Hey guys,

Alpha Version 4 of Squad was just released. This new update has some major bug fixes, content updates, and changes to the server config files. Here is the Alpha 4 changelog:

Major Changes:

Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC)

This release will feature Easy Anti-Cheat as a new active anti-cheat protection system.

1P78 Kashtan Rifle Optic

The Russian faction now have scopes for their weapons! As one of the most requested feature, we are pleased to grant the Russian faction a rifle optic for their primary AK74M and support RPK74M rifles as well as sneaking some goodies for the Militia.

RGD-5 Grenade

The RGD-5 is a post-WW2 Soviet-era grenade, inexpensive to manufacture and commonly found in many modern conflict areas. Will be featured on the Militia and Russian factions.

Map Updates

Fools Road received a new industrial area in the South West of the map, an updated Estate with a very cool tunnel section connecting the buildings together, as well as many new details and features spread out around the map.

Chora has also received many updates, expanding the playable area and more detail work.

Flag Capture Mechanics Updates

AAS has been updated with some new gamemode rules to encourage greater emphasis on the flag objectives. Flags now have an increasing ticket bleed based on the number of flags owned by the opposing team, reducing the chance that the team with more flags loses the match. Additionally, capturing a flag now grants the capturing team some tickets, as well as increasing the ticket loss for the team that loses a flag. Finally, we have added a protection sphere around each teams main base, which prevents bullets and players from the opposing team entering in it’s area thus adding a layer of protection from main base camping.

Post Processing Effects

Many post processing effects and the ability to change their settings have been added. Ambient Occlusion helps to define soft shadowing of objects. Auto Exposure and Eye Adaptation causes the exposure of the screen image to simulate the effect of human eyes moving between brightly lit and dim environments. Bloom is the bleed-over of light caused by looking at bright objects in lowly lit environments. Motion Blur adds a blur effect to objects depending on how quickly they are moving on the screen (works well with the new Russian scopes). Lens Flare simulates scattering of light when viewing bright objects through lenses.

Server Browser and Joining Server improvements

The server browser has been improved, adding sorting by each column as well as better usability in general. Additionally, a number of bugs have been fixed, improving the server join experience and a quicker response when you fail to join a server.

Changelog

Added a team switch timer, limiting how often you can switch teams, this timer only applies after the round startup time allowing teams and friends to get set up.
Added Dome of Defense around main bases (Destroys all enemy projectiles upon impact, and pushes back enemy soldiers if they try to enter)
Updated the AAS logic to be more robust and have more features
Allows for giving the capturing team tickets and also has an option to prevent ticket gain when capping from start-neutral
Owning more capture zones than the opposing team will begin to incur a slight bleed penalty. The more zones owned, the more bleed the opposing team incurs.
Fixed the ability to lean while prone, this snuck in due to lean code optimization
Kit, role and equipment changes
Marksman kit moved from the specialist group to fire support, same squad/team limitations as before
Fire support kits are now reduced to 3 when at max squad size, down from 4. You should see more ordinary riflemen on the field now
Grenadier kit now unlocks at 5 squad members, rather than 4
Max amount of grenadiers available per squad down to 1 from 2 (AK74+GP25 removed from Militia until we have a more flexible inventory selection system)
Ordinary riflemen/fighter kits with ironsight or red dot sights now have 2 frag grenades rather than 1
Automatic riflemen now have another 150-200 rounds depending on the caliber of the weapon, so you don’t have to feel bad about suppressing the enemy
Designated marksmen now have less rifle ammo to keep in line with damage potential of other classes (SVD down from 8 to 4 magazines), make those shots count
Designated marksmen has 3 pistol mags rather than 2
Added more smoke variation and each team now has different colored smoke variations. Militia have Green and Yellow smoke colour variations, Russians have Purple and Orange, while the insurgents have Black and Yellow. 40mm smoke grenades remain the same for now.
Russian squad leader has an alternative kit available at 6 squad members, an AK74M with an optic
Russian rifleman + optics kit available at 4 squad members. Limited to 1
Russian Automatic rifleman + optics kit available at 8 squad members
Militia rifleman + optics kit available at 4 squad members. Limited to 1
Every kit that has a magnified optic now has one less magazine than their red dot / ironsight counterparts
Added RGD-5 frag grenade to replace placeholder M67 on the Russian faction, also gave an alternative skinned version of it to Militia instead of the F1
Weapon changes
Added deviation to rockets and launched grenades projectiles
ACOG model got a quality of life upgrade to make it look prettier
Slight increase in the recoil of the SVD
Fixed a bug where all weapons were firing at the same muzzle velocity. Now weapons have different bullet drop depending on caliber/muzzle velocities
Updated inventory action delay timer on the scrolling menu from .5 to 1.5 seconds.
Medic bag and field dressing improvements
Added more information feedback to the player
Fixed an issue where enemy soldiers could be healed
Rally point changes
Rally point code has been more optimized for server use
Increased placement cooldown time from 30 seconds to 210 seconds
Rally points can no longer be placed with enemies within a 50m radius, and will reset the placement time from 0 to 90 seconds. Your former rally points do not disappear.
Rally point placement now requires sl + 3 squad member if the sl does not have an officer kit, if he does have it, then only sl + 1 squad member is needed
Changing squad leader now resets the rally point placement time to 120 seconds if the placement time was under 120 seconds.
All rallypoint messages are now shown in the chat area instead of the middle of the screen.
If your squad leader changes, a message is now sent to your chat area to inform.
Deployable placement errors are now posted to your chat area.
Fixed an issue where you could leave a squad and keep your kit if you were incapacitated
Map and spawn screen updates
Opening of map and spawn screen no longer stops the talking input
Clicking around and interacting with the spawn screen no longer stops other inputs (you can now move and interact with the menu at the same time, note that there are many edge cases to this particular issue and we will be addressing them as they are reported)
Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor could be lost when returning to the spawn screen after having opened the main menu
Map and spawn screen now automatically closes when the main menu is opened
Moved a large chunk of the map implementation to c++ improving stability and speed
Fixed a bug where the SL menu on the spawn map was not updating it’s last clicked position correctly
SL menu on the spawn map now opens with the cursor in the middle of the hex menu, making it easier to mark locations and work with the ui
SL marker lifespan is now 5 minutes, up from 1.5 minutes
Reduced the zoom levels on the map from 7 to 4, and made the map zoom all the way out on the outmost level
Slight rework of the map medic icon, making it more distinct.
Keybinds for the spawn screen and map now work on both open/close. (You can rebind them to Enter without issues)
Changed the lowest possible FOV to 90 degrees.
Added more graphics settings for Motion Blur, Bloom, Lens Flare, Auto Exposure, etc.This is still work in progress
Fixed issue where some higher resolutions were missing from the graphics settings
Added sortable server browser
Fixed some disconnection issues upon joining a server
Added a system that allows for individual damage sounds depending on the collision bone that was hit, this is replacing the dead sounds, meaning that you no longer know if an enemy died unless you do a visual confirmation
Added initial enhancements to the Admin Camera to support Squad League with Player Outlining and Capture Zone visualizations.
Redesigned smoke grenade variations to share one projectile and one effect. Any color variations now only need to be a child of the original, instead of needing duplicate effects and projectiles. This optimizes the deployment of smoke grenades and makes implementation easier.
Stopped smoke from playing on the server unintended. This prevents smoke spam affecting server fps.
Removed manually placed border blocking volumes and updated with new spline blocking volumes.
Lots of LOD models added to weapons, improving performance
Reworked tracers slightly, making them easier to use when correcting bullet drop
Reworked server configs, ban lists & admin lists
Added server messages
Changed console command ShowPlayerIds to ListPlayers
Added temp / timed bans

For a detailed explanation and other details about the reworked server configs, ban lists & admin lists, click here.
You can rent your own Squad Dedicated Game Server by placing an order here.