Hi everyone!

Today we have released a hotfix to address an issue that caused the Workshop area of the game to no longer function properly. A fix for the related issue where custom map makers are no longer able to upload new maps or update existing maps is coming soon, but will not require a patch for the game.

We are still looking into an issue that causes a small number of Oculus Home users to not be able to launch the game. Please contact our support team if you’re facing issues launching the game through Oculus Home (PC).

The patch to address the Workshop issue is available now, and will download automatically to your device.

Stay frosty!

Hello again, everyone!

Today features the release of Onward version 1.8.9! We’ve already seen a lot of community excitement around this patch since we released the trailer on Monday. The headlines for this update include new gun interactions in the form of speed reloads, HK slaps, and slide locks, and the redesigned Abandoned, with day and night versions available. We also included some bug fixes and game adjustments. For a detailed list of changes, be sure to review the changelog below.


Gear up, team.

A Marine recon mission was cut short when a Chinook transporting MARSOC Raiders was shot down over an unmapped area. Survivors are believed to be held up near an abandoned industrial complex, and intelligence has confirmed a strong Volk presence moving into the area following the crash.

This is gonna be a large area of operation surrounded by lots of trees, rocks, and hills which we can use as cover for our approach. Once we reach the compound, expect to engage the enemy in close quarters. Command has also given us the option of using flanking routes on the outskirts of the AO. We’ll also be up against snipers hiding in tall buildings -- some repurposed, abandoned apartments -- so be careful. We should consider having a designated Marksman to counter them.

Move out!

An ode to OceanDolf

We’ve added a toy dolphin to the map for you to find. The dolphin is the favorite animal of a very beloved community member, OceanDolf, who passed away in 2021. Not only was she a member of the player community and a part of the VRML, but also she was a valued member of the QA team here at Downpour.

Her joy and laugh was infectious and she was an absolute delight to work and play with. If you had the pleasure of being on her team you were a cub to her “Mama bear” personality. She swore by the MK18 and was one of the people most passionate about Onward. She will be missed dearly. The dolphin toy is a way for her memory to live on and continue to be a part of the community she devoted so much time and love to.

New Gun Interactions

Speed Reload
HK Slap
Slide Locks

Changelog

System

• Slightly reduced the weapon's quietest volume setting to help with people's feedback about volume being too loud for Quest
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing the game to not to launch from SteamVR for some players

Gameplay

• Increased the limit of players on a single team to 10 in Free Roam and Shooting Range
  
• Fixed an issue with broken lobbies going into “Waiting for player” mode
  
• Fixed dead players having downed player symbol next to their name in tent if they leave mid-round and rejoin
  
• Sidearm beyond the first (i.e., silencer, laser sight) will display in the correct location in the equipment section of the loadout
  
• Downed MARSOC player can no longer type code into their tablet
  
• Downed players will now count as kills at the end of the round
  
• Fixed issue where if a player leaves a lobby they were in as a caster, they will cause the first round of any lobby they subsequently host to be un-endable
  
• Fixed bug where if you put your gun inside an object or a wall and release the trigger hand your left hand gets teleported away from your body
  
• Fixed an issue with the kill house on Shooting Range killing the player in certain areas
  
• While wearing spectator goggles, you can now see players on minimap
  
• After loading into another map the Caster is now able to change scores properly
  
• Fixed the +/- controls not cycling through players in caster mode
  
• Fixed player usernames not appearing in First Person Perspective while casting

Maps

• Shooting Range (Day & Night) spawning in the table has been fixed
  
• Some areas in shooting rage have been adjusted to not allow players to clip through unintended areas
  
• Graphic adjustments throughout several maps have been made to fix fighting/collision issues, player/item pass through, cross-platform inaccuracies
  
• One in the Chamber player spawn points have been adjusted so players are a lot less likely to spawn on top of each other during the match
  
• Fixed Helicopter landing error in Subway that was causing round to not end
  
• Fixed soft lock issue in Basic Training by expending all bullets and magazines in the M16 before the step to hold the front grip
  
• Fixed ramp in Bazaar being walkable by building corner on the side of the scaffolding
  
• Fixed players being able to climb on top of the tank inside the Northeast garage allowing the player to clip their head into the roof on Snowpeak
  
• Several wall and surface bugs fixed on Subway
  
• Changed the end of Subway tunnels to now have fallen metal walls to give you a better idea of how far you are able to walk into the tunnels as well as giving the background a brighter color to prevent hiding in the dark tunnels
  
• Uplink spawns are adjusted on Subway
  
• Adjusted a MARSOC spawn on Downfall
  
• Moved a blue cargo container on Cargo to increase visual occlusion from both sides
  
• Fixed Custom Content ammo boxes not spawning

Weapons and Utilities

• Addition of HK Slap for G3, G3 auto, MP5
  
• Addition of Paddle Release style Speed Reload for 552, AK12, AKM, AKS74U, VAL, G36C, G3, SVD, M39
  
• Addition of slide locks to weapons: Beretta, Glock, M1911, Makarov, TT-33, Five-SeveN, M16A4, MK16, MK17, AK5C, MK18, AUG, L86, Benelli M4, G3A3, G3 Auto, TAR-21, G36C, SKS, SPAS-12
  
• Improved the scope lenses for PC by showing a slight reflection on the lens
  
• Fixed guns floating when joining in progress games

Known Issues

• The red-dot sight on the MP5 is slightly mis-aligned, and the bullet will hit slightly below the centre pip
  
• In Co-Op on Abandoned, host can sometimes spawn on Helicopter
  
• Issue with items floating on Downfall
  
• In Operations, when host changes, game mode cannot be changed until new host enters loadout screen
  
• On Bazaar (Day and Night) the AI sometimes spawn out of bounds
  
• Downed players at end of the round will not count towards deaths

Happy July, Everyone!

Let’s start this month’s sitrep with the good stuff: update 1.8.9 is currently being reviewed in Unit 51, and will soon land on your devices! We are working hard to make sure all the new features are polished and in the best condition for release.

From The Devs' Desk

Update 1.8.8 introduced some much needed backend stability to the game, room for growth, and helped set us up for future projects. Some game adjustments that were made in 1.8.8 received some passionate community feedback and we wanted to address two major concerns players have. Number 1, we have reviewed the audio and made adjustments to the Quest audio so it is closer to the sound profiles and settings for PCVR. Some of these changes will be coming in Update 1.8.9, and some will follow after. Number 2, Freeroam and Shooting Range maps will no longer have a 5-person limit on teams, meaning that you will be able to have up to 10 players on one team in these game modes. We also learned that a small number of SteamVR players weren’t able to launch the game successfully, and we managed to fix this issue in Update 1.8.9.

In our last Sitrep we introduced two new weapons interactions that will be coming to 1.8.9. The HK Slap and Speed Reload, and the community had an overwhelmingly positive response. We are happy to share that we have added a third new interaction: the ability to manually lock back the slide/bolt for firearms that support this function.
https://onwardthegame.com/img/Devblog/july2021/SlideLock.mp4

If you have been keeping up with our dev blogs and social media, you have seen the story and images behind Abandoned. One new item that will also be coming to Abandoned is an Easter egg in memory of a beloved Onward community member and QA team member. For the details behind the addition of this item, check the patch notes that will be coming upon the release of the 1.8.9 update.

After the release of Update 1.8.9, we will be quickly jumping to the development of Patch 1.8.10. The update will feature the release of Turbine day and night maps. Additional features that we are looking forward to releasing with it are new animations and a tent upgrade.

We continue to work on our next major game features such as Shadowmask Lighting to improve graphics on PC, a party system, and a ranking system. One bit of detail we can start to share is that the first iteration of the ranking system is looking to comprise of 20 ranks and 10 prestiges based on things such as kills, death, heals, objectives, matches played, and other game stats. Be ready to start moving up the ranks and look out for more details in future Sitreps.

Hot off the LED screen we have new artwork for you! We had some beautiful new wallpapers for you to show off your passion for Onward. The Fan Supply Drop provides HD wallpaper art for your PC and mobile screens. To get these wallpapers download the Fan Supply Drop from our website.

July’s Community Spotlight is F.lapinski. You may have seen him wrecking people in VRML matches, or maybe you have played on some of his custom maps. Now he has an even bigger project he’s working on. F.lapinski has created a charity group where he is going to be running tournaments to help Veterans. He is partnering up with Veteran charity Stack Up* who help eliminate extreme symptoms of trauma, stress, and isolation of military service members past and present. Stack Up is bringing vets together through the "shared language" of gaming. For more information on this tournament group please check out our Discord.

New community-made custom maps added:
OIL DEPOT DAY/NIGHT by F.Lapinski: Conflict arises across the globe. Espionage indicates that there is Volk activity near Chudtsy, Russia conducting possible illegal oil depot operations. At this time marsoc are deployed to take down this operation.

DRY RUN by Beikenost: An asset flip map set in the Middle East.

THE HOOK 2.0 by Evolution: A collection of nostalgic pirates who can't let go of the past have managed to plunder a modern-day weapons payload. Your team needs to get in there and shut them down. This is no longer bringing guns to a sword fight.

Make sure to go to the Workshop in game to check out and play on these new additions.

Introductions
Downpour has some new additions to our team! You may know these two from the community or played with them on the battlefield. Novius (Brian) has joined the programming side of Onward and Monorchid (Joel) has joined level design.

Things are starting to heat up, make sure you Stay Frosty!



*Facebook has partnered with Stack Up in the past

Hello everyone!

The long awaited update 1.8.8 is here! This update features a rewrite of key game systems to make the game more stable and future-proof, so that we can build on a better foundation going forward. The rewrite includes areas of the code that control player lobbies, game modes, and many other aspects of the game. We’ve included only a selection of bugs and changes in the changelog: over a hundred bugs have been fixed in this update and some new content has made it in as well.

Night Time Shooting Range
Are you ready to prepare for night time operations with your fire team? The new night version of the Shooting Range will allow you to train your skills in the dark. When setting up for Shooting Range in single player or multiplayer, you will now be able to choose a day or night setting.




Audio Systems
The second major change to feature in this update is further improvements to the audio systems. We’ve rebalanced our audio volumes, we’ve improved the way volume decreases over distance and we’ve added new sounds for footsteps and a selection of weapons, with more to come in the future.

Video of Sound Updates

We’ve included a more detailed changelog below. Stay on the lookout for 1.8.9 in the coming weeks!

-- Changelog
Audio

• Added verification steps to check for correct settings
  
• Audio volumes rebalanced
  
• Audio attenuation distances tweaked
  
• Custom global audio can now use the indoor/outdoor ducking system
  
• Added new Custom Content audio events

Gameplay

• Fixed a bug where if players drew a lot on the whiteboard the game could crash on Oculus Quest
  
• Fixed several instances of lobbies crashing and kicking players back to the main menu
  
• Fixed an issue in Uplink where the round would sometimes not end after the Uplink was sent successfully
  
• Forgive or Punish buttons for team killing have been moved to the tent, allowing players more time to punish team killers
  
• Removed a small rogue collider around players’ necks that could unintentionally block bullets
  
• Evac choppers’ landing locations have been adjusted slightly so they are more easily accessible
  
• Bushes in Suburbia Day have been adjusted so that visibility is more consistent between the PC and Quest versions of Onward
  
• Quest players can no longer spawn on dead fire team leaders after pausing the game through the Oculus menu
  
• Collision boxes for the trucks on Shooting Range have been adjusted so players can no longer get stuck
  
• Fixed an issue where some players were returned to the menu after completing Basic Training, instead of moving them on to Intermediate Training
  
• Fixed several collision issues leading to inconsistent or incorrect results

Weapon & Utilities

• Fixed a number of issues where objects would be incorrectly blocked or visible in front of or behind smoke grenades
  
• When ejecting magazine from gun, velocity of gun is now taken into account
  
• C4 can now be deactivated by fire from a Molotov cocktail
  
• Fixed an issue where if the player had C4 and a Molotov cocktail on their vest and the Molotov was shot the C4 would float mid-air
  
• Fixed an issue with the MP5 where the bolt could not be closed after emptying a magazine
  
• Fixed an issue where grenades could do damage through solid floors
  
• Fixed an issue where the gun sight would float above the MK18 in the tent if the M203 grenade launcher was equipped to the gun
  
• Fixed RPG rocket fins sticking out on Quest
  
• Fixed an issue where players could shoot through the Riot Shield if it was in a lowered position

Custom Content
Released a new custom content sdk: v2.0.9
https://onwardthegame.com/doc/OnwardCustomContent_SDK_v2.0.9.unitypackage
Updated the Custom Content Guide
https://onwardthegame.com/doc/CustomContentGuide.pdf
Updated the Custom Content Lightmapping Guide
https://onwardthegame.com/doc/OnwardLightmapping101.pdf

Known Issues

• Players will sometimes spawn inside the table in the Shooting Range day and night maps
  
• We’ve temporarily removed support for bHaptics vests for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 users
  
• Oculus players may encounter a black screen (audio can still be heard) when loading in or out of the tent. Restarting your game will fix this issue
  
• One evac zone in Subway still needs to be adjusted to be able to complete the game mode
  
• When playing One in the Chamber, multiple players can spawn on top of each other

Hello Everyone!

As you may have guessed when we announced that we were joining Oculus Studios back in late April it’s been a crazy month of May for us. It was heartwarming to see the largely positive response to the news! We, like you, are excited for what this means and the future opportunities we will have. That's for the future, back to current events: we've been working on 1.8.8 for a long time, and we're excited to get it into your hands very soon. The release of 1.8.8 also clears the path for more frequent updates with more content and new features for you to enjoy.

From The Devs’ Desk
To give a quick recap and update of the roadmap we set out in the previous sitrep: Update 1.8.8 is coming out soon, and we’re currently tackling the final list of issues before we send a build over to Unit 51 for testing and ultimately release it to you. Update 1.8.8 will focus on a rewrite of key game systems to make them future-proof and increase their stability so that we can build on them going forward. On top of that, Update 1.8.8 includes a night version of the shooting range map and a lot of bug fixes, including a fix for the crash on Quest that happens when there is too much writing on the white board.

After 1.8.8 is released, we intend to release two more updates in quick succession: update 1.8.9 will feature the Abandoned map in both day and night variants, and Update 1.8.10 will see the release of the Turbine map, also in day and night variants.

As Abandoned is coming together we want to share a few teaser images with you.

Abandoned is situated in a Siberian forest close to a lake. With several Soviet-era buildings and factories, VOLK has repurposed these facilities in order to assemble weapons and vehicles. A MARSOC Chinook has been shot down and looted by VOLK militia. With months’ worth of gathered intelligence, MARSOC is well prepared for an offense to take out this facility. A recon mission was cut short when a Chinook transporting MARSOC troops was shot down over an unmapped forest. The remaining Marines have gathered near an abandoned industrial complex. Intelligence has confirmed VOLK forces in the area.






But that’s not all to look forward to: although we’re not sure yet if it’ll be ready in time for 1.8.9 or if it will be released with 1.8.10, we are working on improving our weapon systems, adding the ability to perform an HK slap and speed reloads for weapons that realistically support such specific interactions. At the same time, we will also remove bolt release buttons from weapons such as the MP5 which do not have these features in real life. A full list of what guns will be getting these features will be made in the patch notes when the feature is released.

HK-Slap
Speed-reload

Our plans for the longer term also remain unchanged: we’ll be working on Shadowmask Lighting to improve graphics on PC, all new and improved animations for characters, a friends and party system to quickly join up in a game with the people you want to play with, and a progression system to keep an eye on your battlefield performances! It’s a bit early to talk about any of these in detail, but definitely keep an eye on future Sitreps for the juicy details.

Community Center
Summer Fun is coming! We are gearing up for a Summer Community Contest so be on the lookout for more details soon.

This month we want to highlight a member of our community, SGT SCRUFF, who has been providing some fun Onward videos on his YouTube channel. Not only does he highlight some great sniper shots and gameplay, but some great moments within their community of players. This video in particular gave us a few laughs.

We have a couple new custom maps that have been added to the workshop area as well.

Offshore Platform by Tatoskok
Volk has seized a deepwater offshore drilling rig! MARSOC must take back control of the facility. Failure will result in the long term disruption to the world's energy supply.

Paradise by Koiz
MARSOC has been deployed to this South American town to remove a Volk cell and restore freedom.


That's it for May's Sitrep, and as always: stay frosty!

We have just pushed a small change for PCVR players. After the launch of 1.8.7.3 there was a bug causing some players to not load into the game or lobbies correctly. This was known in the community as "being invisible” or "ghosting". We wanted to make sure we acted quickly and got you back to playing.

This issue has been fixed. Please make sure you update to the latest version of the game. If the issue continues please reach out to the Community Managers.

We are excited to announce that Downpour Interactive is joining Oculus Studios. What was once a one-man operation and passion project has blossomed into a studio of people who work together to bring you the best VR tactical shooter. Onward will stay the studio's focus as we continue to grow and expand and continue to bring you quality gaming and experiences.

For more details please refer to the FAQ on our website which includes a message from our founder Dante.

Downpour will remain largely independent at Oculus, with Dante at the helm and all developers at their posts. In most ways it will be business as usual. Please review the FAQ for more details and Dante’s message.

https://onwardthegame.com/

Hello again everyone!

Update 1.8.7.3 for Onward has just been released: this patch adds an anti-cheat system back into Onward. Although we usually like to talk about details, the nature of the patch makes that a bit harder this time around.

This patch affects the way Onward launches on Steam: by default it will now use OnwardLauncher.exe instead of Onward.exe. To prevent the Steam client from creating an error you will have the option to launch the game in a ‘standard’ and a ‘legacy’ mode, where legacy is meant for people who cannot immediately update the game. Launching the game in legacy mode is meant to be used only if you’re on version 1.8.7.2. After you’ve updated to 1.8.7.3 launching in legacy mode will mean you won’t be able to access multiplayer games. If you use a shortcut to launch the game, you should update it accordingly after applying this patch.

For Steam users who are running version 1.7, the legacy mode will be available to you as well.

Stay frosty!

Hello Everyone!

We hope you’re all continuing to brush up on those tactics and improve your skills in Onward while we’ve been working on updates and patches alike. A new patch will release next week featuring anti-cheat measures, and we’ve started testing the long-in-the-making Update 1.8.8 earlier in the week. In this edition of the Devs’ Desk we will also outline our roadmap for the next couple of months.

The competitive scene is gearing up as season 11 of the VRML Onward league officially started this week! In addition, more maps have been added to the Custom Maps area of Onward. Check out the community center for the information related to this news.

From The Devs’ Desk:
First things first: recent events forced us to focus our efforts on an anti-cheat system we have been working on over the past couple of months, and we are planning to release patch 1.8.7.3 for Onward that will bring this brand-new system next week.

With one task completed we are looking to get back to the development of update 1.8.8 which remains largely unchanged from our previous Sitrep: it is centered around a large update of the game logic that controls player lobbies, game modes, and many other aspects of the game. This update has been very long overdue, and as those of you who regularly follow these Sitreps can attest to, very long in the making. Aside from these changes we are also including audio improvements and a night version of the Shooting range in this update.




Content is going to be our focus for the updates that follow 1.8.8, with Abandoned Day and Abandoned Night taking center stage for update 1.8.9 and Turbine planned to do the same for update 1.8.10. If you paid attention to the Seals in our April Fools ‘seals’ gag you may have noticed our buddy Andre who premiered the first glimpse of Abandoned.


While these maps are being released all signals are go for the programmers to work on some of the features we’ve mentioned in previous Sitreps: a party system that will allow you to quickly join up to lobbies with your friends, a ranking and progression system to keep track of your performances, and the lighting update in the form of Shadowmask. Last time around we were still waiting for a Unity update to be able to bring back Shadowmask lighting and other lighting improvements to PCVR, and we’re very happy to say that this update recently released, and work on our end can begin once Update 1.8.8 is out the door.

Although this is far from all that we’re working on, it should give you a clearer picture of what to expect from our updates in the next couple of months.

Community Center:
Season 11 for the VRML Onward league officially kicked off earlier this week! We are looking forward to watching the matches and seeing all the displays of teamwork and tactics that are sure to keep us on the edge of our seats. To watch the matches throughout the season check out the Onward section on the VRML website: https://vrmasterleague.com/Onward

The library of custom maps in Onward keeps expanding. We’ve highlighted four new releases for April:

Speedball by F.Lapinski
Speedball is a map with 4 unique fields scaled and copied from an official NXL World Series layout. Each field has its own boarders and each field can only be played depending on the Objective location. This map is best played with the preferred loadout of a Specialist Shotgun using only slug rounds and smoke grenades. This gives it a balanced chaotic feel to the game with such a small paintball field being used.


Preston Yard by KIRI
"Preston Yard is an ever changing, competitive focused map, that receives frequent quality of life changes based on player feedback. It's a map built for competitive play, by a competitive player. The map follows the traditional 3 lane system, and has a variety of interesting angles, points of interest and realistic world detail. Preston Yard has the potential to be a fan favorite map, and has received nothing but outstanding praise by everyone who has played it. I would LOVE to get this map in the VRML map pool, and work with the community to create one of the best maps Onward has ever seen!"


Apocalyptic by Nolomite
The fallout from the pandemic has led to World War III, and civil wars due to pandemic related deaths and political polarization. Two factions emerge to either cease or defend the most powerful weapon, the uplink.


Villapuma by Rubio
Marsoc is locked in Puma Village and must deactivate the uplink. The streets are patrolled by VOLK soldiers