***Official Squad Thread***

Soldato
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Squad - Project Reality for Unreal Engine 4

squadlogo_white_hires.png



Squad is an online multiplayer first-person shooter that aims to capture combat realism through communication and teamplay.


ORGANIC AND EMERGENT GAMEPLAY


The battlefield of Squad is built around organized teams using both the environment and the assets available within the game to wage a tactical battle against an opposing team. From role organization to base building to vehicle mechanics, teamwork amplifies the effectiveness of the tools at your disposal.

Supported by intuitive positional VOIP and navigation systems players will be able to maintain situational awareness and seamlessly interact with others. Dedicated chain of command channels and localised voice will be an effective tool for communication and organization.

Squad seeks to establish a culture of camaraderie that is unparalleled in competitive multiplayer shooters. This is a game where you can work together and coordinate with your team: players from around the world, often that you just met.

MASSIVE ONLINE 50 ON 50 SQUAD-BASED COMBINED ARMS WARFARE


Squad will support up to 100 players in competitive multiplayer. This broad scope serves to immerse the player into a rich battle environment filled with challenges and opportunities. With teams of sufficient size, some players can perform supporting roles while leaving enough front-line combatants to provide fun and challenging gameplay across the full expanse of the battlefield.

A wide variety of support vehicles and aircraft will be included. Tanks and close support helicopters will spearhead a team’s assault into enemy lines while transport helicopters and APCs will provide much needed logistics and transportation support.

A NEW EXPERIENCE EVERY TIME

At the heart of Squad is our desire to let the player drive gameplay and define the objectives.

Commanders and squad leaders will be given the ability to shape the battlefield through construction of defensive and offensive fortifications as well as control of battlefield planning and supplemental combined arms assets.

Coupled with this, spawn dynamics will be affected by occupation of territories and level of supply each objective is receiving. Organized control of the battlefield will ensure a properly supported supply structure and pave the way for a strategic victory.

It’s all about teamwork.



Tutorials







Changelog
Alpha 5.0

Systems

  • You are no longer punished with a team switch timer if you failed to switch team
  • Further optimisation passes on weapon and player animation code
  • Jumping has been redone. Jumping no longer requires stamina. However, for every jump a small cooldown timer is associated with it. If another jump occurs before this small cooldown is up your jump height and forward velocity will become lower. If multiple jumps are done consecutively (spamming jump) four or more times without allowing the small cooldown timer to reset, you will go on an extended cooldown timer while your jump “stamina” regenerates. This allows more flexibility while preventing “bunny hopping”.
  • Updated rulesets to only count TKs as 1 ticket instead of 2. Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be punished for suicides twice.
  • Fixed an issue where sending someone straight to death would not score or apply punishments in the case of TKs.
  • Fixed kit logic not working correctly in all cases, We now remove your kit as a squad leader if you pass the squad leader role have been added.
  • Fixed an issue where players could deploy with a kit role while incapacitated, effectually allowing +1 available kits of any type.
  • Updated sway values for most weapons. Optics and iron sights have slightly different values to account for magnification. Speed and horizontal “randomization” sway has been increased to more accurately represent and convey the appropriate target acquisition timing desired. Managing combat stances should be more desirable, more effective, and medium to long range fire will potentially require more effort, especially in the standing.
  • Updated focus time by 5 seconds to account for potentially higher difficulty in firing with updated sway values.
  • Changed the way traces work for nametags, so the trace comes from the eyes instead of the waist and we trace for several parts of the body instead of just tracing for Center of Mass.
  • Fixed a mass disconnect when Steam servers go down
  • Improved the syncing of players with their corpses upon incapacitation.
  • Fixed bug where player is stuck in sprinting if they die while sprinting and then get revived.
  • Fixes to make deployable ghosts more reliable.
  • Updated graphics settings defaults and edited the graphics menu to get rid of variables that were not having any effect anyway.
  • Modified decompression for Audio which should help with performance.

UI

  • Improved the inventory sliders so grouped weapons and your current selection (different coloured smoke grenades for instance) all appear at once so you know exactly what you’re selecting in your inventory.
  • Added a UI element for jumping height penalty.
  • Added bleeding and incapacitated map icons on the map, visible to Medics.
  • Updated player map icons in preparation for a greater overhaul of the UI.
  • Players can now close their map and spawn-screen with the main menu button (default escape on keyboard or start on gamepad)
  • Added role icons and kit tooltips to Ammo Crate resupply menu.
  • Changed the map so it will never be able to lock your inputs when closed anymore.
  • Added a pulse animation for your own player icon for quicker identification.
  • Fixed the inability to drag the map in the spawn screen.
  • Touched up the spawn menu role select to make the grey out of kits work, and introduced a new presentation style that allows for more information about loadouts at a glance
  • Cleaned up marker code and tooltip code, should hopefully give better performance, and no longer capture the player’s input when they want to select a rallypoint
  • Added a News message box for the main menu
  • Added a server licensing information notice to the main menu when server licensing is enabled. The custom games list now no longer shows when server licensing is disabled remotely.
  • Added the ability to delete action keys in the keybindings menu
  • Fixed bug where screen resolution would reset when editing settings.
  • Fixed player tooltip name not showing up on players that are bleeding or incap and you mouse over them as a medic.
  • Updated Quickstart guide loading screen image
  • Updated minimaps to be greyscale, in preparation for more UI developments down the line.

Art

  • Added new radial blur to all weapons with optics.
  • The area around magnified optics has been darkened with a slight, soft blur to bring more focus into optic itself.
  • Updated Russian medics and SLs to use new Russian binoculars.
  • Added collisions to bricks and other large trash items.
  • Added more Tunnel components.
  • Fixed collision meshes on various Afghani structures.
  • Updated cannabis plants
  • Added new wooden and chain-link fence statics
  • Fixed wood floor reflectivity
  • Fixed AK74M and RPK74M lod shading issues
  • Fixed Russian AK optic having too much magnification
  • Adjusted all magnified optics to more accurately represent their realistic values in-game using a magnification to FOV calculation.
  • This fixed Russian AK optics having too much magnification.

Maps

  • Updated all AAS layers (not including Skirmish) with latest ticket system adjustments.
  • Bleed, tickets lost, and tickets gained have been adjusted.
  • Ticket system has been standardized to create consistency across all map layers and scales based on number of flags on any given map.
  • Updated Fools Road river rock texture to fix its specularity
  • Updated and expanded Chora
  • Updated Train Wreck to Train Village and added a new cap zone on Operation First Light
  • Fixed minor foliage and static bugs on Kohat. Updated Kohat radio tower layer so US starts with fewer points but gains points with each flag capture. Modified spawn locations on Kohat AAS.

Admin

  • Fixed all admins able to join full servers
  • Fixed admin command description for kick by ID.
  • Fixed an improper ‘Disconnected by EAC’ kick.
  • Added admin group permission type to circumvent team change timer
  • Changed TK punishment from a Kick to a 5 minute (by default) timed ban. Servers can configure it.

Alpha 4.1 Hotfix

  • Fixed player counts not reporting properly in steam.
  • Fixed server config parsing issues.
  • Fixed a layer of fools road which had incorrect spawning rules and unlimited kits.
  • Removed server messages from single player.
  • Other minor bug and crash fixes.

Both servers and clients will need to update.

A note to server admins, please change the property name of MaxNumPlayers to MaxPlayers in Server.cfg now. This property will now parse properly.

Alpha 4.0

Game Mode Changes
  • Added Dome of Defense around main bases (Destroys all enemy projectiles upon impact, and pushes back enemy soldiers if they try to enter)
  • Updated the AAS logic to be more robust and have more features
  • Allows for giving the capturing team tickets and also has an option to prevent ticket gain when capping from start-neutral
  • Owning more capture zones than the opposing team will begin to incur a slight bleed penalty. The more zones owned, the more bleed the opposing team incurs.

Kit, role and equipment changes

  • Marksman kit moved from the specialist group to fire support, same squad/team limitations as before
  • Fire support kits are now reduced to 3 when at max squad size, down from 4. You should see more ordinary riflemen on the field now
  • Grenadier kit now unlocks at 5 squad members, rather than 4
  • Max amount of grenadiers available per squad down to 1 from 2 (AK74+GP25 removed from Militia until we have a more flexible inventory selection system)
  • Ordinary riflemen/fighter kits with ironsight or red dot sights now have 2 frag grenades rather than 1
  • Automatic riflemen now have another 150-200 rounds depending on the caliber of the weapon, so you dont have to feel bad about suppressing the enemy
  • Designated marksmen now have less rifle ammo to keep in line with damage potential of other classes (SVD down from 8 to 4 magazines), make those shots count
  • Designated marksmen has 3 pistol mags rather than 2
  • Added more smoke variation and each team now has different colored smoke variations. Militia have Green and Yellow smoke colour variations, Russians have Purple and Orange, while the insurgents have Black and Yellow. 40mm smoke grenades remain the same for now.
  • Russian squad leader has an alternative kit available at 6 squad members, an AK74M with an optic
  • Russian rifleman + optics kit available at 4 squad members. Limited to 1
  • Russian Automatic rifleman + optics kit available at 8 squad members
  • Militia rifleman + optics kit available at 4 squad members. Limited to 1
  • Every kit that has a magnified optic now has one less magazine than their red dot / ironsight counterparts
  • Added RGD-5 frag grenade to replace placeholder M67 on the Russian faction, also gave an alternative skinned version of it to Militia instead of the F1

Weapon changes

  • Added deviation to rockets and launched grenades projectiles
  • ACOG model got a quality of life upgrade to make it look prettier
  • Slight increase in the recoil of the SVD
  • Fixed a bug where all weapons were firing at the same muzzle velocity. Now weapons have different bullet drop depending on caliber/muzzle velocities
  • Fixed grenades being able to be quick thrown with left/right mouse combo. As a side effect you can no longer switch throw type (long/short) when you have started one or the other.
  • Fixed grenades being prepped for a quick throw by switching weapons when the animations were done. You are now committed to the throw when you have pulled the pin.
  • Updated inventory action delay timer on the scrolling menu from .5 to 1.5 seconds.
  • Medic bag and field dressing improvements
  • Added more information feedback to the player
  • Fixed an issue where enemy soldiers could be healed

Rally Point changes

  • Rally point code has been more optimized for server use
  • Increased placement cooldown time from 30 seconds to 210 seconds
  • Rally points can no longer be placed with enemies within a 50m radius, and will reset the placement time from 0 to 90 seconds. Your former rally points do not disappear.
  • Rally point placement now requires sl + 3 squad member if the sl does not have an officer kit, if he does have it, then only sl + 1 squad member is needed
  • Changing squad leader now resets the rally point placement time to 120 seconds if the placement time was under 120 seconds.
  • All rallypoint messages are now shown in the chat area instead of the middle of the screen.
  • If your squad leader changes, a message is now sent to your chat area to inform.
  • Deployable placement errors are now posted to your chat area.
  • Fixed an issue where you could leave a squad and keep your kit if you were incapacitated

Map and Spawn screen updates

  • Opening of map and spawn screen no longer stops the talking input
  • Clicking around and interacting with the spawn screen no longer stops other inputs (you can now move and interact with the menu at the same time, note that there are many edge cases to this particular issue and we will be addressing them as they are reported)
  • Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor could be lost when returning to the spawn screen after having opened the main menu
  • Map and spawn screen now automatically closes when the main menu is opened
  • Moved a large chunk of the map implementation to c++ improving stability and speed
  • Fixed a bug where the SL menu on the spawn map was not updating its last clicked position correctly
  • SL menu on the spawn map now opens with the cursor in the middle of the hex menu, making it easier to mark locations and work with the ui
  • SL marker lifespan is now 5 minutes, up from 1.5 minutes
  • Reduced the zoom levels on the map from 7 to 4, and made the map zoom all the way out on the outmost level
  • Slight rework of the map medic icon, making it more distinct.

Misc

  • Added a 240 second team switch timer, limiting how often you can switch teams, this timer only applies after the round startup time, allowing teams and friends to get set up while waiting for the game to start.
  • Keybinds for the spawn screen and map now work on both open/close. (You can rebind them to Enter without issues)
  • Changed the lowest possible FOV to 90 degrees.
  • Added more graphics settings for Motion Blur, Bloom, Lens Flare, Auto Exposure, etc.This is still work in progress
  • Fixed issue where some higher resolutions were missing from the graphics settings
  • Added sort-able server browser
  • Fixed some disconnection issues upon joining a server
  • Added a system that allows for individual damage sounds depending on the collision bone that was hit, this is replacing the dead sounds, meaning that you no longer know if an enemy died unless you do a visual confirmation
  • Added initial enhancements to the Admin Camera to support Squad League with Player Outlining and Capture Zone visualizations.
  • Redesigned smoke grenade variations to share one projectile and one effect. Any color variations now only need to be a child of the original, instead of needing duplicate effects and projectiles. This optimizes the deployment of smoke grenades and makes implementation easier.
  • Stopped smoke from playing on the server unintended. This prevents smoke spam affecting server fps.
  • Removed manually placed border blocking volumes and updated with new spline blocking volumes.
  • Fixed the ability to lean while prone, this snuck in due to lean code optimization
  • Lots of LOD models added to weapons, improving performance
  • Reworked tracers slightly, making them easier to use when correcting bullet drop
  • Reworked server configs, ban lists & admin lists (Details Here)
  • Added server messages
  • Changed console command ShowPlayerIds to ListPlayers
  • Added temp / timed bans
Alpha 3.11 Hotfix
  • Fixed the militia's new pants giving an invulnerability shield to the wearer.
  • Fixed server browser showing 0 players
  • Added p2p relay to help with server connection timeouts
  • Confirmed all maps in rotation are working and spawnable
Alpha 3.10
  • Fixed an issue where framerates were being capped incorrectly on some high end systems
  • Fixed an issue where the some Militia members went to war without pants
  • Fixed a server crash when using objects like ammo crates or FOBs
  • Fixed a case when connecting to servers where you would recieve 'Connection to the host has been lost'. This doesn't fix it 100% of the time, but it is a massive improvement.
  • Fixed a visual issue where the player count was incorrect over the Steam API
Alpha 3.9
  • Improved client performance related to optimizations in the anim system
  • Fixed kit allocations not working in many situations
  • Updated Militia player models with new components, distinguishing them further from other factions
  • Performance improvements to the Militia player models
  • Leaving a squad now replaces your kit
  • Improved Steam authentication for better stability
  • Allows for joining on Steam friends
  • Allows for joining servers via web browser sites
  • Increased server connection timeout, decreasing the amount of unintentional disconnects
  • Increased server browser timeout
  • Increased timeout for joining a map to allow people with low spec pc’s to load the game, without being kicked unintentionally by the server for timeout
  • Added SteamID to showplayerids
  • Fixed banning by ID issues
  • Improved performance of explosion effects
  • Added the ability to reset keybindings
  • Separated out the default button in each section of the settings menu, pressing default now only resets the current menu’s settings.
  • Players can now cancel joining the firing range in menu
  • Fixed incorrect access level for banning
  • Fixed a few server crashes

Alpha 3.8 Hotfix
  • Fixed a bug where the FOV could be set outside the range
  • Further pass on optimizing the animation system
  • Fixed an incorrect name on Sumari
  • Fixed a possible performance issue in the Animation System on AMD processors
  • Fixed a server crash when creating a squad
  • Fixed an issue where aim offsets would be wrong when aiming down
  • Fixed an issue where the gamemode rules weren't being shown on map switch
  • Disabled Framerate smoothing by default (was causing FPS lock on certain machines)
  • Further pass on the map legend to ensure that all gamemodes were covered
  • Fixed a bug where Rally Point Error Messages were being sent to the wrong player
  • Added new sounds for Prone Movement and Sprinting
  • Fixed Ammo Crates posting a message on the HUD when used
  • Added 'Streamer Mode' to the game options. This disables the Server Name on the scoreboard and a few other things
  • Fixed destroying friendly FOBs would deduct your team's tickets
  • Adjusted the attenuation settings on rocket flybys
  • Added placement sounds for Rally Points
  • Fixed Fools Road not being properly randomized when selecting a random variation
  • Fixed an issue where the server would look up UserSettings for every player joining the server
  • Enabled texture streaming and increased the texture streaming settings
  • Updated the Lod Bias on every asset, vastly improving Video Memory usage and rendering speed
  • Fixed a bug where the 'End Use' message would not be sent when a player died while using an object. Fixes the Ammo crate menu sticking around when you died while using it.
  • Fixed a visual 'jumping' when a player is revived and goes into prone
  • Upped the spawn delay on FOBs from 5s per enemy to 10s per enemy in the radius
  • Added better logging when players are disconnected from servers to help debug the disconnection issues
  • Changed 'Training' to 'Firing Range' on the main menu
  • Fixed a server crash when validating player inventories
  • Added Ping to the server browser
  • Fixed a display issue with scoreboard pings (they were too high)
  • Fixed a possible cause of the disconnect bug, where players were attempting to switch to an empty weapon
  • Changed the handling of the Server Name, so it'll update more often
  • Removed some extra ammo crates in Fools Road
  • Improved the handling of getting stuck in objects

Alpha 3.7
  • Admins now take a reserved slot instead of ignoring max players when joining full servers
  • Fixed 'Press F to use' showing up on enemy assets
  • Improved the visibility of the Map Legend button
  • Improved the Map Legend to react to gamemodes and explain Insurgency objectives during Insurgency matches
  • Fixed other squad Rally Points showing up as Green. They are now Blue
  • Added Error Messages when failing to place Rally Points
  • Fixed Kills not giving the killer score.
  • Added world text to Insurgency caches, explaining how to destroy them or that you must defend them.
  • Fixed a bug where spawnpoints would spawn people on rooftops
  • Increased the texture pool, fixing an issue where some people were getting massive hitching and max VRAM usage
  • Added a dynamic Teamkill kicking solution. Serial Teamkillers will now be kicked by the server automatically.

Alpha 3.6 Hotfix
  • Fixed an issue where limiting max players in command line wasnt working
  • Fixed a bleed and ticket issue in Kohat Radio Tower
  • Removed the Founders Skins pending full implementation
Alpha 3.5 Hotfix
  • Updated Fools Road. Added a new flag and a new log trench
  • Fixed an issue where View Distance set to Low would cause the ironsights on some weapons to not be displayed
  • Updated the description on Radios to explain the ticket loss when they are destroyed
  • Fixed a few cases where ammo crates would tell you the wrong key if you wanted to interact with them
  • Updated Militia on Forest
  • Renamed Chora to Chora AAS
  • Added Fools Road Skirmish
  • Fixed an issue where all markers on Chora would end up at 0,0,0.
  • Added Sumari Insurgency
  • Updated all Insurgency maps to give 30 tickets to the destroying team upon completion of their objective. Up from 10.
  • Fixed an issues where Kohat AAS was not showing up correctly in the server browser
  • Added Text Chat keybindings to the keybinding menu
  • Removed Turn Left and Turn Right from the default arrow keys. This allows other keys to be bound to them
  • Made a small optimization pass to the Animation System. You should see some FPS gains with multiple animating characters on the screen
  • Updated the Militia textures
  • Unified all fire-select weapons default to single-fire.
  • Made a pass on the lattice for Logar PAAS and reduced the ticket count
  • Fixed the russian backpack from being too shiney
  • Removed the SL2 variant of the Russian SL model. He'll be back pending a material fix
  • Fixed a number of animation distortions across multiple animations
  • The full scoreboard will now be shown when in observer cam
  • Updated the textures of the classic AKs
Alpha 3.4 Hotfix
  • Tweaked the Dead Info HUD Widget to display different depending on if the map is open or closed
  • Fixed a US Ammo Crate starting unbuilt in Sumari
  • Fixed bunker collisions and material assignments
  • Fixed the Map Legend from not showing up
  • Fixed the Squad Leader right-click map menu from not showing up
  • Fixed a bug in the keybinding menu that prevented axis keys (Move keys, etc) from being rebound. Azerty keyboard users rejoice!
  • Fixed a case where players would fail to load into the game
  • Revised Forest, adding a new flag and new assets
  • Prevented a case when players would become more stuck if being teleported when stuck
  • Fixed the Join/Part spam from overflowing into the chat box. It now scrolls up instead of down.
  • Fixed a server crash when Squad leader is passed to a player who is disconnecting
  • Modified Fools Road. The river has been significantly updated and floating grass around the map has been properly taped down.
  • Added Chora
Alpha 3.3 Hotfix
  • Fixed AKM GP25 Reload Animation having sounds out of sync
  • Added a US Main Base to Kohat Insurgency
  • Updated the Sumari and Forest minimaps
  • Fixed animations playing for a short time with the medicbag and field dressing when it has no target
  • Fixed hovering trees and rocks on Fools
  • Admins can now grant Observer Cam without crashing the server
  • Set health to 0 when going into incap, so now everyone has the same amount of time to be revived when they go down
  • Fixed a few cases where the respawn timer would not be replicated from the server.
  • Made medic HUD icons lerp between 0.5 and 1.0 to prevent them from disappearing
  • Improved the PSO-1 scope
  • Really fixed servers starting on maps other than logar. For realsies this time
  • Updated Forest with some additional tweaks and assets
  • Fixed a variety of bugs and log errors in the Compass
  • Really fixed the give up button disappearing. Also for realsies this time
  • Fixed being able to throw grenades in the main menu
  • Added basic controller support
  • Updated the Tire Wall deployable
  • Fixed a number of issues with the village house
  • Added bullet hole decals to a variety of materials
  • Standardized zoom duration and focus zoom time across all weapons
  • Standardized the Incendiary grenade throw strength to be the same as all other grenades
  • Increased the bullet crack volume
  • Updated the Server Browser, adding better indicators for passworded servers and anticheat protected servers.
  • Added the Custom Servers browser for displaying unlicensed, self hosted, and modded servers.
  • Fixed the arm on M4 weapons from overstretching when looking up
  • Added tooltips for deployables.
  • Updated the Physmats on Eastern European houses
  • Improved the voice code to not allocate memory as much
  • Added an entry in the binding menu for the SL menu (defaults to T)
  • Improved the green tracer to look less like a laser
  • Added details to Sumari and improved the Skirmish layer
  • Fixed a crash when a player joins a server while the map is changing. It currently prevents that player from joining the server during the map change process
  • Added Server Name, Map Name, and GameMode to the scoreboard
  • Added the Squad Leader and Medic indicators to nametag drawing
  • Added Interaction widgets to certain deployables (for example, a 'Press [F] to use' to Ammo Crate)
  • Updated the HESCO and cost
  • Increased the damage threshhold to skip incap and go straight to death
  • Modified the non-ADS recoil modifier. LMGs have a higher recoil now than rifles, rifles have slightly more recoil, pistols slightly lower
  • Removed Kohat Conquest Experimental and Kohat v3
  • Updated the Menu music to the latest version, also adding a new music track
  • Filly removed the old login menu and prevented a situation where it would come up and not go away
  • Fixed a memory corruption server crash related to assigning roles to players
  • Fixed a server crash when kicking players from squads
  • Updated the error text on dedicated servers when Steam is not found
  • Fixed a number of cases where Dedicated Servers would fail to launch because it can't find Steam
  • Updates and bugfixes to Fools Road
  • Fixed Interaction Menus not appearing on deployables in Training.
  • Added level of detail models to 9 weapons. Hopefully improving performance ever so slightly. More coming
Alpha 3.2 Hotfix
  • Fixed a server crash when players switch teams
  • Fixed a crash when leaving a squad
  • Fixed an issue where a team capturing a flag in AAS would lose 20 tickets.
  • Fixed the self bandage animation using the bandage others animation
  • Fixed the Recruit kit being available in the menu
  • Fixed the AKM reload sounds
  • Fixed an issue where servers set to random map rotation were always starting on Logar Valley
  • Added the Russian FOB radio audio.

Major Features

The Russians and Militia enter the fray!
Prepare your war calls, as you join the Russians Ground Forces on the hunt. This Kickstarter stretch goal has been in development to debut as our first inhouse character models, and we're ready to showcase the Russian face-off against the Militia faction. We snuck in the irregular Militia as our second inhouse character model set, which will be modular to match the theater/locale of future maps. Special mention to our finalized AK74M and RPK74M models in-game.

New Map: Fools Road

Featuring Russia vs Militia, Fools Road is the first Eastern European map! Experience the rolling hills and dense forests, showing off the power of the Unreal Engine.
Fought over for years in our prior mod, this is one of the legacy maps we are updating into UE4 to give a nod to our history, the map is still in development and the roadside ambushes arrive soon, for now we push game play into the forested hills on the road to Dylym village.

New Map: Sumari Bala

You wanted urban environments? You got it. A much denser and more claustrophobic map, Sumari Bala is a literal maze of slums, market complexes and alleyways designed to confuse and disorient ill-prepared squads. This map is also still in development, and we will be continuing to add, expand and detail the city in future iterations. But for now this will be a taster!

New Map: Jensens Range
The training map, Jensens Range, has been added to the Training button! Featuring pop-up targets, multiple types of shooting ranges and combat environments, Jensens Range is the perfect place to get familiar with weapon mechanics or just polish up your skills.

Steam Support

Squad is now on Steam for Founders backers! With this patch you will no longer have to log in to the game, and all the steam features are enabled!

Improved New Player tooltips

With the upcoming Steam Early Access release, weve done a pass on our UI to improve the new player usability, adding Tooltips, better wording to explain how to spawn and get in game, as well as a number of other useful hints for new players. We will continue to add to these as we approach our December 15th Early Access release.

Role Limits
We have implemented a system of Kit Role limitations that takes into account how many kits are limited to the entire team (and not just Squads), as well as the range and diversity of kit roles that are available to different sized Squads. Generally the more populous a squad is, the more Roles open to members of that squad there are.

Updated Tracer and Explosion Effects
In case you missed the November Recap, we have updated Tracer and Explosion effects with greater visual fidelity. Best to see for yourselves!

Unreal Engine 4.10 Update
Weve updated to UE4.10, which includes many performance improvements, including a possible fix to the performance issues with AMD CPUs.

Balance Changes
  • Added a 2x recoil modifier to all weapons when firing not in ADS
  • Added Aimpoint to the M4M203
  • Added AKM+GP25 variation for Militia
  • Added RPK74 and AKS74 variations for Militia
  • Added MP443 for Russia
  • Added AK74M and RPK74M for Russia
  • Added traditional M4 with 3 round burst for Militia
  • Added M249 with iron sights for Militia
  • Added correct colored smoke to all grenade launchers
  • Set default fire mode of the AK74M rifles to semi auto
  • Increased the front sight post on nearly all AK and RPK variants
  • Differentiated the way the RPGs frag round and the M72s rocket applies damage
  • Added new map boundaries for Logar to prevent people camping on the hills at the edges of the map
  • All squad leader weapons now correctly fire tracer rounds every 3rd shot. This applies to all 4 factions
  • Removed all sandbag and concrete based fortifications from the Insurgents faction
  • Remade several deployable fortifications
  • Fixed HESCO walls being easily breached when un-shoveling them
  • Limited kits now become available once a minimum amount of players are present in your squad and on your team
  • Limited kits now scale with the amount of people in your squad and on your team
  • Some factions have alternative versions of kits available at certain squad sizes
  • The limits and available kit variations depends on the faction.
  • A squad is limited to how many special kits they can have from each category: Command & Support, Fire Support, Specialist
  • If you leave or get kicked from a squad, you will immediately be given a recruit kit instead of the kit you had claimed. Ammo, bandages and smoke grenades will be transferred to this kit so you don't gain any additional equipment from leaving.
  • Shortened M4 series dry reload
Misc Changelog
  • Squad Leaders can now kick unruly players from their squads! Once kicked, there is a cooldown before they can rejoin.
  • Servers can now be password protected, indicated by a lock in their entry on the server browser
  • Added new separate reload animations for the AKM and AK74 series
  • Fixed a number of issues where bandaging and medic bags would fail to detect a dead player. Reviving is much easier now.
  • Added a new UI element that pops up and displays when certain important events happen, like being kicked from a squad, lost connection to a server, or when trying to join a server and failing.
  • Optimization pass on Particle effects and sprite textures, decreasing their video memory usage and improving rendering speed.
  • Optimization pass on Weapon Textures, again decreasing their video memory usage and improving rendering speed.
  • Fixed a number of missing faces and LODs on many environmental models.
  • Modified the default AntiAliasing settings for a crisper picture
  • Exposed many AntiAliasing and Shadow settings to the options menu.
  • Updated Logar with Static Randomizers
  • Fixed building reverb effects not working as intended.
  • Fixed a number of Post Processing issues on Logar
  • Fixed incorrect Scaling parameters on Logars post processing.
  • Fixed an issue where clients would see an incorrect respawn timer when the timer was delayed due to enemies present.
  • Prone Players can no longer fall off ledges
  • Implemented a system to stop wall leaning
  • Added various new static environment models
  • Added modular village houses
  • Added falling metal targets with distinct audible hit sounds. Some targets take one hit to knock down, others will require several hits.
  • Added a green variation of the HESCO barriers for temporary use for the Russian faction
  • Fixed weapon collisions with the ground when dropped
  • Increased the size of the ammo crate icon on the map so it is easier to locate
  • Added more map zoom levels
  • Russia has a unique skin for the RPG-7
  • Added new explosion effects, the RPGs frag round and the M72 now have different explosion effects
  • Added 3 additional skin variations to the Insurgents faction for greater variance
  • Soldiers models on Russia and Militia are now associated with the role you spawn in as
  • Fixed a number of audio sources blocking other sound classes
  • Tooltips added for kit selection
  • Fixed aim sensitivity to be persistent across maps
  • Updated the "Forest" map significantly
  • Known Issues
  • MSAA does not function as intended
  • Scope Jitter is present when standing away from the centre of map

OCUK Squad Steam Group

Looking to plan some group nights for everyone to get together and play. Please keep an eye out on the group forums and events too.

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/OcukSquad


Offical Site: http://joinsquad.com/
Official Forums: Squad Forums
Official Steam community: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/JoinSquad
Facebook: http://facebook.com/JoinSquad
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JoinSquad
Twitter: https://twitter.com/joinsquad (@JoinSquad)
 
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Just need a kickstarter for this and it would really take off...

Seems it's going to happen in the not so distant future.

Our current plans are to release a playable stable demo around the beginning of December to coincide with the launch of our kickstarter campaign. This demo will highlight all of the core mechanics and features that we would like to build off of.
 
Devs have said they want to bridge the gap between Battlefield and Arma type games. Will eventually have huge maps with players being able to play a role such as dedicated transport helicopter, CAS etc.
 
Latest progress update for you chaps.

In the past month, we have added and fixed (in no particular order):
  • Upgrade of the game to use UE v4.5, and various compatibility fixes to allow that.
  • Extended UE4's base VoIP system to include a channels system and positional VoIP.
  • Added initial voice channels for Squad members, Squad leaders, and nearby players.
Imported the following weapons/equipment in game:
  • Makarov Pistol
  • M67 Grenade
  • RPK Automatic Rifle
  • M18 Smoke Grenade
  • RKG3 AT Grenade
  • US Binoculars
  • Soviet Binoculars
  • GP25 UGL
  • M9 knife
  • Medical and Ammo bags
  • NATO Shovel
  • F1 Grenade
  • Field Dressings
Added animations for the:
  • Makarov Pistol
  • M67 Grenade
  • RPK
  • US Binoculars
  • Added sprint and walking animations.
  • Improved the base poses and animations for our current set of movement animations.
  • Improved hit detection.
  • Expanded environment to include greener fuller areas.
  • Added numerous weapon LODs.
  • Added a number of new footstep sounds for all of the various physical materials and the different movement states.
  • Made improvements to gunshot and footstep sound attenuation.
  • Added unique sounds for dry reloading.
  • Improved the base bullet impact effect.
  • Added unique impact effects and sounds for all of the various physical materials.
  • Added muzzle flash effects.
  • Made a number of scaling fixes.
  • Various minor code bugfixes.
For the next month we have planned:
  • Public rollout of our website
  • Grenade code
  • Initial Roles System
  • Initial Medical System
 
Art Update #1 - Taliban Weapons

Hi folks,

We are going to start doing a second set of regular updates besides our monthly one.

This series will focus on the art and content side of things – everything related to animations, models and textures will be posted here.

Today we want to show off some of the new Taliban assets that you may not have seen yet.

RPK
First up is the RPK light machine gun.

It comes with 3 different sizes of magazines, a standard 30 round one, a medium sized one and a drum magazine.
In time you will see both the 7.62x39mm as well as the 5.45x39mm versions of the RPK. More on that later!

The models were made by Motherdear, and the textures were made by BuLL.
Spush also did some texture tweaks on the weapon.

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GP-25
Next up is the GP-25 grenade launcher.

The model is provided by Sasha, and textures have been done by Sasha and BuLL, with some tweaks from Spush.

Safe to say we are quite happy with the details on this and its parent weapon!

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Makarov Pistol
Next up we have a Makarov. Model is done by Sasha and textures are done by BuLL.

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Animation preview
Last, but definitely not least, is a short preview of the animations for these weapons, they are of course all made by Chuc.


I hope you enjoy this little update, and we look forward to bringing you some more goodies.
Myself, Drav, Ghostdance101, Tim and Spush have not sat idly by while these things were being worked on, so look forward to more stuff in the near future.

- SQUAD art team
 
Not updated this in a while so here's the latest.

Hello everyone, we hope you are all having a great time over the holidays!

In the spirit of giving, we're giving an inside look at some of the latest features we've been working on. This video will be the first in a series of "dev diaries" we will be producing over the course of development.

In this installment, we show new sprinting and voip systems, environment improvements, updated animations, tracers, bullet impact effects, and distant firing sounds.

As always, remember that all of these features are works in progress and are not final. Expect many improvements to come.

Take a look...


November Update

Here is a summary of the things that we have been working on over the past month!
  • Made numerous improvements to VoIP functionality and quality in Unreal Engine, including multi-threaded input / decreased latency, automatic gain control, echo cancellation, network prioritization, selecting input devices and jitter buffered output.
  • Made improvements to our movement system, in particular integration of a sprinting animation system, dynamic free-look and smoother movement.
  • Made visual improvements to our movement animations to coincide with fixes to the system and the addition of sprinting.
  • Added a tracer implementation.
  • Began work on our throwable weapon animation system.
  • Added animations for the M18 Smoke grenade, RKG3 AT Grenade, and made numerous improvements to existing animations as we improved our animation systems.
  • Began preliminary work for in game menu's.
  • Completed the layout and graphical design of our website.
  • Made substantial progress on the Front-end of the website in preparation for it's initial launch, and began work on the back-end, in preparation for our fundraising campaign.
  • Made Improvements to our server infrastructure in light of recent attacks on our forum.
  • Included new footstep sounds for various materials, and body / gear movement sounds for both factions.
  • Numerous additions and improvements to weapon firing sounds and attenuation.
  • Created new static models for the afghan environment, and made performance fixes to existing ones.
  • Work on dynamic distance field shadow integration.
  • Various minor bug fixes.

We are pleased to announce the upcoming launch of the Squad website in early 2015. The website will be the main portal for information related to Squad and will work alongside the forum to give the community the most up-to-date information on the project. The website will include a visual roadmap of Squad development and feature progress reporting, so you can track the status of upcoming features in Squad. And, of course, the website will be the public face of Squad. The website will be a vital component for growing our community and we are looking forward to the launch!

Along with the website, we are excited to announce our first fundraising effort for Squad. We will be launching a fundraising campaign on the Squad website shortly after its launch, and this campaign will form an important part of the overall funding initiative for Squad. A Kickstarter campaign remains on our roadmap for 2015, but the date remains TBD. These funding programs will allow us to bring more of our developers into full-time roles and kick development into high gear. We will be giving updates on Squad funding in upcoming weeks, so stay tuned.

This is certainly starting to take shape now! A lot of things coming together and it very much feels the next step for all you Project Reality fans!
 
January monthly update is now up http://joinsquad.com/readArticle?articleId=6

I'll paste it in spoiler tags without the images.

Hello and welcome to the first monthly update on the Squad Website!

Every month we'll be releasing a monthly recap to highlight the progress we have made on Squad and take the opportunity to show off some of our work. We will continue to contribute regular updates between the monthly recaps, so stay tuned. Enjoy!
Added first version of a new main menu.

Added initial implementation of some in game menus.
Added support for scopes and other optics.
Added ACOG for use on the M4 and M249.

Added initial implementation of shadowing on optical scopes.
Experimented with a prototype of high fidelity render-to-texture optics (Red Orchestra 2 / Insurgency style), for those with high end graphics hardware.
Added shell ejections.
Created a number of new movement animations based on motion capture data, including running, sprinting and idle animations.
Tweaks to networking behavior to allow very long distance sounds to play.
Added new firing sounds for assault rifles and improvements to distance sound attenuation.
Added an initial grenade explosion effect.

Made improvements to our landscape and master materials.
Created smoke grenade models for both sides. (US Army using the M-18, and Insurgents using the RDG-2)
Added textures, rigging and initial animations for the M249.

Improvements and fixes to how throwable items are networked.
Added basic support for moving water including creeks and streams.
Made improvements to the M4 model to support attachables.
Initial work on our deployables system.
Added a number of environment props.

We will be posting additional updates throughout February, so continue to check in to get the most up-to-date information on Squad. Thanks for your support!
 
It's not the BF2 devs but a great deal of the devs who worked on the Project Reality mod for it. Still holds up as one of the best team effort focused FPS games to this day.

 
Interview with the Devs up from the guys over at TacticalGamer - http://www.tacticalgamer.com/content/265-interview-squad-combat-realism-fps.html. Pasted into spoiler.

Recently Warlab and myself were given the opportunity to sit down with some of the developers for the upcoming FPS title "Squad". As some of you may already know a number of the folks involved with Project Reality in the past have decided to branch off on their own and use their talents to work on bringing us all the next generation of realistic, squad-based, modern combat. We here, like so many of you, have long awaited news from these guys and what they have been working on so we were more than happy to sit down for a chat with an eye to learning more about Squad and what's coming soon from the team that's producing it. So let's get started.....

What is Squad, and why the big deal?

In their own words, Squad is an online multiplayer first-person shooter that aims to capture combat realism through communication and team-play. It is generating huge interest here at TG and further afield due to its heritage - it is the true successor to the award winning "Project Reality" for Battlefield 2 modification. For many years we hosted the busiest and most well organised PR server in existence, and now we have a fantastic new game on the horizon.

Firstly guys, thanks for the exclusive opportunity to talk to you. TG is a massive fan of the PR mod, which of course many of the Squad developers worked on, and we are very excited to have this Q&A. Firstly, should we have a quick Intro so we know who we are talking too?

Merlin: Lead Developer, all round FPS addict, soon to be Digital Nomad to make Squad a reality.
Chuc: Digital Nomad, Animation master lead master sarge.
IronTaxi: Mapping Lead, provides triple pane protection.

Great, thanks. Many of the former PR developers, testers and mods at PR were members of TG, and in fact you have a few TG'ers working with you on Squad. Would you like to tell us a little bit about why you chose us for this interview?

TacticalGamer’s Project Reality Pick’em nights, and event nights, where a new style of PvP FPS gameplay was mastered by a generation of gamers, are some of the best FPS gaming memories the Dev teams are drawing upon while developing this game. Some of us cut our teeth there, some of us were there from the near start of TG’s PR server, so we’re back to thank you guys and get down and dirty on the details of our new game Squad.

Excellent.....So, most important question first....Fastropes?

FAST ROPES! We will move the heavens to make this happen. Otherwise, what was the point?

That will keep the masses happy! So, lets talk about the game play. Some videos are available on your YouTube channel, but tell us a little more about what people can expect from Squad gameplay? What game modes will we be working with?

At the moment we are working with the latest iteration of the Assault and Secure system used in Project Reality: BF2, but we are also planning to experiment with much more radical territorial control systems that will give players greater strategic options. Expect details on this in due time. (Editor note - this sounds very cool)


What about kit selections and customisation?

Kits (or “Roles” as we prefer to call them in-house) will function similar to that of Project Reality: BF2, but we are attempting to expand the rifleman role to encompass a number of previously segregated roles like Grenadier and Designated Marksman. We are also experimenting with a basic customization system that allows you to personalize your weapons with basic attachments like optics and grenade launchers for the time being. In the future we will definitely look for new and interesting ways to diversity the system, which may include inventory management and mission-tailored loadouts for each role. We are also looking into some sort of customisation like community and clan patches on your soldier to represent your group.

What does that mean in terms of optics and weapon customisation?

In terms of magnified optics, we are experimenting with a system similar to Red Orchestra 2, however in terms of performance rendering picture-in-picture is extremely taxing and this feature might not be universally available for all graphics settings.


That will be a very cool feature when you get that up and running! Can you tell us a little bit about the actual squad setups - what is a Squad in the context of the game?

We are aiming for servers with 50 v 50, and squads of 9, with the ability for the Squad leader to subdivide their squad into multiple fireteams. We are still working on this feature and will provide a feature article on the website when we are prepared to talk more about this.

In terms of command and control features, we do intend to expand greatly on the marker system from PR:BF2, and also allow even Fireteam leaders to place their own markers.


And will the medic role function as we know it in PR: BF2, with the revives, patches and healing?

Functionally we are aiming for medics to play the same role as they did in Project Reality: BF2, but with a much needed cosmetic upgrade. In addition we have plans to expand the wounding system further into things like casualty evacuation and of course, dragging of wounded. We have found better options and a middle ground between the magic instant revive Epipens, and something less severe than the no health regeneration ever system used in simulators. Play-testing with a wider audience will narrow down which mechanic will be implemented in the public release.

Fire and movement will of course be absolutely vital in this game - can you talk to us about the shooting and movement mechanics, and combined arms work?

Unreal Engine allows us to be very flexible with how we represent shooting in Squad, and for the moment we are going to create a system that relies less on deviation. We're going to play test several variations during the early Alphas and respond to player feedback. With stances, for the moment only standing and crouch are represented in-game, as prone is still being developed. As for vehicles, yes, we're getting there, they will be available within a reasonable time-frame of end of Founders' package fundraising. The nature of development means that vehicles will have to take a figurative back-seat while infantry is being worked on - core game play is the goal for the alpha.

The Engine looks pretty spectacular, and we have been following your updates and highlights threads closely! (Be sure to check out the January updates and the new SAW M249 posts). Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics. How will this feature play out in Squad?

Freed from prior limitations, the system will evolve with play testing. There will be a logistics system to maintain the front-line, we're re-imagining the limitations and are developing a system I think is a great compromise between the benefits of having a great logistics squad and the understanding that sometimes no one is willing to run logistics. FOB's and Rally Points will feature of course, but again with some tweaks and difference as we go through the Alpha. Towing the line between gameplay and realism is the key.

So we keep talking about play testing and the Founders Pack, when will people be able play test this?

Currently we have a test team that is helping us out with out Alpha, but Founders’ Pack Participants will be brought in to Alpha testing, details are still being worked out, so stay tuned to Squad. We then plan to open it up for general Alpha testing mid to late 2015, with a full release planned for late 2015. Expect an announcement VERY soon.

Plans for Kickstarter and Steam?

Still being worked on. Some general considerations about getting as many cents on the dollar to the Devs as possible while avoiding transaction fees. Initially we imagine the game will be distributed directly by us, at least in Alpha.

Cool, set a diary entry folks. Lets go back a little bit to the engine, which is Unreal Engine 4. Talk us through some info about it.

The current PoC map we use in the Alpha is Logar Valley. It is currently 1.5km^2. The next map we are working on is 4km^2. We are waiting on the Unreal Engine 4.7 update to see just how good the biome/flora gains to FPS rates will be. Day/Night and weather features are most definitely on the table, and we will be looking further into that as development continues. As of now, view distance is unlimited. We will add more stuff to the maps until we can't add more stuff with unlimited view distance, then we will start lowering the distance to add more stuff. We estimate 1.5km view distance, but that is unknown at this point.

With regards the maps, I know TG's very own AFSoccer is now working with you on map design, and you are working on an Urban map, a forest map and a village map. Will you be bringing maps over from PR?

The engine handles urban sprawl in a very good way, so the end goal will definitely be to have some pretty massive cities in the rota. As for bringing maps over from PR? This is a possibility that we haven't finalized yet. It is in essence the core motivation of the dev team, we want to play PR style FPS on a modern engine, and would be satisfying if we had modern equivalents of our favourite PR maps. Having said that I think it’s safe to say we will be learning from the best of PR’s mapping legacy and attempting to incorporate those features into our mapping. For the alpha, we will not be adding destructible environments, but this is something we are already experimenting with. A wall with 200 tris turns into a rubble pile with 3000 tris very quickly, and we are designing ways to balance performance issues regarding destructibles now so we can add the feature later.

TG has already expressed its intent to get involved with Squad by hosting a game server. What can we expect in the way of controls and features?

Firstly, we are planning to bring together potential server owners to round table discussions once we have a owner/admin framework developed, to listen to requests and get feedback from the admins before we go live to the public. We are hoping that communities like TG will help us develop and drive that framework.

Guys on behalf of TG we would like to thank you for having this chat today. We know that there are a lot of very excited people awaiting this game, and it looks fantastic.

Before we wrap this up, we want to thank you guys for giving us early moral support to start this project, we’re taking risks to follow this dream and know we can’t do it without the support of others who enjoy this form of recreation. We’re on the track to be sitting here together a year from now doing a pick’em night postgame chat talking about the journey we took to get here. We have a lot of work to do, and hope to keep in touch with the TG crew. To everyone reading this, come on over and give us opinions and feedback on the game, we’re reading every comment in the forums looking for future ideas to implement.

If people want to get involved and help with this project, how do they go about that?

Spread the word online, point them to our website at joinsquad.com and ask people to follow us on social media, with links to our Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pages. Get people as interested in our game as you are!

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Tactical Gamer Squad subforum

There you have it folks, spread the word! We will be hearing more about the founders program and the the benefits/costs of it in the VERY near future. Be sure to pop on over the the TG Squad sub-forum and introduce yourself! Big thanks to Chuc, Litoralis, Merlin and IronTaxi for the interview, and our very own Warlab for helping to conduct!
 
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