The Long Dark News

Hello community,

We've just released our latest update ERRANT PILGRIM!

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NEW REGION: Bleak Inlet

A wind-swept coastline reveals an abandoned industrial facility -- an aging Cannery that holds some useful secrets. But finding your way to it is a two-stage affair, involving accessing the region from both the Raven Falls ravine, and Forlorn Muskeg. But watch out! Vicious Timberwolf packs have moved into this region, and will defend their territory to the death.

NEW CHALLENGE: As the Dead Sleep

You’re a tortured soul on the edge of death. Find five grave markers in the distant corners of the world, and maybe you can feel some peace before you fade into The Long Dark. Inspired by the community-conceived “Deadman” challenge, this is our harshest Challenge yet.

NEW GAMEPLAY: Ammunition Workbench

Look for the Ammo Crafting Workbench. With the right supplies, you can assemble your own ammunition for the Rifle or Revolver. But assembling the gear you need, and finding the bench, won’t be easy.

NEW ITEMS: Gunpowder & Ammunition Components



We’ve added all the raw materials you need to craft ammunition. If you manage to gather them all, and find an Ammunition Bench, you’ll be significantly enhancing your life expectancy on Great Bear.

1) Lead from batteries to make bullets
2) Collect sulfur from plant fertilizer + Charcoal from burned out fires + potassium nitrate from Stump Remover = Gunpowder
3) Shell casing
4) Bullet + Gunpowder + Shell Casing + Ammo Bench = Ammunition

NEW GAMEPLAY: Gunsmithing & The Milling Machine

With the help of the active Aurora, the Milling Machine comes to life, giving you the capability to restore ruined firearms, and repair damaged ones, along with future capabilities. Just keep in mind you’ll need the Gunsmithing skill to make any headway with this tool.

NEW FEATS: Blizzard Walker, Expert Trapper, Straight to the Heart

New in-game achievements that lend gameplay benefits to Survival Mode games.

QUALITY OF LIFE: Campfire, Emergency Shelter Breakdown

By popular demand, we’ve added the ability to break down Campfire rings and Emergency Shelters, for those players who like to pack out what they pack in.


CHANGELIST v1.64 [57505]

HIGHLIGHTS

Added new Region: Bleak Inlet
Added new Challenge: As the Dead Sleep
Added new Feats: Blizzard Walker, Expert Trapper, and Straight to the Heart
Added new gameplay system: Ammunition Workbench
Added new gameplay system: Gunsmithing
Added new gameplay system: Milling Machine
Added new raw material: Lead
Added new raw material: Stump Remover
Added new raw material: Dusting Sulfur
Added new craftable item: Gunpowder
Added new craftable item: Bullet(s)
Added new craftable item: Ammunition
Added new Custom Mode setting to disable Birch Bark Tea crafting

GENERAL ART FIXES

[Enviro] Fixed numerous areas the player could become stuck in.
[Enviro] Fixed numerous locations where the player could get outside of the intended play area.
[Enviro] Fixed numerous clipping and floating objects.
[Enviro] Increased the visible distance of lights during an Aurora Event.
[Enviro] Fixed area in the Ravine that players could escape the map
[Enviro] Fixed missing roof in Prepper Bunker
[VFX] Adjusted interior light shafts that were too bright during mid-day
[VFX] Fixed flames clipping through Barrels and Pot Belly Stoves

USER INTERFACE FIXES

[UI] Fixed an issue that caused the Revolver to display the incorrect weight when viewed in the Backpack.
[UI] Fixed an issue that caused some Cooking HUD messages to appear too quickly.
[UI] Blueprint Requirements now appear correctly during the first instance of viewing the Crafting Menu.
[UI] Radial Menu can no longer appear overtop of other menus, such as the Backpack.
[UI] Fixed the Revolver and the Distress Pistol Condition displaying as the value from the previously viewed item.

WINTERMUTE FIXES

[WINTERMUTE] Male survivor vocalization no longer plays when Astrid is attacked by Timberwolves.
[WINTERMUTE] Timberwolves now react properly to Marine Flares.
[WINTERMUTE] The Crummy in Broken Railroad now falls over correctly after the Old Bear pushes on it.
[WINTERMUTE] Adjusted the rate that the Old Bear turns while in the cave.

CHALLENGE MODES

[Hopeless Rescue] The Distress Pistol can no longer spawn outside of the Timberwolf Mountain Crash Site.

SURVIVAL MODE

[Survival] Black screen no longer appears after being trampled by a Moose.
[Survival] Fixed an issue that prevented the player from interacting with the Buffer Memory in Signal Hill.

ALL GAME MODES

General performance improvements across the game.
[Animation] Improved animation for when a Wolf transitions to the hold ground AI state.
[Audio] Aurora effects are no longer disabled when aiming.
[Gameplay] Updated item placement range to better match interaction distance.
[Gameplay] Updated wildlife pathfinding so they don’t bump into each other as often.
[Gameplay] Updated Wildlife pathfinding to better handle passing through gates.
[Gameplay] Fixed the missing highlight when moving Sticks in Placement Mode.
[Gameplay] Adjusted depth Wildlife carcasses can sink into the snow.
[Gameplay] Campfires no longer collide with Wildlife during placement mode
[Gameplay] Fixed issue that caused Wolves to not eat some prey.


### END OF RELEASE NOTES ###

Hello community,

The last six weeks have been pretty busy, with launching Episode Three on October 22nd, supporting our annual Four Days of Night Halloween event, and finalizing our next big Survival Mode update. We said we’d do our best to deliver you one more big update before the end of the year, and I’m here to tease out a bit more information about what to expect in December.

The next update is called ERRANT PILGRIM, and it features some new stuff we’re pretty excited about:

• A new region. This will be our first region to feature a two-part environmental puzzle of sorts — in order to unlock the region’s full potential, you’ll need to access it from two different locations. There’s a new area with several industrial buildings, and this region will be the first to feature Timberwolves in Survival Mode. Watch out!
  
  
• A new challenge. We’ve taking inspiration from the community’s “Deadman” take on custom mode settings, and have created our own version as a standalone Challenge mode which, frankly, we think is the toughest experience we’ve ever made. Nobody in the office has been able to complete it yet. (Don’t worry, we’re exempting this new challenge from the Challenge Mastery achievement. We’re not monsters.)
  
  
• New gameplay systems. Without getting into too much detail at the moment, we’re introducing a few new gear items, tools, and systems that should help make late-game survival a little more viable for most players. You might get a hint from the piece of concept art included in this dev diary.
  
  
• New Feats. We haven’t shown the Feat system much love since we introduced it, so we’re adding three new Feats, to give you some gameplay objectives to work towards as handy new buffs for your Survival Mode games.
  
  
• New Survival Mode music. 10+ more minutes of brand new music, from Survival mode soundtrack composer, Sascha Dikiciyan.
  
  
• The Return of Fluffy. Hmm?
  
  
• Did I mention Timberwolves in Survival Mode? Relax. They’re only in the new region. (For now.)
  

There are some other tidbits here and there, some quality of life updates, and of course, lots of bug fixes. We hope this next update comes just in time for you to fire up The Long Dark over the cold winter holiday, when it’s best appreciated!

You can expect the next Survival Mode update to land around the middle of December, depending on how long it takes us to get things optimized and the bugs cleaned up. We’ll launch it with our customary update video, fully narrated by yours truly. Should be fun.

Keep an eye open on our social channels as we’ll likely share more tidbits about the update leading up to its launch. As usual, this will be a free update for all current owners of The Long Dark, on Steam (where the game happens to currently be on Sale), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and the other platforms we’re currently available on. This might also be a good moment to remind you to nominate The Long Dark in the Labour of Love category in the 2019 Steam Awards.

Thanks for reading, and look for more bits of info over the next couple of weeks!

– Raph

Hello community,


We’ve released hotfix 1.62 [55870]. With this release we’ve continued to address a number of issues specific to Episode Three as well as issues with the Crafting Menu, Wolf behaviors and numerous world art issues. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark please visit our Support Portal.

To stay-up-to-date with news and information about The Long Dark and Hinterland, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game | Studio ).

If you have any other questions or are just curious to know more about the game, please also consider joining our weekly Milton Mailbag Q&A.

Gameplay

* Fixed an issue that caused Wolf pathfinding to become confused after a decoy was dropped in certain scenarios.
* Fixed the distance which Wolves can grab decoys.
* Added further checks to prevent Wolves from attacking players through objects.
* Fixed an issue that prevented players from dropping a decoy from the Radial Menu.
* Fixed animation popping during the Wolf Struggle Animation while holding a Revolver.
* Fixed Bears resetting to their dens after loading a save.
* Fixed an exploit that allowed players to craft arrows even if there was time remaining.


UI/World/Art

* General polish throughout the world.
* Added a third digit to imperial values to prevent rounding errors.
* Fixed missing shadows from Fridges.
* Fixed missing quantity when crafting.
* Fixed Tool Selection not appearing when crafting arrows.
* Fixed materials being consumed when cancelling crafting.
* Fixed flames disappearing on pre-placed fires after exiting and reloading the game.

Episode Three

* Polish pass through the episode.
* Survivor stats now displayed while passing time.
* Added map icon for Survivors dropped by the player.
* Fixed numerous areas the player could become stuck.
* Fixed being unable to place the third rescued Survivor in some scenarios.
* Gwen can no longer die after completing her mission.
* Fixed issue that caused players to be forced out of aim when attacked by a Timberwolf.
* Adjusted the size of Wade’s campfire.
* Adjusted the distance which Timberwolves will hold ground when the player is holding a lit Marine Flare.
* Fixed Timberwolves howling more than intended.
* Fixed Timberwolf corpses resetting after transitioning indoors.
* Fixed player position changing when exiting Diagnosis.
* Fixed incorrect location being displayed when viewing information on the Load Screen.

###END OF RELEASE NOTES###

Our annual Halloween Event -- 4 Days of Night -- is now live

The Event runs until Thursday Oct 31st 11PM Pacific.

For complete details, please visit our official forums below:

https://hinterlandforums.com/forums/topic/35657-four-days-of-night-2019/?tab=comments#comment-182480

Hello community,


We’ve released our first hotfix following the launch of Episode Three - v1.61 [55716]. We’ve addressed a number of issues specific to Episode Three, added Lost and Found boxes to all regions, and fixed the lighting issues some players were experiencing. Lighting should now be closer to what you experienced in Steadfast Ranger. Note: This change list may contain spoilers!

If you still encounter issues while playing The Long Dark please visit our Support Portal.

To stay-up-to-date with news and information about The Long Dark and Hinterland, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter ( Game | Studio ).

If you have any other questions or are just curious to know more about the game, please also consider joining our weekly Milton Mailbag Q&A.



Changelist v1.61 [55716]



Gameplay

* Added Lost and Found boxes to all regions.
* Fixed issue that caused animations for crouching, opening drawers, and the swinging of the lantern to play slower than intended.
* Fixed issue that caused animals to clip into the ground when the player sleeps.
* Fixed issue that caused Bears to sometimes spawn under the map.

UI/World/Art

* Fixed issue that resulted in brightness to be incorrectly calculated.
* Fixed visible seams on the Rural Region Houses.
* Fixed Timber Wolves Morale bar resetting if they fled during the Tutorial.
* Fixed missing collision on the Community Hall Sign.
* Fixed stretched texture in the back of the Burnt Ridge Cave.
* Fixed flickering on some rock edges in Pleasant Valley.
* Fixed disappearing snow texture near the Shed in the Rural Region.
* Re-enabled player placed light sources during a cinematic.

Episode Three

* Subtitle and localization tuning.
* Polish pass through the episode.
* Fixed issue preventing Timber Wolves from transitioning to and from Aurora state.
* Fixed being able to run while carrying a survivor after trying to place them and then opening and closing the inventory.
* Fixed issue that caused a currently carried Survivor to disappear when manually saving and loading in the Community Hall.
* Fixed issue that caused Molly’s photo to change size after it’s picked up.
* Fixed cinematic playing from an incorrect angle when arriving at the plane crash site from a specific direction.
* Staggered animation will no longer play when exiting or entering a location, while triggering dialogue.
* Fixed missing collision on some of the plane seats at the crash site.
* Fix to prevent Astrid’s arm from popping into place after closing the Diagnosis UI.
* Fixed rare issue that caused Weather effects and the skybox to disappear after exiting a cinematic.



###END OF RELEASE NOTES###