Experimental Beta Is Here!

Hello and good day everyone! ːsteamhappyː

The experimental beta is here and you can finally try it for yourselves! Let me remind you that this is not an official release of the patch. Despite our rigorous testing there might be bugs, occasional crash, or you might experience surprising behavior from the game.

However, it is an important step in the development of both the console version and the better version for the PC, and we’d be very grateful for your help with the testing to help us make the game as polished as possible. You can download the experimental beta following the steps in the GIF below or these instructions:

Right click on Hobo -> Properties… -> Betas - > Enter beta access code “kdyuztobudepublic” -> Check code -> Select “experimental_unstable”

If you do decide to check the experimental beta out, please let us know if you find any bugs, translation errors or other issues.

Use our Discord channel, Steam discussions, Reddit or email [email protected] to report your findings.

There is also one more thing we would like to be honest about and clear up up front. With the public release of the new patch the base price of the game will increase from 20.99 EUR to 24.99 EUR. Changes done to the game in the new patch, especially in terms of stability, optimizations, and future-proofing, would not have been possible without the new talent and technologies we have acquired. Unfortunately, as our studio grows, so do our operating costs. It is a step we do not want to make, but need to.

Patch notes 1.14.00X (experimental beta)

This list of changes is by no means final and more fixes and features will be rolled out throughout the testing period (over the next month or so).

Localization:

• Fixes and additions in English, Chinese, German, Russian and Polish translations.
• Added new translations into Japanese, Spanish, and French.

Networking:

• Cross-platform play support (Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS4 / PS5, Switch)
• A number of synchronization issues fixed - fire barrels burning out too fast for clients, issues with player-to-player trading and more
• Connection / disconnection stabilization (more robust system for handling unexpected situations - Internet failure, speed drop, etc.)
• Steam backend replaced with Epic Online Services

No external account is needed, everything works with your existing Steam accounts. The only thing that has changed from the player's point of view is the lobby system, which is no longer divided into public lobbies and private/friends' lobbies.

The lobby system now consists of cross-platform lobbies (lobbies that can be accessed from any platform) and single-platform lobbies (for example PS4-only lobbies). Lobbies can now also be password protected. By setting a password for your game you will be able to connect with friends outside of your Friends list (eg. playing on different platforms) without strangers joining your session.

Multiplatform Support:

• Steam Deck support
  • Automatic quality adjustment has not yet been implemented. For now, we recommend setting the details to medium for the best experience. In one of the following updates, we will add a customized profile for the Steam Deck (eg. some details from higher settings are too demanding for the steam deck and some on the medium are unnecessarily downplayed)
  • Complete support (controls, UI, graphic effects) + the ability to scratch off lotto tickets using the touch screen

• Replacement of OpenGL with Vulkan API on Linux (and Steam Deck)
  

• Asynchronous graphics streaming (RAM savings)
• Asynchronous NPC streaming (RAM savings) and redesign of NPC internal operation (CPU load reduced on average by 60 %)
• Asynchronous GI streaming (Global Illumination) -> RAM saving and, thanks to more memory space, an increase in the data resolution itself (better lights, fewer artifacts, etc.)
• Faster loading (especially on devices with HDDs)
• Acceleration of dynamic reflection generation
• Optimization / improvement of grass rendering (larger draw distance, especially on weaker platforms)
• UI element animation system refactor (HUD, inventory…)
• Faster loading of text files (conversations, quests…)
• Acceleration of database loading (item database, config files…)
• Physics optimizations
• Hundreds of micro-optimizations in the code, removing remnants of the early access code

Gameplay:

• Complete redesign of the player and camera control (fixed issues with stuttering, smooth movement without lagging, correction of screen tearing and many other problems related to camera and movement)
• Fixed the Ritual of the Last Boozing and improved the overall function of this mechanic
• Fixed the disappearing interaction icons
• Fixes in the combat system (disappearing options, incorrect collision detection…)
• Redesigned input system allowing for more unrestricted key rebinds
• Improved controls during dumpster diving
• Notification system improved
• Fixed hundreds of smaller bugs reported by the community (in quests, conversations, UI…)
• Some slight balancing changes, most notably increased spawn rates of some harder-to-obtain items, and small adjustments to help wean some hobos off of caffeine ;)

Graphics:

• Change of the default FOV from 60 to 75
• Fixed LOD dependence on FOV (render distance no longer decreases with higher FOV)
• Fixes of various graphic bugs (glitched props, holes in models, artifacts…)
• Redesign of HLOD switching system (hierarchical LOD, high-poly -> low poly…), which results in faster rendering and less noticeable pop-in
• Fixes and tuning of the player's animation
• Improvements to the player's camera positioning
• Replacement of FXAA with MSAA

Save System:

• Complete rework of the save system to make it more stable and reliable
• Save / load acceleration
• More robust backup system
• Save file size reduction (orders of magnitude smaller files on the disk)

Other:

• Added illustrated loading screens during transitions (loading times on SSDs are almost instant, in a matter of seconds on HDDs)