Primal Carnage: Extinction News

The latest patch for Primal Carnage: Extinction marks the end of our Valentine's Event, and brings a host of minor fixes and tweaks to the game. You can check out those at the bottom of this post, but first we'd like to share with you a look at what's coming to PCE later in 2021...



What follows below is our overall plan for content updates through the first half of this year...
(NOTE: this not a complete list, and some features may be subject to change or delay)

[h2]March[/h2]

March Munitions is our next major update and revolves around everyone's favourite mercenaries!



This will be where we start expanding the arsenal of the human team, introducing two brand new weapons and making some major changes to existing ones. The human focus doesn't stop there either, as we will be adding even more polish to their animation sets with the March update, plus bringing in hot and cold Ultimate skins for the human team and much, much more.



With every major release this year we also plan to touch up the remaining maps that have yet to receive gameplay and graphical overhauls. GTTC-Ruthless is receiving the special treatment this March, with the Contingency deathmatch map getting a complete makeover not long after.

This update falls pretty close to St. Patrick's Day, so expect some emerald extravagance in-store!



[h2]April[/h2]



Early April sees the debut of a newly reworked Capture the Egg mode, which will use the entire map instead of one small portion of it. The teams will have clearer goals and a way for dinosaurs to properly win, and eggs won't be strewn all over the place.

Although speaking of eggs.. the April update will mark the start of our second Easter Scavenger Hunt!

We will have a whole bunch of nice surprises for players to unlock as they decipher mysteries both in-game and out!

[h2]May[/h2]



Survival mode has gone unloved for a long time. With our programming team expanding, we are now considering ideas for updating this game type. Various fixes and quality of life improvements will be rolled out over the next few months, but May is when we plan to release a bigger overhaul to Survival mode as a whole.

We'll be sharing more details as the year goes on, but some of our goals include adding more AI types to fight against and allowing you to turn the tables and take on waves of enemies as a dinosaur!

May will also see the introduction of at least one more new human weapon, which may or may not involve sharp objects being fired by a pull-back mechanism.

[h2]June[/h2]



Summer Meltdown 2.0 begins this June with the release of the next officially added community map - Dead Tide. This is the perfect place for a summer getaway, with beautiful beaches and cool clear water.



A second Summer Scavenger Hunt will be in play as well, with new free cosmetics being unlocked by the community when certain goals are reached. There may also be some big surprises revealed if players work hard enough!

[h2]Late Summer[/h2]



Whilst we're first and foremost a dinosaurs vs. humans game, we've always taken note that there's a lot of players who just want to hang out as their favourite dino or mess around instead of playing the objective. We added Freeroam as a small gesture of support for these players back in the day, but have lately been thinking it may be time to revamp that mode and make it something more interesting.

This revamp would change Freeroam into a full-on Sandbox mode with much more options for server customizability, and various tools and activities available at your command.

From playing as herbivores to introducing light survivability mechanics, the current ideas and features being considered for Sandbox are many and varied. This all involves a lot of hard engineering work, so we can't guarantee when it will release, but we're hoping this will be ready by the end of summer.

[h2]Overview[/h2]

We hope you're as excited as we are for what's coming next to the game!







We intend to continue active development for Primal Carnage: Extinction throughout the rest of 2021, adding more community content such as new maps and skins in addition to wholly original features as mentioned above.

As we get into the second half of the year, the team will be focusing more on the PlayStation version of the game. Despite pandemic-related delays and a lack of development hardware, work has been progressing well upgrading Extinction to the latest PS4 platform feature set (PSN services have seen a lot of changes the last few years). There is still a lot left to do, however.

We'll be sharing more info as we get further into the year.
Keep an eye on the official Twitter, Facebook and Discord for more news on everything Primal Carnage!





[h3]New Store Rotation[/h3]

The Valentine's Event is over and a brand new batch of mutations, cosmetics and skins are now available in-store! A collection of classic items are also returning with a discount in the Specials tab. The next new item set will debut in time for St. Patrick's Day, but we will be cycling in some more retro skins and mutations in the weeks leading up to that.




[h3]Patch Changelog[/h3]

Today's patch brings a few minor balance adjustments, some feature tweaks based on feedback from the community and an assortment of minor fixes...

• Reduced flamethrower focus fire bonus damage by 25%
  
• Double Barrel Shotgun now ignores armour completely, instead of mostly.
  
• Added armour-piercing hit indicator (light orange shields)
  
  
• Made it harder to land accidentally when flying at charge speed as Tupa
  
• Swapped the Ptera takeoff animation for something a little snappier
  
• Increased flyer takeoff speed and adjusted takeoff angle
  
  
• Reduced max number of UI hit sounds that can play at once
  
• Tweaked text for a couple of assist notification messages
  
• Fixed Transfer not being in default TDM rotation
  
• Removed Volcano from default TDM rotation
  
• Removed some server log spam
  
  
• Increased default idle kick time
  
• Updated idle kick to be better at removing players who are not actively participating
  (this change only applies to ranked game modes)
  
  
• Enabling cheats on a server now disables EXP gain synchronization for all players in that match.
  
• Enabling cheats on a server now disables challenge progress sync for all players in that match.
  
  
• Fixed three mutations that were crashing the store when clicked on
  
• Possible fix for some users experience crashes when scrolling through the Browse section
  
• Fixed numerous minor cosmetic issues
  
• Fixed some item icons being overly dark
  

[h3]Hotfix 2.1.3[/h3]

• Tweaked idle kick requirements slightly to reduce likelihood of false positives
  
• Fixed attachments such as antlers being oversized when using Barbarous Nova mutation
  

Love is in the air!

We're back with the annual Valentines Update for Primal Carnage: Extinction!
It's not all roses and chocolates though, we've got some real meat on this update....

[h2]Airbase Remastered[/h2]

In line with reworks some of the other maps have received recently, Airbase has been given a serious makeover this update. The overall flow of the map has been improved with fewer dead ends and more ways for dinosaurs to jump up and out of the main structures. It's also had a major lighting and effects overhaul with new interactive water, rain effects and shadow effects...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We'll be continuing to rework more maps in future releases, overhauled visuals and gameplay are already planned for Ruthless with the next major update. Watch this space!


[h2]Get to the Chopper Overhauls[/h2]

There are some fairly big changes to the flow of Get to the Chopper mode this update.



Instead of the regular respawn timer, humans now spawn in waves when playing GTTC. There is a constant 20 second countdown always in progress and whenever a human team member dies they must wait until the remainder is over before they respawn.

This automatically means the human team groups up since they are likely to spawn together now, which hopefully lets them assault objectives more effectively than when they were always trickling in one at a time. Dinosaurs do not use wave respawning, but have a longer default spawn delay now of 10 seconds before they are back in the action.

We have also placed limits on re-selecting Tyrants or Bruisers. If you are playing one of these classes and your character dies, you cannot immediately select the same class again. Instead there is a waiting period before it becomes available to you once more. The reasoning behind these changes is we're trying to combat players hogging these class slots, and are hoping to reduce how often you'll see a Tyrant be taken down only for another to appear seconds later.

Finally, dinosaurs that are still lingering on a captured safe zone will now be electrocuted to death instead of "teleported" away. This is to prevent characters becoming stuck under the level.


[h2]New Dinosaur Camera Option[/h2]

Dinosaurs now have the ability to zoom into shoulder camera view! This closer, more intimate perspective adjusts the camera's position for all dinosaurs to allow for more precise fine aiming. Small dinos can swivel the camera from left to right, while the larger ones are limited to rotating off axis on each shoulder.



Simply keep scrolling in the camera to automatically pop into shoulder view, or tap the middle mouse button to swap instantly. You can also quickly swap which shoulder the camera is positioned over using the same button (D-pad left/right on controller). This can be customized in the PC controls options menu.

[h2]Tupa Touch-up[/h2]

Our hard-headed charger of the skies gets its skull reinforced even further with this update!



The head and crest of Tupandactylus are now classed as Strong Points, meaning they have armour and take reduced bullet damage. This should help Tupa players in their dive bombing runs to headbutt enemies. Tupa's weak spot has been moved to the center of its chest which is a bit harder to hit.

[h2]Pyro Refuelled![/h2]

Everyone's favourite firestarter has received some extra love this update. Firstly, the intensity of the flamethrower damage over time effect now stacks the longer you keep the firejet on your target.



We have also made detection for flame particles more reliable so that the flamethrower registers hits on enemies better than it did previously. This makes the Pyro a true force to be reckoned with now!

[h2]New Corrosive Ability[/h2]



Cryolophosaurus can now melt mines by spitting acid on them! Simply hit a land mine or sensor mine with your acid pool and they will be deactivated, melting away in moments. We hope this adds an extra layer of tactical utility to the Cryo and we'll be looking at a new ability for Dilo's spit next update as well.


[h2]New Admin Announcements[/h2]

There are two new types of announcements now available to server admins as of the February update..



The new announcements include a message of the day style popup that appears at the start of each match, and a separate message popup that can be sent through the in-game chat. Both appear for all players. For the MOTD popup, server admins can use HTML tags like in regular TimedAnnouncements.

[h3]How to set an MOTD popup [/h3]

• Open one of the following files:
  PrimalCarnageGame.ini (listen server)
  PCServer-PrimalCarnageGame.ini (dedi server)
  
  
• Add under the section "[PrimalCarnageGame.PCBaseInWorldGameInfo]"
  MessageOfDay="*html text
• "
  (replace html text with the text to show)
  

[h3]How to send an admin announcement popup[/h3]

• Log in as admin on your server,
  
• Type in the chat box: !announcement "text to show everyone"
  (replace "text to show everyone" with the text you want to send them)
  

These new announcement popups appear center screen, and close after 7 seconds or if the player presses the Tab key. Remember to include the " marks when sending a message or else it will not show.



You may notice a certain theme in-store the next 7 days. We're embracing the feels with Valentine's Day occurring this weekend. Check out a charming collection of new community-created items!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]New Skins & Mutations[/h3]



Dozens of new skins will be available, but there's more than just pink-a-plenty in-store today! Pick up several new dinosaur model mutations, or share the love with the shiny new 2021 Valentines Gift available for this week only!


[h3]New Taunts[/h3]

We have three tantalizing new taunts coming to the store! Get all excited with the Novaraptor Tail Wag, say hello with the Ceratosaurus Wave and show off your moves by doing the Flyer Dance...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]New Free Drops[/h3]

Looking outside of the store, there are plenty of new Valentines items that will be made available as free drops through playing the game, ranking up or completing challenges!



Among these are a plethora of new skins and even a rare mutation! If you want to see more, we will be adding previews of all the Valentines items on our special event Trello board HERE.

The store is still being refreshed and it will take some time for all items to appear. We're bringing back all of last year's Valentines content as well!

[h2]HOT Fix[/h2]

In the last few hours there was a hotfix patch released (version 2.1.1) that resolved some cosmetic issues, please ensure you are fully up to date before browsing! We will have another small patch just over a week from now with additional feature tweaks, but that's all for today.

Read the full changelog for the February Update below...




[h3]Get to the Chopper improvements[/h3]

• Added respawn waves for humans on Get to the Chopper mode
  
• If you die as Bruiser or Tyrant, you cannot re-select them when returned to class select
  
• Dinosaurs lingering in GTTC safe zones are now get electrocuted instead of teleported away
  
• Increased default respawn timer for dinosaurs in GTTC mode to 10 seconds
  
• Fixed some spawn-related bugs
  

[h3]General Map Changes[/h3]

• Upgraded version of Airbase:
  
  • Added interactive water volumes
    
  • Added new environmental effects, thicker fog
    
  • Updated lighting to be darker with more man-made hotspots
    
  • Added more large ferns replacing some of the generic bushes
    
  • Moved around things in the hangar, airplane is now centered, easier to jump out as raptor
    
  • Added a new enterable mini hangar along the airstrip
    
  • Placed more pickup items for humans around the map
    
  • Improved general flow of the map, fixed some stuck spots
    
  • Reworked background mountains to be bigger and more impressive
    
  • Visibility and rain mesh optimizations
    
• Verdant: various collision fixes, repositioned container storage wall
  
  
• GTTC-Downpour: replaced some of the river areas with interactive water
  
• GTTC-Downpour: added new water fx and stopped it raining inside the tower
  
• GTTC-Downpour: various collision improvements
  
  
• GTTC-Docks: added interactive water to several areas
  
• GTTC-Docks: fixed unusable health crate on final capture point
  
• GTTC-Docks: added more thick grass and plants to some areas for cover
  
• GTTC-Docks: changed sub-objectives to only open up after they are captured
  
• GTTC-Docks: fixed no safezone projectile protection after point C is taken
  
• GTTC-Docks: updated ending sequences
  

[h3]Camera Changes[/h3]

• Added shoulder camera view for dinosaurs
  
• Added a separate camera offset for humans while being pounced
  
• Added camera shake reactions when being damaged as human
  
• Reduced explosion dirt camera overlay duration
  

[h3]Dinosaur Changes[/h3]

• Increased priority and update frequency of characters to improve player position replication
  
  
• Getting kills with Tupa's charge now gives health back
  
• Tupa's head bones are now strong points, its chest is now a weak point
  
• Increased stamina regeneration rate for Tupa
  
  
• Fixed pterosaurs getting vertical speed boosts by flying into walls / trees
  
• Put more checks in place to stop Ptera grabbing enemies while being damaged
  
• Reduced raptor & spitter jump timeout from 1.5 secs to 1.25 secs
  
  
• Added armour on the front upper portion of Carno's head (eyes forwards)
  
• Ceratosaurus now properly obeys Family class limits
  
  
• Tyrants now turn slower when they are sprinting (walking turn speed is unchanged)
  
• Adjusted trample damage for Tyrants, damage should be more consistent between them
  
• Fixed a normal map texture issue on T.Rex
  

[h3]Weapon Changes[/h3]

• Pyro flamethrower damage ramp-up over time enabled
  
• Increased hit consistency of flamethrower projectiles
  
  
• Fixed issues with stungun damage over time
  
• Made the stungun reload time last slightly longer
  
• Fixed being able to skip stungun reload super early
  
• Stungun now does 15% extra DoT if it hits a dino standing in a dynamic water pool
  
  
• Minor increase to dual pistol fire rate
  
• Increased assault rifle damage to 32
  
• Removed all spread from scoped sniper rifle and m4 ironsights
  
  
• Fixed nets not stopping dinosaurs from taunting
  
• Fixed dinosaurs being able to taunt while they are stunned
  
• Fixed fire interval delay stacking when swapping aim modes
  

[h3]UI / HUD Changes[/h3]

• Added a new armor hit indicator when shooting dinosaur strong points
  
  
• Added a notification popup for being saved by someone (from nets, grabs, pounces, etc.)
  
  
• Modified restrainer EXP bonus, added new avenger EXP bonus
  
• Added "tyrant fed" assist type for Ptera dropping its catch into a Tyrant's mouth (+100 EXP)
  
• Added +5 EXP for grabbing someone as Ptera
  
• Reduced saviour EXP bonus to +25
  
  
• Added a scrolling hints ticker to the main menu
  
• Added a button for hiding the information bar on the main menu
  
• Updated endgame summary fonts, made backing cards more transparent
  

[h3]Game Options[/h3]

• Added an option to turn Tyrant buff outlines on/off
  
• Added new server popups for admins to use
  

[h2]Patch 2.0.1[/h2]

• Fixed some store items being unavailable
  
• Fixed an issue with Valentines Gifts not appearing in inventory
  
• Fixed the Spitter Rose Collar being unusable by Cryolophosaurus
  

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

• Some new item icons may appear overly dark in-game
  
• Balauris Cerato, Daemonicus Carno & Mecistops Spino items are disabled due to crashing problems
  

[h2]Happy Valentine's, everybody![/h2]

-With love,
The Primal Carnage Team


[h2]Official Discord Server[/h2]

Join the Official Primal Carnage Discord to stay up to date with development, chat with other players and get tips on making your own Primal creations!

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

This patch focuses largely on fixing bugs and gameplay issues, but we have added a number of new small but helpful features along the way. Here are some of the highlights...

[h2]Burning Hotter[/h2]

Pyro's flamesaw has felt pretty weak lately, but we're setting out to fix that.



The flamethrower has been upgraded with a new pass-through ability! The fire jet can now go through multiple targets, doing damage to each one along the stream. Each successive target receives 50% less damage, with the furthest away receiving only afterburn DoT. This new ability makes the Pyro much more effective at crowd control in tight spots.

More overhauls to the flamesaw will be coming in the February update next month!

[h2]StrongPoint Shuffle[/h2]



Tyrants have had their armour reconfigured, most of their StrongPoints are now in the tail with none up front. Having damage reduction from the rear allows Tyrants to pull off successful retreats more easily when they are overwhelmed by large groups. If you are being shot while eating someone, angling your behind towards your attacker can now give precious extra seconds to finish your meal.

[h2]Sharp Shooting[/h2]



Dinosaur headshot zones have been tightened up with this patch, making it more difficult to land critical hits. The sniper rifle has been tuned to reward using the scope instead of hip firing, accuracy is severely reduced when un-scoped. To encourage aiming with precision and give more of a window for dinosaurs to evade, fire rate when using the sniper scope is now slower than when out of it.

[h2]Downpour Defendability[/h2]

As part of ongoing efforts to make Get to the Chopper mode better, the first control point of Downpour has been completely reworked. The capture zone is now much larger and more defensible...



Access is possible from all directions. This has resulted in much more interesting fights, and given humans more of a chance to capture one of the harder zones in GTTC. Dino spawn points have also been moved around a little bit on Downpour. We'll be making further improvements to GTTC this spring.

[h2]January Store Rotation[/h2]

Today's update brings a new rotation to the Extinction in-game store. All winter event items except for the 2020 Winter Gift and Unchained Tyrant Pack have been removed and a fresh batch has been added. You can see some of the cool new looks now available below...





We'll be back in February with another major game update!
Until then, check out the full list of fixes and improvements in patch 2.0.2...

[h3]Dinosaur Changes[/h3]

• Made headshot regions smaller on all dinosaurs
  
• Fixed cases where interactive water would not extinguish dinosaurs on fire
  
  
• When a buff is received, you now also see a coloured outline around your dino
  
  
• Increased air speed of Ptera
  
• Increased sprint speed of Tupa
  
• Increased air turn speed for raptors
  
• Increased turning speeds of spitters and raptors significantly when not running
  
  
• Lowered Oviraptor health from 300 to 280
  
• Increased Novaraptor primary attack damage from 38 to 45
  
• Increased Novaraptor stamina from 110 to 130
  
• Increased Pteranodon primary attack damage from 40 to 50
  
  
• Reduced Carno special attack stamina cost
  
• Reduced Carno sprint stamina consumption rate
  
• Increased health restored by Carno ravenous attacks to damage dealt +25
  
  
• Updated the StrongPoint positions on Tyrants, their tails are now completely armoured.
  
• Adjusted tyrant bite attack timings and trace distances
  
  
• Fixed dinosaurs being able to eat corpses through walls
  
  
• Fixed a couple of feathered dino skin feathers not using feather shader
  
• Fixed midnight dilo not allowing secondary cosmetics
  
• Fixed rostratus ovi mutation missing its sockets
  

[h3]Human Changes[/h3]

• Changed default m+k binding for melee to X instead of middle mouse
  
  
• Double Barrel Shotgun is now an armour-piercing weapon
  
  
• Added a red light cast by the flaregun projectile
  
• Reduced flaregun projectile speed from 5000 to ~4000
  
  
• Added ability for flamethrower firejet to damages multiple targets as it passes through them
  
  
• Increased sniper rifle firing delay from 0.9 secs to 0.95 secs when hip firing
  
• Increased sniper rifle firing delay from 0.9 secs to 1.1 secs when scoped
  
• Doubled sniper rifle spread when unscoped
  
• Reduced crouched accuracy of sniper rifle
  
• Increased recoil of sniper rifle
  
  
• Reduced recoil on dartgun
  
• Increased recoil on deagle
  
• Increased deagle clip size from 7 to 8
  
• Reduced spread on netgun
  
• Increased scoped spread on tranq rifle
  
• Tranq rifle now fires slower when scoped
  
• Reduced max effective range of dual pistols
  
  
• Added crosshair dots to a few weapons that didn't have them
  
• Added an option for adjusting aim sensitivity (responsiveness when scoped)
  
  
• Increased brightness and radius of dynamic weapon lights
  
  
• Fixed human collision box position not updating when crouched
  
• Fixed all humans having two left feet
  
  
• Classic Pyro is no longer just a head transplant, now uses the Classic Pyro body
  
• Fixed classic fuel tank looking "blocky"
  
• Fixed iced spaz12 using gold spaz12 material
  

[h3]Sound Changes[/h3]

• Increased audible radius of various gameplay event sounds
  
• Added more unique impact sounds for darts hitting flesh
  
  
• Updated human feel melee sound
  
• All humans should now scream for their lives when they are pounced
  
• More in-depth sound foley work on some of the human third person animations
  
• Added new pulverize / bone chew sounds for when Tyrants eat people
  
  
• Fixed sounds for crafting countdown only starting to play after already crafting an item
  

[h3]Map Changes[/h3]

• Further lighting adjustments and new details on various maps
  
• Added parallax depth effect to more surfaces and decals
  
• Added higher res versions of snow environment textures
  
• Restored more high resolution original textures for various props
  
• Fixed background tree meshes flickering
  
  
• Major rework of first capture zone on GTTC-Downpour
  
  
• Various optimizations to DesertionPoint
  
• Added interactive water to DesertionPoint
  
• Added more spawn points and pickups to perimeter of DesertionPoint
  
  
• Fixed collision issues on Downpour, DesertionPoint, Docks, Transfer and UtilityBase
  
• Fixed a Ubase tanker truck being invisible on Low detail mode
  
• Added more trees to Ubase exterior
  
• Fixed a misaligned pipe section on Docks
  
• Added more pickup items to Transfer
  
  
• Set basic test map back to non-snowy version
  
• Swapped back to sunny main menu
  

[h3]UI / HUD Changes[/h3]

• Outline for pounced humans is now bright red
  
• Fixed dinosaur character outlines not reflecting model mutations
  
• Fixed outlines for thrown health kits being visible to dinosaurs
  
  
• Added overlay post process effects for being bitten, electrocuted, and critically injured
  
  
• Fix for being unable to toggle between scoreboard and challenges on end round
  
• Added a button hint for how to toggle between scoreboard and challenges
  
  
• Reduced size of a few crosshair dots
  
• Ensured hit markers are shown for DOT attacks
  
• Fixed dropped targets not giving hit marker for ptera
  
• Fixed knifing teammates showing a hit marker
  
• Fixed hit markers showing on dead players
  
  
• Added separate options for Quit Match and Quit Game to the escape menu
  
• Can now use L1/R1 on controller to quickly swap between characters in customization
  
• Reorganized some UI options so the menus are more user-friendly
  
• Removed useless / deprecated options from the menus
  
• Typo fixes
  
  
• Fixed some UI crashes related to popups
  

[h3]Other Fixes & Changes[/h3]

• Added an option to turn on/off force feedback on gamepad
  
  
• ToggleRun is now the default setting when using a controller, users can disable ToggleRun in the options menu if they prefer to hold the button.
  
  
• Removed next / previous weapon keybinds since PCE has a two weapon limit. Scrolling the mousewheel in either direction will simply cycle through.
  
  
• Killstreak EXP now increases with each successive kill (up to +50 EXP max)
  
  
• Fixed melee attacks not working against pawns when playing on a listen server
  
• Fixed challenges / achievements that weren't working after changes to tranquilizer mechanics
  
• Fixed voting notification sounds being heard when a vote is not active
  
• Exploit prevention - enabling cheats is exclusively an admin ability
  
• Exploit prevention -spectators are no longer able to receive drops
  
  
• Fixed some crashes that could occur when playing wave Survival
  

[h3]2.0.3 Hotfix[/h3]

• Various fixes for incorrect character outline rotations
  
• Fixed cheats not working in standalone solo games
  
• Fixed being unable to taunt after eating a victim as Tyrant
  

[h2]Official Discord Server[/h2]

Why not join the Official Primal Carnage Discord?
Stay up to date with all things Primal Carnage!

Congratulations to everyone who survived 2020!
We're back once again for another year of Carnage.

To start things off, we are celebrating the creators who participated in the first Official Mapping Contest! Also, check a look at the latest update to the Primal Carnage: Extinction development toolkit, and some important new info for content creators...

[h2]Mapping Contest Finale![/h2]

Before we reveal the winners of the inaugural Primal Carnage: Extinction mapping contest, let's all take a moment to go through the varied and imaginative levels that were submitted by everyone...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We don't have enough awards for everybody, but wanted to single out a couple of honorable mentions that didn't quite crack the top spot on our list...

[h3]Railyard[/h3] by SpinoRavenger



PC-Railyard is a great little Team Deathmatch map with a very strong theme of being a freight depot. Featuring actual moving trains that hurtle through the level at dangerous speeds, this is one really solid submission with good overall game flow. It's well detailed with a nice balance between open areas and more maze-like zones. The train cars also look pretty convincing for kit-bashed assets and work well.



However, it being essentially a completely flat playing field does hold it back somewhat, and we struggle to think how the area sequestered over the bridge would really play into gameplay very much. Despite all that, Railyard earns our Kismet Wizardy award for its suitably dynamic map hazard!

[h3]Aquarium Research Center [/h3]by ArchShiranui



The aquarium facility created by ArchShirnaui (maker of SandStorm Valley, Pandoria) is a really well thought out concept for a location. This place feels like it has a history. There are so many great details found around the map, from signage explaining the evolutionary journey from fish to raptors, to signs of past fighting with bulletholes leaking water out of the various containment tanks. And those fish!



In terms of playability, it's quite a rat's nest of interconnecting areas, making it hard to orient yourself, and trying to navigate the maze of pipes and catwalks will be difficult for flyers. The sheer number of plants being used to decorate the overgrown areas is creative, but may pose performance problems.

We do love the idea of an aquatic research lab (it's something we've considered making ourselves) and for the level of effort put into this map's theme, we're honoring it with our Conceptual award.

[h3]Primal Park [/h3]
by spinoraptyrex

We were saddened that more people didn't take up the Whitebox Warriors challenge, although maybe the requirements weren't clear enough. The hope was that by being focused around just using the most basic tools to create a map layout, it would encourage people to try map making who wouldn't have the time or know-how to produce a fully detailed, working level. As it stands, our choices were fairly slim.



Nevertheless, we did want to highlight Primal Park here as being a rather interesting idea for a level. It's unlikely this theme would be used for an official map, (due to that *other* dinosaur franchise featuring parks) but we're impressed at the design ideas on display here.



Using only blocks, Primal Park is able to convey a pretty convincing zoo environment with different types of enclosures and even cages. There are also hints as to some interesting setpieces such as a globe statue and the twisting paddock areas. Primal Park is honored with our Layout Inventiveness award.



Even with fewer submissions than we expected, it was still quite difficult to narrow down the finalists for these top three winners. If you didn't make it this far, don't give up! There was something great about each one of the entries we saw, some just need a bit more time in the oven before they're quite ready.

And now without further ado, here are the winners of our first official mapping competition...

[h2]Whitebox Warriors Award [/h2]

[h3]Seashore Crag[/h3]
by Coelurus

The winner of the Whitebox Warriors category is a beautifully elegant layout with sweeping curves that flow in and out of a central rocky outcropping at the head of a cliff.



This is a Capture the Egg map, with the precarious delicacies perched on rock spires that have humans jumping for their lives. It's easy to see how this map would work in a real world setting, even if we think it might be CTE on "hard mode"! Excellent ideas on display here.

For their prize, the winner of the Whitebox Warriors Award shall receive any 5 in-game items of their choosing and a £25 Steam Gift Card!

[h2]Mapping Maniacs, 2nd Place Award [/h2]

[h3]Waterlogged [/h3]
by Avisaur

The second place winner of the Mapping Maniacs contest is a visual feast. Dark and moody, the map was designed with Hunt mode in mind and creates a nicely claustrophobic atmosphere...



This is one entry that focused on sound to great effect. The ambience is palpable, with rolling thunder, odd distorted transmissions echoing around, and the facility shuddering under the storm raging above.

Water leaks everywhere on this level, flowing as indoor rivers from one zone to another and forming large pools. The map lives up to its name. You can't go five feet without encountering the drip drip drip of leaks from above. Lighting is impeccable here, with beautiful use of shadows and volumetric effects. Dynamic lightning flashes that illuminate the dark facility complete an incredibly impressive spectacle.



However, in its construction we found some flaws.

We advise against using BSP geometry when creating maps intended for use in regular gameplay, it's a much less efficient method than working with static meshes. Plus, from what we understand it can cause crashes on PS4 (which would be an issue were we to include community maps on that platform). Brush geometry should only really be employed as a blockout tool, if it is used at all.



For their prize, the 2nd Place Award winner shall receive any 5 in-game items of their choosing and will collaborate with us on a custom-designed skin for themselves, in addition to a £50 Steam Gift Card!


[h2]Mapping Maniacs, 1st Place (Grand Prize) [/h2]

[h3]Dead Tide[/h3]
by ToaMetru6



First place goes to Dead Tide, a huge tropical island map where players must battle around massive rock arches and in brilliantly vibrant seaside pools. The intense use of colours such as the sapphire blue ocean water really gives this map a unique feeling of being an exotic (and HOT) location.



There are numerous interesting setpieces littered throughout the environment, from a beached tanker vessel with its cargo scattered about to the giant bones of behemoths jutting out from some of the rock formations.



As with many of the levels in this contest, it features NPCs roaming around the outskirts, but the creator of this one went even further by having custom beach-themed skins for them!



Such attention to detail for minor background elements is really impressive, though we can't help feeling that the boundaries of the map are a little arbitrary and unnatural. More consideration will have to be taken regarding the flow of the area as well for it to be a good deathmatch environment. However, for its striking aesthetic and intricate construction, Dead Tide is awarded first place!

1st place receives not only 5 in-game items of their choosing, not only a custom-designed skin, but also a $500 USD grand prize!!!

[h2]Congratulations to our winners! [/h2]
[h3]And thanks again to everyone who took part in this event![/h3]

We've been constantly impressed at the creativity and clever use of resources in these levels, from makeshift freight trains to custom vending machines, there was some real ingenuity!

Several levels featured interesting shortcuts for smaller dinos to use which is a design choice we're hoping to include as part of official maps where possible in future.

We'll be reaching out to the winners shortly to arrange their prizes, and look forward to working with ToaMetru to further refine Dead Tide for when it is officially added to Primal Carnage: Extinction later this year!

[h2]Toolkit Update - PCE SDK [/h2]

Now that things have calmed down after getting the mammoth 2.0 update out this winter, we're releasing a new version of the Extinction development tools for everyone to use.



This latest update to the SDK brings all of the new content that was added up to version 2.0, such as ultra high resolution character textures and a slew of new environment assets, materials and more. Please be aware that the size of the SDK is naturally quite a bit larger than before as a result of this new content (just under 30GB), and you may need to compile shaders for some time upon first launching the editor.

[h3]Highlights of today's new SDK content:[/h3]

• Added new human animation sets and classic humans
  
• Added global Tags to deprecated content (DoNotUse means do NOT use)
  
• Added global Tags to core character assets (Human and Dino base content)
  
• Added numerous pose animations for creating cinematic screenshots (thanks to Maxsentia)
  
• Added new "blank bases" to use when making skins for classic humans (thanks to ___)
  
  
• Added new ultra HD 4096x4096 base textures for almost all playable dinosaurs
  
• Added scalar to control dino eye reflectivity (set to zero on skins using eye masking for glow FX)
  
• Added controls for "swizzling" dinosaur overlay textures using tiling noise
  
  
• Added various new & updated props
  
• Added the Tropical environment kit
  
• Added new background resources (mountains, hills, cliffs...)
  
• Added numerous new decals and materials
  
• Updated hundreds of textures with higher quality versions 2-4x their original resolution
  
  
• New "HD" floor/wall material with parallax bump offset effect
  
• Added raindrop option to floor master material
  
  
• Updated water rendering with edge foam and paintable vertex foam
  
• Added support for dynamic normal maps to master water shaders
  
• For optimized interactive water settings, use the examples on the BasicTesting map.
  
  
• Added "HD" landscape texture sets
  
• Updated landscape shader with basic specularity and more intense normal maps
  
  Note:
  Do not disable the SimpleMud switch when making landscape materials.
  Doing so breaks landscape rendering completely.
  

[h3]Editor Fixes[/h3]

As part of this latest SDK release we have also endeavored to fix as many editor crashes as we could. Using the PlayInEditor (PIE) option to play on maps should no longer result in an instant crash for most users with sufficient hardware, although we still advise against extended sessions.

When using PlayInEditor, tab out and click the red stop button at the top of the editor to close your PIE session. Trying to exit via Quit Match / Quit Game will only cause it to lock up.

If you save a package or map and the lighting / materials suddenly change to look flat, there is no cause for alarm. Simply restart the editor to fix the renderer.

Asset export is now re-enabled for the SDK as of this version. Use of exported SDK assets for anything other than creating content for Primal Carnage: Extinction is strictly forbidden.

[h3]Exploit Prevention[/h3]

The latest update to Extinction will make it so that only players who are admin can use console commands that fall under cheat functionality. Because of this, certain developer console abilities may not be instantly available to you when using the SDK.

To remedy this, follow these steps:

• Find PrimalCarnageGame.ini in the Config folder of the SDK
  
• Search for the heading: [PrimalCarnageGame.PCBaseAccessControl]
  
• Underneath that, add the ID number of your Steam profile, like so...
  
• +Admins=776561198006301038
  
• Save the file and you should be good.
  

[h2]Steam Workshop Tool [/h2]

We'd like to remind everyone that the upload tool for submitting items to Steam Workshop is available in the Tools section of your Steam library. We will be removing the "loose leaf" version of the upload tool from the SDK itself soon.

For now, there is a bug that means you need to launch the Steam Workshop Tool manually otherwise your upload will result in a blank submission. Follow these steps:

• Right click the Workshop Tool in your Steam library,
  
• Click on Manage > Browse local files,
  
• Run PCWorkshopTool.exe,
  
• Upload your content.
  

The Steam Workshop Tool will be receiving more updates and functionality soon, that should mean you won't have to do these extra steps for too long. With the *next* SDK release, we will be requiring skin makers to submit their own in-game icon as well. This will require another Workshop Tool update, and we'll be providing steps on how to go about this when it is ready.

For more resources on using the development tools, check out these links...

Official dev wiki:
https://primalcarnage.com/devwiki/index.php?title=Extinction_Editor_Courses

Skin creation for dummies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMDvE8dKaBM

[h2]Looking ahead...[/h2]

We're hoping to release more frequent SDK updates in future (there may be another this month!) but please understand that it does take time out of regular development to prepare these releases, and we can't always guarantee the SDK will be kept up to date.

As we get deeper into 2021, we definitely plan to run more competitions and community events such as art contests, scavenger hunts and more. We have a new patch for Extinction landing in the next few days, and will be back with themed events throughout the year for special occasions like Easter.

If you're interested in creating themed items for the game, please make sure you submit them to the Extinction Steam Workshop in time! A list of important deadlines for upcoming special events is below...

[h3]

• VALENTINES submissions .......................... January 29th
  
  
• ST Patrick's Day submissions .................... February 26th
  
  
• EASTER submissions .................................... March 19th[/h3]
  

[h2]Now get creative![/h2]


Want to stay in the loop about everything Primal Carnage? Come join the official Discord server to keep up to date, chat with other players, or maybe show off what you're working on!

If you want hints and tips about creating your own items or maps for Extinction, the friendly folks over at the SDK Discord can help you out. It's also a treasure trove of useful assets, tutorials and more.

Until next time!

A new patch has been released for Primal Carnage: Extinction, it will download automatically next time you restart Steam. This patch addresses some of the more immediately problematic bugs found after the release of the major winter update this christmas.

Whilst there are a few minor visual and collision problems that still need resolving, we have fixed the more glaring glitches with items such as Tyrant chains being able to crash servers.



Patch 2.0.1 also enables support for the full winter drop list and winter store rotation as seen here.

We apologize all of these were not available earlier, but some of the items had configuration problems making them either not appear or be usable by the wrong class. These issues have now been fixed.

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

• Added / fixed up archetypes for a number of cosmetics including Tyrant chains
  
• Corrected an issue with tranqs where dinos got stuck in the overdosed state forever
  
• Fixed the pyro trying to play animations that don't exist
  
• Fixed novelty antlers being backwards
  
• Updated sizes and positions of human hats
  
• Adjusted size of head cam for raptor and cerato
  
• Fixed incorrect pattern masks on some weapon skins
  
• Fixed cerato harness using a translucent material
  
• Fixed atrox dilo mutation using old sockets
  
• Fixed all Dilo mutations floating a couple inches off the ground
  
• Fixed missing Venatrix Nova skin
  
• Updated settings on a few raptor skins
  
• Fixed some icons appearing overly dark
  
• Fixed some half-transparent icons
  
• Fixed some icons being missing
  
• Removed some server log spam
  

We trust that your Extinction experience will be a smooth one now,
And wish everyone a happy new year!
-The Primal Carnage Team



Why not join the discussion on the Official Primal Carnage Discord server?