Out Now | Emerald Coast Australia and Layton Lake Cosmetic Pack

G’day Hunters,

Emerald Coast Australia and the accompanying free Outback Update, as well as the Layton Lake Cosmetic Pack, are available now on all platforms!

A New Hunting Destination

Discover breathtaking landscapes and hunt iconic animal species such as the Saltwater Crocodile 🐊 and Eastern Gray Kangaroo 🦘 as you explore this magical new hunting destination down under.

▶ KEY FEATURES

◈ Explore the Australian outback, subtropical bushlands, and tropical rainforests, and experience the natural wonder of its stunning wilderness.

◈ Hunt some of Australia's most iconic fauna, including the Magpie Goose, Banteng, Saltwater Crocodile, Eastern Gray Kangaroo, and a new Great One.

◈ Make new friends and work together to protect the region's beautiful but fragile ecosystem through side and story missions focused on conservation, cooperation, and community.

◈ Expand your hunting arsenal with the new Zagan Varminter .22-250 Bolt-Action Rifle. Light and comfortable to shoot, it's the perfect companion for any hunting trip.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383430/theHunter_Call_of_the_Wild__Emerald_Coast_Australia/

Layton Lake Cosmetic Pack

Released as one of the first maps for the game, Layton Lake continues to be a popular destination among hunters from all around the world!

With the new Layton Lake Cosmetic Pack, which includes unique paints, sprays, camos, and wraps directly inspired by this cherished reserve, you can now customize your weapons and tents and ground blinds in true Layton style!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2197812/theHunter_Call_of_the_Wild__Layton_Lake_Cosmetic_Pack/

Free Outback Update

▶ HIGHLIGHTS

◈ Prepare for an unforgettable challenge!
In this update, the majestic Fallow Deer has been added to our list of Great Ones, bringing some spice to your hunting experience.

◈ Enter in style with the Australian Bushwear outfit
A new set of clothes inspired by Australian outback style is now available to purchase for in-game currency.

◈ More customization!
With the addition of customizable tents and ground blinds, all customization options previously unlocked to use on weapons may now be applied to them too! (Note here that customization can be changed while the item is in your inventory, and not while it’s placed in the world.)

FULL PATCH NOTES

You’re in for an update brimming with new features, quality of life improvements, and bug fixes. Let’s dive into the full patch notes.

Additional New Features

• Animals now have a chance to create an interactive audio clue when fleeing.
• Interacting with any Audio Clue will now display an estimated distance to the target.
• Springbok, European Bison, and Plains Bison have gotten new TruRACs horn designs.
• Alligators have gotten more aggressive with the new addition of Saltwater Crocodiles. They will attack more often and are more clever about how and when they will get close and personal with you, so be careful out there!
• Alligators and Crocodiles will now float to the surface for retrieval when they die underwater. Lost a kill to the murky swamp water in the past? Never again!
• The Harvest Screen has been redesigned.
• Players may now tag their favorite Customization Options to make them appear in a favorites menu for easy access.
• You may now choose which version of your Trophy Lodge to load into in multiplayer games. You may no longer switch to different lodges after loading into a Multiplayer game. This is to prevent the Trophy Lodge from failing to sync between players.

Adjustments & Improvements

GAMEPLAY

• The XP requirement values for various weapons, ammunition, and gear items have been revised to make them less confusing and to make some basic equipment more accessible to new players.
• .223 ammunition should be more effective for all .223-compatible weapons.
• The Red Deer, Feral Goat, Axis Deer and Fallow Deer have had their furs updated to improve their look.
• Alligators in Mississippi should spend more time on land.
• Mexican Bobcats will now be out drinking into the wee hours of the morning.
• To reflect changes to the updated species, the Springbok, European Bison, Plains Bison, Alligators, and Mexican Bobcat populations will be reset.

UI

• Players wishing for a more immersive experience can now disable the Control Hints in the UI by turning them off in Interface Settings.
• If the “Hide All Clues” hotkey is activated, a Control Hint will appear showing which key you press to show them again.
• The Main Menu has been straightened out and is no longer canted at a jaunty angle.
• Animal Harvests in the Hunting Profile have been reorganized to put Great Ones at the top of the list.
• Closing the customization menu with unsaved changes will now prompt you to save your changes before leaving.

VISUALS

• Added new shadow rendering improvements- Screen Space Contact Shadows. These are on by default on newer Consoles. PC players may activate them by turning on the option in the Video Settings menu.
• Shotgun animations were improved.

Bug Fixes

GAMEPLAY

• Capercaillie will now react properly to being shot while performing certain aggressive animations
• Placed Turkey Decoys will no longer vanish when you leave a reserve.
• The Keen Eye skill will correctly be triggered while away from the lookout towers.
• The Muscle Memory perk will now work as it should.
• We’ve fixed a sight calibration issue with the Hudzik .50 Caplock.
• The Grelck Drilling Rifle should no longer leave you unable to fire when switching from Shotgun to Rifle mode.
• An issue was resolved where revolvers could become jammed when hip firing with manual chambering enabled. Developer’s Note: We made them act like double-action revolvers when hip-firing which improved their stability.
• The reward weapons from Parque Fernando will now unlock correctly when the missions are completed.
• The “Ultimate Memento” Mission on Medved-Taiga can be completed again.
• We’ve fixed an issue with the mission “Mucking it up for Science” on Vurhonga Savannah, where it was difficult to find one of the objectives.
• We’ve addressed an issue in the “Cats and Cradles” mission on New England Mountains that caused objectives to be displayed out of order.
• Cans shot with rifles and pistols during the “Target Practice” mission in Rancho Del Arroyo should fall over now.

UI

• We moved the default Keybind for “Hide All Clues” to “U”. Developer’s Note: This action was unintentionally set to “C”. Make sure to reset your keybinds to default to get this change.
• The default key for saving a loadout could also be bound to scrolling through items. This has been fixed and saving a loadout is now only bound to “R”.
• The keybind for activating the Rangefinder bow sight was the same as the keybind for spotting. The bow sight is now “R” when aiming with a bow, or Y / Triangle on a controller.
• We’ve fixed an issue where any items in your inventory, that were not saved in your current loadout, were not kept in the active inventory between gameplay sessions.
• The Weapon Wheel UI will no longer display confusing “TXT” strings in place of weapon descriptions when quitting the game with a Scoped Weapon in your inventory if it wasn’t saved to your loadout.
• Option to “save” a loadout will now work correctly when the select loadout menu is open.
• We’ve fixed a UI issue that could happen when changing scopes in the weapon wheel while reloading.
• Weapon Customizations from the Hunter Power Pack have been renamed to better indicate their origin.
• Customizations applied to the Caversham Steward 12G will no longer also be applied to other, similar 12G shotguns.
• Animal harvests are now being recorded correctly in the hunting profile.
• Green Wing Teal will no longer display the wrong icon when viewed in the trophy lodge.
• We’ve solved an issue with the on-screen button prompt missing when attempting to pet the dog in a Trophy Lodge. Because they deserve all your pets.
• When editing a trophy placement, only the base of the chosen trophy will be highlighted to make selection easier.
• “Points of Interest” icons from birds spotted with the Tag skill will now properly disappear from the map.
• Motion blur now correctly applies to the sights while using a scope.
• The map icon for the Parque Fernando reserve has been accurately placed on the world map.
• Entering invalid login info while signing into your Apex account or signing in after using “Forgot Password” will no longer cause the game to become unresponsive.
• When purchasing the New England Mountains Veteran Cosmetic Pack on the Epic Game Store, you will now properly unlock the coresponding cosmetics.
• We’ve fixed an issue where the “Thank you for your purchase” message would remain stuck on the Trophy Lodge menu if a player bought Trophy Lodge DLC from there.
• Trophies of animals with no medal will no longer show as a Bronze medal in the trophy lodge UI.
• Owned DLC will no longer show up as recommended after purchase.
• Corrected a typo in the codex entry for “Serpent Players Playhouse”.
• On the Windows Store PC version, we’ve fixed an issue that caused UI Keybinds to save incorrectly. Developer’s Note: As a result, Windows Store players will have their keybinds reset to default after the update.
• If you started a new game after progressing part of the Hunt Club beta event, you can now properly claim your rewards.
• The “Scarecrow” achievement description has been updated to specify that the player must scare 1000 unique animals. Developer’s Note: The “animals scared” statistic in the codex shows the number of times the player has scared an animal, regardless of whether they’ve scared them before, which is why these numbers don’t necessarily match up.

AUDIO

• Gray Wolves, Red Deer, Red Foxes, and Feral Goats should have audible calls again.
• Reduced the occurrence of the “zone transition” audio to prevent it from spamming when players move back and forth across a zone border.
• Audio should now be in sync with the animation when another player fires a rifle from the hip.

VISUALS

• Various animals should no longer slide around and look odd in Multiplayer. We’ve taken away their skates.
• An issue that would cause a Moose to look odd when starting to move from idle has been resolved.
• We’ve fixed an issue with Female Alligator animations.
• Animation issues that could sometimes happen when animals were stopping have been addressed.
• Existing Geese models have been adjusted to make their necks more closely resemble actual geese.
• Cinnamon Teal models have been fixed.
• We’ve fixed some issues with the Springbok skeleton when viewed in X-ray on the harvest screen.
• We’ve corrected a minor visual problem with the Melanistic Mallard Models.
• We’ve fixed a clipping issue with one of the Bobwhite Quail trophy poses.
• A Trophy Pose for Mouflons has been added to fix a bug where their horns weren’t being shown accurately.
• We’ve fixed an issue that could cause the dog’s head to spin around… we’re sorry you had to see that.
• The dog will not longer become invisible while performing “play” or “pet” interactions with certain graphics settings.
• Skin tones on the lower arms are now properly matched while wearing the Africa Outfit.
• Wearing the Africa Outfit will no longer give certain player characters a bald spot.
• We’ve fixed an issue with half-transparent “phantom trees” appearing on Te Awaroa at low graphics complexity settings.
• We’ve addressed an issue with Fog Rendering that made it look weirdly pixelated, particularly when rendering with thin vegetation.
• We've fixed an issue on PC where the cursor would not stay locked inside the game window during gameplay if the player had multiple monitors and the game was being displayed on a monitor other than the primary one.
• The TAA Sharpness setting now applies properly even when FSR is disabled. With this change things should look smoother than ever!
• FXAA and TAA Anti-Aliasing settings have improved to reduce ghosting - yet another fix which will smooth out the graphics.
• Players will no longer awkwardly slide around while crawling and looking through the binoculars in 3rd person.
• Backpacks have gotten several improvements to look better in 3rd person on ATV’s and on other players.
• Landscapers were sent to Hirschfelden to clean up trees near the bridge at the shooting range. They even took a trip to Parque Fernando to remove a tree blocking targets at the archery range!
• Tritium Sights no longer become hidden when swapping ammo after equipping one.
• The Zarza .308, Grelck Drilling Rifle, and Crossbow look better when viewed in 3rd person.
• Mission objects should disappear more smoothly after being picked up. [waves and disappears]

MULTIPLAYER

• On Steam, we’ve fixed an issue that allowed players to “join” their friends’ games even if they were set to “private”. Developer’s Note: This also disables the ability for players to send invites using the SHIFT+TAB overlay in private games. To account for this, a new “Invites” button has been added to the in-game multiplayer menu that allows the host to see their Steam friends list and send invites from there.

PERFORMANCE

• We’ve fixed a couple of crashes connected to using the dog in multiplayer.
• Auto-saving frequency has been reduced. Developer’s Note: We want to strike a balance between ensuring that the game always saves when important things happen, but not saving so often that it’s writing data non-stop. With these improvements, it is possible that some minor data (like statistics) will become inaccurate after suddenly closing the game (e.g. using ALT+F4 or Task Manager). Always use the in-game “quit to main menu” option when leaving the game to ensure that it saves and shuts down gracefully.
• On the Windows Store PC version, we’ve fixed a bug that causes the game to occasionally crash during startup.

Having issues? Please check out our Known Issues list first and then reach out to our Support Team for further assistance.