Beyond The Wire News

Operation III released recently and with this update came our first implementation of year-based loadouts and faction uniforms. As the Great War saw advances in technologies, the armies of the time had to develop better protective equipment and more effective weapons that had a direct impact on the factions involved. From changing colours for camouflaging to redesigned weapons, the soldiers of WW1 saw one of the largest and wide spreading advancements of war.

With a priority to deliver experiences from multiple years from the war it was important we established foundations to deliver these differences and variety. From the early engagements in our 1914 gameplay layers to the massive late war advances on the Meuse-Argonne, players will be deploying with differing equipment loadouts and weapons.

For update 0.13 we have worked to have initial early uniforms for all factions which will be revised and improved upon with coming updates. Early war models for the French showcase the famous red and blue uniform with kepi hats with the Adrian helmets not being issued till the middle of the conflict. Improvements were also made to backpacks and webbing allowing the soldiers on the frontline to carry more and be better equipped for the long months on the front.

The German Empire deployed with the iconic gaede and picklehaube helmets in early war, with full helmet and cloth cover alternatives available. The famous M14 tunic with red piping is still to be crafted, but the distinguishing features of the uniform are taking shape.

Each faction has their own differences, with the divisions of the British Empire picking up the Brodie helmet over time as well. In addition to uniform changes factions saw updates to their weapons as well. With the lethality of modern combat demanding better firearms, and the environment demanding reliability rifles such as the Ross Mk III were eventually replaced by the SMLE during the conflict and our new year designations reflect these changes.

Development will continue work to accurately represent the evolution of armies over time with authentic character models present across the years of the Great War. With the new customization and progression system breaking down factions by year this work to introduce early and late war variants will stand the development team in good stead for the updates and expansions ahead.

We're continuing to survey the community mood with each Operation release and the latest feedback form is now open. Please follow the link below to submit your feedback on certain changes and additions in our latest expansion. This form will be closing on Sunday, 28 November 2021.

After closing the form we will be publishing the feedback in a public format so everyone can see the results.

Thanks once again for your help and support with the development on Beyond The Wire. See the link to the survey below!

Operation III Community Feedback Survey

[h2]Welcome Soldiers![/h2]
Our latest hotfix is out and aims to resolve various stability, performance, gameplay and visual issues since the 0.13 release.

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]
Changes

• Rally Point Refactor: Rally Points are now called Spawn Points in-game.
  
  
  
  • Spawn Points visuals were updated to include a large flag and are now easier to locate
    
  • No longer destroyed by enemies who walk near. Previously they were destroyed once an enemy was within a certain proximity to them.
    
  • Added contextual interaction, enemy players can now destroy them by interacting with the rally point object itself (holding the “F” key by default)
    
  • Added damage check so that rally points can also be destroyed by explosives (cannot be destroyed by friendly fire)
    
  
  
• Removed smoke grenades from recruit roles
  
• Reduced movement speed in barbed wire from 95 to 35. It should now be quicker in most cases to cut barbed wire than move through it
  
• Reduced MOA spread on MG-08 emplacement from 50 to 30
  
• Reduced MOA spread on Vickers HMGs from 50 to 30
  
• Removed ability to lock sections and prevent other players from joining them. Since the number of sections that can be created is finite, this was done to avoid trolling where a few players could create multiple locked sections to prevent large amounts of players on their team from being able to join and access better roles. Players can still kick players from their section if they’d like to make a private section with others.
  

Fixes

• Fix for Stosstrupp SL being unable to select their MP-18 loadout
  
• Attempted fix for ADS sensitivity issues
  

[h3]Factions[/h3]
Fixes

• Renamed Newfoundland Regiment display name to “Newfoundland Regiment” instead of “Newfoundland Regiment Detachment” to prevent text spilling on certain resolutions
  
• Renamed Jaeger regiment display name to Jäger-Regiment
  

[h3]Maps[/h3]

• Updated Chateau Thierry Assault and Frontlines layers’ layout and capture points
  
• Updated Combles Assault and Frontlines layers’ layout and capture points
  
• Updated Poelcappelle Assault and Frontlines layers’ layout and capture points
  
• Updated Poelcappelle Assault CEF vs GER to have Germans attacking (renamed to GER vs CEF)
  

[h3]UI[/h3]

• Fix for Combat Record not displaying any statistics
  
• Fix M1895 “Potato Digger” having the incorrect name on HUD
  
• Fix section list referring to “Squads”
  
• Updated wording on the radial menu
  
• Renamed Rally Point to Spawn Point
  
• Removed Commander Field Telephone score from the personal stats screen
  

[h3]Known issues[/h3]

• AMD FX users will have degraded performance due to issues with the audio system. We’re still investigating possible solutions, but here’s a workaround
  
  
  
  • 1. Open following file: C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\WireGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini
    If the file doesn’t exist, create it.
    2. Add following lines at the end:
    [/script/engine.audiosettings] bDisableMasterEQ=True
    
  
  
• Players will crash when disconnecting from or losing connection to a server
  
• Assault capture points can sometimes not be captured, even if the objective shows up on the HUD. If you hear the ticking noise, capturing is successfully progressing
  
• Ansoncourt Day: Underground Bunkers look overly bright in distant areas
  
• Changing Sensitivity Settings will break when joining a server or switching map while having sensitivity multipliers enabled
  
• Combat Record / Personal statistics do currently not display the scores correctly
  
• Damage radius of field cannons will sometimes cause players to not be killed immediately
  
• Deploying LMG bipods on walls while prone can lead to players teleporting under the map
  
• Infantry section members will see a SL ability icon in the bottom left screen
  
• No. 20 Rifle Grenade uses placeholder sounds
  
• Personal awards are not granted correctly
  
• Players can get stuck within joining the process of joining a server
  
• Audio input settings will be reset after two restarts. Please ensure your microphone is set as Default Communications Device in Windows.
  
• Some CPUs can have degraded performance when Hyperthreading/SMT is active
  
• Some surfaces do not show impact effects. Damage should still apply
  
• Switching Audio quality in the options menu will cause a crash when connected to a server or when playing on the Shooting Range. Please restart the game to prevent that from happening.
  
• VOIP widget role icon is not being displayed correctly
  

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Our latest hotfix is out and aims to resolve various stability, performance, gameplay and visual issues since the 0.13 release.

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]

[h3]Changes[/h3]

- Added alternate Rifleman role with Berthier 1907/15 to early war French team infantry sections
- Added alternate Rifleman role with Ross Mk. III to Canadian late war infantry sections
- Changed CEF recon role's side arm from Colt 1917 to Webley Mk VI
- Decreased suppression scores from 15 to 5
- Increased Section Leader teamwork , Section Leader spawn, and Rally Point scores from 1 to 5
- Reduced Madsen magazine from 30 rounds to 25 rounds, increased max mags from 6 to 7
- Reduced max time per objective on assault from 20 minutes to 16.5 minutes (15 minutes + 1.5 minute prep phase)
- Reduced recoil of the RSC 1917
- Removed ammo boxes from Signaller roles
- Increased ammunition from 30 to 40 for all pistols
- Removed reload UI audio feedback
- Removed smoke grenades from rifleman roles
- Unified naming of Berthier 1907/15 rifle across French and Harlem Hellfighter roles

Updated various loadouts

- Section Leader 01: Revolver, Frag Grenade, Smoke Grenade
- Section Leader 02: Semi-Automatic Pistol (or Revolver depending on faction), 2x Frag Grenade, Smoke Grenade
- Section Leader 02: Rifle, Sidearm, Frag Grenade, Smoke Grenade
- Light Machine Gunner: Primary weapon, Pistol, Melee Weapon (no longer has grenade)
- Signaller: Removed ammo bag
- Medic 01: Rifle, Smoke Grenade, Medic Bag
- Medic 02: Pistol, Smoke Grenade, Medic bag
- Commander 01: Revolver, Frag Grenade
- Commander 02: Semi-Automatic Pistol (or Revolver depending on faction), 2x Frag Grenade

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

- Fixed Harlem Hellfighter roles with Berthier rifles only rearming 3 magazines instead of 10 on Rally Point/Section Leader spawn

[h2]Factions[/h2]

[h3]New[/h3]

- Added Newfoundland Regiment detachment to BEF on Poelcappelle layers
- Added Stoßtruppen section to German Empire on Zonnebeke, Chateau-Thierry and Cantigny

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

- Added missing medic and Signaller armbands for early war BEF
- Added missing medic armbands for early war FR
- Adjusted the HHF belt to better contour the tunic
- Removed redundant medical decal from the medic roles
- Fixed naming issue for weapons on CEF Officer late war and Recon leader late war

[h2]Maps[/h2]

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

- Adjusted playable area sizes on Ansoncourt, Chateau-Thierry, Combles, Frise, Poelcappelle and Vimy Ridge to be within blocking zones
- Added out-of-bounds volume to fix exploits on Vimy Ridge
- Fixed Frise river ending abruptly
- Fixed collision size in asset causing collision issues in Ansoncourt
- Fixed Sechault capture zone sizes
- Fixed various issues on Vimy Ridge
- Fixed Vimy Ridge firefight using full team template
- Fixing bad spawn points on Vimy Ridge Frontlines
- Fixed CEF Shooting Range loading HHF
- Fixed floating cliff faces on Vieil Armand
- Fixed missing ravine outside of the map on Vieil Armand

[h2]Art[/h2]

- Optimized forest trenches

[h2]UI[/h2]

- Fixed icon for password protected servers not updating
- Fixed misaligned scoreboard columns
- Fixed Chinese characters not being displayed correctly where new font is in use
- Fixed passworded servers not displaying the lock icon correctly
- Fixed not being able to favorite a server

[h2]Optimization / General Fixes[/h2]

- Fixed various server and client crashes
- Optimized trench assets on Ansoncourt and Zonnebeke
- Added missing LODs for Late War FR character equipment

[h2]Known issues[/h2]

- AMD FX users will have degraded performance due to issues with the audio system. We’re still investigating possible solutions, but here’s a workaround

1. Open following file:

C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\WireGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini

If the file doesn't exist, create it.
2. Add following lines at the end:
[/script/engine.audiosettings] bDisableMasterEQ=True
[Audio] bDisableMasterEQ=True

- Ansoncourt Day: Looking through Binoculars can be overly bright
- Ansoncourt underground bunkers have lighting issues
- Assault capture points can sometimes not be captured, even if the objective shows up on the HUD. If you hear the ticking noise, capturing is successfully progressing
- Changing Sensitivity Settings will break when joining a server or switching map and having Sensitivity Multipliers toggled on
- Soldier Sensitivity Scaling settings will not apply to every weapon where it may be expected
- Combat Record / Personal statistics do currently not display the scores correctly
- Damage radius of field cannons will sometimes cause players to not be killed immediately
- Deploying LMG bipods on walls while prone can lead to players teleporting under the map
- Infantry section members will see a SL ability icon in the bottom left screen
- M1895 “Potato Digger” is called M1985 “Potato Digger”
- No. 20 Rifle Grenade uses placeholder sounds
- Personal awards are not granted correctly
- Players can get stuck within joining the process of joining a server
- Saving the microphone will be reset after two restarts
- Shooting Range for CEF vs GER loads HHF vs GER instead
- Some CPUs can have degraded performance when Hyperthreading/SMT is active
- Some surfaces do not show impact effects. Damage should still apply
- Switching Audio quality in the options menu will cause a crash when connected to a server or when playing on the Shooting Range. Please restart the game to prevent that from happening.
- VOIP widget role icon is not being displayed correctly

At the end of October our development team sat down to speak with the community through Discord’s Stage Night feature about Beyond The Wire’s journey up to now. Part of the event included a submission of community questions which we have gathered here for everyone to read through.

Q: Why did you name your team Redstone?
A: The name was inspired by the red-coloured sand found on the beaches of Brazil, where our creative director grew up.

Q: We have seen that the aim is to diversify the gameplay with planes and tanks – Why do you not feel that cavalry could be included on this list? It offers a potential widening of the map types and arguably more contribution to the primary gameplay on the ground than planes. What is the end-game vision?
A: The production effort for a working cavalry model is outside the scope of our team size.

Q: Is it a consideration to rework the rifles and sidearms to offer some difference in what they offer beyond ammunition capacity? Currently, with the exception of the Lebel which bolts fast and reloads slowly, they all bolt and achieve nearly the same rounds per minute which puts the British Empire factions in an unusual position when they do not have specialist trench clearing equipment/close quarters equipment. As an example, the SMLE should bolt faster, this can be compensated with a slower reload for ten rounds.
A: In the Operation III update there will be the first iteration of different characteristics which we plan to explore further with future updates.

Q: What was/is the motivation behind BTW?
A: To deliver an authentic, realistic WW1 atmosphere paired with a tactical and rewarding FPS experience.

Q: Have you considered how early you will go for maps, for example the battle of the frontiers, which may cause a different pace due to the different tactics
A: Yes, meeting engagements would be ideal but it’ll require quite a bit of production effort to get there so we can’t guarantee when that’ll be.

Q: What are some possible ways you’re looking to expand the commander role?
A: We’re looking at various call-in options for the commander such as aircraft support and additional off-map artillery options

Q: When’s the next soundtrack?
A: The second volume of our OST will be available in 2022

Q: Will music get a bigger role in the future to create a more dramatic scene or just mainmenu only? Red Orchestra 2 for example did a good job in building-up the music throughout the match.
A: Music will continue to be a large part of the Beyond The Wire experience. We introduced some new atmospheric music during rounds in update 0.13 which will be expanded on over future updates.

Q: Is the interior of the Chateau in Chateau-Thierry going to be added?
A: The plan is to make a portion of the Chateau interior playable.

Q: Can we expect to see Austria-Hungary and Russia?
A: Austria-Hungary will be releasing as a new faction before full release.

Q: Will there be death animations added or updated gore/ragdolls?
A: It’s planned but requires a lot of production effort so can’t guarantee when that will be.

Q: Will there be any logistic aspects added to the game?
A: Potentially but not immediately planned.

Q: When will there be a big optimization of the game?
A: Yes. Optimization is a major factor of game development and will be part of early access priorities. Once all our major systems and content is in the game we can apply full effort to this area.

Q: How do you plan on making the weapons and customization diverse enough to be interesting while still staying at least more than semi historically accurate?
A: The player will have a ‘preset’ slot that will represent different years of the war, certain cosmetic items will only be available for certain years. There’s still a decent amount of customization that can happen while respecting what year a uniform or equipment piece would have been widely used or available.

Q: Any plans to add a naval battles in future?
A: No

Q: Instead having the Scottish as sub faction, could we have them as a customization?
A: No, in order to maintain uniformity and historical authenticity in terms of the soldiers that are present on a team during a round of gameplay, any group of soldiers that has a reasonably large difference in terms of uniform or equipment will be relegated to a sub-faction.

Q: How do you foresee the multiplayer campaign system functioning? Will it involve a transition from early to late war map layers as the campaign progresses?
A: Multiplayer campaign has been shelved but yes, it was planned to transition from early war to late war.

Q: Will flamethrowers be operated by one or two people? How will they fit into the current squad system? Will you make sure to keep the range of it as far as it should be?
A: Flamethrowers will be operated by one player. Range and ammo will be dictated by gameplay needs and balance and authenticity will be secondary.


Q: Are we going to have heavy siege howitzers? like the BL 9.2 inch heavy siege howitzer or the Mörser 10 or 16?
A: Unlikely, heavier artillery will continue to be represented by commander off-map support abilities.

Q: What motivated the decision to change the bandaging and digging system
A: We noticed accessibility issues with new players accessing inventory items. Actions such as bandaging, wire cutting and building were streamlined to increase accessibility for players new to the genre

Q: There is Counter Strike logic with how you run faster with your melee out. Could you explain the reason for such a decision?
A: The reason this exists in this game and others is so that if you’re approaching a player with a melee weapon and they are moving away from you, you are able to catch up with them. If you are both constantly moving at the same speed, it results in long chases which makes it more likely the melee-user will be killed before they’re able to reach their target.

Q: When will we get bots in the game?
A: Our most recent roadmap shows our plan to introduce bot support at full release (1.0)

Q: What are you future plans to market the game?
A: We work alongside valve to coordinate marketing efforts on steam for each update. Beyond these in-app promotions we will be ramping up advertisement and promotion when the game comes closer to completion. Free weekends, sales and sponsored promotion marketing will all be explored

Q: Can we expect having another addition to melee combat as in weapon bashing (smacking enemies with the rifle buttstock)?
A: It’s been planned since prior to release but requires a decent amount of production effort so can’t guarantee when this will happen.

Q: We went from having a defined amount of bandages to being infinite?
A: It isn’t meaningful to limit them in our game since the pace is much quicker and there isn’t any kind of logistics system.

Q: Are there any PVE modes planned?
A: We have a gamemode planned that will include AI waves for players to defend against

Q: Any chance for getting a next gen console version?
A: There’s currently no plans to develop BTW for next gen consoles however we see that the game would make a great console game. Perhaps a future endeavor!

Q: Is there any chance the game will upgrade to UE5?
A: The development team would love to move to UE5 and there had been some preliminary research into the engine. However UE5 is still relatively new and more time is needed before we can confirm if the upgrade is possible.

Q: Are other Entente gas masks coming?
A: Yes

Q: When planes are added, is there going to be air to air combat only or is there going to be air to ground as well?
A: We’re expecting to offer flying capability for air-to-air combat as well as air-to-ground game modes.

Q: What about other vehicles like armored cars and trucks?
A: Yes.

Q: Are you going to implement vote kicking in servers?
A: We have a prototype “Vote Kick” system arriving with update 0.13 which will be developed further over the following updates.

Q: Would you be more likely to add a German subfaction before a different central power faction?
A: Sub-factions for the German Empire are planned with the Jager regiments arriving in the next update.

Q: What was the hardest part about developing the customization system? Will it only get harder as more factions are released? Will sub factions have unique customization options or will they use equipment from their parent country?
A: Getting to grips with the sheer scale of the customization system has been the most difficult part with the system differentiating by faction and year. Initially only major powers will have customization options, customization for sub-factions will come over time and only if they have a variety of diverse enough uniforms/equipment to warrant customization.

Q: Will you ever add body dragging like in Squad? If not, why?
A: It’s been planned since before release but can’t guarantee when it will happen due to resource limitation.

Q: How widely are you planning to introduce flamethrowers. By this I mean will there be multiple flamethower models for each faction and different types of flamtehrowers like portable and stationary
A: Flamethrowers will be portable, they will exist as an option for teams that historically used them widely.

Q: What sort of tanks will be added, I’m guessing a Light and Heavy class for each nation? For example the FT17 and Saint Chamond for France, Whippet tank and Mark tanks for Britain and the Leichter Kampfwagen II and A7V for Germany I’m guessing?
A: Tanks and vehicles that are historically authentic will be available for the relevant teams but gameplay needs and balance may supercede authenticity in some cases.

Q: Have you considered the possibility for battles not directly related to WW1 but still happened in the WW1 timeframe
A: Yes.

Q: Will you be able to spawn tanks in the shooting range?
A: Yes.

Q: I would like to know what is the sourcing process for historical references and material like, easy or hard? Do you have historical advisors like professors etc? Has Discord or Reddit been any help for this? Where do you usually get your inspiration for future content?
A: Yes, we use historical advisors who usually have a network of material or additional human sources to draw from. It hasn’t been easy as a lot of specific information from world war 1 is lost or obfuscated. Some of our historical advisors have come from our Discord community.

Q: How was it for you guys making those epic trailers? And how did you do it? do you have special teams working on them?
A: Making the trailers is one of the best parts! We employ and collaborate with a cinematographer to create the trailer concept before supporting them with art and tools to use in-engine. From here the cinematographer captures any scripted scenes or any live gameplay. We also include original music from our music composer.

Q: Are we gonna have like a christmas update? Something like the 1914 christmas truce?
A: Offering time-limited events such as christmas truce is something we will take part in down the line but the team is currently concentrating on developing the content and systems for 1.0.

Q: Are there plans to make all the window models be broken?
A: The plan is to make the window glass destructible.

Q: Will you be buffing barbed wire to make it more of an obstacle? If not, why?
A: Yes we’ve been looking at ways to tweak barbed wire to make them more useful/impactful on the battlefield.

Q: Will we get different handling and other characteristics for the different pieces of field artillery?
A: It’s unlikely handling characteristics will be drastically different unless we discover a way to make it meaningful while still being fair or balanced.

Q: And will we see different shells for the field artillery such as gas, smoke and shrapnel?
A: It’s planned but due to resource limitations we can’t guarantee when that will be.

Q: Will voicelines be added for other things, such as healing, reviving, being shot, being suppressed, friendlies dying around you, being healed, etc.?
A: Our voiceline system will be expanded on however we don’t plan on pairing every character action with a voiceline

Q: Will the early war maps be updated with proper early war uniforms?
A: Yes

Stay posted for upcoming news and articles on Beyond The Wire. See you in the trenches!