Alpha 67 Update
Move to Full Licensed Engine Source Code: I have finally moved to the full licensed engine source code, moving away from UDK. This is a big step, which I have been planning/preparing for a long time. This means I can modify/compile the core engine code and unlocks huge potential
Move to Full Licensed Engine Source Code:
I have finally moved to the full licensed engine source code, moving away from UDK. This is a big step, which I have been planning/preparing for a long time. This means I can modify/compile the core engine code and unlocks huge potential and freedom for continued development.
Already this change has allowed me to extend the material pipeline to allow for the new base painting system (passing params to the material system for individual instanced static meshes, previously not possible in UDK), borderless fullscreen, improved performance and much more. Many other planned features are now unblocked by this move.
Your existing profile saves will auto-migrate, so you should not lose any progress.
Base Painting:
Players are now able to paint almost all structural wooden and metal buildables in their base.
Paintbrush:
Painting requires the paintbrush, which can be crafted in the furniture workbench.
While equipped, hold down the right mouse button (Left Trigger for players using a controller) to bring up the color wheel. Here you can select a color and an optional pattern. There are currently 31 colors and 7 patterns.
It is also possible to completely remove a color by selecting the icon with the red cross and using the brush on the surface.
Most paintable items will have two sides that can be painted individually. This means players can pick different color schemes for the interior and exterior of their bases.
Once an item has been painted, it will not cost any additional paint to apply another color or switch patterns. So players are free to try out different color schemes without wasting additional paint. Unless the paint is removed, then it will cost more paint to reapply.
Paint:
Paint is also crafted at the furniture workbench.
Paint uses coal tar, which is obtained by harvesting coal nodes in the caves and then refining the coal in the refinery. Different amounts of paint is used depending on the size of the surface that the player is painting.
Patterns:
Below are the various patterns that players can choose when painting.
I may change the various colors and patterns in the future based on feedback from the community.
Wheat:
Wheat plants can now be randomly found growing in the world. Currently it can be found year round, although will not start spawning until day 12 of a profile (it will spawn in existing profiles that are past day 12).
Picking a wheat plant in the wild will either produce wheat, or wheat seeds (seeds can also be extracted from wheat).
The intention is not to yield large quantities from wild foraging, but rather to provide small quantities that can be planted and grown, and then multiplied into high production.
Worth noting that if you do not wish to mill the wheat into flour, the raw wheat makes effective feed for animals in the animal housing.
Bacon From Wild Boar:
Hunting boar will now also, in addition to pork chops, yield bacon.
Bacon can be cooked by itself on any open fire, but is better used in more complex recipes in the oven.
I have also increased the amount of fat when butchering a boar, so they are now much more rewarding to hunt.
Food Prep Station:
There is a new "prep" section in the oven. This is used to prepare various food items that do not require cooking.
New Cooking Recipes:
Based on player feedback, I have added many more cooking recipe options. This should also help balance out the many food items that were previously underused (or not included) in advanced cooking options.
Flour:
Crafted in the prep section of the oven. I may add a specific milling item in the future, but this should suffice for now.
Bread Dough:
Used to bake bread, and also prepared in the prep section of the oven.
Bread Loaf:
Baked in the oven and requires a baking pan.
Bread Slices:
Right click on a loaf of bread to slice into 8 bread slices.
Pastry:
Used for baking recipes. Crafted in the prep section of the oven.
Lard:
Crafted in the oven by rendering down fat. Requires a boiling pan to craft.
Omelette:
Bacon and Egg Sandwich:
Fish & Chips:
Fish Cakes:
Steak and Dumpling Stew:
Chicken and Salad Sandwich:
Egg Sandwich:
Steak Wellington:
Blueberry Pie:
Steak and Mushroom Pie:
Game Now Automatically Configures Display Resolution and Refresh Rate (first run):
Another benefit of having engine source code access; on first run, the engine will now detect the display resolution and refresh rate of the primary monitor and adjust the game settings accordingly. Previously, these settings were hardcoded to 1080p at 60Hz. This results in a smoother, more visually accurate first-time experience, especially for players using higher-resolution or high-refresh-rate displays.
Borderless Fullscreen:
Having access to the engine source code, I was finally able to add proper display modes for the game. Previously when running in fullscreen, alt-tabbing or using multiple monitors was painful and would cause a full display refresh when switching between other applications or jumping to desktop.
The new borderless fullscreen mode resolves this, making alt-tabbing and multi-monitor setups smooth and seamless.
Improved Performance on Profiles/Servers with High Build Counts:
When rendering large bases with many building pieces, to keep the game performant I use instanced static meshes for each buildable, allowing the CPU to render many identical buildables with a single draw call.
Previously this caused a problem when rendering damage on buildables, as the engine could not pass additional data to the materials for instanced meshes. So as buildables took damage, I would swap them out for individual separate meshes, increasing draw calls and negatively impacting performance on high build-count profiles.
Engine-level changes to the material pipeline now allow per-instance damage data to be passed directly to instanced meshes, preserving instancing and significantly improving performance when rendering large structures.
Hunter Base Exploit Fixes:
Several exploits that allowed unintended access to hunter bases have been fixed. Previously, players could use objects such as railings to jump into bases, or access storage chests through gaps in floorboards.
These exploits undermined raid balance and were especially disruptive on PVP servers. They should now be resolved. If you encounter any similar exploits, please let me know so they can be addressed.
Other Notable Changes:
Using the elevator will now flash the power cost on screen for each use.
Increased the range of the hammer.
Fish pie now uses raw salmon filets rather than cooked.
Increased time it takes for mushrooms to perish.
Fixed rare bug that could allow profiles to intermittently crash when loading (was caused by early initialization of ATV physics).
Fixed graphics resolutions showing in an incorrect order in the graphics menu.
The game will now launch with the Subsistence.exe rather than UDK.exe. For servers, I still ship a UDK.exe, but this is just to prevent admins having to reconfigure their launch scripts, and is just a mirror of the new .exe.
Thanks for your patience with this one. The engine work took a lot of the development time, but has put the game in a much better position moving forward. I'm very grateful to all the players that continue to support the game. 🙏 I hope to put more control into the hands of players with work I have planned.
Cheers,
CG
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
X/Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/
Hosting Your Own Server:
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.
You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
[dynamiclink href="https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184"][/dynamiclink]Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas, MusicMan)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
Portuguese European (João C. H. Jorge)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)
Finnish (Pewtsku and J4ntteri)
They will also use tactics like diving from cover, switch weapons less often, while choosing weapons based on the current situation. They also use smarter logic for choosing when to reload and will retreat to do so when they can.
These animations are entirely contextual, based on the force of the impact, the location on the body and the type of ammunition used.
Again, this can be disabled in the options menu ("Show graphic violence"). 
The volume of the remote voices can be configured in the "Sounds" section of the options menu and the "Push to Talk" key can be rebound in the controls menu.
Scrapping crashed plane wrecks will now yield additional loot (on top of the existing scrap metal). Alloy sheets and electrical components will be yielded for certain parts of the plane.
The visual bounding box of the tracer is now the full length, and the tracer will complete it movement after the bullet has hit a surface. This should give players a lot more situational awareness when under fire.
The cable car system will connect two separate bases (or the same base), and requires the player to construct cable car platforms at each end of the desired route. Then connect the two platforms using steel cable.
The platform occupies the same space as a foundation/floor/ceiling and must be within range of a BCU or range extender to connect to the base power grid.
Once placed, accessing the platform terminal will show a list of all the neighboring platforms within a 500 meter radius. Only platforms located at friendly bases will show. Here you can connect the platforms at the expense of steel cable and power.
The radius will show as a blue sphere. Note: the radius sphere will not show underneath the map shroud, so the map will need to be explored to view the sphere at any given region.
To help assist with this, there is a button next to each platform in the list which will switch to the map view and place a temporary beacon.
There must be cable connecting the two platforms in order to place the cable car.
The cable car rollers are fully animated and will update with speed and direction.
On either side of the cable car are buttons that are used to start the car moving to the opposing platform.
Each time the cable car starts a move, it will deduct a portion of power from the base it is currently docked at. The amount of power is determined by how far the travel distance is. If there is insufficient power, the cable car will not move.
A cable car can be disconnected via one of the platform terminals it is connected to. Here you can also disconnect the cable. You will receive 100% of the cable back, however the power spent connecting the cable will not be returned.
There is a trade-off to these benefits, with it having a longer reload time. I've always loved this style of pistol in many other games, so excited to add it to the Subsistence arsenal.
I worked hard on the animations and sound design, hoping to make it a satisfying weapon to use. There are 3 new skins available for it (see below).
It can get costly on iron fragments depending on how ambitious your cable car system is.
I think this will especially help players starting out, where lumber is so important to getting established. I think they also add a nice decorative effect to the wilderness environment. They will also accumulate snow during the winter months. They are slightly less plentiful during winter (the same as many other resources).
I may modify the quantity after getting more feedback from players. I've made the respawn timer quite long, but I still think this may need to be tweaked to find the appropriate balance.
With the new update, now when aiming down sights the weapons are 100% accurate. However players need to manage a subtle weapon sway. Essentially this is replacing random chance with skill, and I think this is a much more fair system for players.
Also, hip-firing is now inherently inaccurate, as one would expect. This also eliminates monitor crosshair exploiting.
There are also now sounds of the casings/shells hitting the floor. The sounds are dependent on the floor they are hitting. This is a minor detail, but I think it adds a lot to overall immersion.
I now have handling that will restore the player to the location they were before they began climbing. So no more cheap deaths for climbers.
If a recognized controller is connected, you will see a diagram of the button mappings for your controller type.
The button on the left allows you to flick through the various controllers you have connected.
A button at the bottom-left of the controller screen will open up a bindings window, allowing the player to change any aspect of their control scheme.
These bindings will only apply to Subsistence, so will not affect your bindings for any other game in your library. This can also be done by clicking on the controller button in the Steam UI while viewing the Subsistence page in your games library.
To switch to the official layout (see above), click on the controller box on your Subsistence Steam page. Then click "Browse Community Layouts". Then under "Recommended" select the official layout and apply it.
Also when looking at dropped items, it now shows an image of the item with a count rather than lots of small text.
These glyphs have been implemented all over the UI when text was previously used.
The sound design will play different placement sounds depending on the material type. Each individual piece will shake independently as it fits into place.
I've implemented these animations purely through the vertex shader of the mesh materials. This means they are entirely animated through the GPU and put no extra load on the CPU, so are very efficient in terms of performance.
All wood, roofing and glass structures have had these animations added.
Now weapons have a lowered sensitivity while aiming, making it much easier to target enemies. In addition, players can customize each weapon's ADS sensitivity to their own personal preference. In the controls menu there is an "advanced" section, with ADS sensitivity sliders for each weapon.
There is a red marker on each slider to indicate the default (recommended) setting.
This also means that as a player "Takes All" from a loot crate, it is a lot more obvious what was taken and where the items have been placed/stacked in their inventory, due to those items briefly animating.
As players mouse-over inventory items the prompts will hint at quick actions available for this item. This includes actions like shift-clicking to move item stacks or singles between inventories (which many players are not aware of).
These prompts will hint at things like switching ammo types (if you have more than one ammo type for the held weapon). Or toggling a weapon flashlight if the held weapon has one attached. Hopefully this helps makes playing the game a little more intuitive without referencing the controls menu or googling how something is done.
When flicking through slots, a small blue marker will show above the slot briefly before selecting the item. This eliminates the glitchy, rapid weapon-equipping animations playing when scrolling through weapons.
Weapons and buildables will equip automatically. For other items (such as med-kits), players can press the "fire" key to use the item (or perform their primary action). An input prompt will show indicating the action that can be performed.
A small convenience, but useful if you can train yourself to use it (much like the "Take All" hotkey).
Several new chair types have been added (the older sofa and armchair can still be crafted). I've also updated the build system to allow base items to be placed on top of rugs.
Like the previous bed, the new beds also serve as respawn points for players (respawns need to be purchased when accessing the beds).
Many of the furniture items come with storage space, although they do not offer as much capacity as the dedicated storage chests.
I created the old trees using an old version of SpeedTree. This was presenting issues for future plans I have for the game, as well as performance problems. There is now not a single SpeedTree in the game.
The new trees use a custom system which primarily relies on static meshes, and handles movement/wind/seasons purely through the material vertex and pixel shaders. This takes pressure off the CPU.
Most of the new trees are significantly more detailed than the old, and I've worked hard to keep the poly-count low, and the LOD and instancing system robust enough to handle rendering large open vistas.
Some of less common ore/minerals will take longer to extract (50% speed). The UI has been updated to display the new resources, and a label will highlight those that take longer to extract.
This change will reward players that invest in building mining outposts across the map. However they will need to consider power production and self-sufficiency at these outposts (as only the primary base with auto-generate power).
This will reduce the grind for players focusing on building, and relieve some pressure on wood gathering to focus on further progression in the game.
With the new system trees, grass and all other foliage (including harvestable foliage) will respond accordingly. Seeing trees and foliage blow violently during a storm should greatly help immersion during gameplay.
It must be placed within range of a BCU or range extender and has 12 slots of storage.
Although the health will be applied very quickly, this change will prevent spamming/exploiting health-kits to overcome a combat situation and reward more considered strategies. It should also offer more fair balance on PVP servers.
This was intended since the very first release as a way to streamline the crafting progression. For seasoned players this will mostly be only cosmetic and not restrictive (other than some considerations when setting up outpost bases). For new players, base progression should be a little more clear.
Note: This will not protect abandoned bases from base decay (if the server has a base decay setting). Base decay allows for abandoned bases to decay and be cleaned up after a long period of it's base members not logging on to the server. This allows servers to maintain performance and run indefinitely without manual cleanup by admins (and is recommended for all server hosts).
Now the corpses will react as they should, and can lead to some interesting ragdoll moments during gunfights.
This was being caused by the physics-enabled world collision becoming too complex and overloading the physics engine. I've now updated the game to only "wake-up" the world collision in a radius around things that need it (only when they need it). This should have totally fixed the previously mentioned clipping issue, as well as drastically reduced pressure on the games physics engine for better performance.
It will glow in the dark but does not require any base power. I hope to add more decorative items in the future.
The intention with these events is to incentivize players to travel/explore further from their bases, and add more unpredictability to the moment-to-moment gameplay. This also adds more value and utility to vehicles.
The pilots will dynamically toggle the plane lights during day/night transitions, and the drone of the engines will alert players to incoming aircraft.
Starting a new game will now begin with a drop-off plane leaving the player location (hoping to give a sense of isolation and the situation at hand).
During their flights they are coded to dynamically traverse the landscape geometry, so will fly over mountains, down into valleys, avoid peaks, etc.
Players will be able to observe crash sites by their burning debris fields and a column of smoke from the burning fuel. If enough shroud on the map has been uncovered, the flames from the crash will be visible from the map view.
The debris from the wreck is also of value to players. Almost all parts of the wreck can be broken down to yield scrap metal. This will cause usage damage to your tools over time.
Vehicles now become more valuable, as a means of travel to regions with a required resource within daylight hours. Or more careful planning of routes while on-foot is required to secure needed resources.
While in the map view, scrolling over a region will show the weights of the resources available within it.
Currently regions only control distribution of ore/minerals, although I see potential to expand this in the future to wildlife and vegetation. It's a tricky balance, so I appreciate feedback on the current balance and suggestions for the future.
The purpose of this is to make the natural environment more dense with interactable foliage (rather than just static bushes).
Fiber: Increase of around 700%.
Medicinal: Increase of around 400%.
Due to the large increase, recipes that use these materials have been increased for balance, but overall players should have a more abundant supply.
This bench now handles the various crafting options for electrical items.
Some of the existing electrical items have been moved from the workbench crafting menu, as well as new added items that can now be crafted.
The distribution and balance for the new resource types may need some tweaking, so I welcome feedback regarding this.
The animations have been blended in for all weapons and tools, so you do not need to unequip your weapon.
This does mean that the hunters also benefit from this change, so be careful when you hear that pump or double barrel cocking while in combat.
Note: The double barrel still has a slightly tighter spread than the pump action (making it more effective at mid range to the pump action).
Skins on the Steam Store can also be accessed from within the game by clicking on the weapon in your inventory.
The Water Tank hud will show indicators for whether pipes are connected to it's inflow and outflow, and whether the connected inflow pipes reach a water source.
Pipes can then be attached and eventually connected to the inflow connection of a Water Tank.
Pipes have a maximum length which is enforced while placing the pipe. When connecting pipes, you need to connect to the valve handle on either end of the connecting pipe.
When moving a pipe in the network, you can either move the head or tail of the pipe. The connected pipes will move with the moving pipe, allowing you to neatly adjust pipe networks with your base.
You can visibly see when a pipe is connected to a water source based on the color of the valve handle on the head and tail of the pipe (blue/red). Pipes will also glow blue/red when looking closely at them to indicate water flow. So it will be obvious when a disconnection has occurred in your pipe networks.
Within the Water Tank hud, there is a tab for accessing the faucet. There are options for filling one or all canteens, as well as washing hands.
Water from the tank is not treated, so still requires boiling prior to drinking (water treatment is a possibility for future upgrades).
So long as the connected tank has water available, the sprinklers can be activated and will slowly hydrate the plantbed. While sprinkling, the connected water tank outflow pump will be running, consuming a small amount of power. The sprinklers will automatically shut-off once the bed is full.
Players can setup their sprinkler systems to run automatically. By enabling the "automation" checkbox within the plant bed sprinkler hud, the sprinklers will automatically turn on once the plant bed water level drops below 40%. However, having automation enabled will consume 10% more power for that plant bed at the water tank pump.
The sprinkler hud also shows an indicator for whether the plant bed is currently connected to a pipe network that has water available.
Within the BCU hud, there is a new "Base Resource Stats" tab. This lists all base items and their power/mass usage. The list can be sorted in ascending/descending order based on power or mass usage.
This means players are less required to keep moving items back and forth in order to craft.
Releasing the key after the quick action will automatically close the inventory.
As per player requests, I've added a distance reading to the hud markers for BCUs and dropped-kits, which should make it easier to identify/differentiate between them, and judge travel-time. The distance is measured in meters.
I've also added a countdown timer for dropped-kits, so players will know exactly how long they have to reach it. The reading will show as blue, then as orange once the timer slips below 5 minutes, then red as it dips below 1 minute.
This should be a nice QOL improvement when trying to manage lots of canteens at a time.
Clicking on the button will open the Steam overlay to show all achievements and the current progress against each one.
Discord invite: 
Unlike many other powered crafting items, vehicle stages require no upfront power cost, but instead will consume power throughout each construction stage.
A minimum of 500 power is required for constructing. If power levels drop below 500, it will pause. Construction can be resumed by clicking on the current stage and a resume button will show. In addition; construction can be manually paused at any time using the same process.
The dimentions of the VCB is 2x foundation widths by 1.5x, and can be snapped to existing building pieces.
There are 3 interactable areas: The engine (at the front), where the player can refuel and jump-start the battery. The driving section (center). And the trunk, where players can access the onboard storage.
The vehicle is designed for travel, rather than combat. So while it is possible to ram players/hunters/animals, this will ultimately build-up damage on the vehicle. As too will impacts with world geometry, so be mindful of your speed and routes.
You can toggle between the two using the existing "Cycle Camera" key which driving (which is rebindable). The game will remember your choice, so you don't have to keep resetting it.
The gears can be shifted using the mouse wheel (or whatever you have bound to next/previous weapon).
The headlights can be operated using the "L" key while driving (or whatever you have bound to your "Toggle Flashlight" key).
I added some subtle lens flares and ambient illumination on the hood and bumpers, which I think looks pretty nice.
Mined with the pickaxe (or axe), the nodes will yield Black Crystal Ore. The ore must be refined in the refinery to produce pure Black Crystal, ready for crafting.
Climbing axes are required to descend down into (and return from) the lava caves.
They are also required for vehicle repairs. They can take some time to craft, so best to queue them up and let the lathe do its thing.
The further the vehicle from the VCB, the higher the power cost (although there is a floor and ceiling to this cost). Recalling a vehicle will dock it at the VCB that recalled it.
Allows for smoothly entering and exiting your base garage.
This upgrade can be crafted/attached to an ATV. Once attached, an additional icon will show in the driving hud, and players can use this to remotely open/close the nearest garage door while driving.
When damage is becoming excessive, the engine will start to hiss and smoke, and eventually catch fire, and ultimately explode once health reaches zero. Once exploded, the tires will also be blown off.
The repair process will consume power throughout the process. If tires are missing, they will automatically be reattached. The vehicle becomes drivable again so long as at least one tire is attached (although missing tires greatly affect handling).
Please note that vehicles are never actually destroyed, simply burnt-out and disabled, and recoverable with repair.
It will provide a minimum charge to start the engine, and the vehicle can charge the remaining % through use. The jump kit will be returned to player, and will need to be recharged using batteries.
This allows players to switch between the various cosmetics they may own on their Steam account.
Any excess fuel after the engine it full will be returned to the player (so no need to split).
Skins can be found on the Subsistence 
Alpha 59 brings a large expansion to the western side of the map, opening up access to a large new lake, streams, ponds, waterfalls, forested regions and beachfront.
It is important the world continues to scale in size, as I want long-haul travel and exploration to play a role leading into future features and development.
Here's a link for a full 
They support wind simulation via vertex animation (with no skeletal meshes), seasonal changes, large-scale instance meshing, etc. They are still a work in progress, but are performant and give me much more control over the code rather than working around a black-box feature set.
The new area is mostly populated with new tree species using the new code. Eventually I hope to transition the old trees on the rest of the map as I introduce more species.
This does increase the polygonal complexity to the scene rendering, but I'm using some aggressive LOD and lighting transitions to maintain high performance.
The new geometry caused problems with the AI pathing systems, so needed to be updated to accommodate.
I think these new pieces will open up a lot of new creativity for base designs, so I'm curious to see what players will create!
How the system works:
In addition, when a stack is at a low count, it will take longer to perish (an example shown above). I think this is an appropriate way to balance/decrease the penalty of food perishing while looting, while still maintaining the necessity for preservation methods when at larger scales of production.
Meats and cooked meals still don't show meters. This is because they still maintain independent perish times for every item in a stack. So I would have to either think of a way to present up to 10 perish times for a single item in the inventory, or switch them over to use the same logic as fruit/veg.
The glass jar is returned when eating the Chutney, so each jar only needs to be crafted once.
While they don't generally pose a threat to players, they are opportunistic predators and will snatch a hooked fish or small game kill from players. So keep an eye on the skies while hunting/fishing.
Shooting an Eagle while it is clutching prey will cause it to drop it, allowing the player to trace it down and steal the catch for themselves.
Usually too high and out of reach, players should use their climbing axes to scale the rockface to gain access to nests.
Looting an nest will yield Pristine Eagle Feathers. You can loot the nest while still attached to the rockface, just get close enough, look an the feather and press the use key.
Eagles will become aggressive if they spot you tampering with their nests, so be careful. Note: Killing an eagle will damage it's feathers, so looting from its nest it the only way to acquire the pristine features. Eagle kills are also now tracked in player stats.
Players can now craft Hang Gliders from the workbench. To use the Hang Glider, it must be placed on the toolbelt and equipt like any tool or weapon. When the player begins to fall, the glider will auto-deploy.
The glider will take slow usage damage over time, so keep your eye on it's health so it doesn't break during a flight. It requires Pristine Eagle Feathers to craft (and maintain), so players will need to loot some nests.
While gliding, players can freely move their head around to enjoy the views, while using the keyboard movement keys to control the glider.
Note: It's currently not possible to exploit flying onto exposed hunter bases. The way I've implemented this may seem crude, but eventually I hope to add more natural means of defense from flying raids.
I've also added a system that tracks which bases get destroyed by players, so replacement hunter squads can alternate through the different designs to keep things changing-up.
The impact is huge, as can be seen in these comparison stats, which shows CPU load on a server (at ~75% build capacity) with 4 concurrent players on each. What was previously pinned and constantly running below target tick rate, now sits comfortable with plenty of headroom.
Performance and scaling has always been a top priority. This type of work is hard to express in player-facing patch notes as it doesn't relate to specific features, but I think it's important to mention details when it is such a huge part of the development process.
An example use of the API would be to post an in-game alert notifying that the server will shortly be resetting, so players aren't caught off-guard during a reset.
Currently the API only has a couple of endpoints, but now it is implemented, provides me a platform to expand it's functionality moving forward.
Documentation on how to configure and use the API (with examples) is outlined in this guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2601952438
Also fixed the the animal models blurring for a period of time after they would ragdoll on death.
In addition, bases will cease to consume or produce power, mining drills, generators, fabricators will cease to operate. Plants will also not grow. Fridges will remain active but use no power (so your food will be safe).
Once one of the base members logs back on, all items will function again.
The trees must be placed within your base build sphere as they have functioning lights that run off base power.
The option to craft these festive trees runs between Nov 1st and Dec 31st each year (based on your system clock).
The skins can be found on the game's 
To apply a skin in-game, left click on the inventory item and the available skins will show as icons in the item's details box. They can be switched back and forth at any time.
Far deeper than the existing cave system, the new caverns reach veins of volcanically active lava pools and streams. Temperatures in the caves soar and will deplete player hydration levels, so ample water supplies are essential for explorers.
The new cave system connects the two existing caves systems. So it's now possible to travel from the SE Lake all the way to the NW lake entirely underground. However be aware of the risks when attempting this distance. Dying in the caves could make retrieval of your kit difficult and hazardous.
The caves now all being connected makes the entire underground system pretty mammoth. There will certainly be future expansions, linking mountainous ice-caves down into the system.
Once mounted, the player can freely climb the face using the movement keys, while moving their head independently to view their path. You can jump from the face at any time (but be very careful).
The player will automatically unmount the wall when reaching flat ground. When reaching the top of a cliff, a prompt will show to vault up onto flat ground.
This new mechanic required significant development effort, and it will seem underutilized at this point (as for now it's only used to access the new caves). However it is part of a larger (iterative) plan and will take on a more prominent role in the future. High-mountain terrain (as a unique and fully realized biome) has always been on the roadmap, and is still absent from the game. Stay tuned.
They required a bit of an AI overhaul to avoid suicidal runs into lava pools...
Taking a dip in a lake is one way to cool-off, choosing more appropriate clothing, or fitting your base with an AC unit.
I'm using some minor destruction physics on the crate mesh to make it a little more satisfying to smash open.
These crates can contain higher tier items, however they have a high cool-down times on respawns.
Collecting berries throughout the various seasons now allows players to prepare mixed berry jam at the oven (requires the boiling pan).
The jam provides a boost to max health/stamina, otherwise not provided by eating the berries by themselves.
You may notice the total fruit/veg benefit is less than the total individual berries. This may seem like an oversight now, but will make more sense once perish times are added to fruits/veg (as jams will preserve fruits without the need for refrigeration).
In addition, crates will play a subtle jolt as players interact with them. I think this makes the world feel a little more dynamic and interactive while out looting.
This will help players send friend requests or open chat on Steam if they team up in-game.
Previously this was just a paragraph of text, so it was not obvious that easy mode offers the option to reload the previous save. The new design should be much cleaner and more intuitive.
The LA Rifle uses the same 7.62mm cartridges as the existing rifle, but deals slightly more damage. However, this is at the penalty of a slower fire-rate due to the lever action between each shot. So it is a more powerful and cost-effective weapon, so long as the shots are accurate.
The LA Rifle can also load a new ammo type (which the basic Rifle cannot), please see later in the patch notes for details.
You can checkout a short video of the LA Rifle here: https://youtu.be/5xmkOMUkf0s
This isn't a total nerf to the darkness of nights. The moon moves through its own cycles (currently set to 8 days), and the light emitted is dictated by its fullness. So there will still be many near pitch black nights.
It is also tied in with the weather system, such that if the skies are overcast, this will deprive players of brighter lit moony nights. I considered tying it in with months/seasons also, but given the adjustable nature of the seasons, I thought best to leave it as a separate system.
Now during attacks/raids, building pieces will explode/collapse and glass will shatter into physics-based pieces. I think this greatly helps immersion during gameplay.
You can checkout a short video of the new destruction in action here (where I detonate a BCU on my own base): https://youtu.be/kCxeLkBHMxc
As with the moonlight, storm fronts will obscure their visibility and their intensity will be muted by overcast skies. I think this adds some cool diversity to the world over the passing of time.
I've added an LOD system to drastically reduce the number of light sources required to render the same scene.
However it's properties are slightly different, whereby it offers slightly more warmth at the penalty of slightly less damage protection. So it is a good option for early spring and late fall.
I've now modeled first person versions of all of the long sleeved clothing items, which I feel helps a lot feeling continuity with your character.
In addition to this, you can no longer extend the placement range of either item, avoiding the exploit of players placing BCU Crackers by extending their reach through windows etc.
Once banned, you should see them listed under the Banned list in the server info UI (where you can choose to unban them).
Phosphate ore is somewhat rare, and can be processed into Phosphorus in the refinery. Each piece of Phosphate Ore yields 3 Phosphorus once processed.
Incendiary rounds deal the same initial damage as their standard counterparts, however will catch the target on fire for around 10 seconds, dealing continuous damage over that time.
Jumping into water will extinguish the fire.
It was either showing 100% or nothing. It was also leading to an incorrect reading on the current world temperature (which displays at top left). This is now fixed.
This can be useful for a burst of wood harvesting, or breaking into bases. A status icon will display on the right side of the hud indicating when the boost is active. The damage incurred to the tool will also increase to match the increased damage dealt.
Now the Adrenaline Boost will provide unlimited stamina for 3 minutes, regardless of your character's physical condition. A status icon will show on the right while it is active.
It's also not obvious that players protein levels drop faster if the player is cold. So I've also added a contextual tip to explain this.
Players are issued a free heat pack when respawned during winter time. However this is not obvious and often leads to a death loop trying to get back to safety. I've added a one-time prompt to highlight this mechanic.
You can checkout this short video showing the feature in action (running on my dev build):
https://youtu.be/JTZEHli18lI
The blue flashing highlights you see in the video are just for my dev environment, to visualize the SI calculations rippling throughout the structure. I plan to revisit and complete this feature in the future, but right now it's on hold. I welcome feedback from players on the eventual introduction of this feature.
With the axe equipped, look at the ice until a progress wheel displays, then begin chopping to create the hole. This can take a toll on the axe's condition, so keep an eye on its health bar.
Fishing in the ice hole does not require casting with the rod. Simply approach the hole with an equipped rod (and tackle) and an action prompt will display to start fishing.
Ice holes will eventually refreeze over. I have code in place to reduce the rate of refreezing if a hole is being actively used, but it will eventually refreeze regardless.
*Be careful to carry an axe while exploring caves during winter, as you may need to break through the ice to exit the frozen lake on your return.
The hives are fairly rare and can be found attached to tree trunks. An axe or pickaxe can be used to harvest the hive to yield the honey.
Honey can be eaten raw and used in cooking recipes. Honey is currently the only food item providing a max-health/stamina boost in its raw form.
Attacking a hive will unleash a deadly swarm of bees, so take stock of your current condition (and equipment) before attempting to harvest a hive.
*Many players have suggested a beekeeping mechanic being added. This is certainly something I'm considering for the future.
They cannot be caught using fish traps, and require rod-fishing.
They also cannot be caught using fish traps, and require rod-fishing.
Perch can be caught in fish traps. The can be cooked whole, or harvested for fish oil.
The only (current) use for mangled corpses is to allow it to decay into "rotten meat".
I feel this change is a more intuitive means of maintaining gameplay balance (rather than how it was previously).
*Bow-hunting and trapping will preserve the animal's resources for harvesting.
It will attach to any curved foundation, ceiling and wall, and should offer new possibilities for some creative base designs.
I've added new pathing logic to allow them to negotiate trees while chasing prey. There is still a lot of future work I have planned for animal AI, but this should be a big improvement compared to how it was previously.
These tart berries come with a small hydration penalty (effectively making winter a little more of a struggle), so make sure to melt plenty of snow and keep a couple of canteens on you.
They can safely be eaten raw. There currently aren't dedicated cooking recipes for mushrooms, but that will come in the future.
This dish is the highest tier meal that can be cooked using the frying-pan (typically the baking pan is required for such stats-boosting recipes).
It can safely be eaten raw, but much better cooked. It has slightly lower stats than salmon fillets.
Simply click on your glow stick to display it's contextual item display (at the top of the hud). Then select from the color-picker to apply your color of choice.
This should help teammates signal-to or identify one another, as well as offering additional visual customization.
Crayfish are only small but are a good survival dietary supplement. They offer slightly more protein than small fish or perch (however do not yield fish oil).
When logged in as an admin, type "freecam" in the console to enter free-cam mode.
This will put you in a detached state, allowing you to fly around the map (even underwater and through cave systems). The speed of camera can be controlled by using the mouse wheel. The camera does react to collision, so you can't just clip through geometry.
While in this state, it is not possible to interact with items, however it is possible to use the "delete buildable" admin command. This allows admins to remove buildables by looking at them and using the "delete buildable" key, which is bindable in the in-game controls.
To use this feature you must be logged in as an admin on a dedicated server. Open the in-game server stats menu and select the player you wish to teleport to. This will present a button to trigger the teleport with the other admin buttons on the right side.
*The viewed player will be unaware of the camera.
I think this adds some cool immersion while resting by a campfire. This action can be set/rebound in the in-game controls (the default key is "/").
Currently the only insect threat are bee stings, however I have plans for mosquitos on the roadmap (still not totally confirmed yet however).
I've now addressed this, so what you see/hear should align correctly with what is being harvested.
Note: These no-build zones are not active in single player or player-hosted co-op games.
Now, not only do different lake types yield different fish types, but the months/seasons dictate the population/chance of certain fish types (example: it is now rare to catch a salmon during the winter).
This was a massive pain to debug, however I believe I now have it fixed. The issue was caused by my aggressive handling of sorting algorithms as server results come in. I will keep an eye on this to verify the issue is closed.
Now, since players have a means of escaping the ice, I have removed/altered this. It will still attempt to avoid freezing players/hunters in the surface ice however.
Also rosehip and mushroom picking stats have been added.
Now you can hold the reel-in key during the strike animation, and it will begin reeling once complete.
The Alpha 54 update is primarily focused on adding official dedicated server support, improving the multiplayer client experience, and a number of other fixes and improvements.
Servers will show an icon indicating whether they are player-hosted or dedicated.
Clicking on a server in the list will now show granular details on the games settings and current in-game state.
This new UI will display all players currently on the profile, a summary of their stats, and then a breakdown of various categories.
I actually implemented tracking for many of these stats many updates ago, but never added a UI to expose them. I decided to add it now as I wanted to give server admins visibility of players and their activities on their server.
This means that many of these stats will be populated, even on old profiles. However many are newly added, so will only start tracking once your game has updated. These stats will be a nice foundation for when I implement Steam achievements (future update).
Admins will show in the player list with an icon besides their name.
As an admin, you will also have a tab above the player's list, to list all banned players (who are now offline). Selecting players in this list will display a button to unban them. You can still view the full stats of a banned player.
Banned players will be banned across all profiles hosted by that server.
The idea is that servers that become reputable and in good standing with the community can be flagged as "verified" and show at the top of the list. Please reach out if you are a host and would like your server to be considered.
This is now predictively calculated by the client, and now feels way more responsive for clients.
I have started with a max count of 32, however this may change once servers have been tested. I would urge server hosts to be gentle with your max counts and monitor your performance stats. As a community, I hope we will soon get an understanding of performance ceilings. If you are a host, please join the "Server Admins" channel in Discord to discuss server performance and so I can notify of hotfixes going out, etc.
I've abandoned the previous collision primitives and added my own mesh collision for all trees. This seems to have fully solved the issue (for the price of a slightly increased map file size).
I've tried to include a decent amount of labels, but please let me know of more that are needed. I may consider adding dynamic text to labels in a future update.
I now track which player placed which buildable, which allows for the following new rules:
This setting allows server hosts to specify a number of (real-world) hours that if no members of a team have been active for this time, then all buildables placed by any of them will start to decay. The decay time takes around 4 to 6 hours once it has started.
I would recommend setting this to something like 5 days (120 hours), or whatever you feel appropriate to keep your servers clean. If set to 0, then the decay feature is disabled.
Now grown plants require the use key be held down for a short period to harvest them. I think this is a bit more immersive for players who like to farm.
This change will apply to existing multiplayer profiles. I'll expand this even further in the future.
Players will need to use diving equipment to access the caves (same as the existing caves).
The new caves stretch far out towards the north. They currently don't meet with the existing cave system, but I plan to link them in a future update.
The new cave system is larger than the existing one, so has more than doubled the amount of subterranean space in the world.
Some areas are more confined with tight tunnel systems leading deeper in.
The new cave system adds a new source of crystal to the southern area of the map. However crystal spawn cooldown has been increased due to the increased supply.
Their attacks will have a high chance of breaking bones and causing bleeding. Boar substitute wolf spawns in their areas, so this will lessen some areas of high predator density.
These new pieces are a full-wall height and have a half-floor depth to the slant.
I think these new angles will give players a lot more freedom for interesting and creative base designs.
While implementing the bats, I needed to create a new AI and navigation system for flying animals, which I plan to re-use for new ground-level flying animals.
This change is part of an effort to make servers self-balance as players join/leave, in preparation for dedicated server support. Also putting pressure on powerful player teams, while giving relief to players trying to get established.
Range Extenders that become unlinked from the base will show with a red panel for visual reference:
During the summer months, wild strawberries can be found growing around the world. Strawberries have slightly better stats than blueberries, as well as small hydration boost (handy for the hot temperatures).
I am just testing this out for now, and may roll this back. I feel it adds a small extra survival consideration and encourages progression, but I'm open to feedback from players.
This should now be fully fixed. Please let me know if there are any recurrences of this.
Finally players can craft vertical walls, rather than having to build two quarter walls.
The Alpha 52 update is primarily focused on adding substantial performance improvements, however there are also many new gameplay features and mechanics that I’ll detail first, as many may be less interested in the technical breakdown.
There are currently 4 items the Lathe will craft (continue reading for details):
The are intended as late game items and are pricey to craft. The take up the same space as a half ceiling.
There is a panel on the elevator platform allowing the players to choose which direction to move. The elevator will stop on any floor where there is a walkable floor to alight from, so if there is no floor to move to, it will not move. It draws a small amount of power from the base each time it's used.
Tracks will only snap onto foundations and full ceilings (wooden or metal), and can then be stacked on top of one another.
They can be placed on any wall, however must be close to an elevator track.
You can view a video of the elevator in action in this video:
[previewyoutube=Z_OWNkiorQI;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]
Traps can be baited with a range of items (which show while accessing). Some item types require more than others to "bait" the trap. A checkbox indicates when the trap is baited.
Placing many traps in close proximity will reduce the chances of luring an animal. Also spending time nearby the traps will deter animals, so best to leave them and check back in intervals. Traps will slowly deteriorate over time (however can be repaired).
They can currently be baited with tree grubs and rotten meat. One fish trap can catch up to 2 small fish, however when one fish is already in the trap, the chances of the second are reduced.
Similar to the small animal traps, overcrowding an area with fish traps will reduce the chances of catching fish, so try to spread them out. They will also slowly deteriorate over time.
A blue icon will show for the local player, and co-op players that share a base will show as white icons (only after they are added to the player list in the BCU). The in-game map has been on the roadmap for a long time, and it's functionality and purpose will continue to evolve to support upcoming features in the future.
I've also added drop-shadows to all item images, menu buttons, etc, so HUD elements pop more off the screen for a cleaner aesthetic. I think this looks a lot nicer, while also being more functional.
It will also soften footsteps for better immersion when spending time in your base. I plan to add more decorative items in the future.
The BCU Range Extender can be crafted at the BCU and used to extend the range at which powered (and other specific) items can be placed within your base. Note: They currently cannot be moved once placed.
The largest performance hit was due to every building piece being individually drawn each frame, leading to large volumes of draw calls and bottlenecking the rendering pipeline. The new system renders only a single mesh per building piece and creates multiple instances from these single meshes to render the visible scene.
When building pieces want to display their own individual visuals (such as damage skins), they seamlessly swap-out between the shared instanced mesh and their own individual mesh (so no compromise in terms of dynamic visuals).
I've added separate static meshes for all of these items (that can also use the same instancing system previously mentioned), and will now switch over to use the static mesh whenever not in motion. This change will give a big performance boost for players that have large bases with lots of windows and doors.
Due to a bug in the foliage system, clusters that were outside the player proximity were still causing draw-calls, even when they were not being visibly rendered (especially taxing when viewing large open vistas). I've now added a system that will cull these distant clusters, greatly reducing the volume of excessive draw calls.
Because of this, I've created new low-poly meshes for all trees, and a new manager that swaps-out distant trees to use these new models. The new models utilize the foliage system, meaning they can be instanced and are as cheap to render as grass.
The Alpha 51 update brings a large expansion to the southern region of the world map.
South of the existing maple forest now opens-up into new meadows, forests, rocky mountainous terrain, rivers, waterfalls and lakes.
A new mountain valley cuts down between the two southern peaks, offering plenty of new mid-altitude terrain (and cougar hunting grounds).
Down at lower altitude, a vast lake opens up stretches of beaches and deep water (now the largest body of water on the map).
A new silver birch forest-type runs along the edges of much of the southern beach-front. This forest is dense with foliage and high saturated colors.
Other new tree types, foliage and rock formations have been added, to give a distinct visual difference to the new zones.
Eventually I plan to interconnect the cave systems, such that players can traverse the map underground.
All of the new areas and assets have been hooked-up to the seasonal system introduced in Alpha 50 (including several foliage types I missed in the previous update).
This was actually a sizeable overhaul. I've run a lot of simulations with the new pathing logic, however there will certainly be room for improvement, so I'll appreciate reports of any issues.
A video of this event can be seen here: https://youtu.be/eqPt1EP3OT4
When browsing the server list, this setting can be viewed in the info popup when clicking on a server in the list.
This means bushes will audibly rustle when walking/running through them (as well being able to hear predators, prey and hunters moving through them nearby). I feel this adds more immersion. Once tested on this build, I'll expand to include many more foliage types.
In early spring, grass will start to grow and sprout an assortment of flowers across the various meadows, woodland and mountain slopes. Trees that have shed their leaves will regrow their canopies. Rivers and lakes will thaw as the daily temperatures rise.
During the summer months, as temperatures rise, the spring foliage recedes and much of the grass will go to seed.
As fall settles in and the heat subsides, the trees and foliage will transition to autumnal shades of reds, oranges and browns. Dead leaves will blow in the wind as the moose enter their rutting season.
Winter brings harsh cold temperatures, snow and blizzards. The rivers and lakes will freeze and many species of trees will become bare of leaves. Much of the grass will die or be buried by snow. The severity of the cold temperatures (and heat during summer) are adjusted for easy/normal/hardcore modes. This short video shows an example of a winter blizzard:
[previewyoutube=LLSpxMrW0ZI;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]
A new “heat-tolerance” meter now shows in the player’s clothing profile. Different clothing items will affect this level. If the temperature rises above this level, the player will start losing hydration at a faster rate (and this will be indicated by a “HOT” status icon).
So carry extra fluids on hot summer days, or take a swim to cool-off.
Radiators kick-out more heat than campfires/woodburners (allowing for higher altitude base-building). They also have a much greater range, so can get better coverage through the base. Being within range of Radiator heat, gives a slight increase to health regeneration speed.
Radiators draw power from the base when active. While active, the heat elements will light up and emanate heat waves. Heat generated by radiators is affected by interior insulation properties (see below).
The fan blades animate and the cooling element will light up while the AC is running.
In addition to this, both the radiator and AC unit are influenced by insulation in the base. If you have an open-air base, heat from the radiator will be diminished greatly over distance. However an enclosed base will make much better use of radiator heat and AC cooling. I’m not using true volumetrics for this calculation, so leaving a door open won’t deplete the base of heat, however standing by an open doorway will be cooler.
Simply stand on snow and the “fill with snow” action will show under the right-click menu. You can also use shift-click.
I’ve seen many players comment on ice-fishing, so this is something I’m considering adding.
White wolves are more camouflaged to their environment, have higher hitpoints and yield more loot than standard wolves.
Broken weapons will show a red X over the item. Right-clicking will show a repair button, which shows the repair recipe as you hover over it. The recipe changes based on how damaged the weapon is.
Damage is caused to items depending on where the damage was inflicted. Once worn clothing is reduced to zero health, it will be moved into the main inventory. So if your inventory is full, be aware the clothing item will be dropped. There will be an audible “ripping” sound when a clothing item’s health reaches zero.
During the winter months they will wear camoed variants of the winter jacket. This will substitute any combat armor, so generally they will be less protected from gunfire.
During fall and spring you will see them wearing sweaters and t-shirts.
In normal and hardcore modes, players spawned in the wilderness during winter will be issued a free heat pack as part of their starting loadout (to help with their journey back to base).
When attempting to join a server that is currently in winter, the player will be prompted by a warning advising so.
This should give players some freedom to exit from winter, or play any season of their choice without disrupting their progress.
