Insurgency: Sandstorm News

[h3]We've released a hotfix for update 1.8 that addresses the following issues:[/h3]

Fixes:

• Fixed an entitlements crash caused by Unreal Engine that could happen on launch
  
• Fixed a clipping issue during focus aiming when using the AUG A3 with the 1.5x A1 Scope and 3x A3 Scope weapon upgrades
  
• Fixed an issue when using an AUG A3 with the Loading Grip attachment, Player’s fingers would get bent back when performing a normal and dry reloads
  
• Fixed an issue where bots would get stuck at a corner in Tell Outpost
  
• Fixed an issue where the Tell Push Insurgents Objective C could be captured or blocked from unintended areas
  
• Fixed an issue on Tell Domination where players could access unintended areas of the map
  
• Fixed an issue where you were unable to melee with your Primary weapon out
  
• Fixed an issue where the bolt of a Primary weapon with an Underbarrel upgrade was not animating when firing

Known Issues:

• The crosshair is not visible on the 2x Kobra when using the Picture-in-picture in Scope Setting
  
• Equipment color option selected under Appearance section is only applying to vest area and not the rest of the Light or Heavy Carrier
  
• Community hosted servers will show a player as level 0
  
• Mosin and M24 have a floating rear sight in third person
  
• Mosin Stripper Clip weapon upgrade does not push in properly when reloading
  
• MP5 has a slight clipping of mag during dry reload
  
• VHS-2 and AK-74 magazines disappear for a moment during a dry reload
  
• Pressing G to toggle a Bipod weapon upgrade while standing does not show the deployment of the bipod in third person
  
• In Frontline mode, if you capture an objective then team swap, you will see not a floating objective until respawn
  
• Shotguns and machine guns will have a left elbow clipping into itself and the body during the third person Hardcore sprinting animation
  
• Remote explosive or mines will have a left elbow clipping into itself and the body during the third person Hardcore sprinting animation
  
• When playing as a Commander and having a friendly Observer nearby, the Observer’s class icon will gray out even though you are in range of them
  
• AUG A3’s loading animations will have broken fingers in first person
  
• AI vehicle can get stuck in the Tutorial Range
  
• When you first load the game, there’s a chance your character may be shown without a vest; going to customize and selecting the faction will load all the correct cosmetics
  
• Chemical gas is missing the appropriate texture causing large grey polygons to appear however, please try verifying the integrity of the local files to resolve the issue.
  
• There is a broken texture on the Aiming Grip affecting the M16A2, M24, M870, Mosin, SKS, TOZ, AKS74U, G36, FAL, MP7, and MK14
  
• When an Aiming Grip is equipped on some weapons, the left thumb will block the iron sights while aiming down sights
  
• The background of the main menu flickers
  
• Tell Insurgent Checkpoint E resupply crate spawns inside a dumpster
  
• AI enemies will sometimes not have the correct appearance to match their class
  
• Loading Grip incorrectly increases the pump speed of the TOZ-194 shotgun
  
• A10 Strafe no longer damages weapon caches

[h3]We've released a hotfix for update 1.8 that addresses the following issues:[/h3]

Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where the Urban Warden Torso DLC was missing the police badge
  
• Fixed an issue on the ACE 52 Urban Digital weapon skin not appearing properly

Known Issues:

• The crosshair is not visible on the 2x Kobra when using the Picture-in-picture in Scope Setting
  
• Equipment color option selected under Appearance section is only applying to vest area and not the rest of the Light or Heavy Carrier
  
• The bolt of your Primary weapon won’t move if you have an underbarrel shotgun or grenade launcher equipped
  
• Community hosted servers will show a player as level 0
  
• Mosin and M24 have a floating rear sight in third person
  
• Mosin Stripper Clip weapon upgrade does not push in properly when reloading
  
• MP5 has a slight clipping of mag during dry reload
  
• VHS-2 and AK-74 magazines disappear for a moment during a dry reload
  
• Pressing G to toggle a Bipod weapon upgrade while standing does not show the deployment of the bipod in third person
  
• In Frontline mode, if you capture an objective then team swap, you will see not a floating objective until respawn
  
• Shotguns and machine guns will have a left elbow clipping into itself and the body during the third person Hardcore sprinting animation
  
• Remote explosive or mines will have a left elbow clipping into itself and the body during the third person Hardcore sprinting animation
  
• When playing as a Commander and having a friendly Observer nearby, the Observer’s class icon will gray out even though you are in range of them
  
• AUG A3’s loading animations will have broken fingers in first person
  
• AI vehicle can get stuck in the Tutorial Range
  
• When you first load the game, there’s a chance your character may be shown without a vest; going to customize and selecting the faction will load all the correct cosmetics
  

[h3]Operation: Breakaway

Check out the full changelist below and see what’s new in Operation: Breakaway.[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]New Map: Tell[/h3]



Breakaway’s new map is called Tell, and is a reimagining of an Insurgency 2014 classic. Tell ramps up the intensity of Sandstorm's signature hardcore combat by squeezing everyone together while still allowing for diverse navigation routes down everything from narrow corridors to lengthy streets. It features tight urban CQB unlike any other level in Sandstorm.

Tell has support for the following game modes:

• Push
  
• Domination
  
• Firefight
  
• Checkpoint
  
• Hardcore Checkpoint
  
• Outpost
  

[h3]New Weapons: AUG A3, FAMAS F1, Underbarrel Shotguns[/h3]

We’ve added 2 new small profile bullpup style assault rifle weapons for Rifleman, Demolitions, Commander, and Observer classes: the AUG A3 for Security and FAMAS F1 for Insurgents. We’ve also added 3 new underbarrel shotguns as underbarrel weapon upgrades: the M26 MASS for Security, Buckshot Launcher for Insurgents, and Masterkey shared by both factions.

AUG A3 - Low fire rate, controllable recoil



FAMAS F1 - Very high fire rate, small magazine capacity



M26 MASS - Mag-fed, available for M16A4, M4A1, and AUG A3



Buckshot Launcher - Single shot 40mm buckshot shell, available for AKM, AK-74



Masterkey - Tube-fed, available for M16A4, M4A1, AKM, AK-74, M16A2, and FAMAS F1



The Masterkey and M26 MASS have no optics or iron sights. When using Aim Down Sights with them, they’ll point roughly at the center of the screen similar to the NVG Point Shooting upgrade seen on night maps. The Buckshot Launcher can use its iron sights to be aimed more precisely, but only has one shot until it needs to be reloaded. It’s basically a tactical blunderbuss.

[h3]Foregrips[/h3]

We know we’ve been a bit lacking in the foregrip department. We added 3 new grips available in the underbarrel weapon upgrade category for all Primary weapons except for machine guns and anti-materiel rifles. Yes, that means you can finally put a grip on weapons like the Mosin, MP7, and even the Grease Gun. Each grip gives a different gameplay benefit at various supply point costs. The existing “Foregrip” upgrade remains unchanged, but we’ve renamed it to “Recoil Grip” to clarify its function among the others.

Aiming Grip - Aim down the sights of your weapon faster



Loading Grip - Reload your weapon faster



Quick Draw Grip - Draw and put away your Primary weapon faster



[h3]Free Unlockable Cosmetics[/h3]

In Breakaway, a coup d'état is underway. Some security forces have defected to the insurgents. Internal affairs officers have embedded with the Security to gather evidence, build a case, and track down these rogue elements, which include both local and federal police teams fighting alongside the Insurgents.



Rogue Cop - A federal or local law enforcement officer who has joined the Insurgents.

Rogue Cop Top Camo (Torso slot)

• Blue DPM
  
• Digital Blue
  
• Digital Dark Blue
  

Rogue Cop Bottom Camo (Legs slot)

• Blue DPM
  
• Digital Blue
  
• Digital Dark Blue
  

Combat Glasses (Eyewear slot)

• Black
  
• Blue
  
• Cyan
  
• Dark Red
  
• Orange
  
• Peach
  
• Purple
  
• Yellow
  

Digital Dark Blue (Equipment slot)
Blue DPM (Equipment slot)



Internal Affairs - An investigator working with the Security to hunt down rogue actors who joined the Insurgents.

Internal Affairs (Torso slot)

• Dark Brown
  
• Sand
  
• Tan
  

Business Casual (Legs slot)

• Dark Brown
  
• Sand
  
• Tan
  

Aviator (Eyewear slot)

• Black
  
• Dark Red
  
• Orange
  
• Peach
  
• Yellow
  

[h3]DLC Cosmetics[/h3]

We are adding new DLC cosmetics with this update that will give your characters and weapons a unique look. The cosmetic items they contain can be combined with other cosmetic items already in-game. Purchasing these is a great way to support Sandstorm’s continued post-release development. See the different sets below, along with what items they contain and apply to:



Insurgent “Rogue Spec Ops” Gear Set

• Skull Mask and Shemagh
  
• Spec Ops Tactical Shirt
  
• Spec Ops Tactical Pants
  
• Spec Ops Boots
  

Insurgent “Urban Digital” Weapon Skin Set

• AK-74
  
• FAMAS F1
  
• Uzi
  
• ACE 52
  
• Alpha AK
  
• 1911 Pistol
  

Security “Urban Warden” Gear Set

• Net with Helmet
  
• Chainmail Top with Padding
  
• Chainmail Bottom with Padding
  
• Chainmail Gloves
  

Security “Desert Hex” Weapon Skin Set

• M16A4
  
• AUG A3
  
• MP7
  
• Tavor 7
  
• Mk 18 CQBR
  
• M45 Pistol
  

If you want to get all four Operation Breakaway DLC sets at a reduced price, check out the link here:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16237/

[h3]Outpost Mode[/h3]



We’re adding a new co-op mode called Outpost, a reimagining of Insurgency 2014’s mode of the same name. In it you’ll be put on the defensive with limited supply points, holding off against waves of enemies. Outpost takes inspiration from our WWII shooter Day of Infamy’s Entrenchment Co-op mode, fixes a lot of the common complaints seen in both it and the original mode, and greatly expands on Sandstorm's Co-op experience.

Overview

• Players need to defend their objectives against 7 waves of enemies to win.
  
• Only 1 or 2 objectives are active at a time, with a total of 4 to 8 objectives on each map.
  
• If all players die, or their active objectives are captured, they respawn at the next objective area to defend it.
  
• If players are pushed all the way back to their final objective area, and it is captured or they all die, they lose the round.
  

Gameplay

• Players start with 2 supply points on the first wave, and gain 2 supply points after every wave.
  
• Players can resupply in between waves during a “Preparing” phase.
  
• Enemies get better equipment as waves go on.
  
• A randomly selected “special wave” with unique enemies mixed in among normal enemies will attack at waves 2, 4, and 6. Special enemies include:
  • Bangers - Rush you with Grease Guns, flashbangs, increased movement speed, and a physically shorter height so they’re harder to hit.
    
  • Grenadiers - Force you out of cover with a copious amount of explosive frag grenades.
    
  • Blasters - Suppress you with MG3 machine guns, increased health, and a physically taller height so they can shoot over more cover.
    
  • Rocketmen - Target you from afar with RPG-7 rocket launchers. Or up close.
    
  • Suicide Bombers - Yep. A wave of suicide bombers.
• The final wave will combine all special enemies and normal enemies together for one massive attack.
  

Outpost mode is available on the maps below. We hope to expand the mode to more maps in a future update.

• Tell
  
• Crossing
  
• Ministry
  
• Hillside
  
• Outskirts
  
• Power Plant
  

[h3]Official Co-op Playlists Update[/h3]
A playlist for our new Outpost mode will be added to official Co-op matchmaking, and will replace the Frenzy playlist. The other playlists, Normal and Hardcore, will be renamed to Checkpoint and Hardcore Checkpoint since we now have more than one Co-op mode and need to be specific. As we add new game mode content we need to be careful to not split our player-base as we don't want to increase queue times too dramatically. We also want to ensure every official playlist experience in Sandstorm is strong for both new and existing players. Please expect us to have similar considerations with future game modes. We'll keep up the Frenzy playlist for another 2 weeks so you have a bit more time to play, after which it will go away as a permanent playlist. Frenzy (and its beloved cousin Task Force 666) will still be coming back on occasion as limited time playlist modes. Don't forget you can still play Frenzy on community servers that run the "Frenzy" mutator.

[h3]AI Update[/h3]
The first stage of the AI overhaul is here in update 1.8 Operation: Breakaway. It has focused primarily on the bot's knowledge of the player's location, basically answering the question, "when should the Bot know where the player is?". The ultimate effect of these changes is that the bots will be more fair. You shouldn't have situations where, for example, you get shot through walls or smoke unless you're really obvious about your location. You also shouldn’t feel that bots are unusually accurate at range, or snapshot you up close.

Specific Changes

• AI now know what sounds they hear (gunfire, dialogue, opening doors, footsteps), instead of just knowing that a specific player made noise and guessing at the cause.
  
• Adjusted which sounds provide AI awareness of a player's location, and at what range.
  
• When shooting a player, the AI will use the last known position of the player instead of their current position. If you duck behind cover, or into a cloud of smoke, they may still suppress your last position for a few seconds, so don't stick your head out.
  
• When suppressing, since the AI don't know the target's specific location, they will no longer gain increased accuracy over time. Instead they'll just spray the area. If you're behind thin cover, you can move away silently to avoid getting wall banged.
  
• The AI have laxened their social-distancing policy, and will no longer automatically aim for the player's face if they approach within 2m. They'll still shoot you though.
  
• The distance that AI acquire targets at long range has been reduced, and their time to fire increased.
  
• When AI retreat they will no longer get confused and change directions at random.
  

[h3]Gameplay Improvements[/h3]
Over the past few updates, we’ve received feedback that certain high caliber weapons are overpowered and serve as Sandstorm’s meta. We’re going to be making a few adjustments to try to make these weapons feel more balanced among the others.

• Reduced FAL’s muzzle velocity from 840 to 810, reducing damage, penetration damage, bullet travel speed, and other ballistic factors slightly
  
• Removed Extended Magazine upgrade from FAL and G3A3 in Versus and Competitive
  
• Increased horizontal recoil of Mk 14 EBR
  

[h3]New Configurations for Modders[/h3]

• Hear Aware Distances have been added for Footsteps, Breaching, Doors and Rigging Explosives, to configure the range that bots are aware of players taking the indicated actions
  
• Sight Range Idle is now the distance that a bot can first spot a new target at.
  
• Sight Range Alert is now the distance that a bot will know longer be able to see a known target.
  
• Can grenade with LOS if you want bots to throw grenades straight at people, rather than lobbing over things
  
• Grenade Minimum Distance when you want bots to be a bit riskier with their tosses
  
• Rocket Minimum Distance is the same but for RPGs
  
• Rocket Squad Cooldown is the time that bots will wait between using rockets (within the same squad)
  
• Rocket Minimum Cluster Size how many people are close together before the bots break out the RPG

[h3]Mod Tools Improvements[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where upload of mods would fail when using the default /Mods/ folder (you will may to delete your Insurgency/Intermediate/ folder for these changes to apply)
  
• Old versions of mods will now be uninstalled when a new version is installed
  
• Added in Canyon Modular Props
  
• Added in Tell Modular Props
  
• Added in Town Sublevels containing merged buildings
  
• Added "Developer Iteration Mode" which skips spawning/class selection timer to help test maps a little faster
  
• Fixed issue with creating a new Mod when templates aren't available that causes mod creation to fail
  
• Applied General Editor Fixes for Engine version 4.25.2
  
• Removed "LaunchSandstorm.bat"
  

[h3]User Experience[/h3]

• Updated the font used for compass heading numbers
  
• Polished the visual indicator for DLC items in the cosmetic menu
  
• Updated the icon displayed when using Proximity chat to differentiate from Radio
  
• Adjusted the position of character models on the loadout screen so they no longer hit their head (oof) on the top navigation buttons

[h3]Visual Improvements[/h3]

• Updated the Easy Anti-Cheat loading image
  
• Updated the main menu map to represent the Breakaway release
  

[h3]Performance Improvements[/h3]

[h3]Level Changes[/h3]
Outskirts

• Fixed an issue where players were able to reach an unintended location by walking on small ledges
  
• Crossing
  
• Fixed an issue where a tank had no collision set on it

Summit

• Fixed an issue in Checkpoint Security where a wall had no collisions set on it

Tideway

• Fixed an issue where players could become stuck after vaulting over a fence
  
• Fixed a potential spawn camping issue on Firefight West
  
• Fixed a number of spawn camping issues on both Push scenarios
  
• Reduced how far Security can push when Charlie is neutral in Frontline
  
• Fixed a number of spawn camping issues in Frontline

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• The Commander and Observer will now correctly hear the “BRRRT” after calling in a strafing run
  
• Fixed the Autocannon strafe audio timing so the sounds play in the correct order
  
• Fixed an issue where players could see their own disembodied legs when prone, crouching, or driving
  
• Fixed an issue where the smoke overlay would activate on players on the roof of buildings even if the smoke particles didn’t penetrate the roof
  
• Fixed an issue where smoke mortars and chemical mortars on a roof were incorrectly triggering the smoke overlay for players in the buildings even if smoke wasn’t penetrating the roof
  
• Fixed an issue where when standing near objects with auto-lean enabled animations may skip frames
  
• Fixed an issue where the key hint on the underhand grenade throw lesson would show as unbound
  
• Fixed an issue with the G3A3 reload animation causing the magazine to go through the palm
  
• Fixed an issue that was preventing some weapon attachments from being selected when using a default preset under certain circumstances
  
• Fixed an issue where the Connect to IP field would not function properly if there was leading or trailing white space
  
• Fixed a typo in the tutorial lessons
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause bullets to float next to the M16A2 in the loadout menu
  
• Fixed an issue where a server’s favorite state was not being reflected in the Internet browser tab
  
• Fixed an issue where keybinds in the tutorial could display as unbound
  
• Fixed an issue where chat text would still be visible after hiding HUD elements
  
• Fixed an issue where it was possible for the reload state of the rifle could get stuck forcing you to start the reload over or swap between weapons to make it functional again
  
• Fixed an issue where users would have to click Cancel twice to leave a matchmaking queue
  
• Fixed an issue with the inventory screen where the right-most image would appear stretched vertically
  
• Fixed an issue with some hairstyles clipping through the Ghillie Hat
  
• Fixed an issue where you couldn’t correctly scroll through Loadout presets when using a controller
  
• Fixed an issue where toggling the Mute All option for players in an online match would not update the player list until the scoreboard was closed and opened again
  
• Fixed an issue where players might see visual artifacting around the edge of the screen when using SMAA T2x Anti-Aliasing option

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

• The crosshair is not visible on the 2x Kobra when using the Picture-in-picture in Scope Setting
  
• Equipment color option selected under Appearance section is only applying to vest area and not the rest of the Light or Heavy Carrier
  
• The bolt of your Primary weapon won’t move if you have an underbarrel shotgun or grenade launcher equipped
  
• Community hosted servers will show a player as level 0
  
• Mosin and M24 have a floating rear sight in third person
  
• Mosin Stripper Clip weapon upgrade does not push in properly when reloading
  
• MP5 has a slight clipping of mag during dry reload
  
• VHS-2 and AK-74 magazines disappear for a moment during a dry reload
  
• Pressing G to toggle a Bipod weapon upgrade while standing does not show the deployment of the bipod in third person
  
• In Frontline mode, if you capture an objective then team swap, you will see not a floating objective until respawn
  
• Shotguns and machine guns will have a left elbow clipping into itself and the body during the third person Hardcore sprinting animation
  
• Remote explosive or mines will have a left elbow clipping into itself and the body during the third person Hardcore sprinting animation
  
• When playing as a Commander and having a friendly Observer nearby, the Observer’s class icon will gray out even though you are in range of them
  
• AUG A3’s loading animations will have broken fingers in first person
  
• AI vehicle can get stuck in the Tutorial Range
  
• When you first load the game, there’s a chance your character may be shown without a vest; going to customize and selecting the faction will load all the correct cosmetics

Hello Gamers™,

Sorry for the overlap with the State of Production, it's been a crazy month so far. Next month we will try and publish them further apart.

Well, this is it! By this time next week, Operation: Breakaway will be live and you will all have had the opportunity to try our new Bullpup style rifles and take a trip down memory lane through Tell.

To those of you who played on the CTE, how are you all feeling about it so far? Have you gotten lost in Tell like me... constantly? Dry-fired the FAMAS F1 repeatedly after burning through all your ammo? How about the AUG A3 and it's 'a-baby-could-control-this' amount of recoil?



Let us know how you feel about Operation: Breakaway - you can hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Steam, or our Official Discord to give us feedback. I will have browsers open across all my monitors just reading the feedback as it continues to roll in.

I have to say that I truly love Outpost so far. “Reverse checkpoint” feels really fresh and the tension as your supply point slowly builds feels incredible. My strategy has been to get rid of the sidearm and light carrier for an M16 to start. 400 IQ play right there. Rocketmen and I are not friends, though. Peeking a corner and eating six rockets smh my head; I never learn.

I’m hooked on using the Aiming Grip and the Masterkey. Reducing my ADS speed makes such a difference for me - I feel like I win way more firefights with it. Then I just swap to my underbarrel and CQC is covered. These new accessories have really opened up the options as far as loadouts go.



In six days EVERYTHING will be live, but have you seen the new DLC and in-game cosmetics? We’ve posted them across our social accounts, which can be found here. You wanted militaristic Insurgents, so there ya go; the Rogue Spec Ops is in the house. The Security side DLC you haven’t seen yet. You may not have explicitly asked for chain mail and an armored up aesthetic, but the Urban Warden is TOUGH looking, based in reality (the German SEK), and shown here on the blog first!



The in-game cosmetics aren’t slouching either, we can finally show off our beautiful Internal-Affairs-Security-Dad™ and the “Rogue Cop”. Security dad is looking t h i c c, just needs some tongs, fanny pack, and a BBQ. The Rogue Cop gives the Insurgent some camo as many of you requested.



Along with all these character cosmetics we added some new weapon skins. We heard you after the release of the 1.7 cosmetics and we have shifted into a direction that’s more in line with what you (the community as a whole) are really looking for as far as weapon skins go. Let me know your thoughts after you see the new skins in game next week.



Our final Operation: Breakaway stream will be on launch day (October 6th) at 11am MST, right as the update releases! We are excited to hop in and play with everyone, so hopefully you can be on around then. Maybe I will carry you to victory in Outpost? Stranger things have happened. I saw a frog with wings once, so it’s possible. (Editor note: this never happened, he's lying)

I mentioned on the last stream that to make room for Outpost mode we will be removing Frenzy from the permanent playlist options. We will still bring it back as a limited time mode here and there, so don't worry, it's not gone forever.

I'm making one small addition to the monthly blog; my favourite stupid community video of the month. This month I am calling it "Perfectly Cut Scream". This was sent to me on Discord, so I don't have the original creator - if that's you, please get in touch and I will make sure to give you credit!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

That’s it for updates before Operation: Breakaway, thanks to everyone who has played the game, tested on the CTE, given feedback, and watched our streams, it means the world to me (and everyone else at New World).

Speaking of streams, I’ve been happy with how they’ve been going lately. One thing I want to build on is the variety of the content we showcase. For example, my shoe reveals will probably continue (some of you made the mistake of enjoying them and telling me). Do you have any ideas on what else we could include? Send me a DM on Twitter if you do, I’d love to hear from you.

One idea I’ve had is getting some community members in a stream for a “Make Hank Better at the Game” segment. I can use the help, I think it would be entertaining, and maybe some other players could pick up some tips as well.

1.8.1 and 1.9 are in the works already, but I need the opposite of a cup of coffee (is that a Valium?) before we can even start to think about sharing them. The weeks surrounding a release are amazing and full of energy, but now I feel like there’s pure espresso flowing through my veins. Almost time for a nap.

See you all on Tuesday, can’t wait to play with everyone,
fatherHank

Hello everyone, my name is Tim Perreault and I’m the Executive Producer at New World Interactive. September has been a productive month for us. We’ve got a hotfix for the live game, a CTE Preview Event for our next update, and we announced a Mapping Contest for Insurgency: Sandstorm!

Key Points of State of Production #12

• 1.7.1 Hotfix 2
  
• 1.8 Open CTE Event
  
• AI Update
  
• Mapping Contest
  
• Operation: Breakaway

[h2]1.7.1 Hotfix 2[/h2]
We’ve been spending a lot of time investigating the stuttering issue that some of our community members have been encountering. With the help of Epic we’ve found the cause relates to a recent Global Invalidation change that was done to improve performance. For the time being, we are disabling global invalidation. Because this did have a meaningful impact on the game’s performance we’ll be looking to reimplement global invalidation in the future when we can do so without any unintended side effects. This hotfix also addresses a few other issues that were annoying to the community including the lack of collision on Summit point D, mines not detonating when being run over by vehicles, and an issue preventing kills from AI controlled fire support for counting on Commanders and Observers.

[h2]Open CTE Event Results[/h2]
Our Open CTE Event was quite successful. We had great participation from the community both turning up to play and providing feedback. We’ve collected a lot of information on player sentiment about the upcoming update as well as found a few issues to correct before we go live. We’ll be spending the coming weeks before our release on October 6 addressing all the issues we can reproduce. For our next CTE event we’ll be expanding the abilities of our bug reporting tool, which allowed players to provide us with feedback and information during this public test.

[h2]AI Update[/h2]
I’ve asked Jason Campbell, our AI Programmer, to speak a bit about the upcoming AI improvements coming with the Operation: Breakaway update.

What's coming in 1.8? In Operation: Breakaway we're releasing the first major improvements in our AI Overhaul. The largest issue with the AI right now is how unfair it can feel at times. Getting shot through the wall, through smoke, from halfway across the map, or just getting nailed with a laser guided Molotov is just not any fun. For this update, our highest priority is fixing those unfun behaviours. This gives us a solid foundation that will allow us to look into ways to add new, more intelligent behaviours that will make the AI more fun and interesting in future updates.

When deciding if the AI should shoot a player, there are two major questions to answer. Should the AI be aware of the player's presence? If so, how quickly and accurately should they react? Both of those questions are deceptively difficult to answer. Most of our changes in Operation Breakaway are focused on getting better answers to the first question. To that end, we've migrated to Unreal Engine's newer Perception System, which gives us more detailed information regarding what the AI can hear and see. Once we had that information we could nail down the situations in which the AI were being unfair and added a bunch of new configurations to tune them to be nice reasonable soldiers who give you at least a little time to shoot back.

Another aspect of AI in Operation: Breakaway is the special enemies for Outpost mode. While most of these were simple to add through configuration changes and playtesting, a few of them needed some new logic to be written. We made sure to make this logic configurable, so any modders will be able to use it in any new maps or modes they dream up.

So what happened with 1.7.1? Some of you may have noticed that after Operation Clean Sweep the AI seemed to have gotten upgraded with wall hacks and aim cheats. This was a side effect of including the new Perception System in 1.7.1, but without the extra configuration and polish that we’re bringing you in Operation: Breakaway. When we were testing 1.7.1, we got reports back that devs were getting snapshot and wall banged, and of course we knew that wall banging and snap shooting were issues in 1.7. Since we planned to fix this in 1.8 we marked it as a known issue and moved on. However because we didn't have the scope of testing that comes with a larger release, such as the public community test (CTE), we didn't realize just how much more frequently these issues were occurring until it hit the live servers.

Fortunately, we were able to learn a lot from this situation and we've already improved our testing process for 1.8. Not only do we have the full CTE (as we do for all major releases), but we began internal testing of the AI much sooner, and have been testing much more frequently to allow us to iterate on the behaviours faster to get better tuned AI. Those of you who tried out the CTE should have had a much better experience, even before we’ve had the opportunity to take your feedback into account. We're now being more thorough about our before and after observations to help ensure this doesn't happen again.

What can we expect to see in the future? While Operation: Breakaway was focusing on the AIs awareness of players, in our next updates we're going to focus on the AI’s awareness of the world around them. If they're running to attack Objective B we want them to know if they're crossing an open field, down narrow corridors, or through a rubble filled courtyard, so that they can change their movement accordingly. If they hear gunfire from 10m to the west, and see a window 8m to the northwest, they should realize that there's a good chance the window leads to the room with the defender, and is a great place to lob a grenade.

At this point in time, we're focused on wrapping up Operation: Breakaway, and we are just beginning to work on these next set of changes. The first step of the process is to get the information the AI needs to make more tactical decisions, then build out the behaviours that make use of it. To make sure we don't have a repeat of 1.7.1 we're going to continue testing the AI early and often. This means you shouldn't expect the AI to begin maneuvering like a well oiled special forces team in future updates, but you should see steady improvements as we go.

[h2]Mapping Contest[/h2]
We recently had a stream announcing the Insurgency: Sandstorm 2020 Mapping Contest. It’s our largest contest to date, in collaboration with Nvidia, Intel, Epic Games, Focus Home Interactive, Saber Interactive, and Mod.io. There are over $17,000 in prizes available so if you’re at all interested in map making, download our Mod Tools and let your creativity flow.

NWI has a deep-rooted history in the modding community and our previous contests for Insurgency and Day of Infamy have led to some amazing community maps. We’re very excited to see what our community comes up with this time!

Submissions must be received before January 28, 2021 at 2PM EST. For full contest details, see the post here.

[h2]Operation: Breakaway[/h2]
We’re very excited for Operation: Breakaway to release on October 6. Between now and then the team will be putting the finishing touches on the update. If you missed out on the open CTE event you can still check out the website where you can get a sneak peek at some of the content (including a few things we didn’t have in the Open CTE!). That’s it for this month’s SoP, until next time, keep your stick on the ice.