Tripwire Interactive and The Heroes of the West team are excited to announce their latest update featuring two new maps and a brand new game feature, Airborne Ammo Resupply Drops!

Owners of Rising Storm/Red Orchestra 2 can grab the mod for free from Steam, just run the launcher at least once to get all new movies for the map loading screens.

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/steamstore/app/440090/

Please join us on our HOTW Public Discord[discord.me]

Please allow servers time to update. If you join a server and begin to download files, hit F10 to exit and try another server. Also, if you participated in beta testing, don't forget to opt out of the beta. Questions and feedback are welcome on the discussion boards.

-The Heroes of the West Team




New Maps

Reichswald - 9th of Feburary 1945.
This is the very northern tip of the Siegfried line. British forces advance on a heavy german bunker position. While the outnumbered German forces desperately try and hold on. If the Germans fail the British have a clear path into the German mainland.

Hell's Corners - 6th June 1944.
American Airborne forces landed in farmland flooded by the German defenders to make crossing the terrain difficult. This is one of the locations where the flow of water is controlled, The Barquette Locks. Control of the locks mean the allies can start draining the fields.

Airdrop Supplies
On both Hell's Corners and Oosterbeek, Allied commanders can now request a supply drop from a C-47. Using the same markers as artillery these supply drops will contain weapons for players to pick up and use. As well as becoming an ammo resupply point on the map. They are faction specific weapons and generally contain a lot of automatic weaponry.

Game Changes

Fixed Normal/bump map on the G43.
Adjusted MG42 and MG34 hipfiring recoil.
Increased Jeep acceleration and maximum speed. It now performs better in the lower gears.
Fixed the M2HB textures.
Fixed clipping in the commander view of the stug when you looked to the right hand side.
Removed the "Axis/Japanese suppression resistance bonus" from Rising storm which also affected the Germans in HOTW.
Fixed British levelling bonuses meaning they should now be in line with the other HOTW factions in terms of stats.


Map Changes

Oosterbeek

• Adjusted Spawn Protection for Axis once A/B are captured
  
• Added some missing Covernodes
  
• Modifed coloring of the environment
  
• Added Ammo Paradrop for Allies

Elsenborn

• Modified Allies Spawn Protection for Objective C
  
• Fixed Ground Collision near Objective B Bunker
  
• Added more elevated Firing Positions for US in Final Objective trenches

Foy

• Adjusted Lighting and Sky
  
• Adjusted Fog
  
• Added more Cover nodes
  
• Split Intitial Allies Spawn zone into 3
  
• Opened some houses behind A and B
  
• Moved spawn 1 for allies closer to D when E, F, G active
  
• Adjusted G cap zone size for easier entry
  
• Added guardrails to stairways in some buildings
  
• Raised Tickets for both teams significantly
  
• Adjusted german spawns for the early objectives

The Heroes of the West Team is pleased to announce a hotfix to the Ardennes Assault Content Update released last week. We have been listening to the community and are happy to release this update of balancing adjustments and also address several bugs. The changes are listed below.

As always, please allow servers time to update and if you join a server that begins to download content to your PC, press F10 to cancel and try another server. We welcome feedback and questions on our Steam Community Forums or join our discord here: https://discord.gg/Twx24zZ

Foy Changes:
German spawns for A/B moved back
Increased spawn protection for Allies in A/B cap zone
Now A,B, C and D lock if they are captured.
Increased spawn time for Stug III
Changed map time from 27 minutes to 30
Adjusted no artillery area's
Added more tickets for both teams
Increased maximum spawn time for axis to 21 second max
Decreased maximum spawn time for allies to 17 second max
Adjusted spawn protection near E, so Allies can now flank from behind.
Added ladders to the Foy church tower
Allied artillery cooldown is now 3:20 minutes versus 6 minutes for germans.


Other Changes:
Added Jeep sounds
Added Jeep kill icons
Made the M2HB hit detection serverside for armour penatration calculations
M2HB will now damage vehicles
M4A3 Sherman 3rd person engine volume lowered.
Raised Damage for the M2HB to be more likely to kill infantry.
Bazooka smoke trail made thicker.


Fixes:
Fixed Config file error's
Fixed one map tip for Foy
Fixed bazooka backblast being tied to the end of the bazooka
Fixed dismemberment for the M2HB.
Fixed M1919 sights aligned with the fired round properly.
Fixed double recon plane on Saint come du mont.

To mark the upcoming anniversary of the start of 'The Battle of the Bulge' (Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein) Tripwire Interactive and the team behind Heroes of the West mod are proud to announce the release of the HotW winter 2016 update for Rising Storm/Red Orchestra 2.

Based on the German counter-offensive in the winter of 44-45, this update has 3 new maps; 2 winter maps and Saint-Come-du-Mont, a community-made map based around the fight between US and German paratroopers in Normandy.

The maps set in the Battle of the Bulge include the classic map, Foy, from the Darkest Hour mod of Red Orchestra Ostfront.The other Map features brutal fighting with US GIs defending against an all out assault at Elsenborn Ridge in December 1944.

The update includes all-new winter uniforms for the US and German forces and features a new vehicle, the Jeep with an M2 50 cal. machine gun mounted on it, a fearsome light support vehicle.

Owners of Rising Storm/Red Orchestra 2 can grab the mod for free from Steam here- just run the launcher to get all new movies for the map loading screens.

Please join us on our Discord here.[discord.gg]

Please allow servers time to update. If you join a server and begin to download files, hit F10 to exit and try another server. Also, if you participated in beta testing, don't forget to opt out of the beta. Questions and feedback are welcome on the discussion boards.

-The Heroes of the West Team



Here are the full Details

Three New maps:

Elsenborn Ridge: The Single American sector that held out during the Ardennes offensive. Located to the north of Bastogne the German failure to push the Americans back stalled the German advance into Belgium.

Foy: The 101st Airborne assualt the small town of Foy as the germans mount a hasty rearguard action to save their retreating heavy armour.

Saint-Côme-du-Mont: Before the Americans could take the crossroad town of Carentan they had to first secure the surrounding area. The small rural town of Saint-Côme-du-Mont is standing in the way of Carentan.

New uniforms:

German Winter uniform made up of German greatcoats, white Parka's, white overtrousers and winter camo helmets.
American Winter uniform made up of Melton wool overcoats in brown and green as well as the M-1943 field jacket and uniform.


New Vehicle:

Willy's Jeep with a heavy M2HB .50 calibre machine gun


New Weapon:

Fixed MG .30 Cal M1919 for US

Loading Screens for all Official Heroes of the West maps.


Other changes:
Added A Sherman to Port Brest.
Adjustments to Brest to make it more tank friendly.
Destroyed Stug mesh is no longer partially see-through.
Stug front wheel flickering fixed.
Stug Cupola armour redone to better reflect its shape.
Fixed Collision issues on some Hedges on Bocage.

So with out upcoming content update almost due for release we need to do some larger scale testing of our maps and some of our new content. The best way to do that is to invite members from our community. Note that these tests show a Work In Progress version of the mod so expect bugs and similar things like that. Though it will be in a very playable state.

1. Right click on Heroes of the West in your steam library and click properties.
   
2. Go to the betas tab.
   
3. Select Beta in the drop down menu as that should show up.
   
4. It will then download a small patch getting you the beta version.

You can revert from beta at any time by simply changing back to default.

If you are in the beta YOU WONT be able to play the normal version of the mod. You will have to swap back to the default version using the same steps.


Join this group: https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/groups/HOTWplayers#
Or follow the Heroes of the West community by going to the all section and clicking on follow.

These Groups will have Events that will notify you of testing times.


The Next event we are having is on the 5th of November 7pm GMT. See if you can make it.

Server name: HotW STEAM BUILD Server.
IP address: 109.70.149.82:7777
SERVER PASSWORD: hotw1234

I would advise only joining the server during event times. As the server version may be different from the steam beta version at other times. Which would force a download.

This is a smallish patch which fixes and adjusts various things. Aiming for a better gameplay experiance with tanks and getting rid of a few eyesores.

• Fixed bug related to the angle calculation of impacting shells/rockets on some of the plates on the Sherman and Stug. Resulting in deflections on 90 degree impacts. Shermans and Stugs won't seem invicible on the sides and rear anymore.
  
• Added actual armour values to the MG shields on the Stug since they were up to 50mm thick on some tanks.
  
• Buffed Panzer IV frontal armour from 50mm to 80mm as this is 1944 meaning the 80mm rollout had taken full effect. Plus it was also weaker than the Sherman from the front prior.
  
• Nerfed the penatration on the shermans main gun meaning it shouldn't screw over Panzer IVs and Stugs on the first shot nearly as often.
  
• Buffed HEAT penatration on both the PIAT and Bazooka to more realistic values to cater for the Panzer IV buff.
  
• Nerfed german halftrack durability So it isn't essentially invicible anymore. Engine, gearbox and fueltank have higher damage modifiers and break more easily. Overall "hitpoints" reduced from 1000 to 750. Still requires players to hit those weakspots.
  
• Stug main gun now properly has the Stats of the L48 75mm gun rather than the Panzer IVs L43 75mm main gun. Slightly faster muzzle velocity and penatration.
  
• Fixed Stug turning into a turretless sherman with german markings on death. "Buetepanzer" Bug occured due to the Stug having a "turret pop" death and getting confused due to the fact the Stug doesnt have a seperate turret.
  
• Fixed "Gang signs" arm bug on the German Parka mesh for the German autumn uniform on Hill400
  
• Added Reload sounds to the Bazooka
  
• Improved peripheral visibility on the bren gun while Aiming down sights.
  
  
  
• Added 50 more allied reinforcements on Bocage.
  
• Moved Allied spawn protection towards the defenders slightly on the B/C objectives to prevent MG42s essentially firing into spawns.
  
• Fixed Stuck locations for the bots.

Please Give time for servers to update. If you join a server and start downloading files. Press F10 immeditialy to cancel and try another server.

Heroes of the West Armor Update.

In this latest update of Heroes of the West mod for Red Orchestra 2/Rising Storm we are proud to introduce 2 new tanks, the American M4A3 Sherman and the German Sturmgeschutz IIIG (Stug IIIG).

The M4A3 Sherman was a variant of the Sherman manufactured from June '42 to September '43. Many were still in use and were deployed in the Normandy theatre.

The German Sturmgeschutz III ausf. G was the most common variant of any Armored Fighting Vehicle used by the Germans in WW2. With its low profile it was an effective infantry support, and anti-tank, vehicle in most theaters where it saw action. Over 8,000 were produced.

The update also brings in the US M1A1 Bazooka. This was the first mass-produced AT rocket launcher to be introduced in the war and, with its 60mm HEAT ammunition, it was an effective infantry anti-tank weapon, levelling the playing field against enemy armor.

All of these new features can be seen on the newest addition to our map-list, WF-Bocage. This map is based on the fighting through the difficult terrain of Normandy with its imposing hedgerows. Set during operation Cobra, the US forces have to fight field to field and road to road through this terrain, fending off German ambushes.



Please allow time for servers to update. If you have any feedback please feel free to say something on our steam forums.


Steam hates image formatting today but here's an Imgur album showing off many screenshots. http://imgur.com/a/yILr2

Small changes this time around. But It does add the German Fallschirmjager. Along with other minor additions and bug fixes.



Map Changes

Hill 400:

Added cover to left approach of Hill
Increased Spawn Protection for Attackers
Main sections of Destructible Barbed Wire are now Satchel Objectives
Electrocution Sound reduced at a distance

Caen Outskirts:

Increased Tickets for Allies
Increased Capture Time for Final Objective
Added Entrance to trenches for Defenders
Increased Trench defenses and cover
Tweaked some of the textures that contributed to crashes on Ultra

Port Brest:

Added Cover for B Objective Approach
Added Cover for D Objective Approach
Addressed exploit to get out of bounds
Added Fallschirmjäger Skins for Axis

Oosterbeek:

Added missing bot paths near first Allies Spawn
Moved Initial Allies spawn closer to B Objective
Fixed Spawn Protection on E cap that enabled while inside the objective
Increased Time on Final caps by 2 seconds
Spread Allies Spawns apart for defending E

Carentan:

Added details to interiors
Addressed some of the very dark areas inside buildings
Added Covernodes to some of the windows that had none
Increased Spawn Protection for Allies
Reduced areas that Axis can shoot into Allies Spawn
Added Fallschirmjäger Skins for Axis

General Fixes:

Added Fallshirmjager unit set. Smock model by Postamenos.
Added No.32 T-post reticle to the Enfield sniper.
Added markers for the radioman that can be seen by the Team Leader.
Added markers for the Team leader than can be seen by everyone.
Added in new German and British objective and level up sound cues by Karl Feuerstake.
Updated plane sound effects.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed Bren carrier sound volume glitch.
Re-aligned Bren carrier camera with the Bren guns sights.
Fixed Bren carrier fire rate.
Compressed a lot of textures for performance reasons.
Hill400 no longer has 4 different versions.
Assigned a lot of textures correct mip map settings for performance.
Launcher no longer lies about about the mod being installed in the wrong place.
Lots of other boring back-end stuff.

PLEASE give time for servers to up date. Many are in the process of updating right now.
If you join a server and start downloading things from the server press F10 immediatly. Then find another server to try or wait a bit.

Working with Tripwire Interactive, the developers of Heroes of the West mod to RO2/Rising Storm, are proud to announce the release on Steam of an update to the mod to coincide with the anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy on D-day 72 years ago.

The update introduces 2 new maps, the first being a combined arms map featuring the British in a gruelling fight to break out from the Normandy beachhead in summer 1944. The map, Caen Outskirts, introduces the British Bren Carrier troop transport.

The other map, Hill 400, recreates the bitter fighting in the winter of 1944 with the 2d Ranger Battalion struggling against Axis forces in the Hurtgen Forest.

There have been numerous balance, technical and cosmetic additions and fixes introduced in this update, read the notes below to see them.

• Caen Outskirts (Combined Arms)
  
• Hill 400
  
• Updated Vehicle Skins for Western Front:
  
• Panzer IV
  
• Sd.Kfz. 251

• Added Enfield bayonet by Shel100.
  
• Added Scoped Enfield by Shel100.
  
• Added Radioman Role for Germans and Americans.
  
• Added Bren Carrier Transports
  
• Added 2 new British voices

Oosterbeek:
• Extended E Objective towards Defenders Side
  
• Added 2 Seconds to F Objective Capture time
  
• Added Cover to D Objective Approach for Defenders
  
• Moved Defenders Spawn for D Objective closer
  
• Added Cover near Final Defender's Spawn to approach last capzones
  
• Added Radio near Final Allies Spawns
  
• Adjusted Axis Roles
  
  Omaha Beach:
  
• Reordered Letters for D, E, F Objectives
  
• Added new Spawn Zone for Attackers once D is captured
  
• Added Radioman Role to Allies
  
• Adjusted Axis Roles
  
  Port Brest:
  
• Removed one Axis Spawn zone for Objective D
  
• Added Allies Spawn Zone for Objective C
  
• Expanded Spawn Zone Protection after B is captured
  
• Added Cover to B Objective Approach
  
• Added Cover to C Objective Approach
  
• Removed some walls in alleyways
  
• Removed Fixed MG in Objective D
  
• Added Radioman to Allies
  
• Added an additional BAR, MG, and 2 Engineer Roles to Allies
  
• Adjusted Axis Roles
  
• Added Cover for attackers near B Objective
  
• Shifted C Cap slightly towards Attackers
  
• Added open building near Fountain for Attackers to attack D from.
  
  Carentan:
  
• Adjusted Axis Roles

• Axis Engineer G43 replaced by Kar98, Shotgun replaced by carbine. AT grenade added.
  
• Axis Rifleman Hero garand replaced by springfield, Springfield no longer frontline upgrade.
  
• Axis Squad leader has Kar98 added.
  
• Axis Assault no longer has access to the STG44
  
• Axis Radioman now uses MP40.
  
• Allied Radioman now uses Carbine and M3.
  
• Axis Elite Assault added.

• STG44 fire rate changed from 600rpm to 550rpm.
  
• MP40/I removed (This is the Dual Mag version)
  
• Sten gun now has a single shot function.
  
• Allies on Omaha beach now have Assault jackets.
  
• A Few weapons renamed to better represent them.
  
• Players can now accumulate game hours through Steam.
  
• Added German Splintertarn helmet covers.

• Divisional shoulder patches now show up in online games.
  
• Sten bolt no longer detaches from the weapon while blindfiring.
  
• German "Spiderman" gear bug fixed.
  
• German Marksman level 5 no longer spawns with a japanese helmet.
  
• SMi44 Mine kill icon resized to fit.
  
• Bren alt fire removed.
  
• Game mode now properly displays in webadmin.
  
• German Eagle now shows on chest for all variations.
  
• Germans no longer turn invisible in the halftrack.
  
• PIAT launcher is now empty when fired.
  
• Enfield bolt animation no longer jolts into place when manual bolting fast.
  
• Germans, British, and American Army soldiers now bleed correctly when dismembered/decapitated.
  
• Fixed American Airborne's 1st person arms being US marines arms.
  
• Fixed texture bugs on German Hero and some Highly decorated uniform variations.

Please give time for servers to update. If you start downloading things from a hotw server press F10 to cancel and find another one.

The launcher may come up with an error message stating that the mod is installed in the wrong place. If you previously have been able to play the mod with no issues ignore this message and click launch anyway.

We have a beta build that is live on steam right now.

To get to the steam beta you need to...

1. Right click on Heroes of the West in your steam library and click properties.
2. Go to the betas tab.
3. Select Beta in the drop down menu as that should show up.
4. It will then download a small patch getting you the beta version.

You can revert from beta at any time by simply turning the beta off.

The beta test server is called HotW STEAM BUILD Server.
Server Password: hotw1234
IP address: 109.70.149.82:7777

Stay tuned to this group for event postings. http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/groups/HOTWplayers#



Changelog

New additions:
Added Caen Outskirts.
Added Enfield bayonet by shel100.
Added Scoped Enfield by Shel100.
Added Radioman Role for Germans and Americans.
New Panzer IV skin.
New Sdkfz 251 Skin.


Role changes:
Axis Engineer G43 replaced by Kar98, Shotgun replaced by carbine. AT grenade added.
Axis Rifleman Hero garand replaced by springfield, Springfield no longer frontline upgrade.
Axis Squad leader has Kar98 added.
Axis Radioman now uses MP40.
Allied Radioman now uses Carbine and M3.


Other Changes:
STG44 fire rate changed from 600rpm to 550rpm.
MP40/I removed.
Sten gun now has a single shot function.


Bug fixes:
Divisional shoulder patches now show up in online games.
Sten bolt no longer detaches from the weapon while blindfiring.
German "Spiderman" gear bug fixed.
German Marksman level 5 no longer spawns with a japanese helmet.
SMi44 Mine kill icon resized to fit.
Bren alt fire removed.
Game mode now properly displays in webadmin.
German Eagle now shows on chest for all variations.
Germans no longer turn invisible in the halftrack.
PIAT launcher is now empty when fired.