the voting process on modded servers.

• Standardized all large map RAAS layers to have 7 flag layouts. Smaller maps (Chora, Fool’s Road, Kokan, Mestia, Sumari, and Logar) still have 5 or 6 flag layers. The intent is to standardize the RAAS experience on larger maps and enable us to get more accurate analytics on rounds of RAAS gameplay to inform future iterations. Iterations to existing gameplay layers and new layers will continue in future updates.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the wrong voice lines to play when an objective was captured on an Invasion layer.

• Invasion v1 - Fixed a bug that removed the initial 10-minute delay from the BAF Combined Arms FV510s.
  
• Invasion v1 - Fixed a bug that caused the BAF Combined Arms unit to have more FV510s than they should. The unit now has one FV510 and one FV510 UA.
  
• Invasion v2 - Fixed a bug that partially caused the boat repair station to float.
  
• AAS v1 - Fixed a bug where the BAF truck sometimes spawned flipped over.

• TC v1 - Fixed the MBT spawners for both teams.
  
• TC v1 - Fixed a bug with the Team 1 ammo box at the main base.

• Destruction v1 - Fixed an issue that prevented Team 1’s MBT from spawning.

• AAS v1 - Fixed a bug that allowed players to hide inside of a certain rock
  
• Invasion v2 + RAAS v1 - A Repair Station is now available for boats in the Main Base.
  
• Invasion v1 - Fixed a bug where IMF Minsk Motorcycles were not spawning in the Main Base.

• Added a new Invasion layer, Invasion v2.

• AAS v1, RAAS v1 - Helipads can now be used in the main bases.
  
• Insurgency v1 - The helipad in Team 1’s base can now be used.

• Added two new layers, RAAS v2 and Invasion v2.

• AAS v2 - Fixed a bug that caused the ammo crate to spawn on top of the helipad

This new pack contains three weapon skins for use with the VDV and USMC factions.



Here is a closer look at each weapon in the pack:

Nettle - VDV AK-12 Rifle (For use on woodland biomes):



Mirage - USMC M16A4 Rifle (For use on desert biomes):



Horizon - VDV SV-98M Marksman Rifle (For use on desert biomes):

• Updated the mod SDK to v8.0.
  
• Updated mod versioning to v8.0. This means that all mods will need to be re-cooked with the v7.2 SDK to be compatible with the updated version of the game.
  
• Fixed an issue that could prevent modders from uploading mods to Steam workshop
  
• Added a new ModdedAssetValidator. This validator will run for any assets within a mod folder, checking whether it references any vanilla assets that are included in the ModSDK, but not included in the shipped game. This was validated before, but at cook time. Now modders will find out far sooner when they're referencing an unshipped asset. This validator also introduces coverage for referenced sublevels and plugin assets, which weren't validated before.
  
• For a mod to be cooked, all its assets must now pass asset validation (throw zero validation errors).
  
• Fixed validation errors being thrown for Factions and Layers assets not being included in chunk settings.
  
• Fixed validation errors being thrown by assets referencing plugins such as Black Coast and Harju.
  
• Fixed validation errors being thrown for all SQRestriction_Count data assets.
  
• Introduced the Factions and Layers Creation Tool, which handles setup for you when making a new mod for Squad!

• We are aware of an issue where framerate may have an impact on weapon handling. Our team is working hard to find a solution, and we will update the community when we are closer to a fix.
  
• Emplacements and certain vehicles may occasionally have camera perspective issues when leaving the vehicle or reloading the vehicle’s weapon.
  
• BMP-1 IFV - The 9M14P Malyutka's guiding wire may appear to pop out of the vehicle and move erratically after firing.
  
• The new RGO impact grenades may detonate when a player is downed while holding one.

This concludes our debrief for the 8.0 Squad Release Notes! Stay tuned to our Steam forums for all our upcoming comms!

Today’s Dev Blog is a little different than anything we have done before, but we wanted to introduce more of our Dev team to the community!

So, without further ado, meet Virus.exe, a Technical Game Designer on Squad!

But what is a Technical Game Designer? Well, these individuals possess a unique blend of skills: part game designer, part programmer, and entirely immersed in the inner workings of game engines.

Virus’s days are a combination of experimentation and investigation, often stepping in when others encounter a dead end in solving a technical bug. When that issue runs deeper than expected, Virus has been known to create in-editor tools to allow designers to fix the issue! As for the design side of the position, spending time working with other designers on design docs, configuring new features, and liaising between the design and engineering team for everyone to speak the same ‘language’ is how most of his days are spent!

Virus and Ceeg sat down to discuss his role and what drove him to work in the games industry. Here’s how that interview went!

---

I have wanted to become a programmer since I was a kid. When I was about 12 years old, I became interested in programming and started studying it after school. Writing code fascinated me; I could swear that I could see the zeros and ones hovering in the air around me as if I were Neo from The Matrix. But getting into gamedev was not my goal initially, and you might say I got into the industry by chance.

At the end of 2015, I saw a small Russian streamer on Twitch, who was playing Squad, which had just been released in early access. I am a big fan of the Battlefield series, so I liked the look of Squad a lot, bought it, and started playing together with that streamer. Later, we became friends in real life. I was even a witness at his wedding (hi Anton and Lisa)!

A year later or so, the Squad modding kit came out. And that changed everything. Being a techie to the core, I immediately wanted to figure it out and start creating cool stuff for Squad, which by then had become my favorite game. The original mod toolkit turned out to be almost ‘vanilla’ Unreal Engine editor, so while learning how to mod Squad, I was also learning one of the most powerful game engines of our time.

Active Defense System prototype

After a while, I had built up some reputation in the modding community, and a member of the Squad QA team named Emil spotted me and asked for my help. He had an idea for a new game mode that he proposed to game designers, which they liked, but there were no resources available to develop it at the time, so he asked me to help to create a mod with this new game mode, and I gladly agreed. And to this day, I’m grateful to him for providing me this opportunity that ended up turning my life around. Some might say it was just a happy coincidence, but I consider it to be more like the hand of fate.

Some time later, when the mod was ready and we had completed some public playtests, I was invited to join the Squad development team to integrate this mod into the game.
While doing this, I expressed a strong interest in how Squad was made on the inside. I had studied the code base, and my programming skills helped me start assisting with fixing bugs in the game. I also developed a close relationship with the game design team, and my experience as a simple everyday player, who also participated in competitive tournaments, helped them see the game from a different angle. My technical skills on multiple occasions allowed them to find and fix issues with game mechanics without involving engineers, who at the time were busy with higher priority things, like engine upgrades. And thanks to my knowledge of Russian military equipment, I was also able to fulfill the role of a military advisor.

Eventually, when my work on integrating the new Destruction game mode was completed, around 2018, I was offered a permanent position on the game design team, which sadly I couldn't accept due to my occupation at the time (I was an active duty officer in the Russian military, serving in a R&D unit in a rank of Captain, effectively working as a programmer), but I was able to stay on the team as a volunteer.
Fast-forward to 2021, I finally left my military career after 10 long years, and joined Offworld as a full time technical game designer. And I'm happy to be here and work on my favorite game!


One of the first big technical challenges for me was a bug with the BRDM-2 Spandrel, a notoriously known vehicle equipped with a pod full of anti-tank guided missiles. The bug was allowing the gunner to bypass the limits on the firing rate, and launch all missiles in quick succession, nuking any opposition armored vehicle out of existence without any chance for them to retaliate. At first, I thought it was just a config problem. But after I studied the code flow under the microscope of the debugger, it became apparent that it was a deeper issue with how the weapon worked. So I had to do a big refactoring of its firing code, almost rewriting it from scratch.


The new suppression effects & reworked suppression logic in the Infantry Combat Overhaul that was shipped with v6.0 update was one that took a lot of work. I had to study a lot on how Depth of Field effects work in real life optics and how it is implemented in Unreal Engine, in order to make it work as intended, at different resolutions and with upscaling features like FSR and DLSS. It was a really deep dive, and I’m proud that I was able to come out on top of it.


Unreal Engine blueprints for prototyping, Google Sheets for various things, from balancing tuning to analyzing results, Miro & Confluence for documentation & brainstorming, and other designers' brains to discuss the ideas 😀. Also, I look at designed mechanics and analyze them using “design lenses” methodology, very well laid out in The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell. And last, but not least, I rely on our Offworld Design Pillars that we have written down and linked in a template for our game design documents.


The Seeding game mode! It was a long requested feature, and I was happy to work on it. I’m not sure how much it changed the player experience, but I think server admins were definitely happy to get it! I also implemented the access to game chat via remote console for administration tasks (i.e. chat commands implemented via 3rd party automation tools monitoring the game chat, that allow to report a player directly to server admins, call for admin presence, or implement map voting and other cool things).

NLAW Guidance System Mk I

My everyday language is C++, as that’s what Unreal Engine & Squad is made on.
In the past I knew some Pascal/Delphi, wrote some Java for Android, had a quite successful attempt with GoLang (wrote the backend for a project I was working on in the military), and can read C# (due to its syntax being similar to C++). For game development I prefer C++, but if I had enough free time, I would have liked to try C# with Unity engine.


There are a lot of things planned, and all of them are exciting! I could share one thing that was known to modders for some time now, it is called Generic Resource System, and could be described as a rework of the backend for our logistics mechanics from the ground-up. It changes the way the game stores information about resources like construction and ammo points and how the objects holding these resources interact with each other. Even though by itself It’s not a game mechanic, it provides a modular foundation that game mechanics could be built and expanded upon in a much more convenient fashion, without making our code base look more and more like spaghetti, enabling us (and modders too!) to create things like physical supply crates that could be dropped from vehicles and could be destroyed by the enemy, or a separate team-wide resource for Commander to use as a currency to pay for call-in support actions instead of being restricted by cooldown timers, and many more cool things!

Resource Crates Destruction

There are a lot of resources available nowadays, free game engines, free assets, free or really cheap learning courses. All of that really helps to get started.
So, just go and make games! Learn new stuff! Try things! Try your ideas! Yes, you will fail on your way, a lot. But failure is not a bad thing, it is a learning opportunity. The only one who doesn't fail is the one who doesn’t try.
Remember, when Loki said to Thanos “I consider experience experience”, he was right! Learn from your mistakes, and try again. Even if your game won’t be successful, the experience you’ll get in the process of making it will help you to get a job in the industry.
Another thing, game jams! Take part in game jams! I’ve tried it a few times, and it was a really great experience. Not only was it fun, but also allowed me to develop valuable connections with people across the industry.
Also, mod games that you like! I am a living example that modding could get you into the industry, but I'm not the only one. Offworld has hired multiple people who did impressive modding work, Zeno, Jhett and Axton to name a few! Even our current lead game designer, Baron, was a modder at some point, he worked on the Canadian Armed Forces faction mod team.

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Many thanks to Virus for joining me for today’s Devblog! For those of you who made it this far, thank you for joining us. And as a special thank you, the Patch Notes for Squad v8.0 will be available Monday June 10th! See you then!

We have just released a Hotfix for Update 7.3.1!

This includes:

• a fix for an issue that stops clients from connecting to servers during an EOS sanctions outage.
  
• a fix for an issue where players could ADS while sprinting under certain conditions.

For this Hotfix both servers and clients will need to update.

And that's all for today!

We have just released a Hotfix for Update 7.3. After some player confirmed testing over the weekend, this Hotfix is specifically targeted at resolving a stutter issue that players were experiencing due to new players joining the server, and getting added to the player’s ever growing list of ‘recent players’. This would cause a spike of net traffic, causing a freeze or stutter.

Thank you to the community members that helped with investigating this issue and the testing of this hotfix!

• 🎖️ Fixed helicopters floating away on clients when the rotor blades were broken and the pilot exited the helicopter before it stopped moving.
  
• 🎖️ Fixed red VOIP icon appearing if another player disconnected while they were talking with VOIP.
  
• 🎖️ The USA M1128 MGS turret will now properly pass damage to the vehicle’s main HP.
  
• 🎖️ Fixed a bug that could prevent the USA M1128 MGS from burning out and detonating when its ammo rack is destroyed.
  
• 🎖️ Fixed several bugs that could cause emote audio to either not play or play out of sync with the emote.
  
• 🎖️ Fixed a lighting issue that caused weapon skins to appear darker in the store than they are.
  
• 🎖️ Fixed issue where the “FactionSkipRounds” setting did not reliably cause a previously chosen faction to be skipped in the next round of voting (it would skip it for team 1, but not for team 2 where the team 1 players from the previous round have now moved to). Note: the “FactionSkipRounds” setting does not yet correctly apply to units being skipped in the next round of voting, only factions.

• 🛠️Added a tool for visualizing blueprint inheritance structure:
  Click “Populate” to map out the blueprint inheritance hierarchy in an easily navigable “tree” view.
  Note: The filter option can be unreliable, so you may need to close and restart the tool to refresh it sometimes.
  
• 🛠️ Completely reworked the inheritance structure of infantry Weapon Static Infos for easier tuning and tweaking:
  Most files have been reparented, and many have been renamed or deleted. While we preserved redirectors to minimize issues for mods that may inherit from these configs, some of your configs may have lost references to their parent.
  The standard inheritance pattern is now:
  - Generic Weapon Static Info
  - - Weapon Parent
  - - - Ironsights variant
  - - - - Ironsights grenadier
  - - - - Ironsights foregrip
  - - - Reflex sight variant
  - - - - Reflex grenadier
  - - - - Reflex foregrip
  - - - Scope variant
  - - - - Scoped Grenadier
  - - - - Scoped foregrip
  We recommend following this pattern in your mods. We also recommend that your weapons' parent static info inherits from “Generic Weapon Static Info” rather than from an existing Squad gun config to reduce the chances of changes to the base game breaking your mods.
  
• 🛠️ Added a script to aid in reparenting blueprints without the risk of data loss. It ensures no properties change in the file after reparenting, even if they were defined in the old parent:
  To use the script, open the console and enter "ODK.ReparentBlueprintLossless [path of file to reparent] [path of file to reparent to]”
  Tip: Select a file in the Content Browser and press Control-C to copy the file path. You can paste this into the console without worrying about syntax.

• On Amphibious Invasion layers, some of the vehicle spawn delays shown in the unit voting screen can be inaccurate. Specifically, if a unit starts with tanks without a delay, but no tank spawners exist on the amphibious main spawn (an island or carrier ship), tanks won’t be available until the forward land spawn base is secured upon capturing an objective. This is not reflected in the vehicle spawn delay shown during voting.
  
• The “FactionSetupSkipRounds” setting does not reliably cause a previously chosen unit to be skipped in the next round of voting. There was a fix attempt for this, but it was unsuccessful. It will continue to be looked into. However, the “FactionSkipRounds” setting should now be functional for skipping entire factions.

In this update, we have introduced a new and updated Team Select Screen to bring it in line with the rest of our improved UI:

• ⭐ Adjusted sway misalignment of all ironsights rifles, pistols, automatic rifles, machine guns, and submachine guns: The degree of sight misalignment contributed by moving around is no longer so extreme. This makes it easier to see through the sights without the front post being obscured by the rear sight, with a minimal impact on overall weapon sway. Low stamina will still lead to significant misalignment and trigger the over-the-sights ("Clear Sights") perspective shift.
  
• ⭐ Adjusted and standardized the amount of sway necessary to trigger the over-the-sights ("Clear Sights") perspective.
  
• ⭐ Vehicle timers on the unit preview screen during voting, as well as in the team selection menu, now show initial spawn delay instead of respawn time. If a vehicle is immediately available there is a hyphen instead of a timer.
  
• ⭐ Added the “special characteristics” section to the unit preview screen during voting, as well as in the team select menu. This refers to information such as: “+1 extra HAB per FOB,” “+1 extra ATGM Emplacement per FOB”, “Intel on Enemy Vehicle Spawn Times”, etc.
  
• 🛠️ Added new skip options that server owners can use when configuring voting. These include biome, layer size, and expanded game mode skip options.
  
• 🛠️ Added a configuration option that allows server owners to adjust voting to ensure symmetrical unit match-ups.
  
• 🛠️ Added a “night-time / off-hours” configuration that server owners can use to define custom voting options for a scheduled timeframe. It will override the regular config, but will still be overridden by the low player count config.

Precision Strike Pack ($4.99 USD)

This new pack contains four weapon skins for use while playing as the TLF faction:



The black skin for the KNT-76 marksman rifle can be used in any biome, the MPT-76 received a desert biome skin, and the SOR-9 got both a woodland and desert biome skin!

Outpost Pack ($3.99 USD)

This new pack contains an emote and four gestures:

• ⭐Flex (Emote)
  
• ⭐Cease Fire (Gesture)
  
• ⭐Overwatch (Gesture)
  
• ⭐Disregard (Gesture)
  
• ⭐Leaders, Join Me! (Gesture)

This concludes our debrief for the 7.3 Squad Release Notes! Stay tuned to our Steam forums for all our upcoming comms!

Listen up Squaddies. We're taking part in the Steam FPS Fest from April 15 - 22, and you can get your friends and soon-to-be fellow squaddies in for 60% off. You heard right, the game's on sale from now until the FPS Fest ends.

You can also check out our most recent DevBlog here, where we show a sneak peak at our upcoming Faction, the PMCs!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/393380/Squad/

Welcome Squaddies, to an entirely new line of Dev Blogs. Today’s post is coming hot off the press from our Content team. Later this year we will be introducing our newest Faction, the Private Military Contractors, but today let’s have a sneak peek at what’s to come!

The PMC will be an irregular Independent faction that represents western private military contractors emphasizing the use of non-standardized, modern infantry. They will lack some tools that conventional forces have such as heavy vehicles, heavy weapons, and comprehensive battlefield support. This faction will set us up with a variety of assets that will enable us to deliver more new factions in the near future.

1. An Independent faction that can match up against any other faction in the game and play on any biome and map.
   
2. They will have access to specialized light attack vehicles but lack heavier equipment such as infantry fighting vehicles, and adequate tactical support.
   
3. Will have access to a wide variety of modern small-arms with aftermarket upgrades.
   
4. They will only have access to lighter unit types such as air assault, and light infantry.

While this SUV is still in its block out stages, we wanted to share our current progress on what the vehicles for the PMCs will be!









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And that's all we have to share with you on the Private Military Contractors for now, but we plan on continuing to release Dev Blogs that will, among other exciting additions, keep you updated on the progress of this new Faction!

We’ve seen so many great submissions so far, and are excited to show you even more awesome mods!

What follows are updates sent to us by the people behind the mods themselves: their words, images, and amazing work!

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Liareng Islands is a custom map set in the Pacific. It features dense jungles, old trench networks, overgrown facilities, tropical islets and perilous cliffs to fight over. Characterised by its focus on island hopping, the map is broken up into four (three currently playable) main islands separated by the Philippine Sea. Between the dense jungles of the north, the dangerous mountain warfare of the west, and the shattered and rocky shores of the south, each island has a unique theme and layout that requires your team to genuinely coordinate and adapt accordingly.



There is also an add-on for Squider's SquidBots Zeus mod, which lets a game master create PvP and/or COOP missions against AI bots!

Since it's a work in progress, the map still has rough edges (and one main island is not yet playable, notably), so if you ever get the chance to play it, feedback is *really* appreciated!

Steam Workshop:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2880901954
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3003303773

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From the combined modding effort that brought you mods such as Middle East Escalation, the French Faction and the Japanese Faction, Tactical Collective is proud to submit to The Wrench the latest addition to the Tactical Collective mod collection in the form of the VDV expansion and overhaul mod!

With playtesting around the corner, the VDV mod is bringing to Squad a new identity to the VDV faction, one that emphasizes the "airborne" aspect of the Airborne Forces: introducing all-new helicopter classes and airborne capabilities in the vehicle lineup alongside new and unique infantry weapons, ground vehicles and commander actions - giving the VDV a much more in-depth character than is present in Vanilla Squad.

For this Wrench submission, we are simply showcasing a small collection of our assets to show off some of what we have to offer, but be sure to check out all of our other work on our Discord server!

Discord: https://discord.gg/HzDZBKcGzv

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The Bundeswehr Mod is aiming to bring the German army and marines into the game. They are also working on the map Fulda Gap with original middle European architecture, fauna and destruction mechanics for SQUAD. Check out their last 2023 Blog update!

Website: https://bwmod.com/2023/08/06/progress-update-no-8/
Discord: https://discord.gg/Uj9jf3kwgU

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SquadZ: Origin is a MOD that focuses on the zombie genre, where you can play as a soldier, squad leader, or commander in the game to constantly recover the land that humanity has lost through continuous battles with zombies. Of course, you can also join the new human (zombie) glorious evolution, leading the new human to constantly expand the territory, the planet to own!

Thanks to all players for accompanying the SquadZ: Origin to 2024, during which we have updated numerous pieces of content and maps, and we will continue to bring continuous updates to the SquadZ: Origin this year as well.



In 2024, we plan to rework Mutla, fix and reset several lower-quality maps, rework the AI, and introduce major gameplay improvements to LastStandV2, PVE mode, etc., as well as other new maps and content as we progress.

We currently have 11 game modes, 24 maps, and 10 factions to give players a rich gaming experience.
We welcome players and server owners from all over the world to join SquadZ. If you have any needs, our team is honoured to serve you. If you need to contact us, you can leave a message in the creative workshop or join our Discord to communicate.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2318834225

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Focusing on Invasion mode, this mod advocates fast-paced and fierce confrontation. Different from MODs that add new content, ICM is an optimization and improvement of the vanilla game, paying more attention to details and making appropriate expansions. A SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE! ICO has been eliminated: gun control, soldier stamina, and suppression effects have all been optimized. Built-in squad creation time query and anti-cheating functions.
Noobs have no learning costs, VETERANS ARE STILL VETERANS!

76 maps, All 12 factions including the most recent Turkish Land Forces and over 480 role kits have been modified.
Search ICM in the server list for available servers.



Support for both Chinese and English as well as Windows and Linux Servers.
Updates once a week!

- Cold War factions such as the Soviet Union and West Germany will appear in Easter egg maps
- Multiple mechanisms to optimize both atk and def experiences and reduce boring
- Anti-personnel mines
- Medical stations, medical vehicles, infantry drones, infantry trenches
- Unlock multiple hidden weapons
- Better SL kits, making you love being SL
- Multiple new vehicles and deployments
- New command actions

[Steam Workshop] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3038864732
[Gameplay video] https://youtu.be/jLlK-F0fWYg?si=xLi-FbJ_bj3epreQ

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AAS map using the Iranian Peninsula of Jazireh-ye Shif in the northern province of Bushehr as inspiration. This is a work in progress. Latest version has procedure volumes to control use of litter, and a weather system to add nice dust storms. There is a working version on Steam workshop: it’s a 3km² sized map. I've tried not to have a completely destroyed region, but to have more of the opening days of a conflict. It doesn't follow exactly the area’s urban makeup but I created more POIs that seem to be more like the playstyle of communities.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3131278030
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5JlT8RIY8Y&ab_channel=LondonSmee

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Hello and welcome to the Brazilian Armed Forces mod!

This project aims to bring the Brazilian Army as a playable faction into Squad, featuring weapons, vehicles, and equipment utilized by the Brazilian army.

Down below you will witness some of our In-Engine Renders of the mod; a turnable model of our Guarani APC with all its different versions and internal Gameplay footage, testing our main battle rifle the IA2.

Be sure to join our discord to keep track of our mod's progress!

Discord: https://discord.gg/dxGtmc6tAy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RXM5QFTorE&ab_channel=BrazilianArmedForcesMod

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Squad Overhaul is a mod which, as its name suggests, revisits the game and the gameplay of SQUAD. The idea is to modify the game without altering the whole.


Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2964172192

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Thanks Squaddies for taking part in the latest Squad Q&A, where you, the players, get to ask the developers who made Squad all about the game! We were extremely excited with the number of responses to our call for questions. We have taken the time to select ten (10) questions to answer. This will be a slightly shorter Q&A document in comparison to the last one, as we have quite a few topics we are not ready to discuss, but will in the near future!

Aiding in answering the questions are three members of our development team

• CANNON - Senior Producer - Squad
  
• Ceeg - Community Manager
  
• BaronVonBoyce - Lead Game Designer - Squad

If your question was not answered this time around please feel free to ask it again next time.

With that we want to thank all of our Squaddies for their participation. To not delay any further let's get into these questions!

Gameplay

Question: How long does OWI intend to develop Squad? UE4 is starting to show it's age, what are the plans for continued development? Will this ever be upgraded to UE5 or another engine?

Answer: There is no end in sight for Squads development, we have lots planned and we’re excited to keep the game going with new features, content and gamemodes for as long as we can. Regarding Unreal 5, we currently have a small team dedicated to looking into this shiny new tech. They are looking at what impact it will have on the current game, what improvements or setbacks we might see and how long it might take to upgrade.

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Question: Would you consider hiring a workshop mod developer contract to reach your achievements?

Answer: We are currently in contact with a few modding teams and individual modders to help us with various areas of development. This can include anything from creating new content, to helping us set up or improve existing content. Historically we have always been open to working with modding teams, and we do not see that changing!

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Question: What is an area of the game you're looking to address next, what problem with the game flow is looking to be solved, if anything?

Answer: We’re looking at addressing pain points for new players, including closing the game loop off with more detailed feedback for players. This will allow them to see how the overall team did as a whole, where ticket losses and gains were, as well as onboarding newer players more easily into the experience. We plan on working on it iteratively over the next year, with each update hopefully including something pushing us closer to this goal.

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Question: When will thermal sights and laser rangefinders be added for MBTs and IFVs?

Answer: Thermal optics are something that we would like to add in the future, however we can’t commit to timelines due to limitations with resources and technology. We would wish for a Thermal system to not only look and feel authentic, but to work realistically, rather than be a post process effect. Laser rangefinders are already present in some IFVs and all tanks.

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Question: Can we see more tutorials in the future? I'm thinking of a basic SL guide on how to make FOBs and call command strikes, basic vehicle gunnery tutorial, dedicated AT tutorial.

Answer: Yes, we plan on completely reworking our tutorial into a set of shorter tutorials that cover a wide variety of topics, beginning with the basics and moving into more advanced areas and topics. We also plan to add more tools for players to have better visibility on information that is currently hidden or considered tribal knowledge. Our goal with this is to have players be able to search for this information more easily from within the game.

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Question: Does the Dev team have plans for any kind of player progression?

Answer: We have no plans at this time for a traditional progression system, but we do plan on adding a socially-driven progression system that allows players to recognize each other for their contributions. More on this in upcoming communications!

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Question: Any plans to bring in new commander assets?

Answer: We are in the process of adding new commander assets, and in the future, we plan to completely rework the current commander system up to a higher standard, that also leans into the asymmetric design of different factions and units within those factions.

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Question: How far along the pipeline is the TOW-launcher rework

Answer: We are in the process of reworking our missile system in-game to be more authentic, as well as more flexible with the intent to enable us to add more types of missile systems in the future. We will have more to share on this topic in the coming months.

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Question: Are you going to balancing the factions with the upcoming voting system so it doesn't become too one sided

Answer: Yes, faction balancing will be an ongoing and iterative process using data points from analytics, as well as feedback and observations. We want to make sure every faction feels fun to play, and no one gets left behind with the Voting system!

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That’s all for this month's Q&A! Thank you all for your participation. While we may not host a Q&A like this every month, expect to see some other forms of communication that you are sure to enjoy. If you missed your chance to ask a question this time around, Keep a close watch on X and Facebook, where we always announce our latest rounds of Q&A and other Blog posts!