Hello!
In this update, we've focused on a general bug-fixing/optimization pass on The Long Dark, in anticipation of new features and content to be added by the end of the year. The game has become so big and we've added so much content this year that we just needed to take a step back and tidy up some of the performance issues and bugs that had piled up, particularly with the UI.
THE LONG DARK SANDBOX UPDATED to v.280 CHANGELIST --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS
* Outdoor load times have been reduced by about 30%.
* The moon now glows.
* The starfield is now projected on a sphere, and moves as night progresses.
* Fixed an issue with terrain grass disappearing if the user looked directly down.
* Reduced size of Rabbit Pelt gear item.
* General clean-up of Gear item positions in Inspect mode.
* Lighthouse - fixed floating clipboard after shelf breakdown
* Fixed placed arrows sometimes falling through the world.
* Fixed intermittent audio pauses/gaps [Xbox One]
GAMEPLAY FIXES
* Fixed issue where Rifle would occasionally be lost during a Struggle.
* Fixed issue with being able to instantly catch Rabbits in a Snare.
* Fixed intermittent issue with not being able to pick up used Snares.
* Fixed issue where broken arrows sometimes had higher Condition than when they were whole.
* Tuned wildlife respawn times in Mystery Lake, to bring them more inline with other regions.
* Chain-link fences no longer provide shelter from wind.
* Fixed issue where very small amounts of water could disappear from inventory when dropping water bottles.
* Added slight illumination to items in Inspection mode, to make them visible even when in low-light conditions.
* Made deer corpses in Desolation Point cave start unfrozen, and made corpses thaw when inside caves.
* Slightly increased spawn chance for Feathers.
* Added a small chance that Arrowheads may spawn in Cash Registers or Tool Chests.
* When Breaking Down an item, the spawned Raw Materials are now placed based on the interaction point and not the original object's centre point.
SAVE SYSTEM FIXES
* Fixed issue where vehicle colours would reset between loads.
* Fixed issues with game failing to save, or failing to load old saves [Xbox One]
UI FIXES
* Updated Can Opening UI to use the cover-flow style, to make it more consistent with other selection UIs.
* Fixed missing icon on popup when harvesting Old Man's Beard and Cattails.
* Fixed "Feed Fire" button placement so players are less likely to accidentally take a Torch from an active fire.
* Exiting the Repair or Tool Selection menus will now return you to the Harvest/Repair screens, rather than exiting.
* The UI now displays how much Kerosene gets used up when selected as an Accelerant during Firestarting.
* Non-stackable Firestarting tools (ex. Firestriker) now show their Condition value, vs. simply saying "None", in the Firestarting UI.
* You can no longer modify the amount to be harvested while the harvesting action is in progress.
* Made some improvements to how we handle auto-repeat actions (ex. holding down a key or controller stick), which should help avoid accidental repetitions.
* Added the Time of Day information to the Rest and Ice-Fishing UI, to make it easier to plan out how long you want to Rest or Fish for.
* Added fire duration widget while time is accelerated when using fire.
* Fixed sort/filter icons not appearing on container screen [Xbox One].
* Added lantern and torch icons to equip popup.
* Fixed issue where "Rest Remaining" on first aid could round down to zero.
* Fixed issue where HUD condition icons were partially covered during time accelerated actions.
* Fixed issue with Inventory selection when dropping items from a stack while sorting by weight.
* Fixed issue where mouse cursor would reset to centre after using a first aid item.
* Fixed issue with Rifle not rotating around its centre-point in Inspection mode.
* Fixed issue where scrolling audio wouldn't always play correctly, when scrolling through menu items.
* Torch Condition now visible from the Firestarting screen.
* Fixed issue with very short Repair actions not showing a progress bar.
* Fixed issue where smashing open a can from Feed Fire screen would return to Fuel tab, also added (Opened) tag to cans on Feed Fire screen.
* Fixed fuel display on Inventory screen and Refuel screen.
* Added gear pop-up for cooked or heated food items.
###END OF CHANGELIST###
UPCOMING: STEAM OS, STEAM CONTROLLER & LINUX SUPPORT -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're happy to share an update on our progress with Linux support. We have a Linux build of The Long Dark up and running in the studio, running on SteamOS, which is based on a Debian 7 Linux distro. The game looks great and runs well, but it needs more testing for us to be 100% confident in it.
We're hoping that the Linux community will support this testing effort. Within the next few weeks, we'll be launching an Experimental Linux Branch that current players can "opt in" to, to help with testing. We'll also set up a Linux sub-forum -- both in Steam and in our official community -- so there'll be a place to track bugs and provide feedback on performance, etc. Once the Experimental Linux Branch has had sufficient testing, we'll fold Linux into our main release.
With this Linux work underway, we're tracking towards full Steam OS and Steam Controller support for The Long Dark. Release date on that is still TBD. We'll provide more info about the Steam OS release once we firm up our plans.
Thanks!
- The Hinterland Team