Hello Scavs!
This QOL patch is a little more experimental.
We've been working for some time on new state machine systems for the AI, and we're putting a much larger piece of that work into your hands with this update.
The immediate changes are things you'll be able to see: squads suppressing positions, flanking, maintaining a front, investigating sounds, searching after losing contact, and eventually standing down when they can't find what they're looking for.
But the more important part for us is what's underneath.
This system gives us a better foundation for how AI understands and communicates its current state. In the future, that opens up a lot of possibilities beyond combat behavior — including more interesting communication between squad-mates, contextual barks, reactions to what's happening around them, and generally making groups feel more aware of the situation they're in.
There's a lot we want to do with it.
Right now, though, we need to make sure the foundation is solid.
So, a small disclaimer.
This is a fairly significant change to systems that are running constantly before, during, and after a battle. We've tested it internally, but The Forever Winter can produce situations that are extremely difficult to reproduce in controlled environments.
That's part of why we're putting it out.
You guys will find things we won't.
We're interested in how squads behave when battles get huge, when multiple factions collide, when a group of players does something strange, when pathfinding gets ugly, and when twenty different systems all decide they need something at the same time.
If you see AI doing something particularly smart, stupid, strange, or completely inexplicable, let us know.
All of that is useful.
WE'RE ALSO TESTING SOME NETWORK CHANGES
The other big experiment in this patch is multiplayer shooting.
We've changed a fair amount of how firing a weapon works when you're not the host.
Previously, some parts of shooting depended on a round trip between the client and host. We've moved more of the immediate shooting experience client-side so pulling the trigger should feel more immediate, your shots should better represent where you're actually aiming, and latency should have less influence over the basic feel of firing your weapon.
There are a number of related fixes in this patch for things like double recoil, first-shot accuracy, reload synchronization, duplicate shots, skills not applying correctly to clients, and network traffic priorities.
Results may vary.
And we mean that literally.
There is a near infinite number of combinations of hardware, network conditions, geographic distance, latency, packet loss, host performance, and general internet weirdness represented by everyone playing the game.
Our internal environment cannot reproduce all of them.
So we're testing these changes in the wild and we're interested in hearing what happens — particularly from players who have historically had a rough experience when they weren't hosting.
For some of you, this may feel considerably better. And for others it could be worse.
And somebody will inevitably discover something we didn't know existed.
And as always, we do what we can.
WHY WE'RE DOING THIS
We're getting closer to the point where some of the work happening underneath The Forever Winter is less about fixing an individual behavior and more about building systems we can keep expanding.
The new AI state machine is one of those systems.
The networking work is another area where we're trying larger changes rather than continuing to patch individual symptoms.
Neither is finished.
That's also why we don't want to present this update as "AI improved, networking fixed."
We're implementing some things to reach that goal.
Some implementations are working as intended and easily confirmed as such. Some will probably need adjustment once thousands of people start stressing them in ways we never anticipated.
We're comfortable with that.
Early Access gives us the freedom to experiment, see what survives contact with the player-base, and iterate from there.
So this patch is partly an update and partly a field test.
Below is what we're currently changing.
Enemy AI: State Machine Combat Test
Enemy squads received a ground-up combat AI overhaul — smarter, more coordinated, and more readable in fights.
Suppression
AI will now lay down real suppressive fire: committed bursts aimed at their target’s position or last known position — and they hold the trigger.
If the line of fire is blocked when suppression is attempted, the AI sidestep and reposition to clear their aim.
Fire Lanes
AI understand danger lanes: they avoid crossing active lines of enemy or allied fire.
Flanking
Larger squads flank: the more living soldiers in a squad, the more flankers they will send to try to engage.
Regrouping & Fronts & Squad Cohesion
If a squad gets separated, stragglers rejoin the fight at the current front. Squad-mates are not pulled away from it.
Enemy AI: Stealth, Awareness & Investigation
New alert-state system
Enemies now escalate believably from unaware → suspicious → investigating → searching — and de-escalate back down instead of staying angry.
When hidden foes / players make a noise that causes nearby enemies to get suspicious: they stop, turn toward the sound, and visibly decide whether to check it out.
Investigating enemies walk to the noise and spread out around it instead of stacking on a single point. The more room to spread out, the larger the search radius may be.
If the investigation point is a visual contact, AI will approach to confirm (if far away and not otherwise engaged). If they cannot reach the point (across a chasm, etc.) they will view from afar and engage if the threat is confirmed.
If AI loses their threat mid-fight, the squad that lost the threat will do a better job hunting: a real search of the area around where they were last aware of the threat, with natural walk-pause-look sweeps.
Searching enemies look around with deliberate glances instead of staring straight ahead or rapidly looking left and right.
If their search comes up empty they stand down: back to patrols / their previous duties instead of permanent alert.
Vision checks have been improved: the AI now use more sample points, so detection through thin cover edges is more honest and accurate.
Chopper awareness tuned back (they were often seeing too far and remembering too long).
The compass no longer shows enemies that haven't noticed you.
Enemy AI: Bug Fixes
Rarely, AI could accidentally register their allies as targets. This no longer happens.
Rarely, AI weapon fire could remain on (basically forcing the AI to continue to hold the trigger) when they were no longer intending to fire. This has been addressed.
If enemies can't reach a search point, they now stand and scan the area naturally instead of freezing in place.
Hearing fixed: an issue where gunshots could send AI to the wrong location has been fixed.
On some occasions the enemies wouldn’t register crouched players properly (the player would read as standing in low latency). Enemies now properly account for you being crouched when judging how detectable you are.
Squad information-sharing fixed: AI who are told about threats only learn what their informant actually knew. Before it was possible in some situations to communicate the threat’s exact live position when it wasn’t actually known by the AI.
Fixed an issue where squads could sometimes endlessly re-alert each other after losing their targets ("aggro ping-pong").
Gunplay & Multiplayer Shooting
Client shooting overhaul: pulling the trigger as a non-host player now fires with more responsiveness — minimal or no round-trip delay on your own gun.
Your shots will now more consistently go where your crosshair points as a client — the server uses your actual on-screen aim instead of re-guessing it.
Fixed clients firing two bullets per trigger pull under high latency.
Fixed first-shot accuracy being wrong for clients under high latency.
Fixed ADS shots landing slightly above the reticle with many weapons.
Fixed "double recoil" during high ping: your gun no longer kicks a second time when the host confirms a shot you already fired.
Reload desync fixed: reload animation and actual reload time now agree — including on modified weapons (upgraded weapons were occasionally reloading at the wrong speed).
Fixed skills/perks sometimes not applying when playing as a client.
Fixed a bug that could disconnect players from a session (repeat-fire network message flood during high latency situations).
Fixed player names sometimes failing to appear over characters in multiplayer.
Fixed the wrong character skin occasionally appearing when loading into a session.
Fixed potential desync of awareness feedback and AI state:
The ??? and !!! indicators over enemies no longer lie unless in EXTREME low ping situations
Markers could previously get stuck with the wrong feedback icons. This has been addressed.
Enemies with larger caliber firearms (50, etc.) can knock players down on damaging attacks
Weapons, Gear & Items
Aim-down-sights lean improved:
Leaning while aiming keeps your sights on target at any pitch (looking up and / or down).
Lean is more extreme / carries you aim to the right location / rotation
(reminder you can only lean in 1st person ADS)
Fixed handguard attachments on the MG34 and GM6 — handguards now attach to the correct part of the gun.
Fixed multiple items that were showing temporary placeholder names — they now display their correct names and descriptions.
SCAR: fixed issue where the weapon’s stock could not be removed; tuned magazine stats.
36M Anti-Tank: removed incompatible muzzle devices from its upgrade pool.
Grenade launchers can no longer mount silencers.
Silenced pistol audio fixed for the SOG, the M79 Sawed-off, and the G19 pistols.
Red dot / optics fixed for multiple attachments on the:
G19 pistol
SOG pistol
VH-Ambi 2 and G36 rifles
the R8
and the VKS
The MG34 adjusted so that attached sites are no longer partially blocked.
The AA12 optic has been adjusted / fixed.
The Model J:
Fixed the chamber sometimes not rendering
Adjusted several of the animations
Fixed bullets occasionally disappearing from inside the cylinder.
Ammo catalog cleanup in the stash menu (this is visual sorting; nothing has been removed from anyone’s inventory):
7.62x54 and 7.62x39 removed from SMG part listings
9x19 and 5.7 removed from rifle listings
20mm moved from pistols to heavy rifles
Cigarettes buffs:
stability and accuracy boost raised from 5% to 25%,
duration doubled (~20 seconds).
Fixed the cigarette accuracy buff occasionally not applying properly to high rate-of-fire weapons.
Spawning & Fairness
Additional work to mitigate / prevent enemies from spawning inside your field of view — spawn placement now actively avoids player sightlines.
Big units (drones, turrets, choppers, mechs, tanks) will no longer teleport-relocate while you're looking at them in high latency conditions or high AI population battles.
Spawn protection reworked:
The brief invincibility players have always received now starts the moment they spawn and doesn’t end until the player actually has control — should help prevent dying during a laggy load-in.
Knockback capped: stacked explosions can no longer launch players (or AI) across the map at absurd speeds.
Mechs & Heavy Units
Mech gun aiming improved:
hardpoint weapons fire at their target and do a better job accounting for gimbal lock.
Fixed issue where mech guns could occasionally lose their target or give up firing entirely in rare circumstances.
Fixed mechs rarely firing double projectiles.
Characters & Animation
Grenade belt physics damped (no more flailing belt)
Updated Scav Girl shoulders
Updated Gunhead mesh.
First-person fixes:
Bagman right hand no longer shifts while moving;
Scav Girl’s arms no longer drift
Shaman's hands stay planted in first person.
GM6 and ZOK-PK14 left-hand grip positions adjusted to more accurately fit the weapons.
Shaman:
Improved materials
Rifle no longer clips through the chest during idles.
Stability & Performance
Fixed a crash related to particle effects.
Fixed a crash related to animations.
Fixed a crash in the AI goal system that could hard-crash sessions mid-battle (and silently corrupt AI decision-making even when it didn't crash
Adjusted networking priorities and updates to raise the priority of player and player tools (weapon, etc.).