Battle Grounds III news & patch notes

Due to crash reports, yesterday's update is being reverted until a solution is found. The update remains available on the beta branch.

The next BGU season is upon us! In accordance with the community poll and group discussion, the following changes have been made.

• Nerfed Spanish Musket accuracy
• Slow debuff damage cap on grenade increased
• Lit grenades now drop on any hit of 30 damage or more
• Rapier was added for British officer
• Officer buffs are all now 30s and buffs can now override each other
• Blunderbuss accuracy was nerfed but now has more pellets
• Shotgun slow debuff removed from all weapons except for blunderbuss
• Sniper reload movement speed increased
• Sweep hits can now headshot
• Crouched melee is now available with mp_disable_melee

Added cvars sv_periodic_message and sv_periodic_message_interval. Can be used by server owners to add periodic chat messages to unmodded servers. Does nothing when sv_periodic_message is empty.

Attention soldiers! We have a mini-update for you, as well as an external Google survey for you to give feedback about the game: https://forms.gle/f366MvRrZe1MC8aL6 Here are the game changes:

• Shooting can now drain stamina, controlled by mp_stamina_multiplier_shooting. Set to 0 to disable.
• General-purpose shooting damage multiplier mp_damage_multiplier_shooting. I am particularly interest in testing values of 0.8 or 0.9.
• General-purpose melee damage multiplier mp_damage_multiplier_melee.
• mp_disable_ammo_cache_on_restart. It's in the name.

Attention soldiers! After the latest BGU, we have several balance changes and fixes available for you.

• Removed jump shooting
• Reverted Spanish musket movement speed change, instead nerfing its damage and increasing recoil. Stomach shots no longer kill.
• Swapped Officer & Sniper movement speeds
• Cut sniper movement speed while reloading by 40%
• Increased Blunderbuss spread to make it less effective at long range
• FOV changes from buffs disabled when mp_competitive = 1, allowing for use of zoom_sensitivity_ratio
• Fixed officer buff icons being underneath the health/ammo HUD
• Fixed typo in Trade Musket description
• Fixed slow effect text not loading properly
• Fixed French Grenadier red uniform model disappearing at low model qualities

See you on the battlefield!

Balance Mini-Update released!

Nerfed Spanish musket by slowing player movement speed when equiped.

Nerfed Dutch musket by giving it a random additional lock time; it will still be faster than most muskets on average.

Slow effect from grenade and shotguns now lasts 3 seconds instead of 4

Officer can now use the "Rally Round" buff to get rid of Slow even when they have Slow themselves (before, Slow would block it) And a small quality of life change: the class menu now shows the minimum and maximum lock times for weapons that have randomized times. Before, only the maximum time was shown.

1. Added built-in anticheat plugin (server update) 2. Added new French Officer voices from TheSoul (server update) (battlecries not finished yet) 3. Added new(?) yet nostalgic voices for the Minuteman class 😉 (server update) 3. Added the 'gag' command to gag players without muting their mic. 4. The 'asay' command is now accessible to everyone, so players can send chat messages to admins only. 5. Players can now replace old map nominations with new ones. Stay tuned for more! There's a big update in store for the end of this year!

Attention, soldiers! We're posting this bulletin to keep you all up-to-date on the latest going-abouts! From weekly linebattles, new features and fixes, and future development ideas, our line of battle still presses on. At the end of this post you can find a link to an opinion survey of ours.

Linebattles Every Wednesday hosted by 3D

On every Wednesday, at 8:30pm EST/ 12:30am UTC (i.e. early Thursday morning for EU players), the 3D clan is hosting a public linebattle. Maps vary from game to game, and they play custom ones too! Eventually we'll try to get weekly EU linebattle running too, probably on the weekends. Stay tuned for more info on that! Below is a screenshot from our last linebattle. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/850710ce9dc404a8e21279ec31eb750b04b20705.jpg

Mini-Updates!

Over the past few months there have been a series of small updates and fixes summarized here:

• Added an 'asay' command for admins to text-chat directly with other admins.
• Changes from Bg_Canal_Test (as included in the previous large update) have been merged into Bg_Canal proper. These changes make it much more difficult to spawncamp on the map.
• More fixes to rare bugs with the election/voting menu.
• Fixed an out-of-bounds exploit on Bg_Blackswamp
• Fixed bot AI bug where bots sometimes targeted friendly players when they weren't supposed to.
• Removed watermelons!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/3f49e49ff089907744d16275aa14f80026ba6c38.png

Development Direction

We have two new features undergoing development right now. The first is an authentic set of French-language voices from 66th member TheSoul, for the French Officer variant of the American Officer. Viv la France! The second (initially developed by Ricochet), pictured in a WIP image below, are on-screen icons for flags that should help new players understand where their objectives are (of course, experienced players will be able to turn these off.) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/f33381ff15d3a09948e9a5bb1a77470fd52f1634.jpg After those two features, further updates will be focused on quality-of-life changes to make the game easier to play and understand for new players. Among many other ideas, an example would be a hint-system which walks players through their first time using the team menu and class menu. For those interested, we also have an opinion survey on what grand direction future BG3 development should take—continuing on the source engine, or migrating to Unreal Engine 5? Stay tuned for more—until then, we'll see you on the battlefield!

Attention, soldiers! This few weeks, several minor updates have been released, including one just today! The details for these have all already been announced on our discord server, however we will still now summarize them here for players who are not on the discord. One other thing—watch the below video to learn the new way to unlock the game's SECRET uniform! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrlx6IVfy9E

Voting System

• Linebattle map nominations will now only appear in the vote when an admin is on the server or when the gamemode is already set to linebattle (mp_respawnstyle = 4)
• Built-in RTV will now open a map election instead of immediately switching map
• The minimum number of RTVs required for RTV is now 2, in cases where there are only 3-4 players on a server.
• RTV now changes map instantly after the map vote. I.e. it won't wait until the end of the map anymore (kind of the purpose of RTV...)
• sq removed from default map vote rotation
• Added more error message in chat explaining why a player's rtv command in chat might fail.
• Maps must now be included somewhere in a server's mapelections.res in order for it to be nominatable by players. This lets servers have private training/test maps without exposing themselves to trolls who want to switch the server to unplayable maps.
• Added more failsafes to prevent odd voting system behavior, ex. voting menus staying open for too long or votes persisting through map changes.

Bg_Canal Improvements

• Widened the British spawn exit door such that trolls can no longer block the exit single-handedly.
• Made many experimental layout changes and included them in a new map file, bg_canal_test. These changes are oriented toward making it harder to spawn camp enemies.
• See the video at the top of this post to see an overview of changes.

Other Changes/Fixes

• the pings chat command no longer includes bots' zero pings.
• added admins command to chat which outputs list of admins to chat.
• locked game at high model quality setting (to potentially circumvent a crash issue)
• fixed French Officer sleeve on the Royal Forester's Carbine (there's a bug where it shows British Officer sleeve instead)
• added console variable mp_bg2_speed, which when turned on removes the 10% player speed increase from BG2 to BG3; I.e. makes players move at slower BG2-like speeds.
• removed watermelons

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/e270faf8b93dc2e9ac1b0c4c13810147acb790b2.jpg There is a heinous monster afoot... it must die, or we'll all be kaput. It stalks the swamps and ruins at night setting Britons and 'Mericans afright. It is summoned by absence of light, glowing pumpkins smiling in delight. Who will step up as our heroic knight and save us all from this evil sprite. Trick or treat, soldiers! This coming Halloween on Sunday the 31st, at 2pm EST / 7pm BST, the Battle Grounds III Official FRANKFURT Server will be hosting our first ever Halloween event... will you be the one to vanquish the terrible beast? Join us for a fun time on the NEWLY REIMAGINED map Bg_Blackswamp from BG2. Accompanying the event, and ONE HOUR prior to it (at 1pm EST/6pm BST), the game will receive an update to support this event, while ALSO delivering long-awaited features, including the VOTING SYSTEM that will let players vote for map changes, mute players, scramble teams, etc. Servers MUST update at the same time in order for updated players to be able to connect. See you all in the swamps and catacombs... (If the FRANKFURT server fills up, the NEW YORK server will also be used to host a simultaneous event) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/a417ce5a0a29f069f93a5c20539a2d8b3bc40e3d.jpg

Attention, soldiers! It has been a while since the game received a large update; however, over the past few months, the game has nonetheless received a larger number of smaller updates. Their changes are summarized here. Also, be aware that there will be another update this weekend, which introduces a new voting system!

• Added sg_boston to default mapcycle
• Fixed British Officer model
• Fixed Light Infantry hitboxes
• Adjusted hitboxes on Jaegar, Native, Frontiersman, Continental Officer, and French Officer models
• Added missing out of tickets texts
• Added mp_tickets_timelimit to siege cfgs
• New knife animations (again)
• New Tomahawk animations
• New "Newfoundland Infantry" model for the Green Light Infantry uniform
• Experimental new weapon, the gunstock war club for native (it does more damage when swung in the air, and gives a speed boost on each kill)
• Added bg_horseshoe as semi-official map
• Buffed Trade Musket and Dagger weapons
• Tweaks to bg_abbey
• Fixed lighting on a barrel model
• Removed deroga from default mapcycle until such time that it can be fixed
• Players now have to join a team (or spectate) before being able to chat
• Tweaked exp bottle texture
• Added maps/vmfs/example_map as an example map for mapper
• New Spontoon and beltaxe animations
• Fixed a rare crash that could occur in the class menu
• Fixed weird cartridge paper in the Sea Service and Common Carbine reload animations.
• Fixed issue whereby players would be mistakenly auto-oppressed.
• Added many new props for mapmakers, courtesy of danihel
• Added missing gunstock world model and menu icons
• Tweaked gunstock adrenaline mechanic
• Tweaked bottle hit-world sound
• Bots no longer block XP
• Added bot_minplayers_delay to control when the server checks whether or not it should add bots after map change
• EXP system is now at least temporarily enabled on every map.
• Darkened the bonus 4th American uniform to make its 'camoflouge' ability more closely match other uniforms.
• Added new quality models courtesy of @danihel (can we get that fish to be an alternative to the bottle?)
• Added gag and ungag command for stopping a player's text chat messages without stopping their voice chat. The shorthand commands for this are g and ug. Gagged is preserved between player leaving/joining and between maps just as mute is.
• Mute command now only blocks voice chat, not text chat.
• Added silence and unsilence commands for both gagging and muting players. The shorthand commands for this are sl and usl
• Added sv_rtv_enabled, sv_rtv_nomination, and sv_rtv_threshold for controlling the new RTV system.
• Certain console commands can now be entered directly into chat without being prefaced with ! or / . This can be turned off with sv_chatcommands 0. These commands are listed below:
  • rtv rocks the vote. The map name is an optional parameter that only the first person rocking the vote can enter, which will specify the map to change to after a successful RTV. The map nomination part can be turned off with sv_rtv_nomination 0. The required threshold for rtv completion is determined by sv_rtv_threshold.
  • currentmap reports the name of the current map to chat
  • nextmap reports the name of the next map to chat (or sets it, if you're an admin and you provide a map name after it)
  • pings reports the average pings of each team
  • ff reports the states of the various friendly fire variables
  • respawn reports the value of mp_respawntime
• Fixed the RTV system on map start: added sv_rtv_delay to set the time after map change that must pass before players can start RTV again. Default is 120 seoonds.
• As well, there must now be at least 3 players in-game (who aren't spectators) in order for RTVs to happen at all.
• Added new, disabled by default, experimental commands for the voting system which can be entered into chat. These include votekick, votemute,votemap, votescramble, and vote. These are controlled by variables sv_vote_scramble_enabled, etc. Example usage of this would be for a player to type votescramble into chat to begin a vote for scrambling the teams, and then other players type vote 1 into chat to vote yes, or vote 2 to vote no. This system isn't fully tested (which is why it's off by default), so experiment at your own peril! The system will be improved and enhanced in future updates, including providing an easier-to-use GUI.
• Added more model work from @danihel ! He should post some pictures here

Celebrating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, we are releasing the largest update the game has ever seen! We are introducing new weapons, map changes, new gameplay elements, balance tweaks and the much anticipated progression system. Without much further ado:

Weapons

TEN new weapons:

• Light Model Charleville /w Bayonet
• A musket with average melee range and a quicker than average melee refire time
• Pattern 1756 “Common” Artillery Carbine /w Bayonet
• A shorter version of the sea service, with higher accuracy.
• Pattern 1770 Serjeant’s Fewzee
• An accurate musket with a short lock time, yet has no bayonet and has lower damage
• Pattern 1718 “Old Pattern” Long Land Musket
• Longer melee range and higher damage than the long pattern, yet more unwieldly
• M1777 French Cavalry Carbine
• A more accurate officer’s carbine with less damage
• Blunderbuss
• Deadly at point blank range
• Dagger
• A weak melee weapon that requires 2 headshots to kill
• French Rapier
• A longer range sword with smaller melee sweep and damage
• Trade Musket
• An unwieldly, yet powerful weapon. At shorter ranges 1 hit kills.
• Broken Bottle Meme Weapon
• Humiliate your opponents by smashing them in with a broken bottle

Miscellaneous Weapon Changes

• All weapon slings are now jiggly.
• Long pattern weapon model has been redone.
• “Brown Bess Carbine” renamed to “Royal Forester’s Carbine” and the model has also been redone.
• French Grenadier’s M1777 model has been improved.
• Spanish Mosquete lock time nerfed.

Historical Weapon Mode

• New mp_year and mp_year_accuracy server variables control which weapons are available.
• On by default.
• mp_year is the historical accuracy setting to use, while mp_year_accuracy controls whether or not to use mp_year at all. Set mp_year_accuracy to 0 to disable this system.
• Ex. no Pattern 1776 rifles before 1776

Maps

sg_siege

• Rebalanced tickets for both teams; defenders now have fewer tickets.
• Updated graphics in certain places.
• Attackers must traverse spiked barricades in order to assault front gate.
• Swivel damage greatly increased.
• Secondary containment zone built behind front gate to slow down attackers.
• Tunnel door can now be locked by defenders to halt the flow of attackers.
• Locked door can be blown open by capturing the tunnel flag.
• Fire trap now lasts much longer and covers the flag, allowing defenders to respawn.

bg_townguard

• Redesigned town center inn and swivel gun house.
• Replaced brazier brush with 3D model.
• Added ropes with turnbuckles for roof traversal to a few buildings.
• Both teams have sniper spawns: Americans – church tower and roof, British – inn near Street flag.
• Opened up church graveyard a bit for easier movement, can also get onto church roof via scaffolding.
• Other small additions for more detail throughout map.
• All lights with gentle pulse have been switched to normal appearance for performance improvements.
• Grenadiers can now climb the ladders.

bg_wrecked

• Added “fun” spawns to rowboats in ocean.
• Fixed displacement texture blend bug.
• Replaced Half Life: 2 sand texture.
• Swivel gun and ammo refill area added to cliff near ship bow.

lb_battleofconcord

• Fixed missing models.
• Retextured farmhouse near American spawn and added planks going to door.
• Added few more props near bridge.
• Updated ground and water textures.

sg_boston

• Crashes have been fixed.
• Boston has been re-added to the default map rotation.
• Balcony flag gives attackers extra tickets.
• Bomb cart is faster, and on detonation drains all of defenders tickets.

Progression System

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/3733d9135ea2f86ec22e22ab2b220d0a3524798f.png

Overview

• New uniforms and most of new weapons locked behind EXP-based progression system.
• Earn EXP by killing enemies, completing objectives, and winning rounds and matches.
• Play the game to earn EXP to level up, and then trade in earned rum rations for the items.
• No “Pay to Win”
• All new weapons are unlocked in private matches.
• Players who participated in the beta receive a loyalty bonus of 25 Rum Rations.

New Uniforms

• British Officer now has a new and improved model (for everyone, this doesn’t have to be unlocked)
• De Lancy’s Brigade uniform for British Light Infantry.
• “Queen’s Rangers” uniform for British Light Infantry.
• Régiment de Soissonnais uniform for French Grenadier.
• British 52nd Regiment of Foot Grenadier uniform.
• French Officer conversion for Continental Officer.
• Feathered “Macaroni” Caps.
• Derandomized American Frontiersman Uniforms.
• Derandomized American Militia Uniforms.
• “Easter Egg” Accoutrements, ex. Baguettes in French Grenadier uniform, Emergency tea kit for British Infantry.
• Beta Reward uniform for those who participated in the beta: a Green-and-White American Infantry uniform.

Gameplay Changes

UI Changes

• Fixed respawn timer not appearing on lower resolutions, and realigned nearby HUD elements to remove overlaps and provide cleaner look.
• When spectating a player, that player’s name now always appears on the bottom-left.
• Added a “Damage Over Range Graph” tab to the classmenu for comparing weapon damages over different ranges.
• Added background crosshair texture options in BG3 options.
• Added live crosshair preview to BG3 options.
• Added “Hide Weapon Viewmodel” option to BG3 options.
• Fixed swivel gun and Grenade killfeed icons.
• Added automatic on-screen notifications for when ticket amounts are adjusted by mp_ticket_x_adjust commands.

System Improvements

• Added more sophisticated LOD versions of player models and weapon models, which should improve performance.
• Added more per-player console commands, ex. “heal”, “health”, “shrooms”, “freeze”.
• Official game servers are now 128-tick.

Miscellaneous Gameplay Changes

• Maps can now be both CTF and Skirmish: ex. play CTF on Townguard. Controlled by new mp_flagmode server variable. Can be randomized with mp_flagmode_randomize.
• mp_friendlyfire_swivel now controls whether or not swivel guns deal friendly fire.
• New “fun” spawns are optional; use mp_competitive to turn them off.

The Blunderbuss

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/4bf2cc41b6a13c181704cc29ec5d42c455bb6b82.png Find some cover; the blunderbuss is coming! The blunderbuss unleashes a mighty blast that packs a devastating blow at close range. Be advised: Enemies that are unfortunate enough to be close enough to your intended victims upon firing may very well become victims themselves. Those who managed to survive the initial blast will find themselves on the wrong end of a knife (or bottle)!

The Trade Musket

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/7489a35cc3f4076b451e9d75c66f2047e74f9150.png For those who think hiding behind their teammates (to avoid the aforementioned blunderbuss) is a good idea, they better watch out for the trade musket. The large caliber ensures a kill on a hit anywhere on the body, and the bullets pass through their intended victim to strike anything that happens to be behind the primary target.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’d like to give you a juicy BG3 update to put alongside your thanksgiving spread.

Gameplay Updates

• Grenadiers wielding grenades will now drop them when their throwing arm is injured.

In an effort to move away from point blank hipfiring for easy kills, the following experimental shooting changes were applied:

• Hipfire accuracy cone is now 1.5 times as big as before
• Hipfire accuracy takes slightly longer to reach it’s peak after coming to a standstill
• Bringing up ironsights (ADS time) now takes 25% longer, to reduce unrealistic quick-scoping
• The ‘slow debuff’ applied by shotguns and grenades now only lasts for 4 seconds instead of 5

Map Changes

bg_canal

• Removed first flags, modified other flags into 2/1/2 split
• Opened up the city hall area a bit more
• Flag behavior streamlined with other 5v5 maps

bg_wrecked

• Graphical enhancements, including waves (thanks Taxpayer!)

sg_siege

• Front gate has more health
• Moved tunnel flag further back in favor of defenders
• Main tunnel room made slightly bigger
• Added a room in American spawn to serve as a ‘final stand’ room when tickets run out
• Respawn time lengthened from 7s to 9s to give defenders more time to recover
• British spawn barricade now breaks a second slower to give defenders more time at round start
• Added class limits for grenadiers

Bug Fixes

• Fixed broken ground texture on wrecked
• Fixed glass texture reflection, multiple maps
• Fixed hole in british spawn on siege that allowed for an early exit
• Fixed missing texture on canal

Mapping contest maps released!

At long last, the maps from the contest will be officially released! We know you all have been chomping at the bit to play them, and we have been hard at work bringing the maps and new assets into the game.

Revamp: sg_siege

Lead mapper meat has been taking the bg2 classic sg_siege and bringing it up to par with other bg3 maps such as bg_winterisle and ctf_stonefort! Some of the changes include a reorganized interior with a swivel gun, brand new palisade models, a redone mine and cellar, and smoother overall gameplay. These are welcome changes on an already loved map.

Gameplay tweaks

All 5v5 maps have had flag capture times standardized. The old flag cap time on some maps was 5 seconds, and this has been shifted to 3.5 seconds. This should allow for faster back and fourth gameplay. Miscellaneous additions and fixes

• New models have been added for mappers and level designers to play with
• Weapon models recompiled by Awesome to fix lighting bugs
• Broken physmeshes on certain props fixed by meat
• Townguard has received another round of graphical updates
• Respawn time on townguard has been reduced by 1 second to account for shorter cap times
• Added 5v5.cfg and pug15.cfg

Hello Friends, It’s been a while since our last update, however you all have not been forgotten about. While this update has not been as flashy as some of the weapon additions, there are map improvements galore and new assets that bring a bit of polish to the game. There’s also a nice fix that players have been demanding for quite a while.

Mapping Contest Update

With our mapping contest coming to a close, make sure you swing by the mapping competition site to check out the teaser images of the contestants’ maps. The maps are looking phenomenal and we are really looking forward to seeing what they have done. A final playtest will be held this Saturday, the 18th at 6PM GMT. Check the official discord for more details!

Map Changes

Winterisle

• Added choke points to flanking routes
• Added more cover to the American side of the map
• Small changes made inside of the fort
• Moved the British flag slightly further away from the British Spawn
• Brightened the map
• Winterisle has replaced plateau in the default map rotation

Townguard

• Added a shortcut to the town center middle garden
• Fixed the small stairs in British spawn that players got stuck on
• Toned down the HDR and bloom

Trenton

• Added an ammo box in the connector
• Raised the peep hole in the connector, market can no longer see if someone is jumping over the connector wall
• Added slight cover to the market stalls

Road

• Fixed flag return times to 2 seconds for both teams
• Ammo boxes have been added to the sniper nests
• Fixed a hole in the map near American spawn
• The logs over the middle are now easier for players and bots to traverse

Ravine

• Added more spawns for both teams
• Lowered a rock model near the right side of the main gate that was causing players to get stuck on it

Bombzone

Bombzone removed due to not seeing much play

New Assets

As the deadline for the BG3 Mapping Contest nears, some fancy new assets have been added to give the upcoming maps a bit more polish. They include:

• New flat and pointed palisade walls
• A market box that fits on top of the stall
• An assembled static farm wagon
• Updated wood spikes and a second skin for them

Miscellaneous

Musket one-shot kill ranges have changed to be based on the weapons’ damages. These ranges are now visible in the classmenu. Accuracy values are also now reported in the class menu. Last, but certainly not least, the red screen effect that occurs when players take damage has been reduced. The red screen had the tendency to disorient the player in dark or smoky environments; this tendency should now be reduced. A new variable ‘mp_damage_kill_cap’ now exists such that, when turned on, damage values are capped to the victim’s health; for example a fatal headstab (on a healthy player) would always report 100 damage regardless of weapon used. This can be used in competitive environments in order to balance damage scores on the scoreboard. “My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.”—Abigail Adams

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/663702bce6171559e86e9dae3ff9a7a0e91fc9b9.pngAttention, soldiers! Much has happened inside the developer’s tent—first, we would like to welcome the programmer PhilmacFLy back into the development team. Phil was back in the team during BG2, and was in fact the one who first implemented having the website shown in the main menu. He’s back, and he’s already coded something for us: the player action menu, which you can read about below.

Player Action Menu

The native, built-in admin menu now supports the player action menu; this will let admins ban, mute, slay etc. players without having to type in their name. Pesky mic spammers begone! (Thanks PhilmacFLy for his hard work!)

Map Changes

Bg_Trenton:

Added a house extension to give British cover for defending Inn area Brightened lanterns, for improved visibility Improved spawn areas Various performance and aesthetic improvments

Bg_WinterIsle:

Made flank routes even longer (listen for that crow!)

Lb_Princeton:

Fixed sun color Added another location for crossing the river Smoothed some displacements for improved movement and sightlines

5v5 Tournament Results, Fullcap Mechanism

This weekend was the final match of the Season 4 5v5 Tournament! Congratulations to the CN clan (‘cool nerdz’) for their victory! However, the match brought to our attention an issue with the fullcap mechanism, one that has been around since BG2. Basically, the game was only checking for fullcaps once per second, such that a team may have to hold the flags for 1 second, while at other times it felt instantaneous. This had a direct impact on the match. Rematches and such aside, this issue has now been fixed such that fullcaps will happen instantaneously once all flags are captured. (Additionally, captured flags will no longer give points after the match is ended.) Exporting Scores to CSV For those so interested in such data, players can now export match data to CSV files via the csv_export console command. This command can be run at any time (bind it to a key!), and what it does is it export a file into the ‘Battle Grounds III\bg3’ path of their game.

CSV Export

The format for these files is mapname_americanScore_britishScore.csv, for example, bg_ambush_1070_640.csv And then inside the CSV, there is a list of players with their steamIDs, names, teams, scores, damage scores, and pings. We understand this feature won’t be used by a lot of players, but there it is for those who would like it. More Server Variables These server variables have been added to the game: sv_perfectaim_training – a non-cheat version of sv_perfectaim which turns off all weapon inaccuracy. However it only works when all players are on the same team (excluding spectators). Clans can use this to practice shooting during their trainings (as bullet drop is still on). mp_teamdamage_score_multiplier – controls the multiplier by which team damage is multiplied before being added into a player’s damage score. Default value is -2. Setting it to a zero value or positive value may be desirable in certain gamemodes (ex. Jawbones). mp_suicide_penalty – turns on/off the -100 damage score penalty for when players press ‘delete’ to kill themselves. That’s all folks! We hope you have enjoyed this update, and stay tuned for more! “Go on and improve in everything worthy.”—John Adams

We have not forgotten about you guys, and we are back with some juicy new content! We have new weapons, new mechanics, new maps and more!

New Weapon

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/2c58e85fca2ae87659d6d7f8e07d80fc27750acd.png We are introducing (yet another) new musket for the Americans, the “Committee of Safety Musket”. This American made short pattern clone lacks accuracy and has a slower lock time, but makes up for these shortcomings in damage.

Balance Changes

With the addition of new weaponry and with more on the horizon, balance is an ongoing and ever changing challenge that our dedicated beta testers and development team have been diligently working on.

Weapon Changes

The Dutch Musket’s damage has been taken down from 111 to 109. The extremely quick lock time has already made the Dutch formidable for hitting moving targets, and the high ball damage made it the go to choice in line battles. Turning the stats down on it gives other muskets a chance to shine. The Sea Service lock time has been shortened from the default .135 to .09. To counterbalance this, its damage has been decreased from 111 to 108. This will push the Sea Service into the role filled by weapons such as the Spanish Mosquette and the Dutch Musket. The Old Model Charleville’s “randomness” feature on the locktime has been decreased. We’ve heard lots of complaints about the lock time making the weapon unusable.

New Mechanics

Grenades and shotguns now have a “stamina draining” effect. Grenade blasts that do over 20 damage will drain all of a target’s stamina. Any shotgun damage will drain all of a target’s stamina. On top of this stamina drain, there is a 20% movement speed debuff for 5 seconds. Effected officers can’t use their buffs, and the light classes (Militia, British Light Infantry) are immune to the effect. We’re hoping this change will make grenades and shotguns more viable and give them a specialized role. The stamina debuff can be blocked and cancelled by the officer’s “Rally Round” buff. The “Rally Round” buff has seen some improvements as well. On top of the aforementioned cancelling and blocking of the shotgun/grenade slow debuffs, the buff now instantly restores stamina to 100% at the moment of buff activation. It also removes damage weaknesses of allies, and allies with the “Rally Round” buff ignore the damage resistance of enemies.

New Server Variables

We’ve been doing a lot of work walking the delicate tightrope of balancing the game for both the linebattle community and the competitive community. And one of the results of that work is to come up with some variables so players can run some tests themselves, and see what works best for htem. We’ve added a new experimental linebattle game mode that tightens vertical accuracy amongst other things. It can be activated using lb_tighten_vertical_accuracy. Added sv_flintlock_delay_offset to give server admins the option to play with having increased lock times all around the board. We’ve added an sv_player_model_scale cheat for players who want to feel larger than normal. We’ve also added sv_muzzlevelocity_scale and sv_simulatedbullets_gravity for trajectory testing. For melee heavy players and those who want to train, sv_headhits_only has been added as well.

Bug Fixes

As always bugs are getting fixed, some faster than others, but there is always progress on that front. Fixed teamchat such that it actually works now. When friendly fire is off, bullets that hit teammates are now blocked instead of potentially passing through them and hitting enemies. We’ve also fixed sideways physics boxes on certain models.

New Assets

Our mappers have been working to add in new models and textures. Our lead mapper Klif has added in a tavern set, a wooden trunk and a spiked barricade for our developers and community mappers to play with. Ricochet has added a swaying animation to trees, bushes and fields—this automatically applies to all existing maps without recompilation. We’ve fixed up 2 cherished maps: bg_townguard and sg_siege Textures have been replaced to more modern textures, and texture alignment has been done. Spawn entities have been fixed so that they no longer get stuck into the ground.

New Maps!

lb_princeton

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/b992358ad147ec579dd8d546e4c7aa38155b4fbb.png A lot of the development that has been done has inadvertently neglected the linebattle community. We are starting by bringing back a cherished map, lb_princeton. Ricochet created the map in Battle Grounds 2 and has worked to port the map over with newer models and textures.

sg_boston

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/68cf2fabe53b16c9f910952cb8dc253425a8d215.jpg An urban combat map akin to Townguard that features a pushable bomb cart and an underground sewer with lots of chutes and ladders, sg_boston was created by Awesome at the tail end of BG2’s life and has been ported over with improvements on the way

sg_ravine

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/27e08d3f49aacdf3e619ff5ab03741115ee7b237.jpg A Battle Grounds 2 map created by Awesome, sg_ravine is an outdoors map in which defenders must navigate a treacherous ravine in order to attack a palisade fort. Cannons, trapdoors, barricades, lockable doors, flammable oil, pitfalls, falling rocks, sniper’s nests—this is not a map for the faint-hearted. Like sg_boston, textures and models have been replaced and modernized.

Future Roadmap

We unfortunately were not able to meet all of the goals of our posted Roadmap by today, yet we decided to put in this update to give all of you new toys before we double down on finishing the roadmap plan. “We began a contest for liberty ill provided with the means for the war, relying on our patriotism to supply the deficiency. We expected to encounter many wants and distressed… we must bear the present evils and fortitude…”—George Washington

At ease, soldiers! This new patch aims to serve as a stopgap to bigger content and to make some small quality of life changes for server administrators, mappers and players alike. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/38a03724b4d96c5ad85939ea55d045325b517acf.jpg For everyone: the community map, Bg_Wrecked, has been added to the game! This was a map from the mapping competition last year. It has been tweaked from its community version; and also, Bg_Towngard, and Bg_Trenton has received improvements as well. Check the bottom of this post for their full changelogs. For the players: We’ve fixed an Old Model Charleville bug where the recoil was sometimes being applied after the musket was reloaded. Also, for those playing with higher pings, the random lock time has been decreased to be in line with the effective lock time of lower ping players. (Players with 0 ping will receive all of the randomness; players with 250 ping or more receive none of it. It is a linear scale.) Next, shift walking no longer has any effect on ironsights movement speed. For mappers, mp_tickets_a_adjust and mp_tickets_b_adjust console commands have been added, as their name suggests they add and subtract tickets. Commands such as spawn, clip, solo, spec, brit, amer, msay, aclasskit, etc. now work with the entity point_servercommand. For mappers and server admins, ‘mp_comp_notifications’ server variable has been added to turn off serverwide notifications of the spawn, noclip, mp_tickets_a_adjust and mp_tickets_b_adjust commands. Finally, the default lerp settings have been reverted back to the values they had before the previous update. The bug where the Windows application name for the game was 'Battle Grounds III Dev" instead of 'Battle Grounds III'. Stay tuned for some big improvements and additions in the next few months. The next major update will be at the end of February. “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” — Thomas Paine {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/68428798cae3e90d80c6aaefc335b41b7634df14.jpg

Map Changes:

Bg_Townguard

• Several buildings have been graphically upgraded
• New street texture blended with dirt
• New rockwall texture on town gates and walls
• New brick texture on bottom of shop building

Bg_Wrecked:

• Added bot support
• Optimization improved for higher fps
• Minor visual tweaks

Trenton:

• Fixed issues with bot pathing
• Redesigned church
• Minor gameplay tweak to Inn area

Attention, soldiers! A new update has been released. This is the biggest update in the history of BG3—read below for the changelog!

Weapons

• Added a new weapon, the 'M1717' Old Model Charleville for American Infantry—an older musket donated by French allies. While technically superior in accuracy and melee range, the weapon suffers from an unreliable lock with a longer, randomized lock time.
• Added a new weapon, the Dutch Musket for American Infantry. Paid for by Dutch investors, this is a good all-around weapon which features a quick lock and less stamina drain when stabbing.
• Added a new weapon, the Sea Service Pattern Brown Bess for Royal Infantry. A marine weapon pressed into infantry service, this musket is a bit shorter but otherwise identical to the regular Brown Bess. It has a quicker reload time, a shorter melee range, and a lesser weight that slightly increases player speed. The weapon all features a faster aim-down-sights time.
• Increased the power of buckshot used by the Fowler and the British Light Infantry Carbine. Also buffed the carbine (as used by officers and British Light Infantry) with the same faster aim-down-sights speed of the Sea Service Pattern.
• Fixed the Charleville smoke bug.

Menu/HUD

• Added an admin menu which is accessibly with 'G' by default. Existing players will have to bind the key from the options menu. Players may also need to use the options menu to bind the keys 7 through 0 as used by the menu. From this menu, players can start events, change maps, manage game options, and more. As this menu is still in early development, there are currently some limitations which will be fixed in future updates:
  • The map list only includes default maps and not custom maps.
  • Per-player actions (ban, kick, mute) are not yet accessible from the menu.
  • The 'Community Configs' section only lists configuration files now pre-included with the game (Thanks to the 29th Regiment of Foot for the configuration files!), as opposed to listing all custom configurations on the server.
• Added a team-wide class menu that allows admins to easily select the class, weapon, and uniform for their team (linebattle only)(and the spawns on the maps must be inside the trigger_spawn_room entity). This menu is accessible as an option in the admin menu (or separately bindable in the options menu).
• Fixed HUD bug where health & ammo numeric labels disappeared at lower resolutions.
• Fixed bug where some game messages such as "The British have won this round!" and "Americans win!" did not appear.
• Game messages (as exemplified above) now appear in a larger font in a black box beneath the score information at the top of the screen.
• Added the 'msay' command to let admins make messages appear in the same area as normal game messages (as described above).
• The ammo ball icons in the HUD are now easier to see and now stack into rows instead of extending horizontally.
• Improved killfeed icon for Short Pattern Brown Bess Bayonet (whose bayonet image is shared with the carbine).
• Player counts and limits now appear in the class menu on top of the class icons.
• Class health effects (such as the grenadier's built-in damage resistance) are now described in the class menu via a label which appears when the class is selected.
• Weapon lock time now appears as a displayed stat in the class menu.
• Noclip and 'spawn' commands now display messages in chat when activated; this prevents covert admin abuse in competitive matches. (Thanks Karpik!)
• Improved the description of the War Club and fixed various typos in other weapon descriptions.
• Renamed the "Brown Bess with Bayonet" for Royal Infantry to "Short Pattern Brown Bess with Bayonet". In time, it may be renamed to "Short Pattern with Bayonet" entirely. Historically, 'Brown Bess' was an umbrella term for a family of variations or 'patterns', not a specific model.
• Added 'Wine Bottle' easter egg.

Maps

• Added Ctf_Stonefort map. Fire the swivel gun, storm the ramparts, and the capture the flag to bring victory to your team!
• On Bg_Trenton:
  • 1st flags are now already capped at the start of round
  • small window added to enable shooting from connector to inn
  • market upper (scaffolding) area expanded
  • various minor tweaks
• Added new props and textures as used on Ctf_Stonefort and Bg_Trenton; these are now available to community mappers.
• Took out Bg_Snowlake, Bg_Freemans_Farm, and Bg_Woodland from the default map rotation, while adding Ctf_Stonefort.
• On bg_freemans_farm and bg_plateau, reverted default configurations to ordinary skirmish (no ticket mode).
• The default server launch script (LaunchServer.bat) is now set it load the 'sq' map by default, as opposed to bg_plateau.

Other

• The autoexec.cfg has been modified so that all new players start with ideal network settings. This will even the playing field from a network perspective. (Thanks Greedychris!)
• The autoexec.cfg also now enables plugin messages by default.
• Added a self-explanatory 'swap_teams' command which effects all players. (This functionality is also accessible from the admin menu).
• Added a self-explanatory 'remove_class_limits' command which effects both teams.
• (For mappers) func_tank entity now returns the player using it as !activator when using the OnGotPlayerController output.

That was a lot! There are new toys for you soldiers to play with. Our next large update will be at the end of February; until then, you can expect plenty of smaller hotfixes and content updates to fix issues that arise, especially in regards to the new admin menu.

It has been a long, harsh, silent winter stuffed in winter quarters, but now Battle Grounds III is back and ready for a big update! This update will be on January 12th at 12pm EST/4pm GMT. In this news post we will discuss the content of the next update, announce a new team member, and discuss the future direction of the game.

Game Update

This upcoming update will be the biggest update Battle Grounds III has ever had! New weapons, new maps, a new admin menu, bug fixes and more! The entire update will be covered in full when it releases on Sunday, so for now we will only tease some of the incoming content. Servers must update in order for updated players to connect.

New Weapons

In this update, Battle Grounds III will get its first new weapons, three of them! They are the Old Model Charleville for American Infantry, the Dutch Musket for American Infantry, and the Sea Service Pattern Brown Bess for British Infantry. Each one has unique stats and will spice up linebattles and skirmishes alike. They are shown here in the images below, ordered respectively: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/7037dd126c555893e7aa53e72178643285d2c3a7.jpg

Admin Menu

Administrating servers has always been a challenge. Admins need to learn too many commands or install a third-party plugin that doesn't do the full job. Now, Battle Grounds III will have its own interactive admin menu, as previewed in this image: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/7baf7eba285acd3ff4d1c6a0c7b325e1ec4fca53.jpg This admin menu and the work done for it will make a great starting point for future work for a voting system.

And More!

Bug fixes include a fix for the Charleville smoke bug, and the HUD bug where the health and ammo labels are missing. At least two new maps will be added. There is even going to be a new Easter Egg (wine bottles, anyone?)!

New Team Member

The Battle Grounds III community member known as 'meat', formally known as 'klifsnider', has re-taken up his role as the Lead Mapper in the Battle Grounds III Development Team. He will give the team fresh energy, allow others like Lead Developer 'Awesome' to focus on non-mapping tasks, and plot a new course for the future of BG3 maps! He plans to add more siege maps and other fun, community maps. Many of the official BG3 maps are old and recycled, and we hope that players will enjoy this new direction.

Development Direction

So far, Battle Grounds III has had more than 100,000 thousand downloads, and more than 100 new people download the game every day! Yet as many players see, Battle Grounds III servers are not always as full as that sounds. Many players come and go. To help fix this problem, our next update after the one this Sunday will be a player-focused update that will make the game both easier and more fun to play. Specifically, we will be adding a colorblind mode, hints/tutorials, and a progression system that rewards long-term play. Take a look at the image below, which is filtered to appear as it would be seen by an individual with Deuteranopia sight. Is the officer there British or American? Friend or foe? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/ec1ff3261b01aff9db36a87866de0420696e38a8.jpg (Answer: American) Fixing this is just one example of the many things that will be done in this future update. This player-focused update should be released near the end of February. Stay tuned for more information! It has been a long time since our last news post. Yet our team is still ready to fight the good fight, and we look forward to meeting you on the battlefield. "Genius is sorrow's child" - John Adams {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/b386a07ae6e5dfd4bbf5fa69e127dd71adda5e75.jpg

Attention, soldiers! While we developers are still on campaign for the next big game update, other battles have taken place in other theaters of war! The website has been updated, the community's mapping competition is coming to a close, and community-run tournaments are still ongoing!

Website Updates

The BG3 website now has some new pages to help players connect to the community! The Clans page lists active clans, and the Links page lists links to many official and community resources that are useful to players. Own a clan and want to get your information on the site? Have you written a useful article about BG3? Tell the developers on the official Battle Grounds III Discord!

Mapping Competition

Only about 24 hours remain in the community mapping competition! The maps entered will be graded on graphics, gameplay, and wow factor! The winners will receive portions of a €250 prize pool! For more information, visit this page. One (or more!) of the maps may become official Battle Grounds III maps — here are screenshots of the maps entered so far! bg_wrecked {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/c3bdaf2e27d74ad005d4c95465e390b3c7436ec3.jpg This map, we suspect, will player similarly to bg_ambush - two single person flags near the spawns, and a two person flag in the bowels of the ship. With water, cliffs, secret caves, this ought be a fun map! lb_mistymountainhop {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/c01ac8cc722bf405f4f7c658b1443cbb2a425a3e.jpg This linebattle map was made by an experienced mapper who is new the BG community. This linebattle is like no other—a small town area, mountain paths, and fenced farm fields make the map feel large and small at the same time. Long-range shooting is sparse on this map—volleys will be fast, and quickly followed by melee combat. And how will multi-clan linebattles fare? Stay tuned! ctf_trenchwar {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/921ee57607b684498acec340f7a0be72408fa9b4.jpg Trench maps have been a staple theme for community BG maps. This map tries to change the CTF formula in that your goal is not to capture the enemy flag, but to bring your team's flag to your opponent's trench. How well will this formula work? If you have not entered your map yet, do it soon! Again, visit this page for more information. Soon, too, an event will take place for players to try out these maps to help determine which of them is the best of the best.

Tournaments

The Battle Grounds III Community has organized for itself tournaments to find out which players and teams are the best fighters. Learn more about these events and participate by joining the BG3 Community Tournaments Discord.

"1v1 Stab-off" Tournament

Recently a 1v1 tournament was won by our very own former developer "eat meat" who is also the organizer of the ongoing mapping competition. The runner-up was "GreedyChris", with "Plexi" following up in 3rd place. Congratulations!

2v2 Tournament Signups!

A 2v2 tournament is starting soon! Sign ups are open until November 4th at 8pm GMT. You may sign up in two person groups or as individuals.

"Fishy's Linear Conflict League" Linebattle Tournament

Coming to a close is a linebattle tournament. Participating clans include the 42Cdo, 66th, 29th, 12th, and 69thNaf. Stay tuned to hear the final results!

Upcoming Updates

Within the next two weeks we will be ready to deploy a large game update that will feature the long-promised admin menu and a voting menu. These features will help admins and players control their own games. We also have many side projects in the works, so you can expect a few extra goodies—maps, weapons, skins, or ?—stay tuned to find out more! “Well done is better than well said.” - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1737

Attention, soldiers! We are still working hard on future updates, but recently an exploit was discovered that crashes servers. We wanted to deliver a fix for this right away, and we've also thrown in a few extra goodies for good measure. In other news, BG3 now has a developer-run Discord Server! Join it now to meet other players, share war stories, and chat with the developers! Additionally, soon the website will be updated with permanent links to this Discord server and other servers which are run by the community.

Changelog:

• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to crash servers.
• Bots no longer try to aim or crouch when firearms are disabled.
• Fixed the HUD's class count icons not showing (and now, the counts only appear while the local player is dead).
• Added an sv_stamina server-side variable that can be used to disable stamina. Disabling stamina allows for bunny-hopping, so be careful (or have fun) with it. Stamina is still enabled by default.
• Cleaned up some extraneous console messages.

"Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages." — George Washington

Stand at attention! We developers have strategically planned for an attack on our developer backlog, and we have received dispatches that there is community-run mapping competition offering a prizepool for the best maps! https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34830532/980ea7e1cf0faa624ea670e853a0d5b8b579c952.jpg

Upcoming Update

The large update will be released on FRIDAY 6/9/19 at 3pmEST/7pmGMT. This update includes map changes, so it is important that servers update at that time so that players will still be able to connect. This update will include:

• On bg_townguard, the swivel gun will be moved to the opposite side of the town square, and an ammobox dropped at its former location.
• On sg_fall, the British capture of the Inner Yard will trigger the destruction of a fortifying wall; the ladder leading to the Inner Yard will be easier to traverse.
• On bg_maricopa, a surprise will be waiting on the second floor of the house!
• On sg_siege, all annoying physics barrels will have been removed; the tunnel will be wider and easier to traverse (no more crouch jumping over the low barricade).
• On official maps only, the swivel gun rapid-fire bug will be fixed.
• With friendly fire off, grenades will no longer be able to kill teammates, but will still be able to injure them (i.e. an attack will always leave at least 1HP). This is an attempt to balance the need to fix teamkill trolling and the discouragement of throwing grenades in unrealistic locations. Grenades will still kill the thrower.
• Considering a history of consensus that the Jaegar class is better than the Frontiersman class, the tough, frontier-hardened Frontiersman will now receive less damage from low-damage attacks, just like the Grenadier classes.
• The Frontiersman's knife's animations will be sped up to feel more natural.
• The "mute" command's toggling functionality will be switched to a "mute" and "unmute" functionality.
• A "solo" command will be added such that all but the admin invoking it will effectively muted. This will allow server admins to make announcements over voice without interruptions from players.
• The crosshair mechanics will be changed such that the crosshair will persist for a short time after using ironsights, revealing the ironsights accuracy of all weapons and making it easier to track targets while using ironsights.
• With dynamic crosshairs only, when the player performs a melee attack an enlarged dot will appear for a short time to indicate when the melee system is scanning for hits. This will make the melee system slightly more intuitive.
• The "Wells Fargo" logo on ammoboxes will be replaced with an East India Trading Company logo and a clearer label as an ammobox.

The update may possibly include these changes:

• An admin menu which eases the work admins do on servers;
• A vote menu to allow players to effectively run servers on their own.

Mapping Competition

A former BG developer has organized a mapping competition! Who can make the best map for BG3? The current prizepool is €250, and some of that may be yours! The deadline is October 31st, so there's plenty of time! https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34830532/ec5d440f832e1d000fb6156a6aa8e237295b3afe.jpg For more information, visit this page. This competition was not organized by The Battle Grounds Game Development Team, and its organizer does not represent The Battle Grounds Game Development Team. We hope that you've enjoyed this news, and we look forward to playing with you next weekend! "When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation." — Alexander Hamilton

Soldiers! After an unplanned development hiatus, we're marching to the drums again with this smaller update. We already have other updates completed an in the works; this update is only a small skirmish in our campaign for final victory.

• Added a built-in server-side mute command and its alias m . Admins can use this command to mute players (such that nobody can hear them). For example, if there is a player named Awesome that an admin wishes to mute, that admin could then type !mute Awesome in chat.
• Added an extra crosshair option, "Make Dynamic" in the BG3 options menu, such that the growth/shrink of the crosshair can be turned on and off. It is checked on by default.
• Hit verification is now enabled by default. This won't effect players who have already played the game.
• Messages from server plugins are now enabled by default, effecting all players.
• Replaced an old, overly recognizable HL2 cliff texture with a new one.

While we continue working on game updates, we are also considering updates to the website that will help players track development progress and communicate to each other about special events! Stay disciplined soldiers! Every war lasts longer than you think it will. "Energy and persistence conquer all things." — Benjamin Franklin https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34830532/d02572a9362c3795f9e1b2aaf2083b0491547dc9.jpg

Attention soldiers! As announced yesterday, many maps have been updated, and it's important that both players and servers get the update! Players need only restart their games, while servers need to update via the app_update 1057700 command in the steamcmd console. The official servers in New York, France, and Germany are already up-to-date. On many maps, the number of spawn points was increased so as to better support higher numbers of players. And here is a list of significant changes on other maps:

• sg_siege: fixed exploit which allowed players to escape the intended playing area, made the pitfall trap more visible
• bg_freemans_farm: fixed model error inside house
• bg_maricopa: fixed a model error inside house
• bg_plateau: adjusted player clipping in spawns to prevent players from climbing hills in spawn and camping there
• lb_battleofconcord: fixed some trees which were non-solid

Thank you for your discipline, soldiers! See you on the battle grounds. "These are the times that try men's souls." — Thomas Paine https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34830532/e3b885e95f2789169df5ab0a646a0cd29a7eb632.png

Troops! We have secret plans to release a huge package of map updates on Sunday, July 14th, at 3pm EST / 7pm GMT. It is important that servers and players update at the same time, or else players won't be able to play! The official servers will be updated at this time, so players will always be able to play there. Also on this day, Saturday 13/7/19, we rolled out a new patch which addresses several issues.

• Fixed some cases where admin commands were not working when selecting a player by name. Here is some reference for selecting players by name:
  • Search is first performed as case-sensitive, and then case-insensitive if nothing is found.
  • The search term will match a player if at least 5 characters match or it is an exact match.
• Added a delay between when a server switches maps and when bots are automatically added. This gives servers a chance to fill up with players before adding bots.
• When a player joins, their name, Steam ID, and assigned admin permission will appear in the server console. This is useful for server owners who are debugging their server setup.
• In the scoreboard, players are now sorted by damage instead of by score.

We are working hard on the new admin menu, and we are hoping to finish it so that it can be packaged with the update tomorrow! We would also like to let everyone know that just because we have not fixed an issue or bug does not mean we are not aware of it. Here is a list of known issues we are planning to fix, in no particular order:

• The "Mute Players" menu does not work consistently;
• There is no server-side player mute option;
• The scoreboard size and layout are incorrect after changing screen resolution;
• There have been reports of team chat not working properly;
• The swivel guns occasionally let players fire them in unrealistic "rapid fire";
• On a particular map, it is possible to escape the intended playing area (this is being fixed in the map update tomorrow)
• When picking a team, the team menu does not always let a player join even when they should be able to, or vice versa.

Thank you for your soldier's discipline! See you on the battlegrounds! "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes! Then fire low!" — Israel Putnam https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34830532/22963a7210c4ce81a5874fd2c30209546db18673.jpg

Stand at attention! Today we released a small, mostly server-side update which adds a few useful commands and fixes a small number of bugs.

• added rkick and rban commands for easier kicking/banning (see below).
• added s, k, and b commands as aliases for slay, rkick, and rban, respectively.
• fixed the @aim selector sometimes acting on the admin instead of the target.
• added a 30-second per-player cooldown to ammo boxes, to prevent grenade spam on maps such as sg_siege.
• fixed elision of British score in HUD.
• added the sv_ragdoll_staytime server variable to determine how long ragdolls persist after dying. The presence of ragdolls can contribute to lag, so setting this to a lower value should reduce lag. The default value is 10 seconds.
• added the lb_ammo_multiplier server variable as a multiplier for how much ammo players are given at the start of a linebattle round. Linebattle players may enjoy this feature, as it would allow them to focus on the tactics instead of the ammo supply.
• added the map bg_snowlake to the default map cycle; servers will now play this map without it having to be manually switched to.
• The already existing mp_disable_firearms variable, when active, now also prevents grenadiers from spawning with grenades.
• fixed a crash which could happen when a player attempted to use an admin command before joining a team.

How to use slay, ban, kick commands

Suppose there is a player named Awesome on the server and they are being a little bit annoying. An admin could type this in chat to slay that player: !slay Awesome The game will find the player whose name most closely matches 'Awesome' and slay that player. Alternatively, an admin could use this command to slay the player: !s Awesome This version of the command does the same thing but is faster to type. To kick that player, an admin could use any of these similar commands: !rkick Awesome !rkick Aweso !k Awesome !k !k @aim The version with @aim would work if the admin is looking at the player. To ban that player for 60 minutes, an admin could use any of these commands: !rban 60 Awesome !rban 60 Aweso !b 60 Awesome !b 60 !b 60 @aim These commands do not currently support the ability to tell the kicked/banned player why they were kicked/banned. Also, only the @aim selector is supported with banning. This is to prevent rogue admins from banning all players at once. Note that all the commands above are is if they were typed in chat. If these commands are entered directly into console, the prefixing ! is not necessary. Plans for a larger, feature-rich Admin menu have been postponed for next weekend. See you on the battlefield! https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34830532/e3b885e95f2789169df5ab0a646a0cd29a7eb632.png