Milton Mailbag - Dispatch #34

[Raphael van Lierop]

Hello community,

It's been another busy week at Hinterland -- the team's been hotfixing and testing but we think we've nearly got most of the issues from STEADFAST RANGER sorted out. I hope you've been having fun with it! I was out on holiday last week so looks like we have a hefty double-batch of questions this week. 

On to this week's Mailbag Dispatch.

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Question from @Jaffa:

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In dispatch #13 you talked about 3D object placement. I'd like to ask if it also would be possible to add a fuction that would allow us to stack certain objects on top of each other (books, food cans, clothes, firewood into log piles etc.) 

Also... it feels like some of the item detection hitboxes grew a bit larger over time. I went through some of my ingame screenshots from 2016 and noticed that I was able to place objects like painkillers, bandages or water bottles much closer to each order than I am now. It makes packing stuff into shelves kinda painful.

 

We've talked about adding stacking functionality and it's a bit tricky, but it's on our list. In general I'd like to provide a better way to organize and stack/arrange items so this might be something we look at in a future Survival Mode update. For me, better placement tools need to be about more than just arranging things more nicely -- I'd like to make sure improving this also enables other useful gameplay actions.

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Question from @JeremiahJohnson:

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Gonna start by saying thank you Hinterland... The Revolver and cloth wraps have saved me numerous times already.

What are your thoughts on having a larger splitting axe instead of the hunter hatchet for chopping wood? Takes less time but more energy or something along those lines. 

 

You're welcome!

Splitting axe -- we could add one pretty easily. The main issue would be with Struggles. You'd expect to be able to use it there as well, and even new Struggle tool adds a bunch of animation work for the team, and right now our animators are very focused on Episode Three work. But that doesn't mean we wouldn't add a bigger/better axe in the future. Don't give up!

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Question from @GothSkunk:

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The Long Dark was originally billed to be a narrative single-player adventure in a remote part of a post-apocalyptic Canada, where the decisions you make along the way and the people you interact with affect the outcome of the story, so how much of a surprise was it for you that the Survival Mode sandbox ended up being such a hit with the fans? If you knew then what you know now, would you have pitched the idea for The Long Dark differently?

The Long Dark is still a narrative single-player adventure in a remote part of post-apocalyptic Canada.  If we'd known we'd create a "sandbox" and release that first, we would have made that part of our pitch -- i.e. produce the sandbox foundation first, and then build the narrative mode on top of that. The only thing this would have changed is probably fewer people feeling pissed that Story Mode has taken so long. 

All that said, if Survival Mode hadn't taken off, The Long Dark would have ended up being a much less significant game, because we wouldn't have had the time or budget to build it out to the degree we have, or to deliver on the scope and quality of assets we've been able to invest in the game.

I'm happy with how things turned out in the end, but I'm not happy to have players who feel let down by progress or feel that somehow their favourite "part" of the game isn't progressing as quickly as they would like. But I think the only way to mitigate that is to one day finish The Long Dark and hopefully have fans (including people we lost along the way) come back and say..."yeah, it took hella long but it was worth it in the end."

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Question from @Sito:

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What did you do to the sky? It is absolutely awesome! I did not really notice for a bit because I was running from blizzards but when I got to CH and a chance to stand on the porch at sunset I really noticed the refinements. The colors are fantastic and there is no gradients like before. Sunrise is smooth like silk. 

And the aurora  is so much better. I put my laptop on the coffee table and wife an I just watched it for an hour while sipping wine. It was awesome before but you buffed it to the max.

How did you improve the visuals so much? It is like a whole new experience. 

 

It's a bit tricky to answer this because I'm not sure when you last played so what version you'd be comparing to. We've done a few different things that have improved the skies, most recently in the big Redux update (December) we completely redid our post effects "stack" which means all our colour and lighting effects for weather and skies are improved from before. We also did some work on the Aurora effect to remove the "banding". We have some other visual improvements in the works but you can't see those in the game yet, so I'd assume what you're seeing is the stuff we did for Redux. We didn't do any work on skies or lighting in STEADFAST RANGER.

Glad you like them though!

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Question from @Dan_:

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Any plans to add toggles in the custom mode toolbox for some of the new features? I'm talking specifically about the healing powers of the birch bark tea. 

Many of the more adventurous players play a custom mode dubbed "Deadman" on which there is no condition recovery at all, except for the 15% per stim. So it's a game of risk-reward of travelling to get the stims versus the 15% per use you get. The tea kinda ruins this balance, given it is indeed a renewable resource you can get in every single region. The herbal tea already doesn't work when playing Deadman, so it's just like any other food item, my understanding is that the bark tea should work similarly. 

Other than that, no qualms. I love the update, specially the revolver and new sprain mechanic. 

 

We're looking at this. Deadman is not an official Challenge so we didn't balance the Birch Bark around it, but we've seen this feedback from the community and we'll see what we can do.

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Question from @OveRMolo:

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Hello team! First of all I want to say thank you for creating this amazing experience. TLD is one of my favorite games ever!
My questions are:

- Have you considered a growth cycle for edible plants? Some kind of respawn for cattails. It could be interesting as an alternative to hunting and could players make to visit again some places.

-  Could be possible to have a compass in the game?

- I've seen you're looking for a mission designer... Can I apply and work in remote from Spain? hahahah just kidding. I love you guys 

 

Growth cycle -- yes it's been asked about many times. I don't think most things regrow in winter so respawning Cat Tails feels a bit wrong to me. We do respawn some natural things though, where it makes sense (ex. Sticks that can be found after Blizzards). If you use up Cat Tails you should move to a new region -- the world is huge so there are a lot of Cat Tails to be found.  

Compass -- no plans for that. Geomagnetic disaster etc. etc.

Mission Designer -- anyone can apply, but please meet our requirements before you do (also, all our roles are on-site).

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Question from @amadeuszbx:

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So we know the game runs on Unity as its engine. Would you care to share what modelling (and possibly sculpting, texturing etc.) software your artists use to prepare models for TLD? Or is it some kind of company's secret?  

We use standard artist/developer tools for the most part -- Max/Maya for modeling and animation. Photoshop for texturing. We have a few extra tools we use for optimization/quality of life here and there but generally we use all the same authoring tools as anyone else. No big secrets there!

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Question from @yollarbenibekler:

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1- Do you have any plans to use Steam Market features for your next challenge prizes or just giveaway items? It would be nice to have some not game affecting in-game decorative items such as a snowglobe etc. to be acquired through annual challenges (just like you did in the halloween). Euro Truck Simulator 2 is doing the similar thing with the Steam Market and I think it's awesome

2- İf there will be any second game or dlc, do you have plans to kickstart it just like you did with the first one? I missed the chance to get those d*mn cairns and whenever I stumble upon them I get jealous. 

Keep up the good work! You rock!

 

Steam Market -- we haven't really discussed this but we'll look into it. Could be cool.

Crowdfunding Game 2 or DLC -- could happen; if it does, we hope our TLD players will jump in!

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Question from @Drizzi:

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Thanks a lot for the Steadfast Ranger, it is going to push me over 500 in game hours  .. I have a question about the Custom mode, I am an interloper player, but sometimes I like to turn on the rifle availability .. not to make things easier, but to boost exploration motivation. Please correct me if I am wrong, but with rifle availability on, the revolver will not spawn, right?  are you planing to include revolver availability option to the custom mode?  Thank you.

Glad to hear you're having fun with RANGER. 

Currently the Revolver keys off of the Rifle availability custom setting, but we should separate that out. We'll look at it for a future update.

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Question from @Someone:

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If you had to add another major game mechanic(like being able to make clothes in something like a sewing machine or a new tool with its own unique purpose) what would it be and why? Also, are you planning to make any changes to the flashlight? Currently it’s pretty specialized as a tool for auroras only, and I understand this might have been designed this way purposely, I feel it would be more useful if it had another use.

I have a lot of answers to the first part of your question, but you're just going to have to wait and see what we cook up for you. (And no, that's not a subtle hint.)

For the second question -- what other uses would you like to see for the Flashlight, keeping in mind it only works during the Aurora?

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Question from @Hovejester:

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Would you ever look at the nutritional variety of food? E.g tins of vegetables and fruit to prevent scurvy. It also would mean you need to try and have a balanced diet and not survive on animal meat alone. E.g reeds and fauna too. 

Yes, but only if it doesn't make the game too fussy. The more of these details we take into account in our simulation (meaning, the systems that drive the game), the more complex things like our UI become. It's a fine balance.

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Question from @hozz1235:

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Regarding Birch Saplings:  Once cut, do they ever grow back?  I also assume that "new" sprouts/saplings do not occur?

No, they don't grow back.

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Question from @Azdrawee:

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I've recently discovered a picture with different stats about the game (how often people play, how long is the average session, how many people have bought The Long Dark on Steam, etc) from 2015, and I'm really curious, would it be possible to make something similar about how the game is doing today? I think it would be quite interesting. (here's the picture I have in mind:)

Yeah we'll probably release something like this again. Spoiler: The numbers are all much higher now.  Those stats were for our first 3 months on Early Access.

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Question from @jkripper:

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What was it like working with the Adele of voice acting, Jennifer Hale?

I love working with Jennifer. We have a ton of fun. She brings so much to the character of Astrid, cares so much about the game, and is -- above all else -- a wonderful human being. I hope to work with her on all my games.

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Question from @Samwise117:

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First off I just have to say (as an interloper/stalker players) I love the Revolver! You did a great job finding that right balance (in my opinion) for where it fits within the weapons already existing, so thanks! Loving it!...

My question is whether or not you plan to add a Fuel management system. For example allowing us to actually have Jerry Can's empty and allowing us to pour lantern fuel from one to another. I know it doesn't add weight currently but I think aesthetically it would look a lot better to carry 1 Jerry can with 4L of fuel instead of 3 Jerry Cans and 4 little bottles all semi full lol.  Can I hope for any such update/tweak? haha.  Thanks! 

 

Glad you're enjoying the Revolver!

Yeah, we do need not just a "fuel management" but a "liquid management" system/interface. We've discussed it a fair bit. Not sure where it sits in our internal roadmap but we'll get to it eventually.

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Question from @Kenshinzen:

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I registered just for that one question: Approximately when will VR begins to be implemented?

2019?

2020?

 

Sadly, I don't have an answer for you, because I have no idea. Could be next year. Could be never. No idea. We have no plans to "port" the game to VR but we could create an experience in The Long Dark that is purpose-built for VR, but not until it makes business sense to do so.

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Question from @AstraRune:

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First off, I just wanted to thank, you and Hinterland, for having such a great support and bug reporting system. It's so nice to know that if I do encounter a bug or issue in the game your team takes the time and effort to personally reply and tries super hard to solve the issue. It makes me, as a user of your product, feel as if my experience playing The Long Dark matters to you and your team, and that you genuinely care about making a great game. I wish more gaming companies would be as helpful as Hinterland is when it comes to creating a game. Please tell the support team I said thank you for all their hard work.

Secondly, I wanted to ask if you have ever consider implementing being able to sit down on certain chairs instead of just crouching of standing while you research a book or mend a jacket to make the game and the world feel more immersive? 

Anyway, thank you for your time and an amazing game. 

You're all awesome. 

 

I'll pass your compliments to the support team! Thank you.

As for being able to sit down on chairs -- yes it's been discussed and could happen, but I have no firm plans for it at the moment as we are working on higher-priority things. I agree that it'd be cool and nice as a meditative thing (but only if I can move chairs like onto the porch at the Mystery Lake Camp Office and watch wolves walking across in the distance while I smoke my pipe).

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Question from @Faithful Cartographer:

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Did you see how your ice hockey team at the last second pulled for himself a victory in the quarterfinals? That was touching! Waiting for final! 😃

I missed it, sadly, but I'm proud of Team Canada! I think anyone who played in the quarterfinals should be pretty proud of their team/country.

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Question from @Skelegutplays:

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What caliber is the revolver supposed to be, and why did you change the rifle ammo description to not mention it being .303 in caliber?

If I tell you it's a XX calibre, you'll start comparing the in-game behaviour to what you know of the real-world equivalent which is irrelevant.

The Revolver is "good at deterring wolves" calibre and the Rifle is "better chance of taking down a Bear if you're lucky" calibre.  

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Also you have done an amazing job optimizing the game, its the only game i can run on absolutely highest graphics quality at 60 FPS with my gtx 770.

That's great to hear! We're working on even more optimizations so hopefully it will just keep getting better and better.

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Question from @Aiden Milroy:

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Have been playing the game since 2017 and I love the sudden moments of scoring and soundtrack that pop in now and again but for some reason I haven’t heard the soundtrack in forever.  This isn’t technically a bug or game breaking issue but I know that I have music turned on and up so my question is... is there a chance you could add a dial for the frequency of music pop ins.  Thanks in advance

 

Sounds like you might have encountered a bug. You should hear music play at a pretty consistent frequency. We don't have an option or slider for this because we tune music frequency very deliberately so it doesn't get overplayed. 

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Question from @Alonzo.:

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Is there a possibility that in the future the sandbox mode saved games will be deleted because of new updates and such? And if so will we be announced before it does so we can complete what we got going on?

I can't say it will never happen, but I will say we've only done it once (wiping story mode saves when we launched Redux). We provided warnings for months before that. If we do know we have to wipe saves, we'll always do our best to provide tons of warning. Sadly, we can't reach everyone if they don't read the in-game notifications, mailers, social media messages forum posts, Steam announcements, etc. But if you are plugged in to our comms channels, you will know well in advance before any intentional save wipes happen, for sure.

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Question from @Wade:

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What is the point of having food degrade if you can just eat 0% food once you have level 5 cooking?

Are you ever going to change level 5 cooking to something slightly more realistic other than being able to eat 2 year old rotten meat with no repercussions?

 

Maybe if you ask nicely.

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Question from @alex_p:

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Hi! Have you ever think to create in-game challange editor? There are only six basic challenges and completing of it make a few days. Creating the new challanges and playing on it can give old survariors, that play over few hundreds of hours a new experience.

 

Yup, we've thought about it.  

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Question from @Nogen:

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I know that mental health gestion was something in sight for the team at some point and the subject has make some back in forth in various discussion. Is that something you are still considering? If yes, is there have been any concrete progress (a yes or no is what I expected to get, not a detailed listing of what is accomplished) in that direction or it is still a wish?

I still think about it, yes.

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Question from @Arran:

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Would it be possible to add second, alternative key shortcuts? So we can set both W or UpArrow for walk, LMB or SPACE for interaction key etc.

My poor mouse, I would love to use ie SPACE for struggles (but keep LMB for other actions) to give it some rest 

 

Go to Options > Key Bindings. You can change a bunch of stuff.

Separating out Struggle from other interactions (with its own key) is more work; we've discussed it and will do it when we can, unless we find a better solution.

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Question from @hozz1235:

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There is an existing thread talking about crows and changing weather.  Essentially, when crows are flying in a straight line (not circling a carcass), is that an indication to the player that the weather will be changing soon?

Not at the moment.

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Question from @yollarbenibekler:

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Hi! again! I'm wondering if we can have an option to take our own lives with the revolver. 

As an example you're bleeding and nearly freezing, you suffer too much pain. You have nothing to eat, your shelter is far far away and you got the only thing with you. The revolver. A simple bullet to take all pain away. Let us die in peace, without suffering.

 

No plans for this. (But what if you fail?)

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Question from @ThePancakeLady:

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So the question is: Do all tools, store-bought and improvised have a breaking threshold, that when reached, initiates an RNG dice roll to determine if the tool beaks or not during use? If so, is the threshold different for each tool? Higher point for improvised tools, than the store-bought equivalent? No need for actual numbers, that can be set aside for an interesting Science experiment done by players, if it has not already been done.  

Yes. Yes. Depends.  

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Question from @LkP:

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Can you talk to us about the birds' sounds ? Did you make it or recorded some ? What species are we listening to ? (Is it an owl in Coastal Highway ?)

Thanks for your time.

 

Most of them are from samples. There are tons of different varieties of birds you hear in the game. All have been researched to ensure you hear the right bird sounds in the right places (near the coastline, in the mountains, etc.), right time of day, and right altitude (in the lower areas near water vs. up in the mountains).

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Question from @ajb1978:

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So I stopped and took the time to check out the gravestones outside the church, and I noticed that all of the named graves were for people who had died very young.  The oldest was just 25, two were 17, and Lily was just 16.  Is there some plot significance to the fact that all the graves are of people who died young?

Could be.

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Question from @Jendo:

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I've asked before if you thought the console versions of TLD would ever have markedly improved framerates compared to the 30ish they're at now, to which you said no (or at least that it was unlikely) - are you able to expand on that a little? In other words: if not, why not? Are the consoles simply too old now? Is it the engine? Would you have to sacrifice too much re: visuals for it to run/"feel" smoother? I realise it's probably some combination of those (and other) things; I was just wondering if there was one reason that stood out above the others.

Secondly, with PS5/Nextbox "coming soon" - well, probably in the next 18-24 months - do you see yourselves releasing and supporting TLD on the next generation of consoles, or do you think Hinterland will be focused on a new title by then?

 

For the first question -- It's a combination of hardware, memory, CPU/GPU speed, engine optimization, etc. We're still finding ways to squeeze out more performance but we're also always trying to find ways to make the game look better so there are tradeoffs.

For the second question -- we'll ship WINTERMUTE on this generation and we'll see what happens on the next one. We could do a re-release/uprez/remaster potentially, but we'll see. I'd rather be working on something new.

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I think that's all the time I have this week. I know there are a few questions at the end that I didn't get to, and I'll try to tack them on next week's Dispatch. 

Otherwise, if I skipped your question, it's either because (a) I've already answered it before (check the Mailbag Index), (b) answering it will spoil things, or (c) you came across as rude (I'm not talking about people for whom English is clearly a second language -- I'm talking about people who should obviously know better.)

Thanks for all the questions, and see you next week!

- Raph

[Admin]

Please use this thread to discuss @Raphael van Lierop's answers in this week's Milton Mailbag. If you want to ask a question, even one that follows on from one of his answers, please use the Milton Mailbag Question thread.

[ThePancakeLady]

Thanks for answering my question Raph. I see many "disposable" testing runs in my future. Science. Seeing if I can find ranges for breakage thresholds on different tools.

Like I need an excuse to play more, lol!

[ManicManiac]

49 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

For the second question -- what other uses would you like to see for the Flashlight, keeping in mind it only works during the Aurora?

Personally I think it might be neat to see the flashlight show up as an option in the struggle menu... and be able use that dead flashlight as a bludgeoning weapon  

Edited June 1, 2019 by ManicManiac

[Sito]

"or (c) you came across as rude..."

LOL. 

Yep. No rudeness needed here. Good for you Raph and HInterland to keep rudeness as unacceptable. 

Edited June 1, 2019 by Sito

[Dan_]

11 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

We're looking at this. Deadman is not an official Challenge so we didn't balance the Birch Bark around it, but we've seen this feedback from the community and we'll see what we can do.

We understand this is a fringe game mode with a minuscule public, this makes the effort and attention is even more appreciated regardless of the outcome. Thank you for looking after the entirety of the player base. This is one of the reasons Hinterland got a customer for life in me.  

[ProsPex]

12 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

I don't think most things regrow in winter so respawning Cat Tails feels a bit wrong to me

What a sensible answer! Didn't even think about the natural growth cycle going dormant during the winter months. Wanted saplings to respawn, but now it makes sense why they do not :)

[LilWolf]

12 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

We're working on even more optimizations so hopefully it will just keep getting better and better.

Yes! Great news for those who don’t have gaming computers or high video cards.  

[ajb1978]

12 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Question from @ajb1978:

Could be.

Lol that's a non-answer if I ever heard one!  Thanks for reading my question though

[Vinceofpyrenees]

"I agree that it'd be cool and nice as a meditative thing (but only if I can move chairs like onto the porch at the Mystery Lake Camp Office and watch wolves walking across in the distance while I smoke my pipe). "

Imagine a such meditative experience. High quality. I just wish it.

[pro_survior_1337]

Dear Hinterland,Will there be a cooperative mode or multiplayer in further updates?

[ManicManiac]

22 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Any plans to add toggles in the custom mode toolbox for some of the new features? I'm talking specifically about the healing powers of the birch bark tea. 

My recommendation for @Dan_:
I would say that an easy solution to that particular problem you mention, would be to simply chose not to use the birch bark tea.   This game is already all about player choice, so we don't necessarily have to wait for the team to patch in an option to turn off the effects of birch bark tea...  All we have to do is choose not to use if we want the old "deadman" custom experience.

Edited June 2, 2019 by ManicManiac

[RaukGorth]

Actually, I thought that they added the birch bark tea with Deadman in mind. This would add some means for deadman runs to continue after the weather gets stupidly cold and you just die off. Alos there isn't that much birch bark in the world. 

Best option would be to add another difficulty level - Deadman as standard mode.

[Dan_]

14 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

My recommendation for @Dan_:
I would say that an easy solution to that particular problem you mention, would be to simply chose not to use the birch bark tea.   This game is already all about player choice, so we don't necessarily have to wait for the team to patch in an option to turn off the effects of birch bark tea...  All we have to do is choose not to use if we want the old "deadman" custom experience.

I agree with the sentiment, it's what I do when I play 'Outerloper' as well, just make up the rules and go. The issue is that we have two health regen aiding teas in the game now, and they differ mechanically when it comes to condition recovery as you set up a custom game, the herbal works with disabling at sleep condition recovery, the bark tea isn't disabled when you disable at rest condition recovery. It's not game breaking in any shape or form, this was more of a request to see if hinterland can look into it and adjust the custom mode toolbox accordingly, given it could very well have been something that was overlooked or whose impact was not planned on the update. If this is how it is going forwards, I'm fine with it. 

Cheers!

Edited June 2, 2019 by Dan_

[Arran]

On 6/1/2019 at 3:36 AM, Raphael van Lierop said:

Question from @Arran:

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Would it be possible to add second, alternative key shortcuts? So we can set both W or UpArrow for walk, LMB or SPACE for interaction key etc.

My poor mouse, I would love to use ie SPACE for struggles (but keep LMB for other actions) to give it some rest 

 

Go to Options > Key Bindings. You can change a bunch of stuff.

Separating out Struggle from other interactions (with its own key) is more work; we've discussed it and will do it when we can, unless we find a better solution.

Its not what I meant. I know I can rebind action key, but I asked if it would be possible to add second set of keys - so we can set 2 different keys bound to same action. Something like this:

[ManicManiac]

11 hours ago, Arran said:

I know I can rebind action key, but I asked if it would be possible to add second set of keys - so we can set 2 different keys bound to same action

I suppose you could always setup some kind of keyboard macros...   
For example, I had a keyboard that had "G" keys specifically for binding keys or functions (or strings of key/function sequences) to them though them the keyboard's accompanying software.

Edited June 3, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ThePancakeLady]

3 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

I suppose you could always setup some kind of keyboard macros...   
For example, I had a keyboard that had "G" keys specifically for binding keys or functions (or strings of key/function sequences) to them though them the keyboard's accompanying software.

Probably possible with AutoHotkey too, though I have never thought of using it for something like that. 

It is possible in games with a hatbar (acciudentally assigned the Seaglide to 2 hotkeys in Subnautica a few times), but I don't know that I would like seeing a hotbar on screen in this game, just so some people can assign multiple keys to a single action. Especially since I am not masochistic enough to play Hudless in TLD, even as much as I enjoy seeing the world unobstructed. 

[Tylor9261]

I've had the same problem with music since Redux and before with the new music in Survival Mode. And I've messaged support twice. On PS4. It's a little more reassuring knowing I'm not the only one experiencing this

[ajb1978]

6 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

For example, I had a keyboard that had "G" keys specifically for binding keys or functions (or strings of key/function sequences) to them though them the keyboard's accompanying software.

If you're talking about the Logitech G510s, that's the one I'm using lol.  I have never found a practical use for the G keys...although the fact that the keyboard is backlit is pretty awesome.  I like to play in the dark, and being able to see the keys in the dark is pretty solid.  And the screen on the keyboard...I really feel like that's something I wish more game developers would take into consideration.

Actually...wish list, here I come...

[AwesomeFresh]

With respect to Cooking Level 5, I think it's fine because of how difficult it is to actually reach level 5.  However, the current exploit of harvesting 0.01 kg of meat repeatedly through manually cancelling means that it's easier to achieve because you can cook more discrete units. For the devs, I recommend that cooking level increases based on total weight cooked instead of units cooked.

For long-term survival, cooking ruined meat has the same problem as the magnifying lens: either it's a permanent late-game solution and way too good, or it's not and therefore useless — and then there's no late-game solution whatsoever. I do think that indefinite meat storage saves a lot of headache especially given that optimal storage is outside on the ground and we lack proper placement tools. As cooked meat still degrades, you still need to plan your cooking sessions around cabin fever, weather, and moving from region to region.

I understand the argument that cooking and eating ruined meat makes no sense and feels gamey. That said, it would be much more difficult and legitimately stressful if ruined meat was inedible. There are ways to stockpile firewood, water, medicine, clothing, and tools. Currently, you can stockpile food as ruined meat. But if ruined meat became inedible then the only non-degrading source of food would be cattails and tea, which are both finite! If ruined meat were to become inedible then perhaps cattails should regrow. However, I think that the subgame of hunting, harvesting, and cooking meat is far more interesting than eating 150kcal cattails. Alternatively, there could be an alternative way to better store meat. You could decrease the decay rate indoors. You could freeze raw meat. You could salt or cure cooked meat.

I personally really enjoy the current system and seeing my meat stockpiles build up. In a game where cloth, scrap metal, bullets, and maple/birch saplings are both finite and require careful maintenance, food should be storable long-term somehow someway.

Edited June 4, 2019 by AwesomeFresh

[Looper]

2 hours ago, AwesomeFresh said:

I personally really enjoy the current system and seeing my meat stockpiles build up. In a game where cloth, scrap metal, bullets, and maple/birch saplings are both finite and require careful maintenance, food should be storable long-term somehow someway

It is - they are called animals. 😀And they respawn at an alarming rate 😅.(upvoted your post)

[ManicManiac]

16 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

If you're talking about the Logitech G510s, that's the one I'm using lol.

If you can believe it... I'm still using a very ancient Logitech G11   

Edited June 4, 2019 by ManicManiac

[Wade]

4 hours ago, AwesomeFresh said:

I understand the argument that cooking and eating ruined meat makes no sense and feels gamey.

If they feel cooking level 5 should allow you to eat %1 with no repercussions, fine.  But once it hits 0% it should be unusable as anything other than a decoy.  When your clothes hit 0% can you repair them?  No, same for many other things.  Why should food be any different?  And yes the cutting meat into strips to reach level 5 cooking is something that should be fixed IMHO.  He has already said they have no real intention to change that and frankly I don't much care.  It does seem like a great workaround to preserve food in some way like smoking or drying, but I think we can agree Hinterland is never gonna do that.  The simple fix is to make food an actual perishable resource as food is and the % points would suggest.

[ManicManiac]

@Wade / @AwesomeFresh

Here's my two cents:   Let me preface by saying, I am not speaking necessarily about your posts per se... just talking by and large about the subjects you have brought up.

I think being able to "practice" cooking by using smaller portions is perfectly legitimate.
We are capable to harvesting small pieces of meat, so it's reasonable to be able to cook those small pieces of meat.
Level 5 cooking only offers that food poisoning/parasite perk to cooked/processed foods (never mind that it covers pretty much all that we would normally eat anyway ).

The good news is... this game is all about player choice.  If people don't like being able to eat ruined food or they don't like the idea of practicing their cooking skill... they don't need to call for the team to patch it out.  People can just choose not to play the game that way. 

Now if the Hinterland team wants to change those systems, then fine.  As of now I don't really see a need... to each their own.  I say let each person in the community play the game how they want.

Edited June 4, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ManicManiac]

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 7:16 PM, Dan_ said:

The issue is that we have two health regen aiding teas in the game now

That's true, but we can always just choose not to use them.
To echo what I mentioned in a my last post in this thread - I say to each their own.  I agree it would be a really nice touch to be able to individually disable those mechanics in the custom settings, but I imagine that the Hinterland team will eventually have to draw a line somewhere...  I mean as opposed to trying to make every minute aspect of the game a toggled option (I mean there is an impressive amount of flexibility and gameplay diversity we can tweak in custom already).   

Edited June 4, 2019 by ManicManiac