theHunter: Call of the Wild™ News

[h3]Happy New Year, hunters![/h3]

We have a lot of plans for 2022 in-game and across the community, and this is just what’s coming up in February:

• COTW celebrates FIVE years!
  
• New free and paid content
  

More will be revealed, including preliminary patch notes, in the coming weeks. We have a sizable list of bug fixes, gameplay optimization and improvements to share!

In the meantime, have you played Mississippi Acres Preserve? Tell us what you loved, liked, or thought was missing. Would you recommend it? Help us out by writing a Steam Review!

More useful tidbits:
- Known Issues List
- Customer Support: [email protected]

Howdy Hunters!

Mississippi Acres Preserve is now available!

[h3]New Features[/h3]

• TruRACS is now enabled for the Lesser Kudu!
  
• Inspect feature for mission items: The mission items that users pick up are now placed in the Mission Item Codex and can be inspected. These items can hold valuable information!
  

[h3]Improvements[/h3]

• Made FPS improvements to boost performance;
  - Massive overhauls to animal update threading
  - Improvements to population distribution on reserves (WIP)
  - Increase LOD granularity across species needing LOD improvements
  
• Made fur quality (shader) improvements for all animals;
  
• Improved Feral Pig's model and textures;
  
• Improved Black Bear’s model and textures;
  
• Retouched visuals for water in lakes & rivers;
  
• Did a visual overhaul for some of the input icons and buttons;
  
• Updated feeding clue meshes for predators (nor more blood splatters);
  

[h3]BUG FIXES[/h3]

Critical & Featured

• Fixed the issue of various Weapon Packs and Parque Fernando DLC missing from Xbox players’ libraries;
  
• Fixed the broken Fast travel issues across a number of reserves;
  
• Dog collision with player’s character is fixed;
  

--- Animals & Environment

• Radio towers across various reserves no longer defy gravity;
  
• Animals will not become un-harvestable if there are too many corpses unclaimed;
  
• Fixed the problem of EU rabbits not fleeing into their burrows as they should in Hirschfelden reserve;
  
• Sounds will not persist anymore after walking through bushes;
  
• Standardized fur rarity tier weighting for all species;
  
• Did a naming pass on all fur variations, all should have string names now (not ‘common’);
  

--- Weapons, Gear, & Character

• Fixed the issue where Turkey callers were not included in Rancho Del Arroyo reserve;
  

--- User Interface & Multiplayer

• Multiplayer - Fixed a crash which could occur when showing waypoints to another player;
  
• Fixed an issue where discovering a new need zone caused the previously discovered need zone disappear on Map UI;
  
• Fixed the issue of not being able to input certain symbols and special characters into the Password field when creating an Avalanche Apex Connect™ account within game;
  

Next week's free game on the Epic Games Store will be a big'un: Dead By Daylight. I've been impressed by the 1v4 multiplayer horror game, watching it steadily grow into one of Steam's most popular after a while looking like it might slip a way, so that's a nice get. But before then, Epic are currently giving away a whole other manner of slaughter, the hunting sim TheHunter: Call Of The Wild. You know, you can skip guns and just play that as a very pretty walking simulator.

Read more

[h2]NEW FEATURES[/h2]

• Introducing APEX Connect! With Apex Connect, you become part of our special circle of friends. Sign up for in-game rewards, unique game features, and never miss an update! Read the full FAQ here.
  
• There’s a new Great One roaming certain Reserves. Share your search with us on social media and the official Discord!
  

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]

• To avoid confusion with certain key actions while having the hunting dog by your side, PC keybinds now indicate when a long press is needed in the Settings menu
  
• #notabug: We’ve removed the mission advance waiting time for the mission ‘Y Tambien Hermano’ after interacting with the diary in in Rancho del Arroyo reserve
  
• We’ve reduced the amount of shotgun score required to purchase 12 GA Birdshot ammo
  
• Players have the option to customize the Spotting Outline Color for animals spotted by other users in multiplayer sessions in the Settings menu
  

[h2]CONSIDERATIONS[/h2]

• This update will reset some animal populations. This includes but is not limited to the Collared Peccary, Rio Grande Turkey, and Ring-necked Pheasant.
  

[h2]🐞 BUG FIXES[/h2]

[h3]Featured[/h3]

• Being unable to shoot with Couso 1897 shotgun in aim mode if user fired with another gun before that has now been resolved
  
• Particle effects fixes (fire and animal tracks):
  ▸ Previously missing fire particle effects in specific missions should now play
  ▸ Animal track particle effects should now appear and play properly
  
• Trophy Lodge stability adjustments and fixes:
  ▸ Creating a multiplayer Trophy Lodge that was already visited in Single Player no longer crashes the game
  ▸ Joining a multiplayer Trophy Lodge will now load properly
  

[h3]Additional Updates[/h3]

--- Animals & Environment

• Mexican Bobcats no longer become stuck in an animation loop at drinking zones near the lake in Rancho Del Arroyo reserve
  
• Your dog will not continue to growl when near a freshly shot animal
  
• Turkeys and Pheasants will not land on/below water when flying across lakes
  

--- Weapons, Gear, & Character

• (Sorry, not sorry) We’ve fixed the issue where a player could continue to fire even after running out of ammo for weapons like the Coachmate Lever .45-70, Whitlock Model 86 and the Focoso 357
  
• (Jazz hands!) The bug where only your character’s hands appeared during a death animation while riding an ATV and after getting damage from Cacti has been fixed
  

--- User Interface & Multiplayer

• Ammunition now shows up in your inventory quick access menu as designed after running out and purchasing more
  
• The Collared Peccary Codex entry now displays the correct recommended ammo type
  
• The Scent Eliminator and First Aid Kit now show their correct icons in the player HUD when equipped
  
• Various crash fixes in Multiplayer
  

Howdy Hunters,

Thank you for waiting so patiently for this much anticipated update! We’ve addressed a number of crashes, immersion-breaking, and design-related bugs this round, including incorrect fur variants, fast travel, and Hunting Lodge issues.

For more information, you can read the full list below:

(Commonly Occuring)

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Rares for whitetail deer and coyotes showing up as commons. This fix will be retroactive;
  
• Unexpectedly high spawning rate for Whitetail Deer Great Ones;
  
• Fast travel not working for Casa del los Gil outpost in Rancho Del Arroyo and other reserves including Yukon Valley, Silver Ridge Peaks, Vurhonga Savannah, Te Awaroa;
  
• Players getting stuck under Hunting structures when trying to exit them in Silver Ridge Peaks, Layton Lake, Yukon Valley, Cuatro Colinas, and Medved Taiga
  

[h3]Design[/h3]

• Fur issues for Whitetail Deer and Coyote in Trophy Lodge;
  
• Audio/Performance (FPS) related issues where sounds stop playing and game begins to lag;
  

[h3]Crash & stability issues occuring when:[/h3]

• a player loads into a reserve.