Survivalist: Invisible Strain News

I guess I should have done a news post here with each patch but I've been releasing a patch once per week pretty much and I felt like that would be a bit spammy for people that aren't doing beta testing, so I just posted them in the Discord channel instead. Once the game is in Early Access I'll post all patch notes here though. I feel like it's at a point where it could launch quite soon, let's say in the first few months of 2020. (Fingers crossed!)

The biggest news is I've got online co-op working now, albeit in a rough state with some fixes still needed. But that was the biggest item on the todo list before launching early access so it's great to have that out the way before the year ended.

Until then, if you want to join in the beta testing I've still got a few keys left from the 2nd round (and I guess I might do a 3rd round before launch). Email me at and ask to be put on my mailing list and given a key - if there aren't any keys left I'll mail out when more are available.

Here are all the patch notes since I posted up to v13 in August:

• Players joining online co-op games can create their own character
  
• Fixes for crash and out of sync errors
  

• Fixes for Online Co-op Settings menu
  
• Fixed Invites
  
• Fixed Voice Chat
  
• Crash fixes
  

• Online Co-op enabled (but still work in progress!)
  
• Show watchtower, not character, inventory if you open it on a character in a watchtower
  
• Fix for not being able to use dpad/arrow keys to navigate inventory if a quest notification pops up
  
• Split mouse target-switching sensitivity slider into two sliders so head/legs switching can be more sensitive
  
• Various crash fixes
  
• Fix for AI getting stuck in a building where one entrance was blocked off
  

• Fix for assert in spawnpoints
  
• Fixes for roads not terminating properly on generated terrain
  
• Fix for assert when suspecting someone of attacking you
  
• Fix for terrain deformations not being saved
  
• Other crash fixes
  

• Small delay before characters react to a zombie seeing them and attacking, so you can see who initiated
  
• Some fixes to map generator glitches
  
• Fix for people sometimes not falling over if you legshot them
  
• Fix for crash when stealing something
  
• Fix for farmers sometimes planting outside their zones
  
• Make characters prefer to get nearby empty bottles which they can fill, instead of getting far away full bottles
  
• Fix for raiders having too many molotovs
  
• Fix for raiders hanging back and not attacking at all if your base is surrounded by concrete walls or wire fences
  
• Fix for NPCs sometimes feuding against someone who isn't feuding against them
  
• Fix for not being able to set negative key on Select Action in Controls Settings
  
• Some new dialog for blaming someone for leading zombies to kill someone, also fixed a bug that made it more likely they would attack you
  
• Stop people who are crafting ammo from depositing it all if they have a weapon that can use it
  
• Editor crash fix when adjusting terrain height
  
• Editor fixes for spawning fallen trees
  
• Fix for characters getting too much water when building concrete structures
  
• Stop your community from attacking looters if they are in a house and the looters are outside, unless ordered to. Also added some dialogue.
  
• Split terrain out from savegames (needed for multiplayer, which is not enabled yet)
  

• Show community and lead character name on savegames
  
• Crash fixes and more logging
  
• Fix for map editor crashing on starting a new map
  
• Fix for archery speech not working in bunnies quest
  
• Cheek size fix
  

• Pathfinding fix
  
• Fix for characters getting stuck in a loop between burying someone and warming themselves by a fire
  

• Fix for characters getting stuck in fight state
  

• Stop feuds from being lethal
  
• Fix for crash in AlertGoal
  

• Non-infected characters limp when hit in the legs
  
• Fix for NPCs not stopping watching fights when antagonists die
  
• Fix for divide by zero error
  
• Fix for NPCs who are forced to join your community immediately fighting with everyone
  

• Fix for animation glitch when someone zombifies
  
• Added ability to multiple-select characters by cursor drag box, and order them to go somewhere or attack someone etc
  
• Gate policy setter
  
• If enemies are outside a fence and inaccessible, don't stay in the attack state
  
• Dampened morale calculation so it takes more negative events to make someone depressed
  
• Fix for NPCs not reacting if you burn down a building they are in
  
• Make equipment notifications faster
  
• Fix for characters teleporting when they light a fire
  
• Make farmers prefer to harvest crops closest to where they were assigned to farm
  
• Menu actions to locate equipment in the community tab
  
• Ability to set custom names for your community's buildings
  

• Community Traceability meter
  
• Randomized town names
  
• Some sound tweaks
  
• Fixed some female hair/forehead intersecting glitches
  
• Fixed head size glitch
  
• Warn if you try to start a game without spending all your skill/equipment/clothing points
  
• Capped damage from leg attacks
  
• Armor indicator on enemy health bars
  
• Show name of person who is buried in a grave, if known
  
• Ability to pause and resume roles instead of just cancelling them
  
• Crash fix in FindBuildingToShootFrom
  
• Fix for fights not ending when someone dies
  
• Don't allow player to direct control characters while they are feuding
  

• Stopped looters who surrender from starting fights immediately, and other fixes for fighting within communities
  

• Fix for hint message not showing why you can't use the Still
  
• Fix for bug where character would oscillate between getting ammo and crafting
  
• Added more dialog to explain relationships better, and made the love triangle dialog work
  
• Made it possible for people within a community to fight each other, if they dislike each other enough
  
• Fix for crash when placing a building
  

• Added target switching indicators, and mouse-target-switching sensitivity slider in Controls Settings
  
• DS4 controls settings fixes
  

• Made cooking pot bigger (and heavier)
  
• Mute game when window loses focus
  
• Made chests locked so other communities don't steal your stuff from out of them
  
• Fix for raider/horde bodies being deleted too quickly
  
• Fix for people sometimes trying to introduce themselves to you through solid walls and being unable to reply
  
• Crafting fixes
  
• Increased number of NPCs that get spawned in sandbox (with larger communities)
  
• Added more gang name variations and prevented gangs with the same name being generated on one map
  
• Added PS4 controller support
  
• Fix for rocks etc being generated in front of doors of houses
  
• Ensure traders always have large backpacks
  
• Fix for some resolutions not showing in graphics settings
  
• Make inventory sorting apply to quick-select with mouse wheel too
  
• Fix for graves being spawned inside areas enclosed by the player
  
• Another fix for communities sometimes not being generated with enough crops
  
• Stop characters from accumulating containers, make them eat without removing the container from the building it's in
  

• Fix for looters attacking you if they get interrupted by a zombie while shaking you down
  
• New dialog options for when you get shaken down by looters
  
• Hugging
  
• Fix for camouflage icon not including people that are far away
  
• Possible fix for particle system crash
  
• Fix for plants with seeds not harvesting any crops if they were planted at skill level 1 or 2
  
• Show arrows to indicate exits on buildings etc when you are placing them
  

• Fix for builders continually chopping down more trees instead of chopping up nearby fallen ones
  
• Fix for clothes points not being changed when season slider is changed on character creation screen
  

• Show the crafting dialog even if you don't have all ingredients, so you can see what they are
  
• World tab on character creation screen
  
• Ability to zoom in when in fly mode
  
• Inventory Sorting
  
• Character Sorting
  
• Demolition fix
  
• Fix for AI sometimes getting stuck in a loop while surrendering
  
• Fixes for some menu glitches
  

• Crash fix
  
• Fix for quests sometimes failing immediately
  

• Show equipment type names on crafting dialog & some other tweaks to crafting and finding stuff
  
• Crash fixes
  

• If you have a weapon when you choke hold someone, re-equip it automatically afterwards
  
• Stay crouched if told to go somewhere in command mode while crouching
  
• Stop NPCs saying you need bandages etc if they don't like you or you haven't been introduced
  
• Fix for stats flickering on community page
  
• Fix for incorrect cursor clipping at some resolutions
  
• Fix for hitting A not doing anything while R2 is held when trying to escape a zombie
  
• NaN assert fix in tree collision detection
  
• Fix for looter getting stuck in a loop shaking someone down
  
• Ability to demolish campfires, put them out with water, or take them over from dead communities by adding wood
  
• Clear space around sandbox generated campfires
  
• More explanation on error messages when using a campfire, chopping wood etc
  
• Make AI have more empathy with former community members
  
• Indicate if a community is hostile on map
  
• Don't show Set Role: Farmer option when targeting wells, as it makes it harder to select bottles
  
• Made molotov range shorter
  
• When calculating visible tiles, give higher priority to the controlled character
  
• If a body is unconscious from hypothermia don't consider it stealing to pick it up
  
• Some inventory optimizations
  
• Yet another fix for AI communities starving in early spring!
  
• Fix for enemies with melee weapons just standing there if in combat with someone in a tower
  
• Fix for enemies still spawning in enclosed areas that join slopes such as the edge of the map
  
• Fix for not being able to vault over picket fences
  
• Fix for not being able to type in numbers on transfer equipment amount dialog
  
• Female zombie sounds
  

• Don't create lobbies for matchmaking (yet!)
  
• Added day/season text on community screen
  

• Fix for crash on exiting editor
  
• Show rocks with lead or flint deposits when you hover over them on the map
  
• Add fitness & construction skill progression for chopping trees and mining
  
• Capture block/skip button when you are targeting a friendly character to talk to them, so you don't accidentally block when intending to skip a conversation
  
• Show your current level when viewing a skill book in a trader's inventory
  
• Fix for stealth not working against zombified ex-community members
  
• Don't get quests referring to communities that are all dead
  
• Fix for fences sometimes wrongly showing the under construction model
  
• Fix for raiders melee-attacking you with molotovs
  
• Fix for crashes in equipment spawner
  
• Small optimizations
  
• Added debug slider for tree lod bias
  
• Started on Graphics Settings page
  
• Added Large Sealed Container
  
• Show more details about liquid containers on UI, and fixed some bugs crafting salads
  
• Fix for crashes in equipment spawner
  
• Tree collision fix
  
• Show more info on savegames
  
• Fix for liquid being lost when pouring from larger container to smaller one
  
• Volume slider for background sounds
  
• Fix for glitchy-looking AI/animation when moving towards someone for melee attack
  

• Failsafe for when characters get stuck on an impassable tile
  

• Fix for crash in speech parameters
  

• Fixes for map editor crashes
  
• Fix for characters set to craft food constantly trying to deposit it but not succeeding
  

• Distinguish between stealthy stealing and robbery in memory/approval (i.e. it's more serious when you threaten someone)
  
• Some fixes and tweaks to try to stop traders from starving
  
• Hold button to demolish, abandon or steal something
  
• Fix for AI collecting lots of empty water bottles in their inventory
  
• Show remaining strength of body armor and helmet in inventory
  
• Fix for followers uncrouching when you target them to talk to them
  
• Clear flowers on tiles where you try to plant crops
  
• Dialog options to give or sell food to hungry people
  
• Guards in towers are protected from rain
  
• Made it possible to switch seeds while in crop patch setting mode
  
• Made radio icons on map scale depending on zoom
  
• Fix for farmers only getting one seed at a time
  
• Fix for characters sometimes equipping items they don't own anymore after using the bathroom
  
• Allow headshots with ranged weapons at skill level 2, as it felt like there's a really big step up from level 2 to 3
  
• Fix for characters often hopping over nearby bins when you try to loot something
  
• Fix for characters getting stuck when they get shot out of watchtowers
  
• Stop molotovs from damaging your own team or buildings when aimed at an enemy
  
• Fix for app window disappearing when you try to drag it around
  
• Fix for offer gift menu sometimes showing when there are no giftable items
  
• Fix for subgoal not possible crash
  
• Added some logging to try to track down error in GetTileHeightAtPos
  
• Fix for crafting materials disappearing without producing anything when you craft two items in a row
  
• Fix for followers not entering buildings when there are enemies nearby
  
• Fix for some UI textures showing as blurry when game quality is set to Low
  

So I've started doing some alpha testing on Survivalist: Invisible Strain, and gotten a lot of really great feedback already, which I'm going to be busy working on over the next few weeks.

I'll be giving out keys in groups of 100 every now and then once I feel I've made enough improvements and need some fresh testers (first batch is already gone, sorry!). If you want to get involved the best way is to email me and ask to be put on my mailing list. Here's my email address:

When I'm ready to do another round of testing, I'll email everyone on the list and let you know.

Keep in mind it is just alpha testing so there's still a lot of stuff that doesn't work. If you mostly just want to play a fun game it's better wait a bit longer.

Another way to keep up with what's going on is join the Discord channel, which has really taken off.

Anyway, I figured I ought to start putting patch notes on these news posts so here's the changelist so far:

• Fix for not being able to set people to guard concrete watchtowers and pillboxes
  
• Removed comma from inventory weight
  
• Fix for not being to target your zombified ex-community members
  
• Fix AI attacking you if you shoot their zombified ex-community members
  
• Fix for MoveToAndDeposit crash
  
• Fix for rabbit slide crash
  
• Fix for sometimes spawning behind barricades on edge of map
  
• Fix for conversation AI getting stuck after a teammate gets bitten
  
• Unequip save tokens when you use them
  
• Hint text that you can add wood to fires that have burned out
  
• Flatten ground around campfires and tents
  
• Fix for fire and smoke effects from a previous game remaining when you load a new one
  
• Don't take more resources than we need to finish a building
  
• Make it possible to demolish individual fences while under construction
  
• Some more fixes to try and stop AI communities from starving
  

• Fix for inventory items not being highlighted
  
• Fix for changing weapons interrupting speech
  
• Some fixes and tweaks to melee combat behaviour
  
• Fix for not being able to lie about killing someone in a rebellion quest
  
• Fix for getting stuck in a house after vaulting over some bins
  
• Fix for being able to lead looters far from their bases when they try to shake you down
  
• Fix for watchtowers spawning next to obstructions, sometimes trapping characters
  
• Fix for character icons sometimes showing the wrong character
  
• Various fixes for AI communities dying due to running out of food in the winter
  
• Made raiders less likely to have guns, helmets and molotovs, and the higher strain hordes a little smaller
  
• Made wind-up radios a little more common
  
• Made encouragement effect last longer
  
• Made refugees easier to recruit
  
• Repopulate AI communities over time if they have lost members
  

• Fix for memory leak when pause menu is open
  
• Stop your guards in watchtowers from using up ammo shooting targets that are too far away to get an accurate shot
  
• Tweaked the way ranged weapon accuracy is calculated so higher skill levels are a bit more accurate at long range
  
• Allow farming with 0 skill
  
• Fix for farmers not depositing harvested seeds in buildings
  
• Fix for some props such as workbenches being invulnerable, meaning looters would attack them forever, ultimately causing a massive slowdown
  
• Fix for looters staring at campfires instead of attacking you
  
• Fix for zombies getting trapped if blocked on 3 sides
  
• Fix for characters not attacking enemies if they are sitting round a fire
  
• Fix for not being able to build concrete buildings
  
• Increased watering can weight to take into account the amount of water it carries
  
• Fix target body location resetting when you switch targets
  

• Fix for crash when hovering over wood in inventory
  

• New zombie sounds (test)
  
• Fix for cooks getting stuck going into and out of houses unable to deposit seeds they harvested
  
• Fix for save tokens not being removed if you press F9 to save, and then reload
  
• Fix for crash when melee attacking a rabbit
  
• Fix for occasional crash in notification when someone dies
  
• Fix for sometimes taking someone's pants by accident when looting a corpse ;)
  
• Fix for pip cam going crazy when you sprint while at x4 speed
  
• Upgraded to Unity 2019.1.10f1
  
• Fixed a bunch of memory leaks
  

• Added smoothed mouse look (can be switched off on the Rotate Camera/Pitch Camera rows of the controls settings screen)
  
• Added a toggle for mouse acceleration
  
• Fix for invert not being saved, on controls settings screen
  

• Fix for occasional crash when selling items
  
• Fix for occasional crash in character customization screen
  
• Downgraded 'Screen position out of view frustum' error to warning, that sometimes happens when you look at the sky
  
• Fix for crash if there's an error while loading a savegame
  
• If raiders can't get to you, let them pause to get food/drink if needed
  
• Fix for 'Character is crouching while in UncrouchAnim' crash
  
• Fix for crash in LeaveBuildingAndMoveTo
  
• Remain targeting the same body location when switching between targets
  

• Fix for error referring to invalid gold after paying someone to skin a rabbit
  
• Fix for crash when mining a boulder
  
• Fix for crash in controls settings when pressing multiple buttons at the same time
  

• Fix for campfires not being usable if you create them on top of a piece of trash
  
• Partial fix/added logging for overfilled watering can bug
  
• Fix for exploit using arrow buttons on trading screen
  
• When you start a new sandbox game, save the game once immediately for free
  
• Allow melee weapons to do leg attacks at skill level 0
  
• Slightly decreased mouse sensitivity when switching targets
  
• Crash fixes
  

• Fix for crash when someone in another part of the map picks up a corpse
  
• Fix for crash when clicking Load Latest Save after dying, if there are no savegames to load
  
• Fix for crash when using a save token from the corpse of a zombie
  
• Fix for skin color slider not working on character creation screen
  
• Added mouse sensitivity slider in Controls screen
  

• Fix for error when saving settings file for the first time
  

• Various fixes
  

• Sandbox Mode, etc
  

Hello and welcome to the store page for Survivalist: Invisible Strain, the upcoming sequel to Survivalist! I'll be slowly adding to it over time, so click the Follow button to be informed of updates.