news

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #50! This week we’re taking the time to give you a state of the union of development on Hell Let Loose, as well as update our Roadmap.

The New Roadmap

The Next Steps - Max, Lead Developer

As developers, we feel that absolute honesty is always the best way to go about communicating the positives and negatives of game development.

We’ve been fortunate to discover and fix the three most significant issues plaguing the game, in addition to many other fixes (including stopping the Germans from waiting right on the beach in Omaha) and feature implementations - Unless there are any surprise issues these will go live in a patch next week.

In regards to Update 4, our initial plan was to release it (containing Sainte-Mère-Église) at the end of October, but concerns around optimisation lead us to push it back - with an adjusted release date of the 28th of November, which has since been pushed back to December, for reasons we'll explain in this post.

This delay also fitted well with our urgent push to discover and reproduce several significant issues that players have been experiencing, namely: experience accumulation bugs, server crashes and server queuing malfunctions.

The way our team works is that we’re able to work on many different aspects of the game at once. This includes mapping. While Sainte-Mère-Église was delayed, this did not knock on and cause issues on our other maps under development. It also did not hinder any other progress across the title - we’re actually in the unusual position where we’re now having content pile up ready for testing - a situation that means we’ll be figuring out how best to QA it as fast as possible.

A note on our development process

Our philosophy during Early Access is that all aspects of the game are truly “in development”. It means that as we push forward and create new techniques and systems, we plan ways to go back and address legacy issues in older maps. To that end, by the time we leave Early Access we’ll have polished and upgraded all maps available to a consistent quality and optimisation level across the board. To that end, many players will know that our earliest maps are the ones that need the most work.

The historical battle of Foy was iconically a Christmas conflict, and we’re excited to take to the field this Christmas in the snow.

Foy - Updated & Offensive Mode!

In adjusting the lighting and weather on Foy for the new Offensive mode implementation, we discovered that Foy lacked large amounts of cover at longer ranges.

Looking at this, we took it as an opportunity to refresh the map across the board - introducing new mapping techniques, buildings, props and materials, as well as fixing aspects of gameplay that we’d experienced while fighting across it on Warfare.

This is the first of the “legacy upgrades” we seek to do, and we’re excited especially to revisit both Hurtgen and Sainte-Marie-du-Mont in the same way, as well as fix and upgrade visual aspects to all other current maps.

So when can you expect the new map?

In December, we’ll be releasing Update 4. It will contain both Sainte-Mère-Église Warfare and German Offensive mode, and a large overhaul of Foy with the introduction of German Offensive Mode. We’ll also be implementing fixes, features and optimisations.

A word from Team17

It’s been an incredibly exciting time here at Team17 over the last few weeks as we have outgrown our old office and have moved into a brand new building on the other side of town a few days ago! Obviously moving 170+ members of staff as well all of the kit that go with them across sites has been a huge undertaking and that has sadly resulted in a few teething problems which has contributed to the moving of the SME update.

We sincerely apologise for this, but rest assured, we do not intend on moving again for the foreseeable future! As a result we’re confident that this will prove to be a one off, we are back up and running at full capacity again and busy working through the immense amount of content that Black Matter are producing.

We hope you enjoy fighting across Sainte-Mère-Église and exploring the updated Foy map in December when these drop. From a publisher’s point of view, Black Matter have been incredible to work with across the development of Hell Let Loose. Watching the game take shape and develop driven by the feedback from the community has been incredibly exciting and we are thrilled to be part of the journey with them.

So, thanks to you, the community for sticking with us and providing all of the feedback that you do, and the Max and the Black Matter team, keep up the great work!

T17

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

See you on the frontline!

Patch #9 Live Now & Developer Briefing #51!

Hi everyone!

Welcome to Patch 9! This ones a big one with extra information, so we’ve combined it into Developer Briefing #51 too.

Today we’re excited to launch a large number of fixes and feature implementations in this patch, so thank you all for your feedback and patience whilst we worked on it.

The end of the year is always a pressured time and here at Black Matter the team is hard at work - both on announced and unannounced features. We’re now preparing for a sizable Update 4 launch in December, but to hold you over we wanted to release a large number of fixes to serious issues in order to make your experience on the battlefield as good as it can be as we reach the holiday season.

In slightly different news, we’d love it if you’d support us by voting for Hell Let Loose in the “Better with Friends” category in the Steam Awards! It’d be a pretty cool medal for us all to pin on our collective chest!

The Patch Notes

Features

Loadouts

We’re beginning our implementation of the Loadout system by adding a new unlockable loadout for the Officer. We’ll be reviewing feedback on these as we add additional loadouts for each role.

You can expect further Loadouts to arrive in future patches and updates!

In-game Loadout and Customisation Selection

Players can now alter their customisations and loadouts in-game per role. This is to enable you to choose map-appropriate attire where necessary.

Reserved Slots

Community server hosts and administrators will now be able to offer reserved slots to their community members.

Important Bug Fixes

Thanks to the brilliant community support (seriously, you’re awesome) in testing on our designated test servers, we believe that we have finally fixed the experience bug. However, due to it happening in rare and prolonged play on large population servers, it has been hard to get 100% final reproduction on the absolute fix. We have not experienced it in QA since this fix, but we are hesitant to promise the community an absolute fix without being able to finally sign it off in a testing environment. As such, we will be combing through community reports to make sure this is the end of it.

We have fixed an issue where players will wait in a queue, join, and then be kicked due to the server being full.

Offensive Gamemode

We’ve been monitoring the changes we implemented for the Offensive mode, and received resounding feedback that the intensity of the landing in the first sector was much closer to where it needed to be, but that the attackers were effectively being spawn-camped by Germans coming down onto the beach.

As a result, we’ve implemented “turn back” volumes that will now prohibit the defending force from progressing too far into the attackers spawn area (on Omaha, this means leaving the shingle wall and bunkers and walking down onto the sand).

Tl;dr - No spawn camping.

Customisation

Added many new US helmets to the cosmetics array. The majority are unlocked by increasing your Career level. Several are unlocked by increasing the Medic and Officer level -

• Winter Painted Medic M1
• 1st Ranger M1
• 2nd Ranger M1
• 5th Ranger M1
• US Navy D-Day M1
• D-Day Tactical Stripe M1
• D-Day Engineer's M1
• 3rd Infantry M1
• Padre's M1

We've also added Winter uniform for Axis Officer!

SFX

• All grenades now have collision audio for when they hit the ground.
• Audio collisions for US and German Supply Drops.
• Implemented and refined the sound of a bullet striking you (both in the body and head) to better explain your death.

RCON

• Enabled the creation of reserved slots using the RCON tool.

HUD/UI

• Fixed: On-screen HUD elements now position themselves correctly when using an ultra-wide monitor.
• Fixed: The spacing on the pause menu while in-game is inconsistent.
• Fixed: When viewing the loadouts, the values on the tooltips of the binoculars and the watch are inconsistent between roles.
• Fixed: "Show/Hide Chat" text overlaps certain menu titles.
• Fixed: UI element for building constructibles is not removed when mantling or vaulting.
• Fixed: Role description does not refresh to the top when changing role.
• Fixed: Make a friendly occupied tank green like the unit color for infantry.
• Fixed: 'Kicked due to high ping' text format is inconsistent with other notifications.
• Fixed: [Omaha] While playing as a German soldier, Strong Points that are not active do not display on the Strong Point UI when inside a Strong Point.
• Fixed: 'Your connection to the host has been lost.' text format is inconsistent with the other notifications display.
• Fixed: On Omaha, the HUD displays "Sector on Cooldown" to players inside a sector that is captured.
• Fixed: The "You killed yourself" death message does not display if the player cooks a frag grenade but does not throw it.

Gameplay Functionality

• We have stopped enemy players building in your HQ sectors until the HQ sector itself can be captured. This means that players from the enemy team will not be able to mine vehicle spawns or build Engineer barricades to block in your vehicles unless the sector itself is in play.
• The 'Switch Team' cool down timer will be in effect if the player opts to switch teams but returns to their previous team.
• Officers are now awarded XP when players spawn on their Outposts (instead of when they are placed.) This is to reduce cheesing of endlessly replacing OPs.
• Added player markers translucency slider option.
• Adjusted Garand iron-sight appearance to make the sight picture clearer. We understand that the community is in two minds about this, and will watch for feedback on this adjustment.
• Set player name tag view distance to max by default for new players.
• Added 30 extra seconds to the end of round summary screens in order to better parse information and debrief.
• Capped proper ammo and equipment amounts so that using an ammo box won’t give you crazy surplus. We’ve also adjusted the Medic role to begin with a higher amount of bandages and morphine.

Visual Improvements

• Fixed: Some US helmets have a noticeable drop off in LOD at a short range.
• Fixed: Uniforms within the Barracks appear to be lower resolution than other assets within the menu.
• Fixed: [Hurtgen] The German accents are missing on the 'Hurtgen Forest' title when opening up the map.
• Updated some posters with more authentic versions.
• Fixed: There is a graphical issue with the Omaha loading screen.
• Fixed: Stretched polygons are visible when the German LMG wearing the Heer Summer Uniform goes into prone, critical or fatal stance.
• Fixed: The in-game map compass is not orientated with the Player's HUD compass.
• Fixed: [Omaha] Locked sectors that trigger the 'Turn back' state and respawn timer aren't clearly defined on the map.
• Show player shadow in FPP in order to increase immersion and sense of self. This currently doesn’t look 100% perfect, however this has been implemented now as it will carry over to the new animation system (which will polish many of the visual issues currently present with this).

Omaha Beach

• Fixed: Grass can be seen clipping through the house in sector G6.
• Fixed: A floating haystack can be observed in a barn in sector A5.
• Fixed: Some bunkers on Omaha are too dark for players to navigate around in.
• Fixed: The character can walk on the wooden seedlings frames from the B5 area.
• Fixed: The character displays an erratic movement when attempting to climb a trench from the H7 area.
• Fixed: Misaligned piece of terrain within sector I6 of Omaha.
• Fixed: Interior lighting is passing through a house in sector B7.
• Fixed: Grass can be seen clipping through the house in sector F6.
• Fixed: Grass can be seen clipping through the house in sector F7.
• Fixed: A specific landscape poster is incorrectly rotated on the wall.
• Fixed: A metal sheet is clipping through the wooden fence in sector F6.
• Fixed: Grass can be seen clipping through the house in sector F5.
• Fixed: Sandbag clipping through a trench within sector I3.
• Fixed: Multiple rocks are floating above terrain in I6.
• Fixed: A stone wall is clipping into a trench in sector H5.
• Fixed: The character remains stuck upon reaching a specific location on the map border.
• Fixed: A specific House in F3 has a noticeable LoD change at 47m.
• Fixed: Terrain is clipping through the wooden floor of one of the beach huts in sector I5.
• Fixed: Incorrect interior reflection present within a particular building.
• Fixed: The Omaha tactical map is noticeably offset.
• Fixed: The bulbs in street lamps do not appear to be on but have a visible light source.
• Fixed: On Omaha, windows with dark glass leave concrete bullet decals when shot.
• Fixed: Multiple sets of stairs in F5 are missing collision.
• Fixed: There is a stone platform at the top of a stairway that has no collision in sector F4.
• Fixed: An exterior pipe can be seen clipping into a building interior in grid square F5.
• Fixed: Areas of hillside terrain in H7 have visibly low resolution textures at short range.
• Fixed: It can be difficult for the player to stand out of the hole at the top of the stone bunkers.
• Fixed: The underside of a specific cliff bush is visible.
• Fixed: The player can clip their camera through the terrain in certain areas and see under the map.
• Fixed: A pile of rock and wood situated in I5 is partially missing collision with the character while in prone position.
• Fixed: The small stone bunkers have the incorrect collision applied and does not allow the player to enter or exit the asset.
• Fixed: One wooden shack placed between stone houses is missing collision in sector F5.
• Fixed: Misaligned trench within sector A5 of Omaha.
• Fixed: Walking up/down a specific set of stairs causes noticeable camera jitter.
• Fixed: Inaccessible building within sector B7 of Omaha.
• Fixed: The player can partially clip through raised sand in the I3-I8 sectors from the Omaha Beach.
• Fixed: Misaligned terrain in sector D3.
• Fixed: LOD issues present on a house in sector D5 of the map.
• Fixed: Multiple collision issues present in sector D6 of the map.
• Fixed: In sector D7, certain building/road icons on the map doesn't match up with assets in the in-game world.
• Fixed: Misplaced wooden archways near one of the stone bunkers in sector H7.
• Fixed: There is a visible seam on one of the walls in sector I4.
• Fixed: Noticeable frame drop within sector H4.
• Fixed: The player is not able to climb through either window of a shed located in sector I5.
• Fixed: Invisible collision present in D7.
• Fixed: 2 large invisible collisions present in I4.
• Fixed: Invisible collisions present in F3.
• Fixed: A wall model is missing collision in F3.

Foy

• 
  
• Fixed: Snow textures have been observed as pixelated along the edges
• Fixed: Tanks are unable to drive through some fences within Foy

Utah

Fixed: Beach logs low poly models appear floating on Utah Beach.
Fixed: No player collision on the middle of the metallic fences that surround hay stacks.
Fixed: The character remains stuck upon reaching inside a metal construction from the B5 sector.
Fixed: Multiple visual issues present in sector A7 of the map.
Fixed: Players can become stuck inside a small building with no exit in sector A5 after deploying at an Outpost/Garrison positioned near it.



Hurtgen

• 
  
• Fixed: Players can get stuck between boxes and a wall in sector E6 of Hurtgen
• Fixed: A floating light switch and wiring can be found in sector I5 of the map
• Fixed: Smoke can be seen through other smoke when looking at it from inside of The Scar

Animations

We are currently focusing on all animation work in our experimental animation branch. As a result we are only fixing system-wide issues and are avoiding issues specific to our current implementation.

Fixed: Cooking a German grenade while running then halting movement will result in the incorrect FPP animation

Optimisations

Fixed adjacency and index buffers

SMDM

• 
  
• Fixed: The German Medium Tank can be driven onto the crashed plane in E6
• Fixed: There is an invisible collision in sector E1
• Fixed: Invisible collision present in sector E10
• Fixed: Invisible collision present in sector E5

Crashes

Fixed: The user may experience a blue screen system crash after the EAC boot flow when launching the title

Bugs Fixed

• 
  
• Fixed: The player is able to place anti personnel mines inside wooden logs.
• Fixed: Multiple bunkers have a narrow doorway preventing players from walking through.
• Fixed: The gaps in sandbag walls have extended bullet collision.
• Fixed: [Omaha] The countdown to turn back will not dismiss itself if the sectors are unlocked while it is on-screen.
• Fixed: Turn Back timer resets when the user moves between two locked sectors.
• Fixed: 'All Servers' and 'Favourites' headings do not highlight correctly while searching for servers.
• Fixed: [Omaha] The player is able to place Anti Personnel mines under water.
• Fixed: Supply Drop flight path does not scale correctly with the magnification of the map.
• Fixed: Tank can still be repaired when the wrench is no longer aimed at it.
• Fixed: Sniper Rifles suppress team killed players.
• Fixed: On the Loadout, the Browning M1919 and MG42 display an incorrect ammunition count on their tooltips.
• Fixed: "Vote to Kick" and "Vote for Map" both go on cooldown whenever either is initiated
• Fixed: The audio for the sliders will continue to play if the cursor continues to be dragged past its limit.
• Fixed: On Omaha, the "Vote For Map" and "Vote to Kick" cooldowns reset to 10min when a column is captured.
• Fixed: Rotating an Outpost/Garrison into an area it cannot be placed while it is being built results in the construction audio to carry on till completion.
• Fixed: Player does not take damage when throwing a grenade under a hedgehog and stands on top of it.
• Fixed: Firing at dead bodies with the Browning results in the dead bodies being moved un-realistically.
• Fixed: The cooldown for rebuilding an Outpost after it has recently been dismantled occurs once per life.
• Fixed: When friends join game with a friend, place them in the queue instead of attempting to skip the queue.
• Fixed: Tanks begin to move erratically when they take damage while unoccupied
• Fixed: [Omaha] Capture progress will not increase if the player is in the strongpoint when driving a tank.
• Fixed: Players do not receive a notification if their request to join a Unit is rejected.
• Fixed: No visual indication present on the 'Field Manual' search bar.
• Fixed: Audio can still be heard and received from users with mic volume and voice volume on the lowest setting.
• Fixed: [Omaha] The character is missing collision with the bottom of the moving boat if is located in deep waters.
• Fixed: [Omaha] The German team can place Garrisons within 150m of their 3 starting Garrisons.
• Fixed: When a player is banned for team killing, the global message states the player was kicked.
• Fixed: The server queue is updated only after a player joins the queue.
• Fixed: Swapping from a unit to Commander on the deployment screen requires two clicks of the 'Join as Commander' button.
• Fixed: The user cannot always connect to a server with 90 ping on the first attempt, and will exit the server to a defunct enlist screen after a successful connection to said server.

In Testing

• 
  
• Sainte-Mère-Église German Offensive and Warfare Modes
• Foy Offensive Mode and Visual Overhaul

Currently working on (non-exhaustive list, we just want to give you some idea)

• 
  
• Continuing HUD and UI updates.
• Overhaul of Commander tactical map UI and HUD to improve and broaden functionality.
• Implementation of full non-verbal communications systems.
• Implementation of Recon vehicles for both teams, as well as fully fleshing out the Recon mechanics within the game to give proper purpose to Recon units at every level.
• Implementation of US heavy tank variant.
• Implementing mocap and making large changes to our TPP animation systems. These will result in a much more natural look and feel.
• Our FPP experience - with a focus on gunplay - is being overhauled in a separate branch.
• This is to both match our new TPP look, but also to greatly increase the fluidity of the FPP experience.
• New customisation options for both forces.
• Diving (performed by proning while sprinting). This is wrapped up with our FPP overhaul currently.
• Bullet penetration.
• Map balancing (addition of cover and other features in locations that are either boring or creating a tedious gameplay experience).
• Wheeled vehicles.
• Updating all audio and SFX. We’ve been testing reflections and different reverb volumes alongside all new weapon fire and reload sounds.

A gift to you and a first look at something new!

To celebrate our one year dev briefing anniversary, we’ve put together some customisation options to match the wintery experience we’re having in the Northern Hemisphere. Tune into the 52nd dev briefing next week to see how you can get your hands on them! (spoiler alert, they’re free!).

A 'cool' looking helmet.

Lastly, we know we’re always talking about the many maps in development. To pique your interest, we’d like to show you the first image from an as-yet unannounced map...

If you’re enjoying Hell Let Loose, you can help us by leaving us a review on Steam!

See you on the frontline!

Patch 9 Server Hotfix - Live Now!

Hey everyone,

Thank you for all of your feedback and bug reports in regards to server crashing following Patch 9’s deployment.

Thanks to the team working over the weekend we are pleased to say we have good news...

We have now put an updated server build live for all official and community servers! This should update all servers automatically, however if you’re concerned your server hasn’t updated then a manual restart will put the correct binary active.

If you still see any server related issues from now on, please report it HERE as it will be a different issue and your reports really go a long way in getting these kind of things fixed.

Thank you all so much for your quick and precise feedback with this, that combined with your patience and understanding allowed us to identify and remedy the situation.

Sorry for any frustration caused and thank you for being awesome.

See you on the frontline!

Developer Briefing #52 - One Year of Developer Briefings!

Hey everyone,

Here we are, 52 weeks since the first ever Developer Briefing. A lot has happened since then and we've still got an exciting, content packed journey ahead of us as we head towards full launch in 2020!

Being able to touch base with the community every week is an absolutely pleasure, giving you first looks at upcoming content, discussing your feedback and letting you know what we're working on behind the scenes.

We have been blown away by your support and we hope that these weekly updates have not only been interesting for you, but also highlight the upmost respect we have for your time and support of Hell Let Loose.

Here's to the next 52 weeks of Developer Briefings!

Now, to Lead Developer Max who has a few words to share, including what you can expect in the first part of 2020....

Max-imum Update!

Hi everyone,

We’re fast approaching the end of the year and we thought we’d take the opportunity on the 52nd anniversary of developer briefings to look back at some of the bigger moments.

A Look Back:

• 
  
• Our first beta and the following waves.
• Metagame update.
• Launching into Early Access.
• Dismemberment system.
• Tanks!
• First snow map - Foy.
• Balance adjustments.
• Audio tweaks.
• Mantling & Leaning.
• Resource Nodes.
• Unit management.
• Utah Beach.
• Omaha Beach.
• Offensive Mode!
• Progression system.
• Soldier Customisation.
• Loadouts.

And many more!

Your feedback and openness with us have allowed the team to prioritise and focus on content that you, our awesome community want. We're a small team but it's great to have our hard work noticed by you all - thank you.

Let us know your favourite moments and updates from the last year in the comments below, we'd love to hear them!

First Things First: Fixing Existing Issues

We’ve been working very hard to produce new content and new features as fast as possible in order to get them in the mix so that we can best test them during our Early Access period.

We’ve pushed ourselves to implement systems that add increased complexity to our back end (progression, customisation, server queuing etc.) and we recognise that some of these features have existing issues. While we want to ensure the whole team is able to take some time out to celebrate Christmas, we’ll be working intensively behind the scenes on several key issues affecting the game. Namely:

• 
  
• Server stability (crashes and latency/performance)
• Experience and progression bugs
• Server queueing issues

We’ve carved out time with our programming and QA team to nail these endemic issues so that we can start next year from a good place.

Next Up!

Our Early Access is not an indefinite period of time. We are currently working to a fixed date by which we need to achieve what we’d consider a full, content rich and predominantly issue-free Western Front, as well as a nice introduction of the Russian forces and the Eastern Front. To do this, we’re following a set development road map that balances new features, polish optimisation and bug fixes.

We're excited to share that during the first third of next year will see the introduction of:

• 
  
• 2-3 new maps (at minimum),
• Overhauled existing maps (for both gameplay, visuals, optimisation and introduction of
• Offensive game-modes)
• 1 x US Heavy Tank
• 1 x German Wheeled Recon Vehicle (we will be using this as a tech test for all wheeled vehicles)
• 1 x US Wheeled Recon Vehicle (we will be using this as a tech test for all wheeled vehicles)
• Overhauled ballistics system (realistic bullet travel time, bullet penetration etc)
• Overhauled FPP animation system
• Melee ability
• Overhauled TPP animation system
• Overhauled icons
• Implementation of Reconnaissance gameplay systems
• Improved and widened Commander Orders and interface
• Overhauled and widened Engineer deployables
• Overhauled Support and Rifleman Supply and Ammo box gameplay loop
• New sound engine implementation
• New loadout options
• New customisation options

We are also currently deciding whether or not we upgrade to 4.23 or 4.24 at this point.

The first third of next year may vary slightly depending on bottlenecks, bugs or other content additions, but we’ll work to let you know should anything deviate.

Beyond the first third of next year, we still have to implement the rest of the vehicles (mobile artillery, jeeps, trucks), flamethrowers as well as more as-yet unannounced vehicles, maps, weapons and features.

We really appreciate your patience with the development cycle and look forward to the new year!

Approach to Optimisation!

We know that optimisation is a key aspect of development and plays the most significant role in your experience in-game. We’re keen to explain our strategy here, so that you know what to expect.

During the course of development, we’ve become quicker and quicker at profiling and fixing troublespots - as well as implementing much stricter technical budgets. It’s been a large balancing act - to make sure that new features and content doesn’t inhibit our inability to field 100 players per game for sustained durations (2 hours games, with days of games in a row - this is harder than you’d think!).

For any team - let alone a smaller team - this has been our biggest challenge. We want to assure you that our leaving Early Access will contain significant and sweeping optimisations - with a concerted effort to re-profile the game near launch in order to properly benchmark each map and feature in an effort to bring them in line with the expected FPS output of a low, mid and high end machine.

Working with Team17, we have access to a large suite of optimisation tools to help us profile across the full array of hardware and system configurations. We’re keen to do this, but know that to do so before the full feature list is complete would defeat the purpose at this stage (as many of our least optimised components are already undergoing overhauls currently).

In the meantime, we’re adhering to our budgets and using processes that we’ve now finalised to generate assets and content that we know won’t contribute to poor FPS.

Celebratory Helmets & Heads!

That wraps up Max's message for this week's briefing! Hopefully you liked what you saw, we've got some exciting content lined up for the start of the year!

Now, we recently shared that to celebrate 52 consecutive weeks of Developer Briefings we were going to make two special helmets and all Winter versions of the existing heads available for free to the community.

So, here's the details on how to get these beauties when they drop...

• 
  
• These customisation items will be made available when Update 4 drops later this month.
• They will only be available as 'Free DLC' from the Hell Let Loose Steam Store page.
• All owners of Hell Let Loose will be eligible to download the helmets and heads.
• The helmets and heads will only be available to download for a limited window of time.
• If you get the helmets and heads you will have them unlocked permanently.
• These won't be the only event based free cosmetics we release...

There you have it, the 52nd Developer Briefing!

Time to get planning for the 53rd now...

See you on the frontline!

Developer Briefing #53 - Update 4 & Foy Overhaul!

Hi everyone,

With great excitement, we can announce that we’ll be deploying Update 4 - complete with

Sainte-Mère-Église and Foy overhaul + Offensive mode next week!

Update 4 will bring another healthy changelist that we hope will tide you over until early in the new year when we’ll follow up with a Patch and then Update 5 - which is already underway.

Are you ready for close quarter combat?

We’ll hit you with the Update changelist next week with the release. As usual, there’s a mixture of bug fixes, crash fixes, a new map, more customisation, UI/HUD work and more!

We’re still working hard to nail some overhanging back-end issues, but we’re feeling confident on our workload over the holiday period and are excited to take some time to nail some irritating and persistent issues - as well as upgrade our sound engine and - potentially - upgrade our engine version to 4.23.

With all this in mind, we thought we’d take some time to explain the ideas and drive behind our mapping, as well as the Foy overhaul that we’ll be released with Update 4 next week.

Mapping Philosophy - Words from Max, Lead Developer

Over time we’re always pushing to refine the work across all aspects of Hell Let Loose. Our mapping team has been greatly expanded and we’re enjoying putting together many, many more maps, as well as improving the ones currently in the game.

During our Early Access, we’re concertedly using this time to work towards a fixed number of maps, as well as generally lifting the quality across the board so that there is a consistent look, feel and optimisation present in each. In the very early days of Hell Let Loose we were entirely new to the engine - and indeed new to game development.

Speaking for myself - this was the first game I’d ever worked on, and much of everything I know has been self-taught (or at-least - taught by some generous Youtube video creators!). It’s certainly been a journey to move from a complete beginner - to attempt to absorb decades of art, composition and methodology to create the maps you’re playing now.

We’re very excited that throughout the coming years you’ll be able to grow with us - to watch as quality is lifted, optimisation is improved and frustrating gameplay is ironed out.

Like always, we’re reading your feedback and comments and adding them to an action list. While mapping feedback may not be actioned immediately - please know that we compile all of it to work on at the soonest available opportunity.

Foy Overhaul

For Foy, we stepped back and looked at all the aspects of the map - both visually and gameplay-wise - that we felt were working well. To be honest, there wasn’t much about Foy that needed any urgent kind of update, but we looked at our roadmap (which contains more snow and winter maps) and felt that we were best to make any changes now so that when we moved on to more snow maps we wouldn’t be working with a moving set of parameters.

To that degree, we spent time auditing the map - looking through specific meshes, textures and locations that we felt were lacking or could be pushed towards a more photoreal quality - or a better gameplay quality. Like you, we’ve played the maps an awful lot and have got a sense of locations that could really do with more cover or flanking opportunities. We know that to some degree there will always be a furious and hectic battle in the center of the lines, but we felt that some locations and map objective combinations meant that the majority of players were forced into central combat due to the absolute difficulty of pulling off a very wide flank through open fields.

When we set up the Offensive mode, we also wanted to offer Foy in a completely different weather and lighting condition to what you’ve already experienced. That is always our main challenge - to make sure that each map and gamemode you play gives you as close to a new experience every single time. To that degree, while you have that close, morning fog atmosphere for Warfare, we wanted to show off more of the map with a bright and sunny clear day.

This first addition of Foy Offensive mode will feature the Germans as the attackers - echoing their offensive back through the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge. Foy itself was taken and retaken several times by the US forces, and we felt that this would be an interesting new set of challenges to present to both forces.

Now, the clear air will allow for far greater engagement ranges and ability for tanks and machine guns to lock down key thoroughfares. Anti-tank guns and mines will be crucial for success - to stem the flow of armour, while defending the iconic chapel at the centre of the village will be crucial for the US in stopping the Germans from pushing them back into the open fields.

To this degree, we also learned a huge amount in our execution of the Norman countryside in Omaha Beach and Sainte-Mère-Église. We spent the time working through the map and introducing snow drifts and embankments piled up at the edges of the roads and fencelines - natural cover that make leapfrogging across the map a much easier affair. It will still be possible to hold wide angles - but you won’t find yourself caught in hundreds of meters of open territory.

You’ll also notice that many strong points and key locations between sectors have had upgrades to cover and composition. You’ll also notice that material and texture quality has been improved - as well as new vegetation added to better break up longer sightlines (and better emulate the foliage that surrounds the real-life village).

As usual, we’ll be keeping an eye on the gameplay and joining you on the battlefield. There are still a few smaller issues we’d like to polish up in Foy and we’ll do so when we introduce the US Offensive mode, but we feel that we’re much closer to what we’d consider a final product with this update.

Play with Black Matter community night & a little tease!

As you know 2020 is nearly upon us, so to kick off next year in style we're going to be hosting a Black Matter x Hell Let Loose community night in the third or fourth week of January!

This will involve a specially picked server where we'll be wanting to squad up and play with you for the night. Each match members of the team will rotate between different units to meet and play with as many of you as possible as we fight, and chat, through the frontline.

We'll be sharing the exact details early in the new year, so you can expect an exact date and time soon!

Now about that tease, how about some new outfit options for Update 4...

See you on the frontline!

Developer Briefing #54 - Update 4 Live Now!

Hi everyone!

We’re excited to release Update 4! We hope over the next couple of weeks you find time to kick back, relax, eat, drink and spend time with family - and maybe join us in the trenches for some brand new battles!

Update 4 is here and it brings with it a brand new map - Sainte-Mère-Église (complete with Warfare and Offensive mode) - as well as the German Offensive gamemode for the newly overhauled Foy. We’ve also tried to include as many bug fixes as possible - clearing the slate for the new year so that we can get a good sense of where we stand moving into 2020.

YouTube™-Video: Hell Let Loose - Winter Warfare Update Live Now!
Aufrufe: 4.301
Join the battle: https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/ Fight in intense 100-player combat in our first close-quarters combat map, Sainte-Mère-Église!

Finally, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, we’ve added some new free Winter Warfare customisation helmets and heads, available between now and January 13th, 2020. Grab them here before they go:

Hell Let Loose - Foy Winter Warfare Helmet Pack

pasted-from-clipboard.png
19. Dez. 2019
Foy Winter Warfare Helmet Pack Get ready for Christmas in Hell Let Loose with the Foy Winter Warfare Helmet pack. Pack Includes: 1 x US Winter Toque 1 x German Winter Toque 1 x White Painted M1 1 x White Painted M42
Strategie
Action
Indie
Simulation
Gewalt
Gore

Kostenlos spielbar

We wanted to include a quick note before you read the changelist. On first appearance, you may think that we’ve taken our foot off the gas - and that it’s not nearly as extensive as it usually is.

As it’s cutting close to Christmas, we made the decision to split much of the bug fixes between Update 4 and Patch 9. Looking at the changelist in early November, we saw that it had such a significant number of changes we felt it would be best to spread the risk between two separate dates - giving our brilliant QA team enough time to fully check so many significant fixes and additions.

Thanks to your feedback, we’ve been able to pinpoint outstanding issues from the previous patch - the most significant of all being the progression and experience issues. We’ve been spending a large amount of time digging this specific issue and it is the highest priority on our list currently.

You may see the deployment of the “Punching Bag” servers over the next couple of weeks. If you see these servers active, we’d love you to jump in and assist us in gathering more information on the bug. We’d also like to say that we’re very thankful for your patience and assistance in nailing it down so far. Thanks to your help we’ve managed to refine the code and fix the most significant of the issues around experience gain - and we feel that with your help we’ll be able to fix this for good.

Over the Christmas and New Year break we’ll be monitoring feedback, spending time in the community and will be joining you on the front line. We feel as a team that the holiday break is a great time to relax, spend time with family - but also to assess where we are in our development goals and in how we feel the game is playing in full.

New year, new animations and SFX!

We have some absolutely huge overhauls coming in the first third of 2020 - including the TPP and FPP animation overhauls, the sound engine upgrade and continued sound work, continued HUD and UI changes, gameplay loop overhauls (supplies and ammo), a potential Unreal Engine version upgrade (from 4.21 to 4.23) as well as many features that have not yet seen the light of day. We’ll be hitting the ground running as we work towards what we feel is a high quality level and representative of a product we’re proud of.

If you’ve enjoyed the Hell Let Loose journey so far, then we’re incredibly excited to show you what we have in store for 2020.

Update 4 - The Changelist

Major Additions

Sainte-Mère-Église

Sainte-Mère-Église is here! As our sixth map in Hell Let Loose - our third added since our release - it’s the most urban environment so far. We’re excited to battle across fields, lanes and through the gardens, streets and church of this iconic French Norman town.

Available Modes:

• 
  
• Warfare
• German Offensive

Foy

In the spirit of the Christmas season and to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, Foy has undergone an extensive overhaul - lifting much of its visual appearance, polishing its weather effects, adding more detail and cover and adding an all new gamemode.

Available Modes:

• 
  
• Warfare
• German Offensive

HUD/UI

We’ve made some changes to the way we show the coming sectors in Offensive mode to the attackers. We’re going to be playing these changes with you to get a sense of how they’re affecting gameplay and whether or not it’s in line with our intended design. Of course, we’ll also be reading and collecting your feedback around the change.

Customisations

Each patch and update we’ll be adding more and more customisation options. Our end goal is that every level you gain in both career and role will unlock a new uniform, head or helmet.

New Winter Warfare customisations are now permanently available to all those who play Hell Let Loose:

• 
  
• New German summer splinter smock uniform (unlocked at role level 6)
• New German winter splinter smock uniform (unlocked at role level 8)

Bug Fixes

• 
  
• High probability fix: players will sometimes be kicked out of a server for bypassing the queue after correctly waiting in the server queue.
• Added increased server crash logging and auto-delivery to better profile experience/progression issues and server crashes.
• Added increased client crash logging.
• Fixed: players are able to get their camera to briefly clip through an object if they crouch while climbing or vaulting.
• Fixed: Closing the scoreboard while the 'Personal' tab is highlighted results in a black square to appear over the tab the next time the scoreboard is opened.
• Fixed: The distance of friendly players is shown on the deployment screen's map if the user observes their locations before deploying for the first time on a server.
• High probability fix: players can see the "Can't Spawn At That Location" message after the game has ended.
• Fixed: When driving a tank in a strong point the 'Strong Point' text is missing from the HUD.
• Fixed: The first enemy to enter an empty friendly sector may cause the friendly sector's map icon to briefly flicker red.
• Fixed: Server Admins are unable to distinguish between VIP Players.
• Fixed: Inconsistent Rcon rights of Owners.
• Fixed: Users can cause a client crash if they open the in-game RCon Console during a map change.
• Fixed a potential client crash caused by wrecked tanks.
• Fixed: Within the 'Video' settings, changing from a custom 'Master Quality' to a preset one without applying the change will result in the preset being applied to the menu the next time the user opens up the 'Video' settings.
• Fixed: German players are able to build spawn points within the restricted beach area on Omaha.

Foy

• 
  
• Fixed: Long snow mound section in F10 is missing bullet collision.

Omaha Beach

• 
  
• Fixed: there are two areas of incorrect collision in sector I3.
• Fixed: sunlight passing through the sides of the trench.

SFX

• 
  
• Increased attenuation radius of grenade collisions.
• Updated aircraft audio for B17, P47, Heinkel and BF109.

A little sneak peek

As you know, recently the German forces have been getting new armour and customisation options deployed to the front.

Well, in early 2020 the Americans will be getting some new toys to play with. Initial intel is hazy, but we're confident you'll decipher what's coming...

What could Uncle Sam be rolling out?

This uniform will be dropping in...

See you on the frontline!

Developer Briefing #56 - JUMBO!

Hey everyone!

Happy new year from the entire team at Black Matter and at Team17!

We’ve got one hell of an action-packed year planned so we’ll be starting to reveal more content and take a detailed look at what’s coming week on week.

As a reminder, here’s but a few of the new content drops that’s coming in the first third of the year -

• 
  
• New non-verbal communications systems (including pinging, map marking, quick-marking and more)
• New vehicles
• New FPP & TPP animation system
• New maps
• SFX engine upgrade and continued overhaul
• Ballistics overhaul
• Polish of HUD and UI elements
• Expansion of existing mechanics
• New loadouts
• New customisation
• Rebalance of progression systems (to generally make it faster for many roles to progress)
• Fixing of bugs and crashes (the exp bug is the first on the list)

And loads more, including our regular bug fixes and optimisation work. We’re keeping a few things under our helmets that we’ll be revealing when the time comes.

20,000th Discord Member & 12,000+ strong on Reddit!

January 1st marked not only a new decade, but also the 20,000th user joining the HLL Discord. We want to say thanks to the community for being so welcoming and friendly to newcomers - in both showing them the ropes in game and on the forums, subreddit and Discord.

The Hell Let Loose Reddit community is also going from strength to strength, thanks again to being so welcoming and producing some of the finest memes from the frontline.

Check out the official Discord and Reddit to join in - all players are welcome.

US Heavy Tank - The Jumbo!

We’ve teased the US heavy tank offering for a while now and many of you quickly spotted the thickened frontal armor and 75mm barrel as the key standouts for the variant. We’re now excited to formally reveal and show off the M4A3E2 Sherman "Jumbo" variant.

In homage to the Battle of the Bulge and in preparation for our scoping out of vehicle camo variants, we’ve dressed it in the iconic livery of the “Cobra King” - the most iconic Jumbo of the entire 4th Armored Division.

Cobra King was issued to 37th Tank Battalion of the 4th Armoured Division on the 24th or 25th of October 1944 and was assigned as the company commander’s vehicle of Company C.

During the German winter offensive, the Battle of the Bulge, the important crossroads town of Bastogne, Belgium had been cut off and surrounded by German forces. Patton’s Third Army was tasked with trying to break through the German lines in the south with the 4th Armored Division as the main spearhead of this counterattack. On December 26, 1944, Lt. Boggess, commander of Cobra King, was fighting his way on the road from Assenois, Belgium to Bastogne.

The following passage is from an article written by Charles Lemons, former curator of the Patton Museum:

“Cobra King was way ahead of the rest of the column and had just destroyed a German bunker along the road when Boggess spotted several uniformed figures in the woods near the bunker. They wore the uniforms of U.S. soldiers, but knowing how Germans were disguising themselves as Americans, he maintained a wary eye. He shouted to the figures. After no response, he called out again and one man approached the tank. “I’m Lieutenant Webster of the 326th Engineers, 101st Airborne Division. Glad to see you.” With that meeting at 4:50 p.m. on December 26, 1944, Patton’s Third Army had broken through the German lines surrounding Bastogne.”

Using the Jumbo

The Jumbo was not a typical heavy tank in the same vein as the Tiger, or the Pershing. Born out of necessity, the Jumbo was an up-armored and up-gunned version of the medium Sherman tank - with additional armor welded to the casemate and the front chassis, with upgraded gearbox to account for the additional weight.

While able to weather brutal fire to the front, the Jumbo will need to guard its flanks and rear from long range anti-tank fire. Designed to play the same role it did during WW2, the Jumbo is the mainstay American “assault” tank - the armored spearhead designed to soak up damage as it drives a column of Shermans into the enemy lines. Be wary though - while the Jumbo’s main gun packs a punch you’ll need to account for the slightly slower speed on account of the additional armor.

The Jumbo will be deployed to the battlefield in Update 5.

This will not be the last Sherman implemented into the game...

Oh and one more thing, you'll be getting a full reveal on a certain new uniform for the US next week:

See you on the frontline!

Developer Briefing #57 - 76mm Jumbo Variant, New Uniform & Play With Devs Night!

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #57!

This week we're revealing another tank variant, a new uniform for US forces and the date for our 'Play with the Devs night'.

Let's get stuck in!

A Jumbo Combo!

In last week's Developer Briefing we confirmed that the first US heavy tank rolling out would be the 75mm 'Cobra King' Jumbo.

Ain't she a beauty!

This week we're happy to introduce the iconic 76mm Jumbo variant!

Knock Knock!

The 76mm 'Nice and Easy' will be fielded as the second variant of the US heavy tank, costing slightly more fuel than the 75mm Cobra King.

Which Jumbo should you choose?

The 75mm Jumbo will be slightly cheaper than its 76mm cousin and armed with rounds that produce more shrapnel when they detonate, making it more effective against infantry and soft targets.

The 76mm will be better against German tanks, particularly more heavily armoured ones.

Deploying the Jumbos

Upon the arrival of both the 75mm and 76mm Jumbos they will be applied to specific maps / battles. This will be further expanded upon as we figure out and settle on an appropriate lineup for each game mode and battle - if you have suggestions on this let us know, we'd love to hear what you think!

As we create and add more tanks and vehicles to Hell Let Loose we'll be further tailoring the deployable lineup to be map specific. This will give the Commander the ability to choose which tanks to deploy when calling in armour reinforcements using fuel.

All going well both Jumbo variants will be rolling onto the battlefield in Update 5. This is not the last Sherman that we'll be adding!

Airborne Uniform

Dropping into Update 5 will be a new, free high-level unlock for all infantry roles on the US side.

Say hello to the Airborne uniform!

These renders are a WIP and not final. Further passes will be made before release.

We will assess a possible implementation of airborne mechanics once several key features have been polished and introduced into Hell Let Loose.

Play With The Devs Night - Friday 17th January!

We're keen to kick off 2020 by getting stuck into the action on the frontline with you all!

This will be a great opportunity for us to play with the community whilst giving you the chance to ask us questions, chat about Hell Let Loose and generally have some fun in-game with the team.

We'll also take the opportunity to ask you about how you're finding your time on the front!

For the evening we'll be running a dedicated server where members of the team will split off into different units, giving us the chance to play with as many of you as possible each round!

The Details

• 
  
• Date: 17th January
• Start Time: 7pm GMT / 8pm CET / 2pm ET / 11am PT
• Duration: Two hours
• Server: European region, name pending

Full details for the event will be made available in next week's Developer Briefing on the 16th.

We're running a European server this time, but for the next one we'll look at doing a US server!

That wraps up this week's Developer Briefing, we hope you have a top weekend!

See you on the frontline.

Developer Briefing #58 - New Map Reveal & Play With Devs Tomorrow!

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #58!

This week we're giving you a first look at a brand new map coming in Update 5, as well as sharing all the info you need to take part in tomorrow's 'Play with the Devs' session!

The Next Map - First Look!

A message from Max, Lead Developer on Hell Let Loose.

"We've spoken often about some of the gaming influences that have shaped our approach to the development of Hell Let Loose, but one that deserves more praise is the fantastic Forgotten Hope 2 mod for Battlefield 2.

In homage to the same map from FH2, we wanted to try our hand at recreating the famous Purple Heart Lane."

That's right, Purple Heart Lane will be coming to the game in Update 5!

Below we've got a few images to give you a taste of what's coming, with a more in-depth look coming next week that will include 'those' four bridges!

Before you can secure the bridges, you'll need to secure the roads.

Ready to get your boots wet?

Flooded fields are a good sign that you're closing in on the map's key objectives...

Are you ready to fight at the site of "Cole's Charge"?

Play With The Devs - Friday 17th!

Join us tomorrow for a gameplay session with some of the Black Matter team, including Lead Developer Max!

We'll be jumping onto a European server for two hours to catch-up with as many of you as possible on the frontline.

Event details:

• 
  
• Friday 17th January
• 7pm GMT / 8pm CET / 11am PT / 2pm ET to 9pm GMT / 10pm CET / 1pm PT / 4pm ET
• Server name - 'Play With The Devs Night'

The aim is to have some fun with you and chat all things Hell Let Loose for a couple of hours.

We'll be doing more events like this in the future. These events will include combined events with established clans and communities, as well as playing on different server regions such as US East / West.

If you'd like to get involved in future events we'd love to hear from you.

See you on the frontline!