In this beta, game saves ARE backward compatible with the last released patch, v1.1.1d. But multiplayer games are NOT backward-compatible, so you can only play with those who have this beta.
See bottom of this page for instructions on opting into the beta.
GENERAL
NEW
* Unlockable coats (formerly called NPC coats). Now when you raise a pup with one of these coats, that coat is unlocked in Wolf Customization after you generate the summertime Family Tree snapshot. (Only works in new games, not retroactive. There are some cheat-prevention methods in place so you can't share wolf saves with other players to let them unlock a coat.)
* Among real wolves, males are more likely to disperse to find a mate. Females are more likely to stay in their natal (family) pack. We have added this behavior to the game. So now, when looking for a mate, you'll find more males in the dispersal groups, and more females interested in courtship in rival packs. A red heart icon indicates courtable wolves on the compass (when they howl back) and on the Scent View panel.
* In multiplayer games, you can now move between Yellowstone maps (currently Amethyst Mountain and Slough Creek) whenever you don't have pups, same as in single-player. Run to a section of border with the "To [Map Name]" label and you'll be asked if you want to move (using the procedures of either Host Decides or Majority Rules).
CHANGES:
* A few pup coats have changed a bit retroactively (to get better matches in the pup-to-adult coat sequence in the Saga).
___________________
BETA 20
BUGS FIXED:
* Water at top of Fairies Falls is pink.
___________________
BETA 19
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Controller: Enabled auto-scroll when using controller to navigate in Known Wolves panel.
BUGS FIXED:
* Longer pack names are truncated on the World Map legend.
* Controller: Can't access Departed Wolves section on Known Wolves panel.
* Persistent Packs: Discrepancy in multiplayer with pack progression.
___________________
BETA 18
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Controller: Improvements to controller navigation of Known Wolves panel.
* Persistent Packs: Added a delay before widowed pack leaders can find a new mate.
BUGS FIXED:
* Persistent Packs: Rival packs don't disband (or see other changes) if player has reached the end-date of the current quest.
* Persistent Packs: Unborn pups are not removed from rival pack if female breeder dies.
* Light rain audio is too quiet.
___________________
BETA 17
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Increased odds of mortality for older wolves in rival packs. (Should also make packs a bit more likely to disband periodically.)
BUGS FIXED:
* Persistent Packs: Unborn pups not removed from rival pack when it disbands.
* Known Wolves: Some Departed Wolves lack a status.
* Known Wolves: Wolves duplicated and/or placed in wrong maps or sections after jumping to next year.
* Player-wolf hunger resets to 50% when moving to another map.
___________________
BETA 16
BUGS FIXED:
* Persistent Packs: Rival packs don't disband when the number of adults in the pack drops below two.
* Known Wolves: Sometimes wolves are listed twice, and under wrong map.
* Mate pathfinding issue near Lost River (DLC) ghost town den.
___________________
BETA 15
BUGS FIXED:
* Known Wolves: Yearlings can die when pack disbanding even if old enough to disperse,
* Sometimes long-dead wolves are removed from Departed Wolves list
___________________
BETA 14
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Increased odds of Shadow unlockable coat, decreased odds of Frosty coat.
BUGS FIXED:
* When moving to another map with a trial mate, trial period end automatically when arriving at the other map.
* New packs sometimes claim many hexes immediately upon moving onto a map.
* One Amethyst den appears on compass at all times.
___________________
BETA 13
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Improvements to 9F coat.
BUGS FIXED:
* Persistent Packs: pups and unborn wolves "dispersing" as siblings of adults when pack disbands.
* Slough Creek dirt den near Lake McBridge doesn't always render correctly in winter.
* Minor terrain issues.
_______________________________
BETA 12
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Adjusted odds of certain wolf coats higher or lower.
BUGS FIXED:
* In Wolf Customization, wolves created from pups in the Family Tree cannot be edited at all.
* Typo in rival pack name.
___________________
BETA 11
BUGS FIXED:
* In Wolf Customization, wolves created from pups in the Family Tree cannot be edited at all.
* Typo in rival pack name.
___________________
BETA 11
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Persistent Pack code was refactored to make it more robust, which should not have any changes except as noted here, but might create new bugs, please report if you see any!
* Yearlings are now called Yearlings until their second birthday -- but they can potentially disperse before that birthday. (Previously they changed to Subordinates at 18 months of age, to allow dispersing, due to a limitation in the code.)
* Reduced rival pack aggressiveness after player intrudes into their territory from 24 hour cooldown to 8 hours. (So you can return much sooner if you're trying to court a pack wolf.)
* Reduced odds of dispersal wolf finding another dispersal as mate (to reduce dispersal churn).
* Photo Mode now leaves wolf nametags enabled, but you can press N key to hide them.
* Multiplayer: If player goes AFK while in den, their wolf automatically exits the den so as not to prevent game progress.
* Multiplayer: Greatly reduced the number of dispersal wolves in non-Story games (since they aren't needed and can get annoying).
* Increased minimum number of dispersal wolves on each map at any given time.
* Controller: All Tab menu buttons remain visible now, with highlight the one selected, to help with navigating the tab buttons.
* Controller, switching tabs with shoulder buttons navigates to left/right from selected button.
BUGS FIXED:
* Female wolf doesn't look pregnant after going from Establish Territory to Find a Den quest.
* Player-wolf is invisible in scent view when switched to Carmella mode.
* Game stalls when in Reminisce mode and trying to jump ahead to next year (which should not be possible).
* Player-wolf can go beyond the map border when bite-holding prey, which can lead to a long forced-walk back into the map afterwards.
* Multiplayer: Pups repeatedly playbowing the wrong parent when they switch to an absent favourite parent.
* Multiplayer: On Known Wolves panel, dead pack wolves are not synced correctly.
* Lost River DLC: In wintertime, an invisible floor in coffeeshop is higher than the visible floor.
* Known Wolves: Unborn pups immediately grow into yearlings.
* File sync throws an error if manually triggered again while already in progress.
* Pup said to have starved to death when it was really killed (in rare situation).
* Controller: Physical keyboard doesn't work when renaming mate or pup.
* Dispersal wolves go into ranch area.
* Can get stuck underground after certain sequence of events and map-moving in Find Den quest.
* Error after a dispersal NPC group fought a territory NPC group and won.
* Error when loading saves from a short period of 2021.
* Added info about dispersal differences to Find a Mate: Tips text.
* Known Wolves: Dispersals can return to a natal pack that no longer exists.
* Error thrown when trying to delete many save games
* Pathfinding issues at several dens.
* Various terrain issues.
_____________________
TO GET THE BETA BUILD
1) In the Steam app, go to your Library, then right-click on the WolfQuest: AE name in the left column and choose Properties.
2) Then go to the Betas tab and select the WQ current Beta option in the pulldown. No password is necessary. Steam should then start downloading it. Later you can switch back to the public version in that Betas tab, by selecting NONE in that pulldown.