peteloud

" Not the Broken Railroad ravine. There's no place to sleep down there without a bedroll. I believe you're thinking of the Raven Falls Ravine, which has that cave and the bed of pine needles in it. " My apologies, I was thinking of Raven Falls Ravine. I also had in mind, " Tearing up your own clothes and picking up enough sticks for a shelter", but I've never tried sleeping in a snow shelter without a bedroll and wasn't sure it could be done. The first time I slipped into 'the long dark' was when I descended into Raven Falls Ravine without a bedroll and couldn't get out. I hadn't noticed the bed of pine needles.

Doc Feral, ". . . no bedroll or first aid at the bottom of the Broken Railroad ravine . .. " It is still possible to sleep down there and have the sprain recover. Having auto-saves after sleeping will almost certainly ensure that you are not in an irrecoverable situation.

Pillock, ". . . starting a campfire every time a wolf or a moose starts to take an interest in them. " I have well over 2,000 game days and I have never felt that I need that strategy. Why don't you just shoot it, and get the meat and pelt?

Doc feral, ". . . the issue is about struggles with bleeding wounds but not sprains. " The point that I was trying to make was not particularly about sprains. I was trying to make the point that if an auto-save, for whatever reason, was made when a player was in a position where he could neither advance or retreat, it would result in the game not being recoverable.

Today I had an auto-save immediately after a sprain when I was in the middle of a almost vertical rockface. This sprain, and auto-save, could easily have occurred when I was in a situation which was impossible to get out of. If this happened the game would not be recoverable.

Revolvers, sprains & icepicks I found a revolver in ML. I checked almost every possible location and was about to give up, then I found it. I found another in PV. A few people had mentioned where they found a revolver in PV so I went there, and sure enough, it was there. That was too easy. I haven't fired it yet. I prefer the bow & arrow. I've had no unreasonable sprains since v1.49. I had one crash with v1.49. I can't remember exactly when it occurred, but it was different to crashes with v1.48. . . . . Since adding this comment I have been sat in my garden, with a glass of wine, thinking about the sprains I suffered today. I was goating around on very, very steep terrain which was a mixture of rocks and snow. In such circumstances a broken limb would be more likely than a simple sprain. Perhaps it would be more realistic to reduce the number of sprains in trivial activities and introduce a new more serious injury. Although it might be more realistic, it would affect experienced players who are into adventurous goating. It would not be good to discourage that. In a couple of the Lara Croft, Tomb Raider games there is a quite of a lot of ice climbing. It is very well done.

I have found a change in the game that makes life much easier for me, and I'm sure everyone else. I have not seen it mentioned anywhere yet, although it might be out there. I shall not give the details, eventually players will realise what it is.

It is good to read those last few comments and see that other people feel as strongly as I do about the value of TLD. I started off with a free copy, but it was so good that I thought that the guys developing TLD deserved paying so I bought it. If I worked out how many hours I have played, I would be too embarrassed to tell it, but I have well over 2,000 game days behind, all gained in the past 15 months. I don't work, so I have lots of time. What does it cost, per hour, to have an enjoyable evening at a concert/theatre/cinema/restaurant/bar? The answer would be several $$ per hour. The enjoyment that I get from TLD has cost me less than 1 penny an hour. I try lots of PC games. When I get them they look very impressive. Very soon I find that 90% of them become tedious and I give up with them. They become tedious for many reasons. Some of them are superb products in most respects, but just don't suit me. Recently I returned to Assassin's Creed Unity because of the fire at Notre Dame. That is the most amazing game I have ever seen. The graphics, the historic detail, the psychology behind the crowd actions is brilliant. Alas, I found the game play soon became tedious. What suits one person does not necessarily suit all people. It does not mean that the game is bad, the person is bad, just people have different interests and temperaments. Another aspect that I like about TLD is that a great many people commenting in the forum are making serious sensible points, and probably have a professional IT background. If I don't get all 'n' episodes, perfect in every respect, I don't care one jot. I am more than satisfied with what I have already had from TLD.

Raphael, ". . . have you played with the gamma settings, " Apart from playing TLD, I am also a very serious photographer. For this, I have my display system very carefully adjusted and am very aware of images being burnt out and underexposed, (although the gaming videos and image processing in Photoshop are not exactly the same). I would be delighted to find that others are not having the same problem as me, but I don't think that it the case. Quite simply, I believe that the level of illumination inside buildings is not consistent.

Today has been an interesting and enjoyable day playing v.1.49 compared to yesterday playing v1.48. Yesterday and today I spent all day playing TLD. Many of the negative new issues that arose yesterday did not arise today. I have had no crashes at all, it was that which bugged me most yesterday. Well done Hinterland for sorting that problem out within 24 hours, (or thereabouts). Today I had a couple of trips up TWM, (at Voyager Level), from the Mountaineer's Hut for mapping reasons, then I travelled over to the Dam via a night in PV farmhouse and another at the radio station. The number of sprains was acceptable, seems like pre-v1.48. The sprain warnings were less irritating than yesterday. That might be because they are better, or it might be that I have become used to them. I suspect they are better. I am still undecided and a disappointed with the aiming. I use the bow and arrow and leave the rifle at a base whenever possible. Apart from general curiosity, the revolver does not appeal to me as a weapon. It just seems a different version of the flare pistol. I am still not doing well shooting wolves with my bow, although I have no trouble shooting deer. That seems strange to me. Have the internal settings regarding the different animals changed, apart from the overall aiming mechanics, or is it just me ? One thing I find interesting is that my mode of playing has significantly changed, and I think for the better. The sprains became very frequent when my load was over 40Kg, so I now keep my load below 40Kg, and try to keep it below 35Kg. This means that I walk much faster and can descend down fixed ropes without having to dump gear and make a second trip. That has meant I get about much faster. I still have complaints about the lighting levels inside buildings, but that, to my disappointment, has not been a priority for v1.49, (although PV farmhouse is lighter). I have to have a smile at my enthusiasm for TLD. I am an old retired, ex-IT guy, and I suspect that my spending so much time playing TLD causes my family and friends to think that I am losing my mind. Ironically, if I tell them that I am being paid £50 an hour for testing & evaluating some software, which is not true, they will think that I am a smart guy. The public perception of game-playing is primitive.

I have been in there several times in the past 30 hours and didn't see a revolver there, or anywhere else in TWM. If I had I would not tell anyone where it was.

I have just had two hours trying out v1.49, and had no problems. It didn't crash, the sprains I had seemed reasonable. The whole experience was not the irritation that it was yesterday. However I have to revise a few earlier opinions I made re. v.1.48 After one shot with my bow and one with the rifle I thought that it was no different from before. Now I have my doubts. Usually I have few problems shooting rabbits and wolves with the bow. Yesterday I missed several rabbits and wolves. I had no problem with deer. I had a few headshots as expected. Perhaps such a small sample is statistically meaningless. Another issue I got wrong was that I thought the fire in the Mountaineer's hut, TWM, had its brightness turned down. Now I think not. The colours and details while cooking some venison are still too bright and burned out.

There were a few issues on sprains that I was unhappy about but the greatest problem of all has been the game crashing. I had at least 6 game crashes yesterday. This needs top priority in fixing.

I knew my descent from TWM was dangerous. I sprained everything I could and had four additional pains on top of that. I didn't use any rose hips or pain killers. Fortunately I made it back to Mountaineer's Hut without a wolf or bear attack. Four hours of sleep and all was cured.

Today has been an interesting day. I managed to get v.1.48 at around 3:30am, (BST, 7th, May), and have spent most of my day trying it out, looking for problems. I found a few things I liked and few on which I am undecided. I avoided a serious look at the sprains issue, but eventually I had to get back to my usual game. That is a 900+ day, Voyager game in which I am trying to map all of the black spaces on my charcoal maps. My current objective was to climb TWM, from the Mountainer's Hut and goat down from TWM on a new goat path, (or rock face). I felt that this was a task that would give me many sprain problems. A few days ago I did this and sprained every limb I have. This time I had very limited painkillers. I hesitated because this might easily end my life. The first surprise was that the game crashed while I was walking up a steep, but nothing special, snow slope. Before setting off I kept my load lower than my usual heavy load 40+kg. I was trying to keep below 35Kg just in case that was a trigger point. I can't be sure I was below 35Kg because I might have picked up a couple of sticks after a rope climb. One second I was plodding up the slope then the next second I had a sprain warning, the mountain screen was replaced with a small window on which there was progress bar. Then it was all over. It happened so quickly I could even see what the progress bar was about. Fortunately I was able to return to my last auto-save at the Mountaineer's Hut. A day or two later I continued my climb and got beyond the deer clearing and climbed a rope. Immediately after reaching the top the computer crashed. Fortunately I needed a sleep at the bottom of the rope so there was an auto save at that point, so It wasn't a big problem. After that I restarted and continued and reached the summit. I had a walk around picking up a few sticks and retired to the cave. The computer crashed again. I can't remember the exact point at, which it crashed. It was after cooking but whether it was before or after sleeping I can't remember. Ahhh, the perils of drinking cheap wine when you play TLD. It is not a big problem. I'll be able to recover the situation, but normally I have no crashes, then three crashes between Mountaineer's Hut and TWM summit means there is a problem. I don't feel bad about it. Over the years I have had many things go wrong with stuff I have been developing. I don't blame Hinterland for cutting corners and racing ahead, we players demand it. In fact, I have greatly enjoyed spending today looking for and finding problems.

Sprains need more fine-tuning. I have had a few warnings when I have been on safe flat territory, including inside a fishing hut. It seems that the warning is triggered by exceeding a load of 40Kg, rather than potential terrain difficulties. I have not suffered an actual spring in v1.48 so I don't know how it works out on rough terrain. . . . . . I have just returned to an old game. It opens with me getting out of bed in the PV farmhouse. I immediately had a sprain warning. My load was 40.7Kg. That problem has bugged me for ages. I have reported it a few times. Once upon a time the PV barn was darker in daytime than at night, but it was fixed. More recently the PV farmhouse was very dark and usually I could not see most of the resources that I had dropped. That has been fixed in v1.48. A couple of hours ago I checked Trapper's Cabin, it is still too dark in there, but not as bad as PV farmhouse was. Before v1.48 the Hunters Lodge in Broken Railroad could do with lightening, although it would be understandable if the basement was darkened. I don't know if it has been lightened, but my guess is that, as they didn't fix Trapper's Cabin, they have not systematically checked and fixed all building interiors. Another problem is that some places were/are too bright. The fire in the TWM Mountaineer's hut was too bright and the colours and details were burnt out. Many times I have been outdoors and the snow is too bright and burned out.

XaldinVii ". . . . the Brace mechanic with the Spear is tied to your stamina. " I was severely injured, (perhaps killed, I can't remember), a few times before I realised that. Once I knew that it was easy. The next time the bear attacked me I was able to kill him.

Doc Feral, " Using a small piece (the 0.1 kgs or so harvesting leftover) of cooked meat is better. " Thanks for that info. I assumed that was the case but have never got around to checking it out.

I play TLD a great deal, almost daily for over a year, and I have had no technical problems. My system is, Win 10, Dell, Xeon, CPU E3-1225 @ 3.2 GHz, 16GB, Radeon, R7 360.

Hawk, "... You only research the books in Survival Mode. Not in Story Mode. " Yeah, that's what I thought. For a moment I wondered if I had missed something fundamental.

fezbling - I have had the same problem. Doc Feral - I don't understand your reply. When I go to the inventory the only place I see the books is in the journal, as fezbling describes. While I'm at it let me ask about a problem I have in the Wintermute journal. On the side mission Basics of Survival, the box for snaring a rabbit has not been ticked off in spite of my having snared many rabbits.

". . . next to the Hunting Lodge " I think "in the area of the Hunting Lodge", would be a better description.

I dashed over from ML Camp Office and sure enough the the Prepper's Bunker was there. It's very easy to see if anyone bothered to check behind the tree. I have stayed in the derelict house countless times without ever looking there. I didn't find much of use but it could be invaluable in some situations. The current game is at 547 days so clearly bunkers don't deteriorate and disappear. My journey from the camp office to the bunker was the easiest I can remember. I wasn't attacked by a wolf once. Although I was saved from one wolf by a rabbit being between the wolf and me. Normally I play at Voyager, Stalker or between the two, I wonder whether I was lucky or if this was a very early custom game which I made easy.

I always have that derelict house well stocked with food, water, fuel and everything else, so I don't have a reason to search around near to the house. I shall have to see if I have a game which is currently nearby so I can go and check. Does it deteriorate then disappear after a long time? Most of my games have been running for hundreds of days so if it deteriorates it might no longer be there. I shall explore.

Good heavens ! I have been in that area and climbed that rope many times and have never seen this cache.