[Updated info on Weapon Retrofits] (Edited on June 27th)

With the retrofits released in June, we changed the weapon hardpoint textures on the Shadow Hawk to unpaintable gunmetal instead of matching them to the ‘Mech’s various camo pattern textures. We made this choice to keep consistency with all the other current and new ‘Mechs’ weapon textures being designed this way: as unpaintable gunmetal.

However, after reviewing community feedback on the June retrofits, we will be changing the Shadow Hawk’s weapon textures to look as close as possible to the camo painted weapon hardpoints it previously had.  

In order for the Texture Artists to repaint textures on each weapon for the Shadow Hawk and/or other possible retrofit adjustments from the feedback, the list of ‘Mech Weapon Retrofits in July and August will currently remain undetermined until Patch Notes are released.

While old weapon hardpoints are removed, new weapon hardpoints take place where every piece must be textured, assigned a material, and then painted with every camo pattern that the ‘Mech supports with approximately over 25-30 patterns per ‘Mech, 

‘Mech hardpoints consist of many different weapons where each is painted to match seamlessly to the ‘Mech’s surrounding camo pattern and materials. 

For example in the image below, the Dragon ‘Mech’s weapon retrofitted hardpoints in the front center torso, side torso and arms, you can see the red pieces which represent the geometry that change depending on the equipped loadouts, while the white geometry represents the ‘Mech body.

Looking at the second image below of our CURRENT non-retrofitted Dragon Hero ‘Mech, the pattern would be significantly modified if the retrofitted version above each hardpoint piece of geometry was not re-painted exactly like the original with the pattern on the front. This is where some ‘Mechs can take significantly more time than others to replicate its’ original appearance and details with the number of red geometry pieces to re-paint.