The game Firefighting Simulator – The Squad receives its first major update since its release almost two years ago. The least we can say is that it was expected by the community who feared that the game would no longer be updated by its developers at Chronos Unterhaltungssoftware.
On the program of this 5 GB update: two new missions, an adjustable difficulty by hiding the assistance indicators on the ground, the possibility of going directly to the scene without having to drive (sometimes long minutes) and above all a slew of fixes.
Two new random missions
The first mission entitled "Flaming Hot Breakfast" will make you face a fire in the premises of an American Dinner (a restaurant-road) with all the dangers of domestic fires in the kitchens as well as the customers of the restaurant to evacuate in an emergency .
The second mission “Outback Warehouse” will require you to control a fire in the biggest warehouse in the game so far. The level of complexity of the mission will require all your ability to intelligently use your tools and your intervention vehicles (especially the large scale). Perfect coordination with all teams will be essential (either with the AI for solo play or with your friends for games of up to 4 in cooperation).
As these will be random missions, the location of the victims as well as the locations of the first pieces on fire will change with each game.
Updates to difficulty, random mission sharing, and fast travel
fast travel
Expected from the beginning by the community, there will finally be the possibility of skipping the journey stage (which could take long minutes) to go directly to the scene of the intervention with the equipment and vehicles chosen from the barracks. On the other hand, it will be necessary to succeed at least once in the missions of each type to activate the option on the next ones.
Mission signature code
Since each random mission is unique in each session, the developers now allow you to view the mission's unique code, its signature in the game engine as it were. Thus, by entering this code when you open a session, you can relive the mission or share it with your friends to challenge them to succeed in the mission that made you drool, for example.
Adjustable difficulty
Before loading a mission, you will now be able to access new options defining the difficulty and the amount of assistance you will receive:
- Hide Goal Indicators : Enable this setting to add an extra challenge, as you will only see indicators when you are within interaction range of objectives.
- Hide victim indicators : The locations of the victims will be hidden, so you will have to search for them more actively. In addition, you will no longer see the number of victims to be rescued either…
- Manually establish a supply line : The AI will no longer automatically establish a supply line at the start of a mission (you can still order it though).
- Refilling an empty fire extinguisher : Activate this parameter and your extinguishers will disappear as soon as they are empty. You will need to return to the truck to find more (3 minute resupply time).
Improved Viper Scale Truck
Improved the nozzle extinction radius of the Viper Truck scale to provide a better alternative to the T-Rex Truck which still features the larger scale. It will therefore be necessary to choose between the flexibility of the scale of the T-Rex or the efficiency of the extinguishing nozzle of the Viper. In any case, the nozzle capacities of the two vehicles will be much higher than those carried by you or your teammates.
Lots of fixes
Below is the translation (via Deepl) from the long series of patches listed in the update ticket.
Gameplay
- Fixed an issue that allowed placing the victim next to the stretcher (but looked weird).
- Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented the character from zooming out.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the mission from restarting after the character was incapacitated due to fire damage from dropping a tool.
- Fixed an issue that allowed running while carrying a kill after swapping a tool or pipe with the AI.
Projects
- "Baptism by Fire" (Intro Mission): Fixed an issue that caused the character to get stuck in the Garage.
- “The Office Burn-Out”: Fixed incorrect collision at the exterior staircase.
- “Unstable Roof”: Fixed a fire that continued to burn when it was already extinguished.
- “Behind the Fast Food”: Fixed a point getting stuck at a bush after the player went through it.
- “Office Moving Day”: Fixed a point getting stuck in a bush after the player stepped over it.
- “The Sound of Flames”: Fixed an issue that caused the border of the fire location to be partially missing.
- “Exploding Hot Dogs”: Fixed an issue where the trash can would change texture after the fire was extinguished.
- “Dumpster fire”: Fixed invisible collision
- “Burning News”: Fixed a tree hovering above the ground.
- “Wildfire Park”: Fixed an issue that caused the character to freeze after hitting a trunk multiple times with the axe.
IA
- Changed AI to ensure that AI-controlled firefighters cannot set off a chemical explosion. They are now only trying to avoid putting out these fire sources (which hopefully should make your lives much less dangerous…).
Trucks
- Fixed a missing collision on the front bumper of Rosenbauer's Walk-In Rescue.
- Fixed an issue where the TP3 would not sync with the client in rare cases and would not move until the truck arrives on the scene.
- Fixed an issue where Viper and T-Rex ladders would receive burn marks when overlapping burnt objects.
Multiplayer
- Fixed an issue that caused the saw to be inaudible to other players in multiplayer games.
- Fixed an issue that caused the compartment to be unusable if two players opened it almost at the same time.
- Fixed an issue where the Flashlight would not always work for Clients.
Environment, graphics and cutscenes
- Fixed some night sky textures
- Fixed an issue that caused graphical anomalies above water when traveling to the fire location in Lakeview Park.
- Fixed an issue that caused the victim's jacket to flicker when the flashlight is activated.
- Improved the transition between cutscenes for a smoother experience.
- Fixed an issue where the intro scene played in slow motion when the player opened the control wheel.
Contrôles
- Fixed an issue that caused the player to hang when using the control wheel with a gamepad.
Training
- The player is now invincible in all training missions.
- Fixed an issue that caused the instructions for the "Squad Command" formation to be overridden.
game engine
- Updated Unreal Engine to version 4.27
- Reducing overall storage size using Oodle Compression Texture Compression
- Changed global illumination solution from LPV (Light Propagation Volumes) to SSGI (Screen Space Global Illumination)
- Improved load times for a number of missions
- Fire connector extension to improve fire spread through doors: Now fire also spreads along walls through doors and not just along flammable floors.
- Rewrote the custom navigation modifier to fix an infinite loading screen issue.
- Adjusted font configuration to better support all languages (while also fixing some localization issues)
- Improved performance by swapping opaque materials for hidden materials.
User interface
- Fixed an issue in the introductory mission "Baptism by Fire" that would only show the rewind option in the pause menu after successfully completing it at least once.
- Changed the icon for new unlocked trucks.
- Fixed an issue where the objective GUI was invisible when using the "Start at Location" option.
- Fixed an issue where the rescue victim icon would not always disappear after rescuing the victim.
- Fixed an issue where the pause menu was sometimes accessible from the main menu.
- Fixed an issue where the remaining distance was displayed in kilometers instead of miles – the player can now decide if they want to see the remaining distance in kilometers or miles.
- Fixed an issue that displayed the wrong distance while driving
- Fixed an issue where the blur would not disappear after a notification disappeared.
Crashes
- Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred in multiplayer when a player character collapsed while the command wheel was open.
- *Fixed a crash that occurred when trying to restart the “Pipe Laying” formation after losing consciousness due to fire (dying was never intended in these formations, so we have also corrected that…).