The Last Plague: Blight News

[p]Got another set of improvements and fixes for everyone in this next update! Things are starting to look pretty solid with the v.0.12.x updates, work is now geared mostly towards planning out the full 1.0 release path and working on that. Expect a more detailed post about it soon![/p][p][/p][p]Improvements:[/p]

• [p]Allowed bow to be stored in belt slots with new left-handed equip animation[/p]
• [p]Allowed small backpack (seen on NPCs) to be placeable like other backpacks[/p]
• [p]Added custom game option to change chance of NPC camps being hostile (default 33%)[/p]
• [p]Added better quiver model[/p]

[p]Fixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed wooden shield and reinforced wooden shield infinitely falling through ground when dropped[/p]
• [p]Fixed sole plate/lumber post connection logic not correctly registering all relevant sole plates in certain cases. After the previous update to strengthen these connections, there would be cases where destroying a sole plate would cause a post to fall even though there were other sole plates visually connected[/p]
• [p]Fixed some interactions not starting via the UI due to incorrect range checks - interactions like harvesting animals, igniting the fire pit, etc.[/p]
• [p]Fixed belt slot quick equip not working when bow is held (due to logic missing for offhand slot auto-equip)[/p]
• [p]Fixed NPC camps generating in swamps[/p]
• [p]Fixed new joining player tutorial tasks not properly set if joining while the host player is still customizing their character[/p]
• [p]Fixed a few uncaught errors around interaction handling that could lower performance[/p]

[p]Hey everyone, got another huge bunch of fixes and improvements done in this update. There have been a few pretty deep-rooted issues introduced in v0.12.0 around disappearing player characters and bad inventory state that have hopefully been fixed for good. Please do let me know if you still see your character disappearing or any of the other issues mentioned in this update that should have been fixed.[/p][p][/p][p]Improvements[/p]

• [p]Improved third-person melee attack targeting to feel much more reliable - the attack check was only done from the crosshair, but now it factors in the zone directly in front of the character[/p]
• [p]Increased mouse drag distance detection for dragging item stacks so it's easier to shift+click an item instead of accidentally dragging it[/p]
• [p]Prevented naturally growing plants from blocking structure placement[/p]
• [p]Removed unnecessary AI idle pathing calculations that were causing a performance drop[/p]
• [p]Loosened structural connection logic when taking apart certain building pieces - taking apart a sole plate will no longer destroy the posts it's attached to unless that post has no other sole plates, and taking apart support beams will no longer destroy attached floors/posts as long as there are other beams taking the load[/p]
• [p]Added a popup alert when autosave takes longer than 2 seconds. During testing it seems that there are cases where a long-running autosave could destabilize the world state and cause all sorts of artifacts to appear. Forcing the game to pause helps eliminate that risk. The alert is bounded to 2 minutes so the game is still recoverable if there is a save-related hang[/p]

[p]Fixes[/p]

• [p]Fixed error in inventory management causing a cascading failure and potential disappearance of player (and hand cart) as the player moves around[/p]
• [p]Fixed exiting the game during an autosave causing the resulting save to be corrupted in certain ways - generally you would see your character disappear with only held weapons/backpack visible after loading such saves[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing player character after a load from the above described bad save. Unfortunately there is no way to recover the correct player customization options so the character will default to the initial male character[/p]
• [p]Fixed objects disappearing when looking up in third-person mode on the second or third floor[/p]
• [p]Fixed sit interaction for co-op joining player not cancellable[/p]
• [p]Attempted to prevent frozen UI/controls for co-op joining players when awaking from sleep[/p]
• [p]Fixed error causing Elric's item hand-in task to not progress[/p]
• [p]Fixed interaction range calculations to avoid UI appearing and disappearing instantly after clicking on an object to move towards it and interact[/p]
• [p]Fixed hostile creature behavior not properly respecting "aggression" values after v0.12.0 overhaul - this was making coyotes and wolves continue to attack when they should be backing away[/p]
• [p]Fixed creature and NPC melee attack ranges being longer than they should be[/p]
• [p]Fixed boars never becoming hostile and ignoring player attacks[/p]
• [p]Fixed held wooden shield collider interfering with and preventing proper hand cart and wheelbarrow use[/p]
• [p]Attempted to reduce/eliminate instances of terrain modifications reverting when leaving and returning to an area - please let me know if you still run into this[/p]
• [p]Fixed co-op players not seeing Elric when he first visits the player camp[/p]
• [p]Fixed some interaction edge cases where pressing ESC could leave interactions stuck instead of cancelling cleanly[/p]
• [p]Fixed a lot of missing localization errors when running the game with a Turkish locale set on your computer[/p]
• [p]Fixed items inside mud brick kiln getting wet even when protected under a roof[/p]
• [p]Prevented letters from being delivered to NPC fire pits[/p]
• [p]Fixed large objects sometimes disappearing at the edge of the screen during certain camera rotations[/p]
• [p]Fixed a ton of uncaught errors that were filling up log files and reducing performance[/p]

[p]Other changes[/p]

• [p]Added a few more details in the log files to help identify game and world state when logs are sent to help fix issues[/p]

[p]Thanks for checking out the NPC update and sharing your feedback! It's exciting to see all the various interactions everyone has been having with the new inhabitants of the world of the Blight, both good and bad. Been fixing up a few issues since the release of the big update and have it ready for release today.[/p][p][/p][p]Additions:[/p]

• [p]Allowed dead NPCs to be lootable like dead players in co-op[/p]
• [p]Added NPC behavior to harvest meat from hunted animals, cook it, and eat or store the cooked meat[/p]

[p]Fixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed NPCs not "owning" the items they drop that they cannot fit in their inventories after trading. If you try to pick up too many items that they own, they consider it stealing and will eventually treat you as hostile[/p]
• [p]Stuck arrows now properly disappear after some time. In the future there will be a more dynamic system to deal with these items[/p]
• [p]Fixed NPCs commandeering player fire pits and other structures[/p]
• [p]Fixed hand cart inventory window not snapping fully into view like it was before v0.12.0[/p]
• [p]Fixed some NPC camp generations breaking resulting in just a fire pit and nothing else[/p]
• [p]Fixed stockpile placement failing on certain surfaces like cabin floors[/p]
• [p]Fixed cabin spawning being extremely rare after v0.12.0[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing contamination for food items carried by NPCs[/p]
• [p]Fixed creatures not respecting their fear of fire if they are currently chasing a target to attack[/p]
• [p]Fixed certain popup messages from showing up over NPCs like "ignite attempt failed"[/p]
• [p]Fixed "0 min" display for creature harvesting time[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bunch of uncaught errors under to hood to improve performance[/p]

[p]The NPC update has finally arrived! In your travels you may run into small camps of other survivors that may be friendly or hostile. Also to better facilitate these new characters you meet, a whole bunch of character customization options have been finally added to the game![/p][p]Please note that this update (along with all others in the Early Access period) should be fully backwards-compatible with previous save games. Although starting a new game is probably the best way to experience the bigger updates.[/p][p][/p][h2]New Features[/h2][p][/p][h3]Survivor Camps[/h3][p][/p][p][/p][p]Survivor camps can be friendly or hostile. Friendly camps allow you to speak to them, help them with simple requests, ask them about nearby points of interest and trade with them for potentially useful items.[/p][p]Their behavior is fairly basic right now, they will make sure their fire is going, hunt any nearby creatures, and make sure they have water to drink. Much more advanced functionality and story integration will be something that arrives in the 1.0 release.[/p][p]Also note that the current NPC AI system is not fully fleshed out and they may end up behaving oddly in certain situations, this is something that I will be continually improving over the next few weeks.[/p][p][/p][h3]Trading and Economy[/h3][p][/p][p]As mentioned before, trading and a new economy system is an important feature in this update. Three coin denominations have been added to the game: florins, groats and pennies. Florins are 100 groats, and a groat is 20 pennies. These coins are mainly used for trading, but bartering with items only is also possible. NPCs will tend to value their items more than yours however.[/p][p]As with the NPCs, this economy system is vast and required a lot of calculations and tweaking. Things will be dialed in over time to make more sense.[/p][p][/p][h3]Character Customization[/h3][p][/p][p]A bunch of new character customization options like skin tone, eye color, hair and color, and face shape have been added. It's not a very complex system but I will keep adding more functionality and customization options in the future. Thanks for your patience![/p][p]One thing to note: this new customization is only for new games, loading previous games will not allow re-customization, sorry![/p][p][/p][h2]Other Fixes[/h2]

• [p]Fixed chromatic aberration setting not loading properly when the game starts[/p]
• [p]Fixed mouse wheel sensitivity consistency across all framerates and OSes[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing localization for no injuries text[/p]
• [p]Fixed parts of the character disappearing during certain animations and camera angles[/p]

[p]Hey everyone, hope you've been having a good 2026 so far! It's been an extremely busy January on my end but unfortunately there is still a bit of work left on getting the Q4 update (or NPC update) all ready for release.[/p][p][/p][p]I want to apologize greatly for the further delay of this update, I haven't done a great job estimating all the various complications involved with getting NPCs thinking, trading and behaving well, along with balancing the economy for all items in the game to power the new trading system. The good news is that the new systems are starting to feel very solid, and we are down to just the final polish, and content tasks.[/p][p][/p][p]With all that said, I'd like to announce that the NPC update will be released on February 16th 2026![/p][p][/p][p]After the NPC update and a few follow up fix and improvement updates, I will sit down and plan out the 2026 roadmap with the path towards the 1.0 release in detail. A lot of the building blocks are now in place with all the big updates over the past year, especially with the about-to-be-released NPCs inhabiting the dangerous world of the Blight. Be on the lookout for the new roadmap in the weeks following the NPC update.[/p][p][/p][p]Also, I plan to get more languages into the game soon as well after a long localization hiatus, with Chinese and Polish as the next priority.[/p][p] [/p][p]Thanks for playing and supporting The Last Plague![/p][p][/p][p][/p]