World War 3 News

This update is aimed mostly at stability, but we improved some things and fixed a few bugs as well. We've also added more community emblems to the game, available only from a code obtained from the creator / clan. You will have to reapply this code again on Live servers once 0.7 gets there. For safety, don't redeem codes on Live before it happens, it might break your profile.

From the gameplay side, we've figured out a way to keep shadows working in dark areas so people don't get an unfair advantage by running low shadows. We did it this way earlier to make lower end GPUs work in WW3 and have better performance at the cost of fairness, but we never intended it to be left this way, and with current performance improvements, we figured that it's time. That said, this change is coupled with disabling per object shadows on low and medium settings to offset the performance hit. In our testing the difference is less than 1fps on low end machines and on both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, but that needs further testing on different machines.

So in short, you will loose shadows on your character, but they will look better overall, there will no longer be an advantage when running low shadows and it won't impact performance noticeably.

We've also added a long awaited map rotation to the game. Now every time you end a match, all players that are left in the game are queued for another game of the same game mode, but different map. The system first looks for a game that is not empty, to fill it up, but if the number of players looking is bigger than the number of free slots, it will push everyone to a new, empty game.

• Grenades can get desynchronized between server and client and land in different spots,
  
• Ammo/Health/Equipment packs still can disappear,
  

• Added a few Community arm patches (hidden by default),
  

• Changed low shadow settings to remove glowing characters and vehicles in dark areas and improve their quality,
  
• Added map rotation to the ending of the game,
  

• Decreased replication rate for own equipment and capture points,
  
• Slowed down with player state replication,
  
• Added dormancy for support capture points,
  

• Attempted fix for LOD switching related bug that causes ~95% of all crashes (needs confirmation),
  
• Voice chat - speaker icon for local talker,
  
• BCV and VAB speed and acceleration,
  
• Laser dot don't stay on the surface after character death,
  
• Fixed rerolling challenges duplicating them,
  
• Fixed grenade offset on start of local grenade simulation interpolation,
  
• Increased gadgets starvation priority, and lowered relevancy distance (fix for disappearing packs),
  
• Fixed Moscow loading screen misaligned throbber,
  
• Fixed audio engine crash on Berlin TDM,
  
• Fixed collision for RPGs on Berlin TDM,
  
• Fixed disappearing bushes on Berlin,
  
• Fixed some exploit points on Berlin TDM,
  
• Fixed broken/dissapearing destroy packs on Berlin TDM,
  
• Other minor fixes.
  

- World War 3 Team

Available in the following languages: PL | RU | DE | FR

0.7 is finally out on the PTE and we’ve begun testing and fixing it. It’s still in its infancy, but we can see feedback already - you love the VOIP and new lighting, and some people even report performance increase, even though this was not intended to be the effect just yet.
We’d like to reiterate, changing engine version was done mostly for bug fixing and server-side CPU performance gains, with only slight client-side optimizations. That said, we plan on bringing the performance up before 0.7 hits Live and we will continue to improve it like we did since the release of Early Access. It’s a slow and difficult process, but we’re making progress each week.
The main focus right now is fixing all the known issues and smoothing the framerate out, eliminating freezes and microstutters.
As for the known issues, we’re quickly fixing them one by one so the game is stable and works well for 0.7 Live. Thanks to everyone for helping us test the game over the weekend and reporting back with bugs and other findings!


One of the new items on the 0.7 list is the new VAB Mobile Spawn Variant. It replaces the BCV for one of the teams, so you can see in an instant if you’re dealing with the enemy.
It’s also important to note that currently it’s not textured, so it will get a lot more character and loose the clean look.
It’s modelled after VAB MK 3 (Véhicule de l'avant blindé - "Armoured vanguard vehicle" in French) and is a new family of 6x6 medium weight armoured vehicles offering very high level performance in terms of mobility, protection and payload.



In World War 3 it's an "evil twin" brother of Battle Command Vehicle and always appears on the opposite side of the match. Its role on the battlefield is the same as BCV's - providing quick access to the combat, infantry transport, and fire support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxqA6NBLSOY

https://youtu.be/c5REYzUTwm8

We’ve added daily challenges to the game. It should let you earn money faster and give people something to do on top of just playing the game. Each day you will be randomized 3 challenges, ranging from winning 3 matches on a certain map to getting X kills with a particular weapon. Each time you complete a challenge, you will be rewarded by either cash, or items - like camos or even weapons.



This is the first step into proper progression and challenge system. We plan on expanding this feature into weekly and even monthly challenges, special events, special unlocks and one-time achievements as well as a tool for supporting the player progression system.


Thanks to new engine version, we were able to tweak the lighting on our levels a bit. The change isn’t drastic, but indoor areas are now more bright, and you can actually see the camouflage of your fellow soldiers. This is not finalized by any means either, we will tweak the lighting more each patch to make sure it looks good and plays well.


We have also implemented a new HUD for vehicles and just in case you didn't have a chance to see it yet, here's a drone with new layout. Similar to the lighting changes, it's nothing big, yet we think it gets us this little bit closer to what we have envisioned for World War 3:



We’ve had our first proper competitive match played over the weekend. Around Friday, 10:30pm CEST, two of out clans fought over dominance on Warsaw Warzone server. While we don’t have proper tools to facilitate this kind of play, we worked with both teams to provide them with a password-protected server and tried to make it work. There were some minor issues at the start, but in the end, the match was won by GiD 5000 : 3068. The rematch is planned for next week, this time playing Team Deathmatch.


That’s it for this week, thanks for reading and make sure to catch the next Weekly Report!

- World War 3 Team

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Just a quick one before the weekend. One information: if you experience crashing a lot, try lowering down Meshes in the Settings. The most "popular" crash is related to LOD loading, which is not happening as often on lower settings. It shouldn't impact game looks a lot, just lower memory usage (it uses lower quality models for objects).

• Reduced dropped weapon lifespan to 30 seconds,
  
• Added an array for always loaded assets - for making sure markers are always loaded,
  
• Added counting vehicle shots fired and hit to statistics,
  

• Fixed taking leader by requesting orders,
  
• Fixed UAVs marking dead bodies,
  
• Fixed not displaying statistics during first launch,
  
• Fixed disappearing bushes on Berlin,
  
• Rebaked destropacks on Berlin,
  
• Fixed exploit points,
  
• Removed not ready / unnecessary items,
  
• Fixed bug with relational challenge events.
  

- World War 3 Team

PTE 0.7 is scheduled for today. The team is encountering some delays, but it's still going live today. Stay tuned for updates!

--- Update is now live! ---

Finally! We’ve got a 0.7 build that is stable enough and without critical issues, so we can start testing it. Bear in mind, that this is just after switching engine versions and rewriting how our netcode works (more information here), so expect it to crash a lot and to have bugs. The list of known issues is going to be shortened very soon, we’ve just added it so you don’t waste time on reporting bugs we’re already fixing.

We’ve got a lot of work to do to get 0.7 to a state that is playable enough to push to Live servers, so everyone that can should help us test this version, especially over the weekend. We’re going to gather a lot of data and we will also be playing to make sure all big issues are fixed next week and only smaller problems are left to iron out.

Thanks for being patient, but this change was the biggest one since 0.3, and we want to make absolutely sure that it will be at least as stable as 0.6, and preferably more.

Engine update doesn’t come with a lot of content, but it will let us improve the game a lot more in the long run.

Now, as for what is in the update, we’re adding daily challenges! It’s still a bit rough, but that’s why we have PTE. You can complete challenges every day and get rewards for them.

There’s also new lighting. It’s a lot more realistic and eye adaptation works properly now, but it might need tweaking. Let us know how you like it and what we should change.

We’ve also added new VOIP system, because the old one was not good enough. This is also something we need as much feedback on as possible.

As usual, send us your crash reports and make sure to leave your feedback on the forums, so we can get to it easily and plan changes accordingly.

Thanks for playing!

• Packs (Ammo/Health/Equipment) randomly don’t spawn when tossed
  
• UAVs mark dead enemies
  
• Markers show up late sometimes
  
• Players drop copies of their weapon at random
  
• Taking leader by requesting orders is not working
  
• Grenades spawn to the left of the camera
  
• It takes a second to load the weapon into player hands
  
• Crashing and performance issues
  
• No Berlin TDM or Warzone for now (map issues)
  

• Daily Challenges added - this is still an early version!
  
• New VOIP system [Default: hold “~” (tilde - next to 1)]
  
• New Unreal Engine version - 4.21
  
• Replication Graph implemented
  
• New lighting
  
• New KIll Screen
  
• New Vehicle HUDs - still Work in Progress
  

• Changed FPS counter to ON/OFF from Toggle (it will also persist between play sessions
  
• Added VAB - a Mobile Spawn Point variant, so it’s different for each team
  
• Added synchronization status on loading screen for debug purposes
  
• Added location debug info on screen for better bug reporting (community suggestion)
  
• Added Vehicle Kill Assist (community suggestion)
  
• New Equipment meshes for UGVs
  
• Added smoke for damaged vehicles, now every vehicle except Mini UGV and Mini Drone will smoke when HP is critical
  
• A lot of adjustments and improvements
  

• Increased Heli Drone Rockets Battlepoints cost
  
• Decreased Heli Drone HP (600 to 450) - now it’s 1 tandem RPG hit
  
• Decreased Heli Drone rocket PODs' ammo capacity
  
• Vehicles speed, acceleration, turning and HP rebalance - now the differences between vehicles are more noticeable
  
• Attachment prices have been adjusted to better fit the progression system
  
• Attachment modifiers have been reworked to better reflect differences between individual attachments
  
• Weight difference between barrels of different lengths has been increased
  
• Weight difference between magazines of different capacity has been increased
  
• Additional changes coming soon, including a horizontal recoil multiplier on grips
  
• Moved resupply packs to between capture points
  

• Fixed shooting between rounds on TDM,
  
• Fixed rebinding X button
  
• Fixed default ammo for all turrets - there should not be a situation where tank has only 1 shell
  
• Fixed direction prioritization when exiting a vehicle
  
• Hundreds of other bugfixes
  
  

Thanks guys,

- World War 3 Team

Available in the following languages:PL | RU | DE | FR

Hello, Soldiers!

Let’s recap what’s been happening in World War 3 in the last week - and it’s been a busy one!


Last Thursday, on the 15th of August in Katowice, Poland, we’ve had a parade of military assets, including helicopters, planes, armed personnel carriers, tanks and other hardware, as well as personnel for the national holiday of Armed Forces Day. World War 3 took part in the celebration by setting up a stand with Polish Territorial Defense Forces. We’ve had a lot of people visit and play World War 3, ranging from families with children to veterans. We’ve had a lot of fun talking to everyone and we hope to do more of this kind of cooperation in the future.


We’ve had a busy week at the studio, with preparation of the first PTE build of 0.7 being almost ready. We’ve discovered an instability in the game on tuesday that caused it to crash a lot when loading into a match which pushed the release of PTE patch to next week. We’re anxious to get the new engine into your hands and we really can’t wait to see how it performs, but at the same time, we want to give it enough time to be a good testing tool, not just something to show. We’re still making the game and the more solid information we get, the better the end result will be.
Apart from the instability (which is already fixed), there are only a few minor issues that could get omitted in the first iteration of the PTE version, so we’re pretty sure you will see PTE on 0.7 this week. Of course, if something unpredictable happens, things might change.
The version of 0.7 you will get is going to include almost everything that is planned in 0.7, with further stability, content and - most importantly - performance upgrades coming in during the duration of PTE testing. We want 0.7 to be at least as good as 0.6 was, so it will take a few weeks of testing and improving to finally get 0.7 to Live in a satisfactory state.
To get you up to speed on what’s in 0.7, let us recap the changes and new features we’re going to have, according to our Roadmap.


We’re implementing the first pass of the Challenge System. It consists of daily challenges randomized every 24 hours. Everyone gets the same ones, so you can have fun with friends completing those in a party. Completing a challenge will net you a reward - those can be some cash, XP or even items like weapons, skins or attachments.
This system is a precursor to something much bigger - an expanded progression for players and more complex challenges. We also have a few surprises related to this, but we are not sharing them at this time. Let us know what doesn’t work and how would you change it - and your ideas for more challenges, too!
New Squad Manager
The new squad manager is mostly an “under the hood” feature, but this doesn’t mean it’s not exciting. If we did our job right, you shouldn’t notice much change, but this new tool lets us expand how squads work greatly and was a necessary change to making the party system work as intended. It will make the party system a lot less unpredictable and fun to use and fixes a lot of old bugs we had no way of fixing without changing it.


We’re starting to upgrade all of our HUD elements closer to their final versions. We’ve learned a lot about how people interact with the game and where the UI has its shortcomings and we feel like there’s a lot of good changes to be done with the HUD. 0.7 marks the beginning of this change, and we’re starting off with the new Kill Screen and strike HUDs. New Kill Screen will now show you an approximate direction the kill shot got you from via a small minimap and will provide you with much more information on what you were killed by - including how much HP you enemy has left, too! It’s not a 100% final version, but it will be more useful.

Another HUD change are the vehicle HUDs.
They are much more clear and should work much better than the old ones, while looking a lot better.


This is an umbrella term for a lot of small changes we’re making to the way information is presented in the game. Starting with new challenge progress UI elements and new widgets, with new information in the customization (you will be able to see how the sight looks in-game without having to equip it or even buy it!), new HUDs are also part of this initiative. It will continue after 0.7 up until 1.0 release.


We’re taking a look at attachments and how to make them more of a cool choice and less of a ‘take X because it’s best’ that we see happening with some parts right now. The rebalance will also impact weight, so some builds that were impossible to do earlier will now be viable. We’ll see how it turns out during the PTE testing and update the values accordingly.


We haven’t been satisfied with our previous implementation of the VOIP system, so we’ve decided to make it a lot better. It will now let you choose between Open Mic and Push-To-Talk, choose your own bindings and has a lot more options for the players. You can disable it altogether with a volume slider or mute people from the scoreboard or deployment screen.
Remember - VOIP in World War 3 lets you communicate with your Squad only. This is done for a number of reasons, one of them being the performance of decompressing audio from a lot of people, but also the vision of your squad being a self-contained unit that can change a lot in the game. We feel like playing with your squad is the best way to play World War 3 both because it helps your team the most and because it’s the most fun.
This new VOIP mimicks how a radio could sound as well and is really adding to the ambiance of the conflict. It sounds a lot better and will improve team communication a lot.


You will get a more detailed list of changes once the Patch Notes are out, but we have taken some time to introduce some quality-of-life changes and fix some small, but annoying bugs like adding Vehicle Assists or the inability to rebind X. The list is long and will take a while to compose, but for now - rest assured there’s a lot of small changes as well.
One more thing - if you are at Gamescom 2019, make sure to find us and have a chat - we’ll be there!

Thanks for reading and see you in 0.7!

- World War 3 Team

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