Escape From Tarkov 0.15 Patch Notes

Battlestate Games has started the maintenance for Escape From Tarkov, and it’s going to take a while before we get the server back online. The server maintenance is supposed to last for 8 hours, which means it will be a long and tiring day for the whole community.

There’s a lot to comb through, and I am personally excited about the map to map travel, which is supposed to be an in-game event named Marathon. Keep in mind that Nikita has always wanted to make the map-to-map travel a possibility within Tarkov and a core feature of the game, but since it’s new, it will be presented as an event at this moment.

The map-to-map travel will be accessible only in PvP mode, and since the maintenance is going to be quite long, I’d suggest you go through all of the patch notes below:

Map to map travel

New game event “Marathon”:

During the Marathon event, location transits will only be available in the corresponding game mode;
Marathon is available only in PvP mode;
Players will receive a unique achievement for completing the Marathon event;
After the event is over, all location transits will become available in all raids.

Escape From Tarkov 0.15 Patch Notes

New content

Factory rework

All textures and geometry of the plant building, its interior rooms, cellars, structures and machinery have been completely redesigned while maintaining the general dimensions and layout of the original location;
Rooms, basements and workshops have been refined while maintaining the large-sized objects of the original location;
Some areas of the plant and the cellar area that connects all four workshops have been expanded. Added outdoor areas around the plant;
Added several new crosswalks at dead-end locations;
Improved the upper level area in the workshops for easier accessibility;
Adjusted the spawns and extracts for PMCs and Scavs to match the expanded areas;
Improved the AI behavior for all location layout changes;
Redistributed the loot and containers throughout the location;
Added new tasks to the location.

New Boss, Partisan

Added a new Boss called Partisan.

Not much is known about his background. People say that he is a combat veteran and has been obsessed with tripwires and booby-trapping since those days. He is on good terms with Jaeger, their goals and moral compasses seem to be aligned, or perhaps it’s their military past that binds them together.

Partisan holds firm to his principles in Tarkov, going after people he believes to be honorless and hunting them down, whether they be PMCs or Scavs. He has no ties to other local Bosses and tries not to cross paths with them. His view on traders is similarly negative, with the exception of Jaeger. Your standing with Fence has no effect on Partisan’s attitude towards you, and it cannot be increased or decreased by helping or killing him.

The Boss appears in forest-type locations. He is more likely to appear in a raid with low karma PMCs. In this case, Partisan will hunt those players down. If there are Scavs with low karma in the raid, they will also become his targets. However, any player has to be ready for the traps and expect a firefight when encountering this Boss, regardless of their karma.

Partisan prefers a stealthy approach, taking advantage of the terrain, setting traps in advance, and only then engaging in open combat. The process of preparing and exploring a location takes up most of his time, while open confrontations are less frequent. When fighting against multiple opponents, he can lure one of the players to his booby-traps which he sets up beforehand.

The Boss acts alone. He installs tripwires, actively uses grenades, can move quietly through the terrain and track his target for a long time across the whole location.

Karma

Added a new hidden parameter “Karma”.

The karma value changes depending on the player’s actions. Generally, it can be increased by adhering to a more “open” play style, and decreased for a “dishonest” play style.

The number of triggers that change the value of karma will always be increasing, and the triggers themselves will be adjusted and balanced further.

In some cases, karma changes can be tracked by a distinctive sound notification.

Map to map travel

New game event “Marathon”:

During the Marathon event, location transits will only be available in the corresponding game mode;
Marathon is available only in PvP mode;
Players will receive a unique achievement for completing the Marathon event;
After the event is over, all location transits will become available in all raids.

Added the ability to travel from one location to another:

To move to another location, the player must enter the transit zone and select the appropriate option in the context menu;
Location transits are available after 7 minutes from the start of the raid;
During the transit, the player will be able to transfer some of the items found in the raid, which will be moved to stash for a certain price;
After transferring the items, the transit timer will begin. When activating the transit and transferring items, the ability to exit the current location will become unavailable, and the player will be forced to use the transit;
When attempting to transit in a group, players can use the transit only if all living members of the group are in the transit zone;
If several players who are not in the same group use the transit at the same time, they will be transferred to the next location together. Solo players can join a group and also transit to the next location together;
The available transit directions are marked with a dotted line on the location selection screen;
Added the “Marathon” achievement for visiting all locations in one raid.

Tripwires

Added the tripwire installation feature:

A single-use consumable item, the “Tripwire installation kit”, is required to install the tripwire:
- The item cannot be found in raid or bought on the Flea Market: the kit will be available for purchase after completing Jaeger’s task chain.
When the item is in the inventory, the player gets access to the tripwire mode by using the “B” key on appropriate grenades. The grenade must be in the hands to switch to tripwire mode;
The tripwire has a minimum and maximum installation length. It can be placed on any flat or slightly inclined surface;
Tripwires can be activated in a number of ways:
- By shooting the wire from a short distance;
- By hitting the wire with explosion shrapnel;
- By hitting the wire with any physical object, including players, bots, items.
During activation, the tripwire does not explode instantly, but with the fuze delay specified in the grenade’s description;
Tripwires can be disarmed: to do so, approach the booby-trapped grenade and disarm it through the context menu. Disarming takes a certain amount of time. Having a multitool in your inventory significantly reduces the disarming time;
After disarming, you can pick up the grenade used in the tripwire;
Tripwires disarm on their own after a certain amount of time.

Bipods and weapon mounting

Added the ability to mount weapons and use bipods:

To mount a weapon, the player must aim at a suitable horizontal or vertical surface and press the “Mount weapon” key (“V” key by default);
The recoil and stamina consumption is reduced when firing a mounted weapon;
To mount the weapon on a bipod, press the “Toggle bipod” key (“Ctrl + V” combination by default), then point at a suitable horizontal surface and press the “Mount weapon” key;
The recoil, stamina consumption, and weapon sway is greatly reduced when firing a bipod-mounted weapon;
Mounting the weapon while prone is only available if the bipods are installed and deployed on the weapon;
The icon in the corner of the screen shows whether the weapon is mounted or signals that the given surface is not suitable for mounting.

New Hideout zone, Gear Rack

The Gear Rack zone is added to the extended part of the Hideout and has 3 upgrade levels.

Each level adds a mannequin which can be used to display any gear equippable on your PMC;
You can equip gear from the mannequin or exchange the gear already equipped by your PMC for the mannequin’s gear;
Pouch items and special slot items do not apply to equipping and exchanging;
Mannequin gear is displayed in the “list of kits” window, you can equip a kit from a mannequin there.

New Hideout zone, Cultist Circle

The new Cultist Circle is located outside the main Hideout.

You can sacrifice up to 5 items to the Cultist Circle;
The value of each sacrificed item is added up;
This total determines the value of items received as a Gift from the cultists;
The cultists cannot deliver items while you are in the Hideout.

If the value of a single sacrifice is above a certain threshold, there is a 25% chance to receive items needed for active tasks and unfinished Hideout zones.

The value of the sacrificed items is further increased by the bonuses from:

Sacred Amulet
Hideout Management skill

Players who have purchased The Unheard Edition will have the Cultist Circle built instantly.

AI enemy reaction system

Added variation in AI behavior when spotting another AI or player in PvE mode. Behavior model is chosen depending on the lore relationship between the factions.

Possible reactions:

Instant aggression and attack;
Friendly unless shown aggression;
Total friendliness;
Warning and attacking if not obeyed;
Neutral unless shown aggression.

The choice of whether to be aggressive depends on the “mood” of the bot and the faction of the target. For example, if an AI BEAR encounters an AI USEC, they are more likely to engage them (but not necessarily 100%) than they would be if they encountered another AI BEAR.

The decision whether to be aggressive or peaceful is made for both Players Scavs and Player PMCs.

The chance of meeting a more aggressive AI PMC varies depending on the location. For example, on Ground Zero (under level 20) the bots are more friendly, and in The Lab, they are the most aggressive.

Faction interactions will be implemented and balanced further in both PvE and PvP modes.

New weapons, equipment, loot

New weapons:

IWI UZI 9×19 submachine gun;
IWI UZI PRO Pistol 9×19 submachine gun;
IWI UZI PRO SMG 9×19 submachine gun;
SR-3M 9×39 compact assault rifle;
Magnum Research Desert Eagle Mk XIX .50 AE pistol;
Magnum Research Desert Eagle L5 .50 AE pistol;
Magnum Research Desert Eagle L5 .357 pistol;
Magnum Research Desert Eagle L6 .50 AE pistol;
Magnum Research Desert Eagle L6 .50 AE pistol (WTS);
U.S Ordnance M60E4 7.62×51 light machine gun;
U.S Ordnance M60E6 7.62×51 light machine gun;
U.S Ordnance M60E6 7.62×51 light machine gun (FDE).

Updated weapon models:

AS VAL 9×39 special assault rifle;
VSS Vintorez 9×39 special sniper rifle;
PP-91-01 Kedr-B 9x18PM submachine gun;
PP-91 Kedr 9x18PM submachine gun;
PP-9 Klin 9x18PMM submachine gun.

New caliber

.50 Action Express.

New ammo

.50 AE FMJ;
.50 AE JHP;
.50 AE Copper Solid;
.50 AE Hawk JSP.

Other weapon improvements:

New weapon attachments;
Adjusted the functionality for pistol grips on the Makarov PM pistol. If there is a quick drop button on the grip, the interaction animation with the pistol is changed;
Improved the AUG A1 and AUG A3 visuals: updated the grip animation, added a visually operating gas piston;
Added some animation variations depending on the installed attachments for new and updated weapons;
Updated the grenade animations.

Added new types of equipment, armor, helmets, loot. New options for character customization.

QoL improvements

Optics zoom adjustment

Added the ability to smoothly adjust zoom for the following optics:

Burris FullField TAC30 1-4×24 30mm riflescope;
EOTech Vudu 1-6×24 30mm riflescope;
Leupold Mark 4 LR 6.5-20×50 30mm riflescope;
March Tactical 3-24×42 FFP 30mm riflescope;
Vortex Razor HD Gen.2 1-6×24 30mm riflescope;
Schmidt & Bender PM II 1-8×24 30mm riflescope;
SIG TANGO6T 1-6×24 30mm riflescope;
Hensoldt FF 4-16×56 34mm riflescope;
Nightforce ATACR 7-35×56 34mm riflescope;
Schmidt & Bender PM II 3-20×50 34mm riflescope;
Schmidt & Bender PM II 5-25×56 34mm riflescope;
NcSTAR ADO P4 Sniper 3-9×42 riflescope;
KMZ 1P59 3-10x riflescope;
KMZ 1P69 3-10x riflescope.

Default hotkeys for smooth zoom adjustment are “Alt + ScrollUp/ScrollDown”.

Selecting grenade with G

A new icon with hotkey “G” is available on the quick access bar: it will display a grenade the player will equip first. You can select the specific grenade by holding G;
The drop-down list displays only unique grenades with their respective quantities.

Flashlight and tactical device operation mode
Added the ability to activate tactical devices and flashlights by pressing or holding a hotkey.

Manual value entry in game settings
Added the ability to manually enter values in the game settings. For example, when adjusting mouse sensitivity.

Hotkey adjustments
Updated the sorting order of hotkeys in the controls settings.
Action “Melee weapon” has been reassigned to “U”. “Melee attack” has been reassigned to “U” on Double click.

Balancing changes:

Simplified the objectives for tasks “Setup” and “Long Road”;
Completely removed trade offers for Class 6 body armor, plate carriers, ballistic plates, and helmet modifications from traders. These items can now only be found in raids;
Changed the availability of ammo on the Flea Market. Now all ammo with less than 42 penetration is allowed on the Flea Market, with a few exceptions;
Increased the damage of 7.62×39, 5.45×39, 9×21 calibers;
Slightly reduced the damage of some 5.56×45 caliber ammo.

Technical changes

Equipment clipping
Implemented the anti-clipping system. Now elements of helmets, glasses, masks, collars, headsets will be correctly displayed on the character with any combination.

Animations

Reworked the animation playback system to increase the accuracy of first and third person synchronization where possible;
Optimized left shoulder animations for more smoothness;
Added special door interaction animations: the number of interactive object animations will increase further in the future updates.

Graphics

Redesigned the weather condition display system on the player’s client. Fixed the bugs that led to unpredictable weather conditions in the raid in certain cases;
Improved the cloud visuals: clouds react to weather changes more realistically;
Updated FSR technology to version 3.0;
Removed support for FSR version 1.X;
Switched the in-game season to summer.

Sounds

Improved the environment sound system:

Developed a component that tracks the position and rotation of the listener and moves the source along a predetermined curve, changing not only the position of the source but also its exposure angle. By changing the exposure angle of the sound, it becomes more natural.

Implemented a large number of different sound sources to enhance immersion, for example, the flow of water through the pipes on Factory, the rats running in the vents, and many small details that are randomly played at the specific points, from the fall of pebbles, to the interference of electricity in the generators, and the air coming out of the boilers.

Sound system performance optimization, occlusion calculation algorithm adjustments:

Transferred the whole algorithm to multithreaded calculations;
Finalized the search and calculation of the angle between the source and the listener;
Improved the use of depth to determine its effect on the sound;
Improved the curves tuning, which is responsible for volume decay and sound propagation in complex geometry locations.

With these adjustments, the overall sound is smoother, with a better grasp of the sound source’s location.

Active headset adjustments

Improved the separation of weapon sounds and other sounds into different compressor channels;
Added the splitting of sound subgroups and increased the number of customizable parameters for more control;
Adjusted the frequency response, noise reduction level and compressor values, as well as their technical specifications, to match the specs of the real headsets;
Recorded the real active headsets that are used in the game, the sound of shooting and environment sounds in them, to allow further fine-tuning. The positioning of sounds, distance awareness and the sound of in-game active headsets were noticeably improved. All headsets have their own unique equalization, resulting in a different sound for all headsets.

Anti-cheat update

Implemented protection against a series of exploits related to monitoring loot on players/location using forbidden software;
Implemented protection against a series of exploits related to network synchronization and unfair movement using forbidden software.

List of changes

Fixed a number of visual bugs in geometry, textures and culling on all locations;
Fixed the incorrect status of DSP transmitter in solo PvE raid if the player entered the Hideout before the raid;
Fixed the visual artifacts when using FSR 2.2 on Ground Zero and Streets of Tarkov;
Fixed the synchronization of loot state in the container when the weapon was folded inside the container;
Fixed an issue that caused the explosion effects of a thrown grenade to be missing in certain cases;
Fixed the incorrect player dogtag status when transferring it through the BTR service;
Fixed the automatic vaulting triggering when the player interacted with the inventory with the vaulting and forward keys pressed;
Fixed the softlock when using a weapon that was looted from an airdrop in the same raid in PvE mode;
Fixed the display of repair kit icons when using them from a container;
Fixed the incorrect bot spawn points in PvE mode;
Fixed the display of the killer’s nickname on the post-raid screen in a situation where the killer died before the grenade they threw exploded;
Fixed the softlock when closing inventory while click-dragging weapons;
Fixed the Torrey Pines Logic T12W sight display showing over the character’s hands when fixing malfunctions;
Fixed the incorrect behavior of Rogues when interacting with USEC faction players;
Fixed the incorrect display of K/D in short and full profile statistics;
Fixed the incorrect display when sorting weapons by level on the mastering screen;
Fixed the incorrect display of the longest effective shot in the player’s statistics;
Fixed the softlock when interrupting medicine animations in certain cases;
Fixed the duplicate task conditions in certain cases;
Fixed the decal display in the Hideout;
Fixed the insurance letter storage time for The Unheard Edition.