MrWolf

For some reason that made me think of this:

Where is that? I've found the Ash Canyon polaroids each time in several different runs with normal exploration.

That has happened to me, too (I'm on PC). Rare, just a handful of times, but I've come out of a building to total black, couldn't even get back out to the main menu and had to kill the game and start it again. I've never had it happen when harvesting something, just when going through a loading screen.

I think the quartered bags are considered to be a "carcass" (since you still need to harvest the meat from them), so they decay at or near the rate that a carcass decays. And like the carcass, they disappear when they reach 0%. It would be an interesting test, to kill two deer or wolves near the same time, quarter one and harvest part of the other, then see if a quartered bag lasts longer than the remains of the other carcass or vice versa. I think the quartered bags last a little bit longer, but not sure. I'll test that next time I find a couple wolves.

Great video, as usual!

Congrats on getting it! And congrats to @Leeandaas well! Ok, I wonder if it's just related to HRV. I just completed it, didn't get the achievement until I mapped the 212th spot. Now to find a couple lost arrows and kick back with some quality fishing time.

I wonder if it's an HRV thing, or related to whatever difficulty you're playing? I'm working on the achievement in my Interloper run. I've mapped HRV and all the other regions except some locations in (Un)Pleasant Valley. Almost there... I just now mapped 209/212 and nothing has popped up yet. Unfortunately, I have to go to work now so I'll hopefully complete it later this afternoon.

Yep, I really miss that Wintermute opening music.

What difficulty are you playing? In Interloper, the hammer does not spawn in Desolation Point or Forlorn Muskeg. If you're playing Interloper, look around Coastal Highway. Check cars and fishing huts.

It's a glitch or feature with the carcass in that cave. It's been that way for a long time for me - if there is no deer carcass in the cave first time through, leave the cave and come back, and it will be there.

Walking against the wind is tough, but walking with the wind is nice. No wind is even better because I can walk with a lit torch. The character's repetitive phrases and whining prompted me to turn voice volume to zero a long time ago and I think the game has been so much better without it.

Be careful with going indoors or leaving a region before knowing the animal has died. I think this is a bug that seems to show up, get fixed, then show up again. I think it's shown up again in the current build(s). Twice recently I've shot a bear with an arrow, gone indoors, and come out later to find the bear walking around with no arrow, like nothing ever happened. RIP arrow(s). Just tonight, I was hunting the bear in Ash Canyon. I shot the bear with two arrows and it walked off toward its cave. It was night by then and I didn't want to go inside right away so I went to the warm part of the outdoor barn next to the workbench. I put the bedroll down and slept for a couple hours at a time, about 6 hours total, until a blizzard made it too cold to continue. I went inside the nearby cabin, slept a few hours, then headed out to find the bear. I found him sauntering out of his cave, good as new. Damn. Finally got him, but so long to those first two arrows.

I've done a lot of testing of meat decay in different places. The rate of decay is the same outside whether the meat is left on the ground or in any container (car trunk, corpse, box, rock cache, etc.). Containers are handy for organization and faster transfer of a lot of items, but the meat won't last any longer in a container than it will on the ground. The only difference is if the meat is raw or cooked (raw decays faster). Same indoors, meat will decay at the same faster rate on the floor or in a fridge, cabinet, etc. Some seemingly "inside" or warmer places also act as outside for meat decay - anywhere in the non-loading screen caves (including warmer back area), and the enclosed porch in Pleasant Valley Farmhouse. Meat decays the same in those locations as it does outside on the ground or in an outdoor container.

I had a very similar experience in Trapper's Cabin yesterday. New run, found a pot on the floor next to the stove. I moved it up onto one of the cooking circles just to leave it there - there was no fire and I wasn't planning on cooking anything at the moment. I left the cabin, came back a little later to get the pot and it was gone. Not in my inventory, not in the locker or anywhere else I could find, just gone.

I ventured into Bleak Inlet and shot up some Timberwolves. Two of them ran off with an arrow in each. Found one, no arrow, so it must be around somewhere. Finally found the other one when the weather cleared enough for the crows to come out. It's in the yellow circle below and I can't get to it because there is an invisible wall just below it. Too bad the invisible walls don't stop the wolves! I expect my arrow will be sitting there forever once the timberwolf despawns. Or maybe I'll get lucky and it will magically pop into an accessible location.

I've done a lot of testing of meat decay over the past few years and always found there are just two decay levels - indoor and outdoor. The rate of decay is different for cooked and raw meat (raw decays faster), but outside is outside, whether the meat is left on the ground, in a rock cache, car trunk, corpse, or any other container. Same indoors - doesn't matter if food is left on the floor or in a fridge or cabinet, same rate of decay (most food decays much faster indoors). One exception is quartered bags, which decay at the same (fast) rate inside or outside. There are some places that are warm but count as outdoors for food decay: The enclosed porch in the Pleasant Valley Farmhouse and the back of the 2-layer caves (caves without a loading screen where it's warmer in back). Meat dropped in any of those places decays at the same rate as outside in the snow. Also, sleeping or passing time in the back of those caves is good for preventing/fixing cabin fever, but counts in the stats as "hours indoors".

And when traveling at night, watch out for the nighttime wolves. You might have cleared the wolves in an area that day, or think you're in an area that normally does not have wolves, but different wolves can be around after dark.

Ah, cool idea. I'll try that, thanks.

The PV farm porch counts as inside for cabin fever - you cannot sleep there with cabin fever and being there contributes to your cabin fever risk, same as being in the house. But, the porch counts as outside for food decay. Meat left on the porch decays at the same rate as when it's left outside in the snow.

It doesn't matter. Dropping a decoy will not attract predators - it does not do anything unless a predator is "locked on" to you. And in that case, you can use the "drop decoy" key, or if you have time, open your inventory and select a piece of meat, uncured gut, etc. to drop. Both work the same way as far as the wolf or bear is concerned. The "drop decoy" key is just a shortcut to drop a stinky item from your inventory. You can test it by having something smelly on you and get to a point where you see a wolf or bear heading toward you, but far enough away that it has not "locked on". Press the decoy key repeatedly until you have no more smelly things and you will see the wolf or bear lose interest and turn away. Same thing if you open your inventory and drop all smelly things. You can also use that scenario to your advantage. When you pick the smelly item(s) up and the wolf or bear turns back toward you, it will come to the spot where you picked up the item(s) as long as you don't get close enough to aggro it. You can move in another direction to keep distance and the wolf or bear will continue to that spot where it detected you, then start following you from there if it still detects a scent.

Why drink 75% of the hot drink? I've seen some streamers drink smaller amounts of a tea, but I don't understand the purpose. Is it because you can still get the healing from the leftover bit of reishi or rosehip tea? Or do you get a full warmth bonus for drinking a little bit of a hot drink?

If you mean Interloper, it also has some heavy hammers, you just might have to travel around a bit more to find one.

Excellent advice in that post. It works perfectly - what "not to do" is not paying attention to the great tips!

Ash Canyon sunset, from the ledge next to Foreman's Retreat

I think the trickiest part of the Crumbling Highway crossing is heading toward Desolation Point in an early Interloper run when I don't yet have a bow. My strategy, going that direction is this: Upon entering the region, you'll have to duck under a large rock. Immediately after, turn right and go up the hill, then left to a place where you can overlook the ice and part of the town. I've never seen more than two wolves in the region (in Interloper, not sure if it's different in other levels) and they're usually in one of four quadrants: on the ice before or after the Arch cave, around the town, or around the area of the mine that leads to DP. If I'm lucky, I'll spot a wolf either on the ice or around the town, then I go the other way. If I don't see any wolves, I'll wait a bit (weather permitting) and listen for howls. I can usually tell from the howls if they're on the ice or not. If all else fails, I'll head down to the ice and toward the Arch cave. If I spot a wolf on the ice beyond the cave, I'll go up through town and hug the left side to get to the DP mine. Coming back from DP, I'll have a bow so I'm slightly less nervous. I'll usually pause outside of the DP mine and listen for howls. If I don't hear anything, I'll head down toward the truck where there's usually a rabbit, and try to scare it toward the road to distract if a wolf is nearby (there often is one down on the road). Worst case, I can hop in the truck if necessary. I'll always have a lit torch if possible, and try not to carry anything smelly at first, at least until I know where the wolves are.