GROUND BRANCH News

Patch #20 Hotfix is now live on the Community Test beta branch!

This is mainly a small hotfix for the door changes that didn't work out so well in the Patch #20. Doors should now sync and reset properly, however, you may still see a small amount of "catch up" movement in the door as it finishes it's closing motion with high ping users. This will continue to be worked on but shouldn't be that noticeable to most or effect overall gameplay.

A few other small bug fixes as well:

• Merged a few spline meshes in Power Station that were causing replication problems into StaticMeshes
  
• Fixed Surefire 7.62 suppressor not showing muzzle effect properly
  
• Permanantly opened troublesome doors (spinning) in City map
  
• Players and AI can no longer operate them
  
• Added ability to set offset to rollup door switches to fix some being placed inside a wall
  
• Added more light blocker meshes in Storage Facility to help fix full bright characters when lights are out and at certain times of day
  
• Fixed a few light portal issues in Run Down
  

Patch #20 is now live on the Community Test beta branch!

[h3]❓ How to join the Community Test beta branch[/h3]

• Right-click GROUND BRANCH in your Steam Library and select Properties…
• Click BETAS on the left-hand list menu
  
• Select 'communitytest - Community testing branch' from the drop-down menu
  (no password required)

Steam will begin downloading the files for the testing branch.

[h3]🐞 Where to report bugs[/h3]
You can report bugs and issues using any of these methods:

• The in-game Bugs & Issues screen (press [Esc] once in-game and look along the top menu)
  
• The Steam forums: steamcommunity.com/app/16900/discussions/
• The #bug-reports channel on the official GROUND BRANCH™ Discord

Your reports help us locate and fix issues faster, so keep them coming!

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

• First pass on revised door system (server-side door physics) for testing

  ⚠️ This change should fix the jittery/de-synced doors when playing online, with the side effect of reduced responsiveness in door interactions subject to ping.

• Cleaned up/removed non-functioning and non-useful entries in Advanced Video settings
  
• Added new settings in Settings › Video (under the new "Rendering" header):
  
  
  • Finish Current Frame: When set to "Off", this option essentially tells the GPU not to wait for the CPU to finish what it's doing before starting to render the next frame.
    
  • One Frame Thread Lag: When set to "On", this option essentially tells the CPU not to wait for the GPU to finish what it's doing before starting to generate data for the next frame.
    

  ⚠️ It is likely that one of these settings may give you a performance boost, depending on whether your computer is CPU-bound or GPU-bound when playing GROUND BRANCH. The downside of these settings is that you may experience a little more latency (mostly noticeable as input lag).
  
  Try different combinations to see how your performance is affected — and please let us know your results if you can, along with your GPU and CPU specs!

• Added "Requires Restart" for a few newer config settings
  
• NVG overlay bounce when firing should now work for both spectators and local player
  
• Improved support for built-in flippable front sight posts (including for MK17); this change also removes the standalone SCAR Iron Sight (Front) attachment
  
• Fixed MK17 front sight being slightly offset (problems remain with front sight offsets — still being worked on)
  
• Updated Power Station Intel Retrieval mission to ensure at least 16 spawns are available (because extraction points wipe out one set of spawns); added 4 more spawns at main gate, renamed main gate to "North-West", and increased original insertion points to 12 spawns
  
• Hooked up new muzzle flash effects to weapons that were still using the old VFX system
  
• Time of Day (TOD) UI dialog fixes:
  
  
  • Advanced time of day dialog should now work on dedicated servers
    
  • TOD presets (e.g. "Early Afternoon) now display correctly (with spaces) on dedicated servers, both on the Ops Board and in the drop-down menus
    
  • Updated drop-down menu visuals
    
  • Removed filtered/suggested TOD presets in "Simple" tab (all presets are now shown and selectable)
    
• Other minor UI tweaks, including changing the Insertion Point arrow color from blue to yellow (subject to change)
  
• Game mode names should now display on Ops Board properly on dedicated servers
  
• Tentative fix for reported bad spawn in 747 Hostage Rescue mission
  
• Fixed wall mesh Z-fighting on interior Tanker Ship wall
  
• Fixed bullets colliding with foliage in Compound
• Fixed minor bugs and ocean sounds on Docks bleeding into the Ready Room
  
• Set default for TemporalAACurrentFrameWeight in DefaultEngine.ini to a valid value (should get rid of the "---" entry in settings if the value was never changed by user)
  

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Patch #19 is now live on the Community Test beta branch!

[h3]❓ How to join the Community Test beta branch[/h3]

• Right-click GROUND BRANCH in your Steam Library and select Properties…
• Click BETAS on the left-hand list menu
  
• Select 'communitytest - Community testing branch' from the drop-down menu
  (no password required)

Steam will begin downloading the files for the testing branch.

[h3]🐞 Where to report bugs[/h3]
You can report bugs and issues using any of these methods:

• The in-game Bugs & Issues screen (press [Esc] once in-game and look along the top menu)
  
• The Steam forums: steamcommunity.com/app/16900/discussions/
• The #bug-reports channel on the official GROUND BRANCH™ Discord

Your reports help us locate and fix issues faster, so keep them coming!

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

• New LPVO scope: Razor HD 1–6x
• Added suppressor attachment (AAC® 762-SD) to G3A3 battle rifle
  
• Implemented sound effects for the G33 Magnifier 3x
• Fixed chest area showing when Balaclava and the unzipped variant of the Combat Shirt are equipped
  
• Minor performance optimization on Rig
• Removed WIP assets from Tanker (that accidentally made it into the last patch)
  
• Replaced a few ladders in Run Down and Small Town with stairs for better map flow and to mitigate AI issues with climbing
  
• Small Town: opened area behind building D a bit for better pathing after staircase addition, and added railing around rear door area of Building D
  
• Updated various missions to accommodate geo changes in Run Down and Small Town
  
• Fixed scoring for killing/being killed as armed hostage in Hostage Rescue game mode
  
• Fixed over bright glass on vending machine asset
  
• Fixed up latecomer stuff in Hostage Rescue and generally (valid insertion points were being ignored for late joiners, so spawning failed)
  
• Removed microphone selection option from Settings › Audio (users should set microphone/input device on Steam, via Friends List Settings › Voice)
  
• Admin management UI ("Admin List") fixed up generally, and now removes duplicate admins in list
  
• Current local host is grayed out in list of admins if also in normal admin list (prevents various bad things happening)
  
• Simplified AI movement logic so AI should stop jumping off ladders
  
• Fixed game mode display on Ops Board on dedicated servers
  
• Added variable to mitigate DFAO artifacts (mainly in foliage) when using DLSS or TAA
  
• Fixed tac light lens flare VFX clipping through doors
  

Patch #18 is now live on the Community Test beta branch!

[h3]❓ How to join the Community Test beta branch[/h3]

• Right-click GROUND BRANCH in your Steam Library and select Properties…
• Click BETAS on the left-hand list menu
  
• Select 'communitytest - Community testing branch' from the drop-down menu
  (no password required)

Steam will begin downloading the files for the testing branch.

[h3]🐞 Where to report bugs[/h3]
You can report bugs and issues using any of these methods:

• The in-game Bugs & Issues screen (press [Esc] once in-game and look along the top menu)
  
• The Steam forums: steamcommunity.com/app/16900/discussions/
• The #bug-reports channel on the official GROUND BRANCH™ Discord

Your reports help us locate and fix issues faster, so keep them coming!

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

• Changed vote kick to not include player calling the vote
  
• Compound: potential fix for shimmering grass, and stopped poplar trees being weird
  
• Tanker: initial art consistency and improvement pass
  
• Removed Volumetric Scattering from several interior lights in Power Station, Rig, Run Down, Small Town and The Farm for performance reasons
  
• Fixed overly dark truck material in Run Down
  
• Fixed certain wooden fences not colliding with weapons in Depot
• Removed debug AI cover points in The Farm
• Reduced tac light illumination range to minimize performance impact
  
• Fixed bug that caused late joiners to be assigned the least populated insertion points rather than the most populated ones
  
• Added Lua script call OnWeaponAddedToInventory() so that game modes or mutators can detect when a particular player has picked up a weapon (or been assigned it in a loadout)
  
• Added a call to assign team element numbers when player teams are changed, so that standard callsigns (based on element number) will hopefully update when players are switched teams
  
• Fixed bug in WeaponRestriction mutator that wouldn't update the loadout if Breaching Charges were disabled
  
• Updated Hostage Rescue:
  
  
  • If the hostage player picks up a weapon, they become fair game for the Defenders (to prevent exploit where hostage becomes an unkillable terminator)
    
  • Added post-spawn check in Hostage Rescue to teleport hostage to hostage spawn if for some reason the spawn failed
    
  • Removed close proximity intimidation for hostages (should stop intimidation of hostages pinned behind a defender)
    
• Updated scopes (magnified sights) to stop dynamically scaling the render texture size if DLSS is enabled, and disabled PIP resolution scaling based on FOV
  
• Added "requires restart" dialog to Bloom Quality settings
  
• Made advanced Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA) settings accessible again in Settings › Video
  
• Ongoing UI style and consistency pass on several menus, buttons, prompts and dialogs (still WIP)
  
• Fixed up the match system and match info board a bit, and made match info visible again on listen servers (servers created via Host Game option)
  
• Fixed team wins being counted double in game modes with team scoring (DTAS and Hostage Rescue)
  
• Initialized ZooKeeper and map voting when a listen server is started (for the map voting to work properly on the match info board the first time the server is run)
  
• Added game mode localization/lookup to the match info board vote buttons
  
• Changed the localization/lookup for game mode names on the match info board to use a different system that should work better on dedicated servers
  

Patch #17 is now live on the Community Test beta branch!

A lot of work has been done on AI using ladders and doors, but please bear with us because it's a work in progress and the ladders in particular are not quite there yet.

Compound has received an optimization pass including foliage. Please keep in mind that the foliage may look off when anti-aliasing is disabled or set to FXAA. A fix is being worked on.

[h3]❓ How to join the Community Test beta branch[/h3]

• Right-click GROUND BRANCH in your Steam Library and select Properties…
• Click BETAS on the left-hand list menu
  
• Select 'communitytest - Community testing branch' from the drop-down menu
  (no password required)

Steam will begin downloading the files for the new testing branch.

[h3]🐞 Where to report bugs[/h3]
You can report bugs and issues using any of these methods:

• The in-game Bugs & Issues screen (press [Esc] once in-game and look along the top menu)
  
• The Steam forums: steamcommunity.com/app/16900/discussions/
• The #bug-reports channel on the official GROUND BRANCH™ Discord

Your reports help us locate and fix issues faster, so keep them coming!

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

• Fixed City Hostage Rescue mission being incorrectly listed as co-op
  
• Compound: significant performance optimization pass:
  
  
  • Improved appearance and efficiency of all foliage (WIP; will not work well with FXAA or no anti-aliasing)
    
  • Improved visuals and efficiency of the vista/backdrop
    
  • Sharpened up lots of textures
    
  • Improved the appearance of foliage and grass using custom normal maps — stops dark faces when grass is shadowed, removes need for subsurface lighting
    
  • Improved look of grass when looking down or high sun angle
    
  • Switched to a better looking simple wind material function, less glittery, looks more natural
    
  • Deleted lots of unused assets, foliage types, textures etc. relating to Compound
    
• Fix for glass in City being overly bright in night vision
  
• Updated doors and ladders to fix bugs, tweak settings and add new features improving AI usage (WIP)
  
• Stopped the player being able to run/jog if "Always Run" is set while playing as hostage
  
• Added missing collision to hookah model
  
• Updated double doors to use mirror opening, so both doors open at once
  
• Updated 747, Creek and City doors and ladders
  
• Cleaned up doors/ladders/navmesh for better AI usage on Depot, Docks, Power Station, Rig, Small Town, Storage Facility, Tanker and The Farm (also added navmesh to The Farm so AI should work better if you place it there in a custom mission)
  
• Updated "Advanced AI Settings" menu: fixed elements running over/into each other and improved overall layout
  
• Minor UI style and consistency pass on various dialogs and buttons
  
• Started UI pass on Time/Weather Settings menu
  
• Restored minimap to Compound (map was missing on Ops Board and Tablet)
  
• Fixed some light portal and mesh culling issues in Run Down
• Fixed missing rust normal map in oil rig material when puddles are disabled
  
• Restrained players (Hostage Rescue) can no longer pick up items
  
• Fixed voting timeouts for passed and failed votes not being taken into account (defaults of 60 and 180 seconds used regardless), and greatly reduced minimum timeouts (for ease of testing and to give people what they want)
  
• Rebuilt cover points in all maps
  
• Hide vote widgets after votes ended (hopefully to fix votes hanging around when done)
  
• Changed default reticle brightness setting to change range (is now 0–4 rather than 0–5, so removed "None" as option) and added "Automatic" setting (corresponding to most recent change where brightness is determined based on time of day)