piddy3825

@Leeanda I don't know if the scent-o-meter works on Pilgrim, it's been so long since I played that difficulty setting. I know quite a bit of ailments and what not have been turned off but maybe in custom mode settings it can be activated. Although I suspect that if you select passive wildlife in custom mode settings it probably turns off the metric or bypasses it. It makes sense that it wouldn't work to attract predators considering they are nonaggressive, but let us know if you get a meter on your HUD when you have raw meat in your pack the next time you play?

@Leeanda, please don't short yourself. I've read your posts and so have many others. You're articulate, insightful and funny and those are the ingredients that make good posts and commentary. If you are on the fence about the idea, I encourage you to get started! And yeah, as @UpUpAway95 said, get rid of the wolfskin coat and be sure to start carrying some raw meat! Get that scent-o-meter radiating on all three bars! I'm looking forward to reading your new series!

"It's gonna be dark soon, better start looking for shelter," a little voice whispers and echos inside his head as James finally begins to take stock of the situation unfolding before him. Taking a few deep breathes, he pulls himself together and desperately tries to quell the panic that is slowly starting to build inside him. He can taste the bitter bile at the back of his throat and the tightness in the small of his back as he attempts to reign in his sudden desire to start running again. "Run? Run to where?" He says out loud for his own benefit. An old song that his mother used to play when he was a child suddenly pops into his head and he begins to quitely sing the lyrics he can barely remember from those days. "Nowhere to run to baby, Nowhere to hide Got Nowhere to run to baby, Nowhere to hide" Realizing how parched he was, James unzips his jacket and reaches for the nearly empty water bottle in his inner pocket. He pulls the bottle free and drains the last of the liquid, only drops remaining now in his empty container. He stows the empty bottle in his ruck. The little bit of water was enough for him to regain his composure, so he pauses momentarily to consider his next move. "Doesn't look very likely that I can climb up that crap." He thinks to himself as he begins to look around for a clue as to how to get around the the wreckage caused by the landslide. But as luck would have it, he spies what looks like a well worn path in the snow leading into a dense copse of snow laden trees. He decides to follow this game trail as it appears it could lead him around the debris and possibly back to the other side of the roadway. A slight smile begins to appear on his face as he begins to follow the compacted snow marking the trail. He follows the trail as it winds in and around the trees. His boots crunched with every step he took, the sound seemed so loud in the stillness of the snow laden trees. It was dark under the canopy of trees and the light of day was slowly turning to dusk as James was wearily following the game trail when suddenly he stumbled out into an open glade. The air seemed different, the light of the setting sun made the sky above his head shimmer with a radiance unlike any he had ever seen before. Static electricty made the hair on the back of his head stand on end as he stood in the middle of the glade and marveled at the beauty of the light show beginning to dance upon the heavens. Before long, he shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs from forming on his brain. "Snap out of it, James!" he thought to himself. "Focus or die." And with that thought he continued forward with a fierce determination and strode towards the opposite side of the clearing with a frenetic pace brought on by his thoughts of self preservation. As the clearing opened up and began to reveal the landscape before him was when he heard the first forlorn howl of a wolf off in the distance. Then another, this time closer. And another and another, each voice of the pack yowling with what sounded like anticipation to Jame's ears. That's when he saw the first of timberwolves. James noticed the colors beginning to dance across the sky as air began to hum in unison with dancing lights as the wolves began to surround him very slowly. The glow of their yellow eyes seemed to burn with a hunger that James knew was for his flesh. He felt their lust for blood as the pack began to circle about him. The alpha male weaving around and around studying James, smelling the fear rising from his prey! Suddenly a wolf darts in from behind and body checks James knocking him to the ground before darting back to the safety of the pack. James struggles to his feet, gasping for air as he begins to remove his backpack and starts swinging it like a club as the minor wolves from the pack begin to dart in nipping at his unprotected legs. As a surge of adrenaline hits his bloodstream, James begins rushing the wolf pack! Swinging his backpack like a war club he manages to connect with one of the young males in mid leap sending him flying and crashing into another. Their yelp of surprise and pain was music to James's ears and with each yelp he heard if fueled James into further action as the pack suddenly realized their prey wasn't going to go down as easily as they thought. For the next few minutes it was a standoff. The wolves continued to circle around him, goaded by the alpha male as it studied James. The wolf could sense that James was tiring from their continued onslaught. At the same time, James knew that he was running out of strenght to continue the fight and if he didn't stop their attack, it wouldn't be much longer before he was doomed. With his last reserves he sprang forward rushing into the midst of their ranks crashing and bashing his way towards their leader! With a bark of surprise to this challenge, the big Timberwolf sprang forward, baring his long yellow teeth and biting down hard on James's left hand. The bite was deep and James screamed in pain as the wolf's jaws exerting over 1500 hundred pounds of pressure per square inch broke the small bones in his hand severing several fingers in the process. In desperation fueled by excruciating pain, James jammed his right hand's index finger deep into the wolf's left eye and continued thrusting, pushing and thrusting and stabbing his finger over and over until he heard "pop." The wolf howled in pain as the finger was withdrawn from the wolf''s ruined eye socket, the bloody jelly of the damaged eye dripping from James's gloved hand staining the snow at their feet. The wolf pushed away ripping what was left of Jame's gloved left hand exposing the bleeding stumps of his severed fingers. Bright red blood dripped steadily from his mangled hand and the smell of hot blood tainted the air as the pack now began to boldly close in from all sides. First came a series of single feints which were followed up by pairs attacking from opposite sides. Each wolf biting deeply into his arms and legs before rushing back to the saftey of the pack. The death of 1000 bites. The dance of death. The pack knew this dance quite well. Keep prey in circle. Run in, bite victim, run out. Bite until prey can no longer stand. It wasnt long before James fell to his knees. The pack's circle started drawing inward, slowly but deliberately. It wouldn't be much longer now. They all sensed it. James knew it, the wolves knew it. The circle of life was about to close for good on the last chapter of James's story. As his life blood ebbed into the snow, he rolled over in the snow and gazed up to the sky. The full moon had risen and the aurora danced across the star filled night sky, the celestial light show reflecting from his dying eyes as his sight dimmed and his eyes closed for the last time.

Maybe you need to try hanging out in a tougher neighborhood... What about heading over to BlackRock and trying your luck? ohhh.... I just had a thought for series where you spawn a new game in Pilgrim mode and just go from region to region trying to goad the wildlife into attacking you? that might make for some entertaining writing as you "document" your efforts trying to initiate a wolf struggle or a bear mauling? Maybe even solicit a moose stomp or two? 😈

These are good suggestions. Maybe you should reiterate these ideas on the Modding Community thread, just in case those mod authors are not following this thread? Oh and btw, I really like your new avatar, looks like wolfmeat bacon! yum!

well on a postive note, they did say that there could be some down loadable content that may become available later on? For a fee of course! And not to mention with collaborative efforts with the modding community there could also be some excellent story mods being developed that could really be helpful in fleshing out the story line as we know it. to that end, I think it would be excellent to play the game from Methusela's perspective. Playing the story as a third party observer, somehow present yet unnoticed. Now that would be a great story mod worth buying, dontcha think?

yes it will. Episode 5 will be the final installment to the story. At least, that's what I am lead to believe from reading the latest post in the Developer's Diary.

That was very entertaining. Making a bong outta of can is definitely something to help pass the time while your waiting to score some weed! we had an old saying back in the day... "weed will get you thru times of no money better than money will get you thru times of no weed."

Hey all, hope you don't me joining in... I just spent the better part of the day reading from start to finish and I got so involved I just got too excited to introduce myself before adding on this outstanding fan fiction thread. I'm curious as to where this story is going to go, so many subplots brewing. Kudos@upnorthI think you started something pretty cool.

Meanwhile, James continued to follow the road in his misguided attempt to follow his mates out to the coast on foot. A fog was starting to form and he was cold, tired and hungry as he cinched his belt another notch tighter on his illfitting stolen snowpants. He felt paranoid that someone, no, something was following him and in his rising fear, he knew it meant him harm! "You're just imaging it." he thought to himself as he furitively looked over his shoulder, glancing first to his left and then quickly to the right as if expecting to see what was following him thru the thickening mist. From somewhere in forest nearby, he heard the sharp "snap" of a snow laden branch breaking and the thunderous sound of it all falling to the ground startled him with such a fright that he set off running down the frozen highway as if the Devil himself was chasing him! As his legs began to falter from running over the uneven frozen roadway the highway turned abruptly to the left leading down a steep incline into the valley below. As his frenzied pace slowed, his steps became more deliberate and measured. His panic now somewhat subsided from his strenuous run caused him to stop and listen. The silence was deafening. Nothing but the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears. He started to laugh, softly at first but then louder and louder as his fear began to subside. "Nothing like scaring yourself half to death," he said out load to no one in particular. And with that note he set out following the road down into the valley below. With his confidence slowly returning he continued walking along the road way as the mist gradually started to clear up. It wasn't long before he saw a beat up rickety roadway sign that read: Coastal Highway Scenic Route 25 Kilometers Speed Limit 50 KPH For the first time since he had left the rusty old logging trailer, James felt a glimmer of hope. His feelings of hope however, were soon replaced with that all too familiar feeling of dread when he came across the wreckage. Wreckage that blocked his path. James wasn't going anywhere any time soon... "No, no, no, Noooooo!" He wailed in dispair.

Lol, but little did you know that Mackenzie's favorite movie was "Knockaround Guys," which he had watched 500 times and so was able to channel his inner Taylor Reese and dish up a beat down of his own!

HA HA HA HA , I'm laughing out loud so hard right now my dogs are looking at me and wondering if I have finally gone insane! The prisoner's number made me just bust a gut! my immediate impression is this guy was a dope fiend rapist! Now I am looking forward to reading this fan fiction story of yours. Get to writing Jimmie! Your fans await this literary nugget!

I'm glad to see you are back and gracing the forums! You weave a good tail and I always look forward to what happens next in you adventures. So let me ask you a question, at what point to do just "pop" over to the hatch in PV just to take a quick peek and possibly loot the interior? It's just a quick hike and fast rope down climb down completely unencumbered and you got a chance to retrieve some tools and of course some scrap metal to fix those hacksaws? Might even find some useable clothing to improve your gear? If you gotta stay over night, there is a bed warm dry bed but even if you didnt stay, you could be back to the Mountaineer's hut in the course of one day? I know you have some self imposed limitations but it wouldn't appear that by doing so, you violate any of your self imposed standards? or does it?

Indeed? In that case, Christmas is early! Thanks for going back and checking out the mod in greater detail. It definitely looks a lot more promising knowing that a player has so many more options now.

I sure hope that Hinterland publishes a GBI Cookbook based on some of these awesome receipes the community has submitted! I'm looking forward to making some of these myself, just as soon as the empty shelves in my local grocery store are restocked cause right now they kinda look like the shelves of the abandoned convenience store at Thompson's Crossing... The following are some real world recipes, using only the food items and ingredients available in game. They are tried, tested and true that you can make at home. Todays menu will be featuring Surf & Turf and a dessert bar! But first let me invite you to check out my outdoor kitchen! Here's a little birdseye view of my set up! I've set up a some side tables to prepare my surf and turf items and of course to the right you'll see my dessert bar preperation area. Keep raw meat and fish separated from other cooking and prep areas to avoid cross contamination. Uncooked fish and wild game have been know to carry parasites and bacteria that are harmful if consumed raw or undercooked. Always cook wild game thoroughly to avoid food born pathogens... Break out your MREs, your gonna need those condiments pack for these next two dishes! Grape Glazed Charcoal Fired Baron of Bear A tried and true recipe from down yonder! Ingredients Bear meat quarter whole haunch (rump to shank), trimmed of all fat and silver skin 6 pack of Stacy's Grape Soda MRE condiments pack, - Salt and Pepper Instructions Kill a bear! Chop him into quarters! Prepare a haunch , making sure all fat is trimmed off Caution: When grilling bear meat, dripping fat will ignite! Trim all fat before cooking! Sprinkle or rub all sides of the trimmed haunch evenly with salt Prepare charcoal fire for low to medium heat or an indirect-heat setup* Pour sixpack of grape soda into pot and bring to low rolling boil allowing mixture to reduce, use reduced mixture to baste meat as needed Place haunch on skewer and begin cook slowly for 6-10 hours basting frequently with the grape soda reduction sauce, allowing sufficient times between turns for sugars to "glaze" before rotating. Check spit frequently to avoid burning* When meat reaches desired doneness, baste again before removing from heat Allow to rest 15 to 25 minutes for juices to congeal before serving * To prevent the outside of the haunch from charring, use indirect heat or hot-smoke cooking methods adding wet cedar wood chunks to charcoal helps to create a fragrant smoke on the meat! Cedar Plank Salmon A Pacific Northwest Favorite Ingredients wet cedar planks Salmon fillets Salt Maple Sugar* *(recipe to make maple sugar down below) Instructions Soak cedar plank in salted water for 2-4 hours, then drain. Set grill for medium-high heat. Prepare salmon fillet. Remove any remaining bones. Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Generously season the salmon with salt on both sides. Place the cedar planks in the center of the hot grate and prepare to transfer the salmon Lay the salmon skin-side down on the cedar plank and carefully the maple sugar over the top and sides. Take the maple sugar and crumble small pieces between your fingers if necessary, you want an even layer. Cook until cooked through, around 20 to 30 minutes. Check the plank occasionally but leave it until you begin to smell smoke. The mist created by the cedar wood planks drying is what slowly but evenly cooks the fish! If the edges of your planks start to catch fire, mist with water, or move the planks to a cooler part of the grill. When done serve right off the plank. What's a heavy meat and fish laden feast without dessert? Making Sundaes on Sunday Welcome to my dessert bar! MAKING SHERBET WITH SODA POP Orange Sherbet I used orange soda to make this sherbet recipe as it adds loads of flavor and sweetener. You’re welcome to use any flavor of soda you’d like- lemon lime, grape, etc. I'd love to find a can or bottle of root beer in the game because root beer sherbet sounds delicious! This recipe for sherbet couldn’t be easier! All you do is combine the orange soda and sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl. Stir until combined. Set aside and let the cold do its work! Ingredients 2 cans of orange soda 1 can sweetened condensed milk Instructions Combine the orange soda and sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl or pot. Stir until milk is well incorporated. Stir, Stir, Stir! The air bubbles in the soda will be stirred out and the liquid will condense. Normally you'd make this in the freezer, but you can just make it outside since it's always cold here! After 1 hour of stirring let the mixture set and allow to solidify. When the top has started to freeze, repeat the process at least twice more before allowing to freeze solid, about 6-8 hours. Enjoy! Peanut Butter Freezer Chewz Yummy, sweet, salty, sink-your-teeth-in delicious peanuty fudge that is both healthy and delicious! Ingredients ½ cup peanut butter ¼ cup maple syrup Instructions Step 1 Whisk peanut butter and maple syrup together in a bowl or pot until combined. Smooth out surface of mixture until evenly flattened. Step 2 Place flattened peanut butter mixture into the freezer; freeze until hardened, about 30 minute Normally you'd make this in the freezer, but you can just make it outside since it's always cold here! Super Fast Chewy Fudge It is so easy and so fast to make, it is the perfect treat to make because it’s so simple. The best part, it tastes so good! All you need is three ingredients and in less than 90 minutes you will have a delicious, chewyhomemade fudge. Who knew simple, could be so good. Ingredients 8 chocolate bars 1 can condensed milk 8 granola bars Instructions Break up granola bars into small pieces and set aside Shave up chocolate bars in very small pieces and set aside Pour condensed milk into cooking pot and begin to simmer under low to medium heat When milk is hot, combine chocolate shavings and stir mixture until all chocolate has been melted and the mixure is uniformly smooth and blended. Remove from heat and stir in granola chunks and stir until evenly blended. Cover and let cool for 2 or more hours. The dry granola pieces will begin to absorb the excess liquid and in the process will solidify quite nicely. When the mixture has become nicely firm, cut into squares and serve! Delicious! Maple Sugar and Hard Maple Candy Homemade maple sugar is easy to make and only takes about 20 minutes, start to finish. The best part? All you need is one ingredient…maple syrup. WHAT IS MAPLE SUGAR? Maple sugar is just maple syrup that’s been cooked a bit longer and then continuously stirred until it forms a granular sugar. In the days before European colonization, native peoples poured hot syrup into troughs made from hollowed-out logs and stirred it with giant paddles until it crystalized. Granular sugar is a lot easier to transport and store than liquid, especially before convenient bottles were invented. In a more solid form, the sugar cakes could be stored in birch bark packets, like this birch bark cone from a native indian museum display Ingredients 2 cups maple syrup Instructions Place maple syrup in a heavy bottomed 2 liter pot Bring the syrup to a boil over medium high heat. Continue cooking to a rolling boil. Caution this is hot, hot hot! Will cause extreme burns so be very very careful! Remove from heat and begin stirring immediately, it takes about 5-7 minutes of continuous stirring and a lot of elbow grease. As the syrup cools, it thickens, it becomes very difficult to stir, and if you stop it’ll abruptly harden into a solid brick. After about 2 minute of mixing, the sugar is already starting to form into crystals. Keep mixing steadily and note the changing color of the cooling syrup. As the color changes dramatically, the syrup has formed into a light-colored powder and it’s done. Finished Maple Sugar At this point, the maple sugar is technically done, but there are going to be some larger chunks in the mix. Begin hand sifting the larger chunks and smaller pieces. Basically just get all the larger maple nubbins picked out. Those bigger pieces are perfect for sweetening coffee or using in other hot liquids where they’ll dissolve. They’re just basically tiny pieces of maple sugar candy, and you can keep them indefinitely, just like table sugar. A note on yield: Though the syrup cooks down considerably as water evaporates, the resulting sugar fluffs back up in volume. If you’re trying to make 1 cup of finished sugar, start with one cup of maple syrup. One pint of syrup yields about 1 pint of maple sugar, or about 1 pound of maple sugar. and once you put it all together, you are ready for a magnificent feast! Dinner is served!

ah yes, the inequities of the all or nothing approach does appear to put a little bit of a dampener on this potentially promising mod. I complelely agree with your suggestions regarding different decay rates of items left outside vs. being stored inside. I still got dress socks in my underwear draw that l got back in 1990 and they hardly look worn. I even got a couple of pairs of brand new jeans in my closet with the price tags still on them that my wife bought for me just a few days before she passed away in 2005. I still hang on to them, thinking that one day I'll drop a few pounds and maybe they will fit, lol. And just in case you're interested, my whetstone is almost 60 years old and although the plastic case is brittle cracked and yellow with age, I still sharpen my fillet knife and camp axe to fine razor like edge when I use it.

well said!

I'd have to agree with @Sito that "goating" down should be okay as long as the player does take the risk of incurring some damage. Especially in those cases that they have misjudge the distances between ledges. And I also agree that the fall should injure them quite badly in the process. Now, there are some slopes where the terrain is practically vertical and my characters Spiderman ability to stay stuck to the side is kinda questionable, but maybe it's those crampons doing their job? Typically when I goat down hill, I am only able to descend by traversing the cliff face in a zig zag pattern. If I tried going straight down, I would fall for sure. On the other hand, I spend a bit of time considering my route before I just go over the side willy nilly. I think maybe a better wish, would be being able to free climb up mountain goat style! Let's put those crampons to good use!

I've always wanted to see a better balance in actual animal behavior as far as the game is concerned. This wolf behavior "bug", seems to me to be exactly the kind of behavior your might expect of a hungry wolf that sees you as a threat to it's dinner. If this is a result of Hinterland's behind the scene tweaking, then I just might go back to being a Pilgrim mode player! I think it adds a lot more realism to the game in that regard.

after 267 days of an all meat diet, I need a little fiber....

When it comes to using the bow, my best advice is to aim at your target so that your "aim point" is at the center of your screen. Keep in mind that arrows kinda travel in an arc, in that they slowly curve upwards when you release your arrow then kinda fly down. It seems that when you move your aim point away from the middle of the screen, your more apt to miss. something about the way the algorythm works, it prefers the projectile to move to the center of the screen rather than to the outer borders. Here I am aiming right at the center of the clock and here is where my arrow actually strikes as it is still flying up when it strikes the target. Guaging the distance becomes critical to account for the arrows flight trajectory. hope this helps a bit?

try aiming your weapon at them while walking up to them, see if you can trigger that behavior. If you can, then the mechanic probably works as advertised. at any rate, if you do intitiate the wolf struggle, then at the very least, you'll be getting a little taste of what playing Voyager mode is like! lol!

No it hasn't. At least not on PC. I does disappear when aiming with a weapon however. But if memory serves, you are a console player, so maybe it is a feature that you have to enable?

It isn't common but does occur on occassion. My niece who plays Pilgrim mode exclusively claims she is practically able to trigger the attack behavior at will. it seems to work most often when pointing a weapon at the wolf while they directly facing you while they are eating a fresh kill. She's only been able to make it work in DP however?

lol, when storage space became an issue for me, it was the first thing I uninstalled