0.4.16.0 is unleashed! This update is a game-changer, bringing a whole new movement and melee system along with it, as well as new and improved UI changes - featuring an entirely new main menu.
With the new movement system, the player’s movement is significantly more fluid. The character will lean as they turn and intermediate animations smooth all your motions together. There are new movement features too - including rolling to break your fall… unless you drop too far where you will discover the new ragdolling feature. While springing, players can now slide to get away from danger. The full list of updates and features is below.
In tandem with the updated movement is the updated melee system, featuring all-new animations for all melee weapons. What's more, weapons are now able to make even more of a mess when they slice off limbs. Devastate your enemies with new brutal finisher moves using the new melee weapons.
Many UI elements across the game have received updates - not least the main menu which has been completely redesigned.
These changes are just the tip of the iceberg though. Take a read below of the full patch notes full of fixes, new additions, optimisations and quality-of-life improvements.
Developer Comment:
It would be advisable to start a fresh game as some mechanics, craftables and items may be bugged or not be available if using out-of-date game save files.
New Movement System
General movement updates
• Improved all basic movement animations
• New intermediate animations when starting to sprint, turn, etc
• Character now leans left/right when turning
• Character will lean forward/back when travelling up or down slopes providing a more natural posture
• New movement animations integrate with original JoE animations
• Improved crouching animations
• Falling a short distance may cause the character to roll to absorb the impact
• Falling from a great height will cause the character to ragdoll before they can recover
• Pressing crouch while sprinting initiates a slide
• Double-tapping crouch causes the player to roll
• New third-person turning. The camera can orbit the character and the character will turn to face that orientation after a short while if stationary.
• The character's turning circle becomes wider the faster you move. For instance, it is difficult to do a tight turn while sprinting.
• Player no longer has a dedicated sprint bar.
• Improved camera position for first person
• New first-person legs when looking down
• Adjustments to focus blur on the camera
• Mitigated issues where players could see themselves leaning back
• Camera can now never clip with world geometry
• Stamina usage while sprinting has been increased.
This change aims to improve melee combat as the character can now move and regenerate stamina for their next attack while making sprint manoeuvres a more tactical decision.
Weapons updates
• New relaxed and aiming animations when holding a rifle
• New relaxed and aiming animations when holding a pistol
• Adjusted camera positions to be in line with new weapon positions
• When aiming in the third-person, objects on the player's back now fade out quicker for improved visibility
First Person Updates
• The new movement system fundamentally changes how first-person features work. In response, we have started a full rework of the first-person system. This update contains the first phase of the first-person updates, with new animations and quality-of-life improvements to follow in the coming weeks. The first-person content is somewhat bare-bones at the moment, but will be our primary focus moving forward.
Updated Menus and UI
To anyone with custom keybindings - please note, that a lot of settings and key binding features have been completely reworked, so this may require you to delete the DefaultJOEPlayer_KeyBindings.sav located at C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\JoEGame_A\Saved\SaveGames, then validating files on Steam. If you require help with this, do not hesitate to ask for help in the game-support channel.
• Updated main menu visuals.
• Main menu is completely controller compatible.
• You can now preview and browse DLC outfits from the main menu.
• Added new additional settings controls.
• Added Gamepad and keyboard auto-detection.
• Added new key bind button displays.
• Complete rework of in-game settings.
• Complete rework of input bindings now complete with alternative binding profiles.
• Complete rework of the save/loading menu.
• Updated character selection menu.
• Added new soundtrack selection options.
• Updated loading screen displays.
• Updated game loading splash image.
•Added experimental translation for the following languages (see below) using the DeepL Translation API.
This is currently only available on the main menu while we test and implement it throughout the UI, subtitles and so on.
BG - Bulgarian
CS - Czech
DA - Danish
DE - German
EL - Greek
EN - English
ES - Spanish
ET - Estonian
FI - Finnish
FR - French
HU - Hungarian
ID - Indonesian
IT - Italian
JA - Japanese
LT - Lithuanian
LV - Latvian
NL - Dutch
PL - Polish
PT - Portuguese (all Portuguese varieties mixed)
RO - Romanian
RU - Russian
SK - Slovak
SL - Slovenian
SV - Swedish
TR - Turkish
UK - Ukrainian
ZH - Chinese
• Players can now load a save from the in-game menu
• The menu to choose a starting scenario is now displayed before loading into a new game.
• Re-worked button layouts in the main menu.
• Main menu navigation can now all be done with the WASD keys so no need to use the arrow keys on specific menus.
New Melee System
• Added new melee system and animations for all melee weapons
• All melee weapons statistics have been rebalanced around the new melee system
• Melee weapons all have a chance to dismember limbs from infected. Blunt weapons have a low chance of this happening, whereas bladed weapons have a higher chance.
• Added new melee weapon: The Katana
• Katana has a basic version, an advanced version and additional skins for Advanced Katana.
• Added a new melee finisher system. Sometimes, at the end of a fight, you will perform a special animation to finish off the last infected enemy.
• Added new harvesting animations when using a weapon
• Added a new rotational lock on the system when using melee weapons. The character will rotate to face their target as they swing their weapon.
• Crouching now longer prevents melee attacks from being performed.
• Freelook no longer stops melee attacks from being performed. Freelook mode will end when starting a melee attack
Optimisations
• Optimised the Tammerlane & Daughter building near Bleaksly.
• Optimised draw distance on some world meshes.
• Optimised building resource display to only update when needed instead of checking resources every frame.
• Significantly improved method for NPCs processing deployable decoys as potential targets.
• Fixed constantly running CPU cost on the game thread for cables, most of which are used around the boss area.
• Improved running game thread cost associated with overhead NPC text.
• Optimised draw distance on radio towers.
• Significantly improved performance of logic responsible for handling weapon accuracy.
• Eradicated errors relating to ladder-climbing logic for NPCs
• Small improvement relating to the cost of projectile trails
• Fixed background CPU cost on the game thread relating to the swamp boss.
• Cleanup of legacy content used in item pickups
• Improved game thread CPU cost relating to rain effects
• Significant improvement affecting background CPU cost of vehicles
• Reduced cost of various fire effects without much visual difference.
Added
• Added extra walls around the hillside house in Hanouten.
• Added new wall outside the fenced farmhouses
• Added additional vehicles around the map
• Players' footsteps now splash and make ripples in puddles.
• Extra vehicles and road barriers added around Orling's & Sons
• Added blocking volumes around Orling's & Sons to stop infected and Xiles trying to climb the fence.
• When a character's energy reaches a critically low level, they will now temporarily pass out if their stamina reaches zero.
• Reaching zero stamina now causes the 'Exhausted' debuff. This increases the rate at which the character uses energy until their stamina recovers.
• Added new ivy meshes around the safe-zone
• Added lootable box truck that can be accessed from the back and contains lootable boxes
• Added lootable mailboxes outside houses that have a small chance of blueprint magazines and notes giving clues to secret stashes.
• Added a rock slide scene near the Sheriff Sen crash location
• Added additional décor to Sen's crash site.
• Added three new continuous quest NPCs in the Backwater Beacon safe zone. Speak to them then supply them with what they need for a continuous income.
• Added a new fast travel system. Players can now travel to previously visited safe zones for a cost of bucks.
• School-Fu [DLC] is now available for Sophia Riggs & Amy Morgan - Available at playjoe.gg
• Ninjutsu [DLC] is now available for all protagonist characters - Available at playjoe.gg
• Added four new types of static trucks around the map.
• Added different repair requirements for items. Some items may require a repair bench or even currency (bucks) to be fixed.
• Added walkway over demolition site road.
• Added NPC reinforcement zone (where a helicopter may land) to the demolition area in Hanouten.
• Added new resource "Refined Wood" made from logs and beeswax.
• Added Saw Blade item used in crafting.
• Added Wood Saw Bench that can be placed down, filled with wood logs, then can be used to convert them to timber planks that can be auto-accessed by the building system.
• Added a craftable fast travel post, that can be used to fast travel to visited safe zones.
• Added little light in vehicles to indicate alarms
• Added a new trader to Crossbridges Church
• Added a system for allowing old saves to be compatible with new traders added.
• Added new workstation "Utility Bench". This is used for upgrading and repairing items and equipment.
• Added a Utility Bench to each safe zone
• Utility Bench now utilises the new UI setup that will replace the current workbench interaction and UI going forth. (The gamepad/keyboard control does not work yet due to widget focus issues)
• Utility bench is now craftable in the Smithy Bench
• Added first person melee animations for katanas and chainsaws.
• Added two peers to the Hanouten beach near the dry dock.
Updated
• Updated wood textures on many props throughout the world, including Water Collectors, Showers, and settlement architecture.
• Respawn on foliage now uses the player’s settings from the settings menu
• Respawn on loot now uses the player’s setting from the settings menu
• Player camera FOV is now controlled by the new settings system
• Hordes now uses the player settings from the settings menu and can be enabled (default) or disabled.
• Re-added camera shake control in the game settings.
• Character base carry weight increased from 1KG (2,2lb) to 8KG (17.6lb).
• ST-RV watch visuals improved
• Interaction icons will now reflect keyboard or controller/gamepad buttons (key binds).
• Option to deactivate the ST-RV screen effects added to the settings menu.
• Zoomed the ST-RV map out a little to view more of the map.
• Sensitivity now uses the new settings system allowing you to adjust the sensitivity of the controller and mouse input
• Swapped out an old car model in the world with the new lootable car system.
• Moved vehicle near Dom's Hardware away from the building slightly.
• Dom's Hardware has had building restrictions removed.
• Adjusted landscape near roads with holes.
• Player footsteps no longer have large water splash when raining, only when moving through puddles.
• Burchet Dam no longer spawns the items: MP5 (uncommon), Suppressor, and Ext Mag. This is now random.
• Hydro Station no longer spawns the items: MP5 (uncommon) SMG, Suppressor and Ext Mag. This is now random and requires a green keycard, not a red keycard.
• Croc Farm no longer spawns the items: AKM (common), AR Suppressor and (210) 7.62 ammo. This is now random.
• Removed pistol and ammo from the covered bridge in Hanouten
• Factors such as weight, water wading depth, mud, slope elevation and energy level now all affect maximum movement speed.
• Updated Bruce Reed’s character mesh to improve looks and quality.
• Updated Maia Kras’ character mesh to improve looks and quality.
• Slightly improved smoothness when entering and exiting the water.
• Settings are now available from the in-game pause menu.
• Trader idle animations have been replaced with new ones of better quality.
• Attack inputs now cancel usable item interactions from the inventory (e.g. med kits, food, bandages, etc)
• It is now only possible to find a single blueprint book/magazine in a container. This will be managed with skills and levels very soon.
• Character can no longer jump into deeper water
• The following books/magazines have now been added to the loot tables
• Farming
• Farming Composting
• Furniture Making
• Guide to Bee Keeping
• Survival Cooking
• BG: Storage
• Boating for Numpties
• Gustava now destroys inflatable decoys in her way.
• Blueprint boxes/magazines can now be found in more container types, not just locked toolboxes.
• Vehicle parts can now be found in locked toolboxes.
• The FOV setting is now used by all other cameras like vehicles, horses and trader cameras.
• Improved scene dressing around the construction yard and Dom's Hardware.
• Improved smoothness of pickup animation for some harvestable items in the world.
• Downed enemy bodies now show a skull icon when in range (focused) to loot them.
• Harvesting mud and leaves no longer locks players' positions or causes sliding issues.
• Removed all small vans with spikes in the window.
• Updated character's ability to 'perch' on side of edges. This helps mitigate issues with the player sliding on the edges of the geometry.
• Reduced character collision capsule width
• Improved camera position when crouching, aiming and moving simultaneously
• Adjusted camera position when aiming for each character so that shorter characters no longer have the third-person camera floating too high above them.
• Sen's crash site has moved to under the walkover bridge
• Doors and locked boxes now display text and the level required to open.
• Updated the area behind the 711 in Hanouten.
• Changed the color of the ocean, so it does not look so tropical
• Adjusted dusk time.
• Adjusted how dark it gets from 2 am till sunrise.
• Dressed up roadsides from Hanouten to Orlings.
• Updated fence and layout around Orlings and Sons.
• Replaced some tree types around the seaside area.
• Updated abandoned building near Hanouten station.
• Tweaked the environment at the lighthouse.
• Adjusted lighting and weather to improve the flatness of the lighting.
• Move cars near Nomad about a little to stop doors clipping.
• Improved fire projectile detection on truck nest spawns.
• Adjusted shadow occlusion so shadows are not so dark.
• Adjusted dirt path causing a small hole in the landscape.
• Reworked nourishment system - The system no longer restricts you from eating food types, but will activate a debuff that can last from a minimum of 5 mins will reduce nourishment gain from food types and increase fulfillment time.
• When eating lots of the same food type, the player can be given a debuff for that type of food. This debuff lasts for five minutes or when the player’s nourishment level for that food type returns to a normal level, whichever happens first.
• Changed out shaders for cliffs and large rocks that have more details and are UE5-friendly.
• Recurve bow no longer requires carbon fibre to repair.
• Stamina can now regenerate slowly while moving at low speeds.
• Tweaked shadow's brightness to try and lighten the dark. This may cause building interiors to be brighter.
• Updated cliff materials in the mountains which were using an incorrect material setup.
• Chainsaws can no longer be used to cut down small plants such as blueberries, nettles and potatoes.
• Only player-built ladders now show an interaction wheel which gives the option to pick them up into the inventory.
• Kills on wolves, Eden Nadir military and crocodiles are now shown in the player's kill statistics
• Respawn screen is now fully controller supported.
• The character is now protected from damage while in stealth takedowns and melee finishers cinematics
• Regular basic attacks with weapons no longer harvest nearby foliage.
• Jumping while using a tool to harvest now cancels the harvesting process.
• Outfits no longer need wardrobes or be in a safe zone to change outfits.
• Additional enemies added to Wanted missions.
• New connecting roadway from Cross Bridges to mountains.
• Changed out sidewalks/paths with new mesh and updated materials on others.
• Vehicles now have a chance of spawning 55 different items instead of just 12 items.
• Updated building resource UI, which now shows an animated icon of where the system will be looking for resources.
• Updated Hanouten bridge visuals.
• Building resource display will now show an available number of resources as well as cost.
• Building resource display will now highlight the resource in green if being used from a bench.
• Pressing 'jump' while on a ladder now just disconnects the character from the ladder, instead of also jumping and climbing which could result in some messy movement.
• Improved human NPC's investigating disturbances. NPCs will now fully turn to face disturbances, even if the path to the source of the disturbance is blocked.
• Vehicles now use the same drop chance for items as other lootable.
• Vehicle wheels can now be repaired at the Utility bench.
• Extendable Baton now has its own icon instead of a Baseball Bat icon
• Swapped out wood structures around survivor camp (James) with updated versions.
Fixes
• Fixed electrical items like switches, and generators working correctly with required or non-required tools (i.e. Generator can now be interacted with without the use of a voltmeter)
• Fixed an issue with a shower curtain showing when the wash station has not been upgraded.
• Fixed issue with safe-zone doors not opening on the non-driftwood game starts.
• Fixed NPC dialogue duplication by pressing the interaction button multiple times.
• Fixed the ST-RV mini-map being stuck on the screen until pressing the vitals button.
• Fixed Lucille LeBoeuf not giving the free outfit during her dialogue.
• Fixed issues where players could fall through the world when starting the game.
• Fixed 711 safe spawning more than one item.
• Fixed the Sportster being named 50s Truck in Liam Orling's vehicle trade window.
• Fixed UI disappearing after purchasing vehicles from Liam Orling
• Fixed purchased vehicles from Liam having no fuel
• Fixed purchased vehicles from Liam having missing wheels
• Fixed purchased vehicles from Liam having missing parts
• Fixed purchased vehicles from Liam requiring hotwiring
• Fixed purchased vehicles from Liam not having 100% health.
• Fixed purchased vehicles from Liam coming with used parts.
• Fixed fences looking odd due to an error compiling virtual textures.
• Fixed gate overlaps blocking projectiles at Orlings and Sons.
• Fixed not being able to interact with the quest noticeboard in Backwater Beacon Safe-Zone on any other game mode than Driftwood.
• Fixed Sheriff Sen being in the safe zone at Backwater Beacon in other game modes apart from Driftwood.
• Fixed inventory items continuing to be used even after canceling the animation (normally by punching).
• Fixed interactable objects, such as food and med kits, having their animations cancelled while moving.
• Fixed setting for display temperature not changing the display on the ST-RV watch
• Fixed inability to continue shooting the bow if releasing previous shot early when drawing
• Fixed character wearing body armour in the shower.
• Fixed arrows being automatically fired from the bow without the player releasing the arrow.
• Fixed mysterious pair of arms appearing in front of the character when holding left and right click together while aiming a bow.
• Fixed assorted rotation issues where character's rotation speed may be inconsistent.
• Fixed vehicle trader window getting stuck when pressing escape to exit.
• Fixed vehicles in the vehicle trader window not being complete vehicle meshes.
• Fixed upgrade options showing as Jars of Jam in the vehicle trader window.
• Fixed not being able to climb up on a box and sunken roof in Gustava's outer ring arena.
• Fixed incorrect button icons showing on UI buttons.
• Fixed save files not displaying the correct start scenario and just stating Driftwood for all games.
• Fixed save files below one minute being empty, they will now say "Under a Minute".
• Tentative fix for purchased vehicles not saving if save made before entering the new spawn vehicle then loading that save.
• Fixed timer when using an inventory item not stopping if interrupted.
• Fixed some doors not opening correctly.
• Fixed extra pair of arms appearing when reloading and holding aim button
• Fixed situation where NPCs may get stuck going up and down ladders.
• Fixed puddle ripples not working in puddles.
• Fixed sensitivity settings not affecting the mouse turn speed.
• Fixed vehicle clipping into the road on hill up from Hanouten.
• Fixed Sen's Wreck key spawns being at the incorrect location.
• Fixed player buildings sometimes missing the sides off roofs after being rotated.
• Fixed the night time multiplier incorrectly setting the night speed.
• Fixed the weather volume control not affecting the weather audio.
• Fixed entering a boat in first-person while swimming causing the boat camera to be in third person.
• Fixed motel sinks being rotated 180 degrees the wrong way round.
• Fixed texture LODs turning into rainbow colours on some foliage.
• Fixed the safe puzzle number being in the incorrect location at the abandoned store.
• Fixed deformed landscape under dirt path behind Orling's
• Fixed vehicles spawning sunken into the ground or under the map.
• Fixed recovered vehicles at Orling's and Sons spawning in the incorrect location.
• Fixed traders not selling the following blueprints: Research Complete Edition, Outdoor Lifestyle 1, Outdoor Lifestyle 2.
• Fixed quest boards being blocked by the character.
• Fixed sliding issue that can occur when NPCs holster or unholster weapons.
• Fixed new rock materials not showing height snow effect on mountain rocks and cliffs
• Fixed vehicle in Crossbridges clipping with a vehicle spawn location.
• Fixed bags given from supply quests not disappearing from the player's back after handing in the quest.
• Fixed NPCs being able to climb during stealth takedowns, which could abort the takedown and cause problems
• Fixed crocodile kills contributing towards deer kills.
• Fixed projectiles not giving user feedback when hitting enemies in the legs.
• Fixed character's position becoming offset when rowing a boat.
• Fixed flickering effect caused by flashlights on low battery to continue even after swapping out to a new flashlight.
• Tentative fix to address issues where sometimes infected look like they're walking backwards.
• Fixed being able to switch grenades while showering.
• Fixed floating leaves and dead grass foliage near crossbridges roadside.
• Fixed buttons not showing correctly on the death respawn screen.
• Fixed animation not playing when harvesting animals.
• Fixed anything requiring oil to repair not removing the oil after repairing.
• Fixed melee weapons appearing in both hands simultaneously when picking up a new melee weapon if one is not already equipped.
• Fixed character bending down into a crouch pose after firing a bow.
• Fixed building system not checking players inventory or removing other resources if near a wood saw bench.
• Fixed NPCs mounting and dismounting ladders instead of climbing up or down them.
• Fixed rare issue where human NPCs could swim through the air after being interrupted while interacting with a ladder.
• Fixed issue causing human NPCs to sometimes be unresponsive when identifying targets.
• Fixed issue where infected could become unresponsive after destroying a deployable decoy.
• Fixed situation where human NPCs may turn to investigate a disturbance but then rapidly turn away and ignore the disturbance.
• Fixed missing key prompt icons in the UI
• Fixed bow floating underneath player in first person after shooting.
• Fixed character getting stuck if a rifle pose while holding another weapon.
• Fixed NPCs continuing to attack vehicles after the player has exited them.
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HOTFIX 0.4.16.1a
UPDATED
• Improved sound attenuation on infected idle vocal sounds
• Updated incorrect description on the bench saw when adding logs
FIXED
• Fixed building resources window sometimes not disappearing
• Tentative fix for building resources window not updating when using resources on building parts
• Fixed weapons sometimes floating near playing after changing from first person to third person.
• Fixed placement hologram disappearing after placing each room.
• Fixed Saw Bench menu not closing when clicking RMB
• Fixed missing textures on some leather backpacks
• Fixed game becoming locked on the fast travel menu if trying to travel to an invalid location.
• Fixing aiming while reloading causing character's arms to float near their body.
HOTFIX 0.4.16.2a
ADDED
• Added a new dialogue light when interacting with NPCs
UPDATED
• Removed left over testing items from Maia's construction area.
• Player flashlight will now toggle on and off when interacting with NPCs so not to blast them out with bright lights.
• Updated Fred's area due to missing foliage again.
• Fred the pet zombie will now only activate when player is completing the training area to help with unnecessary AI calculations
• Moved the Backwater Beacon fast travel carriage to the adjacent road.
• Third person chain saw attack animation updated to have slightly better forward reach and feel more responsive.
• Updated peers with decor
• Updated dirt path to nomad camp with streetlights
FIXED
• Fixed postprocess in large houses making it look really dark
• Tentative fix for humans sometimes getting stuck in the ladder climbing pose
• Fixed followers sometimes spawning below the ground or getting stuck inside it after loading a saved game
OPTIMISED
• Optimised wave breaker posts to use our instance base system
WANT TO TRY OUT NEW FEATURES AHEAD OF TIME?
For survivors playing on Steam, if you want to try out new features like the one above, you can do so by trying out the Staging Branch of Jaws of Extinction. We update this daily with fixes, changes, and new content, and it is a great way to see what’s coming before we release it to the main Alpha version! The staging branch can be accessed by following the steps below:
• Right-click on Jaws of Extinction in your Steam library.
• Select ‘Properties’
• Navigate to ‘BETAS’
• From the betas dropdown, select ‘Staging - Experimental Branch’
Want to keep up with all the latest on Jaws of Extinction? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and join the community on Discord!
The KYE Creations Team
