Hell Let Loose News

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing 36! This week we’re taking a first look at an upcoming addition to Hell Let Loose, the infamous Tiger 1!

The Tiger will be coming in a future update that will mark the arrival of the first Heavy Tank in Hell Let Loose. The USA equivalent will be coming slightly after that, so we look forward to seeing how the US armour and AT units adapt to this new presence on the frontline during the interim…




Weighing in at 54 tonnes and packing a devastating 8.8cm KwK 36, the Tiger 1 was a fearsome piece of German engineering. Those that could avoid the ire of the Tiger’s armaments would then have to contend with armour that could be as thick as 100-120mm in key locations!

Locking down the area

The Tiger’s HE rounds excel at providing ranged support to German infantry, but it really shines with its AP rounds that can cut through all Allied armour with ease.

Overwatch initiated

Key information

• Top speed: 18km/ph
  
• Respawn Time: 10 minutes (Double that of Panther)
  
• Fuel Cost: 100
  

Due to the expensive cost and long respawn time of the Tiger, German players will want to make sure that it’s well supported by infantry lest it get overwhelmed and destroyed by US infantry and the swifter Sherman tanks.

When the Tiger 1 arrives in Hell Let Loose it will be available for German forces across all maps and be added to their current quota of Panthers and the Luchs.

Crouching tiger, hidden tank



US forces attempting to take down this juggernaut will want to avoid a frontal confrontation at all costs. Instead they’ll need to focus on achieving multiple penetrating hits on the sides and rear of the tank.




Hi all,

We're excited to introduce the apex predator into our armour food chain and watch the way it's used on the battlefield. Like always, we're continuously working on more vehicles, features, FPP and TPP animation overhaul, SFX overhaul, new maps as well as continuously fixing issues.

Stay tuned as tomorrow we’ll be releasing our next quality of life patch which we’re hoping will improve VoIP stability as well as address the empty server browser issues reported to us by the community.

If you're enjoying Hell Let Loose we'd love you to leave us a Steam review.

See you on the frontline!

Hey everyone,

We've just deployed a small hotfix following the launch of Patch #4.

Thanks to your feedback we were able to identify and fix the following issues:

• Fixed player icon legibility issues on the map.
  
• Fixed a bug where supplies built by the Support role aren’t shown on the map.
  

We really appreciate you making us aware of things like this, nice one community!

See you on the frontline!

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Patch 4! In this patch we’ve got quality of life fixes, new sounds for the Panther Sherman and Pak 40 as well as a number of bug fixes.

If you don’t see a bug you’ve wanted squished in the list below, be sure to check out an update from Max after the change list!

UPDATE: We regret that our patch went live with some incorrect scaling of player icons on the map. We will be working to apply a patch for these as soon as possible and apologise for the reduced legibility in the meantime.

• Players can now shoot through the open areas on top of hedges
  
• Added an exact bearing in compass box
  
• Added tank radial dials
  
• Improved player icons on map
  
• Adjusted the sensitivity of the aim when magnifying with main cannons and heavy weapons to allow for finer precision aim at the highest levels of magnification, and increased responsiveness when at the lowest levels of magnification.
  

• Added graphical autodetect for low spec machines. This will profile your machine and apply the most performant settings (as opposed to loading low-end machines in on Epic quality and tanking performance).
  

• Added new cannon fire sound for Panther
  
• Added new cannon fire sound for Sherman
  
• Added new cannon fire sound for Pak 40
  

• Improved map icons for engineer resource nodes
  
• Fixed various visual issues on the Utah map
  

• Fixed an issue where the Sherman tank’s cannon fire SFX looped endlessly after firing
  
• Fixed an issue where players could see enemy resource nodes on maps
  
• Fixed an issue where Strongpoints appeared larger on the map than they are in-game
  
• Fixed an issue where newly placed outposts didn’t pulsate
  
• Fixed an issue where weapons would shoot without input after reloading
  
• Fixed various config file exploits
  
• Players can now deploy LMG in shallow puddles
  
• Fixed an issue where sometimes user could experience a crash after firing an artillery shell
  
• Fixed an issue where Spotters could build garrisons in locked enemy sectors
  
• Fixed an issue where occasionally a player’s resource node could be invisible in-game when constructed
  
• Fixed an issue where the initial gear change required multiple gear shifts in tanks
  
• Fixed an issue where players could sometimes become stuck on the deployment screen while attempting to deploy
  
• Fixed an issue where players could sometimes be invisible in TPP after deploying
  
• Improved collision on various items
  
• Fixed a bug where deployables couldn’t be constructed on certain types of terrain on the Utah map
  

• Proximity and Leadership VOIP drops out. We have applied several fixes to this in our closed build and are awaiting sign off for release for this fix as soon as possible.
  
• Server browser does not show all servers or appropriate servers for the user. We have applied several fixes to this in our closed build and are awaiting sign off for release for this fix as soon as possible.
  

We’ve been working hard on both the VOIP issues that have been recurring, as well as issues around the server browser not displaying or showing appropriate servers - or sometimes showing an empty server browser. In the last two days we have internally applied many fixes to these and will hope to roll out significant fixes as soon as possible.

Thanks so much for your patience - we know how irritating and frustrating these specific bugs are.

We'll see you on the frontline!

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing 35! This week we’re giving you an early look at future improvements to animations in Hell Let Loose as well as a heads up that a patch is arriving tomorrow. We’ll release a changelog with it so you can check out all the new and improved aspects.

As we progress through Early Access you can expect an increase in quality for both TPP and FPP animations. Much like how we’re working on SFX improvements, the plan is to add our updated animations piece by piece when they’re complete, rather than holding back until everything is finished further down the Early Access line.




Below we’ll be sharing with you a first look at what you can expect from our improved animation plans.

PLEASE NOTE: The examples shown aren’t final. These were technical tests conducted with our player skeleton to make sure that the mocap results would translate well. As a result of this, we’ve since recorded mocap in several sessions and are now cleaning them up and making sure they’re ready to bring into the engine. We’re excited about the direction we’re taking with this and wanted to give you all a preview of what’s to come…


When it comes to walking and running, our aim is to increase the smoothness of the movement to give it a much more organic appearance.


In battle you always need to be alert, we feel that this should be visually represented in game. When standing idle, player models won’t be so rigid in the future.


The same can be said for kneeling, both when resting or aiming down sight. Keeping your balance and staying as comfortable as possible should be reflected in the player avatar’s behaviour.


Actions such as going prone, vaulting and leaning will also feel and look smoother.




We hope you enjoyed a first look at where we’re moving towards with our TPP and FPP animations.

There’s still work to be done here so these won’t be coming to Hell Let Loose until we’re slightly further into Early Access, but we have a date internally that we’re aiming for.

Once we get closer to this date we’ll be in a better position to share a window for these changes hitting the game.

The team are also busy working on bug fixes and other new content (one piece we’ll be talking about next week!) to further evolve the Hell Let Loose experience.

That wraps up this week’s briefing, we’ll see you on the frontline!

Hey everyone,

We hope you’re having a fantastic time with Update 1 and our new map, Utah Beach! Rest assured we’ve been combing through your comments and feedback and making plans as we move forward towards our next patches and Update 2.

To let you know what the team are currently working on following Update 1, Lead Developer Max is has written a message for the community:




Thanks for a great launch for Update 1. It was great to jump in with you and take notes across all our feedback channels as to some of the key issues we should tackle next.

As you’ve probably started noticing if you’ve been following the project for a while - we don’t consider any aspect of Hell Let Loose finished and know that there is plenty more to do in every department before we’d consider the game anywhere near representative of a final experience.

Right now we’re deciding on our full Update 2 commitment - making sure we feel we can achieve whatever we share with the community. While the Update 2 content is important, we feel that at this stage there are several endemic bugs and issues that are significantly hampering great gameplay - server browser issues, VOIP issues, unit management mechanics and anti-griefer mechanics.

We’ll be patching these issues as quickly as possible and won’t follow the Update schedule, as we feel that addressing these will significantly improve the experience for all players. In addition to this, we’re also working full-time on addressing RCON systems for server hosts and working to give them more power in the way they’re able to administer their servers.

While these are some key issues for us as a whole, we’re continuing upgrades to SFX, HUD, UI, animation and weapon handling. You’ll see these continue to roll out in both patches and the larger Updates as we progress.

Once we’ve locked our content for Update 2, we’ll release an updated roadmap graphic. Rest assured that at any time we always have several maps in development, new vehicles and a whole bunch of other goodies.

And now for something slightly different…




Many of you have probably noticed the various critters dotted around our maps that have shifted their mortal coil. From cows to chickens, rats and now fish!

But how do these models get made and what makes them look so lifelike? Well, in the case of our fish we (well, one person), had to really dive into their role.

Please note: The sealife featured was not meant for human consumption and no fish or crab were harmed for or during the process of creating the assets. Only the hands, clothes and stomach of our Lead Artist – Danny. We aren’t going to post the source imagery either, because we value your enjoyment of your dinner.




We spoke to Danny on the process that went into creating Utah Beach’s fish:

For many assets, including the fishes and sealife of Hell Let Loose - Utah, Photogrammetry was used. (This meant Danny actually had to obtain and photograph the source material, aka the fish)



Multiple images from multiple angles were loaded into Agisoft Metashape. In here the photos were auto aligned and formed a Point Cloud. This Point Cloud was used to generate a high poly 3D mesh and textures from the photos.





After the Photogrammetry process, the high poly 3D mesh and textures were Exported into xNormal to bake the base Albedo, Normal and Ambient Occlusion textures. Meanwhile, the decimated mesh was created in Meshlab and Unwrapped in Maya.







The base textures were loaded into Substance Painter. In Substance the gaps and holes were painted out using the clone/stamp tool. Additional dirt, materials and details were added if needed, and the final textures were loaded into Hell Let Loose to be used by Will to scatter around for all our eyes to enjoy.






There's still time to take advantage of our 15% Update 1 Discount until 6pm BST on July 25th!

Join the frontline here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/