New patch out! This fixes a few things in the last patch, and adds support for Ultrawide screens - if you have anything wider than 16:9 the game should now stretch to fit it instead of showing black bars on the edges. The main menus are still 16:9, but the inventory screens will stretch (which conveniently means you can show more items on-screen at once).



I don't actually have an Ultrawide monitor myself, so although I've tested it by stretching my Unity window I haven't tested it in real world conditions - please let me know if it's not working.

Here's the full change list:

• Ultrawide Screen Support
  
• Some fixes for the equipment policy dialog
  
• Fix for dead communities on fixed maps not being taken over by wandering groups - ability to edit community base rect in debug menu
  
• Updated all translations
  
• Make sure props aren't drawn when they're really far away (optimisation)
  
• Crash fixes

EDIT - It was v114 but I borked it so I did another quick patch, it's now v115:

• Added difficulty settings on debug menu
  
• Fix for crash when you throw a piece of meat or carrot

It's staying in publicbeta for now - I'm still not moving it to the main branch sadly as some people reported a rare crash when joining online co-op games a few weeks ago and I still haven't tracked it down, do let me know if you get it.

v115 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

There's a new patch in publicbeta, the main noticeable change is I've improved the equipment policy dialog so you can choose what people are allowed to use an item for - for example you could say they can plant maize or cook with it but they can't eat it raw:



It's been great to see all the big new mods coming out! Check out The New World or A New Dawn, for example. By the way, I've also updated the Importing New Models guide, explaining how to set up new weapons and clothing. And I've added a guide for Making Mods with Custom Code.

I wanted to move the previous publicbeta patch to the main branch, but a couple of people reported a crash when joining multiplayer games and after spending some time on it I still haven't been able to track it down, so I've just added some logging and it'll have to stay in publicbeta a bit longer unfortunately. (Please email me at survivalist.game@gmail.com if you do get that crash by the way! :) )

Here's the full changelist:

• New options on Equipment Policy Dialog
  
• Allow editing equipment policy by hovering over ingredients in crafting amount dialog
  
• Added listener and thirdperson functions for translations
  
• Error message if you try to use a Mod which has a dependency on a different Story to the one you have selected
  
• Fix for screenshots sometimes not loading in savegames menu");
  
• Crash fixes, logging, and possible fix for corrupt terrain data

v113 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

This is another small patch, it's mainly to fix an "Out of Sync" error which some people reported happening as soon as they joined the game in Online Co-op. Here's the changelist:

• Fix for some people getting out of sync errors immediately on joining a game
  
• Fix for mod/story names not being displayed on savegames

EDIT - v112 now, fixed a crash

v112 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

I've updated the publicbeta branch again, this one's mainly just a bunch of crash fixes. Some common ones from the last update, and some more rare ones involving online co-op that got reported recently. Here's the full changelist:

• Korean Update
  
• Some fixes for things like joining an online co-op game which uses multiple mods that you haven't downloaded
  
• Many crash fixes

v110 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

The latest patch in publicbeta is all about better mod support. The most obvious change is when you start a new game you can now browse and select any Story from the Workshop (including those you haven't downloaded yet). You can download them in-game, and also Like them if you want. You can sort by Highest Rated, Trending, or Newest:



The second big change is I've split them into two types: Stories and Mods. You can only select one Story, but you can have multiple Mods applied to it. The idea is Mods would be things like "a new gun" or maybe "a new bit of What's Up dialog" which could be applied to any Story. Stories would be custom maps with their own narrative and quests, or variations on Sandbox mode:



Once you're playing a game you can also add more Mods if you want:



Perhaps more importantly, I've added support for new weapon and clothing models, which I'm demonstrating with a couple of small Mods, the Magnum and the Trilby Hat mod:



I'll write a couple of guides for mod-makes who want to do that soon! Lastly I've also changed the structure a bit so either mods or stories can be dependent on each other, meaning if you download one it can force another to be downloaded as well if it's dependent on it. I'll update the guides in the coming days.

I think having done this I've gotten more or less to the end of the Workshop/Editor work that I wanted to do for the time being. There might be a few bug fixes and tweaks to the mod stuff here and there, but I'll be aiming to get back to working on the game itself. I'll be interested to see what new things people are capable of making with the tools now! I see there are a few adaptations of Sandbox mode that have become quite popular already, such as The New Z World.

Here's the full changelist:

• Added support for new weapon and clothing mods
  
• View all workshop items, and download them, from the story selection menu
  
• Split workshop items into two types, Stories and Mods. You can only select one story, but multiple mods.
  
• Stories or mods can be dependent on each other, so you don't have to make a copy of Sandbox to make one small change to it, you can just make it a dependency

Meanwhile, I've moved v108 from publicbeta to the main game.

v109 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

Some people reported a couple of crashes to me so I'm pushing the next patch into publicbeta. Here's what's in it:

• Stop towns from overlapping so much in Sandbox
  
• Some fixes for pit trap terrain glitches
  
• Allow crops to be planted on areas where buildings have been demolished
  
• Added ability for Workshop mods to load their own dlls
  
• Added option in recipe editor to not pass on infection to product
  
• Crash fixes

This is mainly just a bug fixing patch but includes support for mods to include their own bits of code! I haven't really finished working on it yet but, very briefly, if you're a mod author you can create a DLLs directory in your Story folder and put a dll in there. You can create a c# project linking against the game's libraries and use something called HarmonyLib to patch some of your own code into the game (though there are limitations), I'll write a guide explaining how a bit later when it's more complete :-P

v108 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

Well, I've finally taken the plunge and moved all the updates I've been working on over the last couple of months out of publicbeta and into the main branch, so they'll be available to everyone now ːsteamhappyː

There's a lot in this, but the highlights are:

• Made it possible for workshop mod authors to add new props/buildings
  
• Added a bunch of new props and buildings myself, such as trailer homes and crashed aircraft
  
  
  
• Added path editor and road markings
  
  
• Added ability to assign NPCs to number keys (from 4 onwards, by default) for quick selection
  
• Added shortcuts to select best melee ranged and thrown weapons (on 1,2,3 keys by default)
  
• When you switch selection between NPCs, a bar appears at the bottom of the screen showing their faces
  
  
• Increased the size of the NPC buttons on the Community screen so their names are all visible without hovering, and you can preview their best skills and equipment
  
  
• Difficulty/World Generation Sliders and default loadouts
  
  
• Some new music tracks
  
• A lot of stealth fixes
  
• Some "out of sync" fixes

Fingers crossed, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, let's hope 2021 doesn't suck!

I've released a new patch in the public beta branch. This one is just fixing a bunch of bugs in online co-op, in particular some longstanding causes of "out of sync" errors while in combat. Here's the changelist:

• Fixes for some sound bugs in online co-op
  
• Fix for hang if you press escape on the character creation screen when joining a co-op game
  
• Fix for arrows sometimes being invisible in online co-op
  
• Fix for dead or zombie characters appearing in character selector bar
  
• Out of Sync fixes

I'll let this sit for a few days then hopefully I'll be able to push all the new stuff to the main branch, finally.

v101 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

It's patch time! This one's got a few different bits in it. I realized after the last one that there were still some problems with the ways NPCs reacted to their buildings being burned by a stealthy player (for example, if you threw a molotov at their fence, they would have a negative memory for each tile of fence that got hit, and any crops nearby, and would repeatedly shout "What the...?" for each one), so I had to work on that a bit.

After that I started working on trying to improve some of the problems with selecting characters and equipment. You can now press 1, 2, and 3 as shortcuts to equip your best melee weapon, ranged weapon, or thrown weapon. (Press it again in quick succession and it equips the second-best one, and so on). The other number keys can be assigned to characters, i.e. hold down 4 for 1 second to assign that key to your current character - then whenever you press 4 it will select that character.

You might ask, why didn't I make it so you can choose which weapon to assign 1, 2, and 3 to? It's because you can control a lot of different characters in this game, I worry it would get confusing if they all had individual weapon assignments, so I thought I'd try this first. That said I guess I might add that later in some form if people still found it necessary.

I've also made it so when cycling between characters, a bar with their faces appears temporarily on the bottom of the screen to hopefully give you a better idea of who you're selecting:


I've also increased the size of the character boxes shown on the character screen, and included some info like what skill they're best at, and what their best equipment is. I've always felt that screen becomes a bit of an indistinguishable sea of faces, hopefully this makes it easier to recognize the characters. (It does mean fewer can fit on screen at a time though.)


Let me know if you have an opinion about these UI tweaks! Here's the full changelist:

• Added shortcuts to select best melee ranged and thrown weapons (on 1,2,3 keys by default)
  
• Added ability to assign NPCs to number keys (from 4 onwards, by default) for quick selection
  
• When drag-selecting NPCs in Command Mode, you can now hold shift to add to your current selection instead of replacing it
  
• When you switch selection between NPCs, a bar appears at the bottom of the screen showing their faces
  
• Increased the size of the NPC buttons on the Community screen so their names are all visible without hovering, and you can preview their best skills and equipment
  
• Various fixes for how NPCs react to their buildings being damaged
  
• Warn if you play a Story that was made with a later version of the game than you are using
  
• The UsedHumanIngredients memory is only triggered if you use them in food
  
• Updated Brazilian Portuguese translation
  
• Lowered hammer sound volume
  
• Make it possible to display and edit building entrances using Prop Editor
  
• Fix for not being able to scroll equipment shown in buildings on the map screen
  
• Crash fixes

EDIT - released a few new patches (v104, v105, v106) to fix some crashes that I introduced.

This is all still in publicbeta.

v101 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:

• Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
  
• If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
  
• If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".

To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".

Okay Steam is doing this awards thing so... this is for all the people who thought the game was too difficult at first because the zombies all pile on you at once, but who kept playing anyway ;)