1. Squad
  2. News

Squad News

Faction Unit and Map Layer Voting Public Playtest!

Attention Squaddies,

We will be running a public playtest this weekend! It will feature a new Work-In-Progress feature Faction Unit and Map Layer Voting!

The playtest will take place on our Squad - Public Testing application which can be installed from your game library!



If you have already installed the playtesting app, an update will be made available the day before the test for you to download.

[h3]Playtest Start: February 16th - 19th at 7 PM UTC | 11 AM Pacific | 2 PM Eastern
Playtest End: Feburary 20th at 7 PM UTC | 11 AM Pacific | 2 PM Eastern
[/h3]

For this playtest, we will be looking to run a few servers for stress-testing purposes. If you wanted to hop into a playtest but never knew of a good time, we suggest gearing up at 7 PM UTC | 11 AM Pacific | 2 PM Eastern each day over the weekend for what we're calling Playtest Primetime! We found this to be the best and most populated time to join.

We’d love to see you all come and try out this new feature and provide your feedback.

To stay up to date and to join the discussion, we encourage you to join our Official Squad Community Discord Server to get the earliest news on playtests!

At ease,

[h3]Offworld Out.[/h3]

The Wrench – February 2024

[h2]The Wrench - Feb 2024[/h2]

Welcome to another installment of The Wrench, a look at some of the great work from Squad’s modding community! Because we received so many awesome submissions, this is part one of a two-parter Wrench! What follows are updates sent to us by the people behind the mods themselves: their words, images, and amazing work!

[h2]Wil's Fools Road by /gMg\ Wilster[/h2]
Wil's Fools Road is a re-imagined map design of Fools Road with upgraded foliage, updated ground textures, new Points of Interest, and other changes to the terrain for a different level of gameplay.
In total, there are 11 new POIs, 13 previous POIs have seen changes, and two new tunnel systems have been added. The mod is currently still a work in progress but has officially reached the beta stages of development.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3040351557





[h2]One Life Customs by Tikas[/h2]
Do you want to make your death count properly, by ruining someone elses hard work up until his or her point of no return? Pumpin' adrenaline, shakey firefights and a new type of gameplay awaits you!
A 1-life mod with custom Gamemodes, Actions, Automated Server/Player Management, and loads of small and large additions and changes that you can find in the mod workshop page! Perfect for a 24/7 server, and especially for events!

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3116257554 Discord: https://discord.gg/MuGe9zagrv



[h2]Rassvet by Steez & Ruben[/h2]
After a bit of a life-induced hiatus, work has finally resumed on Rassvet, with the addition of a 2nd team member to help share the load. The current focus has been on expanding to the South East with new village POI's surrounded by farmland, rocky ridges and lakes.
For those unfamiliar with the map, Rassvet is a complete reimaging of OP First Light that takes the original landscape and expands it out to a larger 2x2 km area. While it shares some of the original landmarks like Storage Site, Nilrem Village and Rail Docks for nostalgia's sake, it is fundamentally a completely new map with a redesigned heightmap, layout, new biomes, lighting and environment art.
We aim to create a hyper-detailed, infantry-focused map that feels like a real place and pushes the visual fidelity and density without sacrificing playable performance.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995310287 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/XCbb7bmDQY



[h2]Steel Division Lite made by aWildPanther, created by Impact Studios[/h2]

From the ashes of SD rises a new mod, one that focuses on small tactical infantry gameplay with only light vehicles such as MRAP's and Logis. SD Lite focuses on optimizing infantry combat by adjusting ICO values such as sway, recoil, and suppression to give the player the feeling of playing as an SF soldier. With the reduction of scope compared to the original Steel Division mod there is the opportunity to optimize the rich features and content in place, with great custom features like Night Vision, Thermals, Lasers and Flashlights, Suppressors, Secondary and Canted Sights, Shotguns, Suppressors and more. The current list of factions are the USSF (United States Special Forces), SOF (Special Operations Forces/Russian Special Forces), RED (Red Unit), and TSF (Turkish Special Forces). The factions that will be returning will be the PLASF, PMC, SAS, JTF2. The mod is currently undergoing public play tests which get announced on the SD Lite Discord that you can join with the link below.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2432926361 Discord: https://discord.gg/NceVwrKFCS



[h2]Hawks Layer Pack by EyeOfTheHawks[/h2]
Do you like a more random, but also more sane RAAS? Hawks Layer Pack.
Do you like a more consistent Invasion? Hawks Layer Pack.
Do you like a sprinkle of asymmetrical games? Hawks Layer Pack.
Do you like Flooded Kokan or Gorodok? Hawks Layer Pack.
Do you like Vanilla Squad? Hawks Layer Pack.
212 layers of additional variety.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2442357787




[h2]BPM-97 by Cuman[/h2]
BPM-97 (translated to "Gunshot") is a Russian mine-resistant, ambush-protected (or short MRAP) vehicle in service since 1999. It can fit 12.7mm Kord, 14.5mm KPVT, or a 30mm 2A72 gun. It was first made for the Russian border troops and later adopted into the Russian army as BPM-97 "Dozor."
Reach out to scarletcuman on Discord for more information.




[h2]Squad Enhanced by Jaster[/h2]
Squad Enhanced aims to provide a more enjoyable invasion experience, focusing on balancing and player quality of life.
It adds 97 new invasion layers (while still being compatible with vanilla gameplay), introducing unique flags, newly modified locations, diverse faction match-ups, varied armor scenarios, and custom lighting layers. It includes features like resupply points, secondary mains, and minor adjustments or QoL. It also has implemented changes to the commander system, introducing several new abilities.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2887257656

Squad 7.1 Live!

Attention Squaddies,

Squad 7.1 can now be downloaded. You will find all the changes made by the update listed and detailed in our Release Notes: [LINK]

In addition we are happy to show you the Sanxian Islands with this new trailer:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Please share with us your thoughts on the update, and if you encounter any technical issues, you can report them in our dedicated Bug Report Channel on the Squad Community Discord: [LINK]

Offworld Out.

SQUAD 7.1 RELEASE NOTES

This update introduces a new map to Squad, the Sanxian Islands, as well as improvements and fixes for the Server Browser.

[h2]Sanxian Islands[/h2]

The Sanxian Islands hold great strategic importance in the Pacific region due to their coastal location and the potential for pre-existing industrial infrastructure to be repurposed for military use. The occupation of this island by a regional force has made for rapid construction of new military facilities including a radar station and helicopter base.



Sanxian Islands is a level that focuses heavily on Infantry warfare, with lush forests, industrial zones, and claustrophobic villages. The use of amphibious vehicles and helicopters allows for high flexibility in the transportation of infantry between locations, but infantry can stand on their own by sneaking through the jungle and shallow waterways that connect the chain of islands.

[h2]Sanxian Islands Map Layers[/h2]
  • AAS v1 - USA vs PLA
  • AAS v2 - USMC vs PLA
  • AAS v3 - CAF vs PLA
  • Invasion v1 - USMC attacking PLA
  • Invasion v2 - PLANMC attacking USA
  • RAAS v1 - USMC vs PLA
  • RAAS v2 - ADF vs PLA
  • Seed v1 - ADF vs PLA
  • Skirmish v1 - USMC vs PLA


[h2]System & Gameplay Updates[/h2]
  • Due to several GPU crashes related to Nvidia Frame Generation, we have decided to disable the feature until it is more stable
  • Fixed a server crash related to VOIP that could occur after leaving and then quickly rejoining a server
  • Increased the yaw extents on the M2 and NSV emplaced machine guns


[h2]Server Browser Improvements[/h2]
With the 7.0 update, we swapped to using Epic Online Services. Unfortunately, this limits the amount of servers that can be returned per search to 200. With Steam, this number was much higher, usually returning all active servers. Previously we would filter these results on the client side rather than have Steam’s backend return pre-filtered results. We’ve been working on addressing this and for this update, we’ve added the following filters to the server search query:

  • Regional Ping Filtering
  • Empty Servers
  • Full Servers
  • Licensed Servers
  • Modded Servers
  • Show Different Versions
  • Search Bar Filtering


We are still working on moving the tag system filters to the EOS query, but it’s taking more time than anticipated. We’ll be releasing that fix in a future update.

[h2]General Bug Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed a few issues that could prevent legacy weapon skins and clan patches from appearing properly (or at all) on the customization menu
  • Fixed a client crash related to Epic Online Services that could occur when changing maps
  • Fixed a bug that could cause increased or infinite load times when joining servers with a lengthy “message of the day”
  • Fixed a rare bug that could cause players to get stuck on the main menu background image when attempting to join a server
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the TLF faction to have more than one AR MG3 (Ironsights) role in a single Squad
  • Added an attempted fix for helicopters appearing differently for each player (upside down helicopters)




[h2]Mod SDK Update[/h2]
  • Added the Sanxian Islands map to the Mod SDK


[h2]Known Issues[/h2]
  • Server Tag filters will filter on retrieved results rather than on the EOS Backend

Squad 7.1 and Sanxian Island

Attention Squaddies,

A few months back we spoke of the work we were doing on the next coming map for Squad, Sanxian Islands. Now we are happy to announce that Sanxian Islands will be coming with Squad 7.1 on February the 8th 2024!

Sanxian Islands


This island chain, resulting from volcanic activity, has been inhabited for several hundred years but in recent decades the two major islands in the north have seen expansive development. During the early 90’s a coal power plant was constructed powering a nearby mainland city. The Sanxian Islands hold great strategic importance in the Pacific region due to their coastal location and the potential for pre-existing industrial infrastructure to be repurposed for military use. The occupation of this island by a regional force has made for rapid construction of new military facilities including a radar station and helicopter base. These new projects are in contrast to the existing mostly rural locations that cover the eastern and southern islands. Those rural towns rely on their farming and fishing industries. Hills are covered in rice paddies and sugar cane that quickly turn to dense jungle and bamboo. Towns on the coast feature low density commercial, slipways for fishing boats, and cages/netting close to the shore.



Sanxian will have a brand new biome, with lush jungles and sandy beaches, but also brand new East Asian style buildings and environments. It is a level that focuses heavily on Infantry warfare, with lush forests, industrial zones, and claustrophobic Villages. The use of amphibious vehicles and helicopters allows for high flexibility in the transportation of infantry between locations, but infantry can stand on their own, sneaking through jungle and shallows that connect the island chain together.



The map will offer quite a few tactical possibilities, so let’s take a look at some of the places you and your squad will fight in Sanxian:

[h2]Power Plant[/h2]
A large coal power plant constructed in the early 1990’s has become a strategic asset as it provides the majority of power to nearby mainland urban and industrial zones. The power plant and its surrounding campus support mixed infantry and vehicle game play. It will require heavy cooperation amongst squads if they are to hold the entire POI.



[h2]Canal Town[/h2]
This town well predates the more recent power plant and is one of the largest settlements in the region. It was at one point the hub for the farms and commerce for the entire island but has since been overshadowed. The land its surrounding occupies has been bluntly cut at its edges by the power plant contrasting its mostly rural feeling. Control over the bridges and house to house fighting should offer you plenty of challenges!



[h2]Naval Base[/h2]
PLA helicopter base located on the interior of the lagoon. Shares the port with civilian commercial industry with the militarized area forming a fortified core. The Naval base will support island hopping themes and amphibious combat across the lagoon.



[h3]Sanxian Islands Map Layers[/h3]
  • AAS v1 - USA vs PLA
  • AAS v2 - USMC vs PLA
  • AAS v3 - CAF vs PLA
  • Invasion v1 - USMC attacking PLA
  • Invasion v2 - PLANMC attacking USA
  • RAAS v1 - USMC vs PLA
  • RAAS v2 - ADF vs PLA
  • Seed v1 - ADF vs PLA
  • Skirmish v1 - USMC vs PLA


We look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!