Squad Update V2.0

[h3]NOTE: Due to character limits on Steam these are not the full release notes, those can be found on our website here with more information and images[/h3]
Hello squaddies,

It’s finally here. v2 of Squad is now available to download and we can’t wait for you to see all the new toys we have in store for you, from huge features in the Map Layer Overhaul to a slew of new content for your favorite factions and long-awaited improvements to the Helicopter flight model.

Thank you for your patience while we worked on getting v2 ready for release and a big thank you to those in the community who helped us test builds as part of our User Acceptance Tests (UATs) and reported issues that they discovered.

Note: These changes were all in the previous playtests on the Squad Testing app.

Remember to go to Settings -> “CLEAR CACHE” after updating, to ensure there are no residual issues after the update.

Without further ado, let’s get into the juicy stuff:

• Located on the Labrador coast between Lake Melville and the Churchill River, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest population center in the region. Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay is the home of 5 Wing of the Royal Canadian Air Force; its aircraft provide airspace defense to a large portion of Canada's Northeastern territory.
  
• This map replaces Nanisivik; providing an immersive, polar environment with vehicle warfare and an improved experience for infantry gameplay.
  

Map Layer Overhaul Phase 1

• Greatly reduced loading times for all maps and layers.
  
• This feature lays the groundwork for more asymmetric sub-factions, with great variety in vehicle/kit/deployable composition and count. It also makes possible many smaller features like the improved Command Map Vehicle List.
  

Graphics Settings Menu Rework and new Rendering Features

Overhauled the Graphics Settings menu and added new graphics rendering features. This was designed from the ground-up to minimize the gameplay advantages of using one quality setting over another. It includes more granular options, new rendering features, and higher overall fidelity, with a focus on optimization.

Network Optimization for Vehicles with Closed Turrets and Helicopters

• Extensive network optimization pass on Vehicle Turrets. This provides a significant improvement to network bandwidth usage, which leaves more headroom to replicate things like character and vehicle movement.
  
• Extensive network optimization pass on Helicopters. This has greatly improved the smoothness of helicopter movement replication for passengers and observers on the ground. It’s not perfect, of course, so we look forward to your feedback.
  

Performance Optimizations

• Overhauled Texture Streaming behavior, greatly reducing graphics memory usage. This has allowed us to increase the quality of many character, weapon, and vehicle textures, while simultaneously improving performance.
  
• Removed Mesh Distance Fields from all movable objects, such as vehicles and weapons. This allows better caching of Distance Fields, reducing GPU load.
  
• Disabled Mesh Distance Field on a lot of small foliage (trees, scatter/debris meshes). This should improve performance for maps when Ambient Occlusion and/or Far Shadows are enabled.
  
• Optimized Mesh Distance Field resolutions for large foliage.
  
• Optimized Lashkar Valley, Kamdesh, Mestia, and Skorpo by setting more aggressive cull distances on pine trees.
  
• Optimized rock walls, coal piles, and other assets by removing unnecessary tessellation.
  
• Optimized grass post-process shader by reducing unnecessary complexity by up to 80%.
  
• Optimized skybox lighting.
  
• Optimized TOW discard effect.
  
• Optimized and fixed some issues with Impostor post-process shader (distant trees).
  
• Optimized vehicle smoke generator effects.
  

HAB Spawn Activation Delay

This new feature for the HAB includes an Activation Delay timer before a HAB is ready to be spawned.

• There are 3 ways that a HAB Spawn point can be affected in Squad, all 3 will incur an activation delay timer. The current activation delay time is 10 seconds, this timing may be adjusted in future updates.
  
• The HAB Activation “delay to spawn” is indicated on the HUD around the HAB icon, in the form of a circular progress bar (similar to a medic health bar). This will be displayed on the Command map screen as well in a future update. This HAB Activation delay indicator is only visible when a delay is counting down.
  
• “Spawn is Activating” text will be displayed when the spawn delay is counting down and the delay indicator is visible on the HUD when within range of that FOB.
  
• The intention behind this Spawn activation delay is designed to change the spawn dynamics surrounding HAB’s, to incentivize more planning, and reduce the amount of “Teleportation hopping” that occurs with newly built HAB’s. This delay is primarily intended to prevent instantaneous spawning off the HAB.
  
• This also is intended to incentivize the defense of FOB/HAB to be less about spawn intensity, and more about positioning and overall area control.
  
• This is intended to prevent teams from abusing the spawn system via instantly spawning on a newly created HAB, and to encourage players to defend the HAB for a short period upon completion to ensure the spawn point becomes active.
  
• These changes will also give opponents a bit of breathing room and time to secure the area after overrunning a HAB or partially destroying it without fear of having enemies spawn back in the moment the HAB is rebuilt to the threshold or when enough players have either left or are killed within the HAB overrun proximity radius.
  
• This change, in combination with the next update that will contain the HAB Proximity Disable Scaling feature, is an intentional Design decision to adjust the pacing and gameplay surrounding the usage of the HAB’s Spawns, and their impact on the flow of the gameplay.
  

Helicopter Flight Improvements

• Rewrote large parts of the helicopter flight model, and tuned it to create a smoother and more realistic experience. More tweaks will be made in future patches.
  
• Unified acceleration calculations for all phases of flight. Handling should be more natural and consistent throughout the entire flight envelope.
  
• Mitigated the “see-saw” effect and reduced sudden acceleration at low speeds by adjusting the X-axis acceleration curve.
  
• Improved energy retention through high-speed turns.
  
• Made it easier to achieve the helicopter’s maximum speed.
  
• Rotor efficiency now scales depending on flight conditions. Rotor power is multiplied up to 1.3x when meeting the air at a high angle of incidence (J-turns and steep flares) or when traveling at high speeds (Translational Lift).
  
• Reworked “weathervane” effect to ensure the helicopter always settles nose-first.
  
• Reduced residual thrust when the engine is disabled, forcing (survivable) crash landings.
  
• Increased Pitch, Roll, and Yaw sensitivity.
  
• Fixed weird weathervaning behavior caused by helicopter inertia calculation not accounting for the change in rotation between frames.
  

Deployables Refund Mechanic

• Refunds 80% of the placed deployable cost, if it was dug down without being built fully after placement. This mechanic is intended to reduce the penalty for accidental bad placement of the deployable.
  

Infantry Kits Refund Mechanic

• Refunds 80% of the ammo cost of the Players previous role when changing roles at an ammo crate. Should not refund ammo for weapons/magazines which have been expended.
  
• Refunds ammo when a kit role is changed from FOB ammo crates or vehicles.
  
• It will technically be possible for the total ammo in an ammo source to increase if the player goes from a high-cost role to a low-cost role.
  

Main Base Protection Zone QoL Update

• Updated the Main Base Protection Zone to prevent friendly infantry and vehicles from being able to fire weapons. Infantry will still be able to use medkits, bandages and repair tools inside the Protection Zone.
  
• The design intention with this change is to remove the amount of excessive distraction at the Main Base, especially during Staging Phase.
  

AAS & RAAS Ticket Changes

• Adjusted RAAS & AAS Ticket Gain and Ticket Loss for Flag Capture to +60 and -10 (was +50 -20). This is intended to help losing teams make a comeback if they successfully counterattack a lost Capture Point, and also to encourage proper logistics planning to hold points that are captured.
  

Body Dragging Tweaks

• Improved the responsiveness of body dragging by doubling the trace size and increasing the angle limit. This should allow players to more easily grab bodies and not have them auto-drop as easily. Note that you still have to look directly at a body for the “press F to drag” prompt to appear, but triggering the prompt is not necessary for the drag command to work.
  

• Added new weapon: INS Mosin Nagant – 3 variants: Carbine with Irons, Full Length with Irons, and PU-1 Magnified Scope option. Can be reloaded via single cartridges or stripper clip.
  
• Added new weapon: INS RPD Light Machine Gun – a classic 7.62x39mm machine gun with some serious firepower.
  
• Added new weapon: RUS RPG28 Heavy Anti-Tank – a modern disposable anti-tank rocket launcher utilizing a massive 125mm Tandem HEAT warhead at a much flatter trajectory, capable of devastating enemy armor. Comes equipped with an optic and can be ranged out to 500 meters.
  
• Added new weapon: GB NLAW Heavy Anti-Tank – a modern semi-smart, fire & forget Anti-Tank missile system, the warhead uses PLOS – Predicted Line of Sight. You can switch between “Direct Attack” and “PLOS” weapon modes by pressing the X (adjust sights) key. PLOS mode will track your mouse velocity for 2-3 seconds, which will program the missile. Once fired, the missile will continuously turn to follow the velocity you programmed.
  
• Added new Canadian weapon variants: C7A2 and C8A3 Foregrip variants, C7A2+Iron-sights, C7A2+Eotech, C8A3+Iron-sights, C8A3+ M203+C79A2 Elcan.
  

• Added new Vehicles: INS Modern Technicals – 9 variants: DShK, M2, BMP1, Mortar, UB32, ZU23, SPG9, Logi, Transport.
  
• Added a new ‘Alternate’ INS Technical (found on Fallujah Invasion v1, v2, v3).
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB FV107 Recon Vehicle – a new class of vehicle, this is a light & fast armored recon vehicle, similar to the Russian-made BRDM-2 Scout car, but with more armor and firepower.
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB LPPV Armored Jeep – 2 variants – GB gets a highly mobile light attack vehicle, serving as counterpart to M-ATV and Tigr. It comes in 2 versions, with a remotely operated turret and a dual LMG open turret!
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB FV520UA CTAS IFV – GB gets an upgrade package for the aged FV510 IFV with modern features like stabilization and increased firepower with a new high rate of fire 40mm autocannon! This is the latest cutting-edge modern IFV that GB is deploying, which is supplementing the older FV510 variants, but not completely replacing them.
  
• Added a new Vehicle: GB SA330 Transport Helicopter – GB now gets their own unique helicopter. This is a powerful and agile helicopter with similar lift capabilities as the UH60M, but with slightly more construction & ammo capacity.
  
• Added C6A1 RWS Variant for the TAPV.
  
• Added a new unique Remote Weapon Station for several GB vehicles that apply.
  

Added new and improved Streamer Support Option to the Settings Menu (these can be turned on and off individually):

• Hide Server name from Score Screen (Tab)
  
• Hide all but current Squad names from Command Menu / Spawn Menu.
  
• Hide Server name from End of Game Screen
  
• Hide Server Information from Faction Select Screen ( Server Title, Rules
  
• Hide Automated Server Broadcast messages
  
• Override Squad custom names with Squad 1, 2, etc…
  
• Hide Player names in Command Menu / Spawn Select Menu.
  
• Hide all names on Score Screen.
  

• Added new loading screen images for all maps. Note: currently loading screens will only be displayed when first loading into a server. Upon map change, the loading screen will not be displayed. This will hopefully be rectified in a future update.
  
• Updated the Command Menu Vehicle List to now include active spawn timers for all vehicles on your team. When a vehicle is destroyed, the vehicle list will now show the spawn time actively count down until the vehicle spawns. “Single-Use” vehicles (seen on Invasion Game Mode) will be displayed in gray to indicate they do not respawn.
  
• Updated Server Browser to show currently loaded Factions, Unit Types (mostly Combined Arms until we add new types and Generic Layers), and time since match start.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Server Browser Favorites not saving properly. This will only work currently on licensed server. The in-game tooltip is outdated and does not reflect that.
  
• Fixed a minor issue with the MEA radial menu Deployables button having the wrong tooltip text.
  
• Audio Settings now has a droplist for selecting input/output devices
  
• Removed a redundant slider in Game Settings that caps the maximum FPS
  
• Added a separate slider in Graphics Settings to cap the maximum FPS while in the menu
  

• Updated Middle Eastern Rock collisions.
  
• Updated the chain-link fence kit by optimizing material use, updating collisions, and standardizing LODs.
  
• Updated fences and other flat surface objects to use a planar thickness shader to give a better appearance of having thickness.
  
• Fixed the green large trash bin material appearing excessively polished, now looks less reflective and more matte.
  
• Fixed an exploitable collision on the stairs of an industrial office building.
  
• Fixed the collision of the rooftop on the small wooden office building.
  

• Layer Overhaul has added new flexibility to the modding system, and a bunch of new requirements. Mod teams will need to update to have compatibility with v2.0/Layer Overhaul. See the full documentation here for more info.
  
• Added a holo dot sight into the main Attachments folder.
  
• Updated the currently unused L128A1 GB shotgun with a holo-dot sight mounted.
  
• Fixed up animation settings on the unused Shotguns.
  

• Added New Admin Tools for managing teamkills and observing problem players.
  
• Fixed a potential exploit where players could potentially disable atmospheric fog on certain map layers.
  
• Fixed a potential exploit that could detect concealed assets such as Radios/Habs or Rally points.
  

• Occasional Player (Client) crashes in various circumstances. Detailed crash reports help us fix things faster, and we truly appreciate those that have filled out and sent in crash reports.
  
• Player (Client) occasional crash at the end of a round, upon map switch, due to a UE4 Particle Crash bug upon seamless map travel. Actively pursuing a fix for this crash.
  
• Commander – When the commander changes to the UAV camera, he cannot hear local audio anymore, even though he still sees local audio transmissions in the bottom left corner. Others can still hear him when he talks. Additionally, when leaving the UAV camera, he hears all of the local audio broadcasts at the same time, originating from the point where they were initially transmitted from – even if the person doing the transmission has moved afterward. Will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature does not currently work with Helicopters.
  
• Vehicle Reset Feature can freeze a vehicle in the air if used too close to a tree.
  
• Occasionally a player does not spawn at a Rally Point. This often happens when numerous players are spawning in at the same time — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Server performance may periodically dip when a server has a high population and high load. We are continuously working to improve server performance and optimization.
  
• ATGM projectiles desync for other players that are not the gunner, however, what the gunner sees should be the actual synced projectile. This is an inherent problem, and the solution is currently in long-term development.
  
• Vehicles parking brake gets stuck “On” if a player exits the vehicle while holding the parking brake (Default Spacebar). When encountering a vehicle that appears healthy but is not able to move, try hitting Spacebar to turn the parking brake “Off’ — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• “Alt-tabbing” out of Squad during a loading screen freezes the client. The recommended solution, for now, is to run Squad in the “Borderless” mode. This can be changed in Settings -> Graphics.
  
• The audio module for Squad is initialized at the game start. If a player does not have a microphone plugged in at launch, or accidentally unplug their microphone and then plug it back in, Squad needs to be restarted to get the microphone to work again — This issue will likely require an engine upgrade to UE4.25 to be fixed.
  
• SFX bug while Firing in full auto. If the player presses the fire button for a short period, the sound effect gives the impression that you fired more rounds than you did — This will be addressed in a future update.
  
• Localization for most language translations is currently out of date. We plan to push a full localization pass in a future release as we lock down the text that needs to be translated for the game.
  
• Track Attack Game Mode has been temporarily removed, as it had compatibility issues with Layer Overhaul. This events-based game mode will be fixed in an upcoming minor patch.
  

• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – Insurgent / Militia Handheld Drone does not move in local.
• Local/Offline issues currently have a lower priority.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – UAV hovers in one position instead of moving along the flight path in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Commander – CAS does not do damage in local.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Vehicles: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Tracks, Wheels, and other components are not destructible while on the Jensen’s Range in Local play.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Weapon damages: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Weapon damages with both Infantry and Vehicle weapons are not accurately replicated.
  
• Local/Offline Bug with Scoped Emplacements: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, if a player exits an Emplacement while looking through the scope, the Scope remains on the Player’s HUD until they get back in the Emplacement and then Scope out.
  

[h3]REMINDER: Due to character limits on Steam these are not the full release notes, those can be found on our website here with more information and images[/h3]