Six Days in Fallujah’s Autumn Update is here! Experience two completely improved campaign missions, new Wounded State and Command Overlay features, improved Fireteam and enemy AI pathfinding and behavior, updated Training simulations, and hundreds of changes and bug fixes.

Please restart the Steam client to download the latest build.

COMING SOON: PROGRESSION SYSTEM

IMPROVED CAMPAIGN MISSIONS

• Vigilant Resolve
  • Completely new location with new buildings
    
  • More open mission design
    • More player choice in how to accomplish objectives
  • Improved objectives
    • Clearer direction
      
    • Fewer required actions
      
    • DShK gunner can now be eliminated by the player
  • Improved mission pacing
    • Removed active GO! Command tutorials from campaign gameplay and placed in new Training
      
    • Removed slow, paused tutorialization in favor of active gameplay beats
• Operation al-Fajr
  • Northern Train Station now integrated into al-Fajr
    • Removed Northern Train Station as an isolated mission from the campaign timeline (still available in Cooperative Menu > Mission Settings)
  • Streamlined mission flow and difficulty
    • Clearer objectives and map flow
  • Improved mission pacing
    • Removed active GO! Command tutorials from campaign gameplay and placed in new Training
      
    • Improved difficulty
      • More consistent challenges
        
      • Less spikes

MISSION PACING

• All missions re-tuned to create downtime between mission phases
  • Creates more tactical opportunities for players to observe, orient, decide, and act
    • Combat occurs in pockets, with more defined beginnings and ends
      
    • Reduced cases of players getting shot immediately upon mission load

IMPROVED FIRETEAM AI

• Pathfinding
  • Replaced Unreal’s navigation system with a third-party solution
    • Significantly reduced the number of gaps in our nav mesh, causing Fireteam AI to get stuck less often
      
    • Smoother movement between Fireteam AI characters
      
    • Less harsh collision between Fireteam AI characters
• Movement
  • Fewer cases of blocking the player
    • Will go around or behind
  • Improved positioning when both holding and firing
    • Previously occupied the most optimal firing position (which could sometimes be where the player was standing)
  • Improved room clearing
    • Now follow exterior walls instead of cutting straight through rooms
      
    • Properly pan doors, staircases, and windows
• Combat response
  • Reduced cases of not properly engaging enemies
    
  • Reduced cases of repeating the same lethal action leading to AI death

ENEMY AI

• Refactored all enemy types
  • Fixed an issue in which insurgents appear moving at low fps, or “slideshows”
    
  • Reduced cases of insurgents spawning in player view
• Tuned visibility and accuracy
  • Reduced cases of insurgents seeing players through obstacles
    
  • Adjusted accuracy values based on distance from the player
• Combat response
  • Slightly delayed insurgent target acquisition to reduce “botty” behavior

TRAINING

• Updated training simulation
  • Now instructs players on fundamentals
    • Move and shoot
      
    • Basic orientation
      
    • GO! Command introductions
      • Move!
        
      • Watch!
        
      • Suppress!
        
      • Stack up!
  • Now includes insurgents
    
  • Now appears on the campaign timeline
• Added Training Scenarios
  • Short, bite-sized encounters
    
  • Difficulty scales with each mission
    
  • First batch introduces players to emergent objectives
    • Black flag
      
    • Armory
      
    • Sniper
      
    • Mortars

GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS

• Added “Wounded” state
  • Timed, limited status between active and incapacitated
    • Active > Bleeding (self-heal possible) > WOUNDED > Incapacitated
  • Allows limited movement
    
  • Allows pistol use, exclusively for defense
    • Cannot be fired while being revived
  • Must be healed by another player or Fireteam AI to return to active status
    • Cannot revive yourself
• Added GO! Command Overlay
  • When holding the GO! Command key, GO! Command options now populate in the world space, in real-time
    • Limited to 3-5 nodes on screen at any one time
      
    • When mouse cursor hovers over any node, GO! Command execute key replaced by the specific contextual action
      
    • When execute key is pressed, Fireteam AI respond to particular command
  • Advantages:
    • Instantly reveals tactical options that are unique to each situation
      
    • Broadens the number of commands you can issue your team
      
    • Allows issuing complex orders with a tap
• Increased activity of ambient environment
  • More:
    • Gunshots
      
    • Tracers
      
    • Explosions
      
    • Smoke
      
    • Fire

HUD IMPROVEMENTS

• Complete menu overhaul
  • Fireteam roles shown by default
• Repositioned GO! Commands list when holding GO! Button
  • Now stacked in bottom right
• Overhauled KIA screen (Ghost Cam)
  • Now requires manual input to assume spectating role
    
  • More color distinction between active gameplay and spectator mode
• Adjusted vest graphic
  • Better communicates ammunition status
• Expanded Bulletin notifications
  • Now includes major activities or milestones that award Rank Points
    • Emergent objectives completed, for example

ANIMATION IMPROVEMENTS

• Reduced cases of animation “popping” between movement transitions
  • Applies to both players and AI models
    
  • Improved AI “gaze” system for head models
• Locomotion movements now more uniform

GRAPHICS IMPROVEMENTS

• Improved models
  • Weapons
    • Textures and resolutions now 4K
      
    • Reduced motion blur around weapons
  • Hands, gloves, clothing
    
  • Doors
    
  • Apartment IEDs
• Lighting
  • Adjusted interior lighting
    • More rooms now have “active” lighting source
      • Oil lanterns
        
      • Gas stoves
    • Pitch black interiors reserved for Flares time-of-day
  • Adjusted prop lighting
    • Supports lower graphic settings
• Visually upgraded vistas
  • Increased detail
    • More depth
      
    • Better natural terrain formation
• Adjusted Procedural Architecture’s color rolls
  • Houses more uniform in color profile
    
  • Foliage and brush color expanded
    
  • Graffiti and poster color stylized
• Improved reflections, globally
  
• Updated LODs
  • Less environmental popping
• Improved time-of-days
  • Noon
    
  • Sunrise (limited to campaign missions)

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

• Framerate now locked at 60 fps by default
  • Can be uncapped in the settings
• Various VRAM reductions

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue in which SAW belt loop animation not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which bolt release sound missing on m16 reload
  
• Fixed an issue in which player camera not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which Ghost Cam controls not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which sniper dead checks not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which insurgent pistol reloads not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which high latency impacted auto-lean
  
• Fixed an issue in which VOIP not functioning correctly without a mic
  
• Fixed an issue in which VBIED movement not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which cooperative player list not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which text on invite player button shakes in lobby
  
• Fixed an issue in which mission settings invalidated by lobby leadership change
  
• Fixed an issue in which Start Mission button not functioning correctly after lobby leadership change
  
• Fixed an issue in which Start Mission button not functioning correctly after canceling
  
• Fixed an issue in which empty fireteam slots not auto-filling with Fireteam AI
  
• Fixed an issue in which Fireteam AI flashlights not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which Fireteam AI exited armory too slowly on Northern Train Station
  
• Fixed an issue in which mortars not animating correctly when destroyed on Phase Line Henry
  
• Fixed an issue in which intro cinematic not functioning correctly on Phase Line Henry
  
• Fixed an issue in which VO overlapped after intro cinematic on Phase Line Henry
  
• Fixed an issue in which vehicle convoy moving on Phase Line Henry
  
• Fixed an issue in which Crazy Horse idle state not functioning correctly on Objective Virginia
  
• Fixed an issue in which Crazy Horse not aiming correctly on Objective Virginia
  
• Fixed an issue in which Crazy Horse stuck if intro cinematic skipped on Objective Virginia
  
• Fixed an issue in which skipping cinematics not functioning correctly on gamepad
  
• Fixed an issue in which opening player career not functioning correctly on gamepad
  
• Fixed an issue in which settings navigation not functioning correctly on gamepad
  
• Fixed an issue in which restoring default gameplay settings not functioning correctly
  
• Fixed an issue in which crosshair style impacted opacity
  
• Fixed an issue in which role icons not functioning correctly on compass after being reinforced
  
• Fixed an issue in which crosshair not functioning correctly after being reinforced
  
• Fixed an issue in which SATMAP not functioning correctly after being reinforced
  
• Various AI behavior fixes
  
• Various fixes for AI clipping in environment
  
• Various fixes for AI getting stuck in environment
  
• Various fixes for players clipping in environment
  
• Various fixes for players getting stuck in environment
  
• Various fixes for doors and gates out of sync
  
• Various fixes for objects floating in environment
  
• Various fixes for collision in environment
  
• Various fixes for interior and exterior lighting
  
• Various fixes for LODs
  
• Various fixes for missing textures
  
• Various fixes for geometry blocking mission progression
  
• Various fixes for interacts missing
  
• Various fixes for interacts not functioning correctly
  
• Various fixes for role assignment in lobby and gameplay
  
• Various animation improvements
  
• Various audio fixes and performance improvements
  
• Various networking optimizations
  
• Various performance optimizations
  
• Various fixes for common crashes

For a list of major, unfixed bugs we're currently tracking, please see our Known Issues[support.sixdays.com] list.

Join the community conversation and offer us feedback on our official Discord server!

https://discord.gg/SixDaysGame

Welcome back to the latest entry in our SITREP developer diary series!

Our next big game update is coming next week, right before Thanksgiving in the US and “Black Friday” in many other countries. As promised, this update will include improvements like the Command Overlay, Wounded State, and Fireteam AI Pathfinding and Behavior. Lots of info about all of these is available in our earlier SITREPS.

We’ve also completed a substantial amount of work on our progression system, the first parts of which we will be releasing in the spring. We’ll be adding the M4A1, M14, M240B, M590A1, and G19, as well as new attachments, new player abilities, and some interesting (and authentic) ways to customize your character.

In the meantime, we’d like to announce here that next week’s release will also include two totally improved campaign missions—Vigilant Resolve and Operation al-Fajr—and we’re taking a dive into them today. This means next week’s release will include:

1. Improved Campaign Missions
   
2. Wounded State
   
3. Command Overlay
   
4. Improved Fireteam AI
   
5. Improved Enemy AI
   
6. Updated Training
   
7. Updated Mission Pacing
   
8. Gameplay, Graphics, & Animation Improvements
   
9. Hundreds of bug fixes

Please remember all assets shown are currently a work-in-progress.

If you’re new to Six Days or haven’t experienced our narrative campaign missions, Vigilant Resolve brings you to Fallujah in 2004 to experience how ISIS was formed and Al Qaeda took root. During Operation al-Fajr, you take part in the initial hours of the largest urban assault in half a century.

Both missions are told through a mixture of game missions, documentary footage, and interviews with people who were there. These were the events that redirected the course of history and established how much of global terrorism works today, and you experience them for yourself while playing the campaign.

DEVELOPER COMMENT
Six Days is a “sandbox”—a play space in which Procedural Architecture modifies the game world every single time you play. A play space in which emergent objectives are randomly generated. A play space in which insurgents take up scattered positions throughout an urban environment, Six Days cannot be predicted, anticipated, or memorized.

This sandbox directly contradicts traditional campaign mission design. Unlike Procedural Architecture, traditional story missions follow a linear path, with clear-cut beginnings and ends. These story missions are designed “on the rails,” often with onboarding and tutorialization built into the mission process.

The first iteration of Vigilant Resolve and Operation al-Fajr adopted this design philosophy. While our missions told interesting stories from real-participants in the battle, gameplay proved to be less interesting with linear phases and GO! Command tutorials that quite literally paused combat. We were forcing players to do very specific things in very specific places in our sandbox. And, it wasn’t working (at least as well as we would’ve liked).

The first solution was a simple one—extract tutorialization from the two missions completely and reincorporate them into Training. This allows two very important things to happen: the first, mission pacing improves without jarring interruptions. Campaign missions now exist on their own with proper flow and active gameplay beats, making them more fun to play. The second, our Training has never been better, with player onboarding consolidated in one place. There is now a distinguished separation—instruction and mechanics are now learned in Training and executed in the Campaign.

The second solution required more manpower—take a close, second pass at our campaign missions to improve their overall quality. Vigilant Resolve, for example, is now set in a completely new location with new geometry and buildings to tackle. This larger, more open mission design offers more player choice in how to accomplish objectives. The objectives themselves, too, are clearer and require fewer actions.

Operation al-Fajr, in contrast, had stellar geometry and visuals, but gameplay improvements were sought after. As a result, elements from Northern Train Station are now incorporated into al-Fajr. Players can expect Armory objectives and improved difficulty with this mission refactor.

Here’s a full list of changes coming to our two narrative campaign missions:

• Vigilant Resolve
  • Completely new location with new buildings
    
  • More open mission design
    • More player choice in how to accomplish objectives
  • Improved objectives
    • Clearer direction
      
    • Fewer required actions
      
    • DShK gunner can now be eliminated by the player
  • Improved mission pacing
    • Removed active GO! Command tutorials from campaign gameplay and placed in new Training
      
    • Removed slow, paused tutorialization in favor of active gameplay beats
• Operation al-Fajr
  • Northern Train Station now integrated into al-Fajr
    • Removed Northern Train Station as an isolated mission from the campaign timeline (still available in Cooperative Menu > Mission Settings)
  • Streamlined mission flow and difficulty
    • Clearer objectives and map flow
  • Improved mission pacing
    • Removed active GO! Command tutorials from campaign gameplay and placed in new Training
      
    • Improved difficulty
      • More consistent challenges
        
      • Less spikes

To wrap things up, we want to say thank you to everyone in the community for your patience and support through these development milestones. As a reminder, progression is still coming to Six Days in a future update. We know it’s been a long wait so far, but we’re beyond excited to introduce the first iteration of an expanded retention system into Six Days and hear your thoughts.
Join the community conversation and offer us feedback on our official Discord server!

https://discord.gg/SixDaysGame