Survive the Nights News

[p]First things first - this isn’t the end of development. Not even close. It’s more of a turning point. Up to now, our focus has been on delivering the core concepts and all the crazy ideas that you - and we - dreamed up over the years.[/p][p]From 1.0 onward our focus shifts slightly:[/p]

• [p]Maintenance and fixes to keep the core game tight.[/p]
• [p]New content, heavily driven by community feedback.[/p]
• [p]Modding support, tools, and access (more on this below).[/p][p][/p]

[h2]Version 1.0 (The Update)[/h2][p]Frankly, it’s the biggest update we’ve ever done. There were a few long-standing annoyances we wanted to iron out, plus some major new additions. Below are the big highlights - the full patch notes will go live next Thursday, December 4th with the update.[/p][p][/p][h3]Modding[/h3][p]We’ve added a full modding suite with the ability to swap basically any asset in the game, inject code, and even add your own content. For years we’ve held back until the foundation of the game was where it needed to be - so that the creative vision stayed intact.[/p][p]Hello everyone! Today we’ve got a huge announcement. Survive the Nights is officially releasing out of Early Access next Thursday, December 4th. We wanted to jump on here and give you a proper rundown of what this milestone means and what to expect.[/p][p]Now that foundation is here. It’s time to let you all break things in creative new ways.[/p][p][/p][h3]Water Treatment Plant[/h3][p]We’re introducing a new POI in 1.0, the water treatment plant. The plant is on the south side of the island and it features a functioning dam. Like the power station, the plant is operational. If you want clean drinking water from your taps, someone is going to have to get it going![/p][p][/p][h3]Vaulting[/h3][p]Player vaulting is finally here. It’s been high on the list for ages and honestly… it never felt fair that zombies could yeet themselves through a window while you got stuck on the frame. Vaulting makes movement smoother, cleaner, and simply feels right.[/p][p][/p][h3]Play Type[/h3][p]This one has been a tricky balancing act. When JB and I first started dreaming about Survive the Nights, the goal was always old-school brutality - real consequences for death and a genuine incentive to keep your character alive. Over the years we tried countless ways to balance that with modern expectations.[/p][p]The problem? Half of you want hardcore. Half want casual.[/p][p]So instead of compromising, we now offer Play Types when you create or join a world for the first time:[/p]

• [p]Hardcore: permanent death, lost progress, finite loot. (Basically the current default.)[/p]
• [p]Casual: more like the earlier days - you keep progression and loot respawns.[/p]

[p]You choose the experience you want.[/p][p][/p][h3]Vehicle Improvements[/h3][p]Let’s be honest - we’re all sick of terrible drivers beaching their cars on pebbles. The #1 report we get usually goes something like:[/p][p]“This game’s total rats! I got my car stuck and there’s no way to get it out. Terrible review coming your way.”[/p][p]Jokes aside, vehicles have needed love. We’ve improved collision, simplified certain colliders, and added a steering-based “wiggle” system to help you get unstuck. Your off-road adventures should feel a lot less punishing now.[/p][p][/p][h3]Zombies[/h3][p]We’ve made big improvements to zombie performance at distance and cleaned up hit collision accuracy. The goal was simple: make encounters feel smoother, more responsive, and more fair.[/p][p][/p][h3]General Fixes[/h3][p]As developers you can sometimes get too close to a project and miss things. We do our best to listen and fix, but some issues slip through.[/p][p]We recently had professional QA done and have been completely open about the findings. We’ve made a huge number of targeted fixes to remove jank, smooth out rough edges, and generally make the whole experience feel more polished. This is something we’ll keep doing long after 1.0.[/p][p][/p][h3]Call for Modders[/h3][p]With the new modding suite out, we’d love to get more of you involved — regardless of experience. If you’re interested in modding Survive the Nights, reach out here. This is a two-way street: we want to build the tools with your help and get them to where they need to be.[/p][p][/p][h2]Conclusion[/h2][p]If you made it this far, thank you. We’re incredibly hyped to finally get an official 1.0 version out to you all. It’s been a long road, but this has always been a passion project for our team.[/p][p]Stay tuned for next week’s update - and thanks again for sticking with us.[/p][p][/p][h3]Links [/h3][p]Discord[/p][p] Changelog[/p][p] X[/p][p] Facebook[/p][p] YouTube[/p][p]Website[/p][p][/p]

[p]We’ve enabled the Halloween event so enjoy the tricks and treats from now until November 2nd. You’ll get a couple of new treats this year including the crossbow and arrows.[/p][p][/p][h3]Drive-In Night of the Living Dead[/h3][p]Watch the full length movie right in the game. Find a film reel while trick or treating. You can take the reel to either of the drive-in theaters and play the movie via the projection room. Try and survive a couple of hordes while watching a classic film![/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p][/p][p]A night at the drive-in[/p][p][/p][h3]Trick or Treating[/h3][p]You'll find most of the structures in the game will currently have decorations around the doorstep and a new door knocker. Use the door knocker once the sun sets for a trick-or-treat. Tricks aren't always fun but the treats should make killing them easier ;)[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p] Trick or treat knocker is back![/p][p][/p][h3]Giant Pumpkins[/h3][p]This year you can find giant pumpkins as treats and grow your own with giant pumpkin seeds! We’ve included a screenshot of item ids for server owners.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]/lookup pumpkin results[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Giant Pumpkin![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Big ol' pumpkins[/p][p][/p][h3]Unity Security Update[/h3][p]As some of you may have read Unity released a security patch for some backend issues they had. You can read more about it here. We’ve patched STN to fix this issue.[/p][h3] 
Dead Bundle[/h3][p]If you’d like to support the team further check out the new cosmetic dead bundle. It includes some cool Halloween themed bits :) Thanks much for the continued support, guys! HAPPY HALLOWEEN ːsteammockingː[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Dead Bundle[/p][p][/p][p]Links [/p][p]Discord[/p][p] Changelog[/p][p] X[/p][p] Facebook[/p][p] YouTube[/p][p]Website[/p][p][/p]

[p]Grab a copy for yourself or a friend at a great price! If you have any questions before purchasing, please join our friendly community on discord.
[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]Links[/h3][p]Discord[/p][p]Changelog[/p][p]X[/p][p]Facebook[/p][p]YouTube[/p][p]Website[/p][p]Merch[/p]

[p]We’re releasing a quick hotfix today to our default branch. Please check against the changelog below and report any issues directly to the team in game or via Discord.

[/p][h3]Patch Notes - HOTFIX 1.42.2[/h3]

• [p]Fix for container loot not always being able to be taken.[/p]
• [p]Fix for XP not incrementing correctly while XP bar was visible.[/p]
• [p]Fix for vehicle gravity not being consistent.[/p]
• [p]Hunger sounds now only play when hunger is the most critical stat.[/p]
• [p]Vehicle ownership should be correctly marked as soon as a part is added to a vehicle.[/p]
• [p]New life message now correctly updates after having been in the tutorial[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]Links [/p][p]Discord[/p][p] Changelog[/p][p] X[/p][p] Facebook[/p][p] YouTube[/p][p]Website[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]We’ve been quite busy, making improvements, introducing new features and getting to work on even more of the fixes you’ve all suggested. This blog will focus on just some of the fixes and additions we’ve been developing. Be sure to check out the full changelog for a detailed break down and testing list. As always, if you find any issues please report them in game using the F1 reporter! Thanks again for all the support.[/p][p][/p][h3]Roaming Hordes[/h3][p]Roaming hordes have been a huge community request and 1.42 features their introduction. These hordes are crazy huge, scary and not something to mess around with so be sure you’re ready to run or gun! You’ll get a simple notification when a horde is roaming nearby and the horde marker will be visible on your map. Hordes can differ in size with some reaching 200+ zombies, it’s basically a terrifying wall of death!![/p][p][/p][p]Roaming horde in town[/p][p] [/p][p]This isn’t going to end well[/p][p][/p][h3]Modding Groundwork[/h3][p]Update 1.42 marks a major step forward for the future of Survive the Nights by laying the groundwork for modding. This is the first release of the game built on Unity’s Addressable Asset System.
[/p][p]In previous versions, we relied on Unity’s older Asset Bundle system to manage and stream content. While functional, Asset Bundles came with limitations such as manual dependency management, inefficient memory usage, and performance issues during asset loading/unloading. Addressables address these problems by introducing a modern, more flexible asset management pipeline.
[/p][p]With Addressables, the game can now:
- Load and unload assets asynchronously (reducing stutter and improving memory handling).
- Manage dependencies automatically, preventing duplication and reducing build size.
- Provide a modular content structure, which is essential for delivering mod support.
- Validate and profile asset groups more effectively, ensuring stable and optimized builds.[/p][p]For players, this update should feel seamless — gameplay, visuals, and performance should remain unchanged at this stage. However, under the hood, the game is now running entirely on an Addressables-based foundation.[/p][p]
The real benefit is what comes next: this system is the core platform that will enable modding support in Survive the Nights. Future updates will leverage Addressables to allow external content — such as custom items, assets, and gameplay modifications — to be built, packaged, and loaded into the game in a clean, controlled way.[/p][p]
1.42 is therefore less about immediate player-facing features and more about ensuring the game is technically ready for a robust and expandable modding ecosystem in upcoming versions. We’re very excited to see what you all come up with![/p][p][/p][h3]Metal Gate[/h3][p]We’re introducing a stronger gate variant in 1.42, metal gates can be crafted with simple resources and provide a cooler look and stronger entrance/exit option.[/p][p][/p][p]Metal Gate[/p][p][/p][h3]Improved Zombie Rendering[/h3][p]Quite a few of you have reported render issues with our zombies so Andre has spent some time tweaking.

Zombie render distance now scales up as long as fewer than ~45 zombies are active, improving visibility in open areas. Forward overlap sphere loads AI further in the direction of player movement.[/p][p]A major issue with the previous setup was that line of sight checks could hit the player's own vehicle, causing the system to think AI weren’t visible and load them in too late. Line of sight is now much more accurate, using the AI’s head position and only checking against buildings and terrain. AI proxies now support disabling culling like server AI, and LOD cull distances have been increased to match the new relevancy behavior.

To put it simply, this results in zombies being visible when they should be, you’ll see them from quite the distance now.[/p][p][/p][p]Zombies, wee little zombies![/p][p][/p][h3]Improved Lock Placement[/h3][p]Locks have been a bit tedious to say the least. Some of the door attachment points (mainly the last/bottom lock) were really hard to interact with in the past. We’ve made some nice quality of life updates to the placement points.

Along with that you’ll now notice that the lock UI opens automatically after placing the lock. This makes way more sense and has been requested by the community.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Lock placement improvements[/p][p][/p][h3]Breaker Panel Improvements[/h3][p]We’ve had requests to improve the visualizations for the breaker panel. The 1.42 update features an update UI that now shows the player the current electricity load. This should clear up some confusion and looks pretty neat.[/p][p]In the screenshot below you can see the panel is overloaded with only one circuit breaker in the box. Increasing the number of breakers will allow you to increase electrical items in the structure.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Circuit overload![/p][p][/p][h3]Death Marker Improvements[/h3][p]We’ve had some requests about the death marker in game, we’ve also noticed in some streams that players struggle to find it. We’ve made some improvements with 1.42 the death marker now pulses making it far easier to spot on the map. If you have any other suggestions let us know![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Death marker pulse[/p][p][/p][h3]Watering from Canteen[/h3][p]A small but none the less annoying issue that some of you have mentioned is not being able to water crops/plants with a perfectly good canteen full of water! Well we’ve sorted that in 1.42 and no you don’t have to purify it first :)[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Water plants with a canteen[/p][p][/p][h2]Patch Notes - 1.42 [/h2][p][/p][h3]Hotfix 1.42.1[/h3]

• [p]Fix for roaming horde position sync when switching servers[/p]
• [p]Fix for roaming hordes starting at incorrect points[/p]
• [p]Disappearing cars fix[/p]
• [p]World loading optimisation to stop overload and flickering[/p]
• [p]Log cleanup[/p]
• [p]Server optimisations for roaming hordes[/p]
• [p]Fixed roaming hordes so that they no longer continuously respawn killed zombies.[/p]
• [p]Auto search server list working again[/p]
• [p]Fix for vehicles settling too early[/p]
• [p]Fix for items falling through environment[/p]

[h3]
Highlights[/h3]

• [p]New metal gate variant.[/p]
• [p]Improved zombie rendering, visibility, and streaming distance.[/p]
• [p]Lock interface now opens automatically after placement.[/p]
• [p]Double-barrel shotgun damage reduced and capped at 75.[/p]
• [p]Fixed critical issue causing items to go missing.[/p]
• [p]Explosion damage now correctly affects barricades.[/p]

[hr][/hr][h3]New Content[/h3]

• [p]Added metal gate variant.[/p]

[hr][/hr][h3]Gameplay Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Increased zombie render distance when fewer zombies are active.[/p]
• [p]Improved zombie visibility when behind cover.[/p]
• [p]Zombies now stream in further ahead of the player while moving.[/p]
• [p]Weapon scopes can now be mounted on pegboards.[/p]
• [p]Plants can now be watered using canteens.[/p]
• [p]Lock interface now opens automatically after placing a lock.[/p]
• [p]Death location marker now pulses for better visibility.[/p]
• [p]Map recenters more smoothly when opened.[/p]
• [p]Double-barrel shotgun damage capped at 75 and effective range reduced.[/p]
• [p]FRKS wear rate reduced when firing.[/p]
• [p]Item dropping and placement made more stable.[/p]
• [p]Reduced occurrences of items clipping or falling through each other.[/p]
• [p]Improved item placement through police station interior props.[/p]

[hr][/hr][h3]UI & UX[/h3]

• [p]Breaker panel now displays total load.[/p]
• [p]Circuit breaker display changed from “3/10” to “3” to clarify load-based calculation.[/p]
• [p]Removed broken links from the changelog UI.[/p]
• [p]Tutorial button is now disabled while in-game.[/p]
• [p]Fixed play and other menu buttons not animating when paused in single-player.[/p]

[hr][/hr][h3]Bug Fixes[/h3][h3]Critical Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed issue that could cause items to go missing.[/p]
• [p]Overloaded breaker panels now trip correctly when powered by global power.[/p]
• [p]Fixed player spawn position not being restored after rejoining.[/p]
• [p]Fixed gravity not applying to dropped items at very remote locations.[/p]

[h3]Gameplay & Combat[/h3]

• [p]Explosion damage now correctly applies to barricades.[/p]

[h3]World & Environment[/h3]

• [p]Fixed various floating objects across the map.[/p]
• [p]Restored missing walls in Popov’s back-store areas (variants 1, 2, and 3).[/p]
• [p]Removed duplicate arcades in the final Popov’s variant.[/p]
• [p]Fixed fortifications disconnecting or disappearing from vehicles.[/p]
• [p]Corrected season after server restart.[/p]
• [p]Restored missing kiosk counters in petrol stations.[/p]

[h3]Locks & Interactions[/h3]

• [p]Fixed visual glitch when looking between multiple locks.[/p]
• [p]Improved interaction on bottom door locks.[/p]
• [p]Corrected “Can’t lock with 0000” message when the lock is synced.[/p]

[h3]Items & Weapons[/h3]

• [p]Fixed baseball bat losing its fire effect after re-equipping.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Links[/h3][p]Discord[/p][p]Changelog[/p][p]X[/p][p]Facebook[/p][p]YouTube[/p][p]Website[/p][p]Merch[/p]