Be warned this is another huge list of updates that have come in the latest “Battlefield 4 Holiday Patch” and features information on the greatest map ever made..
Dragon Valley! This map is so big it has Noshahr Canals as one of it’s docks!!
Update highlights
The focus for the holiday update has been finishing the classic map project Dragon Valley 2015 this release also includes a slew of balance tweaks bug fixes and continued improvements.
Legacy operations Dragon Valley 2015
The classic map project started way back before Christmas 2014 we knew that we wanted to build a more classic Battlefield map with a focus on vehicle gameplay especially considering the infantry focused community map Project.
After much consideration decided to go for Dragon Valley from battlefield 2, as it was a map that fit our vehicle Focus, but also a map we thought we could elevate significantly using frostbite in BF4!
Original vs Remake
Let’s take a quick tour of what has changed in Dragon Valley! images to the left are from Battlefield 2, and images to the right are from battlefield 4.
Unique map features
Dragon Valley 2015 includes some unique features to stay grounded in the original, but also to elevate vehicle gameplay.
Vertical cloud layer
A cloud layer covers the inner portion of the map, which acts as a natural separator between air and ground combat, and adds to the air to air dynamic of the map.
Repairable Bridges
Just like the original map you can destroy and repair all the wooden bridges in Dragon Valley 2015 this feature was a central part of the original Maps ground vehicle gameplay and we knew we had to implement this in our version.
Noshahr canals 2015
We did pick a Battlefield 2 map to remake but also realized we had an opportunity to get one of the most played Team Deathmatch layouts in the second harbor area, so we brought in noshahr canals from battlefield 3.
Tour: conquest large
The original Battlefield 2 map featured 10 flags in a conquest assault layout. we wanted to capture the original feel of the map, but in the regular conquest layout . this resulted in 8 flags, no Capturable Chinese base ( as was the case in the original ). what we had is a more slow paced conquest game, similar to the maps pacing .
Let’s go through the areas of the map used in Conquest large!
Us base
The US spawns in the Harbor area to the west .
Flag A – River Village
Fully open point, this is normally aus staging area as it’s the closest point to the us spawn.
Flag B – Pagoda
Sitting at the mouth of the Valley and overlooking the temple, this flag is a sniper favorite.
Flag C – Market
The market flag sits nestled opposite the center Island on the east side of the river. once captured this flag spawns an Infantry fighting vehicle.
Flag D – Hill village
Continuing upstream on the east side of the river we find the Hill village. this flag is the closest flag to the Chinese spawn, and a good place to hunt for Chinese tanks as an engineer!
Chinese Spawn
Continuing on the east side from the d flag, we find the Chinese spawn.
Flag E – Power Station
To the West of the Chinese spawn and in the inner corner of the river past the waterfall, we find the power station overlooking the Valley below.
Flag F – Wood Yard
Below the power station and the waterfall on the west side of the river, we find the wood yard, which also spawns an infantry fighting vehicle once captured.
Flag G – Hilltop Pavilion
On the center island, on the opposite end of the temple, we have the Infantry friendly but still open Hilltop Pavilion flag.
Finally, on the opposite end of flag g from central island, we find the temple a large, multi-leveled infantry play space.
Game modes supported
Dragon Valley 2015 supports the following game modes:
Conquest large/ small
Obliteration
Air superiority
Domination
Team Death match
Gun master
Squad death match (noshahr)
Rush
Classic Rush
One of the game modes we are very excited about on this map is Rush. Rush was first featured in battlefield bad company 2 ( and to some degree battlefield bad company 1), meaning Dragon Valley has never had a single MCOM on its soil until now .
With Dragon Valley being our classic map we figured we should make our rush layout a tad more classic as well. influenced by bfbc2 Rush map layouts, we ended up with a 5 step layout, and we hope you like it!
General Fixes
Here is the list of the changes in this release that didn’t fit into a featured section or was a straight up bug fix. All changes apply to all platforms unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Updated Desert Eagle dog tag unlock to track properly.
Potential fix for the issue where players sometimes looks like they slide after being revived.
Additional improvement for the so-called zouzou jump.
Fixed an issue where an underwater sound effect would be playing when spawning into any level(with water) for the first time.
VO is no longer triggered when you pass through anti-theft security systems on siege of Shanghai.
Squad Replacement System:
Changed timeout to replace squad leader to 60s from 30s.
Fixed issue where any squad member leaving the squad clears the order.
Fixed vaulting issue with split window in indestructible Tibet buildings (used in several maps). The cross bar is now automatically destroyed when both panes of glass are taken out.
Consoles: added year 2 credits two main menu.
PC: fixed an issue where the pause menu would reopen after hitting ESC.
PC, PS4 and Xbox One: Latin America servers are now available!
A new region filter has been added to the server browser.
Quickmatch supports this new region.
GAME MODES
Squad Obliteration Improvements.
Now uses 10s killcam. should discourage insta deploy button when dying after a revive.
Fixed an issue where two bombs could be visible on the map and UI simultaneously.
Fixed an issue where player dropped bombs would not work properly if you went out of bounds and came back.
Fixed a rare bug where multiple bombs can appear when killing a person who is out of bounds.
Capture the Flag: Russian MRAP – the flag should now appear above the Hatch like object on the vehicle roof, similar to the US version.
WEAPONS AND GADGETS
Various weapons have incorrect magazine sizes:
ACE 23: now correctly listed as 35 from 30.
CZ-3A1: now correctly listed as 30 from 20.
JS2: now correctly listed as 30 from 50.
93R: now correctly listed as 15 from 16.
Various RPM data corrections:
AK-12: now correctly listed as 650 RPM from 680 RPM.
LSAT: now correctly listed as 650 RPM from 700 RPM.
G18: now correctly listed as 900 RPM from 1100 RPM.
93R: now correctly listed as 900 RPM from 1100 RPM.
Weapon caliber corrections:
A-91: now correctly listed as 5.56mm from 5.45mm.
Shotgun reload animation timing inconsistencies fixed.
DMR damage drop off balance tweaks:
QBU-88: damage drop-off end increased to 90m from 65m.
SKS: damage drop off end increase to 75m from 60m.
L85: corrected laser sight alignment in first person.
SR338: rangefinder max range to 1000m from 500m.
Motion Ball: new effect for the ball ”death” explosion to make this event more visible.
Weapon Appearance
Added the ability to use the no paint option (can be found at the bottom of the selector in the UI) for these weapons: UMP-9. CS-LR4, Type-95B-1, SCAR-H SV, 93R, RPK-12, AKU-12, SVD-12, DBV-12, ACE 21 CQB, ACE 52 CQB, ACE 53 SV.
Engineer repair-tool repair-rate
All transport vehicles I’m now back to 1.0 multiplier (BF4 release value).
Parachutes: parachute customization is now available to everyone!
Damage overtime occlusion added (through wall damage) fixed:
M34 (Incendiary) grenades now correctly deals damage to friendlies when friendly fire is enabled on the server.
Most props and projectiles with damage overtime now have the occlusion testing enabled, and thus don’t damage through walls any longer.
Poison Arrow improvements:
Fixed visibility issues by matching visual effects closer to damage over time.
No longer poisons players through walls as part of the damage overtime occlusion change.
Fixed an issue where the allied soldier grenade voice over would trigger from the arrow.
MAV EMP dart: Updated HUD to only show available ammo when you can actually fire the dart.
Fixed mismatching audio issue with ACE-21 CQB suppressed audio being at a lower ROF than the weapon ROF.
INFANTRY ANTI-AIR
Continued tuning of the anti-air missiles to improve consistency, and fixed an issue where the missiles would possibly loop around the targeted vehicles.
IGLA:
Acceptance angle increased to 6° from 5°.
Max turn angle increased to 1008 from 350.
Engine time to ignition reduced to 0.1 from 0.5.
Acceleration reduced to 82.5m/s from 350m/s (this massive number was a build issue).
Increased lock range to 580m from 450m.
Stinger:
Acceptance angle increased to 6° from 5°.
Max turn angle increased to 720 from 250.
Engine time to ignition reduced to 0.1 from 0.5.
Engine strength increased to 57.5 from 50.
Tweaked near target destination: Minimum delay set to 0.8 – Maximum delay set to 1.0.
Starstreak HVM
Max turn angle increased to 1008 from 380.
AA Mine
Matched acceleration and maximum speed with heat seekers.
VEHICLES
Mobile Anti Air: Changed damage multipliers
Transport Heli to 0.6 from 1.0.
RHIB to 0.6 from 0.1.
FAC to 0.18 from 0.25.
Jeeps to 0.6 from 0.5.
Heatseeker:
Max turn angle increased to 720 from 250.
Tweaked near target detonations: Minimum delay set to 0.8 – Maximum delay to to 1.0.
Active Radar Missiles:
Max turn angle increased to 1008 from 350.
Tweaked near target detonation: Minimum delay reduced to 0.6 from 1.5 – Maximum delay reduced to to 0.8 from 2.0.
Passive Radar Missiles
Max turn angle increased to 1008 from 350.
IR Smoke – Now correctly activates when in water for these vehicles:
Main Battle Tanks: M1 Abrams, Type-99, T-90.
Infantry Fighting Vehicles: ZBD-09, BTR-90.
Fixed camera exposure setting inconsistencies, affected vehicles: BTR-90, Tunguska, Type-99, PGZ-05.
Autoloader/Belt feeder bonus now correctly applies to secondary weapons:
LMGs on infantry Fighting Vehicles.
Zuni Rockets on Infantry Fighting vehicles.
TOW Missile on BTR.
Burst/30mm cannon on RU DV-15.
All secondaries for jets, attack boats and mobile anti-air.
Attack helicopter gunner seat.
Does not apply to TV-missiles.
Laser Designation: Significantly improved accuracy of aircraft tracking with TOWs from the ground.
Tank Staff Shell:
Time to live reduced to 6.5s from 10s – Improved hit detection against small moving targets.
Tank HE Shell:
Updated text description.
Reload time reduced to 2.5s from 3.0s.
Damage reduced to 199 from 200.
Inner blast radius reduced to 5 from 5.5.
Ammunition: AutoReplenishDelay reduced to 0.8 from 10.
Attack Boats:
Ammunition – AutoReplenishDelay of main cannon increased to 14 from 12.
MBT-LAW:
Time to live reduced to 0.7 from 10. Improved hit detection against small moving objects.
TOW (Ground Vehicles):
Matched reload time and rate of fire with attack heli version.
Rate of fire increased to 150 from 120.
Reload time increased to 5 from 3.6.
AA Missiles for Vehicles (except active radar):
Acceptance angle increased to 6° from 5°.
GAU Cannon:
Reduced time to live, as previously introduced speed inheritance increased range effectively.
General Damage Changes:
Reduced damage of mini guns to attack boats by 20%.
TOW Missile UI (attack helicopters):
Replaced predicting I beam a static crosshair with predicting crosshair.
Increased Vertical Space:
Hammerhead ceiling raised by 240m to a total of 440m.
Giants of Karelia ceiling raised by 260m to a total of 480m.
Commo Rose Audio Improvements (when inside):
Fixed issue where ‘Negative and Affirmative’ commo rose VO not playing if 2 or more people are in the vehicle together.
Fixed issue where ‘Get Out’ commo rose VO not playing if 2 or more players are in the vehicle together.
Fixed issue where ‘Get Out’ VO could be heard by enemy players.
‘Requesting Orders’ commo rose now functions the same as ‘Negative and Affirmative’ commo rose.
J-20 Jet: Shifted center of mass slightly forward to keep it from rolling backwards when on the ground.
LAV: Fixed issue where the fire extinguisher previously didn’t show in the HUD.
Fire Extinguisher: Ground vehicles now show countdown in HUD.
Active Protection: Removed active string display, as this causes issues when entering the vehicle while active protection is reloading.
ECM Improvements: Air jamming now includes the MinRadius correctly in the calculation used resulting in more reliability/efficiency.
Much Needed Wash: Reduced the intensity of dirt on the cockpit glass for all aircraft.
All aircraft wreckage now correctly de-spawns/explodes.
SERVER
Console Aim Assist: Added server setting. You can now fully disable both types of aim-assist on your ranked servers.
All Consoles: Added ”ALL” option to the server browser ”Free Slot” filter.
PC: Gametime players are now only allowed to play in official servers.
PS4: Added support for the network graph (will be enabled early next year).
NETCODE
Our quest for the best networking in a multiplayer game continues with the Holiday Release:
Improvements to vegetation destruction to look more smooth.
Fixed bullet spawning and muzzle flash de-syncs.
Added support for high frequency update for the full weapon component to decrease time difference between hit application and weapon firing.
Improved instant-hit bullet delays (like the knife)
Better averaging of packets to keep the whole system more steady and robust overall.
Added new Recvrate line in the graph representing server receive rate.
ADAPTIVE NETWORK & BANDWIDTH CONTROL
We have implemented a system that optimizes the network traffic from the server to each client. The goal of this system is for the server to only send data at such rates that the clients can cope with it.
This send rate (of the objects updated at high frequency) is individually selected for each client based on the bandwidth and latency of the client’s network connection and the client’s rendering frame rate (frame rate mainly applicable on PC).
The rate in the best case equals the game tick rate and can go down all the way to 20Hz when necessary.
Added an advanced gameplay option to switch the system on/off (default on).
Added new RecvRate line in the network graph showing the rate the local client is receiving data (for the objects updated at high frequency) from the server.
BATTLELOG
Various game time improvements like:
Improved error message in UGM.
Quick match now only filters for official servers.
Full server pages are now accessible.
Improved server browser filtering to display official servers.
The current amount of your earned service stars are now displayed.
Fixed translation and text-formatting issues in the in-game battlelog for PS4.
Updated match making behavior for ranked BF4 servers.
Minor tweaks to the chat functionality.
Improved stats view for weapons and vehicles when viewing another user on tablet or mobile.
General improvements on BF4 reports regarding various server types.
MAPS
Operation Outbreak
Fixed spawn point that occasionally spawned players underground.
Fixed an issue where spawns on Objective A as Chinese team would end up out of bounds.
Updated loading screens with the three winners from our screenshot competition.
Operation Locker
Fixed an issue where the player got stuck on the helipad stairs.
Fixed collision issue in tunnel under Panopticon.
Find the official source here: eaassets-a.akamaihd.net
