War of Rights News

Hello everyone,

Today, we’re happy to release alpha update 183 for War of Rights. It features additional customizable regiments, flag bearer updates, a spawn system rework as well as several quality of life additions and more!

[h2]Update 183 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Added 8 new customizable regiments to the game: 1st Maryland, 4th Rhode Island, 1st Delaware, 4th Pennsylvania, 3rd Arkansas, 8th Florida, 14th Tennessee and Holcombe Legion.
  
• Added more items to the uniform customizer.
  
• In an effort to reduce the amount of time large amounts of players sometimes end up fighting exclusively inside buildings, Flag bearers are now unable to spawn players while inside buildings throughout the game. They are also not able to stay inside them for longer than 30 seconds before deserting.
  
• Flag bearers can now see how many, if any, players are queued up to spawn at their position by looking at the player state info at the lower right corner of the screen.
  
• Remade the deployment & spawn system in an effort to eliminate any edge case spawn issues.
  
• When playing the Skirmish game mode, players now spawn in separate companies (Co. A or B) instead of spawning all mixed up.
  
• Server admins are now able to invert the team spawns when playing the Conquest game mode. Alternatively, they can opt with a “Random” selection should they wish to make fate decide.
  
• When playing the Skirmish game mode and selecting the “Round Restart” server setting it now skips the post-match narration in order to better facilitate event play.
  
• Changing the battlefield of a server now results in a loading screen being shown quicker, reducing the chance of players believing that the server is lagging or has crashed.
  
• Fixed the Smokestacks Conquest mode area desertion issue upon spawning in.
  
• Various binocular and revolver animation tweaks and fixes.
  
• Adjusted sword salute and parade rest emotes.
  
• Added revolver salute and exit and enter animations.
  
• Fixed the left hand moving upwards for half a second when stopping moving with the revolver.
  
• Fixed the order arms emote.
  
• Fixed misaligned and broken subtitles on Harpers Ferry Bolivar Heights Camp skirmish area.
  
• Fixed frock coat branch collar clipping.
  
• Reworked camp stool model.
  
• Fixed the aim animation so that the rifle stays in the hands of the soldier while he is turning.
  
• Adjusted the sword melee aimpose animations.
  
• Tweaked the sword shoulder arms idle and aimpose animations.
  
• Fixed a number of fences that could not be vaulted across on South Mountain.
  
• Corrected the left arm during the revolver cocking hammer animation playback while moving.
  
• Adjusted the revolver crouch exit and enter animation.
  
• Enabled server multi threaded pre-processing for received packets from clients.
  

Hello everyone,

We have just released alpha update 182 primarily containing a number of exploit, bug and visual fixes to the game. You can find the patch notes below.

[h2]Update 182 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Updated the volumetric clouds of the game, resulting in a prettier sky.
  
• Increased the distance between the player capsule and the terrain, resulting in players being able to easier pass the various ground clutter in the game.
  
• Fixed a crash sometimes triggered by managing to begin level loading before the server list completely refreshed.
  
• Entering the benchmark no longer produces an initial freeze.
  
• Increased the text chat fade timer from 5 to 8 seconds.
  
• Fixed a connection issue experienced by some players.
  
• Updates to the Screen Space Directional Occlusion and Global Illumination settings in the game.
  
• Models now again properly dissolve between their various LOD’s instead of an instant change, resulting in a more smooth blend.
  
• The shadow cap of the animated formations on the victory screens has been removed.
  
• Fixed a crash tied to a particle emitter being created and destroyed on the same frame.
  
• Rewrote the desertion/map boundary code for greater reliability.
  
• Drastically increased the character view distance and made it render an equal distance across all graphics presets.
  
• Characters now change to less detailed LOD’s at greater distances than they used to, resulting in more detailed character models overall.
  
• Fixed a reload exploit involving starting reloads during the kneel enter/exit transition.
  
• Added lit camp lanterns to many of the officer wall tents throughout the game.
  
• New scabbard-holding sprint animations while holding a sword in either shoulder arms or melee mode.
  
• Minor animation tweaks and fixes for revolver and binocular rotation blends.
  
• Added 23rd and 36th Ohio national and regimental flags.
  
• Added 5th Alabama regimental flag.
  
• Added 72nd PA and 27th NC drums.
  
• Fixed a proxy issue with the Henry Rohrback farmhouse model.
  
• Added a selection of candles and candlestick models to the game.
  

Hello everyone,

Today sees the release of alpha update 181, featuring our very first Steam achievement batch of 10 (let us know if you’d like us to add more and which ones you’d want to see!) and major performance improvements thanks to Aleksi’s work at instanced batching - otherwise known as “magic” to the uninitiated.

[h2]Steam Achievements[/h2]

Steam achievements allow us to reward the players with a completionist outlook on things with a few tokens. We’ve been very careful not to include any achievements that will subtract from the teamplay aspect of the game in a major form and we will continue to tread very carefully indeed when/if we add more to the game.

For the achievement art, we’ve opted to go with an old-timey photo style (and a hand painted, as was tradition during the era, for when an achievement is unlocked).



[h3]Update 181 Achievement List[/h3]

Blue Name?
Meet a developer on the field of battle.

To War!
Join the battle in War of Rights!

Tactician
Watch a recorded match replay.

Dress Up
Create a customized uniform.

Barbershop Visit
Create a customized head.

Skirmisher
Play 100 games of Skirmish.

Conqueror
Play 100 games of Conquest.

Patroller
Play 100 games of Picket Patrol.

Untrampled
Pick up a flag from a fallen flag bearer.

Bullseye
Score a bullseye on a drill camp target.

[h2]Performance Improvements[/h2]

Rendering for common world objects such as fences, buildings and vegetation is now binned to be rendered in instanced batches. This results in a significant CPU overhead reduction on the render thread, especially noticeable in areas with far view distances. In addition to the world rendering overhead being reduced, the per-frame setup of dynamic render objects is now much faster.

Here are a few off/on comparisons captured with a Ryzen 1700X paired with an RTX 3060 running the very high graphic preset setting:

Instancing disabled

Instancing enabled

Instancing disabled

Instancing enabled

Instancing disabled

Instancing enabled

[h2]Update 181 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Added 10 Steam achievements.
  
• Added major performance improvements via instanced batching.
  
• Increased the max view distance of trees and bushes by 25%.
  
• Increased the max view distance of all non-vegetation objects by 40%.
  
• Drastically increased the max amount of rendered character shadows (from 30 to 150 on very high for instance).
  
• Increased the view distance of indirect light bounces (SVOTI) by 300%.
  
• Added 2nd Mississippi, 3rd Alabama, 14th Brooklyn and 20th Maine to the pool of customizable units.
  
• Added base spawn tags to drill camp picket patrol spawn points.
  
• Fixed a number of missing fence ledges and proxy walls, Limestone Bridge & Waterways Conquest areas, Antietam.
  
• Doubled the resolution of the speaker, muted and demoted icons on the name tags.
  
• Added a new grass model variant to the mix.
  
• Reduced camera movement on exit “at the ready”, melee mode and when selecting the revolver.
  
• Fixed a few potential issues with the overlook point at Harpers Ferry.
  
• Added 2nd Mississippi, 30th Virginia and 5th Alabama BTN national flags.
  
• Fixed the flipped artillery battery spawn positions in the Forest Stream Conquest area, Antietam.
  
• Fixed a flipped morale count during the battle report playback when playing the Skirmishes game mode.
  
• Cocking a revolver no longer causes the automatic freelook to kick in (if this feature is enabled).
  
• Servers running 150 or more player slots will now continuously warn their admins about possible performance issues if their hardware hasn’t been upgraded (this is free) by contacting Gportal.
  
• When getting killed and triggering last stand, thus causing an instant respawn, the player should now be able to move about just fine.
  
• The character customization level is no longer loaded immediately when starting the game or when leaving a server, but only while the character customization is to be shown, resulting in faster game startup times.
  
• Fixed an issue with joining a Skirmish server during a round transition after the battle report has finished resulting in the client remaining stuck in the static spectator camera.
  

That’s all for now. We hope you will enjoy unlocking the achievements as well as the major performance improvements of update 181.

See you in the fields of glory!

- The Campfire Games Team

Hello everyone,

Today, we’re happy to once again be heavily expanding the offerings of the newly introduced Conquest mode! Update 180 adds an additional 6 Conquest areas to the game, bringing the number of available Conquest areas up to 18. With the added easy-to-use level and/or game mode changing via the in-game server settings, admins and players alike should be able to tailor exactly the experience they’d like!

The update also includes another polish pass to the deployment UI, an AFK to Spectate feature and several minor fixes and improvements.

[h2]Update 180 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Added 4 new Conquest areas in the South Mountain level: Log Cabin, Wheat Fields, Rocky Slopes and Hilltop.
  

• Added 2 new Conquest areas in the Antietam level: Limestone Bridge and Waterways.
  

• The Server Settings menu now allows server admins to change game mode and level on the fly without having to restart their server. Note that this feature requires mass testing and so please report any issues you might experience that are tied to it.
  
• The deployment screen now allows for previewing the state of the spawn queues on the main base or the flag spawn by simply clicking on either one.
  
• The deployment screen now provides a much more detailed state of your company's flag bearer, helping you determine if it's worth it to remain in the flag spawn queue or not. This info can be viewed even while in the queue of the main Infantry spawn.
  
• Improved the 1st person exit animations of Ready and Melee Mode with a bayonet attached.
  
• Added an automatic AFK system, moving the AFK player into the spectating team. This happens sooner during Last Stand in order to cut down on AFK players prolonging the length of the event.
  
• Capturing all 3 capture points in the Conquest mode while the enemy is in Last Stand no longer results in an instant win. Instead, the Counter-Attack mechanic will be triggered (as is the case in all other morale level scenarios already). We have done this to eliminate the very hard-to-understand victories that could occur due to the above mechanics.
  

That's all we have for now. See you on the fields of glory!

- The Campfire Games Team

Hello everyone,

Following last week's major update, we are now pleased to be bringing you even more content with Update 179. This update focuses on expanding the Conquest game mode with 4 new areas situated at the town of Harpers Ferry: River Town, Outskirts, Overlook and Valley, as well as tweaking the layout and size of the Smokestacks and Framing Fencelines Conquest areas located on Antietam.

Several of the Harpers Ferry Conquest areas are radically different in overall layout than any other Conquest area in the game thus far due to the vertical differences as well as urban layouts found in the level and so we will be keeping an eye on any feedback you might have regarding them.



Update 179 also features the first implementation of Battle Report replays (selectable by the “Replays” button found in the main menu). This will present the user with a list of recorded battle reports available to be replayed. This feature could prove useful for any unit conducting a tactical debrief following a battle or simply if you want to relive some great (or bad) outcome of a recent match of yours.

As noted earlier, this is the very first implementation of the feature and so we’re very much looking forward to hearing your feedback as to what to improve/add to it going forward.



The pool of customizable regiments is also expanding in Update 179. With the addition of the 2nd US Regulars, 1st Minnesota, 1st Georgia and 13th Virginia to the mix.



Aside from the usual bug fixes, this update also includes minor gameplay additions, such as an optional automatic freelook during reloads and bayonet fixings, located in the gameplay options. This setting is off by default. We are looking for feedback from you all as to whether or not it should be enabled by default in the future so please chime in once you have tried it!

Additionally, Update 179 brings a 50% reduction in bandwidth related to the character customization. Furthermore, we will be testing support for changing the level and game mode without requiring a server restart. This will initially be mass tested on the official test server and released for every server owner to make use of relatively shortly after if no issues are found.

[h2]Update 179 Patch Notes[/h2]

• Added 4 new Conquest areas on Harpers Ferry: River Town, Outskirts, Overlook and Valley.
  
• Reworked Conquest areas: Smokestacks and Framing Fencelines on Antietam.
  
• Added the first implementation of the Battle Report replay feature to the main menu.
  
• Added 4 new customizable regiments to the pool of available units: 2nd US Regulars, 1st Minnesota, 1st Georgia and 13th Virginia.
  
• Reduced the networking load of the character customization system by 50%.
  
• Added an automatic freelook setting in the gameplay options menu.
  
• Detail work, Forrest Stream area, Antietam.
  
• Added 4 new poses to the customization menu: Parade Rest, At The Ready, Wave Flag and Crossed Arms.
  
• When dead while last stand triggers during a skirmish round, you are now correctly instantly spawned again.
  
• Drill Camps now have a working inspection camera again.
  
• Potentially fixed players that seemingly fly when they interact with the artillery pieces.
  
• Fixed a bug sometimes resulting in the first-person weapon being linked to the wrong hand after spawning.
  
• Fixed a bug where weather effects such as puddles would linger into the next conquest area.
  

That's all for now. We look forward to be fighting with you in Harpers Ferry, where the Potomac and the Shenandoah rivers converge and John Brown once sparked the whole thing.

- The Campfire Games Team