Hell Let Loose - DKShadow_Team17
Hi everyone. We wanted to give you an update as soon as possible on our anti-cheating measures:

Some of you may have noticed that a number of players have circumvented our anti-cheating measures within the last 24 hours - ruining the gameplay experience for everyone else. Please know that we are actively banning these players as quickly as we can.

Server Updates
In an effort to eliminate cheating, we’ll be rolling out an update to our servers that should remove players’ ability to engage with the various cheats currently being exploited. We’re expecting this update to go live as soon as possible tomorrow (most likely AM BST).

The server update will be rolling out on a server by server basis, after which we’ll be closely monitoring the game to ensure that everything is up and running – and of course that cheaters are nowhere to be found. Should you encounter any server issues or cheaters of any kind after this update, please let us know as soon as possible, so we can investigate the issue.

Family Sharing
As an additional step to help combat potential cheating, we have decided to disable Family Sharing for Hell Let Loose. We apologize to any players that may be affected by this change; your experience with Hell Let Loose is of key importance to us, and we want to ensure that we’ve taken every possible step to prevent cheaters from ruining your experience.

See you on the front line!
Hell Let Loose - Jonno
Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #28 and our first since Early Access launch!

For those of you that have joined since Early Access, welcome! Developer Briefings are a weekly behind the scenes looks at Hell Let Loose from the team.

From upcoming content, to feature previews and events, this is our weekly update to the community!

This week's Developer Briefing is written by Lead Developer Max as he shares his thoughts on Early Access launch and discusses what's on the horizon:


An Update From Max - Lead Developer

Thank you for such a fantastic launch! It’s been an amazing couple of days (although each day feels like a week in itself) and we’ve been riding the wave - collecting bug reports, looking at feedback, responding on Reddit, Discord, the forums and the Steam discussion groups.

We’re so excited to see the community get a sense of the game - and be excited about all the bugs to be fixed or the features to come. What we’re doing now is QA testing our first patch. Within this patch we’ll start to roll out fixes and continued polish. Our approach to developing Hell Let Loose is one in which we work with you - the community - to fix the things that you care about - all the while working on new content.

This is in no way exhaustive, we will be releasing another patch next week that will continue the work we’re doing here and we’re scoping out the contents for patches up to our first content update (scheduled for mid July).

Once we’re confident with the contents of patch 1 we’ll be releasing the changelog so you can see exactly what has been changed or improved.

We have been recording all feedback from across all our channels - forums, Discord, Reddit and the Steam Discussion boards and adding them to our bug and feature tracker.

Please be aware that just because you don’t see a bug fixed in this patch that we’ve forgotten it. We are working as hard as possible to balance stability with a rapid bug-fix rate, as well as polish systems currently in the game.


Thank You!

We want to thank you all for the generosity you’ve shown to both us as the devs, and to players who are brand new to the genre. We know that the first weeks of launch are always chaotic to some degree - as players get used to mechanics, metagame and all the nuances of it. At the same time we’re always playing and making notes - whether certain things work or don’t, and how we’d improve them.


What's Next?

While we’re excited to have launched Hell Let Loose, we don’t consider it a time to sit back and relax. The whole dev team is busy pushing forwards to improve the experience you’re having.

Before we go into any specifics, we want to clarify our thoughts on leaning. We are confirming that we will be seeking to expedite leaning (using Q and E) and bring it in as soon as possible - schedule permitting. We will seek to include it either in Update 1 or earlier.

While the programming team and mappers are working hard on bugs, content and new maps, the animation guys are working their way through feedback.

We’re in the process of expanding the functionality and fluidity of the vaulting and mantling system, smoothing out and speeding up some key reload and bolting animations and doing a pass on the third person animations. We’re also looking at expanding and adding to the functionality of the MG deployment system.

Our HUD/UX artist is continuing their pass on all things 2D in Hell Let Loose. We’ve read all the feedback regarding marking the map, the spotting system and legibility on the map itself. We’re also currently balancing the continued overhaul of the current screens in the game, with the scoreboard getting the next beauty treatment to increase its legibility and functionality.



In other news, we’re doing an audit on all sounds in the project and are beginning to work through the feedback. We’re aware of the places we’re failing in this and we’re excited to lift the quality to the level that you expect.

Our amazing character artist is hard at work creating all new uniforms that will feed in to our introduction of the cosmetic and progression system. We’re nailing down the exact specific of hour our progression system will work, but we’re keen to demonstrate your veteran status with any role via a new uniform that players will see on the battlefield.





Lastly, when we create a new map, our number one priority is giving you an experience in Hell Let Loose that you’ve never had before. We want you to encounter a totally different environment with its own new challenges and benefits. Much of Utah consists of the Atlantic Wall - the giant network of built defenses that wrapped along the coast of Western Europe to stave off an invasion attempt from Great Britain. We’re working hard to create interesting new interiors, like the underground barracks you can see below:


Attack or defend the entrance to the barracks!


Put your CQC skills to the ultimate test underground!

If you’re keen to follow along, you can see our roadmap below:



If you’re enjoying Hell Let Loose, you can help us by leaving us a review on Steam.

See you on the frontline!
Grand Theft Auto V Legacy - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (John Walker)

This week: Rude swears! Writing about more interesting games than the ones you boring people keep buying! And battle advice to people who’ve been dead 1,800 years! It’s some Steam Charts.

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Hell Let Loose

Large-scale World War 2 shooter Hell Let Loose has entered Early Access, where it will remain for at least a year.

The focus of its 100-player fights is on teamwork and strategy, and you'll have to keep supplies moving to your frontline while you set up forward spawn points and capture sectors of the map. You can pick one of 14 classes, including medics and tank commanders, and your team is organised beneath a group of officers who will direct your attention on the battlefield. 

During Early Access, developer Black Matter Studio will add "several more features, maps, and quality of life changes". Its full roadmap, below (click the full screen icon to see it in more detail), shows that the first addition will be Utah Beach, one of the central locations in the 1944 Normandy landings. One side will battle up the beach from landing craft before capturing areas of the countryside inland.

The team will also add a cosmetic customization system, deployable items such as machine gun nests, and a new attack vs defense game mode during Early Access. In total, the updates will take "a year or more to complete".

I like the minimalist UI shown in the trailer at the top of this article: there are no aiming reticles, so you have to rely on your iron sights. The early user reviews are "Mostly Positive", with 78% of players impressed with what they've seen. It's not a perfect start, but it suggests you should at least keep an eye on Hell Let Loose if you're into large-scale shooters.

It's $30/£25 on Steam, and the price will likely increase as it improves.

Thanks, RPS.

Hell Let Loose - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Dominic Tarason)

Jumbo-scale World War 2 FPS Hell Let Loose launched into early access yesterday, and after some launch-day troubles seems to be gaining the acceptance of the historical shooter crowd. While developers Black Matter have at least one full year of development still planned, players can jump in now for some gritty squad combat on a massive scale, with huge maps and fifty players a team. Forests are dense, bullets are very deadly, and artillery is a nightmare. From what I’ve seen so far, it seems like a good pick for the tactical squad chatter crowd. See the launch trailer below.

(more…)

Hell Let Loose - Jonno
Hey everyone,

We've seen reports of some players being unable to find servers when navigating the server browser.

A client-side hotfix has now gone live that we hope will go some way in addressing this:
  • Fixed an issue in the server browser where active servers could not be seen after previously setting a filter.
If you're still experiencing missing servers after the hotfix please try the following:

Change the server browser ping (In your Steam client settings) from Auto to 3000 in your Steam client settings.

Once you've done this step, log out and back into Steam again and you should be good to go.

Next week we'll be continuing hotfixes and also be releasing our first patch!

Thank you all so much for your support and feedback over the last 24+ hours, we'll see you on the frontline.
Hell Let Loose - Jonno
Hey everyone,

We hope you're having a fantastic time so far!

A hotfix to address some unintended tank behaviour has just gone live. Patch notes below:
  • Change to client replication and interpolation to improve current tank physics behaviour
If you've already started playing Hell Let Loose, you'll just need to quit the game to download the patch for it to take effect.

Thanks all, we'll see you on the frontline!
Hell Let Loose - Jonno
Hey everyone,

Early Access launch day is here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwNuBKkmbrY

To get things started we've got a message for you all from Lead Developer Max:


We’re Now in Early Access!

We began Hell Let Loose as a tiny hobby project on the Unreal Engine forums back in late 2014, when World War Two games were very much in drought. We wanted to create a game that mixed the intensity of frontline combat with the depth and strategy of more realistic team-oriented shooters. From there, Hell Let Loose has gone on to become the sole focus and passion for our team of 10.

We’re so thankful for the patience you have shown us - both before our Kickstarter (if you want a laugh, watch the gameplay in our original Kickstarter trailer!), helping us raise funding, and then supporting us through the testing waves. You’ve been battling bugs with us on the frontline for more than a year now. Whether you’re a newcomer or one of the grizzled veterans who discovered us in June 2017, we’re really excited to continue this journey with you. World War Two was an enormous conflict and we’ve only just scratched the surface. Below I’m going to talk through some of the key aspects of where we are heading from here.


Why Early Access?

Ultimately Hell Let Loose was born from a desire to create an enormous World War Two game that we’d never experienced before - where teamwork and communication met aspects of realism, brutality and an intensity of combat without losing an inherent meta strategy or smaller unit tactics. We’ve read so much World War Two history and wanted to experience something close to what the soldiers experienced. We want players to be able to use a tank as cover on an approach towards a hamlet. We want to be able to create deadly minefields in a forest, or creep artillery onto a target. We want the exhilaration of being able to break through the enemy line, or the panic knowing that the enemy had done the same to us.

There are many, many more features that we’ve committed to in our Kickstarter, as well as features that we would love to include in addition to those. We want to widen and polish the core experience.

We plan to use our Early Access period as a balance of working with you - the community - while also introducing and polishing new features and content. Working with Team17, we’ve structured and scheduled lots of exciting updates - but we’re going to be working hard to integrate everything we learn from you - the players. We have exciting things coming that you can see in our roadmap below. We’ll be updating this image as we progress and will release one similar to it after we leave Early Access - the content won’t end there.



A Call to Arms

As we launch our Early Access, we’d like to call on you - the community - to assist us in making Hell Let Loose an inviting atmosphere to new players. Every Beta, we’ve seen new players come to the game and begin to get accustomed to the strategy and tactics unique to Hell Let Loose. Things that are obvious to us (how wounding works, how respawning works, how role selection works, how to stay together, how to use VOIP etc.) are often totally new concepts that need to be introduced to a player who may have come from a different genre. We know that Hell Let Loose is best played when everyone is communicating, kind and happy to help, and we ask that you assist us in modeling this to everyone you meet in-game.

Inevitably, the first week of any major release means that the majority of soldiers on the front line may be not only totally new to Hell Let Loose, but new to the teamwork and hardcore genre. We’re seeing players from large high-budget shooters keen to jump in and try something new and we’d much prefer to help them get up and running as a great contributing member of a unit and team than criticise them for their gaming pedigree. We ask that if you’re an experienced veteran in the genre - you’ll keep the new players in mind and create a welcoming atmosphere. Many won’t yet have mics - or be confident to use them - but we’re keen to make sure we foster an atmosphere in which people can learn. Nearly all players will remember that first game they played in the hardcore genre. It was terrifying, difficult and brutal - but also an experience that stuck with you and made it hard to go back. We all know that awesome feeling of a veteran taking you under their wing and showing you the ropes. We ask that you keep that in mind when confronted by totally green players.

While we can encourage you the community to take new players under your wing, we also want to assure you that during Early Access we’ll be working hard to overhaul and add to our tooltips, wiki and gameflow - in order to better help new players understand how to play.

Throughout the last couple of months we’ve created numerous role guides and other information to help you get started.


Future Plans

If you’ve played the game recently, or spoken to any of us about features, bugs or changes you’ll know that we’re highly passionate and motivated to improve and widen the Hell Let Loose experience. We watch the community discuss new vehicles, features, maps and polish and can only agree on how they’d add more variety and interest to the game. Everything from barbed wire functioning as barbed wire should - to new and improved Commander Orders - to new vehicles, maps, uniforms and weapons - we’re as excited as you are to implement it all.

We hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the frequency of hotfixes, patches and updates to come.


Types of Updates

First Patch

Our first patch will be applied in the first week after release. It will fix critical issues that arise, as well as tweak or change gameplay in response to community feedback. Obviously, we won’t be able to tackle every single bug we’d like, so we’ll attempt to prioritise this according to need. Please do not be discouraged if a particular bug you’ve experienced isn’t fixed in the first patch - there's a high likelihood that it will be addressed down the line.

First Update

While we’ve been preparing for EA, we’ve also been thinking about the content for our first update: On the Beaches (U1). It’ll introduce an all new map - Utah Beach - as well as a large bunch of goodies that we’ll reveal closer to the date. We can say that the environment and level design team really feel that Utah presents many new challenges to the roles and vehicles you’re already familiar with.

Hotfixes

In addition to regular patches, we will also be hotfixing the game if any show-stopping bugs rear their ugly heads.

Credits

We haven’t forgotten the Kickstarter rewards for our backers and want to assure you that the credits will be patched into the game during Early Access. We want to follow up with each tier to make sure your name is present in the format you desire.


EA Release Changelog

Weapon Changes
  • Lowered MP40 horizontal recoil to allow for better control up to 75m
  • Lowered Thompson horizontal and vertical recoil to allow for better control up to 75m
  • Lowered STG 44 horizontal and vertical recoil to allow for better control up to 75m
  • Lowered BAR horizontal and vertical recoil to allow for better control up to 75m
  • Tweaked scope time on Springfield in order to smooth out the transition to the optic
  • MG bipods now have a more generous vertical arc to allow people to better aim up while deployed on the ground

New Cosmetics

Those who pre-ordered the game will now be able to enable their helmet to display once they’ve entered a server by turning it on in the Options menu. We will be distributing codes to all Backer tiers eligible for a helmet via email in the coming weeks. Both will then be worked in to the full cosmetic system that will be implemented during the Early Access period.


Movement

Being able to jump and then vault has been removed, and instead we have increased the vault height from 120cm to 160cm, allowing you to climb out of most trenches and over all fences without allowing you to scale high walls. We are keen to make sure high walls remain a way to funnel infantry and vehicles in the battlespace.


General Bug Fixes
  • Fixed attempting to deploy as the map is changing with less than 4 seconds left on the deploy counter will cause the player to get stuck on the 'Failed to deploy' message, forcing a shutdown via either Task Manager or Alt F4.
  • There could be pending deployment requests scheduled with timers when a map was changed or a round ended. Deployment timers are now tracked and invalidated when a round ends or a map is changed.
  • RCon Client displays an untitled map name when changing maps
  • Commanders can now dismantle their Garrisons
  • The hint reminding users to place down Garrisons and Outposts will still occur even if the user has already built one) - now the player will only need to place either a Garrison or an Outpost to the hint not to appear
  • Fixed inverse angle calculation for ricochets
  • Fixed rocket launches so that they apply surface specific decal
  • Fixed the possibility to get the same map twice in a row (disabled shuffling the map sequence and additional logging for MapRotation)
  • Changed physics correction to run every frame instead of only when it receives information (to make physics more responsive and smoother)
  • Players are no longer able to fire certain weapons while vaulting/climbing
  • Button prompts on the "Map Vote" & "Vote to kick" windows do not update after changing keybindings
Animation
  • Fixed pistol to rifle equip causing character to slide in TPP
  • Add animation notify to hide TPP Kar98 WPN clip when firing
VOIP
  • The player can sometimes hear voice chat audio after leaving a heavily populated server - disconnect all voice channels upon returning to the main menu
  • Fixed multiple instances of voice channel connection loss issues
  • Added defensive code
Optimization
  • Decimated the poly counts on over 50 commonly used props in each map which should increase player FPS (still more to do).
  • Did a texture sweep and managed to save on video memory in all three maps.
Visual Improvements
  • Improved LODs on Barberry Bushes
  • Updated tank driver and commander positions to have less bloom (players were suffering from a blown out viewport in Foy)
  • Fixed blood textures not always appearing accurately when player's model is shot in certain locations
UI/HUD
  • Begun work on overhaul of new deployment menu
  • Begun work on overhaul of team selection screen
  • Begun work on new HUD
  • Begun work on new server browser menu
  • Begun work on new death screen
  • Expanded scoreboard menu name field to display longer names
  • Made legalese on main menu smaller and less distracting
  • Fixed - markers cannot be placed on hedgerows and instead travel through
  • Fixed - the 'Deploy' prompt overlaps its text box on the Deployment screen"
  • Fixed - the United States team name goes off screen within the deployment screen
  • Added “Leave Server” button to the after action scoreboard and screen
  • Added unit prefix to VOIP notifies so you can see which unit leader is talking (eg. Easy company has the prefix “E”)
  • Fixed a terrible bug where the sector capture progress was often inverted - leading to horrible situations in which you’d think you were about to capture when in actual fact it was the enemy who’d capture.
SFX
  • US Commander is missing construction SFX for building Garrisons
  • MG42 new FPP fire sound and restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • MG34 (coaxial and hull on German tanks) has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • M1919 has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • M1903 Springfield has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • BAR has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • STG 44 has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • M1 Garand has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Kar 98k has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • G43 has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • M1 Carbine has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • MP40 has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Thompson has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Bazooka has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Panzerschreck has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Colt 1911 new FPP fire sound and restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Luger P08 new FPP fire sound and restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Walther P38 new FPP fire sound and restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Temporarily removed Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy as US victory theme and replaced it with the Victory March. Don’t worry - Erika is still there.
Foy
  • In-game map is not consistent with environment shown in sector E10.
Known Issues
  • Incorrect colour icon in HUD when German player enters a strongpoint
  • Tank HUD indicator does not behave correctly (should behave the same as infantry)
  • Some instances of ‘snaking’ still present
  • Changing helmets in the redeployment screen does not change the helmet
  • Users occasionally will travel great distances when vaulting (however they will recover and be returned to their correct spot)
  • No ADS as separate sensitivity (will be coming in Patch 1)
  • Some Foxholes difficult to exit (needs geometry adjustment)
  • Tank camera judder sometimes experienced when driving over very uneven ground at top speeds
  • Supply drop can appear out of sync with plane animation
  • Custom helmets do not have blood or charring decals applied when damaged
  • Max player count on deploy screen incorrect for 82 and 64 player servers
  • Very long custom server names are badly scaled on enlist screen
  • Shadows incorrect in SMDM
  • Localisation incomplete
  • Some placeholder images in ‘How to Play’
  • Support score currently unfinished
  • Possible compatibility issues with some hardware on Windows 10 1903 (causes game to boot to black screen)
  • Crash when plugging in or unplugging some headsets when the title is running
  • Crash if map changes when user is in keybindings menu
  • Possible compatibility issues with some versions of Windows if users disable all audio output devices
  • Game can crash if user unplugs primary display monitor during bootflow
  • Users joining a server during a map change via RCon may become stuck on deployment screen
  • Various other minor issues
R&D (not currently in game - this list is non-exhaustive)
  • Optimisation pass for Utah Beach
  • Updated flamethrower look and function
  • Work on a material vertex shader which does custom FOV projection for first-person meshes
  • Currently testing Steam Sound Engine in build
  • Currently implementing water systems
  • Currently updating Foy with additional cover in areas that are totally flat (we will release a map that indicates the locations of new cover)
  • Hurtgen is in the process of a makeover to make many SPs more unique and interesting (including the introduction of concrete defensive emplacements).
  • Barbed wire systems currently in progress
  • Work on resource nodes
  • Work on refining TPP animation systems
  • Currently assessing all remaining FPP weapon bugs and animation needs
  • Scoping audio engine change
  • Continued work on animation bugs and refinement
  • Continued creation of all US and German Winter uniform variants
  • Continued work on all 2D elements in the game
  • Scoping improvements to bipods
  • Scoping improvements to sniper rifle scopes and sniping experience

Special Launch Livestream!

To celebrate the launch of Hell Let Loose into Early Access, we're hosting a 24 hour livestream today on our Steam Store page!

If you’d like to see the game in action, ask us questions or chat – then stop by!

During the stream there will be various hosts from Team17 and Black Matter, as well as special guests Karmakut and Bluedrake42!

The stream goes live at 12pm BST / 1pm CEST and will run for 24 hours straight from that time.



See you on the frontline!

Follow Hell Let Loose on Twitter
Like Hell Let Loose on Facebook
Hell Let Loose - Jonno
Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #27!

This week’s a special one as tomorrow Hell Let Loose enters Steam Early Access!

We’re incredibly excited to be at this point and wouldn’t be here without the fantastic support of our backers and pre-release community – THANK YOU!

Tomorrow, Lead Developer Max will be making a post to mark launch day, so watch this space…

Before then though, we’ve got quite the briefing for you, so get ready for:
  • Server Live Times
  • The Early Access Roadmap
  • Launch Changelog
Let’s do this!


Server Live Times

We are pleased to announce that on June 6th, Hell Let Loose servers will be going live at:

11am BST / 12pm CEST / 6am ET / 3am PT

This also means that Hell Let Loose will be able to be purchased directly through Steam from that time and the game will be live and ready to play!


The Early Access Roadmap

Tomorrow marks the start of our journey through Early Access here on Steam.

Below you will see our Early Access Roadmap! Please note that this isn’t exhaustive and there will be more to come…



Rest assured we’ll be continuing our weekly Developer Briefings. Going forward they will - when applicable - contain updates on upcoming features, bug fixes and content to keep our community in the loop throughout Early Access!

What are you most excited for in our roadmap? Let us know in the comments!


Early Access Launch Changelog

Following our May closed beta we’ve been working on some tweaks and bug fixes that will be applied in tomorrow’s launch patch! We’ve listed them below for your reading pleasure:

Weapon Changes
  • Lowered MP40 horizontal recoil to allow for better control up to 75m
  • Lowered Thompson horizontal and vertical recoil to allow for better control up to 75m
  • Lowered STG 44 horizontal and vertical recoil to allow for better control up to 75m
  • Lowered BAR horizontal and vertical recoil to allow for better control up to 75m
  • Tweaked scope time on Springfield in order to smooth out the transition to the optic
  • MG bipods now have a more generous vertical arc to allow people to better aim up while deployed on the ground

New Cosmetics

Those who pre-ordered the game will now be able to enable their helmet to display once they’ve entered a server by turning it on in the Options menu. We will be distributing codes to all Backer tiers eligible for a helmet via email in the coming weeks. Both will then be worked in to the full cosmetic system that will be implemented during the Early Access period.


Movement

Being able to jump and then vault has been removed, and instead we have increased the vault height from 120cm to 160cm, allowing you to climb out of most trenches and over all fences without allowing you to scale high walls. We are keen to make sure high walls remain a way to funnel infantry and vehicles in the battlespace.


General Bug Fixes
  • Fixed attempting to deploy as the map is changing with less than 4 seconds left on the deploy counter will cause the player to get stuck on the 'Failed to deploy' message, forcing a shutdown via either Task Manager or Alt F4.
  • There could be pending deployment requests scheduled with timers when a map was changed or a round ended. Deployment timers are now tracked and invalidated when a round ends or a map is changed.
  • RCon Client displays an untitled map name when changing maps
  • Commanders can now dismantle their Garrisons
  • The hint reminding users to place down Garrisons and Outposts will still occur even if the user has already built one) - now the player will only need to place either a Garrison or an Outpost to the hint not to appear
  • Fixed inverse angle calculation for ricochets
  • Fixed rocket launches so that they apply surface specific decal
  • Fixed the possibility to get the same map twice in a row (disabled shuffling the map sequence and additional logging for MapRotation)
  • Changed physics correction to run every frame instead of only when it receives information (to make physics more responsive and smoother)
  • Players are no longer able to fire certain weapons while vaulting/climbing
  • Button prompts on the "Map Vote" & "Vote to kick" windows do not update after changing keybindings
Animation
  • Fixed pistol to rifle equip causing character to slide in TPP
  • Add animation notify to hide TPP Kar98 WPN clip when firing
VOIP
  • The player can sometimes hear voice chat audio after leaving a heavily populated server - disconnect all voice channels upon returning to the main menu
  • Fixed multiple instances of voice channel connection loss issues
  • Added defensive code
Optimization
  • Decimated the poly counts on over 50 commonly used props in each map which should increase player FPS (still more to do).
  • Did a texture sweep and managed to save on video memory in all three maps.
Visual Improvements
  • Improved LODs on Barberry Bushes
  • Updated tank driver and commander positions to have less bloom (players were suffering from a blown out viewport in Foy)
  • Fixed blood textures not always appearing accurately when player's model is shot in certain locations
UI/HUD
  • Begun work on overhaul of new deployment menu
  • Begun work on overhaul of team selection screen
  • Begun work on new HUD
  • Begun work on new server browser menu
  • Begun work on new death screen
  • Expanded scoreboard menu name field to display longer names
  • Made legalese on main menu smaller and less distracting
  • Fixed - markers cannot be placed on hedgerows and instead travel through
  • Fixed - the 'Deploy' prompt overlaps its text box on the Deployment screen"
  • Fixed - the United States team name goes off screen within the deployment screen
  • Added “Leave Server” button to the after action scoreboard and screen
  • Added unit prefix to VOIP notifies so you can see which unit leader is talking (eg. Easy company has the prefix “E”)
  • Fixed a terrible bug where the sector capture progress was often inverted - leading to horrible situations in which you’d think you were about to capture when in actual fact it was the enemy who’d capture.
SFX
  • US Commander is missing construction SFX for building Garrisons
  • MG42 new FPP fire sound and restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • MG34 (coaxial and hull on German tanks) has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • M1919 has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • M1903 Springfield has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • BAR has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • STG 44 has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • M1 Garand has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Kar 98k has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • G43 has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • M1 Carbine has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • MP40 has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Thompson has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Bazooka has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Panzerschreck has restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Colt 1911 new FPP fire sound and restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Luger P08 new FPP fire sound and restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Walther P38 new FPP fire sound and restructured, mixed and updated TPP sound treatment
  • Temporarily removed Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy as US victory theme and replaced it with the Victory March. Don’t worry - Erika is still there.
Foy
  • In-game map is not consistent with environment shown in sector E10.
Known Issues
  • Incorrect colour icon in HUD when German player enters a strongpoint
  • Tank HUD indicator does not behave correctly (should behave the same as infantry)
  • Some instances of ‘snaking’ still present
  • Changing helmets in the redeployment screen does not change the helmet
  • Users occasionally will travel great distances when vaulting (however they will recover and be returned to their correct spot)
  • No ADS as separate sensitivity (will be coming in Patch 1)
  • Some Foxholes difficult to exit (needs geometry adjustment)
  • Tank camera judder sometimes experienced when driving over very uneven ground at top speeds
  • Supply drop can appear out of sync with plane animation
  • Custom helmets do not have blood or charring decals applied when damaged
  • Max player count on deploy screen incorrect for 82 and 64 player servers
  • Very long custom server names are badly scaled on enlist screen
  • Shadows incorrect in SMDM
  • Localisation incomplete
  • Some placeholder images in ‘How to Play’
  • Support score currently unfinished
  • Possible compatibility issues with some hardware on Windows 10 1903 (causes game to boot to black screen)
  • Crash when plugging in or unplugging some headsets when the title is running
  • Crash if map changes when user is in keybindings menu
  • Possible compatibility issues with some versions of Windows if users disable all audio output devices
  • Game can crash if user unplugs primary display monitor during bootflow
  • Users joining a server during a map change via RCon may become stuck on deployment screen
  • Various other minor issues
R&D (not currently in game - this list is non-exhaustive)
  • Optimisation pass for Utah Beach
  • Updated flamethrower look and function
  • Work on a material vertex shader which does custom FOV projection for first-person meshes
  • Currently testing Steam Sound Engine in build
  • Currently implementing water systems
  • Currently updating Foy with additional cover in areas that are totally flat (we will release a map that indicates the locations of new cover)
  • Hurtgen is in the process of a makeover to make many SPs more unique and interesting (including the introduction of concrete defensive emplacements).
  • Barbed wire systems currently in progress
  • Work on resource nodes
  • Work on refining TPP animation systems
  • Currently assessing all remaining FPP weapon bugs and animation needs
  • Scoping audio engine change
  • Continued work on animation bugs and refinement
  • Continued creation of all US and German Winter uniform variants
  • Continued work on all 2D elements in the game
  • Scoping improvements to bipods
  • Scoping improvements to sniper rifle scopes and sniping experience

Special Launch Livestream!

To celebrate the launch of Hell Let Loose into Early Access, we’ll be hosting a 24 hour livestream on our Steam Store page!

If you’d like to see the game in action, ask us questions or chat – then stop by!

During the stream there will be various hosts from Team17 and Black Matter, as well as special guests Karmakut and Bluedrake42!

The stream goes live at 12pm BST / 1pm CEST and will run for 24 hours straight from that time.

We’ll be posting our stream schedule soon so you know who’s live when!


See you on the frontline!

Tomorrow…
Hell Let Loose - Jonno
Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #26!

This week we're excited to share the details around server hosting for Hell Let Loose. Let's get stuck in shall we...


Community Servers in Hell Let Loose

When do community servers go live for Hell Let Loose?

The community servers will go live on Early Access launch June 6th.


How do I rent a community server for Hell Let Loose?

We’ve partnered with G-Portal and Nitrado to offer official Community Servers during the initial Early Access launch. We do not take community engagement for granted and want to make sure that there are as few barriers as possible.

You can pre-order a server from your preferred provider using the hyperlinks below!

G-Portal Server Locations

Germany (Frankfurt)
England (London)
Russia (Moscow)
US West (Los Angeles)
US East (New York)
China (Taipeh)
Australia (Sydney)
Canada (Québec)
Japan (Tokyo)
Brazil (São Paulo)

G-Portal users can rename their server name through the G-Portal web interface.

Nitrado Server Locations

Germany (Frankfurt)
England (London)
Singapore
US West (Los Angeles)
US East (Miami & New York)

Nitrado users can rename their server name through the Nitrado web interface.


Can I use my own server?

Our plan is to introduce persistent profile and progression elements in Hell Let Loose during the Early Access period. This means that we need to be able to maintain a level of integrity over player stats and tracking. We also want to ensure this persistence endures for players on Official and Community servers. In order to do so, we will currently offer servers via trusted partners only.

We understand that there is a demand for communities to host their own dedicated server, so we are investigating different ways that we can achieve this technically, with the above mentioned systems. This is something that we will look at developing through the Early Access period, and will keep you updated.


Can we host servers that are less than 100 players?

While Hell Let Loose is designed for an optimal experience at 100 players, we know that some communities may not have the financial backing or resources to host such a large server.

We felt that it was important to make hosting a server as accessible as possible and so we are working with server partners in offering 100, 82 and 64 slot configurations.

In testing, we’ve found that 64 players can offer concerted and strategic gameplay without sacrificing the epic feel of Hell Let Loose.


Can we password our server?

UPDATE

Your feedback matters. Following community feedback on the news that passwords on servers would come a month after Early Access launch, we've decided to prioritise it with the aim of having it implemented roughly one week after Early Access launch instead. We're keeping the original messaging below as a reference.

For the first month of Hell Let Loose we felt that it was important to encourage new players to the genre to join community hosted servers. While we as developers hoped to build in as many fail-safes as possible into the game design, we know that the best experience players will have will be on a community hosted server - with a friendly and inviting culture and administered in a way that focuses on teamwork.

We hope you will assist us in both building your communities with new players - as well as assisting in easing in new players to the genre. Our own analytics show a significant number of players keen to try out the more hardcore teamwork oriented style of gameplay that Hell Let Loose offers.

That said, we are aiming to expand the suite of server hosting tools - including passwords - in our first update and beyond. We know that queuing, reserved slots, ability to arrange set teams and units are of high priority. We thank you for your patience as we build these tools!


What tools do we currently have?
  • Kick player
  • Give 2 hour Ban
  • Remove 2 hour Ban
  • Perma Ban
  • Remove Perma Ban
  • Server Message
  • Change Map
  • Restart server
  • Update server

What tools are we looking at?

We know that queuing, reserved slots, ability to arrange set teams and units are of high priority.
  • Identify team killers
  • Warn player
  • Message Player
  • Add admin
  • Remove admin
  • Admin permissions for in game groups i.e - Just Admin but no spectate,
  • Spectator but no admin
  • Different levels of admin permissions (Head, Senior, Junior etc.)
  • Spectate Camera / Fly around (limited ability so nobody can abuse)
  • Set next map
  • Chat log
  • Punish player

Wanted Spectator/Streamer abilities (Admin defined only)
  • Spectate Camera / Fly around
  • Increase camera movement speed
  • Decrease camera movement speed
  • Zoom in and out
  • Clear Hud
  • Ability to listen to comms
  • Show enemy toggle
  • Show friendly toggle
  • Show player names friendly and enemy toggle
  • Snap to player
  • Follow player, Event log chat

Serving our players!

Thank you all for your patience as we prepared the community servers for Hell Let Loose. Pre-orders for both G-Portal and Nitrado servers are live now and can be accessed via the hyperlinks on the server location listings!

As always, your feedback is important to us, so let us know what you think!
June 6th approaches, we’ll see you on the frontline soon...

If you’re a clan/community leader and would like to be added to the Hell Let Loose Community Divisions Bunker, please head over to the official Hell Let Loose Discord and DM Spono#7368.


Hell Let Loose is available to Wishlist now:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/

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