Jul 13, 2022

Cepheus Protocol - CERC Emergency Broadcast System

These are patch notes for the newly "opened" Experimental Steam Branch. Experimental will operate as followed:

We have made new channels on Discord + Steam forums these channels are for users that like to live on the dangerous side of things and want to push feedback to us for upcoming patches. Whenever there is a patch it enters that experimental build for 1-2 days minimum if nothing fatal is found it will be pushed public.

The testing and feedback for Experimental is open to anyone to help based on their preferred engagement system Steam or Discord. This is an effort to help squash more bugs and hopefully our bug fixes that cause other issues can be caught and fixed within this time period.

Discord
Steam Forums

Experimental will stay open at all times going forward.

How to Opt-in

Expect the first Step of the new Early game [Localized Infection Spawning] live on Experimental Wednesday-Thursday for feedback!

Patch Notes

(Click Show details for a full breakdown of the changes)
[expand type=details]

Early pass on the 'local virtual population moving if no pods remain' logic, to make sure local populations of virtual infected do not become 'stuck' if the player wipes out their pods before the virtual infected in that area can enter the world
unlock prices changed for phase upgrades, flashlight and gas mask and nvg unlocked by default
fixed blowup guy not exploding again
texture redux for better memory
Updated Virtual Unit Movers to have movement components that better match regular units (fixes an issue with them trying to 'climb' areas which they should be able to, but couldn't, so 'virtual' groups of infected can move better now)
Adjusted a Power Plant move proxy
Adjusted the 'per level' values in the SpawnNode to be floats, for easier customization
Added a small safety to the NewBaseVehicleBP
Adjusted Seenlist logic to mark units that have been right-clicked to be targeted as 'priority targets', which are treated as 10mil threat more important in target prioritization. Doing this also will remove 'priority target' from anything else in that unit's SeenList, so 'priority targets' are not remembered if you issue different orders. They still will have more threat than usual from being right clicked, however.
Fixed several Navigation errors around Angel Island cliffs.
Virtual texture conversion for all weapons
Presidio Zone Border and Location Volume overhaul
Angel Island Location Volume overhaul
Fixed water collision so you can drag boxes over them again and order helicopters to exact points over the water
Added saving/loading for unit's "MySpawnNode" pointer (should help fix some issues with civilian evacuation 'not counting')
Conversion health of cerc changed from 2000 - 110
Pod resistance changed to better survive scar meta
Lod changes for Weapons for better optimization
Reverted spawn node settings in the SpawnNodes maps for the Master, so they stop 'overriding' values from the SpawnNodeBP. In the Future we will be tweaking how often Spitters/blowup guys appear once their AI is finalized
Disabled the CommandPost's civilian spawning loop in Chelsey System enabled maps
Used a new implementation of 'hovering over' to make the mouse 'hovering over units/buildings' more accurate and responsive
Improved Structure-handling of 'mouse over hover display' to include 'highlighting' the building
Improved turret widget to zoom in slightly when you hover over said turret, and to 'highlight' its base when hovered, too
Added a speculative fix for turrets not 'unfolding' when loading saves (seems to work, hopefully doesn't add issues)
Updated the ADS and the Field Turrets to player more nicely with the hovering-highlighting system
Fixed the 'world infection' post process effects being 'active' even if the source area is not
Added a safety to make sure units which are dropped in via parachute will run to their building's rally point
Converted system to new collision system to stop "faulty" collision
Fixed a 'distance check' in the assignment of multiple units to construction points (to prevent units getting stuck in 'infinite construction loops' between two semi-distant construction points)
Adjusted Engineer Pathing so they hopefully cannot get stuck on walls/objects they construct anymore.
Also added a final check when a unit finishes building something to make them try to 'lerp away' from whatever they built, if their ground is invalid
Adjusted the 'in world name popups' when hovering over buildings to not 'black out the screen' for one frame when popping up (they 'scale' right after being constructed: if the framerate's low enough, you'll see this for one frame. It now is going to be invisible for that first frame, to prevent assaulting users' eyes if their framerate is dropped) Result: Construction seems a lot more reliable
Revamped the saving/loading of 'world infection goop': should now be more accurate. As a side-effect, old saves will not remember where their goop was, but shouldn't be a big deal
Moved the 'Idle Engineer' button to the bottom left of the HUD, to the right of the minimap (and scaled it down)
Set up the 'saving' popup to be in a horizontal box with the Idle Engineer button, so it won't conflict with the Idle Engineer button
Adjusted the Unit Groups to start higher up, now that the Idle Engineer button has been moved
Additionally, adjusted the Unit Card scaling to not be as intense (max size is now +25%, instead of +50%), to try to prevent the cards from overlaying the minimap
A 'death icon' will appear to the right of a group name when a unit is killed. A different icon will appear if a unit succumbs to infection and converts.
Added a 'collapsed mode' for the new Unit Card Group Window setup. In Collapsed Mode, only a unified healthbar is shown. It will shift to red in color if it gets low. This healthbar only shows the average for living members. If a unit dies or is converted, the healthbar will adjust its maximum (which may go 'up' due to missing a member), but this will also be indicated as still bad due to the death/conversion icon appearing. Additionally, the Groups will remember if they were Collapsed or not
The Group Name (and the unified healthbar, in collapsed mode) will now flash red if a unit in that group takes damage.
Updated the Group Window widget naming setup:
Scalebox added and text limit increased (from 10 to 20), so you can give groups a longer name (and the name text will scale down in size to fit) Text area is limited to still allow room for ~3 icons to appear to the right of the group name (and to not block 'clicks' to that area to select the group w/o editing group name)
Properly indicate when all their units have been killed by broadcasting 'DESTROYED'
Added a basic "InfectedMorale" value to InfectionZones, with saving/loading. This value drops if a REINFORCE Unit Mover's units were all killed by the player. Morale is for the 'REINFORCE' calls to stop coming if enough reinforcements are cut off: not yet used
Updated the Reinforcement logic from the Chelsey System to no longer target zones with sufficiently low infected morale. In effect: if the player cuts off groups of Reinforcements from reaching a zone, the morale will drop. If it gets low enough, reinforcements will stop being sent. The infected's morale will build back up if you spend enough time away from an infested zone. Practically: this means if you stay in a zone and cut off their avenues of reinforcement, you can 'isolate' that zone and drastically reduce the amount of infected that will be sent to fortify it, since the infected will view that zone as a 'lost cause' due to too many losses.
Updated the Virtual Unit Movers performing 'REINFORCE' calls to no longer 'disappear' upon reaching their destination, but to stay in play as long as they have any devirtualized units remaining (that way you can kill off that bunch of infected even if the invisible unit mover made it past you, and still drop the enemy morale, rather than the morale drop not occurring because you weren't quick enough to stop the invisible unit mover from getting by)
Speculative fix to mortar crash from here: https://discord.com/channels/469412014427602944/986144869590368256/995422084492693614
Converted Structure Health to 'Getter/Setter' setup, to lock down situations where infection pod healthbars weren't updating properly. This did resolve that issue, it seems, and infection pods no longer have their healthbars show as ~'5% health' whenever you load a save file, despite them NOT having that amount of health.
Added a fix to helicopters sometimes getting 'stuck moving slowly' if they are given a move order with a group

Please note the following going forward (Restart your game/steam to get the update if needed
[/expand]

New Versioning Number system

[expand type=showmore ]
We are changing the way we do version numbers to simplify them going into the future. The one will represent a "release" version and the octet following it will the title update or major patch version we are on.
1.2.1
1 = Release version
2 = Title Update (Major Update)
1 = Minior Fix/bug fixes etc
[/expand]

Letter from the Producer

https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/3186869726433966739

New Roadmap system

We now have a new system for our community to follow along on development. This website will break down all the major systems that are coming each patch. It will not include hotfixes/bug fixes. Sections inside TBD can be included randomly if we are ahead of schedule
Trello and the old picture Roadmap system will be removed going into the future.
https://www.notion.so/cepheusprotocol/Cepheus-Protocol-31f1b25ce00148d6844825f4a0c0bc08

Jul 13, 2022

It’s fixed! №56

War Thunder - Blitzkrieg Wulf

In this digest we would like to tell you about our continuing work on improvements and fixes in the game. You can find information about all updates that have been released in War Thunder in the website special section.

Please feel free to leave your feedback on these changes in the dedicated "It’s fixed! №56" thread

Fixed blocking by chat

Except for quick commands, players often use the battle chat to tell allies about a winning tactical manoeuvre in time, warn team mates about danger and sometimes demoralise opponents and ask them to surrender immediately. But as if that were not the case….

Opening chat while moving at the same time could block control from the keyboard and the chat itself would stop responding to commands. All that remained in this situation to a player - was to play the role of a stationary firing point.

This strange bug has been found and fixed. You can make sneaky plans again and practice diplomacy in battle chats.

Clarified the lateral tenacity of a chassis

Literally every track and every wheel in War Thunder has many different characteristics that determine their traction on different types of surfaces. Among them is the lateral "tenacity", depending on which your ground vehicle might be kept on more or less significant slopes.

There was a bug in the calculations of this characteristic which might lead not only to an excessive lateral slip but also vice versa - your vehicle could begin to be pulled to the top of the hill.

You might have even found unusual videos of drifting down hillsides. Now this mistake has been fixed.

Aiming marker for helicopters is back

Modern aviation, especially helicopters can carry impressive and diverse weapons in pods or as regular suspended weaponry. But in order to effectively and quickly use them in battle we recommend using the weapon selectors. Especially now that the aiming marker is no longer missing. For example on the Mi-24P when switching the offensive weaponry selector.

Removed graphical artefacts

Several image fixes so that nothing distracts you from the battle. In particular a highlighted square will no longer be visible under an aircraft in a night battle if you have medium or high global illumination preset with an Nvidia GPU.

We also removed the dark bar in these night battles, which could be displayed when the camera was actively rotating. This artefact could be displayed at the edges of the screen with any graphic preset.

Fixed indication of onboard defence systems

Some time ago, on helicopters and ground vehicles with onboard defence systems, the indication of the direction of detected threats, both missiles and laser radar, disappeared.

The bug has been fixed. Now you will have a better chance of reacting on time to the threat and taking any necessary actions!

Reviewed the recharging time of ammo belts at points

The longer ammo belts for the automatic belt-fed cannons were taking way too long to refill at a captured point - some vehicles could take up to four minutes to reload. We revised the resupply time for this type of weapon to only 20 seconds!

More improvements

We’re constantly improving all aspects of War Thunder. The sounds of ground and air battles continues to be adjusted to avoid the appearance of "silent" vehicles. the sequence of bomb drops for some aircraft has been clarified and the animations for the naval weaponry have been corrected. Be sure to read the full list of improvements!

Once again, many thanks for all your bug reports that you submitted using our special service.

Update 2.17.0.69

Ground Vehicles

A bug has been fixed that made a vehicle slide up while moving on a slope.
A bug has been fixed where specific armaments were missed in the protection analysis while selecting aircraft with custom weapon presets.
A bug has been fixed that prevented display of the laser emission direction.
PGZ-04A —the number of the rounds in a belt has been adjusted and the position of the ammo storage has been adjusted (report).
AMX-30 DCA, Falcon — the order of the APDS round in the belt has been adjusted (report).
ZT3A2 — a bug has been fixed that prevented multiple ATGM navigation with a single beam.
Pz.III J, Pz.III J1, T-III - a bug has been fixed that prevented smoke grenade reload (report).
Pvkv III - a bug has been fixed that prevented overpressure damage.
Leclerc, Leclerc S2, Leclerc SXXI — a bug has been fixed that prevented kinetic damage to the bustle rack ERA blocks.
Leclerc, Leclerc S2, Leclerc SXXI — a bug has been fixed with overestimated autoloader reload time.
Leclerc, Leclerc S2, Leclerc SXXI — a bug has been fixed with underestimated pivot turn time (report).
Machbet — a bug has been fixed with different targeting angles of the missile launcher and the auto cannon.
The following SPAAG, IFV, and main battle tanks with belt feed now have belt reload time set to 20 sec: M163, M247, LAV-AD, ADATS, Flakpanzer I Gepard, ZSU-23-4, ZSU-37-2, 2S6, Falcon, Chieftain Marksman, Rooikat ZA-35, PGZ04A, PGZ09, AMX-30 DCA, Type-87, Machbet, M3 Bradley, M3A3 Bradley, BMD-4, BMP-2, BMP-2М, BMP-3, MBT-70, KPz-70, Leopard-2K, T-72M2 Moderna.

Aircraft

A bug has been fixed that prevents helicopter auto repair when only the main rotor is broken.
A bug has been fixed that prevented display of the direction of the incoming missile in the helicopter HUD .
A bug has been fixed that prevented display of the laser direction in the laser warning system.
A bug has been fixed that caused the sight stabiliser to reset while turning 180 degrees in relation to a target.
HKP3C — a bug has been fixed where the ATGM targeting area was reduced while the sight stabiliser is activated (report).
Super Mystere B2 — a bug has been fixed with a missing AS-20 missile in the secondary armament.
Pe-8 — bomb drop order has been fixed. External pylons go first, then the bomb bay opens. Separate bomb drop has been added for FAB-250SV, FAB-500SV, and FAB-1000 bombs.
Yak-1B — a bug has been fixed where wing rocket rails may be displayed in a no rocket weapon setup.
30mm GIAT M781 gun — a bug has been fixed where the “New 30mm guns” module increased the spread at 500m distance (report).
S-199 — the number of respawn has been fixed from 1 to 3.

Naval

Now, when the artillery mount is damaged, the x-ray shows barrels as damaged too.
HMS Blackpool — a bug has been fixed where the mortars after repeated damage might be displayed as undamaged.
Admiral Hipper — a bug has been fixed that led to the incorrect animation of the rangefinders on the fire control towers.
HMS Garland — required camera position for the depth charges drop has been fixed.
Sverdlov — drown parameters have been adjusted, pumping time reduced.
MPK Pr.12412 - ammo replenishment time for the 30mm/54 AK-630 gun has been significantly reduced.
USS Gearing — radar is now able to track air targets.
Explosives type of the British shells has been fixed:
305mm Mk.VIa APC: TNT → Lyddite;
343mm Mk.Ia APC: Shellite → Lyddite;
343mm CPC: Shellite → TNT.

Graphics

A bug when using the Nvidia GPU on medium or high quality settings of the global illumination in battles in the dark day time under the player’s aircraft on the ground could display a highlighted square, has been fixed (report).
A bug where moving cameras in dark day time battles could display a dark band of edges of the screen has been fixed.

Interface

Console players can now open the appearance view of vehicles from the “Premium Packs” screen in the in-game store.
For your convenience, you can now select the type of vehicles to display packs in the Xbox in-game store.
“Restart” button has been added to the game settings when changing sound settings that require you to restart the game client.
A bug that caused some helicopters to lose their marker for offensive weapon or turret when switching the small arms selector (report).

Sound

The engine sound management system of enemy/allied vehicles has been reconfigured so as to eliminate the possibility of appearing of “silent” vehicles around the player’s vehicle. This applies to ground vehicles and aircraft.
The engine volumes of enemy/allied ground vehicles have been aligned with each other.
A bug that caused enemy/allied jets to be inaudible when approaching the player has been fixed.
Sounds of the machine guns of the ground vehicles received more dynamics. It means that each shot has become more audible compared to the previous and subsequent ones.
Hits on the ground vehicle of the player and enemies/allies received low-frequency and mid-frequency components of the explosion. Previously the most distinguishable element was the clang of a shell against armour.

Changes in PVE game modes

In the “Assault Ground Arcade” mode, a bug where it wasn’t possible to respawn in helicopters of a BR under 8.3 has been fixed.

Other Changes

Ability to play in squads in the missions of dynamic campaigns has been disabled.
A bug where simultaneous vehicle movement and interacting with game chat could cause controls to be blocked has been fixed (report).
Advance to the Rhine — A bug which could lead to sudden destruction of a player's aircraft when flying at a low altitude along the river has been fixed (report).

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.