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Primal Carnage: Extinction News

HALLOWEEN HORRORS EVENT

A nerve-wracking, bone chilling new update has just launched for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Today marks the start of our Halloween Horrors event, bringing not only a shiver-inducing collection of ghasty new looks, but a monster-sized shakeup to gameplay.

Here are all the gory details…


[h2]THOSE SPINE-TINGLING SPITTERS...[/h2]



Every major update we tend to take a class family and focus our energies into trying to improve them the best we can. For this update, we felt it was time to give the Spitters a good polish up. For starters, spit detection has been greatly improved, with Dilophosaurus now consistently blinding people no matter where their venom spray hits the target.

Movement speed for both Spitters has been increased, allowing the softest targets on the dinosaur team to outpace the humans and make a quick getaway if they need to. They also have a new ability that is sure to leave you positively petrified…!


[h3]CHILLING CHARGED SPIT![/h3]



Adding another layer of depth to Spitter gameplay, Cryos and Dilos can now “charge up” their special attack to hock up a giant corrosive loogy that explodes with a huge splash radius. Holding down alt fire will begin the charge-up process, and reveal a targeting indicator when it is ready, showing roughly where it will land. You can go for AOE coverage to blind several people at once, or try to get a direct hit for massive damage.

A fully charged Cryo acid glob has the potential to melt a human on direct contact, burning them down to the bone and leaving behind a discoloured skeleton. Spooky…

The humans do have a fighting chance against the acid rain though. The large spit globs can be shot out of the air if you see them coming, even awarding a few bonus EXP for doing so. Shooting the spit renders it harmless, if your reaction time is good enough.

[h3]ENHANCE[/h3]



Finally, there are some aesthetic improvements to Spitters such as new animations to further differentiate Cryo from Dilo, and different coloured spit slime that appears around their mouths. Cryo has persistent glowing green drool, whereas Dilo has bold purple drool that shows after it has used its venom spray. There are now sounds for spit projectiles with different impact cues for acid pools, venom pools and charged spit.

For more info about various quality of life improvements and other Spitter enhancements, see the full change notes at the bottom of this post.


[h2]HORRID HUMANS[/h2]

For balance reasons, we have adjusted the movement speed of humans this update. They are now slightly slower than before and cannot sprint for as long. However, their stamina will regenerate faster and not have so much of a delay before it begins to come back.

Weapon damage ranges have been reduced across the board, so that dinosaurs aren’t being harassed by a wimpy pistol from several miles away. Shotguns are now legitimately close quarters weapons, whilst the spread of certain weapons like the flaregun has been improved so that you can hit targets more accurately.



On the flipside, the sniper rifle has seen a heavy reduction in accuracy when not scoped in, which is magnified by persistent fire and when moving. This is intended to be a long range weapon, and though it may still need tweaking, it should be harder to pop off an easy headshot on something that’s mere feet away from you.



We have been focusing a lot of our energies on Survival mode, so we have made sure that the latest weapons actually work in Survival now (solo mode) and can be upgraded. Weapon upgrades in Survival are also more meaningful compared to in the past, where previously the v2 version of a weapon was sometimes less powerful due to mismatched stats.


[h2]DEVILISH DINOSAURS![/h2]



Even after so many years, finding the right spot for Tyrants within the game still proves difficult. Bullet sponges are generally not super fun to fight, but at the same time these are meant to be rather tanky individuals. For the October update, we’ve provided them with more situational advantages.

When eating a human, a Tyrant now receives a 30% armour bonus (that applies to their whole body), until they have finished swallowing their meal. This helps “hit and run” Tyrants to get out of the danger zone while they consume their prize.

Unfortunately, some hidden animation errors caused Tyrants to be unable to reliably land attacks last update. These issues have now been resolved, so biting and swiping should feel a lot more natural and precise. For the Bruisers, we resolved a rather devious control lock problem where you could not use your secondary attack if you had also just used your bite.



We have been watching closely how our recently added Pachycephalosaurus has been performing since it went live. This update introduces some changes to reign in its abilities somewhat. Pachy can now only slide once it’s up to a certain speed, requiring you to properly initiate a sprint instead of doing it from a near-standstill. It also now costs stamina to drift in this way.

On the other hand, the handling of Pachy during a charge has been improved a bit, so that it’s slightly easier to angle yourself towards enemies. Bracing is also more effective than it was previously, though consumes more stamina as a result.


[h2]THE CURSE OF CAPTURE THE EGG[/h2]



Some of you may know that we’ve had a beta running for Capture the Egg mode (CTE) over the last few months. The community has been really helpful in helping us experiment with several different win states, lose conditions, how many eggs are needed and more to find the final setup for CTE.

This update brings a new level of polish to the mode, with extra details such as humans wearing egg-filled backpacks and dinosaurs being able to stuff eggs into their mouths to return them to the nest. All maps from legacy CTE are now also fully updated with the latest version, having the entire level in play instead of a small portion of it and dedicated dino / human bases.

You can now play Capture the Egg on the following levels:
  • PC-Docks
  • PC-TheFalls
  • PC-ForestChasm
  • PC-ForgottenOutpost
  • PC-UtilityBase


To avoid potential griefing from players just never capturing the egg, it now has a finite lifespan. You must return an egg either to the human base or to its nest within 90 seconds, or it will “hatch”. A little dinosaur will pop out, dead from being away from the warmth of the nest for too long. You monster.

The final rules for CTE are as follows:
  • There are always two eggs, spawned in randomized locations around the middle of the map.
  • Humans need to capture both eggs to win the game, by bringing them back to base.
  • When you are holding an egg, you cannot sprint. Nobody wants to make scrambled eggs.
  • If you take damage while carrying an egg, you will drop it at your feet.
  • Dinosaurs can grab a dropped egg and return it to its nest, earning EXP in the process.
  • If the dinosaurs exhaust the human team's respawns, or the humans fail to capture, dinos win.


Each team has 30 lives available to them. Every time a team member dies, this number goes down.
If one team respawns enough that they use up all their lives, the other team wins. This means the dinosaurs can potentially claim victory if they take out enough humans. On the other hand, if both eggs aren’t captured, the humans have failed to meet their quota and dinosaurs will win by default.

The dinosaurs have a limited roster, Tyrants and Flyers cannot be used in CTE for balance reasons. There is a minimum required playercount of 4 for a match to start, and the mode has a max player limit of 16.



[h2]SURVIVAL SPOOKTACULAR[/h2]



Our second major focus for the October update has been to resolve all of the lingering bugs with Survival mode and make it a much more playable gametype. This meant tackling everything from minor annoyances like your weapon skin getting applied to your arms when you upgrade, to always being forced to respawn as a Commando regardless of what class you were just playing when you died.

Players can now choose any class they want when they re-spawn in Survival, however, if you select a new class you will lose any weapon upgrades you purchased.

The turrets in Survival mode are also ALWAYS upgradeable now, whereas before there were restrictions on when and which ones could be bought. To help lessen frustration with those sneaky Compies, the last 5 dinosaurs left alive in Survival are now highlighted to help track them down. And as a final added bonus, kill assists now grant cash in Survival mode.


[h2]MORTIFYING MAPS[/h2]



We have given all of the Survival mode maps a major overhaul this October, with a big focus on adding more verticality and points of interest.



WhiteForest and VisitorCenter now feature new elevated positions that you can use to get the upper hand on the dino horde.



Be warned though, it can just as easily lead to your doom if a Carnotaurus gets a lucky head swipe on you 50 meters up.



All of the Survival maps now have more gates to unlock over the course of a match, restricting the movement of the dinos and providing more opportunities to spend your earnings. These unlock pathways to the new elevated areas such as clifftop outposts and the dam causeway on White Forest, or the rooftop defence points on VisitorCenter.




[h3]GET READY FOR THE RENAISSANCE![/h3]



With this update we have introduced a fourth Survival level – AI-Renaissance, named after the colossal shipwreck that dominates the view wherever you are on the map. You start off on a white sandy beach, before unlocking the way into a fortified campsite and moving back to a clifftop overlook.

The beached tanker holds a horrifying cargo, waiting to be unleashed. Hold out as best you can by unlocking higher routes to rain down fire on the approaching dinosaurs. Watch for movement in the thick jungle, too dense for humans to venture into, where lithe agile raptors and spitters are waiting to attack.

We hope you enjoy this new addition to the Survival map rotation, and all of the enhancements that are now part of the legacy Survival maps!


[h3]TERRIFYING TRANSFER[/h3]



Outside of Survival mode, the Team Deathmatch map Transfer has received a major upgrade this October, both in gameplay and visuals. The jungle has started to creep in, with greater foliage density and small trees dotted around the facility. There is much more cover, both natural and man-made, breaking up the extremely long sight lines that were there previously.



New routes have been opened up to sneak around certain areas of the map, and there are two extra acid pits for Pteras to drop their catches into. And if you need a cooling bath after being set on fire, there are a few extra water puddles on Transfer as well.


[h2]HALLOWEEN HORDE O’PLENTY[/h2]



We couldn’t let the spooky season go by without including some frightfully good new looks. The in-game store has a horrifyingly huge selection of scary skins, terrifying taunts and mortifying mutations available. Not to mention, a ghoulish new gift box containing yet more terrors to be unleashed!

We've picked out a few highlights below, but you can see all of the shocking new looks added to the game on our special event Trello board here: https://trello.com/b/FXE3SzJo/special-event-items


[h3]SHUDDER AT THE STRANGE[/h3]



Halloween brings two new Strange effects for use in crafting, which complement the previously added Kilowatt and Thalassic ultimate skin lines. Applying the Tesla Tool leaves a trail of golden lightning behind you and makes your eyes burst with sparks, whereas the Energy Tool applies an ionizing effect with gaseous clouds left in your wake and spectral energies emitting from your skull.



These new crafting tools are obtainable as drops while playing, as rankup/evolution rewards, and challenge completion rewards.

We are still investigating a way to directly apply Strange effects to items instead of relying on the lucky dip of crafting, however this may be quite a way off. The programmers are pretty busy these days with the porting process for PS4. Certain PC niceties that were planned will have to be set aside / delayed in some cases as we get deeper into that process.

[h3]SPOOKY SPRAYS[/h3]

Time for some Primal Fear (animated)...



A chilling collection of new sprays is now available as free drops in-game. These range from ghoulish green skull faces to legendary motion sprays. We’ll be cranking up their drop rate during the Halloween event, they’ll become much rarer after the spooky season is over.

[h3]UNLEASH YOUR INNER FOSSIL[/h3]



Everyone has a free time-limited set of skeleton skins to parade around in for the duration of the Halloween event. These critters were re-vivified in a freak lightning storm accident at the island’s museum, and are now loose in the jungle, their bones held together by some unholy force that science has no answer to – except bullets!


[h2]FUTURE SHOCKS[/h2]



Keen observers may notice our AI has learned a few new tricks in Survival mode. We are putting more energies into upgrading them going forwards, and hope to have bot support for ALL game modes in future. This means AI versions of all the dinosaurs that don’t currently feature in Survival mode (but will in future updates) and further improvements to our AI behaviours.

The idea is AI bots will be something server owners can enable to fill up empty matches until real players join to replace them, but we are toying with the idea of allowing offline practice versions of gametypes such as TDM, GTTC etc. when the bots become more advanced.

We also have a new map in the works for Team Deathmatch, built in close collaboration with the community. PC-Waterlogged is planned to be added this winter! A moody atmospheric research facility, this map houses the fabled Atrium B, where experiments were performed on marine reptiles. Now, flooded and abandoned, the sea threatens to swallow the facility up.

We’re really looking forward to bringing this map to fruition and can’t wait to show more of it!





FULL FRIGHTLOG:




[h2]Capture the Egg [/h2]
  • Disabled the use of Tyrants and Flyers in CTE mode
  • Players can now join late and start playing when a CTE round is already in progress

  • 2 big egg possession icons are now shown up top to say who has the egg
  • Humans are now shown with a bagpack that gets filled with the egg in CTE
  • CTE now uses set amount of LivesPerTeam instead of LivesPerPlayer
  • BOTH eggs need to be captured now, not just one
  • A stillborn Compy ragdoll appears and your egg "dies" if it is not returned soon enough

  • added animations for Spitters and Raptors holding eggs in their mouths
  • prevented roaring while dinosaurs are carrying the egg
  • added new hint message that the player can not run when picking up an egg
  • fixed sprint camera effects playing if someone attempts to "sprint" when holding the egg
  • fixed egg locator icon becoming stuck in CTE (making it look like there's 3 eggs)
  • egg possession icons at top of HUD are now hidden when the round hasn't started yet

  • Made vital info message text larger and more noticeable
  • Fixed "wait for players" still showing after the round has started in CTE


[h2]Survival[/h2]
  • AI can now use special jump points to leap higher
  • The last 5 dinosaurs left alive are now highlighted to help track them down.

  • Fixed the Survival / Solo scoreboard not working
  • Kill assists now reward cash in Survival mode
  • You can now press B to throw cash

  • Fixed some weapons being worse after upgrading them in Survival mode
  • Added upgrades for recently added primary weapons in Survival mode
  • You now keep your weapon upgrades when respawning as the same class in Survival
  • Fixed turret upgrading being inconsistent, should now work in all maps.
  • Fixed turret log spam & turret-related server crash

  • You can now change class after a wave has completed in Survival mode, however, you will lose your weapon upgrades if you decide to swap (a popup warns about this)

  • Fixed always respawning as a Commando in Survival, even if you were a different class beforehand
  • Fixed spectating not working properly in Survival mode
  • Fixed secondary skin is applied to your primary weapon after upgrading in Survival mode
  • Fixed missing / incorrect HUD weapon icons in Survival mode
  • Fixed accidentally accepting class when sending a message on ready-up screen

  • Alpha Nova boss now has its correct skin in multiplayer
  • Alpha Nova boss can no longer be netted
  • Alpha Nova boss is now larger than a regular raptor
  • Updated hunt raptor cloaked skin effect

  • Updated the VisitorCentre map:
    • now has multiple accessible rooftops via ramps
    • main statue raised area is no longer blocked off
    • generator is now located on second floor of a gated building
    • various lighting and detail adjustments
  • Updated the WhiteForest map:
    • you are now able to walk on top of the dam outflow area
    • added ramps and walkways to elevated positions
    • added purchasable gates to unlock sections of the map
    • added more points of interest to the level


[h2]DINOSAUR CHANGES[/h2]

[h3]Spitter Changes:[/h3]
  • Spitters now run faster than before
  • Higher sprint stamina consumption rate for spitters

  • Cryo roar recharge time reduced to 30 seconds
  • Increased base damage for Cryo acid hits to 50
  • Reduced regular spit cost for dilo from 25 to 16
  • Reduced regular spit cost for cryo from 25 to 22
  • Reduced blind time for Cryo acid direct hits

  • Fixed dilophosaurus spit projectile collision cylinder, should now blind much more reliably.
  • Fixed spit overlay effect on human models not working in some cases
  • Fixed spitters being able to spit behind themselves

  • Spitter stamina bars are now split with a dividing line to show when charged spits are possible
  • You now see a targeting indicator after fully charging your spit to see where it will roughly land
  • If you don't have enough stamina for a charged spit, you'll just spit normally
  • Stamina regen is locked while charging spit
  • Charged spit uses more stamina than regular spit
  • Charged spit projectiles can be destroyed when shot at
  • Added new EXP bonus for shooting charged spit out of the air

  • First set of updated animations for Cryo and Dilo, fixing some minor glitches and differentiating them further

  • Added new spit impact sounds for dilo and cryo
  • Updated cryo sounds, featuring new pain and death cues
  • Cryo now has persistent green drool hanging from its mouth
  • Dilo now gets purple drool after spitting which persists for a few seconds
  • There is now a dissolve effect on human ragdolls when they die to Cryo acid

  • Spit is now destroyed when player leaves, gets auto-balanced, etc. to prevent friendly fire
  • Fixed dinosaurs seeing the venom overlay effect when standing in dilo spit puddles


[h3]Other Dino Changes:[/h3]
  • Dinosaurs now have 40% damage reduction for strongpoint hits (previously 30%)

  • Increased Tyrant roar effect buff duration from 10 to 20 seconds
  • Increased effectiveness of Acro heal buff from 12 HP/sec to 15 HP/sec
  • Doubled the radius of Acro stomp attack
  • Moderate increase to Acro stomp damage
  • Reduced netted time for Tyrants from 9 seconds to 5
  • Increased damage of Rex tailswipe from 100 to 125
  • Tyrants take reduced damage when eating someone now (30% extra armour until they swallow)

  • Sliding as Pachy costs stamina now
  • Pachy must be near max sprint speed to initiate a slide
  • Made the Pachy charge turn speed a bit quicker
  • Can no longer taunt while sliding as Pachy

  • Fixed the attack timing and trace distance for raptors and Spino, should hit much better now
  • Fixed an issue where Cerato's tail whip would not deal damage if used directly after its primary attack

  • Increased bonus health of Carno ravenous bite, from damage +50 to damage +100
    (+140 if secondary attack)

  • Fixed a lighting issue that was present on nearly all Spinosaurus models
  • Optimizations to dino master shader
  • Fixed jump landing animations not really playing
  • Updated novaraptor run animation head posture
  • Fixed a couple of Tyrannosaurus skins
  • Updated the Teratus Rex mutation model
  • Tweaked bodyfall sounds for tyrants
  • Updated subsurface scattering mask for Flyers so it's not just the wings that let light through


[h3]Human Changes & Fixes: [/h3]
  • Minor reduction to human ground speed
  • Increased sprint stamina consumption rate for humans
  • Shorter delay before stamina begins regenerating as humans

  • Fixed being able to charge up heavy melee with machete if you don't have stamina

  • Halved max range of standard pistol
  • Faster damage falloff for desert eagle
  • Lower max range and faster damage falloff for default shotgun & double barrel shotgun

  • Reduced spread for unscoped flaregun
  • More intense spread values for the sniper rifle when unscoped
  • Sniper rifle now has less of an accuracy bonus when crouched
  • 15% reduction to SMG crit damage
  • Minor reduction to desert eagle max range

  • Fixed default commando model absorbing its dogtags
  • Fixed a gap on the SMG model



[h2]MAP CHANGES[/h2]
General:
  • Added foamy effect to interactive water waves
  • Improved collisions and removed exploits across several maps
  • Optimizations to multiple levels
  • Visual improvements and upgrades to Survival map lighting


PC-TheFalls:
  • Fixed the map not properly supporting new CTE
  • Widened one of the side entrances to the main atrium where the river flows out


PC-Docks:
  • added more dino corpses
  • added more cover and additional routes
  • removed most of the old CTE actors, started setting up new CTE
  • added dry grass to the level that transitions to lush grass inland
  • fixed main tower of the Docks ship not blocking spit
  • various level optimizations


PC-Transfer:
  • fixed some grass spots not being edible
  • added more deadly acid pits
  • added more Tyrant blockers
  • repositioned dino corpses to reduce line of sight at a distance
  • added way more cover and additional routes
  • placed more plant life, trees, bushes etc. around the main square
  • in-depth lighting pass, reduced height fog
  • fixed human exploit locations


PC-DesertionPoint:
  • fixed an invincibility spot that humans could wedge themselves inside of


VisitorCenter:
  • various level optimizations and collision improvements
  • set most of the cinematic raptors to use randomized models and skins
  • updated generic failure cinematic


[h3]UI AND MENU CHANGES[/h3]

  • Added active server counts on server browser tabs (how many servers of each type are live)

  • Fixed incorrect weapon being selected when you are auto-balanced twice
  • Fixed party pistol and grenegg missing weapon icons in class selection screen
  • Fixed having your last custom first person weapon mesh still equipped after changing to another class (e.g. classic shotgun on commando)

  • Fixed L1/R1 gamepad buttons breaking class selection if used while in team select
  • Fixed stungun charging UI can get "stuck"

  • Added a separate ColorGrading off/on option to graphics menu
  • Removed the post processing quality option, as it has been split out into other settings


[h3]OTHER CHANGES [/h3]
  • Fixed blood decals for ragdolls hitting the ground not appearing
  • Fixed taunt and attacking is possible at the same time as dino
  • Fixed issue where admin cheats would not work on server
  • Fixed several crashes across multiple game modes
  • Updated regular TDM maplist to have DeadTide map as part of it


[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
  • Sometimes the Acro boss AI will fall out of the world on AI-Renaissance map
  • Survival AI can become stuck when dealing with gate obstacles on occasion
  • Older skins from several years ago may have incorrect patterning. We had to remove the old pattern system for performance reasons, but are working to remake these items in higher quality currently.




[h2]HAPPY HALLOWEEN[/h2]



That’s it for this latest update to Primal Carnage: Extinction! We will return with another patch once the Halloween Horrors event is over in a couple of weeks. After that it's Dinovember, where we will have retro store rotations that see classic items returning, followed by the epic Winter Update in December.


Until then, we hope you all have a scary good time!
-The Primal Carnage Team


Join us on our official Discord server!

New looks available for Autumn!

The in-game Extinction Store has been updated with new items today! These include a selection of new mutations and skins, plus two new taunts for our recently added Pachycephalosaurus class...

[h2]Store Highlights[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We have six new dinosaur model mutations added with this latest store rotation, including a new extra-spiky look for the Pachy! Each mutation comes bundled with its own skin and you can preview them if you have opened the store from the main menu, as can most other store items.

There's more than just dino duds though, we have some brand new human cosmetics available as well...



The amazingly yellow Hornet Scientist collection adds a new outfit, backpack and rebreather mask for our resident sniper. And to keep the bee theme humming along, we also got the Stinger SMGs for Trapper.


[h2]New Drops[/h2]

Outside of the store, we have several new free drop items going live this evening, exclusively made up of new skins for our hard-headed friend. 4 new free Pachy skins will be available via crafting and drops during gameplay including the glorious... Glory Pachy...



Yet more free content will cycle in alongside the coming store rotations throughout the autumn, with both dino and human items. The goal is to have new items rotated in every 2 weeks, so keep an eye out!


[h2]What's Next[/h2]



We're working on a large game update for the end of October, which aside from the usual spooky festivities will include some fairly big fixes and enhancements to Capture the Egg and Survival.

There are some new features that we can't quite talk about just yet, but we're hoping the AI will give you a more varied challenge come Halloween!


See you then!
-The Primal Carnage Team



Join us on our official Discord server!

Patch 2.6.1

A new patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction, it should automatically download the next time you restart Steam.

This patch aims to address some of the issues found after the release of our most recent major update, which added Pachycephalosaurus to the game.

We have also continued to make various optimizations and stability improvements.
A full list of changes is below...


[h2] Dinosaur Changes[/h2]



  • Pachycephalosaurus can now use its primary attack (headswipe) while netted
  • Pachy's primary attack no longer costs stamina to use
  • Reduced net time length for Pachy from 4 secs to 3
  • Increased base healing amount for Pachy when grazing on grass

  • Rebuilt paths on GTTC Falls, added exceptions for Pachy to several blockers so it can jump around the map more easily

  • A vision effect is now applied for humans standing in Dilophosaurus spit pools
  • Fixed damage traces for Spino bite attack being misaligned
  • Adjusted the Cerato tail swipe attack to do damage slightly earlier


[h2] Visual Changes[/h2]

  • Upgraded several skins that were used the deprecated pattern system to the latest shaders

  • Optimizations to several skins using the advanced "ultimate" dino shader, reducing memory usage
  • Fixed missing necklace socket on 2.0 human meshes
  • Various other fixes and updates for skins and model mutations


[h2] Menu / UI Changes[/h2]

  • The customization dropdown list now automatically opens when you hover the red name bars instead of requiring you to click them

  • Made sure customization profile icons for dinosaurs were properly centered
  • Fixed HTML code showing in customization descriptions for Stat Track items
  • Fixed dynamite missing a HUD icon, which was causing flickering
  • Fixed equipping the classic shotgun skin causing the shotgun icon to not show in class select

  • Re-enabled all other loading screens now Pachy has had a moment to shine
  • Added new Pachy scene to the main menu



[h2] Other Changes[/h2]

  • Fixes to challenge tracking for the new Headmaster, Using Your Head and Skidrow challenges

  • Optimizations & improvements relating to server / client bandwidth
  • Increased server tickrate from 20hz to 60hz to improve movement replication
  • Disabled some verbose server logging to improve performance

  • Fixed a crash that could occur when exiting the game


We will be back with our next major update in October, which has some super secret coolness we've been quietly working on for a little while (watch this space!).

Until then, we'll be rotating in fresh new items to the in-game store every two weeks, including a whole bunch of new looks for our latest Bruiser class!



The community's come up with some amazing new mutations, skins and taunts for our hard-headed friend in just a short time and they'll be heading your way soon...



Join us on our official Discord server to stay in the know!

PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS in the house!

A new update has just been released for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam!
Featuring a whole new playable dinosaur class, this is one of our most ambitious releases yet...

[h2]New Class:
PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS
[/h2]

The "Pachy" is our third and final Bruiser class now playable in-game!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This is the most advanced dinosaur that we've ever created, entailing a serious engineering effort. Our first omnivore, it features multiple brand new mechanics and some interesting new twists on old ones...



With DNA contaminated during the cloning process, this once peaceful plant eater is afflicted by a disease that causes a form of mania. They are irritable, angry and have a craving for flesh.

An armoured little ball of energy, Pachycephalosaurus is the most maneuverable of the three Bruisers, able to leap on buildings and execute quick turns. Its thick dome skull is a "super strong point" that is impervious to all but armour piercing weapons.



Pachycephalosaurus also has *two* secondary abilities...

[h3]BRACING For Impact[/h3]



Bracing is a way for the Pachy to last longer in close quarters combat, allowing you to receive less damage. Hold alt fire (right mouse button) to hunker down and your whole body has an armour buff, lowering the amount of pain you feel. Doing this is strenuous for the Pachy, so drains your stamina.

The other secondary ability Pachy has is enabled by roaring...

[h3]MANUAL Charge[/h3]

The key difference compared to Carno and Cerato is that you have manual control of your charge as Pachycephalosaurus. Just running into enemies won't really deal any damage, you need to roar first to enter ADRENALINE RUSH.



Adrenaline Rush mode makes the creature hyper energetic, increasing agility. This lets it attack faster, jump higher, and most importantly- unlocks your charge.



After roaring, hold alt fire (right mouse button) to launch into a charge directly ahead. It takes half a second to build up speed, then any human in your way will receive serious impact damage.

Be warned though - it is difficult to turn while charging. To get around that, you need to slide...

[h3]SLIDE ABILITY[/h3]

Sliding is a special movement ability you have as Pachy. It lets you perform quick turns, redirect a charge without needing to slow down, and can even deal damage to enemies!



Simply crouch while running to do a slide. Your speed and turning rate will be momentarily boosted and any humans in your path will receive impact damage + knockback.

[h3]Food ability: GRAZING[/h3]

In addition to eating from corpses and getting health from killing humans like other dinosaurs, the Pachycephalosaurus can also restore itself by eating greenery.



If you are standing on grass and low on health, you can begin munching on the ground by holding the use key. Grazing like this is slower than filling up at a corpse, and the higher your health the less useful it will be, but this ability can give you a top-up when you need it most.

[h2]Finally Unleashed! [/h2]



After countless challenging hours of development, we're super excited to finally have this class playable for everyone! Hopefully once you've had a chance to zoom around as it, you'll agree with us when we say that Pachy makes a mighty fine new addition to our dinosaur roster.

We can't wait to see how it affects the overall feel of the game, it's been pretty intense during testing!
However, a new dinosaur is not all we have for you today...


[h2]Class Select and Customization Rework[/h2]

It was high time for a refresh. The class selection and customization menu screens have been completely redone, with more than just a new coat of paint. Aside from the reworked theming, both menus are linked together now in-game, with your character's 3D model visible throughout.



This upgrade to the whole menu setup also means you can customize before respawning once more!


[h3]Easier to Read & More Options [/h3]

Our goals with this UI update were to make things clearer and smoother. The text sizes have been increased, as have the icons. You'll no longer need to squint to see these elements if you don't have your nose against your monitor, and item descriptions are always right there next to them.



The customizer also only shows what you want to see when you want to see it, leaving more room for admiring your character model. Just hover over the bar for any item category on the left to reveal its contents and start customizing.

There are even additional shortcuts in customize now...
  • A and D (or right analog stick) still allow you to rotate your view left and right

  • H (or controller) now hides the item menus so you can get a view of your whole dinosaur

  • Double-tap spacebar to quickly exit the customization area and respawn with your currently selected class (if it's available).


The entirety customization and class select menus also have full controller support, with shoulder buttons and triggers used to quickly swap between various tabs and newly updated gamepad prompts.


[h3]Know Your Enemy, Know Thyself[/h3]

Almost all dinosaurs have some areas that are tougher than others. Pachy in particular has the giant dome skull which deflects small arms fire. Anything that's not armour piercing or explosive will not penetrate the dome.



You can now review each dinosaur's strong points and weak points by flipping through the newly updated class select menu, which has helpful diagrams for each species. The different hit indicators for when you land a shot in each body zone are also displayed for reference.

Every class in the game now has several tips on how to play that you can cycle through on the class selection screen. Check the box in the bottom right corner of class select for hints about various weapons, special abilities, team tactics and more. The vital statistics of each class are also displayed, listing their overall health and stamina.

Additionally, all weapons now have stats you can view by hovering over them in class select. There are three bars revealed which show the damage, range and rate of fire for every element in your arsenal.

[h3]Loadout Swap (without customizing)[/h3]

Sometimes you just wanna quickly switch to a different gun. Now, it's easier to grab the right tool for the right job. Humans can swap their equipment on class select without needing to customize.

So, if you want to go from assault rifle to burst rifle, you can now do so with one button press / click while on class select (instead of having to bring up a huge list of items to scroll through).

The limitation with quick swap is that the game can currently only save one customized weapon at a time per loadout slot (primary & secondary). We hope to further improve on this and add more options in future.

[h3]More to Come[/h3]

That's a lot of big changes to the menus for one update, but we're not done quite yet. We'll be continuing to refine and enhance the new class select and customization in future patches, making them even snappier and snazzier!


[h2]New Feature:
ROAR REFRESH
[/h2]
A new utility for dinosaurs is that in addition to its usual functionality, roars can now "refresh" yourself.



Roar Refresh removes any negative effects such as stamina drain from poison darts or bleeding. It also grants a brief 3 second immunity to de-buffs from the moment the roar key is pressed.

Roar Refresh can quite literally mean the difference between life and death from what we've seen in testing- deploying your roar at the right time can save you from an otherwise lethal overdose or bleeding out. With this change, dino roars are an essential tool for both attacking and escaping.


[h2]New Feature:
NET ESCAPE
[/h2]



A new ability for Tyrants and Bruisers is being able to free yourself from nets. If you have a roar ready and become netted, you can now use your roar to escape, shredding the net to pieces. The look of trapper nets has been updated as part of this, they now appear constructed of shiny metal wire meshing, and make a distinctive noise when attaching to dinosaurs.

We're hoping that the net escape feature, along with the new Roar Refresh mechanic, makes roaring a much more useful ability for Bruiser and Tyrant players.


[h2]New Feature:
ARMOUR BLOCKS TRANQUILIZERS
[/h2]

This has been a much requested feature, and as of this update it is now a reality. If a dinosaur is hit by a tranquilizer rifle or dartgun in an area that is armoured (strong point) then they receive no damage over time or stamina reduction from that shot. Only the base damage from the dart impact is felt.

This is a particularly important change for Bruisers & Tyrants since the majority of their heads and tails are reinforced, so unless it's a shot to the side they will usually not feel the poison take hold.


[h2]Updates to Flight[/h2]

One annoying bug we've been wrestling with lately is Flyers will sometimes lose all speed during flight, stopping in midair. This should no longer happen with the latest fixes to flight mechanics.

Another change we've made is that if a Pterosaur flies into a vertical object such as a wall for longer than a split-second, they will now drop out of flight. This is still quite forgiving, and allows flying classes to easily brush past most objects while flying around. The difference is that whacking head-first into a shipping container should more than likely make you plummet out of the sky now.


[h2]Map Updates[/h2]

A few of our levels have seen some improvements with this update to improve the overall game flow and provide more cover for the dinosaurs. UtilityBase has seen its main gates raised higher, preventing humans from jumping wall to wall and offering a way for dinos to break line of sight with pursuers.



Elsewhere, the DesertionPoint map has seen its trees start to grow back now that the logging company is long gone. The outskirts have greater density of foliage, and bushes have sprouted up within the compound which give added camouflage for players. There are also more spawns out in the woods now so that people don't pop in around the same area as often.

For info on more tweaks to a handful of other maps, you can read the full changelog further down..

[h2]New Achievements and Challenges[/h2]

This update introduces 4 new achievements to unlock and 9 new weekly challenges. There are several related to our new hard-headed friend among them.



[h2]Visual Update: NEW Dinosaur Shader[/h2]

We have implemented a new type of subsurface scattering for dinosaurs, that aims to more closely emulate how light filters through skin...



This effect still needs tweaking in a few areas for certain dinosaurs, but even in its first pass we think it gives quite a dramatic effect, particularly when standing in front of sunlight. You can see the details being highlighted on the edge of the Rex's skin here..



[h2]OFFICIAL SERVER IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]

For this release, we have significantly upgraded the hardware for our official servers. They are now much more robust, less prone to buckling under pressure and we're able to host more of them. Performance should be much improved now as well, with less lag across the board.



If you're wanting to jump right into battle, consider joining one of the gold highlighted options in the server browser!


[h2]Special Event: MELTDOWN 2.0[/h2]

The release of Pachycephalosaurus coincides with MELTDOWN 2.0, a special in-game event featuring new time-limited items, ultimate skins and much more...

[h3]Limited Time Store Rotation[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The in-game Extinction Store has been refreshed with a brand new set of featured items! These hot new looks include 12 sizzling mutations, including one for our new Pachycephalosaurus class. There are also two taunts for the Pachy, the gleaming Knight Pathfinder outfit, and a bold new feathered Phoenix Pteranodon. Not to mention, the 2021 Meltdown Gift which is filled to bursting with dozens of scintillating new skins.

To view all of the new (and returning!) content in Meltdown 2.0, check out our special event Trello page.

[h3]Legendary Sprays[/h3]

Animated and very distracting, these babies are now dropping in-game...



Nuff said.

[h3]Ultimate Skins, Wave 4.5[/h3]

The second batch of Thalassic skins are here, along with several Ultimate skins for our new Pachycephalosaurus!



As a reminder, ULTIMATE dinosaur skins feature special animated emissive effects that run throughout the body. They are obtainable either as extremely rare drops while playing, or through crafting together 25 legendary items.



THALASSIC ultimates are themed around deep sea bio-luminescent creatures, with intricate strands of pulsating glows emanating from within. They have a vaguely pearlescent appearance, punctuated by dozens of tiny jewel-like orbs that are reminiscent of beautiful nightmares from the dark abyss.


[h2]Coming Soon...[/h2]



We'll have fresh new store rotations every two weeks during this autumn, featuring some beautiful community created designs for our new Pachycephalosaurus! Check back regularly for new items!



Full Changelog



[h3]DINOSAUR CHANGES[/h3]

  • NEW BRUISER CLASS: Pachycephalosaurus

  • ALL DINOS: roaring now removes negative status effects and grants 3 second immunity

  • Increased radius of dilo spit puddle
  • Increased speed of stamina drain for humans standing in dilo puddle

  • Reduced control lock times for Ceratosaurus attacks
  • Made it easier to land critical hits with Cerato's tailswipe attack
  • Cerato tailswipe now does more knockback

  • Next Gen Netting:

    • Tyrants and Cerato can now escape a net if they roar
    • Tyrants now play an escape animation when freed from a net (if they don't roar to escape)
    • New particle effects for dinosaurs escaping nets (small = sparks, big = net pieces)
    • Updated the look of nets to now appear more metallic
    • Added new sounds for being netted and escaping nets
    • Added more netted vocal sounds for Tyrants
    • Fixed netted pain sounds not stopping right away after exiting the netted state


  • NEW subsurface scattering effect for dino shader
  • Swapped the Spino corpse eating animation
  • Added a subtle animation morph of the Cryo's neck bulging when spitting
  • If a dino is burned to death, there should be smoke rising from their corpse now
  • Fixed character flame emitters constantly resetting when taking extended hits from the flamethrower

  • Fixed acid not freeing netted Pterosaurs
  • Fixed invisible acid pools
  • Fixed bug where dinosaurs can eat and roar at the same time
  • Possible fix for roar sounds sometimes cutting out
  • Possible fix for Nova's pounce not working under certain conditions.

  • Fixed hitting the same enemy twice in a row with charge sometimes (all bruisers)
  • Fixed charge impact sounds only being heard by the charging player
  • Set species-specific impact sounds for Chargers (carno, cera, pachy, tupa)
  • Fixed flesh impact sounds always playing for Carno and Tupa ram animations even when you didn't hit your target



[h3]MENU / UI CHANGES[/h3]

  • NEW fully 3D combined class selection & customize menu
  • Added quick-swap for weapons in human class selection
  • Added weapon stats on mouse-over to class selection
  • Updated scientist class icon on scoreboard
  • Fixed "class full" appearing when class is not full anymore
  • Added dino diagrams to class selection showing strengths and weaknesses
  • Added full gamepad support for customization and class select

  • A countdown is now shown for dinosaurs saying how long they have left before auto-spawning.

  • Forced spawn for dinosaurs now pops you in as the class you're currently looking at in customization/class select (provided that class isn't full)


[h3]MAP CHANGES[/h3]

  • Fixed extra time not being added instantly when a GTTC point is captured

  • Added new foliage cover and more water sources to DesertionPoint
  • A bunch of collision adjustments on DesertionPoint to prevent humans going where they shouldn't

  • Fixed the roof of Verdant's main building being non-solid in places
  • Raised the main gates of UtilityBase to prevent humans jumping from wall to wall

  • Added more tree cover around the Airbase helipad
  • Tweaks to Airbase map visuals (better water leaks, darker fog)

  • Fixed some lag on the main menu map
  • Updated customization area on the main menu map
  • Upscaled a few environment textures


[h3]OTHER CHANGES[/h3]

  • NEW achievements and challenges!
  • NEW legendary animated spray drops

  • Fixed bruiser class cooldown in Get To The Chopper only working for Carnotaurus
  • Updated human physics assets (disabled collision traces on their arms)
  • Reduced max damage distance for all weapons (you could be damaged literally miles away before)

  • Updated the longifrons acro mesh
  • Various other mutation and skin fixes
  • Started process of reworking dino skins that use the old pattern system (more to come soon!)
  • Added a couple of missing economy icons

  • Crash fixes for Survival mode
  • Fixed oversized hunt raptor collars
  • Various optimizations including performance boosts for core AI and UI code
  • Various updates to Steamworks libraries



[h2]Thank you![/h2]



Without the support of our dedicated community, this update and its new class would not be a reality.

The efforts of dozens of artists and testers in the Primal Carnage: Extinction fanbase helped the development team bring our Pachycephalosaurus to life!



From the exquisite character modelling skills of Mr. Troodon, to the texturing finesse of Velociboy and ArchShiranui, the close-knit testing group with committed bug stompers such as Alijar, Gyula and ToaMetru, and many, many more... We thank you all once again for your dedication!

And a big thankyou to all of our players for joining us on this wild ride!


[h3]Now go headbutt something...[/h3]
-The Primal Carnage Team

Patch 2.5.1 + Store Update

A new patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam!

This update brings various optimizations, visual improvements and new customization items as part of the ongoing Summer Heatwave event....

[h2]Patch 2.5.1 Highlights[/h2]

[h3]Server stability improvements[/h3]

This patch brings a few small but important optimizations for servers, fixing some log spam that could slow games down and reducing the chances of crashing. We're hopeful that server stability across the board will be improved with the changes we've implemented.



We'll be continuing to investigate ways to increase performance and fixing further server-related issues in future updates.

[h3]Visual Changes[/h3]

There are a number of small visual fixes and updates with this patch. Scientist skins which have a different hair colour now have proper custom ponytails, so there is no longer a colour mismatch...



A few character textures have been upscaled with more detail, and several mutations have been adjusted slightly to work better with attachments such as collars.

Elsewhere, the default grass has received a bit of a touch-up, with cleaner edges and a higher resolution texture. Large raindrops now visually distort the background when close to the camera, and certain attachments such as the aforementioned Scientist's ponytail are affected by the wind.

Finally, throwable weapons like the frag grenade and molotov are bigger making them easier to see, with more noticeable particle trails emitting from them...



[h3]Minor Balance Tweaks[/h3]

After adjusting how stamina is affected by Novaraptor's roar last update and seeing the results, we decided to adjust that some more. The consumption rate is now higher for slash attacks while under the influence of Nova's roar ability, so it is now more important for players to watch their bar before initiating a frenzy.



Another change is for Ceratosaurus. We recently introduced speed blending for dinosaurs with regards to how fast they turn when sprinting vs. walking. The Ceratosaurus was negatively impacted due to this change, so we have increased its turning speed when walking and crouching.

Similarly, the Pterosaurs now have better momentum conservation when exiting a dive and should no longer lose speed out of nowhere.

There's a bunch more fixes and adjustments (including a few small map tweaks) with patch 2.5.1.
Scroll down toward the end to read the full changelog!

[h2]Heatwave, Part 2[/h2]

This patch introduces a second heatwave to the in-game store!



A new set of featured items has been added on top of all the hot cosmetics available from the June update. So if you had something you wanted to pick up from last week, don't worry it's still there. We just have a bunch more for you now...



Today's refresh brings 8 new mutations, 9 new skins and an Assault Rifle Skin Pack with 5 different designs for the Commando's boom tube.



To see all the items available in the ongoing Summer Heatwave event, visit our special Trello board:
https://trello.com/b/FXE3SzJo/special-event-items


[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

Here is a complete list of changes included with version 2.5.1...
  • Increased stamina drain for attacks while frenzied as Novaraptor
  • Increased walk and crouch turn speed of Ceratosaurus

  • Fixed occasional sudden speed loss in mid-air for Flyers
  • Added smoother blending when coming out of a dive as flyers

  • Can no longer swap arrows when running
  • The kill 20 Ceratos Challenge is now Kill 20 Bruisers

  • Fixed an issue with not being awarded the kill when a target suicides after hitting them

  • Tyrant roar popups now properly inform the Tyrant player what they do
  • Fixed bruiser roar buff triggering on spawn sometimes

  • Scientist ponytail is now affected slightly by the wind when idle
  • Fixed a bunch of scientist skins having incorrect ponytail hair colour

  • Fixed the Nade Love spray being unusable
  • Fixed missing Mosaic Cryo skin

  • DeadTide map: reduced post process bloom intensity
  • DeadTide map: fixed some rock and airplane collision problems
  • DeadTide map: disabled ragdoll collision on perimeter blocking volumes
  • ForgottenOutpost map: fixed an exploit spot for humans
  • PC-Docks map: lowered the central water tower so it's easier to jump up to as raptors
  • Adjustments to fog and lighting on main menu map

  • Increased size of a few throwable objects
  • Added more visible particle trails to molotov and hand grenades
  • Improved grass textures with cleaner, higher resolution opacity masks
  • Heavy damage "scratch" overlay can now be disabled as part of the Show Damage option

  • Various mutation fixes, improving alignment with collars etc. for certain models
  • Disabled collision on a whole bunch of stuff that was throwing errors in the maps
  • Fixed some heavy server log spam
  • Removed a debug command


[h2]Next Week: Extinction SDK Update [/h2]

Next week we will be releasing an update to the Primal Carnage: Extinction development toolkit, bringing all of the latest changes and content to the editing tools. We'll have a proper announcement with more details when that is ready to go, but be sure that there's a lot of additions, from the recent weapon sets to updated character assets and the new Dead Tide map.

We'll also be including the starter set for our upcoming class: Pachycephalosaurus!



Although it will not be playable in-editor, community creators can start working on skins, taunts and more for our newest dinosaur from next week. The initial content will include near-final base textures & material instances, plus placeholder animations for the Pachy's model.

Alongside the SDK release will be a resource pack to help artists quickly get to grips with the Pachy, including a Blender template file to easily create taunt animations. We'll be posting this on the official Discord when the SDK update goes live, so keep an eye out!

[h2]August Update[/h2]

Right now we're still hard at work bringing the Pachy to life and will be testing it in the coming weeks. This unique creature will be able to eat both meat and plants, and is the most agile of the Bruisers.



We're very excited for how it's going to shake up the gameplay, and hope you'll join us when our hard-headed friend arrives this August.

See you then!
-The Primal Carnage Team