The list of work for the 1.34 update is burning down quickly but quite a bit still remains. So that we can deliver what is complete for the campaign game sooner rather than later, we've made the decision to break out some of the features that are lagging behind in the dev cycle. The features that are nearly finished are being completed as quickly as possible so we can move into our Open Beta phase.

When the team started unraveling the games host code early in this dev cycle, it became apparent that some of the tangles were more complicated and far reaching than had been previously thought. The work that's been completed is significant, and will have a very beneficial impact on the campaign game. The remainder of the host work needed is what's stalling 1.34, so will be pushed back to a future update. We don't have a release date for you yet, but we're hoping that we can launch a brief Open Beta phase fairly quickly now that we've moved some of the outstanding work to 1.35 and beyond.

So what's going to be in 1.34, you ask? Lots of stuff! The Americans will hit the live server first in special events. DOC has been working on a redesign of the popular Beach Head Breakout scenario, this time with real Americans! They will then be added to the regular campaign when the full weapons list can be finished. The German and American RPATs will make their debut then as well. The new net code will have a huge impact on the ground game, reducing the infantry "warp and lag" a great deal. A whole list of bugs were fixed, and several other features cleaned up and polished.

What you won't see is an update on the removal of spawn delay. Based on feedback from players, the current design does not hold enough to solve the problems that occur when side balance becomes extreme. So we're taking what we have and looking for ideas on what more we can do with the tools that we have. Removing SD is a pretty big step, we really need to make sure that what's replacing it will work well.

We know it's been a long wait, and we appreciate your patience and your continued support. We're asking you for even more now; Get the word out that Battleground Europe is still improving and adding exciting new features to the game. Recruit players, old and new, help us populate the game so that it's bursting at the seams! Been thinking about helping even more? The Builders program is available and offers up some awesome perks for those who contribute!

Now, let's see what Herr Gophur has to say, shall we?

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GOPHUR: I hope everyone got a good laugh at the video yesterday. If you haven't seen it you've got to get a look. As with most comedy there is a grain of truth hiding in there but it isn't that I have a toothbrush mustache!

We've got three major things to finish before we can go live with 1.34. Scoring is still being rebuilt after we've added the new persistent map mission host. We need some new Brigade Management tools so that we can have Americans in events. That includes reduced brigade counts and separate TOE's from the campaign. And thirdly we've got to get strat back in order so we can do things like capture stuff and spawn from FRUs. Little stuff really!

Today I'm going to go over a few of the fixes that have recently gone in and review what is coming for the Campaign Game in 1.34

Infantry Loadouts

You've all heard about the new Bazooka and Panzershreck going in for the American verse German Events and that we're adding the PIAT so that these can be ported to the regular Campaign Game. The PIAT isn't quite done yet but we're hoping it'll make the ship date for 1.34.

In addition to those changes we've done a lot more. The British Grenadier has gotten an anti-personnel grenade similar to what the other countries have and to improve the role of all grenadiers they've been given more grenades of both the rifle and regular varieties.

The Sapper now has demolition charges instead of satchels and the satchel has been moved over to the Anti-Tank Rifleman but reduced to only one. This will be somewhat offset by the improvements to our HEAT modeling that are going into 1.34. I'll have a write up about those changes once they've gotten a little more QA but the gist of it is that HEAT just wasn't being all it could be so we sent it back to boot camp for a few more push-ups. The ATR also picked up a pistol while he was in for repairs and the Sapper got his name changed to Engineer. Here's a little trivia: All of the code and data has always called this guy engineer not sapper so this change eases my OCD. I'm not supposed to be doing feature creep or talking about things that “might” make the patch so I won't say that we are trying to give the engineer a new PPO, cause we're not, at least not yet. Roger that?

Engine Start Bug

Some people call this the “Stug Bug” does seem to plague the Stug more than others but it really happens in a lot of vehicles. Turns out what was happening is that the code was getting stuck in a state where the engine thought it had started but it hadn't. Something strange like that. AHWulf who fixed it can tell a better story. Bottom line is though like most bugs it wouldn't have been fixed if you guys testing hadn't found a way to replicate it and posted it on the Test Forum. Pat yourselves on the back boys, you're awesome.

Gun Crew Damage Model

You know how when you shoot the gunner in the head it says you shot him in the feet? Yeah well, turns out it wasn't just your hated ATG enemy that this was happening to. It was affecting ALL crew in ALL vehicles. Yeah, I know right? All this time we've thought it must be an art issue since we looked at the data and the data was square.

Well it seems one of our more zealous testers (take a bow Elegance) decided to make a manual on how to kill German ATG and AAG. Maybe kill isn't the best phrase. Maybe “See how fubar this is!” is more on the mark. Any way, one thing led to another and it turned up in the Test Forum where we average 3 “WTF is up with the damage model on this gun!?!” threads a week. We decided to dig a little deeper and with some investigative work by you know who (take a bow AHWulf) we found and fixed a pretty old bug. Like day one bug. Yeeouch.

Now this isn't going to make any of you better shots or turn HE rounds into super weapons, and by that I mean quiet the “un-killable crew” crowd, but it should certainly improve things for all crew kills.

Sounds

Some of you have been having issues since we moved to the new Microsoft standard Xaudio. We've corrected several issues here that should improve things including sound priority (let me hear my rifle when I fire thank you very much!) and max sounds. We also found and killed a bug where you could lose you sounds in a vehicle if you turned your engine off in a particular way. Strange bug that. Thanks to all of the testers who helped us nail that one down.

Map

We added the distance to a waypoint on the tool tips on the map to give a little help for planning and executing mission. OK, we also wanted to help out the mortarmen! I admit it. I love the mortar.

Improved Combat Lag

I'm not sure what to call this because “wrote an all new host update system and grid system to improve update speed and accuracy” just isn't sexy and “stuff kills better” lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. Bottom line is we're experiencing much improved infantry game play. All that running around corners and shooting each other stuff seems much improved. However, we REALLY need a big stress test to make sure this is working as we intend. So when we have our next test you HAVE to be there. Otherwise we might ship some funked up stuff and nobody likes that.

In addition to smoothed play this should fix bugs like Mission Results Pending, Locked Personas, Stuck Firing, and should dramatically reduce Connection Errors on the our side. I think KFS1 said it best. “Playnet is not responsible for any increase in gameplay duration or quality you may suffer as a result.”

The persistent map mission connection is also a part of this host rewrite. This has just been a monster of a project and I'm glad it is coming to a close. My hope is that we can now capitalize on some features we've been simply unable to do in the past.

I'll close today with a list of some of the things I didn't cover above. 1.34 has been a good ride but as my friend MO used to say to me, it's time to birth this pig. I'm not sure that comes across the same in text now that I read it but the sentiment's there.

See you on the test server soon for some open test frag fest.
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List of features/improvements/fixes included in 1.34:

Infantry

• Decreased field of view when aimed to better replicate the real feel of sighting a weapon
• Removed eye-point dip while moving and strafing
• Improved mouse sensitivity for better hand feel
• Aiming now has a separate mouse sensitivity setting
• Added a ricochet effect for RPAT rounds that don't penetrate
• Removed lean until we can redo the animations to work correctly

Vehicles

• Removed duplicate engine state messages
• Added non-persistent tank track special effects (decals)
• Fixed the gunsight on the Pak 36
• Plane HUDS now have better information on flaps position since this info isn't shown well in the vcpit
• Fixed the M10 tail gunner not being aligned with his damage model
• .conv settings now save across play sessions
• Increased time out on FMB 3PDR deck gun
• P39 far right wing gun adjusted to track convergence better

Americans Units:

• Rifleman (Springfield)
• Submachine Gunner (Thompson)
• Sniper (Scoped Springfield)
• Semi-Auto Rifleman (Garand)
• Automatic Rifleman (BAR)
• Engineer
• Anti-Tank Soldier (Bazooka)
• Sherman Tank
• M10 “Wolverine” Tank Killer
• More to come including planes, airborne, and guns

German Units:

• Semi_Auto Rifleman (Gewehr 43)
• Anti-Tank Soldier (Panzerschreck)

Terrain:

• Fixed a clipping issue in the Office capture building when it is destroyed
• DOC fixed a gajillion issues you guys reported on the forums (don't .report them, that's for GM stuff)
• Frankfurt area more flushed out with FB's and facilities to make them ready for play

Squads:

• Added spot to show squad member's Last Login date (WIP)
• columns now sort when clicked on, alternating ascending/descending
• changed "flags" to "status"

Performance

• Improved memory management
• Infantry performance improved
• Several core engine efficiency improvements

Mac:

• Now requires MacOS 10.6

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Keep checking the website for an Open Beta announcement. We plan on the Open Beta phase to be short and sweet, and we'll need your help with it.

S!

The Rats