Hell Let Loose News

Hey everyone,

We’ve, unfortunately, been experiencing some issues with getting PC player servers back online after releasing Patch 14.4, and have been working with our partners to investigate why some servers are working, and others aren’t.

We believe the best thing to do here is rollback the patch, so you are able to get back into Hell Let Loose while we continue to investigate this.

Rolling back a patch has its risks, and this does, however, mean that anyone who has bought the new Luftwaffe DLC on PC will no longer be able to access it until we have completed our investigations and a new patch can be released.

This change will not affect Console players. We’re deeply sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you, and will endeavour to keep you as updated as possible while we continue to look into this.

Hey everyone,

Patch 14.4 will be going live today, and will begin rolling out across console and PC from 2pm BST!

Please read on to find the changelog for today’s patch.

[h2]Hell Let Loose At TwitchCon Vegas[/h2]

[h3]October 20th - 22nd[/h3]

We’ll be over at TwitchCon Vegas this weekend, where you’ll be able to head on over and play Hell Let Loose as part of a 100-player LAN, plus, we’ll be on the front page of Twitch from 5pm PDT - we hope to see you on the frontlines!

[h2]Public Testing Feedback[/h2]

We want to continue to make sure that it is your feedback that helps to guide development, and in order for that to remain the case, we’re going to be looking at re-evaluating when we hold PTE sessions so that we can better populate games for you to fully try out the latest fixes and new content.

This means that future public testing sessions will no longer be held on the weekend, and instead be condensed into a shorter time frame to encourage more 100-player lobbies.

Thank you to everyone who did join the PTE and provided feedback - we’ve taken a look at your responses, and have been able to make some adjustments prior to release. However, in order to get this patch out to you this month, we haven’t been able to address all feedback from the session at this stage - but it has prompted a much larger conversation around accessibility in Hell Let Loose.

[h2]Accessibility Conversations[/h2]

[h3]Head-Bobbing[/h3]

We mentioned in our last developer briefing that dive to prone had been reworked, and as part of that, had worked on camera improvements to prevent camera limitations as the dive ended - which were present with the initial dive to prone implementation.

As part of that work, the system that controls head-bobbing was also rewritten to be more versatile and allow for smoother transitions between profiles, while increasing visual quality.

By reworking this code, it has also made head-bobbing more noticeable to those who are sensitive to motion. Thanks to feedback from the PTE session, we have now made tweaks to this system to reduce the level of motion. While some players will be pleased to see head-bobbing working, we also want to make sure we’re supporting as many players as possible - and so will begin scoping what is possible in terms of improving accessibility settings.

[h3]Dive to Prone[/h3]

Now that this functionality has tuneable parameters, we have been able to tweak these to address your previous feedback. Your responses from the PTE showed that over half of those who submitted feedback agreed that dive to prone now feels more realistic, that players were no longer able to dolphin dive, and the slide distance now feels ‘just right.’

[h3]Nvidia Filters[/h3]

As many of you have pointed out, some players will use Nvidia filters to avoid being at a disadvantage on the purposefully-designed night modes. While these filters can be customised to provide more of a competitive edge, it can also deter players who do want to experience the maps as intended.

We’ve heard your feedback around this, and will begin the process of reaching out to Nvidia to understand how these filters can be disabled while playing Hell Let Loose - evening the playing field and allowing new strategies and ways of playing to form.

[h3]Ultrawide FOV Settings[/h3]

While Hell Let Loose now officially supports ultrawide monitors, we understand that some players with particularly large monitors are now experiencing discomfort while playing due to the change in FOV - including for those who are visually impaired.

We will be looking to extend the FOV slider in video settings so that players are able to adjust the settings for improved accessibility, after Patch 14.4.

[h3]Vaulting & Mantling Improvements[/h3]

Locomotion changes continue to equally divide opinion! From the feedback provided during the public testing session earlier this month, some players were pleased to see improvements to the responsiveness of vaulting and mantling, however, some felt the slightly more automated movement to feel restrictive.

Originally posted by author

For this initial improvement, we wanted to focus on consistency: making sure vaulting and mantling work consistently, work in a way that’s consistent across different obstacles, and work in a way that’s consistent with our tuning values so that we’re able to reliably control and tune these mechanics and know that the values we’re setting will correctly correspond to what we see in-game. - James, Gameplay Programmer

As part of that work, and to maintain that consistency so you’re not getting stuck unable to complete an action, players will no longer be able to vault up onto an obstacle.

The short hop players see in-game actually had no specific animation, instead playing the regular vault animation while teleporting a player’s character to where it needed to be.

In Patch 14.4, vaulting will now consistently mean vaulting over something, and mantling will consistently mean climbing up onto something - values that are determined by a few factors, including:

The player will vault an obstacle if -

• The obstacle ‘thickness’ (i.e., the distance from its near edge to its far edge in the direction of the vault) is less than 50cm
  
• There is a suitable landing position for the vault (i.e., a player-sized space to land on the other side of the obstacle that’s at the same height the vault started from or lower.
  

If these values aren’t met, the player’s character will otherwise climb the obstacle.

Originally posted by author

You’ll consistently vault over anything you can vault over and climb anything you can’t - and it’s now much more obvious which will happen before you actually do it. This should all improve consistency, reliability, and quality of the actions. - James, Gameplay Programmer

[h2]Patch 14.4 Changelog[/h2]

[h3]Night Map Variants[/h3]

[Added] Carentan Night Map
[Added] Sainte-Mère-Église Night Map

[h3]Player Locomotion[/h3]

[Added] Dive to prone feature improved and re-implemented
[Improved] Vaulting
[Improved] Mantling

[h3]General Bug Fixes[/h3]

[Fix Submitted] Player deploys with incorrect loadout and cannot switch

Lovingly known by all as the ‘loadout bug’, we believe our fix to be holding strong, and may finally have eradicated this particular bug. Like many fixes, we won’t know whether it has successfully prevented all instances of the loadout bug until it hits the live game - so we’ll be keeping a close eye on your feedback as you get hands on with Patch 14.4, so make sure to use the support link to report any issues.

[Fixed] Throwing last grenade will replay 'Equip grenade' animation after throwing

A last remanent of the grenade bug - animation support has been carried out to resolve an issue whereby the animation of equipping a grenade would briefly play while throwing the last grenade in your loadout, this has now been fixed.

[Fixed] Texture binding present on vehicle explosion VFX

[Fixed] When all gamemodes matches comes to an end the game will hang for an additional 9 seconds before showing results screen

[Fixed] Kar98 reload is partly missing on PS5 pad speaker

[Fixed] Weapons can be fired without any input after quick switching to a grenade.

[Fixed] [Additional Content Hub] The user cannot rotate the character using a controller on either PC or console

[Fixed] Player model has metal decals when shot

[Fixed] Voice communications don't work as VOIP is unable to reconnect.

[Fixed] Flamethrower emits excessive lens flares when firing on night maps


[h3]New Cosmetic DLC[/h3]

[Added] [Xbox] [PC] Luftwaffe Eagles

This DLC is on it’s way to PlayStation 5 players, however, it will unfortunately not be available with the initial release of Patch 14.4. PlayStation players may notice a space for this DLC in the Additional Content hub, however, will not be able to purchase it just yet. We’ll let you know as soon as it becomes available!

Luftwaffe Eagles

As part of the German Luftwaffe forces, the Fallschirmjäger were the first paratroopers to feature in large-scale airborne based operations. The Fallschirmjäger were also known as the ‘Green Devils’ thanks to their forceful fighting spirit and tactical superiority. However, following the causalities in the Battle of Crete, they were mainly used as ground-based troops.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2623000/Hell_Let_Loose__Luftwaffe_Eagles/

This downloadable content contains:

Fallschirmjäger Uniform (Available to the German Assault, Anti-Tank, Medic, Machine Gunner, Officer, Rifleman, Automatic Rifleman, Engineer and Support roles).


[h2]Map Optimisations [/h2]

With each patch, we’re striving to continue improving your experience with the existing maps, including by increasing stability through various map optimisations, such as LOD fixes and collision issues.

Some assets can be too dense in triangle complexity, meaning that the LODs set up for them are not switching effectively enough to keep the triangle complexity compared to the screen size optimal.

Mesh LOD optimisation involves ensuring that assets not only LOD in a manner that is not noticeable by the player, but are also crucial to ensuring that we minimise overdraw on complex meshes. Any amount of overdraw from complex meshes contributes to a strain on the GPU, which can affect performance and stability.

While these optimisations require time and manual attention, we are also working on capturing some of your reported issues - including LOD changes and invisible collision. You will hopefully see some improvements with each and every patch.

[h3]Foy[/h3]

[Fixed] Wooden gate asset has no bullet penetration
[Fixed] [D1] A specific fence post is missing bullet and player collision
[Fixed] [D5] The player is unable to shoot through the wooden plank gaps with the tank

[h3]Utah[/h3]

[Fixed] [G7] A bush at sector G7 exhibits a visible LOD change when viewed from a short distance

[h3]Remagen[/h3]

[Fixed] The wooden stairs and floor of a specific building do not have bullet penetration
[Fixed] [F4] Small gap in rock cliff

[h3]Carentan[/h3]

[Fixed] [B4] Misaligned wheat crops that float sideways

[h3]Hurtgen[/h3]

[Fixed] Flames PFX are missing on some charred tree stumps


[h3]Sainte-Marie-du-Mont[/h3]

[Fixed] Assets inside a barn have stone PFX and SFX
[Fixed] [D6] A fence presents draw distance issues from ~53m
[Fixed] [F2] A stone wall is misaligned with the ground
[Fixed] [H8] The player can get permanently stuck in a tree in the top left quadrant of H8 sector in SMDM village

[h3]Kursk[/h3]

[Fixed] Two of the forward Garrisons are incorrectly placed and will be destroyed after the Attackers capture the 1st sector
[Fixed] Performance drops while looking at a heavy smoke through the binoculars

Hey everyone,

Thank you for bearing with us while we take in the news shared earlier this week.

We wanted to confirm that the planned PTE session for Hell Let Loose will still be going ahead today at 3pm BST, and will end on Monday the 9th, so you’ll have the weekend to provide feedback on some of the new night maps before they arrive in future patches, starting with Carentan and Sainte-Mère-Église, which will arrive in Patch 14.4, as well as vaulting and mantling improvements, the addition of an improved dive to prone, as well as help us identify any potential broader impact from the loadout bug fix.

However, we will now be moving back the planned release of Patch 14.4 to the 19th of October, a week later than originally planned.

This should not affect the planned release of part one of the British forces, which will arrive in Patch 14.5 in November.

[h2]Public Test Changelog[/h2]

[h3]Night Map Variants[/h3]

• [Added] Night map variant added to the following existing Warfare maps:
  

• Carentan
  
• Sainte-Mère-Église
  
• Utah Beach
  
• Hill 400
  
• Driel
  
• Kharkov
  
• Stalingrad
  
• Omaha Beach (Dusk Map)
  
• El Alamein (Dusk Map)
  

[h3]Player Locomotion[/h3]

• [Added] Dive to prone feature improved and re-implemented
  
• [Improved] Vaulting
  
• [Improved] Mantling
  

[h3]General Bug Fixes[/h3]

• [Fix Submitted] Player deploys with incorrect loadout and cannot switch
  

[h3]Additional Notes[/h3]

There have been some issues with this build which is unfortunately why it was delayed, and the below bugs have already been identified, including:

• Steam icons present on scoreboard
  
• Map icons in server browser are displaying as white placeholder image
  
• Map names in server browser are displaying placeholder names
  

[h2]What We’re Looking For[/h2]

This PTE session aims to test the impact of some fixes, as well as get your feedback on the new night maps planned for future patches, including:

1). Any inadvertent impact from the loadout bug fix

2). Your experience with the improved dive to prone functionality

3). Your experience with the improved vaulting and mantling

4). Your thoughts on the visibility of the night maps

[h2]How to Take Part[/h2]

Check your Steam Library for the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) application, or re-download it from the Steam store, you’ll want to boot this version up to take part in the PTE!

Once you’re in and have selected a server, you’ll be able to test out the items in the above changelog and share your feedback using the below forms:

Submit Feedback: https://forms.office.com/e/Zn7yLrX7u6

Share Bug Reports: https://forms.office.com/e/TJ7Mh0ihYS

Please note:

Because PTEs are run on development servers that have logging activated, you will experience a slight decrease in performance. You will also not earn any exp and your progress will not be carried over to the live game.

We look forward to seeing you in this session!

Hey everyone,

We were hoping to get you all up on the PTE today testing the new night maps, as well as the vaulting and mantling improvements, plus the addition of the improved dive to prone, however, we’ve experienced an issue when going through some final checks.

A new bug has occurred on the Public Testing branch that now means a player’s level is being registered as Level 1. Because of the way the PTE branch is set up, we believe this issue is now occurring as a result of the code required to fix the loadout bug.

We know many of you are eager to jump on and be the first to play the new night maps, as well as the Dusk variants for El Alamein and Omaha, however, if we were to open the PTE with this bug, players would not be able to test out:

Commander Role

• As this requires players to be Level 30
  
• Without a Commander, this would affect Armour as additional vehicles wouldn’t be able to be spawned
  

All Loadouts

• You would be defaulted to the Level 1 loadout
  

Flare Guns

• Useful on night maps, players would not have access to these as they require Spotter Level 3
  

We still want to get your feedback, so while we work on fixing this bug, we’ll be moving this weekend’s planned testing session to next weekend, instead. This shouldn’t affect the release of Patch 14.4, however, we will keep you updated on our progress.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Loadout Bug: 1
Devs: 0 (for now)

In the meantime, here are some of the other night maps that you can look forward to testing next week:

Omaha at Dusk

Hill 400 at Night

Utah at Night

Hey everyone,

With Patch 14.3 now behind us, we know you’ll be keen to learn more about what will be coming to Hell Let Loose as we head into October!

Your feedback has been invaluable to us over these last few months, and we’ve been able to focus our efforts into tackling some of the game’s most prevalent issues.

As of today, we can confirm a fix for the loadout bug has been submitted, and will be available for you to stress-test in a PTE session this Friday, on the 29th of September.

We know there’s still a long way to go to optimise and improve Hell Let Loose, and while we’re continuing to focus on bug-fixing and making good on the British forces, we also don’t want to leave you waiting too long for new content.

To find out what you can expect to see from Hell Let Loose for the rest of this year, please read on!

[h2]Patch 14.4 - October[/h2]

[h3]New Night Maps[/h3]

Our environment tech-art team have been working on bringing night variants to a number of the existing maps, including:

• Carentan
  
• Sainte-Mère-Église
  
• Utah Beach
  
• Hill 400
  
• Driel
  
• Kharkov
  
• Stalingrad
  
• Omaha Beach (Dusk Map)
  
• El Alamein (Dusk Map)
  

Each of these maps will be available for testing in the PTE this Friday, and the Carentan and Sainte-Mère-Église night variants will be the first to land in Patch 14.4 early next month on the 12th of October, alongside general bug fixing.

Offering more diverse gameplay, with opportunities to re-strategise on your approach, the night map versions will sport atmospheric lighting that will put heavy reliance on communication and coordination to obtain the win.

These new night map variants have been fine-tuned, from adjusting the skylight to allow for more bounce and directionality, to introducing a star field to create an even more dramatic night-time skyscape.

Carentan at Night

Sainte-Mère-Église at Night

[h3]Fallschirmjäger Cosmetic DLC[/h3]

Considered an elite airborne unit, the Fallschirmjäger - German paratroopers - were also known as ‘The Green Devils’ thanks to their forceful fighting spirit and tactical superiority.

The distinctive uniform featured several safety features, in order to avoid injury during a hard landing. The jump smock ended at the mid-knee, preventing any entanglement with the parachute lines, and was partnered with knee pads that aimed to protect a soldier’s knees through extended periods of crawling or kneeling. Ammunition pouches were also designed to be worn securely around the neck, rather than the standard belt.

This DLC will be available for players to pick up from the Additional Content Hub with the next Patch, 14.4, and use on Infantry and Recon roles!

Fallschirmjäger Uniform DLC (1)

Fallschirmjäger Uniform DLC (2)

[h2]Dive to Prone[/h2]

Reworked and evolved, the new version of Dive to Prone will also be available for testing this Friday!

A lot of time has been spent fine-tuning and polishing the dive to prone feature - to not only ensure it’s not exploitable - but also give it a much more realistic and tactile feel, by utilising tuneable parameters including:

[h3]Ground Friction Parameters[/h3]

Players will now carry momentum throughout, which means you’ll be unable to change direction mid-dive, and instead only able to control direction once friction with the ground is gradually re-established on landing.

[h3]Animation Queue System[/h3]

Players can no longer dive while jumping - instead, the new animation queue system is used to begin the dive when the player lands from a jump.

[h3]Stance Change Timer[/h3]

This ensures players aren’t able to dolphin dive, by including a cooldown that prevents the action from being carried out too soon after completing a dive.

[h3]Additional Ground Friction[/h3]

The duration and speed of the slide has been tuned down to feel more realistic, and is now impacted by whether you are entering dive to prone from standing vs crouched.

[h3]Camera Improvements[/h3]

In the previous version, there was a camera limitation as the dive ended, which was a result of the system that controls head bobbing under locomotion switching between profiles. This system has now been rewritten to be more versatile, and now has the capability to smoothly transition between profiles, and visual quality is increased.

[h3]Forward Speed[/h3]

The new dive to prone will properly conserve momentum by using the speed that the player was travelling on dive initiation as the start speed, rather than using the stance’s maximum speed.

[h3]Additional Parameters[/h3]

We have also disabled aiming-down the sights for a duration on landing, as well as introducing a camera shake that is triggered on contact with the ground.


[h2]Public Testing Session - Friday, 29th of September[/h2]

We will be holding a PTE session from this Friday, the 29th of September until the 2nd of October, where you’ll be able to jump on and try out each night map variant, the new dive to prone functionality, as well as help us assess any inadvertent impact from the loadout bug fix, plus share feedback on initial mantling and vaulting improvements.

A changelog for this session will be shared on Friday, alongside the feedback and bug reporting forms!


[h2]Patch 14.5 - November[/h2]

[h3]New Variants for El Alamein and Driel[/h3]

While night variants offer more ways to enjoy your favourite maps, we’re also introducing a new dusk variant map for El Alamein, in November, which you’ll also be able to try out in the PTE this Friday.

Rather than the cool, low-light tones of the night maps, this variant will feature darkened lighting, gently lit with a fading glow that not only provides a new atmosphere, but also offers an initial reduced visibility variant for El Alamein that players can utilise to navigate the vast, open terrain.

El Alamein at Dusk

Driel will also be receiving a night map version with Patch 14.5 - providing the cover of night to give you opportunity to explore new manoeuvres.

Driel at Night

[h3]Part One of The British Forces Rework[/h3]

Also landing with Patch 14.5, players will be able to get hands on with the initial improvements to the British forces, including updated desert uniforms for both German and British soldiers, as well as new British tanks, and new British weapons to replace the previous loadouts.

You’ll be able to test out the rework in a PTE session before Patch 14.5 goes live in November!

We’ll be going into more detail on the rework soon, but for now, here’s a little teaser on progress:

British Desert Uniform]

British Helmet with Chinstrap

German DAK Desert Uniform

British - Stuart Honey Tank - High Poly

Lee Enfield No.1 MkIII Rifle

[h3]Erbsenmuster Pattern 44 Uniform DLC[/h3]

During our AMA in July, we mentioned wanting to continue to support Hell Let Loose delivering a historically accurate and authentic World War Two experience - aiming to maintain unprecedented attention to detail in the historical depiction of the uniforms, weaponry, and tactics of period military units, however, we also recognise the brutality of armed conflict on a global scale and the unique atrocities which occurred, on all sides, during the Second World War. We also understand that many players have a deep passion for the history of particular units, as well as their uniforms and equipment - and we want to facilitate this passion, while encouraging that we all remain respectful of the events that occurred and the enormous human toll it had.

For Patch 14.5, we are working on introducing the Erbsenmuster Pattern 44 uniform as a paid DLC, which will only be available to infantry and recon roles.

Take a look at the work in progress:

Erbsenmuster Pattern 44 Uniform WIP

[h3]Free Weekend[/h3]

There will also be a free weekend in November for you to enlist friends to take the frontlines and try out these new map variants and part one of the British forces rework!

[h2]Patch 14.6 - December[/h2]

[h3]Stalingrad & Kharkov Night Maps[/h3]

Cooling down for Christmas, both Stalingrad and Kharkov will receive their night map variants, and the patch will primarily focus around general bug fixing.

Stalingrad at Night

Kharkov at Night

[h2]The Future Focus[/h2]

For the remainder of this year and into next, we want to continue improving your experience with Hell Let Loose, and you will find that we are continuing to release patches rather than updates.

We consider updates to be significant content drops, which would include new maps, modes, and forces. Patches are now our smaller releases that focus on game improvements, community requests, bug fixes, and smaller pieces of content, such as map variants.

During our AMA and Dev Interview, we talked about the many things that we know the community would like to see implemented, and we will continue working towards these while delivering smaller content releases. There will be larger content updates next year and we’ll talk more about those, including Mortain and part two of the British rework, soon. Until then, we’ll see you all on the frontline!

[h2]Vivox Maintenance[/h2]

Vivox will be holding maintenance between 7pm BST and 8pm BST tomorrow, Thursday, 28th of September. You may experience downtime with VOIP, but services should resume before the time has elapsed.

[h2]Community News & Events[/h2]

[h3]Community Leaders and Event Organisers[/h3]

Help us to help spotlight your events and tournaments!

We know there are many communities across Hell Let Loose that take part in organised play, whether that’s roleplaying, custom games and events, or tournaments. We want to help showcase some of these and are working on the ways in which we can support them.

A form collecting details on your community and event participation has been sent round our PC and Console War Arrangers on the official Discord, however, we want to make sure all community leaders have had opportunity to submit their details to us.

If you are a community leader and have not already completed the form, please use this link: https://forms.office.com/e/BLF0bbH35W


Only one representative from each community should complete the form.

[h3]TAW Campaign: The Battle of Normandy[/h3]

Having started earlier this month, TAW Hell Let Loose Division have begun a campaign that occurs every Sunday at 19:45 BST in the TAW EU Campaign server where players can take part as two rival teams clash in a relentless struggle for supremacy.

In this campaign, maps are treated as sectors, each a game-changer, where conquering these sectors earns the teams supply points. With these points, new weapons, equipment, and commander manoeuvres can be unlocked.

To find our more and take part, please visit:

Discord: https://discord.gg/tawhll
TAW: https://taw.net/



[h2]War Correspondent, Content Creator, and Community Videos[/h2]

Make sure to post your videos in the #hll-videos channel in the Official Hell Let Loose Discord for a chance to be shown in future Developer Briefings!

[h3]SoulSniper’s SOF | Community Clips Vol. 2[/h3]

Your average Hell Let Loose experience summed up in one video using clips from SoulSniper’s Soldiers of Fortune server: https://youtu.be/JzZQbbtSr9o

[h3]18 Players With One Satchel[/h3]

When luck and strategy come together to give you an 18-person satchel kill, shared to Reddit by u/VittorioJedi!

After working with the squad to breach the outer layer of fortifications, a carefully placed satchel takes out the last German nest on Carentan Town centre: https://reddit.com/r/HellLetLoose/comments/16kzd7d/18_with_one_satchel/

[h3]Infantry Support With Tanks Wins Games[/h3]

This video from The Fresh Baked Goods shows how tanks can be used to support infantry movement from the backlines until it is time to help break through on the last point: https://youtu.be/2A-N-_E-bls?feature=shared

[h2]Join the Conversation[/h2]

Submit clips and artwork by joining the Discord for a chance to be shown in a future dev brief!

Discord https://discord.gg/hellletloose

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HellLetLoose/

Twitter https://twitter.com/hell_let_loose

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/HellLetLoose

Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/HellLetLoose/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hellletlooseofficial/

Steam http://steamcommunity.com/groups/HellLetLoose