Improved Vehicle Physics
As part of the Update 9.14 Common Test, players will have access to the final version of the improved vehicle movement physics. Since the last testing phase, some changes have been made that not only make the handling of the vehicle incredibly realistic, they also made vehicle handling comply with gameplay requirements.
Calculation of the improved vehicle physics is carried out on the server and does not affect the World of Tanks client. Owing to the new physics model, vehicle handling and interaction with other vehicles and objects on the map in the game became more realistic and diverse.
Vehicle suspension now operates more realistically. The top speed will also change—this will help to prevent issues whereby a vehicle could glitch through objects. Vehicles behave more realistically when standing on inclined terrain, as shown by vehicle hulls sway while on the move. This, however, which does not affect the behaviour of the reticle.
New Features
| Vehicle hull rocking | The hull can now be rocked back and forth thereby altering the vehicle's scaled armor value by changing the vehicle's hull inclination. This ability depends on the vehicle's speed and maneuvers it performs. Note: Hull rocking does not affect the behaviour of the reticle. |
| Vehicles dynamics while turning | When making a turn while holding down the W button, the vehicle loses much less speed. |
| Fix for issues with stuck vehicles | The vehicle now loses much less speed, owing to improved suspension. Also, the vehicle now behaves more naturally when driving over small terrain irregularities. |
| Fix for issues with getting stuck when trying to climb a hill | When driving across a hill, the vehicle does not lose linear velocity. At a certain angle, vehicles start to slip off the hill. |
| New movement effects | Added new graphical effect of track interaction with the terrain—skidding and sliding, which are displayed at certain conditions that are calculated on the server. |
With the introduction of the Improved Physics system, tanks have a chance to flip over if rolled at an angle.
New Manoeuvres
| Turning radius control | Due to change in driving speed (by pressing or releasing the W button), you can now control the turning radius. In this way, the radius and time required to complete a turn will be less than that at high speed. The player can better control the vehicle behavior when maneuvering by holding down the W button. |
| Sharp manoeuvres that change the direction of movement | Stopping the tracks while on the move allows you to perform controlled drifting and make sharp or U-turns. Pressing the SPACEBAR will stop both tracks, and the vehicle will brake sharply. Pressing the SPACEBAR and a directional button simultaneously stops one of the tracks and allows you to perform a sharp turn at the cost of speed. Note: Stopping of tracks is only available to light, medium, and heavy tanks. |
The new ability to control turning radius and performing sharp maneuvers means that players will now be able to execute never-before seen actions on the battlefield.
Improved Sounds
At the release of Update 9.14, the sound in the game will be significantly reworked. Owing to the transfer to the Audiokinetic WWise sound platform, sounds will become more informational, realistic, and atmospheric.
Preview of the new sound ambience in World of Tanks will be available to all players who participate in Common Test of version 9.14.
Changes in sounds compared with previous testing versions
- Reduced the number of sound events: sounds of hits on vehicles that are more than 100 m away are no longer played.
- Changed sound events upon injury, when a tank is destroyed, and when taking serious damage.
- Reworked the sounds of high-calibre guns.
Battle Ambience
Battle ambience will change considerably through overhaul of all existing sound effect as well as introduction of new ones. Owing to modular architecture, each game event will have its own distinct sound: now, each sound is a 30 to 10 module construct. In this way, the highly diverse sounds make every gameplay event unique and distinct. Moreover, the new sounds were recorded with the use of authentic vehicles at a real proving ground.
- The number of different engine sounds has increased threefold. Gasoline and diesel engines now have different sounds.
- Added sound events for gearbox shifting and operation of the suspension and transmission
- When your vehicle is moving at high speed, the sound of wind becomes louder.
- New shot sounds are more detailed and realistic.
- Added new sounds for ricochets and shells whizzing past the player's vehicle.
- Added new sound environment for the Garage.
- Added new movement sounds that change depending on the surface that the vehicle is driving on.
Informational Sound Component
Information component of sound will be improved: sound ambience will relay important information that concerns the combat ambience to the player. You will be able to follow the course of battle guided not only by the minimap and view range, but also by the informative sound events. This will help you to take better decisions on the battlefield.
- Unlike in previous sound tests, sounds of hits on vehicles that are more than 100 m away from the player's vehicle are not played.
- Added more distinction to sounds of hits by different shell types (HE, AP, HEAT).
- Added sound events upon activation of Consumables.
- Added sound events upon critical hits to modules.
- On non-penetrations or in the event of a shell passing by, it is now possible to approximately determine the shell's calibre by the sound it makes
- Reviewed SPG sound events in Artillery Aim: now, when the tank is damaged, a player hears this from inside the cabin.
Sound component optimization
- Optimized the consumption of resources by the sound component. Transfer to the new Audiokinetic WWise technology allowed us to move sound calculations to a secondary CPU core, thus having improved the performance of the game client.
- Advanced sound effects settings are now available to players, which allow them to further fine-tune the performance of their game by tweaking these options.
- Added the option to fully disable sound, thus increasing the performance by 30% on single-core computers. On multi-core computers the increase will be 5%.
- Introduced sound presets for different types of audio equipment: a preset for speakers with limited dynamic range (as in laptop speakers) and a preset for speakers with wide dynamic range are available.
Results
Vehicle movement physics and sound environment are now close to their final versions. Development team has carefully studied feedback received from players after previous testing phases and adjusted certain elements of the feature based on that feedback.
The updated physical model provides for new tactical possibilities in close quarter combat as well as allows to make vehicle handling more realistic while retaining the vehicle behaviour that players are used to. Gameplay continuity is one of the most important factors that conditions whether a new feature is well-received by players.
While working on the new sound, we aimed at increasing the informational component of sound events, thus making combat more atmospheric. Moreover, great emphasis was placed on optimizing consumption of the resources that are spent on calculating the sound.
Please, feel free to share your feedback on these innovations: together, we will make the game better.