Feedback on Blackrock keypad door. (And how it made me stop playing The Long Dark)

[Carnivale]

Well, when I say feedback on the door, I actually mean the locking mechanism, the door itself is just fine. Basically this is a criticism on the gameplay design decision of opening the door locked by the keypad. Making the player wait for a random amount of time is a really bad idea. I've spent 20 days near the door just waiting for an aurora to happen. This has literally drained me of every bit of fun and excitement the game otherwise offers. It's a chore. I go to the Cook's Farm, kill a deer or two, cook the meat and wait at the garage area near the door for an aurora to happen. Rinse and repeat. For how long? For a random amount of time? No thank you. Why isn't the code note found in the mine just a proper key?

Please understand that I love The Long Dark and this flaw alone was enough for me to sign up to this forum and make a post about it.

[Strelok]

I can understand you. But for me its ok because i always have other things i can do while waiting. But dont get me wrong, i would not have a problem if the condition to wait for the aurora would not exist, because the part to get the code from the cave is enough of a condition.

[UpUpAway95]

A solution (if you're willing to play a custom game) is to turn up the frequency of auroras to their most frequent setting in the custom menu.  Of course, this disables any feat progression while playing in a custtom game, but you may find the trade off well worth the diminished aggravation.  It also makes the game more hazardous in some ways since it increases the likelihood of getting caught out at night when aurora wolves, etc. are about.  I do sympathize with you though and have always felt the mechanics that rely on aurora events to be more of a detraction from the game than a positive addition, particularly in survival mode (i.e. opening the doors to the two mills and using the elevator in the mine in Coastal Highway).

Edited May 13, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[Leeanda]

I've had the same problem with the CH mine!  The aurora is more likely to turn up if you're well out of the area.  I spent several long weeks in the house near the mine and no luck. As soon as I moved to the quonset it turned up!  

I should also add that on my last run I maxed aurora out and still hardly saw any!

Edited May 13, 2022 by Leeanda

[Murpharoo]

It's cheating but you can pass time for 10 hours overnight while watching / listening for an aurora to crop up ready to cancel the passing time if you hear / see an aurora.

If no aurora appears then quit to desktop before saving and rinse and repeat....

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Murpharoo said:

It's cheating but you can pass time for 10 hours overnight while watching / listening for an aurora to crop up ready to cancel the passing time if you hear / see an aurora.

If no aurora appears then quit to desktop before saving and rinse and repeat....

I wouldn't call using two legitimate features of the game (passing time and canceling passing time) as "cheating."  The same can be accomplished by sleeping during the day and staying awake at night (which is clearly a strategy that's not cheating). 

However, it still doesn't make the aurora appear more frequently.  That's controlled in the difficulty settings (as shown in the custom menu)... unless it's currently bugged (which is what @Leeandaseems to be implying.  The aurora frequency setting is probably also affected (and potentially blocked) by the other weather-related settings (e.g. frequency at which the wind shifts, etc.)  From playing around with various tests of combos of custom sets, I have found that the game sort of throws hissy fits if too many of settings are set to the max at one time.  For example, setting all animal spawns to Very High seems to result in fewer moose and bear spawns than when the "normal" loper settings are used... which is counter to what the settings should be doing.

[Leeanda]

Just now, UpUpAway95 said:

I wouldn't call using two legitimate features of the game (passing time and canceling passing time) as "cheating."  The same can be accomplished by sleeping during the day and staying awake at night (which is clearly a strategy that's not cheating). 

However, it still doesn't make the aurora appear more frequently.  That's controlled in the difficulty settings (as shown in the custom menu)... unless it's currently bugged (which is what @Leeandaseems to be implying.  The aurora frequency setting is probably also affected (and potentially blocked) by the other weather-related settings (e.g. frequency at which the wind shifts, etc.)  From playing around with various tests of combos of custom sets, I have found that the game sort of throws hissy fits if too many of settings are set to the max at one time.  For example, setting all animal spawns to Very High seems to result in fewer moose and bear spawns than when the "normal" loper settings are used... which is counter to what the settings should be doing.

I should've said the last three runs! All maxed but made no difference.  Even in one that had all the weather settings on the lowest. 

Bugged or not I'm not entirely sure .  

But the animals on max does indeed have the opposite effect and not just on interloper.

[UpUpAway95]

7 hours ago, Leeanda said:

I should've said the last three runs! All maxed but made no difference.  Even in one that had all the weather settings on the lowest. 

Bugged or not I'm not entirely sure .  

But the animals on max does indeed have the opposite effect and not just on interloper.

I would say bugged then.  Before I took this last break, I was doing a run in Blackrock only and had bumped the aurora frequency to high... and there seemed to be auroras almost every night... noticeably higher than on a previous run where I had set them to medium.  It is a "chance" setting, so just pure luck also plays a role in skewing the results, of course.

[Leeanda]

Just now, UpUpAway95 said:

I would say bugged then.  Before I took this last break, I was doing a run in Blackrock only and had bumped the aurora frequency to high... and there seemed to be auroras almost every night... noticeably higher than on a previous run where I had set them to medium.  It is a "chance" setting, so just pure luck also plays a role in skewing the results, of course.

I'd have to agree on that. Pure luck indeed but I do occasionally wonder if it's also dependant on the area.  For me I get quite a few in bleak ,not surprising, but hardly ever in mountain town.

[Carnivale]

12 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

A solution (if you're willing to play a custom game) is to turn up the frequency of auroras to their most frequent setting in the custom menu.

Sadly, starting a new game is not an option for me, at least not right now. My current playthrough has lasted for 120 days, it's my longest game so far and I kinda want to see for how long I can survive.

 

10 hours ago, Murpharoo said:

It's cheating but you can pass time for 10 hours overnight while watching / listening for an aurora to crop up ready to cancel the passing time if you hear / see an aurora.

If no aurora appears then quit to desktop before saving and rinse and repeat....

That's an option, I might try it sometime in the future. Right now I've been sleeping the nights in one hour increments to check if an aurora has appeared. 

[Leeanda]

Given this games always trying to kill you you could risk going down into the tunnels? Normally the aurora shows up when there's a chance you don't want frying by wires!

[Carnivale]

3 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

Given this games always trying to kill you you could risk going down into the tunnels? Normally the aurora shows up when there's a chance you don't want frying by wires!

Getting fried by wires sounds so good that I think I will try it soon.

[Leeanda]

Just now, Carnivale said:

Getting fried by wires sounds so good that I think I will try it soon.

It's a one way ticket . When I first saw them I tried to put my bedroll over them thinking I could get over safely! Boy was I wrong😀

That's the problem with blackrock though,the weather is severe about 90+% of the time. Leaves little room for aurora's. 

I still reckon that if you go down there there's more chance of one though! Just be careful if there is! I'd hate to see you lose your run .

[UpUpAway95]

6 hours ago, Carnivale said:

Sadly, starting a new game is not an option for me, at least not right now. My current playthrough has lasted for 120 days, it's my longest game so far and I kinda want to see for how long I can survive.

 

That's an option, I might try it sometime in the future. Right now I've been sleeping the nights in one hour increments to check if an aurora has appeared. 

Absolutely understandable.  I honestly don't believe there is any way to trigger an aurora inside a particular run.  It's just plain old RNG with the percentage of probability being controlled by the setting I  mentioned.  Your best bet is to just continue to wait during the nights by the door and ensure that you don't sleep through any aurora opportunities (since sleep duration is something that cannot be cancelled).  As you noted, the aurora frequency percentage chance can only be set in a custom game when you start you run (I'm still an advocate of having an option to enable changes to the difficulty of a run in progress - a toggle on the starting custom menu to either lock in difficulty or unlock it; but, so far, that idea doesn't seem to get much support from the fanbase here.)

Edited May 14, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[Leeanda]

Just now, UpUpAway95 said:

Absolutely understandable.  I honestly don't believe there is any way to trigger an aurora inside a particular run.  It's just plain old RNG with the percentage of probability being controlled by the setting I  mentioned.  Your best bet is to just continue to wait during the nights by the door and ensure that you don't sleep through any aurora opportunities (since sleep duration is something that cannot be cancelled).  As you noted, the aurora frequency percentage chance can only be set in a custom game when you start you run (I'm still an advocate of having an option to enable changes to the difficulty of a run in progress; but, so far, that idea doesn't seem to get much support from the fanbase here.)

I must've missed that thread!! I'd love to be able to change setting mid run.

[UpUpAway95]

3 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

I must've missed that thread!! I'd love to be able to change setting mid run.

No worries, I think it's something I first proposed long before you joined.

[Leeanda]

Just now, UpUpAway95 said:

No worries, I think it's something I first proposed long before you joined.

Maybe it's time to revive the thread then🙂

[UpUpAway95]

26 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

Maybe it's time to revive the thread then🙂

Might be easier to just make your own proposal... I'll support you. 😀

[Admin]

Thank you for the feedback. There are some great suggestions in this thread. If you're finding that you're still experiencing difficulty, please don't hesitate to reach out via our Support Portal for some assistance: https://hinterlandgames.zendesk.com/hc/en-us 

[hozz1235]

There is always the option of using the console command mod.  I know you can turn auroras on/off with it.

[Semple Fi]

On 5/14/2022 at 2:51 AM, Leeanda said:

I'd have to agree on that. Pure luck indeed but I do occasionally wonder if it's also dependant on the area.  For me I get quite a few in bleak ,not surprising, but hardly ever in mountain town.

So I believe the mechanic is dependent on you NOT being in the immediate area.  
As part of the difficulty of the game, you need to keep moving.  I ran into the same issue in BLK at the ammo shop as well as BI at the cannery. 
To fix it I went over to the radio tower hut and stayed the night and… voilà! The Aurora showed up. I then had to traverse back.  
Another option is to take the steam tunnels and hang out on the other side for a night.  
I don’t believe it’s a bug, I believe it’s purposeful programming than can be manipulated.  

[Leeanda]

Just now, Semple Fi said:

So I believe the mechanic is dependent on you NOT being in the immediate area.  
As part of the difficulty of the game, you need to keep moving.  I ran into the same issue in BLK at the ammo shop as well as BI at the cannery. 
To fix it I went over to the radio tower hut and stayed the night and… voilà! The Aurora showed up. I then had to traverse back.  
Another option is to take the steam tunnels and hang out on the other side for a night.  
I don’t believe it’s a bug, I believe it’s purposeful programming than can be manipulated.  

In this case when I said area I meant which map.  But yes I agree ,I noticed if I slept opposite the mine in coastal then the aurora wouldn't show up.  I moved back to quonset and didn't have to wait long.    Typical though,as this morning I slept in the mine and woke up to an aurora. 

[Semple Fi]

I’ve also found that exiting the game completely

12 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

In this case when I said area I meant which map.  But yes I agree ,I noticed if I slept opposite the mine in coastal then the aurora wouldn't show up.  I moved back to quonset and didn't have to wait long.    Typical though,as this morning I slept in the mine and woke up to an aurora. 

 I’ve also found that exciting the game completely and rebooting has helped when it’s locked up on the Aurora cycle.  

Edited May 28, 2022 by Semple Fi

[Leeanda]

Just now, Semple Fi said:

I’ve also found that exciting the game completely

 I’ve also found that exciting the game completely and rebooting has helped when it’s locked up on the Aurora cycle.  

I've only tried that once before but because of a blizzard.. it didn't work😊. But that was a lousy run anyway.