HLL Update 15.3

Last year, we asked you what map you’d like to see refreshed. After casting your votes, the majority of you decided the map to receive a refresh treatment was Purple Heart Lane.

After analysing the map and sifting through player reports regarding its most frustrating parts, we have addressed the following issues on a wider map scale:

• Insufficient river crossings
• Unclear where water can/cannot be crossed
• Inconsistent drowning in fields
• Lack of cover in and around certain hard caps

The purpose of this refresh was not to take anything away from the legacy map, but to enhance and refine what already exists to respect the tone. Based on community feedback, we have made the following adjustments to the following Capture Points:

• Made some terrain tweaks to reduce drowning in the fields unless prone
• Added cover points
• Added an extra non-enterable barn for cover

• Replaced a non-enterable building with an enterable version of the same size, to provide elevation opportunities, as well as an additional quicker route through the backyards
• Opened up the wall network to allow an additional infiltration point around the compound
• Additional cover
• Added routes in and over the wall

• Extended the hedgerows to meet up with the rest of the landscape
• Added additional side bocage hedgerows to provide cover opportunities for players wading through the water channel
• Added foliage
• Added cover in the flooded field on the flank

• Adjusted terrain levels to reduce drowning
• Added cattle ring cover for players wading through the fields
• The player can now walk underneath the footbridge at full height without drowning
• The player will drown if they attempt to crouch, this can be prevented by standing up
• Added a pontoon bridge crossing point
• Added immediate cover for players as they cross the bridge
• Adjusted reed foliage around the bridge
• Added a tree line of sight blocker

• Created additional dock walkways to get to the other side of the river
• Added cover points along this route
• Made some tweaks to the landscape to make less of it submerged deep in water
• Added a little bit of storytelling with destroyed vehicles and artillery scorch marks
• In keeping with the dock theme an additional small dock en route to the bridge with cover has been added

• The water can now be crossed at specific points both on foot and in a vehicle, this will be highlighted both in the environment and on the tactical map

• Made terrain changes so that the deep water is broken up by the land
• Created additional cover
• Created additional foliage
• Added a pontoon bridge river crossing

• Added a trench network in close proximity to the exit of the existing trench network
• Added a non-enterable shed building
• Terrain pass
• Foliage pass
• Made terrain changes
• Created additional cover
• Created additional foliage
• Additional cover in the flooded fields
• Embankments on the approach for prone cover
• Additional storytelling

• Made terrain changes
• Created additional foliage & cover
• Additional storytelling
• Madeleine Farm
• Made terrain changes
• Made the dirt road more prominent at ground level
• Replaced the wall to open up the additional road loop
• Adjusted road splines to link up the off-road back to the main road
• Built on top of the existing field with additional storytelling and cover

• Updated the rubble affordance position to make it clearer that the player cannot get underneath the arch
• Adjusted the terrain in the centre of the bridge to allow the player to move underneath the central arch
• Allows the player to fully cross the river at this section, and keeps it in line with the rest of the canal
• Created an additional trench network in the field

• Terrain pass
• Cover pass in the hard cap
• Foliage pass in the hard cap
• Ingouf Crossroads
• Added a farm compound
• Terrain pass on height, blending and painting
• Additional foliage created

• Terrain pass
• Foliage pass
• Created additional cover
• Features

With the map refresh of Purple Heart Lane the Technical art team looked at introducing an update to the rain. Initially, this was to address some visual bugs that occurred on Xbox. This allowed us to add some variation to the original effect, allowing us to have some scenarios with no rain or some with a full-on storm.

We have been investigating this as part of an expansion to the levels of snowfall planned for Elsenborn Ridge and adapting the technology to include rain. The system’s flexibility has allowed us to add VFX scenarios ranging from light rain to a heavy downpour, coupled with lightning and thunder. The system had to be expanded to include audio level changes that would synchronize with the rain intensity and to also have a delayed trigger to each lightning strike.

Each VFX scenario was broken down into a preset;

• Light rain
• Medium rain
• Heavy rain
• Extreme rain (including thunder/lightning)

This meant we could tune each scenario easily in isolation. Each scenario includes parameters referenced from the VFX, lighting and audio files to allow us to easily tune rain intensity, atmospherics and audio. In addition, there are also controls for the frequency and occurrence of lightning for the extreme rain setting.

Each of these presets was made into a Data Asset that could then be accessed by the Blueprint to blend between over a set amount of time, all of which can be tuned in terms of frequency, probability and transition length. We added the probability of when the transition between each stage would occur for us to add a certain amount of randomness to it. Along with this the lightning that occurs in the extreme level of rain also has a probability factor of when and where it occurs adding to the immersion of the overall effect.

Technical Art team – Expression Games

Admins on console servers can now utilize the power of the admin camera with full controller support!

If you’re an admin on a server (For Console or PC) you will now find that you can enter / exit the admin camera menu via the pause menu

• The text under Notice for Armor and Recon in the Create a New Unit menu is misaligned
• [15.0] The loading screen for SMDM Day Skirmish shows the Town centre which is not in the skirmish level
• [15.0] The loading screen for SMDM Night Skirmish shows the Town centre which is not in the skirmish level
• [15.0] The preview image of the Oak Leaf uniform is low resolution
• [Console Server Browser] The confirm prompt for the Reset Filter pop-up & the confirm button on the server filter window doubles the input
• The search function within “Field Manual” doesn’t search for all topics.
• The hair is clipping with the Winter head on front end after equipping then on Barracks
• [Field Manual] In Vehicles > Seats & Keybindings, the tank section mentions that all heavy & medium tanks have a machine gun for the driver, which is incorrect.
• [Field Manual] On the half track page, there is no mention that the half track engine needs to be turned off in order to work as a spawn.
• [Field Manual] Under “Satchel Charge” in “Equipment” there is no mention that the satchel charge can be disarmed.
• [Field Manual] Under Artillery > Shells in the Combat section, it should be mentioned that smoke shells deal no damage, even direct hits.
• [Field Manual] Under Deployables, it would be expected for “Spawn Types” to be the main section, not a sub-section, and for it to cover the airhead, half-track & recon spawns.
• Slider value settings that are set by 1 tick above the minimum value, back to the minimum value, will not change as expected.
• Flamethrower canisters are severely clipping through the support’s backpack on some uniforms.
• Garrison cannot be destroyed by nearby satchel explosion
• Officer/Commander watch no longer shows how many garrisons are currently built
• The M1919 Browning reload audio cannot be heard in TPP
• The player is unable to use commander abilities after attempting to use the chat during cooldown
• Visual keybinding indicators on pop up prompts are linked to the “Dialog” keybinds instead of “Vote”.
• When diving to prone and firing a machine gun, the player jumps forwards when they finish firing
• The Firefly hull front has weak points on the hatches with only ‘Heavy’ armour value

• [CONSOLE] Joining a party as a PS5 player through T17 overlay causes the VOIP channels to become unusable
• [CONSOLE] Party voice chat doesn’t work in Frontend when inviting a player through T17 Overlay
• [CONSOLE] When player tries to join a server through T17 overlay VOIP is unusable
• [CONSOLE] Player cannot switch between Server Message and Key using LB/RB buttons within Deployment Screen

• Wheel asset presents snow texture
• [D6] Rubble piles have larger than expected Collision, blocking bullets from hitting targets
• [C7] Assets in this sector are missing textures, polygon faces or are very noticeably misplaced.
• [F7] The Player remains stuck between a chimney and a chair inside of a ruined building
• [I3] Door and Brick Wall Textures Overlapping

• [Driel-O-GER] The pre-placed British Garrisons have the design of the US Garrisons

• [A3] Floating pile of rocks are present in Sector 6
• Rock formations across the entire map are presenting poor level of detail
• Low textured rock formations are missing player collision
• [A3][B3] Floating rock asset is present in sector A3 and sector B3
• [F6][Offensive] Assets in this sector are missing textures, polygon faces or are very noticeably misplaced

• House asset changes its texture once the user gets close to it
• [I4] Window will show low level LOD and appear as pink when viewed from a distance

• H4 Missing collision on a boulder

• [E10] A fence doorway blocks players from walking through
• [F10] Invisible collision present in trench
• Invisible wall present on a broken barbed wire asset along trench

• Supply and Ammo Drops can be placed in the out of bounds area
• [D6] – Tent is slightly misplaced
• [G3/H3] The player can catch on fire if driving a supply truck past wrecked trucks in close range

• Some bushes don’t have any player or bullet collision
• [C5] A specific house asset is corrupted

• [E4] Players can get stuck in water under Douve Bridge
• [F2] [F10] Raining inside a couple of houses
• [F4] There is some z-fighting present on the brick floor along the docks.
• [F7] When walking on the walkway under the bridge, deep water footstep SFX are incorrectly emitted.
• H1 Red car has low detail from a short distance
• Power Lines across the map presents misalignment
• There is a spot present in sector D8 where vehicles start wobbling
• Transport and Supply trucks can become stuck in cattle feeder assets.
• General LOD Foliage improvements

• [Practice Range] “Select Spawn” option appears invalid in the Practice Range deployment and select role screens
• [Practice Range] Deployment screen loses functionality in Practice Range
• [Practice Range] White decal can be seen through scarecrow targets
• [Practice] Players are not removed from a party when entering the practice range

Remagen

• [F8] Rock assembly is missing vehicle collision.
• [D3] Vehicles clip through the rocks near the train tracks
• [F8] Rock assembly is missing vehicle collision.
• H2 A mudbank is missing vehicle collision
• [D3] A boulder does not have vehicle collision

• [C4] Stretched texture on wired fence
• [J8] Misaligned barbed wire is present in this sector

• [I6] [I7] Apartment building roof is missing player collision in multiple spots