theHunter: Call of the Wild™ News

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.

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[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.
  

Howdy Hunters,

It is our pleasure to introduce Rancho del Arroyo, inspired by the harsh, yet beautiful Sonoran desert of Northern Mexico, this stunning reserve includes five unique new animal species to hunt, new weaponry, harsh biomes to explore, and a thrilling storyline that involves uncovering a century-old family mystery.

Please see the detailed patch notes (PC 1.68) for this update below.

[h2]NEW FEATURES
[/h2]
▸ Added support for new paid DLC: Rancho del Arroyo

[h2]SPOTLIGHT BUG FIXES
[/h2]
▸ Diamond Whitetail Deer will no longer weigh more than 100kg;
▸ Backpacks will not be visible in first person camera;
▸ Fixed the slow motion bug for Dog at tracker level 1 and 16;
▸ Fixed the crash when user orders the dog to track within 50m of a rabbit corpse;
▸ Fixed the issue of tents disappearing with an active dog nearby when user resumes gameplay after quitting to main menu;
▸ Animal corpses will no longer be invisible after walking outside of render range and back;
▸ Fixed the issue of missing antlers on the trophies in the Trophy Lodge (this fix is not retroactive);
▸ Fixed the issue of ATV lights turning on/off at night time when 3rd person camera is toggled;

[h2]ADDITIONAL UPDATES
[/h2]

[h3]ANIMALS & ENVIRONMENT
[/h3]
▸ Reworked the spawning rates for Geese;
▸ Fixed the disappearing of Great One Whitetails that previously existed in the reserve's animal population after restarting the game;
▸ Dog will no more be slow in notifying user of a harvested animal;
▸ Buffalos near lookout tower will no longer cause damage to the user on 1st floor;
▸ Fixed the issue where Female Dog showed up even when user purchased Male Dog;

[h3]WEAPONS, GEAR, & CHARACTER
[/h3]
▸ Huntermate screen will not go invisible after switching reserves now;
▸ Fixed the issue where scope became invisible for a weapon while switching ammo types;
▸ [XB1] Fixed the issue of user’s character sliding/drifting during gameplay when controller is reconnected after being disconnected;
▸ Fixed the issue of sight disappearing on bows after switching to a different arrow type;
▸ Fixed the issue with Rangefinder bow sight not displaying range or aim dots;
▸ Fixed the issue when player could not jump or go prone after changing reserve while in a treestand;

[h3]USER INTERFACE & MULTIPLAYER
[/h3]
▸ Removed the black circle which appeared around waypoint marker;
▸ Removed & updated the placeholder text in My Dogs tab when user does not own any dog;
▸ Fixed the dog status icon while tracking live prey;
▸ The effective range stats for rifle ammo will no longer display low values in store and inventory;
▸ Fixed the issue where incorrect values were displayed for individual Reserve and Global
▸ Play stats in Codex menu;
▸ Fixed the issue of user not being able to fast scroll through EULA popup using a controller;

[h3]MISCELLANEOUS
[/h3]
▸ User will be able to pet their dog in the Trophy Lodge;
▸ Dog will now gain a portion of total XP when starting to track a harvest and the rest of XP will be added when harvest is found;
▸ It will be easier now to complete the mission ‘The Perfect Liebre’ in Cuatro Colinas reserve;

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]

▸ Our character artists worked their magic in updating color and fur textures for existing animals like Whitetail Deer, Mule Deer, Coyote, Bighorn Sheep & Merriam Turkey;
▸ User can now see other users’ waypoints in map during multiplayer session;
▸ Made some Audio engine performance improvements;
▸ Refactored and standardized pricing for Multi Trophy Mounts;
▸ User’s character will get hurt by the cacti if they collide with them;
▸ Enabled footprints for dog in snow;
▸ Added a new (Carcass found) icon to notify user when dog is done with its harvest search;
▸ The maximum tracker level that Dog can achieve is 15 which is now indicated in Tracker Level icon on Dog screen;
▸ Dog will now sniff each blood spot more evidently while tracking blood clues;
▸ Added a checkmark to indicate which Dog is active in Kennel screen (if user has more than 1 dog);
▸ Now users can auto-run using a controller:
▸ Double click of L3 when standing still = Auto-walk
▸ Double click of L3 when walking or running = Auto-run
▸ One click of L3 = Toggle between auto-run and auto-walk

[h2]Greetings Hunters![/h2]

We’re here to give you an update on the state of the game, and also share a little insight into what the team is working on.

[h3]To Recap...[/h3][hr][/hr]
In late March, we released the long-anticipated Bloodhound DLC for theHunter: Call of the Wild. We cherished the awesome hunting stories that you shared with us and are so fortunate to have such a passionate community dedicated to our game.

Despite our efforts and positive testing results, the Bloodhound release wasn’t as smooth as we had hoped. For example, the ‘Tracker’ trait progression wasn’t working as intended, and the Codex Scoring… Yeah, that too.

We promptly addressed the situation in a ‘Message From the Developers’ update, and a few weeks after, a hotfix was deployed simultaneously across all platforms.

[h3]What's Happening Next[/h3][hr][/hr]
While this update solved most of the hot-topic issues (but not all), it also, much to the detriment of the team, introduced new problems. As we’re sure most of you know, there are almost always risks involved when preparing and deploying a hotfix. Despite our best efforts to successfully resolve the issues we plan to address, sometimes stuff happens or there’s something we can’t see when testing on such a limited scale and we aren’t able to get it right. We really are sorry about this, and share your disappointment.

While there is still much work to do, the team has been making good progress every day.
We’re not ready to commit to a date just yet, but we’ve prepared a solid list of issues that the team is actively working on.

Please keep in mind that we can’t guarantee that all these issues will be solved. We will however do our best to solve as many of them as possible.

Thank you again for all of your support and understanding! We’ll provide another update as soon as we can. 🧡

/ The Call of the Wild Team

[h2]👇👇[/h2]
[hr][/hr]
[h3]🐛 Highlights[/h3]

• Fix so that Diamond Whitetail Deer no longer weigh more than 100kg;
  
• Fix so Backpacks are no longer visible in first person camera;
  
• Fix the slow motion bug for Dog at tracker level 1 and 16;
  
• Fix the crash when user orders the dog to track within 50m of a rabbit corpse;
  
• Fix the issue of tents disappearing with an active dog nearby when user resumes gameplay after quitting to main menu;
  
• Fix so that animal corpses will no longer be invisible after walking outside of render range and back.
  
• Fix the issue of missing antlers on the trophies in the Trophy Lodge
  
• Fix the issue of ATV lights turning on/off at night time when 3rd person camera is toggled;
  

[h3]🙌 Additional[/h3]
--- Animals & Environment

• Rework the spawning rates for Geese and Ducks
  
• Investigate reports of the disappearing of Great One Whitetails that previously existed in the reserve's animal population after restarting the game
  
• Improve the delay when the Bloodhound notifies the player of a harvested animal;
  
• Fix the problem of audio persisting from bushes after walking through them;
  

--- Weapons, Gear, & Character

• Fix so Dog will not push/ block the user’s character anymore;
  
• Fix so Huntermate screen will not appear transparent after switching reserves now;
  
• Fix the issue where a scope becomes invisible for a weapon while switching ammo types;
  
• Fix the issue of a sight disappearing on bows after switching to a different arrow type;
  
• Fix the issue with Rangefinder bow sight not displaying range or aim dots;
  
• [XB1] Fix the issue of user’s character sliding/drifting during gameplay when controller is reconnected after being disconnected;
  
• Fix the issue when toggling run on a controller caused the character to stop when auto-walk is enabled;
  

--- User Interface & Multiplayer

• Remove the black circle which appears around the waypoint marker;
  
• Remove & update the placeholder text in My Dogs tab when user does not own any dog;
  
• Fix the dog status icon while tracking live prey;
  
• Fix so the effective range stats for rifle ammo no longer display low values in store and inventory;
  

--- Miscellaneous

• Fix so user will be able to pet their dog in the Trophy Lodge;
  
• Fix so Dog will gain a portion of total XP when starting to track a harvest and the rest of XP will be added when harvest is found;