We injected maps with extra detail, while also trying to keep gameplay-defining elements where they were for most maps. It’s a tough balancing act, but we believe that a few rounds of testing with you will get us there. At the same time, we used this opportunity to fix gameplay issues you reported to us over the years about Fisherman’s Bay, Ruinberg, Pilsen, Erlenberg, Steppes, and Kharkov. For example, Fisherman’s Bay is getting a more balanced frontline. It will offer both teams equal chances at pushing key directions. The middle area on Erlenberg is getting a solid makeover: it’s much easier to read now, with visible lowland, denser forests, and fewer environments that have little tactical value.

Remastered Sound

The enhancements didn’t end with visuals. We teamed up with over 40 composers and musicians from all around the world and recorded over 15 TB or rough audio data to improve your immersion in battle with authentic sound.

Starting with Update 1.0, music will resonate with the map setting, creating a unique atmosphere for each battlefield. Kazakh musicians will play traditional musical instruments as you roll over Lost City. Arabic composers will bring their musical aesthetic to Sand River, Airfield, and El Halluf. Gregorian chants will echo on Mountain Pass.

You can sense map’s unique “character” well before the action begins with unique loading screen themes. Then, the sound will change depending on what’s happening to your team in-game.

Optimization

So, what stopped us from adding new maps and sound the minute they were ready? A few things. First of all, graphical advances naturally up the pressure on your rig, which wasn’t in our plans. We put in extra work to optimize stability and framerates on mid-range and older PCs, reduce the memory load even further and give you the headroom to enable extra effects.

A special procedural virtual texture was introduced to deliver realistic landscapes with no added pressure on performance.

The Adaptive Shadow Maps technology calculates shadows from static objects and saves them in a special reusable shadow texture, reducing the load on the graphics card and processor.

Graphical subsystems were reworked using streaming technology to reduce the overall memory footprint of graphics.

The heavy-on-performance reflection generation process was replaced with the Screen Space Reflection algorithm, significantly lowering the load on the graphics card.

We implemented multi-resolution particles to smooth out FPS drops when multiple particle effects are being simultaneously rendered on screen (e.g. explosions and fumes).

Besides, it was technically impossible to add redesigned maps in batches, we had to switch to the new engine for it, and it doesn’t support old graphics. Now imagine having several maps in rotation and playing them over and over. You’d get sick of them quite soon, regardless how sleek they look.

However, that’s all in the past. With several optimization iterations, a few internal tests, and another round in Sandbox (thanks again for joining us there!), we’re nearing the finish line. We’re already 25 maps down, and almost ready to go! “Almost” stands for several more internal and open tests.