Update 1.5 | Launching 16 September
Update 1.5 is almost here, bringing our first major content drop since the launch of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, alongside a host of bug fixes and issue resolutions.
Take to the skies in the officially licensed Bell UH-1 Iroquois ‘Huey’, get hands-on with the brand-new M14 and Type 56 SKS, and experience our first balancing pass on the launch weapon arsenal.
Alongside the new content, Update 1.5 brings further improvements to Helicopter gameplay, Commander Orders, spawning, the Tactical Map and more, with 100+ fixes and quality-of-life improvements across the game.
Whether you’re taking the Huey into battle, trying out the latest additions to your loadout or returning to the front lines to see what’s changed, there’s plenty to get your hands on in Update 1.5.
Helicopter Update
Bell UH-1 Iroquois 'Huey'
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (commonly nicknamed the ‘Huey’) is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific 'Huey' family, as well as the first turbine-powered helicopter in service with the United States military.
The officially licensed Huey replaces the existing fictional helicopter model and arrives with a number of gameplay improvements and balancing changes.
HUD Icons - New HUD icons for pilots and co-pilots to communicate the status of Supply Drops, Spawning, Auto Levelling, the Cockpit Radio & Repairs/Resupply.
M60 Ammunition - Upgraded the ammunition type for M61 AP rounds so they can now damage boats and tunnels, with an increased number of tracer rounds to make it easier to see where you’re shooting. The ammo capacity has also been increased from 400 to 500 rounds.
Cockpit Alarm - The helicopter cockpit audio alarm plays to alert you when your hull health is low.
Death Sequence & Destruction - When the Helicopter is destroyed, occupants no longer die instantly. Instead, the aircraft will crash to the ground before being destroyed, with improved explosion VFX and death-state transitions.
Rotor Blades - Rotor blades can no longer destroy friendly or enemy structures, while the tail rotor can now damage infantry.
Helicopter Radio
The UH-1 Huey features a built-in radio that can be toggled by the Co-Pilot. Music will be heard by everyone inside the Helicopter, as well as nearby players from either faction as the Huey travels across the battlefield.
Players who would prefer not to hear the music, including content creators and streamers, can disable Helicopter music within the Audio Settings.
Be sure to check out the Vietnam Radio Station Playlist on Spotify to get yourself ready for take off. Hell Let Loose: Vietnam Radio Station
Helicopter Pilot Uniform
As a thank you to everyone who has joined us since launch, a new US Pilot Uniform will be arriving in your Barracks with Update 1.5.
The uniform will be available free to all players who log in during Update 1.5, before becoming available for purchase at a later date.
Be sure to jump in and claim it while it’s available, ready to take to the skies in your new Huey!
New Weapons
M14
The M14 rifle saw combat in Vietnam as early as 1961, as a replacement for the M1 Garand. The M14 is a large and heavy rifle that uses 7.62 x 51mm rounds, giving it a lot of stopping power.
However, because the weapon was extremely difficult to handle in fully automatic mode, and was later replaced with a version that had the selector shaft locked to only allow semi-auto fire.
This semi-automatic configuration is the version arriving in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam as part of Update 1.5.
Details:
Semi-Automatic Rifle using 7.62 x 51 mm rounds
20-round magazine capacity, with a default of 4 magazines that are upgradeable to 8 (2 weight per magazine).
Available to the following roles at level 3: Squad Leader, Rifleman, Specialist & Engineer.
Type 56 SKS
The SKS was the standard infantry rifle early in the Vietnam war before being swapped out by the Type 56 AK. The SKS is fitted with a 10-round non-detachable internal magazine, to load the SKS, the bolt was locked open, and a 10-round charger clip was used to push the rounds into the magazine.
Details:
Semi-Automatic Rifle using 7.62 x 39mm rounds
10-round internal magazine capacity, with a default of 6 Clips that are upgradeable to 12 (1 weight per Clip).
Available to the following roles at level 3: Squad Leader, Rifleman, Specialist & Engineer.
Weapon Balancing
With Update 1.5, we’re making our first balancing pass on some of the weapons available at launch.
As part of this, we’ve increased the M16’s default ammunition from 4 to 6 magazines, bringing its starting ammunition capacity in line with the Type 56 AK.
Players can also now increase the M16’s magazine allowance to a maximum of 10 magazines through the loadout system in the Barracks, compared with a maximum of 7 magazines for the Type 56 AK.
Expect to see more weapon balancing coming in future updates.
Notable Updates & Fixes
Update 1.5 includes 100+ fixes, improvements and changes, with the majority detailed in the full changelog below.
Alongside the new content, here are some of the key updates included in 1.5:
Killed In Action (KIA) - The Scoreboard and Statistics can now be accessed from the KIA screen.
Medic HUD - The wounded icon no longer remains on screen after the wounded player has healed.
Deployment using a Controller - The Spawn List now consistently remains in focus when you first enter the deployment screen after a death.
Tactical Map - We added unique icons to present downed players on the battlefield.
Commander Orders - Updated the presentation of several Commander Orders on the Tactical Map and fixed mismatches between ability overlays and their actual strike locations.
Deployables - It is no longer possible to place (and attempt to hide) deployables such as Outposts, Tunnels & Garrisons underwater.
Conquest - Destroying the NVA T-54 now causes the same Morale loss as destroying the US M48. Previously, destroying the T-54 did not reduce Morale.
Garrisons - Garrisons can no longer be placed within 15 metres of an enemy player, matching the protection radius used by Outposts and Tunnels.
Full Update 1.5 Changelog
General Improvements
Gameplay
Wounded icon for Medics no longer persists after healing a wounded player.
Getting downed in deep water will now correctly cause you to drown.
Players can no longer place a garrison when an enemy is within a 15m radius.
In Conquest the T-54 getting destroyed now matches the morale loss of the US Tank.
A safeguard has been put in place to prevent players ever getting stuck on deploy screen when attempting to deploy to a boat.
Weapons & Equipment
Structures can no longer be placed underwater
Improved collision on Barbed Wire structures, and some of the barbed wire at the edges (which is often hidden by vegetation) has been removed.
Fixed missing hit impact VFX and SFX when using Knives.
Placeholder textures on the level 3 NVA bunker have been resolved.
Bullet Collision has been improved on the wreck of the NVA Transport Truck.
The point during the reload animation that determines when the action is complete has been made more forgiving to ensure players don’t have to reload the gun again when switching weapons.
The bullet belt of the AA Gun blueprint is no longer misplaced.
Fixes have been made to the muzzle flash on the Type 56 and K50M that could be seen whilst moving and shooting.
Vehicles
Resolved an issue that could see both forces boats remain visible to some players after destruction.
The Helicopter has had both SFX & VFX added to the rotor collision to make it easier to know when you’re in contact with surrounding objects or the terrain.
The 'Pilot is in Control' message has been removed for the co-pilot.
The pilot, in addition to the co-pilot, can now see the Supply HUD on the Supply Helicopter.
The Helicopter's Machine guns are now able to destroy tunnels.
Main & tail rotors now stop spinning when their health reaches 0%.
Projectiles now more accurately connect with and explode on Helicopters. Previously it could occasionally lag behind the chopper.
Shooting a tank with a weapon no longer generates rock impact VFX.
Reviving a downed player from underneath the vehicle no longer causes them to revive inside the vehicle's model or under the map.
The player is no longer able to shoot through the boat with the boats front mounted machine gun.
Fixed an issue where Helicopter Supplies could fall through the map under certain conditions.
Players can no longer stand on a flying helicopter.
The coaxial machine gun now moves as intended from a third person perspective.
Commander, Squads & Communications
Cancelling or Confirming a commander ability no longer resets the Orders Menu navigation to the first ability in the list.
Radio wheel is no longer blocked from being opened after player is kicked from a unit.
The bombing run no longer starts behind the ability overlay.
Fixed an issue where the Tunnel icon would not change to the ‘Enemy Near’ icon when entering its radius.
UI, HUD & Settings
Downed players are now visible on the Tac-Map.
Players can cancel out of the "Kick Player" menu using a button press instead of needing to navigate the menu.
Fixed a "Missing string table entry" for dismantling or destroying a mortar in the XP Breakdown section during post match screen
When marking multiple servers as a ‘Favorite’ the star now correctly updates.
It is now possible to open the Scoreboard or Statistics while in 'Killed In Action' screen
Divider line is no longer present next to crouch/prone icons when holding an item that doesn't have an ammo count.
Mouse Scroll Wheel binds can now be applied in the Keybinds menu.
The same button can no longer be assigned to multiple actions.
Tutorials & Practice Range
When in the NVA practice range the supplies placed around the shooting range are now NVA instead of enemy supplies.
After using the Type 43 N4 rifle launcher in the practice the range the base weapon's clip capacity is no longer lowered to 1.
Audio, Visuals & Animation
The players hand no longer gradually lowers and snaps back while placing the blueprint using the AA Gun Wrench.
Footstep dust VFX are no longer visible for the players own character in first person.
Instances of the camera clipping below the terrain during the drag animation has been improved.
Stability & Performance
Various changes to improve stability and safeguard against crashing.
Players can no longer become soft locked during redeployment by pressing a specific combination of 4 buttons at once within the front end or during gameplay.
Maps & Environments
Across all maps, the Environment Art team has continued making improvements to collision, LODs, asset alignment and overall performance.
We’ve also resolved a global issue that could cause misplaced objects and incorrect collision around the centre of maps, alongside a number of map-specific fixes including:
Cam Ranh Port - The railings on top of silos have had their collision fixed.
Quang Ngai - The clouds no longer clip into the mountain on the tac-map.
Thanh Hoa Bridge - The center CP (Dragons Jaw) is no loner missing an apostrophe.
Future Updates
There’s still plenty more to come as part of our ongoing Hell Let Loose: Vietnam live-service plans, including FSR 4.1, new weapons, new maps and more.
For more information on what we’ve been working on, the issues we’re continuing to investigate and what’s coming next, be sure to check out some of our recent Command Posts and updates:
We’ll have plenty more to share as development continues, so keep your feedback and reports coming.