Nerfed Spanish musket by slowing player movement speed when equiped.
Nerfed Dutch musket by giving it a random additional lock time; it will still be faster than most muskets on average.
Slow effect from grenade and shotguns now lasts 3 seconds instead of 4
Officer can now use the “Rally Round” buff to get rid of Slow even when they have Slow themselves (before, Slow would block it)
And a small quality of life change: the class menu now shows the minimum and maximum lock times for weapons that have randomized times. Before, only the maximum time was shown.
We have decided that after Battle Grounds IV, the development team’s next project will be a Battle Grounds-themed visual light novel! This change in genre is justified based on the persistent demand for adding horses to the BG franchise, a feat which we are only capable of doing in a simpler format! So we are changing our entire development pipeline around this one fact.
Hence… Battle Grounds: Isekai Edition!
Our targeted release date for this ambitious project is April 19th, 2075, marking the 300th anniversary of the American Revolutionary War!
To drum up recruits to this new adventure, hence follows a summary of all the features we plan to pack in for this campaign!
Choice-Driven Story
You’ve been sucked into the screen of your potato PC, and you wake up in the body of Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski, “The Father of American Cavalry”. After overexpositionary backstory about coming to the Americas after your failed efforted efforts in the war for the liberation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, you’ve settled into your new world. History is open for you to play with! Do you fight for Liberty, or do you betray your American comrades and join the British side? Or will you be a ruthless mercenary, fighting for the highest bidder?
And who will you fight alongside?
The Characters
What is an officer without men to lead? Here are concept art for our characters, along with sample dialog! We’re gonna use an AI model trained on real player chat so that they can respond in real-time to your customizable questions—I wonder what they have to say?
Philip Soul
With an aim truer than a nun in confession, Philip here is the sharpest and most dependable soldier on your team! This Frenchman can cook his baguettes and bullseye his enemies at 100 yards at the same time!
Johnny Jackson
With gray for some reason being his preferred color, this ruffian is an expatriate from Alabama who, after touring around Germany and Argentina for a bit, has returned to serve in what he for some reason calls the ‘First’ War of Independence! Watch out—he has a sharp bayonet, and isn’t afraid to stick it into unwelcome places!
Chief Emosewa
This shadowy figure is someone who seems to have followed you from your original world. They creep into your tent at night, and whisper you secrets about how they are the god of this realm. Do you take this at face value? What do you do when this man reveals to you that he is in fact a woman? Does that even have any impact on the situation? Can she help you get back to your own world, or will you fall victim to her seductions and stay in her little universe?
Nelson
The very reason for the entire change in genre for the franchise! My my, what insights he has to say! This particular horse once belonged to George Washington, but you impress the founding father so much with your RPG skillz that he gives this horse to you as a courting gift!
Build Your Harem!
What is an Isekai story without getting intimate with a whole throng of characters? Here are the list of characters that you’re able to romance in the game:
Johnny Jackson (he’s the bottom)
Chief Emosewa (you’re the bottom)
Nelson (you’re definitely the bottom)
George Washington (and his alien puppetmasters)
Your bayonet (who put this on the list?!)
The Outcome
That’s it soldiers! You’ll have to wait for the release date to decide how your journey in the world of Battle Grounds will end!
Attention, soldiers! We’re posting this bulletin to keep you all up-to-date on the latest going-abouts! From weekly linebattles, new features and fixes, and future development ideas, our line of battle still presses on. At the end of this post you can find a link to an opinion survey of ours.
Linebattles Every Wednesday hosted by 3D
On every Wednesday, at 8:30pm EST/ 12:30am UTC (i.e. early Thursday morning for EU players), the 3D clan is hosting a public linebattle. Maps vary from game to game, and they play custom ones too! Eventually we’ll try to get weekly EU linebattle running too, probably on the weekends. Stay tuned for more info on that! Below is a screenshot from our last linebattle.
Mini-Updates!
Over the past few months there have been a series of small updates and fixes summarized here:
Added an ‘asay‘ command for admins to text-chat directly with other admins.
Changes from Bg_Canal_Test (as included in the previous large update) have been merged into Bg_Canal proper. These changes make it much more difficult to spawncamp on the map.
More fixes to rare bugs with the election/voting menu.
Fixed an out-of-bounds exploit on Bg_Blackswamp
Fixed bot AI bug where bots sometimes targeted friendly players when they weren’t supposed to.
Removed watermelons!
Development Direction
We have two new features undergoing development right now. The first is an authentic set of French-language voices from 66th member TheSoul, for the French Officer variant of the American Officer. Viv la France! The second (initially developed by Ricochet), pictured in a WIP image below, are on-screen icons for flags that should help new players understand where their objectives are (of course, experienced players will be able to turn these off.)
After those two features, further updates will be focused on quality-of-life changes to make the game easier to play and understand for new players. Among many other ideas, an example would be a hint-system which walks players through their first time using the team menu and class menu.
For those interested, we also have an opinion survey on what grand direction future BG3 development should take—continuing on the source engine, or migrating to Unreal Engine 5?
Stay tuned for more—until then, we’ll see you on the battlefield!
Attention, soldiers! This few weeks, several minor updates have been released, including one just today! The details for these have all already been announced on our discord server, however we will still now summarize them here for players who are not on the discord.
Voting System
Linebattle map nominations will now only appear in the vote when an admin is on the server or when the gamemode is already set to linebattle (mp_respawnstyle = 4)
Built-in RTV will now open a map election instead of immediately switching map
The minimum number of RTVs required for RTV is now 2, in cases where there are only 3-4 players on a server.
RTV now changes map instantly after the map vote. I.e. it won’t wait until the end of the map anymore (kind of the purpose of RTV…)
sq removed from default map vote rotation
Added more error message in chat explaining why a player’s rtv command in chat might fail.
Maps must now be included somewhere in a server’s mapelections.res in order for it to be nominatable by players. This lets servers have private training/test maps without exposing themselves to trolls who want to switch the server to unplayable maps.
Added more failsafes to prevent odd voting system behavior, ex. voting menus staying open for too long or votes persisting through map changes.
Bg_Canal Improvements
Widened the British spawn exit door such that trolls can no longer block the exit single-handedly.
Made many experimental layout changes and included them in a new map file, bg_canal_test. These changes are oriented toward making it harder to spawn camp enemies.
See the video at the top of this post to see an overview of changes.
Other Changes/Fixes
the pings chat command no longer includes bots’ zero pings.
added admins command to chat which outputs list of admins to chat.
locked game at high model quality setting (to potentially circumvent a crash issue)
fixed French Officer sleeve on the Royal Forester’s Carbine (there’s a bug where it shows British Officer sleeve instead)
added console variable mp_bg2_speed, which when turned on removes the 10% player speed increase from BG2 to BG3; I.e. makes players move at slower BG2-like speeds.
Attention, soldiers! Today we released an update that will give you unprecedented control over your Battle Grounds III games—a voting system! Vote for the next map, vote to mute annoying music spammers, vote to kick teamkilling trolls, vote to scramble the teams, and more!
Vote Commands
Enter these commands into the chat (no prefix), with your selection/options appended to the end, to create a vote for other players to vote on! Some votes are universal, meaning both teams vote on them, while others are team-specific, such that both teams can be voting on separate issues. The duration of a vote is controlled by sv_vote_duration.
votekick [targetPlayer]
Creates a vote for whether or not to kick the targeted player.
Can only kick players on the same team as you.
Not universal, i.e. Team-specific vote.
Controlled on server by sv_vote_kick_enabled and sv_vote_kick_ratio.
votemute [targetPlayer]
Creates a vote for whether or not to silence the targeted player.
Universality dependent on sv_alltalk and mp_competitive.
Controlled on server by sv_vote_mute_enabled and sv_vote_mute_ratio
votescramble
Creates a vote on whether or not to scramble the teams
Universal – both teams can vote on it.
Controlled on server by sv_vote_scramble_enabled and sv_vote_scramble_ratio
vote [option1] [option2…]
Creates a generic multichoice vote. The result does not lead to any automated actions, so server admins will have to do what they want with the results.
Only admins can use this command.
Universal – both teams can vote on it.
votemap [map]
votemap [map_prefix]
votemap [map1] [map2…]
This is the most diversely functional vote command, with three different modes based on what parameters are provided.
All three modes are universal.
The first mode “votemap [map]” lets any player create a vote to change to the specified map. It is controlled by sv_vote_mapchange_enabled and sv_vote_mapchange_ratio.
The second mode “votemap [map_prefix]” is usable only by admins, and is used to create a gamemode-specific multichoice map vote with images. Example commands are “votemap bg”, “votemap sg”, “votemap lb”, “votemap ctf”.
The third mode “votemap [map1] [map2…]” is usable only by admins, and is used to create a customized multichoice map vote with images. Up to 6 maps can be named, and at least 2 must be named.
There is an automated end-of-map multichoice map vote with images. Maps can be nominated with the “nominate” command for this. The vote does not occur during competitive play or when a map has otherwise already been selected. The timing of the vote can be controlled by sv_vote_mapchoice_start_time. The maps randomly put up for vote are chosen based on the number of players on the server, so that players will receive optimally-sized maps.
Adding Custom Maps to Map Voting
For server admins, there is a file you have to edit in order to add custom maps to the map voting system. It is located at bg3/cfg/mapelections.res . The file contains seven lists of maps used in different situations. Read the documentation there carefully, follow the correct format, and add your custom maps accordingly—if you run into issues, @ us in the Battle Grounds III Discord!
Some official maps are already included in the lists in that file, though hiddenly. All official lb, ctf, sg, and bg maps are already in their homonymous lists.
For what maps are already included in the public_large, public_medium, and public_small lists, refer to the images below.
There is a heinous monster afoot… it must die, or we’ll all be kaput. It stalks the swamps and ruins at night setting Britons and ‘Mericans afright. It is summoned by absence of light, glowing pumpkins smiling in delight. Who will step up as our heroic knight and save us all from this evil sprite.
Trick or treat, soldiers! This coming Halloween on Sunday the 31st, at 2pm EST / 7pm BST, the Battle Grounds III Official FRANKFURT Server will be hosting our first ever Halloween event… will you be the one to vanquish the terrible beast? Join us for a fun time on the NEWLY REIMAGINED map Bg_Blackswamp from BG2.
Accompanying the event, and ONE HOUR prior to it (at 1pm EST/6pm BST), the game will receive an update to support this event, while ALSO delivering long-awaited features, including the VOTING SYSTEM that will let players vote for map changes, mute players, scramble teams, etc. Servers MUST update at the same time in order for updated players to be able to connect.
See you all in the swamps and catacombs…
(If the FRANKFURT server fills up, the NEW YORK server will also be used to host a simultaneous event)
Attention, soldiers! It has been a while since the game received a large update; however, over the past few months, the game has nonetheless received a larger number of smaller updates. Their changes are summarized here.
Added sg_boston to default mapcycle
Fixed British Officer model
Fixed Light Infantry hitboxes
Adjusted hitboxes on Jaegar, Native, Frontiersman, Continental Officer, and French Officer models
Added missing out of tickets texts
Added mp_tickets_timelimit to siege cfgs
New knife animations (again)
New Tomahawk animations
New “Newfoundland Infantry” model for the Green Light Infantry uniform
Experimental new weapon, the gunstock war club for native (it does more damage when swung in the air, and gives a speed boost on each kill)
Added bg_horseshoe as semi-official map
Buffed Trade Musket and Dagger weapons
Tweaks to bg_abbey
Fixed lighting on a barrel model
Removed deroga from default mapcycle until such time that it can be fixed
Players now have to join a team (or spectate) before being able to chat
Tweaked exp bottle texture
Added maps/vmfs/example_map as an example map for mapper
New Spontoon and beltaxe animations
Fixed a rare crash that could occur in the class menu
Fixed weird cartridge paper in the Sea Service and Common Carbine reload animations.
Fixed issue whereby players would be mistakenly auto-oppressed.
Added many new props for mapmakers, courtesy of danihel
Added missing gunstock world model and menu icons
Tweaked gunstock adrenaline mechanic
Tweaked bottle hit-world sound
Bots no longer block XP
Added bot_minplayers_delay to control when the server checks whether or not it should add bots after map change
EXP system is now at least temporarily enabled on every map.
Darkened the bonus 4th American uniform to make its ‘camoflouge’ ability more closely match other uniforms.
Added new quality models courtesy of @danihel (can we get that fish to be an alternative to the bottle?)
Added gag and ungag command for stopping a player’s text chat messages without stopping their voice chat. The shorthand commands for this are g and ug. Gagged is preserved between player leaving/joining and between maps just as mute is.
Mute command now only blocks voice chat, not text chat.
Added silence and unsilence commands for both gagging and muting players. The shorthand commands for this are sl and usl
Added sv_rtv_enabled, sv_rtv_nomination, and sv_rtv_threshold for controlling the new RTV system.
Certain console commands can now be entered directly into chat without being prefaced with ! or / . This can be turned off with sv_chatcommands 0. These commands are listed below:
rtv <map_name> rocks the vote. The map name is an optional parameter that only the first person rocking the vote can enter, which will specify the map to change to after a successful RTV. The map nomination part can be turned off with sv_rtv_nomination 0. The required threshold for rtv completion is determined by sv_rtv_threshold.
currentmap reports the name of the current map to chat
nextmap reports the name of the next map to chat (or sets it, if you’re an admin and you provide a map name after it)
pings reports the average pings of each team
ff reports the states of the various friendly fire variables
respawn reports the value of mp_respawntime
Fixed the RTV system on map start: added sv_rtv_delay to set the time after map change that must pass before players can start RTV again. Default is 120 seoonds.
As well, there must now be at least 3 players in-game (who aren’t spectators) in order for RTVs to happen at all.
Added new, disabled by default, experimental commands for the voting system which can be entered into chat. These include votekick, votemute,votemap, votescramble, and vote. These are controlled by variables sv_vote_scramble_enabled, etc. Example usage of this would be for a player to type votescramble into chat to begin a vote for scrambling the teams, and then other players type vote 1 into chat to vote yes, or vote 2 to vote no. This system isn’t fully tested (which is why it’s off by default), so experiment at your own peril The system will be improved and enhanced in future updates, including providing an easier-to-use GUI.
Added more model work from @danihel ! He should post some pictures here
The BG3 Dev Team is thrilled to welcome Andy from 4th RF onto the development team! As many of you have already seen, over the past few weeks Andy has been hard at work giving a huge upgrade to many of our first person animations. Apart from the aforementioned animation work, Andy also helps organize the weekly multi-clan linebattle event. Andy also works on maps; he has worked on lb_rusholme_c for the multi-clan linebattle event, he is currently helping polish the beloved community map trr_strangeways. He is a welcome addition to the team and we look forwards to seeing what he decides to work on next.
New Animations
New first person animations for dagger, rapier and knife.
New animation for American and British pistols.
Upgraded sounds for American and British pistol animations.
The speeds of the third-person world reload animations now match their first person counterparts.
Third-person swing animations for knives, swords, axes etc no longer move the head as much.
Miscellaneous Changes
Added console variable mp_tickets_timelimit which, when on, sets the remaining round time to 1 minute when one team loses all of their tickets. This prevents siege rounds from dragging on too long.
Added on-screen notifications for when a team loses all of their tickets.
Historical accuracy fixes to Old Pattern, Long Pattern, and Sea Service musket models.
Light infantry ragdoll pose fixed.
M1777 ironsight has been improved.
Fixed issue with Native ragdoll.
Tweaked ironsights crosshair for when viewmodel is off.
Fixed a few musket reload sounds.
Updates to built-in competitive cfgs.
Map Changes
Battlegrounds 2 official map bg_abbey has been added for 5v5 league. Flag capture times have been reduced, lighting has been improved, sound has been added and the size of the middle area has been reduced.
ctf_stonefort has received an optimization pass.
sg_siege fire trap size has been reduced on the defender’s side, and ticket values have been changed on the flags.
Celebrating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, we are releasing the largest update the game has ever seen! We are introducing new weapons, map changes, new gameplay elements, balance tweaks and the much anticipated progression system. Without much further ado:
Weapons
TEN new weapons:
Light Model Charleville /w Bayonet
A musket with average melee range and a quicker than average melee refire time
A shorter version of the sea service, with higher accuracy.
Pattern 1770 Serjeant’s Fewzee
An accurate musket with a short lock time, yet has no bayonet and has lower damage
Pattern 1718 “Old Pattern” Long Land Musket
Longer melee range and higher damage than the long pattern, yet more unwieldly
M1777 French Cavalry Carbine
A more accurate officer’s carbine with less damage
Blunderbuss
Deadly at point blank range
Dagger
A weak melee weapon that requires 2 headshots to kill
French Rapier
A longer range sword with smaller melee sweep and damage
Trade Musket
An unwieldly, yet powerful weapon. At shorter ranges 1 hit kills.
Broken Bottle Meme Weapon
Humiliate your opponents by smashing them in with a broken bottle
Miscellaneous Weapon Changes
All weapon slings are now jiggly.
Long pattern weapon model has been redone.
“Brown Bess Carbine” renamed to “Royal Forester’s Carbine” and the model has also been redone.
French Grenadier’s M1777 model has been improved.
Spanish Mosquete lock time nerfed.
Historical Weapon Mode
New mp_year and mp_year_accuracy server variables control which weapons are available.
On by default.
mp_year is the historical accuracy setting to use, while mp_year_accuracy controls whether or not to use mp_year at all. Set mp_year_accuracy to 0 to disable this system.
Ex. no Pattern 1776 rifles before 1776
Maps
sg_siege
Rebalanced tickets for both teams; defenders now have fewer tickets.
Updated graphics in certain places.
Attackers must traverse spiked barricades in order to assault front gate.
Swivel damage greatly increased.
Secondary containment zone built behind front gate to slow down attackers.
Tunnel door can now be locked by defenders to halt the flow of attackers.
Locked door can be blown open by capturing the tunnel flag.
Fire trap now lasts much longer and covers the flag, allowing defenders to respawn.
bg_townguard
Redesigned town center inn and swivel gun house.
Replaced brazier brush with 3D model.
Added ropes with turnbuckles for roof traversal to a few buildings.
Both teams have sniper spawns: Americans – church tower and roof, British – inn near Street flag.
Opened up church graveyard a bit for easier movement, can also get onto church roof via scaffolding.
Other small additions for more detail throughout map.
All lights with gentle pulse have been switched to normal appearance for performance improvements.
Grenadiers can now climb the ladders.
bg_wrecked
Added “fun” spawns to rowboats in ocean.
Fixed displacement texture blend bug.
Replaced Half Life: 2 sand texture.
Swivel gun and ammo refill area added to cliff near ship bow.
lb_battleofconcord
Fixed missing models.
Retextured farmhouse near American spawn and added planks going to door.
Added few more props near bridge.
Updated ground and water textures.
sg_boston
Crashes have been fixed.
Boston has been re-added to the default map rotation.
Balcony flag gives attackers extra tickets.
Bomb cart is faster, and on detonation drains all of defenders tickets.
Progression System
Overview
New uniforms and most of new weapons locked behind EXP-based progression system.
Earn EXP by killing enemies, completing objectives, and winning rounds and matches.
Play the game to earn EXP to level up, and then trade in earned rum rations for the items.
No “Pay to Win”
All new weapons are unlocked in private matches.
Players who participated in the beta receive a loyalty bonus of 25 Rum Rations.
New Uniforms
British Officer now has a new and improved model (for everyone, this doesn’t have to be unlocked)
De Lancy’s Brigade uniform for British Light Infantry.
“Queen’s Rangers” uniform for British Light Infantry.
Régiment de Soissonnais uniform for French Grenadier.
British 52nd Regiment of Foot Grenadier uniform.
French Officer conversion for Continental Officer.
Feathered “Macaroni” Caps.
Derandomized American Frontiersman Uniforms.
Derandomized American Militia Uniforms.
“Easter Egg” Accoutrements, ex. Baguettes in French Grenadier uniform, Emergency tea kit for British Infantry.
Beta Reward uniform for those who participated in the beta: a Green-and-White American Infantry uniform.
Gameplay Changes
UI Changes
Fixed respawn timer not appearing on lower resolutions, and realigned nearby HUD elements to remove overlaps and provide cleaner look.
When spectating a player, that player’s name now always appears on the bottom-left.
Added a “Damage Over Range Graph” tab to the classmenu for comparing weapon damages over different ranges.
Added background crosshair texture options in BG3 options.
Added live crosshair preview to BG3 options.
Added “Hide Weapon Viewmodel” option to BG3 options.
Fixed swivel gun and Grenade killfeed icons.
Added automatic on-screen notifications for when ticket amounts are adjusted by mp_ticket_x_adjust commands.
System Improvements
Added more sophisticated LOD versions of player models and weapon models, which should improve performance.
Added more per-player console commands, ex. “heal”, “health”, “shrooms”, “freeze”.
Official game servers are now 128-tick.
Miscellaneous Gameplay Changes
Maps can now be both CTF and Skirmish: ex. play CTF on Townguard. Controlled by new mp_flagmode server variable. Can be randomized with mp_flagmode_randomize.
mp_friendlyfire_swivel now controls whether or not swivel guns deal friendly fire.
New “fun” spawns are optional; use mp_competitive to turn them off.
As many of you have heard, rumors have been swirling around that the big update would be released this weekend. While we are working full steam ahead to get those blunderbusses and trade muskets into your hands, we also need to make sure that everything is working as intended. Updates and bugs are hand in hand, and with no dedicated QA team, we need to switch gears to make sure that we catch game breaking bugs before they get thrown in there with all of the shiny new progression system gear. The Anniversary Update is no doubt the biggest update in BG3 history and rivals the biggest BG2 updates, so we need to take a bit of time to make sure that everything gets deployed smoothly. We thank you for your patience and we are just excited as you are about this update.
The system will be improved and enhanced in future updates, including providing an easier-to-use GUI. 
Battle Grounds III 