SQUAD UPDATE v2.16 RELEASE NOTES

Attention Squaddies,
Tomorrow we are releasing Squad v2.16. This continues a series of more frequent updates, some of which are smaller in scope, to allow us to continually improve the Squad experience for our players.
V2.16 will be the fourth update to Squad this year (not including Hotfixes).
While there are dozens of improvements, fixes, and other changes in v2.16, the most prominent are the addition of three new vehicles for the Canadian Armed Forces faction, a INS emplacement Hell Cannon for the Insurgent faction, and the new Seeding Mode that will help Server Owners better populate Squad servers.
We’ve made a whole lot of other gameplay changes which are listed below in the Changelog, as well as addressed numerous bugs.
Squad v2.16 will be released on Wednesday, May 18th at 18:00 UTC.
At ease,
- Offworld Industries
Changelog
Canadian Armed Forces Vehicles
- M113A3 APC (3 variants): - This is an older vehicle which saw some service in Afghanistan. This fills the gap for CAF in terms of a tracked troop transport.
- M113A3 C6 Open Turret
- M113A3 M2 Open Turret
- M113A3 TLAV Enclosed Turret
- LUVW Light Jeep (4 variants): - This light jeep is outfitted with an armour kit, giving it slightly more protection against small arms than for example an un-armoured logistics truck, but less armour than for example a MAT-V.
- LUVW Transport Jeep
- LUVW Logistics Jeep
- LUVW C6 Jeep
- LUVW M2 Jeep
- CH-178 Transport Helicopter (Mi-17V5s were acquired by Canada during the Afghanistan War, used as a stopgap medium-lift helicopter while the RCAF sourced alternatives. This historical oddity is featured on a handful of layers set in Afghanistan.)
Seeding Mode & Hell Cannon
- Added a new INS emplacement - The Hell Cannon. This terrifying, home-made insurgent weapon launches an explosive-filled propane tank to devastate enemy positions.
- Overhauled the Seed Game Mode.
- Updated all Seed map layers to now have pre-placed forward FOBs and HABs. Pre-placed FOBs will have 10,000 ammo and 2000 construction points.
- Removed weaponized emplacements for all seed map layers (exception for INS on Sumari Seed v2 and Tallil Seed v2 having access to the new Hell Cannon emplacement).
- Updated the Seed Game Mode to start in a “Seeding Phase” ruleset and transition to a “Live Phase” ruleset when sufficient players have joined the server. See our blog post for more details on the new Seed Game Mode [LINK URL]
Additional Gameplay Improvements
- Updated FOB Radio to have an increased ticket loss penalty of 20 tickets (was 10). Design Intention: to increase the incentive to defend FOBs, and attempt to address FOB spam, which is currently the predominant tactic for winning games.
- Adjusted the INS Tire Fire deployable to now have an additional movement impairment directly in the center of the deployable, which should prevent infantry being able to run all the way through the blockade. Design Intention: Increase the viability of this barrier to impede enemy traversal.
- Adjusted the INS Sapper Kit Role's main weapon from the Mosin Carbine Bolt Action Rifle to the PPSH41 submachine gun. Design Intention: to give the INS Sapper an effective close and medium range weapon while relying on team members for longer range engagements.
- Updated all CAF Kit Roles with a new, more authentic L83A1 smoke grenade, which is the CAF equivalent to M18 smoke grenade.
- Updated AUS & CAF 3rd-person character model to remove the pistol model from Kit Roles that aren’t equipped with them, and added the missing 3rd-person pistol model on the Engineer 2 and Crewman Kit Roles.
- Updated all AK family rifle reload SFX, to now use correct bolt moving SFX and improved mag in / mag out SFX.
- Updated the AUS EF88 / F88 Rifle reloads to now use unique SFX.
- Adjusted the AUS Maximi to be slightly louder when fired in close proximity.
- Reduced the max audible range of the AUS ASLAV IFV’s engine SFX.
- Adjusted the layout and text of Game Mode descriptions to be clearer for new players.
- Adjusted the AUS MRH90 Helicopter collision model to now include the middle seats section.
- Adjusted the HUD name for all factions’ Combat Engineer E-tool/Spade to include "Engineer” or “Sapper”. Design Intention: To give a clear indication that this shovel has unique properties vs normal shovels (can build / dig down deployables faster).
- Updated the loading box splash screen artwork.
- Adjusted the text for AUS weapon descriptions.
Bug Fixes
- Fix attempt for the crash that gives an error regarding ASQTeamState.
- Fix attempt for the crash related to the muted players cache.
- Fix attempt for the issue where some players would see thick fog after swapping layers.
- Fixed an issue with missing destruction SFX for light vehicle engines.
- Updated the deployable camo netting to add a fallback colour, which should fix issues with the Landscape Renderer breaking camo netting under certain circumstances, like with the Fools Road black camo nets.
- Fixed a legacy issue with infantry bipods, where deploying your bipod while simultaneously crouching could get you stuck in a permanent bipod state.
- Fixed a visual issue with ADS peripheral blur, which was not getting removed when a player entered a vehicle or emplacement while in ADS.
- Fixed a visual issue with some vehicle windows (ie. M-ATV) not showing RPG impact effects.
- Fixed an issue with the AUS Observation Tower deployable’s camo netting collision unintentionally blocking projectiles.
- Fixed a collision issue with the AUS PMV Armored Car, where the rear hatches passed damage to the hull - impacts to those hatches no longer pass damage to the hull, in line with other similar vehicle hatches.
- Fixed AUS Squad Leaders missing Incendiary Grenades necessary for destroying Caches in the Insurgency Game Mode.
- Fixed an issue with the AUS pistol costing 10 ammo points to rearm; it now costs 1 ammo point per mag, in line with other pistols.
- Fixed an audio issue with the AUS MRH90 Helicopter’s exterior rotor SFX after exiting the pilot seat.
- Fixed an issue with the AUS M1A1 MBT’s ammo not being removed when the ammo rack component was destroyed.
- Fixed an audio issue with the AUS EF88 SL40 Rifle Smoke rounds having incorrect impact SFX.
- Fixed a legacy UI issue with SPG-9 emplacements not having a map icon when unmanned.
- Fixed a legacy visual issue where the arms visually broke when dry reloading the M240H Helicopter Door Gun.
- Fixed a legacy visual issue with low texture quality on character models in the Role Loadout menu.
- Fixed a visual issue with the GB SA330 Helicopter’s instrument panel flickering.
- Fixed a visual issue with the AUS MRH90 Helicopter’s cockpit display not updating correctly on ultra-wide monitors.
- Fixed a visual issue with AUS ASLAV APC’s wheel collision meshes when destroyed.
- Fixed a visual issue with the AUS EF88 SL40 Rifle (Grenadier Kit Role) having rounds visible in the magazine during a “dry” reload animation.
- Fixed an audio issue with MG shell casing SFX not being affected by the volume slider.
- Fixed an issue for some special weapon skins icons (Veteran RPG7, Veteran RPG7v2, and Desert M4) so they now show the correct variants.
- Fixed an issue with Kickstarter uniform patches not displaying correctly on 3p models of AUS and specific Woodland CAF soldiers.
- Fixed a visual issue where some MEA and RU fortifications (HASCO blocks / walls) were filled with brown dirt instead of sand for desert biome assets.
- Fixed a UI issue where the AUS PMV M2 RWS Armored Car used the incorrect map icon (“light jeep”). it now uses the correct map icon (“heavy jeep”).
- Fixed a UI issue for the AUS EF88 Rifle’s description; it no longer lists the stats twice, and also shows the correct zeroing distance for the Spectre optic.
- Fixed a typo with RUS and MEA artillery strike title and tooltip text so it correctly refers to it as being a 152mm caliber strike.
- Fixed an issue with Discord rich presence not supporting CAF assets correctly, this affected Goose Bay, Manic-5 and the CAF faction flag.
- Fixed an issue with Discord rich presence, where AUS & RUS factions were displayed as US.
- Fixed an issue with Discord rich presence, so the Anvil map will now display correctly.
- Fixed an issue where the Anisotropic Filtering level was being misreported in the log file.
Map Updates & Bug Fixes
- Updated all CAF map layers naming convention to be unified with all other factions map layers. Check the sheet for the full list of changes:
- v2.16 CAF Layers [LINK URL]
- Updated all CAF map layers to include new vehicle distribution.
- Added new map layer - Kohat RAAS v9.
- Added new map layer - Goose Bay RAAS v2.
- Updated Fallujah Seed v1 layout to now have 3 capture points.
- Updated Tallil Seed v2 - Team 2 is now INS (was RUS), and CAF now gets LUVW jeeps (transport + logistics).
- Updated Sumari Seed v2 - Team 2 is now INS (was RUS).
- Updated all INS map layers to now include the Tire Fire deployable - each INS FOB can deploy up to 2 Tire Fire deployables.
- Updated several INS map layers to include INS Ural 375 Transport Truck variant.
- Al Basrah Seed v1 - Fixed MEA main base no-deploy zone being offset by around 80m to the south.
- Al Basrah AAS v3 - Fixed Helicopters not being able to resupply at the AUS main base.
- Fallujah Seed v1 & Tallil Seed v2 - Fixed map layer name not showing up correctly on the deploy screen / server browser.
- Jensen's Range v4 (CAF vs RUS) - Fixed RUS not having a MI8 Helicopter spawn and fixed RUS using INS HAB mesh.
- Kohat RAAS v8 - Fix attempt for the AUS MRH90 helicopter exploding on the helipad.
SDK Updates
- Added a configurable variable to vehicle turrets, to set the health level required for stabilizer to function. Default value is 0.5.
- Added a system for Level Design to allow for ambient Jetovers on maps. JetFlyBy will spawn ambient planes that fly overhead of the geo map.
- Made initial ammo & construction values on FOBs editable on instances, to allow customizing the amount of resources on pre-placed FOBs without additional components.
- Adjusted the AUS PMV Mag58 Armored Car to include a LowCaliber tag.
- Moved CAF faction setups to single use folder and updated them with standard delays & counts, deleted old legacy faction tables, counts & delays for these layers.
- Added bRulesetEnabled flag and setters/getters for it into SQGameRuleset to allow for rulesets logic to be notified to enable or disable itself.
- Added implementable events BPRulesetEnabled & BPRulesetDisabled to SQGameRuleSet, to allow blueprint child classes to react on being enabled or disabled in event-based fashion.
- Modified GraphTicketComponent and GraphNodeBasedBleedComponent, allowing their logic to be turned on/off.
- Modified Ruleset_Vehicle, to allow the ticket subtraction logic to be enabled/disabled using new ruleset enable/disable functionality.
- Events OnPlayerJoined and OnPlayerRemoved on SQGameState exposed to blueprints
- Added a TryGetDefaultObjectFor() helper function to SQBlueprintLibrary to get the default object for a certain class, with dynamic output type, to save some casting in blueprints.
- Added TryGetRulesetsOfClass() helper function to SQGameMode, to get an array of currently active rulesets of a specified class, with dynamic output type to save some casting in blueprints.
- Exposed RuleSets array in SQGameMode to blueprints as a read-only property
- Made GetCustomServerSetting() helper function in SQBlueprintLibrary compatible with In-Editor server settings, accessible in Editor Preferences -> Play Squad -> Custom Options.
- Added server-side helper functions to SQBlueprintLibrary to expand the ability to work with CustomOptions.cfg contents in blueprints:
- GetCustomServerSettingAsInt()
- GetCustomServerSettingAsFloat()
- GetCustomServerSettingAsBool()
- DoesCustomServerSettingExist()
- Added new INS Ural 375 Transport Truck variant.
- Reminder: Make sure your vehicles, turrets, vehicle weapons, and emplacements are using the new SQArmourMesh Component added in v2.15, or they may not receive damage properly.
Known Issues
- Seed mode:
- There are some issues with the pre-placed FOB Radio's and HAB's on Seed map layers.
- When removing pre-placed FOB Radio's, the attached HAB and ammo crate(s) might not get removed as usual.
- When digging down pre-placed HAB's / ammo crates, they will respawn shortly after being dug down.
- There are some issues with the pre-placed FOB Radio's and HAB's on Seed map layers.
- BTR variants, as well as the MEA Ural 4320 have some SFX regarding their engine sounds sound slightly louder / less muffled than other vehicles.
Clear Cache to resolve residual issues
- If you are experiencing issues, be sure to go to Settings -> “CLEAR CACHE” after updating.
Comments
Adjusted the INS Sapper Kit Role’s main weapon from the Mosin Carbine Bolt Action Rifle to the PPSH41 submachine gun. Design Intention: to give the INS Sapper an effective close and medium range weapon while relying on team members for longer range engagements.
Too funny, I was playing this weekend as a sapper and the enemy came running into a fob that was in a building and I was the last guy to defend it and get the HAB back up. I had that stupid bolt action gun and I had no chance with it so I pulled out my knife instead as I knew I had a better chance in the tight quarters. Thank you for swapping out the bolt action as it was just a waste of time.
On you next release, can you PLEASE change the claiming system on vehicles so it becomes an option to claim a vehicle on the radial menu instead of it auto-asking your SL for a claim just because you walked up to get ammo off?
"Adjusted the INS Sapper Kit Role's main weapon from the Mosin Carbine Bolt Action Rifle to the PPSH41 submachine gun."
So MIL continues to get shafted?
"Adjusted the text for AUS weapon descriptions."
So 750rpm in text -> 830rpm?
"LUVW Light Jeep (4 variants): - This light jeep is outfitted with an armour kit, giving it slightly more protection against small arms"
Define "slightly"
Not only does CAF get top tier guns, it also gets armored logi -> LUVW Logistics Jeep
???
"Updated Tallil Seed v2 - Team 2 is now INS (was RUS), and CAF now gets LUVW jeeps (transport + logistics)."
and they get to go toe to toe with insurgents? lol
Just can't stop making game worse, eh?
Hope to see major optimizations in coming updates.
Worth waiting and seeing how much armor it actually is. Maybe it's like the INS armored techie which is basically useless. The LUVW has massive windows.
I feel like MIL desperately needs its identity to be developed. As a general thought, I think an armor-heavy faction might be a good focus. They already have a lot of the older soviet armor, but maybe just give them more of it? Basically a less mobile, heavier-hitting INS, possibly even removing their IEDs in favor of more Antitank/Landmines?
That would require buff to RUS armor and give MIL the leftover old bmp-2...etc. which is just not allowed as RUS must be bad.
INS armored technical is mostly useless due to the massively downgraded mobility(and the fact that gunner can be shot out anyway.
I doubt LUVW will be that slow; but it would be nice if it's the slowest wheeled vehicle.
Even if it isn't that slow, the windows alone will make drivers easy targets. Might just mean you can't shoot passengers through the door panels. Or maybe you still can, but the vehicle itself doesn't take hull damage from small arms.
The thing is even shooting through glass already reduced damage enough to affect shots-to-kill, any extra protection would be bad for gameplay.
Yep, LUVW got 5mm to resist anything below G3/FAL(even then it's -50 damage so they take way more shots to kill).
Absolutely disgusting.
At least it only has 500hp.