Squad

Hello Squaddies,


As some of you may know, we just finished up what we initially believed would be our final 9.0 Unreal 5 public playtest. Based on earlier results and performance improvements, it felt like a strong candidate for release. However, the transition from 5.3 to 5.5 uncovered new challenges that hadn’t appeared in previous tests. We’ve since taken time to review a lot of valuable feedback from the community, and it’s clear there are still areas to improve. As a result, we have decided to regroup and rethink our plans for the 9.0 release.


So, what happens now? We are actively assessing and planning our next steps for 9.0 and how its release impacts the rest of the year. We will be posting another Letter from the Squad Leader mid next week to give everyone a general update on where we landed and what to expect.


I wanted to thank everyone for giving their honest and open feedback. Your input continues to shape the path forward and is deeply valued by the entire team. Thank you for continuing to support us through this transition to Unreal 5.

Like I mentioned before, expect to see more information about our next steps next week. Closed playtesting will continue to take place (More info here http://discord.gg/testsquad) as well as more “final final” public playtests.

Thanks, Squaddies!

\[O] Howitzer

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Listen up, Squaddies!

Unreal Engine 5 Public Playtest #5 is coming this Friday, July 11th 11:00am PDT!

THIS WILL BE OUR FINAL PUBLIC TEST FOR UNREAL ENGINE 5.

Here’s what to expect:

You will need to download a special Playtesting Branch of Squad, that has already been released, with access to Servers on Friday around 11am PDT. There will be multiple servers being hosted by Community names that you will know and recognize! Feel free to play wherever you like, but servers will open and close to accommodate the population needs! The general public will not be given access to the Server hosting branch for testing. There is a special Squad Testing Discord that is open to the public. Please be aware that all the normal Squad Community server rules apply in this server as well. Please refer to the onboarding channels for help if you need it!

We have included some known issues in this post, but anything that you come up against can be reported in the previously mentioned Discord Server for testing. Testing will run over the weekend and end on Monday July 14th 11:00AM PDT, and then the UE5 Servers will be taken down. We are also hoping you can take the time to fill out a survey for us, answering some questions about your experience during testing. This will be available IN GAME, in the News Box on the main menu. We will send out a reminder of this later on as well, as it will be accessible through Discord too.

The Important Stuff


In place of a change log this week, we have some information to update you on regarding PiP (Picture in Picture) scopes, from \[O] Norby!


"We have a new implementation for the pip scopes. Why is the pip rendering such a big challenge? For high magnification optics like in Squad we need to render two scenes for the different magnification levels. Rendering creates load on the CPU, which is issuing the render commands and on the GPU. In the worst case it cuts the frame rate in half.

Our goal is to have the same frame rate in pip mode as outside of pip. For that we need to address both bottlenecks. For the GPU the most efficient way to gain performance is rendering less pixels. We can do that for the outside scene, since there is a blur effect applied anyway.

For the render thread we have the benefit that we're always looking in the same direction with both views. This allows us to do optimizations similar to VR to reuse resources for both views.

The biggest challenge with this is handling the transition of render states smoothly. We pre-allocate resources when kits are switched and are spreading some of the transitions over multiple frames to reduce hitching."

-Norby


We did add a bunch of fixes that came in since the last playtest, but we will be saving those for the Patch Notes of the 9.0 release, once it arrives. We are aware of a few persisting bugs, including some hitching during ADS animations, some black frames inside PiP scopes, and an issue where a portion of the PiP screen can get duplicated.


Join the discussion in Discord, and we hope to see you over the weekend!


OFFWORLD OUT

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ATTN Squaddies!,


Today we are releasing a Hotfix for both Player facing and Server side. This update is intending on resolving a PING issue that Servers were experiencing that caused servers to seem like they had a ping of 9999! You will need to update your game in order to play. That's all for today! Stay tuned for more news on the UE5 release in the coming weeks!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/393380/Squad/

OFFWORLD OUT!

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“We've intercepted new transmissions. Ready to receive!”

Listen up Squaddies. The Steam Summer Sale is here! From June 26th - 10 AM PT (GMT-7) until July 10th - 10 AM PT (GMT-7), save 60% off on Squad! Now is a great time to join Squad, as we are currently working towards our most significant update yet, moving Squad to Unreal Engine 5!

Check out our upcoming UE5 Update Devblog HERE, and join the Squad Discord to discuss all things Squad.

Offworld Out.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/393380/Squad/

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ATTN Squaddies!

Today we are releasing a small Client side update to our Anti-cheat. This will not affect servers, but you will need to update your game in order to play.


That's all for today! Stay tuned for more news on the UE5 release in the coming weeks!

OFFWORLD OUT!

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Hello Squaddies,


Howtizer here. We released a few “Letter from the Squad Leader” posts last year but I haven’t done one in a while. It’s also something that I did for the newsletter, I will now make this its own blog post the whole community gets access to instead of it trickling out through the newsletter. It will be semi-regular (once a month or two) to keep you, the community, up to date with everything that’s going on on the Squad team.

Usually I’d split things out into 2 segments, the "Sitrep," focusing on short-term plans, and the "Battlefield Briefing," focusing on medium to long-term plans, but for now I will skip the Battlefield Briefing to cover the Sitrep in more detail.

SQ-SITREP.


Where we are at…

We’re still working on UE5. Surprise!! As most of you already know, we are hard at work upgrading Squad to Unreal Engine 5. A lot of the team have been working on this for a long time, some since the last engine upgrade (4.27) we did 2 years ago, but most of the team shifted focus toward the end of last year, which is why you haven’t seen an update in a while. All the sub teams on Squad have had their hands in this Engine upgrade, as well as many people outside the Squad team at Offworld. It’s been a whole company effort.


4 open playtests have taken place over the last 2 months, and countless other closed tests before then and we are reaching that point where we feel confident in releasing it soon to gather feedback from the entire playerbase and move onto other things we have in our plans (more information on that in a future post). We want to make sure we deliver a solid engine update that improves most peoples experiences, and sets up Squad for another 10 years of development and kick ass content. So in the next section, I’ll talk about what to expect over the next month or so.

What to expect in the next few months…

There will be a few more public tests of Unreal 5 to help us test a few more improvements we’d like to make, as well as the release of the Mod SDK leaving modders some time to update their mods to Unreal 5. Some of this work includes more optimization efforts for PiP scopes, server performance improvements, and some serious testing of Unreal Engine 5.5 (5.5 has a lot of refinements from Epic that will help lower end PC Performance).


That’s all for now… In the next letter, we will cover a bit more about some of the challenges we have faced upgrading to Unreal 5 and talk about some future roadmap items… It’s been a long journey, but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are aiming to release v9.0 Summer 2025. We will not be releasing before the Steam Summer Sale. So expect to see v9.0 at some point after that.


Thanks, Squaddies!


- Howitzer

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Listen up, Squaddies!

Unreal Engine 5 Public Playtest #5 is coming this Friday, June 13, at 11:00 AM PDT! Here’s what to expect:

You will need to download a special Public Playtesting Branch of Squad (View -> Hidden Games -> Right-Click on Squad - Public Playtesting and Install), with access to Servers on Friday opening up at 11AM PDT. There will be multiple servers being hosted by Community names that you will know and recognize! Feel free to play wherever you like, but servers will open and close to accommodate the population needs. The general public will not be given access to the Server hosting branch for testing.

A special Squad Testing Discord that has now been opened to the public. Please be aware that all the normal Squad Community server rules also apply in this server. Please refer to the onboarding channels for help if you need it!

We also want to mention that this is a WORK IN PROGRESS build of Unreal Engine 5, and is still in active development. That means you are likely to come up against bugs, or features that don’t work/feel the same way as the current 8.2 version of Squad. We have included some known issues in this post, but anything that you come up against can be reported in the previously mentioned Discord Server for testing.

Testing will run over the weekend from June 13 to June 16, and then the UE5 Servers will be taken down.

The Important Stuff

This time the build will be based on Unreal 5.5 in combination with a large amount of bug fixes that was intended for the 9.0 UE5 release:

• 
  Large amount of medium/high priority bugfixes and improvements.
  
  
• 
  Unreal Engine version 5.5 upgrade.
  
  
• 
  Crash fixes.
  

How will this affect the game?

• 
  Better and more stable performance for low end CPU/GPU hardware (and all other hardware).
  
  
• 
  Improved stability for the game.
  
  
• 
  Less bugs that would negatively affect how enjoyable the gameplay would be.
  

Known issues:

• 
  Double suppression effect when being shot at might still occur. A fix is being worked on but not ready for this weekend.
  
  
• 
  "1 FPS" bug might still be present, causing extreme performance drop for an extended period of time in specific conditions (work has been made to prevent this).
  
  
• 
  Sun glare in certain lighting conditions might become unrealistically bright.
  
  
• 
  Certain UI issues relating to vehicle weapons might still be present.
  
  
• 
  Possible performance issues using PIP Scopes while using FSR. We are aware of the issue and have a fix in place, but it did not make it into this playtest build.
  

We hope you can all help spread the word about this playtest, especially to friends who have had issues with performance in previous playtests, as we are eager to receive feedback on how old and low-end hardware is performing on this updated engine version of the game.

Please join us this weekend on testing out UE5.5, and as always, we want to hear from you so please submit your feedback!

OFFWORLD OUT

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Welcome back to The Wrench! Here we show off the latest in Squad modding.

What follows are updates sent to us by the people behind the mods themselves: their words, images, and amazing work!

(some entries have been edited for length and clarity)

---

BAF (Brazilian Armed Forces) Mod by Smoking Snakes

The BAF mod team aims to bring the Brazilian Army to squad in form of multiple unique vehicles, weapons and playable maps. Been under development since 2021 it is set for release in late 2025.

Featuring 5 unique vehicles, 11 unique weapons, 4 unique deployables, and 2 Unique Commander Assets.

Links:
Discord link: https://discord.gg/mgpqE3SxEY

---

Rassvet by Steez & Ruben

A complete re-imagining of OPFL (Operation First Light) featuring new biomes, reworked POI's, expanded and improved terrain, enhanced realtime lighting and dynamic time of day support, set in Eastern Europe.

Rassvet has seen a lot of progress this year with large central POI's like the Lumber Yard being added as well as older POI's like Storage Depot and Nilrem Village getting additional detail passes to bring the up to parity with newer work on the map and art.

The playable area is now bigger than the original OPFL and has been playtested extensively. While still not complete, it's perfectly playable with a variety of layers, including SuperMod layers.

Links:
Discord: https://discord.gg/XCbb7bmDQY
Steam workshop:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995310287

---

Southeast Asian Rebels by Rookheim

The Southeast Asian Rebels mod is a modest faction and map mod aiming to add an unconventional force to the East Asia theatre. This includes Sanxian Islands, but also the modded map Liareng Islands as well as other future projects.
Originally a coalition of a number of different ethnic militias, popular defence forces and political groups, SEAR forces have now accrued decades of combat experience and grown into almost a pseudo-conventional force. Now, as great powers turn their gaze to the larger asia-pacific front, SEAR take up arms once more in defence of their homeland.

My experience is rather limited so I'm doing what I can with what I got
If you would like help out in any manner feel free to reach out to me (Rookheim) on Discord!

---

Hrodna Border by rell0776

Located south of the strategic Suwalki Gap along the cross border route between Bialystok and Grodno/Hrodna, Hrodna Border features a fictionalized vision of the border crossing and its surroundings. This map brings new flavor to the Eastern European collection of maps in Squad, featuring many small villages, a large town, a rail line, a border crossing, a LNG terminal, dilapidated abandoned bunkers from the old Soviet WW2 era Molotov Line, and much much more.

Hrodna intends to be a throwback to what made Squad maps so great and is a love letter to my favorite game. The map strives to strike a balance between Armor and Infantry gameplay, balanced RAAS lanes that aren't predictable but still funnel the match into concise areas of the map, and in other iterations of Squad plenty of terrain to play around providing a balance between long and close range combat and facilitating larger scale maneuvers.

Links:
Workshop Link:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3436010829

---

King Of The Hill by Carnage
(Author disclaimer: this mod was made by one of Squad’s developers, Carnage!)

King Of The Hill is the first ever persistent economy mod in Squad. In this game mode (inspired by ARMA 3) You fight as military contractors from around the world over a highly contested zone for $$$ and XP Rewards. Players can level up, purchase and unlock new weaponry, vehicles, skins, and perks, and your progress carries over between matches.

We have linked our mod with our KOTH servers to other communities, so your saves not only persist from match to match, but between Linked Economy Servers too!

The mod is very early but there is a bright vision ahead to bring seasonal content and events with our partnering communities. We are hoping to hear from more communities looking to play and run the mod!

Links:
KOTH Discord: https://discord.gg/kingofthehill
Workshop Link:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3443779816

---

Trinca Ferro/Arena Brasil

A representation of Brazilian crime, police and criminal factions, with more than 6 new factions and 6 maps focused on Brazil and its favelas. In addition to dozens of new weapons and vehicles.

Links:
Workshop Link:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159021895

---

Steel Division

Steel Division is a Special Forces mod with reduced ICO with custom features like NVG's, Thermals, Cross VOIP, FPV Drones, Attack Helicopters, MANPADS, C-130 Para-drops and more. With 8 fully fledged custom factions the mod is jam packed with content.

Links:
Discord: https://discord.gg/steeldivision
Workshop Link:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2432926361

---

Swiss Armed Faction

The Swiss Armed Forces mod is not yet finished, but it will represent a wide range of elements from our alpine nation's army.

The Swiss army employs a militia system. Many men and women have fond memories of serving. Squad offers us the perfect canvas, rekindling the passion and comradery that make the Swiss Army great.

The Swiss army has changed a lot through the years, just like any other military. However, many aspects are rigid. Roughly 60% of Swiss territory is mountainous, placing infantry at a distinct advantage in conflict. On the other hand, it is clear that the other 40% of terrain is relatively flat, which means that heavier equipment like (*APCs, Tanks, IFVs, etc.*) has an increased workload in these areas.
Switzerland is also known for its abundance of man-made bunkers, creating never-before-seen combat scenarios for Squad.

Our membership stands at 4. We're making progress, but it's slow because we're developing this modification in our spare time. We know we piqued your interest in this mod. If you want to check out our progress or talk to us, join our Discord!

Links:
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/cQVhxSW9am

---

Bundeswehr Mod

The team is focused on bringing the German Armed Forces "Bundeswehr" to Squad, including unique weapons, vehicles, character models, new game mechanics, custom-recorded weapons sounds, custom-made level props and the German Map "Fulda Gap". In addition to what you can see in their last Blog, you get to see a sneak peak into the new Puma IFV model and the also new "Auto Zeroing" mechanic for German combat vehicles, such as the Leopard 2A6M and the Boxer IFV. A new series of Blog updates is due to be published soon, as well another round of Beta playtests! (We say thank you to everyone who was part of our previous B1 Playtest event with over 5.000 downloads of our Beta phase mod in 6 days). The Bundeswehr Mod for SQUAD is currently looking for experienced UE4/UE5 level designers and level prop artists for their Fulda Gap project. Check out the recruitment channel in their Discord if you bring what they need!

Links:
Blog: https://bwmod.com/2024/08/19/progress-update-no-9/
Discord Link https://discord.gg/y9pQvr7e

---

Thanks to everyone who submitted!
What mod are you excited to try? Let us know in the comments!

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Listen up, Squaddies!

Unreal Engine 5 Public Playtest #4 is coming this Friday, May 30, 2025 11:00 AM PDT!
Here’s what to expect:

You will need to download a special Playtesting Branch of Squad, that will be released ASAP, with access to Servers on Friday around 11am PDT.

There will be multiple servers being hosted by Community names that you will know and recognize! Feel free to play wherever you like, but servers will open and close to accommodate the population needs! The general public will not be given access to the Server hosting branch for testing.

There is a special Squad Testing Discord that has now been opened to the public. Please be aware that all the normal Squad Community server rules apply in this server as well. Please refer to the onboarding channels for help if you need it!

We want to also mention that this is a WORK IN PROGRESS build of Unreal Engine 5, and is still in active development. That means you are likely to come up against bugs, or features that don’t work/feel the same way as the current 8.2 version of Squad. We have included some known issues in this post, but anything that you come up against can be reported in the previously mentioned Discord Server for testing.

Testing will run over the weekend from May 30th to June 2nd, and then the UE5 Servers will be taken down.

We are also hoping you can take the time to fill out a survey for us, answering some questions about your experience during testing. This will be available IN GAME, in the News Box on the main menu. We will send out a reminder of this later on as well.

The Important Stuff

In place of a change log this week, I would simply like to let you know what exactly we are looking for in our test results!

• There is currently an issue where a massive freeze happens during a match, that can seem to affect just one person, or multiple people at the same time. We are calling it the 1FPS issue. We have created a build that has better tracking specifically for this issue, so that we can try to pin down the problem and resolve it.
  
• We have added more Server performance optimizations that we would like to test, including an interesting tool for Server Hosters that should allow them to Multi-Thread Vehicle animations, significantly reducing the impact that vehicles have on server side performance.
  
• We have implemented an introductory option for replacing Picture in Picture (PiP) scopes for players with lower end computers, or anyone that feels the significant drop in FPS when using a PiP scope. This setting will be available for anyone to enable in the settings menu.

We did add a bunch of fixes that came in since the last playtest, but the above information is what we would love to focus on for this weekend. So if you have time, please come join us and submit your feedback! We will have a working Feedback Form (confirmed working this time, sorry about last week), and the Testing Discord is still active for those of you wanting to join the discussion over there!

OFFWORLD OUT

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Listen up, Squaddies!

Unreal Engine 5 Public Playtest 3 is coming this Friday, May 23, 2025 11:00 AM!
Here’s what to expect:

The build for this playtest is AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD NOW!

There will be multiple servers being hosted by Community names that you will know and recognize! Feel free to play wherever you like, but servers will open and close to accommodate the population needs! The general public will not be given access to the Server hosting branch for testing.

We want to also mention that this is a WORK IN PROGRESS build of Unreal Engine 5, and is still in active development. That means you are likely to come up against bugs, or features that don’t work/feel the same way as the current 8.2 version of Squad. We have included some known issues in this post, but anything that you come up against can be reported in the previously mentioned Discord Server for testing.

Testing will run over the weekend from May 23rd to May 26th, and then the UE5 Servers will be taken down.

We are also hoping you can take the time to fill out a survey for us, answering some questions about your experience during testing. This will be available IN GAME, in the News Box on the main menu. We will send out a reminder of this later on as well.

CHANGELOG

• New southern Basrah mainbase level artbox pass (will benefit from this test).
  
• Various maps landscapes reworked to resolve nanite landscape visibility issues.

Scalability

• Added DLSS Preset K for all quality levels except UltraPerformance.
  
• This should improve the visual clarity for everyone using DLSS.
  
• Separated Frame Generation options so that you can run your preferred Upscaling solution without needing to use the same provider for frame generation.

Factions

• Bolt action rifles do damage again (as long as you hit your shots).
  
• Ironsights and optics on RPK and PKM work correctly again when bipodded.
  
• Deploying bipods should work correctly again.
  
• Smoke grenades no longer send vehicles flying.
  
• BMP2 no longer invisible when tracks are destroyed.
  
• PLA ATGM's are guided again.

Known issues:

• Loach still randomly loses its tail rotor sometimes, still being investigated.
  
• Some USMC desert vehicles have bugged textures. (Or state-of-the-art dynamic camouflage, depending on how you look at it),

OFFWORLD OUT

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Listen up, Squaddies!

Unreal Engine 5 Public Playtest 2 is coming this Friday, May 02, 2025 11:00 AM PDT! Here’s what to expect:

You will need to download a special Playtesting Branch of Squad, that will be released later this week, with access on Friday.

There will be multiple servers being hosted by Community names that you will know and recognize! Feel free to play wherever you like, but servers will open and close to accommodate the population needs! The general public will not be given access to the Server hosting branch for testing.

There is a special Squad Testing Discord that has now been opened to the public. Please be aware that all the normal Squad Community server rules apply in this server as well. Please refer to the onboarding channels for help if you need it! Join the Discord HERE!

We want to also mention that this is a WORK IN PROGRESS build of Unreal Engine 5, and is still in active development. That means you are likely to come up against bugs, or features that don’t work/feel the same way as the current 8.2 version of Squad. We have included some known issues in this post, but anything that you come up against can be reported in the previously mentioned Discord Server for testing.

Testing will run over the weekend from May 2nd to May 5th, and then the UE5 Servers will be taken down.

We are also hoping you can take the time to fill out a survey for us, answering some questions about your experience during testing. This will be available IN GAME, in the News Box on the main menu. We will send out a reminder of this later on as well.

Here is the changelog from last playtest!

Changelog:

• Significant changes were included that should increase Server Performance overall. We identified a couple of things that were causing issues, including excess animations, that have been adjusted!
  
• Smoke grenades no longer continuously exploding when walked over
  
• Hands no longer disappear when vaulting
  
• Scout drones are no longer infinite in quantity
  
• Vehicles no longer instantly reload when near Repair Stations
  
• Buildings no longer have bullet-proof glass
  
• Technicals are no longer aggressively loud
  
• Weapons (general) several LOD issues have been fixed with infantry weapons

Some more changes:

Scalability:

• Updated to latest version of DLSS, offering greatly improved clarity in most scenes using the new Preset
  
• Tweaks to volumetric clouds settings, giving better performance for low presets

Worlds:

• Fixed landscape materials being broken on Tallil and Mestia
  
• Further attempts at optimization across our worst performing maps, still more to come
  
• Work is being done to the southeast corner of Al Basrah to address feedback from the first playtest, still WIP

These are just some of the changes made, that were the most popular bugs and feedback from the last playtest. We have resolved many more smaller issues.

Known Issues:

• We have yet to add the final pass on many of the Vehicles across the Factions. Paired with the new Vehicle physics, many of the vehicles may feel foreign or behave differently than you expect. Some Vehicles can get stuck on objects easier than in UE4 as well. Please leave us feedback on this in Discord. There has been an initial pass on the vehicles since the first playtest.
  
• There are some issues with PiP scopes that we are still working on.
  
• Some areas of the map may be too dark or too light when looking into or out of buildings.
  
• There are some known client crashes. Using the Unreal Engine crash report tool that pops up once Squad crashes, is a good way for us to receive a client crash. If you crash WITHOUT seeing the crash reporter, please let us know through the Testing Discord Server.
  
• There are some texture streaming related issues, which can cause microstutters especially when a VFX is starting to play.
  
• There are some visual artifacts relating to lighting and upscalers. There may be reduced sharpness, smearing, shadows or water surface shimmering or flickering may occur. This is something we are working to adjust for the next public playtest.
  
• For other issues, please report bugs in a bug report channel with as much information as possible.

OFFWORLD OUT

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“We've intercepted new transmissions. Ready to receive!”

Listen up Squaddies. We're taking part in the Wargames Festfrom April 28 - May 5, and you can get your friends and soon-to-be fellow squaddies in for 70% off. You heard right. The game's on sale from now until the Wargames Fest ends in our largest discount yet.

Check out our upcoming UE5 update Devblog HERE, and join the Squad Discord to discuss all things Squad.

Offworld Out.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/393380/Squad/

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Hello Squaddies!

The time has come! Open playtesting for Unreal Engine 5 is arriving this Friday!

Here’s what to expect:

• You will need to download a special Playtesting Branch of Squad, that will be released later this week, with access on Friday Apr 11, 2025, around 11am PDT.
  
  
• There will be multiple servers being hosted by Community names that you will know and recognise! Feel free to play wherever you like, but servers will open and close to accommodate the population needs! The general public will not be given access to the Server hosting branch for testing.
  
  
• There is a special Squad Testing Discord that has now been opened to the public. Please be aware that all the normal Squad Community server rules apply in this server as well. Please refer to the onboarding channels for help if you need it! https://discord.gg/testsquad

We want to also mention that this is a WORK IN PROGRESS build of Unreal Engine 5, and is still in active development. That means you are likely to come up against bugs, or features that don’t work/feel the same way as the current 8.2 version of Squad. We have included some known issues in this post, but anything that you come up against can be reported in the previously mentioned Discord Server for testing.

Testing will run over the weekend from April 11th to April 14th, and then the UE5 builds will be taken down. Our goal is to run these tests every 2 weeks, with iterations to try each weekend of Public playtesting!

We are also hoping you can take the time to fill out a survey for us, answering some questions about your experience during testing. This will be available IN GAME, in the News Box on the main menu. We will send out a reminder of this later on as well.


Known Issues:[/h3]

• We are aware of an issue that causes the player's FPS to drop to 1 for an amount of time. We are tracking this issue and would appreciate any and all reports of this.
  
• We have yet to add the final pass on many of the Vehicles across the Factions. Paired with the new Vehicle physics, many of the vehicles may feel foreign or behave differently than you expect. Some Vehicles can get stuck on objects easier than in UE4 as well. Please leave us feedback on this in Discord.
  
• There are some issues with PiP scopes that we are still working on.
  
• Some areas of the map may be too dark or too light when looking into or out of buildings.
  
• There are some known client crashes. Using the Unreal Engine crash report tool that pops up once Squad crashes, is a good way for us to receive a client crash.If you crash WITHOUT seeing the crash reporter, please let us know through the Testing Discord Server.
  
• There are some texture streaming related issues, which can cause microstutters especially when a VFX is starting to play.
  
• There are some visual artifacts relating to lighting and upscalers. There may be reduced sharpness, smearing, shadows or water surface shimmering or flickering may occur. This is something we are working to adjust for the next public playtest.
  
• For other issues, please report bugs in a bug report channel with as much information as possible.

Stay tuned for more information in the coming days!

OFFWORLD OUT!

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Hello Squaddies!

Today, we have something a little different for you all! Squad Partner Slay3Kilo came to us with the idea of presenting some of the more technical aspects of the Unreal Engine 5 update to help the community better understand some of the work that our team is putting in behind the scenes!

Slay3Kilo and Norby, our Director of Technology (and a Founder of Offworld), get into the nitty gritty of a whole slew of topics, including:

• UE5 as a Toolkit.
  
• Key focus areas.
  
• High-level goals for the transition.
  
• Nanite technology.
  
• Lighting improvements, including our custom Global Illumination system.
  
• Anti-Aliasing.

Stick around throughout the video to also get some first looks at UE5 gameplay, recorded during some of our most recent closed testing!

You can find the video on Slay3Kilos channel, or watch here:

We hope you enjoy the video! Let us know in the comments on Slay's channel if you would like to see more Dev Blogs in this format!

PS - News on Open Playtesting is around the corner. Stay frosty, Squaddies.

OFFWORLD, OUT!

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Save big during the Steam Spring Sale

From now until March 20th, save big on all our games during the Steam Spring Sale. Save up to 60% off on all Offworld games. Read more about each game below, and we'll see you on the battlefield soldiers!

Squad - 60% Off
https://store.steampowered.com/app/393380/Squad/
Squad is a tactical FPS that provides authentic combat experiences through teamwork, communication, and realistic combat. It bridges the gap between arcade shooter and military realism with 100-player battles, combined-arms warfare, and base building.

Squad 44 - 50% Off
https://store.steampowered.com/app/736220/Squad_44/
Team up and join the frontline in Squad 44, the most authentic tactical WW2 shooter. Experience ruthless realism with an immense arsenal of faithfully recreated weapons and vehicles across massive WW2 battlefields.

Starship Troopers: Extermination - 60% off
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1268750/Starship_Troopers_Extermination/
Starship Troopers: Extermination is a 16-player co-op FPS that puts you on the far-off frontlines of an all-out battle against the Bugs! Squad up, grab your rifle, and do your part as an elite Deep Space Vanguard Trooper to take back planets from the Arachnid threat!

Offworld out.

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“We've intercepted new transmissions. Ready to receive!”

Listen up Squaddies. We're taking part in the Steam Spring Sale from March 13 - March 20, and you can get your friends and soon-to-be fellow squaddies in for 60% off. You heard right. The game's on sale from now until the Steam Spring Sale ends.

Offworld Out.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/393380/Squad/

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LISTEN UP SQUADDIES!

For the last transmission of the year, we at Offworld wanted to thank you for being the best community we could ask for. This year has truly been incredible and we are excited to show what we have planned for next year!

But for now, eat well, spend time with loved ones, and we will see back in the studio, January 6th!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

OFFWORLD OUT!

Pick up Squad for 60% off during the Steam Winter Sale until January 2, 2025:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/393380/Squad/

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“We've intercepted new transmissions. Ready to receive!”

Listen up Squaddies. We're taking part in the Steam Winter Sale from December 19th - January 2nd, and you can get your friends and soon-to-be fellow squaddies in for 60% off. You heard right. The game's on sale from now until the Steam Winter Sale ends.

You can also check out our most recent DevBlog here, where we show a sneak peek at our upcoming work in UE5 for Squad!

Offworld Out.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/393380/Squad/

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ATTN Squaddies!

Hotfix 8.2.1 contains multiple fixes for some issues that appeared after the 8.2 release. Thank you to everyone who reported these issues!

• Fixed MGS vehicles costing 30 tickets when they should only cost 10.
  
• Fixed CAF Leopard MBT engine component sticking through the armor mesh on the rear of the vehicle.
  
• Kohat Toi RAAS v1 - Fixed an issue with the south main base with certain helicopters blowing up on spawn on the center helipad.
  
• Fixed issue where all non-automatic rifleman roles using M27 IAR had 12 magazines instead of 7
  
• Fixed USMC M39 EMR Marksman Rifle reticle being too pixelated at higher magnification levels.

OFFWORLD OUT!

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Welcome, Squaddies, to the 8.2 Patch notes! Today we are going to show off a lot of balancing changes to multiple Factions, some new weapons coming in the patch, as well as the long-awaited feature, the Friends List!

New Weapons
USMC M39 EMR
Replaces the M38 rifle for USMC marksman:

WPMC AUG rifle
Replaces M4 Simon Offense + M150 on WPMC rifleman 08. It used to appear on a single layer as the F88 for the Australian faction but has been absent since voting was introduced.

USA M110 Suppressed
Replaces the non-suppressed M110 on the USA marksman role for Light Infantry & Air Assault Battlegroups.

INS Mosin Carbine
Appears on a new raider role variant for Insurgents. It was previously in the game and removed.

Balance Updates
We have made some changes to improve the balance and viability of key factions and maps:

• Reduced the number of PMV RWS from 2 to 1 on ADF Combined Arms Battlegroup.
  
• Increased number of ASLAV IFVs from 3 to 4 on ADF Mechanized Battlegroup.
  
• Replaced 2x PMV with 2x PMV RWS on ADF Mechanized Battlegroup.
  
• Reduced number of Coyote recon vehicles from 2 to 1 on CAF Armored Battlegroup.
  
• Reduced number of BMP1AM from 3 to 2 on RGF Armored Battlegroup.
  
• Removed 2x ZBD04A and added 1x ZSL10 on PLA Armored Battlegroup.
  
• Increased number of ACV-15 M2 from 1 to 2 on TLF Armored Battlegroup.
  
• Increased number of ACV-15 MG3 from 1 to 2 on TLF Armored Battlegroup.
  
• Replaced 2x PARS III M2 with 2x PARS III IFV on TLF Combined Arms Battlegroup.
  
• Reduced number of M7A3 from 2 to 1 on USA Armored Battlegroup.
  
• Removed 1x LAV-25, and added 2x AAVP to USMC Armored Battlegroup.
  
• Increased number of LAV-25 IFVs from 3 to 4 on USMC Motorized Battlegroup.
  
• Reduced number of ZBD05 IFVs from 2 to 1 on PLANMC Combined Arms Battlegroup.
  
• Increased number of ZTD05 MGS from 3 to 4 on PLANMC Combined Arms Battlegroup.
  
• Added 2x CSK HJ8 to PLANMC Armored Battlegroup.
  
• Increased the number of wheeled IFVs that spawn in for ADF, CAF, and USMC Combined Arms Battlegroups from 2 to 3.
  
• Updated MEA Combined Arms Battlegroup to spawn with 2 BRDM scout cars instead of 1.
  
• Replaced the 2x Ural ZU23 with Technical ZU23 on Insurgent Motorized Battlegroup.
  
• Added 2x Technical BMP to Insurgent Motorized Battlegroup.
  
• Increased respawn delay for main battle tanks from 15 minutes to 20 minutes on all mechanized battlegroups, except for TLF (remaining at a 15-minute delay), IMF, and INS (remaining at a 10-minute delay).
  
• Reduced spawn time for transport helicopter from 10 minutes to 6 minutes on all Air Assault Battlegroups.
  
• Adjusted CAF Leopard 2A6M MBT ammo rack location, now located in the rear of the vehicle and the size has been reduced to make it less vulnerable.
  
• Updated the USA M113A3 M2 and M113A3 Mk19 desert variants to randomly spawn in with cage armor 50% of the time.
  
• Reduced total supply capacity from 3000 to 2000 on the TLF BMC logistics truck.
  
• Removed FOB mortars from WPMC battlegroups and added 2 mortar technicals to each battlegroup.
  
• Updated PLA & PLAAGF woodland camouflage with the newer “Starry Sky” camouflage pattern. The previous woodland camouflage will still appear as a winter camouflage on the Goose Bay map. The PLANMC will continue to use its blue camouflage.
  
• Updated CAF AR 01 role to use a C9A2 with CQB-length barrel and foregrip.
  
• Updated USMC marksman 01 role to use an M39 EMR instead of an M38 on all USMC battlegroups except for light infantry.
  
• Updated USMC roles to no longer use the M27 IAR. SL 02 now uses M4 + foregrip, AR 01 now uses an M249 PIP with iron sights.
  
• Updated USMC Light Infantry Battlegroup to represent a more modern USMC setup.
  
  • Crewmen roles unchanged.
    
  • Pilot roles unchanged.
    
  • Only 1 SL role variant making use of M27 IAR without bipod, and M17 pistol.
    
  • Only 1 rifleman role variant making use of M27 IAR without bipod.
    
  • Medic 01 role unchanged.
    
  • Medic 02 role makes use of M27 IAR without bipod, and M17 pistol.
    
  • AR 01 makes use of M27 IAR ironsights + bipod, and M17 pistol.
    
  • AR 02 makes use of M27 IAR + bipod, and M17 pistol.
    
  • Grenadier 01 makes use of M27 IAR without bipod, and M320 grenade launcher.
    
  • Only 1 LAT role variant making use of M27 IAR without bipod, and AT4 launcher.
    
  • Marksman role makes use of M38 DMR, and M17 pistol.
    
  • Heavy Grenadier role appears in the ‘specialist’ role category making use of M27 IAR without bipod, and the MGL grenade launcher. Only 2 are available per team. The MGL is still using the TLF texture, and will be updated in the future.
    
  • Machinegunner role unchanged.
    
  • Only 1 HAT role variant making use of M27 IAR without bipod, and the M3 MAAWS launcher.
    
  • Engineer role unchanged.
    
  • M1151 vehicles replaced with MATV variants using the same weapons systems.
    
  • Increased the number of TOW vehicles from 2 to 3.
    
  • Removed tank spawn.
    
  • These light infantry battlegroup roles will appear on Jensen's Range along with the standard roles from other USMC battlegroups.

• Updated RGF Light Infantry and Support Battlegroups to have access to build up to two ZU23 AA gun emplacements on FOBs.
  
• Updated the USA Grenadier role to use the standalone M320 grenade launcher instead of an underslung grenade launcher.
  
• Updated WPMC Rifleman 08 role to use an AUG rifle instead of M4 Simon Offense with M150.
  
• Updated WPMC LAT 02 role to use M16 Wormpool with M150 instead of M4 Simon Offense with M150.
  
• Updated the following MEA roles to use a KLT (Iranian copy of the AKMS rifle) instead of a G3A3: Squad Leader 01, Rifleman 01, Medic 01, LAT 01.
  
• Added an additional rifleman role to MEA making use of a G3A3 + foregrip.
  
• Added a second marksman role to MEA which uses the SVD. This role is available in the direct combat category, similar to BAF's second marksman role.
  
• Updated MEA Automatic Rifleman 01 role to use the RPK instead of a G3A3 with drum magazine. Their Automatic Rifleman 02 role continues to use the G3A3 with drum magazine and ZF1 scope.
  
• Added a marksman role to the USA faction making use of a suppressed M110 rifle. This role replaces the standard marksman role in the Light Infantry and Air Assault Battlegroups. Both roles will appear on Jensens Range.
  
• Added a HAT role to all TLF battlegroups making use of the RPG-7 with tandem rounds. The TLF Air Assault battlegroup continues using their Carl Gustav HAT role with extra availability. Both HAT roles will appear on Jensens Range.
  
• Updated TLF Machinegunner 01 to use PKM instead of MG3.
  
• Added a Marksman role to VDV Air Assault and Amphibious Assault Battlegroups using an AS VAL + PSO-1 scope. This role will also appear on Jensen’s Range.
  
• Added 2x RGO grenades to VDV scout role.
  
• Renamed the “Insurgent Forces” faction to “Middle Eastern Insurgents” and updated/added several roles and role variants:
  
  • 6 SL variants:
    • AMD-65
      
    • PPSH + stick magazines
      
    • PM md. 63
      
    • M16A2
      
    • FAL
      
    • AKS-74 + 1P29
  • 3 medic variants:
    • AMD-65
      
    • FAL
      
    • M16A2
  • 7 rifleman variants:
    • AKM
      
    • M16A2
      
    • FAL
      
    • Mosin Nagant
      
    • G3A3
      
    • AKS-74 + 1P29
      
    • SKS + PU
  • 3 LAT variants:
    • FAL + HEAT rifle grenades
      
    • AKMS w/ RPG-7
      
    • AKS-74 + 1P29 w/ RPG-7
  • 3 raider variants:
    • PPSH + drum magazines w/ 2 frag grenades, 2 AT grenades
      
    • AKM + drum magazines w/ 2 frag grenades, 2 AT grenades
      
    • Mosin Carbine, vz61 Skorpion w/ 4 frag grenades, 4 AT grenades
  • 2 grenadier variants:
    • AKM + GP25
      
    • FAL + fragmentation rifle grenades
  • 2 marksman variants:
    • M16A2 + 3x scope
      
    • SVD
  • 2 HAT variants:
    • AKMS w/ RPG-7
      
    • SKS w/ RPG-29
  • 2 sapper variants:
    • PPSH
      
    • AKMS
  • 2 machine gunner variants:
    • PKM
      
    • MG3
  • The sniper role is unchanged.
    
  • Automatic rifleman roles are unchanged but are now in the ‘fire support’ roles category.
    
  • The crewman roles are unchanged (but the SL crewman now has AKMS instead of vz61).
• Added REDFOR Alliance (RGF and VDV) battlegroups as voting options for all Sanxian Islands layers.
  
• Adjusted Seed Game Mode to limit the following deployables to a max of 5 per FOB: Sandbag Wall + Firing Port, Ammobox, Hesco Wall, Oil Barrel Wall, Dirt Crate Wall + Firing Ports.
  
• Adjusted Seed Game Mode to remove the IMF deployables: Camo Nettings, Hull Down, Observation Tower, and Hedge Hog Tank Trap.
  
• Adjusted the number of tickets gained when capturing a flag on invasion from 130 to 125.
  
• Completed standardization of Invasion layers:
  
  • All invasion layers will now have 5 flag layouts.
    
  • The first 2-3 objectives are generally closer together to reduce instances where attackers need to maneuver the entire team and set up new FOBs to attack the next point unless it's across more open terrain. Also attempted to reduce instances where areas of thick concealment or urban areas lie between the first flags, which generally bog down attackers and cost them high amounts of tickets to clear. The 4th and 5th objectives will generally be more challenging to attack.
    
  • Most invasion layers will no longer have forward vehicle spawns for defenders and will only have infantry spawns closer to the first objective.
    
  • Some invasion layers will now have multiple potential lanes to increase replayability.

Gunplay Adjustments
We have made some changes to Squad’s gunplay with the following goals in mind:

• Make weapons feel more responsive overall.
  
• Reduce punishment in the form of weapon destabilization that players receive after movement.
  
• Create more standardized weapon archetypes, which will lead to distinct playstyles for players to master.
  
• Improve the effectiveness of machine guns when not bipoded.
  
• Improve the control of sub machineguns at short distances making them more ideal for close quarters and flanking.

Medium Machineguns (M240 family, PK family, MG3, QJY-88)

• Reworked M240 family recoil & sway to be more controllable, particularly in prone and bipod stances.
  
• Standardized hipfire to be more controllable than it was previously.
  
• Standardized ADS move speed, equip movement speed, and reload movement speed to be 40% of normal movement speed.
  
• Standardized per-stance ADS times to be between 0.3 to 0.75 seconds depending on stance and optic. Bipod ADS time is always 0.3 seconds.
  
• Slightly increased the amount of suppression that medium machine guns can output.
  
• Standardized the time it takes to stabilize weapons to be faster than it was previously, but will now be very slow compared to other weapon types.
  
• Increased the time it takes before the weapon is automatically put into the 'lowered' position from 0.15 to 30 seconds.

Light Machineguns (M249 family, RPD)

• Improved MOA on M249 family from 12 to 6.
  
• Standardized Hipfire to be more controllable.
  
• Standardized ADS move speed, equip movement speed, and reload movement speed to be 40% to 50% of normal movement speed depending on optic.
  
• Standardized per-stance ADS times to be between 0.3 to 0.55 seconds depending on stance and optic. Bipod ADS time is always 0.3 seconds.
  
• Standardized the time it takes to stabilize the weapon to be faster than it was previously, but will be slow compared to other weapon types.

Battle Rifle / Marksman Rifle / Bolt-Action Rifle (C14, FAL, G3, KNT-76, M110, M14, Mosin, MPT-76, QBU-88, SV-98M, SVD)

• Added new camera shake effects to make these weapons feel more powerful when shooting them.
  
• Removed the heavy recoil curve that was present on most battle rifles and replaced it with a standard recoil curve.
  
• Reworked recoil configurations for G3, FAL, M110, and MPT-76 rifles to be more controllable.
  
• Standardized ADS move speed, equip movement speed, and reload movement speed to be 50% to 60% of normal movement speed depending on optic.
  
• Standardized per-stance ADS times to be between 0.3 to 0.55 seconds depending on stance and optic. Bipod ADS time is always 0.3 seconds.
  
• The time it takes to stabilize a weapon has been standardized to be faster than it was previously. It will now be faster than machine guns but slower than rifles.
  
• Slightly reduced the damage on the G3 damage curve, now that these weapons are easier to control, they will less frequently cause one-hit kills but still cause high damage that will require immediate bandaging to survive.
  
• Battle rifles with foregrips now provide a small benefit to control recoil.

Automatic Rifles (M27 IAR, RPK family, G3A3 w/ drum, QJB95-1)

• Reworked recoil configuration of RPK family of weapons.
  
• Standardized ADS move speed, equip movement speed, and reload movement speed to be 60% to 70% of normal movement speed depending on optic.
  
• Standardized per-stance ADS times to be between 0.3 to 0.45 seconds depending on stance and optic. Bipod ADS time is always 0.3 seconds.
  
• The time it takes to stabilize a weapon has been standardized to be faster than it was previously. It will now be faster than machine guns but slower than rifles.

Rifles (M4 family, AK family, L85 family, EF88 family, SKS family, QBZ95-1 family)

• Reworked recoil configuration of AKM family of weapons.
  
• Standardized ADS move speed, equip movement speed, and reload movement speed to be 60% to 70% of normal movement speed depending on optic.
  
• Standardized per-stance ADS times to be between 0.3 to 0.45 seconds depending on rifle length, stance and optic. Bipod ADS time is always 0.3 seconds.
  
• The time it takes to stabilize a weapon has been standardized to be faster than it was previously. It will now be the fastest weapon type to stabilize other than sub-machine guns and pistols.
  
• Reworked configurations for M4 Simon Offense to perform better in close quarters but weaker at range than other rifles.
  
• Rifles with foregrips now provide a small benefit to control recoil.

Sub Machineguns (MP5 family, SAR-109T, PPSH, Vz61)

• Standardized recoil and sway configurations to make these highly controllable weapons.
  
• Standardized ADS move speed, equip movement speed, and reload movement speed to be 90% of normal speed.
  
• Standardized per-stance ADS times to be 0.2 seconds.
  
• The time it takes to stabilize the weapon has been standardized to be faster than it was previously. It will now be the fastest weapon type to stabilize other than pistols.

Pistols

• Reworked sway to be more controllable.
  
• Standardized ADS move speed, equip movement speed, and reload movement speed to be 100% of normal movement speed.
  
• Standardized per-stance ADS times to be 0.2 seconds.
  
• Standardized the time it takes to stabilize the weapon to be faster than it was previously, it will now be the fastest weapon type to stabilize.

Friends List
We have added a friends list to the Squad main menu. This should make joining your friends’ servers easier. This is our first iteration of this feature, and we expect to see it grow into something more in the future!

• Updated WPMC Loach Helicopters to use new "Scout" and "Light CAS" map icons, which more accurately depict their vehicle roles.
  
• Admin's can now cycle between different local voice chat modes:
  • Hear only friendlies. Only heard by friendlies.
    
  • Hear everyone. Only heard by friendlies. (New Default)
    
  • Hear everyone. Heard by everyone.
    
  • Hear everyone. Only heard by enemies.

General Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with the WPMC Loach Helicopter bouncing soldiers away when they attempted to get close to the front, rear, and sides of the vehicle.
  
• Fixed WPMC Loach Helicopter emergency recovery "Push" being too strong.
  
• Fixed a bug where the M134 minigun on the WPMC Loach CAS Helicopter appeared to be pristine even when wrecked.
  
• Fixed an issue with the WPMC CPV M139 minigun impact VFX.
  
• Fixed an issue with the WPMC M16 Wormpool rifle family text description listing the weapons using 3-round burst fire mode instead of auto.
  
• Fixed the alignment on the WPMC M16 Wormpool with Meupold Scope.
  
• Added correct firing sounds for C6 CROW for the CAF TAPV vehicle.
  
• Fixed an issue with the USMC/WPMC M27 IAR ABD HK416 Rifles not allowing a +1 round in chamber.
  
• Fixed a visual bug with the USMC AAVP-7A1 APC.
  
• Fixed an issue with the IMF UB32 Emplacement using the mortar map icon instead of its own unique icon.
  
• Fixed WPMC AK-101 PushCo Rifle where players middle finger on the right hand was clipping into the trigger guard.
  
• Fixed an issue that WPMC Crewman and Pilot kits had more mags for MP5A3 than they should have.
  
• Fixed WPMC AK101 PushCo Rifle to now use a 5.56mm mag (was using a 5.45mm mag previously).
  
• Made specific attenuation adjustments to vehicle exterior engine sounds. Volume now decreases quicker further out, but is still just as audible as before.
  
• Increased FOB Radio audio attenuation radius to be heard at 50 meters.
  
• Fixed potentially inconsistent armor hit damage in rare edge cases.
  
• Fixed VDV Armored Battlegroup having access to build ATGM emplacements when defending.
  
• Fixed RGF Motorized Battlegroup having access to build ATGM emplacements when defending.
  
• Fixed BAF L85A2 Classic + SUSAT to use the correct name in HUD and Kit Role Select Menu.

Map Updates
General
Fixed some faction vehicle layouts for Seed and Skirmish maps.

Anvil
Skirmish v1 - Fixed a bug where WPMC was not an option during voting.

Mutaha
RAAS v2 - Fixed an issue with Team Two’s middle helipad destroying Helicopters directly after spawning.
Invasion v1 - Fixed Quad bikes not spawning in attackers base.

Pacific Proving Grounds
AAS v1 - Fixed mercy bleed instantly ending the round after last capture point taken.

Sanxian Islands
Invasion v1 - Fixed an issue with USMC helicopter spawning in sideways.
Localization

• Reverted localization for capture point names back to English to ensure consistency for players from different regions playing on the same server.
  
• In order to better facilitate player communication we reverted layer names to English.
  
• In order to better facilitate player communication we reverted game mode names to English in all languages (except Chinese).

Known Issues
We are currently not aware of any new known issues created with this update. If you happen to come across something that you would like to report, please use the Community Discord and we will update this thread accordingly.

This concludes our debrief for the 8.2 Squad Release Notes! Stay tuned to our Steam forums for all our upcoming comms!

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