Jaws Of Extinction update for 22 March 2021

Jaws of Extinction 0.3.4.8 is live right now! Try out the new weapon system, with improved projectiles, a more responsive HUD and a revamped bow system. Improve your weapons with new attachments. Watch out for infected nests across the island - fire might just save you from the onslaught. Bug fixes and new quality of life improvements included too!

Developer Comment:
It would NOT be advisable to use old saves on this build, pre 0.3.4.0a and to delete old game saves. Use at your own risk of extra bugs and crashes. Make sure to load all saves from DX12 version of the game.

0.3.4.8 Update Summary

Video shows 0.3.4.7a, this was due to a hot fix applied after video was rendered.

Spotlight

• Implementation of an improved weapons system for primary weapons, secondary weapons and bows/arrows. This system is designed to fix some of the more troublesome parts of the old weapons system and allow for attachments and skills system integration to be considerably more straightforward.

  • Projectiles now have travel time and drop over distance.
  • New interaction when aiming bow. Hold down the trigger button for longer to increase your accuracy as you draw back. Just remember that keeping a bow drawn for a long time can be hard work.
  • Melee weapons have had to be temporarily removed while the melee system is reworked - so remember to watch your spacing!
  • Accurate HUD crosshairs will now show you exactly how accurate your weapon is. Shots will never go outside the radius of your crosshairs at the time you fire them. The crosshair accurately scales with FOV and window size too.
  • Crouching makes you slightly more accurate.
  • Moving makes you somewhat less accurate.
  • Can now move while aiming ARs and pistols while crouched.
  • New camera movements which dynamically change as the player aims/moves.
  • Special arrows (e.g. fire and explosive) have been reimplemented.
  • Rebalance of ammo damage. Infected can now be killed without heart/head shots within a reasonable number of high-calibre bullets.

• New infected now prowl the streets.

  • (PROTOTYPE) Watch out for hazardous ‘Type 3’ infected. Their heads are already split open and will spew noxious spores in a cloud around them consistently.
  • (PROTOTYPE) The Reeker lurks farther out. He cannot be slain with a simple head or heart shot. He is very strong and resistant to fire.

• Nests

  • Nests are a new type of enemy spawner that will continuously churn out infected every few seconds. If you kill one another will spawn.
  • Destroy nests using fire, but be aware it will take time for them to burn out and any flaming infected may also light you on fire.
  • Nests have a random chance of appearing at a number of locations across the map.

Environment, Locations and Points of Interest

• Railway Exiles now have buildings along the train tracks.
• First part of “Cross Bridges” town has been added, leading to “Cross Bridges Safezone” , the next safezone to be added to the world of Eden-Nadir.
• Abandoned building site has been added to the outskirts of “Cross Bridges”, another place the Exiles have taken up camp with a chance of good loot if you are willing to look for it.
• Additional farm areas were added around the supermarket “Swanfields”.
• Small airfield added past the farmlands, some good loot to be found.
• New industrial areas added past “Extraction zone H”, ready for the new Valkyrie faction to move in.
• New roads and road textures added to fit the style of the world more.
• Bird sound traps have now been updated to allow players to shoot and burn them to prevent them from sounding off. Their corpses can also be harvested for feathers and meat.
• Ambient birds will now fly around the map again, only crows for now, but seagulls, pigeons and more will come.

Game and UI

• Added ‘Unstuck Mode’ to the admin manager panel. Look at a location and click ‘Unstick Me’ button to be teleported to that location.
• Added a Suicide option in the pause menu. Clicking this will kill the character.
• Inventory will automatically increase by 28 slots / 4 rows when inventory is getting low on slots to add items.
• Added new item: coffee. This can be purchased at coffee vending machines (safezone eatery) and will regenerate 10 hunger and hydration as well as giving you an Energised buff for 60 seconds. Coffee costs one buck.
• Added additional vital "Morale". This will affect the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of the character in many aspects: movement speed, accuracy while using firearms and more
• Heat, Endurance, Constitution, Stealth, Strength, Armour, Respiration protection, Eye protection and thermal conservation buffs now all show on the Character tab of the inventory.
• Skill level, bucks, integrity and kill stats now display down the right hand side of the inventory.
• Fixed being able to click on the image in the player guide which now opens the guide entry.
• Journal entries now show the status of quests: active, complete or failed.
• Journal entries now display the categories the entry belongs to.
• Tentative fix for game not ending steam sessions causing issues next time the game is started without restarting Steam.
• Trade windows will now show relationships and current standing with the trader. This is all part of us slowly introducing the integrity system.
• Noticeboard quests will now show relationship and current standing with the quest issuer. This is all part of us slowly introducing the integrity system.
• Weapons HUD now no longer appears unless the character has a weapon equipped.
• Restructure to logic for notifications to correct issues with some notifications getting missed from the display.
• Holding “Action” Button will display a wheel menu with additional options.
• Updated ‘Guide’ map and mini map to show new locations.
• Updated visuals for ST-RV watch.
• Using the load functionality from in-game will now display a list of save files to load from instead of loading the last known save.
• Trader UI and Player inventory will now display a description and statistical comparison when hovering over items. This allows you to compare your equipped weapons and equipment with the items in your inventory.
• Fixed game version displayed in pause menu displaying incorrect version as well as on save game version numbers.

Player

• Catching on fire will now only reduce 25% of wellbeing/wellness before auto extinguishing.

• Fixed issue with player still overheating when respawning on death.

• Set facemasks to use character dissolve when the camera is too close to the player.

• Sleeping at a sleeping bag will require a burning campfire/fire pit or burning barrel.

• Sleeping at beds, tents and sleeping bags now offers full control on how long you want to sleep for.

• Sleeping will now give the player an “Energised Buff” that will reduce the amount of stamina that drains and will increase it’s regeneration rate.

• Tactical tent and sleeping bag will now show icons on both main map and mini map

• Tactical tents can now be picked up when inventory is empty.

• Random chance lockpicking will now continue progress from where it fails.

• Fixed unnecessary camera movement which happens when the player stops moving, making it hard to aim.

• Removed unnecessary leaning mechanics. Players can still switch shoulders by pressing [R-Alt] or [Mouse-Thumb Button 1].

• Camera shake no longer applies if the character is turning on the spot.

• Improved right-click zoom while weapons are unequipped.

• Fixed issue with the ladder at the top of the lighthouse causing the player character to get stuck in ladder animation.

• Added attachment system. Weapons now have attachment slots seen in the 'Character' tab. The rarity of the weapon will determine the number of slots. For example, a standard common weapon has one attachment slot. Weapons with increased rarity will be available in the near future.

  • Optical attachments - Increased zoom while aiming.

    • Holographic sight
    • 4x ACOG scope

  • Suppressors - Significantly reduced radius which shots will be heard. Audible SFX are different.

    • Pistol Suppressor
    • SMG Suppressor
    • AR Suppressor

  • Extended Magazines - Increased ammunition capacity.

    • Pistol Extended Mag
    • SMG Extended Mag
    • AR Extended Mag

  • Grips

    • Vertical Grip - Improved time to ADS
    • Angled Grip - Slightly improves accuracy and slightly improves time to aim.

• Added hit feedback system.

  • Small UI markers will appear to show you where your bullets have landed.
  • Grey markers means that the bullet did not hit any valid target.
  • Red marks means that a target was hit.
  • Use markers to adjust aim to account for bullet drop over distance if necessary.

• Improved hand positions on weapons.

• Fixed issues preventing HUD updating with ammo information correctly.

• Fixed issue when switching weapons causing weapons to not to shoot correctly and ammo to drain quickly.

• Fixed occasional issues when switching ammo type caused the weapon to use an incorrect ammo type.

• Fixed issues occuring when changing weapons and interacting with an animating object from your inventory (e.g. food, drink, etc).

• Arrow keys no longer control the building menu and can longer cause issues where building holograms become visible, even though the building menu is closed.

• Expanded player buffs, with additional “Safe” buff, this is automatically enabled upon entering a safe location like a safe zone and will regenerate morale.

• Temporarily removed the building menu pending implementation of a new and improved building system.

Quests & Story

• The “Y” key for toggling radio channels has temporarily been disabled.
• Fixed an issue where quests could be abandoned more than once.

Items, Looting, Crafting and Trading

• All change machines in buildings are now lootable with the chance of giving bucks and parts.
• Fixed an issue where repair kits did not work if the item had "0" condition.
• Repairing items now has a timer like recycling and will take a small amount of time to repair each item.
• Military crates will now only ever spawn one weapon.
• The rarity of mechanical parts have been reduced, increasing the chances of finding them in containers.
• Modified the chance of traders selling lockpicks.
• Fixed issue with getting "0" sticks when harvesting bushes
• Coffee added to the game. Consuming this will give 10 hunger and hydration as well as 3000Kj of energy and a 60 second energised buff.
• Explosive barrels have made their way back into the game from the prototype days. These red barrels can be used to damage enemies.
• Added small propane tanks that can be collected and placed to use as an explosive trap when shooting them.
• Metal barrels (Non Explosive ones) can be searched for scraps and resources.
• Scrap piles around the map can be searched for scraps and resources.
• Wooden Pallets can be searched for wood planks, scraps and resources.

NPCs

• Infected will now rattle and bang locked doors trying to get through.
• Infected now have a chance of setting other infected and the player on fire if they themselves are on fire.
• Infected are no longer attracted to molotovs / fire.
• Infected will now be extinguished by the rain if on fire.
• Stopped NPCs looking super wet and having strange rain decals applied to them.
• Fixed issue with collision from horse saddles still blocking the player after Sheriff Sen has left the safezone.
• Replaced all Trader NPCs with updated visuals
• Thanatos Hazmat soldiers visuals have been updated ready for the enemy tier system to be implemented.
• Fixed issue causing game to lock up when talking to some NPCs around the safe zone.
• Fixed occasional issues where an NPC in the safezone would appear as though they were in a combat animation when revisiting the safe zone.
• Fixed issues causing NPCs to not respond to gunshots.
• Fixed issues where NPCs would play weather related animations while idle even though it wasn't raining.

Transport

• Horses and vehicles now show location icons on both the main map and mini map again.
• Added the ability to flip the vehicle from the wheel menu by holding the “Action” key on the vehicle.
• Added a new saloon car vehicle varent.
• Found vehicles can now be sold to Liam in the safezone.
• Vehicles can now be salvaged for fuel again with a garden hose and jerry can.

Systems & Performance

• Removed older fog effects spawned from street lamps causing significant CPU cost.
• Enabled Output velocities during base pass & Output velocities due to vertex deformation to eliminate blurring and ghosting caused by TempAA AntiAliasing.
• Fixed Crow sound traps due to an underlying performance hit being caused by them.

Known issues & outstanding changes

• Game may not reload properly when saving and loading in a vehicle
• Quests may stop working correctly after saving and loading
• Character Dialogue screens, Sleep menu loosing keyboard focus. (Can be overcome by clicking a button on the UI)
• Various issues when interacting with a campfire.
• NPC’s textures and LODs require updating for performance and visual quality.
• New startup video to be implemented in near future.
• New Protagonist character updates, textures and LODs require updating for performance and visual quality.
• Torch doesn’t illuminate directly towards the center of the screen making it difficult to examine objects in close spaces.
• Mouse wheel sometimes stops being responsive in the building menu.
• Game is missing left-handed support.
• Various issues with UI text in crafting menus.
• Discrepancies with save game names.
• In rare circumstances, the player's weapon may appear invisible or inside the character's head.
• Swapping an item with a Jerry Can in the fuel slot on the quad causes the other item to be placed in the fuel slot.
• Baseball bats cover too much of the screen in First Person perspective.
• When LED light runs out of battery, it unequips but does not re-enable belt chem-light.
• NPCs can have ‘black beams’ coming out of their eyes when running the game using FXAA.
• Sleeping bags placed on foundations or flat ground can sometimes be placed at an unusual angle.
• Animals will scream like human-beings when run over with a vehicle.