Day: October 29, 2020

Edited (Nov 11, 6:18pm UTC) — Fixed some links going through Steam.
Edited (Oct 30, 6:20pm UTC) — Whoops! We forgot to mention a few character clipping fixes.
Edited (Oct 30, 1:55am UTC) — Team IDs for the addbots command were incorrectly listed as ‘alpha’ and ‘bravo’ when they should be ‘0’ and ‘1’.

GROUND BRANCH Version 1030.2
Build ID: 5754012 (Client) / 5754023 (Dedicated Server)
Download size: 188 MB (Client) / 45 MB (Dedicated Server)

Although we normally try to refrain from cramming too much into patches (or point releases, otherwise known as non-main updates), more often than not one thing leads to another and we get sucked into the bug-fixin’ rabbit hole. It’s a double-edged sword: takes longer to roll out, but also includes more fixes and improvements.

Patch 1030.2 certainly fits that bill, and Build Update #027 is here to list everything that has changed since the last one.

We also have a couple of important announcements at the end of this post, so stick around—or skip ahead ↓ to them.

What’s new

Online bug fixes

Player count fix (Server Browser)

The Server Browser should once again display the correct player number for every dedicated server in the list.

If you keep seeing empty servers after the update, then, well, they are probably actually empty. Join one and you’re bound to see more people hopping on!

👥 Members of our official Discord community are frequently looking for players to team up with. Join us and get your operatin' on!

🧰 Want to setup your own dedicated server? Follow one of these guides: [1][2] (tech support is also available in our Discord) or rent a professional solution from one of our partners here.

Time of Day fix

The Time of Day setting should now correctly replicate within dedicated servers no matter what, and successfully load the time displayed in the Ops Board. If you happen to find an exception, please let us know!

DedicatedServer.bat

Dedicated server owners can now trust the DedicatedServer.bat batch file to behave nicely and allow servers to shut down and restart as expected.

AI updates and changes

Navigation improvements

Navmeshes were cleaned up to allow bots to more competently navigate maps, so expect better mobility and cover your sectors!

🚧 AI no longer attempt to use ladders. They were constantly becoming stuck, and a fix will require some tricky work that we did not have time for in this release. As a result, the ability was turned off temporarily (so that they at least won't be sitting ducks in the map) and will hopefully return in V1031 with a better and more reliable system.

Increased draw distance

Bots will now pop into view (or draw) at twice the distance they did before: you should be able to see tangos out to around 300 meters (328 yards).

Expected Resistance limit increased to 50 tangos

You can once again gunfight your way through up to 50 tangos if you want—although we cannot really recommend it due to the possible performance impact and also the…

Sight perception fix

While testing friendly bots, Kris detected a significant issue in the AI’s sight perception curve and fixed it. They should now have much better awareness of each other (for example, they will become alerted when seeing a friendly bot engaging) and be generally more responsive to sight triggers, so stay on your toes.

Detection ranges have not been increased.

☠️ This fix does increase difficulty, particularly in how fast their reaction time now appears. We recommend players turn down the Expected Resistance values if they wish to keep prancin' around the AO.

Difficulty levels adjusted

Due to the above fix making bots a lot more reactive, we have tweaked the current difficulty levels slightly in order to offset the extra challenge to a degree.

☠️ Again, we recommend even the more seasoned players to lower the Expected Resistance settings (either numbers or skill) and work their way back up. Although bots are still considerably limited, the challenge is, in a sense, more realistic now: one should not expect to be able to take on 30 enemies by themselves with ease, regardless of skill.

[🧪 EXPERIMENTAL] Adding bots

You may now use a console command to add bots to your team (Terrorist Hunt or PvP) or the opposing team (PvP only). When playing offline or as a server admin, simply open the console (default ~ or NumPad *) and use:

addbots <number of bots> <team>

Where:

<number of bots> — The amount of bots you wish to add (currently no limit).
<team> — Which team the bots should be added to:

• 0 — Alpha (red)
• 1 — Bravo (blue)
• 255 — Auto/random, also used for non-team-based game modes (Terrorist Hunt, Deathmatch, Last Man Standing)

The AI for these bots is exactly the same as the one in Terrorist Hunt, so do not expect very complex or game mode-specific behavior, or to be able to give them orders.

Other useful commands:

removebots <number of bots> <team>
Removes the designated amount of bots from the designated team (use 255 to remove amount from both teams).

killbots <team>
Kills all bots within the designated team (255 for all teams).

freezebots <team>
Freezes all bots within the designated team (255 for all teams).

unfreezebots <team>
Unfreezes all bots within the designated team (255 for all teams).

🧪 Adding bots, as mentioned in the title, is an experimental feature. It is also a foundation for the eventual development of friendly AI.

New suppressors

M110 & M110K1 (7.62 mm)

The M110 and M110K1 suppressors have arrived, and each has its own dedicated asset. They were modelled after the longboi KAC® M110 Suppressor and the oddball KAC® 7.62QDC-CQB—the version seen on MARSOC K1s, specifically.

🔧 The M110 has also been updated to use the more authentic M110 Flash Hider by KAC®.

AR-15 (5.56 mm)

The AR-15-type rifles (M4A1, MK18, M416 etc.) have all received a new suppressor. It is modelled after the SureFire® SOCOM556-RC, one of the most widely used silencers among US special operations forces.

It comes in both FDE (Flat Dark Earth) and Black: simply pick your favorite from the Muzzle Device drop-down menu. “Can we expect more skin choices for attachments like this in the future?” Damn right you can.

🎨 In fact, the AN/PEQ-15 now offers the same skin choices: choose either the Black or Tan version from the Lights / Lasers attachments tab.

Pouch skins and other cosmetic fixes

• Pouches should now correctly match the color of the platform/belt they are attached to, or go with the most appropriate available skin (black, tan or green).
• Pouch skins have also received another color correction pass to reduce the variations in tone, so your rigs should now look a lot more uniform.
• Various other items have also received a more subtle color correction pass.
• Fixed several character clipping issues: beards, balaclavas and shirt sleeves.
• The Headset attachment will now use the correct model when attached to ARC rail helmets. Skins have also been fixed.
• Fixed some texturing issues on the MP5‘s fire selector and grip.
• The MP5 bolt handle positioning has also been corrected.
• Fixed texturing issue on the SR-25/M110 7.62 NATO magazines.
• Selecting the Male 02 head should no longer occasionally display white-skinned arms.
• Tweaked the blood impact effect to be a little more subtle (no more cartoonish blood drops, for one).

User interface (UI)

• Art pass on the Item Customization screens:
  • Edited, formatted and re-positioned the bottom message to be more general and helpful.
  • Changed the drag-and-drop attachment slot icons to a more subtle white circle with a drop-shadow effect for visibility.
  • Updated some of the attachment tab titles to be more intuitive (e.g. “Lights / Lasers” replaced the less obvious “Accessories”).
• Updated the layout for all Ops Boards to match the style in the Terrorist Hunt one.
• The header for the Ops Boards now display the current game mode (e.g. “Team Deathmatch”) to make it easier for players to know what they are about to play. The exception is Terrorist Hunt, which still displays a randomly generated operation name (e.g. “Operation Choking Moan“).
• The After Action Review (AAR) screen now displays a clear mission/match result title and a little description of the outcome underneath.
• We have also replaced the AAR player stat icons with clear descriptions (Kills, Accuracy, Shots, Hits etc.).
• Customize Operator screen changes:
  • Changed the Profile column title to Operator, as it was leading some players to mistake it for a “global” operator/loadout save profile. (We will have that feature eventually.)
  • The skin selection triangle no longer displays a short version of the name; instead, longer names now break into two lines. That should make skins instantly identifiable and easier on players that are not used to acronyms and other abbreviations.
• Minor art pass on several UI elements, most notably in-game interaction prompts.
• Changed the look for the defender’s objective HUD in Defend (PvP).
• Updated the gear on the Main Menu operators to a more tacticool look.

Audio

Gunshot sound occlusion fix

Although Mikson has been working exclusively on V1031, he has taken the time to provide a quick fix for a lot of gunshot SFX that had occlusion disabled.

🚧 KNOWN ISSUE (PvP only)
Spatial audio volumes in the Alpha (red) side of the Ready Room are messed up, resulting in sounds being cut off in unexpected spots. This is particularly noticeable in the Testing Range.

New default settings

Heads up:

• The default Lean control now uses Hold instead of Toggle. You can change the Lean style under Settings > Controls.
• Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA) is now the default antialiasing method. You can change it under Settings > Video.
• Standard Fire Mode has been changed back to Semi-Auto. You can select your default fire mode under Settings > Gameplay.

Miscellaneous

• Added a weight value for various items that did not have any defined.
• Fixed/updated the weight value for several others.
• Fixed some typos here and there.
• Changed the display name of a few items and skins for better accuracy, consistency or comprehension.

Some important announcements

Animations and character update

Provided that a game-breaking issue is not found in the current patch, V1031 is the update on which most of the team will be focused on in the next couple of months.

Earlier this year, we were forced to delay the big animation and character update, and were hoping that they would be ready for V1031. Unfortunately, we have had to make another difficult decision: the new animations and character assets are now tentatively scheduled to be in V1032.

Although a lot is done and Mike continues to work on new animations, implementing the new character rig is an all-or-nothing process—meaning that we simply cannot make the switch until everything is at least at the same level of functionality as we have currently with the old rig. With just one animator and one programmer (whose work is often required on every front), pushing the animations back once again is just the reality of things that we will have to deal with.

So what will V1031 entail?

Having determined that we were going to have to delay the animations and character work again, we also determined that GROUND BRANCH V1031 will now be a big user experience update.

As awesome as smooth animations and brand-new assets are, at the end of the day there are lingering issues in GROUND BRANCH that are a lot more vital to the experience than cosmetic ones. We need more purpose in the game with objective-based game modes. We need better AI. We need a better way to use weapon attachments. We need better multiplayer round rotations. We need default team skin restrictions that make PvP games easier to setup. We need, in general, a more rounded and thought-out gameplay experience.

Within our constraints, that is the kind of thing we are going to be working on for V1031… along with hot new content and updates such as map work, items, visual effects and improved sounds, of course.

Price is going up soon!

The intention to eventually increase the price point for GROUND BRANCH has been noted in our Store Page and FAQ since we first released on Steam. And when update V1031 is released in the upcoming months, the asking price for GROUND BRANCH will be raised to $29.99 (USD), with regional pricing adjusted accordingly.

A few reasons why we are doing this now:

• GROUND BRANCH has been in Early Access for over 2 years with no price change, and it is now a lot further along than it was in the beginning. With V1031, it will be even more so.
• We genuinely feel that—despite the relatively slow development and current lack of polish—we are offering fans of the hardcore tactical shooter genre something unique that no other game out there is offering.
• The game has been sitting at a “Very Positive” user score for both recent and all-time reviews, with an approval rating of around 85%. As such, we believe that all the improvements that are planned for the next main update will more than justify the new price.

So if you were holding off on getting GROUND BRANCH or needed a compelling argument for your friends who are still waiting, this is it. Join in now while it’s cheap!

💵 The final (v1.0 release) USD price is subject to change, but expected to be in the $39.99 range.

· · · · ·

This has been BUILD UPDATE #027!

Thanks for taking the time to read the release notes for Patch 1030.2.
Have you played it yet? How do you like it so far? Let us know in the comments or reach out in one of our communities.

Whelp, time for us to get back to work now! As always, thank you so much for your continued support and we'll see you on the next update.