Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront News

[h2]Highlights[/h2]

• Sound Overhaul (Part I)
  - Added new shooting and reload sounds to small arms weapons and heavy MG's
  - Added new distance layers to shooting sounds
  - Added sonic cracks to bullet hits based on caliber
  - Added 3d shell casings to weapons and sounds for hitting ground/objects
  - Updated the mixing of various sound layers to reduce sound cut-off/clip and improve the overal soundscape
  - Reduced vehicle engine idle sound volumes
  
  
• Human Skins Update
  - Updated the majority of skins for Germans and Soviets
  - Added new humanskin and equipment variations that can be modded together to make new combinations
  - Added correct magazine pouches to updated skins
  - Uniforms and equipment should be more authentic than before for each time period
  - Replaced majority of headwear with new textures/models
  
  
• Bot/AI Update (Part I)
  - In General, many new bot behaviors that will hopefully make them more aware, less predictable and more challenging to fight against
  
  - Added in both Conquest and MP, new priority logics for bots on when to:
  - Purchase different Units
  - Move towards different flags/map points
  - Choose to seek and destroy enemy instead of attacking a flag
  - Ignore generic bot commands and obey scripted logic
  - Added wave style attacks to Bots in Conquest
  - Added mission scipted AI logics to Conquest that use to be MP only (newly added feature allows this now)
  
  - Updated and Improved scripted AI logics for both MP and Conquest
  - Updated Bots in MP to use the same unit timers as players
  - Updated Bots in MP to use a doctrine (Only All-Around Doctrine for now, plan to expand this in future update)
  - Updated Bots resource advantage in MP to more aligned with players
  - Updated internal code and file organization to allow for greater control and future improvements
  
  
• Added 8 New maps to conquest:
  - Black Sea coast
  - Frozen Highlands
  - Hungarian Swamps
  - Olkhovatka
  - Radusha Airfield
  - Shaforovo
  - Stalingrad Outskirts
  - Wasteland
  

[h2]Conquest[/h2]

• Added 8 New maps
  
• Added a capture weight minimum of 1 to all vehicles that were previously 0, except for Goliaths and planes.
  
  
• Increased minimum resources conquest bots will have, regardless of how many units players bring to the battle
  
• Updated some of the buy menu icons for support trucks to clearly see if they are ammo, engineer, fuel, etc.
  
• Replaced xx model on maps with proper destroyed models (fixes pathing for units trying to drive through them)
  
  
• Fixed issues on Map Kalinin
  
• Fixed Spawn point on Map Pinsk
  
• Fixed house that did not have proper collision on Map Kymhi Airfield
  
• Fixed maps to properly from black fade especially in coop
  
• Fixed maps to use all winter conquest environments
  
  
• Reduced MP and AP cost to repair units in conquest
  
• Reduced AP cost to resupply units in conquest
  

[h2]Multiplayer[/h2]

• Added AP belted ammo to several German MG breeds
  
• Added a capture weight minimum of 1 to all vehicles that were previously 0, except for Goliaths and planes.
  
  
• Increased Early war Resources by ~10% (2400 to 2650)
  
• Increased Mid war Resources by 10% (3000 to 3300) (Late war stays the same 4500)
  
  
• Replaced drum variant of MG42/34 to belt variant on several German MG breeds
  
• Replaced xx model on maps with proper destroyed models (fixes pathing for units trying to drive through them)
  
  
• Changed and fixed flag positions in battle zones for many maps to help improve balance and bot's decision making
  
• Changed payback rate in MP to decrease more evenly as CP increases
  
• Changed in Domination mode, that atleast one supply point is active at game start
  
• Changed icon over capture points in Domination to be in similar style as flag point icons in Battlezones
  
  
• Reduced time to capture enemy's base from neutral in Domination mode by 30s (120 to 90)
  
• Reduced time to capture supply points in Domination mode by 60s (150 to 90)
  
• Reduced invincible time for freshly spawned units in Domination mode by 5s (10 to 5)
  
• Reduced distance recon planes are spotted, still much greater than AA weapon ranges
  
• Reduced accuracy of 280mm BR5
  
• Reduced cost of DShK AA and Stand by 15 (150 to 135)
  
• Reduced cooldown of Soviet Tier 3 Squad in Early war from 180s to 60s
  
• Reduced blast energy of MP airstikes to match the SD-250 bomb
  
• Split Soviet Earl War Rifle grenade squad so that AT Grenade is a separate buy (AT detachment) from the HE rifle grenade
  
  
  
• Removed German, Late war, Panzer Grenadier GD squad from sniper limit counter. (G43 Sniper is not as effective as bolt rifle snipers). Late War Fusilier squad remains on the limit counter.
  
  
• Fixed missing 105mm H33 from Finnish Mid War All Around Doctrine
  
• Fixed pricing for all nations soldiers to be standardized resulting in minor price changes to squads
  
• Fixed issues on Map 1v1 Lodoga
  
• Fixed missing trench segments on Map 3v3 King of the Hill
  
• Fixed crew count for doctrine buy: Jagdpanther
  
• Fixed map borders and ocean on 4v4 Hills
  
• Fixed some pathing issues on 3v3 Lakeside Airfield
  
• Fixed Battlezones Flag layouts to be consitent (A Flag is always center, B Flag Closer to Team A, etc)
  
• Fixed half floating rocks around river on Map 1v1 Crossing
  

[h2]Single Player[/h2]

• Replaced xx model on maps with proper destroyed models (fixes pathing for units trying to drive through them)
  
• Various minor fixes to multiple missions
  
• Fixed voice of tank officer in Petrovka mission to not sound like its coming through a radio when he is out of the tank
  
• Added narrator/officer voice recordings to Scorched Earth German missions
  
• Added narrator/officer voice recordings to Winter Storm Mission
  
  
• Fixes for Soviet Mission: 1941_12_tikhvin
  - partisans events/states and assignment fixes
  - task5 fixes
  - scenarios fixes
  - coop fix
  
  
• Fixes for Soviet Mission: 1941_11_typhoon
  - fixes to player units assignment/movemement
  - fixed case where player had invincible players(extra squad)
  - fixed bad waypoint states
  - removed over 150 unused waypoint paths
  
  
• Fixes for Soviet Mission: 1942_05_kerch
  - coop fix
  
  
• Fixes for German Mission: 1942_01_vyazma
  - fixes to car drive and narration intro & part2 intro to ensure all important talks remain even if skipped anywhere or right away.
  - coop fixes.
  
  
• Fixes for German Mission: 1942_09_elbrus
  - fixes and clean up of game loss conditions.
  - intro/scenario fixes.
  
  
• Fixes for German Mission: 1943_02_krasny_bor
  - coop fixes
  - fixed irregular/defensive doctrine 3rd reinforcement so that towed guns are properly assigned/user controllable sp and coop.
  
  
• Fixes for German Mission: 1943_07_petrovka
  - fixed task 5 bugs, related to defending captured positions.
  - It was possible to fail the task and mission would not fail resulting in player not knowing what to do as the game would not progress but not fail either. (part2_defend_fail)
  - corrected task 5 conditions, and fixed situation where task 5 could complete and still fail or vice versa.
  
  
• Fixes for German Mission: 1943_11_wotan
  - coop intro fix
  

[h2]Everything Else[/h2]

• Added destruction (x model) to the Engineer buildable trench
  
• Added some left and right rotation to 15cm Grille Ausf.K gun and Panzer 38H W40 rockets, so they can shoot better on uneven terrain
  
• Added dust fx to human footsteps for better visibility
  
• Added minimum range of 50m for most rocket artillery
  
• Added veterancy icons for library 1-8
  
  
• Increased tank track durability
  
• Increased mortar acccuracy by 10%
  
• Increased supply of german ammo trailer from 250 to 500
  
• Increased smoke time for RDG1 Smoke grenade by 30s
  
• Increased smoke time for RDG1 Smoke grenade by 60s
  
• Increased range indirect artillery and rocket artillery can be spotted when firing
  
  
• Updated Panzer38H W40 to spawn on hold fire in MP
  
• Updated only German pioneers, engineers and miners get the Nbk39 smoke grenade. Others get the M24 smoke grenade
  
• Updated Smoke grenade in German vehicles with NbKS instead of NbK 39
  
• Updated fx and sounds for smoke grenades
  
• Updated all_doors texture
  
• Updated .50 Cal reload animation
  
• Updated ammo in inventory for 20-25mm AA cannons and Trucks to be standardized (~280 for cannon, ~400 for trucks)
  
• Updated air detonation FX with fragment patterns
  
• Updated the ZiS5 DShK to use API ammo
  
• Updated M1919A4 for M1919A4_tank in armored vehicles
  
• Updated global maps to dds to save space on disk
  
• Updated muzzle flash textures
  
• Updated muzzle flashes and added to preload
  
  
• Reduced Indirect Artillery and Rocket Artillery range scale, 24km limit lowered from 600m to 510m (~15% reduction)
  
• Reduced time for human accuracy to reset after moving/firing from 1s to 0.8s
  
• Reduced timeout between bursts for MG42 so that it has higher DPS but will go through ammo quicker
  
• Reduced size of volumes of bushes to reduce how much vision they block
  
• Reduced slightly blast energy damage to tank components, ~2%-5%
  
  
• Fixed Panzer 3 J1 wrong pivot of turret basket
  
• Fixed Panzer 3 N
  
• Fixed Panzer 2 L mantlet inverting when breaking
  
• Fixed T50 tanks from thinking they can tow
  
• Fixed issue with IL2 prop animation that could cause a game crash when the plane crashed
  
• Fixed 1st/3rd person view for the 305mm MB-2-12
  
• Fixed missing wheel texture of b20 in #desert and #camos versions
  
• Fixed stalinetz60 missing transmission component/thickness
  
• Fixed light tank's turrets displaying both x and xx model when torn off by hit from large projectile
  
• Fixed windshield wiper animation and missing door sounds for Kfz 15
  
• Fixed car/truck and halftracks from not taking proper damage from AT grenades
  
• Fixed some of the ammo volumes to be components/destructible in Ostwind and Wirbelwind
  
  
• Fixed texture for ger_m38_helmet_camo_blue
  
• Fixed magazine ejection for MG13
  
• Fixed foresight bone position on mg42 to properly match muzzle fx to tip of the barrel
  
• Fixed tracer on soviet and ger AT rifle rounds (they were opposite)
  
• Fixed bolt action rifle animation now plays behind cover
  
• Fixed humans when firing semi auto rifles sometimes not playing the recoil animation (recoil animation was slightly too slow for the rate of fire)
  
• Fixed DShK muzzle FX on IS-2 45 and ISU-152
  
  
• Fixed allignment of roadway borders
  
• Fixed floor for sov_2st_build1
  
• Fixed and added more unique Vehicle views
  
• Fixed Fixed some inconsistent penetration stats on some german 37mm guns (37mm kwk34t and kwk38t)
  
• Fixed ammo HE ammo description for StuH 42 and others that use alternate HE shells
  
• Fixed minor Localization issues
  
• Fixed narrator/player/ voice files to play in mission 1941_11_typhoon
  
• Fixed MP mission scripts using wrong gui sound path. Some maps had commands cloned for same sound
  
  
• Removed possible damage radius for AT grenades (help AI use AT grenade even if it'll hurt the soldier)
  
• Removed unused muzzle flashes
  

r11189-11970

Community members! We are about to publish Community Update 2, after a short and successful open beta. The purpose of the beta was met; no technical issues were found. The suggestions from our feedback channel will be considered for future updates.

Since we’ve already revealed the majority of changes in development updates 126 and 127, you probably already know that this update brings quite a bit of change, to say the least.
Meanwhile, the entire franchise is on sale; the discount is insane!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15829/Call_to_Arms__Complete/

The sale ends March 23rd, get it while you can & tell all your friends!


Our “content updates” add content to the game that we desire as a developer studio; in contrast, “community updates” add changes to the game that have been requested by you, the community. If you are a regular on the official GoH Discord server, you’ve probably noticed that it features channels in which you can drop your suggestions. There are other sources for that too of course, but nowadays our Discord server is the real life of the party.
We are incredibly proud of our Discord community, which is always active and helping new players become a part of it.
With over 15.000 currently active Discord members you can expect to find out almost anything you want to know about GoH in the blink of an eye.

HD Link


Since we’ve already listed most of the changes in previous blogs, this blog is just a quick rundown of the main talking points. These are the main changes:

• Bot Update Part 1: bot behavior has been improved, influencing Conquest and PvE multiplayer
  
• Sound Overhaul Part 1: updated sounds for Small arms weapons and improved overall soundscape
  
• A huge number of new human skins has been added both the Germans and Soviets
  
• We’ve added 8 new maps to conquest

As usual we have prepared a change log for you, explaining all changes and details. It features more than 150 changes!

HD Link

Having said that, this doesn’t mean we’re done. We’re currently starting work on yet another update, however there is no date set for that at the moment.
Just as we promised, Community Update 2 will be free & available to all players.


When you launch the game after the new update, you might feel the firearms sound unbalanced. The new soundscape is designed to be balanced when the effects, vocal emotes and environment sliders in your audio settings are set to the same level. We recommend you max out these levels and then adjust down with the master volume as needed.




Besides game improvements, you probably know we’re developing the next faction at the moment. It’s turning out very nicely, and we’re all pretty excited to see it take shape. We’ve already dropped a number of hints and there’s a fair number of theories going around about the next faction. Many of them seem plausible at first sight, but are they?
We will keep the wait to a minimum, stay tuned.

That’s it for now, thanks for stopping by; tell us in the comments if you spot your suggestion in that ridiculously long changelog, and don’t forget to tell your friends about the sale!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15829/Call_to_Arms__Complete/

Community members! In our previous updates, we announced a pretty big overhaul of humanskins and sound. Both of these will be introduced when we push our next update. But what we haven’t told you yet is what else will be included in what we call “Community Update 2”. This blog is all about the rework we have started to improve the behavior of bots in both conquest and multiplayer. We are sure this update will vastly improve the player experience. Like the small arms weapon sounds and skins overhaul, this will come your way in Community Update 2!


We have embarked on a rework of bot behavior. It’s nowhere near finished yet! A large part of the work will be included in Community update 2, the rest will come in a separate update. However, we can already highlight some important changes.
Reworking bots takes a very long time, since there are countless aspects to work on. Our goal for this update was to improve the AI bots’ perceived intelligence to provide a greater challenge for players while also reducing the need for the bot to spam as many units. We also addressed pre- existing bugs that were inherent to this version of the game engine.

For the upcoming update, we have focused our efforts to improve the bots in 3 main areas:
1. Separating Multiplayer and Conquest’s AI Bot logic
2. Improving the AI’s unit purchasing decisions
3. Improving the Bot’s unit behavior after spawning

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[h2]Separate logic[/h2]
So far, we were compelled to use the same bot logic for both MP and Conquest. Even though this enabled pretty much everything you need under most circumstances, there was room for improvement. We have now separated the logic.
Since they are now separate, bots for any game mode can be controlled completely independently. This results in better adaptability, which improves gameplay.

[h2]Purchasing[/h2]
We added the ability to control the timing of bots’ first unit purchases. In MP this means the bots get their first unit immediately just like players. In Conquest bots can have different "start" times depending on whether they are the attacker or the defender.
Previously, due to the file structure and the outdated scripts, bots would attempt to purchase “impossible” units from other time periods or units it couldn't afford; in other cases, it would try to get units that were still on cooldown timers. This would cause the purchase scripts to - unnecessarily - skip or loop endlessly. As a result it would take far too long before bots were buying valid units. We have improved this by updating the file structure so only the units for the current game mode and time period are considered along with adjusting the scripts to filter out units that are on cooldown or are too expensive. We are considering making an open beta branch available in order to allow modders (and anyone else) to anticipate the update, so everyone can try out the flexibility in this new structure. If we do an open beta, we will let you know.

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Another feature that is WIP, but which won't be quite ready for the next update, is the ability to track all the unit types and how many each player (bots and users) currently have. This will allow us to create new and more advanced scripts to improve the bot's purchase decision making based on the units the bot already has, and what the opponents have.

[h2]Unit behavior after spawn[/h2]
In Multiplayer, we added a new factor that improves the AI units' initial move order (the flag they choose to move towards after spawning). Bots will not only consider which team has captured a flag, now they will also consider the flag's location in relation to their own side of the map. Bots will prefer to capture flags on their own side and the flags along the centerline, before flags on the opposing team's side.

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On top of the bots’ global movement of troops, a lot of work has been invested in cleaning up the bot algorithms and scripts. This will ensure no negative performance, as well as bringing AI gameplay closer to what an ordinary human would do. For example: bot tanks, when spotting an enemy, will attempt to "gather" a squad of nearby bot soldiers and perform various actions, from advancing and attacking, to engaging from a static location. The additional infantry squad during this period helps to protect the tank and improve its vision if it does indeed advance.

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Our first community update was published about a year ago, and like last year’s, this community update intends to reward the continued support and constructive criticism we get from you, the Gates of Hell community. Community update 2 will be free for everyone of course.
As you may have spotted in one of the images in this blog, we will also add a bunch of DCG maps to this update. The list of additions is already quite long. If you missed our blog about humanskins and sounds, we recommend you check Development update 126 as well, which details work we have going on in those areas.

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Our beta testers are working their way through the update right now, and progress is good.
Community Update 2 will probably go live sometime this spring.
Would you agree this is going to be a sizable step up in quality of life for everyone? Let us know in the comments!

• Community update 2 is the 5th large & free update for Gates of Hell: Ostfront
  
• We will do a developer Q&A on our Discord server in March.
  
• We have a map design competition going on! This takes place on our Discord server as well.
  
• You can help spread the word on Gates of Hell by linking people to our LinkTree. Thanks for your support!

This year will be all about the next faction in Call to Arms - Gates of Hell. However, while progress is good, we are working hard to complete a number of things we’d like to improve. As the title already suggests, there are 2 main topics to this update; but there’s more.


We have been working on the next faction for quite a number of months already. Despite some strong beliefs here and there, it’s not going to be Denmark!
Right, now, we are focused on making content for the new faction. A lot has already been done, such as determining what specific organizational units we want to choose for the single player campaigns, which vehicles to add and much, much more. Progress is steady, which makes us optimistic about achieving our goals in 2023.


A lot of work has gone into a rework on “human skins”. We will be replacing 300+ existing skins with new ones, complete with their respective different seasonal appearances. The new skins are a step up in quality, and will be made available for all players in the next update. These skins will probably make for even more realistic and historically-correct screenshots that we’ve seen so far.
These skins are also mod friendly and modular. We have engineered them in such a way that modders can interchange parts of the skins to create their own variations, without needing to utilize 3d software or animate them. For example, you can easily swap a soviet head into a german uniform, or replace an early-war tunic with a late-war variant.

HD Link HD Link HD Link HD Link HD Link HD Link


As we have announced earlier, the next update will also contain a sound overhaul.
The sound overhaul will provide you with a new level of realism. You may have seen a small teaser here and there; but there’s way more to it than adjusting some weapon sounds. The sounds are divided into layers; we have updated the sounds themselves and changed the characteristics and layers, for instance when you’re in 3rd person.
Depending on the view you’re using in- game, you will be able to hear more than you did before. When you zoom in on your infantry, in 3rd person the mechanical layer of sound will be audible, so you can actually hear the weapon’s mechanical action happening. The fading of sound will be different and more realistic as well, based on the way sounds fade over distance in real life.
We think you will like the new sound design, it’s going to be more realistic than it is today for sure!

https://youtu.be/Z4u-Tx4ntZo


The next update will also bring new maps to the game! That will bring up the total number of maps to a new high; we’ll be more specific about these in the next blog.
While working on these - and on the sounds & skins - we’re working on improvements to the game. This is an everyday process in which we are focused on quality; not just quality of life, but anything from tweaks to missions to refinement of what we already have and - obviously - to fix bugs where we can. Our last change log contained well over 100 lines of documented improvements and additions, and this process is always ongoing.

One highly requested feature which is slowly coming to fruition are skippable cutscenes for the original Ostfront missions. Talvisota and Scorched Earth DLCs brought skippable cutscenes into the game, and we have re-designed all of the missions to support this now, in a way that remains friendly with the netcode synchronization.

That’s it for this blog, thanks for stopping by and see you on the battlefield!

• We started a new meta game on our Discord server. Join today and win a key to the next faction!
  
• You can help spread the word on Gates of Hell by linking people to our LinkTree
• We will announce a developer Q&A on the GoH Discord server soon! Join by clicking below:

[h2]Highlights[/h2]

• Fixed server crash introduced in last update related to move orders. Crash report ended in: "> scene: quant: vehicle:buq"
  
• Added ability to rebind the "pause" key
  
• Added feature in Conquest and the general Library view to allow users to select the Season (aka texture) of a unit.
  
• Added UI support for to display veterancy levels up to 15 on unit icon. (4 bits)