Survive the Nights News

Today we’ll be releasing the new 1.30 build on our Experimental branch. Come check out some exciting new additions along with a few needed fixes! There’s loads to talk about and we’ll save the majority of that for the upcoming default blog. Check the changelog below for a list of exactly what has gone into 1.30.

We have been busy, quite busy actually. I’m sure some of you have noticed the large land mass off the northeast corner of Black Island. When we released the last update we teased an army base and we’ve been cracking along developing our brand new POI.

How to get into experimental branch:

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

[h3]Military Base[/h3]

You’ll notice a massive new chunk of land to the northeast, along with an updated map. The military base is massive, containing both an above and below ground facility.

[h3]New Zombies[/h3]
Players will find multiple military-based zombie types with varying difficulties. Along with ‘regular’ military zeds (stronger than civilian zeds) you will now also encounter more heavily armored, tank-style zombies. This expands on several possibilities when it comes to points of interest and player/team-created scenarios.

Gas mask zombie


Zombie tank

[h3]Patch Notes - Experimental Update[/h3]

Zombies

• Added new zombie variants
  
  • Soldiers
    
  • Soldier tank
    
  • Police officers
    
  • Swat
    
  • Inmates
    
• Added functionality for zombies to have clothing items like helmets, gasmasks and bullet proof vests.
  
• Zombies now drop location/type specific loot.
  
• Fixed headshot reactions
  

Player

• Fixed the /stuck command
  
• Added system for detecting when the player is stuck. So they can be informed of the /stuck command.
  

Assets

• Added over 80 new military and tunnel network assets.
  
• Added new zombie variant.
  
• Added zombie clothing items.
  

UI

• New map design
  
• New images in the loading sequence
  

Performance

• Reduced Ram usage by 2-3gb’s
  
• Fixed issue which caused steam to think files need to be reacquired.
  

Admin

• Added toggle options to the admin window for spawning zombies by type.
  
• Fixed server errors when killing command spawned AI.
  

[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

[h3]Patch Notes - HOTFIX 1.29.1[/h3]

• Zombies no longer die when they walk into a stationary vehicle.
  
• Fixed container storage duplication issue.
  

Links
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

We have a quick and exciting update to talk about. 1.29 features new zombie models, setting home improvements, hotkeys and quite a few fixes. A quick thanks for all the help and direct contact via Discord over the last couple of weeks. You have all been a massive help as Jay tackles some of our long standing issues and begins to put a polish on STN :)

[h3]New Zombies Introduction[/h3]
1.29 features a couple of new zombie models. We now have a really nice variety of dead things walking around. This is just the beginning of the new model introduction and 1.30 will feature some really unique zombies and new zombie mechanics including tank zombies and area based zeds. For 1.29 we’ve introduced a new female zombie and a couple of new male models.

New Zed Lineup











[h3]Zombies/AI[/h3]

• NEW improved zombie types.
  
• Zombies no longer attack vehicles that have no players nearby.
  
• Zombies are now cleaned up in a slightly larger range when the player spawns in.
  
• AI that is hit with a vehicle is now always harvestable.
  

[h3]Hotkeys in Inventory[/h3]
A nice quality of life improvement in 1.29 are inventory hotkeys. Players can how hover over items and use (by default) q, w and e as hotkeys. With these hotkeys players can hover over an item, hit a the respective key and jump directly into placement mode along with being able to either consume/use and drop the item. This is another improvement to the UI system and the inventory itself, making gameplay a bit smoother. Keep an eye out for more UI changes in coming builds ;)

Hotkey Place (W)

Hotkey Drop (Q)

Hotkey Consume (E)

• Added hotkey functionality to the inventory for Dropping, moving, placing and using.
  

[h3]Homes Anywhere![/h3]
A much requested feature has been added, setting homes anywhere. This will allow players to set homes out in the wild, without the structure requirement. This also allows players to set homes inside stripped out RV’s making a nomadic lifestyle far more achievable.

Setting home in RV

Setting home in the wild

We’ve also attended to some issues like not being able to move or jump around crafted furniture and that annoying issue where the mouse cursor wouldn’t unlock after you died.

• Homes can now be set in/on vehicles.
  
• Homes can now be set outside of structures.
  
• Fix for cursor not always unlocking correctly when player dies
  
• Fix for not being able to jump near crafted furniture
  

[h3]PvP Improvements[/h3]
We have nerfed some of the overall damage dealt by bullet penetration and more importantly the damage done by explosions. This has been a thorn in the side of many players and we thought we would get it sorted here. We plan on fleshing out some more PvP issues in coming builds.

Explosion Damage

• Reduced bullet penetration overall.
  
• Reduced explosion effects on fortification and free placed items overall.
  
• Damage fall off from explosions now correctly affects pickups.
  
• Added checks to reduce damage when there are building walls between explosion and items being damaged.
  

[h3]1.30 Tease[/h3]
As mentioned above we plan on introducing some new zombie mechanics. Including tanks and location based zombies. This will include police zombies in the prison and police stations on the island. This will allow for some really unique gameplay experiences along with the ability for players to create unique scenarios.









[h3]Community Spotlight[/h3]
We’ve had some great content come in from all kinds of folks, some on our discord, some on YouTube and our workshop. With every update we’ll try to feature some community content for everyone to check out.

Screenshot of the Week
This week's screenshots come from a few of Discord regulars: @Rouge Turtle's bad ass Cricket, @Randy's RV gate and @Snail Tax Informer's fantastic nomad base :)


Rogue Turtle's Cricket 1


Rogue Turtle's Cricket 2


Randy using the RV as a gate


Snail Tax Informer's nomad base 1


Snail Tax Informer's nomad base 2

[h3]Land Ahoy! [/h3]
You will all likely notice a new massive chunk of land off the north east corner of the map. This will be the future home of our new POI. Not too many details to share at the moment other than the fact it’s gonna be a friggin' military base with super awesome rewards and a massive tunnel system!!! I shouldn’t have said that but how many of you have actually read this far into the blog? ;)

What’s this?

[h3]Patch Notes - 1.29 [/h3]

Storage

• Fixed container item duplication glitch.
  
• Increased health of crafted furniture, storage and crafting benches
  

Vehicles

• Alarms no longer sound when punching your owned vehicle.
  

UI

• Health of crafted furniture now visible in the hover
  
• World save's "Last play/edit" time now updates correctly.
  
• Improved user report submitting
  

Environment

• Added peninsula to north east section of map.
  

Assets

• Added various military base assets.
  

Dedicated Servers

• Windows dedicated servers installed via steamcmd now working again correctly.
  
• Fixed servers warning/errors from the player.log
  

Admin

• Given vehicles now contain all engine/wheel parts.
  

If you're enjoying the game and our recent updates, please consider leaving a review. Thanks for your support! :)

Links
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

Happy Saturday! Hope you’re all doing well. 1.28 introduced some major changes when it comes to vehicles, server performance and fortifications. It also introduced a handful of nasty issues. We’re hoping this patch squares a good deal of the server related issues away. A big thanks to everyone that has helped us out over the last week. Replicating issues is always a challenge for us being such a small team. We can’t find the issues without your help. Unknowingly or not, you are all our testers as it should be with a true indie team and a genuine early access game.

[h3]Server Issues[/h3]
With your help we’ve identified some really nasty server issues. Most (not all) of which were introduced with the RV improvements. Mainly the ability to set a home in the RV, this has caused unforeseen issues with the database and in some circumstances was manifesting itself as nasty server lag. This issue was what was causing some of you to not be able to join server, quite possibly causing all kinds of terrible effects on running servers and introducing crazy amount of lag.

We’ve also taken the opportunity to have a look over other not so current server issues, squashing a load of old warnings and misleading errors in the logs. This will make it far easier to identify actual issues in the future.

If you are still having issues or have anything further to report, please feel free to reach out to Jayty or JB on our Discord anytime. We need logs and info to fix issues :)



[h3]Store Refresh and New Logo[/h3]
Game development is an insane time consumer and we rarely get a chance to tidy anything up. During some downtime Andre has refreshed our store page. This is something we’ve pretty much not done since release. There are numerous features currently in the game that just weren’t even mentioned on the store page. The new page, along with the new logo should drive some more people into the community. We’ll stay on top of things as we move along while introducing new features, areas and in-game goodies.

New Store Page

[h3]Patch Notes - Hotfix 1.28.3[/h3]

• Added crafting recipes for work lamps.
  
• Added crafting recipes for bull bars and vehicle light bars
  
• Fixed issue that allowed the RV to be picked up when setting home.
  
• Fixed issue which caused beds to break (stopping further connections to server)
  
• Fixed lag issues on the server caused by zombies.
  
• Fixed issue which stopped players blowing up other players RV’s
  
• Fixed issue which stopped players destroying other players sleeping bags.
  
• Fixed issue which stopped home setting for longer periods than the intended 12 in-game hours.
  
• Reduced time between home sets from 12 to 6 in-game hours.
  
• Improved connection pipeline to make it more reliable and robust
  
• Fixed various misleading errors and warning in the log.
  
• Doors that do not have slam function now open/close when trying to slam.
  
• Removed Christmas movie and brought back Night of the Living Dead at the theaters.
  

Links
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

We’ve had some feedback. You all have found some issues and we are fixing a few before the weekend. We’re also showcasing some cool community bits below so be sure to check them out.

[h3]Vehicle Stability[/h3]
As you have noticed since the addition of vehicle fortifications, vehicles have been, let's call it, ‘wonky’. Flying off to god knows where, sometimes with players in them. Dancing around like it’s the mid 80’s and someone has thrown a piece of cardboard on the ground in Times Square challenging their neon clad nemesis to a breakin' style dance-off. Sorry. Anyway, that should be somewhat better now

[h3]Patch Notes - Hotfix 1.28.2[/h3]

• Rv no longer gets cleaned up when you move bed to a structure.
  
• Vehicle fortifications now have ownership. Stopping other players removing forts.
  
• Players now get kicked to menu when steam stats retrieval fails
  
• Added option in general setting for resetting all progress (This sometimes fixes the steam issue)
  
• Improved vehicles flying off (not a complete fix)
  
• All new screenshots in the loading sequence.
  
• Fixed various errors on the client/server
  

** Known issues **

• Some players are experiencing issues with retrieving their steam stats. This seems to come down to a Steam query issue. This can cause in-game issues to manifest in all sorts of bad ways. We are attempting to fix this and are actively engaging with Steam for support.
  
  Players will now be kicked back to the menu if they are experiencing this issue. If this should happen to you please join our DISCORD and DM Jayty (lead dev) directly. He's building a ticket base and trying to get the issue sorted.
  
• Vehicle stability (some improvement in 1.28.2) this is a priority.
  

[h3]Community Spotlight[/h3]
We’ve had some great content come in from all kinds of folk, some on our discord, some on YouTube and our workshop. With every update we’ll try to feature some community content for everyone to check out.

Video of the Week
This weeks video of the week brought to you by The Accidental Survivor Gaming as he checks out the 1.27 build.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Workshop Scenario
There are some fantastic scenarios on Steams workshop currently and we’ve had a good play over most. Today we’d like to feature Steam user WOLFMAN’S “Dead by Dawn” scenario. Wolfman was featured a couple of weeks back with a really neat 28 days later scenario!



Screenshot of the Week
This update's screenshot comes from T.TV/Undastelar over on the steam community. Making good use of the new placement system on vehicles. Rooftops are always such a waste of space in most games ;)

Rooftop Storage

Links
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