The Long Dark Hotfixed to V1.49 [47860]

[Admin]

Fixes to Sprain System -- Phase 1

Hello everyone,

We're really sorry to everyone who has experienced unfortunate Sprain activity since we released STEADFAST RANGER. We thought it might be useful to explain a bit about what's been going on.

• The "old" Sprain system calculated sprain chance by taking a slope angle, applying a % chance of sprain based on a base value, and adding more risk as the angle increased. We also increased the risk based on if you were Sprinting, Encumbered, or Exhausted. The fact that you didn't know what slope angle might cause a sprain when walking on it, was a large contributor to the sense of getting surprise sprains because you had no way of knowing you were "at risk".

• In STEADFAST RANGER, we added the Slope indicator to tell you when you are "at risk". The idea here was to give you a sense that you might get a sprain if you didn't change your behaviour, i.e. find a safer path. The Slope indicator doesn't guarantee you will get a Sprain, but it tells you that you are in a place where you MIGHT get one.

• There was a bug in the 1.48 release of STEADFAST RANGER where we were calculating Slope Risk modifiers for Encumbrance, Exhaustion, and Sprinting, when on FLAT surfaces. This meant that over time, even when walking on flat (non-sloped) surfaces, you might end up with a Sprain, if you were Encumbered, Exhausted, or Sprinting. Since we check on an interval, over time you are highly likely to get one. THIS WAS A BUG AND SHOULD BE FIXED IN THIS LATEST HOTFIX.

• Some people found the "flashing" warning exclamation to be anxiety-inducing so we removed it. The Slope indicator itself should be sufficient warning.

• Another thing we added in STEADFAST RANGER was a "Sprain Risk" affliction to Status. This is only meant to appear when you are Exhausted or Encumbered, to indicate that you are at greater risk of Sprains due to being in these states. This risk should only apply when you are walking on valid slopes. It does not mean you are generally at risk of getting sprains. You MUST be on a valid slope for Exhaustion, Encumbrance, or Sprinting to trigger a sprain. Some people are confusing the Slope indicator with the Sprain Risk affliction in Status, and they are not the same thing.

• There was a bug where the SPRAIN RISK affliction would appear any time you transitioned to a new scene. We've fixed that in this latest Hotfix.

Please keep in mind that the new Sprain system means you are now more knowingly at risk of getting sprains than you were before STEADFAST RANGER. You might have become accustomed to spidering along the environment or walking up (or down) slopes that should have triggered sprains but didn't for a variety of reasons. This means that you may have to ADAPT your traversal of the world. It means there may now be paths that are more dangerous than they were before.

Keep in mind that the Slope indicator is meant to be a warning, similar to Weak Ice. If you back away from the path you are on, you can avoid the risk of getting a sprain. If you persist on a path or slope where you see the Slope indicator, you accept the risk that you might get a sprain. It's in your power to decide where you want to travel, and how you want to get there. You may have gotten used to taking risky shortcuts that now have a more visible cost associated with them, whereas that risk was hidden before.

Now that we'll have the Sprain system working as originally intended for STEADFAST RANGER, we'll continue listening to feedback from our players. Phase 2 will be to consider modifying the tuning on either the Slope Angle required to trigger sprains, or the probability of getting sprains over time when travelling on a slope, but we don't want to make those changes until we're first sure people are playing the system as it was intended. Changing too many things at once makes it difficult to know what is working and what isn't.

Thanks for reading and we hope these fixes improve the Sprains "situation" for you.

- The Hinterland Team

 

THE LONG DARK -- HOTFIX TO v.1.49 [47860] -- FULL RELEASE NOTES

• Fixed issue where revised Sprain system could trigger sprains on flat surfaces when Encumbered, Sprinting, or Exhausted.

• Fixed issue where Sprain Risk affliction indicator would appear on every scene transition.

• Removed flashing exclamation mark on Slope indicator due to causing widespread anxiety amongst our community. Let's face it, we could all use a little less anxiety.
• Tuned Revolver effectiveness when used against Moose (reduced) and reduced critical chance against Bears.

• Fixed issue where text was missing for the Small Arms (Revolver) research book.

• Fixed issue where players could not dismount from rope on upper cliff edge in an Ice Cave (Hushed River Valley region).

*** END OF RELEASE NOTES ****

[GothSkunk]

Thanks for the update!

Personally I didn't think anything was wrong, and I certainly appreciate the addition of the slope warning indicator. But I'm glad that an issue WAS resolved after being determined to be a genuine bug. 

[Vinceofpyrenees]

2 hours ago, loriaw said:

 

Welcomed changes. But are sprains are LESS frequent on risked slope ? That was all the problem.

[peteloud]

There were a few issues on sprains that I was unhappy about but the greatest problem of all has been the game crashing.  I had at least 6 game crashes yesterday.  This needs top priority in fixing.

[Guest kristaok]

In my week run (Custom Voyager)... * I recently died btw LOL *, I did not have a single Sprain. Of course I did receive warnings that I was at risk for one a few times, but thankfully the Sprain Mechanics are more realistic now! Thanks! 

Edited May 9, 2019 by kristaok

[peteloud]

I have just had two hours trying out v1.49, and had no problems.  It didn't crash, the sprains I had seemed reasonable.  The whole experience was not the irritation that it was yesterday.

However I have to revise a few earlier opinions I made re. v.1.48

After one shot with my bow and one with the rifle I thought that it was no different from before.  Now I have my doubts.  Usually I have few problems shooting rabbits and wolves with the bow.  Yesterday I missed several rabbits and wolves.  I had no problem with deer.  I had a few headshots as expected.  Perhaps such a small sample is statistically meaningless.

Another issue I got wrong was that I thought the fire in the Mountaineer's hut, TWM, had its brightness turned down.  Now I think not.  The colours and details while cooking some venison are still too bright and burned out.

Edited May 9, 2019 by peteloud

[Loonsloon]

Tiny nitpicky comment - in my understanding, the weapon class “small arms” includes pistols, rifles, sub machine guns, light machine guns, etc.  It’s anything that one person can carry around and operate. If it needs assembly or is crew served in some way, I think it’s no longer a small arm. Accordingly, to me it was counterintuitive that the book about small arms trained revolver skill and not rifle skill. Obviously a low priority issue, but since the wording of the book was being looked at, I thought I’d mention it. More generally I think that rifle and pistol should share the same skill as I now have two skills that I can’t max out on interloper:D

Edited May 9, 2019 by Loonsloon

[UpUpAway95]

Is this hotfix out on Xbox yet?  I've restarted TLD a few times this morning hoping to get the update notification, but I still haven't received it.  I'm in Alberta, Canada.

[ProsPex]

Keep up the great work Hinterland! Thank you. Best sandbox game out there.

[jkripper]

3 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Is this hotfix out on Xbox yet?  I've restarted TLD a few times this morning hoping to get the update notification, but I still haven't received it.  I'm in Alberta, Canada.

I don't see it either, and I'm in the states.  Well, Wisconsin.. so practically Canada. hahaha

...

i'll shut up now.

[norup]

A little test of the rifle in 1.49: Rifle skills at 5, rifle condition 100%, rested, fed, and warm. All shots fired  when about a quarter of the aiming time-out had passed.

Standing about 15-20metres away, I aim at the centre of the "O" in the STOP sign. All hits are low, consistent with other similar tests.

Perhaps the reason for all the rifles to be found is that they are all whacked out of shape and considered useless by their owners?

[atomic]

"Glad" to see there are more people out there with this problem, I already thought I forgot how to aim...

 

[Ape88]

I played half the day away yesterday and never experienced sprains in areas where realistically it would be 100 percent safe. IMHO realistically, in the situation the survivor is in, there could be a thin layer of ice on roadways or in the snow or even objects hidden by deep snow that could be dangerous and yet in game there is no danger of that.

I only got 2 sprains in total and yet played 10 game days. One was from traversing an obvious risky area (Like so obvious no warning should be needed to know it was risky) while encumbered. The 2nd was from a wolf encounter gone somewhat wrong ending with a neck injury, a wrist sprain, and a wolf that got a knife wound that made it slowly bleed to its end of life.

I also don't recall the warning flashing but maybe it was there... I would actually suggest an option to keep the flashing bit on. Not everybody gets as anxious over that stuff.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Just an FYI -- the Xbox and PS4 versions of 1.49 should be going live pretty soon. We just needed to do some extra testing on those.

We're also looking at the Rifle accuracy issues, but those won't be addressed until probably the *next* hotfix.

[peteloud]

Today has been an interesting and enjoyable day playing v.1.49 compared to yesterday playing v1.48.  Yesterday and today I spent all day playing TLD.

Many of the negative new issues that arose yesterday did not arise today.  I have had no crashes at all, it was that which bugged me most yesterday.  Well done Hinterland for sorting that problem out within 24 hours, (or thereabouts). 

Today I had a couple of trips up TWM, (at Voyager Level),  from the Mountaineer's Hut for mapping reasons, then I travelled over to the Dam via a night in PV farmhouse and another at the radio station.  The number of sprains was acceptable, seems like pre-v1.48.  The sprain warnings were less irritating than yesterday.  That might be because they are better, or it might be that I have become used to them.  I suspect they are better.

I am still undecided and a disappointed with the aiming.  I use the bow and arrow and leave the rifle at a base whenever possible.  Apart from general curiosity, the revolver does not appeal to me as a weapon. It just seems a different version of the flare pistol.  I am still not doing well shooting wolves with my bow, although I have no trouble shooting deer.  That seems strange to me.  Have the internal settings regarding the different animals changed, apart from the overall aiming mechanics, or is it just me ?

One thing I find interesting is that my mode of playing has significantly changed, and I think for the better.  The sprains became very frequent when my load was over 40Kg, so  I now keep my load below 40Kg, and try to keep it below 35Kg.  This means that I walk much faster and can descend down fixed ropes without having to dump gear and make a second trip.  That has meant I get about much faster.

I still have complaints about the lighting levels inside buildings, but that, to my disappointment, has not been a priority for v1.49, (although PV farmhouse is lighter).

I have to have a smile at my enthusiasm for TLD.  I am an old retired, ex-IT guy, and I suspect that my spending so much time playing TLD  causes my family and friends to think that I am losing my mind.  Ironically, if I tell them that I am being paid £50 an hour for testing & evaluating some software, which is not true,  they will think that I am a smart guy.  The public perception of game-playing is primitive.

Edited May 9, 2019 by peteloud

[Raphael van Lierop]

4 minutes ago, peteloud said:

Today has been an interesting and enjoyable day playing v.1.49 compared to yesterday playing v1.48.  Yesterday and today I spent all day playing TLD.

 

Many of the negative new issues that arose yesterday did not arise today.  I have had no crashes at all, it was that which bugged me most yesterday.  Well done Hinterland for sorting that problem out within 24 hours, (or thereabouts). 

Today I had a couple of trips up TWM, (at Voyager Level),  from the Mountaineer's Hut for mapping reasons, then I travelled over to the Dam via a night in PV farmhouse and another at the radio station.  The number of sprains was acceptable, seems like pre-v1.48.  The sprain warnings were less irritating than yesterday.  That might be because they are better, or it might be that I have become used to them.  I suspect they are better.

I am still undecided and a disappointed with the aiming.  I use the bow and arrow and leave the rifle at a base whenever possible.  Apart from general curiosity, the revolver does not appeal to me as a weapon. It just seems a different version of the flare pistol.  I am still not doing well shooting wolves with my bow, although I have no trouble shooting deer.  That seems strange to me.  Have the internal settings regarding the different animals changed, apart from the overall aiming mechanics, or is it just me.

 

One thing I find interesting is that my mode of playing has significantly changed, and I think for the better.  The sprains became very frequent when my load was over 40Kg, so  I now keep my load below 40Kg, and try to keep it below 35Kg.  This means that I walk much faster and can descend down fixed ropes without having to dump gear and make a second trip.  That has meant I get about much faster.

I still have complaints about the lighting levels inside buildings, but that, to my disappointment, has not been a priority for v1.49, (although PV farmhouse is lighter).

I have to have a smile at my enthusiasm for TLD.  I am an old retired, ex-IT guy, and I suspect that my spending so much time playing TLD  causes my family and friends to think that I am losing my mind.  Ironically, if I tell them that I am being paid £50 an hour for testing & evaluating some software, which is not true,  they will think that I am a smart guy.  The public perception of game-playing is primitive.

Thanks for sharing these thoughts.

In addition to reviewing Rifle aiming, we're taking a look at Bow aiming as well. We hope to have some fixes for those out ASAP.

Regarding interior lighting -- not to ask stupid questions but have you played with the gamma settings, and if you're on console have you checked your TV settings as well? "Solving" interior lighting levels is tricky because there are so many variables. I also agree that some remain darker than they should be, which is on our radar. We've been discussing some automated tests that could help us identify these issues, as checking all interiors manually across all time of day and weather conditions requires a large effort, and the benchmark to test against is not always clear.

[Sceh]

I'm still curious why I sprained my ankle stepping out of a fishing hut. There was a slope indicator just as you go through the door. Is this an intended feature? Is the 3cm drop between fishing hut floor and ice considered a slope?

[peteloud]

Raphael,

". . . have you played with the gamma settings, "

Apart from playing TLD, I am also a very serious photographer.  For this, I have my display system very carefully adjusted and am very aware of  images being burnt out and underexposed, (although the gaming videos and image processing in Photoshop are not exactly the same).    I would be delighted to find that others are not having the same problem as me, but I don't think that it the case.   Quite simply, I believe that the level of illumination inside buildings is not consistent.

Edited May 9, 2019 by peteloud

[MarrowStone]

1 minute ago, peteloud said:

For this, I have my display system very carefully adjusted and am very aware of  images being burnt out and underexposed

Yeah, some of us dont have the option to toy with monitor settings every time they open particular games. The ingame brightness slider wont help cause I have the outdoor night time brightness adjusted just the way I want it already.

I just shrug it off and use a lantern since fuel is renewable now, but it gets annoying having to turn it off every time I want to perform an action longer than 10 minutes. 

Perhaps instead of automating it and doing tests in-house, community members that find it particularly obtrusive can volunteer to help somehow? Like with a debug test branch? I honestly have no idea how that would work but Im just throwing it out there.

[Guest kristaok]

22 minutes ago, Sceh said:

I'm still curious why I sprained my ankle stepping out of a fishing hut. There was a slope indicator just as you go through the door. Is this an intended feature? Is the 3cm drop between fishing hut floor and ice considered a slope?

Were you carrying a lot? Don't quote me on this please, but I heard if you carry what is it, above 30 you have a chance for a Sprain. Basically the more you carry the more apt you are to trip and Sprain your Ankle.  

[pilot_wave]

Hi,

I've just installed the hotfix on PS4.

Now when I resume my wintermute campaign, after playing for a minute or two I can no longer aim up or down.

It used to be working fine before...

[Sceh]

No, 26 of 40 kg, fully rested. This is also not the issue. It's "why is the door of a fishing hut considered a slope?" There was a flashing red warning sign ^^

20 minutes ago, kristaok said:

Were you carrying a lot? Don't quote me on this please, but I heard if you carry what is it, above 30 you have a chance for a Sprain. Basically the more you carry the more apt you are to trip and Sprain your Ankle.  

 

[Guest kristaok]

18 minutes ago, Sceh said:

No, 26 of 40 kg, fully rested. This is also not the issue. It's "why is the door of a fishing hut considered a slope?" There was a flashing red warning sign ^^

 

Yea maybe it could either be the ice or it's a bug. 

[ThePancakeLady]

1 hour ago, Sceh said:

No, 26 of 40 kg, fully rested. This is also not the issue. It's "why is the door of a fishing hut considered a slope?" There was a flashing red warning sign ^^

 

Have you updated yet to v 1.49 (may not be out on consoles yet... not sure, i have not checked my XBox One version yet..). They did a first pass on changing (fixing) the sprain system, and the flashing ! was removed from the UI, as well as fixing some errors with the slope calculations. If not, update, and see if the problem remains, and send a bug report to them if it does.

https://hinterlandgames.zendesk.com

Edited May 9, 2019 by ThePancakeLady
corrected a typo my dyslexia missed earlier... >.<

[Liofa]

After playing this evening on the new "fixed" patch, I thought I'd leave a note to say that I think that the sprain system is still giving far too many sprains which makes game play a little less enjoyable. Even unencumbered walking up hills I'm still getting far too many "hand" sprains.

The new system is interesting and I like the UI improvements, however there's little point in having so much open terrain, especially steeper terrain, if the player can't really use it for fear of spraining, it becomes a bandage management simulator. 

Is the thinking to subtly encourage  players to walk mainly through valleys or into areas where the wildlife is more likely to be? I hope not, I've enjoyed exploring and finding "safer" routes around the maps, skirting the patrolling wolves.

Perhaps there could be a greater cool down after a strains, before the next one occurs? Also, the bandages aren't showing up on the UI wheel if you're carrying lots of pills and other medication.

Thanks for the updates!