New World Interactive, the developer of FPS game Insurgency: Sandstorm, has just released a new update that brings in a new map, new weapons, additional foregrips, and more. The New DLC cosmetics will give your characters and weapons a unique look, and these can be purchased in-game. The new map, Tell, is a reimagined version of the classic Insurgency map, which is really good for close quarter combats.
Insurgency: Sandstorm Update 1.8 Patch Notes
You can find the patch notes below:
New Map: Tell
Breakaway’s new map is called Tell, and is a reimagining of an Insurgency 2014 classic. Tell ramps up the intensity of Sandstorm's signature hardcore combat by squeezing everyone together while still allowing for diverse navigation routes down everything from narrow corridors to lengthy streets. It features tight urban CQB unlike any other level in Sandstorm.
Tell has support for the following game modes:
- Push
- Domination
- Firefight
- Checkpoint
- Hardcore Checkpoint
- Outpost
New Weapons: AUG A3, FAMAS F1, Underbarrel Shotguns
We’ve added two new small profile bullpup style assault rifle weapons for Rifleman, Demolitions, Commander, and Observer classes: the AUG A3 for Security and FAMAS F1 for Insurgents. We’ve also added three new underbarrel shotguns as underbarrel weapon upgrades: the M26 MASS for Security, Buckshot Launcher for Insurgents, and Masterkey shared by both factions.
- AUG A3 - Low fire rate, controllable recoil
- FAMAS F1 - Very high fire rate, small magazine capacity
- M26 MASS - Mag-fed, available for M16A4, M4A1, and AUG A3
- Buckshot Launcher - Single shot 40mm buckshot shell, available for AKM, AK-74
- Masterkey - Tube-fed, available for M16A4, M4A1, AKM, AK-74, M16A2, and FAMAS F1
The Masterkey and M26 MASS have no optics or iron sights. When using Aim Down Sights with them, they’ll point roughly at the center of the screen similar to the NVG Point Shooting upgrade seen on night maps. The Buckshot Launcher can use its iron sights to be aimed more precisely, but only has one shot until it needs to be reloaded. It’s basically a tactical blunderbuss.
Foregrips
We know we’ve been a bit lacking in the foregrip department. We added three new grips available in the underbarrel weapon upgrade category for all Primary weapons except for machine guns and anti-materiel rifles. Yes, that means you can finally put a grip on weapons like the Mosin, MP7, and even the Grease Gun. Each grip gives a different gameplay benefit at various supply point costs. The existing “Foregrip” upgrade remains unchanged, but we’ve renamed it to “Recoil Grip” to clarify its function among the others.
- Aiming Grip - Aim down the sights of your weapon faster
- Loading Grip - Reload your weapon faster
- Quick Draw Grip - Draw and put away your Primary weapon faster
Free Unlockable Cosmetics
Rogue Cop - A federal or local law enforcement officer who has joined the Insurgents.
Rogue Cop Top Camo (Torso slot)
- Blue DPM
- Digital Blue
- Digital Dark Blue
Rogue Cop Bottom Camo (Legs slot)
- Blue DPM
- Digital Blue
- Digital Dark Blue
Combat Glasses (Eyewear slot)
- Black
- Blue
- Cyan
- Dark Red
- Orange
- Peach
- Purple
- Yellow
Digital Dark Blue (Equipment slot)
Blue DPM (Equipment slot)
Internal Affairs - An investigator working with the Security to hunt down rogue actors who joined the Insurgents.
Internal Affairs (Torso slot)
- Dark Brown
- Sand
- Tan
Business Casual (Legs slot)
- Dark Brown
- Sand
- Tan
Aviator (Eyewear slot)
- Black
- Dark Red
- Orange
- Peach
- Yellow
DLC Cosmetics
Insurgent “Rogue Spec Ops” Gear Set
- Skull Mask and Shemagh
- Spec Ops Tactical Shirt
- Spec Ops Tactical Pants
- Spec Ops Boots
Insurgent “Urban Digital” Weapon Skin Set
- AK-74
- FAMAS F1
- Uzi
- ACE 52
- Alpha AK
- 1911 Pistol
Security “Urban Warden” Gear Set
- Net with Helmet
- Chainmail Top with Padding
- Chainmail Bottom with Padding
- Chainmail Gloves
Security “Desert Hex” Weapon Skin Set
- M16A4
- AUG A3
- MP7
- Tavor 7
- Mk 18 CQBR
- M45 Pistol
Outpost Mode
Overview
- Players need to defend their objectives against seven waves of enemies to win.
- Only one or two objectives are active at a time, with a total of four to eight objectives on each map.
- If all players die, or their active objectives are captured, they respawn at the next objective area to defend it.
- If players are pushed all the way back to their final objective area, and it is captured or they all die, they lose the round.
Gameplay
- Players start with two supply points on the first wave, and gain two supply points after every wave.
- Players can resupply in between waves during a “Preparing” phase.
- Enemies get better equipment as waves go on.
- A randomly selected “special wave” with unique enemies mixed in among normal enemies will attack at waves 2, 4, and 6. Special enemies include:
- Bangers - Rush you with Grease Guns, flashbangs, increased movement speed, and a physically shorter height so they’re harder to hit.
- Grenadiers - Force you out of cover with a copious amount of explosive frag grenades.
- Blasters - Suppress you with MG3 machine guns, increased health, and a physically taller height so they can shoot over more cover.
- Rocketmen - Target you from afar with RPG-7 rocket launchers. Or up close.
- Suicide Bombers - Yep. A wave of suicide bombers.
- The final wave will combine all special enemies and normal enemies together for one massive attack.
Outpost mode is available on the maps below. We hope to expand the mode to more maps in a future update.
- Tell
- Crossing
- Ministry
- Hillside
- Outskirts
- Power Plant
Official Co-op Playlists Update
A playlist for our new Outpost mode will be added to official Co-op matchmaking, and will replace the Frenzy playlist. The other playlists, Normal and Hardcore, will be renamed to Checkpoint and Hardcore Checkpoint since we now have more than one Co-op mode and need to be specific. As we add new game mode content we need to be careful to not split our player-base as we don't want to increase queue times too dramatically. We also want to ensure every official playlist experience in Sandstorm is strong for both new and existing players. Please expect us to have similar considerations with future game modes. We'll keep up the Frenzy playlist for another 2 weeks so you have a bit more time to play, after which it will go away as a permanent playlist. Frenzy (and its beloved cousin Task Force 666 ) will still be coming back on occasion as limited time playlist modes. Don't forget you can still play Frenzy on community servers that run the "Frenzy" mutator.
AI Update
Specific Changes
- AI now know what sounds they hear (gunfire, dialogue, opening doors, footsteps), instead of just knowing that a specific player made noise and guessing at the cause.
- Adjusted which sounds provide AI awareness of a player's location, and at what range.
- When shooting a player, the AI will use the last known position of the player instead of their current position. If you duck behind cover, or into a cloud of smoke, they may still suppress your last position for a few seconds, so don't stick your head out.
- When suppressing, since the AI don't know the target's specific location, they will no longer gain increased accuracy over time. Instead they'll just spray the area. If you're behind thin cover, you can move away silently to avoid getting wall banged.
- The AI have laxened their social-distancing policy, and will no longer automatically aim for the player's face if they approach within 2m. They'll still shoot you though.
- The distance that AI acquire targets at long range has been reduced, and their time to fire increased.
- When AI retreat they will no longer get confused and change directions at random.
Gameplay Improvements
Over the past few updates, we’ve received feedback that certain high caliber weapons are overpowered and serve as Sandstorm’s meta. We’re going to be making a few adjustments to try to make these weapons feel more balanced among the others.
- Reduced FAL’s muzzle velocity from 840 to 810, reducing damage, penetration damage, bullet travel speed, and other ballistic factors slightly
- Removed Extended Magazine upgrade from FAL and G3A3 in Versus and Competitive
- Increased horizontal recoil of Mk 14 EBR
New Configurations for Modders
- Hear Aware Distances have been added for Footsteps, Breaching, Doors and Rigging Explosives, to configure the range that bots are aware of players taking the indicated actions
- Sight Range Idle is now the distance that a bot can first spot a new target at.
- Sight Range Alert is now the distance that a bot will know longer be able to see a known target.
- Can grenade with LOS if you want bots to throw grenades straight at people, rather than lobbing over things
- Grenade Minimum Distance when you want bots to be a bit riskier with their tosses
- Rocket Minimum Distance is the same but for RPGs
- Rocket Squad Cooldown is the time that bots will wait between using rockets (within the same squad)
- Rocket Minimum Cluster Size how many people are close together before the bots break out the RPG
Mod Tools Improvements
- Fixed an issue where upload of mods would fail when using the default /Mods/ folder (you will may to delete your Insurgency/Intermediate/ folder for these changes to apply)
- Old versions of mods will now be uninstalled when a new version is installed
- Added in Canyon Modular Props
- Added in Tell Modular Props
- Added in Town Sublevels containing merged buildings
- Added "Developer Iteration Mode" which skips spawning/class selection timer to help test maps a little faster
- Fixed issue with creating a new Mod when templates aren't available that causes mod creation to fail
- Applied General Editor Fixes for Engine version 4.25.2
- Removed "LaunchSandstorm.bat"
User Experience
- Updated the font used for compass heading numbers
- Polished the visual indicator for DLC items in the cosmetic menu
- Updated the icon displayed when using Proximity chat to differentiate from Radio
- Adjusted the position of character models on the loadout screen so they no longer hit their head (oof) on the top navigation buttons
Visual Improvements
- Updated the Easy Anti-Cheat loading image
- Updated the main menu map to represent the Breakaway release
Performance Improvements
Level Changes
Outskirts
- Fixed an issue where players were able to reach an unintended location by walking on small ledges
- Crossing
- Fixed an issue where a tank had no collision set on it
Summit
- Fixed an issue in Checkpoint Security where a wall had no collisions set on it
Tideway
- Fixed an issue where players could become stuck after vaulting over a fence
- Fixed a potential spawn camping issue on Firefight West
- Fixed a number of spawn camping issues on both Push scenarios
- Reduced how far Security can push when Charlie is neutral in Frontline
- Fixed a number of spawn camping issues in Frontline
Bug Fixes
- The Commander and Observer will now correctly hear the “BRRRT” after calling in a strafing run
- Fixed the Autocannon strafe audio timing so the sounds play in the correct order
- Fixed an issue where players could see their own disembodied legs when prone, crouching, or driving
- Fixed an issue where the smoke overlay would activate on players on the roof of buildings even if the smoke particles didn’t penetrate the roof
- Fixed an issue where smoke mortars and chemical mortars on a roof were incorrectly triggering the smoke overlay for players in the buildings even if smoke wasn’t penetrating the roof
- Fixed an issue where when standing near objects with auto-lean enabled animations may skip frames
- Fixed an issue where the key hint on the underhand grenade throw lesson would show as unbound
- Fixed an issue with the G3A3 reload animation causing the magazine to go through the palm
- Fixed an issue that was preventing some weapon attachments from being selected when using a default preset under certain circumstances
- Fixed an issue where the Connect to IP field would not function properly if there was leading or trailing white space
- Fixed a typo in the tutorial lessons
- Fixed an issue that would cause bullets to float next to the M16A2 in the loadout menu
- Fixed an issue where a server’s favorite state was not being reflected in the Internet browser tab
- Fixed an issue where keybinds in the tutorial could display as unbound
- Fixed an issue where chat text would still be visible after hiding HUD elements
- Fixed an issue where it was possible for the reload state of the rifle could get stuck forcing you to start the reload over or swap between weapons to make it functional again
- Fixed an issue where users would have to click Cancel twice to leave a matchmaking queue
- Fixed an issue with the inventory screen where the right-most image would appear stretched vertically
- Fixed an issue with some hairstyles clipping through the Ghillie Hat
- Fixed an issue where you couldn’t correctly scroll through Loadout presets when using a controller
- Fixed an issue where toggling the Mute All option for players in an online match would not update the player list until the scoreboard was closed and opened again
- Fixed an issue where players might see visual artifacting around the edge of the screen when using SMAA T2x Anti-Aliasing option
Known Issues
- The crosshair is not visible on the 2x Kobra when using the Picture-in-picture in Scope Setting
- Equipment color option selected under Appearance section is only applying to vest area and not the rest of the Light or Heavy Carrier
- The bolt of your Primary weapon won’t move if you have an underbarrel shotgun or grenade launcher equipped
- Community hosted servers will show a player as level 0
- Mosin and M24 have a floating rear sight in third person
- Mosin Stripper Clip weapon upgrade does not push in properly when reloading
- MP5 has a slight clipping of mag during dry reload
- VHS-2 and AK-74 magazines disappear for a moment during a dry reload
- Pressing G to toggle a Bipod weapon upgrade while standing does not show the deployment of the bipod in third person
- In Frontline mode, if you capture an objective then team swap, you will see not a floating objective until respawn
- Shotguns and machine guns will have a left elbow clipping into itself and the body during the third person Hardcore sprinting animation
- Remote explosive or mines will have a left elbow clipping into itself and the body during the third person Hardcore sprinting animation
- When playing as a Commander and having a friendly Observer nearby, the Observer’s class icon will gray out even though you are in range of them
- AUG A3’s loading animations will have broken fingers in first person
- AI vehicle can get stuck in the Tutorial Range
- When you first load the game, there’s a chance your character may be shown without a vest; going to customize and selecting the faction will load all the correct cosmetics
