Hello Onward Community,

Your kind words after our last communication meant a lot to us and we were happy to hear that you are excited to see what is coming next for Onward. This month in the Devs' Desk we will be going over some of the changes that will be going into Update 1.11. The features that are coming soon will address community feedback in addition to offering better quality of life details into the game.

In addition to the changes we are discussing this month, we have some other major updates that are also included in 1.11. However, writing about these features just doesn't feel like it would do them justice. We are working on some alternative ways to showcase these to you. Be on the lookout for more details soon.

From the Devs' Desks

The focus for update 1.11 is to bring features that will help your overall experience. Some of these have been in development for a while and will be completed and ready for update 1.11 and others were specifically picked to address community feedback.

Custom Maps

A major update is coming to Custom Maps: Custom maps can be set to populate in lobbies without needing to be downloaded prior to playing. Currently, if you want to play on a custom map you have to make sure everyone you are playing with has the map prior to starting or it won't show up in the map vote. After update 1.11, while in the tent players will automatically download the custom map during the map transition after the vote occurs if they don't have it installed yet. When you set up a lobby you will have four options for how custom maps can populate in the map vote. Options that can be set will be:

• (By default) include all maps available on the Workshop
• Only custom maps that the host has installed
• Only maps that any one person in the lobby has
• Disable custom maps entirely.

When joining servers you will also have a filter to search for lobbies that are Downpour maps only, custom maps only, or anything in between.

Our hope is that these changes dramatically improve the visibility of custom content in Onward, and allow for more players to check out the awesome environments our custom content authors are producing.

Evolutions to Current Social Modes

To enhance our social game modes we have made expansions to Gun Game and One in the Chamber. These new options can vastly change your experience in these game modes.

Gun Game will have randomly generated loadouts that include random guns, attachments, and equipment. The host can choose four different progression options: Linear (the original non-procedural progression), Increasing Power, Decreasing Power, or completely Randomized Power. Every loadout progression ends in a finale stage, like the current shield and knife. However, there are now different finales you can possibly end on. The host can also determine how many stages are in the progression as well as if stages include hand grenades.

One in the Chamber will include options for weapon types and weapon sights. These will allow you to play the mode with the original pistol, or shotguns, or bolt actions, or even RPGs! In addition, when the last two players are left alive, their watches will beep and you will be able to see the opposing player's location on the tablet. This signals the start of Sudden Death, which will require one player to kill the other within two minutes or they both lose. Additionally, spawns will be randomized each round as originally intended.

Two additional updates will be made to both modes:

1. The radio on your shoulder will be available for use during Gun Game and One in the Chamber game matches.
2. You will start with night vision goggles when playing on night maps, which has now allowed us to extend the modes to be played on Subway and Tanker.

Player Exploits

We will also be addressing a common exploit where players use various methods to enter locations, on various maps, which they're not meant to be in. We took some time to address the issue in order to make sure there was proper balance for intended gameplay tactics while being able to address people using exploits to cheat or play in an unintended manner. Players will be killed when trying to enter geometry they're not supposed to. This should help address and alleviate the frustration you feel when other players resort to using these types of behaviors during matches.

Connecting with Friends

We all know that playing with friends is probably the most fun you can have in Onward. Last year we introduced a way to invite people directly into your game if they are on the same platform as you, and in this update we're turning it up a notch by allowing you to quickly find your friend's lobby even if they are on a different platform. We will be introducing Server IDs to lobbies. You will easily be able to find your friends' games using the "Server ID" option in the lobby browser. When a friend creates or joins a lobby, you will have them simply provide you with the lobby ID number. After entering the code in the browser it will narrow down all the options to quickly find your friends' lobby.

Quality of Life Adjustments

Included in update 1.11 are several quality of life adjustments to the game. Adjustments like these may initially sound like small changes, however, the impact of how it affects your game sessions over time can be massive. Some of these adjustments include:

• Added "Movement Comfort" option in settings to block edges of your screen when moving to help with motion sickness
• Map voting can be initiated by the host in Free Roam and Shooting Range
• Map voting can now change the game mode in social or cooperative modes, within those modes, just like core modes were able to
• The Tent radio will be available for use during Co-Op matches so players in the tent can communicate with players in-game
• Ability to create open to public Free Roam lobbies from the lobby creator
• Ability to reach and use your radio on your shoulder when downed as you do when alive instead of it dropping onto the ground with your body
• Spawn Protection will be added to Shooting Range and Free Roam

Bug Fixes

Our team continues to tackle and fix a large list of bugs. We understand that as we make major adjustments to the game and update backend features that it has caused some unintended behaviors to happen in different aspects of the game. We have been closely monitoring the community reports and are working on fixing many of the issues we have seen reported. Some issues reported may require more time as they might be a larger project or are being considered for redesign. Thank you for being patient with us while we continue to work on these.

• Weapon gripping will be reversed to its previous behavior (before 1.9). This should resolve the issue with weapons releasing due to recoil or hand positioning
• Weapons not firing or explosives not able to be interacted with have been fixed
• bHaptics and ProTube integration fixed. You will be able to re-enable the settings and use these accessories

Community Center

We hope you enjoyed the Onward tips that were shared on our social media accounts. It seemed a lot of players learned some new techniques to add to their gameplay tactics. If you missed them, you can still review them on our social accounts.

• Instagram: Onwardthegame
• Twitter: @Onwardthegame
• Facebook: OnwardTheGame

In line with making quality of life improvements to the game, we have been making some quality of life updates to our Discord community as well. We have reformatted the way you can make game suggestions, report bugs, and also how to get help if you are experiencing any issues with the game. This will provide you with easier visibility to developer responses and ability to connect with other players about the game.

On a final note, by popular request, we have now made the new loading screen artwork available for you in desktop wallpaper formats. To check out all the beautiful 4K scene options, head over to the Media page to download them.

We are looking forward to giving you even more information in the coming weeks. Until then...

Stay alert, look to the horizon.

Hello Onward Community,

We wanted to update you on the status of the studio in regards to the layoffs at Meta that occurred earlier this month. Meta acquired Downpour Interactive two years ago, and Downpour operates within the Oculus Studios group in the Reality Labs portion of the company. Meta recently had to make some tough decisions in regards to staffing throughout the organization. Unfortunately, this did impact our studio.

Onward is not being shut down, and we are continuing to support the game. Our team at Downpour is a passionate group who remains dedicated to bringing you improvements, new features, and bug fixes. Expect a May Sitrep from us soon that will include updates on some exciting features coming in update 1.11.

Beyond update 1.11, the plan of work that we have laid out in previous Sitreps is likely to change. We will need to first take some time to evaluate our internal processes to ensure that our team focuses on what is the most beneficial and impactful for you, our players.

Finally, we'd like to take a moment to thank you for allowing us time to process the loss we are feeling for our fellow colleagues and friends. Downpour started as a small team and grew into what felt like a group of friends working together to expand on an amazing game in this new technology space. Our friends will be greatly missed, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

As we say goodbye to these talented individuals, we must move.. ONWARD.

The Downpour Interactive Team

Hello Onward Players,

We were thrilled to hear how many of you are enjoying all the new content and updates that came with 1.10. When update 1.10 released, the team was continuing to work on the issues with the lobby stability, which is the major focus for this hotfix. In addition, we were also able to fix some small bugs that came with 1.10. However, we know this hotfix does not include all of them. We have reviewed the feedback and are continuing to work on bugs that you have reported. Please see the list of fixes included in this hotfix and the list of known issues.

Change Log:

• Updated and improved our networking. This should help bring more stability to lobby connections and reduce players getting kicked to the main menu
• Fixed players not getting notifications when vote kicked from lobbies
• Fixed visibility of the regional server information in the settings menu on Quest
• Fixed issues causing poor performance on Suburbia (Day and Night) for PCVR users

Known Issues:

• When a Quest player lets there headset go idle in the tent, it will cause a bug that causes them to load in as gray character model and not be able to play correctly
• When you grip a weapon with both hands Gunstock calibrations are not applied. This issue is temporarily fixed once the player re-grips the weapon with their dominant hand
• Black screen and hanging on loading for Quest users
• Hand disconnection on weapons
• Audio issues related to using flares

Happy March Onward Community,

Did you draw a battle plan for Egress? Is the MP7 everything you dreamed it would be? We hope you are continuing to enjoy all the new content that came with update 1.10. We were thrilled to see all your positive reactions and feedback.

Some of the items that made it into the game we understand you are less thrilled with. Some of the major community reports being the performance issues on Suburbia for PC players and the weapons unintentionally releasing from your hands. Based on the amount of feedback we received we understand these major pain points so we're prioritizing looking into these issues. Additional bugs that you have reported we are actively working on addressing as well. There will be a hotfix coming soon and more details about what will be included in it can be found in the Devs' Desk.

Another topic we want to address is the departure of Downpour Interactive founder Dante Buckley, who has resigned from Meta. It's not hyperbole to say that without Dante, Onward and Downpour Interactive would not exist. Dante's vision for Onward and approach to VR game development was the foundation for our work and how we make games together here at Downpour. We want to thank him for his many contributions, and wish him the best in all his future endeavors while we carry on his passion for Onward. As a studio, we will miss Dante but are as committed as ever to continuing to deliver great gaming experiences for you all.

From the Devs' Desks

A major focus since 1.9 has been to address the outstanding issues related to networking. This includes issues where players are experiencing getting kicked from lobbies or whole lobbies are being dissolved. We have been working hard on identifying and properly fixing the issues. Network and server related work can be very delicate and takes a lot of development time and testing. We are in the process of testing a fix that is set to be released as Hotfix 1.10.1. We don't have an exact date to share yet, once the hotfix is fully tested it will be released.

In addition to the hotfix, we are also working on our next update: 1.11. This update will include some major quality of life improvements, new content, and of course bug fixes. We will release more details about what is coming into the update soon. Stay tuned for more information.

Community Center

Do you know every tactic and mechanic there is in Onward? Over the next couple weeks we will be releasing a series of social media posts with videos and images showing off some of the more nuanced and obscure things possible in Onward. If you are looking to broaden your skill set, be sure to watch our social pages.

Follow us on:

• Twitter: @OnwardTheGame
• Instagram: OnwardTheGame
• Facebook: Onward The Game

The custom map makers continue to make some fun new environments. The following new custom maps have made their way to the workshop:

Extradition submitted by Bluega [PC & Quest]

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Terrorists have locked you up in a half completed jail. Should be pretty easy to break out.

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Regimental Headquarters by Mr.Cheeseface [PC & Quest]

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ARR is proud to announce the commissioning of Regimental Headquarters, a fully-equipped military base. This facility includes Officer quarters, administrative offices, barracks, armory, mess hall, and other necessary buildings. In addition, Regimental Headquarters features advanced training installations such as close quarter combat (CQC) training and breaching training, a 25-meter pistol range, and a 300-meter shooting range. This base provides everything a modern military unit needs to train and operate effectively.

Sokol Outpost submitted by LschVirus [PC & Quest]

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Sokol Operations Command (SOC) has decided to build an outpost on the mountains of Russia. Covered in a Snowy and Mountain environment, This makes a perfect place for SOC

North submitted by Lejam009 [PC & Quest]

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During a training exercise over Volk territory, Marsoc's helicopter has been shot down by Volk. All Marsoc operators have survived the crash. The APCs have arrived, but all Volks needs to be neutralized to get a safe extraction.

Stay Focused, Stay Alert

The content update you have been waiting for is here! We have shared a lot of information with you about what to expect with this patch over the past couple months and the design direction around what went into the update. We know you are excited to try the new weapons and play on the new map, so we will jump right into letting you know what is included in this update.

New Features

Two New Weapons

Two new weapons have been introduced to the game: the MP7A2 for MARSOC and the SR-2MP Veresk for Volk. The MP7A2 is one we heard a lot of requests for. You'll see it has its 40 round magazine, drop free magazine, and bolt release button, while the SR-2MP Veresk's has a 30 round magazine, drop free magazine, and cheaper point cost to balance it. Both sport a high fire rate and are excellent choices for CQB. You won't need to worry too much about your barrel getting obstructed as it might with longer weapons. We're happy to have a chance to provide more close quarters options, plus finally get an SMG onto Volk!

New Map

We have been listening to community feedback and requests for a European map. Egress is a brand new urban city map set in Estonia available for all game modes with both day and night versions, and it's our second map to make use of snow. You will need to be careful when moving around to not give your position away when others can hear it crunching beneath your boots. Egress offers a variety of cover and interesting locations to discover including warehouse storage, a hotel bar, and more. Get ready to learn some new call outs.

This time around, we wanted to make sure all our weapon and map content in this update connected and fit well with each other in terms of both gameplay and setting. SMGs were a great fit for the close quarters urban fighting that's seen in Egress. The MP7A2, in addition to being a commonly requested weapon by players, can be seen used by both American and Estonian special operations teams. The SR-2MP Veresk is a natural gameplay counterpart that is used by Russian security forces and thus makes sense for Volk to have their hands on, not to mention that its country of origin is just across the border. In future update content, we plan to connect our guns, maps, and overall content similarly as long as we are still satisfying our content goals giving you things you want to see in-game.

Regional Servers

Regional servers allow players to play in matches hosted closer to their location where they can have better connections. Upon launch after downloading update 1.10 players will be asked if they want to pick a preferred region. There are 4 options to choose from; US West, US East, Europe, Asia. Players should pick the region closest to their current location. If players ever want to change their preferred server region, they can do so at any time in the Settings menu.

Choosing a preferred server region will set your game to attempt to join lobbies in that region when using the quick play options for Core, Co-op, and Social buttons found under Multiplayer. If a lobby can't be found in your region, it will start checking other regions. Whenever you choose to host a lobby, your lobby will always be hosted in your preferred server region. This gives you more control over this function, and not just assume you always want to host in whatever region is closest to you. So if you have a few friends all located in another part of the world, and want to host a lobby for them that is physically closer to them so they can benefit from a lower ping, you can always go to your Settings and choose their region. When looking for a lobby to join in the server browser, you can see which server region a lobby is set to in the server info area at the bottom under "respawn mode". You can also use the server browser's filters to narrow down which regional server lobbies show in the browser. If you're ever in the middle of a match and unsure what server region you're in, you can always look in the back of the tent.

AI Enemy Animations

AI enemy animations in co-op and single player have been completely overhauled. Every animation has been replaced, including walking, shooting, throwing grenades, dying, and more. Fighting AI and getting kills especially will now feel even more impactful, immersive, and responsive.

Now, over to the full change log!

Change Log

Major Additions

• Snowy urban CQB map Egress
• MP7A2 weapon for MARSOC Specialist
• SR-2MP Veresk weapon for Volk Specialist
• Regional Server Support for US East, US West, Europe, and Asia regions
• Overhaul of all enemy AI animations including movement, deaths, and more

System

• Added additional information to Competitive filter description in the server browser
• The 'Dominant Eye' setting no longer resets after changing the individual setting and relaunching the title
• Fixed an issue where the license button would attempt to open a web page even if you weren't connected to the internet
• Fixed issue that caused some players to go to main menu instead of directly going into the game lobby when accepting a game invite
• Adjustments made to Virtual Gunstock to fix issues when aiming to prevent hypersensitivity
• Fixed bug where some users are not able to see the Vote kick UI after they load into active gameplay and initiate a vote kick
• Fixed bug where helmets would not properly equip and the menu options to not proceed to the loadout screen if hosts player's headset went idle before other players join the lobby
• Fixed an issue on Quest 2 where dark shading patches were visible on character models
• Quest users that have Oculus users as friends can now see said Oculus friend with the 'Show Friends Only' filter selected
• Description of additional syringes available in co-op Evac is now consistent with the amount the user receives during gameplay
• Loadouts created in Free Roam mode are no longer carried over to the other game modes
• Weapons where both hands grip the weapon close together will no longer experience jittering when the user holds them at a specific angle

Gameplay

• Numerous fixes related to bugs linked to a host player's headset going idle before other players join the lobby
• Players no longer become invisible to AI when joining the lobby while the host has their Quest in rest mode at the end of the round
• Player can no longer see or use extra ammunition from AI when joining lobby after the 1st round in co-op mode
• Fixed an issue where you would see a generic end of round message ("MISSING END ROUND MESSAGE FOR ESCORT") when no players would be left alive at the end of the jail spawn timer
• Fixed a bug where ammo boxes were only visible to the host after a map transition in Bazaar
• Fixed issue in Escort MARSOC could begin the game without a VIP and be unable to extract if their VIP disconnects from the lobby as the game begins
• Fixed a bug where a player could become invisible if you leave & rejoin an Assault lobby after downing another player, and you spawn into the map before said player has re-spawned back into the map
• Night vision no longer fades away when user steps into a cloud of smoke after throwing a smoke grenade
• Fixed players being able to exceed the class limit by selecting the same class at the same time in competitive servers
• The Player Arrow on the whiteboard map now correctly points in the same direction as the player is facing when looking at team members in active gameplay

Maps

• Bazaar
  • Fixed multiple spots of collision
  • Adjusted lighting in Bazaar giving the map more direct light in daytime to improve visuals and player lighting
  • Fixed missing items in the Market area in Bazaar
  • Some of the buildings in Bazaar now have an extra open window
• Quarantine
  • Fixed multiple spots of collision
  • Fixed inconsistencies between Quest and PC versions of Quarantine where cover would exist on PC but not Quest
  • Fixed a mesh issue on the Humvees located on Quarantine
  • Fixed an issue where assets could clip through Hesco Bastions in Quarantine
  • Fixed an issue where the Air Drone could not see the sidewalks in Quarantine
  • Fixed an issue where the Drone would get caught on a building in Quarantine
  • Fixed several floating items in Quarantine
• Suburbia
  • Fixed multiple spots of collision on Suburbia
  • The correct footstep sound will now be heard on grass and concrete areas throughout Suburbia
  • Fixed Tree consistency on Suburbia between PCVR and Quest
  • Fixed an issue where the evac helicopter would sometimes land into Hesco barriers in Suburbia
  • Adjusted the overall lighting for Suburbia to have brighter and more detailed visuals as well as more accurate player lighting
  • Updated the textures for the grass terrain for both Quest and PC
  • Buildings and Fences in Suburbia were re-made for better utilization
  • New road and sidewalk textures were implemented
  • Some bushes have been remade to improve graphic quality and to rectify a PC-Quest gameplay advantage where PC players could see through them and Quest users could not
• Turbine
  • Fixed multiple spots of collision
  • Fixes for several exploitable areas

Workshop & Custom Maps

• Maps downloaded on previous versions no longer appear as duplicates on map selection
• Fixed an issue where some subscribed maps always required an update after refreshing the Workshop page
• Fixed certain map thumbnails appearing blank and unable to be selected on the 'Workshop' tab
• Custom Map image no longer fail to update when the user is brought to the Workshop after accepting a 'Missing Map' prompt in the 'Multiplayer Server Browser'

Weapons and Utilities

• Fixed issue where positioning for weapons was not consistent when holstered when viewing other players
• Hands no longer become stuck when holding another user's RPG-7 that has been reloaded
• Fixed a performance issue on Quest related to the use of VR goggles
• Fixed an issue with the PKM & M249 where your non-dominant hand would hold onto the feed tray cover when the weapon was dropped, following the weapon to the ground
• Fixed issue where players could not manually activate an equipped laser sight on the P90 because the charging handle grab area interferes with the activation zone
• Fixed max offhand grip release activating by weapon recoil when near the max offhand distance
• Fixed a bug where another players primary weapon can fall through world when taking it then grabbing your own pistol
• Smoke grenades can no longer be used normally during the match start timer
• Fixed an issue on the SV98 when using Grip/Trigger setting and then attempting to pull the mag would result in an inability to do so or instead the bolt will be grabbed
• Fixed an issue where letting go of your primary weapon with both hands simultaneously, while holding it away from your body, makes the gun stick to your offhand
• The 2x Holographic Sight now shows attached to the rail on the FAMAS
• AKS-74U Holographic Sight no longer appears solid in Gun Game after a computer restart
• Primary and Secondary Attachments now default to 'Iron Sights' for Primary and Secondary Optics and Empty for Primary and Secondary Attachments after the user has equipped the Ballistic Shield, Stun Gun and Flare Gun in the tent
• The 552 Commando charging handle no longer disappears when the chamber is closed
• Corrected movement speed when player is using the Stun Gun in ready position
• The PKM no longer unloads when dropped on the ground or passed to another player
• Fixed issue where a single floating bullet would appear over the weapons of PKM-wielding AI throughout co-op matches
• The magazine on the AK5C now appears correctly

Known Issues

• Sometimes the "You were kicked." message fails to appear when the user is returned to the Main Menu after being kicked from a multiplayer lobby
• Free roam is missing the Support class secondary weapons flashlight attachments
• On the M249 and PKM, the weapon will fall in an unnatural manner when the weapon is loaded but not fired

Hello Onward Community,

We hope you have enjoyed all the images that have been appearing on our social channels throughout the last month. All of the posts related to things included in the upcoming update 1.10. This month on the Devs' Desk we will be discussing the images, their meaning, and how they relate to the upcoming update.

We know you are excited to play on the new map and use the new weapons. Update 1.10 is expected to drop on February 21st. Keep your eyes on our socials to know the exact time the update becomes available for download.

From the Devs' Desks:

New Map

We can now confirm that our next map, Egress, is coming in update 1.10. Egress is a snowy urban map taking place in a port city in Estonia, with a focus on CQB and medium-range combat. Establishing lore and story background in Onward is important to us, and we're trying to emphasize deeper immersion through story with our future level content. The newspaper articles that were shared on our social media actually appear in-game, placed throughout the level. Each one gives hints as to why Volk and MARSOC are there, and what led up to the fight. When you load into Egress, you'll see a location and summary of the engagement as with all our other maps. But if you can connect the dots there with the articles, you'll learn much more. See below for the mission summary seen in the loading screen:

Volk has bribed a dockhand to falsely report a bomb threat, causing an evacuation. Volk aims to kidnap a scientist on the CBRN response team. Nearby MARSOC on a joint training operation have been given permission to move in.

For the level design of Egress, we knew we wanted to emphasize the close-quarters weapons available in Update 1.10. The map is tightly packed with alleyways, warehouses, loading docks and a centralized hotel that make for a variety of ways to strategize with your team to cover ground effectively, outflank your opposition and make gameplay fresh with each round. We want to take this moment to share more images showcasing some of the outside areas on this level and leave the rest for you to discover.

New Weapons

In our very first teaser image, in addition to lore and setting, we left a nice little hint as to the weapon content coming in 1.10. Those in our community with a keen eye could see there was text in the bottom right hand corner of the page in that image reading "1316G1B", which decodes as follows:

• 13 = M (13th letter of the alphabet)
• 16 = P (16th letter of the alphabet)
• G = 7 (7th letter of the alphabet)
• 1 = A (First letter of the alphabet)
• B = 2 (Second letter of the alphabet)

We can confirm that the "MP7A2", an oft requested PDW style SMG, is coming in 1.10 with the SR-2MP Veresk as its counterpart. Two image teases for the weapons showcased the amazing work the team does on the details when making weapons for the game. We showed extreme close ups of both guns, and then later showed off full on renders. You can see the close ups compared to the full weapon images below.

It was important to us that these new pieces of content fit together in a cohesive way that makes sense for both the gameplay and setting. These two PDWs are perfect for the confined urban CQB of Egress since they are small, lightweight, tight quarters weapons designed to be used against conventional armored combatants. Furthermore, we can see that the MP7A2 is used by both American and Estonian SOF, with Russian forces making use of the SR-2MP Veresk on their end as well. With adding these two guns, we have grown our CQB play and further expanded our suite of weapons in a way that makes sense for the update's map and all other Onward maps, not to mention finally getting an SMG onto Volk!

Major Features

In addition to the other two major features we talked about in previous Sitreps (regional servers & improved AI animations), we wanted to highlight that major fixes and updates will be applied throughout our maps. The foundations we've laid in our previous updates now allow us to refocus on releasing improvements we've spent the last year working on in the background, such as map fixes etc. Starting in update 1.10 you will start to see a big flow of map updates coming out again. This includes things like updated textures, misaligned collision fixes, fixed exploitable locations, and more.

More details for all the features and bugs fixes that are included in update 1.10 will be announced with the patch notes when the update goes live.

Community Center:

VR Central shared a fun video of some of the interesting things that happen during his gameplay in Onward. Some of the clips included are some skilled kills, funny moments, and some acts of ultimate betrayal during game sessions. We are glad to see that he has such a good time during his game sessions and makes the most out of some of the situations that happen on the battlefield. You can check out the video On YouTube.

The Custom Map Makers have done it again this month. We have 6 new custom maps for this month! Make sure to head over to the Workshop in game and add them to your library to test them out.

Shadow_Base submitted by !Lejam009 [PC & Quest]
The official home base map for SSF commissioned by Astro from SSF. This map was inspired by the 125 Fighter Wing base in Jacksonville FL

Lazer Quest submitted by Timemaster111 [PC & Quest]
Somehow you stumbled into the Lazer Quest arena. Reports are the enemy is here too... have... fun? (P.S. Try me with Night Vision and a Laser!)

Tactical Map & Battle Map Tachikawa submitted by Knyam_Gee [PC & Quest]
Tactical Map & 1v1/2v2/3v3 Battle map

Cloud & Cloud Night submitted by TNK_tarematsu_JP [PC & Quest]
You are above the clouds. Be careful not to hit the fighters! For night mode Your night vision is broken. Must use a flashlight.

Stay Focused, Stay Alert

To focus our development efforts, we will no longer support Quest 1 devices as of July 31st, 2023.

For more details about this please see our FAQ page

Happy 2023 Onward Community!

We would like to start by welcoming all the new players that have joined the Onward community! We saw a large increase in players and number of lobbies through the month of December. We hope you all are fighting the good fight and enjoying all the different game modes that Onward has to offer.

After our 1.9 release, our focus has been to work on stability in addition to new content for the next update. When we moved our game over to a new hosting service in 1.9 we realized some additional server work was needed and we wanted to address it as soon as possible to enhance your experience. We produced hotfixes through December and January to improve the server and game stability. Update 1.10 is the next update that will be released and will include the new content you have been asking for.

Let's take a look at some of that new content the teams have been working on.

From the Devs' Desks:

Our level designers are providing a glimpse of what the inside of one of the major buildings looks like on the upcoming 1.10 map. It looks like something happened to cause this area to have been evacuated quickly. Luckily, the photo of Mr. Falafel Fluff appears to be undamaged.

The weapon artists are putting the last bit of polish on the two new weapons. What we can take a look at, well, listen to, is the audio of the new weapons being used at the shooting range.

We hope you've been enjoying our teases about update 1.10's new content and backstory on our social media. We've been reading and enjoying all of your theories! If you look closely at what we're posting, and read between the lines, you'll see some hints on what's to come.

Follow us on:

• Twitter: @OnwardTheGame
• Instagram: OnwardTheGame
• Facebook: Onward The Game

Community Center:

The Custom Map Makers have been working hard and added some great new maps to the workshop area. These new maps are available now to be played on PC and Quest.

Coastal Shrine submitted by @TNK_tarematsu_JP
"Volk has taken over the shrine. Marsoc must confront this."

CQB_Training submitted by !lejam009
"This Marsoc base is situated in Colorado, instructors will bring their new recruits here to train them and prepare them for combat. This base offers a shooting range and a killhouse with watchtowers for instructors to evaluate the combat efficiency of their recruits."

Paintball submitted by Bluega
"For some reason terrorists are attacking a paintball field. Stop them."

We are looking forward to showing you more as the time for release gets closer.

Over and Out

Hello Onward Players!

When patch 1.9.3 released there was an issue that was causing some lobbies to have incorrect spawn timers. In addition, there may have been other lesser reported compatibility issues for some players. These issues should now be resolved. It is highly encouraged that you update the game to version 1.9.4 to avoid any compatibility issues.

Change Log

• Fixed a bug that was causing some lobbies to not have correct spawn timers

Known Issues

• On Meta Quest and Oculus Home, the 1.9.4 hotfix will report having version number 1.9.3
• Weapon recoil may cause the player character to let go of their weapon with their offhand if the player's hands are already at the edge of the maximum grab distance
• Players cannot manually activate an equipped laser sight on the P90 because the charging handle grab area interferes with the activation zone. It can still be activated when two hands grip the weapons using the left trigger
• Players are not able to see the Vote kick UI after they load into active gameplay and initiate a vote kick. The UI will appear in the next round
• Letting a Quest 2 host player's headset go idle before other players join the lobby causes helmets to not properly equip and the UI to not proceed to the loadout screen. Once the idle headset is active, function returns to normal

Hello Onward Players!

We have started the year refreshed and hit the ground running by addressing some major pain points the community was experiencing after the 1.9 update. Please see the change log below for what is included in this patch:

Change Log

• Improvements made to increase server stability
• Improvements made to game stability and reduced the amount of game crashes
• Fixed bug that would cause players to crash when grabbing object from another player
• Fix a desync issue with round starting timer that was allowing Quest users to start sooner than PC users
• Fix for bug where custom content ambient sound effects would carry over into other areas of the game
• Fixed issue that could cause lobbies to crash (especially when playing modes like Co-op)
• Updated messaging so when you load into an invalid/corrupted custom map, a message will now be shown when you are booted to the main menu

Known Issues

• Weapon recoil may cause the player character to let go of their weapon with their offhand if the player's hands are already at the edge of the maximum grab distance
• Players cannot manually activate an equipped laser sight on the P90 because the charging handle grab area interferes with the activation zone. It can still be activated when two hands grip the weapons using the left trigger
• Players are not able to see the Vote kick UI after they load into active gameplay and initiate a vote kick. The UI will appear in the next round
• Letting a Quest 2 host player's headset go idle before other players join the lobby causes helmets to not properly equip and the UI to not proceed to the loadout screen. Once the idle headset is active, function returns to normal

Hello Onward Community!

December is bringing 2022 to a close and we are happy to look back and see all the work the team has been able to accomplish this year and how all that hard work will help us make even more improvements and open the door for new additions in 2023.

The game got a lot of much needed improvements and additions to help the longevity of development and set the game up to have new content and fixes come in next year. This month, in the Devs' Desk, we wanted to showcase all the additions and improvements that went into Onward this year. What isn't included in the list is the hundards of bugs that were fixed through the year. If you are curious about all the individual details that went into the game, you can always read the details from the previous patch notes.

The community also had some great additions inside and out of the game this year. From intense competitive matches, fun custom maps, to fun videos and fan art. Check out the Community Center for some of our favorite clips and events that happened this year.

Our office will be closed from December 22nd - January 2nd (including support). The team will be taking this time to recharge so we can return and hit the ground running in 2023. Expect more info about the new 1.10 content once we return.

From the Devs' Desks:

The major focus for the year was improving our backend systems to give us the ability to continue to expand the game and improve the game's foundation. Some of the systems had not been worked on since the game first launched in 2016. This investment helps give us the ability to add new features and content and allows current systems to be improved on.

Onward 2022 Wrap-Up

Newly added features

• Gunstock Calibration
• Friends joining matches directly via invite
• In-Game player reporting

Newly added features

• Loadout Points Rebalance
• Updates to Free Roam Gameplay
• Improvements to the server browser
• Improved player ragdoll when downed or dying

System Improvements

• Weapon Refactor
• New Voice Chat system including auto reconnect feature
• Rebuilt custom maps infrastructure for community map makers
• New hosting infrastructure for the game

Community Center:

A total of 32 new custom maps were added to the game this year! The community map makers have been hard at work offering a variety of new themes and environments for players to experience. If you are interested in learning how to make maps or connect with the people that do, make sure to check out our custom map creators section in the official Discord.

The competitive Esports organization VRML had a booming season this year. 1,527 players, making up 116 teams, competed this year. That's 846 intenses matches of PVP. Check out some of the highlights from this season on their YouTube channel. Their next season is starting soon, if you are interested in joining, make sure to check out the details here.

The VR Charity group ran two Onward charity tournaments this year raising over $7,500 for some great causes like Breast Cancer research and StackUp for Veterans. If you are interested in joining the community for future charity events check out their Discord.

Lastly for the community portion, check out some of the community highlights from throughout the year:

This amazing port of our game by Koiz

Some impressive whiteboard art by Niners2kx

The decked out room of Old_dirty_kooky_qc

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Thank you for all the great matches, feedback, and support you show the game and the team. We are looking forward to everything we are going to bring to you in 2023.

Happy Holidays from everyone at DPI!

Hello Onward Community!

Thank you all for your patience while we worked hard on getting hotfixes out after the release of 1.9. While settling into our new hosting service a number of issues came up that needed to be addressed based on the new backend work that was done. The bugs that emerged related to the amount of traffic and volume of games being made. These types of bugs are something our QA team couldn't have caught or replicated before the launch. We tackled the bugs as quickly as we could and got fixes out quickly to get you back to fighting the good fight. Bugs that you may have experienced that have been fixed since the release of 1.9 are as follows:

Fixes released a few hours after release:

• Lobbies not populating in server browser
• Player names not showing in lobbies
• Multiplayer lobbies not being accessible

Fixes released in 1.9.1:

• Fixed a bug in the Workshop UI
• Private lobbies will now correctly open to public
• Corrected issues related to players receiving unexpected error messages

Fixes released in 1.9.2:

• Fixed a stability issue where users would be kicked to the main menu when selecting a custom map after another user leaves the lobby during a map vote
• Fixed an issue where magazines and other pick-upables were not properly destroyed leading them to accumulate over rounds, leading to client disconnects and preventing players from joining the lobby

If you are still experiencing any of the above issues, please make sure you uninstall and reinstall the game and are on the latest version of the game (1.9.2). The new server infrastructure made it much easier for the team to deploy hotfixes. Update 1.9 gave us the ability to address things quickly and this improvement will continue to help improve our development process. We continue to work to resolve issues related to the 1.9 release, such as the "Error 7" error message and players being kicked back to the main menu during gameplay. We are hoping to have these resolved soon.

Since we are now in a better place with our backend and the game stability, our focus for the next update is new content. We have some exciting new features that we are working on. Check out the Devs' Desks for the latest on the new stuff coming to Onward.

From the Devs' Desks

New Map

Work continues on the Iraqi map we teased in our May Sitrep, which given its unique layout has necessitated some extra time in development and will not be coming in update 1.10. Instead, expect to see a totally new and yet to be revealed map in our next update. This unannounced map has come together very nicely in recent playtesting, and we are excited to reveal more about it soon. As for the details, we don't have anything to share yet other than the fact that Volk is up to no good and you should keep your eyes peeled on our social media for more info.

Twitter: @OnwardTheGame
Instagram: @onwardthegame
Facebook: /OnwardTheGame

New Weapons

We are working on not just one, but TWO more weapons. More information on the weapons will be released as information becomes available.

Updated Animations

This is the first major animation update which will be rolled out since the game launched. We've long wanted to address the animations and have certainly heard your wishes regarding updating our character animations for Onward. Starting off you will see big improvements visually to all the AI animations. We've even added new crouching and death animations, as well as smoothed out the directional movement of the NPCs.

Adding Regional Support

Many people believe that Onward uses "peer to peer" networking, but this is not the case: it is server / client with one user being designated the "master client". That is the person with the star by their name, and they get more authority in the lobby, but they are not actually hosting the lobby. Until now, all Onward lobbies have been hosted in the US East region, even if the "master client" was in another region. This means that if a player was not in the eastern United States, they would experience laggier gameplay or latency. With our new backend we now have the ability to offer regional support. You will now get to pick from a list of available lobby regions to create your lobbies in, and gameplay will feel more consistent for people in those regions. Lobbies from every region will be shown in the lobby browser together, but you can filter for specific regions. Lobbies you create or quick join into will use your "preferred region" which is set from the settings screen. On launch of the update, we will have the following regions: US East, US West, Europe, and Asia.

Community Center

We have resolved the issue of the map creator's name not showing on the customs map menu. New instructions for custom map makers have been posted in our Discord so the map creator can link their names to the maps in game. You should start to see the names of the map creator appear in the workshop soon.

In addition, we have a new map in the workshop for you to check out.

Chinatown Day submitted by Bluega (For PC)

"Volk have placed a bomb in central Chinatown. Civilians have been evacuated. The terrorists must be eliminated or the bomb defused."

When 1.9 launched the rating for the custom maps were reset. If you enjoy a custom map, don't forget to go back to the workshop and rate it. It helps the custom map creators understand what maps players enjoy and provide valuable information when new maps are being created. It also helps players see what maps other players have and when those maps are downloaded by other players, those maps are more likely to show up during map voting in matches

We hope you are looking forward to all the new content being developed for Onward! Don't forget to follow our social media to keep up to date on news and information between Sitreps.

Keep your head on a swivel!

Hello Onward Players,

Last week we released patch 1.9.1 to address a number of high priority issues. At the time we were aware that some issues remained, particularly related to lobby stability, which caused players to be kicked back to the main menu. Today we release hotfix 1.9.2 to address these issues. The patch is available now and should download for you automatically.

Change Log

• Fixed a stability issue where users would be kicked to the main menu when selecting a custom map after another user leaves the lobby during a map vote
• Fixed an issue where magazines and other pick-upables were not properly destroyed leading them to accumulate over rounds, leading to client disconnects and preventing players from joining the lobby

Known Issues

• Weapon recoil may cause the player character to let go of their weapon with their offhand if the player's hands are already at the edge of the maximum grab distance
• In the Workshop, some subscribed maps always require an update to the map after refreshing the Workshop page

Hello Onward Players,

We hope you are continuing to enjoy the features like the improved audio and reporting system that came with 1.9. Given the amount of work and changes that were done to the back end of the game, we were happy with the overall stability of the update. Once players did start to report problems related to things like lobby visibility and access or player names not being visible, the change to our new host gave us the ability to quickly identify the causes and jump into action to resolve some of the issues within a matter of hours.

There are still a couple of lingering bugs that were discovered and quickly fixed, however these require a game update in order to resolve them. We are releasing hotfix 1.9.1 to address those issues reported. Below in the change log is the details of what issues were fixed.

Independent of this hotfix we are looking into lobby stability issues you have reported to us over the past week, some of which seem to affect the co-op lobbies in particular. Until we are able to address these issues a workaround for some of the issues is to start new lobbies regularly, and for co-op lobbies in particular, playing with a lower number of bots.

Change Log

• Fixed a bug that would cause the Workshop UI to disappear unless the player scrolled the page
• Private lobbies will now correctly open to public using the 'Set to public' button in the back of the tent
• Corrected issues related to players receiving unexpected error messages when creating or joining games

Known Issues

• Weapon recoil may cause the player character to let go of their weapon with their offhand if the player's hands are already at the edge of the maximum grab distance
• Players are kicked to the main menu when selecting a custom map after another player leaves the lobby during a map vote
• Lobby crashes happen after a large number of magazines are discarded. To avoid this, while this is being worked on, it is advised that you regularly start fresh lobbies when playing co-op especially with high bot counts
• In the Workshop, some subscribed maps always require an update to the map after refreshing the Workshop page
• Error code 7 notifications being given as a result of the game taking too long to respond to the server

Hello Onward Community,

In our sitrep last month we stated 1.9 would come before the end of the year and today is the day! If you have kept up with our dev blog, you know that most of the work that went into 1.9 was back-end work. However, there were also a lot of bug fixes and a couple new improvements that are included as well. For the full list of the bug fixes, make sure to check out the details in the Change Log.

This latest back-end update was a big one. We moved the entirety of the game from where it was hosted to a completely rebuilt infrastructure. It doesn't sound like a big process, but in fact it is a massive undertaking. It may feel like we should be able to just drag and drop the files over to a new location, like one does when moving an image file from one location to the other. We wish it was that simple. The best way to describe what had to be done is to imagine you are moving a house, you have to pack everything up, tear the whole house down, move it, rebuild the house, and then set everything back up exactly the way it was previously. It's a lot of much needed work. This change has given us more stability, and will provide more opportunity to grow and continue to develop the game with new features and content.

When this update was tested by Unit 51, they asked us why this update is labeled a major update when it seems to have fewer changes than some of the previous maps we released, specifically those in the 1.8.x family. While it's true that 1.9 does not include a new map or new weapons, there is an astonishing amount of work in the changes on the backend and servers that power Onward. In effect, we have rewritten the entire multiplayer system which comprises most of the code that runs the game. If we've done our work right, you will notice very little from these changes now, and as we mentioned in the last couple of Sitreps, this is laying the foundation for more major changes down the road including new weapons and maps.

Now let's get into the details of what is included for update 1.9 that you can see.

New Features

Reporting System

You will now have the ability to report other players directly in the tent. Players can be reported for using hateful language, inappropriate drawing, hacking/exploiting, harassment, and team killing. You can report a player once per game session.

We heard the concerns some of you had when we first announced the feature. We want to note that there are systems in place to prevent spam reporting or abuse of the system.

Additionally, you are still able to report players, with video evidence, who do not follow the community guidelines. Videos should be sent to dpisupport@meta.com. Banned players will now receive a notification of being banned when they launch the game.

Major Updates

Steam Launching

Updates have been made to the Steam client side that have changed the launching parameters. Previously the game would launch from OnwardLauncher.exe, the game now launches from Onward.exe. The best method to ensure you have the correct version of the game and no lingering legacy files is to uninstall all previous versions of the game and reinstall then restart the Steam client before launching the game.

In addition to the executable name change, the launch options have also changed. The "(Legacy)" launch options of the game have been removed. There are now only two options, "Launch Onward in Steam VR Mode" or "Launch Onward in Oculus VR Mode".

Auto Reconnect for Lost Audio Connection

If voice chat connection is lost, the server will automatically try to reconnect. There is an icon indicator on scoreboards indicating when a reconnection is being attempted.

Ammo Crate Graphics

The graphics for the ammo crate have been improved.

Server Browser

The "Friends Only" filter (for friends who are on the same platform as you) now takes your platform privacy settings into account. This means if in Oculus or Steam if you are not set to show your game activity online, you will no longer show in-game for your friends using this server browser filter.

In addition there has been a fix implemented so you will now again see an icon to indicate that you have a friend (friend on the same platform as you) in a lobby in the server browser.

Descriptions have been added to filters to give information for what each filter means and describes the game mode choices. This should help new players understand more about what game is being played when looking for lobbies to join.

Custom Maps

With moving to a rebuilt infrastructure, this means all currently downloaded custom maps have been deleted. You will need to go to the Workshop and subscribe/download the maps again.

Currently, all rating and author names have been removed. We will be working with the Custom map creators over the next couple weeks to relink the maps to their authors. Ratings for maps will begin to acquire as people start voting for them starting from today.

We have also introduced additional Workshop filters. The workshop can now be sorted by additional criteria:

• If you are subscribed to a map
• What your own rating of each map is (In addition to average rating)
• Sort by Popularity is now more accurate

Change Log

System

• Hand locomotion speed is now in line with head movement locomotion
• Fixed an issue where disabling "Hold to grip" will cause your primary weapons to misalign upon re-gripping with the off-hand
• Player can rotate weapons with Virtual Gunstock enabled
• Players will no longer revive as "invisible" after being downed while another players syringe is simultaneously being pushed into their body
• Stepping out of the Meta Quest guardian boundary while another player is speaking will no longer cause the audio to pause and then catch up after re-entering the guardian boundary
• Fixed an issue where you would lose some or all grab functionality after opening the Oculus menu while holding a used syringe
• Fixed bug where user names do not appear in the tent under either team UI when joining a Spec Ops game mode using custom maps on PC
• Fixed an issue where some players would fall out of bounds when the headset enters sleep mode on Quest 2
• Users are now able to join the same lobby on the two different platforms while using the same account
• Fixed an issue where sometimes, in the tent, you can hear the radio sounds from players alive in game
• Fixed an issue where voice chat would not function when joining a multiplayer match after the headset was in sleep mode for 5 minutes or more
• For PC Users, the 'Bindings' page will load as intended, allowing users to modify their controls
• For PC Players, clicking the "Open" button next to "Logs" now successfully opens the correct folder on the desktop
• For PC Players, clicking the storage button on the Workshop page will now show the correct size storage and file location
• Corrected a spot on the player model that could not be shot around the belt
• Fixed an issue with first person perspective players camera in Caster mode

Gameplay

• Fixed Round resets happening when only 1 player gives up during the spawn jail timer in non-competitive lobbies. Round resets will still occur in Competitive Escort, Competitive Uplink, and Competitive Assault lobbies
• Fixed a bug where the AK-12 would not upgrade to the M16 in Gun Game if you kill an opponent as the match starts
• Fixed an issue related to incorrect player model and other behaviors when changing host before a round starts and then joining the following round
• Fixed players receiving damage or being killed while respawning when their body is damaged
• Single player modes now pause when the user is in the Oculus menu
• On Assault, fixed an issue where typed codes on the Send & Disable screen would not remain typed in after the Uplink state changes
• Players can no longer click "Give Up" after death, causing double k/d/a stat changes
• Your health is now restored after getting a kill in Gun Game if you are injured
• When a player dies their corpse should no longer fly into the air
• The description on the button for opting in as a Fireteam Leader has changed from "Squad Leader" to "Fireteam Leader"
• Kill count is not correctly counted when killing multiple players with an explosive
• You are no longer able to hack another players tablet in 'Shooting Range' and 'Free Roam' before downing the player

Maps

• Fixed objects throughout multiple maps that did not protect players from C4 or frag grenade blasts

Workshop & Custom Maps

• The assault boundaries on custom maps now appear correctly

Weapons & Utilities

• Laser sight dot visibility had been improved for both PC and Quest players
• Ammo Crate graphics have been improved
• Opening the Oculus Menu while holding a Weapon/Equipment while holster/pouch is full, will no longer result in the held Weapon/Equipment falling through the ground
• Charging Handle on G3/G3A3 now functions properly
• Weapon position no longer permanently shifts after firing the weapon
• Rapidly gripping and releasing your off-hand while firing any weapon will no longer cause you to experience an increasingly worsening offset from your real hand position when holding the weapon
• Virtual Gunstock now works on the M249 in Gun Game
• Fixed Bolt of MK 18 and MCX Virtus not sliding forward after reloading an empty mag and pulling back the charging handle
• Reserve ammo is now labeled 'Reserve' when observed inside the loadout menu for the M1014
• Fixed an issue where when the MK18s M203 grenade launcher, when grabbed, would appear to point almost directly downwards
• The carry handle on the M16A4 no longer has a one-way visual mount, no longer allowing the player to see through the inner side of the mounts
• Fixed the pistol's magazines falling from belt 3 times without being touched after each new section of the tutorial
• Fixed an issue where you would need to select Ballistic Shield twice in order to become the chosen primary weapon in the Tent
• Fixed a bug where if multiple people loaded into a lobby with shotguns, at least two players would get kicked to main menu
• If a player wins a round of One in the Chamber, and then does not ready up for the following round, they will no longer be counted as a player for that round
• You can no longer put STANAG magazines in the FAMAS
• A bullet no longer appears when grabbing near the top opening of an empty mag box after opening the receiver on the PKM and M249
• The sights for the M203 Frag now plays correct clicking sound when toggled
• The very last bullet in a box-mag's belt is now visible once it is the last bullet remaining
• C4 now clackers now only work with their original bricks
• Fixed an issue where if a player joins an Assault lobby mid-round that player cannot disarm any C-4 that was placed by any player that has already been in the round
• MP5 bolt lock audio now correctly follows your position as you move around and initiate the bolt lock
• Fixed issue on G3A3 Bolt Lock when performed too fast would messes up the charging handle
• Bullet jingling audio is no longer audible after grabbing where the ammo belt was on an empty MG ammo box
• Evac extraction flare now displays correctly on Quest 1 and 2
• Molotov fire is now viewed correctly when viewed from within (or partially within) a smoke grenade
• RPG ammos no longer jitters when in the ammo box
• Shaking the MP5/G3A3 can no longer accidently trigger the the HK Slap
• Empty magazines for the M249 no longer appear to have bullets
• Fixed a bug where players could become invincible in Assault lobbies
• Fixed an issue where weapons could be be yeeted into the stratosphere
• Fixed an issue where your hand could get stuck to your tablet
• Your in-application hands and real-world counterparts now line up when still gripping onto another players tablet as they are holding it

Known Issues

• Voice chat will look like it is attempting to reconnect when you are quiet for too long in the tent
• Players are not able to see the Vote kick menu if you join a lobby that has an active round going on. Once round ends, they can see vote/kick menu as normal
• If a host players headset goes idle before other players join, players will not be able to equip a helmet
• When in the workshop menu, map selection may not be present or will disappear when you refresh the list. Map options will reappear once you scroll up or down

Happy Fall, Onward Community!

The leaves are dropping from the trees and so is the news from our dev team! We have several major updates for you this month including a status update on the next update release, some changes on the store front, and information regarding accessing previous versions of the game.

As we stated in the previous sitrep, the team has been focused on the final batch of major backend updates. We are happy to announce that the work is wrapping up and the next update (1.9) will be released before the end of the year. We will be going over some of the details of what will be included in the 1.9 update in the Devs' Desk section of this sitrep.

Before we dive into the upcoming updates we need to talk about Onward 1.7. Over the past two years since our release on Quest the hardcore PC players among you sometimes went back to play this version of the game. We wanted to facilitate that option for as long as we could, in recognition of the PC community who supported us when the game was originally launched and continued throughout the early years of development. However, with all the fundamental changes we are making to our backend it is no longer feasible to keep running the legacy systems that version 1.7 relies on. We have made the choice to remove access to it starting October 27th, 2022. We remain committed to Onward on PC, and we are focused on the future of the game as we continue development.

On to more exciting news! We have long believed we should build Onward so that you can play on any platform you want, and with the success of Airlink and an increased interest in playing Onward on PC, in November, Onward will be available as a cross-buy title on the Meta Quest platform. This means that if you own Onward on the Meta Quest store, you will get access to the Oculus App for PC for free and vice versa. Please note: The Steam version of Onward is separate (not covered by Meta Quest cross-buy) and will still require a separate purchase of the game. Stay tuned for updates and exact launch day as time gets closer.

From the Devs' Desks

We are currently focused on finalizing update 1.9 for release. While the bulk of the work is focused on infrastructure and backend, we are also working on a new feature and also a number of bug fixes the community has been asking for.

Coming in 1.9 is an all new in-game player reporting system. Players will now have the ability to report other players directly in the tent. Players can be reported for using hateful language, inappropriate drawing, hacking/exploiting, harassment, and team killing. The goal is to provide an in-game solution to make it easier to report toxic players, cutting down on overall toxicity in the game, resulting in more enjoyable game sessions.

With this new feature, we expect to be able to more effectively identify disruptive players. If a player is banned they will now receive a notification that they are banned. When a ban is issued it is permanent and the banned player will need to go through the appeals process in order to try and have the ban removed. If you have any questions about what are considered bannable offenses or behaviors not accepted in the game, please read our community guidelines.

We also wanted to take this time to highlight some bugs the community has been inquiring about that will be getting fixed in the upcoming update:

• A fix has been added for the syringe invisibility exploit.
• Voice chat has been adjusted to automatically reconnect if your voice chat connection is lost
• We fixed weapons not rotating when using the virtual gunstock option.
• When a player dies their corpse should no longer fly into the air

For the full list of features and bug fixes, make sure to check out the patch notes when update 1.9 is released.

Community Center

With 10 total teams participating, the VR Charity Tournaments raised $1,400 USD for StackUp. The money will go towards helping veterans who suffer from PTSD, depression, anxiety, and more. The VR Charity group is still accepting donations year round with their link here.

Fast Action Response won the SPINOSAURUS tier
Unicorn Sparkles won the TREX tier

Congratulations to the winning teams and thank you to everyone who donated to this great cause!

New Custom Content Releases

Contrast Night submitted by Virus
A clean Freeroam oriented map made up of 3 floors. Have Fun!

Speedball (COD) submitted by Whitefang
Inspired by Speedball from COD, designed for balanced 1v1 combat.

We're excited for the upcoming releases and getting back to bringing new content to the game.

Stay Frosty!

Hello Onward Community!

We hope you are enjoying all the new features that came with update 1.8.11. Before we reply to some of your feedback, we want to first take a moment and talk at a higher level about the Onward project and introduce some of the new people who are working on it. For over a year now you have seen us introduce not only new content, like maps, weapons, and weapon features, but you've also heard about the backend improvements to systems throughout the game, such as the refactor for our lobbies and the latest one for our weapons. We want to be clear and transparent that as we continue to develop the game, we still have more of this type of work to do. Dante, who as many of you know is the creator of the game, wanted to personally take a moment to let you all in on some of the things that are happening behind the curtains and what it will mean for the game and for the team.

We hope you understand the direction the studio needs to take right now. You've been incredibly patient with us as we go through this process, and we hope you are looking forward to getting back to content updates as much as we are! Over the next couple of months we don't expect to have many written updates for you, but rest assured we have a lot of new content and features that are being evaluated and worked on for the future. The first step, however, is getting that foundation work completed.

From the Devs' Desks

We have been receiving a lot of community feedback on Update 1.8.11. We want to address a couple specific points we have been hearing and discuss how we will be moving forward.

Weapons

You have told us that the hand alignments for the weapons in 1.8.11 feel off. We'll be making changes here to get them closer to how they felt before the update, while also trying to retain the benefits of the weapon systems refactor that will make it easier for us to add new weapons in the future.

Gunstock Calibration

We have heard your requests for the ability to vertically adjust the placement of the weapon, and reports of a few general bugs. We are evaluating fixes for these bugs and continuing to look into further development of the feature.

Voice Chat

Some players have reported issues, such as connection loss, when it comes to the voice chat stability while in game. We are looking into what is causing these issues and hope to get them fixed as communication is one of Onward's core design pillars.

In regards to some players that are reporting not being able to get communications to work at all, that is possibly due to some countries' regulations to block VoIP chats systems. If you are continuing to have issues where voice chat is not working, please check the list of countries below and/or your countries regulations regarding VOIP services:

Belize, Bahrain, Caribbean, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore

Removal of Player IDs

A change that was not noted in the 1.8.11 change log was the removal of player IDs from being visible in the tent. If you need to report a player, you can follow the same instructions as before. The User ID is no longer necessary or required.

We are continuing to evaluate feedback, work on improvements to address these concerns from 1.8.11 and others, however it will likely come after we finish up the larger tasks of foundation work in the upcoming update. We will continue to keep you updated and communicate with you as development progresses.

Community Center

VRML announced its Season 12 winners. Congratulations to Rome for their victory! Season 13 is already underway. If you would like to join the VRML in their current season or are interested in getting more information about playing in the competitive league for Onward. Join their Discord.

New community custom maps have been added to the game. All of these maps are available now on both PC and Quest.

That's it for this month.

Stay Frosty!

Hello everyone!

This latest update includes the addition of two new features to the game, some major gameplay updates, and bug fixes throughout. With the addition of new features and these updated systems to the game, it took a lot of quality time to make sure things were implemented correctly and tested thoroughly on multiple platforms.

Big improvements include friends being able to join matches directly via invite, gunstock calibration, and rebalancing equipment point costs. These changes should help improve your experience throughout the game. From the moment you start a lobby, get your friends in, calibrate your weapons, make your loadouts, and get on the battlefield, you will feel the difference.

Let's start by going over the details of the new features and changes. For a detailed list of additional adjustments and bug fixes make sure to read through the change log.

New Features

Gunstock Calibration

Using a gunstock adds to the immersive feeling while in game. The snap you experience when drawing your weapon to fire, the feel of the stock pressed into your shoulder, and the balance of both controllers in the gunstock makes the experience all the more engaging. Many of you hardcore players use a physical gunstock to help provide more control and accuracy in game. In this update we've added "Gunstock Calibration" for players with these accessories. Accessible in the Loadout screen, Gunstock Calibration lets you tweak the positioning of every Primary weapon to match your gunstock shape. This means you'll have a much easier time lining up your eyes with optics at any height, as well as experience better weapon feel in general.

Instructions for how to set up and use gunstock calibration can be found on our FAQ page.

Friends can now join matches directly via invite

Playing with your friends, competitive teammates, or a really cool person you met in a lobby is a great experience in Onward. To help connect more easily with the people you want to play with, we have added a way to help you send direct invites to your friends, who play on the same platform, when in a lobby. Steam and Meta Quest users can open up the platform UI from inside the game and send an invite directly to a person on your friends list and your friend will be able to accept and directly join into your lobby. Players can accept invites both while playing in Onward and outside of it before they've started the game.

Detailed instructions for how to invite friends per platform can be found on our FAQ page.

Major Updates

Loadout Points Rebalance

After several years of gameplay, it was clear that one thing that needed to be updated was the equipment points. With the increased growth in players and evolution of the game this felt like a much needed update to the game.

In the updated system there are now more points overall and the system is more granular, allowing us to better balance and distinguish item costs. The goal is to bring new options for players to explore, while addressing existing issues in the balance that have led to the "meta" loadouts that have developed over the years.

When we started the process to redesign the equipment points, we looked at it from a lot of different angles. For example, just in the weapons category we took a detailed look at the following when determining the cost per weapon:

• Feeding
• Caliber
• Fire Rate
• Mag Capacity
• Damage Points
• Charging Mode
• Mag Location
• Mag Release
• Fire Modes

We hope to promote more strategic choices when you compose your loadouts, as well as encourage team tactics when you jump on the battlefield. Since they are so numerous and affect almost every single item in the game, we will not be listing the exact point by point value changes in the patch notes. We encourage you to check out the changes in the tent.

Weapon Refactor

To make it easier to create new weapons, fix pre-existing issues, and make changes with weapons we have rebuilt the system on which the weapons run. Currently you should not notice a difference, but will start to see the benefits of this work in future patches.

Voice Chat

One of the features that took a bit of the team's time during this update was changing our voice chat system. It felt like having a bunch of audio wires all knotted up together and having to pull each one apart one by one to detangle it all and then reconnect all the devices together with new wires. It was a lot of work! You shouldn't hear too much difference from the previous version, however it did bring some improvements to select players during game launch and this change will also give us a long term solution with improved support.

Change Log

System

• Quest App version numbers will now match the patch release number
• Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause a menu option to become unresponsive when rapidly changing between menus in the Main Menu
• Fixed issue where a server can become unjoinable if the host disconnects during the map loading process after a map vote
• Fixed Workshop failing to reconnect to the server when launching the app if the internet disconnected and then reconnected
• Fixed issue where passing host to a player on a sleeping Quest can cause the objective location to cycle and differ between the whiteboard, in-game, and change with new players joining
• Fixed bug where if Quest 1 host idles their headset while loading into a new map from a map selection then some players will be rendered stuck in an unready state once the host puts their headset back on
• Fixed instances of seemingly duplicate players if a player repeatedly takes off their helmet while there is multiple people in the tent
• Fixed issue where the loading screen would freeze when launching Operations or Shooting Range while disconnected from the internet
• The Dominant Eye setting's description now correctly states that it affects the First Person Spectator

Gameplay

• Fixed issue where sending the code on Uplink while a PCVR host loses internet and disconnects from the lobby would cause the round to not end
• Changed loadout point limits for all game modes
• Increased loadout point limit in Free Roam to 99 to allow more flexibility in loadout building
• Fixed issue where kicking the last living MARSOC reinforcement in Assault via Vote Kick or punishing friendly fire would not end the round
• Scoreboard kills and deaths columns in Gun Game no longer increment twice when reducing another player to critical health
• You are no longer able to briefly see your killer's position when respawning in Gun Game
• Fixed issue that would cause the spectator goggles to disappear from the controller or table at round end upon returning to the tent
• Quest players will no longer be able to hear MARSOC team chat upon joining the lobby
• Fixed the red 'Out of Bounds' lines to flash briefly in-game for players currently playing in the match
• Players who spawn in with night vision goggles will now have night vision in the spectator goggles
• Fixed issue where some players respawning would hear persistent radio static after being downed before they are killed
• Users will no longer stay ignited when refreshing their loadout after catching fire in Free Roam and Shooting Range modes

Maps

• Cargo
  • Fixed an issue where AI could walk through container doors
  • Fixed some rooftop edges where players could use an air drone to see through them
• Tanker
  • Fixed an issue that would cause the map Tanker to appear very bright and washed out for Quest players when map changing from Arctic (Custom Map)
• Turbine
  • Fixed a bug on Turbine that would cause players to teleport under the map

Weapons & Utilities

• Night vision goggles can no longer be used to see through red or green smoke surrounding them
• Fixed issue where grenades did not explode after pressing thumbstick (releasing the spoon) if dropped while the player's hand was inside a wall
• Fixed issue that was causing all scopes on both factions to be black at certain angles with night vision on
• Players can now see the Molotov rag flame while holding it inside of a popped smoke

Known Issues

• AKM sometimes will not accept a magazine after having a player grab it repeatedly as it was being put into the weapon
• Invisible ammo belt appears when reattaching an empty box to the M249
• Stepping out of the Quest Guardian Boundary while another player is speaking will cause the audio to pause and then replay to catch up after re-entering the guardian boundary
• Any loadouts created in Free Roam mode are carried over to the all core game modes
• If you let go and regrip your weapon during recoil it can cause your hands to be offset from the weapon. Refreshing your loadout or starting a new round will reset this issue
• AI enemies on Tanker can sometimes walk through container doors

Hello everyone!

As we finish wrapping up the final changes and go through testing, we are pleased to announce that in just a few weeks we will be releasing an update to the game. The update will include some new features we have discussed in previous Sitreps as well as a couple that have not yet been announced. We really pushed to make sure we address some long-standing community concerns and include features players have been looking forward to. Here are some the features that are expected to be released with patch 1.8.11:

• Equipment points rebalance
  We announced this last month and the majority of the community responded positively and are looking forward to the new dynamic this will bring. After several design reviews and testing with our Unit 51, we think this will bring some much needed rebalance to the game.
• Gunstock Calibration
  For the hardcore amongst you, gunstocks can provide better control and accuracy. Soon you'll build on that accuracy with the ability to calibrate gunstocks to the weapons in the game.
• Direct game invites to friends on the same platform
  We know finding your friends amongst the many pages of lobbies in the server browser can be difficult at times. We have implemented a direct invite feature to give you the option to send invites to your friends that are on the same platform as you. As a cross-platform game, we understand it is important to connect to people on other platforms as well. Rest assured, this is just the first step to a bigger plan to help make connecting to any of your friends easier.
• Movement speed exploit (jiggling) mitigation
  Throughout lobbies, especially in the competitive scene, people have been finding ways to exploit how the network interprets players movement. In order to address this quickly, we have added a mitigation to help cut down use of this exploit. To avoid making major changes to our movement system and how player movement works over the network we will be continuing to work on developing a further fix for this issue. What is included in this patch is by no means the final fix.
• Changed voice chat system
  We are changing our voice chat system. This should bring some more stability and fix some minor bugs that were happening with the previous voice chat system.

More details will be given in the patch notes when the patch is released.

As we focus on wrapping up this patch, we continue to work on the other features we have previously talked about as well. Continue reading From the Dev's Desks for details on other updates that are still being worked on. Also make sure to check out the Community Center for the news related to community content and events.

From the Devs' Desks

We continue to work on a number of features that the community has been asking about, and want to keep you in the loop on our progress. This work takes time, but we want to make sure you know where we are at with it.

• Animations
  We continue to make improvements in the design and functionality of these new animations. However, there has been some delay with getting the animations and IK systems to work exactly how we want them to. We want to make sure this is done correctly and fully functions well with the equipment and with the movement design for the game. Each day we get our models a little bit closer to moving in a more natural way.
• Shadowmask lighting
  The Shadowmask feature remains a priority for us, but other projects must be completed before we can effectively move this forward. Once some of the other major projects are wrapped up, we will be able to get this update back on track and bring focus to improving the lighting for the PC version of the game.
• Intercept map
  We heard your excitement over the upcoming Intercept Map loud and clear! Your passion for this map resonated so much with us that we just had to share more. As an end to the Dev's Desk, we wanted to provide you with the first ever teaser image of the map.
  

  

Community Center

Congratulations to the IVRL Season 1 Winning team Raptors! They won the North American bracket against Dark Matter, and went on to fight the European bracket winner, Vikings. After some intense battles they pulled through and were the IVRLs first official season winners. An additional congratulations to the IVRL for hosting their first season in Onward Esports.

Both IVRL and VRML league seasons are currently wrapped up, and new seasons are looking to start up soon. If you are interested in playing Onward on a competitive level in the Esports leagues, check out our discord and head to the League Lounge channel.

Our community custom map makers are staying hard at work and providing more new maps for you to play on. The following new custom maps are available:

Missile Silo submitted by Gargarbot

MARSOC must infiltrate an active Volk missile silo and deactivate the systems.

Dyno submitted by Sheldorino

Welcome to the Dyno Climbing Gym! CQB & Verticality-focused.

Point Exodus submitted by Gridder

After MARSOC cleared out the surface of the snowy peaks of the Ural mountains they descended down using elevators to underground facilities uncovering something else. Once they are down there they are on their own...

We hope everyone will enjoy all the features that the new patch has to offer, and we continue to look forward to the updates that come in the future.

Stay Frosty!

Hello everyone!

We understand you have been waiting for a Sitrep, and we're excited to share some updates with you. We recently released hotfix 1.8.10.3, which addressed an issue with our custom maps. We are now back to working on some major game updates that will include both new and redesigned features, in addition to back-end work for game stability.

The devs' desks will go over some new features and fixes that are in the works. But first we want to take a moment to be more transparent with you and discuss our upcoming redesigned development processes.

Communication to you is a top priority for us and a commitment we will continue to honor. We understand that as our development projects have grown our feature details and timelines have become a bit more vague than what you have seen in the past. As the needs to best support the game and you, the players, continue to fluctuate, we want to make sure we are communicating realistic expectations that we can deliver on.

The Onward player base has grown at an exponential rate and the game now runs on multiple platforms across several different devices. As a live crossplay multiplayer title, this requires a lot of work and testing to make sure we continue to raise the quality bar we strive to clear. We are constantly working to keep up with the demands while also improving the quality of the game and creating new content. This can sometimes mean more work and time has to be spent on building out and enhancing back-end systems to prepare for new features or fixing issues on a larger scale rather than individual bugs.

To help prioritize all the ongoing necessary requirements and upcoming features, we are reviewing the design of features currently in the game as well as those we are developing for future releases. We are putting careful thought into each upcoming release as we work on balancing player needs, long term infrastructure support, and new features for Onward. This will help us build a solid foundation to provide you the best Onward experience possible.

Let's get to the exciting new features we are working on located in the Devs' Desk section of this Sitrep! In the Community Center, you can also find details regarding some upcoming community events and new custom maps.

From the Devs' Desks

We are developing three exciting new features to help strengthen gameplay, correct a current exploit, and provide new content to you! We have prioritized these, alongside some of our other current projects, in order to better balance and enhance the game.

Equipment Points Rebalance

When we started reviewing the overall game design, one system that stuck out was Equipment Points and its impact on gameplay. After several discussions and design iterations we decided to update this system. We are not just changing the values of some weapons, but the whole structure. Let's dive into the why and how:

Geometry Exploit Fix

There has been an ongoing issue with some players being able to manipulate their playspace and navigate into locations they are not supposed to be able to be in. We understand it is a very frustrating issue many of you have been experiencing and reporting to us. It is a complex issue that has taken us time to fix, but a fix has been developed and will be introduced soon.

New Map

A new map has been in the works with our level design team. We don't have any images of the new map yet, but we can provide a few details:

• Name: Intercept
• Location: Western Iraq

Stay tuned for more info on this map soon!

Community Center

The Onward Charity Community held its finals this past weekend and we want to give a big shout out to the Tournament winners and to everyone who participated and donated!

Congratulations to the members of Bossfight on the win in the Hero Bracket and to Astro for the win in the Rise Up Bracket.

The Onward Charity Community was able to collect over $6,000 in donations to help the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Thank you to everyone who continues to be a part of this organization and play Onward to help support great causes. If you would like to be a part of future tournaments please check out their Discord!

IVRL Season 1 Playoffs start April 23. To watch the intense show downs leading up to the IVRL Finals, check out their Twitch channel

New Custom Maps

New custom maps have been added. Head over to the workshop area to download and give them a try.

Omega Fun Center - (PC) & Omega Fun Center - Lights Out (PC) submitted by Sheldorino

"After a totally rad birthday, it was time for the afterparty to get started."

 

Skyfall (PC, Quest) submitted by Glitch0320

"MI6 Marsoc Agents have been sent to eliminate a group of Volk arms dealers in the heart of enemy territory."

 

The Complex (PC, Quest) submitted by Linkster

"Volk are taking over an industrial complex in search of supplies. Eliminate them!"

 

Valley (Day & Night) (PC, Quest) submitted by Gargarbot

"In an attempt to expand control of the surrounding region, MARSOC needs to capture a Volk base protecting a critical transportation route. Fog renders night vision less useful."

 

Backrooms (PC, Quest) submitted by Gargarbot

"How did we end up here?"

 

Dead Forest (PC, Quest) submitted by Whitefang

"Volk have invaded a campground in middle America. MARSOC must clear them out. But be warned - local legend warns of something worse than Volk that occupies these woods."

 

Garage (PC, Quest) submitted by Gargarbot

"MARSOC must infiltrate an abandoned parking structure that is being used by the VOLK as a communication hub. Night vision is discouraged for competitive play."

 

Retro Factory (Quest) submitted by Ho11ow

"A fun reconstruction of a classic FPS multiplayer level. Great for Gun Game and One in the Chamber."

 

Desert Compound (PC, Quest) submitted by BassSlappa

"Volk has taken over this site and it's time to take it back. Fight it out within the compound for intense CQB action, or head to the mountains with your trusty 12x to get some sniper practice."

 

Hello everyone!

A fix has been released to address a security concern related to the custom maps. We have disallowed specific components on custom maps. All existing custom maps will continue to work, but any newly submitted or updated maps that do not follow the new security protocols will show up to players as corrupted.

Custom maps that go corrupt will become inaccessible to players until the custom map creator makes the required updates. In the event this happens, please remove the map from your library. You can follow the custom maps channels in our official Discord for updates of when some removed maps might return.

We will be reaching out to the Custom Map Creators directly to make sure these adjustments get made to minimize the amount of maps affected.

Happy 2022 everyone!

2021 was quite a year for us here at Downpour! From large backend updates to settling into a new home for our studio, and new guns and mechanics, the team has done a lot this year to enhance Onward. We continued to work to make sure we can build on and make improvements to the game. We love what we do, we love our community, and we want to continue to build the best game we can for you all to enjoy.

The 2021 Summary for Onward

• 4 New / redesigned maps added
• 2 New weapon interactions added
• A major code refactor
• Hundreds of bugs fixed & adjustments made
• Performance improvements throughout the game
• A new anti-cheat system
• 2 new weapons
• 14 new custom community maps added

In addition, we have been updating some of our graphic assets in different parts of the game to improve the visuals for PC and Oculus players throughout the year. These are additional graphics updates that are different from the upcoming PC graphics update being worked on by the team currently.

Example of Old vs. New graphics that has been updated in the game

Onward continues to be a labor of love for everyone here at Downpour. We ended the year releasing update 1.8.10, which received tons of positive feedback due to the additions of the two new guns and the rerelease of Turbine. This added some new ways to play and tactics to explore throughout the game. We understand there were some hiccoughs with the newly added weapons after the release and we made it our priority to get those corrected at the start of the year.

We will continue this year by working on finalizing some bigger projects that have been in the pipeline for a while now. The Devs desk will go over some of the major projects that we are currently working on.

From the Devs Desk

Gunstock Calibration

The physical gunstock is a gaming accessory that holds your VR controllers in place to simulate the pistol grip and foregrip of a weapon. These have been used to help with accuracy and immersion when playing. The Gunstock calibration feature will help calibrate physical gunstocks to the guns in Onward for a more realistic feel when aiming and firing.

New Animations

Major improvements to player character models and AI models; character models will now have more realistic walking and arm movements. Originally the plan was to have the AI animations come out first and then release the player animations shortly after. We have since decided to release the animations together. We would also like to take this moment to introduce the person who was brought on to lead this project, TomN.

Hello, I am the lead animator for Downpour Interactive. I have been a professional animator (among other titles) for 23 years. Originally, I trained to become a traditional animator. During my last year in college, I realized the media industry was evolving and changed gears. As such, I devoted myself to the exploding field of computer animation. Soon after graduating, I joined a small video game studio, Point of View, Inc

From there I started crafting game cinematics for a variety of other studios and their projects. This led to animating commercials, music videos, television series, and over 20 feature films. Recently, I worked with Disney Imagineering - where I created visual effects and character animations for upcoming attractions at Disney theme parks. I came full circle 18 months ago and returned to video games animation. Among these, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond with Respawn Entertainment and character rigging for The Odd Gentlemen, a small boutique studio in Los Angeles.

Dante reached out in 2020 and asked me to lead the animation team. This team of talented professionals Dante assembled is a daily pleasure to work with. We've been hard at work revamping and developing new animations for Onward. Expect remarkable creations from Downpour!

Improvements to IK System

The IK system is the system that renders your hands holding the controllers and how and where those hands are in the game. We are working on making improvements to this system to be more accurate with where someone is located.

Connecting to your friends

Getting together and jumping into Onward with your friends is a popular method of playing the game. The game is offered across three different platforms and with a large player base, we understand that it makes it a bit difficult at times to easily find your friends' lobby to jump into. We are looking into developing some new methods to help make connecting with your friends easier.

New Tent

While most of the intensity experienced is on the battlefield, the tent is the main hub where the majority of setup and communication happens. It is important that when you first join a lobby you feel that immersion when in the area where you begin your setup and communications for the objectives to come. We want to improve the experience you have when you are in the tent. Below are first ever looks at some concepts of design work for an improved tent environment

Community Center

Did you notice after the holidays the increase in lobby pages? There are more lobbies and games being played than ever before! We want to take this time to welcome all the new members to the Onward community. We hope you are enjoying the different game modes and the new teammates you have met. Please make sure to review our community guidelines and have a great time playing out on the battlefield.

New Community Custom Maps

Cap Practice submitted by FLapinski

Create a private competitive lobby and join volk. Once you load into the round you will be able to disable the code even before the timer is over. This is one of the best ways to increase your capping speed.

Homestead submitted by Glitch0320

Intel suggests that Volk forces are setting up operations on a small farm in the Midwest. A Marsoc unit is sent to investigate and eliminate the threat.

Refuel submitted by Koiz

A beautiful Caribbean island once home to a South American cartel is now under Volk control. The island has become a major contributor to the Volk war effort, and you and your squad have orders to dismantle the smuggling operation and eliminate any hostiles found.

Lookout submitted by Gridder

MARSOC deploy around the mountain region in northern Europe for suspected VOLK activity. Recon has found a small forward operating base that VOLK are using to operate around the area and MARSOC begin the assault on it.

There is a lot in store for 2022 and we have only just started! Stay updated here and on our social media pages.

Stay frosty!

Hello everyone!

We have just released a hotfix to address an issue where an incorrect pivot point caused an issue where the AK104 wasn't handling as expected.

The patch is available now, and will download to your device automatically.

Stay frosty!

Hello everyone!

After our release of update 1.8.10 we saw a lot of community excitement and positive responses to the new map, Turbine, and new weapons that were introduced. However, one thing that unexpectedly happened was an unintended change in how Virtual Gunstock operates. This became our top priority and we immediately went to work on getting this fixed for you.

While we were working on this fix, we were able to review additional community feedback, and we were able to include some other bug fixes, as well. Please see the list below for detailed information on the adjustments included in this patch.

Changelog

System

• Virtual Gunstock functionally has been reverted back to expected speed and usability

Gameplay

• Fixed a bug where if players disconnected during spawn jail time when they rejoined, they were unable to damage other players

Maps

• Fixed an issue on Cargo on containers that was allowing some bullets to pass through parts of the container
• Audio adjustments have been made on Downfall to lower the volume of the wind when in the tent
• Fixed a bug on Bazaar Night that would cause performance to drop for some players after selecting their loadout
• Fixed a bug where elevators on Community Made Custom Maps would not function on custom maps

Weapons and Utilities

• Fixed body armor to correctly absorb damage on the chest
• Virtual Gunstock placement for the AK-104 has been adjusted to be more accurate
• Speed reload function will now work more consistently on the AK-104

Known Issues

• Some Oculus Home users have a issue where the game does not launch; for steps on how to fix this, please check our FAQ in the Oculus Home section on Support page
• There is a chance that when using an Oculus headset on SteamVR with bHaptics it may not connect. If you restart bHaptics and relaunch Onward, this should fix the issue.
• Quest players can hear MARSOC team chat upon joining the lobby
• There is an significant performance drop when playing the game for long periods and then loading into a custom map
• Some PC players may experience performance problems causing framerate drops around the park area and near the burning building on Suburbia Night
• Some objects may not render correctly on tablet when using the air drone
• Players can hear audio from different elevations if another player is around the same vicinity but on a different floor

Hello everyone!

Update 1.8.10 is here! This patch is coming in hot with high anticipation from the community's desire to get their hands on the new weapons and feel performance enhancements. We wanted to make sure to take some quality time to address the issues with the rising performance reports we were receiving. We felt it was important to get the game back to a better feeling state during gameplay. You will feel the improvements when loading into the game and while playing.

New features for Onward introduced in this patch include two new weapons, the MCX Virtus and AK104, and the return of the map Turbine. The addition of new weapons and environment should give you an enhanced way to experience the game throughout different game modes and other maps. Developing fresh tactics and enhancing ways to play, whether it be against AI or others on the battlefield. There are so many unique things to discover with these additions. Check out the New Features section for details on the new items coming.

In addition to performance improvements, we took some much needed time to review the environments you play in. We analyzed many locations throughout all our maps, including ones reported by the community, and made adjustments to them to improve the experience of the firefights that happen in these environments. Other changes to improve your gameplay experiences have also been included. For the full list of changes in this update please see the changelog below.

New Features

Weapons

MCX Virtus

• Class: Specialist (Marsoc)
• Caliber: .300 Blackout
• Type of ammo: Subsonic
• Rate of fire: 800 RPM
• Barrel length: 6.75 inches, with built-in suppressor

Created for the needs of special forces operators for operations behind enemy lines where, thanks to subsonic ammunition and an integrated suppressor, they guarantee the maximum flexibility in any condition. This weapon is chambered with .300 BLK rounds, which even in their subsonic configuration guarantee excellent stopping power in short to medium range engagements. The .300 BLK is a new ammunition type being added to Onward. Its subsonic nature will allow you to engage more covertly.

 

AK-104

• Class: Specialist (Volk)
• Caliber: 7.62x39 mm
• Type of ammo: Supersonic
• Rate of fire: 600 RPM
• Barrel length: 12.4 inches

Created to be the first 7.62x39mm weapon in this class. What makes this weapon "unique" is the proper rail system on top and on the front side. Modern looking magazine and stock. The compensator attachment makes the weapon more stable while shooting.

The AK-104, the short-barreled version of the AK-103, is the weapon of choice for the Russian special forces and Russian Federal Security Service. The AK-104 provides a perfectly customizable platform for any type of mission. A compact weapon, it is capable of firing over 700 consecutive shots without suffering structural damage. On top of all that, it is extremely light compared to other rifles in the same category. The AK-104 shares the same magazine as the AKM, so if you find yourself in need of more ammo, you can ask a teammate for theirs and have that option as a tactical plan.

 

 

New map: Turbine

This hydroelectric dam near Kazakhstan provides power for the region and serves as a strategic chokepoint that each faction strives to control. MARSOC and Volk forces control opposite ends of the dam. It's time to break the stalemate.

Some of you may remember Turbine from the 1.7 PC version of the game. The map has been redesigned and optimized for crossplatform gameplay. This map features 4 levels and multiple rooms throughout. There are working elevators to get to other levels on the map, but make sure you are prepared if the enemy team is waiting for you on the other side of those doors. Communication will be key when playing on this map.

 

 

Changelog

System

Gameplay

Maps

Weapons and Utilities

Caster Mode

Known Issues

Hello everyone!

It's that time again: November is half way over and like most of you, we are looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. But we are not just talking about vacations, we are also looking forward to having Update 1.8.10 out in early December. That means you can spend some time during your holiday breaks exploring Turbine, the new map, and testing out the new weapons.

That's right! The two new weapons that we announced previously will be coming in Update 1.8.10! They were originally planned to be included with Update 1.8.11, but we've been able to get them included earlier. More details on the guns and other details about the upcoming update can be found below in the Devs' Desk.

Be sure to also check out the Community Center to see the winners for our Onward Community Clips Contest as well as this month's new custom maps. There are some great ones we think a lot of the community can relate to.

From The Devs' Desk

Last week we reached what we call 'feature lock': our internal deadline for submitting new features and content for an update, and have given the Update to our QA teams for testing. It is currently going through our internal QA team and will be set up for our Unit 51 Beta testers to perform a closed beta test very soon.

As you may know, the first major addition to 1.8.10 will be the new map, Turbine. In our previous Sitreps we mentioned Turbine, the story behind it, and how it will differ from the Turbine some of you may recall from the 1.7 days. Today we want to show you never before seen images of what the map will look like so you can start developing strategies.

Frame-rate and performance are a major focus as we want to ensure a smooth experience when playing Onward; we shared details on some of our performance improvements in last month's Sitrep. In addition to performance work you can look forward to the return of bHaptics support for the Quest and Quest 2. We have also made adjustments and improvements across all maps already included in the game.

Back to the new guns: for now we are continuing to keep the second gun under wraps. We do however want to give you more details on the MCX that was announced previously.

MCX VIRTUS

• Class: Specialist
• Caliber: .300 Blackout
• Type of ammo: Subsonic
• Rate of fire: 800 RPM
• Barrel length: 6.75 Inches, with built-in suppressor

Created for the needs of special forces operators for operations behind enemy lines where, thanks to subsonic ammunition and an integrated suppressor, they guarantee the maximum flexibility in any condition. This weapon is chambered with .300 BLK rounds, which even if in subsonic configuration, guarantee excellent stopping power in the short to medium range, and is frequently used by Special Forces around the world for this reason.

The MCX Virtus is a unique weapon in Marsoc's arsenal, with an integrated suppressor and a caliber new to Onward. This gives the Marsoc specialists a powerful additional weapon for close-range firefights and new tactical capabilities.

Community Center

Our Clips contest has ended and we had some great videos sent in! A big thanks to everyone who sent submissions. Check out the winners and honorable mentions.

New Custom Maps Released

Community member Mantis has some great videos displaying our custom maps and highlighting some great gameplay on them. Make sure to take some time and take a look at all the different types of environments you can play in, in addition to the core game mode maps.

If you are interested in getting into mapmaking join our Discord and head to the Custom Maps channels. There are lots of helpful members and documents to start you in the right direction toward building environments in Onward. You can join our Discord here!

Now, onto the newly released custom maps!

• Warzone 2047 (PC) By Siubakyeung
  
  The Volk army seizes the secret base in the snow mountain in an attempt to destroy the world. The MARSOC was ordered to stop.
   
• Shelter: (Quest/PC) by Gridder
  
  During an international exercise MARSOC have been in exercises with local Finnish forces around urban ops. During one of these VOLK are uncovered as this causes MARSOC with other exercising SF forces to take back control of the bunker system.
   
• Runway - Night: (PC/Quest) by Tatoskok
  
  Volk has intercepted plans of a VIP visit to a remote MARSOC airfield and has launched their attack! Secure the warheads, protect the classified intelligence, and rescue the VIP!
   
• Arctic - Night: (PC/Quest) by Heclak
  
  The Arctic Research Labs have created an outpost in an undisclosed location in the Arctic region.
   
• Sand - Night: (PC/Quest) by Koiz
  
  MARSOC has been deployed to this small village to restore freedom and root out the Volk cell rumored to be hiding there.
   

Stay Frosty!

Happy Hauntings Everyone!

We are releasing our October Sitrep a bit early so we can get you an update on everything we have been working on. We didn't release a September Sitrep because our focus was on getting the patch 1.8.10 launched. However, after evaluation of the feedback we received from players and our own QA testers, we decided to give Update 1.8.10 a bit more time in the oven to tackle some community needs including a big focus on the overall performance of the game. Taking on this work has shifted priorities across multiple departments and changed estimated release times on some of the features we previously stated. For more details on the current feature schedule please keep reading.

From the Dev's Desk

With the concerns surrounding the frame rate and performance that were brought up when reviewing Update 1.8.10, we wanted to make sure we took the time to listen and investigate the concerns the community had. The team has taken the time and is working hard on improving these issues. Here is a deep dive from our lead programmer:

In addition to the performance improvements, the extra dev time gave us the ability to include the return of bHaptics to Quest users in 1.8.10. This feature is currently in testing and is looking good to return sooner than we previously stated. Also expect major bug fixes such as Abandoned spawn locations, AI walking through walls on several maps, and updates to spectator mode.

Turbine Day and Night will release with 1.8.10. Some changes including spawn points and environment adjustments have been made to the map based on feedback from our Unit51 playtests. Previous images may not reflect some of these changes, but we will be showing off Turbine on our social media soon.

We continue to work on the two new weapons and the gun stock calibration we mentioned in our August sitrep. If everything lines up, we are trying to have them included into the 1.8.11 Update. Update 1.8.11 was originally slated to include AI animation improvements, but we're working hard to get more animations included. We'll keep you updated as we continue to work toward this future patch release.

Our long-term development goals remain unchanged. These projects include the Party system, Friends system, and AI gameplay improvements.

Community Center

Last Thursday we launched our Onward Community Clips contest. We're excited to see your creativity and the different ways you enjoy the game. There are prizes for multiple categories and themes in the contest. For all the details on categories, prizes, and official rules for entry, check out the details here.

Custom maps are back and new ones are now available, which leads us to this month's community member spotlight. Tatoskok has submitted two new amazing maps for the month of October, one of which is perfect for the October spooky season.

• Graveyard, by community member Tatoskok
  MARSOC SIGINT intercepted Volk communications coming from a remote region of Transylvania. A permanent layer of dense fog obscures satellite imagery requiring aerial drones to provide coverage. Prepare your fireteam for impaired visibility and perform a reconnaissance to discover what the Volk cell is hiding. The region is well known for roaming packs of feral wolves.
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

• The Streets, by community member Gridder
  A recent attack in NYC by Volk has caused major chaos all around but the city has been put in lockdown. Due to the area the only way to counter this is to send a MARSOC to deal with Volk in pretence of being national guard.
  
  
  

  

  

  
  

That's the Spookiness for this month, Stay Frosty!

Hello everyone!

August flew by, and it's a big milestone for Onward: earlier in the week we celebrated our 5th anniversary since our first release on Steam! Now, let's jump right into things! Last week we released Patch 1.8.9.1 to address an issue with the Workshop. Custom maps are a big feature in Onward and we corrected the issue as fast as we could with a hotfix. If you are still experiencing issues with the Workshop, please make sure you update to 1.8.9.1.

It's been a little over a month since the release of Update 1.8.9. We continue to receive positive feedback about the new weapons interactions, Abandoned Map, and we've even seen mini games being made using the Dolphin in Abandoned free roam.

With 1.8.9 in the rear-view mirror, the path in front of us includes the return of another map and new features the community has been asking for. Read on for more details on what's coming.

From The Devs' Desk

Our next update will be 1.8.10. The focus will be on the re-release of the map Turbine. PC players will remember this large map with its long-range firefights on top of the hydroelectric dam, and the close quarters combat in its many below ground-level floors. This map will also bring back some unique elements, such as elevators. Buildings have been added to the surface of the dam, which has also been redesigned to feature a curved road, allowing for new, semi-covered approaches. Also included in 1.8.10 are continued adjustments for the Quest 2 audio.

 

 

1.8.11 will follow the 1.8.10 update and is shaping up to include improved animations and performance. The first animation improvements that will roll out is to the AI in Co-op mode. The major joints for bots have been tackled and updated, including better wrists and knees. They will bend better making their overall movement look more realistic. We are also working on adding the ability to vote kick players during matches using the tablet. Finally, we are hoping to reimplement bHaptics support for Quest users in this update as well.

If you have been reading the previous sitreps, you know that we are working on big features for the future such as a friends and party system and AI gameplay improvements. This month we have some new features to talk about! We will be starting development on a completely new map, gunstock calibration, and two new weapons. We can reveal one of the new weapons will be the SIG MCX and we will reveal the second new weapon at a later time.

Photo by Mike Searson. License: CC-BY-SA 4.0

Community Center

Last weekend VRML wrapped up Season 11 for Onward. Congratulations to Raptors for placing 1st! Beginners came in 2nd, Vikings in 3rd, and Peacekeepers in 4th. There were some great matches with some great plays throughout the games. We are looking forward to seeing the start of season 12. Head over to YouTube to watch the Semi Finals and the Finals.

Custom Maps

Currently, there is a known issue with being able to upload and update custom maps. We are working on this and hope to have a fix soon. This adjustment shouldn't require an update to the game, so keep an eye out on our social media and Discord for this fix to be announced.

We have the pedal to the metal moving into September and have a lot of things we are working on. Keep an eye out for the 1.8.10 release and as always, Stay Frosty.

Hi everyone!

Today we have released a hotfix to address an issue that caused the Workshop area of the game to no longer function properly. A fix for the related issue where custom map makers are no longer able to upload new maps or update existing maps is coming soon, but will not require a patch for the game.

We are still looking into an issue that causes a small number of Oculus Home users to not be able to launch the game. Please contact our support team if you are facing issues launching the game through Oculus Home (PC).

The patch to address the Workshop issue is available now, and will download automatically to your device.

Stay frosty!

Hello again, everyone!

Today features the release of Onward version 1.8.9! We've already seen a lot of community excitement around this patch since we released the trailer on Monday. The headlines for this update include new gun interactions in the form of speed reloads, HK slaps, and slide locks, and the redesigned Abandoned, with day and night versions available. We also included some bug fixes and game adjustments. For a detailed list of changes, be sure to review the changelog below.

New Maps: Abandoned (Day) & Abandoned (Night)

Gear up, team.

A Marine recon mission was cut short when a Chinook transporting MARSOC Raiders was shot down over an unmapped area. Survivors are believed to be held up near an abandoned industrial complex, and intelligence has confirmed a strong Volk presence moving into the area following the crash.

This is gonna be a large area of operation surrounded by lots of trees, rocks, and hills which we can use as cover for our approach. Once we reach the compound, expect to engage the enemy in close quarters. Command has also given us the option of using flanking routes on the outskirts of the AO. We'll also be up against snipers hiding in tall buildings -- some repurposed, abandoned apartments -- so be careful. We should consider having a designated Marksman to counter them.

Move out!

An ode to OceanDolf

We've added a toy dolphin to the map for you to find. The dolphin is the favorite animal of a very beloved community member, OceanDolf, who passed away in 2021. Not only was she a member of the player community and a part of the VRML, but also she was a valued member of the QA team here at Downpour.

Her joy and laugh was infectious and she was an absolute delight to work and play with. If you had the pleasure of being on her team you were a cub to her "Mama bear" personality. She swore by the MK18 and was one of the people most passionate about Onward. She will be missed dearly. The dolphin toy is a way for her memory to live on and continue to be a part of the community she devoted so much time and love to.

New Gun Interactions

Changelog

System

• Slightly reduced the weapon's quietest volume setting to help with people's feedback about volume being too loud for Quest
• Fixed an issue that was causing the game to not to launch from SteamVR for some players

Gameplay

• Increased the limit of players on a single team to 10 in Free Roam and Shooting Range
• Fixed an issue with broken lobbies going into "Waiting for player" mode
• Fixed dead players having downed player symbol next to their name in tent if they leave mid-round and rejoin
• Sidearm accessories beyond the first (i.e., silencer, laser sight) will display in the correct location in the equipment section of the loadout
• Downed MARSOC player can no longer type code into their tablet
• Downed players will now count as kills at the end of the round
• Fixed issue where if a player leaves a lobby they were in as a caster, they will cause the first round of any lobby they subsequently host to be un-endable
• Fixed bug where if you put your gun inside an object or a wall and release the trigger hand your left hand gets teleported away from your body
• Fixed an issue with the kill house on Shooting Range killing the player in certain areas
• While wearing spectator goggles, you can now see players on minimap
• After loading into another map the Caster is now able to change scores properly
• Fixed the +/- controls not cycling through players in caster mode
• Fixed player usernames not appearing in First Person Perspective while casting

Maps

• Shooting Range (Day & Night) spawning in the table has been fixed
• Some areas in shooting rage have been adjusted to not allow players to clip through unintended areas
• Graphic adjustments throughout several maps have been made to fix fighting/collision issues, player/item pass through, cross-platform inaccuracies
• One in the Chamber player spawn points have been adjusted so players are a lot less likely to spawn on top of each other during the match
• Fixed Helicopter landing error in Subway that was causing round to not end
• Fixed soft lock issue in Basic Training by expending all bullets and magazines in the M16 before the step to hold the front grip
• Fixed ramp in Bazaar being walkable by building corner on the side of the scaffolding
• Fixed players being able to climb on top of the tank inside the Northeast garage allowing the player to clip their head into the roof on Snowpeak
• Several wall and surface bugs fixed on Subway
• Changed the end of Subway tunnels to now have fallen metal walls to give you a better idea of how far you are able to walk into the tunnels as well as giving the background a brighter color to prevent hiding in the dark tunnels
• Uplink spawns are adjusted on Subway
• Adjusted a MARSOC spawn on Downfall
• Moved a blue cargo container on Cargo to increase visual occlusion from both sides
• Fixed Custom Content ammo boxes not spawning

Weapons and Utilities

• Addition of HK Slap for G3, G3 auto, MP5
• Addition of Paddle Release style Speed Reload for 552, AK12, AKM, AKS74U, VAL, G36C, G3, SVD, M39
• Addition of slide locks to weapons: Beretta, Glock, M1911, Makarov, TT-33, Five-SeveN, M16A4, MK16, MK17, AK5C, MK18, AUG, L86, Benelli M4, G3A3, G3 Auto, TAR-21, G36C, SKS, SPAS-12
• Improved the scope lenses for PC by showing a slight reflection on the lens
• Fixed guns floating when joining in progress games

Known Issues

• The red-dot sight on the MP5 is slightly mis-aligned, and the bullet will hit slightly below the centre pip
• In Co-Op on Abandoned, host can sometimes spawn on top of the helicopter
• Issue with items floating on Downfall
• In Operations, when host changes, game mode cannot be changed until new host enters loadout screen
• On Bazaar (Day and Night) the AI sometimes spawn out of bounds
• Downed players will not count towards deaths at end of the round

Happy July, Everyone!

Let's start this month's sitrep with the good stuff: update 1.8.9 is currently being reviewed in Unit 51, and will soon land on your devices! We are working hard to make sure all the new features are polished and in the best condition for release.

We don't want to dive into the details before giving you a peek at what you're looking forward to, so here's a couple of Abandoned teaser shots!

From The Devs' Desk

Update 1.8.8 introduced some much needed backend stability to the game, room for growth, and helped set us up for future projects. Some game adjustments that were made in 1.8.8 received some passionate community feedback and we wanted to address two major concerns players have. Number 1, we have reviewed the audio and made adjustments to the Quest audio so it is closer to the sound profiles and settings for PCVR. Some of these changes will be coming in Update 1.8.9, and some will follow after. Number 2, Freeroam and Shooting Range maps will no longer have a 5-person limit on teams, meaning that you will be able to have up to 10 players on one team in these game modes. We also learned that a small number of SteamVR players weren't able to launch the game successfully, and we managed to fix this issue in Update 1.8.9.

In our last Sitrep we introduced two new weapons interactions that will be coming to 1.8.9. The HK Slap and Speed Reload, and the community had an overwhelmingly positive response. We are happy to share that we have added a third new interaction: the ability to manually lock back the slide/bolt for firearms that support this function.

If you have been keeping up with our dev blogs and social media, you have seen the story and images behind Abandoned. One new item that will also be coming to Abandoned is an Easter egg in memory of a beloved Onward community member and QA team member. For the details behind the addition of this item, check the patch notes that will be coming upon the release of the 1.8.9 update.

After the release of Update 1.8.9, we will be quickly jumping to the development of Patch 1.8.10. The update will feature the release of the Turbine day and night maps. Additional features that we are looking forward to releasing with it are new animations and a tent upgrade.

We continue to work on our next major game features such as Shadowmask Lighting to improve graphics on PC, a party system, and a ranking system. One bit of detail we can start to share is that the first iteration of the ranking system is looking to comprise of 20 ranks and 10 prestiges based on things such as kills, death, heals, objectives, matches played, and other game stats. Be ready to start moving up the ranks and look out for more details in future Sitreps.

Community Center

Hot off the LED screen we have new artwork for you! We had some beautiful new wallpapers for you to show off your passion for Onward. The Fan Supply Drop provides HD wallpaper art for your PC and mobile screens. To get these wallpapers download the Fan Supply Drop.

July's Community Spotlight is F.lapinski. You may have seen him wrecking people in VRML matches, or maybe you have played on some of his custom maps. Now he has an even bigger project he's working on. F.lapinski has created a charity group where he is going to be running tournaments to help Veterans. He is partnering up with Veteran charity Stack Up* who help eliminate extreme symptoms of trauma, stress, and isolation of military service members past and present. Stack Up is bringing vets together through the "shared language" of gaming. For more information on this tournament group please check out our Discord.

New community-made custom maps added:

• OIL DEPOT DAY/NIGHT by F.Lapinski
  Conflict arises across the globe. Espionage indicates that there is Volk activity near Chudtsy, Russia conducting possible illegal oil depot operations. At this time marsoc are deployed to take down this operation.
• DRY RUN by Beikenost
  An asset flip map set in the Middle East.
• THE HOOK 2.0 by Evolution
  A collection of nostalgic pirates who can't let go of the past have managed to plunder a modern-day weapons payload. Your team needs to get in there and shut them down. This is no longer bringing guns to a sword fight.

Make sure to go to the Workshop in game to check out and play on these new additions.

Introductions

Downpour has some new additions to our team! You may know these two from the community or played with them on the battlefield. Novius (Brian) has joined the programming side of Onward and Monorchid (Joel) has joined level design.

Things are starting to heat up, make sure you Stay Frosty!

*Facebook has partnered with Stack Up in the past

Hello everyone!

The long awaited update 1.8.8 is here! This update features a rewrite of key game systems to make the game more stable and future-proof, so that we can build on a better foundation going forward. The rewrite includes areas of the code that control player lobbies, game modes, and many other aspects of the game. We have included only a selection of bugs and changes in the changelog: over a hundred bugs have been fixed in this update and some new content has made it in as well.

Night Time Shooting Range

Are you ready to prepare for night time operations with your fire team? The new night version of the Shooting Range will allow you to train your skills in the dark. When setting up for Shooting Range in single player or multiplayer, you will now be able to choose a day or night setting.

Audio Systems

The second major change to feature in this update is further improvements to the audio systems. We have rebalanced our audio volumes, we have improved the way volume decreases over distance and we have added new sounds for footsteps and a selection of weapons, with more to come in the future.

We've included a more detailed changelog below. Stay on the lookout for 1.8.9 in the coming weeks!

Changelog highlights

Audio

• Added verification steps to check for correct settings
• Audio volumes have been rebalanced
• Audio attenuation distances were tweaked
• Custom global audio can now use the indoor/outdoor ducking system
• Added new Custom Content audio events

Gameplay

• Fixed a bug where if players drew a lot on the whiteboard the game could crash on Oculus Quest
• Fixed several instances of lobbies crashing and kicking players back to the main menu
• Fixed an issue in Uplink where the round would sometimes not end after the Uplink was sent successfully
• Forgive or Punish buttons for team killing have been moved to the tent, allowing players more time to punish team killers
• Removed a small rogue collider around players' necks that could unintentionally block bullets
• Evac choppers' landing locations have been adjusted slightly so they are more easily accessible
• Bushes in Suburbia Day have been adjusted so that visibility is more consistent between the PC and Quest versions of Onward
• Quest players can no longer spawn on dead fire team leaders after pausing the game through the Oculus menu
• Collision boxes for the trucks on Shooting Range have been adjusted so players can no longer get stuck
• Fixed an issue where some players were returned to the menu after completing Basic Training, instead of moving them on to Intermediate Training
• Fixed several collision issues leading to inconsistent or incorrect results

Weapons and Utilities

• Fixed a number of issues where objects would be incorrectly blocked or visible in front of or behind smoke grenades
• When ejecting magazine from gun, velocity of gun is now taken into account
• C4 can now be deactivated by fire from a Molotov cocktail
• Fixed an issue where if the player had C4 and a Molotov cocktail on their vest and the Molotov was shot the C4 would float mid-air
• Fixed an issue with the MP5 where the bolt could not be closed after emptying a magazine
• Fixed an issue where grenades could do damage through solid floors
• Fixed an issue where the gun sight would float above the MK18 in the tent if the M203 grenade launcher was equipped to the gun
• Fixed RPG rocket fins sticking out on Quest
• Fixed an issue where players could shoot through the Riot Shield if it was in a lowered position

Custom Content

• Released a new custom content sdk: v2.0.9 link
• Updated the Custom Content Guide link
• Updated the Custom Content Lightmapping Guide link

Known Issues

• Players will sometimes spawn inside the table in the Shooting Range day and night maps
• We have temporarily removed support for bHaptics vests for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 users
• Oculus players may encounter a black screen (audio can still be heard) when loading in or out of the tent. Restarting your game will fix this issue
• One evac zone in Subway still needs to be adjusted to be able to complete the round
• When playing One in the Chamber, multiple players can spawn on top of each other

Hello everyone!

As you may have guessed when we announced that we were joining Oculus Studios back in late April it's been a crazy month of May for us. It was heartwarming to see the largely positive response to the news! We, like you, are excited for what this means and the future opportunities we will have. That's for the future, back to current events: we've been working on 1.8.8 for a long time, and we're excited to get it into your hands very soon. The release of 1.8.8 also clears the path for more frequent updates with more content and new features for you to enjoy.

From The Devs' Desk

To give a quick recap and update of the roadmap we set out in the previous sitrep: Update 1.8.8 is coming out soon, and we're currently tackling the final list of issues before we send a build over to Unit 51 for testing and ultimately release it to you. Update 1.8.8 will focus on a rewrite of key game systems to make them future-proof and increase their stability so that we can build on them going forward. On top of that, Update 1.8.8 includes a night version of the shooting range map and a lot of bug fixes, including a fix for the crash on Quest that happens when there is too much writing on the white board.

After 1.8.8 is released, we intend to release two more updates in quick succession: update 1.8.9 will feature the Abandoned map in both day and night variants, and Update 1.8.10 will see the release of the Turbine map, also in day and night variants.

As Abandoned is coming together we want to share a few teaser images with you.

Abandoned is situated in a Siberian forest close to a lake. With several Soviet-era buildings and factories, VOLK has repurposed these facilities in order to assemble weapons and vehicles. A MARSOC Chinook has been shot down and looted by VOLK militia. With months' worth of gathered intelligence, MARSOC is well prepared for an offense to take out this facility. A recon mission was cut short when a Chinook transporting MARSOC troops was shot down over an unmapped forest. The remaining Marines have gathered near an abandoned industrial complex. Intelligence has confirmed VOLK forces in the area.

But that's not all to look forward to: although we're not sure yet if it'll be ready in time for 1.8.9 or if it will be released with 1.8.10, we are working on improving our weapon systems, adding the ability to perform an HK slap and speed reloads for weapons that realistically support such specific interactions. At the same time, we will also remove bolt release buttons from weapons such as the MP5 which do not have these features in real life. A full list of what guns will be getting these features will be made in the patch notes when the feature is released.

Our plans for the longer term also remain unchanged: we'll be working on Shadowmask Lighting to improve graphics on PC, all new and improved animations for characters, a friends and party system to quickly join up in a game with the people you want to play with, and a progression system to keep an eye on your battlefield performances! It's a bit early to talk about any of these in detail, but definitely keep an eye on future Sitreps for the juicy details.

Community Center

Summer Fun is coming! We are gearing up for a Summer Community Contest so be on the lookout for more details soon.

This month we want to highlight a member of our community, Sgt Scruff, who has been providing some fun Onward videos on his YouTube channel. Not only does he highlight some great sniper shots and gameplay, but some great moments within their community of players. This video in particular gave us a few laughs.

We have a couple new custom maps that have been added to the workshop area as well:

• Offshore Platform by Tatoskok
  Volk has seized a deepwater offshore drilling rig! MARSOC must take back control of the facility. Failure will result in the long term disruption to the world's energy supply.
• Paradise by Koiz
  MARSOC has been deployed to this South American town to remove a Volk cell and restore freedom.

That's it for May's Sitrep, and as always: stay frosty!

Hello everyone!

We hope you're all continuing to brush up on those tactics and improve your skills in Onward while we have been working on updates and patches alike. A new patch will release next week featuring anti-cheat measures, and we have started testing the long-in-the-making Update 1.8.8 earlier in the week. In this edition of the Devs' Desk we will also outline our roadmap for the next couple of months.

The competitive scene is gearing up as season 11 of the VRML Onward league officially started this week! In addition, more maps have been added to the Custom Maps area of Onward. Check out the community center for the information related to this news.

From The Devs' Desk

First things first: recent events forced us to focus our efforts on an anti-cheat system we have been working on over the past couple of months, and we are planning to release patch 1.8.7.3 for Onward that will bring this brand-new system next week.

With one task completed we are looking to get back to the development of update 1.8.8 which remains largely unchanged from our previous Sitrep: it is centered around a large update of the game logic that controls player lobbies, game modes, and many other aspects of the game. This update has been very long overdue, and as those of you who regularly follow these Sitreps can attest to, very long in the making. Aside from these changes we are also including audio improvements and a night version of the Shooting range in this update.

Content is going to be our focus for the updates that follow 1.8.8, with Abandoned Day and Abandoned Night taking center stage for update 1.8.9 and Turbine planned to do the same for update 1.8.10. If you paid attention to the Seals in our April Fools 'Seals' gag you may have noticed our buddy Andre who premiered the first glimpse of Abandoned.

While these maps are being released all signals are go for the programmers to work on some of the features we've mentioned in previous Sitreps: a party system that will allow you to quickly join up to lobbies with your friends, a ranking and progression system to keep track of your performances, and the lighting update in the form of Shadowmask. Last time around we were still waiting for a Unity update to be able to bring back Shadowmask lighting and other lighting improvements to PCVR, and we are very happy to say that this update recently released, and work on our end can begin once Update 1.8.8 is out the door.

Although this is far from all that we're working on, it should give you a clearer picture of what to expect from our updates in the next couple of months.

Community Center

Season 11 for the VRML Onward league officially kicked off earlier this week! We are looking forward to watching the matches and seeing all the displays of teamwork and tactics that are sure to keep us on the edge of our seats. To watch the matches throughout the season check out the Onward section on the VRML website.

The library of custom maps in Onward keeps expanding. We've highlighted four new releases for April:

Speedball by F.Lapinski

Speedball is a map with 4 unique fields scaled and copied from an official NXL World Series layout. Each field has its own boarders and each field can only be played depending on the Objective location. This map is best played with the preferred loadout of a Specialist Shotgun using only slug rounds and smoke grenades. This gives it a balanced chaotic feel to the game with such a small paintball field being used.

Preston Yard by KIRI

Preston Yard is an ever changing, competitive focused map, that receives frequent quality of life changes based on player feedback. It's a map built for competitive play, by a competitive player. The map follows the traditional 3 lane system, and has a variety of interesting angles, points of interest and realistic world detail. Preston Yard has the potential to be a fan favorite map, and has received nothing but outstanding praise by everyone who has played it. I would LOVE to get this map in the VRML map pool, and work with the community to create one of the best maps Onward has ever seen!

Apocalyptic by Nolomite

The fallout from the pandemic has led to World War III, and civil wars due to pandemic related deaths and political polarization. Two factions emerge to either cease or defend the most powerful weapon, the uplink.

Villapuma by Rubio

Marsoc is locked in Puma Village and must deactivate the uplink. The streets are patrolled by VOLK soldiers

That's it for this month, stay Frosty!

Hello everyone!

Update 1.8.7.3 for Onward has just been released: this patch adds an anti-cheat system back into Onward. Although we usually like to talk about details, the nature of the patch makes that a bit harder this time around.

This patch affects the way Onward launches on Steam: by default it will now use OnwardLauncher.exe instead of Onward.exe. To prevent the Steam client from creating an error you will have the option to launch the game in a 'standard' and a 'legacy' mode, where legacy is meant for people who cannot immediately update the game. Launching the game in legacy mode is meant to be used only if you're on version 1.8.7.2. After you've updated to 1.8.7.3 launching in legacy mode will mean you won't be able to access multiplayer games. If you use a shortcut to launch the game, you should update it accordingly after applying this patch.

For Steam users who are running version 1.7, the legacy mode will be available to you as well.

Hello everyone!

We hope you're all continuing to brush up on those tactics and improve your skills in Onward while we have been working on updates and patches alike. A new patch will release next week featuring anti-cheat measures, and we have started testing the long-in-the-making Update 1.8.8 earlier in the week. In this edition of the Devs' Desk we will also outline our roadmap for the next couple of months.

The competitive scene is gearing up as season 11 of the VRML Onward league officially started this week! In addition, more maps have been added to the Custom Maps area of Onward. Check out the community center for the information related to this news.

From The Devs' Desk

First things first: recent events forced us to focus our efforts on an anti-cheat system we have been working on over the past couple of months, and we are planning to release patch 1.8.7.3 for Onward that will bring this brand-new system next week.

With one task completed we are looking to get back to the development of update 1.8.8 which remains largely unchanged from our previous Sitrep: it is centered around a large update of the game logic that controls player lobbies, game modes, and many other aspects of the game. This update has been very long overdue, and as those of you who regularly follow these Sitreps can attest to, very long in the making. Aside from these changes we are also including audio improvements and a night version of the Shooting range in this update.

Content is going to be our focus for the updates that follow 1.8.8, with Abandoned Day and Abandoned Night taking center stage for update 1.8.9 and Turbine planned to do the same for update 1.8.10. If you paid attention to the Seals in our April Fools 'Seals' gag you may have noticed our buddy Andre who premiered the first glimpse of Abandoned.

While these maps are being released all signals are go for the programmers to work on some of the features we've mentioned in previous Sitreps: a party system that will allow you to quickly join up to lobbies with your friends, a ranking and progression system to keep track of your performances, and the lighting update in the form of Shadowmask. Last time around we were still waiting for a Unity update to be able to bring back Shadowmask lighting and other lighting improvements to PCVR, and we are very happy to say that this update recently released, and work on our end can begin once Update 1.8.8 is out the door.

Although this is far from all that we're working on, it should give you a clearer picture of what to expect from our updates in the next couple of months.

Community Center

Season 11 for the VRML Onward league officially kicked off earlier this week! We are looking forward to watching the matches and seeing all the displays of teamwork and tactics that are sure to keep us on the edge of our seats. To watch the matches throughout the season check out the Onward section on the VRML website.

The library of custom maps in Onward keeps expanding. We've highlighted four new releases for April:

Speedball by F.Lapinski

Speedball is a map with 4 unique fields scaled and copied from an official NXL World Series layout. Each field has its own boarders and each field can only be played depending on the Objective location. This map is best played with the preferred loadout of a Specialist Shotgun using only slug rounds and smoke grenades. This gives it a balanced chaotic feel to the game with such a small paintball field being used.

Preston Yard by KIRI

Preston Yard is an ever changing, competitive focused map, that receives frequent quality of life changes based on player feedback. It's a map built for competitive play, by a competitive player. The map follows the traditional 3 lane system, and has a variety of interesting angles, points of interest and realistic world detail. Preston Yard has the potential to be a fan favorite map, and has received nothing but outstanding praise by everyone who has played it. I would LOVE to get this map in the VRML map pool, and work with the community to create one of the best maps Onward has ever seen!

Apocalyptic by Nolomite

The fallout from the pandemic has led to World War III, and civil wars due to pandemic related deaths and political polarization. Two factions emerge to either cease or defend the most powerful weapon, the uplink.

Villapuma by Rubio

Marsoc is locked in Puma Village and must deactivate the uplink. The streets are patrolled by VOLK soldiers

That's it for this month, stay Frosty!

Hello everyone!

We're very proud to announce that the Seals will make their first appearance in Onward, and are available in the game as of this announcement.

Onward has always focused on the battle between the Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) and the fictional VOLK militia. Although MARSOC will continue to play a central role in Onward's universe going forward the addition of SEALs will accomodate upcoming changes in the game where Marines will take up a special operations role deep inside VOLK controlled territory. We are looking forward to sharing more details about these changes soon.

It has been a long road to get this new class of warriors in the game, and we would like to thank the Seals and the Naval Special Warfare Command for working with us to clear the way during this long and complicated process. In particular we'd like to send our thanks to Andre, Gaston, Hoover, Midge and 'Popeye'.

Semper fidelis!

Hello everyone!

We hope everyone is enjoying the 1.8.7.2 patch! 1.8.7.2 was a community driven patch and we wanted to really take time to focus on areas where we could improve your gameplay the most. The feedback you have given us has been overwhelmingly positive and a lot of you have reported issues have been fixed. If you still encounter any major issues then please use the official Onward Discord or website support form to reach out.

We know hopping in and playing with other like minded players is what a lot of you are looking for. While you are waiting for the Friends and Party system we discussed in earlier Sitreps, we are providing some tools/guides to help better connect and play with people. Please check out the Community Center below for more info.

From The Devs' Desk:

Now that 1.8.7.2 has been released we will be moving our focus to update 1.8.8 and security improvements. Those of you who have been keeping up with our Sitreps may recall 1.8.8's main feature is a coding refactor, so while it will not contain a lot of new content the update will fix a lot of outstanding issues with the game, especially when it comes to lobbies and game mode specific problems.

We will have new content for you as well. Included in 1.8.8 will be a nighttime version of the Shooting Range. In addition, testing will soon be underway for another map: the redesigned version of Abandoned which will be released in both a day and a night setting. After Abandoned we will be releasing more maps to keep the content coming. You might even see some teasers of the maps coming soon: be on the lookout!

The ranking and friends/party systems are also in the works. These are much bigger projects that will be worked on over a longer period of time. We are setting a higher standard for new features we develop to make sure they meet your expectations while making sure that the increased amount of features in Onward will not impact the game's future development where possible.

Community Center:

We often get asked how the Friends Filter works in multiplayer and how to best find your friends and their lobbies. Below we have laid out instructions for how/when to use the filter and how to more easily find your friends' lobby.

If you and your friends are on the same platform

SteamVR

• Make sure both you and your friend are friends on Steam
• One person will need to start a Multiplayer Game
• Choose "Show Friends Only" from the filter options in Onward Multiplayer Lobby listings, press apply
• You should now see just your friends game in the lobby list

Oculus Home

• Make sure you and your friend are both friends/on friends list in Oculus Home
• One person will need to start a game and put a helmet on in the tent
• Choose "Show Friends Only" from the filter options in Onward Multiplayer Lobby listings, press apply
• You should now see just your friends game in the lobby list

Oculus Quest

• Make sure you are both friends/on friends list through the Oculus app
• One person will need to start a game and put a helmet on in the tent
• Choose "Show Friends Only" from the filter options in Onward Multiplayer Lobby listings, press apply
• You should now see just your friends game in the lobby list

If you and your friends are NOT on the same platform

• Make sure you do not have "Show Friends Only" selected in the filters
• One person will need to start a match and put a helmet on in the tent
• Ask your friends what game mode they are going to be playing
• Filter by that game mode and search through remaining lobbies for your friends' game

Now that you can more easily find your friends, you can now jump in together and really start building those skills together and develop some team tactics. To assist you with this we will soon be providing you with aerial/top-down maps in the Media area on our website. Use these to formulate your best plan of attack, and use them wisely!

Custom Maps Highlight

The map makers in the community have been working hard and have developed some new maps for you to play on. Show them some love and give them a test run. For more information about joining the custom maps community, join our Discord server.

From KIRI: Weapons Factory is my first successful attempt at making a map. It has a nice mixture of close quarters and long range engagements, and is tailored to competitive play, receiving frequent map updates based on player feedback. I hope to see this map become popular with the league community, as I feel it has potential to be an extremely fun and balanced map.

From MOTYSHIZ: A procedurally-generated map? In Onward? sb_procedural tries to offer a unique CQB experience that trains players' moment to moment adaptability. This map will have its layout re-shuffled on a semi-weekly basis. Even without the weekly re-shuffle, the spawns rotate between rounds to keep the layout feeling fairly random. New pieces will be added from time to time, and some weeks may feature some very experimental modifications.

Motyshiz (sb_procedural creator) would like to credit LeonMail for the initial idea.

From Doomblade187: Backstreets is an urban map with three long, interconnected lanes and plenty of places to hide. Evade your enemies in the hotel, or watch the streets from your rooftop perch. Just keep an eye out for the VIP. This map is inspired by the America's Army 3 map, Alley.

That wraps it up March here at DPI. Make sure to keep an eye out on social media for some Onward Easter eggs beginning in April.

Spring has sprung, but Stay Frosty!

Hello again everyone!

Today we launch a patch for Onward: version 1.8.7.2. This patch is a bit more beefy than the last one and it includes a long list of fixes for issues that affect all of you: from audio and AI graphic issues, to walls that you could walk through on maps. Overall, the patch addresses some of the bigger issues affecting the gameplay and overall experience in Onward. Your experience is important to us and we value the feedback you the players provide us.

Among the key fixes included in this patch are bot visibility at long range, and smoke grenades correctly blocking visibility of objects behind them. Fixes for most lingering audio issues are also included. In addition, we have added changes/updates to some maps. See the list below for an overview of the fixes that are included in this patch.

1.8.7.2 is now live and should automatically prompt you for an update the next time you go to jump on the battlefield.

Changelog

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where players PCVR would sometimes not be able to connect to multiplayer or workshop servers
• Onward will no longer request external storage access permission on Quest
• Smooth rotation no longer rotates the player when they are using a drone
• Hand locomotion movement has been adjusted to prevent side strafing too fast
• Smoke now correctly blocks objects so you can't see things through it
• Night vision no longer incorrectly uses depth of field
• Friends Lobby will now show up using the Friends only filter without the person needing to pick a team, if they are the host. (Friends Filter is based on being on the same platform)
• Fixed AI not being visible at long range for Quest users
• Fixed AI footsteps occurring too frequently and not being loud enough
• Fixed an out of place hit box that could cause you to accidentally shoot yourself when walking up an incline or stairs

Audio

• Selecting team chat in the tent now completely mutes the other team instead of making them quieter
• Fixed most situations for mic icons not appearing for players talking in the tent
• Fixed an issue with players not hearing other players
• The radio in the tent on Assault now functions correctly
• Voice chat attempts to recover automatically if it is not working, fixing most instances of audio not working (mainly in the tent)
• The Quest Audio Mixer Preset is now usable on PC

Spectating and casting

• Desktop Spectating now uses a brightness boost instead of a real time light on night and custom maps. It can be toggled on/off with "N" and the brightness amount can be adjusted in the bottom right of the "Spacebar" menu options
• Fixed casters hearing audio from both teams in the tent
• Fixed hotkeys activating for casters when typing in a team name

Level Design

• Updated objectives and spawns on Suburbia
• Updated objectives and spawns on Downfall
• Updated objectives and spawns on Quarantine
• Removed an objective from Subway based on community feedback
• Fixed players being able to walk on an invisible barrier on Quarantine
• Fixed players being able to crawl through building windows on Quarantine
• Fixed players being able to walk on a building ledge on Quarantine
• Fixed a missing collider on Suburbia allowing players to walk through a wall

Known Issues

• Flair and Flashlight (when on) can be seen through smokes

Hello everyone!

February came, and now that February is pretty much gone it's time for our monthly sitrep. The Developers continue to work hard on some much needed improvements, redesigned features and bug fixes.

Stay Frosty! _Kidding...

From The Dev Desk

In our last sitrep we mentioned that 1.8.8 would come out quicker than our usual patches, but unfortunately that turned out to not be the case. We hit some speed bumps and are making sure it's in the best condition for you. 1.8.8 will significantly reduce the occurrence of broken lobbies, which often cause problems such as voice chat issues, lobby lockups, and rounds not assigning points correctly. The update rewrites the code that is the foundation of Onward's game modes. This part of the code interacts with a lot of areas in the game, and we've run into a lot of specific and unforeseen issues as a result. We appreciate the patience you've all shown over the past month, and we are working to get the update out as soon as possible.

Because of the delay with 1.8.8 we're working to release a couple of patches to address the most urgent issues with 1.8.7, the first of which (1.8.7.1) has already been released. Next up will be patch 1.8.7.2. The 1.8.7.2 patch will focus on fixing issues that affect a lot of you, and issues affecting competitive play.

• Connection issues for PCVR players, where a registry reset was needed.
• A number of Voice/Audio fixes and adjustments while inside the tent, along with a design change to the team chat function.
• AI adjustments such as footsteps and visibility from a distance.
• Some Map adjustments, such as broken walls and railings are likely to be included.
• We are pushing to try and get improvements to tablets and smokes in as well.

In addition to the focus we're putting on the 1.8.7.2 patch and the 1.8.8 update we are making strides with future features: as Onward continues to grow the player base has increased exponentially. Having this many players (and lobbies) in the game means we have to rethink some of Onward's features. For example we need to make it easier to find and play with your friends, and we want to make sure you have as much fun playing the game as possible. To get to that point we are working on implementing a party system to find and more easily group up with your Onward crew to get games going. With any multiplayer game, there are different play styles and different mindsets. We are also working on the features to help with toxic players, for example allowing you to mute them, and adding measures to prevent sustained team killing.

Also being looked into is an implementation of a ranking system. A place where you can get statistics on kills, deaths, revives, and more. Once we get closer to the final design we'll share more details with you! Another addition will be a revamped version of Abandoned. The map is set in an old abandoned soviet factory located next to a lake in the harsh Siberian landscape. Also high on our list is improving graphics for PCVR users with the use of Shadowmask lighting. We don't have an estimate on the Shadowmask update quite yet however, as we are waiting for a Unity update to start this implementation.

Community Center

This month we have made a major update to our official Onward Discord channel. We have always shared a home with the VR Master league, whose roots lie in the Onward Discord. However, with the growth of both Onward and the Master League, the VRML has spread their wings and opened up their own server to give the Onward Discord community a chance to make some adjustments. Explore new channels and new ways to interact with fellow Onward players. If you're not in the Discord, what are you waiting for? Don't delay, join today!

Our Twitter campaign for finding out the fan favorite map is coming to a close! We are in the Semifinals and the Finals will wrap up at the end of the month. Make sure you check out our Twitter account (@OnwardTheGame) to see the progress and get your final votes in!

Starting in March we want to Highlight you, yes you, our community! We want to showcase our players and show off your Onward fandom. Send us your photos in a DM of you being an Onward fan for a chance to be featured on our social media Community Spotlight.

If you'd like to get to know a little more about the people who work at Downpour you can also follow our company accounts on Twitter (@DownpourInt) and Facebook, this month we are featuring our QA Lead, Kaysaun.

Stay Frosty!_{(for real this time)}

Hello everyone!

We have just released a hotfix for Onward 1.8.7. The hotfix fixes a problem where if you're playing on custom maps the game could become unresponsive.

We intend to release another patch in the next couple of weeks to address more issues, ahead of the 1.8.8 update release. We'll post a sitrep with the details later this week.

The fix is available now, and will download automatically to your device. Stay frosty!

Hello everyone!

We are wrapping up our A Winter Onwardland contest by announcing the winners for the map creation portion. The community submitted some really fun maps. Thank you to everyone who submitted entries. Lots of creative style throughout them all.

As a refresher: we are announcing winners in three categories today: cross-platform, PC and Quest! The overall winner will receive their choice of an RTX 3090 or an AMD 5950X processor with a high-end motherboard, whereas the best PC and Quest maps will be rewarded with the author's choice of an RTX 3080 or an AMD 5900X with a high-end motherboard.

Without further ado, the winners are...

Cross Platform
Sommet - Submitted by Weidz

What some of the judges had to say:

• Tribly:
  Sommet is impressive from when you first spawn in the cable car looking out over the mountains, to sneaking around in the caves and back rooms. Everything felt hand crafted from the observatory at the top of the mountain, all the way down to the map on the tablet. From the museum, to the kitchen, the wine/cheese cellar, every area felt unique which makes learning the map and orienting yourself much easier.
• Eritheis: I liked that the map had different distinct areas. All of them were interesting and made me want to explore to see what else could be found. Having the different areas being so different from each other made it easier to figure out where I was on the map too.

PCVR
Panda Towers - Submitted by Monorchid

What some of the judges had to say:

• SyrinS0ng:
  This is a unique design style we haven't seen yet. Set on the rooftops of a large building with skyscrapers all around you. You have to weave through different obstacles to find your enemies and need top communication to navigate though this map.
• WH1SKEY: An enjoyable map that adds verticality to Onward. The battles that engage on this map make any angle action packed and really puts a player's tactics to the test.

Oculus Quest
Frostbite - Submitted by Evolution

What some of the judges had to say:

• SyrinS0ng:
  As soon as I spawned in I felt immersed in the location. I could feel the cold fog around me. The rooms were great to explore and lots of area throughout to get some team tactics going.
• KasperVld: I enjoyed the verticality in this map quite a lot: the fact that your opponents can be hiding behind any hill makes for a slower paced, nerve wrecking match. Never let your guard down, and always keep your gun pointing up.

Congratulations to the winners! All of the maps that were entered are available for you to download and play on. Go check them out! If you are interested in custom map building, check out our discord for more information and chat with fellow map makers.

Map Contest Entries available for Play:

• Arctic / Arctic Night (PC & Quest) by Heclak
• Ashes In The Snow (PC & Quest) by Stahr
• Cerbere Landing (PC) by MOTYSHIZ
• Dumpster Fire (PC & Quest) by 04
• Hotham Day (Quest) by DaveSparhawk
• Ice (PC & Quest) by Koiz
• J-Street (PC) by GiantRobot
• North Pole (PC) by WhiteFang
• Trench - At Christmas (PC) by Winston
• Wilderness (PC & Quest) by Monorchid

Hello everyone!

We have just released a hotfix for Onward 1.8.7. The hotfix fixes a problem where if you're playing on custom maps the game could become unresponsive.

We intend to release another patch in the next couple of weeks to address more issues, ahead of the 1.8.8 update release. We'll post a sitrep with the details later this week.

The fix is available now, and will download automatically to your device. Stay frosty!

Hello everyone!

We are wrapping up our A Winter Onwardland contest by announcing the winners for the map creation portion. The community submitted some really fun maps. Thank you to everyone who submitted entries. Lots of creative style throughout them all.

As a refresher: we are announcing winners in three categories today: cross-platform, PC and Quest! The overall winner will receive their choice of an RTX 3090 or an AMD 5950X processor with a high-end motherboard, whereas the best PC and Quest maps will be rewarded with the author's choice of an RTX 3080 or an AMD 5900X with a high-end motherboard.

Without further ado, the winners are...

Cross Platform
Sommet - Submitted by Weidz

What some of the judges had to say:

• Tribly:
  Sommet is impressive from when you first spawn in the cable car looking out over the mountains, to sneaking around in the caves and back rooms. Everything felt hand crafted from the observatory at the top of the mountain, all the way down to the map on the tablet. From the museum, to the kitchen, the wine/cheese cellar, every area felt unique which makes learning the map and orienting yourself much easier.
• Eritheis: I liked that the map had different distinct areas. All of them were interesting and made me want to explore to see what else could be found. Having the different areas being so different from each other made it easier to figure out where I was on the map too.

PCVR
Panda Towers - Submitted by Monorchid

What some of the judges had to say:

• SyrinS0ng:
  This is a unique design style we haven't seen yet. Set on the rooftops of a large building with skyscrapers all around you. You have to weave through different obstacles to find your enemies and need top communication to navigate though this map.
• WH1SKEY: An enjoyable map that adds verticality to Onward. The battles that engage on this map make any angle action packed and really puts a player's tactics to the test.

Oculus Quest
Frostbite - Submitted by Evolution

What some of the judges had to say:

• SyrinS0ng:
  As soon as I spawned in I felt immersed in the location. I could feel the cold fog around me. The rooms were great to explore and lots of area throughout to get some team tactics going.
• KasperVld: I enjoyed the verticality in this map quite a lot: the fact that your opponents can be hiding behind any hill makes for a slower paced, nerve wrecking match. Never let your guard down, and always keep your gun pointing up.

Congratulations to the winners! All of the maps that were entered are available for you to download and play on. Go check them out! If you are interested in custom map building, check out our discord for more information and chat with fellow map makers.

Map Contest Entries available for Play:

• Arctic / Arctic Night (PC & Quest) by Heclak
• Ashes In The Snow (PC & Quest) by Stahr
• Cerbere Landing (PC) by MOTYSHIZ
• Dumpster Fire (PC & Quest) by 04
• Hotham Day (Quest) by DaveSparhawk
• Ice (PC & Quest) by Koiz
• J-Street (PC) by GiantRobot
• North Pole (PC) by WhiteFang
• Trench - At Christmas (PC) by Winston
• Wilderness (PC & Quest) by Monorchid

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in the contest!

Hello everyone!

Happy 2021! We are stepping into a new year and have a lot of opportunities and things to look forward to. Onward keeps moving... well... ONWARD! This month's Sitrep is a little lighter on development updates than usual due to the holiday season, but we still have some news to share.

Earlier this month we released Update 1.8.7. We have received lots of feedback from the community, we are listening to it all and we hear you. We are happy that you are enjoying the audio improvements and the updated Snowpeak map. With all improvements come some bugs and rest assured, we will be addressing things in 1.8.8.

1.8.8 will be coming out a little quicker than our usual patch releases as a maintenance release to address some ongoing issues and make some adjustments from 1.8.7 based on community feedback. Fixes that will be addressed include significantly reducing the occurrence of broken lobbies, which often cause issues such as voice chat issues, lobby lockups, rounds not assigning points correctly. Additional Audio improvements based around voice chat are also in the works. Fixing an issue allowing players to sometimes see through smoke emitted by smoke grenades and a fix for the infamous "jiggle peek" are on our provisional list as well. We also continue to work on a couple of large new features which are due to release over the next couple of months. Be on the lookout for more details as the patches get closer.

Downpour Interactive continues to grow as a company and we have been adding to the team to keep up with the game design, improvements, and the future of the game. You have already been introduced to our new Community Manager Korine (SyrinSong) earlier this month, and now we would also like to introduce a new Programer, Ben, and Level Designer, Joe who many of you may know under his nickname Snooper Fax. They have been a great addition to the team here at DPI. We would also like to announce some changes to people you know and have interacted with in the community. Daan (MrDeath) will shift his focus from Community Management over to level design and Kasper (KasperVld) will be taking up the role of Producer while still keeping an eye on community tasks and supporting Korine where needed.

We have wrapped up our Community Contest and judging for the custom maps has begun! We will be announcing the winners in the upcoming weeks. If you missed the announcements for the Fan Art and Video winners, check out our social media accounts.

In addition, for our community we have posted a new Support area to our website with an FAQ section to help with common questions that people may have about playing or any suggestions/reports that need to be sent to us.

To stay up to date on the latest news between Sitreps, make sure to follow our social media accounts and join the Official Onward discord.

Stay Frosty!