Gray Zone Warfare Night Ops patch notes: Day & night cycle, new guns, AI nerfs, more

Gray Zone Warfare’s Night Ops update brings a day and night cycle, new weapons, equipment, major bug fixes, and balance changes to the hardcore extraction shooter.

This is Gray Zone Warfare’s first major update since its early access launch, not only bringing new content and bug fixes but also its first-ever wipe. These are common in the extraction shooter genre, giving everyone a fresh start alongside the major update.

The Night Ops update arrives on November 27 and here are the full patch notes including how the day and night cycle works, the AI nerfs, bug fixes, and more.

Day and Night cycle

The biggest change in Gray Zone Warfare’s Night Ops update is the day and night cycle. An in-game day lasts three real-world hours, cycling through dawn, day, dusk, and night. There will be three hours of daylight with one hour of night.

Nighttime will be pitch black so you’ll need to use flashlights, night vision goggles, and interior and exterior lighting to see. You can also shoot these out or switch off breaker boxes to be even more stealthy.

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AI nerfed

The AI was extremely deadly in Gray Zone Warfare before its Night Ops update, capable of tracking you by sound alone and seeing you through bushes. With Night Ops, they’re now “less reactive to sound” and can no longer see you through the shrubbery. They’ll also struggle at nighttime, having to rely on exterior lighting and flashlights to see you.

But, they’ll now be able to crouch and take cover during fights, so don’t expect them to be useless either.

GZW Night Ops update 0.2 full patch notes

Here are the complete GZW update 0.2 patch notes:

– Day and night cycle

• Experience Gray Zone Warfare in an entirely new way. A full in-game day lasts 3 real-world hours, with 2 hours of daylight followed by 1 hour of night, offering a seamless transition between dusk, dawn, day, and night
• Visibility shifts drastically at night, altering player strategies and requiring precision tools for night combat
• Interior and exterior lighting, such as lamp posts and candles, become critical at night. Players can switch off breaker boxes to darken buildings for stealth or turn on lights for advantage

– New gear to help you fight when the darkness sets in

• Night vision goggles, tactical devices (flashlights, lasers, IR lasers)

– New weapons

• MP5, Colt M1911, AKS-74U, AK-12, AK-15, AK-19, AK-308

– Weapon and item durability

• We are introducing a new mechanic to bring a new challenge to your gameplay
• Your items gradually lose their durability, leading to deteriorating benefits if you don’t manage your gear properly
• Replace worn parts to remain effective in the action

– Donation box in the Base Camp

• Share your surplus gear and items to help other players
• Low on gear? Check the donation box!

– Backup package

• When you are defeated and have less than $1,000 to your name, you get a backup package from Handshake once every 24 hours to help you get back into the fight

– Locker Cases

• Store your gear – weapons, armor, ammo, provisions, meds – in specialized cases to save space

– Increased locker size through game progression

• You can now earn more locker space as you progress through the game
• While the DLC editions grant you a bigger locker from the start, all players can now earn the same expanded storage capacity as they progress further into the game

– Valuable loot items

• Loot and extract valuable items to boost your bank balance

– Emotes

• Communicate with other players quickly and silently

– Tasks updates

• Completely new tasks and storyline updates
• Reworks and updates to existing tasks: Some tasks can only be completed at a specific time of day; some had their objectives changed or relocated – don’t always rely on your previous knowledge of the tasks
• Task rewards now have expiration timers
• Failed tasks may bear consequences now; they are now displayed in the list of finished tasks
• Added an indicator to remind you to bring task-critical items with you
• Keys required for task progression are now also available to be found in the world in addition to dropping from enemies
• You can now turn in task items placed in the locker
• The player character now communicates with the vendors through messenger while progressing through the tasks

– New environmental points around the map and new landing zones

– Faction patches

• Every operator now has a faction patch on their sleeve for easier identification

– Faction chat

• Chat with your faction mates, coordinate on travel destinations, or warn about other factions’ presence at locations

– New reporting system

• Easily flag disruptive behavior to ensure a safer, more positive community experience

– Aggressor system

• A set of mechanics to discourage unfriendly behavior toward fellow faction members

– Rendered character preview in the character screen

• Check out your character’s look right in the menu

– New status indicators will help you understand what may be causing issues with your performance, such as low video memory, increased latency, and other

• The shader compilation indicator will show when shader compilation is in progress – wait for the process to finish before entering the game for the best experience

– Squad waypoints

• Plan the way together with your squad and coordinate easily

– Canted aiming

• Ideal for a combined loadout with an optic for long range and using lasers at close range or for aiming with deployed NVGs

– Players can now use weapons without a magazine

• Sometimes, a single bullet can save your life

– Players can now loot squad mates in a coma

• A new option if you don’t have the required medical items to bring your squad mate back to life

– Players can now loot backpacks on the ground without picking them up

Quality of life features

– New keybinding option – toggle – now available for aiming down sights, sprint, lean, push to talk, freelook, canting, and holding breath

– Diagonal sprinting is now possible

– Active headset deactivation

• Press O and suppress the noise around you; useful during heli flights

– Item packing

• Clean up your locker quickly and easily

– Item filtering in the locker

• Looking for parts in the locker just became much easier

– New 3D preview for items in the inventory

– You can now wipe your character once before triggering a cooldown; furthermore, your friends and chats now persist between wipes

– Updated DLC edition rewards, new notification popup after purchasing the DLC

• No more missing out on your purchased goodies

– Chat improvements

• You can now delete chats to clean up your messenger
• Messages are now sorted from the top by the latest
• Added option to right-click the name to add to friend list, report, block, etc

– Landing zone icons on the compass now show the helicopter timer

– All apparel pieces are now displayed, even those not yet unlocked

– Menu screens can be closed by their respective shortcuts

• Open your inventory by pressing “I,” and close it with “I” as well

– Added minimap zooming and increased the maximum zoom level on the main map

– Tasks in the task list are linked to the respective vendor, while in the Base Camp

– All magazines now have a clear, short name

– Compatible items are now highlighted after selecting an item

– Weapon part names at the vendor screen now show up when hovering over them for improved legibility

– Selling ammo to vendors now uses the full stack by default

– The weight of a container is now updated in real time when adding or removing items

– You can now speed up the helicopter take-off by pressing L

– Enemy health panel and the cause of death are now presented on the looting screen

– Projectile directions added on the health panel, death screen, and loot screen

– Improved ultra-wide monitor support

– Latency widget on the region selection panel

Other changes and additions

– Helicopter improvements

• Optimized flight paths, including the helicopters spawning closer to the player
• Faster travel speed
• The helicopters widget shows the status of the helicopters
• The heli seat reservation system was improved to make it clear when all remaining seats are reserved

– Improved notifications for new messages, auto-accepted tasks, and more

– Additional options in the messenger, in the squad menu, and on the map screen

• Add friends or message other players more easily

– Updated biomes – Rice fields, jungle, city

– Revision of ammunition and armor to balance weapon viability

– Barbed wires now allow you to move through them

• They also deal damage – it is up to you if the shortcut is worth the pain

– Squads are no longer limited to just one chopper

– Vendor stock is now limited for some items

– New animation to indicate your character is checking the menu

– The number of enemy NPCs in Tiger Bay Central has been reduced

– Motion blur removed

– The profanity filtering in the chat and when creating characters was updated

Bug fixes and improvements

Fixes for unintended situations

• Players will no longer be taken to the edge of the map when returning to base if there is an AFK player on the landing pad
• Players no longer get stuck in a healing animation after healing another player
• Players can no longer pick up backpacks with a weapon in the backpack weapon slot
• Bullets now penetrate bushes correctly
• Hits to organs increase the bleeding rate of wounds
• Fixed a possible unintended handling of task items in the Terminal Initiative task
• Players can no longer duplicate task items by placing them on dead bodies
• Players can no longer close the game using Alt + F4 to circumvent dying in the game
• It is no longer possible to use another player to prevent fall damage
• Fixed a possible grenade-jumping exploit
• Belt bags now cannot be stacked indefinitely
• Friendly players can no longer be marked as the killer on the PVE server
• Pressing the Ctrl + right mouse button no longer works as a “quick equip” action
• It is no longer possible to equip a tactical carrier and a chest rig by swapping it from a body
• Ammo unloaded from magazines will no longer disappear if players have no free slots in the equipment or the locker
• Players can now top up ammo and money even with a full locker
• Players can now load magazines in containers on dead bodies
• Players can now heal and revive other players with medical items placed in medkits
• Players can no longer loot a container while another player is using an item inside it
• Disconnected players no longer leave a standing corpse
• Blood no longer regenerates with energy and hydration at 0
• Player bodies no longer sink below ground in Midnight Sapphire
• It is no longer possible to bind multiple actions to the same key and the same action type
• It is no longer possible to interact with items while the player is aiming
• Hit registration with knives was improved
• Hit registration, in general, was improved

Changes and fixes in the game world

• Fixed a wall at the YBL-1 where players had trouble passing through
• Ground Zero now properly emits radiation
• Many places around the map where players could get stuck in collisions were fixed
• Various object and vegetation collisions throughout the game world were fixed
• Various instances of floating vegetation or objects were addressed
• Various places where players had issues vaulting were reworked to improve the vaulting experience
• Players can now shoot through blinds and camo tents in Fort Narith Headquarters, windows in Lakeside Villa, posters on the convenience store windows, and various other windows in Midnight Sapphire
• Players can no longer walk through the command tent in the base camp
• A broken bridge near the LRI base camp was repaired
• A window in Ban Pa can now be opened properly from inside the hut
• Gaps between concrete walls in Fort Narith were removed
• Fixed several light sources that were placed incorrectly
• Players can now shoot through smaller trees and bushes without issues
• A floating section of a road near Pha Lang was fixed, as well as holes in roads near bridges
• Specific doors now reset correctly to their original state
• Fixed a building that was scaled improperly and was too small to enter
• Fixed a graphical artifact when shooting kitchen tiles in the Base Camp
• Fixed various objects that didn’t react appropriately to shots
• It is no longer possible to vault through closed wooden windows at various locations
• The spawn position of loot loose at various places to prevent them from floating or clipping through other objects
• Players can no longer crouch in deep water
• Water and mud replaced regular dirt on the ground in rice fields
• A river near Sawmill is now placed correctly in the terrain
• An invisible wall on a hill overlooking Midnight Sapphire was removed
• An invisible platform was removed from the area near UNLRA Container Dorms at Tiger Bay
• Various terrain transitions were smoothened to look more natural
• The route from India 2 to Golf 3 is now more direct

Changes and fixes for weapons/weapon parts

• Foregrips are now attached to the X7M-13 handguard properly, not from the side
• Pilad P2.5X24L scope is no longer obstructed by the helmet when aiming while crouched
• Players will no longer be unable to load new ammo after reloading in the heli
• AK 5.45 magazine is now in Artisan’s stock
• AK firearms now have the correct weight
• Recoil is now correctly applied while in the helicopter
• Weapon collision detection with other objects was improved
• The arms stamina drain modifier on foregrips now applies correctly
• Scopes no longer add weapon handling stat to the weapon
• Enhanced grenade physics – grenades also no longer get stuck mid-air after throwing
• Foregrips no longer clip with magazines on the AK platform
• Handguards now show the weapon handling properties when inspected
• Adjusted the size of the PBS-01 suppressor to the correct dimensions
• X-Factor choke now correctly affects the accuracy and dispersion of shotguns
• Fixed loudness value for the Salvo 12 suppressor

Fixes for tasks

• Players can no longer obtain a second briefcase for the Native Negotiations task if they die with the briefcase in their secure container
• A possible task bottleneck when working on the tasks Baked, Noble Powder, and Academic Interest at the same time was fixed
• The NPC in the task Little Bird Down no longer clips through the wall
• The key for the Family heirloom task now spawns correctly
• The location description for the task Rat’s Nest was cleared up
• Killing AI with a knife now counts toward kill tasks

Sound improvements

• Consumable sounds now stop playing when the action is canceled
• Barbed wire now produces sounds when players collide with it
• Players can no longer hear the surrounding sounds after dying
• Ambient nature sounds no longer leak into the YBL-1 bunker
• AI NPCs’ voices are now played correctly in YBL-1, depending on how far players are
• Voice chat failing to work under certain circumstances was fixed
• Voice chat sound no longer distorts under certain conditions
• Icon and name are now properly displayed for squadmates using the squad voice chat
• Walking through the mud now makes proper sounds
• M700 suppressed barrel is now properly suppressed
• Razor headphones no longer amplify the helicopter sound
• The tinnitus effect is now correctly applied when affected by the stun grenade
• Several missing pilot voice lines were added
• Waterfall sounds are no longer present in the Base Camp
• Ambient sound levels were adjusted depending on the player’s location
• Sound transitions when entering buildings were polished

Improvements in animations

• Left-hand no longer clips with a foregrip on shotguns during weapon manipulations
• Several hitches related to changing stances were fixed
• Reload animations while in the helicopter were polished
• Players now stand up correctly before kicking a door from a prone position
• Incorrect finger position and a flying bullet in 3PV in surgery kit animation were fixed
• Missing hit reactions while prone were added
• Character pose while wading with a knife or a grenade now looks natural
• Players can no longer sprint before they cock their weapons after shooting
• AK animations were polished to make them more natural
• Using foregrips no longer overstretches the left hand when using AKs
• Transitions between animations of Mossberg 590 were polished
• Interactions while in the dynamic crouch now look more natural
• Sprinting animation when repeatedly tapping the sprint button is now smoother
• Transitions between animations for AI NPCs were polished
• Players no longer rotate when recovering from a coma
• Fixed a rare issue where a player might recover from a coma and be missing a weapon
• Vaulting has been improved, and several bugs related to vaulting have been fixed

General AI/NPC fixes

• AI behavior was updated and improved
• AI NPCs are now less reactive to sounds. They also use a new, more realistic sight system with refined fields of view and dynamic distance recognition
• AI NPCs react to the new day/night cycle and have to rely on exterior lighting or flashlights
• They can now also take cover and crouch during firefights
• AI NPCs no longer see through bushes
• Players will no longer see AI NPCs sliding when observing them from a greater distance
• Various incorrect spawn locations for AI NPCs were fixed to prevent collisions after spawn
• AI NPCs will not get stuck in doors or clip through walls in Forth Narith anymore
• AI NPCs will no longer be able to push through a concrete fence near YBL-1
• AI terrain detection was improved to prevent unnatural vertical movement
• AI pathing was improved to prevent AIs from colliding with objects and other AIs when walking around or during fights
• AI NPC bodies no longer disappear into the ground in the starting towns
• AI NPCs no longer clip with various objects and warp between them
• A rare issue where AIs were not rendered when scoping in near Tiger Bay was fixed

Fixes for the UI, squads, messenger

• An intermittent issue where a player would be unable to return from the menu by pressing Esc or Tab was fixed
• The inspect window for items from a task reward now closes when leaving the messenger
• All weapon sockets now have the correct icons
• Icons for Critical and Locked parts no longer overlap on weapon sockets
• The accept task button is now always displayed correctly, even if accepting tasks in quick succession
• Friend requests no longer reappear on each restart if the requesting player wiped their character
• The friend list now correctly updates when removing an offline friend
• Players no longer need to be added as friends each time they wipe their account
• Squad chat history now persists after switching between the menu and the game
• The mute icon in the squad menu now persists
• The squad invite button now correctly deactivates when three players are invited to a squad
• Players are now correctly notified if they send a squad notification to a player with disabled squad invitations
• Multiple squad invitations are now handled correctly, with the oldest one staying on top
• Accept and Decline buttons are now consistent in notifications and chats
• Placeholder names no longer appear in the chat
• Skip coma no longer appears on the screen after respawning
• Players can now see the landing zone and navigation to it after reconnection properly
• Players will no longer experience repeated healing animation due to the interaction menu not updating immediately
• Vendor messages no longer duplicate and clutter the messenger window
• The messenger window now closes when switching between tasks
• Resolution change now only takes effect after pressing Apply
• Various other minor fixes and improvements throughout the UI

Visual issues

• A visual bug where a player is repetitively dropping below ground after stepping off the heli was fixed
• A weapon is no longer displayed in the hands while using medicals or consuming provisions
• Switching between grenades no longer causes a weapon to be displayed in the player’s hands
• Giant weapon parts will no longer appear in the game
• Sunglasses no longer appear “shiny” when observing through a magnified scope
• Car windows are now rendered correctly at all distances
• Rendering of starter towns, when viewed from a longer distance, was improved
• Various typos and other text discrepancies throughout the game were fixed
• Scope preview now correctly updates while leaning
• Backpacks no longer obstruct view under certain circumstances
• Water bottles now have proper icons and don’t look the same anymore
• Bandanas no longer clip through headphones
• The Patrol backpack strap no longer shows in view when running
• The Delta backpack no longer obstructs player vision in prone
• NPC’s limbs no longer clip through chest rigs
• Crye Precision Ranger Green shirt now reacts to wind properly
• Shadow flickering on weapons and environments was reduced significantly
• Holographic sight reticles no longer flicker when used with frame generation
• A rare issue where players would hold a weapon while holding a grenade in a 3PV view was fixed
• Various minor visual issues were fixed, including incorrect collisions, floating or sinking assets, or vegetation growing through solid objects

Technical updates and fixes

• Unreal Engine updated to version 5.4
• NVidia DLSS is available with any upscaling methods for NVidia 40 series cards
• FSR, DLSS, and XESS updated to the latest versions
• IMPORTANT: FSR Frame Generation is temporarily disabled for NVidia cards while we work on optimized implementation
• NVidia Reflex Low Latency is now turned on properly when switching to DLSS
• Graphical artifacts on the apparel screen or while scoping when using the Intel A770 GPU were fixed
• The screen no longer gets stuck after quitting the game or ending the expedition outside of the Base Camp
• Hitching when shooting from the helicopter was fixed
• Scope flickering when using FSR frame generation reduced/removed
• Flickering of the environment when using FSR frame generation was reduced in various situations
• The performance when ADSing with FSR frame generation enabled was improved

For more on the extraction shooter, you can check out how all the different factions work.