WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

NOTE: Game saves ARE backward compatible with the last released patch, v2.0.0f. Multiplayer games are also backward-compatible, so you can only play with those who are on that version.

[h2]BETA 1[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Player-wolf gets stuck if attacked while outside map border.
* Multiplayer: Revive doesn't work in some situations, especially on Lost River ranch.
* Map-moving stalls if a persistent wolf somehow gets destroyed while in off-map storage.
* Rival pack homesites shuffled up if returning to a map with an ex-player pack.

[h2]v2.0.0f Released on 14 February 2025[/h2]

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* Wolves will gather round a dead packmate to mourn for a minute or two.
* When leaving a map, rival packs may now move to another game map instead of moving away entirely.
* Load/Save Game Panels: Added "Autosaves" toggle in the Filter pulldown (to show or hide autosave files).
* On Steam Deck, new tips about controls remapping added to Game Help and on Game Settings>Controls panel.
* On Load/Save Game Panel, added Pack Name (only appears after saving again now).

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Enabled NPC wolves to use all laying down poses.
* Prevent rival packs from using same name as player has given their pack (if player used a name that happens to be on the rival pack name list).
* Initial pack names are now randomly selected from larger set of potential pack names.
* Improved Known Wolves system to track more reasons for Departed Wolves and fix some previously "ambiguously guessed" departure reasons.
* Tweaked player-wolf courtship, making NPCs initiate courtship less frequently and socialize with each other more.
* Prevent offspring from dispersing while the player-wolf is dying.
* Refinements to courtship, when there are several siblings courting the player, to make them pay more attention to the player-wolf and less to each other. (Rebalancing needed after recent revision.)
* Reworked wind sound effect triggers to prevent overlapping audio that sounds odd or metallic.
* On MacOS: Newer Macs support 3D Clouds, so if you toggle those on, that setting is preserved now.
* Persistent Packs: Update pack status and leader roles after gaining final mate and prevent Courtables Nearby notification showing after trial success if courtables are spawned near player and mate.
* Automatically save wolf when bio is edited in Pack Info panel (mainly needed in MP games).
* Prevent pack progression issues when player packs becomes NPC after dispersing.
* Added new quest text for Survive With Family if you join a rival pack without pups.
* Improved countdown timer accuracy in Find Mate quest panel.
* Greatly improved reliability of fallback method for registering an achievement -- if the game fails to connect to the WQ server when an achievement is unlocked, it should be much more reliable now to save and reload so the game can try registering it again. This should also work for multiple achievements, so you can play offline and the game should unlock any achievements unlocked when you're next logged in and load that save.
* Increased odds of Original White coat on NPC wolves.
* Refactored some pack code for efficiency when checking for Dynasty achievement.
* Greatly reduced odds of dispersing for old wolves in the player's pack.
* Reduced chances of grizzlies finding carcass, and increased chances for other competitors.
* Prevent "Pool Party" achievement from being unlocked when waterfall pond is iced over.
* Refactor player-action-controller subsystem to make action selection and interruption more reliable.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Sick Pup notification sound effects don't play when sleeping.
* "Clear Departed Wolves" confirmation notification doesn't appear when dreaming.
* Pup sickness notification can appear at the very start of Young Hunters (because it was in the queue before Growing Pups ended), and then the pup recovers instantly.
* Lost River: Some errors when switching to play as Carmella.
* If there's food in a grass patch, pups will eat one bite and fall asleep.
* Dispersals can eat player's food after being rejected in courtship. (Possible fix, was not able to reproduce.)
* Dead pup floats below player-wolf's mouth when being carried.
* Outdated injury readout in Pack Info.
* Scent particles stop spawning and moving with the wind.
* Moving to another map after the end date of a quest can cause problems. (From report about Find Mate jumping from February to October.)
* Missing quest text if in Survive with Family quest with siblings, then they leave or die after player gets a mate.
* New packs fight over same initial hex if both are close by.
* In wolf fights, power balancing sometimes doesn't work correctly, leading to unbalanced fights.
* Animals sometimes have snow on them when they shouldn't.
* In some cases, Family Tree's wolf mate history doesn't work correctly.
* Player pack wolves not set as dead in pack's Family Tree upon dying.
* Player pack doesn't retain origin pack info after map moving.
* Beavers teleport when biting the wolf.
* Barking while moving and targeting an animal doesn't work.
* Improved logic when moving maps with trial mate.
* Player-wolf can get stuck under grizzly (fixing another aspect of this).

v2.0.0f - Public Beta now available for Windows and Mac! See instructions at bottom on how to opt into the public beta.

NOTE: Game saves are NOT backward compatible with the last released patch, v2.0.0e, so if you switch back to that version, any saves made in this beta will be hidden (until this patch is released). Multiplayer games are also NOT backward-compatible, so you can only play with those who have this beta.


[h2]BETA 13[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Multiplayer: Season sometimes does not progress when moving from Establish Territory to Find Den (and possibly other quest transitions).
* Save/Load Game panel: Autosave filter misses some saves.
_____________________

[h2]BETA 12[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Refinements to courtship, when there are several siblings courting the player, to make them pay more attention to the player-wolf and less to each other. (Rebalancing needed after recent revision.)
* Reworked wind sound effect triggers to prevent overlapping audio that sounds odd or metallic.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Known Wolves: Wolves leaving with mates marked as leaving with parent (fixed another cause of this bug).
* Known Wolves: In Departed Wolves, reason for departure gets lost after moving maps.
* Scent particles stop spawning and moving with the wind.
* New packs fight over same initial hex if both are close by.
_____________________

[h2]BETA 11[/h2]

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* On Load/Save Game Panel, added Pack Name (only appears after saving again now).

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* On MacOS: Newer Macs support 3D Clouds, so if you toggle those on, that setting is preserved now.
* Persistent Packs: Update pack status and leader roles after gaining final mate and prevent Courtables Nearby notification showing after trial success if courtables are spawned near player and mate.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Duplicate pack names in some situations with dispersed pups.
* In wolf fights, power balancing sometimes doesn't work correctly, leading to unbalanced fights.
_____________________

[h2]BETA 10[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* New music track when pack is mourning a dead packmate.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* NPC wolves get stuck during bite-hold, won't release.
* Known Wolves: New pack leaders are listed as Moved Away with Parents if moving away to a different map.
* Moving to another map after the end date of a quest can cause problems. (From report about Find Mate jumping from February to October.)
* Missing quest text if in Survive with Family quest with siblings, then they leave or die after player gets a mate.
* Mourning music keeps playing if den raid or other important events interrupt it.
_____________________

[h2]BETA 9[/h2]

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* Wolves will gather round a dead packmate to mourn for a minute or two. (Music is currently Companionship/TLC track pending new track.)
* When leaving a map, rival packs may now move to another game map instead of moving away entirely.
* Load/Save Game Panels: Added "Autosaves" toggle in the Filter pulldown (to show or hide autosave files).
* On Steam Deck, new tips about controls remapping added to Game Help and on Game Settings>Controls panel.

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Enabled NPC wolves to use all laying down poses.
* Prevent rival packs from using same name as player has given their pack (if player used a name that happens to be on the rival pack name list).
* Initial pack names are now randomly selected from larger set of potential pack names.
* Improved Known Wolves system to track more reasons for Departed Wolves and fix some previously "ambiguously guessed" departure reasons.
* Tweaked player-wolf courtship, making NPCs initiate courtship less frequently and socialize with each other more.
* Prevent offspring from dispersing while the player-wolf is dying.
* Automatically save wolf when bio is edited in Pack Info panel (mainly needed in MP games).
* Prevent pack progression issues when player packs becomes NPC after dispersing.
* Added new quest text for Survive With Family if you join a rival pack without pups.
* Improved countdown timer accuracy in Find Mate quest panel.
* Greatly improved reliability of fallback method for registering an achievement -- if the game fails to connect to the WQ server when an achievement is unlocked, it should be much more reliable now to save and reload so the game can try registering it again. This should also work for multiple achievements, so you can play offline and the game should unlock any achievements unlocked when you're next logged in and load that save.
* Increased odds of Original White coat on NPC wolves.
* Refactored some pack code for efficiency when checking for Dynasty achievement.
* Greatly reduced odds of dispersing for old wolves in the player's pack.
* Reduced chances of grizzlies finding carcass, and increased chances for other competitors.
* Prevent "Pool Party" achievement from being unlocked when waterfall pond is iced over.
* Refactor player-action-controller subsystem to make action selection and interruption more reliable.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Sick Pup notification sound effects don't play when sleeping.
* "Clear Departed Wolves" confirmation notification doesn't appear when dreaming.
* Pup sickness notification can appear at the very start of Young Hunters (because it was in the queue before Growing Pups ended), and then the pup recovers instantly.
* Lost River: Some errors when switching to play as Carmella.
* If there's food in a grass patch, pups will eat one bite and fall asleep.
* Dispersals can eat player's food after being rejected in courtship. (Possible fix, was not able to reproduce.)
* Dead pup floats below player-wolf's mouth when being carried.
* Outdated injury readout in Pack Info.
* Animals sometimes have snow on them when they shouldn't.
* In some cases, Family Tree's wolf mate history doesn't work correctly.
* Player pack wolves not set as dead in pack's Family Tree upon dying.
* Player pack doesn't retain origin pack info after map moving.
* Beavers teleport when biting the wolf.
* Barking while moving and targeting an animal doesn't work.
* Improved logic when moving maps with trial mate.
* Player-wolf can get stuck under grizzly (fixing another aspect of this).


_____________________
[h3]TO GET THE BETA BUILD[/h3]
1) In the Steam app, go to your Library, then right-click on the WolfQuest: AE name in the left column and choose Properties.
2) Then go to the Betas tab and select the WQ current Beta option in the pulldown. No password is necessary. Steam should then start downloading it. Later you can switch back to the public version in that Betas tab, by selecting NONE in that pulldown.

v2.0.0e - Released on 27 January 2025

NEW
* Added a few things to help players understand elk seasonal migration: World Map now indicates current season; new common notification in May and December when elk begin their seasonal migration to uplands or valleys, respectively; and Seasons entry in Game Help.
* Pup RNG Death pulldown now displays a green dot indicating how it's set in the current game. (Since the pulldown only affects the next litter, the checkmark can be misleading, so now the green dot makes it clear what is currently in effect.)

IMPROVEMENTS
* Added "Hexes Claimed" readout below World Map.
* Set Notification History scrollbar default position to the top, now that recent items are at the top.
* On Known Wolves panel, player-wolf's offspring and siblings are boldfaced.
* Made the Family Tree snap regenerate automatically when mate dies.
* Made subheadings on Pack Info (Mate, Pups, etc.) larger and boldfaced for better readability.
* Added some additional texture detail on High Terrain Quality levels in non-winter seasons.
* On Setup New Game, added tooltip about Pup RNG deaths when player changes that selection.
* Prevent NPC wolves from aging up when player is not allowed to age up anymore (i.e. if player ages-up their wolf, then reloads a save from before aging up).
* Made rival wolf health persistent if despawned and respawned.
* Made pups stop for a few moments. when an adult approaches.
* Made lost pups look at the adults that found them longer
* Added more non-creek names for rival packs and dispersal origin packs on each map.
* Increased the odds that a subordinate becomes a pack leader after the leader dies, preventing the pack from disbanding.
* Known Wolves: Update pack name when meeting them again, in case name has changed since first meet (i.e. useful for packs that player joined, renamed, then also left).
* For Survival of the Pack quests, the difficulty level is now reset when pups are born (so if you want to get the achievement on a different difficulty than you've been playing on, you now can, as long as you switch it before pups are born.)
* Refactored some persistent pack mode to make it cleaner and more robust.
* Added info about elk migrations to Raise Pups and Young Hunters quest tips.
* Allow dispersals to respond to player howls even when in rival territory (50% of the time).
* Increased subordinate dispersing in December if there are many pups of the year.
* Do not allow new rival packs to select locked hexes as initial hex or home
* Only trigger Bloodlines achievement on player offspring, not siblings.
* Prevent regular "Death" music from playing after peaceful death.
* Reduced volume of new hex sound effect.

BUGS FIXED
* Packmate's peaceful death notification has placeholder tags.
* Ear and other customizations don't appear on NPC wolves in Scent View.
* The "K" key opens Known Wolves panel but doesn't close it.
* Recent Notifications now shows most recent notifications at top of list.
* Recent Notifications: Some notifications that should be displayed are not.
* Set max weight for pups in Growing Pups quest (to prevent anomalies if player never sleeps).
* Made GP and YH pups' growth affected by hunger (as younger pups are)
* Added tip to Find New Mate subquest: "First, ensure that your Pack Affinity is well above 25% before looking for a new mate, or courtship will fail immediately."
* Game Controller guide map has incorrect instructions for Emote Favorites.
* Mysterious pups are shown on Family Tree sometimes after joining a rival pack.
* Sometimes tutorial tips disappear too soon.
* Music: SC Exploration Fingerstyle track restarts when switching between moving and idle variations.
* Lost River: Mutt with pointed ears has no animation when doing bite-hold while running.
* Wolf can end up underneath a grizzly when biting it.
* Switching between young and old versions of a coat triggers genome coat randomization.
* World Map sometimes doesn't match season.
* Bison can spawn too close to homesite.
* Multiplayer: Can be difficult to bite NPCs when non-host.
* Multiplayer: Pups not going into the den automatically when the last player at home with them logs off.
* Multiplayer: Forever Favorite achievement doesn't unlock when it should.
* Multiplayer: "Host Transferring" alert can get stuck onscreen, preventing the transfer.
* Multiplayer: Wrong text on Establish Territory quest intro.
* Step-siblings from one player-parent's old family also triggers achievements that involve siblings unless they were raised by a player.
* Rival wolves do lurking behaviors right next to the player. (They got mixed up about the type of fight they're engaged in.)
* Chain barking by packmates when player barks.
* World Map legend doesn't display den types on maps other than Slough Creek.
* Starting a new game with a wolf that just aged up lets them age up again in their first year.
* Adult packmates eat pups' food when moving to a new homesite.
* When rival wolves chase you to an empty hex, they immediately take it and then decide you're still intruding, causing them to chasing you across the map.
* Player can get "Guard Dog" achievement (gained for repelling an invasion) for a fight in neutral territory without invasion icon, at a time when you don't even have territory.
* Error interferes with file sync process.
* Carcasses in shallow water are often unreachable to NPC animals.
* In July, game can freeze for a few seconds periodically due to an error from a elk calf scent particle.
* Player can age up again when starting a new game with a wolf that already aged up in another playthrough.
* Pups don't do contact interactions (wrestling, jaw sparring, etc.)
* Bloodlines achievement breaks after moving maps.
* Den Memory perk doesn't work on dens off current map.
* Steam version of game doesn't remember DLC purchases for a few weeks since last account login.

NOTE: Game saves ARE backward compatible with the last released patch, v2.0.0d. But multiplayer games are NOT backward-compatible, so you can only play with those who have this beta.

See bottom of this page for instructions on opting into the beta.

[h2]Beta 10 - 25 January 2025[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]
* Pups of the year in a pack that the player joins are now boldfaced in Known Wolves.
_____________________

[h2]Beta 9 - 24 January 2025[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]
* On Known Wolves panel, player-wolf's offspring and siblings are boldfaced.
* Made the Family Tree snap regenerate automatically when mate dies.
* Made subheadings on Pack Info (Mate, Pups, etc.) larger and boldfaced for better readability.

[h3]BUGS FIXED[/h3]
* Packmate's peaceful death notification has placeholder tags.
* Ear and other customizations don't appear on NPC wolves in Scent View.
* The "K" key opens Known Wolves panel but doesn't close it.
_____________________

[h2]Beta 8 - 23 January 2025[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]
* Added "Hexes Claimed" readout below World Map.
* Set Notification History scrollbar default position to the top, now that recent items are at the top.

[h3]BUGS FIXED[/h3]
* Mysterious pups are shown on Family Tree sometimes after joining a rival pack.
* Sometimes tutorial tips disappear too soon.
* Music: SC Exploration Fingerstyle track restarts when switching between moving and idle variations.
* Multiplayer: Can be difficult to bite NPCs when non-host.
_____________________

[h2]Beta 7 - 22 January 2025[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED[/h3]
* Player-wolf cannot target or bite snowshoe hares.
_____________________

[h2]Beta 6 - 21 January 2025[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]
* Recent Notifications now shows most recent notifications at top of list.
* Set max weight for pups in Growing Pups quest (to prevent anomalies if player never sleeps).
* Made GP and YH pups' growth affected by hunger (as younger pups are)
* Added tip to Find New Mate subquest: "First, ensure that your Pack Affinity is well above 25% before looking for a new mate, or courtship will fail immediately."
* Prevent regular "Death" music from playing after peaceful death.

[h3]BUGS FIXED[/h3]
* Lost River: Mutt with pointed ears has no animation when doing bite-hold while running.
* Recent Notifications: Some notifications that should be displayed are not.
* Wolf can end up underneath a grizzly when biting it.
* Switching between young and old versions of a coat triggers genome coat randomization.
* World Map sometimes doesn't match season.
_____________________

[h2]Beta 4 - 20 January 2025[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]
* Added some additional texture detail on High Terrain Quality levels in non-winter seasons.
* On Setup New Game, added tooltip about Pup RNG deaths when player changes that selection.
* Prevent NPC wolves from aging up when player is not allowed to age up anymore (i.e. if player ages-up their wolf, then reloads a save from before aging up).

[h3]BUGS FIXED[/h3]
* Game hangs on black screen when recording den memory at end of Raise Pups.
* On World Map, season readout in first half of Growing Pups says Late Spring instead of Late Summer.
* Bison can spawn too close to homesite.
* Multiplayer: Pups not going into the den automatically when the last player at home with them logs off.
_____________________

[h2]Beta 3 - 17 January 2025[/h2]

[h3]NEW[/h3]
* Added a few things to help players understand elk seasonal migration: World Map now indicates current season; new common notification in May and December when elk begin their seasonal migration to uplands or valleys, respectively; and Seasons entry in Game Help.
* Pup RNG Death pulldown now displays a green dot indicating how it's set in the current game. (Since the pulldown only affects the next litter, the checkmark can be misleading, so now the green dot makes it clear what is currently in effect.)

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]
* Made rival wolf health persistent if despawned and respawned.
* Made pups stop for a few moments. when an adult approaches.
* Made lost pups look at the adults that found them longer
* Added more non-creek names for rival packs and dispersal origin packs on each map.
* Increased the odds that a subordinate becomes a pack leader after the leader dies, preventing the pack from disbanding.
* Known Wolves: Update pack name when meeting them again, in case name has changed since first meet (I.e. useful for packs that player joined, renamed, then also left).
* For Survival of the Pack quests, the difficulty level is now reset when pups are born (so if you want to get the achievement on a different difficulty than you've been playing on, you now can, as long as you switch it before pups are born.)
* Refactored some persistent pack mode to make it cleaner and more robust.
* Added info about elk migrations to Raise Pups and Young Hunters quest tips.
* Allow dispersals to respond to player howls even when in rival territory (50% of the time).
* Increased subordinate dispersing in December if there are many pups of the year.
* Do not allow new rival packs to select locked hexes as initial hex or home
* Only trigger Bloodlines achievement on player offspring, not siblings.
* Reduced volume of new hex sound effect.

[h3]BUGS FIXED[/h3]
* Multiplayer: Forever Favorite achievement doesn't unlock when it should.
* Multiplayer: "Host Transferring" alert can get stuck onscreen, preventing the transfer.
* Step-siblings from one player-parent's old family also triggers achievements that involve siblings unless they were raised by a player.
* Rival wolves do lurking behaviors right next to the player. (They got mixed up about the type of fight they're engaged in.)
* Chain barking by packmates when player barks.
* World Map legend doesn't display den types on maps other than Slough Creek.
* Starting a new game with a wolf that just aged up lets them age up again in their first year.
* Adult packmates eat pups' food when moving to a new homesite.
* When rival wolves chase you to an empty hex, they immediately take it and then decide you're still intruding, causing them to chasing you across the map.
* Player can get "Guard Dog" achievement (gained for repelling an invasion) for a fight in neutral territory without invasion icon, at a time when you don't even have territory.
* Error interferes with file sync process.
* Carcasses in shallow water often unreachable to NPC animals.
* In July, game can freeze for a few seconds periodically due to an error from a elk calf scent particle.
* Player can age up again when starting a new game with a wolf that already aged up in another playthrough.
* World Map sometimes doesn't update after change of season.
* Pups don't do contact interactions (wrestling, jaw sparring, etc.)
* Bloodlines achievement breaks after moving maps.
* Den Memory perk doesn't work on dens off current map.
* Steam version of game doesn't remember DLC purchases for a few weeks since last account login.
* Multiplayer: Wrong text on Establish Territory quest intro.

_____________________
[h3]TO GET THE BETA BUILD[/h3]
1) In the Steam app, go to your Library, then right-click on the WolfQuest: AE name in the left column and choose Properties.
2) Then go to the Betas tab and select the WQ current Beta option in the pulldown. No password is necessary. Steam should then start downloading it. Later you can switch back to the public version in that Betas tab, by selecting NONE in that pulldown.