We’ve had another quick and productive week at a2z. The boys have been cracking along on 1.8 features. James spent most of the week working on rich presences and integration along with assisting Jos with the particle update.

1.8 is proving to be what is likely our biggest update yet. It seems every time we feel we’re ready, we find another area for improvement. This week Andre has spent a good deal of time optimizing our lighting system. The result is very impressive with lighting looking fantastic and more importantly being optimized better than we’ve ever had it before.

While our current lighting system is pretty nice looking, it’s not perfect and it’s not at all optimized. Structure lighting was always heavy on performance mostly due to the need of multiple light sources for a single light fixture. We have found ourselves often using one spot and one point light to simulate light bounce. This improvement removes the need for bounce lights by adding a cube map mask. This will improve the general look of lighting along with making shadows and gradients easier on the eyes. And generally just improving the performance overhead of lighting.

Vehicle headlights have been turned into a single light source instead of a spotlight and point light saving tons of batches. Exterior lighting has seen its share of improvements. We've reduced batching and implemented a 3d cookie system for a nicer overall look.


Interior lighting before and after


Hearth lighting, smooth and well optimized


Before and after - new lighting features fixture cookie and gradient


Before and after, new lighting looks far less like the mask of Sauron

Jos has spent some time this week updating our particle system. For some time now we’ve wanted to introduce world particles. This week, with the help of James, Jos was able to program and implement the initial system. This system will allow us to expand and introduce all kinds of good looking goodies. Trash particles will now blow around the world creating a very creepy vibe. Leaves and vegetation will also flow with the air. This seemingly small effect really does a lot to improve the world. It’s something the team would love to expand on so if you have any particle ideas feel free to share them.



We’re hoping to have experimental builds out shortly. 1.8 has turned into another passion project for us. This isn’t a bad thing. We’ve got hosting out and you guys have quite a put together game to explore so the more time spent here the better. We’ll have experimental builds out as soon as possible and we’ll keep you updated with these weekly devblogs. As always, thank you for the continued support and if you have any questions feel free to join us on our Discord. Have a great weekend!

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Hello everyone,

Another week seems to have flown by. We’ve been busy working on 1.8 and beyond. Water reworks will be discussed below along with the introduction to Steam's Rich Presence. We’re also working on the start of numerous quality of life issues. After our 1.8 update, the team will hunker down and focus on early game issues and polish. We’ll get all of your feedback and found issues taken care of before the addition of any more major features

1.8 will feature many new graphical features and improvements with one of them being improved water. The water in game now is the second of a couple of placeholders we’ve used. We’ve had quite a few challenges with water in the past. A major one is water transparency and how out of place it would look in our world. Most of that issue was caused by fog rendering incorrectly.

There are also topographical challenges on the island. Black island has rivers that flow into oceans along with lakes and smaller bodies of water. 1.8 also introduces swamps which is another added level of complexity. It has been a challenge to make these intersecting and flowing bodies of water look good.

We've also had issues in the past with over complex solutions that were too heavy on performance. Sacrificing a good chunk of performance for slightly better looking water just wasn’t an option.

I realize writing this that the first question to likely be asked will be something along the lines of “Can we swim yet?!”..No, no you can’t. That being said, water assets, shaders and the drag of knowing they’ll need sorting was a major stopping force behind swimming. Post 1.8 we will be working on a major chunk of our issues and your feedback/suggestions. Swimming will be sorted shortly, we promise.

We've managed to find a compromise with our fog that makes it possible to use transparent water without it looking out of place. This, in combination with the new reflection system, allowed us to finally find a different solution that looks better and isn't too heavy on performance. The transparency really brings bodies of water to life and edge blending makes the waters edge feel far more realistic.



Old system lacks transparency


New system with transparency


Old River


New River and Edge Blending


Old system waterfall and lake


New system with reflections and edge blending


Lake Baron old system


Lake Baron new system

Something that has been missing for quite awhile is Steam's Rich Presence integration. The player now has access to Linux server files, additional hosts and the ability to host your own server from in-game.

James has spent some time this week working on integration and things are going great. Players will have the ability to join friends directly from Steam's friend list. Along with the ability to invite and join, you’ll notice status updates. Players will be able to see what friends and others players are doing. Whether it be fortifying, healing, fighting zombies, driving or even riding passenger your player status should update nicely.


Game invite


Status updates (format likely to change, feedback welcome)

With the release of server files we were contacted by the guys over a GPORTAL. They will be handling some of our new official servers alongside Allgamer. We’ve had quite a few requests for locations in South America so we’ll be adding a couple of servers there in Brazil along with Germany, Japan and Russia. You’ll see servers labeled “Official RU1 By G-Portal”.



Things are really cracking along nicely now, we’ll be introducing our Patreon page in May. We should see 1.8 on default early in May and we’re excited for 1.9 and the future of Survive the Nights.

We’re doing our best to get 1.8 ready and into your hands. It has been a massive update so far and likely one of our biggest, if not the biggest since alpha release. A lot of the game world has changed and a lot of new features are going in. We’ll do our best to get an experimental version into your hands in the next week or two.

As always, thank you for the continued support of the game and the team. If you’d like to discuss anything in this blog or anything else at all please feel free to join our Discord Server.

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Hello everyone,

We’ve spent the week working on quite a few features for 1.8 and beyond. Some of you might be new here. If so, please consider joining our Discord if you’d like to chat directly to the team.

A proper reflection system is something we’ve struggled with in the past. We’ve had what can be described as a makeshift system in place for some time. Reflections have always been difficult to pull off properly due to our day and night cycle system and its effect on interior ambient lighting.

Our new reflection system is now properly simulated in real time based on different times of the day and the reflection probes created. Reflections will also be dimmed in interiors so as to not stand out. The results look rather fantastic, they’ll be part of our new Ultra graphic setting. Below are few examples of our old system and our new reflection system on high and ultra.

The system uses a real time reflection probe and dummy assets to create a realistic looking reflection probe perfectly suitable for most situations. This system also goes hand in hand with our new water shaders, a massive improvement over the last. You’ll see a little sneak peek here in some screenshots. We’ll showcase the new water system in next week's devblog.


Reflection Probe

A lot of our island will require custom probes to allow for more accurate reflections. The one below showcases one of our large lakes and Mount Baron's reflection.


Lake Reflections

The new ultra settings will allow for very accurate reflections not just in lakes and large bodies of water but smaller ones like puddles and wet roadways after storms. This system is optimized rather well. It includes a probe manager that ensures only 1 real time probe will ever be baked at the same time. It will also disable a probe and stop the baking process should the player move too far from the source. The biggest difference between the new high and ultra reflections is addition of an image effect on ultra resulting in an even more realistic reflection.


Old Reflection System


New Reflections on High Setting


New Reflections on Ultra Setting

The introduction of our hosting/solo tabs came with 1.7 and we’ll be working the issues out as we move forward. As James mentioned in last week's blog, we’re working on a partial solution for connection issues. This is something that should help a good deal of those. If the UPnP OpenNAT system doesn’t automatically fix your hosting issues, we’ll have a better idea as to what’s going wrong. If the UPnP system proves to not be effective enough, we’ll add a facilitator based punch through server. A facilitator server along with relay servers should make connections possible even when punch through just isn’t.

James has made some great progress this week streamlining the process and UI surrounding it.
Upon digging into the UPnP rework, he decided to further expand the implementation to give the user more feedback around port status. We’ve simplified the setup and removed the need to infill the IP manually. We’ve created a port checker that is embedded directly in the UI to check if ports are open before attempting to start and join a server.

Below you’ll notice improvements to last week's design, along with the addition of a friend list you’ll be able to invite buddies directly from the host screen!


Updated Host Tab with Friends List

I think it’s fair to say that we’re a rather open team. Most of you know a lot about the project and us. We share our development progress regularly with our goal being weekly devblogs. The Survive the Nights Community Forum has treated us well. It was our very first platform for speaking with everyone. With that being said, it is now rather dead with more focus on Steam and Discord. We’ll be removing our forums to save a few bucks and condense the sources of information.

The website has been redesigned over the last week or so with Jos making many needed improvements. This includes a much cleaner “Blog” section. This will now be our main resource for getting you devblogs and information. That being said, we’re always available for a chat on Discord.


New Website Layout

It has been another productive week at the office. The team is refreshed and glad to be back together. The 1.8 update will bring pretty drastic changes to the project. The time put in now will save headaches later although we’re sure there will always be issues. We’ll do our best to scrub out the larger ones before we hit default. Please keep in mind, our development isn’t always linear as we’re not always able to work on the same issue or feature. There’s constant development. We’re working on things now you’ll see in the next update and things you’ll not see for a few updates. Moving forward we’ll do our best to share more early stage development information and media if that’s something the community is interested in. Thank you all for the continued support. If you're enjoying the game, please consider writing a review or updating your current one. If you’re having any issues, remember you can always reach us on Discord.


Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Hey everyone,

It’s been a long time since I’ve written an update! We’ve decided that this week I’ll do the update since it will cover mostly things I’ve been working on... That and JB’s garage roof has fallen in and is leaking all over…

Everything is ticking along nicely here at a2z HQ. We’re back in the studio now which allows for a greater creative environment! The guys have done an amazing job working from home however it’s simply not possible to bounce off each other in the same way as when we’re all in the same office.

There’s been a flurry of exciting new developments which we’re so eager to showcase. Some of which will be summarized below. There’s always so much going on and we’re constantly trying to develop our workflows so that JB can effectively deliver all the goodies in these weekly updates.





We’ve had an awesome opportunity to engage with well known content creator Generikb. We used to watch his content back in our Minecraft days. When he reached out to us about Streamlabs integration for STN, it seemed like a no brainer. Generikb has a developer that he collaborates with to create mods. These allow his viewers to manipulate gameplay and create rich engagement. We pretty much immediately decided that it 1would make more sense to just add this feature directly to the game. Doing so will allow more control over gameplay than a mod can with the added benefit that it would be in place to use for any streamer, 1 or 100,000 viewers.



In theory, it should be as simple as clicking ‘Authorize’. Once Authorized, the game can read event data from Streamlabs. The way I’ve implemented this means that it fully wraps our already tried and tested commands and permissions systems. This means that providing the streamer has the correct permissions, any combination of commands can be triggered based on Streamlabs alerts.


Web Browser Streamlab Auth Page

This method of implementing also means that in order to add to Streamlabs features, all we need to do is add new commands! Streamer wants some crazy feature when they get raided? No problem! All we need to do is set up a new command and the rest can be handled by the Streamlabs interface.


Main UI

We feel that this is a great opportunity to have some shared benefits from playing Survive the Nights. When streamers play the game, it gives us more exposure which ultimately supports revenue. The more revenue we generate the faster we can bring features to the game. We think it’s awesome that streamers will be able to leverage the game to also benefit themselves! Some potential use cases are shown below.


Choice of companion when someone donates with the donators nametag?


Spawn zombies when someone subs with subbers name?


A chicken for every viewer from a raid?

Name tags have been worked on for this update for a few different reasons listed below.

• There’s been a long standing issue where they don’t always face the player. Whenever I see this in-game or on a YouTube video it makes me cringe badly. It’s never been a pressing issue since there’s always bigger fish to fry. I decided to get it fixed (hopefully) while making some other neat functionality changes.
  
• We had added an area under the name tag for displaying the players level way before we ever had player leveling. That’s now all hooked up and you’ll be able to see other players levels displayed under their name.
  
• Supporter pack! As JB mentioned in the last Dev blog, we’re planning on introducing a Patreon for community members that want to support the team beyond the purchase of the game. This is something we’ve been toying with for ages but never really been able to settle on.

We’ve decided that Patreon is the way to go. We had a great meeting with them and they’ve convinced us that their platform is right for our community. That being said we want to add value for our potential contributors without adding any game ruining features (screw pay to win).

Name tags will now be able to show a small text above the username showing information about a user extra contributions to the project. This will toggle in the menus for those who want to remain anonymous in-game. There will be a bunch other rewards via Patreon but this is one example of a visual only reward.


Ideas for Patreon Supporters

While we don’t have a perfect solution right now, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about connectivity issues. From Inception, Survive the Nights was always meant to be a game with PvP and to be played on open public servers hosted by ourselves or by people with knowledge on more advanced topics like port forwarding.

As the development has progressed, we felt that it would be wrong to not offer the most requested feature of solo and self hosted servers. With our last update, we released a pretty seamless solo experience. The self hosting, however, leaves a little to be desired simply because it’s not a 1 click solution.

In 1.8 or soon after, a part solution called UPnP will be utilized via Open NAT which will help a lot of players with automatic port forwarding. This won’t solve everyone's issues since automatic port forwarding isn’t supported by some routers and in others it just doesn’t work as expected. That change combined with slightly sleeker UI and things like automatic IP and port assignment should make things a bit easier for around 50% of players.

However it’s wrapped, firewalls and port forwarding is a ball ache and something that we want to streamline for all of you. It’s on our radar and in the near future I will implement a solution with 1 click self hosted servers that can be connected to by your friends without all the hassle.


Host Tab

The design update is really exciting for us! It will bring the graphics up to date and reflects our own development in terms of what we’re able to achieve. That being said, everyone is super excited to get finished up on the update and get it released. We have a lot planned for the future versions of the game but in the shorter term... probably Alpha version 1.9 and 2.0 we’ll be focusing on early game and quality of life fixes.

We all feel it’s time to tie up the loose ends. As nice as it is to just develop freely and work on cool features, the game needs to work nicely and have good retention for early game. That will allow the community to grow with less friction. Some of the things we’re going to address are listed below however a lot aren’t. I can’t stress enough how helpful it would be if you could let us know what your biggest frustrations are.

• Swimming
  
• Tree cutting
  
• Tutorial and UI learning curves
  
• Game stutter and lag spikes that bring the frame rate to 0
  
• Structure management (Zombies/items spawning in bases)
  
• Character movement. - getting stuck on stuff, jumping over items etc.

Overall it’s been business as normal here. Andre is pushing through with the design update with support from Jos. John is hard at work tweaking and improving animation related mechanics for the future. I’m working on broken bits and pieces and larger implementations for the future.

In terms of 1.8, we’re hoping to have it with you very shortly. We’re very excited to show somewhat finalized ‘before and after’ shots however we’re committed to not doing that until we know for sure that what is shown is what you will receive.

The last 10% of any update is always the most difficult part. Rest assured that we’re working through the little problems that will hopefully resolve any new issues creeping into the build.

Stay safe everyone! Remember that you can always contact any of the team via discord however for general support, JB is your man. His work with the community allows us to focus 100% on improving the game.

Jayty

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Hello all,

The design update is chugging along at a feverish pace now. We've added a great deal of new design, shaders and content. Alongside the design update, we've been working on quite a few community requests, fixes and additions. Many of you have requested an alternate means to help the team out, something you could do outside of buying another copy. A couple of weeks ago we had one of our weekly meetings and decided that a Steam supporter pack (more info on this coming shortly) along with a Patreon page would do the trick. We had been contacted by Patreon and they thought their platform would be perfect for our small team.

We have gathered some ideas from the community and created a basic mockup. We have three tiers setup: gold, diamond and platinum. These are throwback to our first project as a2z(Interactive); our Minecraft a2z website and server. This Patreon page has been set up mostly for our biggest fans and. of course. any additional support is most welcome.

Every penny made will go directly to the development of the project. We plan on setting up some nice goals too, ideally being able to take on more help if the additional financial support allows us to. If you're interested in the Patreon page and have some ideas for rewards and tiers please feel free to share them over on our Discord. We will likely be launching the page in the coming week or so. Thanks much for your continued support!


Patreon page mockup

The swamplands have really taken on a life of their own. They have an amazing vibe to them. The new ambient lighting paired with some really nicely done fog brings the entire area to life. You will notice a good deal of change in the coming design update, swamps and marshland only being a small part of the entire overhaul. It should also be noted that this is by no means our last update when it comes to world design, we far more in store when it comes to Black Island.

Below are a few shots of the swamp biome and an example of some of the new ambient lighting in action. You'll also notice new and thicker vegetation. Trees no longer always stand straight up and lean with random pitch, there are a lot of small details like this that have gone into 1.8 and we're excited to get some more polish on this and get builds onto our experimental branches.


Ambient lighting sunrise


Ambient lighting midday


Swampland just after sunrise


In the muck

We've begun to clean up our UI in general, improving backgrounds like the inventory booklet and we'll continue to do so moving through the next few alpha builds. Below are some before and after shots. Andre has cleaned up the font and backgrounds for all of the main menu tabs. This makes setting up solo/host servers along with joining servers much easier on the eyes. Thank you for the feedback on menu UI. We'll continue to take your suggestions and improve as we go.


Old UI is a bit washed out


New UI crisp and easier to read

We've opted into a 3rd party seller (Teespring) to provide those that have requested it the ability to pick up some cool merch and help out the team.

https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive


Thanks for the continued support and continued issue and suggestion reporting :). Below are some helpful links to anyone new and interested in the game. If you'd like to follow a bit closer, please consider joining our Discord. We're here, we're listening!

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Forum: https://community.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Hello all,

We're working on our 1.8 design update patch along with a few more goodies we'll be talking about in the coming devblogs. Our design update is really starting to come together and you all seem to be making out quite well with 1.7 and our solo/host update. Along with a multitude of changes to effects, textures, shaders, etc., 1.8 will feature two new biomes, swamps and marshlands.

As for an update on Linux server files and SteamCMD, we had originally made the mistake of not including the server in the store package for Survive the Nights. That's the reason you're getting a subscription error when trying to download via SteamCMD. We've sent another ticket in requesting information on anonymous login. Ideally we don't want players having to login to download. We'll let you know as soon as we hear back which shouldn't be long now as we've opened a line of communication.

Swampland has a naturally creepy vibe to it. There are some classic horror movies and games that take place in them. The swamps on Black Island are wet, foggy and isolated. They're almost screaming out for some gators. You'll find the swamplands feel like large cluster of small islands amidst murky algae covered water. Isolated cabins, run down shacks and thick wood lines and vegetation all add to a nice swamp vibe.


Swamp Camp


Looks Like Gator Country


Swampland Walkway

Marshland is a bit more open so you'll be able to see zeds or players coming. They're still wet like swamps and they're comprised of many small islands surrounded by smelly water :p. You'll notice thick vegetation but fewer trees. Cabins populate some of the small marsh islands and you'll find new connecting walkways between them. These spots will likely be idea in future builds especially when it comes to fishing and crabbing.


Marsh Walkways


Marshland Hideaway


Foggy Open Wetlands​

We've opted into a 3rd party seller (Teespring) to provide those that have requested it the ability to pick up some cool merch and help out the team.

https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive


Thanks for the continued support and continued issue and suggestion reporting :). Below are some helpful links to anyone new and interested in the game. If you'd like to follow a bit closer, please consider joining our Discord. We're here, we're listening!

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Forum: https://community.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Hello all,

Last Monday we released our 1.7 patch which introduced solo and hosting gameplay. The team is working on 1.8 and the upcoming graphical update, alongside quite a bit more. Today's update will be a quick little hotfix. We're waiting on Steam's approval on the release of linux server builds. We'll be back to our regular weekly devblogs on Friday with another peek at what has been going into 1.8 and beyond.

• MessageSystem.cs optimisation to save all the instances of finding object with tag
  
• UI updates for settings stamina to disabled when option is turned off
  
• Made vehicles slightly more common based on config option
  
• Another fix for disabling hordes

If you're interested in running linux servers, we likely don't have to explain the steps to you here. To be perfectly honest and while our official servers do run on Linux, we've not really had a chance to develop on it and don't have an in house Linux machine. Steamcmd should install the depot without issue giving you access to the Config folder. Running a server should be as easy as editing config files and running ./Linux_Server_x64.

If you don't have Steamcmd you'll need to install it along with some dependencies. Below are the steps we've taken to install via Steamcmd and the project.


Currently we only have a Linux based depot on Steam but we'll be working on a Windows based option shortly. We have had quite a few requests for windows server files and while it technically is possible with the packaged files, it's not ideal and requires some messing about. We'll have a nicely put together Windows option as soon as possible.

We've opted into a 3rd party seller (Teespring) to provide those that have requested it the ability to pick up some cool merch and help out the team.

https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive


Thanks for the continued support and continued issue and suggestion reporting :). Below are some helpful links to anyone new and interested in the game. If you'd like to follow a bit closer, please consider joining our Discord. We're here, we're listening!

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Forum: https://community.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Hello all,

We've released the Hotfix (Alpha 1.7.36) to our default branch on Steam. You can find our patch notes below. Please report bugs and issues in game using the F1 menu.

• Horde UI now states ‘Hordes disabled’ when hordes are set to config option 0.
  
• Added wiki link to hosting guide.
  
• KNOWN ISSUE - Some machines like vehicles and fires are not working. FIXED IN PATCH
  
• Solo play difficulties now affect machine starting components amount.
  
• Wirespool and other missing craftables now work again.
  
• Fixed issue where starting solo play while on another server would break the UI.

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Forum: https://community.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Alpha v1.7 has been released. This is the start of what has to be our most requested features, solo play and server hosting.

Survive the Nights is now 40% off for the entire week! The sale ends on Monday, March 15th. If you have any questions before purchasing, please join our discord and speak with the developers or other players within our friendly community.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/541300/Survive_the_Nights/

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Forum: https://community.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive

Hello all,

We’ve released the 1.7 patch to our stable branch on Steam. You can find our patch notes below. This a massive game change. Our biggest yet hands down when it comes to the way you can play. As some of you might know, 1.7 was meant to be our design update but when the UK went into lockdown we had to switch gears and change things up. Server hosting and solo gameplay have likely been the most requested game feature.

1.7 changes a lot of the core mechanics behind the scenes to allow for solo locally hosted play and the ability to host servers directly from in game. Our experimental testing group isn't massive and we've gathered and fixed a few issues. That being said what you find here might not be 100% perfect as this is an alpha project and it's being developed by a small team. Please report issues in game using the F1 menu, if you should have an issue doing that feel free to DM on discord and leave issues found in the feedback room.

*A quick disclaimer from the team: Running a server requires an additional 2-3gigs of ram on a good day. Please keep that in mind while checking out our solo and hosting features. Solo gameplay requires a background local server to function, keep in mind Survive the Nights has been developed as multiplayer game.

Due to the switch up we've not made a solid public changelog below are the major points and we'll expand on this before hitting default servers.

• Settings presets now work on solo play.
  
• Time persistence set to false by default on solo play so that it's always morning on joining.
  
• Updated default perms so that owner rank doesn't have all permissions.
  
• Time persistence option now working correctly.
  
• Solo game presets now affect machine starting components.
  
• Player nutrition config option now working correctly.
  
• Starting shotgun now has better condition so that it doesn't jam so badly.
  
• Time persistence option now working.
  
• Added Solo gameplay feature that runs local server and uses local host to connect.
  
• Added Hosted gameplay feature that runs a server on the local machine. With network setup this server can be connected to by friends.
  
• Released full linux server files that can be downloaded via steamcmd.
  
• Hordes can now be disabled and have 3 difficulty levels

Survive the Nights is and always will be a multiplayer game. It's what we set out to make and it's what we're still making. We always saw this game as a co-op friend fueled experience, the more the merrier. That being said, a lot of players don't seem very interested in playing with others. One feature (if not the most requested one) is single player and while time and design doesn't really allow for a true single player, we've done our best to replicate this experience.

To get right down to it Survive the Nights requires a server and currently there's no way around that. This doesn't mean we can't replicate a single player experience though. In the 1.7 build you will find a "Solo" tab. Opening this will display all solo options and allow you to start what is essentially a solo server using your local host. You will be able to adjust basic settings and play by yourself without the worry of other players possibly ruining your good time. The solo process works by creating a locally hosted server doing so should require no extra input from the player. This should work for the majority of people. All you need to do is simply click the solo tab, select your setting and click the play button. The game will take care of the rest.

This process will not be cheap. You will need a decent amount of ram to run a solo server smoothly. We will be working on optimizations across the board in the coming updates.



*Disclaimer: Solo play requires running a local server but should not require any ports opening. Additional RAM is required for solo play.

• Game Difficulty - Easy, Medium, Hard (Default), Hardcore.
  
  • Easy - No hordes | Fewer zombies | High loot | Starting items
    
  • Medium - Easier hordes | Fewer zombies | Starting items
    
  • Hard - Matches Official Servers (Default)
    
  • Hardcore - Harder Hordes | More zombies | Start with nothing (This is the one you want)
• Time Persistence - When true time progresses based on the 'Day Cycle Length' option. False results in time staying the same as launch time or the '/time' the server admin sets the server to.
  
• Day Cycle Length - The in game time cycle length based on minutes 15m, 30m, 45m (Default), 1h, 1h 30m, 2h, 3h, 4h, 5h and lastly 24h (for the maniacs).
  
• Starting Weather - The weather when the server is started. Sunny (Default), Light Rain, Heavy Rain, Storm, Light Snow, Heavy Snow, Snow Storm.
  
• Random Weather - Should server have random weather events. If false then server remains in starting weather state.
  
• Player Nutrition - Do players need to consume food and drinks?
  
• Stamina Drain - Should the player have stamina drain and how fast should it drain?.

You will notice a Database tab as well. This tab will allow you to backup your solo match. You can use it to save and restore old server states or delete your current state.

• Browse - This will open the directory location of your database save file and backups that you have taken.
  
• Backup - Quickly backs up the server database.

The browse button will allow you to access the current server database .stn-server This is the file that controls your current servers state. It stores all the relevant information when it comes to the server 'world'. As an example, if the player were to spawn into a solo match, place a plank on a window then quit and delete .stn-server, the plank would no longer be there on the next join. Everything has a save state and it's all controlled by .stn-server.


The window that opens upon clicking the "Browse" button
After the browse button opens Solo directory, it will allow you to access the "Backups" folder. This folder will contain all of the backups generated by pressing the "Backup" button in game. These backups will be all be sorted and dated allowing you to easily store and restore older server saves.


Server backups will be dated for convenience

Below the database buttons you'll find a little out of the way button titled 'Browse'. This will allow you direct access to many of the servers configuration files. For the most part and for most players the above options will be enough. The team strongly suggest you do not alter any of the configuration options at first. Use the basic settings above and have a few good play throughs. These config files will allow you to adjust all of the server options (same as a hosted server) including settings like teleport pre-sets and user permissions. Most of these files are .json based and simple to understand. As always, feel free to reach out on Discord if you have any questions.


Configuration files

In game server hosting is a nice simple solution for those that want to play online with friends. The host option will allow a player to start a public or privately hosted server. It can be placed on our public server list for all to see or you can simply share your IP with a friend and allow them to join discreetly. This option does require quite a bit more knowhow than the solo option. Ports need to be opened and forwarded to allow for outside connections. This is not recommended for players new to networking and multiplayer games. This host option is more of a co-op experience. The server is only running when you're playing so friends wont be able to join without you. We can't offer you 1v1 help getting a server up and running, there are a lot of tutorials out there showcasing how to open or forward ports. Check to see if you're router and provider on on the list here at portforward.

This option isn't our dedicated server option. You will see that shortly as we have a bit more to work on. The dedicated servers will run linux and be available via a Steam depot.

• Progress Time - This option is the same as the solo setting. When true time progresses based on the ‘Day Length’ option. False results in time staying the same as launch time or the ’/time’ the server admin sets the server to.
  
• Day Cycle Length - The in game time cycle length based on minutes 15m, 30m, 45m (Default), 1h, 1h 30m, 2h, 3h, 4h, 5h and lastly 24h.
  
• Time Persistence - When true time progresses based on the 'Day Cycle Length' option. False results in time staying the same as launch time or the '/time' the server admin sets the server too.
  
• Starting Weather - The weather when the server is started. Sunny (Default), Light Rain, Heavy Rain, Storm, Light Snow, Heavy Snow, Snow Storm.
  
• Random Weather - Should server have random weather events. If false then server remains in starting weather state.
  
• Name Tag Distance - The distance that name tags are visible from. No name tags, Near, Medium (Default), Far.
  
• Announce Logins - Should players be notified when other players join the server? (True | False) e.g. “JB has joined the server”
  
• Announce Deaths - Should other players be notified when another player dies. (True | False) e.g. “JB has been killed by a Zombie”
  
• Player Nutrition - Do players need to consume food and drinks?
  
• Stamina Drain - Should the player have stamina drain and how fast should it drain?.
  
• Loot Spawn - The rate at which loot spawns. Also controls the quantity of loot. 0 (No loot) - 9 (Overload).
  
• Hordes - The horde difficulty in game. Can be used to turn hordes off completely.
  
• Zombie Amount - The amount of zombies on the server. Off, Low, Medium (Default), High.
  
• Vehicles Amount - The amount and spawn frequency of vehicles on the server. Off, Low, Medium (Default), High.
  
• Starting Components - The amount of items machines like fires and generators spawn with. None,Low, Medium (Default), High. e.g. A campfire should have firewood and tinder already in it when server starts.
  
• PvP Disabled - If true players cannot hurt each other.
  
• Player Starting Items - The item ID numbers to items you want the player to start with. Item ID numbers must be separated with a. comma. The last ID doesn’t need a comma e.g. 1000, 525, 3004 > You can find an Item ID list HERE and in a spoiler below.
  
• Server Name - The server name as displayed in the server list.
  
• Server Password - The server password.
  
• First Join Message - The message that players receive when they first join your server.
  
• Return Join Message - The message players receive when they return to your server.
  
• IP Address - The IP of your server. This should be set to the public IP address of your current network.
  
• Connection Port - The port that other players should use to connect to your server. Note that this port needs opening and forwarding via your router.
  
• Show in Public Servers - When true your server will show in the public list of servers. When false players must join using the direct connect text field and your servers IP and Port.
  
• Steam Query Port - The port that Steam uses to query your server. Used for showing in the public server list. Only required if 'Show in Public Servers' is set to true. Note: Should not be the same as connection port.

You will notice a Database tab as well. This tab will allow you to backup your solo match. You can use it to save and restore old server states or delete your current state. This functions exactly the same as the Solo setting does.

The in game server host tab gives you a lot of options to get started with. If you feel you'd like to venture a little further there are a few more adjustments that can be made in the serverconfig.txt. You will be able to better tailor your experience if you'd like although we do suggest you check out some presets first to get a good feel for things.

There's quite a bit more to go over and we will do so on the WIKI. We'll expand this page as we work through alpha. Feel free to add to the wiki as you see fit. It's mostly community driven.

You may find the server hosting isn't your thing. It can be difficult to figure out especially when you're new to servers and pc games. We will be making some videos in the coming weeks to help you along the process but remember there are other options.



With the release of our Linux server build in the near future, it's more than likely that other providers will pick up STN servers. You're free to choose as you please but the team will always recommend Allgamer first and foremost. You will not find better customer service anywhere.

Survive the Nights is now 40% off for the entire week until March 15th. If you have any questions before purchasing, please join our discord and speak with the developers or players within our friendly community.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/541300

We've opted into a 3rd party seller (Teespring) to provide those that have requested it the ability to pick up some cool merch and help out the team.

https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive


Thanks for the continued support and continued issue and suggestion reporting :). Below are some helpful links to anyone new and interested in the game. If you'd like to follow a bit closer, please consider joining our Discord. We're here, we're listening!

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Changelog: https://changelog.survivethenights.net
Forum: https://community.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/a2zinteractive