Dinosaur Fossil Hunter News

How do you like the update 2.5.0? 😊 We’ve been following the community channels attentively to make sure we won’t miss any news from you and today we’d like to 📢 share the results!

That being said, we’re thrilled to 🎉 announce the patch 2.5.11, containing the fixes for the most commonly reported bugs and imperfections.

[h3]v2.5.0 -> v2.5.11 (public_testing)[/h3]

[h3]How to change branch?[/h3]



During last weeks our devs needed to deal with some corner cases, including, among others:
* reported issues with endless loading when trying to move from excavation site to the museum,
* colors palette straight outta the hell 🔥 on HDR monitors,
* disappearing prestige points when exiting museum, resulting in a negative amount of them eventually.
* It also turned out that the Corythosaurus missed a bone at the back right limb, but we found it, so no worries. 😅🦴

[h3]🦖 You will find the complete changelog below:[/h3]

• fixed issue with endless loading screen when coming back to the museum
  
• fixed black screen when sending medium stone to pallet
  
  
• fixed buggy display of held items during walk
  
• facilitated cleaning of Edmontosaurus teeth
  
• fixed issue with "bloody" color palette on HDR monitors
  
• fixed disappearing prestige points (resulting with negative points eventually)
  
• fixed slow camera movements and tearing screen
  
• fixed the location on Grizzlies East Mountain where player could be stuck
  
• fixed levitating piece of dirt
  
• fixed incorrectly placed decorations after increasing the prestige
  
• fixed save file with a lot of negative prestige points not loading from the main menu
  
  
• fixed disappearing glass on off road SUV
  
• removed additional unidentified key tip in museum controls
  
• fixed sun intensity in museums
  
• fixed issue with setting standing decoration if the pictures menu is selected
  
• improved the laptop UI to be more intuitive
  
• changed the amount of canisters for the achievement "Have you checked fuel prices?"
  
• moved tablet screen closer to the player
  
• fixed disappearing description panels in museum
  
• [PT] added missing translations
  
• fixed levitating excavation items
  
• fixed being able to interact with workstations at the loading screen
  
• fixed missing bone at back right limb of Corythosaurus
  
• fixed levitating canister
  
• improved newspaper on a newspaper visibility
  
• fixed missing outline on delivered canister
  
• [DE] added missing translations
  
• improved looks of fragments of rocks in Dinosaur Canyon
  
• fixed issue with blinking interactable piece of terrain
  
• fixed difficulty with scanning Styracosaurus' head
  
• fixed inconsistent message at the knowledge base
  
• [PL] improved text quality on the pump
  
• fixed the sequences of disappearing prestige bug
  
  
• added info about getting new newspapers
  
• [UA] added missing translations
  
• [ENG] fixed loading screen tip about finding unique plants
  
• fixed incorrect display of the GPS route after marking
  
• fixed hole in the ground in Quarry
  
• fixed unresponsive elevators buttons
  
  
• added translations to the achievements on Steam
  
• added painted skins for Pteranodon and Cortyhosaurus
  
• added an option to make the default vehicle the one that was recently selected
  
  
• optimized dinosaur assembling
  

This build will go to default Steam branch after a few days if there are no new reports about issues by those who play on testing branch.

We’ve also got news for the members of our Discord server. We have created a new forum dedicated to 🐛 bugs, so if any unexpected issues occur, please create a new thread there. 📝

This way we can follow the reports easier and it’s also more convenient to manage them, as each bug has its own thread and all related, necessary info can be found in one place, not flooded by other topics.

That's all we have prepared for you. We would also like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy Easter from the entire Pyramid Games team. 🐰🌷

[h2]Don't forget to check our social media![/h2]


Take care,
Dinosaur Fossil Hunter team

We’ve got extra news for you today, so without any hesitation,

[h3]🔥Major Update v2.5 just landed on the default branch!🔥[/h3]

We just couldn’t wait more to show it to all of you and collect valuable feedback 📝 from the entire community. We believe we made a correct decision and that it will benefit with many comments, reports and opinions so we can make Dinosaur Fossil Hunter better and better. 💪🦖

Let us know which of the new features and content is your favorite! ⭐

For those who missed the post with a complete changelog, we’re pasting the link 🔗 to it below:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/864700/view/4159707494988876285?l=english

Now, sit down, relax, launch Dinosaur Fossil Hunter and have fun!

[h3]Wait! That’s not all yet![/h3]

If you’re unable to try the newest update yourself in the nearest future or you’re a real dinosaur enthusiast, you have to visit Paleontologizing on Twitch. 🐦



Danny Anduza will be streaming the gameplay of the Dinosaur Fossil Hunter! This is a unique opportunity to not only see the latest version of the game, but also to hear feedback on it from a real-life paleontologist and scientist. 🔍 🔬 We are sure that it will be a valuable time filled with fun and substantive knowledge.

Thanks Danny for your engagement! 🙏

📅 04.03.2024 (Monday)
⏰ 2pm Pacific (11pm CET)
🔗 https://www.twitch.tv/paleontologizing

[h2]Don't forget to check our social media![/h2]


Warm regards,
Dinosaur Fossil Hunter team

How is the major update exploration going? Take a break for a while, because today we’re coming to you with a promised complete changelog with all bugfixes, improvements and implemented features!

We’re sorry for the delay, but as you can see the changelog is massive and we needed to take care of it properly to make sure you’ll get a fully retouched list.

Without any further explanations - the changelog can be found below!

[h3]Changelog v2.2 -> v2.5 major update (public_testing) [/h3]

[h3]New content[/h3]

• added new dinosaur - corythosaurus
• added new reptile with flying museum poses - pteranodon
• added new mechanic for searching plants and eggs
  
• added new collectible display decorations - 7 plants and 5 fossils
  
• added Ukrainian language
  
• added 7 new achievements
  
• added easter egg in the player's museum
  
• added cosmic easter egg to Dinosaur Canyon location
  
• added help panel for new collectible exposition decorations (fossils and plants)
  
• added new dinosaurs to be available in the sandbox mode
  
• added ability to zoom while flying the drone
  
• added ability to change the exhibition display railings
  
• added ability to change material on pillars in exhibition halls
  
• added new materials for flooring, walls and exposition display flooring - 10 for each category
  
• added slider for sharpening camera view in the graphic settings of the game
  
• added slider for changing the scale of screen UI interface text in game options
  
• added ability to select one of the 15 nature ambient sounds, for each museum hall separately
  
• added option to enter the display editing panel by interacting with the exposition railing
  
• added ability to turn car's lights on/off
  
• added floor material change to black with grid while resizing exposition
  
• added the "Decorator" achievement to be obtainable by all museums
  
• added automatic bones lifting for assembling while playing with gamepads
  
• added autoplay to help panels
  
• added an auto reset counter to the car. After 3 resets it moves the car to the road
  
• added a dialogue box asking about overwriting the game save
  
• added ability to change the color of the tablet
  
• added 3D volumetric clouds with layers for ultra and very high settings
  
• added highlight to icons of the active elements of museum customization category, like sounds, materials etc.
  
• added ability to exit the help panel and prestige roadmap using ESC
  
• added missing information about some controls shortcuts
  
• added automatic turning on/off of lights on bone cleaning stations
  
• added automatic door to the room where we clean the bones
  
• added notification about not being able to use drone while standing in river
  
• added translations of names and descriptions of achievements on Steam
  
• [Designer DLC] added ready-to-use skins for the dinosaur figures in the DLC (except for the corythosaurus and pteranodon)
  
• [Designer DLC] added prefabs for newly added species
  

[h3]Optimizations & polish[/h3]

• "preparing bones" action time before cleaning reduced to 0
  
• general weather improvements on Quarry scenes, scene with bus, Dinosaur Canyon and Grizzlies East Mountain
  
• improved all museum scenes for optimization and better visual quality
  
• improved some rocks materials
  
• improved pump pipe physics
  
• improved cable physics, placement and light strength of the excavation lamp
  
• improved brush usage with controller
  
• improved camera control in the car
  
• improved movement animation of picking up finds
  
• improvements to the functionality of "locate" button in tablet
  
• improved lector illustrations loading time
  
• improved forklift collision system to avoid blocking
  
• improved tablet notifications tab
  
• improved readability of knowledge base entries on a tablet
  
• improved jumping
  
• improved drone usage and added signal range warning
  
• optimized texture storage for Designer DLC
  
• increased weight of stones
  
• implemented various cars improvements and optimisations
  
• adjusted mouse scroll sensitivity in the window with the content of the e-mail
  
• reworked level of details of museum plants and dinosaur poses
  
• reworked empty crate storage system
  
• reworked birds visibility for optimization
  
• reworked environment stones to improve optimization
  
• reworked all dinosaurs poses for optimization
  
• reworked museum decorations for optimization
  
• rebalanced exp system
  
• retouched museums interiors design - materials, lights etc.
  
• changed drone FOV and added zoom option
  
• disabled volumetric light where there is no fog on map
  
• optimized elements responsible for RAM usage
  
• optimized cloud buffer to relieve RAM usage
  
• optimized game data storage
  
• optimized tent colliders
  
• optimized icon performances on the compass
  
• optimized digging process
  
• optimized vegetation at all scenes
  
• optimized stones rendering on mines
  
• optimized main menu scene
  
• optimized game physics settings to improve performance
  
• optimized canister mesh
  
• disabled painting room when not in use for optimization
  
• disabled outline camera when not used for optimization
  
• speeded up a process of refueling the car
  
• sized up tooltips
  

[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]

• fixed all known bugs with achievements
  
• fixed problem with cursor after last game update
  
• fixed various tablet bugs
  
• fixed game crashing after doubleclick at loading button
  
• fixed various performance and graphical issues in Dinosaur Canyon
  
• fixed issues with loading/unloading crates onto a forklift
  
• fixed rock sound issue
  
• fixed player sliding on a slope
  
• fixed issue with fog not appearing
  
• fixed bugged stone outline
  
• fixed cleaning brush offset
  
• fixed terrain issues in Grizzlies East Mountain
  
• fixed overlapping paintings in the museum
  
• fixed bugged camera movement on the exposition display
  
• fixed scale of some wall and exposition display materials
  
• fixed Gorgosaurus poses position above ground
  
• fixed various issues with bone cleaning stations
  
• fixed issue with closing door at second garage scene
  
• fixed bug with no xp points for transporting fossils
  
• fixed pump raft froze after fuel runs out
  
• fixed various issues with expedition summary UI
  
• fixed white margins at 3840 x 1080 resolution at the main menu scene
  
• fixed issue with being unable to hide pump handle when being close to objects
  
• fixed bones hanging in the air after extracting them from the rock
  
• fixed green car's hit sound playing too often
  
• fixed receiving double points by putting objects in both exhibition rooms
  
• fixed blank cover for the autosave when sending crates
  
• fixed wrong position of geiger counter on tool customization station
  
• fixed medium crates not appearing before being sent to the museum
  
• fixed issues blocking the placement of images on walls
  
• fixed issue with not saving dinosaur's head on the drawing
  
• fixed the rotation of the truck's fuel filler flap
  
• fixed incorrect LMB key behavior
  
• fixed issue with fossil inventory not refreshing when adding bone sets
  
• added missing translations in dinosaur skin customization menu
  
• added missing description to the prestige roadmap
  
• added missing notification after delivering crates to the museum by drone
  
• fixed radial menu not closing after exiting game menu
  
• fixed issue with softlocking tablet
  
• removed incorrect message about unloading empty crates when we have only crates with fossils on the truck
  
• [PL, PT] added translation to the "museum workshop" board
  
• [DE] missing letter in the expedition summary panel
  
• and much more!
  

[h3]Changed path for saving screenshots from the drone to:
[/h3]C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\LocalLow\PyramidGames\Dinosaur Fossil Hunter\Screenshots

[h2]Steam DINOS vs. ROBOTS[/h2]



Steam DINOS vs. ROBOTS festival has just begun and it so happens that Dinosaur Fossil Hunter fits it perfectly (obviously!).

To celebrate the festival and the major update release, we’re thrilled to announce that Dinosaur Fossil Hunter and its DLCs - Raptor and Designer - are now on sale! Don’t hesitate and purchase them with -50% discount if you don’t have them all yet (the v2.5 also includes a new content for DLCs ;)).

And if you feel like you'd like to try something other than digging dinosaurs fossils - check the Rover Mechanic Simulator and its DLC Perseverance which is on sale now, too!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1512110/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator__Perseverance_Rover_DLC/

Occupy Mars is now -25% off as well!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/758690/Occupy_Mars_The_Game/

[h4]Remember that there are also 30 bundles available with Dinosaur Fossil Hunter![/h4]

And that’s it! We have no secrets to hide, now you know all of the news!

We’re constantly following our social media and community channels to make sure we won’t miss any feedback and reports from you! For those who haven’t had a chance to play the version 2.5 yet, we would be very pleased to hear back from you. Your opinion matters as this way we can refine the game and improve it to address your expectations.

[h2]Contact us via our Social media!
[/h2]


If you reached this point of the devlog - thank you for your time and see you soon!

Yours,
Dinosaur Fossil Hunter team

[h2]Dear paleontologists! [/h2]

[h3]We know you were waiting for it, and so were we! 🦖[/h3]



While the major update was announced in September for the first time, now we finally got it! With even more content and features than when we first informed you about it in the previous devlog.

Before you start, however, you need to know that we decided to put the first version of the major update on the public_testing branch. This way we want to give you a choice to play this update earlier while we can also collect feedback from you and refine the update before it will be available on the default branch.

Just in case we do recommend creating a backup copy of the save files you care about. Your save files are located in the path below, copy it to another folder and keep it in a safe place somewhere on your disk.

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\LocalLow\PyramidGames\DinosaurFossilHunter\GameSaves

How to switch to the public_testing branch:

1. Right-click on Dinosaur Fossil Hunter icon on Steam
   
2. Properties
   
3. Click “Betas” from the menu on the left
   
4. From the drop-down list on the right, select public_testing

Without further delay, we can now show you what we’ve prepared for you - and we’re so thrilled for it!


[h3]Take a look around![/h3]
You’ve noticed green or red areas on the map? Good for you, you did not get fooled nor is it a graphic error! Let’s see what does it mean.

• Green - there is a unique plant hiding somewhere here. Use your drone to take a picture of it. Congrats, you can now use it in your museum to decorate it as nobody else ever did!
  
  
• Red - this is a sign for you to start breaking rocks around here and you’ll possibly find dinosaur eggs! You can give them a special place on the exposition in the museum (or in your heart).
  

[h3]Everything the light touches...[/h3]

We've undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of the game's lighting and weather systems. We have carefully reworked almost every location in the game to make it run faster and look prettier.

The overall performance improvement should be very noticeable compared to previous version. Additionally, we've introduced the awe-inspiring 3D Volumetric Clouds on the Ultra graphics settings to elevate your gaming experience.

There are also some new options in the settings, like the ability to control sharpness of the image or increase the scale of User Interface (the size of on-screen font), and by the way - you can now zoom the image while flying the drone and even change the color of your tablet!

[h3]2 new species, 3 new dig sites, 4 new skeletons![/h3]

If you are a thorough paleontologist you will also discover new dig sites on the previously unlocked locations. Keep digging and you may find new exciting skeletons to enrich your museum collection!

[h3]Next level interior design![/h3]

As for museum - you will now be able to select the look of exposition barriers from many different variants. We've also added lots of new texture variants for floors, walls and even the museum pillars! You can now also set the mood by selecting the background sounds for your exposition halls!

We've also added at least 7 new achievements! and fixed all the problematic ones.

[h3]Full Changelog v2.2 -> v2.5 is in the works![/h3]

Overall there are hundreds of little tweaks and improvements in almost every aspect of the game which should make your adventure more smooth and more enjoyable.

There are so many changes in total that we were unable to complete the full changelog just yet!

But don't worry, we'll try to provide it after the weekend. We will divide it into 3 lists:

1. Changes related to performance optimization
   
2. Bugfixes and modifications of mechanics
   
3. Completely new features
   

We will post the full changelog as soon as it's ready.

Feeling excited yet? Well, we can’t wait for you to play it too!

You can read more about this update in the previous devlog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/864700/view/3750991874109388126?l=english

Warm regards,
Dinosaur Fossil Hunter team

Steam Awards 2023 is just around the corner!

We are happy to announce that we are participating in the Steam Awards this year, and we would greatly appreciate your support!

Votes can be cast starting November 21, so if you don't already have a favorite in the Labor of Love At category, vote for Dinosaur Fossil Hunter!



Thank you in advance!

Yours,
Dinosaur Fossil Hunter team