Survive the Nights News

October (Improved Hosting | Windows Dedicated Server | World Saves | Crossbow+)

Hello all and welcome to our October update! We’ve been hard at work over the last month working on game improvements. 1.20 features some of the biggest changes to the game since our alpha release. We’ve completely reworked out hosting solution, we’ve added the ability to save worlds, updated UI and added a new weapon. Below we’ll discuss some of the features you’ll find in version 1.20.

[h3]Improved Hosting (Steam Relays | No more port forwarding!)[/h3]
We’ve taken our network solution and overhauled it to be able to work with Steams Relay network. This means that the network traffic is now routed through steam. In simple terms, steam has net traffic through to your computer. Utilizing this means that you (the player) doesn’t have to worry about configuring your router to use UPNP or manually port forwarding for the game server.

On a low level, the only change is that the bytes of data are sent through steam instead of a direct connection. Meaning you just sit back and hit ‘host’, invite your friends and we’ll do the rest.

Update host UI and World Saves

[h3]World Saves[/h3]
Many of you have requested separate world saves since we first implemented server hosting. World saves will allow the player to have multiple instances, making gaming in multiple worlds far easier than it currently is.

The system also includes what could be considered a ‘self healing’ system. If you should for some reason move files or delete files in your world saves the new system will handle replacing them for you. In the past this could cause some serious issues, mainly not allowing a server to spin up.

World save UI

[h3]Game Play Scenarios[/h3]
With the addition of world saves, we've decided to expand our game play loop in the coming 1.21 update. We'll be introducing a wealth of new server config options along with gameplay scenarios that players can choose from.

Game play scenarios

Gameplay scenarios will allow us to expand on the creative front. We are now able to create scenarios for you. Ideas like wave based survival game scenarios. This game mode would set the player up in a fully fortified and stocked farm house to see how many zombie waves they can survive. Hardcore modes, casual modes (maybe just some hunting and cooking). There’s an endless amount of possibility with this new system. If you have any ideas for this new feature please feel free to share them here on the steam forum.

[h3]Windows Dedicated Servers[/h3]
Yes, we know.. It has taken us some time to get this sorted for all that have requested it. 1.20 will feature dedicated Windows servers. You can download the windows server via Steam. Ensure you have tools ticked in Steam’s library filter.

[h3]Steam dedicated server[/h3]

You’ll also be able to download the server via Steamcmd using appID 1502300. If you’ve using Steamcmd for the first time check out the documentation here. You can download anonymously.

Steamcmd

[h3]Crossbow[/h3]
One of, if not the most requested weapon is the crossbow. We’ve internally discussed a crossbow pretty much since the start of development. Now that a good deal of our core development is out of the way and core issues are being addressed quickly and effectively it’s time to have some fun. The crossbow is a beast of a weapon, nearly silent it’s the perfect tool to dispatch animals and zombies alike.

The crossbow won’t draw zombies like other weapons will and they do severe damage to zombie brains. Crossbows also won’t scare off other animals when the player is out in the wilds hunting. Arrows fired from the bow will craftable. The crafting recipe will also introduce a new drop “Feathers”, chickens should provide a steady supply. Combine wood, scrap metal and feathers to craft arrows. Arrows are also all retrievable, so don’t for get to double back and pick them up!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Feather harvesting

Arrow crafting

[h3]Propane Tank Bait Trap[/h3]
If you’ve followed development and the team you’ll remember our concept videos. One of them featured a meat/propane tank trap that could draw the dead allowing you to fire on the tank and blow all up. It was fun, and fun is something we plan on focusing on moving towards full release. The propane bait trap is perfect to draw zeds away from a player or out of a specific area.

Propane tank meat trap

[h3]2022 Halloween Event[/h3]
We’ve enabled the Halloween event as part of this update so enjoy the trick or treats from now until November 2nd. You’ll get a couple of new treats this year including the crossbow and arrows.

[h3]Drive-In Night of the Living Dead[/h3]
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!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Trick or Treating[/h3]
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 ;)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Patch Notes - Alpha 1.20 [/h3]

Crossbow

Crossbow weapon added.

Halloween Event

Halloween event enabled from the 24 of Oct

Networking

Steam game server relay support (No more port forwarding)
Core netcode updates/improvements.
Added server config option for use of Steam Relays
Added commandline arguement for setting use of Steam Relays.

Traps

Added new propane tank bait trap

World Saves

Added world saving support so that multiple saves can be managed from within game.

Drive-in cinema locations added to the map
overhauled the entire hosting tab to improve the experience.
Fixed various items that had long names, causing UI issues.

Animations

Fix for weird transition between running/aim/idle weapon positions on the Lola

Performance

Fixed a crash caused by selecting the hosting tab.

Localization

Imported translations from crowdin on 21 oct

[h3]Links[/h3]
Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Patreon: https://patreon.com/a2zinteractive
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Halloween Event 2022

The Halloween event is now available so enjoy the trick or treats from now until November 2nd. You’ll get a couple of new treats this year including the crossbow and arrows.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Trick or Treating[/h3]
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 ;)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

September Update (Horde Avoidance | QoL | Trap Improvements++)

We’ve been hard at work improving Survive the Nights. We’ve added requested features, improved existing ones and addressed some of your common concerns. We have a few big plans in the works for 1.20 but for the time being check below to see exactly what you can expect to find in today's 1.19 release.

[h3]Quality of Life Improvements[/h3]
We’ve spent a good deal of this development cycle working on quality of life improvements. Small issues, some of which have persisted for some time now need addressing. We’ve started the process of addressing these annoyances.

[h3]Fortifications and Weapon Switching[/h3]
This has been an issue pretty much since we introduced plank fortifications. Approaching a window with hammer in hand your fortification options appear. This is intended behavior and works fantastic until a zombie appears on the other side of the window. Before this fix you were stuck in fortification mode, scrolling the mouse wheel simply rotated your selected fortification it didn’t switch weapons as you would expect it to. In the same situation you will now scroll to your weapon, you can still rotate planks by holding shift while scrolling.

Scroll to weapon

[h3]Placement Mode Improvements[/h3]
Placement mode has had some optimization and improvement. In the past you’ll have noticed that while in placement mode items would often clip red informing the player they weren’t placeable. The system that checks whether or not there’s a obstruction of the item is placeable was rather sluggish. The improved system in 1.19 is nearly instant.

Improved placement

[h3]Tree Fix![/h3]
Yes, we know about the trees flying off into space like some kind of UAP looking for the mother ship. This issue has been a thorn in our side since the concept. The tree chopping system in one of the oldest systems in the game. It was one of the only things to do in our first stress tests. We have spent time patching it up over the years but the flying logs persisted through all versions of the feature. Andre has dedicated a bit of development time this cycle putting this issue to bed and you should find chopping trees far more pleasing now.

Felling a tree no flying off

Tree chopping and staying put

There are a lot of other general quality of life improvements. Most of the changes in general quality of life are made due to community feedback. Thank you for the continued support it makes finding and fixing theses issues possible.

Fixed issue where item would disable for a second after placing it down
Faster animations for opening of Lock/Hasp that is placed on a door
Fixed scenario where drops would fall through interior objects (cabinets/kitchen/tables/beds).
Guide no longer restarts when joining a new server. Providing a sleeping bag has been placed at least once.
Fix for slow orange highlight when harvesting items4
Harvesting now disables on zombie + animal rag dolls once they have been successfully searched.
Movement of items in placement mode now more responsive
Items going red in placement mode now more responsive
Fix for drops being hard to pick up when placed on top of harvest machines and containers
Allowed interacting with traps when looking through door ways with a tool equipped
Fixed issue where player couldn’t drop/place items when standing in front of an open doorway
Slight increase to interaction distance
Scrolling now switches weapon instead of rotates plank when looking at a window with a tool. Shift scroll can be used to rotate boards.
Allowed logging off near zombies that aren’t currently chasing someone.
Allowed logging off near dead zombies
Fixed issue where map would stay open when disconnecting from a server
Increased swimming speed when trying to swim to the surface of the water
Tab is now used as the default inventory button with “I” as a fallback input.
Player list moved to “P” key binding by default

[h3]Horde Avoidance [/h3]
We will be reintroducing a much requested feature in 1.19. Horde avoidance, this time we’re doing it properly. We’ve spent the time to ensure the feature works as intended and is plainly obvious. Currently there is no way to avoid the nightly horde. The flee mechanic that was in pre 1.16 allowed the player to run from their current surrounds and after a set number of meters the horde was cancelled.

In 1.19 players will be able to simply crouch anywhere in a secured structure and skip the horde all together. This duplicates our original concept in that players are able to hide in a corner an not have to worry about the dead coming for them.

Once you receive the first notification that a horde is approaching you can crouch and start a countdown. Once the avoidance meter is full the horde will be skipped.

Avoiding horde

[h3]Hordes[/h3]

Fixed scenario where horde would start as soon as you join the server.
Added way to avoid horde by crouching and hiding inside of a building.

[h3]Container and Vehicle Animations[/h3]
We have spent some time adding a much requested feature. Animated kitchen containers and vehicle doors. This small detail really does add a good deal to the ambiance. We plan on making more of these small design and animation improvements moving forwards.

Container animations

Vehicle animations

[h3]Trap Improvements[/h3]
We’ve made some tweaks and improvements to the current traps in game, this is in part preparation for new traps coming shortly. We’ve increased damage on some traps, improved AI particles when effected by traps, made sure traps are more visible and actually destroy when activated. Along with these changes trap UI has been improved, removing some confusion around the current system.

Traps are something we will be adding to before leaving EA. We’ve made quite a few improvements to them in the 1.9 build.

Shotgun trap now activates on shell being added rather than a separate input.
Increased damage from nail bomb traps.
Nail bomb trap is now enabled by default when placing it
Firecracker trap is now enabled by default when placing it
Firecracker trap wire length increased
Firecracker trap now has firecracker in the crafting recipe instead of as a required item
Firecracker trap now gets destroyed when triggered
Fixed fire trap not doing damage after enabling/disabling it
Improved and optimized particles when zombies are on fire
Fixed lingering particles when a zombie on fire dies.
Made nail bomb trap wire more visible
Made firecracker bomb trap wire more visible
Made airhorn trap wire more visible

[h3]UI Improvements [/h3]
We’ve continued to improve our UI system and we’ll continue to do so moving forward. We’re adapting a cleaner more ‘modern’ look. The latest build contains new UI elements, improved current systems like the fortification UI, added UI elements that previously hasn’t had any.

Fortification UI improvements nail count

A new UI element is the current/next weapon wheel it the bottom right corner of the screen. This system allows the player to see what item will be next in hand should they scroll in either direction.

Scroll preview

Removed 'E' key functionality for various interactions to save confusion when trying to interact.
Fixed controls for drive-in cinema not working after new interaction update.
Light improvements to horde UI to indicate that the hordes can be skipped again.
Ammo type now shown when looking at gun drops
Fixed some UI being blocked when hovering over + and - buttons when interacting with items
Fixed issue where fortification UI is hard to read with a flashlight enabled
Reworked equipped weapon UI.
Added system for showing UI for next and previous weapon when scrolling.
Tweaks to player vitals UI so that they are bigger and easier to read.
Current nail/screw amount is now shown on boards while fortifying
Added color and animation indicators when player doesn’t have items/fixings while fortifying

[h3]Weapon Improvements[/h3]

Gun is now only used as a melee weapon automatically when the gun is out of ammo
Added input for using gun as a melee weapon (V)
Moved flashlight input to X to allow for melee input
Increase to aiming down sight speed
Removed initial delay from weapon switching to make it more responsive
Slight increase to weapon equip animations

[h3]Performance[/h3]

Improved lag on the server caused by having many items near a player
Improved rain particle performance

[h3]Graphics[/h3]

Increased field of view while running
Improved anti aliasing

[h3]Animations[/h3]

Added animations to vehicle doors
Added animations to vehicle hood when accessing engine
Player now has to be outside of a car to access engine
Fixed help UI for enabling siren and disabled open engine UI while in vehicle

Experimental Patch Notes - Alpha 1.19

We have released Alpha 1.19 on our experimental branch. Please report bugs and issues in game using the F1 menu. If you'd like to track the patch progress and follow more closely with development, check our changelog and please consider joining our Discord.

How to get into experimental branch:

Open Steam and go to your games library.
Right click on STN and select "Properties"
Navigate to the "Betas" tab and select "experimental" in the drop down menu.
Close the properties window.
You will find a single experimental server titled EXPERIMENTAL_SERVER. Join this for some testing.

[h3]Patch Notes - Alpha 1.19 (Experimental Build)[/h3]

Quality of Life (QoL)

Fixed issue where item would disable for a second after placing it down
Faster animations for opening of Lock/Hasp that is placed on a door
Fixed scenario where drops would fall through interior objects (cabinets/kitchen/tables/beds).
Guide no longer restarts when joining a new server. Providing a sleeping bag has been placed at least once.
Fix for slow orange highlight when harvesting items
Harvesting now disables on zombie+animal rag dolls once they have been successfully searched.
Movement of items in placement mode now more responsive
Items going red in placement mode now more responsive
Fix for drops being hard to pick up when placed on top of harvest machines and containers
Allowed interacting with traps when looking through door ways with a tool equipped
Fixed issue where player couldn’t drop/place items when standing in front of an open doorway
Slight increase to interaction distance
Scrolling now switches weapon instead of rotates plank when looking at a window with a tool. Shift scroll can be used to rotate boards.
Allowed logging off near zombies that aren’t currently chasing someone.
Allowed logging off near dead zombies
Fixed issue where map would stay open when disconnecting from a server
Increased swimming speed when trying to swim to the surface of the water
Tab is now used as the default inventory button with “I” as a fallback input.
Player list moved to “P” keybinding by default

Hordes

Fixed scenario where horde would start as soon as you join the server.
Added way to avoid horde by crouching and hiding inside of a building.

Environment

Added animations when opening containers

Trap Improvements

Shotgun trap now activates on shell being added rather than a separate input.
Increased damage from nail bomb traps.
Nail bomb trap is now enabled by default when placing it
Firecracker trap is now enabled by default when placing it
Firecracker trap wire length increased
Firecracker trap now has firecracker in the crafting recipe instead of as a required item
Firecracker trap now gets destroyed when triggered
Fixed fire trap not doing damage after enabling/disabling it
Improved and optimized particles when zombies are on fire
Fixed lingering particles when a zombie on fire dies.
Made nail bomb trap wire more visible
Made firecracker bomb trap wire more visible
Made airhorn trap wire more visible

Removed 'E' key functionality for various interactions to save confusion when trying to interact.
Fixed controls for drive-in cinema not working after new interaction update.
Light improvements to horde UI to indicate that the hordes can be skipped again.
Ammo type now shown when looking at gun drops
Fixed some UI being blocked when hovering over + and - buttons when interacting with items
Fixed issue where fortification UI is hard to read with a flashlight enabled
Reworked equipped weapon UI.
Added system for showing UI for next and previous weapon when scrolling.
Tweaks to player vitals UI so that they are bigger and easier to read.
Current nail/screw amount is now shown on boards while fortifying
Added color and animation indicators when player doesn’t have items/fixings while fortifying

Weapon Improvements

Gun is now only used as a melee weapon automatically when the gun is out of ammo
Added input for using gun as a melee weapon (V)
Moved flashlight input to X to allow for melee input
Increase to aiming down sight speed
Removed initial delay from weapon switching to make it more responsive
Slight increase to weapon equip animations

Performance

Improved lag on the server caused by having many items near a player
Improved rain particle performance

Graphics

Increased field of view while running
Improved anti aliasing

Animations

Added animations to vehicle doors
Added animations to vehicle hood when accessing engine
Player now has to be outside of a car to access engine
Fixed help UI for enabling siren and disabled open engine UI while in vehicle

Steam Survival Fest - 70% Off

Survive the Nights is now 70% off during the Survival Fest Sale - now through August 8th.

If you have any questions before purchasing, please join our friendly community on discord. Details on our latest update can be found here.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/541300

[h3]Links[/h3]
Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Patreon: https://patreon.com/a2zinteractive
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive