Game Update: Improvements to Audio, Grenades, Movement, & More!

Here's a detailed look at everything coming with this update!

 

The newest update came to the Live servers on 2/5 at 7am PT. In an effort to get back to the roots of H1Z1 we made the following improvements:

MOVEMENT CHANGES

Dodging enemy fire by sprinting and whipping your mouse around (ENAS) has become far too effective while creating extremely odd combat encounters.  Therefore we have taken significant steps to address issues related to this by making adjustments to both the movement system and its values to improve gameplay and nerf ENAS. The details are provided below.

• Added functionality that slows player movement on rapid mouse input to combat ENAS.
• Reconfigured how player heading updates were being sent to remote clients, remote players will now be much more accurate in the direction they are facing.
• Slightly reduced base movement speed, however players now run a bit faster with fists out or while holding binoculars.
• Slightly reduced the bonus from all shoe types, the rarities are still in effect with conveys being the fastest shoes.
• The entire animation set has been adjusted and animations are less exaggerated. Elbows have been moved closer to the body to make the hitbox more consistent, particularly when peeking from cover.  There is also less head bob throughout the animation set making sure the head hit box is moving as little as possible.
• Idle animations on remote players are now more subtle to reduce headshot/bodyshot on idle targets.

GRENADE AND WEAPONS TUNING

The grenade system has been reworked to combat the use of rapidly throwing grenades and Molotov cocktails.  To help retain their usefulness and expand the combat meta, we’ve added an additional inventory slot dedicated to Grenades.  Additional utility and changes to values are listed below.

• Added a grenade slot, players will now only be able to equip one grenade at a time. The third weapon slot will remain a weapon slot.
• The grenade arc has been adjusted to draw over time. Players can still use the grenade arc, but they can no longer throw with instant precision.
• Grenade roll and bounce have been added again, the roll and bounce amount will depend on the angle/slope of the terrain.
• Gas grenades now ramp damage up over time, they do slightly less damage up front but are extremely lethal over time.
• Supporting cough audio has been added to reinforce that damage is ramping for the gas grenade
• The full screen blur effect has been removed from the gas grenade.
• Smoke grenades now extinguish the fire from a Molotov.
• This also applies to players who are on fire.
• If a Molotov is thrown into a smoke grenade it will not ignite.
• Frag grenades have had their kill area reduced significantly.
• Grenade sizes have all been increased slightly to make them easier to see when thrown.
• Grenade trails have been brightened slightly to make them easier to see when thrown.
• Grenades have had their cool downs significantly increased to reduce spam.
• The M9 damage has been slightly reduced; it now takes 2 shots to the head to kill, or 3 with a helmet.

GAMEPLAY UPDATES

To reduce the early game of randomness, we’ve removed Laminated Armor (Lammies) from spawning in the world.  Now you can only find them in the Air Drops.  To help breed a bit more contention and make them a bit easier to get to, we’ve upped the number of airdrop crates that can spawn from the plane to three.  In addition minor clean up and Quality of Life improvements have been made to the UI, Match Start Up times, and Safe zones.  In the future look forward to different Plane Models to help differentiate between ones that drop Crates and the other that drops Bombs.

• Airdrops will now consist of up to 3 drops instead of 1.
• The smaller the safe zone, the fewer drops.
• Sniper rifle drop rate has been adjusted in order to maintain approximately the same number of sniper rifles in play per match.
• Airdrops now spawn flares when opened so other players know someone has interacted with the crate.
• Bombs will now center on the drop and will no longer seem to drop in random places.
• Bomb damage has been reduced and moved over to the same damage model as the explosive barrel
• Bombs will no longer one shot a vehicle.
• Laminated armors no longer spawn in the world and can only be looted from airdrops.
• Item condition has been removed with the exception of armor and helmets.
• Increased the drag leniency to make it easier to left-click on a helmet to equip it.
• The safe zones have been adjusted and will now center on themselves slightly more from phase 3 and on.
• The city ending safe zones have been removed.
• Safe zones in general have been reworked to no longer end on buildings; but can still land between them if there is ample space (in a park in a residential area for example).
• Match start countdown is now 45 seconds (reduced from 90 seconds).
• The impact VFX have been removed from chain link fences so they no longer interfere with combat

COMBAT ZONE UPDATES

Due to popular demand we’ve introduced the Sniper to the Combat Zone.  Recognizing the power of the Sniper rifle we have it spawning in your third slot but only during the last five minutes of the Combat Zone.  We have also removed most item spawns from the Combat Zone as they were not really used by players much and only reducing performance.

• Players now spawn with a different loadout for the last 5 minutes before the Combat Zone server restarts. This new loadout includes a sniper that will appear in slot 3.
• All loot with the exception of helmets and makeshift armor has been removed to increase performance.
• Additional spawn zones are now available in an effort to spread out population slightly.
• Increased the base characters carrying capacity by 200 in order to make room for the additional ammunition built into the loadouts.
• This is only in the combat zone. In BR your carrying capacity still caps at 2400

AUDIO UPDATES

We’ve overhauled our in-game audio system to provide much more realistic and accurate directional sound effects.  When you’re inside a building and hear gunshots, you’ll have a much easier time telling the difference between shots fired from inside that building versus shots fired from outside.  Additionally, we recorded new gunshot sounds that are completely authentic to the guns in-game.  Finally, the new system is also more efficient and is one of several small performance improvements in this update.

BETA TESTING MYH1Z1

In addition to the slew of updates, we’re also releasing an early beta site called myH1Z1 that will provide an updated experience for our current web-based leaderboards, including some new features. Don’t worry though, we’re keeping the current leaderboards as well until this system is out of Beta testing. Learn more details here.

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

We’ve streamlined the log in process by removing the DayBreak LaunchPad.  Learn all the ins and outs of this new process here:.

• The LaunchPad is no longer part of the login flow for the game.  Now, when you launch H1Z1 from Steam, you’ll be taken straight into the game client instead of having to go through the Daybreak LaunchPad. Upon first login, you will be asked to accept the EULA. If you have not already verified your e-mail with us, you will be prompted to do so. We will then send you an e-mail with a link that you will need to clink in order to verify.  After verifying your e-mail, we will grant you two crates that can be accessed in My Crates. This promotion is only available for new players and players who have not previously verified their e-mail with us.
• In-game Settings, Map, and Inventory have all been updated to match the main menu style.  The rest of the in-game UI will be updated along this style in a future update.
• Top 10 scores per mode once again show on mouse-over in the Play menu.
• Added a Render Scale option that allows a user to render at a higher resolution for better visuals. Please note that going over 100% will have a dramatic impact on performance.

LIGHTING UPDATES

• Adjusted the lighting and muzzle flashes for all weapons to make them more performant.
• Tuned point lights to muzzle flashes, Molotov’s, and frag grenades.
• Adjusted the lighting model for dynamic lights to reduce the fall off range and decrease their performance impact.

BUG FIXES

• Cleaned up player animations for pulling out a new weapon to address the issue where they would appear to be shooting before their weapon was equipped.
• Vehicles are now far less likely to immediately explode when wedged in between two objects. They will begin to take damage and eventually catch fire and blow up, however.
• Helmets no longer disappear when looted by a player with a full inventory while reloading.
• Explosive arrow damage now properly goes through chain link fences.
• AK-47 shot sound effects no longer sound muffled when fired from prone and aiming down sights. Also fixed shot sound effects not coming through one speaker side when fired while backed up against a wall.
• Impact effects no longer play when bullets pass through chain link fences.
• The emission sound effects for gas and smoke grenades no longer cuts out early.
• Other players nocked arrows no longer become invisible if the same arrow is nocked twice.
• The camera no longer clips through terrain when prone in first person.
• Pressing autorun while prone no longer causes the player to start standing then go back to prone.
• Sprint is no longer canceled when swapping cameras while sprint toggle is on.
• “-1 Teams” no longer displays in Solo Hosted Games.
• Other players now properly show shells ejecting when firing a shotgun.
• Fourth consecutive melee attack with a machete is no longer faster than other attacks.
• Fixed numerous minor bugs in The Arena such as clipping or floating objects.
• Fixed numerous loot distribution bugs in The Arena where certain areas or buildings did not contain the appropriate amount of loot.
• Changing a setting in the Main Menu no longer causes the in-game settings menu to appear blank.
• Team UI now displays the correct kill count while spectating a player that dies.
• Spectated players name no longer occasionally goes missing in Duos games.
• Starting a match while editing Settings no longer causes the Settings menu to appear distorted.
• Team Killer icon is no longer partially obscured in the Team HUD.
• Voice indicator now appears for users who are spectating.
• Exit Match button is back to its proper place at the bottom of the Team HUD while spectating.
• “Hide Compass” no longer also hides the map coordinates.
• Pressing “Left,” (default: A), wen backing up in first person with the SMG no longer causes the camera to turn instead of strafing.
• Items no longer appear stuck on screen when a dragged item is held while inventory is closed.
• End screens no longer incorrectly appear after closing the Player Report window before entering Team Spectate.
• End screens now show the proper amount of Skulls earned while a Boost is active.
• Cleaned up the character hand animations for moving and shooting while aiming down sights with a rifle.
• Players no longer appear to hold shotguns awkwardly after standing up from prone while reloading.
• Fixed numerous minor text issues in the UI, including cut-off text in several non-English languages.