If you have been following WWII ONLINE, you know our Production Team has been hard at work for multiple years in reworking many of our in-game assets.
If you are new to our community, NEWSFLASH! Many of our in-game weapons and vehicles have been reworked to higher poly-counts. CRS calls it "future-proofing" as these higher-resolution models can be DIRECTLY plugged into UE5. This means we make the model one time with the UE5-standard model baked down to a polycount threshold our existing engine can sustain without impacting in-game performance at scale.
After several years of hard work, all the trucks, anti-tank, and anti-air guns have been remodeled to this standard. The exceptions are the British and German heavy haulers, but their time for an art rework will occur in the future. It's on the list!
The Production Team is now reworking several of the original armor platforms from 2001. These EARLY WAR tanks are quite long in the tooth, with their replacement rapidly approaching. We are pleased to share this WORK IN PROGRESS and note these models remain subject to change until the final model is released in a future update.
THE VERSATILE PLATFORM FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA
NEW UE5 standard model: German Light Tank 38(t)
VEHICLE UPDATE: Panzer 38(t)
(ALL ART & FUNCTIONAL ITEMS REMAIN SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Tank commander's and gunner's functions have been separated into separate positions.
Position 2 (commander's function)
Position 3 (gunner's function)
Tank commander's armored periscope is operational. Use the instrument view (num pad ins key) to view through the eyepiece.
Tank commander now has control of a smoke pot dispenser installed on the rear of the tank. The Nebelkerzenabwurfvorrichtung (actual spelling) is a smoke discharger with a capacity of five smoke candles.
Bow gunner (pos 4) now has canopy and hatch openings.
Canopy opens the viewer as before
Hatch control opens the bow gunner's hatch and provides an exterior view
Main gun sight view has been adjusted to the historical site picture.
Main gun ammo has been adjusted to its historical loadout when deployed with German formations in WWII.
NEW FUNCTIONALITY: German Light Tank 38(t) deploys smoke
In future episodes, CRS will be sharing WORK IN PROGRESS updates for the British A-13 and French R-35 tanks. Once complete, the team of TYRDAIMP, MKW, and SLAMEN, led by HATCH, will begin the process again to continue reworking other original vehicle assets from 2001.
NEW INTERIOR: German Light Tank 38(t)
WANT MORE? CLICK VIDEO LINK BELOW!
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:
As CRS is community-funded, there are multiple ways to contribute:
PLAY the game - login & have fun. The more the merrier!
RSVP for the monthly operations (a GREAT showcase to show ongoing development of the game & the scale of combat)
VOLUNTEER your time, skills, and accumulated knowledge to help with marketing, modeling, testing, development, etc. Our CRS 2.0 team is nearly 100% home-grown, so show us what you've got!
SUBSCRIBE monthly through the website (organic) as 100% of the proceeds go to CRS, while Steam subscriptions carry an immediate 30% penalty.
OUR THANKS TO YOU!
We are less than a month away from celebrating our 25th Anniversary, June 6th, 2026. As we finalize plans, watch our social media pages for upcoming fun for that weekend.
It is INCREDIBLE to think WWII ONLINE has continued for twenty-five years, but that is because of YOU, because without the support of the community, we would not still be here today. As long as we continue to work together, CRS 2.0 will continue to pursue ongoing game development.
Read the full announcement:
https://www.wwiionline.com/post/work-in-progress-updated-artwork-tier-zero-tanks-episode-1
A recent YouTuber commented: THERE IS STILL NO GAME OUT THERE LIKE WW2 ONLINE. - @flgators1986
We could not agree more. Thank you!
Cornered Rat Software