9.1 – First Feedback

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Hello everyone,

so, I installed the 9.1 test client after all (the test was expected today, but its confirmation came literally minutes before it went live, hence no early warning). Installation, as always, was uneventful and smooth.

Anyway, after running the test client, you will not notice anything really new, everything is kinda “same old”, but the important features of this patch are

- optimization
- new gun sounds
- new engine sounds for Hellcat and Jackson
- historical battles

So I decided to check the first three by loading up my Jackson and giving it a spin. Pressing battle aaaand… the map loads really fast. Surprising. Not sure what, but in like 9.0.4 hotfix, Wargaming did “something” that fixed the terrible loading times (that started in 9.0) for me.

Anyway, battle loaded aaaaaaaaand…. it’s perfect. No microlags. FPS is smooth, 40-50, I’d say 5-10 FPS increase (I had 40 in “free” areas and 30-35 in “crowded” ones, now it’s 40 in crowded and 60 or so in “free” areas). This is actually really really great :) Also, the bug with the explosion sounds not pre-loading (first explosion lags the game) that re-appeared after one of the hotfixes was fixed again, so that’s good. The game now runs smoothly. Not as smoothly as pre-9.0, but it’s good.

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Graphically, one more thing is different, the exhaust smoke and explosions. Both now sort of look more pronounced – hard to describe, but the exhaust smoke looks more like in War Thunder, but in War Thunder, the smoke actually looks like if it’s vapour leaking from a hole in a boiler, here it looks more… I don’t know. Realistic. I like it. The explosions are MUCH more pronounced now – when your tank explodes, you will FEEL it. They are huge. Not sure if it’s realistic (tanks look like they have a crate of TNT inside them), but it sure looks nice.

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Okay, gun sounds. The gun now sounds very realistic. That’s a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is the obvious realism. The bad thing is that from Hollywood movies etc., people expect even 76mm-90mm guns to go BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, while in real life, the gun sounds more like “pooof” – it’s an unusual sound and you will not feel like shooting a mighty gun (even the big caliber sound is quite muffled). The reload sound was added and it’s roughly the way Gnomefather has it. Personally, I think WG could go for more “Hollywood” sound, but it’s okay.

I mentioned that two vehicles (Hellcat and Jackson) do have a new soundset and let me tell you now, it’s BRILLIANT. I LOVE the Jackson engine sound, FINALLY something that sounds like a tank, nothing beats that deep roar of the engine, very, very nicely done. I really like it. Combine it with the good performance of the test client and I think this is going to be just great :) Enjoying it a lot. Please, Wargaming, don’t fuck it up.

Anyway, historical battles, another feature:

Balaton stays, Ardennes and Kursk got removed. Okay. Two new historical battles are Tobruk and Bryansk. I haven’t actually played them (noone seems to play them, I will post separate feedback on them tomorrow if I get to try them), but at first glance, both setups look totally fucked up.

Tobruk:

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Bryansk:

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I won’t pass any judgements in advance – I will try the battles first, but if you look at the Tobruk setup, the Germans have practically nothing to destroy the Matilda with (that StuG has L/24, the Panzer IV I am not sure about, but I think it has L/24 as well). The Russian scenario on the other hand has the KV-1 and against it, the Panzer IV with the L/43 gun. What could possibly go wrong…

As I said, we’ll see what happens, I’ll post my HB impressions later on.

128 thoughts on “9.1 – First Feedback”

  1. Well I can say about the gun sounds this: Be prepared to hear all of those amateurs going “pff, it sounds like a plastic gun, WG SUCKS”.

    But yes, the gun sounds are amazing :) And luckily REALISTIC.

    • No matter how they made the sounds someone would be there to say that it sounds like shit. I’m still downloading test client, but from what i saw in ASAP video they sound very realistic(really, really similar to WT gun sounds) and that’s how guns sounds irl. If people prefer hollywood movies sounds then they can instal gnomefathers, but if they wanted realistic sounds WG gave them. I used gnomefather’s but since my PC isn’t really that good it created microlags so i reverted to default sounds and this change is definitely welcomed.

        • Short answer is kinda yes? I don’t know if I’m just deaf but all the new gun sounds sound the same to me.

          The sounds are definitely more inline with what you would expect from a gun (a short burst sound rather than the explosion-type sound in current versions), but its also worth noting that the Hellcat in your videos has the 76mm M1A2, whereas the Hellcat in game almost always has the 90mm M3

  2. At first glance I am really happy for the new HBs, new players can play right away… but yeah, the Matilda

    • Dont want to download 7gbs just for testing the sounds(To bad they dont do “real” updates for PTS client anymore). So anyone could do a nice video showing the new sounds (and maybe the new explosion/smoke effects?)ä

      PS: Sry should have been a new post and not below this one

  4. so they are trying low tier HB, intresting. hopfully they will balance low tiers befor this though, like the matilda, it is going to be spammed!

      • You do know the first video is from an OPEN GUN and not inside a tank?
        Noo, of course you don’t know that.. Not to mention it is fired inside what looks like a small ridge, making the sound stronger and it looks like the video is filmed with a potato.

        • then explain this to me, how it sounds exactly the same when WT E-100 fires and when JTE-100 fires? one is open, one is not !!

          realistic my ass; I played a single match and I was absolutely amazed that the only guns that sound different are the SPGs ones

          the only aspect I give them credit for is the reverb, the after effect and shots in distance do sound better

          • I don’t think WG did every single gun sound already…. plus, both does guns are unrealistic(at least the WT E-100 one) and if I remember, they used the ISU’s 152mm cannon for all the huge caliber gun. sounds.

            Plus, you can always use Gnomefather’s mod but even he himself said it is realistic..
            ..soo, if you want BOOM BOOM Hollywood sound, go play WT ;)

            • See what some turret around a gun and a good camera can do Zmeul? Seems like WG made the sounds realistic :)

              Not to mention muzzle breaks make HUGE differences.

              PS: orzel, thanks for the video ;) Hope that shuts him up and makes him crawl back to WT :D

            • That sound so much nicer than anything in all those hollywood films always use, sharp and terrifying, unlike those hollywood blanks with tons of added echos that will make everything sound like somekind of big firecraker (just like zmeuls video of firing blankcharges inside somekind of giant pothole that cause all extra echos and reverb to the sound, sound like hollywood and really therefore really unintimidating).

          • say what!?
            since when 152mm short barrel (with muzzle brake nevertheless) sounds exactly the same as all the guns ranging from 115mm to 152mm, some of them without muzzle brake
            and I hope I don’t have to explain to you why with or without muzzle brake is important

            if they would sell you shit in chocolate package you would buy it, because it’s branded WarGaming

            ps: check the screenshot, they also use same sound(s) from rages 15-23mm, 85-107mm, 50-75mm, 20-45mm

            ps2: where I said anything about WT in this whole discussion? I DID NOT

            • Oh Zmeul, dont mistake me for a WG lover.. I’m just pointing out Your wrong answers, nothing more..

              I am not a WG employee so I don’t know how sound editing works, or exactly which guns they used. But feel free to ask them yourself.

              • then I asked you do not get involved in a discussion you know nothing about
                go troll someone else, please

              • dont bother EmperorSafirius, zmeul likes to barrage shit from his keyboard so much he cant even notice when he is wrong and ridiculed, he completely ignored the video of real hellcat firing real ammo because its easier to ignore than to cope with failure.

                on the other hand

                He dislikes this game so much he doesnt play it any more BUT he will go trough the process of extracting and data mining just to look what sounds are used for what guns.

                tl;dr zmeul is a hater who cant let go.

            • well do u know how much time and work is needed to find a ww2 gun that is still in shooting conditions and whose owner allows u to shoot it and risk damaging it just to record the sound for a video game?

              It takes LOTS of time (And some specific sounds u will never get “historically” acc) and this is just the first bunch of reworked sounds.

              But i think the more important point in this whole discussion is the fact, that u seem to know nothing about what a gun sounds like except for the sounds u know from movies u saw.. And that the videos u posted arent representative for a gun mounted inside a tank using REAL ammunition and not just some gunpowder.

              • If they asked, I know a number of owners who’d be happy to crank off some rounds, if WG would suitably compensate them.

                There are a number of collectors in the U.S. who regularly fire WW2 (and earlier) artillery as a recreation.

      • Did you notice how everything was kinda silent after that shot?
        Yea, thats because the shots are too loud and mic automatically compensates for that, making it sound way less louder…

        • I haven’t heard the new sounds yet, but I can tell you from commanding a M60A1 that the 105mm canon is very loud. Even with the CVC (combat vehicle crewman) helmet on (with headphones) the sound was disturbingly loud inside the tank.

          • Also, there is a high level of hearing loss in tankers that spend significant time in the Army specifically because of being around tanks firing. I only spent four years in, even so, I have some hearing loss. Not much, but enough to be noticed in a hearing test.

            Remember, unlike the videos posted, you are sitting next to the canon as it goes off and it is loud. Anyone that shoots pistols and rifles knows that it is wise to wear ear plugs and those are no where near the caliber of the canons being fired.

            • just a wee note – zMeul, “if you want realism join the army”. the new sounds may not be realistic enough for you, but the ones we have now are even more shitty, so let us enjoy the new ones, OK? i am glad that WG does something to improve the game, even if it’s not 100% realistic. you know, every little helps..

              • I think zmeuls problem is, like SS put it “The bad thing is that from Hollywood movies etc., people expect even 76mm-90mm guns to go BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM” so what zmeul want is just opposite ot realism, he want those boring and unthreatening hollywood echoing unrealistic booms without any feel of power.

  7. They removed the only 2 HB’s I had a tank for. Never mind, I stopped playing it anyway, too broken and they’re not fixing anything.

    Matilda and KV-1 in HB against those little tanks.. yeah, this is gonna be fun. Here we go again, endless queues for these tanks and no one playing the enemy side.

    • The one with the KV-1 has it facing the Pz IV Ausf. H and the StuG III Ausf G. At best, the KV-1 will be stock.

      Sure the KV-1 might have sheer armor but the Ausf H has 80mm. The stock gun on the KV-1 has 86mm of penetration IIRC -without- premium ammo. It’s probably going to be a much closer matchup – especially considering the Soviets have no TDs in that match.

        • WG still has yet to give it the 76mm L-10 and the 76mm F-32 of it’s model 1939 and 1940 editions

        • They’re planning on adding seperate statistics for Historical Battles, so… it could be a stock KV-1 with reduced HP.

      • This is how it works in Randoms, and it’s how it will work in HB too. Let’s say KV-1 can be penetrated by Stug and only Stug. On the other hand, Stug can be penetrated and killed by any other tank from the enemy team (if nothing else then by hits to the side and rear).

        It doesn’t matter if KV-1 is stock, the selling point is armor.

        Of course, it depends on the point distribution between two teams. Who knows, Germans could get 2 Stug’s versus 1 KV-1. And the map is Murovanka so anything can happen. Plenty of bushes for the Stug.

        But here’s my biggest issue with this: much like Battle of the Bulge, it will all be about the top tank. Let’s say you’re playing other Soviet tanks and KV-1 driver is like Tiger II driver in Bulge. You stand no chance.

  8. Damn … I’m gonna give this a shot then, finally seeing positive feedback about a new WoT patch … I’m gonna stay neutral and try it. thanks SS :)

    Also, damn, Matilda gonna rock :D

    • The only problem you won’t ba able to use the ridiculous 120mm pen gun on tilda. Still, it’s going to be a tough mofo.

      • well if you can get behind ol tildy, most of those German guns will pen, even top gun on Pz J 1 will pen if you get lucky. and Pz 3 will have soooo much fun killing a lone matilda, track and shoot in the butt, dodge return fire, easy.

  10. Well the FPS on 9.0 affected me so much that it made me go out and buy a decent computer. (6fps in citys). Good it’s fixed now though.

  11. Good to hear about your performance feedback, but if I remember correctly, the 9.0 tests looked quite good performance wise, too … shit got real after the go-live …

    • Yeah i remember the hype in 9.0 test – OMG HD MODELS LOADED AND STILL MOAR FPS :) and then…. yeah :D

  13. You sound quite relieved, Sile
    Got to load it over night

  15. i ll say this wow just wow, on 9.0 on low avg 35 fps, now everything max out 33 open areas (where u can see other side off map ) rest 50+, just WOW

  17. I find myself cheering WG right now, hope they do this correctly this time. Also, something like GnomeFather sound in default would be very great, since GnomeFather is quite buggy in my laptop :)

  18. Historical battles are imba by design, not sure what anyone else expected, really. Especially since there’s no such thing as “historical balance” (in any sense).

    • “Especially since there’s no such thing as “historical balance” ”

      At least until WG implements separate performance stats for HB

      • Ok, but there’s a problem – you’ll get something that is: a) balanced; b) historical; c) neither of those. Now pick one option…

        That’s what I think about the “historical balance”, ymmv though.

  19. Actually, I have the same mediocre FPS and also microlags like in version 9.0.4. I didn’t notice any improvements. What are your graphical settings? Do they differ from 9.0.4? Strange!

    Thanks.

  20. so lags are gone now..rly..omg can’t wait..i’m sick of turning my turret and everything twitches..hope it stays like that..ok WG maybe you can do some shit wright :)..

  21. SS, dont expect too much from the FPS, i had perma-60-FPS on 9.0 CT but when it went live i had 20.
    maybe the same thing happens again… ._.

    • I mean it’s one big sprite with shitty resolution *and* shitty framerate, how the hell does it look good? Oh and it’s so huge it reminds me of Michael Bay every time I see it.

      Sounds are great though, not just guns, eveything feels more pronounced, at least until now I didn’t notice running a tank over a bridge actually sounds like running a tank over a bridge.

      • Yeah you can, now that the image is frozen. If you experienced the explosion “live”, animated, you’d see it all happens too fast for you to really notice the pixels. That’s why the sprite is pixely, they are saving space wherever it can be saved so that the performance doesn’t drop.

        • That would maybe work if the framerate of the animation wasn’t about 12fps, you can see the pixels *and* the separate frames easily.

          For starters they could make it much slower to compensate for the shitty resolution – as it is now on the test server, the 9.0 ammorack looks like minor scratch next to this.

          (Actually I wouldn’t be suprised if it was a bug and the explosions should be smaller… but I guess someone would notice that. Although.. WG.)

  23. Thanks for Info SS i will try it myself to see the FPS sitaution :)

  24. >> Balaton stays, Ardennes and Kursk got removed. Okay.

    Ummm, NO! I have my Ersatzpanther bought specially for Ardennes – you can’t remove this battle or I’ll sue you, WG!

    *trollface

  25. funny SS how hopeful you are for this patch, you know that once it’s deployed on live server’s it’s a different version and with new bugs and much lower FPS….
    keep dreaming.

    • already happened with 9.0 … test1 was great, suddenly test2 massive fps drop.

    • It’s one of the setbacks of lacking Alternative hulls, they have to shoehorn in stuff

      Bryansk has a Panzer IV H a year early because it’s representing Ausf. G’s

  27. Saying that something sounds realistic would mean you actually know the real sound.
    If you want to say that new gun sounds awesome, they do, but they are not realistic nor will they ever be because you can’t find live fire with ww2 ammo today.
    If you want to know how loud would explosion be, blow up equivalent TNT of a WW2 propellant and then you would still need to apply filters to get the sound you like and matches what you think the gun sounds.
    Also, the ammunition is breaking the sound barrier…

  28. I hope there will be no issues like 9.0 Live server where it was terrible compared to Test Patch.

    SS is so happy, but let’s see if he will rant and quit again when 9.1 live server is fucked up like the previous one

  31. > tanks look like they have a crate of TNT inside them
    actually it is real

  35. explosions terrible.. ultralow resolution looks like a cheap GIF from doom 2.
    gun sounds terrible… might be realistic but it sounds weird.. really weird… kind of dull.
    engine sounds on hellcat EXCELENT!!!!!!
    smoke effects.. better, still doesnt look great but its much better.

    pretty disappointed, but the engine sound is great, lets just hope it wont take them 7 years to add it for the rest of the tanks…

  37. Oh yea :D
    Hellcat sounds AWESOME !
    Oh god :D… when you turn and that smoke comes out and tracks are clanking, engine is making a lot of noises
    WELL DONE WG, WELL DONE !
    Gun sounds sounds are also gr8 ! You can hear that BOOOOOOM ! from the other side of the map.
    Also tank explosions sound nice… but for now it looks really fake, nothing realistic about that fire… one huge low Q cloud. But ok, maby they cant do it on the BigWorld like they did it in WT GF

    Also finally i can play on 60 fps and only here and there some stupid dropps to 38… much better than before… in 9.0
    For now i can say that i love this patch. Cant wait to hear all of the realistic engine sounds :D

  38. If someone doesn’t like the gun sounds, just tell them to crank up the volume.
    Smaller caliber guns now sound much more powerful, I love them. :D
    The best thing about new gun sounds are the awesome echoes.

    The explosion is kinda low resolution, more smoke less fire please.

  39. Great to hear performance will be improving! Look forward to it.

    “The explosions are MUCH more pronounced now – when your tank explodes, you will FEEL it. They are huge. Not sure if it’s realistic (tanks look like they have a crate of TNT inside them), but it sure looks nice.”

    You’re probably right – Hollywood tends to go overboard with explosions. Mythbusters have done several episodes with vehicles, weapons, and gas tanks, and a gas tank fire isn’t quite as bad as they show in the movies. You’ll still want to move away from your car, but don’t expect a Hollywood style fireball. I imagine tanks aren’t much different.

    “The good thing is the obvious realism. The bad thing is that from Hollywood movies etc., people expect even 76mm-90mm guns to go BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, while in real life, the gun sounds more like “pooof” – it’s an unusual sound and you will not feel like shooting a mighty gun (even the big caliber sound is quite muffled). The reload sound was added and it’s roughly the way Gnomefather has it. Personally, I think WG could go for more “Hollywood” sound, but it’s okay.”

    Although that’s not to say some guns can’t have a big boom: We used to live near a military base, and it was pretty obvious when artillery was practicing.

    Of course, all of that being said – I don’t mind Hollywood style explosions and sounds. More candy for the eyes and ears, even if I know they’re not really realistic.

  40. Just out of curiousity can we upload videos of the 9.1 test server on youtube or is that against the EULA or whatever?

  41. While the gun sounds are very nice indeed, they lack variety in my opinion. I don’t notice much of a difference between a 90mm gun firing and a 120mm gun firing. They all just sound kinda same-y :\

    • ty for this..personally i think gun sounds are great..explosions are also great..just hope that they did resolve performance issues..that game is going to be like before..nice and smooth..anyway ty this looks awesome

  43. L/43 gun vs KV-1 seems fine, to be honest, especially since the KV-1 will have the much weaker ZiS-5 as well.

    Germans are probably screwed on Tobruk, though.

  46. “I will try the battles first, but if you look at the Tobruk setup, the Germans have practically nothing to destroy the Matilda”

    Well in the siege of Tobruk they had 88 guns being towed by halftrack so they could use the Pz.Sfl. IVc with the 1st engine (to be less mobile) and the 8,8 cm Flak 37 mounted!

  47. “tanks look like they have a crate of TNT inside them)”…well to be honest they did (propellant and he shells)…but anyway i like the new explosions too, they make for a much nicer atmosphere

  50. So far so good!
    I like the new sounds, the exhaust fume and everything, it will be a nice little patch.
    I hope they’ll keep adding new realistic engine sounds because the new Hellcat sound is f**king awesome :D

  53. “I will try the battles first, but if you look at the Tobruk setup, the Germans have practically nothing to destroy the Matilda with”

    WHAT!? you want the germans to win? So you are a fashist!

    I mean that ironically but thats the way russian programmers want it to be. Not the historical battles but only battles where germans lost or have no chance to win in game….works as intended.

    • i smell butthurt german noob :P l2p and aim for weakspots i think

      and all the last hb were: dont be a retard in ur tiger 1 / tiger 2 and u cant loose it ;)

  54. “Anyway, battle loaded aaaaaaaaand…. it’s perfect. No microlags. FPS is smooth, 40-50, I’d say 5-10 FPS increase (I had 40 in “free” areas and 30-35 in “crowded” ones, now it’s 40 in crowded and 60 or so in “free” areas). This is actually really really great :) Also, the bug with the explosion sounds not pre-loading (first explosion lags the game) that re-appeared after one of the hotfixes was fixed again, so that’s good. The game now runs smoothly. Not as smoothly as pre-9.0, but it’s good. (Silentstalker)”

    Lets roll back a bit here. When 9.0 was introduced and test were starting to pop out…

    9.0 test 1 – Disaster – freezes, lags, frame drops all over the place, put everything on minimum on graphics, still hardly 25 fps and dropping to below 10 fps (wtf??? but, hey, first test, they’ll fix it somehow).
    9.0 test 2 – PERFECT ONE – no freezes, no lags no frame drops whatsoever, even manage to put graphics medium to high and still got clear 40 fps average (WG actually managed to do great job for once)
    9.0 test 3 – EVEN WORSE THAN TEST 1!!! same settings as in test 1 and getting even lower fps than in test 1 (couldn’t even dream to put settings as I had in test 2, which was great for me). So How did they manage to f*ck up good working test 2 and transform it back to garbage in test 3 and actually put that one out LIVE??? We all know how the LIVE 9.0 came out, right? They are fixing it with mini fixes since then and still – lags, freezes, FPS drops (what happened to working test 2 of 9.0 version with none of these issues?).

    Bottom of line. Even though test of 9.1 version now looks great…. Trust me, they will f*ck it up somehow. THEY ALWAYS DO!

  55. well i tried playing on the normal server last night and it was virtually unplayabel, especially as a scout tank, the microlags where ridiculous! i actually drowned 2 games in a row in my 12t because the game lagged out for a second or 2

  56. The game freezes kill me… is impossible do a 1VS1 when game freezes 3-5 s

  57. I don’t like new “realistic” sound ! :(

    and explosions are too… big ! it’s a joke…