Hell Let Loose News

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #112!

This week we're doing our weekly post slightly earlier than usual to coincide with this morning's hotfix.

So, get ready for patch notes, an update on the current VoIP situation, a development state of play from Max and the opportunity to submit your hot topics for our upcoming community Q&A.

Oh and there's a little uniform reveal for our next faction...




We’ve released a small hotfix to address some servers not being shown in the browser. As this was a low risk fix we are able to do this by itself and you should see more servers to choose from now in the browser!

VIVOX/VOIP

We’ve been in constant communication with our friends at Vivox and are working hard with them to establish the cause of the VOIP loss in game. While several issues have now been addressed in the back-end (specific server VOIP dropouts), we feel we are getting close to a fix for the disconnect/reconnect issue.




With the first roadmap of 2021 just around the corner we wanted to again give you a chance to ask that one burning question you may have. Although we won’t be able to answer them all, we will do our best to consolidate them and give you as detailed of an answer as possible at this current point of development.

Please fill out this form for your one burning question!

We look forward to going through your questions and sharing our answers with you soon.




A Message From Max

Hi everyone,

As always, the team is working across a huge amount of quality of life fixes, bug fixes, crash fixes, optimisation, new content and planning into the future.

We thought we’d take some time to quickly address the hot topics currently in the community and let you know where we're at with them:

Tank MG Hit Registration

Currently the tank is using a cheap version of hitreg that initially was designed and suited to the pre-ballistics form of the MG (linetrace). It was designed to be as cheap as humanly possible, due to the then incredibly high volume of fire that tanks could put out.

The basic thought was that continuous saturation of fire was a quick way to degrade the tickrate of a server incredibly quickly - causing lagging, rubber banding etc. After adding the ballistics model to the tank MGs, we thought in testing that the old hit reg would continue to function as well as it always had. However, we've seen since the update that there are some very strange things occurring when different angles are reached from both the player capsule (the networked position of the player on the server) and the way the hit prediction works for the MG rounds fired from the tank.

We've tested several fixes for this and each one has introduced other weird effects, so the outcome we're going to push for is implementing the infantry hit reg solution (from the handheld firearms) onto the tank MGs. While this is certainly do-able, the time it takes to do this will mean a significant rework and re-test of all vehicle mounted MGs in the game. It's on our list for the next update, but isn't something we've been able to hotfix.

HE Shells

While we limited the total insta-gib range of the HE shell, we've noticed that there are several issues occurring where players are landing shells very close to the enemy (ie within the killzone) and they're walking away unscathed.

We've investigated ways to fix this, and have reworked a huge amount of the way we trace damage from an explosive source. In testing, we've seen that landing shells can sometimes have damage occluded from the blast by tiny portions of the landscape geometry and other small props. The damage then reflected outwards and wouldn't hit the area of the player that would trigger the damage. While we've made tons of changes and custom fixes to most explosives to negate this (satchels, grenades, arty), there are still complexities to add and refine - especially on our heavy weapons projectile weapon type.

As a result, we've re-written the way in which we trace damage for the heavy weapons, both making some aspects of it more expensive on the netcode, but we've also made efficiencies in other places too. As a result, there should be no more accurate shots failing to kill your target. Obviously though, this is something we'll continue to monitor after we roll this change out in U9.

Grass Issues

Since this was spoken about recently, we’ve optimised much of the engine code that handles this and are seeing significant improvements across the board. The engine now longer force-unloads the grass, and instead keeps it culled when the player dies which then allows us to bring it back in on spawn very quickly. We’re very excited to roll this out in Update 9.

Armor Issues

There are tons of these and each dependent on the vehicle, the player and the expectation of what should happen. We've got lots of detailed feedback across this from clans and the community more broadly, and we've broken each issue down into a bug to be worked through (and many already are). There are some easy ones to fix, and then there are some tough ones to fix. Physics are always exceedingly painful - especially when using them in a way that needs to be incredibly lightweight.

The main thing here is that we're working on aspects such as: manoeuvrability, hit boxes, damage effects, shell non-pen effects, weird hitbox issues causing single shot kills, bouncing/floaty physics, offset reticles etc. The list is really long and often the moment you tweak any aspect of the physics, lots of strange things happen. In any case, we're working through the feedback as efficiently as possible to get as many meaningful changes in for U9. We should also note that we’re still building out the base armor roster for the game - including bringing in the more unsung heroes like the Pz4 and Stug, alongside the stock Sherman variants.

Metagame

We’re currently looking across all feedback and have been thinking deeply about how we will adjust the metagame in order to better enable off-set attacks on Strong Points, without returning to the previous ninja Garrison metagame.

Optimisation

This is ongoing over the course of development as we work through a ton of issues and overhaul the fundamentals. Now that many of those overhauls are complete, we've been able to make some big leaps forward, with more to come. The weapon overhaul and grass changes have increased performance, as well as other optimisations.

Tutorial and Tips

These are key for us, but they've also been on the back burner while we work out what the actual meta and functionality of the base game is before we start creating tips (that would soon become outdated the moment we changed something). The need for this and good localisation is ever more apparent, and something that we're prioritising more and more.

Localisation

With the growth of several new communities, we’re introducing improved localisation for all languages (with updates to the now long out-of-date text currently in the game) and adding certain languages. This will include iterative updates to the in game Field Manual.


Thank you all for your continued support, feedback and patience. It really goes a long way! Now, we'd like to give you a first official look at a uniform from the Eastern Front...






1. SH-40 (Steel helmet-40)
2. Summer field uniform 1940-1943
3. Tarpaulin boots
4. Universal ammo pouch
5. Mosin rifle ammo pouch
6. MPL-50 (small infantry spade-50)
7. Сable pouch
8. Small sapper ax
9. Sapper tool bag
10. Sidor (Duffel bag) with satchel charge.






That wraps up this week's Dev Brief!

We hope you like what you've read and seen today! The team are looking forward to going through your questions for our Community Q&A and we're keen to give you some answers, so if you've got something you'd like to ask us make sure to get it submitted!

Have a great weekend everyone.

See you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #111!

This week we're previewing the MG34 and explaining how it'll fit into the German Machine Gunner's roster!

The team also have an update on where we're at in regards to tackling the current VOIP issues in-game.

Oh and before we get stuck in, you'll also notice that the map we're showing you the MG34 on isn't from the Western Front...




The MG34 will be coming to Hell Let Loose in Update 9 for the German Machine Gunner role.



A key aspect when introducing new weapons to Hell Let Loose is considering the difference this weapon will make to the battlefield, and how it will be meaningfully different to whatever is currently available. This is often based on the historical usage of the weapon, technical difficulty in achieving a significant difference (i.e. if the functionality is not something that exists elsewhere in the game and must be custom built) and then lots of testing and feedback with the community.

The issue with having a very low time-to-kill within a game like Hell Let Loose is that bullet damage values more or less stay consistent from weapon to weapon - with the largest factors being reticle shape, recoil strength, recoil pattern, ammo counts and loadout availability.



As a result of this, we’ve designed the MG34 to possess its real life rate of fire (while fast, noticeably slower than the MG42), and also a slightly lower recoil value - enabling greater precision and control. In addition to this, it has a smaller belt size, but a number of belts that matches the ammunition count on the MG42.

While the MG42 is used for pouring huge amounts of lead down range into an enormous “beating zone” (which is what ultimately made it such a unique and fierce weapon) with a large belt size, the MG34 is for more considered and focused fire at the sacrifice of overwhelming fire.



When looking at the spectrum of weapons available to the German forces during WW2, the MG34 was the backbone of the army for the entire duration of the war before being challenged by the MG42 in the later years. As such, we feel that it is appropriate to replace the MG42 with the MG34 as the Standard Issue loadout for the German Machine Gunner role. Fear not though, as the MG42 will be available as the first unlock for the role at level 3.

We also want to note that while we won’t ship the MG34 with a select fire mode, we’ve revisited select fire mode functionality and will be looking at introducing it in the future for all weapons with the setting available.

We’re excited to show off the distinct characteristics of the weapon’s fire sound and functionality below in one of our coming Eastern Front maps! Please be aware that both the texture quality of the MG34, the casing fx, as well as the map are still work in progress with more to be done!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]




We want to quickly follow up with the VOIP issues some are still experiencing in game. We are in conversations with our VOIP provider Vivox to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Several fixes have already been made but we want to make sure any final aspects are resolved.

If you do experience VOIP loss, please let us know in the #voip_troubleshooting channel in our official Discord. Some players are managing to reconnect to VOIP by disconnecting and reconnecting their mic/headset. Let us know if this works for you.

Once again, thank you all for your patience and support whilst we investigate this frustrating issue.




That wraps up this week's Dev Brief!

We've got lots more to share in the coming weeks, including an updated Roadmap and a community video Q&A so watch this space!

Have a great weekend everyone.

We'll see you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #110!

This week we're showing you the reworked Barbed Wire deployable that'll be coming to Hell Let Loose as part of Update 9!

We're also taking a moment to address the current VOIP issues we're seeing players experiencing, as well as officially confirming a new weapon coming to the game, so stick around until the end!




For Update 9, alongside working through many other incomplete aspects of the game, we’ve managed to swing back and figure out a cost effective way to give barbed wire the desired effect we’ve all been waiting for.

Hell Let Loose’s damage system is designed to be relatively simple when it comes to addressing wounds. This is to not only reflect the relatively simplistic triage process during the war (with some forces not even having morphine widely available), but also to create a strong series of actions in order to bring someone back to fighting capacity.

As a result, we feel that the key with barbed wire is that it should cause noise rather than damage (and we all know how horrible the sounds of being trapped in barbed wire are) and completely slow you down for as long as you’re stuck to it. In addition, while some barbed wire can be navigated through, we obviously felt it was important that player-deployed barbed wire completely blocked you.

We’re therefore replaced the old, tiny barbed wire in the Engineer loadout with large - tall arrays that are far more effective at blocking locations and causing bottlenecks.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Please note: This is early footage and is subject to change.

Barbed wire can be blown up with Satchel Charges and well placed artillery. We’ll be testing this functionality in order to make sure it strikes a right balance of being a considerable obstacle without being too strong and impossible to deal with.

In the future we’ll be looking at letting heavy vehicles potentially crush barbed wire in order to clear it.




We’re aware that significant voip issues have been experienced for far too long. We’ve been doing a vast amount of digging and profiling, and (with help from the community and our QA team) have identified the issue.

The team are now working with the provider to rectify the issue as soon as possible. We will keep you updated via Discord and other channels as we work on this.

Sorry for any frustration caused by this, we really appreciate both your patience and reports whilst we get this fixed.




We saw many correct guesses in last week's tease, so today we're confirming that Update 9 will include a new weapon for German Machine Gunners, the MG34!



We'll be delving more into the MG34 and its role within the game in a future Dev Brief, so watch this space MG mains.

That wraps up this week's Dev Brief! Let us know what you think of the changes coming to Barbed Wire, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on it!

Have a great weekend everyone!

See you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #109 and the first briefing of 2021!

To get the ball rolling we're starting small and focused this week as we look to revealing and diving into the larger parts of Update 9 in the briefs to come.

But having said that, this week's brief will be pleasing on the eye and your weapon firing satisfaction so without further waiting I'll pass you over to Max!

Happy New Year everyone!




Hi everyone,

It’s our first week back into the studio and as a result of us getting busy again we’ve got a relatively low-key dev briefing for you this week before we can start to dive into the larger aspects of Update 9 and beyond.



A key visual element of first person shooters are the weapons, hands and arms that take up large portions of screen real-estate the entire time you play the game. While we managed to overhaul our hands and sleeves in Update 7, we didn’t manage to tackle a visual upgrade of our weapons - arguably the most significant objects in the game and certainly objects that deserve to be the best quality we can make them.




For Update 9, the art team has been keen to audit these areas and have rebuilt an entirely new procedural texture system in line with AAA workflows. Previously, older texturing workflows relied on several unique textures for each model in the game. You would have three textures that would make up the Kar 98k, and as a result of texture budgets, you’d need to either handle these in an extremely clever way, or simply downgrade the resolution of them in order to make them cost effective - resulting in a total loss of detail.

New Modelled Barrel

In the last three years, with the advent of much more widely used photoreal lighting and material creation processes, the philosophy behind texturing has changed significantly. Instead of creating three separate unique textures for each of the 40+ weapons and pieces of equipment in Hell Let Loose (roughly 120 different textures), the use of “smart materials” means that we are now able to create a “metal material”, “wood material” and “bakelite material” using three textures in each. We then take each weapon or piece of equipment in Hell Let Loose and set up one single very low res texture that acts as a mask. It basically let’s us tell the barrel of a gun to use the metal material, while the stock is told to use the wood material and so on.

The result of this is incredible. Instead of using 120 different textures, we’re able to look at guns like the Thompson, BAR, Garand, K98k and so on and simply use the same three wood textures and the same three metal textures - each contained within a custom material that lets us change the way these behave per gun. The first weapon to benefit from the early version of this system (that we’ve now taken much further) was the MP40.

So what does this mean? Ultimately, it offers a really significant optimisation for GPU and texture memory that will be best felt on low end machines, while also enabling us to maintain incredibly high quality detail very close to the camera. In essence, through some clever overhaul, we’re able to optimise and drastically improve the visual quality of every weapon in the game. In addition, it also means we’re able to create weapons far faster - as once the model is made and the single mask texture has been created, we can procedurally texture in minutes.

Kar98K Scoped - Current Version

Kar98K Scoped - New Version

This technology is also important because we’ll be implementing this into the way we work on other things in the game - like vehicles, props and other objects. The end result should fundamentally be a significant improvement to frames and visual quality. In addition, this system also gives us the ability to dynamically texture the weapon - adding fingerprints, blood flecks and eventually mud, snow and raindrops.

Luger - Current Version

Luger - New Version

As a side note, we’re also fixing any incorrect text on weapons while cleaning up each model. A small example is that the M1919 is now a far better looking gun with proper modelled holes on the barrel.




We’re also excited to announce that we’ve fixed the often talked about issue of the weapon zeroing that was introduced with the ballistics systems. Each weapon is now zeroed correctly and far better models the real life trajectory. For laymen, the outcome of this is that it no longer feels like the bullet is “falling out of the barrel” - instead travelling straighter for far longer. While this has applied to all weapons, it is especially satisfying on the lower caliber weapons and vehicle mounted coaxial and hull machineguns.

In addition, we discovered a nasty bug with regard to the tank mounted machine guns that cause the bullets to occasionally not register with infantry at certain angles. We’re currently looking at fixes for this.




That wraps up Max's post on the upcoming weapon visual upgrades and weapon zeroing fixes!

What we shared today is just the tip of the iceberg for Update 9 and we look forward to sharing lots more with you as we move through early 2021.

Now before we sign off for the weekend, can anyone figure out what upcoming weapon this belongs to?



We'll see you on the frontline!

Hey everyone,

We hope you've all had a good week so far!

We just wanted to quickly update you that you’ll start to see aspects of the upcoming Steam achievements rolling through in different ways (some being listed on Steam but obscured). We’ve plugged them in as just a very minor aspect of the next update.

We appreciate that for many players achievements are not their desired priority, and we want to assure you that not only was this a very minor piece of work, it was a value-add to our work on adding additional telemetry to the game that will help us get a much greater sense of role usage, map popularity, average game length and weapon usage.

Just to let you know - In addition to this, we’re also investigating an increase in Vivox VOIP connection issues. We really appreciate your patience and reports on this while we investigate these problems as a matter of priority.

We'll be back again tomorrow for our weekly Dev Brief!

See you on the frontline.