I've put another patch out in publicbeta, this one's mostly me updating translations and just catching up with some bug reports that people sent me over the last few months while I was deep in the sandbox progression work:

• Updated Korean and Chinese translations
  
• Fix for NPC getting stuck in a loop telling someone to leave their community
  
• Possible fix for gunpowder crafters filling up their inventory with containers of curry etc
  
• Changed default limit of wandering groups on Medium maps to 4 instead of 2
  
• Make it harder to kite looters away from their base and then assassinate them when they are shaking you down
  
• Better handling when a mod or story fails to load a dll
  
• Fix for crash if you kill some fake FEMA teams
  
• Fix for crash if mods have a dependency loop
  
• Rare crash fixes

v122 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 week I've been working on optimizations for online co-op. This was a particular problem when you had built up your base and there were a lot of characters around.

To get a bit technical, there were two main problems. Firstly the prediction code for nearby characters was a major bottleneck (which doesn't exist in single player). Secondly the fog of war calculations were causing framerate spikes, because unlike in single-player I was performing them on the main thread (for reasons relating to the need for determinism in multiplayer). In both cases the solution is I've offloaded them to different threads. PCs with 8 cores should benefit most from this, but I would guess most people have at least 4 physical cores, but 8 virtual cores with hyperthreading, so will probably be okay.

Anyway that was the most glaring performance problem, but I am of course aware there are other optimization needs besides this. Multiplayer will still be a little worse than single player, and even in single player it doesn't always run at a solid 60 fps on my reasonably high end PC. So I will come back to this again. (I think the main culprit is the renderer.)

Here's the changelist:

• Optimizations, mainly for online co-op when a large number of characters are nearby
  
• Fix for being able to activate Dark Past quest twice for the same person

EDIT - I've released another patch, v121, which mostly just fixes an error message introduced in v120.

v120 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".

Yes, it's a patch! For the last few months I've been working on something to try and give Sandbox Mode a better sense of long term progression. I've always felt - and I've seen comments saying the same - that Sandbox Mode starts well (though it can be tough for newbies, but that's a subject for another time) but once you've gotten to the stage of building a base and growing your community it's a bit perfunctory. You're just given a quest to take over the area, and that's it. That's what this update is trying to address.

Instead of just a quest to take over the area, you'll see a quest to get to know the members of your community and "ask them what's up". Asking the right community member (i.e. right age/gender for you, and with a good opinion of you) "what's up?" will trigger a bit of flirty dialog, doing this a few times will lead to some quests and - if you don't give them the brush off - eventually the start of a relationship. Following this thread will lead to bunch of missions that ultimately end in a new way to complete Sandbox Mode. The quests involved have some variation depending on personalities, the time of year, and RNG. Not everyone can be trusted.

In order to test the new stuff I also did a full playthrough, fixing up bugs and various annoyances as I went. That's partly why it took so long. I have to say, having played it through, that I don't think I'm "finished" with Sandbox Mode yet. These new quests give it a structure that was badly needed, but it still needs to be filled in a lot more. Plus there's a lot of Quality of Life improvements still needed, and I'm not happy with all of the gameplay.

Upcoming patches in the near future will be smaller and focused on the above, and shouldn't take nearly as long as this one just did. Later, when I'm working fully on Story Mode, I guess there might be some long patch-droughts. Don't worry though, I've been working on Survivalist since 2009, it might take a while but I'm not about to disappear.

Note that this patch is in the publicbeta branch for now, and probably will be for a long time! Also in order to get any of the above to trigger, you should start a new game in Sandbox Mode, don't use old saves.

v117 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".

Here's my changelist (warning, this is a bit more SPOLIER-y than the above):

• Rewrote how roaming hordes etc works to be driven by scripts and show which ones are currently active on the map screen
  
  
• Flirting, starting relationships with people in your community, triggered by asking them What's Up (if they like you enough, and are the right age, gender etc)
  
• If you get into a relationship with someone they will trigger a mission to contact FEMA and try to get a green pass into one of their bases, doing this questline is a new way to complete Sandbox mode
  
  
• Snowball fights and snowmen (can be part of the flirting questline)
  
• Feeding rabbits (can be part of the flirting questline)
  
• Raiders with pipe bombs
  
• A bunch of combat AI fixes
  
• Some balancing tweaks like making helmets reduce your sight while caps increase it more, being able to craft backpacks, not all zombies dropping loot, making some quests rarer
  
• Being able to pause/resume roles from the community screen
  
• Fix for chefs getting stuck and not cooking stuff sometimes
  
• Allow builders and crafters to go further when looking for resources (since you can limit them by setting a zone)
  
• Fix for pickaxe sounds not being played when mining inside the mine
  
• Forget places marked as inaccessible when setting movement zone or gate policy
  
• Added Hungarian! Updated Japanese and Spanish.
  
• Stop wandering groups from always spawning close to each other on maps with few roads
  
• Fix for error message when trying to play a mod if it depends on a mod that hasn't been downloaded
  
• Fix for miners sometimes getting stuck not going into the mine anymore
  
• Added & and | to speech formulas (for use by translators)
  
• Use new Unity input system for gamepads, in the hopes it fixes a bug where triggers didn't work on some XBox gamepads
  
• Crash fixes

EDIT - released a new patch with some quick fixes (v118):

• Insulation display fix
  
• Crash fixes

EDIT - and another one (v119):

• Fix for crash when triggering a tripwire after exiting a building
  
• Fix for crash when crouching and needing to get a drink

I'm moving all the most recent work from the publicbeta branch into the main branch! Here's a recap of the major changes which are now in the game for everyone:

When you start a new game, you can view, download and play any of the community-made Stories from the Steam Workshop:



I've split community content into two types: Stories and Mods. Stories are complete playable maps (whether procedurally generated or hand-made), while Mods are smaller bits of add-on content. You can only play one Story at a time, but can select multiple Mods. There have been quite a few useful ones made already!



I've made it possible to create mods that introduce new weapon models, new clothing models, and even new code! I made couple of example mods - the trilby hat and the revolver - with guides here and here explaining how to do that.



I also made a big internal change - Stories or Mods can now 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.

Moving on from mods, I've also added the much-requested Ultrawide Screen Support.



And to fix a common source of confusion I've revamped the Equipment Policy Dialog so you can choose exactly which actions are allowed - for example, if you want people to plant corn but not eat it, you can now do that:

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".