Primal Carnage: Extinction News

A new game update is available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam.
This update is the final phase of Meltdown 2022!

We conclude this summer's cavalcade of hot new looks with the first wave of Ultimate human skins and August's store rotation. Scroll on down for the highlights from Part 3, and view all of the new mutations, taunts, skins and more added over the course of the Meltdown event on Trello.


[h2]Featured Items[/h2]

Today's update brings the final set of Metldown items to the in-game store, adding on to the collections from Parts 1 & 2. Check them out below...

[h3]New Taunts[/h3]

Pyro "Fake" Thumbs Up Taunt



Pachy Dance Taunt



Pachy Yawn Taunt




[h3]Big Blazing Bundle 03[/h3]

A third bumper pack of dinosaur skins is now available!



Big Blazing Bundle 03 contains 8 sizzling new looks for several dinosaur classes at a bulk discount.


[h3]Summer Sunset Gift[/h3]



Reward up to 24 other players with special summer items by opening the Summer Sunset Gift in a server!



The gift giver receives the Black Hole Royal Dilo skin for their generosity...




[h2]NEW FREE DROPS[/h2]



We have a selection of new free items dropping from today, obtainable simply by playing the game...

[h3]Ultimate Centigrade Humans[/h3]

The first wave of Ultimate skins for humans has arrived.
With lava seemingly flowing through their veins, these mercs are really feeling the burn!



Each of the ultimate skins features unique textures and custom arm materials, and this is just the first collection. Similar to Ultimate dinosaur skins, we will be following up with Kilowatt humans later this year, with Cold Fusion and Thalassic following later on.

(Ultimate skins are obtainable either as ultra rare drops or by crafting 25 Legendary skins together)

[h3]More Freebies[/h3]

In addition to the newly introduced Ultimate human skins, there are a bunch of other free items added today. The DENTATIS Dilophosaurus mutation gives the dinosaur larger rounded crests and much more noticeable spiky teeth, and is among the new free drops...



Tortoisehell Feathered Acro and Nile Monitor Pachycephalosaurus head up the free skins today...



The Novaraptor Threaten Taunt is a new Uncommon drop...



3 new avatars / sprays are now dropping, including Annoyed Acro, Spino Rage and Primal Surprise..




Finally, several new weapon skins have also been added, such as the colour-changing RGB Netgun and the intricate Circuitry Burst Rifle.





[h2]PATCH NOTES[/h2]

As we've mentioned before, our programmers are currently occupied preparing for the relaunch of Primal on PlayStation. For that reason, most changes to the PC side will be fairly minor for now...


[h3]Version 2.9.5 Chaneglog[/h3]

• Heavy hit reactions for dinosaurs now play less often
  
• Tyrants now only play heavy hit reactions if instant hit damage received is 300 or more
  
  
• Added content for Meltdown Part 3
  
• Legendary human skins can now be crafted into Ultimate human skins
  
  
• Fixed laser sight alignment on red devil assault cannon
  
• Fixed glow map issue with Frost Fire Nova and Nightfall Oviraptor skins
  
• Fixed mismatched subsurface skin colour between head and body on a couple of Tyrannosaur skins
  
• Updated materials / textures for hornet scientist, hornet sniper rifle & catsuit scientist
  
• Tweaked 3rd person trapper sprint animation when using dual pistols
  
• Tweaked the Novaraptor sprint animation
  
  
• Various other texture and material updates
  
• Optimizations to shadowmaps
  

[h2]Join our official Discord...[/h2]

A new game update is available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam!



This update introduces the second wave of Meltdown 2022 items, with dozens of new customizations available on the in-game store and as free drops. We have some other minor improvements here and there, but new looks are the star of the show.

Selected from the many amazing Steam Workshop submissions made by the Primal Carnage community, you can view all of the newest content on our freshly updated Special Event Trello...


Some of the highlights:
[h2]NEW STORE ROTATION[/h2]

[h3]Featured Items[/h3]

Today's update brings a fresh set of items to the Extinction Store!



There are 8 new dinosaur model mutations newly added this time round, ranging from the athletic Varanus Cerato to the knobbly Narmadensis Acro and hulking Frustrum Rex!



Take to the skies as Prodigis Tupa, which has a set of "feathers" (?!) on either side of its head, or grow some teeth with the oddly beaked Trimicrodon Ptera! All of these and more available now if you scroll down in-store...



Apart from all of the new taunts hitting the in-game store today, there are also three fresh new taunts in this rotation, with a real banger for the Pyro!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Sorry, punk rocker Pyro outfit sold separately.


[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
It can backflip?! Where did it learn to backflip..?!


[h3]Big Blazing Bundle 02[/h3]

Want a great deal? A second bumper pack of dinosaur skins is available in-store today!



Big Blazing Bundle 02 is a pack that contains 8 scorching new looks for $8.99, including vivid skins for Bruisers and Tyrants, such as the bold Furore Carno and smouldering Wildfire Rex.

With so much new stuff, don't forget that all of the items that were added as part of Meltdown Part 1 and Summer Warmup are also still available on the store until the event is over!



[h2]NEW FREE ITEMS[/h2]

[h3]Feathered Novaraptor Upgrade[/h3]



Technically falls under this heading. We have another collaboration with community member and "honorary developer" Mr. Troodon. At long last, a custom model for feathered Novaraptors...



Featuring new 4K base textures and additional sculpted feather structures, this model and its overhauled texture set is now used by default when a feathered Nova skin is selected.



The update to feathered Novaraptors was designed with maximum compatibility in mind. To that end, the custom feathered model can be overridden by equipping a mutation, and there is a new default mutation, "Novaraptor Innatus," if you wish to apply the classic model when using a feathered skin.

Alignment with certain cosmetic attachments such as collars may not be 100% at the moment, so there might be some clipping or incorrect rotation when using attachments with the new feathered Nova model (depends on the item). We'll be doing a pass in a future update on cosmetic alignment in general, to fix some of the annoying offsets on a bunch of different characters.


[h2]New Drops[/h2]



We have a bunch of new free skins and extras dropping as of this update, obtainable simply by playing the game. Among the rarer items are new hats, aqua shackles and even two free mutations...


Above: Macronyx Oviraptor & Gracilus Pachy


In addition to character cosmetics, there are half a dozen new sprays now available and (nearly) all of the in-game sprays are now obtainable for use as player avatars. Spicy Rex seen below on the right also comes in Legendary flavour, with a fiery animated version!





[h2]PATCH NOTES[/h2]

We are currently focusing the majority of our time preparing for the relaunch of Primal on PlayStation, so most changes on the PC side will be fairly minor for now. The change log for today's patch is below:


[h3]Version 2.9.1[/h3]

• Added a custom model for feathered Novaraptor skins
  
• Added a new Novaraptor mutation to the default inventory, "Novaraptor Innatus"
  
• Fixed the Royal Acro eyes not glowing when equipping a collar
  
• Various other minor model fixes and compatibility updates
  
• Tweaked / fixed a number of small skin issues
  
• WIP optimizations to water shaders (may result in them appearing more wobbly than usual)
  

[h3]Arriving August:[/h3]
[h2]MELTDOWN PART 3[/h2]



Meltdown continues with its third and final phase in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for more mega deals and hot new looks headed your way soon...



Stay hydrated and have a great summer!
-The Primal Carnage Team



Join our official Discord...

Recently we opened the Official Primal Carnage Store, and simultaneously kicked off a community art contest focused on designs that could work well on merch such as T-shirts, mugs, posters, etc.

Today we're unveiling the winners of the art contest, but first let's visit the gallery to peruse all of the competition entries we received...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

There was a nice variety of submissions, from full colour posters to sticker-style cutouts, in a whole bunch of different styles. As there was no specific theme other than something which might work well as merch, there's a wide range of subjects in the artwork too.


[h2]HONORABLE MENTIONS / RUNNERS UP[/h2]

It was difficult narrowing down the selection, keeping in mind both the requirements of assets that would be physically printed and considering the merits of each piece on its own terms. Here are a few that we really liked but didn't quite make the top spots...

"Airbase Poster" by ChunkoHunko

"Lightning Spino" by DiNoKiDz1441

"Water Spino" by Shockal

"Don't Fall Behind!" by Dead but delicious

"Summer Dilophosaurus" by Stardust Blur

"Fiery Novaraptor" by FeralViolet

"Serious Trapper" by Bad Plague


Some of these designs may yet become the basis of official merch in future, if we find time to work through some tweaks with their creators.





After much deliberation, we came up with the top three below. The following designs will appear on official merchandise in the Primal Carnage Store in future!


[h2]3RD PLACE -[/h2]
[h3]"You Are Spitacular" by BBQ [/h3]



This delightful piece made us smile, it'll be an excellent sticker. We love the colours and the art style in general (plus we're a sucker for puns). The expression on the cartoon Dilophosaur's face is just priceless.



[h2]2ND PLACE -[/h2]
[h3]"Primal Cornage" by jita23[/h3]




The in-joke that will just never die, we couldn't say no to a celebration of Primal Cornage - the world's greatest typo turned breakfast cereal. This is a great re-interpretation of the boxes that can be found as easter eggs in-game, with a nicely retro feeling vintage poster aesthetic.



[h2]1ST PLACE[/h2]
[h3]"For a Better Tomorrow" by Jacket [/h3]




Taking things to the next level, we have the first place design. The lighting and overall execution of this piece are top notch, with an ominous background glow and excellent use of masking to create a border that gives an impression of liquid. The vibe is a little darker than most of the other pieces and alludes to the concept of the dinosaurs being unnatural recreations of science.

It's going to make an epic T-shirt.


[h2]Prizes[/h2]



The three winning community artists will be receiving copies of their designs on products of their choosing, along with the other prizes mentioned in the Art Contest Announcement. We'll be reaching out via Discord to discuss the details soon.



[h2]Until Next Time...[/h2]

Thankyou to everyone who participated in the contest, it was lots of fun looking through all the artwork!

Even if you lost out, as mentioned above, there's still a chance some of those outside of the top three may yet be added to the official merchandise collection in future. We had a surplus of awesome entries honestly!

Looking ahead, we're definitely hoping to run more contests in future :)
If you want to get involved, be sure to join the official Discord server...

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!