After three months of open map surgery, London’s localities are running better than ever. Read on for gameplay updates, visual improvements, framerate optimizations, new weapon audio and a ton of new bug-fixes!
Framerate Improvements
If you’ve suffered from poor framerates in matches, this will be the single biggest reason to jump back in.
We’ve drastically overhauled our map creation pipeline, using new tricks and tools to optimize the hell out of the nine maps.
Improving performance, especially for those with lower spec machines, has been a huge focus.
Tech Artists BurntKona and East-Eden led us behind the optimization curtain in this Dev Update -
Gameplay Improvements
We’ve still managed to make some significant gameplay tweaks, though. There are too many to list, but here are a few highlights -
Trainyard
The first objective in Trainyard has always been a grind for Jackal attackers. We’ve made some key changes to give you a fighting chance, adding sightlines from the mounted MG and providing more cover.
Both delivery points on the last objective are now on the attacker-facing side of the container. No more running directly into the CDA spawn firing line!
Bridge
Getting the EV moving at the first objective has now been made a little easier for Jackal, by moving it slightly out of the market and shifting the walls to provide less cover for CDA and their deployables.
Collision
To make movement as smooth and fluid as possible, we’ve done a sweep on map objects and collision in the game.
Many that were getting in the way of gameplay have been moved or discarded, and we’ve smoothed out some awkward invisible walls.
Level Designers massE and AK explained some of the improvements in this Dev Update -
Visual Improvements
While attacking map optimization, the artists have also been improving the visual quality across the board.
Lighting
Previously, color filters were layered onscreen to differentiate the maps. They’ve now been removed in favour of a more realistic lighting solution. Colors pop more clearly, and Mercs are more readable at a distance.
Map Assets
We’ve fleshed out some of the more generic spaces in the maps, to make them more believable and to help with identifying them in combat. Look out for CDA-decked corridors and showers, public toilets, Indian restaurants, and more.
Environment Artists The White Lycan and ElectricSheep gave us a peek in this Dev Update -
Community Videos
Over the last week, several content creators in the community were given access to the new maps to give us their thoughts. Check them all out in this playlist!
Audio Improvements
Three of our weapons were sharing their sounds with others in the game. The Ahnuhld-12, Selbstadt .40, and Crotzni have been given their own voices, and now they really sing!
Audio designer Galavant previewed the improvements in this Dev Update -
End of Ranked Season 1
With this update, Ranked Season 1 is officially over. With the many changes to the maps, you’ll have a chance to get used to them before we kick off Season 2 with a bang next year!
We’ll be delivering the Trinket you’ve earned for your Ranked Season 1 placement in another update.
Match Balance
While work on our casual matchmaking continues, we’ve spent some time making small tweaks to the Quick Join functionality to improve match balance:
[ul]
[li]Quick Join now factors in region, average player Level and skill of players on servers more heavily
[/li][li]Updated pre-match team balance to factor in player Level more heavily
[/li][li]Updated Shuffle Votes to factor in player Level and Current Match performance more heavily
[/li][/ul]
Frame Capping
With this update, we’re capping the framerate of the game to 180fps by default.
At very high client framerates, Unreal Engine 3 starts to run into issues with physics calculations that causes the server to start making frequent corrections to the player position, leading to ‘rubber-banding’. The framerate cap will help prevent physics de-syncs like this from happening, and should result in smoother gameplay for high end machines.
This requires a change to your client .ini files, so there is now a popup warning that will appear if your ini files are read only and an important change has been made:
User Interface
[ul]
[li]Added featured community video to Exit Dialog
[/li][li]Added currently equipped Loadout Card and Trinket to the Merc Profile screen in the Barracks
[/li][li]Added player names to all relevant Objective notifications
[/li][li]Added a highlight to your own name in lobbies
[/li][li]Added ability to press “Esc” key to exit screens within the main menus
[/li][li]Added more menu options when clicking on player names, including “Add Friend”
[/li][li]Added ability to type in mouse sensitivity in the main options menu
[/li][li]Updated loading screens to reflect recent map changes
[/li][li]Extended Quickchat interface to accommodate longer lines of text
[/li][li]Unsent chat messages now carry over between the game and the lobby
[/li][li]Made it easier to change languages in the options menu
[/li][/ul]
Effects
[ul]
[li]Added ‘Particle Detail’ video setting to allow lower detailed particles
[/li][li]Optimized several visual effects, including muzzle flashes and explosions
[/li][li]Molotovs thrown by teammates will now produce blue flames to more clearly identify friendly fire 
[/li][li]The EV’s headlights now turn off when it reaches its destination
[/li][/ul]
Audio
[ul]
[li]Added new weapon audio for Ahnuhld-12, Selbstadt .40 and Crotzni
[/li][li]Updated Objective notification and Voting audio to be more distinctive
[/li][li]Added audio when selecting Mercs in matches
[/li][li]Added Merc dialog that occasionally plays when a C4 charge is defused
[/li][li]Added audio for primary objectives’ notifications to be more prominent than secondaries’
[/li][li]Optimized memory usage for several ability and weapon sounds
[/li][/ul]
Gameplay
[ul]
[li]Updated end of match flow - there is now a few seconds of gameplay time between the end of a match and the end-match cinematic
[/li][li]Holding down the fire key and then switching to an ability will now activate that ability
[/li][li]If a player uses ‘Hold to Use’, weapons will no longer swap if the ‘Hold to Use’ key is being held and a weapon button is pressed
[/li][li]Players will now always dismount at the rear of the EV if there is space
[/li][li]Dynamic map elements (sliding doors, trains, etc.) now destroy deployables
[/li][li]Optimized character models for Fletcher and Bushwhacker
[/li][li]Modified Texture caching to improve CPU performance
[/li][/ul]
Experience System Updates
[ul]
[li]XP earning rates have been adjusted to be more even across the Mercs.
[/li][/ul]
General
[ul]
[li]Reduced the number of kill assists required to earn an Assist Badge, from 15/25/50 to 10/20/30
[/li][/ul]
Aimee
[ul]
[li]Increased spotting an Enemy to 60XP (from 40XP)
[/li][/ul]
Arty
[ul]
[li]Calling in Artillery 5XP (from 10XP)
[/li][/ul]
Bushwhacker
[ul]
[li]Deploying a Turret 60XP (from 50XP)
[/li][li]Turret starts shooting an enemy 30XP (from 20XP)
[/li][/ul]
Phantom
[ul]
[li]Increased Disabling a deployable to 50XP (from 30XP)
[/li][li]Increased Refractive Armor usage to 5XP/s (from 4XP/s)
[/li][/ul]
Phoenix
[ul]
[li]Reduced Healing Pulse to 5XP (from 10XP)
[/li][li]Reduced Self-Revive to 5XP (from 10XP)
[/li][/ul]
Redeye
[ul]
[li]Increased spotting an Enemy to 60XP (from 40XP)
[/li][/ul]
Sawbonez
[ul]
[li]Throwing a Health Pack 10XP (from 20XP)
[/li][/ul]
Skyhammer
[ul]
[li]Calling in an Airstrike 50XP (from 25XP)
[/li][/ul]
Sparks
[ul]
[li]Throwing a Health Pack 10XP (from 20XP)
[/li][/ul]
Stoker
[ul]
[li]Throwing a Molotov 20XP (from 30XP)
[/li][/ul]
Thunder
[ul]
[li]Concussing an enemy 20XP (from 10XP)
[/li][/ul]
Vassili
[ul]
[li]Increased spotting an Enemy to 60XP (from 40XP)
[/li][/ul]
Notable Bug Fixes
Mercs
[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where Redeye’s IR Goggles would not highlight players who had recently spawned in
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Sticky Bombs would not always detonate on the first attempt
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Phoenix was unable to heal players on Mounted Guns
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Turrets did not check that all three legs of the tripod were on a surface when being deployed
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Heartbeat Sensor spotting volume was cylindrical rather than spherical
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Molotov fire distribution pattern & damage behaved inconsistently
[/li][li]Fixed bug where extinguishing Molotov fire with Smoke could produce looping audio
[/li][li]Fixed bug where extinguished Molotov fire could still glow after being put out
[/li][li]Fixed bug where attacking an enemy player’s legs with Defibrillators would deal incorrect damage
[/li][li]Fixed bug where projectile abilities like grenades could vanish when thrown while playing with a high ping
[/li][li]Fixed bug where the Healing Station effect would render incorrectly when placed on small objects
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Nader’s body could remain in one piece after detonating the Martyrdom ability
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Mercs would sometimes shout that they had dropped a Pack when they had not
[/li][li]Fixed bug where some Merc texture resolutions were too high
[/li][/ul]
Weapons
[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where semi-automatic fire-rates could get slower when running at certain framerates
[/li][li]Fixed bug where burst fire rifles could unintentionally fire a second time
[/li][li]Fixed bug where the Empire-9 ironsights were off-centre
[/li][li]Fixed bug where automatic weapons would not play the dry-fire sound when attempting to fire while empty
[/li][/ul]
Objectives
[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where dealing damage to the MG Turret on the EV would not damage the EV itself
[/li][li]Fixed bug where collision on EV MG which would block bullets from certain angles
[/li][li]Fixed bug where planting the C4 would occasionally fail if on the edge of the objective area
[/li][li]Fixed bug where multiple C4 charges could be planted by a single action on the same objective
[/li][li]Fixed bug where the repair animation could play but the Objective would not be repaired
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Carryable Objectives could get trapped inside the delivery container if dropped on Trainyard
[/li][li]Fixed bug where the Carryable Objective could teleport to a random location if the carrier was squashed by the container on Trainyard
[/li][li]Fixed bug where kills with a Carryable Objective would not have an obituary icon
[/li][li]Fixed bug where players could fall through Secondary Objective Ramps when stood on them at the point when they were repaired
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Secondary Objective Ramps could be missing collision when built
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Secondary Objective notifications would not always show when the objective was destroyed by damage, rather than C4
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Secondary Objective names were not capitalised
[/li][li]Fixed bug where completing the final Objective of a map would not award the correct Objective Badge
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Objective names were not capitalized
[/li][/ul]
General
[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where muting players did not mute their voice chat
[/li][li]Fixed bug where players could receive more than their max capacity ammo when using Ammo Caches in the maps
[/li][li]Fixed bug where players could not move horizontally in the air if jumping while touching a wall
[/li][li]Fixed bug where the Extra Supplies Augment would display the ability as cooling down when it was actually available
[/li][li]Fixed bug where the current Objective would not be listed onscreen after every respawn
[/li][li]Fixed bug where music outros would occasional start playing abruptly
[/li][li]Fixed bug where some ammo-related Badges would not always be awarded
[/li][li]Fixed bug where players would not receive Support XP while they were incapacitated
[/li][li]Fixed bug where players would receive “Provide Backup” XP from their own kills
[/li][li]Fixed bug where XP notifications could get lost when several came in at once; these now queue up
[/li][li]Fixed bug where environmental deaths (such as gas tunnels or crushed by containers) would not show in the obituary log
[/li][li]Fixed bug where players would sometimes be incorrectly AFK kicked while dead or incapacitated in Execution Mode
[/li][li]Fixed bug where in-game menu blur was not being applied correctly
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Loadout Cards could be displayed during the match end cinematic
[/li][/ul]
Menus
[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where the Exit button would not function after leaving feedback
[/li][li]Fixed bug where menu music would still play when watching an embedded YouTube video
[/li][li]Fixed bug where the Quick Chat menu could get stuck on the screen at the end of a match
[/li][li]Fixed bug where leaver penalty warnings would be displayed even if the match had been abandoned
[/li][li]Fixed bug where player stats could be cut-off in the post-game review screen
[/li][li]Fixed bug where debug text could appear in the Lobby screen
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Merc voices would play when selected in the Store
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Missions were referred to as Contracts in the Match Report screen
[/li][li]Fixed bug where an inaccurate message would display when the game is unavailable due to maintenance
[/li][li]Fixed bug where Missions would sometimes not appear in the main menu drop down screen
[/li][li]Fixed bug where the main menu background could remain when moving to other screens
[/li][/ul]
Stability
[ul]
[li]Fixed crash that could occur when switching between maps
[/li][li]Fixed crash that could occur when loading into an Execution match
[/li][/ul]