NEW SURVIVAL MODE UPDATE: PERILOUS CONSTRAINT


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Hello Community,

We just launched our latest update to Survival Mode, called PERILOUS CONSTRAINT— v1.98 (87574).

This update includes:

  • New to Survival: Blackrock Region is now available in Survival Mode. It connects to Pleasant Valley via a Transition zone, and to Timberwolf Mountain via a cave system.
  • New to Survival: The Noisemaker from Episode Four is now available for crafting and use in Survival Mode. Please note that the Blueprint unlocks after you find your first Noisemaker, which is currently only discoverable in Blackrock Region.
  • New to The Long Dark: The new Ballistic Vest is the first piece of protective gear in the game, offering strong defense against physical harms from wildlife attacks.
  • Various quality-of-life improvements, including making Crampons repairable, a new piece of soundtrack music, and many bug fixes.

There are also a couple of known issues affected players should be aware of:

  • Please note that on Switch, the Main menu art will not be updated with the release, though the game should still update. Players can verify the correct version via the top left-hand side of the main menu screen v1.98 (86821). 
  • When attempting to repair the Crampons, you need either the Simple Tools or High Quality Tools item. If you do not have these items, you will receive an error message stating the Sewing Kit is required.

For more information, please read this month’s Dev Diary, watch the update video, and review the list of changes below.

Don’t forget to visit our Support Portal for useful articles, or if you need to log an issue. To stay up-to-date with news and information about The Long Dark and Hinterland, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game | Studio).


ART, ENVIRO, and UI

  • [Enviro] Fixed numerous areas the player could escape/leave the regular game environment. 
  • [UI] Fixed an issue in Survival Mode that caused six incorrect Possible Old Bear Locations to appear in the list of Mystery Lake Surveyed Locations.
  • [UI] Fixed an issue when using a Controller that caused the Start Fire menu to skip when starting a fire in a Fire Barrel.
  • [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented items from appearing in Inspection Mode when the HUD was disabled in Options.
  • [UI] Fixed a performance issue that caused the WINTERMUTE menu to become unresponsive when the Player had many save files. 

GAMEPLAY

  • [General] Updated Feats, so they now always save up completion.

CHALLENGE MODES

  • [Darkwalker] Fixed an issue that could prevent the game from saving correctly. 

WINTERMUTE

** Please note that this section contains spoilers for WINTERMUTE. ** 

  • [Ep4] Fixed a bug that could cause the game to save in an unloadable state. 
  • [Ep3] Fixed a bug that caused the UI to disappear after exiting various sequences, such as a phone call or a dialogue sequence.
  • [Dialogue] Fixed an issue that caused the text to appear distorted during a dialogue sequence.

### END OF RELEASE NOTES ###

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Finally!! I have always stated interloper players have no valid reason to go to BI and one way around that would be ability to repair crampons. Huge improvement and long awaited.

    Not to crazy about the ballistic vest though- seems even more unnecessary than spray paint.  Seems like such an incredibly arbitrary concept of all the possible arctic- survival-relevant additions the game could potentially have.  What’s next- a chain mail helmet?
  I am sure most players will appreciate the noisemakers but there is no way an interloper is wasting a precious match on a noisemaker- absolutely no value for skilled players but I can see the appeal for stalker and below. 

Edited by Lord of the Long Dark
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1 hour ago, Lord of the Long Dark said:

Finally!! I have always stated interloper players have no valid reason to go to BI and one way around that would be ability to repair crampons. Huge improvement and long awaited.

    Not to crazy about the ballistic vest though- seems even more unnecessary than spray paint.  Seems like such an incredibly arbitrary concept of all the possible arctic- survival-relevant additions the game could potentially have.  What’s next- a chain mail helmet?
  I am sure most players will appreciate the noisemakers but there is no way an interloper is wasting a precious match on a noisemaker- absolutely no value for skilled players but I can see the appeal for stalker and below. 

I would like to see some firefighting gear/apparel in an update.
I would assume there are fire stations on Great Bear, and the tools are relevant/as is the value of turnout gear.

 And yes, bring on the chain mail helmet!  It can be found at Creepy Uncle Larry’s cabin in CH. 

 

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  • As is Black Rock Prison is a better survival mode region than bleak inlet.
  • I'm a bit confused as to why noise makers aren't craft able from the start, but it not something I view as actively negative. I do think they are the best implementation of a grenade that could be done and I do understand the desire to make wolf encounters easier to survive for beginning players, but I'm worried the will be to strong of a first order optimal strategy. Ultimately an unnecessary item, but not a damaging one.
  • I'll agree with Lord of the Long Dark on this in asking why. While the ballistic vest isn't as pointless as the spray paint I don't see any one except beginners using it without an increase in the amount of damage done by animals attacks. Is that part of the point. To dilute the amount of useful gear.
  • I haven't used the crampons much yet so, I'll have to wait to see on them being reparable. 
  • I'm gonna kind of miss some of my favorite spots to fall into the void at.
  • I'm both exited to make mods for the long dark, but a little apprehensive that no one will play the Hinterland version of the game any more; thus muddling it as a work of art. Only time will tell.

It seems like there's been a greater emphasis region specific stuff in an attempt to get players to explore the new region. If so why? If the game as a whole is good players new and old be able experience each region out necessities generated by the core gameplay loop. 

 

Edited by RegentRelic
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I greatly enjoying PERILOUS CONSTRAINT.  It is so good to have new unexplored territory. It brings back the suspense of my first few games when I have been injured by a wolf, am hungry am lost and can't find anywhere to shelter.

I simply continued an old game in which I am well equipped and fully skilled.  I dread to think what it would be like if I had started a new game with very few reources and low skills.  I suspect that I would have soon gone into The Long Dark.

Back to the game.

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On 12/7/2021 at 8:10 PM, Lord of the Long Dark said:

no way an interloper is wasting a precious match on a noisemaker

I tested it and turns out it doesn't use a match or anything actually, just like in ep 4.

Not sure if it's a bug or a feature

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Any chance they fixed the broken Faithful Cartographer achievement in this update? I am finally down to my last 3 achievements to get but the Faithful Cartographer was such a long slog to get. It is so annoying to get so close and be stopped because of a few non-existant locations in Mystery Lake.

 

Edited by Deseoso
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good evening, I explored the new region of Blackrock in survival mode and I discovered 2 locked doors at the Blackrock penitentiary, one near the door leading to the steam room which has a numeric keypad to be unlocked, I found that it is the room where it is the weapon workbench; the other locked door is next to the infirmary, to unlock it I think you need a key since the crowbar does not work, I do not know where it leads and I have not found any information on it, does anyone know where the key is to open it or where leads that room?

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Guest jeffpeng
1 hour ago, Juri said:

good evening, I explored the new region of Blackrock in survival mode and I discovered 2 locked doors at the Blackrock penitentiary, one near the door leading to the steam room which has a numeric keypad to be unlocked, I found that it is the room where it is the weapon workbench; the other locked door is next to the infirmary, to unlock it I think you need a key since the crowbar does not work, I do not know where it leads and I have not found any information on it, does anyone know where the key is to open it or where leads that room?

I've been wondering about the latter myself. It has an interior (you can see it through the window). So it would be kinda strange if they actually left that door in the game, while actually not giving any means to open it.

In general I must say that the Blackrock Region really works surprisingly well as a survival region (despite me really not liking EP4). The Prison itself is the single biggest "building" in the game, very much helped by the fact that it has this open air layout. And at some points you can really tell that this layout is pushing what the engine can do. I can't emphasize enough how great it is to have buildings actually to scale and with windows to look out of. Makes me dream of older regions being reworked this way, but I can also see how that probably would stretch the capabilities of especially older hardware and/or the engine itself. Not even speaking about the immense amount of work this would mean. So yeah, maybe, eventually, it is time for TLD2.

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15 hours ago, Juri said:

good evening, I explored the new region of Blackrock in survival mode and I discovered 2 locked doors at the Blackrock penitentiary, one near the door leading to the steam room which has a numeric keypad to be unlocked, I found that it is the room where it is the weapon workbench; the other locked door is next to the infirmary, to unlock it I think you need a key since the crowbar does not work, I do not know where it leads and I have not found any information on it, does anyone know where the key is to open it or where leads that room?

**spoilers**
 

So the door with the keypad…. Did you read the note next to the keypad? You’ll need to track down the code.  Which is written in another note.  Which is found in the mine. 
The door to the infirmary does not unlock, there is no key.  Have you played episode 4? If not, you won’t have found that this area is accessed through another building.  
 

So to recap:

Go find the code to the ammo room in the mine, come back and wait for an Aurora. 

Infirmary double door stays locked, look for another access door which takes you to the top floor.  

….if you learn that there is a key for it and the lower level floor can be accessed, Please forward!!
 

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On 12/9/2021 at 7:02 AM, Juri said:

good evening, I explored the new region of Blackrock in survival mode and I discovered 2 locked doors at the Blackrock penitentiary, one near the door leading to the steam room which has a numeric keypad to be unlocked, I found that it is the room where it is the weapon workbench; the other locked door is next to the infirmary, to unlock it I think you need a key since the crowbar does not work, I do not know where it leads and I have not found any information on it, does anyone know where the key is to open it or where leads that room?

 

On 12/9/2021 at 8:41 AM, jeffpeng said:

I've been wondering about the latter myself. It has an interior (you can see it through the window). So it would be kinda strange if they actually left that door in the game, while actually not giving any means to open it.

In general I must say that the Blackrock Region really works surprisingly well as a survival region (despite me really not liking EP4). The Prison itself is the single biggest "building" in the game, very much helped by the fact that it has this open air layout. And at some points you can really tell that this layout is pushing what the engine can do. I can't emphasize enough how great it is to have buildings actually to scale and with windows to look out of. Makes me dream of older regions being reworked this way, but I can also see how that probably would stretch the capabilities of especially older hardware and/or the engine itself. Not even speaking about the immense amount of work this would mean. So yeah, maybe, eventually, it is time for TLD2.

Sorry for the confusion. You can enter it via the door at ground level, however we're working on some improvements to clear things up. Thanks for your patience. 

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Guest jeffpeng
2 hours ago, Admin said:

Sorry for the confusion. You can enter it via the door at ground level, however we're working on some improvements to clear things up. Thanks for your patience. 

You can enter the upper level via that door, yes. But the area behind the locked doors still is inaccessible. If that is intended - alright 😉 Thanks for the feedback in any case.

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I am finding the Blackrock region much trickier than I expected.  I am not sure if it is my being unusually incompetent or there are some deliberate, or unintentional, difficulties.  For my game I continued a Voyager game of around 1,350 days.  It might be that difficulties increase as the days played increases. 

One simple instance is that almost all clothes and bedrolls I find are ruined. If my bedroll is destroyed in a wolf or bear attack in a few days I will be a gonner for sure, unless I have managed to make a bearskin bedroll.  

Some of the Timberwolf attacks have been particularly fierce.  To have a pack of 5 Timberwolves seems a bit tough in a Voyager game. 

The strangest issue to puzzle me is that I seem to have lost my sense of direction.  I have mostly noticed it around the Foreman's Clearcut, that is between Cook's Farm and Bricklayers Retreat.  Several times I have set off thinking I was heading north or east and found and found that I was completley wrong and end up in a different area to what I expected.  I definitely had not had too much wine.  Are strange things happening to North, S. E. & W. in that area.  This is the first time I have had such confusion in TLD.

I am fascinated by the problem mentioned above relating to inaccessible rooms in the prison. I have had two explorations of the prison.  The first time to retrieve the bullet-proof vest, (although I can't see why it is worth the bother).  That was a rushed exploration, but my second visit was leisurely as I waited for some birch saplings to cure.  I did not see any signs of a locked room, nor did I see any notes suggesting such, (or in the mine either). They must be there as others have seen them, so this seems like lack of attention to detail by me.  I shall have to have a third trip into the prison and another trip to the mine.

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I explored the new region in Survival Mode using one of my longest-running, better-equipped pilgrim MacKenzies, only to lose him due to what I believe is some kind of bug. I was exploring near the Power Plant, in the lower area where there's that strong current flowing into the plant. I'm pretty sure I was standing on a rock nearby when suddenly the screen went black and the game said I died by drowning. This happened so suddenly and without any 'splashing sound' (like for example when you fall in a lake or river by stepping on thin ice) and, again, I don't think it was my mistake, as I was walking very carefully exactly to avoid falling into the river.

I'm on a Mac using the Steam version of The Long Dark.

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I've had a couple of minor issues which might be bugs, but it's just as likely they are external glitches rather than TLD.  So far no major bugs.  After travelling around most of the Blackrock region, most places a couple of times, I have retreated to PV to see if I have any revolver ammo there.  I think that the only revolver ammo I have found in BR were two shells in a revolver that I found.  I seem to have found areas that I did not find in Episode 4.  I don't know whether they are expansion areas or areas I never discovered in Ep. 4.  I much prefer Survival Blackrock to Episode 4.  The only issue that I have disliked is Timberwolves. 

I am playing a Voyager game of around 1,400 days which means that I went into the region well equipped.

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Absolutely loving the update, Blackrock is fantastically harsh. Anyone noticed the wolves behaving particularly inquisitively? I had four stalking me, thankfully on the opposite side of the prison fences ... Not growling, just ears cocked and trotting in a disturbingly passive manner ... Still eying me up though 😬

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Since I was in pleasant valley, I went to blackrock with my interloper, no bow yet, deer skin boots, rabbit gloves and hat is all I got.

Made it to the penitenciary avoiding and outrunning wolves, spend a couple days there but trying to fight my way out with the hammer, I got hurt.

Now I'm low condition, 2 days of food, Timberwolves waiting at the generator exit, wolves inside the pen, damn I don't even remind how I got there through the passes

I'll leave a note there guys for anyone who might come. Farewell 📜

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On 12/11/2021 at 4:13 PM, Morrick said:

. . . I was exploring near the Power Plant, in the lower area where there's that strong current flowing into the plant. I'm pretty sure I was standing on a rock nearby when suddenly the screen went black and the game said I died by drowning. This happened so suddenly . . . .

Exactly the same happened to me.

Prior to that death by drowning I have had my most frustrating day ever on TLD.  I am trying to get into the Infirmary.  I have been seaching for a secret entrance or a key.  I have had my fourth search of the prison, trying to be particularly careful, my third search of the mine, right down the bottom.  On the way back from the mine I tried, and failed to get around to the back of the prison.  My last seach was through the steam tunnels then to the Power Plant, and my drowning.  I think I might have the answer, but I need to wait for an aurora.  Then I might be wrong about that too 😬.

I need a beer.

Edited by peteloud
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Fortunately I had backedup my save at the mine.  If I hadn't I'd have given up TLD rather then restart 1400+ day game.  I returned to the nasty area near the Blackrock Power Plant to look for bugs.

 

I had two bad experiences.  I suddenly fell into that raging torrent when I appeared to be a firm ground.  Not only that in the same area I became stuck in a small space beside some barrels.  Both problems resulted in TLD.  Go two steps beyond this, still on firm ground, and you drown.1949906655_screen_(-37876445)_faa9950d-5728-4429-9d34-00c4d65602c6.thumb.png.56f769ca1ea49c2bbf95239f4e1cd4ef.png

Go to the left of these barrels and you are stuck and have to crash the game to get out.222861253_screen_(-37775443)_836d95e2-3857-4b68-b7f5-444382ddfd41.thumb.png.048ba483f82c42cbd0e8c30bbf5b28bd.png

 

 

 

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There are two other places where I became stuck. and had to crash the game to get out.  In both cases I entered a risky area so getting stuck was not an unreasonavle result.  However Permadeath and losing a game that has been built up over months or years is a harsh punishment by HTL. My games was a 1400 day game that I started when TLD was ver. 1.35.  Thankfully I had a backup save. 

 

Above the gorge with the frozen river there is a place the rocks from each side meet high above the river.  While trying to find away across I entered a low roofed area and coouldn't get out. I have a poor screen dump of the place.  The picture is terrible but the co-ordinates might be useful.

1311743413_screen_(152242166)_d13a33ea-a584-47ee-a09c-9877b1f54509.thumb.png.db21fe9c0f8f8bac3f5171bfa6975f74.png

 

The other place was in the mine. Twice I died at this spot.  There is some very rickerty staging above a very deep shaft.  I very carefully walked along the planks, then suddenly I was falling.  It was a reasonably realistic accident. However unrecoverable loss of a long game is high price to pay.

 

So, my advice is to backup your saves and try and persuade HTL to incorporsate auto-saves into survival.

Edited by peteloud
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On 12/10/2021 at 7:51 AM, Semple Fi said:

**spoilers**
 

So the door with the keypad…. Did you read the note next to the keypad? You’ll need to track down the code.  Which is written in another note.  Which is found in the mine. 
The door to the infirmary does not unlock, there is no key.  Have you played episode 4? If not, you won’t have found that this area is accessed through another building.  
 

So to recap:

Go find the code to the ammo room in the mine, come back and wait for an Aurora. 

Infirmary double door stays locked, look for another access door which takes you to the top floor.  

….if you learn that there is a key for it and the lower level floor can be accessed, Please forward!!
 

I found the code in the mine and waited for the Aurora: the door still doesn´t open for me :( Is this a bug??

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3 hours ago, Alone said:

I found the code in the mine and waited for the Aurora: the door still doesn´t open for me :( Is this a bug??

Did you enter the cade at the keypad?

It worked OK for me. 

Careful with the floor in there.  If you put tools to be sharpend on the milling machine on the floor they disappear.  They are still there and recoverable, just beneath the floor.

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38 minutes ago, peteloud said:

Did you enter the cade at the keypad?

It worked OK for me. 

Careful with the floor in there.  If you put tools to be sharpend on the milling machine on the floor they disappear.  They are still there and recoverable, just beneath the floor.

I can´t really. It´s not possible to enter a specific code. I just can choose the keypad and that´s it. I´m playing in survival mode btw.

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