Version 221603D
After last week's Update, this is the 2nd regular Battle Cry of Freedom update. In this update, we have implemented a number of community-requested features, various smaller performance improvements as well as new weapons and a number of Quality of Life Improvements.
The changelog is much to long for us to go through every entry in detail, so instead we will only be featuring some of the more important changes and additions. You can read the Full Changelog at the bottom of the Blog Post.
New Server List
We have received a number of reports from Players who were not able to see certain servers in the Server Browser. Until today, we have been using the Steam Server List to query Servers to fill the Server Browser with. However, Steam is very unreliable, sometimes not showing all the Servers and often goes down for maintenance.
To fix the issue, we have spent some time designing our own Server List, so that we are no longer dependent on Steam. We now list and query from our own List, which is about 10x as fast as querying from the Steam Server list and additionally will also make sure that players have access to all Servers, all the time.
New Weapons
We have added a couple of new Weapons to the game, which will be immediately selectable by various classes in the game. Over the coming few weeks we will be continuously adding more weapons to the game, so stay tuned for future updates.
India Pattern Brown Bess Musket
Although extremely outdated by the time of the Civil War, the India Pattern Brown Bess still saw service with a few militia units early in the Civil War. Even unconverted Flintlock Versions, like the one featured in the game, were used by a number of Federal Militia Units.
Pattern 1853 Cavalry Saber
The Pattern 1853 Cavalry Saber was a British Cavalry Sabre that the Confederacy imported in large numbers. The Saber saw widespread use in the Cavalry and Artillery. Although we do not have Cavalry in the game just yet, we will be issuing the Sword to the Artillery as well as the CS Militia Officers.
Lefaucheux M1858 Pinfire Revolver
The French Lefaucheaux M1858 was one of the most numerous imported Revolvers of the Civil War, seeing widespread use in the Union Cavalry. The Revolver used a metallic cartridge that included both the primer and the powder in one cartridge. In the game, the Revolver will be issued to all Union Officers.
Remington-Beals Model Revolver
After a fire broke out in the Colt Factory, destroying most of it, the US Government replaced the Colt Army with the Remington-Beals Model Revolver. Although not seeing adoption until relatively late in the war, the Remington-Beals quickly became one of the most used Revolvers of the Civil War.
Chat Filter
We have implemented a configurable Chat Filter that can be turned off/on at will by Server Admins. The Filter checks the chat for any word that might be deemed inappropriate and if posted will replace the word with *****. Server Owners can choose which words to filter by editing the "BannedWords.txt".
This will allow Server Owners maximum flexibility over which words to ban.
Changes to Weapons
We standardized the Muzzle Velocity deviation values of all Rifles, making it more consistent between rifles. What this in turn means is that Players will now be able to more reliably hit the same target at slightly longer distances.
Additionally, we have also tweaked the Union Sharps Rifle. We have increased its projectile damage significantly but have decreased the base bayonet melee damage. This will make the Sharps Rifle a very deadly and accurate Sharpshooter rifle, but it will not be of much use in Melee.
To diversify pistols more and give each pistol its own unique stats we have changed the accuracy values of various revolvers and pistols.
Lastly, we removed all smoothbores from the 13th VA and 20th ME Soldiers. Now only the VMI and the 72nd PA will have access to Smoothbores. What this means is that the 13th VA and 20th ME now will be better for players who like to shoot over medium to long ranges, but the 72nd PA and VMI will be better for players who like to sneak up to the enemy and fire deadly volleys at medium to close ranges.
Quality of Life Improvements
We implemented a number of Quality of Life improvements, fixed various bugs and generally tried to improve gameplay and feel of the game. Most importantly, the Troop Menu now displays the bonuses each class provides and has useful tooltips which can be read by hovering over the icons.
We also reworked "Twist Rate" and "Drag Coef" to "Accuracy", which now shows a stat of 0 to 100.
This should help players to easily identify the differences between classes and weapons.
Uniform Modding Support
We have finally gotten around to uploading the Unity Project with the sample mod files and ALL of the uniform and character models that are currently included in the game. Modders therefore will have access to more than 5000 uniform models to play around with.
We also added several new Moddable Uniform Slots to the game. All of the new Factions added to the Moddable Uniforms list are fully voiced in their respective language. We will be adding more factions and specific weaponry for the modded factions in the near future, this is only the start. If you have requests for specific weapons or factions, please contact us on Discord, we will be happy to add them to the game.
The Unity Project allows modders to create their own character models, for example creating aliens, astronauts or other full conversion modifications. We have not made a Tutorial yet, but adding Uniforms to the game is very easy and straightforward. If you have any questions, please Contact Olafson on our Discord Server, he will be happy to help and even hop in a Discord call with you to help you get started.
The Download Link for the Modded Uniforms Project can also be found on our Discord Server.
Full Changelog
New Features:
- Added the following new weapons to the game:
- .........India Pattern Brown Bess Musket (All Organized Militia)
- .........Pattern 1853 Cavalry Saber (CS Militia Officer + Artillery)
- .........Lefaucheux M1858 Pinfire Revolver (All US Officers)
- .........Remington-Beals Model Revolver (All CS and US Officers)
- The Troop Menu now displays all class-specific bonuses. Hovering over the icon will show details.
- Engineers can now construct 12pdr Coehorn Mortar Chests.
- Added a chat filter to the chat. Admins can define what words to filter in the “BannedWords.txt”.
- Added a Server setting to enable/disable rifled artillery.
- Added server setting for how long a team must hold the Key Cap in Koth, CB, and Battle to win.
- Added a Server setting to have map polls change right away or when the map/round ends.
- Added a Server setting to automatically add bots to the team opposite of the players for servers
like BBG. It is double the living players + 10; This will override the normal bot settings. - Updated Official Server map rotation: Added two Community Maps.
- Added a keybind to quickly mute/unmute VOIP.
- Added more Moddable Uniform Slots to the game. With the following factions (Fully Voiced):
- .........France - Flintlocks
- .........Great Britain - Flintlocks
- .........Russia - Flintlocks
- .........Austria - Flintlocks
- .........Prussia - Flintlocks
- .........United States - Flintlocks
- Added a new Soundtrack selection to the game: Napoleonic Wars. This will play the Soundtrack of Mount & Blade: Warband - Napoleonic Wars.
- Added a "Whisper" button for Server Admins, which will send an Admin message to a specific player only.
Changes and fixes:
- Standardized Muzzle Velocity deviation values of all Rifles, making it more consistent between rifles. They are now categorized into 3 categories: Smoothbores, Rifles and Flintlocks.
- Reduced Fonts Memory usage by 80 Megabyte.
- Reduced Sound Memory usage by 10 Megabyte.
- Reduced Texture Memory usage by 265 Megabyte.
- Reduced Terrain VRAM and Memory usage.
- Improved performance of Tree Trunks and Stumps.
- Reduced Base Bayonet-Melee damage of the Sharps Rifle with Socket Bayonet from 50 to 23.
- Increased projectile damage of the Sharps Rifle with Socket Bayonet.
- Decreased number of Artillery Bots assigned to players for Commander Battles.
- 13th VA and 20th ME now no longer have access to Smoothbore weapons. (i.e. 72nd PA and VMI will be more effective at close range, 13th VA and 20th ME more effective from a distance).
- Fixed floating Limber Buckets on all Cannon-Limbers.
- Fixed that the .54 Lorenz Ammo was using the .54 Minie Ball. It is now using its own Projectile.
- Changed default zeroing of the 12pndr Whitworth Rifle, the 3inch, 10pndr and 20pndr Parrott Rifle, hopefully fixing that they shoot low.
- Changed Bayonet of the Model 1816 Springfield Rifle.
- Names should no longer clip over player numbers in the Troop Menu.
- Diversified Accuracy values of all Pistols and Revolvers.
- Fixed that the 1841 Mississippi Rifle Sights do not line up.
- Increased Ammunition Capacity of the 12pdr Coehorn Mortar Chest from 8 to 10 Shells per crate.
- Fixed the options menu buttons for keybinds and fixed resetting keybinds.
- Fixed that the spawn menu would automatically open up when you are out of lives.
- The spawn menu should no longer open while in the map editor.
- Player meshes and their guns should now be turned off when in the spawn menu.
- Changed Admin text for teleporting a player.
- Limited the chat input length to what the server actually allows as maximum input lenght.
- Fixed a bug with auto admin in melee.
- Removed help text for a keybind no longer available.
- Fixed memory leak with player/bot faces.
- Updated Polish and Chinese translations.
- Added Server name, Password, and Group Fight mode to the Admin Menu event category.
- Hitting escape on first join now opens the team selection menu.
- Changed team limitation from Union and Confederate to Attackers and Defenders.
- Fixed a bug with attacker and defender bot settings.
- Sapper Spawns can now only be placed greater than double the distance set in the Server settings from Home Spawns.
- Fixed some specular settings for various floor textures.
- Replaced Twist Rate and Drag Coef. with Accuracy, showing a value between 0 to 100.
- Added security for when players accidentally fall under the terrain.
- Changed the direction Commander Battle Bots would face when not targeting a player or bot.
Thank you! Stay tuned for next week's update!
/Flying Squirrel Entertainment
