GothSkunk

Today on "pictures taken moments before disaster..."

No music at all. Not even in-game music. It's the quiet apocalypse, electricity is a thing of the past. For ultimate immersion and realism, you should be listening to no music of any kind.

I haven't heard them at all in any region I've walked through thus far, in 34 in-game days. Bear in mind, I've only been in the three zones thus far. Timberwolf Mountain will be my next step... once the weather improves. XD

After the release of v2.22 I created a custom game (Essentially Stalker with Interloper-level Needs, and health recovery set to the absolute minimum) and started a fresh new survivor. I'm now on day 33, and I've been all over Pleasant Valley, Coastal Highway, and Desolation Point, but I cannot recall seeing a Ptarmigan flock in any of my travels thus far. Bad luck, do you think? Or genuinely a problem?

Because it hasn't been addressed yet in this thread (that I saw, I skimmed through it pretty quick) and because I haven't seen another thread discussing it: If the shortwave radio, when active, is not picking up any signals, is that indicative that I've found all the things in a region? Or could I possibly have to get close to one for it to become active again? I ask because I'm currently still in the Forsaken Airfield, and I found a cache near the airport. Once I did, the radio could not find any more signals when scanning from that location. I would like to believe that means there's nothing left to find, but I remember watching the video on the update and distinctly seeing how the radio would alert the player that it's picked up a signal and they could then begin homing in on it, while they were in motion. The Forsaken airfield is a HUGE place, with a hell of a lot of ground to cover, and it's dangerous at night. So far I've hung out at the Island Cottage on Drift Island and another cottage at the end of the road, waiting for the Lights to come back so I could power my radio, but even from those locations there was no indication of another signal. The in-game tooltips explain that each transmitter tower will cover it's home region in entirety and even potentially bleed over into neighbouring regions, so I need to know if my radio is not picking up anything at all, does that mean with absolute certainty that there's nothing left to find? Otherwise if that's not the case, I'm going to go mad with Perfectionists Dedication combing over every inch of a region.

Two blizzards rolled through today. Still no replenishment. Considering the reward vs effort involved, I would argue that acorns NEED to be renewable, otherwise it's not worth the effort.

So I've found a bunch of oak trees at Timberwolf Mountain. Harvested 11 acorns total. Then I went to Ash Canyon and spent 11 days in the region, mainly to grab the technical backpack. I am back, however, and after 11 days the acorns have not respawned. If they are not a replenishing resource, that is going to be a huge disappointment.

The inclement weather in Forsaken Airfield is not simply a "headache;" it is a set of handcuffs. Even fully geared with the best clothing I could wear, I would go from full temperature to hypothermia risk in less than an in-game hour just for being outdoors on a clear, sunny (but windy) day. On the rare occasions where there was no wind, the standing temperature still hung around -35 in the sun, so I would inevitably still begin freezing. Every percentage point of condition that I lost was dangerous, because due to the custom scenario settings I had, I could only recover 15% condition per day. With these exact same settings, I was previously able to lead a survivor to a survival run in excess of 1000 days, successfully capturing all the buffer memories in each region. Even when I was nearly killed by wolves in Milton, I still managed to recover and carry on and survive, though it took a full in-game week to do so. But under these very same conditions, I cannot survive in the Forsaken Airfield, because I cannot afford to be outdoors for any length of time to be productive. If I'm outside for too long, I have a net negative condition loss for the day. Compounded over enough days, eventually it will mean I die. I'm going to try again, on a pure stalker run. This time will likely be better because in Stalker, you can recover condition much faster, so it won't be so bad of a problem. But for my previous custom survival tuning, my argument stands: The inclement weather in Forsaken Airfield is outrageous and needs to be made warmer.

Today, I experienced a blizzard that lasted the entire day without interruption, trapping me in my shelter without a means of getting to my water and food stash. I couldn't SEE it. I understand the attempt at making a region challenging, but this is beyond the pale of insanity. The next day, after losing 3/4ths of my temp meter just approaching a herd of deer, and not getting a clean kill shot, I decided "Fuck this." and walked off into the wilderness to succumb to the cold. For paid content, this level of ridiculous temperature and wind difficulty is extremely disappointing. Here's hoping Hinterland smartens up and warms the region up.

As a veteran of nearly 1800 hours in The Long Dark, I am personally finding The Forsaken Airfield to be utterly brutal in terms of survivability. I'm going to say up front that I don't play Interloper. I find Interloper too difficult, but I also find Stalker too easy. I customize my play to be a blend of both; Available gear is Stalker level, but weather patterns, calorie/thirst/fatigue/temperature needs are all Interloper level. Finally, condition recovery is set to the lowest possible rate it can be. To go from 5% to 100% condition takes about 7 in-game days, assuming I'm resting a full uninterrupted 10 hours each night and not using birch bark tea or herbal tea. Before TFTFT came out, my survivor was comfortably living in Pleasant Valley at the Homestead, and had explored every region extensively (save for the Hushed River Valley). He had survived over 1000 days with no end in sight. But my current survivor, despite being fully geared, is absolutely struggling. Outdoor temperature averages -35, and the winds are endless. Because condition recovery is so slow, I can't afford to stay outdoors risking hypothermia; I HAVE to take shelter and warm up every time my temp needs go critical. I WANT to explore the region, but I'm freezing within an hour of leaving shelter. I cannot safely explore the region. Hunting is treacherous, as the wolves and deer are all too far from the airfield to safely hunt. Just harvesting meat from one deer carcass required me to make three trips back to the main hangar just to warm up. I couldn't set a fire down to keep warm because the wind won't let them stay alive. I think I may be screwed. Even Pleasant Valley occasionally showed mercy.

Given how prominent Methusellah was for Will in Episode's 1 and 2, his absence in Episode 4 was a head-scratcher. But there's something definitely supernatural about him. Most notably, how he's able to get to locations that shouldn't be accessibly before Will is able to, like the Milton Basin for example. He could be a hallucination, a manifestation conjured up by Will's fragile psyche in order to process the trauma's he's going through. It would explain why he appears right when he's "needed" in episode's 1 and 2, as well as his knowledge of things he would have no business knowing if he were a human. He could also be a supernatural being. Perhaps he is THE Methusellah, as in, Noah's father, immortal and acting as God's Herald. That too would also explain everything, except Will's passing familiarity with him. One thing's for certain though; he definitely is NOT human.

7. My Eyelashes Have Icicles mod A mod that adds a gradually intensifying ice crystal border around the player's FOV as their temperature drops. If the character begins freezing (Hypothermia risk sets in), they begin to stagger around like they would if their condition was low, regardless of their current condition level. But, the staggering effect would not intensify unless their condition reached critical levels. 8. Exhaustion Matters mod A mod that makes low fatigue an actual threat. When player fatigue falls below 25%, in addition to the carry capacity penalty, the character also starts stumbling around as if they had critically low condition levels. When player fatigue falls to 0%, character suffers random moments when their eyes close and they can't see anything, simulating the effect of "nodding off" for those who've ever experienced it in real life. The longer the player goes without rest, the more frequent and intense the character's blackouts get Player also runs the risk of character collapsing in place and falling asleep for an hour, placing them at risk to exposure and wildlife attack.

I have a suggestion for a mod. A few, in fact! Here are some examples of mods I would like to see: 1: Hell's Kitchen Mod: Currently, regardless of difficulty, the game tells us very clearly how long it will take to boil water, or to cook food, or how long the campfire will last (provided the wind doesn't blow it out). I would like to see a mod that turns those exact time limits, into 'best-guess' estimations. So imagine, a character with level 1 cooking, cooking a venison steak they harvested from the very first deer they've ever killed. They don't REALLY know how to tell if a steak is fully cooked or not. Instead of the game telling the player: "30 minutes until cooked," it would say things like "Not done yet" and "looks cooked" and "you're pretty sure it's cooked" and the in-game asset will change from the raw model to the cooked model to reflect that... But it might NOT be fully cooked, resulting in the player eating an undercooked steak and potentially getting food poisoning. The mod could even allow for a risk of overcooking, telling the player "it doesn't look ready yet" one minute, and then the next minute be an inedible husk of burnt carbon. As the character's cooking skill upgrades, so too will their confidence in being able to tell when what they're cooking is safe to eat. 2. Improved Fire Mechanics Mod: Currently, the player starts a fire and adds fuel willy nilly. The fire's duration is the sum total of the value of the fuel used multiplied by factors such as the player's fire starting skill and whether or not the fire is outdoors. To improve upon this, an improved fire mechanics mod should make the following changes: Change the current system to one where the player builds a pyre in advance, and starts the fire by holding an ignition source to the pyre, tagging tinder plugs with a lit match/torch and hoping they ignite the rest of the fuel. Base chance to succeed in starting a fire should be static regardless of firestarting skill. Instead, to increase chance of successfully starting a fire, tinder should be used. The higher the player's firestarting skill, the higher the chance that the tinder used will succeed in starting the fire. Using sticks as fuel should not be as broken as it currently is. Fires should not be sustained with sticks alone, and should require fir, cedar, or coal, encouraging players to use their hatchets more often. Sticks are best used as a fire is starting, or to keep a dying fire from burning out; using sticks as fuel for a healthy fire will have no impact. Fires occasionally require stoking to reinvigorate them. An unattended fire runs the risk of burning out early if not properly stoked. Coal once again requires a fire to burn for 30 minutes before being a viable fuel source. Fire must raise the "Feels Like" temperature to a minimum before food can be cooked or water can be boiled. Player can use fire to heat up a knife, and use the heated up knife to cauterize a bleeding wound or clear infection risk, replacing it with Burn injury and hours of Pain, as well as a risk of passing out. 3. Pain Reminds You That You're Alive Mod: The pain mechanic that currently exists in game is underwhelming, and if you're like me, you probably just push through it because you're a man and walking it off is what men do it doesn't offer enough of a penalty to be concerned about. Ideally, I would change Pain thusly: Pain as a result of a sprain would not change except that its timer does not start until the sprain is treated or healed. Pain becomes relative to player condition. At 100%, character feels no pain and is not impeded. At 75% and below, character feels 'Minor pain.' The HUD effects of pain begin, and player actions take longer to complete. At 50% and below, character feels 'Significant pain,' giving the character a limp even if they have no leg injury, and further increasing the time penalty for actions. At 25% and below, character feels 'Significant pain' and is severely debilitated, unable to run, climb, and perform most time-sink actions at all. 4. Wilderness Butcher Mod: I always thought it was weird that the character could surgically remove exact quantities of meat from a carcass, even at carcass harvesting skill level 1, like a world-class butcher. I would change it thusly: Carcasses no longer show their meat volume by mass. Instead, they show harvestable units of meat, from "small" to "large," and the player must cut them out individually. i.e. A deer carcass normally identifies as having 9.3 kg of meat, for example. What this mod would do is instead identify X number of 'small' cuts of meat, Y number of 'medium' cuts, and Z number of 'large' cuts, which need to be harvested out. 'Small' cuts of meat never exceed 0.4 kg. 'Medium' cuts are between 0.4 kg and 0.8 kg. 'Large' cuts are between 0.9 kg and 1.3 kg. As a character's Carcass Harvesting skill improves, it improves the chances of medium and large cuts appearing in a carcass. This would make the meat quantities the player harvests, cooks, and eats more random, as opposed to being mostly uniform cuts of 1 kg. When I play the game I randomize this myself in my own way, by pressing ESC at random points during harvest to get steaks of variable mass. 5. Water Container Mod: It bothers me how the game just magically creates invisible water bottles for the character to store all their water in. When I play, I have a house rule that I never carry more than 2L of water on my character because it's reasonable to carry two 1L bottles with oneself. This mod would require the character to have containers to carry their water in. Also, being able to safely drink freshly boiled water? What? Recycled cans do not count as water containers, as they do not have a sealable lid. However, the character can drink water that has been boiled straight from a recycled can, provided it has been set aside to cool first. Water now comes in multiple temperatures: Frozen (if left outside and unsheltered), Cold (safe to drink, reduces character's temperature slightly), Hot (safe to drink, provides Warming Up bonus), and Boiling (unsafe to drink, but can prevent frostbite to hands for 1 hour) Water bottles can be found in the environment, commonly in 0.5L and 1L varieties, with luxurious 4L varieties found in areas of former civilization. Containers have a chance to pop open and spill a portion of their contents when the player suffers a fall injury or when pounced by wildlife. 6. Passing Time Requires A Book Mod: Get rid of the deck of cards. A mod that requires the character to use a book to pass the time would be awesome. Each book in the game comes with a set of hours that the character can make use of to pass the time. Once a book is finished, it may not be used again to pass the time for 100 in-game days. And that's all the suggestions off the top of my head. For now.

There are a number of locations with computers/laptops in them, that come to life during the Aurora. They boot up, and present on the screen one of the last things still stored on the storage drive. Each computer/laptop has at least 3 messages (think emails or notepad documents) that predate the big flash.

If you're like me, and you collect all the Aurora messages, you'll learn more about the piano music, and the person who plays it!

>be me >sheltering at the trailer at Foreman's Clearcut >decide 'I'm going to try and make it to the mine today' >get to the road >OH SHIT A PACK OF TIMBERWOLVES >run back to the trailer >hide inside >can hear the Timberwolves outside barking, and am suddenly very thoroughly impressed with that subtle, but wonderfully attentive detail. edit: OH SHIT THEY EVEN SCRATCH AT THE DOOR!

When opening/closing doors that can be opened/closed, any attempt to open/close a door while the door is still in the animation from the previous open/close action will fail. You must allow the door to fully complete it's open/close animation before trying a new open/close action. If your problem is different from this explanation, please disregard it.

(If this has already been done before, apologies, I only had a quick look through the forum and I didn't see it yet)

This thread be like

At first I thought that was a SUPER fat bunny. But then I noticed, Imperial units.

So, with three episodes out thus far, I personally have yet to hear Elias Toufexis' voice in the Wintermute story mode, despite being billed as one of the voice cast in the opening credits for episodes 1 and 2. Last night, while bored and surfing random things on the internet, I stumbled over Mr. Toufexis' IMDB and wikipedia pages. According to IMDB he just lends his voice without specific credit to a character, but according to wikipedia he's... THE BEAR?! I did not see that coming. Then again, maybe it's not a VA role, maybe it's a motion capture role.

Absolutely. I don't care.

1. The % value of the jerry can is indeed the condition of the jerry can itself. Don't worry about it; it never decays. 2. Every fire you start, regardless of how you start it, increases your fire starting skill by 1 point. This obviously leads to exploits where people can just rapidly level it up by building a lot of fires one after the other. I would like to see this limited to 1 point per day. 3. The condition of your mag lens has absolutely no bearing on its ability to start fires.

I'm not 100% certain on this -- more like 90% -- but sea salt is not curing salt. Sea salt is Sodium Chloride, whereas curing salt is Sodium Nitrate NITRITE.