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PTE Update 15 | Live For Testing!Mar 28, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsUpdate 15.0 PTE {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34012997/6440772bf1ff35fa2fcf84905dfa38490dbb8625.png Hello everyone, And welcome to the Update 15.0 PTE, this PTE will be running throughout the weekend and we’re looking forward to getting your input on some of the content we’ve been working on listed below. Update 15.0 Content: New Map: Mortain - Warfare, Offensive & Control Skirmish (featuring day, dusk and overcast/rain variants) Map Updates: Sainte-Marie-du-Mont (with new night, dusk and overcast/rain variants) New Control Skirmish: Sainte-Marie-du-Mont (featuring day, night and overcast/rain variants) New Front End: Mortain Theme Server rotation: Mortain Warfare - Day Mortain - Control Skirmish - Overcast/Rain SMDM - Warfare - Night SMDM - Control Skirmish - Rain Mortain - Environment Art Updates Mortain has been a labour of love for the Environment Art team for some time. The reception during the previous PTE and the feedback following it has had a profound and positive effect on the map’s development. I would like to extend sincere thanks from us all, for the community rallying behind us as a development team and putting your faith in us to deliver a map that players want to play. As mentioned in a previous dev briefing, focusing on your feedback from the last PTE, we have made significant changes within the town adding numerous enterable buildings to aid players in urban combat. Alongside this, we have introduced new structures within destroyed buildings, to offer new verticality and sight lines across Mortain’s town. We have continued to take steps in optimizing the map and with great support from Technical Art, various changes across meshes, textures and shaders have been made to increase framerates on both PC and console. During the last PTE, grass, hedge, and wheat culling happened much too early on. We have increased the draw distance of all foliage significantly, which should help to aid players hiding in tall grass and foliage. Due to the sheer performance impact of rendering thousands of blades of grass 300+ metres away, there may still be areas where at long distances foliage does not render as expected, but we are approaching this issue as a high priority and you should notice a significant improvement over the last PTE. You may notice when playing Mortain, that upon aiming down sights, there can at times be a sudden change between LODs and shadows close to your camera. This is a known issue that is unfortunately visible across every Hell Let Loose map, but due to Mortain’s lighting being particularly bright with strong shadows, it’s much more apparent. We are actively investigating ways to combat this, however this is a long standing issue in the game and is tied to how LODs are handled at different FOVs. Although this issue won’t be fixed for the PTE, we hope that this doesn’t impact your experience of Mortain negatively. I would like to extend a personal thank you to the QA and Community teams who diligently helped filter through feedback ...Patch 14.8 Hotfix | Now Live!Mar 21, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello everyone, We've just deployed a hotfix to address some issues that surfaced with Patch 14.8. Please see the changelog below. We're continuing to work on Update 15, and are currently looking at scheduling in Mortain PTE 2. We'll share more news on that next week! Thank you for your continued feedback and support. Patch 14.8 Hotfix Changelog General Restarting the game will reset the progression of achievements on XBS The Commander can't select the first row to spawn vehicles All Skirmish variants are shown in the Admin Log as "Warfare" The "Rule Breaker" achievement unlocks also with Infantry/Recon full squad Won Skirmish matches are incremented 4 times than the default amount for all relevant Skirmish Achievements on PS5 The AT-Gun of the British Forces cannot be destroyed by tank or anti tank rounds. See you on the frontlines. o7British Forces Rework Part 2 - Now Live! | Dev Brief #199Feb 29, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello everyone, Patch 14.8 – British Forces Rework Part 2 and the launch of Skirmish, is now live on all platforms. This update completes the British rework phase of development. We decided to expand on the initial release of the British forces last year following a swath of valuable feedback. After two content updates comprising overhauls, we feel confident in the enhancements and improvements to transform this portion of the game. Thank you for your assistance in helping us accomplish this! https://i.imgur.com/QUyq8Jk.png We’ve also implemented a new game mode, Control Skirmish. Based on feedback from previous PTEs, we’ve focused on refining our ‘seeding’ (rebranded to Control) game mode which originally featured on Foy and Kharkov. Skirmish is a gateway experience for new players of Hell Let Loose. This game mode allows players to get straight into the action and experience some of the core mechanics of Hell Let Loose with fewer moving parts. This is a quicker 50vs50 experience for some of our core audience who want to hop in for a few games and immerse themselves in the battle immediately. Featuring a new type of garrison - the forward position, each side will be limited to one Armour squad and one Recon squad; the Commander can only spawn in medium tanks and no artillery pieces will be placed on the map. Both teams start with control over their half of the map while the middle sector is neutral with a single capture point. Both teams must fight, attack and then defend this single capture point. Only the middle section of the map and the single capture point can change hands. At the end of the game, the team that controls the capture point is declared the winner. To support this, there will be dedicated servers on PC, running these Skirmish maps, 24/7, so they’re always available for you to join. HLL Official - Europe #16 > HLL Official Skirmish - Europe #01 HLL Official - US East #12 > HLL Official Skirmish - US East #01 HLL Official - Asia #16 > HLL Official Skirmish - Asia #01 El-Alamein - Map Refresh & Oasis - Control Skirmish https://i.imgur.com/Emjyofb.png When analysing the previous iteration of El Alamein, the map’s desolate landscape stood out as an area for improvement. Building placement has increased substantially to over 300%, whereas rocks have increased ~33%. We also recognised that many vehicle routes failed to connect throughout the map, featuring frequent dead ends – frustrating armour units. El Alamein was famous for its tank battles, and we’ve made changes to improve and add complete routes. We’ve also worked on the HQs and capture points to improve balance and gameplay. We’ve redesigned El Alamein to deliver an improved gameplay experience that also accommodates Skirmish. Map visuals and layout have been enhanced and improved – bringing graphical consistency to the level with an overall colour and tone pass. We’ve transformed the roads to increase visual quality; populated many open, empty areas; and new military posts ha...Hell Let Loose 2024 RoadmapFeb 20, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello everyone, We loved your positive reception to the Mortain changes shared in the latest dev brief! Thank you for participating in PTEs and sharing your insights – we’re pleased with the valuable feedback the testing periods have provided. We’re delighted to reveal the Hell Let Loose 2024 roadmap! All content stipulated below is not an exhaustive representation of this year’s content – all updates will continue to comprise quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes. The content ahead represents a stable development plan and allows us to confidently meet targets, having learned from overly ambitious roadmaps in the past. Everything below will be released across all platforms. https://i.imgur.com/uNkPZ8t.png We’ll share more on each aspect of the roadmap as we progress. Thank you, we’ll see you on the frontlines in an exciting year for Hell Let Loose! https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/Dev Brief #198 | Mortain UpdatesFeb 14, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello everyone, Welcome to our Mortain-focused dev brief, highlighting various changes and implementations thanks to your feedback. Mortain is a new map for Warfare, Offensive and Skirmish gamemodes. This map is based on the US defence of the French town of Mortain, which sits in a shallow valley – where the US rallied against German troops amid Operation Lüttich. The battle took place in August 1944, in Normandy, France. In this dev brief, one of our Senior Environment Artists will cover enterable buildings, provide additional context on Collégiale Saint Evroult and La Petite Chapelle Saint-Michel, discuss the environment; foliage and more. We want to be as transparent as possible when it comes to our development process on new maps – and we hope this provides useful insight into what it entails. Mortain is due for release after part 2 of the British Rework. Your feedback I would first like to say a huge thank you to all of the players who participated in the Mortain PTE. The team across all disciplines are incredibly grateful for the tremendous amount of feedback, both positive and constructive about your experiences. Now we've had time to thoroughly process your comments, let’s talk about some of the pain points and changes we have already started to implement thanks to your suggestions. Another thing to note is that when we have released images of Mortain in the past, I've used offline rendering techniques to produce the best image quality possible. But, to give you the most up-to-date images since the map is still in development, the in-game screenshots within this dev briefing are taken straight from the engine in real-time, so what you are seeing is Mortain from a developer-only point of view and may not represent in-game accurately. All of the work in this briefing is a work in progress and subject to change. Enterable buildings We acknowledge that players generally really enjoyed the urban combat that Mortain had to offer. Still, one consistent piece of feedback we received is that it was disappointing how few buildings were enterable by the player. In truth, this is a concern we had about the map for a while, but due to the amount of new content required for Mortain and the significant amount of work required to retrofit old interiors with our refreshed buildings, we decided to create a singular variation of enterable buildings that could be reused across the map. Upon reflection, however, we understand that more enterable buildings are a priority for players. I'm happy to say that we have successfully created 3 more variations of enterable buildings and have begun their rollout in Mortain. In real terms, due to the number of reusable assets we utilise within Hell Let Loose maps, this means up to 63 buildings already placed in Mortain could potentially be accessible across the map, with the possibility of more to come. Given that we want the map to flow and provide enjoyable combat for players, our Level Design team now has the task of ...PTE 14.8 | British Rework Part 2 | Now Live!Feb 9, 2024 - Community Announcementshttps://i.imgur.com/RAtzUz2.jpeg Hello everyone, Public testing is now underway for Patch 14.8 – British Forces Rework Part 2. This is the final part of the rework, with our focus shifting to Update 15 after 14.8’s release. This testing period will run over the weekend, closing off at 2 pm GMT on February 12th. PTE 14.8 will feature seven maps in rotation across Warfare and Skirmish modes. Our goal for this testing period is to gather your feedback on the latest iteration of Skirmish – thanks to your feedback – on Driel and El-Alamein. In addition, we want your thoughts on how the new tanks function in Warfare; the historical accuracy of upcoming DLC and your impressions on some new weapons. Please continue to read for an extensive look at PTE 14.8. You can find the Feedback Forms at the bottom of the page. Thank you, as always, for taking the time to participate in our public testing environments – helping us shape Hell Let Loose for the better. Next week, you can expect to see a Dev Brief on Mortain – covering changes stemming from your feedback. https://i.imgur.com/QG23pRc.jpeg Server Rotation: El-Alamein - Warfare - Day Driel - Warfare - Day El-Alamein - Skirmish - Day & Dusk Driel - Skirmish - Day, Dusk & Night Skirmish Mode Updates Based on the community sentiment feedback from our previous round of Skirmish PTEs on El-Alamein & Driel for the ‘Phased’ & ‘Majority’ modes, combined with the feedback we had received from the Foy & Kharkov ‘Seeding’ mode PTE’s, we have settled on refining the core gameplay loop first for the aforementioned ‘Seeding’ mode before branching out into other modes. ‘Seeding’ has also been rebranded as ‘Control', the decision behind this was to rebrand it into a title that is more fitting for the type of gameplay loop involved. For 14.8 we will be releasing to you the first ‘Control’ maps under the ‘Skirmish' umbrella: El-Alamein, and Driel, with the potential to explore and refine alternative modes and mechanics in the future. Since the last PTE, the following adjustments have been made all Control mode maps: The match timer has been reduced from 45 minutes down to 33 minutes, which includes the warm-up timer. The warm-up timer at the beginning of a match has been adjusted to 3 minutes to match Warfare/Offensive. Overtime that exists in Offensive mode has been implemented. If a team is capturing the objective when the timer hits zero, they then have until their manpower resource depletes to zero to capture the point. To allow players to begin the match on an equal footing, the following changes have been implemented: Each faction now has a set of pre-placed nodes at each HQ, to provide enough Commander resources when the match starts. Each faction now has one medium-sized tank pre-placed at a HQ from the beginning, to allow the Armour squad to jump straight into the action without relying on a Commander. Each subsequent tank will have to be spawned in via a Commander as usual. As always, we would love to hear your th...Patch 14.7 is Now Live!Feb 1, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello everyone, Patch 14.7 is now live on all platforms! This update is primarily focused on bug fixing and enhancing the in-game experience. This version also targets some of the crash issues that console players have been incurring. Up next is Patch 14.8 – a larger, content-heavy update that we’ll expand on in Dev Briefs soon. Thank you to everyone who participated in our Mortain PTE. The feedback has been invaluable, and we will be detailing what’s changed in the weeks ahead. Patch 14.7 Changelog General When disconnecting controller, players cannot use the mouse to clear the "Controller Disconnected" prompt Lost Connection to Host dialog box cannot be navigated with controller Focus is lost from the "Accept Invite?" prompt when spamming "request permission to join a unit" When launching the title in Offline mode a softlock is occurring on the IIS screen The DAK - Uniform is clipping with Erich's head in game and in barracks The Churchill Mk III presents extended invisible collision when attempting to place a satchel on the front of the tank. There is no Chat page in the Communication tab of the Field Manual Relaunching the game will reset multiple Gameplay settings to default The title does not render text in the Basic Training menu when the device is localized to Japanese. Player is unable to join some servers due to an error that occurs when a large number of servers are displayed at once Player is unable to join some servers due to a Game is Full message despite multiple empty slots being present Disconnecting on the Enlist menu, backing out and then re-accessing the menu will occasionally cause a crash. The player encounters a crash when suspending the application during the bootflow The title sometimes crashes when attempting to join the server in Warfare & Offensive mode Stalingrad Burned wood asset has a metal PFX when being shot Brick stove asset presents wooden PFX and SFX when being shot Players can clip inside the terrain in sector B5 The terrain in sector H8 has no player collision Players are able to clip inside a part of the terrain found in sector F8 A specific mudbank is missing player collision in sector E5 Players are able to clip inside a part of the terrain found in sector D4 The player can clip through the terrain in sector I4 Hill 400 Mud SFX can be heard while walking inside the bunker Hürtgen Forest No footsteps SFX can be heard inside bunkers Utah Beach No footsteps SFX can be heard inside bunkers Kharkov Mudbanks have slush/water sound effect when the player is walking/sprinting Kursk Invisible collision present on one side of the bridge Purple Heart Lane When quickly turning around, the rain effect on PHL will briefly disappear and will then slowly come back in. Rain effects in PHL cannot be seen when shadow quality is set to High or lower. Dev Brief Mortain | Weekend PTE Now Live!Jan 19, 2024 - Community Announcementshttps://i.imgur.com/Uu9ytUv.jpg First off, a huge welcome to our new players; our recent influx of players who've joined us on console and PC. It’s completely normal to be closing down your machine for the day after an abundance of deaths, compounded by disorientation and dubious reactions from veteran players. The first round of public testing for our new Warfare and Offensive map, Mortain, starts now! Taking place over the weekend, running until Monday 22 January, 11 am GMT. We loved seeing your excitement for Mortain’s reveal in our previous Dev Brief , so we’re opening the doors early for feedback. Mortain is still a few months out, so we want to collate your impressions as soon as we can, to ensure it’s polished and balanced for release. This testing period aims to gather your insight on the overall level design – we want your thoughts on capture points, playstyles, vehicle spawns, artillery positioning, pre-placed garrisons, flow, art, and any issues you may encounter. Please scroll to the bottom of the page for links to the forms to fill out feedback. Thank you to all of you who are taking the time to participate and help improve Mortain. Historical Summary of Mortain In 1944, German forces attempted a counter-offensive against the allied Operation Cobra breakout from Normandy. This counter-offensive was known as Operation Lüttich. This was planned to cut off the US spearheads, establish a German defensive perimeter in Normandy, reach the coastal port of Avranches, and seal the Operation Cobra breakout. On the 7th of August, German forces assaulted the US-held Mortain and was successful in capturing key locations. This assault led to bitter and fierce fighting at Hill 314, with the US forces being surrounded becoming one of the recognisable heroic stands of WW2. The Ambient Sounds of Mortain As this is the first full map release after taking the project on from Black Matter, we wanted it to have as much detail as possible from a sound perspective. Mortain uses a newly developed audio system, where random ambient sounds are switched out depending on your location on the map. In short, these ambient sounds follow you wherever you go and are playing all the time, but will dynamically change when you enter a new location. This covers urban areas, forests, destroyed buildings and so on. A similar system was already in place for explosions, so it seemed like a nice progression to move this into the ambience system to support the lush areas created by the environment art and level design teams. In the last major update, we added functionality for weapons to sound different when fired in enclosed spaces like churches, bunkers, houses and so on. We wanted this to continue in Mortain; so all interior spaces have this treatment, from pillbox-type bunkers in the forests, right up to large houses in the destroyed town. We loved seeing the positive reactions when players first heard these changes last time and would like this to continue when playing in...Developer Briefing #197 | Looking Ahead to 2024Dec 21, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHello everyone, Welcome to our final Developer Briefing of the year. This edition will focus on 2024, showcasing a glimpse of our plans for the year ahead. Thank you for your continued, valuable feedback throughout the past twelve months — your insights helped us shape Hell Let Loose, and we believe we’re now heading in the right direction. Patch 14.6 is behind us, with work underway on 14.7, which will be the first update of 2024. We plan to reveal the new Roadmap early next year to showcase upcoming content. Meanwhile, let’s have a look at some early-in-progress assets. These are all works in progress and are expected to be released across multiple updates throughout next year. The following WIPs are not an exhaustive look into next year, just a few snippets of content to expect. US Commander - Patton A new commander uniform, inspired by US Army Officer George Patton; a revered practitioner of mobile-tank warfare in the European and Mediterranean theatres during WW2 – his illustrious military career only marred by brash and erratic behavior. “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” https://i.imgur.com/uVIJiaZ.jpg US Infantry Winter Uniform This new uniform is a part of the Winter rework. The coat is covered with the residue of frozen conditions. https://i.imgur.com/LS9UJiA.png Purple Heart Lane We’ve updated the rain VFX workflow on Purple Heart Lane and enhanced the puddle placements to be procedurally generated – improving the look of wet roads. https://i.imgur.com/n0QMZ9D.gif https://i.imgur.com/nP5YefF.gif Tactical Map Going into 2024, we are planning to clean up some key UI elements that continue to cause poor User Experiences across HLL. Each one contributes to a lack of understanding for newer players, complex onboarding systems, accessibility, clarity, and legibility flaws, and mounting design debt that prevents flexibility to adapt to future developments in the game. For the Tactical Map, there have been lots of considerations surrounding all aspects of the design. However, our main focus was highlighting the most important information, reducing clutter surrounding the player, and providing clarity on the state of the game. Designs not final https://i.imgur.com/u3g5wPo.png https://i.imgur.com/CWLNCwM.png Field Manual For the Field Manual, we understand that onboarding new players and helping existing players is not where we want it to be. We are continuing to look into different ways we can enhance the Field Manual to support those who need help understanding the core mechanics of the game. Designs not final https://i.imgur.com/stHfWL1.png Fire Rework Updated on the right – the fire is completely reworked to improve performance and reduce the blown-out look of the original. VFX particle behaviour has also been reworked as well as adding in LODs that were missing on the original. https://i.imgur.com/WnLof5V.gif Crusader Mark III We’re implementing this primary British cruiser tank – used in the early part of WW2 – with the British Re...Patch 14.6 is Live! Full Changelog InsideDec 14, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, Patch 14.6 is now live! This update focuses on bug fixing and refining gameplay, with the addition of two night map variants: Stalingrad and Kharkov. We’ve also made improvements to vaulting, and addressed some of the rain issues on Purple Heart Lane — we’re looking to fully resolve this in 14.7. Please see full details in the changelog below. Night Maps We’re continuing to implement more night variants with this update, to offer a variety of experiences for each map. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be giving you a first look at an entirely new map and tanks for Warfare and Offensive. https://i.imgur.com/5VqAKtS.png Kharkov Night | Wide open snow-covered fields illuminated only by the moon and flames https://i.imgur.com/K68Mn22.png Stalingrad Night | A derelict battlefield permeated with destruction Red Skies DLC - Soviet Airborne Uniform The largest Soviet airborne operation of World War II took place during fighting around Vyazma in January and February 1942. German forces were partially surrounded, and the Soviet command developed a plan to cut them off. For nine days, more than 7,300 paratroopers were dropped under adverse weather conditions. The operation was a disaster, with the majority of airborne troopers becoming surrounded themselves. The depleted survivors fought their way out during the next several months. After the Dnieper operation, there were further small-scale missions; however, the airborne forces continued fighting primarily in an infantry role. Airborne soldiers were dropped in actions against Japan in 1945 as well. In that theater of operations, their missions were largely to secure territory rather than take it from the enemy. https://i.imgur.com/GaBdgvw.jpg https://i.imgur.com/wJRL10Q.jpg Patch 14.6 Changelog Night Map Variants Kharkov Night Stalingrad Night New Paid DLC Red Skies (The Soviet Airborne uniform) Vaulting Improvements It was found that a previous vaulting bug fix had inadvertently introduced opportunities for the server and client to become de-synchronised, during vaulting under certain network conditions. This would sometimes cause vault initialisation to fail, leading to unwanted behavior. This fix was reworked to solve the issue while maintaining the synchronisation of the client and server. General Undefined splash VFX where the raindrops * - Please be aware this does cause an issue wherein rain will not appear on Xbox consoles and will also not appear on shadow settings below “Epic” on PC due to legacy issues with the setup of Rain, we’re planning to have this fixed in the next update as a high priority Visual Rain effects were previously broken on Xbox Series consoles, we have had to disable the rain for now on Xbox Series consoles however are looking into these rendering issues as a priority The options changed in the 'Audio' tab do not persist after closing and reopening the game "Gameplay" and "Control" options don't persist when relaunching the title When destroyed, AT Guns produce no explo...PTE Skirmish Mode | El Alamein & Driel Bridge - live for 24hrs!Dec 7, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, Public Testing for our new Skirmish Mode variations is now live for 24 hours on the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) Steam App! A huge thank you to all of you who participated in our first PTE for Skirmish. We appreciate the time taken to share feedback; the insights into your experience have been instrumental in helping us tweak and improve gameplay, and we’re working hard to remedy the issues. We’d like to take this opportunity to reinforce that Skirmish is optional – this mode offers a shorter gameplay experience for players looking to learn the mechanics and immediately throw themselves into the action. If you missed last week’s PTE, you can read about Skirmish, for a full explanation of what the new mode entails: El Alamein Changes We’ve redesigned El Alamein to deliver an improved gameplay experience that accommodates Skirmish. Map visuals and layout have been enhanced and improved – bringing graphical consistency to the level with an overall colour and tone pass. We’ve transformed the roads to increase visual quality; populated many open, empty areas; and new military posts have been set up across the map. Please see the full list of adjustments and improvements in the changelog below. https://i.imgur.com/lGpzj3j.jpg The roads in El Alamein have had a major overhaul to increase the visual quality https://i.imgur.com/oLeuZMq.jpg The Oasis location has been extended and now includes two towns connected by a bridge that overlooks it New Skirmish Mode variations This PTE includes two new variations of Skirmish Mode that we have been developing named Phased and Majority. Both these variations play out quite differently compared to Foy and Kharkov Skirmish which involved both teams fighting for control over a single Capture Point. What is Phased Skirmish? Phased Skirmish is based on two or more phases during a match with one team attacking and the other defending. Each phase can include several Capture Points that must be captured by the attacking team to progress to the next phase. The Defending team always has initial control over the sectors with pre-placed garrisons to support their defensive tactics. Win Conditions: The attacking team must capture all Capture Points in each phase Defending team must prevent the attacking team from capturing all the Capture Points El-Alamein and Driel Bridge are our two Phased Skirmish maps El-Alamein - Phased Skirmish German Africa Corps are the defenders, British Eighth Army are the attackers Map orientation is east to west The match is structured around two phases, with Capture Points located in the middle sectors of the map Only the territory in the middle sectors can change hands by gaining control of the relevant Capture Point(s) Only the hard capture radius is active Driel Bridge - Phased Skirmish Germany are the defending team, Great Britain are the attacking team Map orientation is north to south The match is structured around three phases, with Capture Points located in key sectors aro...Public Testing for Skirmish Mode is live for 24hrs!Nov 30, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, Public Testing for Skirmish Mode is now live for 24 hours over on the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) Steam App! The Skirmish Game Mode will be coming early next year and we want to make sure we’re able to get feedback from players as soon as possible to action your thoughts and opinions! This PTE will be played on Foy and Kharkov. What is Skirmish Mode? Skirmish is a gateway experience for new players of Hell Let Loose! This game mode allows players to get straight into the action and experience some of the core mechanics of Hell Let Loose with fewer moving parts. This is a quicker 50vs50 experience for some of our core audience who want to hop in for a few games and immerse themselves in the battle immediately. Players will still need to use tactics, strategy, and core tenets of success; communication and teamwork will bolster your chances of gaining victory. Featuring a new type of Garrison - the Forward Position, each side will be limited to one Armour squad and one Recon squad; the Commander can only spawn in medium tanks and no artillery pieces will be placed on the map. Both teams start with control over their half of the map while the middle sector is neutral with a single Capture Point. Both Teams must fight, attacking and then defending this single Capture Point. Only the middle section of the map and the single Capture Point can change hands. The team that controls the Capture Point, at the end of the game, is declared the winner. Players within the active sector count towards the capturing power. Win Conditions: Capture and hold the Capture Point. Controlling the Capture Point after the time limit expires. Further info: Match duration is 40 mins with 3 min warmup Skirmish mode takes place on a smaller map. Playable space is 1.4km x 1.12km (10x8 Skirmish grid). Sectors and grid sizes are also smaller to reflect the new map size. Grid square is 140 compared to 200 of Warfare. Skirmish mode features a new type of garrison called the Forward Position. Forward Positions have a distance rule of 140 meters from each other. The radius is visually shown on the tactical map. For Foy and Kharkov Skirmish, We also visually show on the tactical map the soft capture i.e. 2x2 grid square where the Capture Point resides Skirmish on Consoles Skirmish will be a selectable option from the main menu, it will not be included in the normal map rotation. What Skirmish mode is not! A replacement for Warfare or Offensive game modes. We remain focused on giving players an authentic Hell Let Loose experience with new large maps for Warfare and Offensive game modes going forward, but we’d like to offer a substitute for players who want to play a shorter mode. It is not aimed at Hell Let Loose players who only play certain roles, for example, players who specialise in artillery, etc. Work In Progress These PTE sessions are a way for you as a community to feedback on Hell Let Loose work in progress, which means we can look to implement your feedback ...Patch 14.5 Releases Today at 2pm GMT!Nov 23, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, Back into the ruthless darkness of war! We’re so excited to see you on the frontlines in Patch 14.5! Battle on the dusk time variant of El Alamein which requires you to adapt to new dynamics — dusk lighting conditions sees the map permeated with fog — paving the way for different approaches to becoming the victor, accompanied by new British & German sub-factions (The British Eighth Army and German Africa Corps) This Patch hosts new content and focuses on enhancing your experience with an abundance of bug fixing and tweaks. Patch 14.5 will be going live today and will begin rolling out across console and PC from 14:00pm GMT. Please read on to find the changelog for today’s patch. https://i.imgur.com/0hJr0Gs.jpg https://i.imgur.com/PjWQgRf.png A bridge too far, too dark. We’ve also implemented Driel Night. https://i.imgur.com/oWf2qH6.png https://i.imgur.com/eteNuts.png Assert yourselves on the field with the new THOMPSON M1928A1 (North Africa) submachine gun, offering two drum & mag variants — and the SMLE No.1 Mk3 rifle. https://i.imgur.com/aNgSIoA.png https://i.imgur.com/zrsm6pu.png If you’d prefer a more damaging influence, you can operate the Churchill Tank MK3. https://i.imgur.com/HR6pSyf.jpg The British Eighth Army & The German Africa Corps https://i.imgur.com/fjn7N5D.png https://i.imgur.com/NUTjOji.jpg DLC - Pea Dot Uniform (Aka The Erbsenmuster 44) https://i.imgur.com/fmX8ylu.png Public Testing Feedback Based on player feedback the team has been focusing on resolving some of the points raised during the PTE, including: Churchill Mk3 Tank Feedback with regards to the audio mix Armour values evaluated and updated Turning speed evaluated and updated Panther Tank Removed the Panther tank from El Alamein due to historical inaccuracy. British Eighth Army and German Africa Corps Uniforms Comments regarding the “Waxy” look of the British uniforms Validate the scale of the MK II helmet. Change the texture of the current Luftwaffe belt buckle to be more historically accurate. Pea Dot (Erbsenmuster 44) DLC Colour values to be looked at and updated based on feedback that the uniform looks faded. Patch 14.5 Changelog Night Map Variants El Alamein - Dusk Time (Historically Correct) Driel Night New Loading Screens We've implemented new load screens for all maps, across the menu, basic training, and practice range. The Bren Bipod Following community feedback, the Bren now features bipod functionality. FOV Changes The FOV slider range has seen the following changes: Previously - 90-120 Now - 60-120 This is to allow all players a wider range of FOV settings which can help prevent the “Fish Eye” effect seen on larger ultrawide and super ultrawide monitors, players should note that the default FOV setting is still 90 so if you wish to change this you will need to go into your settings menu. British Forces Update Part 1: British Eighth Army German Afrika Corps SMLE No.1 Mk3 rifle THOMPSON M1928A1 (North Africa) submachine gun Added a Bipod to the ...Public Testing for Patch 14.5 - Live Now for 24 Hours!Nov 2, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, Public Testing for Patch 14.5 is now live for 24 hours over on the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) Steam App! Patch 14.5 will be released later this month, and we want to get your feedback on updates to the British forces, plus the brand new El Alamein dusk map. Work In Progress These PTE sessions are a way for you as a community to feedback on Hell Let Loose work in progress, which means we can look to implement your feedback before a patch or update is released. Although we can currently only hold public testing sessions on PC, we encourage everyone to take part to be able to share feedback. Streaming & Recording PTE Sessions You are welcome to both stream and record PTE footage, but as these sessions are showing unfinished work, it’s always good to let your individual communities know that the footage is from a PTE session, where you might encounter unfinished items, bugs, and other issues. For today’s session, there are a list of unfinished items / bugs that we’re aware of, including: Final Textures for the Churchill Tank still need to be implemented Incorrect Helmets shown in the German Africa Corps loadout Some Loading screen hints will still display old hints Changing up gears in the Churchill Mk.III when starting to turn shows rapid deceleration not seen in other tanks The British M1928A1 Thompsons have US Thompson icons on the in-game inventory HUD With the British M1928A1 Thompsons, when leaning, then aiming and moving around, the gun will be off centre The tracks of the Churchill Mk.III will be askew when it is spawned on slanted terrain The turret of the destroyed model of the Churchill Mk.III is slightly floating above the hull The front & rear bogey of the Churchill Mk.III does not spin or follow the track travel The turning radius of the Churchill Mk.III is worse than the Tiger tank at both slow & fast speeds The top of the Churchill Mk.III heavy tank has an area where there is no player and bullet collision Low Framerate seen in of the El Alamein Dusk Map The mask from the DAK Helmet - Goggles have corrupted texture while in the deployment screen When ADSing, the M1928A1 is not centred on the screen The Churchill Mk.III gun will clip into the body of the tank if the gun is rotated 180° backwards and depressed to its bottom level The loading screen to the main menu contains generic text The flamethrower fuel can is clipping with the DAK and Khaki Drill uniforms The German Support's flamethrower fuel can clips through the ammo box/radio of the Erbsenmuster DLC uniforms The Erbsenmuster DLC uniforms have no icon when viewed in the Barracks or the Change Role menu The bipod of the Bren Gun has closing animation in barracks and deployment screen The British Eighth Army Anti-Tank Ambusher loadout has AP mines in 2 inventory slots The bullet impact of the M1928A1 Thompson can be heard from a distance of 45m In the Churchill MkIII, the word 'Loading' overlaps the name of the tank gun in the UI. The DAK german assault role pr...Patch 14.4 Re-releases at 3pm BSTOct 23, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, We’ll begin rolling out Patch 14.4 again from 3pm BST this afternoon! Thank you all so much for your understanding and patience while we worked to determine the reason why only some servers were working when we first released the patch on Thursday last week. What went wrong? There were three unexpected issues that we ran into - two that were only affecting GTX hosted community servers, and another where seemingly at random, some users would hang on a loading screen when joining a map. Working with the game server providers, we determined that two of these issues were the result of the same root cause - a misconfiguration of servers, where there was a missing certificate on the server. We also found that GTX hosted servers had a single missing command line parameter compared to all other GSPs. These issues have now all been rectified and confirmed to fix the issues across all GSPs. How are we making sure this can be avoided in the future? As part of resolving these issues, we have since agreed with the GSPs to ensure certain tests and changes are carried out on a GSP Steam testing branch prior to releasing a patch or update to you. Luftwaffe Eagles The Luftwaffe Eagles DLC will be reactivated with Patch 14.4, and those who have already purchased the DLC will once again be able to re-access it in the game. Nvidia Game Filters Nvidia filters have been disabled on Hell Let Loose in response to consistent community feedback around the use of the filters to negate the intended darkness of night maps and have a better advantage against other players. What does this mean? We mentioned on Friday that there are still other factors to take into consideration to improve fairness when playing on night maps, however, players using these filters to gain an advantage will no longer be able to use them. What doesn’t this mean? We understand that there are some players in the competitive community who utilise these filters, and others who do not. We wanted to make it clear that this move does not mean that we aren’t looking to support the competitive scene. While Hell Let Loose is not geared towards being a competitive title, we are enamoured to have such wonderful communities organising tournaments and events - having been growing their very own competitive scene. In our Developer Interview and AMA earlier in the summer, we mentioned wanting to start looking at both feature improvements such as the in-game admin cam that players use to capture and cast tournament footage, as well as re-evaluate where and how we showcase and support competitive activity. We are in the process of scoping admin cam improvements to a future update, and are working on plans to better formalise teams and tournaments, so that we can put together a schedule that highlights the amazing work these communities are doing, and will be reaching out to community leaders directly as part of this and inviting them to a separate Discord server where they will be able to help guide th...An Update on Patch 14.4 for PC PlayersOct 20, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, We hope you’ve all been enjoying Patch 14.4 Patch 14.3. We wanted to make sure we could provide PC players an update on this, and can confirm that, today, we’ve been in talks with the various game server providers for Hell Let Loose and have been trialling a potential solution. However, to avoid as much disruption as possible, Patch 14.4 will not be re-released until we’re confident this solution has been effectively tested. While this issue was unexpected, we’re already working on making sure this won’t happen again by collaborating with the GSPs to ensure certain tests and changes are carried out in a different environment before we then release a patch or update to you. Nvidia Filters Since posting the Patch 14.4 changelog yesterday, our contacts at Nvidia have since disabled the use of filters when playing Hell Let Loose, and while there are other factors to also take into consideration to improve fairness when playing night maps, it now means that players using the filter settings to improve their visibility on low-visibility intended maps, will no longer be able to use them. We will be exploring this matter further as we fine tune the experience. Luftwaffe Eagles DLC Those of you who have already purchased this DLC will regain access to it as soon as a new patch rolls out, however, we want to make sure everyone can play the game first and foremost, which is why our testing is still underway. We’d also like to apologise for the confusion around this particular DLC. Some players have mentioned the discrepancies between the Fallschirmjäger uniform shown in Developer Briefing #196, and the Luftwaffe Eagles DLC available in the Additional Content Hub. Earlier this year, we endeavoured to keep our communication with you as transparent and authentic as possible, which included using Developer Briefings as a place to share our development progress, keeping you informed of new weapons, vehicles, tanks, forces, and maps, etc - where the assets that are shared are classed as work in progress. Because of this, it does mean that what is shared through these briefings won’t necessarily always be the final product upon release. Time constraints, design changes, and issues when testing the uniforms are just some things that can have an impact on the final outcome of a DLC. The helmet shown in the Luftwaffe Eagles DLC artwork on the Additional Content Hub is the M38 Fallschirmjäger helmet, which already exists in the game and is unlocked through progression on Rifleman Level 8. This uniform has 8 slight variations - one for each of the infantry roles, two of which were shared in Developer Briefing #196. Thank You For now, we’d like to say a big thank you for your understanding and for bearing with us as we work to come to a solution, and will aim to provide a further update of progress no later than Monday, 23rd of October. Cover & Header Images Provided by Chrysallia Patch 14.4 NewsOct 19, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, We’ve, unfortunately, been experiencing some issues with getting PC player servers back online after releasing Patch 14.4, and have been working with our partners to investigate why some servers are working, and others aren’t. We believe the best thing to do here is rollback the patch, so you are able to get back into Hell Let Loose while we continue to investigate this. Rolling back a patch has its risks, and this does, however, mean that anyone who has bought the new Luftwaffe DLC on PC will no longer be able to access it until we have completed our investigations and a new patch can be released. This change will not affect Console players. We’re deeply sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you, and will endeavour to keep you as updated as possible while we continue to look into this.Patch 14.4 Releases Today at 2pm BST!Oct 19, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, Patch 14.4 will be going live today, and will begin rolling out across console and PC from 2pm BST! Please read on to find the changelog for today’s patch. Hell Let Loose At TwitchCon Vegas October 20th - 22nd We’ll be over at TwitchCon Vegas this weekend, where you’ll be able to head on over and play Hell Let Loose as part of a 100-player LAN, plus, we’ll be on the front page of Twitch from 5pm PDT - we hope to see you on the frontlines! Public Testing Feedback We want to continue to make sure that it is your feedback that helps to guide development, and in order for that to remain the case, we’re going to be looking at re-evaluating when we hold PTE sessions so that we can better populate games for you to fully try out the latest fixes and new content. This means that future public testing sessions will no longer be held on the weekend, and instead be condensed into a shorter time frame to encourage more 100-player lobbies. Thank you to everyone who did join the PTE and provided feedback - we’ve taken a look at your responses, and have been able to make some adjustments prior to release. However, in order to get this patch out to you this month, we haven’t been able to address all feedback from the session at this stage - but it has prompted a much larger conversation around accessibility in Hell Let Loose. Accessibility Conversations Head-Bobbing We mentioned in our last developer briefing that dive to prone had been reworked, and as part of that, had worked on camera improvements to prevent camera limitations as the dive ended - which were present with the initial dive to prone implementation. As part of that work, the system that controls head-bobbing was also rewritten to be more versatile and allow for smoother transitions between profiles, while increasing visual quality. By reworking this code, it has also made head-bobbing more noticeable to those who are sensitive to motion. Thanks to feedback from the PTE session, we have now made tweaks to this system to reduce the level of motion. While some players will be pleased to see head-bobbing working, we also want to make sure we’re supporting as many players as possible - and so will begin scoping what is possible in terms of improving accessibility settings. Dive to Prone Now that this functionality has tuneable parameters, we have been able to tweak these to address your previous feedback. Your responses from the PTE showed that over half of those who submitted feedback agreed that dive to prone now feels more realistic, that players were no longer able to dolphin dive, and the slide distance now feels ‘just right.’ Nvidia Filters As many of you have pointed out, some players will use Nvidia filters to avoid being at a disadvantage on the purposefully-designed night modes. While these filters can be customised to provide more of a competitive edge, it can also deter players who do want to experience the maps as intended. We’ve heard your feedback around this, and will begin...Public Testing Live From 3pm BST!Oct 6, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, Thank you for bearing with us while we take in the news shared earlier this week. We wanted to confirm that the planned PTE session for Hell Let Loose will still be going ahead today at 3pm BST, and will end on Monday the 9th, so you’ll have the weekend to provide feedback on some of the new night maps before they arrive in future patches, starting with Carentan and Sainte-Mère-Église, which will arrive in Patch 14.4, as well as vaulting and mantling improvements, the addition of an improved dive to prone, as well as help us identify any potential broader impact from the loadout bug fix. However, we will now be moving back the planned release of Patch 14.4 to the 19th of October, a week later than originally planned. This should not affect the planned release of part one of the British forces, which will arrive in Patch 14.5 in November. Public Test Changelog Night Map Variants Night map variant added to the following existing Warfare maps: Carentan Sainte-Mère-Église Utah Beach Hill 400 Driel Kharkov Stalingrad Omaha Beach (Dusk Map) El Alamein (Dusk Map) Player Locomotion Dive to prone feature improved and re-implemented Vaulting Mantling General Bug Fixes Player deploys with incorrect loadout and cannot switch Additional Notes There have been some issues with this build which is unfortunately why it was delayed, and the below bugs have already been identified, including: Steam icons present on scoreboard Map icons in server browser are displaying as white placeholder image Map names in server browser are displaying placeholder names What We’re Looking For This PTE session aims to test the impact of some fixes, as well as get your feedback on the new night maps planned for future patches, including: 1). Any inadvertent impact from the loadout bug fix 2). Your experience with the improved dive to prone functionality 3). Your experience with the improved vaulting and mantling 4). Your thoughts on the visibility of the night maps How to Take Part Check your Steam Library for the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) application, or re-download it from the Steam store, you’ll want to boot this version up to take part in the PTE! Once you’re in and have selected a server, you’ll be able to test out the items in the above changelog and share your feedback using the below forms: Submit Feedback: https://forms.office.com/e/Zn7yLrX7u6 Share Bug Reports: https://forms.office.com/e/TJ7Mh0ihYS Please note: Because PTEs are run on development servers that have logging activated, you will experience a slight decrease in performance. You will also not earn any exp and your progress will not be carried over to the live game. We look forward to seeing you in this session!Public Testing From The 6th - 9th of OctoberSep 29, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, We were hoping to get you all up on the PTE today testing the new night maps, as well as the vaulting and mantling improvements, plus the addition of the improved dive to prone, however, we’ve experienced an issue when going through some final checks. A new bug has occurred on the Public Testing branch that now means a player’s level is being registered as Level 1. Because of the way the PTE branch is set up, we believe this issue is now occurring as a result of the code required to fix the loadout bug. We know many of you are eager to jump on and be the first to play the new night maps, as well as the Dusk variants for El Alamein and Omaha, however, if we were to open the PTE with this bug, players would not be able to test out: Commander Role As this requires players to be Level 30 Without a Commander, this would affect Armour as additional vehicles wouldn’t be able to be spawned All Loadouts You would be defaulted to the Level 1 loadout Flare Guns Useful on night maps, players would not have access to these as they require Spotter Level 3 We still want to get your feedback, so while we work on fixing this bug, we’ll be moving this weekend’s planned testing session to next weekend, instead. This shouldn’t affect the release of Patch 14.4, however, we will keep you updated on our progress. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Loadout Bug: 1 Devs: 0 (for now) In the meantime, here are some of the other night maps that you can look forward to testing next week: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34012997/120c577ec290423d9a04e7d1e0b926184239c061.png Omaha at Dusk {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34012997/8101ea0b024600be23107dfc4ce3b17c65bd24d5.png Hill 400 at Night {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34012997/ddf5cb7e52ce1d89378d64a4f0dbb7d3d0d28f34.png Utah at Night