past caring

Yeah - raining bears for me too. Out gathering sticks just before dusk yesterday and a second one appeared - about 7 days after I killed my first. 

I popped him twice with the rifle and he ran off up the hill. Tracked him down further in the hill and found him collapsed and bleeding out. Decided to put him out of his misery with the revolver - and the fucker jumped up and started dancing round me in circles before running off again. I nearly shit myself. 🤣🤣

Yes - I'm aware of the benefits of the moose hide satchel and already have one (it's my number one 'must have' once I've got myself established). Guess I will now have the satchel and a cloak - which is a first for me.

Just really had no idea the moose could spawn in the vicinity of the gas station - and it took me even more by surprise as there are no scratch markings.

Yes, I'm certain. I was so surprised at seeing a moose in the area that I've double checked (in any event, I am based in the garage, rather than passing through, so that ought to make it less likely I've missed the scrapings.....).

Well yes, once I'd recovered from the shock. But I thought they only spawned in areas with the tree rubbings?

Out back of Quonset Gas Station to be precise. Didn't think there were any in CH and there aren't any tree rubbings in the area. It's not my poor eyesight causing me to mistake it for one of the local deer, because I've just killed it.

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Some good ideas there - and I agree/understand it's not always necessary to have a full energy bar at the beginning of the day. I suppose what I'm really trying to avoid is waking up in the dark and having to pass time before I can get on with stuff. That's not really a massive issue anyway - but for some reason I just see it as some sort of personal failure if I haven't managed to time things right. 🤣

The benefits of a good night's sleep are obvious - but I've been struggling a bit with this in-game.

The problem is twofold: I usually find that I'm not tired enough by the time it gets dark to sleep for a full 12 hours - whilst the need to preserve lantern fuel for actually necessary tasks means that it's only rarely worth using a lantern to create the light needed for repairing gear or crafting (which would have the effect of draining energy/making you more tired). I suppose you can harvest stuff in the dark and whilst I can't remember off the top of my head whether you can use a whetstone or firearm cleaning kit, the point remains - there's only a certain amount of that you can usefully do.

So I've invariably ended up with the (admittedly minor) frustration of having to do the "pass time without sleeping/sleep/pass time without sleeping" thing at either end of the day in order to make full use of the daylight.

Yesterday, in my current base of Mystery Lake Camp Office, I had the brainwave of going for a jog around the block as dusk approached - i.e. sprinting back and forth between the office and railway track until my energy level entered the red zone. And I slept like a baby for 12 hours, waking just as there was enough light to start doing stuff. 😁 I'm thinking I could probably improve the technique by overloading myself with gear - but that would involve disturbing and re-arranging my carefully stored kit, so doesn't really appeal. I'm wishing now that there were a few more cars around in Mystery Lake - I've found another use for the batteries. 🤣🤣

Anyone else got any ideas? Or am I an idiot and this kind of nonsense doesn't bother you? 😂😂

@ajb1978 - oddly, it has now 'worked' in dome wierd way. So thanks.

After setting up a few 'test' games yesterday and then choosing to load one of them, rather than simply resume, I noticed there were suddenly two 'Sandbox 2' games - and one of them was the lost save. And it worked fine.

I learned something else though, I think - save points (i.e. after sleeping or entering a building) don't actually register or save unless the game exits normally? I renamed the above 'Sandbox 2' and played about another 5 or 6 days of that game yesterday (so plenty of save points) but left the game paused last night whilst forgetting I had scheduled a Windows update. The renamed game had gone this morning, 'resume, took me to my last 'test' game mentioned above and I was back with two 'Sandbox 2' games to choose from in the load options - and yesterday's progress had gone. All now OK though as I exited normally after renaming the save this morning and it does now appear both as a 'resume' or 'load' game option.

Agree about giving it time.

However, to raise a possibly related issue - I wonder whether the high number of spray cans might have the effect of reducing the availability of other items? I've started two new custom runs since the update with item availability maxed out and I'm seeing what I think is a noticeable reduction in useful items/stuff I would normally expect to see and I wonder if this is at the expense of the spray cans? For example, current run in Milton, I've explored everywhere apart from Milton Basin and have 15 spray cans but only 1 firearm cleaning kit, 1 whetstone, 1 hunting knife, 2 hatchets and 2 pry bars. The availability of decent clothing items also seems much reduced.  There was a very similar distribution of gear in my previous run too (which is why I started again). In neither game did I find a revolver - previously, that's been more or less a certainty in Milton with item availability maxed out.....

OK - thanks. I just ended up freezing to death anyway.....😁

13 hours ago, UTC-10 said:

I plan on putting in a cache to hold coal for me - in Ravine which would be close enough to Coastal Highway Cinder Hills to be manageable - so it stays where I put it.  I would probably put one or more near the Old Spence forge to expand the storage out there.

Being a newish and not very good casual player, I've yet to survive long enough to use the forge (nearly managed it in my last run through, but the save got corrupted) - but it looks like I might in my current game. So - are you saying that if I lug a load of coal to a spot and simply drop it instead of placing it in some form of container, it then scatters or disappears?

It all seems a bit too fiddly for me - I don't really see the benefit in terms of what it brings to the game.

In terms of new content, what I'd like to see is something I could actually usefully do in those "empty" hours of the game. By which I mean those hours between sunset and when I go to sleep when it is too dark to read or craft without an artificial light source - or those hours before dawn when the same is true. I know I can harvest surplus clothing for cloth etc. when there's no light, but there's only a certain amount of cloth a person needs. And I know I can use a storm lantern to make it light enough to read or craft - but why would I, when lantern fuel is a precious resource and there will be plenty of days when I can do those things because I need to stay inside because of the weather?

As it is, for me at least, there's a bit too much of the "pass time without sleeping" at dawn and/or dusk - i.e. a bit too much filler where I'm not actually doing anything. And before anyone suggests it, I doubt very much it was Hinterland's intention to add to immersion by allowing us to experience what would be the inevitable periods of boredom involved in surviving on our own.

The trouble is, I don't really know what to suggest for filling those gaps....

I've found a spray can. It shows up in my HUD. I can use it.

But I can't see it anywhere in my backpack when navigating through my inventory?

This is with a pre-update save, of course, so that may be the issue.....

@ajb1978 - belated thanks for this, though it didn't actually work. I've just decided to crack on with a new game....oh well.

2 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

Saved games are located in C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Hinterland\TheLongDark

Do you see anything in that folder that looks like it could be your game, based on the modified date?

Thanks. Yes - there is a sandbox 11 with yesterday's date (which is also the largest file in the folder - which probably makes sense as it was my longest/most successful run). But no idea what to do with it though?

ETA: It doesn't show up as a 'load' option in the game menu.

Survival mode - custom settings.
I wanted to check whether a dead wolf I came across was one I had fought the day before - so entered the journal and the stats tab. Scrolled down to the "wolves killed" data - and at that point got called away from the PC. I knew I'd be an hour so exited to the in-game menu (Back to game, Badges, Options, Quit) to pause time. When I returned I  went 'back to game' but found myself stuck in the stats tab - I could scroll up and down but not navigate to other parts of the journal or get back to the game.

If I pressed the B button (I'm using an XBox 360 controller) I got a message along the lines - "Are you sure you want to quit? Any unsaved progress will be lost". In the end I opted for that as I couldn't get back to the game.

But now that whole game has vanished. Any of the available saves have me in Milton House with only a few days survived - I was in Quonset Gas Station with about 150 days under my belt before this happened. And I certainly did not hit any option to delete a save.

Any ideas? I don't even know where to locate the save game files on my PC....

The wind blows out my 11 hour fire after 90 minutes (or whatever). OK, fair enough - but how has it still managed to consume the remaining 9 and 1/2 hours of fuel that I put on it?

35 minutes ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I believe the game initially sets possible spawn points for moose at the start of the game (designated by the scrapings on the trees).  If there are scrapings, then a moose can spawn in that spot.  If no scrapings, moose will never spawn there.  Then I think it is a dice roll each time you visit the area.  For example, I've had a moose spawn by the hunting lodge and then not be there the next time I visited the area even though I did not kill it or leave the region at all and then come back a week later.

That makes sense because I think (only think, mind - this isn't definite) I've noticed the same as you but in reverse - i.e. no moose the first 5 or 6 times I've been to a location and then it pops up the next time.

Also - and I am sure of this - in my current game the two possible spawn areas in Mountain Town have only one tree with scrapings in each location. Whereas, in the two more recent games where the moose spawned there were far more trees with scrapings. So I wonder if the number of scrapings signifies anything?

Apologies if this has been covered - I'm a relatively new player and I have looked but found nothing.

I am after obtaining a moose hide satchel - for obvious reasons, given the benefits. But first I need to kill a moose.....

I've not been able to locate one in either of the two possible locations that I know about in Mountain Town. Which then has got me wondering about the spawn mechanics for less common animals such as the bear and the moose. Is it the case that the 'dice roll' for moose is done just once at the beginning of a new game? And if so, is this done just for the start map or for all maps in the game? Or is it that there is a dice roll every time you visit a possible spawn location? Another possibility would be that there is a dice roll at the start of the game for a particular map, but there is then another dice roll if you leave that map and then return to it.

Does anyone know how it works? Will leaving Mountain Town and coming back a week or two later increase the chances of a moose spawning? Or is it that if there's no moose now, there never will be one in my current game?

Thanks for any help....

What I have found - at least 50% of the time - is that if I lose the trail the wolf ends up dying exactly where I shot it. Even when the last place I saw the trail was a good distance away......

Just to add (can't seem to edit for some reason) - I think what Dr. S. says is slightly off. Time might rewind to just before dawn, but not your inventory - so if you have looted/harvested stuff in the period leading up to your failed save it is still there in the save that does load. Which could be used as an exploit if you had a mind to....

Getting same on Steam/PC with Xbox 360 controller.

It may seem obvious but......

If you find yourself stranded somewhere (as I am at present - stranded in Milton basin for 120 hours with broken ribs after getting moose stomped) with reduced condition and find yourself faced with the problem of keeping warm - note the position of fir and cedar limbs on your outward foraging run, but only chop and transport it on your return journey. Saves you lugging a load of wood around unnecessarily - duh!!

F**k me, I've just killed another - day 23, 15 wolves down.

1 hour ago, past caring said:

Headed back to the Milton house the next day to load up on supplies and got mugged on my doorstep by another wolf - that one got away.

The following day - I've left Milton House. The wolf from last night is about - winged it with the revolver but when trying to track it, it jumped me (at least I hope it's the same wolf). Lost it. Head to Paradise Meadows Farm - surprise, surprise, there's a wolf. After clearing at least 5 from the farm and immediate surrounds over the past five days. I've clipped this wolf with the revolver, but again lost it when tracking. But my journal is now showing 13 dead wolves, so I've killed one of the two I've encountered today...

ETA - following morning the log is now showing 14, so I just need to find the carcasses. But I don't need to harvest them - and I read somewhere that leaving something on the carcass and not harvesting 100% delays the re-spawn - so maybe I'll just leave them to rot.