V1034 Community Test: Update #06

Folks,

Today's update was planned for yesterday — Valentine's Day — but ended up being delayed by a few nasty bugs. We're mentioning that because we had a nice themed intro for it and don't wanna let it go to waste. So instead of coming up with a new intro, we're simply all going to pretend it did come out yesterday. Alternatively, you may pretend today is still Valentine's Day:

Surprise that special someone with this hand-picked special changelist of features making up a beautiful, romantic GROUND BRANCH Valentine’s Day update for the Community Test beta branch! No refunds after two hours! 💖

Thank you for indulging us.

New to Community Test? Here's how it works:

[h3]❓ How to join the Community Test beta branch[/h3]

• Right-click GROUND BRANCH in your Steam Library and select Properties…
• Click 'BETAS' on the left-hand list menu
  
• Select 'communitytest - Community testing branch' from the drop-down menu
  (no password required)

Steam will begin downloading the files for the testing branch. Patching may take a while.

[h3]🐞 Where to report bugs[/h3]
You can report bugs and issues using any of these methods:

• The in-game Bugs & Issues screen (press Esc once in-game and look along the top menu)
  
• The Steam forums: steamcommunity.com/app/16900/discussions/
• The #bug-reports channel on the official GROUND BRANCH™ Discord

Your reports help us locate and fix issues faster, so keep them coming!

🚧 These issues are known to still be present:

• The Breaching Charge is currently deployed at a 90-degree angle
  
• Bullets may be being blocked in odd places by a certain type of volume — please report in with the map and location if you come across it!
  
• When connecting to servers, the loading screen displays the "Returning to Main Menu" text
  
• Enemy AI may be unresponsive/idle/stuck in various contexts — if you see it, please make note of whether it was online (dedicated server? Listen server?) or offline, which game mode was being played, as well as map and location etc.

  ⚠️ Bots are particularly prone to getting stuck in doorways; we're actively working on fixing/improving this issue.

• Weapon movement, poses and animations in general are still being put back together after the prone overhaul — please bear with us
  
• Walking or running with a primary weapon equipped causes the character's right foot to "hover" before it actually touches the ground
  
• The prone stance does not conform to terrain angle
  
• Character and weapon collision while prone is pretty finicky! Let us know how it all feels to you
  
• Various combinations of hairstyles and headgear items have visible clipping or overall jankiness
  
• AI bots are not functional in Deathmatch
  

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[h2]Maps and missions[/h2]

• Various culling, collision, navmesh and navlink fixes for Depot, Tanker, City, Creek, Storage Facility, Rundown, Rig and Power Station
• Made the roof windows in Depot enterable again
  
• Added a few navmesh blockers to Depot to stop AI from getting stuck
  
• Fixed bank stairwell door in City not closing properly
  
• Added window frames to open window holes in Creek buildings to stop people getting stuck when trying to mantle through them
  
• Fixed bug where players were getting stuck on containers in Storage Facility lower area after vaulting over railing
  
• Added small step to side areas of Storage Facility tunnel entrance (helps AI navigate space better and cleaner movement for player)
  
• Fix for one of the Compound outside doors hitting a mesh and not fully opening
  
• Fixed up some bugs in DTAS game mode script
  
• Fixed bug in Defuse where bomb stopped going off
  
• Amended error text in Lua guard macros, to cover the extra possibility that a UObject became invalid and turned into a nil reference
  

[h2]Animation[/h2]

• Fixed leaning with handgun and move forward and left or right causing hands to go all odd
  
• Fixed crouched handgun ADS being offset in certain situations (e.g. leaning)
  
• First pass hooking up prone poses for Binoculars, Breaching Charge (and detonator), grenades and Tablet
• Fixed and updated hand pose for holding grenades
  
• Hooked up Breaching Charge and detonator use animations

  ⚠️ Known issue: the charge model is currently deployed at a 90-degree angle.

[h2]Inventory and customization[/h2]

• Fixed incorrect female belt variations being used with Tactical Shirt items
  
• Fixed Helmet (MICH) chin strap not working correctly for Male 06
  
• Fixed up issues with Headset asset
  
• Created a version of the Headset mesh for use with Fleece Beanie
• Adjusted Fleece Beanie to fit better with Balaclava
• Fixed mesh splitting on female Jeans
• Added female untucked short versions of belts
  
• Cleaned up various clipping issues with female clothing
  
• Fixed Male 03 helmet chin straps not set properly
  
• Fixed issue with rounds not showing in Galil ARM magazines when mag-checking
  

[h2]UI[/h2]

• Updated splash screen (Default Controls) with newer version of the controls scheme graphic
  
• Updated some dialog boxes with an optional "Dot not show again" checkbox
  
• Added option to reset opted-out dialogs in Settings › HUD
  
• Small visual update to After Action Review (AAR) screen
  
• Swapped order of Combat Stats and Mission Summary tabs in AAR
  
• Visual pass on Server Browser: mod column (column icon and [MOD] tag) and expanded server info tab
  
• Server Browser now carried out mandatory mod sync when joining dedicated server
  
• Visual pass on bind overlays
  
• Cleaned up dialog box widget
  
• NoTimer round stage (Training modes) no longer displays time text at top of screen (also does not show time remaining on Tablet)
  
• Updated Invite Friends menu (is now styled similar to a dialog box)
  
• Fixed mission list duplicating when revisiting mission selection screen
  
• Added new icon (wrench) for Modding button in Admin Panel menu
  
• Updated Credits screen
  

[h3]Customize Operator screen[/h3]

• Added "loading" message before the character and assets are all loaded
  
• Fixed padding and did a small visual pass on skin icon selection
  
• Related work to reduce hitching and improve handling of default item builds
  
• Added yellow custom build display for item slots in overall screen (was previously limited to inside menus)
  
• Added [MOD] tag to item slots/selections
  
• Updated MK25 pistol icon to make grip panel area less dark
  
• Fixed hidden hair casting shadow on UI character view
  

[h3]Mission Editor[/h3]

• Added Time of Day (TOD) widget
  
• Made double-click outline window use the standard focus (F) routine rather than a second custom bit of code
  
• Reworking to change pawn type and fix right-drag related error
  
• Made a few dialogs hidable (e.g. select script, load mission file, save mission file)
  

[h2]VFX[/h2]

• Optimization pass on VFX for the bullet impacts
  
• Fixed the respawning particle issue
  
• Continuing pass over the bullet impact scalability settings and culling settings
  
• Fix for the smoke flickering when viewed through PIP scopes
  
• Making a pass on scalability settings for bullet impacts (lots to improve)
  
• Reparented emitters with missing parents to sync culling settings
  

[h2]AI[/h2]

• Upgraded Kythera AI middleware to new version (1.3.3) (may fix some bugs, but WIP)
  
• Fixed the AI aim bug, where enemy bots could not see the head of player characters — this caused situations such as leaning out of cover and not being spotted
  

[h2]Bug fixes and miscellaneous[/h2]

• Added tentative fix for IsValidLowLevel crash on game exit
  
• Lots of work on mods under the hood (especially with regard to dedicated servers)
  
• Reduction in log spam overall (and added some more for good luck)
  
• Reworked a lot of under-the-hood stuff, including inventory and asset handling, validators, overlays and more
  
• Tentative fix for stuttering and "Maximum number of UObjects exceeded" crash on dedicated servers 🥳
  
• Rejigged base character class and item class in terms of how they handle inventory (in particular removed some limitations on skin inheritance, and streamlined asset loading)
  
• Fixed up occasional disconnects between TOD set in mission launch screens and TOD set in the Ready Room
• Updated Debug menu to add new commands
  
• Opting out with F4 now increases Deaths stat
  
• Updated HUD to support adding non-chat messages to center, upper and lower message managers (allowed changing Ready Room and Spectator messages from engine messages to far more visible center-screen, preventing the mistake of trying to hit F4 or F6 again)
  

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[h3]As always, thank you for testing and providing feedback![/h3]
See you next time!

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