Good day squaddies,
Over the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed that we have allowed some licensed servers to run modifications as part of their server license; you may even have joined them a couple of times to see what was going on. These tests were part of a testing phase to see what kind of effect this may have if we were to open this for all licensed servers.
Today we will see that test taken to a new limit by allowing all current server license holders to apply modifications to their server so their communities can experience a whole new side to Squad.
For too long now, the modding community’s efforts have been relegated to the Custom Server Browser or had to go through an arduous process to receive whitelisting to allow their mods to be run within the main server browser. As Squad itself is the spiritual successor to a mod project, it hasn’t sat well with parts of the team that modifications would be restricted in this manner. So, we’re going all out and allowing the server owners to freely pick which modifications they may like to play within their servers.
The Open Modding Event - Phase 1 is planned to run from 10am - 26th May 2021 until 2nd June 2021, though if we see an unexpected technical outcome, we may have to close the event prematurely. If this does occur, we will inform you as soon as possible.
To ensure you can see which servers are running a modification, make sure you have enabled the “Show Modded Servers” filter when in the server browser. This will show a Wrench icon next to the server name to inform you that the server is running a modification. If you select a server and do not have the required mod, this should download in the background before allowing you to enter. However, it is strongly advised to visit the Steam Workshop pages of any mods you have tried for complete information and ways for you to feedback to these modding teams to let them know what you think of their work so far.
Following the event, we will be issuing a survey to gather your feedback but make sure you are also following our Squad socials throughout the week as we will be showcasing some of the mods and perhaps which servers are running them at the time.
Before we sign off, there are two Known Issues that people should be aware of:
- Infinite loading animation (running man) when joining a round: This happens when a mod is downloaded in-game, and the player immediately joins a server running the mod with a layer that's using a custom faction setup. The player just needs to restart their game once, and this will resolve the issue for future launches of the game.
- "File Mismatch" bug after mod update: This bug happens when a player has an out-of-date version of a mod installed and attempts to join a server using the newer version of the mod. They will be prompted to download the update via in-game but will continue to see a 'file mismatch' message when they attempt to join. For this one, the player must unsubscribe and resubscribe to the mod via the Steam workshop or verify their game files via Steam. The 'File mismatch' error can also be displayed legitimately when a player has a newer version of a mod, but the server runs an older version. In this case, the server requires updating and restarting
A big thank you to the servers that ran as part of the initial testing run, and we look forward to hearing from you all about your new Squad experiences with mods.