Development Status #76 + Game Update 1.0.13

[h2]Dear Tankers and Mechanics![/h2]

Welcome to our 76th Development Status.

[h2]A few words from us[/h2]

It's been just over a month since we released our game. We would like to thank you very much for your support. We appreciate your activity and suggestions, and the fact that you have placed so much trust in us. I am working hard to deliver what we promised in the published roadmap for May and June. There is still a lot ahead of us, including many ideas for campaigns, vehicles and typical 'quality of life improvements', which we are gradually implementing with each patch. We hope that we can continue to develop the game with you

[h3]Current situation[/h3]

Last week, we released one patch (version 1.0.12) and two hotfixes. We have not been able to release a major patch on fridays as we have done so far, due to the fact that we are preparing new content and improving what we find as new things appear when we add them. Additionally, we are constantly trying to optimise the game, including reducing RAM consumption by cleaning up the project, which carries the risk of unintentionally breaking something.

[h3]When release of Soviet mini campaign and new content?[/h3]

We plan to release a major patch, version 1.1.0, at the start of the Summer Sale on Steam on 26 June. As we did when the game was released, we will also be live streaming. As last time, we will be available to react and fix any issues that arise.

[h3]New content we are working on[/h3]

KV-1S

In addition to the missions, we have added a new KV-1S tank to the new campaign, and we are also trying to make a command version of this tank so that when you play the Soviets you can also have a mobile spawn point.

We have added a few visual elements to the KV-1S to make this tank slightly different from the KV-1, such as containers, toolboxes, barrels and ropes. Please note that these elements can fall off while driving and be reinstalled at the repair stage.

Opel Blitz

We have also been working on adding an Opel Blitz-type running truck. This truck will be used as a target to be destroyed in the first mission of the Soviet mini-campaign. As for driving capability, this will be possible. One suggestion is the possibility of some form of force pool editing for the selected campaign. We think this would be a great addition to the game. This would make it possible to freely configure and build force pool, including squads with specific unit vehicles. It will also open up the possibility of adding for example a Ferdinand to the game so that he can be played in another campaign where he was not originally available, if anyone wants to do so.

As a new feature, we have added selectable smoke shells when playing with Soviet tanks. Without the smoke screen, it is much harder to play against the Germans. We have also added the ability to call in air strikes with a smoke screen for both Germans and Soviets. Currently, smoke shells are only available for the Soviets; the Germans have smoke grenade launchers installed.

As for the KW-I with a 75 mm KwK 40 L/48 gun as a captured version by the Germans. The subject has not yet moved. It is simply waiting in line for its turn.

[h3]Ballistics Examination Mode[/h3]

We are working on a new tool for the game - a ballistics testing mode that would be accessible from the main menu. After many reports of erroneous armor values or strange situations in which the game does or does not allow armor to penetrate, such a tool could help visualize our current system and its shortcomings.

[h3]Tutorial - situation report[/h3]

The tutorial is still in production, we already have a design of what and when to show to teach the player the basics of the game. The whole thing is unfortunately delayed due to the need to fix current bugs and fixes that are more important.

[h3]So, whats up for today?[/h3]
In summary, today's update involves fixing bugs resulting from previous patches and implementing player suggestions. The fast pace of development has resulted in a lot of bugs and a lack of time for thorough testing and playtesting.

[h2]Changelog 1.0.13[/h2]
Below is the list of changes being made:

Added:

Giving orders is possible when in mid peek
VO for APCR, Smoke and HEAT rounds
Smoke Screen offmap support

Fixed:

StuG loader peeking
Smoother vehicle movement when rotating camera toward same direction + smoother reticles/crosshairs movement
Not spawning all vehicles when spawning in squad
Church and big wooden houses now correctly collapse upon hit
Infantry and Vehicles spawned by orders menu not being visible properly
Order markers not removing after squad death
Game freeze on timeout
Client calling artillery now correctly lowers the offmap count for himself
Custom settings correctly copy settings of unapplied presets
Sound for engines etc for player when peeking, using binocs and using mg on roof is now correct
Buying wrecks limit now is correctly synchronized so no more negative values can happen
Acacia tree on various terreins should not be correctly destructible
C1M9 navmesh fixes
Added navmesh obstacle to rocks and bridges on SM4 (Nechaevka mission)
SM3 AI navmesh should now allow better behaviour for tank AI squads
Pak40 can now correctly rotate to shoot
Offmap smoke support now correctly generates ai block vision
Refreshing current gear, when changing throttle mode
stucking during loading screen when playing online
Vehicle tpp camera behaviour fixes
Pak40 not shooting at enemies
vehicle physic performance tweaks
Fixed slow drving while peeking out or entering AI vehicle
Game should now correctly show the track and wheels state right upon breaking them

Modifed:

Changed game version from 1.0.12.2 to 1.0.13
Recycling any module recycles whole vehicle
Single Player session won't have vote time that counts down when waiting for player decision

[h2]Known issues:[/h2]

for those who played demo version before: black/grey screen (temp fix is to remove local files from C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\LocalLow\DeGenerals\TankSquad and launch the game to generate fresh files)
Currently, everything is sitting on one processor core, which means that the rest of the resources, e.g. the GPU is waiting and only for example 20% of the graphics card can be in use. So there is a lot of potential to free up, which will result in an increase in FPS, better textures because more can be allocated, etc. So in basic words - no matter what GPU you have, the better CPU the better game will have performance - This is huge thing that we need to address in upcoming updates
of course there is more...

Thank you and have a good weekend!
DeGenerals