Subsistence News

[h2]Random Plane Events:[/h2]
Players will now experience random plane flybys during gameplay. On occasion these flights will crash-down somewhere in the world, providing players with incentive to venture out to discover the wreck and loot its cargo.

The intention with these events is to incentivize players to travel/explore further from their bases, and add more unpredictability to the moment-to-moment gameplay. This also adds more value and utility to vehicles.

The pilots will dynamically toggle the plane lights during day/night transitions, and the drone of the engines will alert players to incoming aircraft.

Starting a new game will now begin with a drop-off plane leaving the player location (hoping to give a sense of isolation and the situation at hand).

[h2]Flight Paths:[/h2]
Flight paths are procedurally handled and unique for every flight. Planes will enter the play space and attempt extensive flybys of the playable area before exiting and flying out into the wilderness.

During their flights they are coded to dynamically traverse the landscape geometry, so will fly over mountains, down into valleys, avoid peaks, etc.


[h2]Crash Sites:[/h2]
On occasion flights will go down and crash, creating a huge fiery explosion and sending vibrations and echoes of the impact across the map.

Players will be able to observe crash sites by their burning debris fields and a column of smoke from the burning fuel. If enough shroud on the map has been uncovered, the flames from the crash will be visible from the map view.

[h2]Pilots:[/h2]
Crash sites (and its cargo) will be defended by it's pilots. These guys are packing lever-action rifles and .44 revolvers, so they can deal a lot of damage and will not be friendly to players trying to scavenge their wreck site.

They are armored and can be identified by their white pilot helmets. It is possible for players to find a pilot helmet, however it is extremely rare (similar to the deep-cave miner gas masks).


[h2]Crash Site Looting:[/h2]
During crashes, aircraft cargo crates will spill out among the wreck. These cargo crates are sealed with metal straps, so will need to be broken open to access their loot.

The debris from the wreck is also of value to players. Almost all parts of the wreck can be broken down to yield scrap metal. This will cause usage damage to your tools over time.


[h2]Regions:[/h2]
This is a fairly large change, and is another move to encourage travel and exploration during gameplay. The world is now broken down into separate regions, which can be viewed from the map view.

Each region has a different weighting for the ores/minerals that are available within them. Some regions may have an abundance of one type of ore, yet little to none of another.

Vehicles now become more valuable, as a means of travel to regions with a required resource within daylight hours. Or more careful planning of routes while on-foot is required to secure needed resources.

While in the map view, scrolling over a region will show the weights of the resources available within it.
Regions Toggle: If the region boundary lines are distracting, they can be toggled on/off using the checkbox on the right-side of the map view.

Currently regions only control distribution of ore/minerals, although I see potential to expand this in the future to wildlife and vegetation. It's a tricky balance, so I appreciate feedback on the current balance and suggestions for the future.

[h2]Huge Increase To Fiber/Medicinal Foliage:[/h2]
The old individual fiber and medicinal plants have been completely replaced by large modular bushes. They are now way more abundant and easier to spot.

The purpose of this is to make the natural environment more dense with interactable foliage (rather than just static bushes).

Fiber: Increase of around 700%.
Medicinal: Increase of around 400%.

Due to the large increase, recipes that use these materials have been increased for balance, but overall players should have a more abundant supply.

[h2]Foliage Harvesting Physics:[/h2]
The new bushes all use destruction physics, so players can see bushes snap and break down as they harvest. I'm hoping this will make for a more satisfying experience while gathering.


[h2]Electrical Bench:[/h2]
Found in the BCU crafting menu, the electrical bench can now be crafted.

This bench now handles the various crafting options for electrical items.

Some of the existing electrical items have been moved from the workbench crafting menu, as well as new added items that can now be crafted.


[h2]Capacitors:[/h2]
Crafted at the electrical bench using refined lithium and pearls, capacitors are used to craft circuit boards (and will likely be used for more in the future).


[h2]Semiconductors:[/h2]
Also crafted at the electrical bench using refined silicon and obsidian, semiconductors are required to craft circuit boards (with more uses likely coming in the future).


[h2]New Ore/Mineral Types:[/h2]
3 new ore/mineral types have been introduced. These resources use the new regions system for their location in the world and typically will not be found together or adjacent to one another.
[h3]Lithium:[/h3]

[h3]Silicon:[/h3]

[h3]Obsidian:[/h3]

The distribution and balance for the new resource types may need some tweaking, so I welcome feedback regarding this.

[h2]Color Grading Overhaul (Graphics Update):[/h2]
I've made a significant change to the graphics color grading of the game. Color saturation and contrast depth have all been boosted. The result is a much more colorful presentation, with sharper outlines and deeper blacks.


[h2]First Person Arm Grabbing:[/h2]
Picking up all items now plays a first person hand-grabbing animation. This is to increase immersion while playing.

The animations have been blended in for all weapons and tools, so you do not need to unequip your weapon.

[h2]Hunter AI Updates:[/h2]
I noticed that hunters were often crowding a single piece of cover, leading to some predictable patterns during combat. They are now aware of the positions of their squad-mates and will seek independent cover.

This means they are better able to flank a player's position and create more dynamic encounters.

Also fixed the bug where hunters would get stuck on buildables while swimming and not move or react to the player.

Also fixed hunters not responding to their squad-mate being killed by a single headshot.

[h2]Tightened Spread on Pump Action and Double Barrel Shotguns:[/h2]
Both the pump action and double barrel have had their spread tightened. This makes them more powerful at midrange. It's now not as necessary to wait for enemies to get to point blank range to deal max damage.

This does mean that the hunters also benefit from this change, so be careful when you hear that pump or double barrel cocking while in combat.

Note: The double barrel still has a slightly tighter spread than the pump action (making it more effective at mid range to the pump action).

[h2]Harvested Foliage and Scrap Regrowth/Respawn Rate:[/h2]
Previously the game did not remember harvested plants/scrap between saves. So reloading a save would result in 100% respawn of foliage and scrap. Now the game remembers.

In addition to this, the regrowth/respawn rate has been slowed (and can take around 3 in-game days to replenish an area of resources). This means players will be rewarded with denser resources if they travel further afield. Staying in one location all the time will mean fewer/slower resources. This is another move to encourage and reward travel and exploration.

[h2]Garage Door Fob Fix:[/h2]
Fixed the garage fob (vehicle upgrade) so that it will now open/close the closest garage door to the vehicle when the button is pressed. Previously it would engage a random door within a radius of the vehicle.


[h2]Boost Packs Duration Increase:[/h2]
Almost all boost packs have had a significant increase to their effect duration, making them a lot more useful.

• Strength Boost (Increases physical strength for a period of time. Allows resources to be harvested at a faster rate and increases damage dealt by melee weapons). Increased from 3 mins to 6 mins.
  
• Adrenaline Boost (provides unlimited stamina for a period of time). Increased from 3 mins to 6 mins.
  
• Heat Pack (Provides a short period of warmth). Increased from 2 mins to 3 mins.
  

[h2]New Skins:[/h2]
New skins are available on the Subsistence Steam Item Store. Thank you for further supporting the continued development. 🙏

Pump Action Shotgun Predator Skin: Item Store Page Rifle Predator Skin: Item Store Page Pistol Predator Skin: Item Store Page Combat Helmet Snow Camo Skin: Item Store Page
Skins on the Steam Store can also be accessed from within the game by clicking on the weapon in your inventory.

[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]

• Optimized save game logic. Save files now are faster and use around half the file size.
  
• Fiber stack count increased to 1000.
  
• Medicinal stack count increased to 500.
  
• Added shadow casting for destroyed buildable fracture pieces and destroyed ore nodes.
  
• Prevented bushes and foliage from blocking AI navigation calculations and pathing.
  
• Fixed rare bug where players would get stuck on "Initializing World..." screen when loading a profile.
  
• Added better handling to ensure loot, hunters and hunter bases can not spawn outside of the fence-line.
  
• Fix bug where the player camera would still move while in the menu if entering the menu while transitioning out of the map view.
  
• Reduced the requirement count for circuit board for several craft and upgrade recipes.
  

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year holiday! 🙏
CG

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184

Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas, MusicMan)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
Portuguese European (João C. H. Jorge)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)
Finnish (Pewtsku and J4ntteri)

[h2]Water Tank and Pumps:[/h2]
Players can now craft Water Tanks to store and distribute water within their bases. Water tanks are crafted from the BCU and must be placed within a BCU radius in order to provide power for the pumps.


[h2]Inflow and Outflow:[/h2]
The Water Tank has two connections located at the bottom of the unit. One for water inflow and one for outflow. Your water pipe networks must connect to these in order to move water in and out of the tank.

The Water Tank hud will show indicators for whether pipes are connected to it's inflow and outflow, and whether the connected inflow pipes reach a water source.

[h2]Pumps:[/h2]
Once the inflow connector is connected to a water source, the inflow pump can be toggled within the Water Tank hud. The pump will draw water in and fill the tank, while consuming a small amount of power while it is operational.

While connected base items are consuming water from the tank, the tank outflow pump will be activated, which consumes power. The more items that are consuming water from the tank, the more power the pump will use.

[h2]Irrigation Parts Crafting:[/h2]
The Water Tank has it's own crafting menu where players can craft the various parts required to install irrigation systems.

[h2]Water Intake Pipe:[/h2]
Crafted from the Water Tank crafting menu, Intake Pipes need to be placed within a water source (river or lake) so that water can be pumped from the source.

Pipes can then be attached and eventually connected to the inflow connection of a Water Tank.


[h2]Water Pipes:[/h2]
Water Pipes can be crafting within the Water Tank crafting menu. They can only be placed connecting to an intake, a water tank connection or other water pipes.

Pipes have a maximum length which is enforced while placing the pipe. When connecting pipes, you need to connect to the valve handle on either end of the connecting pipe.

When moving a pipe in the network, you can either move the head or tail of the pipe. The connected pipes will move with the moving pipe, allowing you to neatly adjust pipe networks with your base.

You can visibly see when a pipe is connected to a water source based on the color of the valve handle on the head and tail of the pipe (blue/red). Pipes will also glow blue/red when looking closely at them to indicate water flow. So it will be obvious when a disconnection has occurred in your pipe networks.


[h2]Faucet:[/h2]
Each tank comes with a faucet to directly access the water without the need for pumps.

Within the Water Tank hud, there is a tab for accessing the faucet. There are options for filling one or all canteens, as well as washing hands.

Water from the tank is not treated, so still requires boiling prior to drinking (water treatment is a possibility for future upgrades).

[h2]Water Sprinklers:[/h2]
Plant Bed Sprinklers can now be crafted within the Water Tank crafting menu. They can be attached to plant beds via the plant bed upgrade menu. Once upgraded, a "sprinkler" tab will appear in the plant bed hud.

Once attached (upgraded), the sprinkler has a water intake connection, which water pipes can be attached to. The pipes need to be connected to the outflow of a water tank.

So long as the connected tank has water available, the sprinklers can be activated and will slowly hydrate the plantbed. While sprinkling, the connected water tank outflow pump will be running, consuming a small amount of power. The sprinklers will automatically shut-off once the bed is full.

[h2]Sprinkler Automation:[/h2]

Players can setup their sprinkler systems to run automatically. By enabling the "automation" checkbox within the plant bed sprinkler hud, the sprinklers will automatically turn on once the plant bed water level drops below 40%. However, having automation enabled will consume 10% more power for that plant bed at the water tank pump.

The sprinkler hud also shows an indicator for whether the plant bed is currently connected to a pipe network that has water available.

[h2]Achievements:[/h2]
I've finally implemented Steam achievements after many requests from players. Achievements are independent of any particular profile, so you can work to complete them across multiple profiles. They are also independent from the profile stats currently tracking and viewable in-game while playing any profile.

The current (46) achievements are a starting point, and I certainly plan to add more in the future. I'd love to hear suggestions from players on interesting ideas for new achievements.

[h3]Wolf Hunter (Novice/Intermediate/Master)[/h3]
Kill 10/25/60 wolf by any means.

[h3]Bear Hunter (Novice/Intermediate/Master)[/h3]
Kill 10/25/60 bear by any means.

[h3]Cougar Hunter (Novice/Intermediate/Master)[/h3]
Kill 5/15/30 cougar by any means.

[h3]Deer Hunter (Novice/Intermediate/Master)[/h3]
Kill 5/15/30 deer by any means.

[h3]Moose Hunter (Novice/Intermediate/Master)[/h3]
Kill 5/15/30 moose by any means.

[h3]LumberJack:[/h3]
Harvest 100 logs.

[h3]Fiber Forager:[/h3]
Harvest 100 fiber.

[h3]Establish A Base[/h3]
Build a BCU (Base Command Unit).

[h3]Bowmasters' Bullseye:[/h3]
Kill a deer with a headshot using the bow (recurve or standard bow with any arrow type).

[h3]Weapon Service Stars:[/h3]
Achieve 100 large-game or human kills with each main weapon (individual achievement for each weapon).

[h3]Loot Locksmith:[/h3]
Unlock 10 locked crates with a lockpick.

[h3]Sickness Slayer:[/h3]
Cure an infection with an antidote.

[h3]Cuisine Connoisseur:[/h3]
Consume 5 high-end roast meals.

[h3]Ultimate Vitality & Stamina Legend:[/h3]
Reach maximum health and stamina stats (health and stamina achieved separately).

[h3]Deep Dive Discovery:[/h3]
Scuba dive to discover the underground cave system.

[h3]Buzzworthy Bounty:[/h3]
Find and harvest a beehive (found during the summer months).

[h3]Double Impact:[/h3]
Kill two hunters with a single hand grenade blast.

[h3]Molten Depths:[/h3]
Rock climb down into the deep lava caves.

[h3]Fisherman Pro:[/h3]
Catch 10 of each large fish type (Pike, Catfish, Salmon, Bass). Achievements are separate for each fish type.

[h3]Frosty Fisherman:[/h3]
Catch 10 fish or any type while ice fishing.

[h3]Nest Raider:[/h3]
Steal some pristine eagle feathers from an eagle nest.

[h3]Flying High:[/h3]
Fly 500 meters using the hang glider.

[h3]Fortress Breacher:[/h3]
Use a breaching charge to break into a hunter fortress.

[h3]Base Cracker:[/h3]
Use a BCU Cracker to destroy a hunter BCU.

[h3]ATV Mechanic:[/h3]
Craft an ATV at the vehicle construction bay.


[h2]Base Resource Monitor:[/h2]
As promised for a long time, players can now monitor the real-time resource usage within their base. This is useful for isolating what may be causing a power outage, viewing total solar/wind production, etc.

Within the BCU hud, there is a new "Base Resource Stats" tab. This lists all base items and their power/mass usage. The list can be sorted in ascending/descending order based on power or mass usage.

[h2]Crafting Using Storage:[/h2]
A pretty big change to how players can now craft. While accessing any storage item (storage chests/loot crates/player kits/base items, etc) the crafting menu will now use items from the storage (in addition to the player inventory) to craft items.

This means players are less required to keep moving items back and forth in order to craft.

[h2]Weapon Recoil:[/h2]
Weapons always felt a bit flat due to just a simple head-bob while firing. I've implemented new recoil and subtle camera animations for weapon firing, based on their power and kick. I think it feels way better.

I think in the future I also want to add weapon hover while aiming. With stocks and upgrades to stabilize the aim, as well as crouching impacting weapon stability. Stay tuned.

[h2]Take-All Quick Action:[/h2]
Requested countless times from players. By holding the "R" key (or whatever you have bound for "Reload Weapon"), you can now "Take All" from a loot crate rather than having to mouseover to the button in the hud. The action takes half a second while holding the button. You will see a bar charge-up over the button.

Releasing the key after the quick action will automatically close the inventory.

[h2]Base and Dropped-kit HUD Markers Distance (and countdown timer):[/h2]

As per player requests, I've added a distance reading to the hud markers for BCUs and dropped-kits, which should make it easier to identify/differentiate between them, and judge travel-time. The distance is measured in meters.

I've also added a countdown timer for dropped-kits, so players will know exactly how long they have to reach it. The reading will show as blue, then as orange once the timer slips below 5 minutes, then red as it dips below 1 minute.

[h2]Fill All Canteens Quick Action:[/h2]
It is now possible to fill all canteens within your inventory through the quick-menu on any one canteen.

This should be a nice QOL improvement when trying to manage lots of canteens at a time.

[h2]Stackable Buildables:[/h2]
Finally, building-piece buildables can now stack! This has been requested for a long time and should make life a lot easier managing inventory space while building.


[h2].44 Caliber Incendiary Rounds:[/h2]
The Revolver now has a new ammo type found within the default player crafting menu. The incendiary rounds are the same price as the default, just with the addition of phosphorous. They will deal the same initial damage, but will set their target on fire dealing extra damage over time.


[h2]Metal Pipes[/h2]
Metals pipes are a new item that can be crafted at the work bench and used for various crafting recipes.


[h2]Code Execution Job Queue (Performance):[/h2]
*Please skip if not interested in technicals.
Easily the largest task I worked on this sprint, although difficult to hype-up due to being a backend feature.

The Subsistence codebase has countless (game related) micro-systems running code during gameplay. Usually performing jobs based on timers, events, or every frame. Some tasks are small and lightweight, and others can be much larger.

As the game has grown in size and complexity over the years, smoothly handling job execution has become challenging from a development standpoint. Systems perform tasks (run code) whenever needed, sometimes running larger tasks at the same time as others, causing "spiky" execution. I'd always mitigated this by staggering larger jobs over several frames, but this needed a proper solution.

The new system calculating water-flow through water pipe networks was the final straw to convince me to implement a scalable fix. This is because each time a water pipe is added/moved/removed, the flow of water through the pipes needs recalculating. And as there is no limit to the scale of pipe networks players can build, this job was yet another (potentially) large job that could trigger.. whenever.

Solution:
I've implemented a job queue manager for organizing and handling various jobs (code execution) during gameplay. Systems can now asynchronously request to run a job, the manager will add the request to a queue, order them based on various priorities, and then process the queue one by one (or in batches), telling the requestor/s when it is their time.

This has dramatically simplified development, brought order to chaos, and will allow me to continue scaling the game while maintaining performance.

[h2]World Initialization:[/h2]
There has always been a lot of world initialization code running in the early stage of the game. This is doing things like initializing custom LOD handling, collision, world-decorations, foliage culling, AI spawns, etc. Previously I would allows this to run after entering the game world, which would take around 20 seconds. Players may have noticed awkward popping-in and poor performance during this time as the world configured itself. It always bothered me.

Since I now have a stable job queue, I am throwing all this work to be processed immediately, before the player is dropped in the world. It runs way faster and as I don't have to run it while rendering and means the world is fully initialized the moment the player is given control. You will just see a very brief "Initializing World" screen before entering the world.

[h2]In-Game Achievement Tracker:[/h2]
While viewing your inventory, a button will now show on the far right, showing the current progress of the in-game Steam achievements.

Clicking on the button will open the Steam overlay to show all achievements and the current progress against each one.

[h2]Weapon Ammo Type Display:[/h2]
Previously the selected ammo type for weapons would only briefly show when switching types, or while the inventory was open, making it confusing to tell which ammo type you were using. Now the equipped weapon will always show it's current ammo type (all other toolbelt weapons will still show their ammo type while viewing the inventory).


[h2]Double Barrel Shotgun Predator Skin:[/h2]
Some new skins are available in the Steam item store. The new double shotgun predator skin be viewed here. Thank you to everyone for supporting the game through the cosmetic store. 🙏


[h2]Lever Action Rifle Predator Skin:[/h2]
Can be viewed in the item store.


[h2]Revolver Predator Skin:[/h2]
Can be viewed in the item store.


Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184

Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
Portuguese European (João C. H. Jorge)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)
Finnish (Pewtsku and J4ntteri)

[h2]Vehicle Construction Bay:[/h2]
The Vehicle Construction Bay (VCB) can now be crafted in the BCU. This placeable unit is used to construct, maintain, upgrade and manage vehicles. It must be placed within range of a BCU or Range Extender to provide power.

[h2]Vehicle Construction:[/h2]
There is currently one vehicle type that can be constructed (the ATV). Players must construct the vehicle in stages, with each stage requiring the previous stage be complete before continuing to the next.

Unlike many other powered crafting items, vehicle stages require no upfront power cost, but instead will consume power throughout each construction stage.

A minimum of 500 power is required for constructing. If power levels drop below 500, it will pause. Construction can be resumed by clicking on the current stage and a resume button will show. In addition; construction can be manually paused at any time using the same process.

The dimentions of the VCB is 2x foundation widths by 1.5x, and can be snapped to existing building pieces.

[h2]ATV:[/h2]
The ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) provides players with a fast means of transport to traverse the world. As well as providing a 20-slot onboard storage capacity.

It runs on "vehicle fuel" (a new item, see below), and has onboard battery power which is required for engine ignition and headlights. When mounting the vehicle, a driving hud will show top right, giving stats on speed, fuel, battery etc.

There are 3 interactable areas: The engine (at the front), where the player can refuel and jump-start the battery. The driving section (center). And the trunk, where players can access the onboard storage.

The vehicle is designed for travel, rather than combat. So while it is possible to ram players/hunters/animals, this will ultimately build-up damage on the vehicle. As too will impacts with world geometry, so be mindful of your speed and routes.
[h3]First and third person view:[/h3]
Players are given the option for driving in 3rd and first person.

You can toggle between the two using the existing "Cycle Camera" key which driving (which is rebindable). The game will remember your choice, so you don't have to keep resetting it.
[h3]Manual transmission:[/h3]
I opted against an automatic transmission as I feel having it manual creates a more satisfying control mechanic, as well as a higher skill ceiling for traversing terrain effectively and efficiently.

The gears can be shifted using the mouse wheel (or whatever you have bound to next/previous weapon).
[h3]Battery power and headlights:[/h3]
The battery will slowly charge over-time based on the speed of the wheels spinning, so sitting idle with the engine running will not produce a charge. If the battery runs dead, you will not be able to fire-up the engine.

The headlights can be operated using the "L" key while driving (or whatever you have bound to your "Toggle Flashlight" key).

I added some subtle lens flares and ambient illumination on the hood and bumpers, which I think looks pretty nice.
[h3]Players thrown from vehicle:[/h3]
Having a high-speed impact will cause the player to be thrown from the vehicle in ragdoll. They will stand back up after a moment and regain control, but this could result in a dangerous situation, so drive carefully.
[h3]Vehicle access permissions:[/h3]
Only applicable for co-op and dedicated servers, here is how vehicle access is handled: The core ownership of a vehicle is traced back to the player who placed the BCU, which powered the VCB which constructed the vehicle. Thus, any player who shares a base membership with that player will have access to drive the vehicle and access it's inventory and engine.

[h2]Black Crystal:[/h2]
A new ore is required to build key items for vehicle construction. However players will need to venture into the lava caves to find these new nodes.

Mined with the pickaxe (or axe), the nodes will yield Black Crystal Ore. The ore must be refined in the refinery to produce pure Black Crystal, ready for crafting.

Climbing axes are required to descend down into (and return from) the lava caves.


[h2]Advanced Mechanical Parts:[/h2]
These new parts are required for vehicle construction and can be crafted at the lathe.

They are also required for vehicle repairs. They can take some time to craft, so best to queue them up and let the lathe do its thing.


[h2]Heavy Bolts:[/h2]
Another new item required for vehicle construction. These allow me to balance the yields of standard crystal with late game crafting. Some recipe reshuffling is little overdue at this point.


[h2]Vehicle Docking:[/h2]
The VCB will automatically "dock" a vehicle if a player exits the vehicle while it is on the VCB. It will rotate the vehicle to face forward and raise it on the bay feet. Once docked, menus will open up in the VCB terminal to be able to repair/rename/upgrade the vehicle. When you start to drive the vehicle, it will automatically undock.

[h2]Vehicle Recall:[/h2]
There may be times when your vehicle becomes disabled out in the field. Either due to taking too much damage, getting plunged into a lake, etc. Within the VCB terminal, under the "All Vehicles" tab, you can view a list of all vehicles you have access to, showing their name, health, skin, distance. Players have the option to recall (teleport back to base) any vehicle, at the cost of power.

The further the vehicle from the VCB, the higher the power cost (although there is a floor and ceiling to this cost). Recalling a vehicle will dock it at the VCB that recalled it.

[h2]Garage Door:[/h2]
This mechanical door is intended for use with the VCB (it is 1.5x foundation width), although it can be snapped to any foundation or ceiling. It does not require power to operate and can be crafted at the lathe.

[h2]Garage Ramp:[/h2]
Similar in dimensions to foundation stairs, although is measured to fit the VCB (1.5x foundation width).

Allows for smoothly entering and exiting your base garage.

[h2]Garage Door Fob:[/h2]
While a vehicle is docked, in the VCB terminal, under the "Docked Vehicle" tab, there is a sub tab for "Upgrades". Currently there is only one; the Garage Door Fob.

This upgrade can be crafted/attached to an ATV. Once attached, an additional icon will show in the driving hud, and players can use this to remotely open/close the nearest garage door while driving.


[h2]Vehicle Damage System:[/h2]
I worked hard to add visual detail to the damage stages of the vehicle. The paint and components will take visual dents and burn marks.

I'm using morphing to bend and misshape the geometry of parts of the vehicle as it takes continued damage.

When damage is becoming excessive, the engine will start to hiss and smoke, and eventually catch fire, and ultimately explode once health reaches zero. Once exploded, the tires will also be blown off.

[h2]Vehicle Repair:[/h2]
To repair a vehicle it must be docked at a VCB. Either by driving it on, or recalling it (if fully disabled). Within the VCB terminal, under the "Docked Vehicle" tab, there is sub tab for "Vehicle Condition". This will show the vehicle state and the items required to make repairs.

The repair process will consume power throughout the process. If tires are missing, they will automatically be reattached. The vehicle becomes drivable again so long as at least one tire is attached (although missing tires greatly affect handling).

Please note that vehicles are never actually destroyed, simply burnt-out and disabled, and recoverable with repair.

[h2]Vehicle Battery:[/h2]
Crafted at the workbench, this new item is required for both vehicle construction and to craft a vehicle jump kit.


[h2]Vehicle Jump Kit:[/h2]
If a vehicle runs out of power, the engine will not start. It is required that the player uses a vehicle jump kit, by accessing the vehicle engine hud, and placing the jump kit in the slot provided.

It will provide a minimum charge to start the engine, and the vehicle can charge the remaining % through use. The jump kit will be returned to player, and will need to be recharged using batteries.

[h2]Vehicle Custom Paint:[/h2]
In the VCB terminal, under the "Docked Vehicle" tab, there is a sub tab for "Vehicle Paint".

This allows players to switch between the various cosmetics they may own on their Steam account.

[h2]Vehicle Fuel:[/h2]
Crafted at the workbench. Players can add fuel by accessing the vehicle engine hud, and placing the fuel in the slot provided.

Any excess fuel after the engine it full will be returned to the player (so no need to split).

[h2]Vehicle attachments?[/h2]
You may notice there is a section for vehicle attachments under the "Docked Vehicle" tab in the VCB terminal. This is for future features. These are not promises, but would be things such as a passenger seat, mower, trailer.

[h2]Map Icons for Vehicles:[/h2]
Providing that you (or one of your teammates) owns a vehicle, you will always be able to see an icon for it on the map, so no need to worry about forgetting where you parked.


[h2]Reduced food decay for trap bait:[/h2]
I've heavily nerfed the decay rate of bait in traps, so trapping is far less penalized.


[h2]Reduced decay for eggs in animal housing:[/h2]
Eggs laid by chickens in the animal housing will now last much longer when left in the housing.


[h2]Reduced/muffled river/waterfall noise while inside an enclosed base.[/h2]
So players who have built over loud waterfalls or rivers will now have a more immersive and peaceful experience while inside their base.


[h2]Hunter base locations:[/h2]
As the map has grown a lot, hunters will now build their bases further from player bases. When starting playing the update on existing profiles, they will be reset and start building again from scratch.

[h2]New UI dropdown menus:[/h2]
I've implemented new UI dropdown menus. These have a larger font, will resize to the textual content, have clearer selections, and have a subtle animation. Much nicer imo.


[h2]Fixed shaky aim-down-sights:[/h2]
Some players may have noticed a very annoying subtle shaking of the weapon when raised up to up to aim-down-sights. This was due to the independent FOV scaling between the weapon/arms mesh and world view fighting each other. It is now fixed, so the weapon holds smoothly once raised.

[h2]PVP damage to vehicles?[/h2]
If your server has PVP damage disabled, then players will not be able to inflict damage to vehicles (unless for driving collisions).

[h2]Dedicated server dormant vehicles:[/h2]
Vehicles can be very costly on server performance if left unchecked. Because of this I've implemented a system to temporarily remove vehicles from the world if it's owners are all offline, and then lazy-load and restore them when it's owners log back in. This will prevent servers from degrading over time as abandoned vehicles build up over months/years. It's important to me that servers should be able to run indefinitely without a forced wipe.

The store size for dormant vehicles is currently set to 150. With the longest-dormant vehicle being removed if the cap is reached (likely at that point that the owned stopped playing on that server a long time ago).

[h2]New server admin console commands:[/h2]

ListVehicles
TeleportToVehicle [VehicleId]

Type "help" in console to list available commands.


[h2]New clothing skins:[/h2]
Some new cosmetics added for clothing items: Combat Helmet Woodland Camo, Shirt Blue Plaid, Heavy Duty Pants Woodland and Snow Camo. Thanks again to anyone supporting the game through the cosmetics system 🙏

Skins can be found on the Subsistence Steam Store.


[h2]New weapons and vehicle skins:[/h2]
Lever Action Rifle Nickel Plated & Black Stripes, Recurve Bow Black Camo, ATV Woodland and Snow Camo.


[h2]Oher Notable Changes:[/h2]

• Fixed craft queue sometimes not showing for clients when accessing an external crafting station (like BCU, workbench, lathe, etc).
  
• Fixed bleeding icon sometimes not disappearing for clients of network games, after bleeding had stopped (finally..).
  
• Using jarred food to feed animals in the animal housing will now return the empty jar.
  
• Weapon/clothing/vehicle cosmetics (skins) can now be accessed in the Steam Store from within the game. Mousing over the skin icon will show a button to open the skin in the Steam Store. If purchased, the game will update your ownership (without having to close and reopen the game).
  
• Rotating buildables now allows for 8 points of rotation (rather than 4).
  
• Fixed exploit that allowed players on servers to name their base to be an empty string to hide the hud icon from other players when they were in range.
  
• Fixed bug where weapons and clothing would repair if save was made and loaded while on less than 1% health.
  
• Fixed hunter base placements sometimes building partially through the ground, causing outside ground clipping through the ground floor.
  
• Fixed lakes still having collision for ragdolling animals and humans after the lake had thawed from frozen.
  
• Fixed BCU not showing as being accessed when another player is using it for clients of network games.
  
• Fixed small animals not showing injured animation and sounds when injured (previously they always showed as dead).
  
• Allowed max health and stamina progress bars to fill an extra bar after reaching the max of 125. This prevents the hud notice showing too frequently each time we eat after dropping slightly from max.
  
• Fixed freecam sometimes not teleporting to desired/correct location for server admins.
  

4k image of Alpha 60 title art (for creators): LINK

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184

Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)
Finnish (Pewtsku and J4ntteri)

A quick sneak peak at the upcoming Alpha 60 update 👀

https://youtu.be/bHem8wwcglo

Alpha 59 brings a large expansion to the western side of the map, opening up access to a large new lake, streams, ponds, waterfalls, forested regions and beachfront.

It is important the world continues to scale in size, as I want long-haul travel and exploration to play a role leading into future features and development.





Here's a link for a full 4k image of the world map.
[h2]New Trees:[/h2]
I've implemented a new system for trees, moving away from the native SpeedTree libraries available in the engine.

They support wind simulation via vertex animation (with no skeletal meshes), seasonal changes, large-scale instance meshing, etc. They are still a work in progress, but are performant and give me much more control over the code rather than working around a black-box feature set.

The new area is mostly populated with new tree species using the new code. Eventually I hope to transition the old trees on the rest of the map as I introduce more species.









[h2]Cave Access?[/h2]
As with the prior South-East expansion, the new area adds a lot more underwater space (including deep water). However there is currently no cave access from the Western lake (yet). This will certainly come in the future.


[h2]New Landscape Rock Geometry:[/h2]
In the new area I'm using some new techniques to blend rocky ground detail into the landscape geometry.

This does increase the polygonal complexity to the scene rendering, but I'm using some aggressive LOD and lighting transitions to maintain high performance.

The new geometry caused problems with the AI pathing systems, so needed to be updated to accommodate.
[h2]Triangular Building Pieces:[/h2]
There are now triangle variants of foundations and ceilings. They are equilateral in dimension (with each side being the width of a full wall). So 60° at each corner, meaning 6 would complete a circle.

I think these new pieces will open up a lot of new creativity for base designs, so I'm curious to see what players will create!


[h2]Fruit/Veg Will Now Perish![/h2]
As hinted at previously, fruit and veg will now perish overtime. This may be controversial, but was necessary and well overdue.

How the system works:

• Items will perish one at a time from a stack.
  
• Splitting the stack would result in both stacks continuing from the same perish state.
  
• Adding an item (or stack) to a stack will result in the stack acquiring whichever had the lower perish state.
  

In addition, when a stack is at a low count, it will take longer to perish (an example shown above). I think this is an appropriate way to balance/decrease the penalty of food perishing while looting, while still maintaining the necessity for preservation methods when at larger scales of production.

Meats and cooked meals still don't show meters. This is because they still maintain independent perish times for every item in a stack. So I would have to either think of a way to present up to 10 perish times for a single item in the inventory, or switch them over to use the same logic as fruit/veg.

[h2]Vegetable Chutney:[/h2]
To assist in food preservation, players can now prepare Vegetable Chutney in the oven. The recipe requires a boiling pan. Chutney does not require refrigeration and can be kept indefinitely.

The glass jar is returned when eating the Chutney, so each jar only needs to be crafted once.

[h2]Dropped Kit Expiry Time Increased:[/h2]
Due to expanded world space, player dropped kits will now last for 14 minutes on normal (previously 10 mins) and 20 minutes on easy (previously 15 minutes). On hardcore there are no dropped kits (unless on dedicated servers whereby there is a 2 minute timer).


[h2]Increased Shadow Distance:[/h2]
I've increased the dynamic shadow casting by around 3x. This gives much greater depth to the scene presentation, especially in densely forested areas:


[h2]New Cosmetics:[/h2]
For players that wish to further support the game, some new skins have been added to game's Steam Store Page.
[h3]Winter Jacket Snow Camo and Shirt Woodland Camo:[/h3]

[h3]Revolver Nickel Plating and Black Grip:[/h3]

[h3]Rifle Black Camo and Gold Trim:[/h3]


[h2]New Language Supported - Finnish:[/h2]
Thanks so much to Pewtsku and J4ntteri for providing the translation :)

[h2]Other Notable Fixes:[/h2]

• Increased FOV to 100 (previously 95). I will add ability to customize this in the future.
  
• Added culling for distant landscape, reducing a lot of draw calls (better FPS performance).
  
• Increased number of beehives during the summer months.
  
• Greatly reduced noticeable texture seams for snowy terrain on the landscape.
  
• Attempted to resolve reported bug of river sounds cutting out audio.
  
• Changed campfire repair recipe to only require sticks.
  
• Fixed compass showing during loading screen.
  

[h2]New Trailer:[/h2]
If you missed the previous minor-update post, please checkout the new game trailer:
https://youtu.be/-Dx5qabDXdI

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184

Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)
Finnish (Pewtsku and J4ntteri)