We’re now pushing more updates towards the Public Beta branch in preparation for everything listed in this changelog and the previous one to make it into the Main branch. You can have a look at the changes yourself below.

Steam are facing issues with their content servers and players are reporting very slow download speeds. We advise that you don't change to the BETA branch if you have an event planned for tonight.



Changelog 2 - BETA

• Fixed an issue on the server related to melee combat which was causing a memory leak when a new round started.
  
• Fixed the problem with VOIP that occurred in the first build of the beta branch where not everyone could hear each other talk.
  
• Fixed an issue with performance drops on Fort Christina.
  
• The walls on Fort Christina can now take more damage before they're destroyed.
  
• Fixed an issue with being able to fire the swivel guns in rapid succession on Fort Christina.

Known Issues:

• Sometimes, you might spawn in the middle of the ocean instead of on a ship. Kindly respawn again if this occurs.

Thanks again for all of your support! May good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

We’re now pushing more updates towards the Public Beta branch in preparation for everything listed in this changelog and the previous one to make it into the Main branch. You can have a look at the changes yourself below.

Steam are facing issues with their content servers and players are reporting very slow download speeds. We advise that you don't change to the BETA branch if you have an event planned for tonight.



Changelog 2 - BETA

• Fixed an issue on the server related to melee combat which was causing a memory leak when a new round started.
  
• Fixed the problem with VOIP that occurred in the first build of the beta branch where not everyone could hear each other talk.
  
• Fixed an issue with performance drops on Fort Christina.
  
• The walls on Fort Christina can now take more damage before they're destroyed.
  
• Fixed an issue with being able to fire the swivel guns in rapid succession on Fort Christina.

Known Issues:

• Sometimes, you might spawn in the middle of the ocean instead of on a ship. Kindly respawn again if this occurs.

Thanks again for all of your support! May good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Players now have access to the Public Beta branch of Holdfast: Nations At War. This will allow us to push constant updates towards the game without having to disrupt game servers running the Main version. We want to show our Early Access followers that we’re here and will continue updating the game at a quick pace!

You can access the Public Beta branch yourself through Steam by right clicking on ‘Holdfast: Nations At War’ in your Steam game library, select ‘Properties’ from the drop-down menu, go to the ‘Betas’ tab then select the beta version of the game from the drop-down menu. After the download is done, you’ll be able to join the ‘Anvil Game Studios Official EU8 - BETA’ server.

We will be launching a Public Beta Server in North America in the near future.



There you’ll find more direct improvements towards melee combat, server-side optimisations to improve stability, gameplay balancing, bug fixes and everything else we’ve been working on throughout this week!

We will now be posting separate changelogs for both the Public Beta and the Main version of the game. Here’s the very first changelog for the Public Beta branch.



Changelog 1 - BETA

• A new map has been included into the game! Fort Christina. It is playable on the Army Battlefield, Assault, Siege & Deathmatch game modes.

• Added two new Fife and Drum tunes, one for the British and one for the French. Go play to your heart's content!
  
• Added three new tunes for the Violinist.
  
• Improved the performance and clarity of sound of the VOIP system on the client and server. This is a part of our ongoing efforts to improve stability on servers and better melee combat.
  
• New particle effects for the smoke that goes out of the pan when firing a musket have been included.
  
• Added a different VOIP over-head icon for Officers and Naval Captains. They are now more distinguishable on the battlefield.
  
• Fixed a bug with the Naval Battlefield game mode where the server was incorrectly determining the winner of the round.
  
• The Server Browser now sorts by player count automatically the first time it is displayed.
  
• Added a new Search input for the Server Browser to make finding specific servers easier.
  
• Added new Server Browser filter options to toggle full and empty servers.
  
• Reverted the default FullScreen (Exclusive) change that was done in the last patch to now use the FullScreen (Borderless) again. This was done because some players reported that their game wasn't able to launch with FullScreen (Exclusive).
  - Players who wish to make use FullScreen (Exclusive) to benefit from an increase in performance can now do so by following the steps below. Kindly note that your system might not support this feature. If so, kindly remove this launch option.
  - Right click on 'Holdfast: Nations At War' in your Steam library > Select 'Properties' from the drop-down menu > Click on 'Set Launch Options' > Insert the following parameter: -window-mode exclusive > Click OK.
  
• Decreased the audio volume of other player's warcry noises.
  
• Renamed the 'Toggle Melee Mode' keybind option to 'Toggle Melee/Firearm'.
  
• Increased the height of the Instrument Songs panel to have the songs all fit without a scrollbar.
  
• The VOIP mini icon that is displayed next to your health bar now shows in white instead of green.
  
• Attackers now spawn closer to the defenders in the Coastal Siege game mode.
  
• Fixed an issue with collision on Fort Imperial.
  
• Fixed an exploit on Fort Imperial which allowed you to enter underneath the Fort.
  
• Improved the graphical quality and performance of the Main Menu scene.
  
• You shouldn’t be able to climb up the rocks and jump onto the city walls on Desert Ruins anymore. Instead, the attackers now have a ladder where they can do this from.
  
• Another path near the bridge crossing on Highlands has been included.
  
• Adjusted the Battlefield game mode spawn positions on Desert Ruins.
  
• Added more cover on the Desert Ruins map.
  
• You are now able to continue reloading while climbing one of the ladders on Arendan River.
  
• Performance on all maps has been slightly improved.
  
• Cannons can now rotate more on the South Sea Castle and Martello Tower maps. This is to reduce the blind spots that the defensive positions have.
  
• Another cannon has been included near the Windmill and Barn Spawns on South Sea Castle.
  
• Snow is now less bright during night time.
  
• Included more Cannons on the Martello Tower Map.
  
• There should now be fewer instances where you can accidentally swim underneath the terrain when you try to get on shore.
  
• More cliffs have been included to the front of the Martello Tower making it harder to scale.
  
• Attackers now spawn slightly closer to the defenders on Desert Ruins in the Army Siege game mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where you could spawn mid-air sometimes and fall to your death.
  
• Holdfast: Nations At War should now launch more quickly.
  
• Ships now spawn slightly closer on the Naval Battlefield open waters map.
  
• Fixed a bunch of client-side errors on South Sea Castle which was causing performance to degrade over time.

Known Issues:

• Sometimes, you might spawn in the middle of the ocean instead of on a ship. Kindly respawn again if this occurs.
  
• Sometimes you cannot hear other players through VOIP.

The changes listed here will be pushed towards the main version of the game as soon as they have been tested.

Thanks again for all of your support! May good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Players now have access to the Public Beta branch of Holdfast: Nations At War. This will allow us to push constant updates towards the game without having to disrupt game servers running the Main version. We want to show our Early Access followers that we’re here and will continue updating the game at a quick pace!

You can access the Public Beta branch yourself through Steam by right clicking on ‘Holdfast: Nations At War’ in your Steam game library, select ‘Properties’ from the drop-down menu, go to the ‘Betas’ tab then select the beta version of the game from the drop-down menu. After the download is done, you’ll be able to join the ‘Anvil Game Studios Official EU8 - BETA’ server.

We will be launching a Public Beta Server in North America in the near future.



There you’ll find more direct improvements towards melee combat, server-side optimisations to improve stability, gameplay balancing, bug fixes and everything else we’ve been working on throughout this week!

We will now be posting separate changelogs for both the Public Beta and the Main version of the game. Here’s the very first changelog for the Public Beta branch.



Changelog 1 - BETA

• A new map has been included into the game! Fort Christina. It is playable on the Army Battlefield, Assault, Siege & Deathmatch game modes.

• Added two new Fife and Drum tunes, one for the British and one for the French. Go play to your heart's content!
  
• Added three new tunes for the Violinist.
  
• Improved the performance and clarity of sound of the VOIP system on the client and server. This is a part of our ongoing efforts to improve stability on servers and better melee combat.
  
• New particle effects for the smoke that goes out of the pan when firing a musket have been included.
  
• Added a different VOIP over-head icon for Officers and Naval Captains. They are now more distinguishable on the battlefield.
  
• Fixed a bug with the Naval Battlefield game mode where the server was incorrectly determining the winner of the round.
  
• The Server Browser now sorts by player count automatically the first time it is displayed.
  
• Added a new Search input for the Server Browser to make finding specific servers easier.
  
• Added new Server Browser filter options to toggle full and empty servers.
  
• Reverted the default FullScreen (Exclusive) change that was done in the last patch to now use the FullScreen (Borderless) again. This was done because some players reported that their game wasn't able to launch with FullScreen (Exclusive).
  - Players who wish to make use FullScreen (Exclusive) to benefit from an increase in performance can now do so by following the steps below. Kindly note that your system might not support this feature. If so, kindly remove this launch option.
  - Right click on 'Holdfast: Nations At War' in your Steam library > Select 'Properties' from the drop-down menu > Click on 'Set Launch Options' > Insert the following parameter: -window-mode exclusive > Click OK.
  
• Decreased the audio volume of other player's warcry noises.
  
• Renamed the 'Toggle Melee Mode' keybind option to 'Toggle Melee/Firearm'.
  
• Increased the height of the Instrument Songs panel to have the songs all fit without a scrollbar.
  
• The VOIP mini icon that is displayed next to your health bar now shows in white instead of green.
  
• Attackers now spawn closer to the defenders in the Coastal Siege game mode.
  
• Fixed an issue with collision on Fort Imperial.
  
• Fixed an exploit on Fort Imperial which allowed you to enter underneath the Fort.
  
• Improved the graphical quality and performance of the Main Menu scene.
  
• You shouldn’t be able to climb up the rocks and jump onto the city walls on Desert Ruins anymore. Instead, the attackers now have a ladder where they can do this from.
  
• Another path near the bridge crossing on Highlands has been included.
  
• Adjusted the Battlefield game mode spawn positions on Desert Ruins.
  
• Added more cover on the Desert Ruins map.
  
• You are now able to continue reloading while climbing one of the ladders on Arendan River.
  
• Performance on all maps has been slightly improved.
  
• Cannons can now rotate more on the South Sea Castle and Martello Tower maps. This is to reduce the blind spots that the defensive positions have.
  
• Another cannon has been included near the Windmill and Barn Spawns on South Sea Castle.
  
• Snow is now less bright during night time.
  
• Included more Cannons on the Martello Tower Map.
  
• There should now be fewer instances where you can accidentally swim underneath the terrain when you try to get on shore.
  
• More cliffs have been included to the front of the Martello Tower making it harder to scale.
  
• Attackers now spawn slightly closer to the defenders on Desert Ruins in the Army Siege game mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where you could spawn mid-air sometimes and fall to your death.
  
• Holdfast: Nations At War should now launch more quickly.
  
• Ships now spawn slightly closer on the Naval Battlefield open waters map.
  
• Fixed a bunch of client-side errors on South Sea Castle which was causing performance to degrade over time.

Known Issues:

• Sometimes, you might spawn in the middle of the ocean instead of on a ship. Kindly respawn again if this occurs.
  
• Sometimes you cannot hear other players through VOIP.

The changes listed here will be pushed towards the main version of the game as soon as they have been tested.

Thanks again for all of your support! May good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

We have launched two new servers in North America hosting the Coastal Siege and Naval Battlefield game modes. You’re more than welcome to join in!

Work on server side stability for both of these game modes is currently ongoing.

Thanks again for all of your support. Enjoy.

- Anvil Game Studios

We have launched two new servers in North America hosting the Coastal Siege and Naval Battlefield game modes. You’re more than welcome to join in!

Work on server side stability for both of these game modes is currently ongoing.

Thanks again for all of your support. Enjoy.

- Anvil Game Studios

Another update for Holdfast: Nations At War has been released! This time around, we will be pushing more fixes towards server latency issues as part of our ongoing dedication towards improving melee combat.

You will also find new VOIP specific functionality available in this update along with performance optimisations.



Changelog 5

• Multiple server-side fixes to continue reducing latency on servers. Work on this is still ongoing.
  
• Added a new Round Players window accessed with the ‘P’ key which shows a list of each player in the round with the ability to mute specific individuals.
  - In the Round Players panel, players speaking nearby using VOIP will be shown in green.
  - Through this, server administrators can also easily gather the ID of a player used to kick or ban someone from a server. We’ll continue adding functionality to this panel in order to facilitate administration in the future.
  
• Added a new Microphones dropdown in the Audio options to allow for microphone selection. This might help resolve some issues that players were having when not being able to talk with VOIP in-game.
  
• A new VOIP icon is shown on nearby teammates when they are speaking with their microphone. This icon can be toggled on and off through the game options.
  - Officers and Captains will show a red VOIP icon while other classes will be shown in white. This is so that other players can more easily distinguish the commanding classes.
  
• A new VOIP mini-icon is now displayed next to your health bar when you are using your microphone.
  
• Reduced the overall volume of the in-game voice commands.
  
• Changed the default full screen mode to be FullScreen-Exclusive instead of FullScreen-Window (Borderless). This might help with increasing ingame performance when running the game in FullScreen-Exclusive.
  - Note: Players who want to use FullScreen-Window (Borderless) instead of FullScreen-Exclusive will now need to use a command line argument when launching the game: -window-mode borderless.
  
• Fixed a bug where the map ambiance audio sounds were being cut off when a lot of other sounds are playing at the same time.
  
• South Korean servers now appear as ROK instead of SKR in the server browser.

Known Issues:

• Sometimes, you might spawn in the middle of the ocean instead of on a ship. Kindly respawn again if this occurs.
  
• The winning and lose conditions for the Naval Battlefield game mode are not working as intended. They are sometimes displaying the incorrect faction in the victory screen.

Thanks again for all of your support! May good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Another update for Holdfast: Nations At War has been released! This time around, we will be pushing more fixes towards server latency issues as part of our ongoing dedication towards improving melee combat.

You will also find new VOIP specific functionality available in this update along with performance optimisations.



Changelog 5

• Multiple server-side fixes to continue reducing latency on servers. Work on this is still ongoing.
  
• Added a new Round Players window accessed with the ‘P’ key which shows a list of each player in the round with the ability to mute specific individuals.
  - In the Round Players panel, players speaking nearby using VOIP will be shown in green.
  - Through this, server administrators can also easily gather the ID of a player used to kick or ban someone from a server. We’ll continue adding functionality to this panel in order to facilitate administration in the future.
  
• Added a new Microphones dropdown in the Audio options to allow for microphone selection. This might help resolve some issues that players were having when not being able to talk with VOIP in-game.
  
• A new VOIP icon is shown on nearby teammates when they are speaking with their microphone. This icon can be toggled on and off through the game options.
  - Officers and Captains will show a red VOIP icon while other classes will be shown in white. This is so that other players can more easily distinguish the commanding classes.
  
• A new VOIP mini-icon is now displayed next to your health bar when you are using your microphone.
  
• Reduced the overall volume of the in-game voice commands.
  
• Changed the default full screen mode to be FullScreen-Exclusive instead of FullScreen-Window (Borderless). This might help with increasing ingame performance when running the game in FullScreen-Exclusive.
  - Note: Players who want to use FullScreen-Window (Borderless) instead of FullScreen-Exclusive will now need to use a command line argument when launching the game: -window-mode borderless.
  
• Fixed a bug where the map ambiance audio sounds were being cut off when a lot of other sounds are playing at the same time.
  
• South Korean servers now appear as ROK instead of SKR in the server browser.

Known Issues:

• Sometimes, you might spawn in the middle of the ocean instead of on a ship. Kindly respawn again if this occurs.
  
• The winning and lose conditions for the Naval Battlefield game mode are not working as intended. They are sometimes displaying the incorrect faction in the victory screen.

Thanks again for all of your support! May good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated! In this update, you will find a variety of bug fixes, quality of life changes, game balancing along with the implementation of server side debugging tools to help us narrow down the issues with high latency on servers. Work on the latency issue is constantly ongoing and will continue until the problem is completely solved.

We’re aware of the issues with melee combat. As soon as the above is solved, we’ll move forward with more direct improvements towards this mechanic.



Changelog 4

• Fausberg Forest has now been included in the official Army Battlefield server rotation.

• The Server Browser now correctly reflects the total number of players in a server.
  
• The name of the server you are currently connected to is displayed at the top-left part of the screen. A new User Interface option has been added to toggle it.
  
• Servers in the Server Browser are now pinged only when they are first shown in the Server Browser instead of pinging all of the servers at the same time. This will result in better performance whilst browsing through servers.
  
• Bots that are spawned on the server are now not included in the Server Browser player count.
  
• Fixed an issue with the friendly_fire parameter for the Server Configuration file. Administrators can now enable or disable friendly fire in a round.
  
• Added 4 new available regions for the servers: China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. Change the server_region parameter in the server configuration file to one of the following: China, Japan, Russia or SouthKorea for the respective flag to become visible in the server browser.
  
• Removed the Crew Reinforcements from ships on the Naval Battlefield game mode.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Scoreboard was only togglable with the Tab key since the key bind from the Options was being ignored.
  
• Fixed a number of exceptions that occurred with the ocean system when a Naval Map level is rotated.
  
• Teams now spawn slightly closer to each other on the Army Battlefield game mode.
  
• Teams now spawn slightly closer to each other on the Army Siege game mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could go underneath the bridge on Highlands.
  
• The rowboat now takes a total of 55 seconds to sink instead of 5. This solves the issues were you sometimes get dragged downwards along with the boat and die.
  
• The rowboat now sways more along with the waves.

Known Issues:

• Sometimes, you might spawn in the middle of the ocean instead of on a ship. Kindly respawn again if this occurs.
  
• The winning and lose conditions for the Naval Battlefield game mode are not working as intended. They are sometimes displaying the incorrect faction in the victory screen.

Thanks again for all of your support! May good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios

Holdfast: Nations At War has been updated! In this update, you will find a variety of bug fixes, quality of life changes, game balancing along with the implementation of server side debugging tools to help us narrow down the issues with high latency on servers. Work on the latency issue is constantly ongoing and will continue until the problem is completely solved.

We’re aware of the issues with melee combat. As soon as the above is solved, we’ll move forward with more direct improvements towards this mechanic.



Changelog 4

• Fausberg Forest has now been included in the official Army Battlefield server rotation.

• The Server Browser now correctly reflects the total number of players in a server.
  
• The name of the server you are currently connected to is displayed at the top-left part of the screen. A new User Interface option has been added to toggle it.
  
• Servers in the Server Browser are now pinged only when they are first shown in the Server Browser instead of pinging all of the servers at the same time. This will result in better performance whilst browsing through servers.
  
• Bots that are spawned on the server are now not included in the Server Browser player count.
  
• Fixed an issue with the friendly_fire parameter for the Server Configuration file. Administrators can now enable or disable friendly fire in a round.
  
• Added 4 new available regions for the servers: China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. Change the server_region parameter in the server configuration file to one of the following: China, Japan, Russia or SouthKorea for the respective flag to become visible in the server browser.
  
• Removed the Crew Reinforcements from ships on the Naval Battlefield game mode.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Scoreboard was only togglable with the Tab key since the key bind from the Options was being ignored.
  
• Fixed a number of exceptions that occurred with the ocean system when a Naval Map level is rotated.
  
• Teams now spawn slightly closer to each other on the Army Battlefield game mode.
  
• Teams now spawn slightly closer to each other on the Army Siege game mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could go underneath the bridge on Highlands.
  
• The rowboat now takes a total of 55 seconds to sink instead of 5. This solves the issues were you sometimes get dragged downwards along with the boat and die.
  
• The rowboat now sways more along with the waves.

Known Issues:

• Sometimes, you might spawn in the middle of the ocean instead of on a ship. Kindly respawn again if this occurs.
  
• The winning and lose conditions for the Naval Battlefield game mode are not working as intended. They are sometimes displaying the incorrect faction in the victory screen.

Thanks again for all of your support! May good health be yours.

- Anvil Game Studios