Modern Warfare 4 beta’s first update is live, adding a new map, mode, and toned-down footsteps

Infinity Ward has deployed the first proper update to the Modern Warfare 4 beta, addressing a chunk of the feedback from the beta’s opening day, including footstep audio, weapon lethality, and map voting.

“We heard you loud and clear on the footstep volume, so we’ve adjusted things downward for today,” the studio said in its official patch notes blog post. As a result, enemy footstep and gear audio have had both their volume and audible range reduced.

Time-to-kill has also been tuned down on some weapons, with the ISO Nightshade SMG and Oris 8.6 marksman rifle both seeing their damage ranges and headshot multipliers reduced.

Infinity Ward says these are just the first adjustments and more changes are coming as it continues reviewing feedback and data.

A new map, Cachette, and a new mode, Inflation, have also joined the multiplayer rotation. Inflation tasks players with eliminating enemies and defeating HVT operators to collect cash, with the richest players becoming marked targets for everyone else to hunt. Cachette’s addition also means there are now enough maps in the pool for map voting to be switched on, something Infinity Ward said needed four total maps to work properly.

Elsewhere, Transit 213 has had its shadowed areas brightened and its overall colour balance adjusted for visibility, and there’s a long list of smaller bug fixes, covering everything from Mobility Course completion issues to controller reconnection errors. On PC, Infinity Ward says it’s working to improve the Secure Attestation Wizard, the tool used to diagnose and fix issues getting into the beta.

Not everything’s fixed yet, though: join in progress remains temporarily disabled on Kill Block, and cooking certain lethals can still cause an FPS drop, both of which Infinity Ward says it’s still working on.

Here’s the full patch notes:

Thank you to everyone for your energy on Day 1 of the Early Access Beta. We had a blast playing with you, and we’re ready to run it back all weekend.

Day 2 will bring a variety of bug fixes and gameplay adjustments, including a new Map and Mode which join the Multiplayer rotation at 10:00am PT

We’ll be deploying an update shortly that aims to address a lot of the community feedback from yesterday. We heard you loud and clear on the footstep volume, so we’ve adjusted things downward for today. We’ve been following the conversation and agree that time-to-kill (TTK) isn’t quite right yet, so we’ve tuned down the lethality of some of our guns to start. Finally, we made a tweak to boost visibility on Transit 213. Let us know if you think these adjustments are in the right direction, and expect more in the future.

We also know some of you had some trouble getting into the Beta yesterday, and we’ll be working over time to clarify in-game error messaging and improve our Secure Attestation Wizard for PC players. Keep in mind the wizard doesn’t just diagnose issues, it fixes them too, so give it a try if you haven’t already.

We’re working every day of the Beta to improve the experience, so keep the feedback coming. We’re listening.

CONTENT

Maps

Modes

• NEW: Inflation
• Eliminate enemies to collect cash.
• Defeat HVT Operators to steal the cash they’re carrying.
• The richest players become marked HVTs for everyone to hunt.
• Survive Overtime and get increased cash multipliers.

Here are the Patch Notes for today’s update:

MAPS

Map Voting

• We need 4 total maps to enable voting effectively, so with Cachette in the mix this is coming with today’s update.

Transit 213

• Brightened shadowed areas.
• Adjusted overall color balance.

WEAPONS & ATTACHMENTS

An extra word from the Weapons Team:

Thanks for joining us in the Beta! The changes below are the ones we’re already feeling good about, and we’re keeping an eye on your feedback and data. Keep sharing it, we’re listening!

Attachments

• Frangible Rounds
• Reduced Frangible slow duration by 26.8%.
• Reduced Frangible slow magnitude by 21.4%.

AUDIO

Footsteps & Player Sound Effects

• Reduced the distance at which enemy footstep and gear audio can be heard.
• Decreased overall enemy footstep and gear audio volume.

Our objective for movement audio is to indicate when enemies are approaching without revealing their exact positions at a distance. We’ll continue looking at feedback on this topic throughout the Beta.

CHALLENGES

Daily Challenges

• Enabled the ability to reroll Daily Challenges.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to start or complete the Mobility Course.
• Fixed a bug that could cause footstep audio to incorrectly use wet-surface sounds when players were moving across dry areas.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Global Panel from being opened using its assigned keybind.
• Fixed a disconnect issue caused by Seeker Drones.
• Fixed various errors when navigating in the front-end menu.
• Fixed an issue that could cause an error when entering the Gunsmith without a valid Weapon selected.
• Fixed various errors when switching between or reconnecting controllers.
• Fixed an issue where joining a friend from the menu would prevent you from being able to access some settings.
• Fixed a bug that caused party members to remain in a looping animation in the Multiplayer Lobby.
• Fixed an issue that could make certain magnified Optics opaque while aiming down sights.
• Fixed a rare disconnect issue in Gunfight 10v10.

KNOWN ISSUES

• Join in progress is temporarily disabled on Kill Block
• We know this isn’t ideal! We’re actively working on a fix for this issue that’s caused by a bug in the round transition.
• Cooking some lethals can result in an FPS drop.
• We’re investigating reports of this and hope to have a fix soon.

Follow our Trello board for live issue tracking throughout the day.

NEXT UP

We love seeing your posts, clips, and videos – keep them coming. Your feedback is what is going to make this game the best Modern Warfare, and we’re focused on those improvements.

We’ll see you in the lobby.

It follows a separate blog post from the developers earlier this week that addressed the beta’s fix for “Compiling Shaders” stutter on PC, an issue common enough across the industry that it’s notable when a game doesn’t have it.

The first leg of the beta went live following the conclusion of Call of Duty: Next, the showcase event where many of the beta’s maps and modes were revealed. This is Early Access, running until 25th August for anyone who’s pre-ordered, ahead of a separate Open Beta weekend from 28th August to 1st September that’s free for everyone.

If you want to jump in on PC, don’t forget you’ll need to make sure TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are enabled, both of which are required to play.