Onward News

Hi everyone!

Today we have released a hotfix to address an issue that caused the Workshop area of the game to no longer function properly. A fix for the related issue where custom map makers are no longer able to upload new maps or update existing maps is coming soon, but will not require a patch for the game.

We are still looking into an issue that causes a small number of Oculus Home users to not be able to launch the game. Please contact our support team if you’re facing issues launching the game through Oculus Home (PC).

The patch to address the Workshop issue is available now, and will download automatically to your device.

Stay frosty!

Hello again, everyone!

Today features the release of Onward version 1.8.9! We’ve already seen a lot of community excitement around this patch since we released the trailer on Monday. The headlines for this update include new gun interactions in the form of speed reloads, HK slaps, and slide locks, and the redesigned Abandoned, with day and night versions available. We also included some bug fixes and game adjustments. For a detailed list of changes, be sure to review the changelog below.

[h2]New Maps: Abandoned (Day) & Abandoned (Night)[/h2]

Gear up, team.

A Marine recon mission was cut short when a Chinook transporting MARSOC Raiders was shot down over an unmapped area. Survivors are believed to be held up near an abandoned industrial complex, and intelligence has confirmed a strong Volk presence moving into the area following the crash.

This is gonna be a large area of operation surrounded by lots of trees, rocks, and hills which we can use as cover for our approach. Once we reach the compound, expect to engage the enemy in close quarters. Command has also given us the option of using flanking routes on the outskirts of the AO. We’ll also be up against snipers hiding in tall buildings -- some repurposed, abandoned apartments -- so be careful. We should consider having a designated Marksman to counter them.

Move out!

[h2]An ode to OceanDolf[/h2]
We’ve added a toy dolphin to the map for you to find. The dolphin is the favorite animal of a very beloved community member, OceanDolf, who passed away in 2021. Not only was she a member of the player community and a part of the VRML, but also she was a valued member of the QA team here at Downpour.

Her joy and laugh was infectious and she was an absolute delight to work and play with. If you had the pleasure of being on her team you were a cub to her “Mama bear” personality. She swore by the MK18 and was one of the people most passionate about Onward. She will be missed dearly. The dolphin toy is a way for her memory to live on and continue to be a part of the community she devoted so much time and love to.

[h2]New Gun Interactions[/h2]
Speed Reload
HK Slap
Slide Locks
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Changelog[/h2] System

• Slightly reduced the weapon's quietest volume setting to help with people's feedback about volume being too loud for Quest
  
• Fixed an issue that was causing the game to not to launch from SteamVR for some players
  

Gameplay

• Increased the limit of players on a single team to 10 in Free Roam and Shooting Range
  
• Fixed an issue with broken lobbies going into “Waiting for player” mode
  
• Fixed dead players having downed player symbol next to their name in tent if they leave mid-round and rejoin
  
• Sidearm beyond the first (i.e., silencer, laser sight) will display in the correct location in the equipment section of the loadout
  
• Downed MARSOC player can no longer type code into their tablet
  
• Downed players will now count as kills at the end of the round
  
• Fixed issue where if a player leaves a lobby they were in as a caster, they will cause the first round of any lobby they subsequently host to be un-endable
  
• Fixed bug where if you put your gun inside an object or a wall and release the trigger hand your left hand gets teleported away from your body
  
• Fixed an issue with the kill house on Shooting Range killing the player in certain areas
  
• While wearing spectator goggles, you can now see players on minimap
  
• After loading into another map the Caster is now able to change scores properly
  
• Fixed the +/- controls not cycling through players in caster mode
  
• Fixed player usernames not appearing in First Person Perspective while casting
  

Maps

• Shooting Range (Day & Night) spawning in the table has been fixed
  
• Some areas in shooting rage have been adjusted to not allow players to clip through unintended areas
  
• Graphic adjustments throughout several maps have been made to fix fighting/collision issues, player/item pass through, cross-platform inaccuracies
  
• One in the Chamber player spawn points have been adjusted so players are a lot less likely to spawn on top of each other during the match
  
• Fixed Helicopter landing error in Subway that was causing round to not end
  
• Fixed soft lock issue in Basic Training by expending all bullets and magazines in the M16 before the step to hold the front grip
  
• Fixed ramp in Bazaar being walkable by building corner on the side of the scaffolding
  
• Fixed players being able to climb on top of the tank inside the Northeast garage allowing the player to clip their head into the roof on Snowpeak
  
• Several wall and surface bugs fixed on Subway
  
• Changed the end of Subway tunnels to now have fallen metal walls to give you a better idea of how far you are able to walk into the tunnels as well as giving the background a brighter color to prevent hiding in the dark tunnels
  
• Uplink spawns are adjusted on Subway
  
• Adjusted a MARSOC spawn on Downfall
  
• Moved a blue cargo container on Cargo to increase visual occlusion from both sides
  
• Fixed Custom Content ammo boxes not spawning
  

Weapons and Utilities

• Addition of HK Slap for G3, G3 auto, MP5
  
• Addition of Paddle Release style Speed Reload for 552, AK12, AKM, AKS74U, VAL, G36C, G3, SVD, M39
  
• Addition of slide locks to weapons: Beretta, Glock, M1911, Makarov, TT-33, Five-SeveN, M16A4, MK16, MK17, AK5C, MK18, AUG, L86, Benelli M4, G3A3, G3 Auto, TAR-21, G36C, SKS, SPAS-12
  
• Improved the scope lenses for PC by showing a slight reflection on the lens
  
• Fixed guns floating when joining in progress games
  

Known Issues

• The red-dot sight on the MP5 is slightly mis-aligned, and the bullet will hit slightly below the centre pip
  
• In Co-Op on Abandoned, host can sometimes spawn on Helicopter
  
• Issue with items floating on Downfall
  
• In Operations, when host changes, game mode cannot be changed until new host enters loadout screen
  
• On Bazaar (Day and Night) the AI sometimes spawn out of bounds
  
• Downed players at end of the round will not count towards deaths
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Happy July, Everyone!

Let’s start this month’s sitrep with the good stuff: update 1.8.9 is currently being reviewed in Unit 51, and will soon land on your devices! We are working hard to make sure all the new features are polished and in the best condition for release.

[h3]From The Devs' Desk[/h3]
Update 1.8.8 introduced some much needed backend stability to the game, room for growth, and helped set us up for future projects. Some game adjustments that were made in 1.8.8 received some passionate community feedback and we wanted to address two major concerns players have. Number 1, we have reviewed the audio and made adjustments to the Quest audio so it is closer to the sound profiles and settings for PCVR. Some of these changes will be coming in Update 1.8.9, and some will follow after. Number 2, Freeroam and Shooting Range maps will no longer have a 5-person limit on teams, meaning that you will be able to have up to 10 players on one team in these game modes. We also learned that a small number of SteamVR players weren’t able to launch the game successfully, and we managed to fix this issue in Update 1.8.9.

In our last Sitrep we introduced two new weapons interactions that will be coming to 1.8.9. The HK Slap and Speed Reload, and the community had an overwhelmingly positive response. We are happy to share that we have added a third new interaction: the ability to manually lock back the slide/bolt for firearms that support this function.
https://onwardthegame.com/img/Devblog/july2021/SlideLock.mp4

If you have been keeping up with our dev blogs and social media, you have seen the story and images behind Abandoned. One new item that will also be coming to Abandoned is an Easter egg in memory of a beloved Onward community member and QA team member. For the details behind the addition of this item, check the patch notes that will be coming upon the release of the 1.8.9 update.

After the release of Update 1.8.9, we will be quickly jumping to the development of Patch 1.8.10. The update will feature the release of Turbine day and night maps. Additional features that we are looking forward to releasing with it are new animations and a tent upgrade.

We continue to work on our next major game features such as Shadowmask Lighting to improve graphics on PC, a party system, and a ranking system. One bit of detail we can start to share is that the first iteration of the ranking system is looking to comprise of 20 ranks and 10 prestiges based on things such as kills, death, heals, objectives, matches played, and other game stats. Be ready to start moving up the ranks and look out for more details in future Sitreps.

[h3]Community Center[/h3]
Hot off the LED screen we have new artwork for you! We had some beautiful new wallpapers for you to show off your passion for Onward. The Fan Supply Drop provides HD wallpaper art for your PC and mobile screens. To get these wallpapers download the Fan Supply Drop from our website.

July’s Community Spotlight is F.lapinski. You may have seen him wrecking people in VRML matches, or maybe you have played on some of his custom maps. Now he has an even bigger project he’s working on. F.lapinski has created a charity group where he is going to be running tournaments to help Veterans. He is partnering up with Veteran charity Stack Up* who help eliminate extreme symptoms of trauma, stress, and isolation of military service members past and present. Stack Up is bringing vets together through the "shared language" of gaming. For more information on this tournament group please check out our Discord.

New community-made custom maps added: OIL DEPOT DAY/NIGHT by F.Lapinski: Conflict arises across the globe. Espionage indicates that there is Volk activity near Chudtsy, Russia conducting possible illegal oil depot operations. At this time marsoc are deployed to take down this operation.

DRY RUN by Beikenost: An asset flip map set in the Middle East.

THE HOOK 2.0 by Evolution: A collection of nostalgic pirates who can't let go of the past have managed to plunder a modern-day weapons payload. Your team needs to get in there and shut them down. This is no longer bringing guns to a sword fight.

Make sure to go to the Workshop in game to check out and play on these new additions.

Introductions
Downpour has some new additions to our team! You may know these two from the community or played with them on the battlefield. Novius (Brian) has joined the programming side of Onward and Monorchid (Joel) has joined level design.

Things are starting to heat up, make sure you Stay Frosty!



*Facebook has partnered with Stack Up in the past

Hello everyone!

The long awaited update 1.8.8 is here! This update features a rewrite of key game systems to make the game more stable and future-proof, so that we can build on a better foundation going forward. The rewrite includes areas of the code that control player lobbies, game modes, and many other aspects of the game. We’ve included only a selection of bugs and changes in the changelog: over a hundred bugs have been fixed in this update and some new content has made it in as well.

Night Time Shooting Range
Are you ready to prepare for night time operations with your fire team? The new night version of the Shooting Range will allow you to train your skills in the dark. When setting up for Shooting Range in single player or multiplayer, you will now be able to choose a day or night setting.


Audio Systems
The second major change to feature in this update is further improvements to the audio systems. We’ve rebalanced our audio volumes, we’ve improved the way volume decreases over distance and we’ve added new sounds for footsteps and a selection of weapons, with more to come in the future.

Video of Sound Updates

We’ve included a more detailed changelog below. Stay on the lookout for 1.8.9 in the coming weeks!

-- Changelog
Audio

• Added verification steps to check for correct settings
  
• Audio volumes rebalanced
  
• Audio attenuation distances tweaked
  
• Custom global audio can now use the indoor/outdoor ducking system
  
• Added new Custom Content audio events
  

Gameplay

• Fixed a bug where if players drew a lot on the whiteboard the game could crash on Oculus Quest
  
• Fixed several instances of lobbies crashing and kicking players back to the main menu
  
• Fixed an issue in Uplink where the round would sometimes not end after the Uplink was sent successfully
  
• Forgive or Punish buttons for team killing have been moved to the tent, allowing players more time to punish team killers
  
• Removed a small rogue collider around players’ necks that could unintentionally block bullets
  
• Evac choppers’ landing locations have been adjusted slightly so they are more easily accessible
  
• Bushes in Suburbia Day have been adjusted so that visibility is more consistent between the PC and Quest versions of Onward
  
• Quest players can no longer spawn on dead fire team leaders after pausing the game through the Oculus menu
  
• Collision boxes for the trucks on Shooting Range have been adjusted so players can no longer get stuck
  
• Fixed an issue where some players were returned to the menu after completing Basic Training, instead of moving them on to Intermediate Training
  
• Fixed several collision issues leading to inconsistent or incorrect results
  

Weapon & Utilities

• Fixed a number of issues where objects would be incorrectly blocked or visible in front of or behind smoke grenades
  
• When ejecting magazine from gun, velocity of gun is now taken into account
  
• C4 can now be deactivated by fire from a Molotov cocktail
  
• Fixed an issue where if the player had C4 and a Molotov cocktail on their vest and the Molotov was shot the C4 would float mid-air
  
• Fixed an issue with the MP5 where the bolt could not be closed after emptying a magazine
  
• Fixed an issue where grenades could do damage through solid floors
  
• Fixed an issue where the gun sight would float above the MK18 in the tent if the M203 grenade launcher was equipped to the gun
  
• Fixed RPG rocket fins sticking out on Quest
  
• Fixed an issue where players could shoot through the Riot Shield if it was in a lowered position
  

Custom Content
Released a new custom content sdk: v2.0.9
https://onwardthegame.com/doc/OnwardCustomContent_SDK_v2.0.9.unitypackage
Updated the Custom Content Guide
https://onwardthegame.com/doc/CustomContentGuide.pdf
Updated the Custom Content Lightmapping Guide
https://onwardthegame.com/doc/OnwardLightmapping101.pdf

Known Issues

• Players will sometimes spawn inside the table in the Shooting Range day and night maps
  
• We’ve temporarily removed support for bHaptics vests for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 users
  
• Oculus players may encounter a black screen (audio can still be heard) when loading in or out of the tent. Restarting your game will fix this issue
  
• One evac zone in Subway still needs to be adjusted to be able to complete the game mode
  
• When playing One in the Chamber, multiple players can spawn on top of each other