Carbon

While some aspects of the combined sound somewhat reflects what I am carrying, I don't have tin cups and cowbells hanging off my bag. I guess the volume doesn't bother me as much as the number of layers and types of sounds present while walking.

So one has to ask, how was the game intended to be played? Apparently the people who made the game believe differently from you; your idea seems to be staying inside most of the time while theirs was to have players get out and keep moving. I'm not arguing for the idea of cabin fever here, but against your claim regarding the intention behind the game. Maybe play on a lower difficulty. I've got 300 RL hours into the game and consider myself to be a decent enough player, but Interloper is just too much for me. Not only would I certainly meet my fate sooner than I might want, but I don't like to play under those harsh conditions. You seem to want your character's duration to be longer than your desired play style or skill allows as well, a perfect argument for playing on an easier difficulty.

Well, when you are out of the wind, you don't have a wind chill value working against you. When sheltered, you only face the ambient temperature (+/-). In Canada - and I assume in any cold-climate country - wind chill and temperature values are reported and considered not only as a combined "feels like" but also as separate values which helps people dress accordingly. Thus, the wind blocked icon tells you that you are protected from the wind and spared it's cold value.

The quick and easy version of this is to store all food items outside except sardines, soda, peaches and pork & beans. Coffee, tea, cat tail stalks and crackers can be stored anywhere; inside or out makes no difference to their decay rate. Leaving meat on the ground outside your door will not draw predators. Cooking an otherwise inedible piece of meat will raise the condition of the meat to edible levels (+50%). If you harvest a deer found in the world and the meat is "rancid", cooking it will bring it up to "gamey", for example. Be careful what you eat! Getting sick from eating low condition food items can be the end of your game. From @Thrasador: ~ Soda cans and all other beverages will never cause food poisoning. ~ Items with a displayed condition of at least 75% will also never cause food poisoning. ~ Beef jerky, pork and beans, condensed milk, salty crackers, energy bars, MREs, pinnacle peaches, and tomato soup are safe until the condition dips below 20%. ~ Suffering from food poisoning will never kill the player but will severely weaken them if left untreated. While in effect, condition will not be restored and will rapidly drop until your condition reaches 15%." Level up your skills as fast as you can by engaging in the activities themselves (starting fires, mending, etc) and by reading books. If you find a book, get the research done as soon as you can. Books are heavy, so it is in your best interest to get it read quickly (do this outside if possible to avoid risk of cabin fever), after which you an use it to start a fire. The benefits of leveling up are found here: http://thelongdark.wikia.com/wiki/Survival_skills

Seeing as this is a thread for new survivors then I think it's safe to say that a flat terrain is best for starting out with stones and rabbits. First, a clear line of sight is important to understand aiming and second, recovering your stone is easier. Tip: Practice throwing stones against a tree or large boulder. Choose a location where you won't keep losing your stones (a boulder face is best), then pick a spot on a boulder or tree and aim for it at different ranges. Generally speaking the rabbits come quite close so short throws will work but if you choose to use stones to distract wolves (Thanks to GELtaz for this great tip!), then you need to learn to throw them farther. Knowing the maximum distance is useful in this latter situation; if you aren't far enough away from the wolves when you throw the stone, they might come and check you out instead of where the stone landed. Start aiming at a point between the thumb and index finger when the stone is cocked (press and hold the right mouse button, as with aiming the gun or bow). The stone will arc, so at short ranges it will go 'straighter' than at distance. Tip: Walk, don't run. If you aren't freezing, it's best to walk around the world as opposed to running. Running will use more calories and make you tired faster. Tip: You will learn the maps faster by taking your time and noting particular features of a map (certain felled, toppled or otherwise unusually-shaped trees, for example). You can open the journal from the backpack and actually type notes to yourself which will help you remember places easier. And don't forget to mark your map if you have some charcoal, which can be obtained by clicking on burned-out fires and choosing "take charcoal". One piece of charcoal per survey.

I don't think there is an issue with the game Joe. Sprains are perhaps too numerous, but they keep things interesting. This post was made after a 4-sprain day and I simply imagined how wrecked Will must be after little food and 8 pain killers. Just for fun more than a commentary about anything serious.

Animals carcasses have a set re-spawn time. This is good news for deer and rabbits, but wolves and bears might not be so welcome. If you kill a wolf or bear, leave some meat (or a gut, but these are a very important thing to get and you can never have too many guts!) on the carcass and it will delay the re-spawn significantly. If you kill a deer however, try to get everything - meat, guts and hide - from the animal in order to allow it a normal re-spawn time. The deer carcasses you come across in the game world don't re-spawn. Big shout out to @SteveP for the incredibly detailed and helpful post above!

I have a feeling that Mel started this thread to be a very simple and very basic guide for novice players and further, I think this was motivated by some people having trouble with even the most basic of game play aspects (like getting water). I'm no authority around here and I am only surmising that if we can keep it super basic and add as many instructional pictures and simplified explanations, the thread will serve its purpose well. That was my take on the rationale for Mel kicking this off. Thanks again for the great tips everyone; my OP is edited.

So just a preference then. Good tip. I'll edit my post to reflect this and Hawks note. Thanks guys!

Cheeky Fluffy looks happy... ...he had a piece of you for dinner. You now have blood loss from a wolf bite. (A small red cross in the bottom right of the regular play screen will show you you are afflicted) First, radial menu (or the "i" key: thanks @Hawk) to the "First Aid" area (sorry for the 2 different screenshots). Choose antiseptic or Old Man's Beard Dressing first...(EDIT: @Quarbani 79 claims that you should do the blood loss first and do the infection later after you find a safer location. This then really depends on where you are and what you can do. But, blood loss first if in dire circumstances after the altercation) (Second edit: @Ruruwawa rightly points out that blood loss has a massive 30% condition penalty per in-game hour, so this should always be treated first. Additionally he adds that the scent from a bleeding wound will bring in wolf buddies and/or the old fighter - if only beaten off with fists or crowbar - back for more. Props to Ruruwawa!) Apply to the infection, not the blood loss! Then back to the radial menu, "First Aid" again but now choose "Bandage". Apply to the blood loss. Success. You live to fight another day!

Sure....sleeping and passing time are the only things that factor into the risk of cabin fever. If one is busy crafting, mending, cooking, reading, etc, then no problem, no risk.

I was joking....chill, player. Look, I fundamentally agreed with you on page 1, so no need to keep telling me how you feel....I get it.

Most of this should be done outside to avoid cabin fever.

I see your point and of course I read your words before replying, but you did say earlier that the only way to accept CF is as a game mechanic. Correct. But then your speak against it in the context of reality. Incorrect. My second reply assumed that you accepted your own words as true (hence my 'wink') and the complaining was done. Using the 'game vs. reality' context makes complaining simple (no game can match reality: games will always be inferior in terms of possibilities, potentials, etc), while 'game vs. do you have a better idea?' makes any complaining dependent upon the complainant having a better method to achieve the same goals (to make a fair apples-to-apples). Although that wasn't my point, perhaps that is something to think about; it's very difficult to suggest practical alternatives to the aspects specifically being criticized. Perhaps then we can better understand the complexities that HL faced when considering how to implement a mechanic that discourages sedentary gameplay. I only made suggestions on where you might go because your post seemed to indicate that you felt relegated to the fishing huts to cure CF. I was trying to help not condescend, and was unaware of the depth of your game experience. You're right in that I don't play Interloper, but Stalker, and my longest game was wiped at 385 days. Interloper is for masochists. I am not sure that the differences between the two would greatly differentiate the effects or demands of CF though, perhaps even less so when comparing 100 days in Interloper and 385 in Stalker. Both are nasty at these respective points.

Thinking of it as anything but a gameplay mechanic wouldn't make sense. There is a cave up high behind the Camp Office which works well in this situation. No predators, lots of sticks but no wildlife, so bring some food. You can either take the rope or walk the ridge to get there. I have never had CF...hard to believe it is an issue actually. Do more outside I suppose: mending, cooking, reading...heck, just walk around. In bad weather, take the Lake Trial to Dave's Quiet Clearing and hang out. No predators, no wind...nice place.

Thanks for the info JoE. I'm aware of the actual condition to an extent, but I always make efforts to avoid bringing real life or any ideas about 'reality' into a discussion about the game.

Back to topic, I'm not sure that its being inside too long that would drive the character nuts. I mean, last person alive, doomed, ravenous predators everywhere, corpses littering the land, always starving, freezing, scraping out a meager existence in ever-worsening weather conditions...I think that'll do it, in or outside. But seriously, until a better system to get players moving is introduced, cabin fever remains an effective means to that end. What I frankly don't understand is why there needs to be a mechanic in the game to force players to go out at all. The problem isn't that it's arbitrary (it isn't; it has a clear and reasonable rationale), the problem is that its counter-intuitive within the parameters of the game (not talking RL here). Going out in certain weather conditions is certain suicide for the character and in a survival game, inviting certain death by forcing a particular action...ay, there's the rub; the game is apparently contradicting itself. Beyond that, let players play it their way. Let the character die of boredom. This invites a very dark idea which I won't elaborate on, but an interesting, if not somewhat morbid way for a long indoor stretch to end. Think pain killers and rifles. On the upside (sorry for that dark turn), CF makes my 385 day game even more impressive in that it forces a much more rough and rugged play style. No hibernating here!

Are there still leader boards? If so, then I guess that getting to the top of them in this manner upset the devs, but past this, I can't see any real reason for it. If you are indeed the last person alive, then you're going to lose your mind anyways, inside or out. With a -50c raging storm outside, nobody would go out, especially one who is under-dressed and undernourished, regardless of how long they have been holed up. Heck, we have books to read and charcoal to draw with; we could get busy writing our epic saga. But really, if someone wants to hunker down indoors for days on end, who cares? I'd personally get bored playing that kind of game, but to each their own.

If you find the mag lens, then this is a possibility but typically matches in loper are a premium item and cannot be spent every time you get to the point of freezing; they just won't last more than a day or two. Even the mag lens is a roll of the dice, what with blizzards and overcast days also being prevalent. Having a bedroll and trying to find wind-sheltered areas to sleep for an hour along your route in the daytime is a useful strat.

Day 1: Woke up, sprained my ankle eating crackers. Took pain killers. Went out foraging for sticks. Sprained my wrist walking on flat snow. Took pain killers. Very strong, immediate relief. Nice! Got home, tried to read. Double vision. Went to bed. Day 2: Woke up, ate, had some water, sprained my ankle drinking. Took pain killers. Sprained my wrist drinking. Took pain killers. Went out fishing. Sprained my other ankle fishing. Took pain killers. Lost focus many times. Fell down, sprained my wrist. Took pain killers. Spoke to some trees. Day 3: Woke up. Not sure how I got home. Boots on hands. Too many pain killers yesterday. Sprained my wrist thinking. Took pain killers. Went out hunting. Sprained my ankle harvesting. Took pain killers. Very happy, skipped home, sprained my wrist. Took pain killers. Very, very happy. Sprained something else. Don’t care. Day 4: Woke up. Took pain killers. Went outside, looked at sun. Sprained my wrist looking. Took pain killers. Don’t care about food, only pain killers. Took more in case of a sprain. So very happy in the sun. Counted my pain killers. Named them. They are nice. So few though. Sprained my ankle liking them. Took more. Vomited. Day 5: Woke up. Took pain killers. Stood in the room. Drank. Took more pain killers. Somewhat happy, no pain. Sprained my wrist and ankle taking pain killers. Took pain killers. Feeling uneasy, shaky. More pain killers for nerves. Not helping. Need food. Too tired to cook. Feeling nauseous. Bottle is empty. Day 6: Woke up covered in sweat. No pain killers. Very unhappy. Went out and shot everything with legs. Sprained my ankle. Shot more animals. Really angry at my hat. Shot it. Sprained my wrist. Can’t shoot. Hate this frozen hell. Cold sweats. Wish I had pain killers. Cried a lot. Poor bunnies. I hate me. Day 7: Woke up soaked in sweat. Very depressed. Scratched until I bled, sprained my wrist scratching. Crawled outside, collapsed, sprained everything, twice. Prayed for pain killers. Sprained both wrists and ankles in fervent prayer. Fluffy called out that he had some. Re-sprained my ankle loping to him. He didn’t have any. Sprained my wrist dying.

Blanks written in by time.

Alkan's Opus 31 No. 8. A close second would be Eric Satie's "Gnossienne" suites, No. 3 in particular.

To all: I honestly hope I haven't been aggressive or antagonistic with my posts. I discuss posts, not people and I try to maintain civility, respect and manners in my replies. I truly admire the time, talent and effort that went into the software and I think I have been clear about that. It is a significant accomplishment and I have no doubt that it will be used and enjoyed by many, for better or worse. I can attest however that after viewing Whiteberry's maps, the game's shiny edge was noticeably duller and I was disappointed by this loss. The certain method of making any game wholly uninteresting is to cheat, and this seems to be even more true with TLD. Buyer beware. Now, I also understand and concur to a degree with Sofox regarding players having the right to do as they wish with their games, to play them as they will. Having said that, I must insist on a challenge to prove that this is not a cheat (or hack, whatever nomenclature suits you) and, when failing in that impossible task, then provide a reason why the topic should remain. I realize I am strongly pushing an agenda here, but until the truth is admitted unanimously, nothing else can be said or done. How can one know what to do with or even how to discuss something until it is clear to all what it is exactly? I believe I have been clear and will not post again on this topic. My apologies if I have tested anyone's patience.

You make a very good point but I will take it further. It may be argued that using the maps still requires some form of skilled reckoning to find out where you are and further where you want to be, but this is just rationalization. The software under discussion provides a real-time ongoing view where one need only stay the course, a certain step up from Whiteberries maps in terms of ease-of-use, but under examination, it is essentially the same; a game-breaker, a cheat and only in a technical sense not a hack. Location/direction markers became a 'thing' in gaming as environments got larger, objectives more numerous or, some might say, as players changed and demanded an easier or simplified experience prompting developers to add the mini-map or HUD indicators of direction and distance to objectives. The players weren't in solidarity on this and in many games, the ability to turn off what was often seen as hand-holding elements was included. Often, depending on the game, it seemed more fitting without these overlays and the experience was richer without them and I believe that this is something which the minimalist, spartan nature of TLD inherits. Now, we could take the rationale one step further and ask what the difference might be then of an actual marker on-screen or a mini-map down in the corner? Would this change the experience significantly? I claim it would and I also claim that this is exactly what the software under discussion does. That the map resides off-screen is of little significance and in reality it is only off-screen to save the author and the software from legal issues; while the software may not alter any files within the game, it has precisely the same effect. This is a grey area only to players but it is essentially game-breaking from a developer's point of view and quite disappointing, I would imagine. Let's be honest with ourselves: using Whiteberries maps is also cheating of the same nature. While the effort that went into making the maps can be applauded, as is the case here, make no mistake that their employment by players is not staying true to the intended use of the game and completely nullifies one very key aspect of playing: exploration. Did I use Whiteberries maps? On occasion, yes. Does this make me a hypocrite? No, because I did not claim not to have used them. The important issue here is to recognize and accept that while all manner of rationalization and compromise can be made, their use is cheating. TLD is a very tough game and yes, I cheated. What can Hinterland say or do in this situation? If they come out railing against the maps and this software, many will unfairly criticize them and at this point, they just don't want to engage in this type of bad PR. If they do nothing (as they currently are), accepting that this type of thing is indeed inevitable (which it is and they understand this), then silence may be misread as consent and threads like this become a reality where cheats are posted right on their forum. The only 'right' action is for this thread to be removed and the software to be posted elsewhere. Hinterland can't stop this type of thing from becoming a reality but to bring it into their house is simply wrong, in a very real sense abuses the privilege of being a member here and while it may be only one step removed from a hack, its obvious dependency on game files to function appears suspect. It may have every right to exist (I am not a lawyer, nor do I have a detailed understanding of what constitutes a hack) and once again I recognize and appreciate the skill and effort in creating this software, but it is in fact a cheat and shouldn't be posted here.

While it can be seen by passersby, you're standing in Hinterland's front yard. I don't blame the author for being proud of their work - as I said, it is without a doubt accomplished - and also understand that they would want others to see it with these forums being a sort of ground-zero for this desire, but it could be seen as impertinent. I realize that I am no arbiter of content on Hinterland's forums, but I am entitled to give my respectful opinion.