WWII Online News

The production team has been busy to help improve the visual appeal of WWII Online, and today we're going to show you a couple of before and after (work in progress) screenshots. We think the Air Force guys are going to be pretty pleased to see the updated water shaders (courtesy of OLDZEKE) as it will add depth perception while flying over all waterways. PITTPETE has been working diligently on the improved textures of all ground terrain textures, and Tr6al is working to create new town layouts in existing towns to diversify how battles are fought. Leave your feedback in the comments section.


Here are the current shaders.



And now for the updated version!







And now for an updated look at Dinant.




Here's an example of how the team is working to get you enhanced town layouts to diversify the way battles are fought. In this example, the town is getting more civilian buildings along the roads, and depots are being relocated to leave more space between each other.
Special kudos to Tr6al for all of his hard work.

This hotfix provides a fix for invisible mobile spawns, performance boosts, brand new customizations available for the "Heads Up Display" so you can get exactly what you want. This is all in thanks to your quick feedback and our team at CRS moving with a purpose to provide a record turn around in solutions. Thank you all for your continued reports, please read the full extent of this readme to understand all the changes coming in.



This release is a Hotfix patch to fix a few bugs that popped up in the latest release.


BUG FIXES

• Invisible FRUs should now be fixed
  
• FPS loss when stacking multiple straight Sandbags together should now be fixed
  
• Corrected an issue that allowed some PPOs to be placed under player units
  
• HUD Waypoints should now disappear properly whenever the Mission Lead deletes them or the Mission closes
  
• Implemented a change that should alleviate Firebugs
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing continuous messages to appear for the new player AI Notification
  

UPDATES

• The curved Sandbags should now be able to be attached to one another
  
• The DB7's Bombardier's altitude gauge is now more visible whenever looking at the instrument view
  
• Updated the pilot's view so that the top of the altitude gauges in the DB7 and Boston I can be fully seen
  
• The DB7, Boston I and He111's altitude and airspeed gauge textures have updated, making them much easier to read
  
• HUD Waypoints now have a separate Preference Options page with new Options
  
• The ATG PPO can now be attached to the new Trench PPOs
  
• The new Trench PPOs have had their wood and grass textures darkened in order to help blend them into their environment
  
• The new Trench PPOs were updated to not have such a "rough" floor while walking/running on them
  
• Combat Engineers have had their spawnlist selection menu image updated
  

NEW CONTENT

• Opacity of HUD Waypoints can now be adjusted per player's preferences
  
• The color of each HUD Waypoint can now be adjusted per player's preferences
  
• The distance at which HUD Waypoints are no longer shown can now be selected per player's preferences
  
• A new hotkey Keymapper Option (default shift+y) has been added to allow players to hide/show HUD Waypoints while spawned into the game
  
• When it's night time in-game, HUD Waypoints will have their opacity reduced by 40% so that they aren't as bright during the night
  

Help us move forward and enlist now!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/667291/World_War_II_Online__PREMIUM/


S! Cornered Rat Software

Our 19th anniversary event "Operation Rapid Strike" was a huge success! American and British forces landed in occupied France on D-day but in 1943. A 4 hour air, land and sea battle ensued as the Allies pushed the Axis forces back to the east. To see the top winners of the event read below....

Operation Rapid Strike showcased the best of our game in a 4 hour special D-day event of intense battles. It was really crazy! We froze the live campaign and held this op on our training server. In this 1943 scenario both sides started the event without heavy armor. We were simulating a starting point where an early American landing would mean the Allied supply lines would not be as strong as they were by 1944. The Axis in 1943 were fully committed the war on the eastern front and the closest heavy armor divisions for both sides were more than two hours away. So most of the fighting in this event was done without heavy armor on both sides.

The Axis forces struck first with a capture of Gravelines and the Allies quickly followed with captures of Escoeuilles, Varengeville-Sur-Mer, Torcy-Le-Petit and recapture of Gravelines. The Allies finished the op with a capture of Samer and St. Omer right at the closing bell. As was historical, the Allies were successful in pushing the Axis east and liberating 5 French towns!

We Hope everyone enjoyed the op. We intend over the coming months to do more "pre-set up" ops on the Training server!

We hereby declare Allied Forces Victorious in Operation Rapid Strike with a net capture of 5 towns.

• Allied total kills: 1,661
  
• Axis total kills: 1,389
  

This year we recognize and award our Top Infantry, Tanker, Bomber, Fighter, and Navy from the event.

Top players in each category will receive a custom XXL 35" x 15" desk "mouse" pad with their name and WWII Online 19th Anniversary theme print. *Please be patient, these will take some time to be printed and shipped to players*

Our runner-up players will receive our standard sized WWII Online mouse pads and are available for immediate shipment.

The following players need to contact CHIMM @ CORNEREDRATS.COM no later than Friday, June 26th, 2020 to claim/coordinate their award arrangements. Player names in blue and red represent their respective ALLIED/AXIS sides.

TOP INFANTRY

• barbiere (Axis) 87 kills
  
• jonas41 (Allied) 58 kills
  

TOP TANKER

• XOOM (Axis) 31 kills (not eligible for award)
  
• berraco (Allied) 26 kills
  
• rans (Allied) 26 kills
  
• macalex (Allied) 21 kills
  

TOP BOMBER

• drake1 (Allied) 12 kills
  
• MANDRILL (Allied) 10 kills (not eligible for award)
  
• allstar12 (Allied) 6 kills
  
• kapropa (Axis) 6 kills
  

TOP FIGHTER

• panda1k (Allied) 31 kills
  
• radical (Allied) 21 kills
  
• kardehk (Axis) 21 kills
  

TOP NAVY

• kempi (Allied) 61 kills
  
• dubane (Allied) 13 kills
  

(Yes, I caught Hell for denying the boss an award, and I'm assuming MANDRILL will charge me an "award denial fee" (inside joke) - hehe)

What an amazing event though, congratulations to everyone!


S! ~ CHIMM


P.S. - We would love to see pictures with you and your awards if you are willing to share

Coming June 1st 2020, Cornered Rat Software will be releasing WWII Online version 1.36.5.0! This includes some highly anticipated content such as Server Tracked Bombs, STG44, HUD Waypoints, New Trenches + MORE! Join us for this exciting patch and get ready for our big 19th anniversary celebration / D-Day event on June 6th 2020 at 11AM. Please continue reading for patch notes and event details.



Version 1.36.5.0 - May 2020
This release is an assortment of bug fixes, updates and long awaited new features.

[h2]
BUG FIXES[/h2]

• Fixed a Playgate (PC only) crash that wasn't allowing for it to download patch files
  

• Corrected an issue that wasn't showing proper commands in the .help menu
  

• Fixed the issue that caused engines to fall off whenever plane landing gear were shot
  

• The M4A3 Sherman's ammo readout has been fixed to represent the proper ammunition being used
  

• An error that was showing up in the log file has been resolved
  

• Found and fixed the issue that was causing only Hurricanes to be listed in the Enemies tab of the AAR screen
  

[h2]
UPDATES[/h2]

• Adjusted the Vickers Mk VIc's 15mm Besa penetration and ballistics to address the over performance issue
  

• Added a section to the FlaK 36's user manual in regards to the "Look Over" feature
  

• Straight Sandbag and Barbed Wire PPOs can now "stick" together, allowing for a solid line of PPO objects
  

• The Copying Old Setup Files popup message has been updated to help make it less confusing
  

• The in-game Credits have been updated
  

• Language translations have been updated with this release's information
  

• The Mac log file is now located at "Users//Library/Application Support/com.corneredrats.wwiiol"
  

[h2]
NEW CONTENT[/h2]

• The Sturmgewehr 44 (StG 44) is being added to the German arsenal, in limited quantities
  

• Kill credits will now be given for running over infantry units with various types of other units
  

• Bombs have been added to Server Tracked Objects (STOs), this will now allow bomber pilots to kill infantry from above 700m
  

• Mission Waypoints will now appear both on the player's map and their Heads-Up Display (HUD), this feature can be disabled within the Preference options
  

• Mission Waypoints are now shared across multiple Missions that have the same Target location
  

• Whenever a new player, rank 1, shoots an AI unit they will receive an alert that AI units can only be destroyed by larger caliber weapons or grenades
  

• In-game chat transmissions may be temporarily revoked for violating the Terms of Service
  

• Combat Engineers have been added to all countries which allow more defined focus on offensive operations
  

• The Trench Player Placed Object (PPO) has been added to normal Engineer's equipment availability
  

S! Cornered Rat Software


[h2]ACTIVE AND UPGRADE YOUR ACCOUNT[/h2]

Support Cornered Rat Software's development of WWIIOL and subscribe!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/667291/World_War_II_Online__PREMIUM/

Not unlike most countries, the United States celebrates the sacrifice of its war dead with a day of remembrance and honor. For the US it is Memorial Day which is now celebrated on the last Monday in May.

Originally called "Decoration Day" the holiday to honor our military men and women who have died fighting for the United States started back in 1868. That first year, American flags were placed on the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers who were buried at Arlington National Cemetary during America's Civil War. That tradition started more than 150 years ago continues today where over 5,000 volunteers gather annually to place American flags on every grave in Arlington National Cemetary. In addition, the annual flag setting has spread to veteran graves in cemetaries around the country. It's just a small sign of rememberance for the ultimate sacrifice.

Here at WWII Online we are hoping to crank up the heat in Campaign 173 by opening all player access to all weapons starting Friday afternoon through Memorial Day Monday! This means all subscriptions will have all weapons access for 72 hours from Friday to Monday.

No excuse now not to use your favorite toy or one you have been looking forward to trying out and perfecting. Rally up your squadies and get some game time in this weekend!

***Veteran Player Notice (anyone with an account already in our system)***: You can login and play under your "Free Play" subscription now. Full access will be added Friday morning and last until Monday night as outlined.

• When: D-Day, Saturday, June 6, 2020.
  
• Time: 11:00 AM server time (PST) or 2:00 PM EST or 6:00 PM GMT.
  
• Where: The "Special Event" server (you will see the server in your Playgate options)
  
• For Mac users, it's your server selection (Training / Events).
  
• Duration: Four hours.
  
• Details: The day is June 6, 1943 yes 1943…
  

In this “what if scenario” The Allies are determined to strike against the Axis in France before their Atlantic wall is complete and while Axis forces are stretched to the East in Russia. In striking early, the Allies will not be as well-equipped or organized as they were a historically (a year later) and in some cases the Axis forces will be stronger as they have not suffered the historical losses yet, especially in the LW and the KM.

Operation Rapid Strike will be played on the Special Event server. The campaign server will be locked for the duration of the Special Event (4 hours planned). In this scenario there will be only a few light armor tanks in garrison supply so the first few hours of the event will be infantry, navy and air focused. Moveable brigades loaded with heavy armor will arrive to the front lines about 90-120 minutes after the event starts.

In Operation Rapid Strike the Allies have chosen speed (attack in 1943) and closest distance between England and France for the main attack – Dover to Calais!

The Allies will have secured a beach head at Calais and moved less than 30 km inland before meeting Axis resistance (Calais, Wissant, Marquise, Ardres, Boulogne and Gravelines start Allied with all Allied FB’s except Gravelines and Boulogne whose FB’s will be Axis. Allies will have air in Calais

A secondary Allied landing at will be simulated at Vlissigen with Breskins, Ijzendike, Westkapelle and Veere starting Allied giving us two locations for Air, sea and land action. Allies will have air in Vliss.

The key is that the first 2 hours will be fighting without heavy armor and will be air, navy and infantry focused until armor arrives.

We expect to recognize a few top performing players and next week we will roll out the Allied and Axis scoring rules so we can declare a winner for bragging rights at the end of the event.

Mark your calendar and save a few hours on D-Day 2020 to fight along side your squaddies and join Operation Rapid Strike.




We've got some more screenshots for you, this time showing some (of the several) work-in-progress building textures that are being revamped. The work of XL2RIPPR and KayBeeJay (environment artists) are really starting to take shape enhancing the visual appeal of the game. Working on textures takes talent to get right, and it certainly simplifies the need to totally re-model a whole building. That's not to say that these buildings may not get replaced with newer - higher poly buildings however (such as the big urban blocks, which yes, are still being worked on).