Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #29! This week we’re giving you the first look at leaning in Hell Let Loose ahead of its addition to the game in Patch #2 later this week!

We’d always planned to bring leaning to Hell Let Loose once we’d finished implementing vaulting, but after seeing your requests to get the mechanic in the game sooner the team have brought this forward to bring leaning to the frontline.

Please be aware that this is the first iteration of leaning. We will continue to add polish to the mechanic in the future.





Once Patch #2 goes live later this week all players will have the ability to lean when either standing up or crouched.





To lean left you just need to press Q and to lean right E. This is a useful ability when scouting, fighting in urban environments or behind cover to reduce your risk of being shot, whilst still enabling you to look around your choice of cover and engage hostile forces.



Top Tip: Whilst less of you is on show when leaning, there’s still enough of you showing to get shot so don’t push your luck!




That wraps up our introduction to leaning in Hell Let Loose!

Once again we’d like to say thank you to everyone who shared their feedback with us, as well as the requests for leaning. By letting us know that you wanted this we’ve been able to bring it forward on this occasion.

Patch #2 will be deploying later this week with further tweaks and fixes alongside leaning. We’ll be sharing the patch notes with you all on the day!

We’ll see you on the frontline.

Hi everyone!

We’re excited to bring you on the patch and update journey with us. We’re aiming to patch as frequently as possible to make sure your experience keeps improving. We know there are so many things people are looking forward to and we’re excited to get them in. While we’ve got some exciting large features coming in our first Update (due mid July), we are keen to continue optimising and improving the game across the board. You can find the changelog for our first patch below:

• Lowered total recoil for MP40, STG, BAR and Thompson.
  
• Reduced time it takes for suppression to subside (we will be revisiting this as per community and dev feedback - including changing the nature of the “flinch”).
  
• All bullet headshots now kill (previously there were instances where a player could survive a headshot).
  
• The Kar98k now kills at a longer range with less damage fall-off beyond that.
  
• The M1 Garand has less severe damage fall-off.
  
• Shortened the delay between the M1 Garand reload and returning to fire (we will still work on this).
  
• Shortened the delay between firing the Kar98k and bolting (we will still work on this).
  
• Lifted the vault and mantle height to 160cm to allow players to climb out of trenches much easier, but to maintain the blocking factor of high walls (which cannot be climbed).
  
• Reduced bloom on tank viewports so the sunlight isn’t blinding in Foy.
  
• Commander periscope now uses mouse instead of WASD in order to buff its usefulness. We want to reward the commander slot with the ability to quickly be the eyes and ears for the crew.

• Added a slider that allows players to change the time body-parts take to despawn. If you are running on a minimum spec machine we recommend lowering this. This won’t let you despawn them instantly, but it will let you lower it from the 5 minute standard which we suspect is putting enormous drain on lower end machines and contributing to spiked FPS issues (an artillery strike or bombing run can cause upwards of 70-100 individual body-parts that need to be tracked in every direction).
  
• Large vram texture memory optimisations across all character models. This should take some burden away from graphics cards.

• Added the ability to change ADS sensitivity as a separate option in the options menu.
  
• Added a number for mouse sensitivity (instead of only a slider).
  
• Added a HELP button for when players receive a “no compatible servers found” message in the server browser.
  
• Double clicking a server in the server browser now joins you to the server.
  
• Players are no longer kicked for being idle if using a mouse in the deployment menu.
  
• Tank HUD indicators have been updated to behave the same as infantry ones, and only show occupied positions.
  
• We’ve implemented a scroll bar on the server browser so it’s more obvious that you can scroll down to see more servers.

• Improved TPP animation when rotating with the M1 Carbine and the Springfield.

• Fixed a bug where players could not launch the title with all audio devices disabled.
  
• Made it easier for players to walk out of foxholes (no more need for awkward jump/vaulting).
  
• Fixed a bug where players appeared to perform the climb or vault animation when viewed by another player as they deployed.
  
• Fixed a bug where players could see through blood spatters on objects.
  
• Fixed a bug where players appeared to teleport to another part of the map while vaulting.
  
• Fixed a bug where players were able to equip or un-equip helmets while on the deployment and ‘You Have Died’ screens.
  
• Corrected the arrow colour for German teams when entering a strong point.

• Added RCon feature to set an idle kick time.
  
• Added password option to community servers.

• Updated bullet fly-by sounds to make them more prominent.

• Locked down several aspects of the title on both server and client side.

• Distance teleporting (we’re aware of what is causing this and we’re dialling in on a fix for patch 2).
  
• Server browser issues (this is a variety of different issues relating to UE4 games and Steam’s server listing. We’re dialling in on a fix for patch 2).
  
• Memory leaks (we’re currently dialling in the cause of this).
  
• New sector markers on HUD are too large and obstructive. These will be altered in Patch #2.

(non-exhaustive list, we just want to give you some idea):

• Leaning using Q and E (we are aiming for implementing this in patch 2)
  
• Making vaulting more responsive, fluid and polished.
  
• Making MG deployment more responsive, fluid and polished.
  
• Ambient cornering and momentum lean on player movement (this makes all sprinting look far more natural when a player is changing direction at range).
  
• Additional RCON commands.
  
• Unit management functions (kick/invite and lock).
  
• Optimisations.
  
• Diving (performed by proning while sprinting).
  
• Bullet penetration.
  
• Map balancing (addition of cover and other features in locations that are either boring or creating a tedious gameplay experience).
  
• Vehicles.
  
• Flamethrowers.
  
• More maps.
  
• Continuing HUD and UI updates.
  
• Broader animation systems.
  
• Tweaking gunplay.
  
• Updating all audio and SFX.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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:



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.



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.



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!

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.

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!