After a number of small updates to Battlefield 1 since launch, the first of four major expansion packs has finally arrived for season pass holders. They Shall Not Pass centers around the French army, finally adding them to the game proper along side four new maps, a new game mode called Frontlines, more operations, and much more.

Of course, new content isn't the only major addition with this expansion for Battlefield 1 as DICE is also bringing a ton of updates and bug fixes to improve the experience for all players. One of the bigger changes being introduced is with grenades as they now slowly recharge over time after being used, though this timer is three times as fast when near a ammo crate. In addition, smoke, gas and mini grenade ammo now only give players 1 to start with instead of two.

Other fixes include UI tweaks, general game improvements, and a good amount of weapon and vehicle balancing. The full list patch notes can be found below:

WEAPONS AND GADGETS

Grenade resupply timers:

  • Frag: 36 seconds
  • Light AT: 36 seconds
  • Impact: 36 seconds
  • Incendiary: 36 seconds
  • Gas: 27 seconds
  • Mini: 24 seconds
  • Smoke: 18 seconds
  • Resupplies are 3 times as fast near ammo crates
  • Reduced Smoke, Gas and Mini Grenade ammo from 2 to 1
  • Ammo pouches currently no longer resupply grenades

MG 08/15:

  • Decreased horizontal recoil from 0.7 to 0.3
  • Full accuracy is reached one shot earlier
  • Fixed bad reload timers on M1911 Extended:
  • Tactical reload time increased from 1.4 to 1.6 s
  • Empty reload time increased from 2.3 to 2.6 s
  • Reload threshold reduced from 1.1 to 0.78
  • Fixed staged reload timers
  • Fixed an issue where the MG 08/15 would overheat much faster on PS4 and XB1 than on PC and set the new overheat threshold to 67 bullets
  • PS4: Fixed an issue where the MG 08/15 was overheating too fast and set the new overheat threshold to 67 bullets
  • Xbox One: Fixed an issue where the MG 08/15 was overheating too fast and set the new overheat threshold to 67 bullets

M1903 EXPERIMENTAL:

  • Reduced rate of fire from 450 to 360
  • Increased close range damage, allowing it to kill a healthy soldier with 4 hits within 16 meters
  • Self-Loading Rifles and Pieper M1893:
  • Made recoil decrease smoother
  • Most recoil values were tweaked, but are not comparable to previous releases
  • Updated the way the CONTROL value is calculated to better represent the amount of recoil that players have to compensate for
  • Self-Loading Rifles
  • Fixed an issue where spread would reset too quickly after firing
  • Reduced base spread increase per shot of self-loading rifles from 0.25 to 0.2
  • Decreased base spread decrease per second from 3.75 to 3
  • Decreased the spread increase per shot bonus in ADS that Marksman, Sniper and Optical versions get to maintain the old effective spread increase per shot values of 0.125
  • Added a small bonus to spread decrease per second for Marksman, Sniper and Optical versions
  • Reduced the number of magazines carried by the M97 Trench Gun by 1

LMGS

  • Increased moving hip fire dispersion by 0.25 degrees
  • Fixed incorrect CONTROL values for Low Weight LMGs

MADSEN MG

  • Reduced first shot recoil multiplier from 1.9 to 1.8
  • Reduced horizontal recoil from 0.6 to 0.55

MP18

  • Reduced vertical recoil from 0.38 to 0.35
  • Reduced Experimental third shot recoil multiplier from 1.8 to 1.5
  • Doubled Experimental spread decrease per second in ADS

AUTOMATICO M1918:

  • Reduced vertical recoil from 0.44 to 0.40
  • Increased horizontal recoil from 0.8 to 1.2
  • Increased Trench and Storm first shot recoil multiplier from 2.65 to 2.8
  • Decreased Factory first shot recoil multiplier from 2.65 to 2.33
  • Increased Factory recoil decrease from 12 to 16
  • Increased Frommer Stop Auto horizontal recoil from 1.0 to 1.2

HELLRIEGEL 1915:

  • Increased 1915 horizontal recoil from 0.8 to 0.95
  • Overheating now cancels ADS
  • Increased moving hip fire dispersion by 0.25 degrees

GRENADES:

  • Increased Impact grenade minimum time before explosion from 0.7 to 1.0 seconds
  • Increased Incendiary grenade minimum time before explosion from 0.67 to 1.3 seconds
  • Increased Mini Grenade damage from 65 to 72
  • Decreased inner blast radius Light AT Grenades from 2.0 to 1.5
  • Decreased inner blast radius Assault AT Grenades to 1.5 from 2.0
  • Reduced Tripwire INC ammo from 2 to 1 to better account for its high damage and AOE

CROSSBOW:

  • The crossbow launcher now regenerates all its ammo even when not reloaded
  • Increased auto replenish time from 15 to 25 seconds
  • K bullets now resupply in 2 s rather than 5
  • Reduced suppression by friendly gas and prevented coughing at low levels of gas suppression

VEHICLES

AA CANNONS:

  • Removed blast and impact impulse to prevent them from pushing and rotating planes
  • Reduced impact damage to planes by 50% for fighters and attack planes and by 40% for bombers
  • Fixed an issue where players could get the crosshairs back after pressing E while zooming in a vehicle in Hardcore
  • The bomber will no longer destroy certain structures when crashing in to them
  • Fixed an issue with certain vehicle gunner seats where the ADS stopped working once the weapon has been overheated.
  • Fixed an issue where the UI did not update correctly when using certain gunner seats in the Heavy Tank
  • Fixed an issue where the Armored Car turret accuracy was off, it’s now aligned with the cross hair

A7V

  • Reduced A7V flamethrower range from 44 to 24 meters to better match the VFX
  • Reduced A7V flamethrower speed inheritance and velocity and increased time to live for more predictable behavior

USER INTERFACE

EMBLEM REPORTING

In addition to the End of Round scoreboard, reporting emblems is now possible to do from the in-game scoreboard as well.

NOTIFICATIONS

The previous mid screen popup notification system has been replaced with a new notification system showing notifications in the upper left corner of the screen instead. This improvement has also solved a number of popup related issues.

UI IMPROVEMENTS

Rental servers:

  1. Added Behemoths and Full Magazine settings for use with Custom games
  2. Improved the kick reason when banning players
  3. Improved the Kick and Ban flows from the in-game admin

General Improvements:

  • Improved error message when losing network connectivity under certain conditions
  • Rank icon for Hero Class is now displayed on the Weapons & Gadgets screen
  • Server browser limit of how many servers to show has been increased
  • Medals that are not taken are now shown as dimmed
  • Time in Vehicles is now rounded to full minutes for vehicle stats
  • Adjusted position of carousel arrow buttons on home to be less on top of the cards
  • Class Rank progression is now shown on End of Round screen
  • Speed-ups and streamlining of Battlepacks opening sequence
  • PC: Various mouse UI focus improvements

UI BUG FIXES

  • Fixed bug where the title could hang if losing network connectivity while matchmaking into an Operation
  • Navigating Battlepacks on Loading screen after entering a second time
  • Issue with navigating BF4 assignments from BF1
  • Rare occurrence where a number would be shown instead of game server name in the server browser
  • Utilizing $ in server filters now works correctly
  • Rare crash when watching video in the UI for many hours
  • Favorite star can now be seen when the favorite server is selected in the server browser
  • Fixed hang issue when loosing connectivity on "Get Battlepacks" screen
  • Battlepacks shortcut now updates correctly on home screen
  • Removed incorrect progress bars from vehicle stats
  • Disabled order part of commo rose in Team Death Match
  • Fixed text alignment EOR Map voting in the Arabic version of the game
  • Fixed text alignment in the Customize Soldier screen in the Arabic version of the game
  • Fixed several typos present in various Codex descriptions
  • Fixed an issue that caused the player list in the deploy screen not to be selectable as intended
  • Soldier inventory now properly displays on HUD when option is set to always show.
  • Fixed an issue where the Squad XP boost percentage number is shown out of place in the Arabic version of the game
  • Minor text changes to Achievements
  • Fixed an issue where the "Party Join" notification would still be active after the notice would disappear
  • Sidearm skins are now visible in the kill card
  • Fixed an issue where there was overlapping Arabic text on the Medals screen
  • The Grenade Crossbow now has a correct Codex image
  • Players are now rewarded with corresponding Dog Tag for obtaining Service Stars with the Crossbow Launcher
  • PC: The skip button for the Battlepacks unboxing sequence no longer appears twice when using a gamepad
  • PC: Shoulder button indicators no longer appears and disappears when using a gamepad
  • PS4: Fixed bug occurring if purchasing PS Plus while being invited to play

GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS

  • Whole Magazine Reload. This setting will discard all remaining bullets in a clip when reloading.
  • The Flare Gun is no longer available when choosing "Melee" only in the server configuration
  • Reduced the intensity of the fog on Giant's Shadow
  • Fixed visual issue for the Medic's syringe when used in certain indoor areas
  • Fixed an issue where the "Corporal" trophy would not unlock when reaching the unlock criteria
  • Ribbons now correctly award 500XP each
  • Fixed an issue where the player would not get idle-kicked from the server when being idle
  • Fixed an issue where the "War Bonds" trophy would not unlock when reaching the unlock criteria
  • Fixed an issue where new installation of the game and its system files would fail due to missing files.
  • Fixed an issue where the weapon firing animation becomes erratic when looking up or down.
  • Fixed an issue where the wrong thumbnail image was being shown in the Map Vote screen for Ballroom Blitz
  • Fixed an issue where it would rain inside of certain indoor areas on the Giant's Shadow map
  • Fixed an issue where the Heavy Tank exhaust pipes would not emit smoke when used operated
  • Fixed an issue where the Torpedo Boat would not leave wreckage after being destroyed
  • Fixed some clipping issues on the Giants Shadow map
  • Fixed an issue where players sometimes would be quick matched into a server in the wrong region
  • Medical Crates no longer explode when destroyed
  • Fixed an issue where the weapon audio was muffled when spectating a player in first person
  • Fixed an issue where the gas grenade VFX would not disappear if a soldier is killed by the gas
  • Fixed an issue where a corrupted flag animation would be visible at the end of round sometimes
  • Fixed an issue where a flag would appear to be floating in mid-air on Giant's Shadow's C objective.
  • Fixed an issue where players would get stuck in a weird state if getting killed immediately following a revive
  • Fixed an issue where players could see through the smoke clouds caused by smoke grenades while playing on low settings
  • Fixed an issue where the screen would sometimes go dark suddenly after a bayonet charge
  • You can now melee takedown opponents who are using stationary weapons/gadgets
  • Players entering vehicles with Gas Mask equipped can now use the zoom in the vehicle gunner seats
  • Improved messaging for spectators between battalions in Operations.
  • Fixed an audio syncing issue with the Selbstladler 1906 when in the reload animation
  • Added camera movement when firing and reload sound for vehicle mounted T-gewehr
  • Added camera movement when firing for Vehicle HMG
  • Removed Camera movement when driving on the MarkV
  • Adjusted fire damage volumes across the level and reduced fire damage at B-Flag on Amiens

With the French army now in the fold, DICE is turning its attention east with the next expansion pack. In The Name of the Tsar pushes the war to the Eastern Front with the Russian Army with historic battles like the Brusilov offensive and Albion assault on four brand new maps.

Are you excited to check out all the new changes and content in this expansion?

Battlefield 1 is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.