We are releasing a hotfix today to address frequent crashing reported by the community on first generation AMD Ryzen CPUs. If you are still experiencing crashing after this hotfix, please try the following:

• Right click Insurgency: Sandstorm in your Steam library
  
• Select “Properties”
  
• Navigate to the “Local Files” tab
  
• Select “Verify Integrity Of Game Files”
  
• Reboot your PC once verification has been completed.

We have also been informed by some AMD users that the AMD 19.5.2 drivers do appear to be working for them. If you are still encountering issues and are an AMD user, you may try using this driver to run the game. Another option is to ensure your GPU drivers are fully updated to the latest version.

If you are still encountering any further crashing on this line of CPUs please be sure to inform us in the following thread here with the information requested below:

• List your full pc specs or provide a DxDiag.
  
• List your video settings and GPU driver version.
  
• Let us know when this crash occurs (e.g upon loading the game, during the main menu, in local play, in online play etc.)
  
• Let us know if anything unusual happens before the crash, or if the crash only occurs on certain levels / modes / etc.
  
• When submitting a UE4 crash report, include a description, your SteamID and your CPU type.

For any users who have been participating in testing on our crashtesting branch, please revert your game to the live default build by doing the following.

• Right click Insurgency: Sandstorm in your Steam library
  
• Select “Properties”
  
• Navigate to the “Betas” tab
  
• Select “NONE - Opt out of all beta programs” under the beta opt-into drop down.
  
• Select close on the bottom right of the window
  
• Restart Steam to allow it to update your game to that branch

We are releasing a patch today with various fixes and improvements. This patch is focused more on fixing things rather than adding new content. However, we do have more content in the works, all of which will be free. You can view our development roadmap here to see the content we have planned over the next 4 months.

• Fixed an issue where VoIP input would be inaudible to other players and would only transmit a radio beep.
  
• Fixed an issue where weapons and ragdolls would get stuck in door frames.
  
• Fixed an issue where certain cosmetic items could be missing from the player’s third person mesh after team switching while wearing a gas mask.
  
• Fixed an issue where if a player switched to a rocket launcher from a weapon that didn’t have a magazine, then switched back to said weapon, it would show the rocket launcher’s ammo as the magazine type instead of the one it actually supports.
  
• Fixed an issue where the 4x SUSAT optic view was clipping through the model.
  
• Fixed an issue where if the player had toggle crouch set they would be forced into a standing pose after completing a slide, instead of remaining in crouch.
  
• Fixed a rendering issue with the Heavy Armor Heavy Carrier combination.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Quick Draw Secondary weapon upgrade was being incorrectly applied to the first equip animation.
  
• Fixed an issue where the sprinkler systems on Ministry would not extinguish fire.
  
• Fixed an issue where if tapping F to resupply on a supply crate, the ammo information UI would not update automatically, only after performing an ammo check.
  
• Fixed a bug where the game mode rules would not show in the pause menu.
  
• Fixed an issue where the sleeves on certain cosmetics could clip with the player model.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could be disconnected if performing multiple melee attacks on highly stressed servers.

• A party can now join a community server together as a group when a server is joined by the party leader. This mirrors the party functionality for matchmaking games.

• Improved sandbag collisions across all maps for better bipod usability.
  
• Adjusted Competitive supply costs:
  
  • Added Suppressors for Uzi and Tariq.
    
  • Reduced 1911 Suppressor cost to 2.
    
  • Set all longarm Suppressors to 4 supply.
    
  • Set all longarm Compensators to 4 supply.
    
  • Set all longarm Laser Sights to 3 supply.
    
  • Set all longarm Flash Hiders to 2 supply.
    
  • Set all 1x/1.5x standalone optics (Kobra, Red Dot, etc) to 2 supply.

• Enemy AI in Coop will now choose more consistent and thematic clothing options rather than fully randomized ones.
  
• Updated first person crouch view transition to follow the third person animation better.
  
• Added interpolation for the lean amount in online games so that leaning looks smoother when observing another player in first or third person.

• Ministry
  
  • Fixed an exploit where players could get on top of the trimming in the lobby.
    
  • Fixed spawn camping issue at Insurgent spawn on Skirmish.
    
  • Tweaked planters in the lobby to improve flow between A and B objectives on Firefight.
    
  • Removed a few planters in the corners of the lobby to avoid players from camping inside them.
    
  • Improved Security restricted area to fix several spawn camp issues on Firefight.
    
  • Fixed an issue where the Security vehicle would not spawn on Skirmish.
    
  • Fixed an issue where the Security supply crate could be seen clipping through certain geometry on Skirmish and Firefight.
    
  • Fixed an issue where jumping on a specific plant in a corner of the lobby would cause the character to produce looping jump audio.
• Outskirts
  
  • Made southwest stairway in collapsed building (Push Insurgents objective D) accessible from the ground.
    
  • Made stair tower in crane building south of collapsed building accessible for approach to Push Insurgents objective D.
    
  • Made adjustments to the geometry around Firefight West objective C.
    
  • Reduced size of Firefight West objective C capture zone.
• Crossing
  
  • Fixed an issue where it was possible for the player to enter the bus through unbroken window panes.
• Precinct
  
  • Optimized merged actors throughout the map to reduce memory footprint.
    
  • Fixed several minor lightmap issues throughout the map.

• Combat goggles glass may be visible through smoke on certain settings.
  
• When a client respawns, they have a rare chance to have their player character become desynchronized. This can cause frozen animations, sliding, and falling through the world.
  
• If the same level is loaded twice in a row online, the default Soundscape stops working.

UPDATE 7/26/19: We've just released a hotfix for yesterday’s 1.3.1 patch with bug fixes and improvements to version 1.3. This hotfix includes a critical fix of a persistent crash on first generation AMD CPUs.

• Fixed a persistent crash on first generation AMD CPUs. If you are experiencing regular crashes on any other CPU architecture than first generation AMD, please be sure to verify your game cache on Steam first. To verify your game cache:
  
  • Right click Insurgency : Sandstorm in your Steam library
    
  • Select “Properties”
    
  • Navigate to the “Local Files” tab
    
  • Select “Verify Integrity Of Game Files”
    
  • If you still have issues please report them to us at support@newworldinteractive.com

• Fixed an issue with the VHS-2’s Explosive launcher not attaching correctly to the weapon in first person.

We are releasing a patch today with various fixes and improvements. This patch is focused more on fixing things rather than adding new content. However, we do have more content in the works, all of which will be free. You can view our development roadmap here to see the content we have planned over the next 6 months.

Full changelist below:

• Fixed crash with spectator camera.
  
• Fixed a cosmetic exploit which would allow a player to become invisible.

• Fixed Bipods not properly deploying on sandbags.
  
• Fixed a case where weapons could end up in a minute-long audio loop.
  
• Fixed molotov rag fire particle not always being removed when the weapon is unequipped.
  
• Fixed an issue that allowed players using the FAL to fire before a speed reload was finished.
  
• Fixed the initial M4A1 the player picks up in the Tutorial Level not having its Laser Sight upgrade enabled.
  
• Fixed reloading issues with grenade launchers.
  
• Fixed missing scenario images for Ministry and Outskirts on the map vote screen.
  
• Fixed anti-materiel rifle ready animation sequences not playing.
  
• Fixed the following extended mags not having the extended mag icon setup correctly: M82A1 CQ, M99, MP5A2, MP5A5, PF940, VHS-2
  
• Fixed QBZ-03 HUD image not showing the handle properly.
  
• Fixed navigation issue where Q and E wouldn't navigate properly on the post match screen.
  
• Fixed third person SVD and SKS reload animations not playing.
  
• Fixed incorrect texture on the first person M16A2 muzzle brake.
  
• Fixed incorrect ready animation playing when using an AKM with a drum magazine and foregrip.
  
• Fixed collision for bus door. Not like they’re in service anyway though.
  
• Fixed some rendering issues that caused decal blending issues between decals that were using different channels.

• Being suppressed by enemy gunfire no longer increases your weapon recoil.
  
• Increased first person grenade draw and holster speed by 10%.
  
• Improved Slide by removing a “tolerance” that would initiate a slide if a player pressed Crouch shortly after stopping sprinting. This tolerance was meant to help with sliding that wasn’t timed correctly by the player, but instead had led to a lot of accidental slides. Now players should be able to crouch more consistently when they want to right after sprinting.
  
• Made various weapon and weapon upgrade:
  
  • Increased VHS-2 and QBZ-03 recoil.
    
  • M1911 suppressor is now 2 supply points instead of 3 to make it more consistent with the other Secondary suppressors.
    
  • VHS-2 can now pick up QBZ-03 mags and vice versa.
    
  • QBZ-03 can now pick up M4/M16 style magazines.
    
  • Disabled Melee Attack for Heavy Machine Guns. This was seen as too gamey and unrealistic, as well as looking strange in terms of animation.
    
  • Added 1.5x PK-AS for G36K for Security in cooperative modes.
    
  • Competitive changes:
    
    • QBZ-3 supply cost changed to 7.
      
    • VHS-2 supply cost changed to 8.
      
    • 1.5x PK-AS supply cost changed to 2
      
    • Extended Magazines which give +5 rounds supply cost changed to 2.
      
    • Foregrip supply cost changed to 4.
      
    • Foregrip Bipod supply cost changed to 5.
      
    • Added 1.5x PK-AS for G36K.
• Fire Support
  
  • Explosive Drone now requires clear space above when requesting them. This is intended to stop players from calling them in on the garage in Ministry or any other underground area.

• Characters
  
  • Added facial animations to your character in the Loadout menu.
    
  • Your own Eyewear should no longer be seen when you are killed.
    
  • Fixed issue with Carriers where the backpack would extrude past the seats.
    
  • Fixed t-shirt clipping issues with some Facewear.
    
  • Fixed clipping issues with Gas Masks.
    
  • Added details to Insurgent No Armor Heavy Carrier equipment combination.
    
  • Fixed shemagh's clipping with chest gear.
• Weapons
  
  • Added first person transition animations for entering and exiting sprinting in Hardcore Checkpoint.
    
  • Added missing melee animations to shotguns for muzzle thumps and melee flinching.
    
  • Third person “world” magazines spawned from speed reloading now spawn off screen. This prevents a duplicate magazine from appearing in view during a speed reload.
    
  • Fixed component on the VHS-2 charging handle not animating correctly during the ready animation.
    
  • Fixed QBZ-03 floating handguard.
    
  • Fixed the AK-74 foregrip disappearing when equipping a Bipod.
    
  • Fixed issue with underbarrel grenade launcher reloads in third person causing the magazine to move with them.
    
  • Fixed invisible casing/warhead on the third person M3 MAAWS reload.
    
  • Fixed shotguns using the incorrect melee animation when using a Foregrip.
    
  • Added breathing idle animations for the first person Binoculars.
    
  • Updated the M4A1 and M16A4 barrels to have holes in them.
    
  • Fixed floaty magazine during the L106A1 pistol reload starts.

• Made visual improvements to the map voting screen including adding background blur to make the interface more legible.
  
• Made the timer on the map vote screen now stop when there’s a winning map selected.
  
• Fixed grammatical errors in certain win condition descriptions that show at the end of a round.
  
• Adjusted post-match screen to improve readability.
  
• If when attempting to join a community server you receive a network error (mismatched password, server is full, etc.) it will now take you back to the server browser as intended.
  
• Tweaked the size and wrapping of the hints on the loading screen to result in better formatting.

• Ministry
  
  • Fixed not being able to destroy two windows at the back near Insurgent spawn.
    
  • Fixed scenario issue that was causing Hardcore Checkpoint Insurgents Supply Crates to not appear during gameplay.
    
  • Fixed light seam in lobby area.
    
  • Fixed an issue where player was restricted when crouching in lobby area on Checkpoint Insurgents.
    
  • Added extra entrances for bathrooms on each side of the building to improve level flow for Checkpoint scenarios.
    
  • Replaced broken mirrors in toilets with decals, added opacity variations of decals, and various other small visual tweaks.
• Outskirts
  
  • Fixed Restricted Area not being applied to hill behind Insurgent spawn on Push Insurgents objective D.
• Hideout
  
  • Revised Checkpoint Insurgents layout to improve gameplay balance for final objective.

Today we announced a hotfix for Update 1.3 to address feedback from players over the Free Weekend. Today's hotfix includes major optimization for co-op AI spawning, changes to address vehicle stuttering, fixes for Steam cloud-related issues and several improvements to the limited time arcade mode ‘Frenzy’.

This update is now live, and you can view the full change list below.

As always, community feedback helps us improve the game, so we ask anyone experiencing issues after today’s patch to leave constructive feedback on the official forums or Steam forums detailing; hardware set-up, in-game settings, videos/images, and where possible, any reproduction steps.

• Heavily optimized the coop bot spawn logic to resolve server-side hitches resulting in client-side lag spikes / rubber-banding due to bot spawning.

• Fixed an issue resulting in vehicles stuttering wildly and at varying angles when servers undergo a larger amount of stress either due to a high player count, fire support, or the combination of the two.
  
• Fixed an issue where XP gain was not being visually communicated to players correctly at the end of a game. XP gain was still being recorded correctly on the stats back-end throughout the duration of this issue however.
  
• Steam Cloud
  
  • Fixed an issue that caused randomized cosmetics presets to get uploaded to the Steam Cloud.
    
  • Fixed an issue that discarded custom cosmetics presets.
    
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the user from disabling Steam Cloud synchronization.
• Frenzy
  
  • Fixed an issue where Frenzy bot “Flamer” ragdoll fire damage volumes would persist on the ragdoll for longer than the fire particle, this resulted in invisible damaging fire.
    
  • Fixed an issue where respawning Frenzy bot “Flamer” class bots would respawn and continue to inflict damage to themselves and the surrounding area causing a respawn chain until they changed class.
    
  • Fixed an issue where Frenzy bots could occasionally spawn with varying effects, such as voice pitch and particles, for classes that were not allocated to them.
• Fixed an issue where bots were being teleported to their squad leader during the pre-round instead of allowing them to remain in their designated cover positions.
  
• Fixed an issue where ready animations were not playing for the QBZ-03 and Alpha AK when equipped with a foregrip and drum magazine combination.
  
• Fixed an issue with the AKM where if equipped with a foregrip and drum magazine combination it would play the incorrect reload due to referencing the wrong drum magazine upgrade.
  
• Fixed an issue where tracer rounds were not available on the VHS-2 and QBZ-03.
  
• Fix an issue where vehicle impact sounds would be triggered on physics corrections instead of impacts.

• Outskirts
  
  • Blocked curtains in the room under security side porch adjacent to Insurgent Push Objective A to prevent clipping.
    
  • Blocked access to a roof in the shantytown that was being exploited.
• Summit
  
  • Fixed an issue allowing players to access a point on the mountain which could be exploited on Push Security.
• Hideout
  
  • Fixed a potential exploit on Push Security allowing insurgents to see into the Security spawn for objective Alpha.

• [VoIP] - Occasionally certain players may not be audible to others when using VoIP and instead only transmit radio beeps.
  
• [Bots] - Bots may occasionally be rendered as invisible in certain edge cases.
  
• [Audio] - Weapon audio may occasionally be left looping until the offending weapon is picked up from the ground. We have a potential fix for this and will be deploying it once it has been tested.
  
• [SLI] - Nvidia has disabled the SLI profile for Insurgency: Sandstorm temporarily until they further investigate an issue with Unreal Engine 4.22. If SLI is enabled directly in the control panel this will result in geometry strobing on screen. We suggest all users running SLI ensure that this is disabled in the control panel if it has been enabled at that level.

Insurgency: Sandstorm has just received even more free content in update 1.3, and new players are welcome to try the game during its Steam Free Weekend, 10am PST Thursday June 20th to 10am PST Monday June 24th. Today’s monster update includes a remake of the indoor-focused classic Insurgency map ‘Ministry’, new weapons, new weapon upgrades, a zombie-inspired cooperative game mode called Frenzy, and more!

https://youtu.be/ImaWHAyhDMU
We are super excited with the response and community reception to Insurgency: Sandstorm so far. This content follows another large free content update in May which also featured a new map, customization options, a new hardcore cooperative game mode and more. We have many more free content updates planned for the rest of this year and 2020, including modding support, game modes, maps, weapons, and more. Take a look at some of what’s due to arrive in the next six months in the recently announced Free Content Roadmap for 2019.

If you like what you’ve been seeing, please consider giving us a review or updating your review on Steam. These reviews help grow our community and inform new players what the game is all about, and we'd love to have your thumbs up!

store.steampowered.com/recommended/recommendgame/581320

https://store.steampowered.com/app/581320/Insurgency_Sandstorm/

Full update changelist below:

• New Map: “Ministry”
  
  • Features extremely close quarters fighting in the interior of a besieged ministry building with narrow corridors, a vast marbled lobby, and a crowded underground parking garage.
    
  • Playable in Skirmish, Firefight, Checkpoint, Hardcore Checkpoint, Frenzy Checkpoint and Team Deathmatch game modes.
  
  
  
  
• XP can now be earned on community servers:
  
  • Community server admins now have the ability to allow players to gain XP and earn cosmetic unlocks as they would in official matchmaking. This provides more incentive for players to play on community dedicated servers rather than our official matchmaking servers. Please follow our guide here to learn how to register your server with the stats system for XP gain.
    
  • Modded servers or servers with any custom rules are also permitted provided they do not unfairly accelerate XP gain.
• New Co-op Arcade Game mode: “Frenzy”
  
  • Checkpoint based mode with zombie-inspired enemies who run fast and attack you in melee or with Molotovs.
    
  • Features special enemies like burning Flamers who explode into flames, fast moving Jumpers who teleport, and massive Bruisers who wear extra armor and soak damage.
    
  • Playable on all maps including Ministry.
    
  • The real April Fools’ joke is that it wasn't a joke. Gotcha.
  
  
  
  https://youtu.be/gxbqnHw4-Ac
  
• New Weapons:
  
  • Chinese QBZ-03 assault rifle
    
  • Croatian VHS-2 assault rifle
• New Optics:
  
  • 1x MRO “Micro Red Dot” for Security faction.
    
  • 1x MARS for the Insurgent faction.
• New Cosmetics:
  
  • CROPAT camouflage for Security Uniform Camouflage, Headgear, and Hands cosmetic items.
  
  
  
  
• New Video Settings
  
  • Added a resolution scale slider allowing for undersampling and supersampling with a range from 0% to 200%. Scaling to under 100% will increase performance by running at a lower resolution, whereas over 100% will render at a higher resolution.
    
  • Added Hierarchical LOD Transition Method option to the Advanced video options menu with a “Field Of View” option which improves the quality of further away structures in the world when zooming in on them. This option comes with a performance cost, so it is recommended to first try “Fixed Distance” for better performance.
    
  • Added a View Distance Quality setting to the settings menu under Video.
    
  • New update announcement popup on the main menu allowing us to share important details about new updates with users directly in the game.

• Reduced hitching from player spawning.
  
• Optimized particles which occur frequently during gameplay including footstep dust kick up, third person muzzle flashes and bullet impacts.
  
• Disabled dynamic shadows being created from multiple breakable components for smaller breakable props.
  
• Halved the distance at which shell cases would spawn audio components.
  
• Removed a few in-game Lesson videos which were causing hitches when popping up during gameplay.
  
• Added a performance warning on the video settings tab that shows when a user is running the game at a resolution higher than 1080p due to the engine’s costly nature at these higher resolutions.
  
• Reduced server logging to further streamline server performance.
  
• NVIDIA Geforce Experience can now be used again to optimize Insurgency: Sandstorm. This fix was implemented and deployed by Nvidia on Friday the 7th of June.
  
• Tweaked the Auto benchmark settings to ensure that the initial video settings set by the game do a better job ensuring performance.

• Hit detection system changes:
  
  • Co-op now always uses client-side / server validated hit detection rather than switching to the purely server-side hit detection method when players have higher pings, so that no matter what there should always be reliable hit detection when playing against AI enemies in Co-op modes.
    
  • Versus modes have seen a raise in the ping limit at which point the hit detection switches to the purely server-side approach, from 200ms to 250ms. The latency indicator on the HUD has been adjusted to take this into account, now going red when players are above a 250ms ping to reflect this change.
    
  • Versus server admins now have the option to disable the server-side hit detection method for high ping users entirely, via the -NoHitValidate command line parameter.
• Tutorial experience improvements for first time players:
  
  • The game is now paused during critical lesson popups to allow players to digest the information presented.
    
  • The player’s health has been increased.
    
  • The weapons on the table while defending the bridge have been adjusted.
• Hardcore Checkpoint is now accessed directly from the new “Featured” section of the Play menu as “Hardcore Coop” rather than through the default Coop queue.

• Fixed an issue where many players using VoIP would cause temporary audio cutouts for players.
  
• Fixed an issue where bullets were not registering correctly with players and AI enemies when playing with a high enough (200+ ms) ping.
  
• Fixed an issue causing vehicles and their turrets to jitter strongly while moving.
  
• Fixed a number of issues with scopes and the scope stencil rendering over non-scoped weapons, causing “invisible circles” to block the weapon in ADS.
  
• Fixed an issue preventing first time players progressing to the end of the tutorial.
  
• Fixed an issue where the “Bug Hunter” pre-order Tattoo item was not appearing in the Appearance menu.
  
• Fixed an issue where particles were playing back at a greater speed than intended.
  
• Fixed an exploit for Competitive Firefight where the opposing team’s score and points were showing on the Scoreboard.
  
• Added a potential fix for an issue where weapons could continue playing looping audio after the player or AI enemy was killed.
  
• Fixed an issue where the on-screen ammo display for shotguns could occasionally misrepresent how much ammo they had.
  
• Fixed an issue with gloves being rendered inside of scopes.
  
• Fixed an issue where multiple foregrips could be seen in the loadout menu for certain weapons such as the AKM.
  
• Fixed an issue where the TM-62 Mine, Mosin 4x PU Scope and 1.5x PK-AS scopes were not available for the Range Master class in the Range under Tutorials.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Tutorial Level’s Gunship would be on cool down during the period you were prompted to call it in.
  
• Fixed an issue where gas masks could occasionally be seen on character’s bodies instead of their heads.
  
• Fixed a UI scaling issue with the matchmaking progress dialogue.
  
• Fixed an issue where magazine upgrades such as Extended Magazines and Drums were not being applied correctly in-game.
  
• Fixed an issue where the vest and gear would be seen offscreen if you went to the Customize menu on the post match screen.
  
• Fixed an issue where footsteps were not reliably being generated correctly on inclined surfaces such as stairs.
  
• Fixed an issue with the laser attachment socket orientation on the third person G36K model.
  
• Fixed a bug where Supply Crates in Coop modes were not granting any launcher ammo when resupplying.
  
• Fixed an issue where drum magazines were avaliable for certain weapons in Hardcore Checkpoint when they shouldn’t have been.
  
• Fixed an issue where “Community Server Name” would show in the Scoreboard during official matchmaking.
  
• Fixed an issue where if you dismembered a ragdoll’s head and it was wearing a gasmask, the gasmask would not be hidden.
  
• Fixed an issue where Security faction Eye Color was not being applied properly to Character heads.
  
• Fixed clipping issues with Insurgent Hands Cloth Fingerless gloves item.
  
• Fixed incorrect animation assignment causing one of the crouch leaning directions to be broken when using iron sights.
  
• Fixed infinite reload bug in Hardcore Checkpoint.
  
• Fixed and issue with the side mounted alignment of the third person SVD socket for the OKP-7 optic.
  
• Fixed a bug allowing players to deploy bipods on weapons and rag dolls.
  
• Fixed backpacks not hiding in vehicles.
  
• Fixed various cosmetic issues:
  
  • Fixed Patrol headgear and Combat Glasses eyewear clipping with each other.
    
  • Fixed clipping with Balaclava Open and Balaclava Closed headgear.
    
  • Fixed Covered hair option clipping with Headband headgear.
    
  • Fixed the Boonie Hat camo orientation to be horizontal.
    
  • Fixed facewear clipping with the covered hair style and headgear.
    
  • Fixed the morph targets and weights for Battle dress blouse
    
  • Fixed morph target issues with the track pants.
    
  • Fixed some morph logic issues with gear items.
    
  • Fixed clipping issues with the combat goggles.

• Weapons
  
  • Reduced LMGs standing and crouching recoil by 10%.
    
  • Slightly increased reload speed for the M240B, MG3, and PKM.
    
  • Reduced L106A1 and L85A2 supply cost by 1.
    
  • Removed Laser Sight weapon upgrades from Versus Marksman and Competitive Sharpshooter classes. This was felt to be a CQB attachment that was inappropriate for the class’s role in being a long range shooter, especially given the new anti-materiel rifles. This attachment remains available in Coop modes.
    
  • Doubled Gunship and Support Helicopter body health. This will not affect rotor health or other areas of the helicopters.
    
  • Added the M99 7x scope to Coop Marksman classes
• Fire Support
  
  • Explosive Drones now spawn above the target on which they were called in and fly down, preventing them from getting caught on buildings as they path towards their designated target.
• Hardcore Checkpoint
  
  • Added more Primary ammo for players who respawn.
    
  • Increased speed of the 1P Hardcore sprinting animations by 20% to make it look more natural. This does not affect player speed, just the speed at which the animation loops.
• AI
  
  • Retreating AI enemies will no longer abort the retreat behavior to shoot a close range target. This was causing issues after a counter-attack where an AI enemy would retreat with a spawn zone en route, encounter players, and open fire.
    
  • AI enemies will now only throw molotov/incendiary grenades at targets with direct line of sight. This ensures players have some time to react, as they detonate instantly. Normal frag grenades will still be thrown at targets behind cover.
    
  • Reduced accuracy of bot grenade throws by 10-20%.
    
  • AI enemies with heavier weapons (marksman rifles and machine guns) will always rush to cover instead of firing en-route.
    
  • Ambushing AI enemies will go into sighted mode if they hear a threat coming.
    
  • AI enemies will take longer to zero in when using marksman rifles and machine guns, and be less accurate.
    
  • Security AI wear the Facewear cosmetic less often. It’s harder to fight like that anyway.

• Third person weapon cache planting animations should now be visible to other players.
  
• Improved the prone deployed crawling animation when transitioning to prone and also moving.
  
• Improved “muzzle thump” melee attack animation blending for various weapons.
  
• Created new IED and C-4 third person melee animations.
  
• Improved grenade melee attack animation blending.
  
• Improved RPG-7 melee attack animation blending.

• Outskirts
  
  • Improved a pillar collision box on Firefight West Objective B area so that throwables can be reliably thrown around a corner and not impact with an invisible wall.
    
  • Blocked west window in final weapon cache room on Push Insurgents to prevent destruction by rocket.
    
  • Removed lower northwest room from capture zone on Objective C on Push Insurgents.
    
  • Doors are now closed on ambulance at Objective A on Push Insurgents.
    
  • Doubled up a shipping container at Push Security Objective A to mitigate Insurgents camping outside the southwest corner of the objective in the building. There is no line of sight from here to the northeast entrance to the objective any longer.
    
  • Moved Insurgent Objective D Supply Crate from bad location on Push Security.
    
  • Fixed a missing restricted area for Insurgent spawn on Push Security Objective C.
    
  • Smoothed out player movement in various areas.
    
  • Fixed floating Supply Crate on Push Security Objective D spawn.
    
  • Fixed not able to capture Objective D while aiming in a specific direction on Security Checkpoint.
    
  • Fixed Insurgent A spawn partially not restricted on Push Insurgents.
    
  • Fixed minor issues throughout the map.
    
  • Fixed Insurgents A spawn being partially not restricted on Push Insurgents.
• Crossing
  
  • Improved AI navigation.
    
  • Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck inside a barrel near Objective C on Push Security.
    
  • Fixed a small window blocking grenades at Objective C on Firefight West.
• Summit
  
  • Reduced playable area for Firefight East to funnel players more towards the objectives.
    
  • Fixed an issue where players could get outside the level at the far end of the market area.
    
  • Fixed an issue where the player was able to get stuck in a certain rock formation.
• Refinery
  
  • Made several gameplay adjustments across the whole map to improve readability and make it more clear where players are shot from.
    
  • Unmerged numerous merged actors to take more advantage of automated instancing to improve performance.
    
  • Created HLOD clusters to improve performance.
    
  • Moved the insertion vehicle closer to Security starting spawn on Push Security.
    
  • Tweaked an HLOD near Security start spawn that was transitioning too aggressively.
    
  • Added nav modifier for second row of barricades to avoid AI enemies from getting stuck near Checkpoint A Security.

We are releasing a hotfix today to address several issues from the 1.3 update. This is a server-side fix which does not require a client reset, but it will require server resets from community servers.

• Fixed overuse of Molotovs by AI enemies in Frenzy. Molotov use by AI is meant to primarily prevent players from camping in places unreachable in melee. However, there was a bug where they were wrongly determining when a player is unreachable, and thus using their Molotovs way too much.
  
• Fixed an issue where Frenzy AI would shift between behaviors sometimes while flanking a target.
  
• Fixed an issue where newly released Camo cosmetic CROPAT was not being unlocked correctly when purchased.

We are releasing another hotfix today to address other issues from the 1.3 update. This hotfix will require downloading a game update.

• Potential fix for an issue causing Molotov flames to sometimes be invisible. Please let us know if you still encounter this issue.
  
• Fixed an issue where if the player had a radial menu open when a Lesson paused the Tutorial Level, they would lose input and not be able to continue.
  
• Fixed an issue where dismembering a ragdoll removed all of its gear items.
  
• Fixed an issue where indoor soundscapes on Ministry were not being applied on spawn for players spawning inside the building.
  
• Fixed an issue where exiting a vehicle while not having a primary weapon in hand would show the primary weapon between the player’s legs.
  
• Fixed an issue where the VHS-2 smoke launcher was priced at 3 supply instead of 1 supply.
  
• Fixed an issue where the VHS-2 Extended Magazines upgrade was granting 40 additional rounds instead of 35.
  
• Fixed an issue in third person where performing a melee animation with a launcher equipped would not display the animation correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue where the third person hand pose for the VHS-2 with grenade launcher would have the hands in the incorrect position.
  
• Fixed an issue preventing players from being able to perform a melee attack with the binoculars.
  
• Fixed an issue where weapon parts could shift slightly in third person when performing a melee attack.
  
• Fixed a number of missing localizations.
  
• Cosmetics
  
  • Fixed clipping issue with Flight Hands cosmetic on Security.
    
  • Fixed a number of issues where gas masks would clip into the head.
    
  • Fixed various clipping issues related to Facewear and Eyewear.
    
  • Fixed a bug with morph targets for Security armor levels.
    
  • Fixed an issue where the Blouse Rolled cosmetic on Security was displaying incorrectly.
    
  • Fixed a clipping issue with the Covered Hair option and Combat Goggles cosmetic.

• Fixed an engine-level issue that caused borderless resolution settings to not be respected.
  
• The server browser should now not instantly state that it has “Found Zero Servers” even if it is still searching for servers.
  
• Updated Info button for Hardcore Coop in the Play menu to display both Checkpoint and Hardcore Checkpoint game rules.

• Frenzy
  
  • Fixed an issue where enemy AI would not investigate players who were outside of their navigation mesh.
    
  • Allowed enemy AI melee behavior to run if the target player is unreachable.
    
  • Players are now marked as unreachable if standing on a non-existent navigation area, ensuring AI will use Molotovs if they cannot reach that player.

• Updated the destructible pillars in Ministry with new particles.
  
• Frenzy’s Bruiser special enemy should now spark when shot in the head or torso to better indicate that those areas are armored. The limbs should be targeted for more damage.
  
• Animation
  
  • Created dedicated first person melee attack animations for the M82A1 CQ, M99, QBZ-03 and VHS-2.
    
  • Updated grenade throw animations for third person so the hands open correctly.
    
  • Updated animations for leaning in and out in both crouch and stand.
    
  • Improved and added secondary weapon melee sequences.
    
  • Improved and fixed blending on transition animation logic and sequences.

• Ministry
  
  • Actor merged various meshes to improve performance.
    
  • Reduced bloom and rebuilt lighting and navigation.
    
  • Fixed several Hardcore Checkpoint Ammo Box pickups not appearing correctly.
• Hideout
  
  • Fixed an issue where players could spawnkill Insurgents in Skirmish from a particular location.
• Refinery
  
  • Moved Checkpoint Security counter-attack vehicle that was blocked by layout updates.

• Nvidia has disabled the SLI profile for Insurgency: Sandstorm temporarily until they further investigate an issue with Unreal Engine 4.22.
  
• Cosmetics, Cosmetic Presets and keybindings do not seem to be synchronized on the Steam Cloud.

Play Insurgency: Sandstorm during the Steam Free Weekend, 10am PT / 7pm CEST Thursday June 20th to 10am PT / 7pm CEST Monday June 24th, with all this new content available free to all players.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/581320/Insurgency_Sandstorm/

Hey everyone, my name is Michael Tsarouhas. I am the lead game designer on Insurgency: Sandstorm. Today’s Community Update is about our new free content roadmap for 2019, which you can see above. While we have other things we hope to accomplish as well during this time frame, we wanted to take some time to share some of the highlights which we are confident we can deliver. We’ll go into detail section by section below. First though, it’s important to note that the order in which this content will come is still TBD. Some stuff will come a little at a time across multiple updates (new weapons and cosmetics) and others later on pending how well they do in playtesting (Frontline and Outpost game modes). It’s possible that some content may need to get pushed back, but we want you to know that these are our goals, and regardless of when these things come we can assure you that all of it is confirmed and in the pipeline. Furthermore, it is free to all players who own the game on PC.

Please bear in mind also that this is only our current plan for PC content for 2019, not Xbox One or PS4. However, we can say we intend to put at least some of this content on consoles as well. Whether or not we can put content such as a level editor, specific game modes, and modding tools on consoles is as of now uncertain, but other content such as weapons and maps are more likely. It’s all something we are going to seriously look into, but we aren’t comfortable committing to at this time. Remember also that this is all just 2019 too. There will be more free content coming in 2020. So without further ado, let’s get into the nitty gritty.


Modding is in our blood. As many of you know, Insurgency originally started as a mod for Half-Life 2 that was released back in 2007. Modding was a huge part of the standalone Insurgency released in 2014 as well, its Steam Workshop now sitting at over 18,000 mods. This includes everything from unique weapon model replacements to custom maps to UI overhauls to character skins and more. We couldn’t be happier with the way the community took control of the game and made their own out of it, and we believe this is the right mindset to have as a developer when it comes to making video games. Why wouldn’t we want to empower you to create just like we were empowered by Half-Life 2 to create the original Insurgency mod?

That same treatment is coming to Insurgency: Sandstorm as well. This includes but is not limited to community created levels, game modes, rulesets, gameplay modifications, factions, weapons, and weapon upgrades. We want to provide plenty of support to for players to make their own content, and honestly, we want to play that content ourselves. The scope and timing of this kind of mod support is still to be determined, but we are committed to those seven things above, as well as the ability to share mods on either the Steam Workshop or a similar service.


A lot of players have said we should be doing more as far as our level environments go. They’ve said they wanted to see more diverse maps that aren’t just rural desert towns. We took that feedback seriously. First we created Outskirts, a map that takes place in a construction site, shantytown, and compound in greener pastures. Then we created Ministry, a map that takes place almost entirely indoors. And for the next map, we’re gonna turn things up. Or down, if you consider the temperature (sorry had to do it.)




Those of you who are perceptive may have noticed that this snow level is actually a remake of Sinjar from both the original mod and Insurgency 2014. You can see the perspective from the Security’s spawn, and that brutal hill that so many security team members have lost their lives on. We’re bringing it all back, but this time with improvements, and also with snow. Characters will breathe cold puffs of air as they run and fight, and they’ll leave snowprints which can be tracked by other players. This Sinjar remake will have a new name to fit the new setting, and it will be our next official map. We have another map slated for later this year which will also be changing things up, but more on that at a later date.






We’ve also heard your feedback on night time maps. A lot of players have expressed the desire to play all the maps we already have (and any upcoming maps) at night. We’ll be doing a night time version of every map we have, with custom lighting as well as special night time equipment. This includes flashlights, night vision goggles, and infrared laser sights. Enemy AI in Co-op will also see adjustments to their various behaviors. If you thought our combat was intense before, wait until the night comes. The low visibility and new equipment mean players need to move more cautiously, equip the right gear, and approach the entire level differently than they would have if the sun were up. Places that were good cover in the day are suddenly more exposed at night, and places that were exposed suddenly become good cover.


We get tons of weapon requests of all kinds of weapons. While we can’t meet every one, we certainly have a lot of exciting options to choose from. Survey data indicated that over 60% of players wanted to see new modern weapons. We can confirm that among other guns we’re currently working on a Tavor 7, an Israeli 7.62x51mm bullpup, for Security, as well as an AS Val, a special caliber integrally suppressed rifle, for Insurgents. These two in particular aren’t going to be added together and will come in separate updates, so we’ll leave it up to your imagination to guess each one’s counterpart for the opposite faction.

Our second post-release community survey was really enlightening as far as weapon upgrades and attachments go. When we asked about new features, 59% of you said you were most excited by optics which can be toggled between multiple levels of magnification. The runner up was a distant 21% for full body awareness where you can see your legs and lower body from the 1P perspective. We can confirm 2019 will see toggleable optics, and many of the optics already in game will be converted to be toggleable. This includes putting down the magnifier for your 2x Kobra when you need to use it in 1x form, or using the back up iron sights on top of your 4x SU230. We’ll be cooking up some entirely new toggleable optics as well.

When asked what kind of upgrades you’d like to see most, 42% said new optics, followed by 22% for new underbarrel attachments. All three of the other options, Barrel, Magazine, and Siderail, were tied at roughly 12%. As said above we’ll be adding new toggleable optics, and in addition to that, normal single magnification optics. This includes optics for pistols, for those of you who want to get all high speed with your Secondary.

We’re also doing various different foregrip types which will affect weapon handling in more ways than just recoil reduction. We’re considering foregrips that allow you to draw your Primary faster (much like the Quick Draw Holster for your Secondary), reduce sway, reduce time to Aim Down Sights, reduce free-aim radius so your weapon stays closer to the center of the screen while not aiming down sights, or even allow you to use Focus with Shift while you are still moving and aiming down sights. All these ideas are pending testing, but the goal is to give players options beyond just making recoil more manageable. We want options that play into some of the unique mechanics of our game, and for players to make meaningful choices as they manage their Supply Points. And hey, if a foregrip isn’t your thing, how about a mini-shotgun? Cause that will be there too. In addition to new Underbarrel attachments, we have some new Magazine upgrades planned: mag pulls for faster reloading and custom magazines that will increase reloading even faster if you’re willing to spend the Supply. For Siderail, we’ll be doing new flashlights and an IR laser sight to coincide with night maps.


This is a pretty exciting one, and it’s going to come sooner than many of the other things on our roadmap. The response to update 1.2’s new Hardcore Checkpoint game mode has been awesome. We got a lot of good feedback, made some tweaks, and feel like it’s in a great place. We noticed players appreciated above all else the overall change in pace to combat. The slower movement really does turn your normal tactical doctrine on its head, and forces you to play very differently. And despite such a radical change, not only did the game still feel like Insurgency, but it also enhanced some aspects of Insurgency. A lot of people asked if we would ever do a Hardcore version of PvP game modes, and that’s just what we’re gonna do.

“Hardcore” will become a predefined ruleset which can be applied to any game mode. It will be available for any community servers who want to enable it. What that exact ruleset will look like is still being worked out, since we don’t necessarily know if respawning with a bolt-action in a mode like Skirmish will go over well. However, we’re considering a few options, and above all else you can expect the movement to be close to if not identical to the current movement speed in Hardcore Checkpoint. And yes, you will be able to play Hardcore Frenzy. Expect to need to change up your tactics for that one.

As a bit of an experiment, we’re going to include a Hardcore playlist in the Play menu, similar to how we do with the Arcade and Team Deathmatch. This will allow players to play Hardcore through normal matchmaking. First we want to first try Hardcore Push, and depending on how that is received, will tweak the ruleset as needed and potentially try other modes as well.


We polled about game modes in our first survey a while back, and saw there was a lot of interest in these two modes. The top three were a tug-of-war style PvP mode based on Frontline from our previous game Day of Infamy (23.2%), a single life PvP VIP escort mode based on Ambush from Insurgency 2014 (22.7%), and a horde inspired mode with multiple defense points based on Outpost also from Insurgency 2014 (17%). Realistically for 2019 though, we could only commit to two, and it made sense to balance things between one Co-op and one PvP. Outpost will be a great change up for our Co-op, as it puts players on the defensive rather than the offensive that they’re used to in Checkpoint. It will also be playable with both Frenzy and the Hardcore ruleset.

In order to better make the decision on which PvP mode to do for 2019, we did yet another survey where among the things mentioned in the other sections of this post, we asked players point blank if they wanted Frontline or Ambush more. Results were close, with 48.23% voting for Ambush and 51.77% voting for Frontline. With this kind of decision, we understand some players will be disappointed, and we know that Ambush definitely has an important following. However we need to be realistic with how we set our goals and plan our post-release content. Frontline is, after all, also quite similar to Push, which is our most popular PvP mode in both Insurgency 2014 and Insurgency: Sandstorm. It makes sense to try to build something for that majority of players to enjoy. Ambush would also require more production for things such as custom character artwork for the VIP that really sticks out from our eclectic and highly customizable faction characters. All that being said, we are still committed to Ambush, but it won’t be coming until next year. So for you Ambush fans and other voters out there, please bear with us, and know that other great free content is planned for 2020 as well.


Another thing we polled about in our second survey was cosmetic items, and which categories you wanted to see more items for the most. For the Security team, 28.82% of players wanted to see Headgear, followed by a close second of 28.69% for Torso items. Following that was new Camouflage at a dead even 22%. We have all three of these things in store for 2019. Security players can look forward to new soft shell jackets which can be customized with a camouflage pattern, with half-camo, or without a pattern entirely if you want to opt instead for one of the flat uncamouflaged green or tan color variations available for the Security. We’ll also be doing headphones and headsets both alone and combined with some existing Headgear, in a similar fashion to how we do the High Cut helmet types. This is a cosmetic request that we saw popping up constantly on Reddit, the forums, and social media, and we can understand why. As far as customization goes, and what the survey data supports, the head is one of the most prominent and recognizable parts of our characters and one of the best ways to express character in general. Also, it looks damn cool with the new Security Facewear we added in update 1.2.

For Insurgents, Facewear took the lead at 35.75% of votes, with 32.72% for Torso items following it. The rest of the item categories were spread out among the other options, all of which were less than 8%. We’ll be prioritizing new Headgear and Torso items for Insurgents, and have already got some slick leather jackets, athletic snow jackets (perfect for skiing the slopes of the Sinjar remake), and more in the works. For Facewear, well let’s just say that while the Insurgents might not dress to fight in the most practical way or even have the best taste, they certainly know how to look menacing.




Everything you see above is currently planned for 2019 for free across multiple updates. We have other stuff planned too this year, but haven’t felt ready to commit to those things yet. While it is possible some stuff might get pushed back if it needs more time in the oven, and some other things may also be added outside this scope, these are our goals we wanted to share with you all. We are committing all our development resources to reaching them. Ambush mode and other free content like this will be coming in 2020. If you have any other suggestions for new content, feedback on recent changes, or bug reports to share with us, please let us know on the forums, Reddit, social media, or wherever. We want to hear it, and we want to integrate it into our planning. Thanks very much for reading everyone, and stay tuned here and on our social media for more community updates.