GROUND BRANCH News

Is it me or are these patches rolling out faster and faster?

Another hotfix out on the Community Test beta branch as we keep getting closer to the official V1033 release!

[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
  

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]

• Added door handles to shoothouse doors (The Farm)
  
• Fixed up lighting in Paintball
• Further small tweaks to dawn/dusk light sensitivity and global skylight settings
  
• Added keybind for Spectator Mode night vision mode (still investigating why not working)
  
• RESET DEFAULT button in Settings › Video now resets both basic and advanced settings
  
• Bots should now respawn in new rounds in Deathmatch
  
• Updated Last Man Standing missions to mirror all current Deathmatch missions
  
• Fixed missed Distance Field Ambient Occlusion (DFAO) value in quality settings; this should fix unlit interior areas being overly bright
  

[h2]Shimmering foliage[/h2]
With the ongoing process of tuning and trying different combinations of settings to fix/improve various aspects of lighting, the shimmering foliage artifact (especially noticeable in grass) is present again in this build.

There's no need to report it—we'll continue to look for a fix that doesn't cause issues elsewhere.

[hr][/hr]
Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Another patch now live!

[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
  

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]

• Cleaned up some lighting issues in Ready Room due to enabling lit translucency in a previous update
  
• Changed light sensitivity at dawn/dusk (should get a bit brighter)
  
• Fix for slightly offset capture component on ACOG 4x
• Fixed some meshes culling around the bridge to early in Depot
• Fixed slight offset with the Carry Handle Rear Sight
• Rejigged PiP texture scaling to downgrade it somewhat and change available range to 0.4–1.0
  
• Fixed error relating to hit detection on living characters
  
• Fixed Breaching Charge reset removing in-hand charge
  
• Fixed smoke grenades blocking interaction trace
  
• Fixed destroyed doors completely borking physics when resetting
  
• Fixed The Farm (Training mode) having weird time of day and light settings when launched from Main Menu
  
• Wristwatch now responds immediately to level time changes
  
• Switched enemy skins on Docks to "Riot" and Power Station to "Rebel" (previously "Russian")
  
• Fixed up foliage collision in Depot and AI interaction with foliage
  
• Cleaned up some cover point issues in Depot's compound area
  
• Adjusted cull distances on a few lights in Depot
  
• Some settings changes to try to optimize texture streaming: upped RenderTargetMinPool for all post-process (PP) settings, turned off Contact Shadows for "Low" and "Medium" Shadow Quality settings, and upped StreamingPoolSize for all Texture Quality settings
  
• Increased dynamic shadow distance from 5k units to 10k in Storage Facility to fix lighting artifacts, and improved AI interaction with foliage
  
• Fixed being unable to crawl under wall at back of Antenna yard in Depot
  
• Fixed ghosting on broken glass material in Depot
  
• Fixed some interior props not accepting any lighting in Compound
• GPNVG-18 model tweaks to front lenses area
  
• Added FDE mount for FDE NVGs (automatically assigns depending on NVG device skin)
  
• Adjusted some light culling distance and light portal issues on 747
• Fixed Plate Carrier (MPC) and Fleece Hoodie intersection issues in Customize Operator screen
  
• Fixed some light switch issues in Tanker (outside lights not turning off properly)
  
• Added door handle meshes to The Farm doors
  
• Reset night time sensitivity on Compound to default (was overly bright at night)
  
• Fixed inventory.LimitSupplies() lua library call, so WeaponRestriction mutator should work fine now for all things (via Mutator menu)
  
• Tweaked moonlight to be a little darker and bluer
  

Just a little hotfix for this morning's V1033 testing branch patch.

[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
  

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 issue where closing door was not properly interactable
  
• Changed Ambient Occlusion (AO) settings to stop shimmering grass and trees
  
• Enabled Global Dynamic Field Ambient Occlusion (DFAO) again
  
• Standard (Element-based) callsigns now apply properly
  
• Fixed Binaural reverb bug
  

We have also removed the password from the Beta branch, so new testers can opt in by simply selecting it from the drop-down menu.

Today's V1033 Community Test patch has an attempted fix for doors not resetting, time/date issues and crashes, as well as ongoing work on effects and skins.

[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
  

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]

• Big update on doors: should now reset properly, though some glitches remain
  
• Replaced doors on Depot with new system ones
  
• Added missing door handles to previously replaced doors
  
• Fixed VFX particles glowing when viewed through optics and NVG
  
• AffectTranslucentLighting enabled on base light blueprints to provide better illumination of VFX particles (less glowing in the dark, especially)
  
• Added a soft noise texture to NVG effects
  
• Audio preset settings changed
  
• Updated industrial fans attenuation in The Farm, and weird reverb in Small Town
• Fixed fire selector switch sound for MK17 DMR
• Global Tonemapper Sharpness increased again
  
• Fixed tac light flare VFX stacking on top of itself, causing the texture to blow out
  
• Added lens flare VFX to AN/PEQ-15's visible and IR lasers
  
• More tentative crash fixes in AI light detector component
  
• Tentative fixes for continuing time/date desyncs
  
• Optimized PiP scopes by restricting frequency of render texture resizing
  
• Added new PiP Scope Resolution Scale setting to Settings › Video to allow better performance (when set below 1.0) or last-ditch fixes for persistent pixelation issues (when set above 1.0; performance will most likely be affected in this case!)
  
• Fixed players being kicked when voting a map change (disables match setting option for non admins)
  
• Updated grey skin for Combat Shirts and Combat Pants
• Added new AOR-2 camo swatch and updated AOR-2 assets
  
• Updated brightness of ACU Coat in AOR-1 to match other assets in that camo
  
• Fixed "sunken" patch slot at center/rear slot of Helmet (AF)
• Spectator Mode night vision now working, with new NV effect
  
• Disabled global Distance Field Ambient Occlusion (DFAO) to reduce foliage flickering
  
• Re-enabled collision for leaning, i.e. fixed leaning through walls
  
• Fixed a LOD issue for some architecture on Tanker culling out too soon
  
• Fixed 747 generator culling out too soon
  
• Improvements to light portal system on 747 and Run Down
• Ragdoll collision improved, with itself and with other objects
  
• Enemy AI now register hits for a short time after death
  
• Fixed broken variant names and default filename generation in mission editor
  

[h3]❓How do I join the open testing?[/h3]
Please see this post for details and instructions.

• Created M81 pouch skins for the M81 MPC Plate Carrier
• Color pass on MARPAT Woodland assets, as well as Khaki and Black combat clothes
  
• Slight color tweak to Ranger Green JPC Plate Carrier velcro
  
• Fixed bright outline around Combat Shirt (Rolled) velcro patches
  
• Tweaked tan MPC Plate Carrier skin to look a little closer to other tan rigs and pouches
  
• Minor color tweak to Khaki Tactical Pants
• Updated Navy color palette (WIP); affects most Navy assets
  
• Added black MK17 suppressor skin
  
• Tweaked AK suppressors: limited PBS-4 to AKS-74U, made PBS-1 available again on remainder of AK-based rifles, and tweaked fit and rotation for all muzzles
  
• Fixed forearm mesh clipping through shirt sleeves
  
• Fixed model gap at neck/chest area when using unzipped combat shirts
  
• Turned on a few things in the scope PIP scene capture (e.g. DFAO) to better match rest of scene (i.e. outside of scope picture)
  
• Slight increase to render texture resolution and responsiveness to changing size to try reduce pixelation effect when crouching or aiming upwards
  
• Removed Wristwatch buzz when walking through Ready Room (RR) portal hints
  
• Fixes to date/time to replicate time and date better and restore lunar phases and so on
  
• Stopped crash when selecting invalid days in advanced time/weather settings
  
• Stopped invalid days being offered in advanced time/weather settings
  
• Weather settings dialog should no longer pop up underneath admin menus
  
• Disabled all weather setting interface (for now)
  
• Updated pouch sockets on JPC and MPC plate carriers: tweaked position for better look/fit
  
• Removed fourth front pouch slot (bottom row) on MPC
  
• Tweaked single AR mag pouch: increased scale by 5% to look better scaled on vests and changed magazine fit to fix clipping
  
• DTAS flag material tweaked to be more constant colour (bugged in optical scopes)
  
• Fixed reflex sight master material so that lowest brightness setting is low but not off
  
• Tweaked all red dot brightnesses for NVG use
  
• Fixed ghosting on Wristwatch
  
• A little more grain added to NVG FX
  
• Fixed invisible collision in Depot building
  
• Reduced Tonemapper sharpening level
  
• Fixed up InventoryManagement mutator (was not decoding some items properly)
  
• As a result of a filename fix, AK-74M builds and loadouts will break; please remake, and sorry for the inconvenience!
  
• Fixed default item builds and loadouts with AK-74M; likewise for MPC loadouts that used the removed pouch slot (see above)
  
• Arena and Arena 2 PvE game modes converted from "Russian" enemy skins to "Riot" for variety