Patch 1.017 and the 2013 ModDB MotY Awards! news

Hello again Modern Combat fans!

It's been ages since our last update (just over four months to be exact), and we'd like to apologise for the delay in administering some necessary fixes. The team has been extremely busy of late... and progress has been frustratingly slow. That said, here we are. :)

The 2013 ModDB Mod of the Year competition has now officially begun, so first we'd like to take a moment to reflect (and maybe convince you to swing a vote our way).

Modern Combat was first released one and a half years ago, and it's been over six years since development first began in 2007. Throughout that time our team has changed dramatically, with many different people from all over the world contributing their time and effort to this project. Since release (an enormous accomplishment in and of itself), we've continued to improve and fine-tune with bug and balance fixes, new maps, units, abilities and weapons, sound and visual FX overhauls, a singleplayer mission, hardcore modes, a Mumble server, multiple tournaments, a brand new site and even a USMC faction, all requiring innumerable hours of work to accomplish.

Key to our success has been our fantastic community, which while smaller than it once was is still going strong despite the June release of CoH 2. Thank you all for your continued support!

If you could vote for us we'd really appreciate it. We've made the top ten list for the past two years running... a third would be incredible.

Ok, so we've made some major balance alterations in 1.017. Many of these changes will have significant implications for existing units, and we'd just like you to be aware of them before diving in. Any feedback, suggestions or insight you can offer regarding these changes (ideally on our forums) will be greatly appreciated. Like them? Hate them? Have a better idea? Let us know!

First of all, squads can no longer purchase multiple special weapons of the same type. This new restriction applies to M249 and M27 LMGs, QBU-88 marksman rifles and M25 grenade launchers.

However, most squad special weapons have also been increased in both power and cost by 20%. In addition to all four weapons already listed, this +20% buff also applies to QBB-95 LMGs and Type 74 flamethrowers. Airborne now deploy with only a single M14 EBR, but said weapon is now much more powerful at long range and weaker at short range (comparable to the QBU-88).

We hope to achieve three things by doing this: increased realism, more characterful special weapons, and minimised overspecialisation (for example, Riflemen previously wielding dual grenade launchers that could annihilate garrisoned infantry).

Secondly, both US and PLA snipers have been completely overhauled and the playing field has been levelled significantly. Many players will be happy to hear that the old US camouflage mechanic has been discarded, and that all snipers now share the same health, cost and camouflage capabilities.

The camouflage mechanic previously exclusive to hardcore mode (for over a year, please don't accuse us of copying CoH 2!) is now standard for all snipers; snipers camouflage automatically when in cover, even if moving, and remain camouflaged for several seconds after exiting cover.

The "Spotter" mechanic from hardcore mode has also been reworked and made standard. Any sniper can now be upgraded and reinforced with a spotter to form a two-man sniper team, which both increases the sniper's survivability and provides him with some additional reconnaissance capabilities (for example, the ability to see the full range of his rifle without a second scouting unit).
Note that if a two-man sniper team sustains a casualty, the sniper will always die first. This is not a bug; it's a mechanic intended to mitigate balancing issues and allow a sniper team to be 'neutralised' with a single counter-snipe.

Some other highlights include:

1. Countless improvements and optimisations to infantry and vehicle textures, including the addition of several all-new skins (proper USMC desert camouflage for example). We've also indulged a few fan requests.

2. The replacement of the "Eye in the Sky" MH-6 Little Bird with an MQ-1 Predator drone.

3. The addition of a T2 "Up-Armour" upgrade for the Humvee, allowing it to remain viable for far longer each game.

4. A fix for the pervasive Yonxing Dao singleplayer crashes (finally).

Well, that's it for now, hopefully we can return to a more regular update schedule soon and give the PLA the attention they deserve. We really hope you enjoy the patch and especially look forward to your feedback regarding some of the more salient changes in 1.017. We try to respond to every single question or suggestion that you guys post, but please remember that you're much more likely to get a punctual response if you use our forums; it's all too easy for posts on Mod DB and other secondary forums to be (unintentionally) overlooked.

Don't forget to vote for us, as well as all the other great CoH mods out there! A special shout out to the makers of the Far East War mod; congrats on the successful beta launch!

~ The Modern Combat Dev Team

CHANGELOG

General:

• Standardised cover modifiers of all small arms weapons, as some (for example the Type 56) were doing too little DPS against units in cover/buildings.
• US snipers now have an additional 5m range than the PLA sniper (50m to 45m respectively), but the PLA sniper fires at a slightly faster rate and doesn't need to reload as often.
• All snipers now cost 300 manpower and 3 population.
• All snipers now camouflage automatically when positioned in cover, even if moving, and remained camouflaged for several seconds after leaving cover.
• All snipers now have a spotter upgrade (unlocked for US snipers at T2, unlocked for PLA snipers at either T2 or T3). Spotters cost 35 munitions upfront to unlock and then a further 150 manpower to reinforce.
• Fixed most weapons not applying full-health gunner kill criticals correctly.
• Fixed 12.7mm weapons not having the right vehicle kill criticals.
• Improved plane crash trajectories.
• When hovering aircraft (Apache, Harrier, Blackhawk) crash, they will now cause damage to units directly underneath.
• Reduced chance of AA weapons killing aircraft on green/yellow health from 5.0% to 2.5%.
• English localisation updated.
• Chinese translation updated.
• Polish translation updated.
• Italian translation updated.
• Czech translation updated.

US:

• Replaced "Eye in the Sky" Little Bird helicopter with a Predator drone.
• Added "HMMWV Up-Armour" global upgrade to T2. The upgrade reduces small arms penetration vs. Humvees by 85%.
• Increased M249 SAW cost and power by +20%. Can no longer be purchased twice per unit.
• Increased M27 IAR cost and power by +20%. Can no longer be purchased twice per unit.
• Increased M25 CDTE cost and power by +20%. Can no longer be purchased twice per unit.
• Airborne now deploy with a single M14 EBR (rather than two), which has been given DPS values more similar to the QBU-88 (much stronger/weaker at long range/short range respectively). Enables "Deploy Marksman" ability. Purchasing an M3 MAAWS will no longer remove an M14 EBR.
• Gave Combat Engineers an M14 EBR/M39 EMR upgrade. Costs 60 munitions and is unlocked at T2. Enables "Deploy Marksman" ability.
• Gave Marine Special Operators the same M4 used by GBs and SEALs (they previously did +10% extra DPS).
• Fixed Marine Special Operators giving the wrong amount of XP when killed.
• Fixed the MARSOC Corpsman upgrade adding two new members to the squad (rather than one as intended).
• Increased AAV barrage cost to 40 munitions.
• Bradleys and LAV-A2s can no longer target ground.
• Fixed Stryker mortar carrier sound FX not being properly synchronised with its firing animation sequence.
• Fixed Stryker mortar carrier having the wrong critical type (and receiving main gun criticals).
• Increased both M1A1 HP and manpower cost from 800 to 850.
• Replaced Scout Sniper's M110 SASS with a bolt-action M40A5.
• Fixed certain weapon accessories 'floating' in the air above an injured soldier.

China:

• Increased QBU-88 cost and power by +20%. Can no longer be purchased twice per unit.
• Increased Type 74 cost and power by +20%.
• Increased QBB-95 power by +20%. Increased global upgrade cost proportionately.
• Fixed the Type 59D ATGM not having any firing FX.
• Reduced the aim time of the Type 59D ATGM (from 4 seconds to 2.5 seconds).
• Fixed a second Type 69 changing a Tank Hunter squad's formation.

Campaign:

• Fixed SCAR error (was caused by a PLA sentry objective localisation issue).
• Fixed LAV paradrops being unavailable.
• Fixed smoke launcher ability being locked.
• Fixed M110 SASS "Deploy Marksman" timeout bug.
• Fixed the M203/M320 grenade ability's sound FX.
• Changed JDAM bomber from an F16 to a Harrier.
• Increased Force Recon sight radius from 35m to 40m.
• Fixed landing craft being targeted (and sometimes even destroyed) by PGZ-95s during insertion.
• All USMC infantry now use the same AT4 slot item.
• Gave mission a proper description.

Hardcore:

• Fixed PLA medics being assigned an incorrect RGM.
• Fixed USMC corpsmen having the wrong UCS key.
• Synchronised Bradley TOW firing sequence.
• Standardised snipers and US special forces units with normal MC.

Art and Sound:

• Huge number of miscellaneous improvements to US and PLA icons, symbols and infantry skins.
• New tan skins for all USMC infantry (including MARSOC, SEALs, Force Recon and Seabees) and the M1A1 Abrams when the tan skinpack is activated.
• Disabled all PLA Marine infantry skins, as conflicts with the material names were preventing the textures from being applied properly.
• US Army Engineers and Snipers now wear Interceptor vests by default.
• PLA Engineers now wear Type 07 general camouflage by default.
• Special Operations Forces now wear woodland camouflage by default.
• Marine Special Operators now wear woodland camouflage by default.
• Gave SEALs back their boonie hats.
• The Harrier now fires Maverick missiles rather than placeholder Hellfires.
• Gave PLASOF a proper camo icon and redid the GB/SEAL camo icon.
• Fixed PF-98 reinforcement abilities pointing to the wrong icon.
• Harrier texture improvements.
• Javelin texture improvements.
• New M240B normal map.
• New Stryker stowage normal map.
• Added an individual normal map for the Stryker's tan stowage.
• Updated Stryker slat armour normal map.
• Stryker webbing now matches its diffuse.
• Stryker and Humvee texture errors fixed.
• Humvee tan turret black background removed.
• Flipped Humvee interior textures, there will no longer be a hole in the floor.
• Shared textures normal map alpha changed from 49% grey to 50% grey.
• Improved sniper tracer so the trail doesn't disappear completely on lower graphics settings when viewed from a distance.
• Fixed the AAV's burst ability visual and sound FX.
• Fixed the ZSD-89's firing sound FX.
• Fixed HMG sandbags not appearing properly.
• Fixed the Type 59D not applying its Marine skin properly.
• Fixed the Bradley not applying its tan skin properly.
• Fixed the AAV playing a burst sound FX despite only one grenade actually being fired.
• Removed 'eyes' from the "Tiger ALPHA" and "Tiger BRAVO" M1A2 reward skins.
• Fixed LOD distances for M1A2, PGZ-95, PHZ-89 & Type 59D wheels/treads.
• Further .ABP optimisations.

Mapping:

• Vire conversion added.
• Montargis conversion added.
• Fixed .module file not pointing to several other custom maps.

ADDENDUM (Hotfix 1.018)

• Fixed start-up crash caused by the recent 2.700.2.22 CoH patch.
• Disabled updater (wasn't functioning correctly).
• Improved PLA Regular and SOF torso normal maps.
• Chinese localisation updated.
• Czech localisation updated.
• Polish localisation updated.
• Italian localisation updated.