Hell Let Loose News

Hey everyone,

The hotfix for Patch 14.3 will have now begun rolling out.

[h2]Hotfix Changelog[/h2]

Console players will also be receiving a hotfix later this week, as some of these fixes will need to go through a separate process.

Fixes are underway for the below items:


[h3]VOIP Disconnect Fix[/h3]

• [Fixed] Vivox Error 1019 when connecting to channels
  

We believe we may have fixed an ongoing VOIP issue where players can find themselves getting disconnected randomly and then being unable to reconnect.

[h3]Steam Achievements[/h3]

• [PC] [Fixed] All Practice Range achievements are not unlocking
  

[h3]Ultrawide Monitors[/h3]

• [Fixed] Character previews scale incorrectly
  
• [Fixed] Fix for tank driver seat FOV
  
• [Fixed] Fix for Sherman doubled-up scope
  
• [Fixed] Tank scope offset on certain resolutions
  
• [Fixed] Tank cross hairs incorrectly aligned
  

Hell Let Loose did not previously offer ultrawide support - although it did have compatibility - and those using ultrawide monitors played with a cropped and highly scaled version of the game that cut off the character model's hand and majority of the weapon, as well as cropped tank scopes. Compared to those playing on a 16:9 resolution, the sights were far more zoomed in and appeared larger, giving ultrawide players somewhat of an advantage.

Ultrawide support was highly requested by the community, and Patch 14.3 introduced this support, which now provides the same 16:9 game resolution for ultrawide monitors.

This does mean that, for those used to the zoomed-in appearance, this change can now feel somewhat jarring, and the distortion of the peripheral edges - standard on 16:9 - may feel increased.

Depending on your settings, some players may have tried to compensate for the previous lack of ultrawide support by increasing their FOV to 120, and maintaining Y axis.

With the added support, we recommend changing these settings to the below in order to reduce any fish-eye effect:

• FOV 90
  
• Maintaining X axis
  

Cover Image by [233C] Chrysallia

Hey everyone,

Thank you for sharing your feedback with us while getting hands on with Patch 14.3!

[h2]Loadout Bug[/h2]

Since releasing Patch 14.3 yesterday, we have been reviewing the logging that was activated with this patch, and believe we have now finally identified the cause of the loadout bug.

It would seem that every so often, we lose the cached stats data for a player, and aren’t able to validate their loadout, which means they are instead reset to default.

We’ll try not to get too excited about the fact we may very well have identified the cause - and are now preparing a fix - and will keep you updated on our progress!

[h2]VOIP Disconnect Fix [/h2]

• Fix for Vivox Error 1019 when connecting to channels
  

We also believe we may have a fix for the ongoing VOIP issue - the one that has been plaguing many players in Hell Let Loose, where you can often find yourself getting randomly disconnected and then being unable to reconnect.

A fix is now being worked on that we hope will make some improvements to this, however, we won’t know if it will fix all VOIP issues or just some, until it is tested at scale in a live build.

Rather than make you all wait for the potential fix and try it in a PTE, we’re keen to get this out to you as soon as possible, in the hotfix on Monday, 18th.

[h2]Hotfix Changelog[/h2]

Our wonderful player support team have been sorting through your reports, and have identified some items we would like to tackle in a hotfix, planned for PC on Monday, 18th of September.

Console players will also be receiving a hotfix on Thursday, the 21st of September, as some of these fixes will need to go through a separate process.

Fixes are underway for the below items:

[h3]Steam Achievements[/h3]

• [PC] All Practice Range achievements are not unlocking
  

[h3]Ultrawide Monitors[/h3]

• Character previews scale incorrectly
  
• Fix for tank driver seat FOV
  
• Fix for Sherman doubled-up scope
  

Players on ultrawide will have found that their FOV was incorrectly extending tank cockpits, rather than just the environment in view. Now having ultrawide compatibility, reducing FOV to 90 from 120 will correct this, however, a fix is being worked on that will ensure players will not need to change this value every time they enter a vehicle.

If you’ve also noticed a fish-eye effect across the game while using ultrawide, this may be due to having previously toggled maintaining Y axis for a better FOV. With the new ultrawide compatibility, you may now want to look at changing this setting so you are maintaining X axis, instead. This option can be found under your Video settings.

Video Settings - Switch to Maintaining X Axis


The final hotfix changelog for these fixes will be shared on Monday!

Hey everyone,

You can expect Patch 14.3 to drop today, at 2pm BST!

After PTE feedback confirmed less stuttering, we are hopeful this patch will improve performance, while we continue working on bringing optimisation updates with each new release. With this patch, you’ll be able to get hands on with the Practice Range, as well as the initial improvements to the stability of the British force’s firearms. We’re getting closer to an official timeline for the re-work of the British forces, which will include new, more accurate weapons, tanks, and uniforms - so make sure to keep an eye on future dev briefs!

There were some players confused by the time it took the last relatively small patch for Patch 14.2 to install on their PCs. Like all game updates on Steam, updates are downloaded and then patched, which depending on your hardware, may take some time while Steam readjusts the file structure.

Check out the changelog below, and we’ll see you on the 27th for the next Developer Briefing!

[h2]Patch 14.3 Changelog[/h2]

[h3]Additional Logging[/h3]

In this patch, we’ll also be turning on additional logging, which we hope will help prove our theory on what is causing the loadout bug. We have identified a number of potential failure points in the stats code, and the logging we have added will verify if any of these are happening. That additional info will help us determine a fix in the near future!

[h3]New Environments[/h3]

• Basic Training
  
• Additional Content Hub
  
• Practice Range
  

[h3]Practice Range[/h3]

Thank you so much for sharing your feedback on the Practice Range during the Patch 14.3 PTE, it was exceptionally useful and we are pleased that a lot of the feedback aligned with what we want to explore implementing in the future - including moving targets, the re-spawning of vehicles and helmets, renaming of garrisons, improved direction and hints, and, of course, having the ability to test each faction.

The first iteration of the Practice Range has been built within the game’s existing functionality which has meant that some of the above suggestions are not something we can introduce just yet, without risking adaptive changes inadvertently affecting live play.

The Practice Range was designed to be a way for players to test out the things they wouldn’t normally be able to do in a live game, rather than act as a tutorial environment. There is much work to be done to help onboard new players, and a tutorial is certainly something we would like to explore in the future.

For Patch 14.3, we have been able to begin actioning some of your feedback, including:

• Extending the shooting range to 500m - although you won’t be able to traverse this additional distance, the extension of the shooting range means players wanting to test out the Sniper role will have the ability to practice landing shots on targets up to 500m away.
  
• Additional obstacles and irregular terrain in the driving range - while there were some great ideas in the feedback from the PTE, we’ve been able to action a few of them by ensuring players have the opportunity to navigate driving past buildings, trenches, and slight inclines/declines in the terrain.
  
• Player-placed garrison spawning - players will now be able to build a garrison within the Building Yard, and spawn in on it.
  
• Added the US Half-track - which can also be used as a way to test redeploying on.
  
• Scarecrow target head shots - headshot SFX will now play when hitting the head, not just the helmet
  

[h3]Optimisation[/h3]

• Performance improvements to a range of maps
  
• Some LOD fixes to address transition issues
  

[h3]General Improvements[/h3]

• Improved micro-stutters
  
• [Increased] Commander Level Requirement from 10 to 30
  
• [Added] [PC] Additional ultrawide screen support
  

We are continuing to work on optimising ultrawide support, and are working on resolving the following issues for a future patch:

• Some UI and menus leave blank spaces on either side of the screen when playing on an ultrawide display
  
• Character previews in the Select Your Role menu may appear too large when playing in ultrawide
  
• The tank commander’s periscope overlay is scaled up in ultrawide resolutions, resulting in a significantly larger field of view
  
• Seams can be seen at the top and bottom of the screen when in the gunner's seat of the Stuart light tank on an ultrawide display
  
• Seams can be seen at the top and bottom of the screen when in the gunner's seat of the BA-10 recon vehicle on an ultrawide display
  
• Black bars are visible on the left and right sides of the screen in ultrawide when gunning the Panzer IV medium tank
  

[h3]British Forces Improvements[/h3]

• [Fixed] British weapons have increased sway when ADSing
  
  While most weapons have now been tackled, the P14 and No.4 Mk1 are still in need of improvements. For more information on what new weapons will be introduced as part of the British forces rework, please click here.
  
  
• [Fixed] British recon tank will pull to the last turned direction when driving straight
  
• [Fixed] British Lewis Gun MG shots appear to be slightly off-centre from sights
  
• [Fixed] Zeroed British Weapon Sights
  
• [Fixed] All Lee-Enfield variants have a stuttering animation and are misaligned while reloading from a TPP
  
• [Fixed] Ping is off-centre when using the British binoculars
  
• [Fixed] Sten gun dropping off at 100m
  

[h3]Removed[/h3]

• Legacy game analytics potentially causing performance issues
  

[h3]Player Locomotion[/h3]

• [Fixed] Players can dive to prone by going in the prone position while jumping
  

This bug allowed players to essentially glitch into the prone position while jumping- and has previously been used as both a way to get out of sticky situations, as well as access normally inaccessible areas, such as rooftops and other platforms to gain an unfair advantage on the battlefield.

We understand that some players have provided feedback regarding the removal of this unintended bug, both during the Patch 14.3 PTE and since, as well as understand that while prone jumping can give players an unfair advantage, it could also be used to traverse the vaulting system when it fails, and add a degree of verticality into their playstyle.

However, with it’s removal in Patch 14.3, we have started the process of laying the ground work that, together with your feedback, will support bringing back a revised version of the Dive to Prone functionality. As part of that work, we have fixed prone jumping - to prevent certain conflicts with the actions, ensuring there are no unintended exploits or behaviours when using it.

We’re still making some final tuning adjustments to the new version, and have had to make sure that Dive to Prone couldn’t be used in mid-air, and have also made adjustments to the cooldown for changing stance too soon after diving, added more friction to reduce the slide distance, as well as limited direction change mid-dive, plus introduced a floor-impact shake. We’ll bring you all the details about these changes in a future developer briefing!

Improvements to the vaulting system are also underway to make it more responsive, which includes ensuring vaulting and climbing operate consistently in accordance with height and distance parameters.

This should mean that vault will be used only for vaulting over things, and climb will only be used to climb onto things, and the system should no longer play the wrong animations causing players to glitch and get stuck, particularly when vaulting through windows.

We’re also carrying out work to make sure vaulting won’t trigger in error for any obstacle below a certain height. Improvements to the third-person vaulting animations has also been carried out across both code and animation to address certain issues.

We hear your feedback, and are making progress with these locomotion improvements, but first want to make sure we remove any issues that can cause conflicts with Dive to Prone.

You’ll soon be able to get hands on with the new Dive to Prone, plus improved vaulting, in a PTE session, so please keep an eye out on future dev briefs and in the #telegrams channel on Discord!


[h3]General Bug Fixes[/h3]

[Fixed] FOV issues in tanks for players with ultrawide monitors

[Fixed] The Panther heavy tank has a faster reload time

[Fixed] Doubled up explosion VFX

[Fixed] Animation issue for Nagant M1895 when reloading

[Fixed] MGs clip through the player model when shooting while being prone and while looking up

[Fixed] Player's left hand becomes unattached from two handed weapons when sprinting in TPP

[Fixed] [PC] Many servers are not appearing in the "All Servers" tab of the Enlist Screen

[Fixed] Player's hand appears offset from their equipped weapon or tool, becoming increasingly offset as FoV is increased

[Fixed] Bullet impact VFX will remain stationary while factory machinery is moving

[Fixed] Broken animation can be observed when going prone while ADS-ing the M97 Trench Gun

[Fixed] There is no mention of the Kharkov map in the Field Manual

[Fixed] MG42 shooting SFX is quieter when single firing

[Fixed] Stone PFX and SFX are present when shooting a German Outpost

[Fixed] US Smoke grenade SFX are delayed and do not match VFX

[Fixed] Flashlight attached to M1941 Summer Field Jacket does not move realistically with body

[Fixed] Pistols are misaligned from characters hand on the Front End and Change Role Menu

[Fixed] No SFX is heard when equipping the Anti-Tank wrench

[Fixed] Weapon displacement appears when stood leaning left and aiming down sights with certain weapons across all factions

[Fixed] Field Manual entry for Driel is incorrect

[Fixed] 'Panther' tank has misspelled name when showing the end game score

[Fixed] Destroyed Cromwell tank is awarded as 'Sherman Destroyed'

[Fixed] Shotguns play bullet drop SFX

[Fixed] Flare guns play bullet drop SFX

[Fixed] All Lee-Enfield variants have a stuttering animation and will be misaligned while reloading from a TPP

[Fixed] British weapons have increased sway when ADSing

[Fixed] No ejecting empty cartridge cases animation when reloading Rifle No.4 Mk1

[Fixed] Kharkov map is missing in the Field Manual

[Fixed] British recon tank will pull to the last turned direction when driving straight



[h3]Remagen[/h3]

[Fixed] Supply boxes cannot be placed (almost) anywhere on the Ludendorff bridge

[Fixed] Canvas covered assets use canvas bullet penetration values, allowing all types of bullets to shoot through them

[Fixed] [F9] Sheds present wooden PFX and SFX

[Fixed] Grey canvas covered boxes display stone PFX, SFX and bullet mark decals

[Fixed] [E3] Sandbags around an artillery gun have improper bullet FX



[h3]Kharkov[/h3]

[Fixed] [F6] Large Rubble pile has improper collision which allows the player to enter it in some areas

[Fixed] [F5] Player can hide inside a column in the St Mary’s Church

[Fixed] [F3] Half-Track wreck presents the incorrect PFX and SFX

[Fixed] [F1] The pillars of a brick building display metal PFX and SFX

[Fixed] Bridge supports have stone PFX

[Fixed] Wooden planks display stone PFX and SFX

[Fixed] A pile of planks presents stone PFX and SFX

[Fixed] [F5] Stone Stairs in Church Entryway Have Wood PFX

[Fixed] Yellow brick house model has metal SFX and PFX

[Fixed] Wooden assets have stone SFX and PFX

[Fixed] [F4] Stone fence inside of St Mary's Church has no bullet collision

[Fixed] A well asset presents stone PFX and SFX

[Fixed] Bullet decals are not present on train wagons

[Fixed] An interior lantern presents laser beam instead of flame

[Fixed] Metal pot has wood PFX

[Fixed] Destroyed Recon vehicle has Stone PFX/SFX

[Fixed] Snowdrifts present dirt SFX and PFX

[Fixed] [E9] A metal pot hanging from a tree branch present in sector E9, presents wood PFX and SFX instead of metal when shot

[Fixed] [F3] Half-Track wreck presents the incorrect PFX and SFX.

[Fixed] [F1] The pillars of a brick building display metal PFX and SFX

[Fixed] Wooden planks display stone PFX and SFX.

[Fixed] [F5] Stone Stairs in Church Entryway Have Wood PFX

[Fixed] A pile of planks presents stone PFX and SFX

[Fixed] An interior lantern presents laser beam instead of flame

[Fixed] [F1] The pillars of a brick building display metal PFX and SFX

[Fixed] [F3] Half-Track wreck presents the incorrect PFX and SFX.

[Fixed] [F5] Player can hide inside a column in the St Mary Church



[h3]El Alamein[/h3]

[Fixed] Tessellation issues are present in multiple sectors while ADSing

The LOD on the landscape changes based on the amount of screen space it takes up, and when we ADS, the weapon takes up a big part of the screen space meaning the landscape takes up less. This can sometimes trigger the LOD to change and create a landscape-warping effect.

To fix this, we need to tune the minimum screen value to a point where we can ADS without triggering the LOD. Unfortunately, a side effect of this change involves adding more triangles to the landscape.
Sometimes, we may need to do this manually, rather than let Unreal choose where we tessellate, and set it up on the landscape shader where we only tessellate within a set distance from the player.
This can then be used to gradually reduce the amount of tessellation, and are able to only add this detail where it is needed around the player.

[Fixed] The terrain surrounding the trenches were misaligned with the environment

[Fixed] Destroyed trucks have stone PFX and SFX

[Fixed] Palm Trees present LoD transition issues

[Fixed] [B4] Corner Sandbag asset appears discoloured

[Fixed] [J5] Multiple mudbanks are misaligned near an artillery

[Fixed] [I5] Stone well sand presents tessellation issues

[Fixed] [G5] Sandbags are misaligned in sector G5 on El Alamein

[Fixed] [D5] Village has multiple instances of misalignment with terrain and z-fighting

[Fixed] Incorrect penetration value in the front area of a preplaced covered truck

[Fixed] Pre-placed destroyed artillery asset has the incorrect bullet penetration value

[Fixed] Pre-placed artillery covered with camouflage net has the incorrect bullet penetration value

[Fixed] Palm Tree asset has incorrect bullet penetration value

[Fixed] The terrain surrounding the trenches is misaligned with the environment

[Fixed] [A7] Misaligned mudbanks are present near a trench in sector A7.

[Fixed] [A7] Hedgehog is misaligned with ground compared to alternate Hedghehog

[Fixed] [J5] A metal barrel is clipping with a vehicle wheel

[Fixed] [J8] Snow Material is present on a number of barrels in this sector

[Fixed] [F4] - The terrain near a trench in sector F4 is misaligned

[Fixed] [C8] The corner of the building found in sector C8 is misaligned

[Fixed] Climbing on a specific tank asset will set the player on fire

[Fixed] [B3][D8] The outpost can be placed inside the water well in multiple sectors on El Alamein

[Fixed] [I5] Multiple misaligned rubble piles present in sector I5

[Fixed] [F8] Misaligned sand border from a trench is present in sector F8

[Fixed] [F8] Floating building structure is present in sector F8

[Fixed] [H7] Plane is clipping into floor

[Fixed] [C4] Floating rock pile located in sector C4

[Fixed] Loading into El Alamein displays multiple locations while the map renders

[Fixed] Boxes cannot be placed anywhere on the metal platforms of the military watchtower

[Fixed] [H6] Planes switch to a grey texture when viewed from 60m away

[Fixed] Boxes cannot be placed anywhere on the metal platforms of the military watchtower

[Fixed] Destroyed trucks have stone PFX and SFX

[Fixed] El Alamein's loading screen dates are incorrect

[Fixed] Incorrect penetration value in the front area of a preplaced covered truck

[Fixed] Palm Trees present LoD transition issues

[Fixed] Tessellation issues are present in multiple sectors while ADSing

[Fixed] [I5] Stone well sand presents tessellation issues

[Fixed] Palm Tree asset has incorrect bullet penetration value

[Fixed] Pre-placed artillery covered with camouflage net has the incorrect bullet penetration value

[Fixed] Pre-placed destroyed artillery asset has the incorrect bullet penetration value



[h3]Carentan[/h3]

[Fixed] [C6] Player will fly into the air when vaulting over a specific wall

[Fixed] [J6] Concrete Pipe and Wall have missing textures



[h3]Hurtgen[/h3]

[Fixed] When bullets penetrate the Guard House asset, bullet entry and exit location decals are not observed.

[Fixed] Fire particles on trees have LOD issues on Hurtgen Map

[Fixed] Sandbags show metal SFX and PFX when part of ruined AT gun trench asset.

[Fixed] [I8] Multiple haystacks and hay bales present stone SFX and PFX

[Fixed] [B6] Trees in the middle of the trench block player's path

[Fixed] [F4] Wooden board is not aligned with the terrain



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

[Fixed] Feathers VFX are visible when shooting the buckets

[Fixed] There is a low quality tree asset which can be observed throughout the map

[Fixed] [E8] The floor of a building asset presents dirt PFX and SFX



[h3]Purple Heart Lane[/h3]

[Fixed] [C3] LOD transition issue present on a Tree Trunk asset

[Fixed] [E7] Multiple branch assets in sector E7 exhibits abrupt LOD change

[Fixed] [C3] Wooden fence asset presents stone PFX and SFX in Sector C3

[Fixed] Wooden floor of multiple house assets has incorrect bullet penetration value

[Fixed] [F2] Potted plants asset has no bullet penetration

[Fixed] Three canvas covered boxes present the incorrect PFX

[Fixed] Stone house asset with wood PFX/SFX



[h3]Kursk[/h3]

[Fixed] There is an LoD transition issue with the crop field at about 70 meters

[Fixed] Certain bush asset changes size on different video settings

[Fixed] Wooden poles present stone PFX and SFX

[Fixed] [F8] Invisible player collision present in trench

[Fixed] Certain bush asset changes size on different video settings

[Fixed] Wooden poles present stone PFX and SFX

[Fixed] Invisible player collision present in trench



[h3]Foy[/h3]

[Fixed] [D3] There is a LoD transition issue with a destroyed artillery asset when viewed from a distance of 33m.



[h3]Driel[/h3]

[Fixed] Flowers from wooden pots have bullet penetration

[Fixed] [D6] Bullets decals remain stationary on the moving gear wheel found in the factory in D6

[Fixed] [H9] [Console] FPS drops below 50 FPS in H9 sector on Driel map

[Fixed] Plant pot besides well asset has metal PFX/SFX

[Fixed] The level of water decreases whenever the player approaches

[Fixed] Brick pile beside well asset has incorrect & unusual PFX / VFX

[Fixed] Driel's loading screen dates are incorrect

[Fixed] Tree asset appears to be missing leaf textures

[Fixed] Trees will enter a low LOD Level when viewed from a distance, but then increase when ADSing



[h3]Utah[/h3]

[Fixed] Multiple boat assets present metal PFX



[h3]Stalingrad[/h3]

[Fixed] [B6] A pile of rubble is floating above the ground

[Fixed] [E3] A pillar is clipping through a building

[Fixed] [F8] A water pump asset is misaligned from the terrain

[Fixed] [F8] A locker asset is misaligned with the ground

[Fixed] [F8] A rock pile is misaligned with the ground

[Fixed] [G5] A pile of concrete slabs is misaligned with the ground

[Fixed] [I8] Misaligned rubble texture located in sector I8

[Fixed] [I7] Misaligned rubble texture located in sector I7

[Fixed] [D7] Misaligned tree trunks can be seen along the road

[Fixed] [C7] Misaligned debris pile



[h3]Sainte-Mère-Église[/h3]

[Fixed] [B8] Cart wheel clipping through terrain in sector B8

[Fixed] [C8] Players can get stuck in between a house and a large bush



[h3]Hill 400[/h3]

[Fixed] Bullet impact VFX will remain stationary while factory machinery is moving



[h3]Omaha[/h3]

[Fixed] Kill volume for 'turn back' warning is too small and can be bypassed

Hey everyone,

We hope you enjoyed the last Developer Briefing! We wanted to round up some of the main topics from the AMA and our Dev Interview in one place, so if you haven’t caught up on Dev Brief #194 yet, we highly recommend taking a read here, plus, you’ll be able to check out progress on the British rework!

As promised, in this week’s dev brief we’ll be sharing more on the updates to the game’s favourite faces - which players who joined us for the Patch 14.3 PTE session will have been able to check out for themselves.

[h2]Patch 14.3[/h2]

We are aiming for this next patch to release on the 14th of September, and are currently in the process of evaluating and scoping your feedback from the Patch 14.3 PTE session. Some reports of changes to the FOV on ultrawide, particularly when in tanks, are also being worked on, and the final changelog will be shared on release!

[h2]Character Head Improvements[/h2]

All in-game heads have been upgraded in both their textures, and mesh, to fix technical issues as well as increase the realism and sharpness of the current head models. Some heads, such as the US default head, however, received more care and attention to increase the detail of the model and textures but also bring them up to a higher level of realism and standard than other in-game head models.

Originally posted by author

During these upgrades, the eyes were a key focus point, with increased sharpness in the textures but also improved shadows in the eyes. This adds an extra level of detail and realism to all in-game head models. - Luke, Junior Character Artist

Soviet Forces Improved Character Heads

German Forces Improved Character Heads

US Forces Improved Character Heads

British Forces Improved Character Heads

[h2]Textures[/h2]

All heads were given some slight adjustments to the overall textures, with sharpening, colour correction, and contrast passes, to help them blend better.

US Solider Texture Adjustments

[h2]False Eye Shadow[/h2]

Originally posted by author

To add a level of realism and help the eyes appear to be sunken into the eye socket, I created false shadows at the top of the eyes for all the heads. This is a very basic change that is very effective. - Luke, Junior Character Artist

Eye Shadowing

[h2]Mesh[/h2]

Acting as the foundation for the character models, the mesh has been updated for soldiers across all forces.

[h3]Head Seam Lines[/h3]

Any visible seam lines have also been softened to avoid hard edges.

Head Seam Adjustments

[h3]Eye Mesh Adjustments[/h3]

Originally posted by author

To start, I created some measuring tools in order to correctly measure the eyes to the correct scale for the eye and eyeball, and then worked on scaling the eyes. The shape of the eyelids on some heads also received some adjustments to either create better symmetry, or create a more anatomically correct shape and proportion. - Luke, Junior Character Artist

The eye direction on most character heads has also been adjusted so that it faces directly forward, a process that required manual tweaking for each head.

Eye Mesh Adjustments

[h2]Not So Hairy Heads[/h2]

While looking at the existing hair in Hell Let Loose, we made the decision to look at increasing the visual fidelity.

While we’d love to look at offering a variety of hair style alternatives in the future, including the possibility of the quintessential moustache, particularly for the British forces, some of the older character models had slightly lower resolution textures, and a more flatly painted look to the hair.

In Patch 14.3, you’ll find the previous textures have now been changed to a close shaven texture:

Originally posted by author

To remove the hair and create the shaven head texture, I used the clone stamp and textures from the other in-game heads and pulled the Normal, Colour, Roughness and AO to create a shaven texture that matches the other in-game heads. - Luke, Junior Character Artist

Shaven Texture

[h2]Adjusting ‘Default Guy’ Albert[/h2]

As many people had pointed out in this Reddit post, the US forces default character head, while offering some unique charm, was in fact in need of a bit of a TLC.

Originally posted by author

I adjusted the mesh to be more anatomically correct. Changes were made to the head shape, as well as positions to the major landmarks of the face such as the ears, mouth and eyes. - Luke, Junior Character Artist

US Forces Albert - Mesh Adjustments

With new textures and mesh adjustments, Albert has now re-grown his eyebrow after a terse shave in the trenches left a bald patch - or at least, that’s what we can assume.



Brought inline with the other models by fixing the head shape, eye position, symmetry, shadowing and direction, as well as tweaks to the ear position, mouth, and more, Albert still retains his “What did I sign up for?” appeal, but in a more balanced manner.

Although we’ll be sure to miss those puppy dog eyes, his new look will help him welcome new and existing players to Hell.

[h2]British Medium Tank Poll Results[/h2]

3,000 of you took the time to vote on the poll for which British medium tank we should introduce for North Africa as part of the British forces rework, with the Crusader Mk.III taking the win with 1.9k votes!

Stay tuned for a future dev brief where we’ll share more on progress.

[h2]Common Questions[/h2]

For answers to questions on game meta, bugs, and more, please read Developer Briefing #194, check out the AMA on Reddit, or visit the Discord to read the full answers in the #ama-july-2023 channel, plus catch up on the Dev Interview!

[h2]Community News[/h2]

[h3]Community Run Giveaway[/h3]



The BEER Haus community are giving Hell Let Loose players the chance to win a Mini Keg gaming PC, built by Savage Industries, as a thank you for supporting and growing The BEER Haus Hell Let Loose server!

The Specs:

• ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi 6e MOBO
  
• Intel i9 13900K CPU
  
• Zotac 3070 Ti
  
• G-Skill Trident Z5 RGB Series 32GB
  
• WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X NVMe
  
• EVGA SuperNOVA 850 GM, 80 PLUS Gold 850W
  
• Hyte Revolt 3 Case
  
• EK Nucleus AIO Dark All-in-One Liquid CPU Cooler
  

Huge thanks to Saucymuffin, TheFreshBakedGoods, RazBora, Terrydactyl, makL, molotovgrl, & squiddsTV for putting this together! We'll also be throwing in some Hell Let Loose DLC, so the lucky winner can boot up then suit up!

Open to US residents.

Giveaway Closes: 30th of September
Enter now: https://gleam.io/zhnct/beer-haus-mini-keg-giveaway

[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]20 Intermediate Tips For Hell Let Loose[/h3]

Whether you've been playing for a while or are new to the battlefield, GoudaGamer shares some great tips on how you can improve your game sense in this video: https://youtu.be/9OLgWl43ASo?feature=shared

[h3]The Five Stages of Hell Let Loose[/h3]

McBluffin Gaming breaks down the five stages every Hell Let Loose player goes through when picking up the game for the first time.

This felt a bit too personal, we won’t lie: https://youtu.be/N1N2YAksql0

[h3]THE Best Sniper Experience in Gaming[/h3]

Our favourite recon duo are back in action on El Alamein!
Watch SoulSniper’s recent video here: https://youtu.be/Fw1z_zGPW1c?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

Hey everyone,

If you haven’t had chance to read the AMA last month or tune into the recent Dev Interview, we’ll be summarising both in this week’s dev brief, as well as sharing a sneak peek at progress with the British forces rework.

But first, we want to thank everyone who took part in the PTE this weekend and joined us for a few games! Your feedback is much appreciated, and we’ll now be looking at what we can consider for Patch 14.3, as well as for future development.

[h2]Patch 14.3 PTE Feedback[/h2]

[h3]Micro-Stuttering[/h3]

Over half of those who took part felt that there was an improvement with stuttering, experiencing less micro-stuttering on most maps. We are aware of some reports about FPS drops in the live game since the last patch, and we will continue to look into this.

[h3]Ultrawide Monitor Compatibility[/h3]

Three-quarters of those using an ultrawide monitor felt that there was a marked improvement, and the experience was what most players would expect from similar titles.

[h3]Panther Tank[/h3]

Over three-quarters of players who used the Panther during the PTE felt that the reload speed was now 'just right.'

[h3]British Weapons[/h3]

Although most players felt the improvements to British weapons were better, some feedback suggested the gun sights were still too large, and further work to improve weapon zeroing was needed.

[h3]Practice Range[/h3]

We already have a list of work we’d like to carry out for future iterations of the Practice Range, and much of this was also identified by players who took the time to submit feedback on their experience. There were also some great ideas that we will take a look at to see how we could implement these in future versions.

Some of the feedback included:

• Increasing Shooting Range to 500m
  
• Moving Targets
  
• More navigation and prompts
  
• Respawning of vehicles and helmets
  

[h2]Plans for Optimization & Bug Fixing[/h2]

Having realised our focus needed to change so that we could revisit the existing game and bug database, the roadmap for Hell Let Loose has changed, and we’re working to put a new one together that we’ll be able to talk more about in a future briefing.

Some issues that you experience in the game don’t always happen in our own testing environments, which can make these bugs trickier to tackle, and we can struggle to reproduce certain issues that require a lot of players over a length of time. Reintroducing public testing is already helping with better understanding some of these bugs, while also helping shape the direction of the game.

[h3]LODs[/h3]

We know LODs are a big one for the community, and our Technical Art team are making their way through all the levels and optimizing some of the worst offenders. LODs are particularly important for console platforms, and decisions have to be made manually, with artists going in and tuning the distance at what certain objects should start rendering, which can be a lengthy and time-consuming process.

Most of our levels also use something called HLODs:

Originally posted by author

HLODs are a really cool bit of technology which makes it really cheap to render something, and if it's far enough away, it can look pretty close to what it would look like. But the creation of HLODs is tricky, it's very hard to get them to to look great, and is made harder with a more realistic looking game like Hell Let Loose.

It's basically a constant challenge for the tech art team to to balance creating these cheaper to render versions of geometry so this will still run at a decent frame rate on all of the hardware that we support, while not looking terrible - and it’s a time consuming process.

You will notice literally every single update the LODs will be improved in numerous different areas on all the maps, and this is one of those areas where I don't think we could, you know, within the next few years tackle every single part of every single level that exists and make them perfect - so if the community can basically let us know the worst offenders, they’ll go to the top of our priority list. - Kieran, Studio Technical Director

Patch 14.3 will be introducing some further LOD optimization for certain maps, however, if you’ve noticed particular issues that are having a high impact, please let us know by getting in touch with Player Support!

[h3]Rubber-banding[/h3]

While we’ve made changes to both PC and Console platforms to help reduce rubber-banding, we know there is still more to be done.

[h3]VOIP[/h3]

We’re continuing to work closely with Vivox to understand how we improve the quality and experience for players.

Originally posted by author

They actually recently reached out to us as they had themselves been looking into user reports of voice issues and have managed to identify that there was an issue with people who were using mobile-based
data networks for connecting to the game. There was a high chance that the VOIP basically stopped working and the connection would fail. That has been fixed in the latest SDK which we have updated for Patch 14.3. - Kieran, Studio Technical Director

VOIP can be challenging for us, as it is rare we ever get issues in the development environment, and Vivox identified that there is a configuration difference between what we use for the development environments on the server side, and what’s happening in the actual live game - so we’re also working with them to make sure they’re the same, which may help us better understand some of the issues being experienced, during development, so we can fix them.

Originally posted by author

We've typically had to make improvements and fixes and then wait for the next update to go live to then identify what is breaking. We are utilizing analytics to be able to identify issues, so it's a case of every single update we will spend some time sitting down and having a look at those analytics to go like, okay what's broken now, and then we can fix another thing, but again, typically we won't be able to reproduce that issue in our development environment so it becomes a case of making a fix and then the next update goes live we repeat the cycle. So, unfortunately, when it comes to this, it's currently quite a slow turnaround for us - but we do continue to work on it every single update. - Kieran, Studio Technical Director

[h2]British Forces Rework[/h2]

Both during the AMA, and in the dev interview, we outlined what we’re doing to essentially make good on the British forces - including new, more accurate weapons, uniforms, and vehicles.

This is a large piece of work, and we want to get it right, so improvements to the British forces will be something you see arrive in the game in phases.

[h3]Historical Accuracy[/h3]

Originally posted by author

The Bren absolutely should have a bipod. For someone who's been shown how to use a Bren gun by other historians, I can absolutely attest to bipod - the Bren needs a bipod. - Matt, Studio Creative Director

We want to ensure we’re bringing accurate firearms to the game on a per-theatre basis.
For example, although some British weapons were used across all theatres, there were some that were specific to North Africa or Western Europe - and we want to make sure the experience is accurate for both.

[h3]Weapons[/h3]

Bren Gun - we are going to do a bipod for the Bren, which will be publicly tested to understand the best balancing, whether it sits on the Machine Gunner role, or whether it works for the Automatic Rifleman.

British Thompson - we will be doing the 1928A1 Thompson.

SMLE - we will be doing the SMLE No.1 MKIII that was used throughout WWII.

No.32 Scope with No.4 MKI - as a new sniper rifle.

Sten MKV - as an additional Sten gun.

Gammon Bomb - also known as the No.82 Grenade, this will work as an 'explode-on-impact' device to help specific roles deal with lighter armoured vehicles.

SMLE No.1 MKIII High Poly (1)

SMLE No.1 MKIII High Poly (2)

[h3]Armour[/h3]

In terms of armour, we are going to do specific pieces of armour for the British, specifically for North Africa, and have a look at the armour that’s available for Driel, including:

• Churchill Mk.III for North Africa
  
• Churchill Mk.VII for Europe
  
• M3 Stuart ‘Honey’
  

We have options when it comes to introducing the new British medium tank for North Africa - and we want to give you the vote on what we work on implementing!

Share your opinion and cast your vote for one of the following tanks:

• Crusader Mk.III
  
• Valentine Mk.II
  
• Matilda II
  

Churchill Mk.III and Mk.VII High poly - WIP

[h3]Uniforms[/h3]

We will also be making good on the uniforms for both North Africa, and Western Europe, including shorts and short sleeve uniforms for the British, as well as the German DAK uniform.

Originally posted by author

We'll do the same thing with the camo for those Vehicles [mentioned above] as well, so you'll be able to play North Africa with the correct uniforms, with historically accurate weapons and vehicles and armour, against the Germans with the German equivalent. What it will do, is it will make the theatres much more flavoursome and historically accurate, but much more thematic as a player, so that North Africa will feel very different, as it should, compared to say, Europe.

I hope that gives people some inclination of the commitment we have to making sure
that all the all the gear, all the toys, all the weapons, all the equipment you'll be
playing with, is 100% authentic and accurate. - Matt, Studio Creative Director

Here’s a first-look at some of the uniform work in progress!

High poly for the new British desert uniform

High poly for the new German DAK uniform

Improved British helmet with straps, for a better fit and more accuracy

[h2]Firefly Tank[/h2]

Improvements to manoeuvrability and how the Firefly works falls into a wider conversation around armour in the game, and it is something we want to look at.

Originally posted by author

It’s an interesting one with Hell Let Loose, because of how Hell Let Loose classes it's different types of armour, you know, the Firefly historically is fundamentally the same chassis that's - for want of a better word - as a normal Sherman with a 75mm gun - it just has an almighty 17 pounder on it. So I'm gonna look into this especially when we do the Churchill, I'm going to look into the different game mechanic armour values of Hell Let Loose and how they work in relation to how they worked in WWII. - Matt, Studio Creative Director

[h2]Recon & Artillery[/h2]

Reevaluating the game meta is not off the table for us, and we’re keen to explore what it could look like in the future - whether that be making artillery a Commander ability that can be called in, or a mortar team.

Originally posted by author

The next sort of thing I have in my head is around self-propelled artillery pieces - so you get to drive the artillery around as if it were in a vehicle form and the vehicle has an artillery piece on it - and there are plenty of historical self-propelled artillery pieces as well and again, that creates a more interesting gameplay mechanic because they can physically move and maybe they're, depending on the piece that we're talking about, maybe the destruction ability of that piece could vary as well, so I think the the surmise of it is, as always with a lot of game development, there are a lot of things we want to try out and prototype and the way that we work is we'll have an idea - prototype it quickly - as soon as we think it's possible to run it in a PTE where it looks representative of the idea to see if it has legs, then we should do that and get feedback from the community.

Game development is a lot about iteration, so you you try something that could work, get some feedback, iterate, get some more feedback, and iterate and that's where you kind of find the magic in in the mechanics. I think it is very difficult to say on paper “this thing here will work 100% guaranteed” from my experiences and from the team's experience it's better to have a few different systems that we can try quickly and work out so there's lots of different options options to us but it's something 100% we want to look at. - Matt, Studio Creative Director

[h2]Node System[/h2]

With some players finding the node system to have become stale, we also want to look at revisiting and understanding where previously in Hell Let Loose, the location of node placement would have an impact.

Creating a deeper mechanic is something we’ll look to do, and test out in a future PTE, where you’ll be able to share your feedback on the direction taken!

[h2]Garrisons[/h2]

Building garrisons and defending them exists as a key mechanic, which can easily be the difference between a win or a loss.

Originally posted by author

We may have a new type of Garrison. But I'm going to keep a little bit tight-lipped about it because I think there's a few development things that we've been experimenting with - and we've done some tests within the team that takes the good stuff out of the garrisons and maybe unhinges it from some of the frustrations people have with garrisons and we've done some prototypes and we had a system working that we're very excited about and that we will want to run it in a PTE.

When you’ve been playing the game for a while, you kind of get a feel for “I know there's going to be an enemy Garrison there” and that in itself can be quite a satisfying mechanic, but I don't think that should be the only mechanic within the garrison system. - Matt, Studio Creative Director

[h2]Progression System & Loadout Reworks[/h2]
We never want players to feel as though they’re not progressing in some form, and some of the new weapon systems we’re going to be prototyping out will be touching on the idea of being able to use XP for other roles.

We also want to look at new loadouts, as well as revisiting existing ones, and will be doing a new set of loadouts for the German forces for El Alamein that would be different to their existing loadouts in Western Europe, for example. These more accurate loadouts will need to be prototyped and eventually put in a PTE for players to feedback on.

[h2]Tanks[/h2]

There are a lot of variables for us to understand with armour, both as a mechanic, but also with the existing physics of vehicles in Hell Let Loose, and their ability to traverse certain terrain in the game.

We already have prototypes for being buttoned up, or with open hatches, and want to explore smoke dispensers, as well as a flamethrower tank, and are absolutely interested in revisiting armour in Hell Let Loose.

We want to go deeper with tank mechanics, and get to the point where we can introduce an American tank destroyer like a Jackson, or a Hellcat and have that make a lot of sense in terms of mechanics - giving players more opportunities to adjust their playstyle and tactics within a game.

Originally posted by author

These are pieces of armour where the actual thickness of their armour is quite low, they're what I would call shoot and scoot type pieces - but they have a hell of a gun. This is where Hell Let Loose with it's Tiger, you know, we all know that there's a lot of myths about the pros and the cons of a Tiger tank - the fact that 90% of the time, they weren’t really capable of moving very far, often breaking down, but the Tiger, that sort of class of tank can dominate a battlefield and everyone just wants to be in that type of tank.

Where I want to get to, is where you can play in a Hellcat and it be a really fun and engaging experience and you understand the tactics of how to use that piece of armour, even though it's classed as a heavy or super heavy gun, but thin armour, so we need to think about armour in the entirety of World War II. - Matt, Studio Creative Director

[h2]Supporting Organised Play[/h2]

We are consistently in awe of the incredible efforts clans, orgs, and communities put into fostering organised play and tournaments within Hell Let Loose, and it’s something we want to dig deeper into to see where we can support these efforts.

Originally posted by author

I want to pick up the conversations that I initially started when I first came onboard, in terms of going “where can we support you?” and that might look like potential content calendars where we can feature upcoming tournaments and events and support those whether that's with promotion on our channels, or giveaways - DLC, game keys - that can help really drive traffic to these events. - WombatMedic, Community Manager

There’s a lot to consider when it comes to the idea of Hell Let Loose being a viable esports title - including balancing - but we want to support some of the community’s tournaments, and will be looking to re-evaluate where we can showcase these and encourage more players to watch the action and sign up to take part themselves. While we have a War Arranger role in Discord for players to recruit and highlight events, it is something to be expanded on to see how we can support the comp scene on a much larger scale.

[h3]Admin Cam[/h3]

We have already done some work on admin cam designs for increased functionality, and will now need to understand when would be best to do the development work.


[h2]Console Server Browsing & Map Voting[/h2]

While not shying away from the workload required to bring a form of server browsing to console, there is a lot to consider:

Originally posted by author

The server architecture on the base level is very similar, but in the environment, it’s very different and so it is looking at that and how do we get that to play nicely and is it possible, how do we do that. It's a lot of work basically, and we we want to look at doing that work, but it is - is there any quicker solutions we can do to help console players? Like being able to find maybe certain maps, maybe looking at certain game modes looking, at certain server populations, or how full a server is. We are looking at the longer term thing as well as short term on that, but it is a very tricky piece of work that needs a lot of thought putting into. - Adam, Senior Brand Manager

Another solution we’re looking at in the interim, is voting for the next map - which would definitely help communities better organise competitive games, as well as give them the freedom to vote on what they want to play, versus what the server rotation dictates.

Originally posted by author

Ultimately, I think we do want to move towards having this browser, but that is going to take some time, it is far from trivial. This is something where the community can help guide us. We all want that, and we're working towards that, and we will get there, but if we acknowledge that it’s going to take some time - what can we do in the meantime to make your lives a little bit better? - Kieran, Studio Technical Director

[h2]What’s next for Hell Let Loose?[/h2]

Our current focus remains on bug fixing and optimisation, with the upcoming Patch 14.3. With a new roadmap in the works, there will be more content coming.

Originally posted by author

That content will be PTE’d, it will be tested beforehand, and we will make sure that everybody is understanding of what's coming, what we’ve tried to do, and where it is, and some of that, it’s not going to be like next year - middle of next year sort of thing - we are looking at what can we bring to the community that's new content, while we're still making sure we do these major fixes first. - Adam, Senior Brand Manager

[h3]What new content is being worked on right now:[/h3]

1). British forces rework - weapons, armour, and uniforms

2). 50v50 combined arms maps, including Mortain

3). Revising Dive to Prone and taking on board feedback from the community

There is content we would love to consider working on in the future, including the Pacific, however, we want to ensure we’re taking a measured approach to new content. A lot has been learnt from the delivery of the British forces, and we need to make sure the forces we deliver are accurate, what you as players expect, and also help inform and be respectful of the various history and forces within World War II.


[h2]Common Questions[/h2]

For answers to questions on game meta, bugs, and more, please read our latest AMA on Reddit, or visit the Discord to check out the full answers in the #ama-july-2023 channel!


[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]Let’s Talk About The Practice Range[/h3]

Missed out on the Patch 14.3 PTE? Check out The Fresh Baked Goods' video break-down of the first iteration of the Practice Range: https://youtu.be/Rvx5hBxRzHA

[h3]The Gang Tries Out The Gun Range[/h3]

Shared by u/SuperMalarioBros on Reddit, this edit of trying out the Practice Range during the PTE session got our vote!

[h3]This is Why I Still Play Hell Let Loose[/h3]

Watch Alpine Sniper pick out man from tree on Hürtgen Forest and land some great shots: https://youtu.be/0IdUOekw4nI

[h3]One in a Million Shot - Molotov Blocked by Grenade[/h3]

Who needs to throw back grenades when you can just deflect them with one of your own!

Shared to Reddit by u/Slap_Life.


[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


In Dev Brief #195, we’ll be taking a closer look at the updates to the character models that those who took part in the latest PTE session would have got to try out. Until then, we’ll see you all on the frontline!