Survivalist: Invisible Strain News

Hello, and thanks to everyone who bought the game or helped spread the word after the launch last week! As you might expect with the influx of new players there have been some bug reports, so this is mainly about addressing those.

The biggest ones were probably on XBox - you weren't able to save your characters on the character creation screen, and people have been having trouble joining online games. As regards the latter when I tried joining someone myself I found that it worked but took a long time, and other people kept joining me while I was doing so, and each time they did the progress bar reset to the beginning. The first time you join someone in a Sandbox game it has to send their whole terrain over to you which can take a while (after that the static part of it is cached, so should be faster). And this transfer seems to take longer on XBox, so it's more noticeable. If you start from scratch each time someone joins you, and randos keep jumping in and then leaving, you can get stuck into a loop of it never finishing. So my fix was to stop it resetting just because someone joined you. Note to any XBox players reading this - this patch will be in publicbeta on Steam for a little while first before making its way to XBox.

Here's the full change list:

• Fix for people set to cook a particular type of meal and set to auto-deposit wood getting stuck in a loop when their campfire is out of fuel
  
• Fix for Probability of Infection shown by Brain Scanner for a character changing after hitting the road
  
• Fix for saving characters not working on XBox
  
• Fix for Morgan Harding sometimes informing a chicken that there are infected raiders on the way
  
• Fix for showing the F2 prompt for Community Screen on XBox in a couple of places
  
• Fix for your community members remembering 'you knocked someone out like a light' when you knocked out a zombie
  
• Fix for being able to target Kelly for 1 frame with the bow when she's playing dead
  
• Fixed some props around Wishkey Falls Militia belonging to other groups
  
• Some fixes for Charlie Gant
  
• When NPCs leave their original communities to form new ones the new ones names are known the player if they know the NPCs names (so they aren't shown as 'Unknown Community' forever)
  
• If you happen to move the camera close to an invisible strain character while they are moving towards someone to secretly attack them, they will stop and act like nothing is happening
  
• On the character creation screen, disable Start button if first name or surname is blank (or Community name, unless joining a network game)
  
• Possible fixes for getting stuck on Receiving Game State screen while trying to join a game on XBox
  
• Changed 'Lumberjack' option on action menu to say 'Set Role: Lumberjack' for consistency with other roles
  
• Updated Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Japanese, Indonesian, Italian, Latin American Spanish, European Spanish and Turkish translations
  

In addition, v243 is now on the main branch, and on XBox!

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v244 will be in the "publicbeta" branch on Steam for a while, before pushing it to the main game and to XBox. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

[p]It's done! Welcome to my game! I put zombies in it.

[/p][p]To celebrate the game leaving early access, some of the youtubers from the discord have been making videos or will be streaming over the course of the week, keep an eye out for them at the top of the store page![/p][p][/p][p]Yes, I intended the Early Access period to last "approximately one year" but it went on a bit longer than that! A lot has happened in that time - Story Mode, vehicles, friendships and relationships, chickens, constitution and rescuing, extortion squads, surrendering, alliances, infected weapons, hitting the road, numerous quality of life features (remember when you had to manually loot every corpse and sort your loot into buildings, or could only assign one role per person?), 11 complete translations, greatly expanded mod support, etc. Plus it's now on XBox Series![/p][p] [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]What does the future hold? As mentioned before I still haven't decided yet - one option would be to make another sequel, as I still have a long wishlist of ideas I would have dearly loved to put in this game. The other option is a new project that I have in my head which would really like to get out. It would share a lot of DNA with Survivalist though so, either way, Survivalist will continue in some form.

Meanwhile, the relentless march of publicbeta continues with the latest patch, v243. This concludes a playthrough and bug sweep I've been doing leading up to launch - here's the change list:

Fix for Morgan Harding staying stuck on the spot after she returns home after warning Tent City
Fix for kicking not causing damage in fisticuffs against allies
Fix for NPCs saying they know their leader would pay you to bring them food, when their leader is dead
Fix for characters getting stuck in a loop searching for containers if you set Carry Amount to 1 for cooking pots
For modders, if you set up a recipe to build a vehicle, it will be driveable once built
Don't show Abandon action for under-construction buildings (just demolish them instead)
Fix for Out Of Sync error when adding wood to a fire while having both wood and charcoal in inventory
Fix for NPCs getting stuck continually shooting and missing a camping stool
Fix for vehicles taking full damage when parked touching the dump truck
Fix for you losing approval if you loot the corpses of NPCs from the 'Turned' community
Fix for incorrect speech when sending Emma to the safe zone
Fix NPCs from a settlement with no campfires repeatedly picking up unconscious bodies to try to rescue them, but then dropping them immediately
Fix for character spinning round on the spot trying to pay respects to a corpse they are carrying
Fix for wrong backpack sometimes being equipped after you hit the road
Fix for Out Of Sync error on character creation screen when hitting the road sometimes
Updated Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, German, Hungarian, Latin American Spanish, Russian and Spanish translations
And the previous patch, v242, has made it to the main branch!

Some people have asked whether publicbeta will end now that Early Access is ending. The answer is no, it will continue to be the way I release patches :) And there will continue to be patches in future, at least because there are several translations being actively worked on.

[/p][h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3][p]v243 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind: Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".[/p]

Hello everyone, it's Easter patch day! It's the usual bug fixes and translations, but I did slightly break my "no more features" rule for one minor change - if you have something equipped which can't be used as a weapon or thrown (like a bandage, antigen, match, wood etc) and you press the Aim button (i.e. right-click on the mouse or LT on the gamepad) you will automatically equip a weapon. I can't see any downside to this and it makes it much less awkward and confusing if you get attacked while you happen to have something like that equipped - your instinct is to press Aim but prior to this change nothing would happen and it would take a few seconds to figure out why not, during which time you'd probably be getting bitten or beaten to death. It's especially awkward on gamepad because you can't just hit the shortcut keys to equip a weapon. Anyway, pretty small change, hope it doesn't have any unforeseen consequences.

Aside from that, I've removed the text saying Early Access and the version number from the bottom of the screen - it was useful but ugly and Early Access is ending soon, so if you want to know your version number check Settings / Patch Notes from now on. Here's the full change list:

• Removed Early Access Version text from bottom right corner of screen
  
• If you have a non-weapon equipped (e.g. bandages) and you press aim, automatically equip a weapon
  
• Fix for hint text telling you how to equip a weapon if you don't have any weapons
  
• Don't show keyboard shortcuts on weapons in equipment selector menu when using gamepad
  
• Fix for Pick Up action sometimes not saying (Stealing) when people nearby would consider it so and attack you
  
• Fix for people accosting you after you pick up a body even though you are crouching with a full camo meter
  
• Fixes for your character sometimes running or walking off back to their previous location as soon they wake up after being rescued
  
• Fix for true statements in the drinking game with Ava sometimes being things like 'Someone and someone are getting on pretty well!'
  
• Don't allow Kelly to be targeted with a bow while she's playing dead
  
• Fix for Kelly sometimes leaving you and then immediately being at war with you
  
• Fix for sometimes not being at war with Kelly if you say 'You shouldn't have tried to rob me, now reap the consequences!'
  
• Fix for a place on the Story Mode terrain where you could get stuck sliding
  
• Fix for people's health sometimes not being reduced when punched during feuds
  
• Fix for characters sometimes T-posing in multiplayer after turning into invisible strain zombies
  
• Fix for rare crash on loading screen
  
• Updated Czech, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Indonesian, Latin American Spanish and European Spanish translations
  

And v241 is going into the main branch!

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v242 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

Hey everyone, it's patch time! It's all about those bug fixes and translations these days, here's the change list:

• Fix for 'You still haven't given me the reward you promised earlier!' speech to Carter not working if spoken at a distance (e.g. if surrendering)
  
• Fix for equipment variation sliders on character creation screen not highlighting in red when selected with gamepad
  
• Fix for Survivalists being able to dig graves on a particular patch of road
  
• Fix for Malachi having a bad opinion of you if you lie successfully to him in one situation (when he shouldn't realize you lied)
  
• Fix for dialog options that can't be used, because you have the wrong personality for them, sometimes not being visible
  
• Fix for speech bubble from PiP being shown a bit further down on Steam Deck or other screens with taller than 16:9 resolutions
  
• Fix for crash in editor when inputting incorrect hex numbers for colors
  
• Fixed some bugs in speech formulae and added support for not '!' operator and scope brackets
  
• Fix for not being able to use mods you've already downloaded if you are offline
  
• Fix for some mods not working on Steam Deck
  
• Allow corpses to roll for longer before freezing if they are on a rocky slope, to fix cases where you're unable to pick up a corpse because it rolled onto a slope and you can't reach it
  
• Fix for FEMA not attacking you if you rescue someone they had quarantined and they see them loose, also increase the amount of gold needed to surrender after breaking someone out of prison
  
• Fix for FEMA or Survivalists picking a prisoner up and taking them to a fire if you knock them unconscious
  
• Fix for characters sometimes breaking stealth or dropping carried bodies to find warmth or change clothes (they should only do that if they are very cold)
  
• Some fixes for Carter, Malachi and FEMA outcomes of Vanished quest
  
• Fix for not being able to scroll the invaders panel on the map screen with gamepad
  
• Updated Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Indonesian and Traditional Chinese translations
  
• Fix for someone saying 'You had to attack %2'
  

As of this patch (v241, that is) I'm going to start compiling the build without the "Development Build" setting, which means you don't get that text in the bottom right of the screen saying "Development Build" and, in theory, it's a little faster - though I didn't notice any difference personally. It also means I get less detailed information when people report crashes, which is why I've waited so long to do that. But I can't keep having a thing saying "Development Build" on a game that's finishing development!

Also the previous patch, v240, has been promoted to the main branch :)

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v241 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

Hello, I've released a new small patch in publicbeta. This one is mainly focused on fixes for bugs at the beginning of Story Mode, in cases where the player does something a bit unexpected. Here are the changes:

• Fix for Carter being able to join you too early if you fight and defeat the FEMA Patrol, which causes a number of later quest bugs
  
• Fix for a situation where it was hard to have a conversation with a character because they were aware of a zombie that was inaccessible to them, and their AI kept wanting to attack it but failing
  
• Fix for Kelly trying to rob you after she's already joined you if you shoot her with an arrow before you reach her
  
• Lock player in place while talking if you surrender to Kelly at the beginning of story mode, to avoid new players unintentionally cancelling the surrender by moving around
  
• Fixed various glitches around the starting quest in story mode
  
• Stopped trash containers around Tent City from belonging to them so it's not considered stealing if you their take rags and empty bottles
  
• Editor crash fixes
  
• Updated Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Indonesian, Latin American Spanish, Polish, Russian and Spanish translations
  

I've also promoted the previous patch, v239, to the main branch.

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v240 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".