WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

We have a new beta ready for testing! It's in the same WQ Public Beta branch as the previous public beta. Instructions below.

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]
New animal AI behaviors around water: Animals won't do things in water that they shouldn't (e.g. graze, fight, attack); animals will seek out the bank if they decide to do something that they can't do in the water; birds will fly over water and land on shore; prospective mates will follow player if player is in shallow water, and will follow the player across the river; animals will avoid going into water unless necessary to reach their intended destination.

[h2]BUGS FIXED[/h2]
* Possible fix for backwards-running mule deer and elk. If you see that happen again, please submit a bug report (we have more debug info in logs now)
* Possible fix for distorted/exploded animal models.
* World map is broken if your wolf is killed before you open the map in a game session.
* Some issues with remapping controls. (If you have trouble, try resetting them.)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]HOW TO GET THE BETA[/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.

Please use the F11 Bug Reporter to submit bug reports, but you can also discuss issues on this Public Beta discussion forum.

Patch 1.0.2a

IMPROVEMENTS:
* Added toggle to Invert Head Camera Y Axis, for better customization of controls in Scent View.
* In Remapping panel, changed "Run" to "Run Toggle" for clarity. (This is a different input than Sprint.)

BUGS FIXED:
* Fog and atmospheric perspective were broken in Basic Sky mode for several months. Fixed now, big visual improvement.
* Coyote doesn't play some animations correctly.
* Various issues with getting stuck when Emotes panel overlays another popup window.
* Can get stuck on Save Game panel if you die while trying to do an emote.
* Controller inputs are active when remapping inputs.
* Controller, can't set right stick to both lock and unlock the camera target.
* Various issues with onscreen keyboard.
* In Game Settings: Graphics panel, sometimes the FPS readout is stuck at 2fps.
* Can't use Controller to open Emotes, then mouse to select an emote.
* If you lock onto another wolf with the targeting arrow, choosing an emote deselects it.
* Bull elk legs are rather shiny.
* Cottonwood trees are missing colliders in Basic Sky & Vegetation mode.

SOME KNOWN ISSUES:
* On some computers, elk carcass (and some other animals?) explode when you are nearby. (Still trying to reproduce this; please submit ved very detailed bug reports)
* Animal behaviors in water are non-optimal. (Nw water-specific AI coming soon.)
* Wolf can get stuck sometimes when jumping into boulders. (Fix coming soon.)
* Bull elk and buck mule deer sometimes run backwards after fighting. (Will hopefully be fixed in next patch.)
* On Macs using Intel integrated graphics on Basic graphics mode, distant trees are sometimes multicolored, and sky may have similar discoloration.

We're releasing this update today for the PC/Mac game in Early Access! Over two months of work went into this update, with several big new features (new and improved NPC pathfinding and obstacle avoidance, and controller support), plus many smaller improvements and plenty of bugfixes! Details are below the video:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h2]
* Redesigned pathfinding and obstacle avoidance systems for NPC animals. Eliminate bugs with animals that can't find a way out of a spot, and mates that do nothing near cliffs for fear of going over the edge.
* Full controller support for Xbox and DS4 (Playstation) Controller (see details below).
* Revised the cliff rocks with new shader for better realism and dynamic snow.
* Main camera view adjusted so player-wolf is lower on screen, showing more of landscape ahead.
* Mate may stalk if player stalks, when hunting. (Bold mates are less likely to do this.)
* Mates, especially if cautious, will not charge into the hunt as eagerly without being prompted by the player, unless the player takes too long.
* Reduced mule deer maximum speed a bit.
* Reduced aggressiveness of bull elk and moose a bit.
* Reduced spawning frequency of grizzly bears.
* Golden eagles sometimes feed on carcasses now.
* Mate is sometimes too selfish about hunting hares.
* Fish dropped by eagles now function like other meat chunks: carryable and with food value. Will emit floating scents if few other floating scents around (due to performance constraints). Will not glow in scent view yet, that'll be added soon.
* If you activate Photo Mode (Shift-P) while bite-holding an animal, bite-hold will continue if you use right-arrow key to step forward in time.
* Reduced aggressiveness of bull elk and moose a bit.
* Reduced spawning frequency of grizzly bears.
* Adjusted camera angle when zoomed out behind wolf, to show more of terrain ahead.
* Meat chunks will emit floating scents now (but may not if there are a lot of other floating scents around, due to performance constraints).
* Odds of wind direction evened out some. (A bit less accurate to Yellowstone weather patterns, but helpful for finding floating scents.)
* Refinements to the lighting intensity and effects, especially at dawn/dusk and nighttime, with and without moonlight.
* Removed white haze in sky when rain/storm clears.
* Revised the cliff rocks with new shader for better realism and dynamic snow.
* Tweaked grizzly bear run-animation speed.
* Improved general appearance of snow on ground.
* In Glorious quality level, grass and shadow distance is increased, for better visuals and slightly worse performance.
* Many tweaks to terrain ground textures.
* Added Bug Report to Options menu.

[h2] BUGS FIXED:[/h2]
* Sometimes prey run too slowly when you are chasing them.
* Various glitches when waking from sleep.
* Rare issue with saving mate after completing trial mission.
* Some distant trees have bluish trunks.
* Wolf footfall audio stops playing if you zoom out and then back in.
* Cottonwood and aspen tree leaves look bad in certain lighting angles.
* Rear legs on coyote corpse are unnaturally bent.
* In bug reporter, the priority options are out of order.
* Guitar-emote music during courtship doesn't play.
* Can get stuck on rocks or trees when sliding down steep slope.
* Can skate on pond surface if you jump onto pond from land.
* Duplicate bull herds.
* Too many bulls in one place (won't be fixed in previous saves)
* Clouds evolve shape too quickly.
* Snow on gnarly white bark pine is too extensive.
* Problems with invert camera toggles.
* Pink mule deer carcass.
* Placement problems with snow on grizzlies.
* Wolf skull in Fossil Forest is too small.
* Areas where you can get stuck in cliff rocks.
* Mismatched coat texture on one dispersal wolf in Courtship popup.
* When playing on Fastest quality, eagle wings have holes.
* Some nature sounds don't respect audio slider settings.
* Shadows are too jiggly sometimes.
* Typo in loading screen text.

[h2]CONTROLLER SUPPORT:[/h2]
* We have implemented full controller support for Xbox and DS4 (Playstation) controllers. The game should automatically recognize those two controllers, though we have seem some issues with non-Sony DS4 controllers, and we're working on that.
* Tutorial Tips and Game Help show controller glyphs if controller is plugged in and active (in Game Settings: Controls).
* Controller remapping works, and your settings will appear in Tutorial Tips and Game Help.
*
[h2]SOME KNOWN ISSUES:[/h2]
* Animal behaviors in water are non-optimal. (Nw water-specific AI coming in next patch.)
* Wolf can get stuck sometimes when jumping into boulders. (Will be fixed in next patch.)
* Bull elk and buck mule deer sometimes run backwards after fighting. (Will hopefully be fixed in next patch.)
* On Macs using Intel integrated graphics on Basic graphics mode, distant trees are sometimes multicolored.

Update 1.0.2. public beta 12 (EDIT: and another hotfix, b13!)
Windows only, Mac coming soon.

BUGS FIXED:
* Reverted two fixes (for backwards-running animals, and getting stuck when jumping into rocks) that created new bugs in b11.

KNOWN ISSUES:
* On Macs using Intel integrated graphics on Basic graphics mode, distant trees are sometimes multicolored.
* Some non-Sony DS4 controllers are not recognized, we're working on it!

WolfQuest v1.0.2. public beta 11.
Windows version only, will add Mac soon.

IMPROVEMENTS:
* Mate will stalk if player stalks, when hunting. (Bold mates are less likely to do this.)
* Mates, especially if cautious, not charge into the hunt as eagerly without being prompted by the player, unless the player takes too long.
* Adjusted camera angle when zoomed out behind wolf (reduced the tilt a bit).
* Meat chunks will emit floating scents now (but may not if there are a lot of other floating scents around, due to performance constraints).
* Keyboard/mouse icons in Tutorial Tips will reflect player remapping.
* Odds of wind direction evened out some. (A bit less accurate to Yellowstone weather patterns, but helpful for finding floating scents.)

BUGS FIXED:
* Can get stuck if you jump into a boulder.
* Various glitches when waking from sleep (more fixes for this bug).
* Rare issue with saving mate after completing trial mission.
* Some distant trees have bluish trunks.
* Wolf footfall audio stops playing if you zoom out and then back in.
* Cottonwood and aspen tree leaves look bad in certain lighting angles.
* Wolf stops running when doing emote.
* In Wolf Customization, wrong coat assigned to Lamar pack #5.
* Rear legs on coyote corpse are unnaturally bent.
* In bug reporter, the priority options are out of order.
* Various terrain tweaks and improvements.

CONTROLLER SUPPORT IMPROVEMENTS:
* Xbox and DS4 icons appear in Tutorial Tips if controller is set to active in Game Settings: Controls.

KNOWN ISSUES:
* On Macs using Intel integrated graphics on Basic graphics mode, distant trees are sometimes multicolored.
* Some non-Sony DS4 controllers are not recognized, we're working on it!