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Battlefield 5 Chapter 4: Defying the Odds Update #1 available tomorrow, full patch release notes

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Electronic Arts and DICE have announced that the first update for Battlefield 5 Chapter 4: Defying the Odds will be released tomorrow. According to the teams, this update will feature new content for Tides of War and the Armory, as well as several quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes.

Going into more details, Battlefield 5 Chapter 4: Defying the Odds Update #1 will make improvements to fix sudden frame drops occurring when firing a stationary cannon, or when getting shot while playing Firestorm, and will bring general stability improvements.

Furthermore, this new patch will pack a number of balance tweaks for weapons, vehicles, and soldier behavior, will have numerous maps and modes tweaks and fixes, and will make some changes to Team Deathmatch and Frontlines.

Last but not least, this update comes with various UI, HUD, options and assignments fixes. For instance, it fixes a bug that stopped players from spawning in a land vehicle after having used the Staghound, fixes an issue that would render most of the screen as black, both on the deploy screen and when spawning at the start of a match, corrects the requirements for the LS/26 Proficiency V and VI assignments and improves the function of when a squad leader cancels a matchmaking instance. Previously, it wouldn’t always be applied to squad mates.

As always, Origin will download this patch once it becomes available tomorrow, and below you can find its complete changelog.

Battlefield 5 Chapter 4: Defying the Odds Update #1 Release Notes

VEHICLE FIXES

  • Airplane engine sounds no longer play repeatedly during flybys.
  • Fixed an issue where the Churchill Crocodile turret could be disabled and was unable to be repaired.
  • The FlaK 38 no longer scores points from glancing blows against an unmanned Sd.kfz 251.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to spot enemies with stationary weapons.
  • Added the new cooking destruction animation to the Churchill Crocodile reinforcement tank.
  • Squad leaders are now able to give squad orders while in the bottom gunner seat in the JU-88 C as well as the flamethrower/front gunner seat in the Churchill Crocodile.
  • Fixed an issue with the visual dust effect on some moving tanks.
  • The Pak40 and QF 6-pounder anti-tank stationary weapons will no longer automatically reload while the player is in zoomed mode.

WEAPON, GADGET, AND SPECIALIZATION FIXES

  • Changed the Boys AT rifle magazine to contain five (plus one) bullets.
  • A Boys AT rifle with a medium range scope now correctly shows scope glint.
  • Bipods now deploy and undeploy with better response. Previously, the game checked whether the bipod should deploy or undeploy every 0.3 seconds. That is now every 0.1 seconds.

Medical and Ammo Crates

  • Players that have selected the Medical Crate or the Ammo Crate can now be seen holding it in one hand when viewed in third person.
  • Adjusted the Medical Crate’s healing radius to four meters when deployed and carried.
  • The Medical Crate owner is now awarded healing score when the crate’s aura heals friendly players.
  • When deployed or selected, the Ammo Crate now also resupplies your teammates’ primary and secondary ammo within a four-meter radius. It also gives score for it, similar to the Medical Crate.
  • The Ammo Crate owner earns resupply score when the crate’s aura resupplies friendly players.
  • Ammo and Medical Crates now collide with vehicles. This means the crates can be placed on top of vehicles and will remain in place when driving around (in other words: the heal-mobile has returned)! 

AP Mines

  • Explosion delay after activation has been increased to one second from 0.7 second.
  • Activation radius has been increased by 20%.
  • Blast radius size has been increased to seven meters from six meters to align with activation delay.
  • Max damage in blast radius has been increased to 1.5 meters from one meter to align with activation delay.
  • The explosion blast now occurs within an upwards facing half sphere that spawns 0.8 meters above the ground instead of a full radius.
  • Players can now avoid blast damage from the AP Mine if they manage to go prone in time. Going from sprinting to prone is less likely to allow the player to survive, as the transition is longer than a simple stand to prone transition.
  • Max amount of placeable AP Mines has been reduced to two from three.
  • Minimum distance between deployed AP Mines has been increased to 3.6 meters (from 0.7 meters).
  • Deployed AP Mines are now unspawned one second after the player dies and moves to the spawn screen or parrot cam.
  • Moving while prone or crouched (but not crouch-sprinting) will no longer trigger the AP Mine in some scenarios. 

PIAT

  • One-shot-kill radius against infantry has been reduced to 0.25 meters.
  • Splash damage now deals a minimum of 55 damage against infantry up to three meters. 

Rifle Grenade Launcher

  • Maximum blast damage reduced to 80 from 100.
  • Blast radius increased to five meters from four meters.
  • Quick-thinking players can now throw back the weapon’s grenade (similar to regular Frag Grenades). Good luck with that!
  • The grenade projectile is now also represented as a grenade icon on the battlefield, just like the Frag Grenade is. 

AT Grenade Pistol

  • The damage on impact against infantry has been lowered from 100 to 98. 

Other Weapon Fixes

  • The MG34 now applies skins properly on the magazine if the Double Drum Magazine Specialization is selected.
  • Improved the hitbox on Incendiary Grenades to better match the visual effect.
  • Fixed the missing reload animation for the Krag-Jörgensen.
  • Fixed an issue where the firing of the Flare Gun would be delayed after a reload.

SOLDIER FIXES

  • Players are no longer able to enter a bleed out state when getting killed outside of the combat area.
  • Improved the behavior of exiting the gunner seat of a tank while the vehicle is upside down, reducing the risk of falling below the ground.
  • Adjusted how fast the explosion detection happens when moving to another stance. This should make for a more consistent experience relative to what is happening in first person.
  • Fixed issues where the detection of explosions and incendiary damage on soldiers would be larger than the size of the soldier in multiple stances.
  • Increased consistency on soldier accelerations.
  • Increased distance at which downed players can be notified of incoming Medics (that have confirmed that they’re en route) from 25 meters to 50 meters. 25 meters is still the max for nearby Medics.
  • Players can bleed out faster in the man down state:
    •     Bleed out timer speed multiplier has been increased from 2.67x to 3.2x. This means players can bleed out in 2.5 seconds instead of 3.5 seconds.
  • Players can hold on for longer in the man down state:
    • Hold-on timer speed multiplier has been increased from 2.67x to 3.2x. This means players can hold on for 25.6 seconds instead of 21.33 seconds.
  • Manual leaning can now be used in Firestorm.

MAP AND MODE FIXES

  • Fixed an issue which caused the “near end of round” music to play during the entire round.
  • Firestorm: Recently, the Excavation Site in the southwest mountains, previously deemed to be insignificant, has been the scene of feverish activity, and a large dome-like structure now covers the entire site. Large quantities of material and machinery continues to be transported to the site daily. Whatever is being built does not yet appear to be operational.
  • Firestorm: Fixed a bug that was causing graphical artifacts on the world geometry over longer distances while being in the airplane.
  • Firestorm: Fixed a bug that would enable spotting right after jumping out of an airplane.
  • Firestorm: Player-selected weapon skins are now applied to weapons found.
  • Firestorm: The Commando Carbine, VGO, and Lahti-Saloranta M/26 can now be found on Halvøy.
  • Firestorm: Ammo and health interaction icons at a distance have been added.
  • Squad Conquest on Fjell 652: Removed spawn points that were placed out of the combat area.
  • Squad Conquest on Fjell 652: Made the ladder on the British side indestructible.
  • Arras: A bunch of stationary MGs were unintentionally pre-built. This has been fixed.
  • Frontlines/Airborne/Rush: Arming and disarming the objectives correctly plays the animation again.
  • Frontlines/Airborne/Rush: Removed the falsely applied input restrictions while arming and disarming. This means the player can change stances while arming and disarming the bomb.
  • Frontlines/Airborne/Rush: Removed the fire barrels from the Mcom objectives. (Yeah, those weren’t cleverly placed.)
  • Frontlines/Rush: Adjusted the arm and disarm times so they reflect the settings from Battlefield™ 3.
    • Decreased the arm time from four seconds to 2.5 seconds.
    • Set the disarm time to five seconds. Previously, the length varied between five and ten seconds.
  • Frontlines/Rush: Adjusted the bomb fuse times so they reflect the settings from Battlefield 3.
    • Decreased the fuse time from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
  • Frontlines/Rush: Adjusted the arm and disarm interaction radius to be appropriate for the objective size (big radius for the artillery cannon, small radius for the Mcom). This means the player can’t arm or disarm the Mcom from eight meters away anymore.
  • Rush: Removed the artillery call-in interactions for defenders from the Rush objectives, since artillery reinforcements are now present.
  • Team Deathmatch: Rebuilt the layout on Aerodrome, Devastation, and Fjell 652.
  • Team Deathmatch: Rebuilt the size of the layout on Narvik.
  • Frontlines: Changed the “locked objective” design a bit. It now shows the next flag immediately but with a lock icon above it that goes away when it’s available for capture.
  • Frontlines: Changed the flag capture times to promote more combat and less running and made them all more similar.
    • Three-flag layout – Flag capture time increased from 60 seconds to 75 seconds.
    • Five-flag layout – Flag capture time increased from 45 seconds to 60 seconds.
    • Seven-flag layout – Flag capture time increased from 30 seconds to 50 seconds.
  • Frontlines: The game mode timer doesn’t pause and un-pause during the round anymore

TEAM DEATHMATCH FIXES

After looking at Team Deathmatch, we’ve made the decision to change the layouts on a few maps. The goal is to increase intensity and give players a more consistent experience by reducing the size of combat areas and focusing on specific map locations.

We’re very interested to hear your feedback on these changes and whether you prefer the new or old layouts.

Aerodrome
The first map we wanted to change in Team Deathmatch was Aerodrome. The old layout had interesting areas, but it was a bit unfocused and often ended up with players running back and forth, not finding fights. The new layout revolves more closely around the hangar.

Devastation
Devastation had the biggest Team Deathmatch layout. We’ve decided to reduce it as we want Devastation to embrace its close-quarter flavor. The new layout takes place in the run-down sections at the mall. This should mean fast-paced infantry mayhem!

Fjell 652
With the new layout of this map, we center around the village. The old design saw much of the fighting happening in the open, between points of interest. With this new approach, the fights should become more interesting and fast-paced.

Narvik
This vista had a good Team Deathmatch design, but it was slightly too big and made some of the spawns frustrating. We have removed the southern part of this layout to create a more intense experience.

FRONTLINES FIXES

For this patch, we’ve also looked at Frontlines. It’s one of our more tactical medium-scale modes, bringing very interesting and dynamic rounds as teams shift between attacking and defending. Many of you have voiced concerns and feedback about the mode (you know who you are), which has been very helpful.

We’ve gone over the mode and identified these areas that we wanted to improve with this patch:

  • Round length
  • Objective “ping-pong”
  • Accessibility
  • Vehicle spawning

Let’s go over them in detail.

Round Length

Previously, the Frontlines game mode timer was paused during shifts between objectives. We’ve determined that the massive variance of average round timer (and how much you can trust the HUD’s timer) isn’t worth it, and the pause function has been removed. This was originally added to make sure the round wouldn’t end during a transition.

Objective “Ping-Pong”

Some maps have had quite large distances between flags. Combined with a relatively short capture timer, this has created scenarios where an advancing team isn’t able to get to the next objective before it’s been captured by the defenders. We’ve tried to reduce this by adjusting some layouts, by improving the accessibility, and by increasing and normalizing capture times. The latter used to vary a lot depending on how many flags the map had, but that has been toned down.

Capture times have changed like this:

  • Three flags: from 60 seconds to 75 seconds
  • Five flags: from 45 seconds to 60 seconds
  • Seven flags: from 30 seconds to 50 seconds

 

Accessibility

Frontlines has had some problems with understandability. A lot of that is related to knowing where you should be at any given time – and that in turn is related to the “locked objective” mechanic. When a flag is captured in Frontlines, the next flag in order appears with a lock timer over it, and when it expires, the flag is activated. This mechanic is, however, unique to Frontlines and can be hard to understand for newbies.

With this update, we’re changing the mechanic. When one flag is captured, the next is immediately activated and visible, and the lock icon appears next to it instead. You can go to the flag as usual, but you cannot start capturing it before the lock has disappeared. Hopefully that will lead to new players advancing on the next objective even if they do not yet fully understand the rules of Frontlines.

Vehicle Spawning

On larger maps, spawning in a tank meant you set yourself up for a potentially very long drive. We’ve now added movable tank spawn positions, which means that you should spawn closer to where the infantry spawns.

UI, HUD, OPTIONS, ASSIGNMENTS, AND OTHER FIXES

  • Platoon emblems are now properly equipped to weapons when applied.
  • Corrected the requirements for the LS/26 Proficiency V and VI assignments.
  • Fixed a bug that stopped players from spawning in a land vehicle after having used the Staghound.
  • Improved the function of when a squad leader cancels a matchmaking instance. Previously, it wouldn’t always be applied to squad mates.
  • The Flakpanzer IV and Panzer 38T now show the correct number of seats on the “select vehicle” screen in the Company menu.
  • Fixed an issue that would render most of the screen as black, both on the deploy screen and when spawning at the start of a match.
  • The stationary MG on Combined Arms now shows the correct icon in the kill log.
  • Fixed an issue that would sometimes hinder a player from rejoining a server that they previously had gotten kicked from due to being idle.
  • Increased the distance at which downed players can be notified of incoming medics from 25 meters to 50 meters.

STABILITY FIXES

  • Made improvements to fix sudden frame drops occurring when firing a stationary cannon, or when getting shot while playing Firestorm.
  • Made general stability improvements.