OPERATOR Patch Notes — April 2, 2026
Aggregated from Steam, cross-tracked with Battle.net coverage on GamePatchNote.
Welcome to the V09 Devlog!
Originally going to be named v081, we have added a lot more than originally planned and this has turned into a major update! Release date is at the bottom of the blog.
MOVEMENT AND PLAYER SYSTEMS
This update bring significant changes to player movement and interaction.
We have added Vaulting, Mantling, Sprint Stamina and a Weight System!
Vaulting and Mantling
By holding spacebar, you can now Vault over any waist high object and Mantle on top of them. Additionally, you can step over any knee height object using the same keybind.
Sprint Stamina
You can no longer sprint forever, effected by your weight you can only sprint so far at a time before needing to rest.
Weight System
We have added a brand new weight system to OPERATOR. The weight system takes into account every piece of gear on your body, including character gear, weapons, weapon mods, magazines, individual rounds of ammo, grenades, everything!
The heavier you are, the slower you will move and the faster you will lose stamina. Eventually you will lose the ability to jog and sprint.
Sloped Movement
Additionally, we have added slope penalties for more immersive movement. Moving up or down hill will significantly slow down your player, this also includes stairs and any other sloped objects.
Alternative Variable Crouch
In v09 you can now change your height by holding the crouch button and scrolling. This is just like holding control key and dragging your mouse up and down but instead you can move your mouse around,
WEAPONS AND GEAR
We have made several improvements to Gunplay in V09. These include recoil tweaks, new recoil camera shake, new suppression effects and several core bug fixes.
Recoil
We have reworked the camera shake from recoil to make each weapon feel punchier and more realistic. additionally we tweaked the recoil animations for several weapons which were previously harder to use. There is also a small camera shake during suppression, all these changes make the gunfights significantly more immersive and intense.
Ballistic Fixes and Improvements
Bullets
We have fixed and improved several issues with bullets. In these fixes we fixed the bullet penetration system. The bullets used to miss/skip several hits after a penetration, for example, aiming for the chest but the arms are blocking it. Before it would only hit the arms and skip the chest. Dealing an unrealistic amount of damage. Now in v09 it will hit both the arm and the chest precisely. This further extends to walls and any object in the game. The bullet penetration is now super precise and reliable.
We have also improved the ballistic model on surfaces, now each surface has different properties for deflection, richochets, penetration, damage falloff and speed reduction.
Gunplay Fixes and Improvements
Weapon Sway and Deadzone Movement
We have identited several issues with weapon sway, deadzone which caused the effects to be fps dependant. Meaning at lower frame rates or during hitches the weapon sway and deadzone effects will not work correctly, working slower and inconsistantly.
In V09 all these issues are fixed, resulting in smoother gameplay and gunplay no matter the fps.
Additionally we have made a brand new weapon walking sway. Looking more natural and fluid
All these combined provide a smoother more consistant experience you will notice upon playing v09.
ATAK
We have made several improvements to the ATAK system including the dropping of munitions.
In v09 you can now drop multiple bombs in the space of 1 second. These will land where the center of the ATAK was when you pressed the drop button.
We have also fixed several desync and networking problems, so no more questioning if the ATAK will actually drop that bomb.
Additionally we have improved the ATAKs camera controls, the direction of movement is now relative to your current view, meaning if you push up, the camera will move up. No more janky movement.
Armor Plate Customization
In V09 you can now customize your armor plate!
You can modify your plates by pressing the modify button on the vest, same as with patches.
To start with there is NIJ 3A (soft armor) NIJ III, NIJ III+, and NIJ IV. Each with seperate weights and protection levels.
Character Customisation UI Improvements
A minor change but we have improved the visual look of the character customisation.
Reticle Brightness
in v09 you can now finally adjust your red dot brightness, default key binds are up and down arrow keys.
Animation
We have made several improvements to weapon and interaction animations. Introducing smooth transitions between interactions. Before it used to snap, in v09 its smooth. This applies to everything first person, including interaction with doors, power switches, etc. These arent new animations but rather just improvements made on the technical side. Brand new animations will come with Operator V10 later this year.
New Weapons
There are a total of 4 new weapons in v09.
Starting with the M9 Berreta and M9A4
MCX LVAW (Modify the MCX)
KAC KS1 (Modify the M4A1)
We have also remade the TT 2011 Pitviper and have also added the 2011 Sand Viper!
MISSION INFILTRATION AND EXFILTRATION
In v09, you can now select your own individual infil and exfils!
You can now have multiple infils and exfils, meaning players dont have to spawn at the same infils as each other anymore. One player can choose Alpha 1 and the other player can choose Alpha 2. This greatly extends the tactical capabilites of each mission.
This means you can have a cinematic infiltration with 3 or more helicopters all flying into the same or surrounding compound with true operator immersion.
Helicopter Exfiltration
You can now call in helicopters after you have completed the missions objective to come and extract you. These animated exfils add heighten immersion and gameplay satisfaction.
ENEMY AI
We have made several improvements to AI in v09. The AI are more defensive, coordinated and in general more intelligent. They can also now throw grenades and flank you.
Additionally, we have added a new enemy type: Suicide bombers
Suicide Bombers
Suicide bombers are ruthless, they will rush you without fear, swearing and wishing death upon you and will not hesitate to blow themselves up at the first opportunity. Only appearing on Kabul Streets and the new Combat Outpost Cobra defend mission. Make sure you keep your distance. You can try to shoot the explosive to prematurely detonate them, but this is easier said than done. Good luck with these.
New AI Behaviours
The AI will now be more effective in groups, with improved accuracy, confidence, and aggression. You will notice them taking cover more often and providing suppression while their teammates move up. Additionally, you will see them attempt to flank you. This is a rarer behaviour to see in action, but they can and will do it if you allow them to.
When alone, they are more likely to become defensive and fall back to cover, losing their confidence and accuracy. These ones are sneaky, so make sure you clear every angle, as every angle is now a threat.
Every enemy has frag grenades. They calculate grenade usage based on many factors, including distance to the target, how long they have been engaged with the target, and a percentage chance. It is uncommon for them to throw a frag grenade, but when they do, it is very deadly.
GRAPHICAL IMPROVEMENTS
We have made several improvements to our post-processing and lighting effects, providing less saturated and more realistic visuals.
In v09, we have achieved more realistic graphics and lighting by refining our techniques, providing the following before-and-after results. You will notice smoother, more natural lighting as well as better-lit environments. You will also notice that there are no harsh lighting transitions between interiors and exteriors through windows.
Armory
Clean House
Gerogia
Armenia
Kabul Streets
Mexico
NEW MAPS
in v09 there are 3 new maps. All based in the Middle East.
(keep note we plan to give each operation more memorable names in the future)
starting with...
Logar Province, Afghanistan
HVT Elimination
Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Eastern Syria
HVT Elimination
COP Cobra, Afghanistan
Area Defense
OPTIMISATION
in V09 we have made major improvements to CPU and GPU optimisation. You will experience higher fps and higher average fps. We have made significant improvements towards hitching and rendering. Designing our own custom rendering solution for large scenes and vegetation, Not only is this new solution more stable, it is faster and allows us for bigger scale maps with better fps. We have also added a shader warming solution, this quickly warms up all shaders for your pc for smoother performance.
Additionally, we have updated to DLSS 4.5, introducing DLSS presets CNN, Preset K, Preset L and Preset M. Preset K, Preset L and Preset M providing better quality at a small cost.
Other than rendering, we have made several optimisations to AI, Players, Weapons and Movement. Additionally we have enabled Unitys new GPU Resident Drawer technology which improves fps even further by better utilising your hardware.
We have also updated to the latest version of Unity (Unity 6.3 LTS)
MISC
Door Desync Fixes and Interaction Improvements
We have fixed all known desync issues with doors. Additionally in v09, when you blow up a door you can just grab the handle and move your mouse to drag around the door. This is a much more effective method other than scrolling and feels much more intuitive.
Steam Cloud Save Support
We have added Steam cloud save support, now your save game including presets, weapons, character, progression etc will cross over between machines. As a result of this, all console commands saved to a keybind will be lost. Everything else will be migrated over.
Shooting Range Target Impact new SFX
We have enhanced the impact sfx of impacting a target at the long range shooting range. You and everyone else will hear a audiable (ding) when you impact steel. Additionally we extended the max range you can hear it from. You can now hear the impact of the 3km target (although very softly). It also accounts for the speed of sound, so it will take around 8 seconds to hear the ding from that impact at 3km (1.86 miles).
RELEASE DATE
When will V09 release? This Saturday on the 4th of April.
Thank you for your continued support and we hope you are excited as we are for OPERATOR v09!
VECTOR INTERACTIVE