What is the CTE?

The Community Test Environment (CTE) is a WIP developer test build of Insurgency: Sandstorm where New World Interactive tests bug fixes, upcoming content, and new features. While this client is primarily used internally, before major updates our team likes to give our players an exclusive preview of all the new weapons, maps, and features prior to the official release. However, this isn't the only reason why we have implemented a Community Testing Environment for our players.

We have introduced the public CTE within Sandstorm so our team is able to utilize it as a means to gather crucial feedback and reports that overall, helps make our games the best that they can be.

Please note that content shown in the Community Test Environment is not final, and may or may not be implemented into the public version.

When and How to Access the CTE

When a public CTE opens, players will be able to access the full capabilities and features that the “Insurgency: Sandstorm Community Test Environment” app has to offer. The CTE will close at the end of the specified testing phase, however, the CTE will still be utilized for testing future patches/updates. You can actively check our Twitter or Steam Community Tab for details on future tests.

When it’s time for our community to access the Community Test Environment, it’s fairly easy to get started and into the build as long as you follow these steps!

1. All Insurgency: Sandstorm owners should see an app titled “Insurgency: Sandstorm Community Testing Environment” showing up in their Steam libraries. Simply install it and click ⮞PLAY. If you are having difficulties locating the app, try refreshing your Steam Library.

   

2. If you’ve participated in our Community Test Environment in the past, you should be able to launch with no issues. However, please ensure that “auto-update” is turned on within your Steam Client. If you continue to experience difficulties after doing this, a full fresh install will usually take care of any lingering issues.
   
   NOTE: You only need to download the CTE version if you want to be part of our community testing.

CTE Recording/Streaming Guidelines

There are no restrictions on recording, streaming, or discussing the CTE. However, it’s important to disclose to potential viewers that the recorded gameplay is from the testing environment.

If you’re an Insurgency: Sandstorm content creator and are interested in having early access to future CTE’s, please consider applying for our Community Partner Program.

Providing Feedback on the CTE

As we mentioned earlier, a big reason that our studio conducts these testing environments is to collect feedback from the player-base. NWI recognizes that our community plays a huge part in the development process, which again, helps make Insurgency: Sandstorm the best it can be. When providing feedback, please keep to the topic of the CTE and be as detailed as possible in your description. An ideal post would be a writeup that includes any relevant screenshots, videos, replication steps, etc. We will try to gather as much information as possible during the tests, however, please keep in mind that we may not be able to respond to every request. The type of feedback that we’re looking for includes but is not limited to;

• General bug reports

• Map exploits

• Playability and retention 

• Overall feature quality

While we don’t restrict where players post their feedback regarding CTE's online, our team greatly appreciates it when the community reports their feedback directly to the developers. The reasoning behind this is so that we can obtain a centralized group of information to act on as soon as possible, rather than having to search through various social platforms trying to find user-reported issues. 

When a new CTE drops, our communications team will post an official announcement and forum thread on our Steam News Hub where players can discuss any CTE feedback that needs to be addressed. Written feedback on the official forums is definitely the easiest way for us to track and monitor any potential questions/concerns. However, you can also submit a support ticket or send an e-mail to support@newworldinteractive.com so we can redirect the given CTE reports to the appropriate department(s). 

Thank you for your interest in Insurgency: Sandstorm’s community testing events, we hope to see you at the next live CTE!