[RELEASE] Christmas Update! news

Hello everyone and happy holidays! Heat of Battle is back with an all new update, featuring new weapons and animations, revamped weapon and explosion sounds, and much more! The Reshade preset has been completely redone, pushing the visuals to new heights. There are also various bug fixes and improvements.

If you are installing for the first time, please refer to the installation article.

If you are updating from the previous version, you'll need to download and install the following files:

• Core files
• Reshade
• Map pack update (choose depending on your installation)
  • Custom map pack update
  • Vanilla map pack update
  • BFHD map pack

Also, if you haven't installed them already, I highly recommend the shader cache and HD terrain textures!

• Shader cache
• HD terrain textures

New weapons and animations

This update features two brand new weapons: the MG3 machine gun for the MEC Support and the Mateba Model 6 Unica for the EU Engineer. In addition, the hand grenade has been updated with an all new model and new animations. The AA-12 shotgun, M320 grenade launcher, and G3A3 rifle have received updated animations.

Updated Reshade

The Reshade preset has been brought up to Reshade 4.0, along with a new set of visual effects. Key features include reflective bumpmapping and MXAO ambient occlusion, making the weapon models look more realistic than ever! The Reshade preset includes high, medium, and low settings which you can switch between in-game, making it easy to choose the right setting for your hardware.

EU tanks update

The Challenger 2 and L2A6 tanks from the Euro Force expansion have now been updated to be in line with the rest of the tanks, including new HUDs, multiple ammo types, and zoom. Plus, the mounted 50 cals on both tanks now have the ammo box attached, fixing an old bug from vanilla BF2! In addition, many maps that feature the EU faction have now been updated with the new vehicles, including Husky, Kursk, and Smyrna.

New Insurgent models

New sounds and effects

Many weapon and explosion sounds have been updated and improved. Weapons sound crisper and punchier. Vehicle damage states and explosions now feel much more powerful and can be heard at greater distances. In addition, blood and impact effects have been updated for a more immersive experience.

Looking forward to 2019!

Heat of Battle will continue to receive updates in 2019! I'm currently working on a weapon pack update which will give multiple weapon selections per kit. Stay tuned and happy holidays!