WoT Update 1.0: Preliminary List of Changes

The Core graphics engine includes the following features:

General improvement of the image quality at any graphics settings.
Complete rework and optimization of lighting.
Added the system of Global Illumination.
All structures have been reworked into the new graphics quality.
Terrain, water, and foliage have been reworked into the new graphics quality.
High-resolution textures have been applied to all objects.
Object destruction has been improved using the Havok® Destruction technology (displayed only at the following graphics settings: High, Maximum, and Ultra).
Added the vehicle wetting effects when passing water obstacles (including the effect of drying water), as well as effect of vehicle’s surface dirtying and dusting.
Improved display of the vehicle suspension operation, when driving over various obstacles.
Reworked map outlands (areas beyond the map border): now game locations visually feel vast and unlimited. At the same time, map borders remain unchanged.
Enable the terrain tessellation function (partially at the maximum graphics settings and in full at the Ultra graphics settings).
Reworked the track effects on different terrains. Added the realistic effect for drifting.
Added the procedural generation of grass and bushes to decrease the load on computers.
Now all foliage interacts with vehicles: grass and foliage are shaken by shots and made flat by vehicle tracks, etc. Note, this feature will not affect vehicle concealment, since the animation is displayed only on your computer.
Implemented a new water processing system with geometrical waves (tessellation) and SSR (Screen Space Reflection) for modeling reflections in water.
Implemented a realistic model of water behavior: when passing water obstacles, the vehicle pushes water forward and thus creating a wave; when a shell hits water surface, it creates realistic circles, etc.
Each map has received a completely reworked skybox with cloud animations.
Implemented full support of the DirectX® 11 functionality (tessellation, etc.).
Significantly improved performance and memory consumption
Improved display of hit decals.
Smokes and various effects now cast shadows.

Optimizations

Optimized game performance, memory consumption, GPU and CPU load.

Reworked sound in the game

Added conceptually new sound to the game. A total of 180 sound themes have been created. Now they indicate clear regional belonging of the map. The music is interactive now: it depends on the current situation in battle.

At the Common Test we use only four themes (sound sets) distributed among all maps. After the release of Update 1.0, each map will have its own unique sound set that will include:

main theme for the loading screen
2 interactive battle-related tracks based on the main theme that can be played almost infinitely without repeating thanks to the possibilities of the sound engine
3 ending themes for the battle results: victory, draw, and defeat

The sound logic will change depending on the battle type: it will be different in the Random Battles, Ranked Battles, and Grand Battles. In clan or team battles, when the voice chat is crucial, no music will play in battles to avoid additional interference in the voice chat.

Ambient Sounds

Completely reworked the ambient sounds for each particular map. The ambient sounds are now rich and natural depending on the map region. Sounds of vehicles (shots, explosions, sound of tracks, etc.) now change and depend on the sub-location of the combat action. As result, the same sound will vary in mountains, forest, village, urban area, open field, etc.
The entire sound environment has also been adjusted to the multichannel 5.1 and 7.1 system.
Reworked almost all sounds of destructible objects that will be introduced with the release of the new destruction physics.
Reworked sounds of flying shells. Each of the four shell types will differ both visually and by sound, which will provide players with additional information.