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Primal Carnage: Extinction News

Primal Carnage: Extinction v2.0

It's the most wonderful time of the year... Primal Carnage: Extinction 2.0 is here...

[h3]
  • Major netcode upgrades.

  • All-new human animation system.

  • Ultra high res dinosaur texture sets.

  • Extensive reworks for several maps.

  • In-depth gameplay rebalancing.

  • And much, much, more....

[/h3]

[h2]Welcome to 2.0[/h2]

This Christmas we are debuting the largest update Primal Carnage: Extinction has ever had, with changes to fundamental core game systems and huge overhauls in numerous areas.

From completely rewriting hit detection, to dislodging that stick that's been stuck up the human team's butt for the better part of a decade, we've focused heavily on making the mercs more fun to play. We'll keep refining and improving, but are already amazed at how much of an effect these changes under the hood have had.

The entire game has been lavished with a lot of fine tuning, enhancements and extra options suggested by the community. These range from upgraded weapon effects, to dinosaur mobility improvements, large scale layout overhauls of certain maps, and various new quality of life features.

Join us this festive season as we enter a whole new chapter of Extinction...



[h2]Hit Detection Rework[/h2]

From day 1 we knew we had our work cut out for us with Extinction's netcode. We've battled for years to patch up the code under the hood, but it was only recently with a growing team of talented programmers we've been able to dedicate a large chunk of our time solely to reworking the game's hit detection.

The systems for verifying weapon and melee hits have been completely rewritten from the ground up to be much more efficient, cutting down the server response time and dramatically improving the feel of the game in the process. This means that unless you're playing on the moon, if you hit somebody with a hitscan weapon, you WILL hit them.

There are still exceptions that we're still working on, projectile-based weapons which use physics such as the netgun and flamethrower have been improved but are still not perfect. We're going to keep improving these going forward into next year.

As part of this process we have also taken the time to update our hit detection UI. There are now three different types of crosshair hit indicator to provide feedback on the area of a dinosaur you are hitting.



  • Dull X hit markers signify you are shooting an armoured strong point, doing reduced damage.
  • Bright white hit markers are used for hitting regular flesh on a dinosaur.
  • Red spiky hit markers will show when you are landing shots on a creature's weak spots.



[h2]A Matter of Scale[/h2]

As of this update, the human team members have all been resized. Doing this to the mercenaries as part of our animation system overhaul allowed us to inject a lot more personality into each character in how they move. It also makes them easier to read at a glance due to more noticeable differences in height.

On the whole, the mercenary team are shorter than they were originally, and their eye height has been adjusted to account for this. They aren't the only ones who have received a resizing though.

Raptors can now look you in the eye. Aside from this being just utterly menacing, it does have the effect of rendering headshots easier against these fast moving predators.

Similarly, the spitters have been upscaled by the same amount proportionally. They are no longer mere ankle biters, but still occupy the smallest niche on the dinosaur team and can hide in the undergrowth just as well in a lot of areas. You just don't need to be looking at the floor all the time to hit them now when playing human. We hope this makes fighting the small fries a bit less frustrating for those without perfect aim.

[h2]Tyrant Takedown[/h2]

Lastly we come to the Tyrants. To be honest, it has been difficult finding the sweet spot for these behemoths in Extinction, where they are of course intended to be the tanks of the dinosaur team but cannot be bullet spongey enough to be a chore to fight.

With this update we are hoping to find a midground that makes Tyrants more threatening but not quite so much of a pitched battle when you come up against them. T.Rex, Spinosaurus and Acro have been reduced in size slightly, allowing them to enter more enclosed areas to flush out humans and turn more quickly.

You haven't known true terror until you've faced a Tyrannosaurus inside the Utility Base main building. We hope this change livens up combat encounters with Tyrants and makes it more fun to play as them.

[h2]Redesigned Tranquilizer Mechanic[/h2]

We decided to try something different with the scientist's toxic arsenal for this update, to better differentiate the dargun and tranquilizer rifle and reward good aim. The reworked tranquilizer is geared around focusing your fire on a target, in order to stack the dosage of poison in their system, which deals damage over time (DOT).

If you land every shot in quick succession, you will inflict massive DOT in a relatively short period.
However, if your shots miss or are more spaced out, the dosage level of the target will rapidly fall off and do less damage. You need to sustain it.

The tranq rifle is especially good against larger classes, harder to use against smaller, more agile ones but potentially lethal with just a couple well-timed shots to something the size of a raptor. On the other hand, the dartgun now has much more stamina drain and is the better option for slowing targets with its rapid rate of fire.

These are just some of the major gameplay changes introduced in Version 2.0
For all the juicy details, scroll down to the full list at the bottom of this post!

[h2]Human Animation Overhaul[/h2]

Our veteran animator Maccollo, who created animations for the original Primal Carnage, has been hard at work crafting custom movesets (and more) for our favourite mercenaries (because crab-walking everywhere is so last decade...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzJpOr5aA94

The video above showcases different movement styles for each character, each member of the team has much more personality than they did before.

In addition to remaking all of the human third person animations, we have a new attachment system in development. So, for example: if you are using dynamite or land mines, they will appear at your side. And if you swap from a primary weapon to a handgun, the rifle will be slung on your shoulder. This feature is still work in progress and will be developed further in future updates!

Visual Upgrades




The winter update includes a graphical refresh for Primal Carnage: Extinction, with improved texture resolution across the board, ranging from 2x to 4x quality boosts in some areas. More advanced shaders and lighting have given the game world a graphical boost, adding a new level of detail across many surfaces found around the newly revised maps. We have also added optimized interactive water in some areas (that can even put you out if you are on fire!).

While almost every map in the game has received a new lick of paint, several havealso received more fundamental reworks this winter. This is due to certain locations in Team Deathmatch and Get to the Chopper being more than a little one-sided. So you may notice some new areas on locations such as Forest Chasm, UtilityBase and more!

We're going to continue re-designing large portions of maps to support additional avenues of attack as we move forward into 2021, with more escape routes for humans and small dinosaurs. Visibility on levels like ForestChasm has already been improved so that humans aren't just lost in the wilderness.


[h2]Did someone say PRESENTS?[/h2]



[h3]Winter Reward Items[/h3]

During the winter event, the drop pool will be adjusted to have almost exclusively seasonal-themed items! There's going to be a whole sleigh-full of new festive goodies here FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!

We have dozens of new items as winter rewards, from Ultimate Cold Fusion skins, to new mutations, and even some adorable plush toy dinos for your humans to play with. So complete all your weekly challenges, rank up, or just play the game during the winter event for a chance to receive sweet new loot!

Many items that were previously only available in winter crates have also now been redistributed, so that they are obtainable once again. You can acquire these through either classic winter gifts or as random drops during the festive period.

To see all of the items coming in over the course of the winter event, check our special Trello board...
https://trello.com/b/FXE3SzJo/special-event-items

We will be adding previews to this in the next couple of days to feast your eyes on!


[h3]New Ultimate Skins[/h3]

Batch 102 of Ultimate tier dinosaur skins has now been added to the game. These include the final two Centigrade skins and the brand new, exceedingly *cool* Cold Fusion skin set, a collection of dinosaurs that pulse with some form of mysterious radiation...



These new Centigrade and Cold Fusion skins are already in the drop pool right now, and the rest of the winter rewards set will be rolled out in waves over the next 24-48 hours. A new crafting tool will also be added into the mix, the strange FROSTY energizer. Use this in crafting to apply a wintery snow trail that emits from a dino skin's eyes and feet!


[h3]2020 Winter Store Update[/h3]



From premium skins such as the Wetiko Novaraptor, to new taunts and human weapon skins, we have dozens of fresh new items arriving in store with the winter update. Among these are several new skin packs to purchase, including the first Ceratosaurus bundle pack with 6 different looks for our recently added Bruiser class.

These items will only be available for the next few weeks until the winter event concludes this coming January, so grab them before they go extinct!

We'd like to thank all of the community creators that contributed their content to this update, from the talented MrTroodon overhauling our dinosaur base textures to DrCuttlefish and X-Seide's extraordinary designs for the Cold Fusion ultimates, and all the community animators who helped bring the legacy human taunts onto the newly updated rig. Here's to another year of amazing collaboration!

[h2]
FULL CHANGE NOTES
[/h2]

[h3]GENERAL GAMEPLAY CHANGES [/h3]

  • Updated default score and time limits for TDM
  • Changed sorting method of scoreboard to rank based on K/D ratio instead of pure points
  • Killing a Tyrant is now worth double, adding +2 to the overall kill score

  • Fixed the Tyrant Takedown bonus EXP being given to people who didn't land the killing blow
  • Added a separate assist type for
  • helping* to kill a Tyrant
  • Added bonus EXP for solo killing a Tyrant (90% or more damage)

  • After 4 kills without dying, players now receive +5 killstreak bonus EXP
  • Added bonus EXP for blinded enemies (Human/Flare or Dinosaur/Spitter)
  • Added revenge kill bonus EXP

  • Low health visuals now appear sooner


[h3]HUMAN CHANGES[/h3]

  • NEW focus fire mechanic for tranquilizer weapons
  • NEW third person animation system for all human characters
  • Re-sized all of the human characters making them more visually distinct

  • Humans can now swap weapons much faster
  • Slightly faster reload speed for regular shotgun and Spaz12

  • Players with low health are now highlighted to humans who have medkits equipped

  • Increased dual pistol damage from 60 to 70
  • Increased sniper rifle damage from 160 to 180
  • Reduced damage of assault rifle bullets from 32 to 28
  • Increased damage of M4 carbine to 30
  • Increased MK pistol damage from 40 to 50
  • Reduced recoil of Spaz12

  • Increased sniper rifle fire interval from 0.85/s to 0.9/s
  • Adjusted damage falloff curve for sniper rifle so that it drops off more slowly over distance

  • Increased base dosage amount of tranquilizers
  • Increased the Dartgun's stamina drain per shot to 12
  • Changed tranq rifle clip size to 9, reserve ammo to 36
  • Faster tranq rifle reload speed

  • Reduced arming time for land mines
  • Increased blast radius of land mines
  • Increased damage of land mines from 200 to 230

  • Water now bumps rockets away instead of having them explode on impact
  • Fixed net not doing direct hit damage, only splash damage
  • When netted, small dinos (Raptors, Spitters, Flyers) now have an outline visible to the Trapper who netted them

  • Made flamethrower firejet render in front of other translucent objects
    (should fix it disappearing on docks waterfront)

  • Reduced recoil on flamethrower
  • Increased chainsaw damage from 212/s to 320/s
  • Updated flamethrower jet effect with new visuals and tighter spread
  • Updated weapon muzzle flashes and ejection effects
  • Added smoke trails to tranq-based weapons

  • Brightened weapon crosshair textures
  • Tracer smoke trails are now replicated to other players
  • Fixed custom arm meshes not showing for skins that have them
  • Fixed being able to shoot while sprinting in some cases
  • Fixed hatches/flares dissappearing in water
  • Tranq DOT hit markers no longer trigger when target has died

  • Increased audible radius of certain human dialogs



[h3]DINO CHANGES[/h3]



  • NEW base textures applied to almost all dino skins

  • Dinosaurs now take 30% less damage to their armoured StrongPoints compared to regular hits

  • Added sprint camera modifier
  • Fixed camera zooming off when ragdolling as raptors

  • Increased air control / turn speed for all dinosaurs
  • Increased air turning speed and diving speed for Flyers
  • Increased air acceleration rate for Flyers

  • Re-sized raptors to be taller, making them easier to headshot
  • Re-sided spitters making them slightly larger
  • Re-sized all Tyrants, now shorter than before

  • Moved oviraptor and novaraptor closer together in terms of manoeuvrability
  • Added ambush EXP bonus for Novaraptor
  • Doubled maul damage for Oviraptor while pouncing
  • Doubled stamina drain rate while Oviraptor is mauling someone they've pounced
  • Reduced minimum interval between using slashes as raptor

  • Raised health of Cryo from 210 to 280
  • Raised health of Ptera from 300 to 360
  • Raised health of Nova from 300 to 360
  • Lowered health of Oviraptor from 350 to 300
  • Increased health of Cerato from 1200 to 1300

  • Reduced duration of dilophosaurus spit blind vision
  • Reduced pteranodon peck damage to 40
  • Reduced cryo acid instant hit damage from 80 to 65
  • Reduced cryo acid pool tick damage from 45 to 30
  • Reduced primary attack damage of Carno from 47 to 40
  • Reduced secondary attack damage of Carno from 65 to 50

  • Increased health restored by killing with claws or teeth as smaller dinos (now 35%)
  • Added +15 to Carno's base health restored through biting during its roar ability
  • Made it so the Acro roar buff does not negate tranq overdose effect
  • Reduced netted time length for Bruisers
  • If you are on fire, running through interactive water will now put you out after a second

  • Reduced direct hit damage of Cryo acid from 100 to 80

  • Made impact velocity consistent for knockback attacks regardless of where pawn is hit.
  • Prevented thrown ragdolls from getting stuck on living pawns.

  • First test of custom hit effects and footsteps for certain cosmetics with Robo Rex
  • Various skin fixes


[h3]MAP CHANGES[/h3]


    Visual and gameplay updates to the following maps:
    • GTTC DOCKS
    • GTTC FALLS
    • GTTC PHANTOM
    • GTTC DOWNPOUR
    • TDM FALLS
    • TDM TRANSFER
    • TDM DOCKS
    • TDM FORESTCHASM
    • TDM VERDANT
    • TDM UTILITYBASE
  • NEW optimized interactive water added to the maps mentioned above

  • GTTC: added laser grids to several areas which prevent dinosaurs passing through
  • GTTC: sub-objectives take longer to deplete after humans have been cleared from the point
  • GTTC: Fixed capture timer becoming stuck when a dead body is on the point
  • GTTC: Added automatic sentry turrets to starting safezones on Docks and TheFalls
  • GTTC: Fixed capture points on GTTC Falls not awarding time after being captured

  • Moved grass to a more optimized material
  • Fixed some collision issues on Docks and ForestChasm
  • Enabled snowy BasicTest map and Main Menu map


[h3]OTHER CHANGES[/h3]
  • Added dirt on camera effect for close-up explosions
  • Added separate FOV slider for dinosaurs
  • Minimum available FOV for dinosaurs is now 60 via slider, and 20 via command
  • Added sprint zoom on/off to gameplay options

  • Added an option for toggle run
  • Added option to hide kill confirmation notification
  • Added separate option for Show Dino Crosshair
  • Removed the "option removed" option from the options menu

  • Adjustments to default class limits:
    -Increased max limit for each human class to 6 in general
    -Increased spawn limit for Tyrants from 2 to 3 in TDM
    -Increased spawn limit of Bruisers from 2 to 3 in GTTC
    -Increased spawn limit of Bruisers from 3 to 4 in TDM

  • Fixed class select counter not being synced between client and server
    (correctly shows subclasses as unselectable when family limit is reached)

  • Removed annoying popup when clicking on a class that's full

  • Changed behaviour of ProportionalLimit server variable:
    • The value now represents the amount of players currently in a game.
    • Has been fixed so the specified class cannot spawn until this threshold is met.
    • Example: a Tyrant proportional limit of 10 = no Tyrant spawns until 10 players are in the match.


  • Added new generic hints for:
    --freeing dinos using melee slash, alternate loadout guns, extinguishing with water

  • Fixed an issue that could prevent idlers from being kicked
  • Fixed an issue where Flyers would not be idle kicked while hovering
  • Fixed the consecutive suicides counter not working in some cases
  • Fixed an issue where suicides via explosives wouldn't result in a kick

  • Leftover crates can now be used as common items in crafting, no minimum amount
  • Removed the infamous Survival mode challenge
  • Added new AdminJoinSpectator command


[h3]Known Issues: [/h3]

  • Gifts can be consumed in crafting (side effect of crates being craftable)
  • Certain cosmetics may be aligned incorrectly or display with the wrong scale
  • Some legacy dinosaur skins may appear overly shiny at present


WARNING: Some cosmetics (Tyrant chains) were initially causing the game to crash. If you have not done so already, please make sure you have updated to the recently released hotfix v2.0.1


[h2]Merry Christmas![/h2]



2020 has been quite a year for everybody, so wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, we hope you all stay safe and that PCE 2.0 helps make your year end with a smile!

We wish you all the best and a happy new year!
-The Primal Carnage Team




This is just the beginning...
Join the Official Primal Carnage Discord server to stay up to date with the game as it evolves in 2021!

Community Spotlight: MrTroodon

Today we've got a little questions and answers session with the one and only MrTroodon!

As the man behind some of Primal Carnage: Extinction's most popular dinosaur mutations and our very own Ceratosaurus, we thought it would be interesting to shine a light on the creative process that goes into these designs and what MrTroodon might be cooking up next....

[h3]Please introduce yourself and your background for those unfamiliar..[/h3]

Hello there, it is a pleasure to be doing this Q&A! I'm MrTroodon, a dinosaur fan from Mexico, and I've been doing 3D work for about 3-4 years though only gone full-on with it the last two.



The history behind the "MrTroodon" name is a pretty simple one, I wanted something that represented me as a person but also recognizable with my work, and so far I think it works (ignoring the fact that Troodon is now an invalid genus, but, that adds in some comedy I´d say!) Plus I also thought a Troodon with a top hat and a monocle would be funny.

I always considered Primal Carnage a classic, nowadays you have all these "paleo games" coming out but, back in the day it was THE dinosaur game. I mean in part dinosaurs like Carnotaurus are as popular as they area thanks to the game. Although back then I wasn´t able to play the original game or Extinction at first, I followed the development for quite a while, still remember watching gameplays from when things like the Cryo and Tupa were brand new.

[h3]What got you into creating content for Primal Carnage: Extinction?
Did you have past experience making models or skins?
[/h3]



My experience at making digital models comes mainly from my background at creating mods. I always like the ability to create my own content in the games I like, what's better than being able to play with your own creations? This is what got me into modding in the first place and it lead me to improve my skills and be more confident getting into bigger projects.

At first I modded (or at least attempted to mod) games like Zoo Tycoon 2 and JPOG, more recently I got into modding Jurassic World Evolution which is what many of you may know me from.

As to what got me into creating content for Primal Carnage: Extinction, it was really just timing. Making the Ultimasaurus mod for Jurassic World Evolution gave me confidence enough to say, "Hey I can create nice things, why not see what else I can do in other games?"

So I looked at Extinction again, the fact that I finally had a laptop that could actually run the game made me investigate the kind of things I could create for it. I thought I can make a couple of nice skins to play as, but then there's this announcement- now there are these so-called Mutations that modify the in-game model of the dinosaurs. And I´m like... I´m in, hell yeah let´s get into this!



Later I redid the Stegosaurus NPC model (because why not?) and this would lead to me being hired to create the Ceratosaurus for Primal Carnage: Extinction.



[h3]Where does the inspiration for your items come from?[/h3]

It depends on the item, I like to have a broad variety in my work yet also a style people can still recognize, "Hey these are things that the Troodon dude did."

This is one of the reasons as why I like to go with what I refer as "themes". Although i´d say what makes me go that route is I think that makes the item feel more special, kinda like if you were a child getting a figure of that new Jurassic movie, I really enjoy that, makes people happy. Brutalsaurus for example, was mostly inspired by what I would call "old school" paleo media, this would be depictions from the 90s and early 2000s, like the dinosaurs in Peter Jackson's King Kong.



For some of the items I plan to work on in the future I've found a general inspiration from action figures, things like Kenner toys or the G.I. Joe. Specially for having both dinosaur and human items within a same theme, meant to go with each other.

[h3]What was it like creating the Ceratosaurus model?[/h3]



I really enjoyed working on the Ceratosaurus, as in the past I had done some small commissions but this was much bigger so it was thrilling to work on it, a really neat experience. Although I'd be lying if there wasn´t some pressure present there on the back of my mind, since this was like the first new subclass since Acro which was years ago!

[h3]What software, tools and techniques do you use?[/h3]

The softwares I use for modeling are Blender to work on the mesh itself and Zbrush to do the sculpting, meanwhile at the moment for what would be the texturing I use Substance Painter mainly with something like Photoshop or Gimp after that for minor tweaks.



When making mutations I first ask myself, what do I want to achieve with the item/s in question? Based on that I look for references I would use for the project in question, both for the model and texture. This can be from movies, paleoart, games, even modern day fauna. As an example, for the Novus mutations (New Generations) I like to use skeletals in order to get more accurate proportions.

[h3]Do you have a particular workshop item you're proud of?[/h3]

Oh there's no contest here, the Emu. The absolute absurdity of that made me fell like a mad scientist while creating it. I had LOTS of fun making this bird...




[h3]Lastly, is there anything you're working on that you'd like to share? [/h3]

Hehe, there's a couple things...







[h3]Thanks again to MrTroodon for chatting with us! [/h3]

With the release of the winter update later this month, almost all of the dinosaur classes will be receiving brand new high resolution base textures as part of a visual refresh to the game as a whole.

MrTroodon has done an excellent job bringing the classic Primal dinosaurs into the current decade and we can't wait for you to play with them! If you'd like to see more from MrTroodon, check the links below..

YouTube channel

Steam Workshop

https://twitter.com/Mr_Troodon

ArtStation

Happy Thanksgiving

Considering that "Turkey Day" is almost upon us, we figured we'd put a spotlight on our feathered fauna!
Although we have to say, these things are more likely to eat YOU.

[h2]New Store Rotation[/h2]

We're featuring Oviraptor this week, with a bunch of shiny new looks available for our favourite egg thief, including some brand new mutations (and one weird-looking bird)...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Of course, there's one more feathered beast debuting today, the Spinocheirus:



This new premium skin is a crazy combination of Spinosaurus and Deinocheirus, complete with thick feathery coat and hard duck-like bill instead of a toothy snout.

Alongside these, the Autumnal Novaraptor Bundle is back (on special offer!) and there are new skins for Oviraptor, Novaraptor and more...



Oh, and if you thought you had missed out on the Fall Feathered Dilophosaurus or Arctic Feathered Rex, they are here for one final week before migrating out of the store...



We do have a couple more store rotations remaining this year, so if you'd like to keep up with all the latest skins, mutations and more being added, be sure to find us on Twitter, Facebook and Discord!


[h2]Happy Thanksgiving![/h2]

Whether you're visiting family or cooped up at home, stay safe everyone!
(And slay some dinos while you're at it)

-The Primal Carnage Team


Join the conversation...



[h3]Autumn Sale now LIVE[/h3]
Primal Carnage: Extinction is 50% off as part of the Steam Autumn Sale...
That ALSO includes the PCE four-pack bundle! Tell your friends!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/321360/Primal_Carnage_Extinction/


ARRIVING LATE DECEMBER:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/321360/announcements/detail/2909850789386398477

Winter is Coming...

[h2]New Blood[/h2]

Firstly, we'd like to give a warm welcome to all our new players from Extinction's free weekend event!
Whether you're here to kill or chill, we've got some exciting updates on the horizon!

(Ends November 23rd, 17:00 UTC)

As the mutation madness winds down and we grow closer to the holidays, we thought we'd share what you can all look forward to this December...


[h2]Progress update: [/h2]
Human Animation Overhaul


Our veteran animator Maccollo, who created animations for the original Primal Carnage, has been hard at work crafting custom movesets (and more) for our favourite mercenaries.

Crab-walking everywhere is so last decade...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzJpOr5aA94

The video above showcases different movement styles for each character, and if you look closely you can see they're not stuck with a totally blank facial expression anymore (!)

In addition to remaking all of the human third person animations, we have a new attachment system in development. So, for example: if you are using dynamite or land mines, they will appear at your side. And if you swap from a primary weapon to a handgun, the rifle will be slung on your shoulder.

The animation overhaul is currently targeted for the winter update, so if all goes to plan you'll have this in your hands by the end of December!


Upcoming Gameplay Overhauls




Alongside the human animation update, the general feel and pace of the game is being fine-tuned. These adjustments range from more minor adjustments (like faster weapon swap as human, or making raptors tall enough so that they line up nicely for a headshot), to bigger changes such as tinkering with maximum speeds of various species.

We've observed that players on the human side often require lightning reflexes (or almost supernatural precognition) to actually take out the faster dinosaur classes. There are two factors behind this, one is spotty hit detection combined with network latency, the other is that these dinos are simply speedy killing machines in the first place, which by necessity makes them hard to deal with in close quarters.

Winter testing will focus a great deal on just how fast they really need to be. Creatures like the Tupa feel like fighter jets when you are attacking them, but don't really feel that way when playing as those classes. Our plan is to experiment with a combination of reduced velocity but greatly increased maneuverability, particularly things like better air turn speed while jumping as Novaraptor.

How far these changes will go are yet to be decided, but they have been a long time coming, and we will be closely monitoring their impact on gameplay by doing rigorous testing. However, there is the other side to this problem that we're attempting to address this winter...

Netcode & Engine Fixes


Our intrepid programmers are tackling some rather large engineering tasks right now....



A whole new system for hit detection is currently being investigated. We know that latency between client and server causes many issues in the current version, but if the new setup works as we hope, both human and dinosaur attacks should benefit greatly and be much more reliable.

Reworking a core feature like this is a daunting technical challenge considering the age of the game's codebase and the complexity involved in network replication. However, we are cautiously optimistic this will be one of the nicer presents arriving with this year's winter update.

Another ongoing effort is upgrading the engine somewhat. The PC version actually runs on an old branch of Unreal forked specifically for PS4 support. Moving it from this branch to the latest stable release of Unreal Engine 3 is something that should resolve a number of issues, such as various crashes and graphical glitching that can sometimes occur.

As for the console version, work is progressing slowly but surely, analyzing platform-specific bugs and evaluating which changes are safe to merge in. Our primary focus in the new year will be improving the PS4 edition after the current round of PC engine fixes and overhauls are complete.

We've got some seriously talented programmers and our coding crew has grown from 1 to 3 people recently, but these things take time. We thank our players for your patience as we embark on these long and difficult engineering tasks.


Visual Upgrade


The winter update will include a graphical refresh for Primal Carnage: Extinction, with improved texture resolution across the board, ranging from 2x to 4x quality boosts in some areas.

-Click here for a closer view-

More advanced shaders will give the game world a graphical boost, adding a new level of detail across many surfaces found around the maps, with improved specularity making them feel less flat. We will also be adding optimized interactive water in some areas, which you can see a quick test of below...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Other effects such as explosions, muzzle flashes and Tyrant footsteps are being enhanced as well, to give more impressive feedback when interacting with both enemies and the world.

Map Rehauls




While every map in the game will be receiving a new lick of paint and lighting updates, several will also receive more fundamental reworks this winter. This is due to certain locations in Team Deathmatch and Get to the Chopper being more than a little one-sided.

We're going to be re-designing large portions of these maps to support additional avenues of attack, with more escape routes for humans and small dinosaurs. Visibility on levels like ForestChasm will be improved so that humans aren't just lost in the wilderness. We will also be looking at the viability of Tyrants on a few maps, restricting their ability to access certain areas, but also opening others up so that they can enter previously safe strongholds.



The example above is one of many tweaks to GTTC levels, showing a work in progress of the new run up to Ruthless first objective, featuring three main lanes of attack that interlink. The hope is that these changes improve overall gameplay by offering extra choice in how you approach (or flee from) skirmishes. Testing will see which layout changes we ultimately keep.

Additionally, for Get to the Chopper mode we will be adjusting elements such as capture times and spawn positions. This will be done on a case by case basis, finding what works best for each part of every map.


[h2]Stay Frosty.[/h2]

We hope you're as excited as we are for the largest update in Primal Carnage Extinction's history!



We'll be sharing more with the community as we get closer to the winter update next month, and testing new features with the help of our dedicated players.

Join the Official Primal Carnage Discord server to stay up to date!


FREE WEEKEND

If you've never had the chance to chow down on someone as a Spinosaurus, blast a raptor's head off or hurl someone into the ocean as a Pteranodon, now is your time.

Primal Carnage: Extinction is having a FREE weekend!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/321360/Primal_Carnage_Extinction/

Jump into the prehistoric mayhem that is PVP human vs. dinosaur combat, with intense matches pitting claws and teeth against bullets and bombs!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Customize your creatures with a wide array of skins and mutations that can even make them look like other species! This week is a double drop event, with rare cosmetics returning to the fold. Don't miss out!


Hunt humans, slay dinosaurs.
This is Primal Carnage: Extinction.


Why not join us on Discord?
Be first to get all the latest info on what's coming to Extinction this winter!