Primal Carnage: Extinction News

A new update is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam.
Today is the start of our annual MELTDOWN EVENT!



As has been mentioned in many places by now, development time is mostly focused on rejuvenating the PlayStation side of things currently. This means that we have a wonderful collection of new cosmetics arriving this summer, but we won't be making any major changes to gameplay for now. To view the minor fixes and tweaks included in today's update, you can scroll down to the patch notes at the end.


Now, on to the fun stuff!

[h2]Special Event NOW LIVE[/h2]

SUMMER MELTDOWN is a firestorm of sizzling new skins, taunts and more for your dinosaurs and mercenaries, most of them selected from some of the best community creations on Steam Workshop...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Meltdown is actually a multi-stage event, with parts 2 and 3 following later this summer. So keep an eye out for news on when the next patch of items is released! The summer selections will be leaving when the event concludes this August.

Grab 'em while they're hot...




[h3]MUTATIONS[/h3]

Today's featured rotation brings in 12 brand new model mutations for dinosaurs, with some radical transformations among them. Each is bundled with a skin of their own, and a few are pretty wild!



From the terrible tusks of the Kapros Acro, to the exotic Tropicus Oviraptor, and majestic Superios Rex... we have a whole range of different transformations great and small.



[h2]SIZZLING SKINS[/h2]
[h3]Meet "Roy"[/h3]



The Royal Acro premium skin collection is here! With a much more armoured appearance, enhanced dorsal spines and reinforced skull - it gives a properly "Primal" look to our stomping giant.



This new model boasts unique 4K base textures that add extra layers of detail, scales and osteoderms for a truly menacing feel. The sculpt was created by talented community member MrTroodon (who also made our Pachy and Cerato). Variant skin designs were executed by the wonderfully inventive artists ChunkoHunko and XSEIDET.



The initial Royal Acro set has four variants - Arid, Blazing, Blueblood and Forest, which can either be bought separately, or in a 4-pack for a great discount if you wanna have them all!

[h3]Mr. Rainbow & New Plush[/h3]



Here to rain on your parade, Mister Rainbow has arrived in-store. Quite a colourful character, this multi-tone tipped suit is surely the height of fashion.



A cuddly new backpack item is the Plush Rex, whose huge eyes are either totally adorable or windows into insanity. Bold red and with a permanent smile, this sinister or sweet attachment is now in-store!

[h3]The BIG Blazing Bundle[/h3]

Each phase of Meltdown will introduce a new BIG BLAZING BUNDLE to the store!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

These jumbo skin packs contain 8 sizzling new dinosaur skins for you to enjoy. Parts two and three of this trilogy of awesomeness will be arriving with the next two Meltdown patches this summer!

[h3]NEW TAUNTS[/h3]

Four fresh taunts are available in-store today.
That's two for Acro, one for Cerato, and one for Pachy...

Acro Hiss Taunt

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Acro Threaten Taunt

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Pachy Alert Taunt

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Cerato Slow Clap Taunt

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

These community animations really do just keep getting better and better.
We'll be adding more new taunts (including some for humans!) as Meltdown continues this summer!


[h3]2022 MELTDOWN GIFT[/h3]



Open up the 2022 Meltdown Gift to reward up to 24 other players on a server with special summer items! Check out some of them below:



Upon opening the 2022 Meltdown Gift, the gift giver receives the INNATUS Rex mutation as a reward for their generosity!




[h3]New FREE Items[/h3]



A handful of new free drops are entering the drop pool, including the DILATATUM Carno mutation and some fresh sprays to use. We'll be adding more free items over the course of Meltdown, and unlike the store items they will be sticking around for good!


[h3]Specials and Returning Items[/h3]



MORE THAN 150 classic summer items are returning from previous years, many with over 60% OFF! From fan favourites such as Suchus Acro, to the vibrantly in-season Human Beachwear collection, we've got everything under the sun today.



AND, in addition to the all-new Meltdown 2022 gift, every classic Summer Gift is back as well! With deep discounts on boxes stretching all the way back to 2016, now's a great time to share the summer fun!

[h3]MEGA PAINT SALE[/h3]



Get ready to go nuts colourizing your carnivores...
You can pick up paint for pennies, with all 32 existing paint colours being ~60% off during Meltdown!

Paint Mixer Tools are now also HALF PRICE!
Keep an eye out for more mega deals during Meltdown!


[h2]Version 2.9.0 Patch Notes[/h2]

Here is the full list of changes included with today's game update...

• Added a new bite attack animation for Acrocanthosaurus
  
• Increased detection radius of Pteranodon grab attack
  
• Fixed the Tupa dive cancel animation not showing for other players
  
• Adjusted subsurface scattering for Tyrannosaurus skins
  
• Fixed default dinosaur eye intensity so that it's at 50% without any colourization
  
• Fixed weirdness with eye colour settings when entering and existing the Colourizer menu
  
• Stopped the Cerato doing that sudden snap animation in the customization screen
  
• Added a link to the official merchandise collection on the in-game store
  

[h2]This is just the beginning...[/h2]



The Meltdown Event will last well into August, with two more content patches full of hot new mutations, skins, taunts, etc. dropping over the next month or so. For a full list of all Meltdown items you can check our Special Event Items Trello page, which will be updated as the event continues.

We hope everyone has a great summer!

[h3]Thanks for playing! [/h3]
-The Primal Carnage Team



Join the official Discord for all things Primal Carnage...

A new update has been released for the Extinction Editor (SDK) toolkit!

If you are making content such as skins or maps for Primal Carnage: Extinction, please update to the latest version of the SDK to use the most up to date shaders and newest features.

Interested in creating your own Primal content but don't know where to start? First, you'll need to download the Extinction Editor (SDK) from the Software section of your Steam library.

The unofficial SDK Creators Discord can help you get going.

If you're just starting out. "skin creation for dummies" may be useful...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMDvE8dKaBM


[h2]SDK HIGHLIGHTS[/h2]

The latest release takes the development kit up to around ~40GB in size, so make sure you have room prior to installing. There have been many changes to game content and features, here are some of the major updates...

[h3]Latest Master Shaders for Characters[/h3]



This version of the SDK includes the most recent master shader updates for characters, most notably support for colour shifting in dinosaurs and changes to how subsurface scattering is handled on skin.

Make sure when creating a new skin that your material instance is based off either the default skin for that class or the most recent skin for that class. Dinosaurs require additional masks to be specified now, to allow for the eye to be excluded from regular coloration in certain cases (e.g. eye glows).

[h3]THOU SHALT NOT TOUCH[/h3]

Material options under the category THOU SHALT NOT TOUCH or DO NOT TOUCH are exactly that - things you should NOT touch. These options are usually modified during gameplay for things like collar eye glows, being on fire, etc. You should never need to adjust these.



Parameters that influence dinosaur skin colour in the Colourizer menu are also located under this section. You can try manipulating these to see how they affect things, but NEVER save the changes, as they will break the skin when Colourizing. There are also a couple of work in progress features that have been added to the master dinosaur shader which are not quite ready for use, and may never be included in the game as they are experimental. Again, these are in the forbidden section, so you should never need to worry about them.


[h3]New Environment Assets & Materials[/h3]



There are a bunch of new and updated models in the Environment folders. Several assets have received material updates with higher resolution textures and parallax occlusion mapping. A handful of damage decals that feature this effect can be found in the DEC_Effects area, they create the illusion of depth when projected on surfaces. See the before and after below for an example, where additional cracks and stones are layered on top to make the ground feel more three dimensional...



This effect is rather expensive so don't use too many of these. Set your decal properties to project only on terrain so that heavy static meshes aren't receiving the effect.

"Fake" like shafts are another new effect now placed in several areas. These often use the same volumetric meshes that are under other light sources such as lamp posts. Unlike regular light cones, these have options for angle-based fading so that they softly blend out when viewed from certain angles in addition to distance-based opacity.



An example of this effect mesh being used is the Docks garage tunnel, where dynamic light shafts have been replaced by the new "fake" version for better performance (and to stop dinosaur eyes turning into laser beams when standing below the fan).

There are also additional shadow decals available, including the fan shadow in that tunnel, which is now a projected texture.

The water shaders are currently in the process of being tweaked, you may have noticed new normal mapping and foam effects on the Docks ocean. We may need to adjust things further as additional optimizations are put in place for PS4.



[h3]Map Optimizations & Content Reorganization[/h3]



Over 12 maps have had major optimization passes in preparation for being ported to PlayStation platforms, with more planned in future. Part of this process has involved changing or in some cases removing various assets, or transferring them to different folders.

Please check existing maps for examples of best practices when creating your own environments. For example - the large shipping containers on Docks now have different meshes for each colour instead of relying on a material swap on one model. This allows for the model to render at lower detail with simpler shading when far away, while still having individual variation between crates and high resolution up close. Try not to override materials of objects placed in the map if you can help it, since there is usually already a model that exists with the material pre-applied to it.



Foliage has also had major performance improvements that are mainly facilitated by the use of Level of Detail (LOD) models. Almost every plant now swaps from its interactive version that blows in the wind to a static LOD version at distance, and then to an even simpler LOD model when very far away. The lighting setup in the foliage shader now uses a simpler approximation of light scatter and does not support detail normal maps anymore (they were so small as to not be noticeable in most cases).

Almost all grass now uses a separate Grass Master Shader that is even more simplified than the master foliage shader, with grass models themselves having up to four LOD models to improve performance when used in large numbers. It is still one of the most costly things you can fill a map with though, so be sure to use the actual Foliage tool when placing grass to at least gain some additional performance benefits.

Although the maps should run smoother than before, please be aware that editing uncooked content in an SDK does require a much higher performance level than running the regular game. If you want to do mapmaking, ensure your system is up to the task by having at least 8 GB of graphics memory and a 3GHz+ CPU.


[h2]CROSS-PLATFORM CONTENT PSA[/h2]



All user-created items that have been marked as officially accepted for Primal Carnage: Extinction through the game's Steam Workshop now have the possibility to appear on PlayStation platforms. Anything accepted up to 6th June 2022 will automatically be eligible for porting to console, as they are already a part of the game and property of Circle 5 Studios.

The only difference between Steam item sales and PlayStation item sales is the revenue split. Item sales that occur on PlayStation platforms do not award royalties to the community item creators, as the transaction is being made via PlayStation Network, not Steam.

Nothing will change with item sales made on the Steam platform. User-created items sold through the Primal Carnage: Extinction in-game store on Steam will continue to provide the standard 25% royalty fee when they are accepted for sale on the PC game. Creators will simply not receive any *additional* revenue if the item is also sold on PlayStation platforms.

If you wish to not have your items appear on PlayStation, there is a grace period for items that have not yet been accepted to the game which will last until 22nd June 2022.

Any and all items on the Primal Carnage: Extinction Steam Workshop that are accepted for the PC game from June 22nd 2022 may appear on PlayStation platforms as free or paid in-game DLC items with revenue share from Steam sales only. If you do not agree to these terms you must remove your content from Steam Workshop before 22nd June 2022 or it will automatically become eligible for porting to PlayStation upon acceptance to Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam.


[h2]SUBMISSION DEADLINES FOR SEASONAL EVENTS[/h2]

We will be running themed events for Halloween and Winter as usual this year! If you want to take part by creating items based on those themes, please submit your content to Steam Workshop before the following dates to have a chance at being included...

[h3]HALLOWEEN THEMED ITEMS[/h3]
Deadline: July 29th 2022

[h3]WINTER THEMED ITEMS[/h3]
Deadline: August 26th 2022

There are tags for Halloween and Winter when uploading to Workshop which will help your entries stand out properly. If you don't see them, a moderator can apply the tags after the item(s) are uploaded. Putting the words "Summer" or "Winter" in your workshop item name can also be useful.


[h2]ART CONTEST IS LIVE[/h2]

You don't need an SDK or modelling skills to enter this!
If you're artistically minded, why not get involved in our latest art contest...?



We're looking for cool new designs for use on Primal Carnage merch, now that our official store is open.
For full contest details (including some sweet prizes!) look HERE.

Join us on Discord to get involved!

The new Primal Carnage website is now online, alongside our Official Merch Store!

We will be posting larger official announcements relating to the Primal Carnage franchise on the website, which is much more streamlined now (along with being pretty snazzy looking).

Major news relating to the PlayStation version of PCE will be forthcoming on the official website in future, so keep an eye out if you're interested!



We've been working on both the site upgrade and official store for a long time now (in-between everything else!) and have enlisted a few community artists to create our initial collection of official Primal Carnage swag. There are posters, T-shirts, hats, mugs and more in-store...

Now, IT'S YOUR TURN!




It's been a while since we last had an art competition, and this is as good a time as any!
We're looking for cool / fun / epic new designs that we can use on the Official Primal Carnage Store.
If you're interested, read on for instructions on creating designs and how to get involved!

[h2]HOW TO ENTER[/h2]

• Post your completed artwork to the Art Contest channel on the official Discord server along with the hashtag #contest-submissions
  
  
• A download link to a high quality version of the artwork in your post would be helpful too!
  
  
• After posting your submission, one of the moderators will shortly add it to the artwork collection for the developers to judge.
  
  
• Your entry must be submitted before 11:59PM UTC on July 1st 2022.
  

[h2]TECHNICAL ART GUIDELINES[/h2]

[h3]General Requirements[/h3]

All designs MUST follow these three rules or will not be suitable for use:

Images must be at least 300 DPI
Images must be minimum 2000x2000 resolution
Avoid semi-transparent elements on designs for anything other than T-shirts

We want designs that will work well on any of the following item types:

• Posters
  
• T-Shirts / Tank Tops
  
• Stickers
  
• Mugs
  
• Hats
  
• Face Masks
  
• Mouse Mats
  

If your finished artwork adheres to the technical requirements and fits into one of these categories, it will be officially considered. We don't have a set theme for you other than Primal Carnage, so go nuts!

You can specify which item type in particular you have created your design for when submitting your artwork if you like. We will take this into consideration when deciding the product lines it will be available for in-store.

[h3]T-Shirts:[/h3]

• Shirt designs can only be printed on the front side
  
• Design printing is primarily limited to a rectangular space on the upper two thirds of the product
  
• Shirts may have the official Primal Carnage logo(s) added to them if accepted
  

[h3]Hats:[/h3]

• All hats use embroidery instead of direct printing, so you must work with a restricted palette when designing for a snapback or baseball cap.
  
• Please use the colours listed in the image above for best results. Up to 6 different shades max.
  
• Design placement on hats is limited to the front area, as seen in the above image.
  

[h3]Mugs:[/h3]

• Designs that are "sticker-like" may be repeated on both sides of the cup or centered.
  
• All ceramic mugs have a white base colour, so take this into account when creating designs specifically for use on a mug.
  
• You can have a design with no transparency to fill the print area, however the interior and edges will still have the white base colour.
  

[h3]Stickers:[/h3]

• Stickers require a clean outline with an alpha channel, PNG files are acceptable so long as the transparent areas are 100% empty
  

[h2]OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES[/h2]

• Limit of three entries, per person.
  
• Be respectful to all other members of the community and their entries.
  
• Entry must only contain original work- do not steal another person's hard efforts.
  
• You are allowed to collaborate / work in teams of up to 3 people maximum.
  
• Your entry must not contain anything offensive or inappropriate.
  
• Do NOT reference other franchises or media properties.
  
• All entries must be made with passion!

[h2]PRIZES[/h2]

We have a range of rewards for the lucky winners to receive, both physical and in-game.
Here are the prizes up for grabs that will go to the first, second and third best design creators...

[h3]3rd Place Winner:[/h3]

• Design added to the official merch collection!
  
• Receives any 5 in-game items of their choice.
  
• Receives up to 2 variants of their artwork on items of their choice (shirt, mug, etc.)
  

[h3]2nd Place award winner: [/h3]

• Design added to the official merch collection!
  
• Receives any 5 in-game items of their choice.
  
• Receives up to 2 variants of their artwork on items of their choice (shirt, mug, etc.)
  
• Receives up to $50 USD worth of any other Official Primal Carnage Merchandise they choose.
  
• Receives a bonus £50 Steam Gift Card

[h3]1st Place (Grand Prize) award winner:[/h3]

• Design added to the official merch collection!
  
• Receives any 5 in-game items of their choice
  
• Receives up to 3 variants of their artwork on items of their choice (shirt, mug, etc.)
  
• Receives up to $100 USD worth of any other Official Primal Carnage Merchandise they choose.
  
• Receives a bonus £100 Steam Gift Card!

Winners will be announced on the official Primal Carnage discord and social media channels, within a couple weeks of the contest closing. Developers will get in touch with the community creators personally through Discord to arrange receipt of prizes.

[h2]GOOD LUCK![/h2]

You can post your progress, get critiques and advice in the Art Contest channel of the official Discord. This community has some really talented people in it, we've seen incredibly creative concepts for in-game items in the past and are looking forward to what you come up with for actual official merch!

We'll be showcasing all the designs made for the contest once it has concluded, as well as spotlighting honorable mentions which didn't quite make it to the top (but might still be added to the store later).

You have just under a month to show us what you can do. Have fun!



In case you missed it, Jurassic June is entering into high gear!
Summer Warmup, Part Two is now live with the Meltdown Event and MORE coming soon.


Thanks for playing everyone!
-The Primal Carnage Team

Today's patch includes a selection of new customizations on the in-game store and a few minor fixes.
Summer Warmup is here, and we have a second set of taunts, skins and mutations now available...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The fourth generation of Royal Dilophosaurus now sit the throne, with a fresh quartet of premium skins...



Several new mutations have appeared, ranging from the extra-bulky Exaltus Spino to the Allosaurid infused Fragilis Dilo and the nicely rounded Chubutensis Cerato...



All that and a handful of new regular skins, not to mention some really fun new taunts for the Ceratosaurus, Pathfinder and Pachy classes!



We're extremely busy right now with most of our engineering time occupied by overhauling the PS4 side of things. So over the next couple of months we hope you'll understand why patches will for the most part be cosmetic-focused.

On that note, our yearly MELTDOWN event is coming up. We're gonna have dozens upon dozens of new items, both in-store and free drops! Expect that to arrive later this June, alongside a certain yearly sale...

• Optimized several more sounds
  
• Adjusted volume of some taunts
  
• Reduced audible radius of Tyrant footsteps
  
• Fixed an issue where weapon sounds could get stuck looping during cinematics / end of round
  
• Changed some audio parameters that might help with sound stutter
  
• Minor changes to health and stamina bar graphics
  
  
• Added second set of Summer Warmup cosmetic content
  
• Tweaked subsurface colour and intensity for Ceratosaurus
  
• Adjusted glow colour and intensity settings on a variety of skins, with emphasis on Cerato
  
• Fixed a couple of recent Cerato mutations missing full support for cosmetic attachments
  

Please make sure to restart your Steam client to receive the latest patch for the game.

You may need to verify the integrity of the files on your hard disk if you encounter settings issues.

Simply right click Primal Carnage: Extinction in the Steam library and go to Properties > Local Files > Verify Integrity of Game Files.



Join our official Discord server for the latest Primal Carnage news, contests and more!

Today's patches include fixes for some audio engine issues, various other bug fixes, further tweaks to skins on the new master shaders and a fresh batch of items in-store.

Summer Warmup is here, with a new selection of taunts, skins and mutations now available!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

From the dramatic display gestures of Carnotaurus and the malevolent growl a threatening Spinosaurus, to the down to earth Pyro re-adjusting his backpack, we have a bunch of new animations to deploy...



Keep an eye out for Summer Warmup, Round 2 arriving next month!


[h2]Changelog[/h2]

[h3]Patch 2.8.2[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where the Tyrant timeout in TDM would not work 100%
  
  
• Optimized several weapon sounds
  
• Adjusted volume properties of some weapons
  
• Reduced audible radius of various impact effects
  
  
• Added first set of Summer Warmup cosmetic content
  
• Updated assault cannon specular map & base texture
  
• Tweaked subsurface colour and intensity on a few skins such as Diamond Rex
  
• Fixed a few Ultimate skins looking incorrect, such as missing masks for Flyers
  
• Fixed reflections being inverted on assault cannon bullet shell casings
  
• Fixed missing pre-cached physics scale on a couple of plushies
  

[h3]Patch 2.8.3[/h3]

• Increased engine max audio channels from 64 to 128
  
• Weapons and dino vocals now take priority over footstep sounds
  
• Fixed server log spam from weapon sounds that caused slowdown
  
  
• Fixed two Dilo skins being swapped - Yellow Belly and King of the Shoreline
  
• Fixed an incorrect model reference for Praeliator Cryo mutation
  
• Fixed missing item text / descriptions for a few cosmetics
  

Join our official Discord server!