Z.O.N.A: Origin News

[h3]🎃 Halloween has begun in the Zone![/h3][p][/p][p]A time when even the bravest stalkers avoid the old locations… They say that at night, something awakens on the abandoned bases, and a strange Scarecrow once again seeks those daring enough to help him save Halloween.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Features[/h2]

• [p]Added a new location — Ghost Base. Many players will recognize it from the first part of the game.[/p]
• [p]Added a quest that unlocks the Ghost Base location. It can be taken from Brodyaga at the Freedom Stalkers Base after completing the mission to search for the helicopter in Pripyat.[/p]
• [p]Added a new monster found on the Ghost Base location.[/p]
• [p]Added a new Halloween quest, available from the Scarecrow at the Freedom Stalkers Base :)[/p]
• [p]Added a new Halloween artifact — “Pumpkin of Darkness”, which can only be found in one of the raid locations after receiving the quest from the Scarecrow.[/p]
• [p]Added a new Halloween artifact — “Bloody Pumpkin”, which can only be found in one of the raid locations after receiving the quest from the Scarecrow.[/p]
• [p]Added a new Halloween artifact — “Golden Pumpkin”, which can only be found in one of the raid locations after receiving the quest from the Scarecrow.[/p]
• [p]Added the ability to adjust controller position along the X and Y axes in the main menu settings. This is especially useful for players using Pico headsets to align hand position or fine-tune the wrist angle.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][h2]Changes and Improvements[/h2]

• [p]Fixed a rare issue where it was impossible to restart a dialogue without changing location.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug on the “Perimeter-2 Tunnels” level, where the code hint in one of the PDAs changed after death and reloading.[/p]
• [p]Removed AM / PM indicators from the PDA clock — it now displays in-game time in a 24-hour format.[/p]
• [p]Minor adjustments on the raid location “Military Town.”[/p]
• [p]Increased the amount of guaranteed loot on the raid location “Abandoned Village.”[/p]
• [p]The leaderboard now records the current financial result at the moment of selling items on the Black Market, instead of the maximum value.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Important[/h3][p]Due to changes in the progress tracking system, the leaderboard has been reset.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[h3]Changes and Improvements:[/h3][p][/p]

• [p]Improved the player’s PDA on the belt — phantom touches have been fixed.[/p]
• [p]The PDA now responds only to the index finger instead of the whole hand, making navigation easier.[/p]
• [p]At the Freedom Stalkers’ Base, lightning on the surface no longer illuminates indoor areas through the ceiling and walls when the player is inside the shelter.[/p]
• [p]Lightning sounds at the Freedom Stalkers’ Base are now muffled when you’re inside the shelter.[/p]
• [p]Minor adjustments made to models on the Pripyat level.[/p]
• [p]Adjustments made to the AI-Life system on the Pripyat level.[/p]
• [p]Two secret stashes have been added in Pripyat — only the most persistent will find them.[/p]
• [p]Various improvements on the Outpost location.[/p]
• [p]Various improvements on the Industrial Zone location.[/p]
• [p]Increased the chance of finding artifacts on some locations.[/p]
• [p]Slightly increased the brightness of the headlamp.[/p]
• [p]Added the ability on Vive controllers to switch fire modes and view item descriptions using the Menu Button.
  Unfortunately, I don’t own these controllers, so I kindly ask owners to report whether it works correctly.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the description of the sniper rifle 17 “Ghost” on the Black Market — previously, it had the same name as its older brother, 27 “Ghost.”[/p]

[h3]New Features:[/h3]

• [p]Added a full day–night cycle system. You can now visit locations in the morning, daytime, evening, or at night.[/p]
• [p]Real-time has been replaced with in-game time. As before, one in-game minute equals one real minute — there is no accelerated time system.[/p]
• [p]Added the ability to sleep at the bases of the Free Stalkers and Dawn factions. Sleeping slightly restores your health but also increases your hunger level.[/p]
• [p]Traveling between locations now takes in-game time. For example, a trip to the raid location Military Town takes 2 in-game hours. The transition still happens instantly — but the time on your PDA and tablet will adjust accordingly.[/p]
• [p]Location markers on the map now display the in-game travel time required to reach them. For example, if you depart for Pripyat at 18:00, you’ll arrive there around 1:00 AM. Keep this in mind when planning your raids at different times of day.[/p]
• [p]Added a new artifact — “Children’s Joy.” It can be found only in the raid location Military Town, exclusively at night, and only one artifact per raid. This is the first artifact that can be discovered without a detector.[/p]
• [p]Added new loot — a toy “Children’s Pyramid.” It can be found in some raids and story locations.[/p]
• [p]Added new loot — a toy “Pyramid.” Also found in some raids and story locations.[/p]
• [p]When starting a new game, players will now see a confirmation screen for the initial control setup. This should help those who prefer not to search through the main menu.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Changes and Improvements:[/h3]

• [p]Increased the amount of guaranteed loot in the raid location Military Town — making it one of the most profitable areas for new players.[/p]
• [p]Increased the chance of finding artifacts across all locations.[/p]
• [p]Backpacks of defeated faction fighters can now contain not only magazines with more ammo but also grenades.[/p]
• [p]Increased the volume of weapon drop sounds. Heavy firearms now produce a louder and more noticeable sound when dropped outside of a slot.[/p]
• [p]Increased the volume of pistol drop sounds — helping players notice when they’ve lost a weapon.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Night Hawk pistol.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Desert Eagle pistol.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Glock 19zo pistol.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the PL-14 pistol.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the PM (Makarov Pistol).[/p]
• [p]Minor updates made to the game’s main menu.[/p]
• [p]Optimized several textures on raid locations.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[h3]Changes and Improvements:[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a critical security vulnerability (CVE-2025-59489) in the Unity engine.[/p]
• [p]Performed additional optimization work on the Pripyat level.[/p]
• [p]Minor improvements to OpenXR.[/p]

[p]P.S. The dynamic day and night cycle system is already in development — soon, the Zone will live in its own rhythm.[/p]

[h2]Changes and Improvements:[/h2]

• [p]Improved the save system and level transitions, fixing remaining minor bugs and issues.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that made it impossible to reload the PL-14 pistol after holstering it.[/p]
• [p]Almost all quest notes in the PDA have been completely rewritten, making it easier to navigate where quests were taken and where to go.[/p]
• [p]Major texture optimization work has been carried out, which should improve game stability and reduce the chance of crashes on weaker PCs. The overall game size has been reduced by 700 MB.[/p]
• [p]Rebalanced some monsters.[/p]
• [p]Additional optimization has been performed on several levels.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]For Meta Quest users[/h3][p]We have received several reports about blurry textures. Please note:[/p]

• [p]Playing via cable (Meta Link or SteamVR) partially reduces blurriness and provides more stable image quality.[/p]
• [p]Air Link through the standard Meta Link environment or Meta Link + SteamVR only partially solves the issue and is noticeably worse in quality. This is the worst option, especially in open areas and during daytime.[/p]
• [p]If you want to completely eliminate blurriness when playing over Wi-Fi, use ALVR or Virtual Desktop with the AV1 codec enabled. This option delivers the cleanest and sharpest image and is practically on par with headsets connected via DisplayPort.[/p]
• [p]This issue does not exist on headsets connected via DisplayPort — there the image is always transmitted in its original quality.[/p]

[p]Reasons:
When transmitting an image over Wi-Fi or via Meta Link cable, the system must compress the picture in real time. The weaker or less stable the connection, the more artifacts and blurriness appear. The AV1 codec provides better quality with the same bandwidth, which is why ALVR and Virtual Desktop deliver a clearer image.[/p][p]To confirm that the game itself does not cause the blurriness, try removing the headset during gameplay and check the image on your monitor. It will be sharp and clean there — which means the issue is related specifically to Wi-Fi transmission.[/p]