Subsistence News

Alpha 66 Update

[p][/p][h2]New Hunter Combat AI:[/h2][p]Hunters have had an overhaul of their combat AI. Previously they used a fairly predictable pattern of move/stop/shoot. Now they can shoot while moving, will strafe while engaging, use better logic for positioning and taking cover. While also being aware of the actions of the other members of their squad.[/p][p]They will also use tactics like diving from cover, switch weapons less often, while choosing weapons based on the current situation. They also use smarter logic for choosing when to reload and will retreat to do so when they can.[/p][p][/p][h2]New Animation System for Humans:[/h2][p]The male and female characters (including hunters) have had an entirely new animation tree for movement. Compared to the previous (built in a time where I was still learning the basics of bipedal animation), the new movement should look much more convincing and immersive. [/p][p][/p][p]I'm sure I will want to continue to improve these in future updates (I know there is still some 'jankiness' there).[/p][p][/p][h2]Context-based Death Animations:[/h2][p]Previously, when humans were killed, they would just snap to ragdoll and allowed for the physics to play out. Now there is an entire suite of death animations, that can blend into ragdolls.[/p][p]These animations are entirely contextual, based on the force of the impact, the location on the body and the type of ammunition used.[/p][p][/p][p]In addition, these death sequences are now fully replicated to clients of network games. Whereas previously, the momentum, impact location, and damage type was not received from the server, resulting in clients not seeing the correct death simulation that the host (or single player) would see.[/p][p][/p][h2]Extreme Violence/Gore and Dismemberment:[/h2][p]Firstly I should mention that this option can be disabled in the in-game options menu. So for players who do not want this in their game, I totally understand. [/p][p][/p][h2]Dismemberment:[/h2][p]The update introduces a new dismemberment system, allowing human characters to be blown apart. The feature is designed to emphasize the raw power of weapons, the impact of combat, and the brutality of survival in the world. \[Inspired somewhat by the original Soldier Of Fortune games].[/p][p][/p][p]Dismemberment is determined by the types of ammunition (or damage), the range (in terms of weapons like shotguns), and obviously hit location.[/p][p][/p][p]I may tweak the system to occur less frequently, so I appreciate any feedback. 🙏[/p][p][/p][p]Some scenarios that can cause dismemberment include: high caliber ammunition and close-range shotgun blasts, powerful animal attacks, high-speed vehicle impacts, falling from extreme heights. [/p][p][/p][h2]New Blood Effects:[/h2][p]Previously the blood effects I was using were just 2D cards in a particle system. It never looked right, and also had no direction in the spurts. Now I am using 3D simulations for the blood spurts, which look way better and also will spurt in the appropriate direction. I think this is way more convincing and immersive.[/p][p][/p][h2]Dynamic Damage Decals:[/h2][p]It is always immersion-breaking for me when I play a game and no visible damage displays on enemies during battles. Previously I would display static blood, baked within the materials (which I still do), but now I have a system to project real time damage decals onto the moving meshes. This is for human characters and animals.[/p][p]Again, this can be disabled in the options menu ("Show graphic violence"). [/p][p][/p][p]The types of decals are determined by the damage. For instance, bullet wound will appear as bullet holes, whereas bear attacks will leave large scratch marks.[/p][p][/p][p]The damage decals will also spurt blood for a short period of time.[/p][p][/p][h2]Blood Pooling:[/h2][p]Killed humans (depending on the cause of death) will now cause slowly growing blood pools when their bodies come to rest.[/p][p][/p][h2]Take-Damage Impact Animations and Stuns:[/h2][p]Previously when hunters would take damage during combat, there was zero reaction. Now there are minor and major hit reactions.[/p][p][/p][p]Minor hit reactions simply jolt their bodies. Major hit reactions will stun the hunters and play out contextual animations based on the damage type and body location.[/p][p][/p][p]There are many, many animations for the various hit locations. Including stumbling if hit while running, grabbing their legs, head, groin, etc. The stun time may need some tweaking, but I will wait to see feedback and watch gameplay. [/p][p][/p][h2]Increased Bullet Velocity:[/h2][p]Bullet velocity for all weapons (other than bows) has been increased by 1.5x. While this seems like a small change, it dramatically changes how combat feels. The hunter AI needed tweaking to balance this change to keep their accuracy at the same level of handicap. [/p][p][/p][h2]Proximity Voice Chat:[/h2][p]Finally I've implemented proximity-based voice chat for multiplayer. This means when you approach a player in a multiplayer game, you can press a key to broadcast your voice to them.[/p][p]The volume of the remote voices can be configured in the "Sounds" section of the options menu and the "Push to Talk" key can be rebound in the controls menu.[/p][p][/p][p]When A player is speaking, you will see a small speaker icon show next to their health bar. When you are talking, the same icon will show just to the right of your toolbar.[/p][p][/p][p]I'm using the Steam Voice API for this feature, so whatever microphone that shows in your Steam client settings is the one the game will pickup from.[/p][p][/p][p]I hope this will broaden the social aspect for communities playing on servers.[/p][p][/p][h2]Client-side Human and Animal Movement Smoothing:[/h2][p]I've added client-side movement smoothing when viewing other humans or animals. Previously this movement could get quite jerky and awkward looking (especially on a high ping). This prevents sudden snapping to a corrected position caused by network lag or lost packets.[/p][p][/p][p]This is predictive smoothing, so it's not just trailing behind where the human/animal is. It will smoothly move based on the velocity and direction the character is moving and should be very accurate to where the server has that character placed.[/p][p][/p][h2]New Human Ragdoll Physics:[/h2][p]I've added a new physics body for humans. Previously the old ragdolls were prone to springing to a star shape with not much articulation restraints. The new ragdolls react much more realistically to the environment and forces.[/p][p][/p][p]In addition, I've adjusted the friction that ragdolls (including animals) so that bodies slow more quickly when sliding down slopes or impacting geometry.[/p][p][/p][h2]Falling Sounds During Deaths:[/h2][p]Previously humans made no sound when slumping to the floor when killed. This was immersion-breaking, so now there is satisfying and reassuring audio.[/p][p][/p][h2]Facial Animations:[/h2][p]Hunters and players will now play subtle facial animations. Mostly during combat. Firing weapons will blend a gritting-teeth snarl, while taking major hits will cause a pain expression. (I had to give the character teeth for this...)[/p][p][/p][h2]Smoothed Camera Tracking During Death Ragdolls:[/h2][p]Previously when dying and ragdolling, the camera would track the root of the body. Which regularly led to jerky camera if the physics were caught on world geometry. This has now been smoothed out. [/p][p][/p][h2]Throwing Weapon Physics On Death Visual Effect:[/h2][p]As a visual flair, humans will now fling their weapon spinning into the air when killed (depending on damage type). This is purely to add a satisfying visual cue and just looks cool in my opinion. The weapon cannot be picked up (will still be in the dropped bag for players).[/p][p][/p][h2]Weapon Aiming Offset Animations:[/h2][p]Previously humans would have very limited visual vertical aiming offset when aiming their weapon up and down. This led to hunters aiming up at players, often appearing to be aiming much lower down, which felt very off. I've now adjusted the animation tree for all weapons to correctly aim where the human is aiming. [/p][p][/p][p]In addition, previously when strafing or turning, the animation of twisting the hips would cause the horizontal aiming to also look inaccurate. This is now corrected, so viewing humans aiming weapon should now be visually correct to their actual aim.[/p][p][/p][h2]Additional Loot for Scrapping Crashed Planes:[/h2][p]Scrapping crashed plane wrecks will now yield additional loot (on top of the existing scrap metal). Alloy sheets and electrical components will be yielded for certain parts of the plane.[/p][p][/p][h2]New Bullet Tracers:[/h2][p]Previously bullet tracers would instantly disappear when the projectile hit a surface, or when the tip of the tracer was out of view. Leading tracers to seemingly disappear or not even show.[/p][p]The visual bounding box of the tracer is now the full length, and the tracer will complete it movement after the bullet has hit a surface. This should give players a lot more situational awareness when under fire.[/p][p][/p][h2]Fish Traps No Longer Penalized by Nearby Players:[/h2][p]Previously fish traps would prevent catching fish if players were moving and making noise near them. I have removed this constraint, so fish traps near bases will now be more productive.[/p][p][/p][p]Please note that placing fish traps too close to one another will limit their combined potential, so spacing them out is recommended.[/p][p][/p][h2]Improved Physics on Animal Fatality Sequences:[/h2][p]I've fixed the physics when an animal grabs/impales a human. Previously the human could spin around at the grab location.[/p][p][/p][p]Now the player will be locked in place which looks much more convincing (and brutal).[/p][h2][/h2][h2]Higher Detail Ground Debris:[/h2][p]The world now has a lot more ground debris, in the form of sticks and stones. I think the change makes for a more immersive setting, while requiring the player to be more focused for identifying harvestable resources. I welcome feedback on this change.[/p][p][/p][p]The new ground debris will also react to seasonal changes, so snow will accumulate on them.[/p][p][/p][h2]Foundations Now Require At Least One Leg Touching the Ground (unless snapped):[/h2][p]This prevents building floating platforms, at least without an initial snap to another buildable.[/p][p][/p][h2]Dead Players/Hunters Now Close Their Eyes:[/h2][p]Rather than just statically staring blankly after killing a human, they will now close their eyes on death. It's a small change but corrects an immersion-breaking visual during/after combat.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Bullet Impact Decals:[/h2][p]Bullets and shotgun shells will now leave impact decals on surfaces.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Plantbeds Now Require Both Water and Fertilizer to Grow Plants:[/h2][p]Previously plants would still grow in plantbeds with only water (although at a slower pace). Now fertilizer is also required, otherwise the growth will stop. Water will not be consumed if no fertilizer is present.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]

[p]Player characters will now blink.[/p]
[p]Melee weapons now deliver momentum when killing an enemy.[/p]
[p]Fixed power exploit, whereby cancelled crafted item on an upgraded station would refund the full power cost of the item (rather than the discounted amount).[/p]
[p]Prevented double binding of keys in the controls menu.[/p]
[p]Fixed bug where hunters could spam grenade tipped arrows while attacking a base.[/p]
[p]Giving the middle-finger will also show an angry facial expression.[/p]
[p]Hunters now immediately enter a defending base state when their base is breached.[/p]
[p]Animals will now wait to face the player before performing attacks.[/p]
[p]Fixed bug where predators would not attack players when running on to player bases.[/p]

[p]
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs X/Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[/p][h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3][p]If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.
You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas, MusicMan)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
Portuguese European (João C. H. Jorge)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)
Finnish (Pewtsku and J4ntteri)[/p]

Alpha 65 Update

[h2]Cable Car System:[/h2]
A new mode of long range transport has been added to the game. Capable of traversing difficult or impassable terrain, suspended high above the many threats posed on ground level.

The cable car system will connect two separate bases (or the same base), and requires the player to construct cable car platforms at each end of the desired route. Then connect the two platforms using steel cable.

[h2]Cable Car Platform:[/h2]
Cable car platforms can be crafted in the lathe. Bear in mind that two platforms are required to make a connecting route.

The platform occupies the same space as a foundation/floor/ceiling and must be within range of a BCU or range extender to connect to the base power grid.

Once placed, accessing the platform terminal will show a list of all the neighboring platforms within a 500 meter radius. Only platforms located at friendly bases will show. Here you can connect the platforms at the expense of steel cable and power.

[h2]Platform Radius Map View:[/h2]
To assist players planning their builds, within the platform terminal there is a button that will reveal the connection radius of the platform in the map view.

The radius will show as a blue sphere. Note: the radius sphere will not show underneath the map shroud, so the map will need to be explored to view the sphere at any given region.

[h2]Identify Platforms On the Map:[/h2]
With many platforms, the platform list can start to get busy and confusing when trying to locate a desired platform.

To help assist with this, there is a button next to each platform in the list which will switch to the map view and place a temporary beacon.

[h2]Cable Car:[/h2]
Also crafted at the lathe. Cable cars are placed like normal buildables, and must be snapped onto a platform which is currently connected to another platform.

There must be cable connecting the two platforms in order to place the cable car.

The cable car rollers are fully animated and will update with speed and direction.

On either side of the cable car are buttons that are used to start the car moving to the opposing platform.

Each time the cable car starts a move, it will deduct a portion of power from the base it is currently docked at. The amount of power is determined by how far the travel distance is. If there is insufficient power, the cable car will not move.

A cable car can be disconnected via one of the platform terminals it is connected to. Here you can also disconnect the cable. You will receive 100% of the cable back, however the power spent connecting the cable will not be returned.

[h2]Red 9 Pistol:[/h2]
A new 9mm pistol has finally been added to the game. Crafted at the workbench, this pistol deals slightly more damage than the standard pistol, and offers a higher base ammo capacity of 10 rounds (which can be upgraded to a max of 18).

There is a trade-off to these benefits, with it having a longer reload time. I've always loved this style of pistol in many other games, so excited to add it to the Subsistence arsenal.

I worked hard on the animations and sound design, hoping to make it a satisfying weapon to use. There are 3 new skins available for it (see below).

[h2]Steel Cable:[/h2]
Steel cable is required to connect two cable car platforms. It is crafted at the lathe. The length of cable required is dependent on the distance between the two platforms.

It can get costly on iron fragments depending on how ambitious your cable car system is.

[h2]Fallen Logs:[/h2]
Many players have asked for ways to reduce the burden of wood farming. In response I have added fallen logs that will spawn around the world, and can be collected by simply picking them up.

I think this will especially help players starting out, where lumber is so important to getting established. I think they also add a nice decorative effect to the wilderness environment. They will also accumulate snow during the winter months. They are slightly less plentiful during winter (the same as many other resources).

I may modify the quantity after getting more feedback from players. I've made the respawn timer quite long, but I still think this may need to be tweaked to find the appropriate balance.

[h2]Weapon Sway and ADS/Hip-fire Accuracy:[/h2]
I have made some fairly large changes to the weapon handling. Previously there was no difference in accuracy between hip-firing and aiming down sights, and there was no weapon sway. To balance the weapons being too accurate I added a small amount of random spread. Meaning there was a random chance of missing, regardless of skill. This was not ideal.

With the new update, now when aiming down sights the weapons are 100% accurate. However players need to manage a subtle weapon sway. Essentially this is replacing random chance with skill, and I think this is a much more fair system for players.

Also, hip-firing is now inherently inaccurate, as one would expect. This also eliminates monitor crosshair exploiting.

Tip: Crouching will reduce ADS weapon sway.

[h2]New Muzzle Flashes and Bullet/Shell Casing Ejection:[/h2]
Almost all weapons now have a new and updated muzzle flash fire effects. In addition you can also now see bullet and shell casings eject and spin from the weapon between shots or reloads.

There are also now sounds of the casings/shells hitting the floor. The sounds are dependent on the floor they are hitting. This is a minor detail, but I think it adds a lot to overall immersion.

[h2]Glass Triangle Ceiling:[/h2]
As requested by several players.

[h2]Glass Wall (Curve/Slanted/Inverted):[/h2]
Will add more flexibility to interesting base designs.

[h2]New Red 9 Achievement:[/h2]
I've updated the achievements to include the service star for the Red 9 (achieve 100 large-game or human/hunter kills).

[h2]Mass Fabricator Production Increased:[/h2]
The mass fabricator will now produce 50% more mass, at no increase to the power cost. This should make a noticeable difference to player progression speed.

[h2]Vehicle Construction Cost Reduced:[/h2]
The power cost while constructing a vehicle has been reduced from 10 power per second to 6.

[h2]Many Craft Recipes Cost Reduced:[/h2]

Boiling, frying and baking pans all substantially reduced in cost.
Advanced Mechanical Parts.
Lever Action Rifle.
Recurve Bow.
Double Barrel Shotgun.
Elevator Tracks (reduced by 50%).

[h2]Fixed Save Games During Climbing:[/h2]
As some unfortunate players may have discovered, previously if a save occurred while climbing, reloading that save would result in falling from the rockface.

I now have handling that will restore the player to the location they were before they began climbing. So no more cheap deaths for climbers.

[h2]Animal/Hunter/Player Rotation Movement Smoothed for Network Games:[/h2]
Previously this was very jerky and distracting. This is now smoothly interpolated for clients of network games and looks much nicer.

[h2]Red 9 Skins:[/h2]
Can be found on the Subsistence Steam Item Store. Thanks so much to everyone who continues to support the game through the in-game skins. I really appreciate it! 🙏

Nickel Plated with Black Grip: Item Store Page

Black Camo and Gold Trim: Item Store Page

Predator: Item Store Page

[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]

Fixed bug where glyphs would sometimes not show in the control bindings menu.
Fixed bug where crayfish would temporarily disappear while cooking.
Fixed some exploits of players being able to steal from sealed bases on multiplayer.
Fixed the Steam Deck controller diagram not showing (was showing the generic diagram).
Fixed weapon equipping sound playing multiple times for clients of network games.
Fixed weapon reloading animation often not playing on hunters and other players for clients of network games.
Fixed hunters not being able to fish on dedicated servers. Surprisingly this was never reported, but hunters have never been able to actually cast their rod on dedicated servers. They would only walk to the water with their rod and eventually return to their base.
Fixed bear head-crush animation not playing for clients of network games.

GeForce Now? I would love to have Subsistence supported by GeForce Now. However I believe it is a manual selection process based on interest expressed by users. If you would like to support the effort to have Subsistence selected, you could upvote/comment on this thread, or submit a request via the GeForce Now platform itself. 🙏

I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas with your family/friends/loved-ones. Thank you so much for all the continued support. 🙏 Please stay tuned for continued updates into the future.

All the best,
CG

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs

X/Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184

Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas, MusicMan)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
Portuguese European (João C. H. Jorge)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)
Finnish (Pewtsku and J4ntteri)

Alpha 64 Update

[h2]Controller Support:[/h2]
As I have been promising for a long time, I've finally implemented full controller support for Subsistence. The support should cover all Xbox, PlayStation, Steam Deck, and generic controllers.

You will find the in-game controls section now broken down into two sections for mouse and keyboard and controller.

If a recognized controller is connected, you will see a diagram of the button mappings for your controller type.

To account for the finite buttons available on controllers, the control scheme is divided into three sets:

In-Game
Menu
Driving

These sets will automatically switch based on what the player is doing in the game. You can view the various sets and their bindings by using the button in the bindings menu.

The button on the left allows you to flick through the various controllers you have connected.

[h2]Reconfiguring Bindings:[/h2]
While I recommend using the default bindings I have configured for each controller type, I understand it's important for players to have the freedom to configure their controllers as they please.

A button at the bottom-left of the controller screen will open up a bindings window, allowing the player to change any aspect of their control scheme.

[h2]Steam Input:[/h2]
I decided to use Steam Input as the basis for the controller support. This was due to Valve's broad support for different controller types, and for ongoing support leading into the future as new controller types enter the market. When rebinding controls in-game, the Steam overlay will popup to show the Steam Input binding menu.

These bindings will only apply to Subsistence, so will not affect your bindings for any other game in your library. This can also be done by clicking on the controller button in the Steam UI while viewing the Subsistence page in your games library.

[h2]If you have an existing Steam Input control scheme for Subsistence:[/h2]
Some players may have already setup a custom control scheme using Steam Input. In this case your custom layout may be selected by default. I strongly suggest switching to the official layout (even if you plan to change it). As the official layout provides many actions supported by the game that were previously not available.

To switch to the official layout (see above), click on the controller box on your Subsistence Steam page. Then click "Browse Community Layouts". Then under "Recommended" select the official layout and apply it.
Note: Most players will not have to do this and the official layout will be selected by default.

[h2]Keyboard/Mouse/Controller Glyphs:[/h2]
Previously many of the in-game prompts provided very small text explaining which key to press. Now I am using images (glyphs) for the specific key or button that is required with less text and at a larger font. This should help with accessibility and provide a cleaner UI.

Also when looking at dropped items, it now shows an image of the item with a count rather than lots of small text.

These glyphs have been implemented all over the UI when text was previously used.

[h2]Build Animations:[/h2]
Something I've been meaning to add for a long time; most buildables will now play out a build animation when they are placed or moved. I think this makes building more satisfying and immersive to see each piece placed individually.

The sound design will play different placement sounds depending on the material type. Each individual piece will shake independently as it fits into place.

I've implemented these animations purely through the vertex shader of the mesh materials. This means they are entirely animated through the GPU and put no extra load on the CPU, so are very efficient in terms of performance.

All wood, roofing and glass structures have had these animations added.

[h2]Customizable ADS Sensitivity:[/h2]
Previously, weapon ADS (aim down sights) sensitivity was exactly the same as normal look sensitivity. This meant as the player zoomed in with a weapon, the sensitivity would become very high and difficult to aim. This was particularly awkward with weapons with a higher zoom (such as the rifle and LAR).

Now weapons have a lowered sensitivity while aiming, making it much easier to target enemies. In addition, players can customize each weapon's ADS sensitivity to their own personal preference. In the controls menu there is an "advanced" section, with ADS sensitivity sliders for each weapon.

There is a red marker on each slider to indicate the default (recommended) setting.

When the slider is at full, this means the ADS sensitivity will be the same are normal look sensitivity.
When the slider is at the lowest, the ADS will be 10% of the normal look sensitivity.

These settings can be separately configured for mouse & keyboard and controller (by using the advanced section in each of the respective control menus).

[h2]All New Controls Menu:[/h2]
I've completely rewritten the in-game controls menu UI. The code was old and becoming problematic. The new menu is cleaner, features glyphs for keys/button (rather than text), and has some nice smooth animations when navigating between sections.

[h2]Inventory Item Animations:[/h2]
Inventory items will now react as the player interacts with them, or as their state changes.

Clicking on, using or moving an item will play a subtle shake (as well as stacking an item). Also items will tilt as they are mouse-overed. The hope is to make the UI feel a little more responsive to the player.

This also means that as a player "Takes All" from a loot crate, it is a lot more obvious what was taken and where the items have been placed/stacked in their inventory, due to those items briefly animating.

[h2]Reset to Default Controls:[/h2]
There is now a button in the controls menu for resetting all keybinds back to their default values (including sensitivity sliders).

[h2]Inventory Input Prompts:[/h2]
I've added some contextual action prompts (which show top right) while viewing the inventory.

As players mouse-over inventory items the prompts will hint at quick actions available for this item. This includes actions like shift-clicking to move item stacks or singles between inventories (which many players are not aware of).

[h2]In-Game Input Prompts:[/h2]
Same as the with the inventory input prompts, I have also added in-game prompts, which show bottom right during gameplay.

These prompts will hint at things like switching ammo types (if you have more than one ammo type for the held weapon). Or toggling a weapon flashlight if the held weapon has one attached. Hopefully this helps makes playing the game a little more intuitive without referencing the controls menu or googling how something is done.

[h2]New Toolbelt Selecting:[/h2]
Now when scrolling through your toolbelt (using "next/prev toolbelt item" keys), all slots can now be selected. This mean buildables, medical, edible items, etc can be selected without needing to hit a number key. It always felt inconsistent to me that only weapons would select, and the selection would jump around.

When flicking through slots, a small blue marker will show above the slot briefly before selecting the item. This eliminates the glitchy, rapid weapon-equipping animations playing when scrolling through weapons.

Weapons and buildables will equip automatically. For other items (such as med-kits), players can press the "fire" key to use the item (or perform their primary action). An input prompt will show indicating the action that can be performed.

[h2]New (Animated) Navigation Menu:[/h2]
The new menu has a larger font, and is closer in-line with the game's UI design language.

[h2]Breath Sounds When Exhausted (+ Fixed Sprinting Animation Bug):[/h2]
Now when the player depletes their stamina, you will hear a breath sound. I also fixed the bug whereby the arms sprinting animation would continue after stamina depletion.

[h2]Quick Craft Hotkey:[/h2]
Now whenever the craft preview panel is open the player can hit a hotkey to craft the item without needing to mouse over and click on the craft button.

A small convenience, but useful if you can train yourself to use it (much like the "Take All" hotkey).

[h2]GeForce Now?[/h2]
Many players have asked about Subsistence being supported on GeForce Now. GeForce Now is Nvidia's cloud gaming service that allows users to stream PC games on various devices without needing powerful local hardware.

I have always stated that once I have native controller support implemented I would explore this option. So just letting you know that I am actively looking into it, and I will keep you updated as progress continues.

[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]

Claymores, Breaching Charges and BCU Crackers are now stackable.
Fixed vehicle falling through the vehicle bay when recalling vehicle.
Prevented canteens filled with dirty water being drank from when using the quick action hotkey (shift+left-click). This should prevent accidental infection.
Fixed Garage Door not colliding with vehicle (missed bug in Alpha 63).
Subtle camera animations will now play during the process of butchering animals.

[h2]Thank You 🙏[/h2]
Thanks so much to everyone that continues to support the game and its continued development. I truly appreciate all the discussions, gameplay, bug-reports and general support. It helps so much to continue to shape the game.

I know much of the community solely use mouse and keyboard, so are probably not interested in the controller support that comprised a bulk of this update. However it's important to broaden the accessibility of the game for players that either prefer or rely on using a controller. Being able to play on a big-screen TV from the comfort of a couch makes the game a more complete package for players.

Have a great weekend!
CG

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs

Alpha 63 Update

[h2]Base Furniture:[/h2]
Based on many suggestions from the community I've added a selection of home furniture. These are primarily cosmetic enhancements for builders wanting to customize and decorate their bases.

Several new chair types have been added (the older sofa and armchair can still be crafted). I've also updated the build system to allow base items to be placed on top of rugs.

Like the previous bed, the new beds also serve as respawn points for players (respawns need to be purchased when accessing the beds).

Many of the furniture items come with storage space, although they do not offer as much capacity as the dedicated storage chests.

[h2]All New Trees:[/h2]
All of the trees in the game (other than those in the most recent map expansion) have been completely replaced. The world will look quite visually different from how it did before the update.

I created the old trees using an old version of SpeedTree. This was presenting issues for future plans I have for the game, as well as performance problems. There is now not a single SpeedTree in the game.

The new trees use a custom system which primarily relies on static meshes, and handles movement/wind/seasons purely through the material vertex and pixel shaders. This takes pressure off the CPU.

Most of the new trees are significantly more detailed than the old, and I've worked hard to keep the poly-count low, and the LOD and instancing system robust enough to handle rendering large open vistas.

[h2]Regional Ore/Mineral Mining (Drilling):[/h2]
The mining drill has been updated with the capability to target region-specific ore/minerals where it was placed.

Some of less common ore/minerals will take longer to extract (50% speed). The UI has been updated to display the new resources, and a label will highlight those that take longer to extract.

This change will reward players that invest in building mining outposts across the map. However they will need to consider power production and self-sufficiency at these outposts (as only the primary base with auto-generate power).
[h3]Stored Mining Progress:[/h3]
When switching resource types in the mining drill, the individual progress of each resource type will be stored so it can be resumed from the same progress point later. Moving a mining drill will reset it's mining progress for each ore type.

[h2]Reduced Cost of Wood Building:[/h2]
I've reduced the cost of all wooden building pieces, reducing the number of wood planks and nails required for each recipe.

This will reduce the grind for players focusing on building, and relieve some pressure on wood gathering to focus on further progression in the game.

[h2]New Wind Foliage Effects:[/h2]
I've implemented an all-new wind system to the games weather dynamics. Previously as wind speeds would pick up, foliage and trees movement would remain unchanged, with only audio and rain/snow particles simulating the wind effects.

With the new system trees, grass and all other foliage (including harvestable foliage) will respond accordingly. Seeing trees and foliage blow violently during a storm should greatly help immersion during gameplay.

[h2]Furniture Workbench:[/h2]
Crafted from the BCU, the Furniture Workbench is now where players can craft all base furniture (including the old sofa and armchair) and decorative items (more will come in the future).

It must be placed within range of a BCU or range extender and has 12 slots of storage.

[h2]Coal Tar:[/h2]
Coal now has a second use (other than being used for fuel for fires). It can now be refined in the Refinery to extract Coal Tar.

[h2]Wood Varnish:[/h2]
Many of the new furniture items require Wood Varnish to craft. Wood Varnish can be crafted at the Furniture Workbench using Coal Tar and Alcohol.

[h2]Health Kit Speed:[/h2]
Health Kits are no longer an instant-effect item. Now, when using a health kit, the health gain will show as a gray bar on the health meter. It will then apply the health at a rate of 5 hit points per second until the bar is consumed.

Although the health will be applied very quickly, this change will prevent spamming/exploiting health-kits to overcome a combat situation and reward more considered strategies. It should also offer more fair balance on PVP servers.

[h2]Crafting Tier Unlocks:[/h2]
Crafting base items now has an unlock tier system. As certain base items are crafted and placed in a base, it will unlock other crafting recipes.

This was intended since the very first release as a way to streamline the crafting progression. For seasoned players this will mostly be only cosmetic and not restrictive (other than some considerations when setting up outpost bases). For new players, base progression should be a little more clear.

[h2]Offline Base Protection:[/h2]
Servers now have the option to protect bases of offline players. This option is enabled by default (unless disabled by the server host).

[h3]How it works:[/h3]

Base items within range of a BCU or Range Extender will not take any damage when all of it's members are offline from the server.
There is a 10 minute cooldown after the last base member logs off before the base protection takes effect.
BCU Crackers and Breaching Charges cannot be used on a base while offline-protection is in effect for that base.

This means players do not have to worry about their bases being damaged/destroyed while they are offline. However they have to be mindful of the 10 minute cooldown, as logging off while your base is under attack does not give immediate protection (so this can't be exploited).

You can view whether this setting is enabled for any server via the in-game server browser:

Note: This will not protect abandoned bases from base decay (if the server has a base decay setting). Base decay allows for abandoned bases to decay and be cleaned up after a long period of it's base members not logging on to the server. This allows servers to maintain performance and run indefinitely without manual cleanup by admins (and is recommended for all server hosts).

[h2]Corpses Impact Effects:[/h2]
Previously when animals or humans would die and ragdoll, their corpses would not react to any further projectile or melee impacts.

Now the corpses will react as they should, and can lead to some interesting ragdoll moments during gunfights.

[h2]Reduced Cost of Solar Panels and Windmills:[/h2]
As requested by many players, the cost of Solar and Windmills has been reduced (one less circuit board).

[h2]Reduced Cost of Large Storage Unit[/h2]
The number of planks, alloy sheets and crystal have all been reduced for this recipe.

[h2]Improved Rendering On Roof Tiling:[/h2]
I've smoothed out the geometry of the roof tiles while also reducing the poly-count for higher performance.

[h2]Fixed Vehicles & Corpses Falling Through Floors:[/h2]
For players that had built huge structures in their profiles (or on servers with lots of large bases) players may have noticed ragdoll corpses that would fall through the world geometry. More concerningly this would also happen to vehicles, as they also use the same physics engine as ragdolls.

This was being caused by the physics-enabled world collision becoming too complex and overloading the physics engine. I've now updated the game to only "wake-up" the world collision in a radius around things that need it (only when they need it). This should have totally fixed the previously mentioned clipping issue, as well as drastically reduced pressure on the games physics engine for better performance.

[h2]LOD Overhaul:[/h2]
To further increase performance at scale, I've gone through all of the building pieces and optimized (or completely replaced) the LOD's for each. This allows bases to render at much lower geometry when viewed from a far, without any noticeable decrease in detail.

[h2]Fixed Player Positioning While Unseating:[/h2]
Previously when standing up from sitting on a chair, the player would simply transition to standing in the same position. This resulted in the player being partially clipped into the chair and needing to jump out to free themselves. Now the game will look for an appropriate open space around the chair to unseat the player smoothly.

[h2]Rotating World Globe Decoration Item:[/h2]
Just a small decorative item that can be crafted at the Furniture Workbench.

It will glow in the dark but does not require any base power. I hope to add more decorative items in the future.

[h2]Bush Collision Now Enabled Worldwide:[/h2]
All of the old bushes have been replaced with new ones. These all have collision so will make sounds as the humans/animals move through them.

[h2]Recurve Bow Predator Skin:[/h2]
Can be found in the Steam Item Store, which completes the Predator collection for the existing weapons. Thanks for the continued support! 🙏

[h2]Other Notable Updates:[/h2]

Windmill turning animation is now rendered using only the material renderer (rather than ticking a mesh). This leads to greater CPU performance when many windmills are rendered on screen.
Fixed dropped kit beacon not showing if killed while driving a vehicle.
Improved snow rendering on distant trees.
Fixed bug where potato plants would render as white at a certain distance.
Fixed health bars or plane debris not showing for clients of multiplayer games.
Hunters will engage/fire at longer range when using rifles and the revolver.
Hunters better trained at using the lever-action rifle.
Fixed crash that would occur if an animal was killed by the resulting explosion of attacking a vehicle.
Hunter AI updated to prevent/reduce them losing sights on the player when the player enters water.
Fixed bug where it was not possible to open plane cargo crates if they were under a river surface. (Released in previous hotfix).
Increased max health to garage door. You may notice existing garage doors (prior to Alpha 63) are below full health because of this change.
Reduced cost of old sofa and arm-chair.

Note: Graphics settings will be reset to default after downloading the update, so please adjust as necessary when you first enter the game.

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs

Alpha 62 Update - 20th December 2023

[h2]Random Plane Events:[/h2]
Players will now experience random plane flybys during gameplay. On occasion these flights will crash-down somewhere in the world, providing players with incentive to venture out to discover the wreck and loot its cargo.

The intention with these events is to incentivize players to travel/explore further from their bases, and add more unpredictability to the moment-to-moment gameplay. This also adds more value and utility to vehicles.

The pilots will dynamically toggle the plane lights during day/night transitions, and the drone of the engines will alert players to incoming aircraft.

Starting a new game will now begin with a drop-off plane leaving the player location (hoping to give a sense of isolation and the situation at hand).

[h2]Flight Paths:[/h2]
Flight paths are procedurally handled and unique for every flight. Planes will enter the play space and attempt extensive flybys of the playable area before exiting and flying out into the wilderness.

During their flights they are coded to dynamically traverse the landscape geometry, so will fly over mountains, down into valleys, avoid peaks, etc.

[h2]Crash Sites:[/h2]
On occasion flights will go down and crash, creating a huge fiery explosion and sending vibrations and echoes of the impact across the map.

Players will be able to observe crash sites by their burning debris fields and a column of smoke from the burning fuel. If enough shroud on the map has been uncovered, the flames from the crash will be visible from the map view.

[h2]Pilots:[/h2]
Crash sites (and its cargo) will be defended by it's pilots. These guys are packing lever-action rifles and .44 revolvers, so they can deal a lot of damage and will not be friendly to players trying to scavenge their wreck site.

They are armored and can be identified by their white pilot helmets. It is possible for players to find a pilot helmet, however it is extremely rare (similar to the deep-cave miner gas masks).

[h2]Crash Site Looting:[/h2]
During crashes, aircraft cargo crates will spill out among the wreck. These cargo crates are sealed with metal straps, so will need to be broken open to access their loot.

The debris from the wreck is also of value to players. Almost all parts of the wreck can be broken down to yield scrap metal. This will cause usage damage to your tools over time.

[h2]Regions:[/h2]
This is a fairly large change, and is another move to encourage travel and exploration during gameplay. The world is now broken down into separate regions, which can be viewed from the map view.

Each region has a different weighting for the ores/minerals that are available within them. Some regions may have an abundance of one type of ore, yet little to none of another.

Vehicles now become more valuable, as a means of travel to regions with a required resource within daylight hours. Or more careful planning of routes while on-foot is required to secure needed resources.

While in the map view, scrolling over a region will show the weights of the resources available within it.

Regions Toggle: If the region boundary lines are distracting, they can be toggled on/off using the checkbox on the right-side of the map view.

Currently regions only control distribution of ore/minerals, although I see potential to expand this in the future to wildlife and vegetation. It's a tricky balance, so I appreciate feedback on the current balance and suggestions for the future.

[h2]Huge Increase To Fiber/Medicinal Foliage:[/h2]
The old individual fiber and medicinal plants have been completely replaced by large modular bushes. They are now way more abundant and easier to spot.

The purpose of this is to make the natural environment more dense with interactable foliage (rather than just static bushes).

Fiber: Increase of around 700%.
Medicinal: Increase of around 400%.

Due to the large increase, recipes that use these materials have been increased for balance, but overall players should have a more abundant supply.

[h2]Foliage Harvesting Physics:[/h2]
The new bushes all use destruction physics, so players can see bushes snap and break down as they harvest. I'm hoping this will make for a more satisfying experience while gathering.

[h2]Electrical Bench:[/h2]
Found in the BCU crafting menu, the electrical bench can now be crafted.

This bench now handles the various crafting options for electrical items.

Some of the existing electrical items have been moved from the workbench crafting menu, as well as new added items that can now be crafted.

[h2]Capacitors:[/h2]
Crafted at the electrical bench using refined lithium and pearls, capacitors are used to craft circuit boards (and will likely be used for more in the future).

[h2]Semiconductors:[/h2]
Also crafted at the electrical bench using refined silicon and obsidian, semiconductors are required to craft circuit boards (with more uses likely coming in the future).

[h2]New Ore/Mineral Types:[/h2]
3 new ore/mineral types have been introduced. These resources use the new regions system for their location in the world and typically will not be found together or adjacent to one another.
[h3]Lithium:[/h3]

[h3]Silicon:[/h3]

[h3]Obsidian:[/h3]

The distribution and balance for the new resource types may need some tweaking, so I welcome feedback regarding this.

[h2]Color Grading Overhaul (Graphics Update):[/h2]
I've made a significant change to the graphics color grading of the game. Color saturation and contrast depth have all been boosted. The result is a much more colorful presentation, with sharper outlines and deeper blacks.

[h2]First Person Arm Grabbing:[/h2]
Picking up all items now plays a first person hand-grabbing animation. This is to increase immersion while playing.

The animations have been blended in for all weapons and tools, so you do not need to unequip your weapon.

[h2]Hunter AI Updates:[/h2]
I noticed that hunters were often crowding a single piece of cover, leading to some predictable patterns during combat. They are now aware of the positions of their squad-mates and will seek independent cover.

This means they are better able to flank a player's position and create more dynamic encounters.

Also fixed the bug where hunters would get stuck on buildables while swimming and not move or react to the player.

Also fixed hunters not responding to their squad-mate being killed by a single headshot.

[h2]Tightened Spread on Pump Action and Double Barrel Shotguns:[/h2]
Both the pump action and double barrel have had their spread tightened. This makes them more powerful at midrange. It's now not as necessary to wait for enemies to get to point blank range to deal max damage.

This does mean that the hunters also benefit from this change, so be careful when you hear that pump or double barrel cocking while in combat.

Note: The double barrel still has a slightly tighter spread than the pump action (making it more effective at mid range to the pump action).

[h2]Harvested Foliage and Scrap Regrowth/Respawn Rate:[/h2]
Previously the game did not remember harvested plants/scrap between saves. So reloading a save would result in 100% respawn of foliage and scrap. Now the game remembers.

In addition to this, the regrowth/respawn rate has been slowed (and can take around 3 in-game days to replenish an area of resources). This means players will be rewarded with denser resources if they travel further afield. Staying in one location all the time will mean fewer/slower resources. This is another move to encourage and reward travel and exploration.

[h2]Garage Door Fob Fix:[/h2]
Fixed the garage fob (vehicle upgrade) so that it will now open/close the closest garage door to the vehicle when the button is pressed. Previously it would engage a random door within a radius of the vehicle.

[h2]Boost Packs Duration Increase:[/h2]
Almost all boost packs have had a significant increase to their effect duration, making them a lot more useful.

Strength Boost (Increases physical strength for a period of time. Allows resources to be harvested at a faster rate and increases damage dealt by melee weapons). Increased from 3 mins to 6 mins.
Adrenaline Boost (provides unlimited stamina for a period of time). Increased from 3 mins to 6 mins.
Heat Pack (Provides a short period of warmth). Increased from 2 mins to 3 mins.

[h2]New Skins:[/h2]
New skins are available on the Subsistence Steam Item Store. Thank you for further supporting the continued development. 🙏

Pump Action Shotgun Predator Skin: Item Store Page

Rifle Predator Skin: Item Store Page

Pistol Predator Skin: Item Store Page

Combat Helmet Snow Camo Skin: Item Store Page

Skins on the Steam Store can also be accessed from within the game by clicking on the weapon in your inventory.

[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]

Optimized save game logic. Save files now are faster and use around half the file size.
Fiber stack count increased to 1000.
Medicinal stack count increased to 500.
Added shadow casting for destroyed buildable fracture pieces and destroyed ore nodes.
Prevented bushes and foliage from blocking AI navigation calculations and pathing.
Fixed rare bug where players would get stuck on "Initializing World..." screen when loading a profile.
Added better handling to ensure loot, hunters and hunter bases can not spawn outside of the fence-line.
Fix bug where the player camera would still move while in the menu if entering the menu while transitioning out of the map view.
Reduced the requirement count for circuit board for several craft and upgrade recipes.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year holiday! 🙏
CG

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs

Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.