V1.4.6: New Campaign menu, Performance Boosts & DLC Progress!
Easy Red 2: Blood on the Danube · published
Hi everyone,
First of all, apologies for the long wait for this update. We wanted to rework some very delicate aspects of the game that required extensive testing to ensure the changes were released in a stable condition. However, as you'll see, this update includes significant performance improvements that we’re confident many of you—especially those with low-end setups—will appreciate!
Here are the changelogs for this update:
Recent Changes
New Features
• Completely reworked Campaign and Multiplayer menus to provide a higher-quality experience and greater control over mission setup, including new options.
• Reworked UI navigation for gamepads.
• New German Afrika Korps uniforms.
• New placeholder German Infantry uniforms (WIP).
• Added the MP38.
• Reworked the MP40, MP41, and STG 44.
• Added new patches for some battalions.
• Reworked some VFX.
• Added new on-cover animations for some vehicles.
• Added new Kar 98 animations.
• Added new Walther P.38 animations.
• Reworked various TPS animations.
• Reworked multiple sounds.
• Reworked several vehicles.
Fixes
• Improved the performance of units during battles.
• Enhanced spawning performance for units in battle: spawning may now have a 1–2 second delay for units to load, which resolves occasional lag spikes during spawn events.
• Improved the performance of road decals.
• Completely reworked the map prop spawn system for faster, smoother, and more optimized gameplay.
• Improved the physics of planes.
• Made significant improvements to plane AI.
• Fixed various issues in tutorials.
• Fixed AI-related issues.
• Adjusted British army uniform colors.
• Fixed various FPS animation bugs.
• Improved the handling of infantry uniform shaders.
• Corrected localization issues.
• Enhanced overall stability and reduced memory usage.
• Addressed various smaller bugs reported via Discord.
New campaign menu
We’ve reworked the campaign menu to give it a fresh look and improved functionality for managing campaign missions. The updated menu now offers two main ways to configure a match:
• A quick setup option for players who prefer minimal customization and want to jump straight into the action. This "Full Campaign" play type lets you play through all missions in the default campaign order without configuring options or returning to the menu after completing each mission.
• A detailed configuration option that allows for in-depth customization of one or multiple missions, played in a specific or random order.
The menu also lets you set up missions for Multiplayer. You can decide at the last minute whether your configuration should be joinable by others online. While optional, this feature may encourage more players to host multiplayer matches and keep that section of the game active.
Since the Singleplayer and Multiplayer menu configurations now share the same UI, any future features added to the match configuration (like the "Play Type" option) will be available for both modes.
The Multiplayer menu has also been enhanced with additional server list details and a more user-friendly, less chaotic interface.
Performance improvements
We’ve spent significant time reworking various systems to optimize performance, especially for low-end hardware such as the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
The performance improvements include:
• Improved map prop spawn system: Props now load faster and smoother as you traverse the map.
• Optimized respawn performance: Previously, units spawned instantly but caused occasional lag spikes. Spawning is now asynchronous, taking 1–2 seconds per squad but resulting in smoother gameplay.
• Better AI rendering performance: AI now places less strain on the GPU.
• Enhanced cover generation: Props with AI cover positions are now managed more efficiently, reducing CPU usage.
Second Sino-Japanese War
Here is the new cover image for the upcoming Sino-Japanese DLC!
Now that we’ve completed urgent UI and performance updates, we can dedicate more time to completing the DLC. Here’s the current progress:
• Props and buildings: 90% complete (this represents most of the DLC’s workload, with nearly 100 unique assets).
• Map development: 50% complete.
• Uniforms: 90% complete.
• Weapons and animations: 50% complete.
• Vehicles: 30% complete.
• Music: 100% complete.
• Voiceovers (Chinese faction): 80% complete.
While we initially hoped to release the DLC by Christmas, the scope has grown significantly. However, we aim to launch it before the end of winter.
PlayStation release & Console Updates
We’ve submitted the update to Nintendo and Xbox and hope for swift approval. Console players will benefit from enhanced gamepad navigation, UI, and performance changes!
The PlayStation version is nearly ready with a PS4–PS5 cross-gen build. This allows a single purchase to work across both consoles, with graphical enhancements on PS5 to leverage its capabilities.
A dedicated PS5 build is also in the works but will come later. It will primarily feature support for the PS5 DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers.
Available content
You can get Battle of the Bulge and France Invasion here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2617770/Easy_Red_2_Ardennes_1940__1944/
You can get Normandy campaign here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2317930/Easy_Red_2_Normandy/
Extra informations
In case you didn't know we have defined a precise roadmap for the next months of development and you can read it here.
We keep improving all features of the base game and as always we will be going on listening to suggestions from people inside the Steam Discussions and the Discord server.
Thank you all,
Marco