Servers will be coming down starting at 230 PM eastern to start rolling out the latest patch for everyone. Expect 15-20 minute downtime.

Patch Notes:

• Added chat multi-line + toggle menu widgets
  
• Fixed bug client disappearing after 150 meters (Kevin is requesting members please confirm the fix is working)
  
• Show/hide HUD with F4 key
  
• Tweaked grenade throw, range increased, added faster stand throw and faster animation for crouch throw
  
• Fixed sway not always working on scoped weapons
  
• LAN capability added [IP connect]; only works outside of Steam
  
• Disable console command functions in game
  
• Fog of war on WolfRun
  
• Fixed cheat switch weapon while scoped
  
• Audio updates, fixed killfeed looping sound
  
• Changes to killfeed to show correct team colors and kill weapon
  
• Added flashbangs to SOF with line of sight checks
  
• Fix river render issues
  
• Terrain painting, added spec map to rocks, fixed spec on gravel and alphas on grass
  
• Work on props, box car in tunnel, derailed train, double side glass painted barn, added junk piles, added border to match the building and fence line with corn rows in the field on WolfRun, added fencing along dam to enemy base, sculpted new routes near the enemy base, added special packages for terrorist base on WolfRun and improvements to foliage. Added manhole cover, drain grill, open roof on coffin building in Sismis for effect and added railings and clutter on upper levels.
  
• Work on UI for sliders and settings, key bindings added
  
• Bomb plant animation and pickup animations added in advance of Demo mode (part of demo work to come, you won't see this yet)
  
• Enabled game mode layer to allow future game modes like Demo, default game mode layers added to server and new settings in use

We likely missed some fixes, sorry. We had a large number of builds since last beta patch so little things might get forgotten.

Hello H-Hour community!

We are announcing the close of our pre-early access beta donation campaign effective end of day tomorrow [May 5th] so if you want to participate and show your support for H-Hour, time is running out! This cutoff ensures our beta participants get 2 weeks of game time in before anyone else, along with access to the contests and events planned for our donors. Come join our beta team and have a voice in helping to shape the features and mechanics in H-Hour.

One of the key events this past week was a live stream chat Kevin participated in with DomTron on Twitch. The stream portion with Kevin ran well over an hour and a half and allowed him to go over a lot of the plans upcoming in H-Hour and help to layout future plans as well as answer some questions from the community. Thank you to Dom and to all of the community members who watched and commented on the live chat! For those who missed it, check it out on YouTube at the link below:

https://youtu.be/r0dBfQB_qlI
We want to keep the community informed on where we are now and what our future plans are for H-Hour. Publishing our milestones to reach Steam Early Access is an example of this. When you set main goals and publish them it can sometimes become confusing as to what the meaning behind the goal was. We want to be as open with the community as we can throughout development so encourage everyone to ask for clarification when required. For example, some members appear to have interpreted the milestone schedule to represent our patch schedule. The two are distinctly separate.

The developers will release patches as content is introduced and stabilized. If the code changes are small, you will likely see more frequent builds. If the code changes are large and complex, it may take an extended period to clean up and release to you. We have a group of excellent testers from the alpha that work closely with us to ensure the build you see is a quality one. This past week’s introduction of the code layer that is required to introduce game mode selection was quite complex and required many, many builds to identify things that needed to be fixed. We would love to release patches weekly and will do so whenever possible but we also believe it is important we only release when the patch is in a worthy state for the community.

The second point to clarify on the milestone schedule is that it lists the work that will be started in a given week, not necessarily the complete product. For example, the milestone schedule for last week included Demolition Mode framework. The goal was not to complete Demolition Mode in that week but to build the framework so we could add this mode to a future build. I am happy to announce that the complex code required to allow us to start detailed work on this game mode is now complete and the team will be focused on this task over the coming weeks before early access.

The milestone schedule is very important and crucial in the short-term development of H-Hour. So keep in mind when you look at this week’s milestone on UI and menu improvements that it indicates we will begin overhauling the UI and menus of the game but next week’s patch will not necessarily include all new UI and menus.

On the forums we had two different things concluding today and we were very glad to see participation from the community in both of these threads.

The first was a poll we ran over the weekend allowing the community to voice their opinion of which of two maps you would prefer to go into production as the third map for H-Hour. Kevin offered two options. The first was a map that would inspired by the classic Desert Glory map (not an exact replica, but a map with a similar feeling to that map). The second option was the map started back during the Kickstarter days—a mannequin factory.

When we closed the poll this morning the final vote sat at 129 votes to 91 votes in favor of the mannequin factory. This map will immediately go into production as the third official map for H-Hour: World's Elite. Russ already has some assets and elements of the map from back during the Kickstarter, but the map is going to be updated and improved before we get it into the community's hands. This map will have an urban setting and a creepy feeling to it. The weather outside will be rainy and the mood inside will be dark and eerie. The development team is very excited to begin serious work on this map. It will give the community something completely different from Sismis and Wolf Run and provide some real variety for H-Hour players.

The second community thread we closed today was the Beta Video Contest, which has been running since last week. We offered all beta participants the opportunity to post a short video of themselves owning in H-Hour. We wanted to see the best and most impressive kill streaks, head-shots and generally great game-play. The development team will review all of the videos posted during the contest and we will announce the top three winner's in next week's Quick Look update. Third, second and first place winners will all receive prize packages in the mail. Thank you to everyone who participated!

There are some big projects in the works for H-Hour right now. In addition to intense work on the new mannequin factory map, this week will also see continued development on Demolition Game Mode, as well as updates on the UI and menus in the game.

• This first week of development on Demolition Game Mode was used to lay out the framework for this new mode. This included work on how stats will be tracked, how different assets will be loaded if the mode is set to demolition, the win/lose logic, etc. These are the nuts and bolts of the project. Now the team will begin putting in more effects and start working on announcer dialog to describe the placement of the bomb, etc. In short, the team got the logic side of things done and will now work on the visual effects side of things.
  
• This week the main menus in the game are getting updated with a different look. At this point, this does not include the HUD (which is still to come).
  
• The team will also be continuing animation support and getting more of those animations in the game that you guys want to see and we want to smooth out.

How are the PS4 talks coming along you ask? We have never had so much interest since the start of SOF Studios. I have a meeting in an hour to discuss the future of H-Hour on console.

For some folks who might be interested. The Studio is looking to attend E3 again this year. Not sure if we’ll be showing off H-Hour or meeting with “interested” folks but as of now, we’ll be there. Also, since E3 isn’t open to the public, I’ll look to get a place off-site where we can meet up with the H-Hour community. After all, you guys are the reason SOFs gets to attend E3.

Thanks for all of your support. More updates next Monday!

Hey H-Hour community!

We want to thank all of you guys for your streams, your participation on the forums and many contributions to the game so far. The PS4 port has always been a major priority for us and having all of your streams and videos out there has been great for our discussions with interested parties seeking content. It’s awesome to point to your videos and show them the amazing H-Hour community and how the game functions in real time. Thank you again and keep up the great work because the right people are looking at our game!

We had a pretty good update on the game over the weekend. In the update we did some adjustments to the weapons and made them tighter. This is our first pass at tuning so now is the time to get in the private forums and provide your feedback on how the weapons feel to help us fine-tune them going forward. We also introduced options on the in game menu to allow for some graphics and audio settings. We will continue adding to the user settings as we go along. We also removed the ability to dolphin dive, which a lot of people have noted was annoying. Dozens of other smaller things were worked on as well, which will contribute to the overall quality of the game.

This coming week we are beginning work on Demolition Game Mode. This will be a first pass and won't be fully fleshed out and will probably have exploits in it. There are a lot of things that need to be taken care of with this game mode such as bomb animations, visual effects when the bomb explodes, announcer updating players on the status of the match, etc. We will have to have areas where the bomb can be placed and blown up. Not everything will be taken care of on week one and it will continue to be worked on and polished over the course of the next weeks. We are excited to be adding a second game-mode to the game and we hope you enjoy testing and playing it. Remember to post your thoughts in the private forums on this new game mode so the community voice is heard during this key development time.

Other things being worked on this week include:

•Jumping animations: They are missing one animation to finalize the jump loop so we didn't put it in last week but we will have it finished and in this week

•Grenade tweaking: We are going to clean up the grenades a little bit

This week we are also beginning the first H-Hour: World's Elite beta Contest. Head over to this thread[www.sofstudios.com] for rules and guidelines for the contest. Anyone who wants to participate can upload a video of their most impressive pwnage, kill shots or game play. You will have a week to upload your video and we'll pick our favorites next Monday. Winners will receive prizes, so check out the thread for more details!

On another note, we have had some asking about providing DirectX (DX) 10 support. DX10 is very old technology and is not supported. Our minimum recommended video cards are all DX11 compatible as a result. DX11 was released in 2009 by Microsoft to add features including:•GPGPU support (DirectCompute on the GPU itself vs requiring both CPU and GPU calculations), this also allows multiple GPUs to be used,

•tessellation support (used to manage datasets of polygons for rendering, and

•improved multi-threading support to assist video game developers in developing games that better utilize multi core processors

If you want the best in game experience on H-Hour, please upgrade to DX11 using the link below and ensure your graphics card at least meets our minimum specifications.

Download the latest DirectX from Microsoft:
https://www.microsof...ails.aspx?id=35

List of DX11 compatible cards:
http://solidlystated...11-video-cards/


Minimum Graphic Card recommended for H-Hour:

Note: These cards would require some adjustments to resolution and/or graphical settings. Higher quality cards are therefore recommended.

NVidia:
•Discrete: GTX 295, 480, 570, 660
•Go (mobile): 680M, 780M

ATI
•Discrete: HD 4870 X2, 6970, 7850, R7 265
•Mobility: 7970M


Thanks for all the great participation and for helping to make this beta great.

More information next Monday!

Evening all, I will need to take the servers offline for a short time to download, config and release the new server build and get your new client build pushed.

Make sure you update your game after the noted time. Do this by either restarting steam or by right clicking the game and selecting Manage Downloads and click the arrow to get it started.

Patch Notes:

•OPTIONS on main menu-UI settings for Audio are partially in now, those options available will be highlighted for you.
•OPTIONS on main menu-UI settings for Video are there though there are limits at this point.
•First pass Weapon optimizations are in but no adjustments yet for grenades. This is first pass and we are looking for feedback on each weapon to help with future tuning.
•Scope sway and kick for sniper weapons.
•New smoke grenade.
•Bot soldier "Tom character" that was appearing with late joins is fixed. "Tom" has been ordered out of the field ;)
•Lots of changes to level cleanup to remove objects and actors at round/match end. Fixes things like icons staying on screen, etc.
•Lobby fix where players changing status late caused issues, spawning as wrong soldier, seeing other team tags, etc.
•Addition of animations to break the "dolphin dive" exploit witnessed in game.
•Some work on chat logic to prevent open chat in progress freezing players at round end.
•Some texture changes in Sismis, addition of some water elements
•Fixed scope/binocular freeze when died in that view.

"RosieRascal": The studio approved procuring a root server in Frankfurt for the use of our European players. I have now provisioned the server, installed the game instances and set some servers live for your gaming pleasure. Enjoy!

https://www.sofstudios.com/index.php?/topic/8279-europeans-frankfurt-servers-now-live/#entry166304