Dev Update - February 2023


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tld-feb-dev-update-steam-library-spotlight-banner..thumb.png.2e3e88db420339841047efb579060230.png

 

Hello Survivors,

We have a few updates about the development progress around TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, the paid Expansion Pass for Survival Mode, which we launched on Steam (Windows-only) on December 5th.

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part One: Mac Version

We’re happy to announce that we were able to fix the issues that prevented the Mac build of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY from working. The Test Team is finalizing the build, and it is due for release on Wednesday, February 15th on Steam and the Epic Game Store. This will bring the Mac version to parity with Windows.

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part One: Xbox and PlayStation Versions

The team is working hard on finalizing and testing these versions. We’ve encountered a few hiccups with the respective store setups, but we have found some workarounds. The current target date for Xbox and PlayStation releases of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is Wednesday, March 15th. This will bring Steam, Epic Game store, Xbox, and PlayStation versions to parity. Please keep in mind, Xbox and PlayStation will need to approve these new versions, which may affect the release date. We will provide confirmation closer to launch. 

We’ll have more news on the Nintendo Switch version in the coming weeks.

 

SAVE SYSTEM OVERHAUL WITH TALES, PART ONE

As a reminder, as part of splitting the game between Story and Survival Modes, we have made some necessary changes to help future-proof the save system in THE LONG DARK, and to enable you to receive improvements to the game moving forward. 

As a result, unfortunately current Survival Mode saves will not work with the game once you download the Update for Part One of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. This is true even if you do not purchase the Expansion Pass. 

This change will not impact Feats, Feats progress, Achievements, or WINTERMUTE saves. 

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Two: Launch Date & Features

We are currently targeting a launch for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART TWO on Thursday, March 30th. This will be for the Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Epic Games Store versions. The work on Part Two is nearly complete, and will be entering the Testing phase soon. Please keep in mind that the release date may be impacted by development realities.

 

Bunker_Enhanced_Small.thumb.jpg.5f7cb87425ae5f02bf34503146eda479.jpg
Prepper Bunker Overhaul - Available in Part Two of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY

 

The feature and content set for Part Two will include:

(For those who own TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY)

  • Tale: “Signal Void” (estimated 5+ hours of play time to complete)
  • Handheld Shortwave Radio
  • Transponder Cache Gameplay
  • New Bunkers
  • Three new Clothing items

(For anyone that owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION)

  • Fire-Hardened Arrows 
  • Enhanced Prepper Bunkers
  • Enhanced Beachcombing
  • Acorns & Oak Trees 

Note: In this post, Fire-Hardened Arrows were mistakenly listed under the Paid update for TALES, however, we have adjusted the lists to accurately reflect the content listed on the Expansion Pass Roadmap. 

We’ll share more details about each of the features going into Part Two as we get closer to release. If you’d like to review our plans for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, please review the Roadmap. If you’d like to see what is included in Part One, check out the launch video here.

 

Windows - Upcoming Hotfix

We continue to work toward resolving a number of issues on Windows, including: 

  • A couple of issues causing an infinite loading screen or failure to progress past the disclaimer screen after launching the game.
  • An issue in the Episode Four mission, "Lost Power Workers" that caused the game to hang when entering the trailer.

We appreciate your ongoing patience and support as we work to resolve these concerns, and we will share a date for the Hotfix in the near future as soon as more news is available. For all other technical issues, please reach out via our Support Portal.

 

Thank you, Survivors, and keep your eyes open for next week’s release of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Mac (on Steam and Epic Game Store)!

 

- The Hinterland Team
 

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I thought fire-hardened arrows were going to be added to the free version; the roadmap shows that we will get fire-hardened arrows without buying the expansion pack. Is this still true? Will it be released to us without the DLC later in the future? 

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I'm impressed that the intended console release is the same date as the PC. Here's hoping that works out, and great job if it does! 
For what it's worth, this is a nice clear communication of exactly what to expect. Much improved and appreciated! 

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1 hour ago, Admin said:

tld-feb-dev-update-steam-library-spotlight-banner..thumb.png.2e3e88db420339841047efb579060230.png

 

Hello Survivors,

We have a few updates about the development progress around TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, the paid Expansion Pass for Survival Mode, which we launched on Steam (Windows-only) on December 5th.

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part One: Mac Version

We’re happy to announce that we were able to fix the issues that prevented the Mac build of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY from working. The Test Team is finalizing the build, and it is due for release on Wednesday, February 15th on Steam and the Epic Game Store. This will bring the Mac version to parity with Windows.

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part One: Xbox and PlayStation Versions

The team is working hard on finalizing and testing these versions. We’ve encountered a few hiccups with the respective store setups, but we have found some workarounds. The current target date for Xbox and PlayStation releases of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is Wednesday, March 15th. This will bring Steam, Epic Game store, Xbox, and PlayStation versions to parity. Please keep in mind, Xbox and PlayStation will need to approve these new versions, which may affect the release date. We will provide confirmation closer to launch. 

We’ll have more news on the Nintendo Switch version in the coming weeks.

 

SAVE SYSTEM OVERHAUL WITH TALES, PART ONE

As a reminder, as part of splitting the game between Story and Survival Modes, we have made some necessary changes to help future-proof the save system in THE LONG DARK, and to enable you to receive improvements to the game moving forward. 

As a result, unfortunately current Survival Mode saves will not work with the game once you download the Update for Part One of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. This is true even if you do not purchase the Expansion Pass. 

This change will not impact Feats, Feats progress, Achievements, or WINTERMUTE saves. 

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Two: Launch Date & Features

We are currently targeting a launch for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART TWO on Thursday, March 30th. This will be for the Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Epic Games Store versions. The work on Part Two is nearly complete, and will be entering the Testing phase soon. Please keep in mind that the release date may be impacted by development realities.

 

Bunker_Enhanced_Small.thumb.jpg.5f7cb87425ae5f02bf34503146eda479.jpg
Prepper Bunker Overhaul - Available in Part Two of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY

 

The feature and content set for Part Two will include:

(For those who own TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY)

  • Tale: “Signal Void” (estimated 5+ hours of play time to complete)
  • Fire-Hardened Arrows
  • Handheld Shortwave Radio
  • Transponder Cache Gameplay
  • New Bunkers
  • Three new Clothing items

(For anyone that owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION)

  • Enhanced Prepper Bunkers
  • Enhanced Beachcombing
  • Acorns & Oak Trees 

We’ll share more details about each of the features going into Part Two as we get closer to release. If you’d like to review our plans for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, please review the Roadmap. If you’d like to see what is included in Part One, check out the launch video here.

 

Windows - Upcoming Hotfix

We continue to work toward resolving a number of issues on Windows, including: 

A couple of issues causing an infinite loading screen or failure to progress past the disclaimer screen after launching the game.
An issue in the Episode Four mission, "Lost Power Workers" that caused the game to hang when entering the trailer.

We appreciate your ongoing patience and support as we work to resolve these concerns, and we will share a date for the Hotfix in the near future as soon as more news is available. For all other technical issues, please reach out via our Support Portal.

 

Thank you, Survivors, and keep your eyes open for next week’s release of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Mac (on Steam and Epic Game Store)!

 

- The Hinterland Team
 

What do you mean tale estimated 5+ hours do you mean a challenge? Or like a  letter you find and then like go to a cache or something?

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The Good: Actual feature list! And seems to mean that the oak trees will be integrated to existing regular Bear maps too, seeing as it's in the free section.

The Bad: Hotfix still not yet here and the example list doesn't mention the more jarring bugs

The Ugly: March 30th is 16 weeks, not 8-10 weeks as promised between updates. (But of course still less than in the last few years)

Edited by Mistral
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I opened up The Long Dark and when I got told about this update I said to my self out loud. "Ump, time for bi-yearly disappointment". (Except for you perilous constraint, your perfect)

2 hours ago, Pencil said:

I thought fire-hardened arrows were going to be added to the free version; the roadmap shows that we will get fire-hardened arrows without buying the expansion pack. Is this still true? Will it be released to us without the DLC later in the future? 

image.thumb.jpeg.58240554bfe4ff8c6b9262713b50f697.jpeg

Seems plans changed. Between acorns and fire hardened arrows I would expect the acorns to be moved, since they require oak tree's. Is Hinterland going to retro actively add them to older regions? will they just be in random parts of forests? Then again fire hardened arrows seem much more useful. Especially for players who want to play interloper, but don't know how to forge. Which wouldn't you know it the loot refresh made it were heavy hammers only exist some of the time and fire arms rarer in lower difficulties. They also Increased the number of bow spawns without changing the number of arrows. So, what they are hoping is that you'll die over and over again unable to find a ranged weapon. Then you'll look at the DLC and say "uhmm those those fire hardened arrows are exactly what I need" - the customer. I'd say it's clever but, everybody knows that key to sales is turning wants in to needs. More specifically power creep is classic way to force every player into buying your newest expansion.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                To be clear I'm not saying that the base game is going to be made worse in an attempt to sell the expansions. Even if the loot table refresh sometimes makes it seem that way. Nor am I worried that the power level of the DLC items will split the community. In fact power creep isn't even a good strategy since the Long Dark Players attracts players form the world/interacting half of Bartel's taxonomy. Where as power creep is most effective on the Acting/Players side of things.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

3 hours ago, Admin said:

Tale: “Signal Void”

Should have called it Signal to Void, just to be extra confusing. /Laughing <------------- joke; don't ban me. /wink 

Edited by RegentRelic
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3 hours ago, Mistral said:

The Ugly: March 30th is 16 weeks, not 8-10 weeks as promised between updates. (But of course still less than in the last few years)

16 weeks?

The update it's only 7 weeks away.

 

Edit: nvm i just realised your point.

Edited by A Lamp
Im just stupid
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I don't know what to say. I am realy confused how hard you are struggling with the first update on a planned season pass. So will the price now be lowered? Or will there be more than one year of support? Part tow will take place where the third one should appear? You just cant do that, promise new content every 8-10 weeks and now doubel that time. With nothing to say to that. I dont get it, this is one way to get loose of your fans.

Edited by Ich9210
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I also wonder about how they implement the new additions to the existing runs. If I saved the game exactly on a spot that acorn tree will be implemented, will I be stuck inside the tree? Or will the new loot they will put around like fire hardened arrows be available in already existing loot places?

I'm currently preparing for my longest run ever (I'm at day 130 and I'm still clearing out regions) and I hope the update will go smoothly without any problem. And I hope they solve the sliding - glitching bear bug where he goes spiral at 300 mph when provoked.

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7 hours ago, Admin said:

tld-feb-dev-update-steam-library-spotlight-banner..thumb.png.2e3e88db420339841047efb579060230.png

 

Hello Survivors,

We have a few updates about the development progress around TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, the paid Expansion Pass for Survival Mode, which we launched on Steam (Windows-only) on December 5th.

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part One: Mac Version

We’re happy to announce that we were able to fix the issues that prevented the Mac build of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY from working. The Test Team is finalizing the build, and it is due for release on Wednesday, February 15th on Steam and the Epic Game Store. This will bring the Mac version to parity with Windows.

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part One: Xbox and PlayStation Versions

The team is working hard on finalizing and testing these versions. We’ve encountered a few hiccups with the respective store setups, but we have found some workarounds. The current target date for Xbox and PlayStation releases of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is Wednesday, March 15th. This will bring Steam, Epic Game store, Xbox, and PlayStation versions to parity. Please keep in mind, Xbox and PlayStation will need to approve these new versions, which may affect the release date. We will provide confirmation closer to launch. 

We’ll have more news on the Nintendo Switch version in the coming weeks.

 

SAVE SYSTEM OVERHAUL WITH TALES, PART ONE

As a reminder, as part of splitting the game between Story and Survival Modes, we have made some necessary changes to help future-proof the save system in THE LONG DARK, and to enable you to receive improvements to the game moving forward. 

As a result, unfortunately current Survival Mode saves will not work with the game once you download the Update for Part One of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. This is true even if you do not purchase the Expansion Pass. 

This change will not impact Feats, Feats progress, Achievements, or WINTERMUTE saves. 

 

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Two: Launch Date & Features

We are currently targeting a launch for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART TWO on Thursday, March 30th. This will be for the Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Epic Games Store versions. The work on Part Two is nearly complete, and will be entering the Testing phase soon. Please keep in mind that the release date may be impacted by development realities.

 

Bunker_Enhanced_Small.thumb.jpg.5f7cb87425ae5f02bf34503146eda479.jpg
Prepper Bunker Overhaul - Available in Part Two of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY

 

The feature and content set for Part Two will include:

(For those who own TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY)

  • Tale: “Signal Void” (estimated 5+ hours of play time to complete)
  • Fire-Hardened Arrows
  • Handheld Shortwave Radio
  • Transponder Cache Gameplay
  • New Bunkers
  • Three new Clothing items

(For anyone that owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION)

  • Enhanced Prepper Bunkers
  • Enhanced Beachcombing
  • Acorns & Oak Trees 

We’ll share more details about each of the features going into Part Two as we get closer to release. If you’d like to review our plans for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, please review the Roadmap. If you’d like to see what is included in Part One, check out the launch video here.

 

Windows - Upcoming Hotfix

We continue to work toward resolving a number of issues on Windows, including: 

A couple of issues causing an infinite loading screen or failure to progress past the disclaimer screen after launching the game.
An issue in the Episode Four mission, "Lost Power Workers" that caused the game to hang when entering the trailer.

We appreciate your ongoing patience and support as we work to resolve these concerns, and we will share a date for the Hotfix in the near future as soon as more news is available. For all other technical issues, please reach out via our Support Portal.

 

Thank you, Survivors, and keep your eyes open for next week’s release of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Mac (on Steam and Epic Game Store)!

 

- The Hinterland Team
 

Beautiful, thanks for the concise update. Looking forward to firing my Mac up!

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Thank You for the detailed update. I have to chew a bit on the new brake of save games. This is really harsh, as many players have built up their new characters to prepare for the new adventures, during the last 2 months.

A bit more detail on how HTL will handle the late releases in regard to the one year pass would be helpful too.

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1 hour ago, mfuegemann said:

Thank You for the detailed update. I have to chew a bit on the new brake of save games. This is really harsh, as many players have built up their new characters to prepare for the new adventures, during the last 2 months.

Since the Dev Diary refers to the split of Wintermute and sandbox for the save-breaking changes, I'd assume this part is just a reminder for the console and Mac users, that this will happen to them, once the update is live.

Edited by Arcx
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Now the really interesting thing is that if and when the other big updates come out as slowly as this, ie in rough 3-4 month intervals instead of the promised 2-2,5 months - which seems likely considering how things are going with the consoles and how Canadian summer holidays also probably function as deadlines - they should contain absolutely the biggest of all changes. If you only end up having two big updates, one around July-August and another in December, they should both have new regions but also arguably the most awaited and complex additions yet. Ie safehouse customization, two new animals along with the wildlife refresh, etc

The updates in this package seem more like B-features that were indeed mentioned but seem less hyped. Hopefully the "Transponder Cache" thing, whatever it is, is replacement for Trader

Edited by Mistral
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Yes! Waking up with a cup of coffee and some TLD news, feels really good. :coffee:

The clarity on dates and features is much appreciated.

Excited for the new clothing, variety always improves the game, fingers crossed for craftable items.

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Some more info other than "Upcomming windows hotfix" would be nice, as since buying the expansion pass, I've been unable to play as the game simply won't launch anymore, even tried using time capsule to go back to pre update but that doesn't work either.

Think I managed to get 1 hour of gameplay since update before the game just went, Nope, not gonna load anymore 😕

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Loved the update, the new bunker interior looks great, hyped for the first Tale, but the release date...

Yeesh... I sure hope the following updates won't take this long to release. Otherwise, the one-year expansion pass will turn into a two-year expansion pass.
I really hope, it's rather a sign that the rest of the updates will all be 8 weeks apart to catch up to the promised deadline. I'm not usually the one to blame Hinterland for taking too long, but the expansion pass is kind of a commitment. People bought it hoping it will be complete in a year.

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Yeah and even the March 30th isn't set in stone, might get delayed further as the text implies as possibility

Honestly, I didn't really think there was any need for HTL Apology when the initial launch sort of crumbled on Steam, you know the couple hour delay for technical reasons, those things happen. Same with the other platforms having initial issues. But I think a delay of this magnitude, when promise is given for paid DLC, apology might be in order. Now again, better delayed than rushed to completion full of bugs and staff worked to overexhaustion, but still... you know... also, the bugs seem to be here regardless.

Edited by Mistral
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8 hours ago, Ich9210 said:

So will the price now be lowered? Or will there be more than one year of support? Part tow will take place where the third one should appear?

Why would any of that happen?  I'm sure they will provide what was promised and paid for.  There is still lots of time left in the year.

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8 hours ago, yollarbenibekler said:

If I saved the game exactly on a spot that acorn tree will be implemented, will I be stuck inside the tree?

Maybe it's just me, but I seem to recall a new tree model already in the game.  I was guessing it was the oak, and they just need to scatter some acorns around it.

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