Survivalist: Invisible Strain News

Another small patch as I try to get a solid build to take all the publicbeta work from the last few months into the main branch. This is mostly fixing bugs where NPCs were a bit too keen to blame you for something bad that happened nearby, and trying to stop AI settlements from being destroyed too easily by random events without your input. Plus a crash fix. Fingers crossed this is the one.

• Fix for FEMA helicopters setting area ownership so the player can't chop wood near where they landed
  
• Fix for two people with one water bottle getting into a loop of swapping it between them instead of filling it and drinking
  
• Fix for NPCs with invisible strain passing it on when there are onlookers around
  
• Fix for NPCs blaming you for killing someone who activates invisible strain
  
• Fix for NPCs blaming you for the death of someone who died after feuding with someone else
  
• Fix for NPCs sometimes not burying people from other communities who died near their base
  
• Some small tweaks to try and stop looter communities getting into a doom loop of depression
  
• Fix for rare crash when someone gives supplies to someone else in extortion or similar scenarios
  

EDIT - I added a few more fixes in v168, and updated translations:

• Fix for occasional crash when NPCs remove items from a corpse they are going to bury
  
• Fix for extortion squads starting a war with you if your conversation gets interrupted by a zombie or raider attack
  
• Some fixes for traders building fires
  
• Updated French, Lithuanian, Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish translations
  

EDIT - v169, crash fix

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v169 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".

This is another patch that's mostly bug fixes, mixed with a few gameplay tweaks. I'm hoping to be able to move all this publicbeta work to the main branch soon, maybe this will be the one :)

After the last patch I got a bit worried that the extortion squads wandering all over the map were dying too often and leaving too much free loot around, so I've tried to address that by making them extort from each other a bit less. I've also made NPCs who bury people take their equipment from their corpses first, so it's not so easy to get rich by just grave robbing after a battle.

I've been playing the game on Hard mode and enjoying it a lot! Hardly any save tokens, less loot and fewer deer makes it feel closest to the survival experience I was aiming for. I'd say it's the recommended way to play, at least once you understand the mechanics.

Here are the patch notes:

• Fix for NPCs sometimes being able to detect if you knock someone out when you are not visible to them
  
• Possible fix for molotovs not damaging people when they hit a hillside
  
• Fix for traveller groups being created to occupy bases that the player has started taking over already
  
• Fix for NPCs not eating or drinking if you go into a building and stay in stealth mode, and there is food in the building or on their person
  
• Fix being able to bandage yourself, eat food etc from your inventory when you are unconscious
  
• Fix for white strain towns being created even if you set them to 0%
  
• Fix for builder teleporting sometimes if you start walking when inside a frame
  
• Probable fix for traders stealing food and getting themselves killed
  
• When NPCs bury someone they will remove their possessions first, so they aren't leaving so much free loot around the map
  
• Looters will extort other AI settlements less, as they were getting themselves killed too often. Also, increased the rent.
  
• Some fixes for extorters
  
• Some combat AI fixes
  

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v166 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".

Another small patch in the publicbeta branch (v163), fixing a crash and some other bits and bobs:

• Fix for crafters making stew or curry not marking it to be stored in a building, and so getting their inventory filled up with it
  
• Fix for builders (and others) not getting resources that were kept in motel rooms
  
• Possible fix for unconscious or sleeping characters shouting Stop Thief! when you steal something
  
• Fixes for some graphical glitches on the character info screen and map screen when you switch between characters
  
• Fix for crash when one builder completed a building while another was working on it
  
• Fix for animal feeders collecting more and more water bottles over time
  
• Tried to make NPC communities a little less likely to all get killed fighting each other
  
• Fix for NPCs having a negative memory of themselves winning a feud
  

EDIT - I've released another patch in response to comments below, v164, with a couple more fixes:

• Fix for lots of NPCs in AI settlements being assigned the lumberjack role
  
• Fix for NPCs not starting conversations in some situations where they should
  
• If an NPC wins a feud with their own community leader in an AI settlement, they'll become the leader
  

EDIT - and another, v165, with a crash fix.

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v164 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".

This is a smaller patch with a bunch of miscellaneous fixes and some translation updates. I'm trying to work on small stuff at the moment so that I don't introduce new bugs, so I can get the latest publicbeta build into the main branch. Feels like it should be possible soon!

• Hungarian, Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish updated
  
• Remove under construction buildings when a community is defeated
  
• Fix for infoscreen staying open if you quickload a game
  
• Fix for character sometimes not coming out of a building to reply to someone, if there's a zombie on the periphery
  
• Stop traders inventories from getting filled up with minerals
  
• You have to hold the Clear Crops button
  
• Allies bandage you for free
  
• Set default amount on equipment transfer dialog to 1 instead of the maximum, since we have the right-click shortcut to transfer all now
  
• Reinstated text that shows what someone said when you are choosing a reply, seems to have gotten broken a while back
  
• Fix for builders getting stuck if the next building in the queue can't be built due to lack of resources, but others after it would still be possible
  
• Fix for builders not working on a building if the builder who is set to do it is sleeping
  
• Fix for crafters sometimes not eating or sleeping
  
• Fix for people sleeping in buildings they just popped into temporarily to get some supplies
  
• Fix for lighting glitch in river water
  
• Crash fixes
  

EDIT - and I've released another one, v162, with a fix for the game fading to black and triggering the player rescue sequence if a player with no other community members falls unconscious from drinking too much alcohol.

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v162 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 have a done another patch in the publicbeta branch! The main thing in this one is that I overhauled the Builder role to make the queue "global" for all your builders, let you queue up to 100 buildings of any type, and to allow multiple builders to work on the same building at a time.



I also changed the Repair role so it will just keep repairing anything instead of having to be told what to repair. And I've added a gate for picket fences, and a "Block Animals" option, so you can make a nice enclosure for your chickens without them constantly escaping.



Then there's some more translation updates of the new text from v155, many thanks to all the translators again! That's the main stuff, the rest is just a lot of small tweaks and fixes that I got from people's bug reports and from starting another playthrough myself. Here's the full list:

• Updated Simplified Chinese, Korean, German, French, Hungarian and Latin American Spanish translations
  
• Multiple people can work on the same building, and you can queue up to 100 buildings of different types
  
• When you assign someone the Repair role they will stay in it and repair any building, not just the one you told them to
  
• Added picket fence gate
  
• Added Block Animals option to gates, so you can stop chickens escaping
  
• Added a world setting for whether traders often have save tokens, turned it off in Hard mode
  
• After going to a well or river for a drink, people will fill up their water bottle or watering can
  
• Made some speeches from other communities less likely to show in the PiP
  
• Show on action menu when mining or chopping wood near another community's base is classed as stealing. Stopped AI from automatically mining those areas.
  
• Reinstated old values for assassination and choke hold strength, they were right all along
  
• Made allies blue on minimap
  
• Fix for exploit in food for winter quest, where you can just keep buying the food back and selling it again for double the price
  
• Fix for infected tag not transferring when you transfer part of a stack of infected human meat
  
• Fix for equipment policy setting for Can Feed To Animals not being saved
  
• Fix for NPCs getting into a loop trying to bandage someone
  
• Fix for looter barricades glitching out and never disappearing when destroyed
  
• Fix for characters following the direct controlled player not being able to follow them through gates they opened, if the gates were set to Always Closed
  
• Fix for stealth XP being granted for killing chickens
  
• Fix for outhouses getting filled really quickly
  
• Fix for meat from animals that were bitten being infected (animals don't get infected, so nor does their meat)
  
• Fix for right-click to Buy button not working on traders
  
• Fix for being able to exploit following to get someone to stop feuding
  
• Fix for traders levelling up without trading with you
  
• Fix for flickering when game is paused in multiplayer
  
• Some fixes for character getting into loops with auto-deposit
  
• You can't restrain someone from another community if they are fighting someone from your community (it would be seen as hostile, you have to restrain your guy)
  
• Fix for crash in script editor when saving translated text if a translation sheet doesn't exist yet
  
• Fix for translations in script editor not being saved if they are on newly created speeches
  
• Reinstated mining of stone from mines if there are deposits there, and you can now see when stamping a mine which deposits are there
  
• Made animal feeders more likely to take more than one item at a time to the trough
  
• When you demolish a trap it will return the carrot or pipe bomb, unless the trap has been sprung
  
• Fix for occasional crash when character injects themselves with antigen, if you already did it from the UI
  

EDIT - released a quick follow-up patch, v160, to fix a bug I introduced where traders were getting stone in their inventories.

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v159 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".