0.4.2 is live! The Jaws of Extinction team bid you all chilling seasonal greetings with this latest Halloween themed update.

Running between 22nd to the 31st October, Halloween Jack’s cackles will be heard across the land of Eden Nadir. Worse yet, he has taken one of the game’s protagonists, Sophia Riggs, hostage! Earn points by destroying Jack’s pumpkins and scarecrows in order to find his lair. Fight against him toe-to-toe to free Sophia! More details in the post below.

This update features a major rework for the game’s install size. Following feedback from our Early Access launch, a consistent issue many players were having was with the overall install size and update time for the game. Following a flurry of improvements, the overall size of the game has been reduced by approximately 60GB. The time to update, as well as loading times for the game, is now greatly improved.

As always with major updates, 0.4.2 provides many updates and bug fixes. Several areas of the map have been expanded including the reimplementation of Burchett Dam, regions of the bayou and farmland expansions.

Developer Comment:
It is highly recommended to start a fresh game as some mechanics, craftables and items may be bugged or not be available if using out of date game save files.

Seasonal Halloween Event

Halloween is almost upon us - and along with it comes all manner of terrifying nightmares. Eden Nadir is no exception. Halloween Jack has taken residence on the island this year - a true villain beyond all measure.

Word has it that he has kidnapped Sophia Riggs, one of the game’s main playable protagonists! With her fate in the balance, it will be down to you, the player, to face Halloween Jack and rescue the hostage.



To confront Jack, you will first need to search the land for Jack’s giant pumpkins and ghastly scarecrow effigies. These are the source of his power - smash enough of them and you will be able to find the hidden location of his lair (it could be in any number of locations!).

After amassing enough event points to find the lair by destroying pumpkins and scarecrows, prepare well for a duel against Halloween Jack himself.

Will you be able to save Sophia Riggs? There are rewards available for anyone able to beat the nightmare: early access to play as Sophia in a new game and thematic Sophia Riggs skin. Good luck brave souls… you’ll need it.

Install Size Reduction and Loading Performance

Since release into Early Access, we have been listening carefully to feedback on popular issues to resolve them as promptly as possible. One of the most daunting issues for many players was the overall size of the game and the install/update times associated with it.
Since our release, we have worked hard to make improvements wherever possible. This process has included reprocessing unnecessarily high resolution textures, improved package compression settings, removal of unused assets and creating as many shared material instances as possible.

With all these optimisation techniques combined, we have managed to bring the size of the game down from approximately 90GB to approximately 30GB.

Additionally, the game is no longer being treated as a single .pak file. It is now broken up into 6GB chunks. With the inherent reduction in the project’s size and the chunking process, the game will now install and update much faster.

These improvements will also have a strong effect on loading times in the game. The game will now startup significantly faster (in most cases as soon as the intro videos finish) as well as generally improving the game’s overall memory usage.

Added

• Added 2021 Halloween Event. Collect points from pumpkins and scarecrows before facing off against Halloween Jack.
• Added new Sofia "Caged" outfit, unlocked after completing the Halloween event.
• Added quality of life feature to foliage that prevents it from directly clipping with the camera. Foliage will now fade out as it gets near to the camera.
• Added new Thanatos outpost location in the North East of the current playable area.
• Added New Salties Croc Farm location in the Bayou.
• Added additional puzzle based weapon safes. Solve the puzzle to get the unlock code.

Updated

• Improved size of final package down to approximately 30GB.
• Improved loading times and general memory usage.
• Optimissed assets by instancing additional objects around the world to reduce the number of draw calls.
• Cloth crafting time has been reduced from 5 seconds to 2.5 seconds.
• Improved roadside materials to look better in the rain.
• Liam will now recover vehicles for 1000 bucks.
• Liam will now repair vehicles for 500 bucks.
• Clicking the "Open All Recipes" button in an item’s details will now filter recipes that use that item for crafting.
• Updated Xile ambush location, ready for camp placement and updated lamp post meshes.
• Various landscape improvements to stop players getting stuck in locations.
• Bleaksly Farm location overhaul, with new farmhouse puzzle and grounds.
• Shared outfit skins will now show if available for that outfit, including all DLC skins.

Fixes

• Fixed sleeping bag mesh material appearing incorrect after loading a saved game.
• Fixed circumstances causing weapons to get stuck and not be able to be holstered.
• Landmark POI map markers now save and load.
• Fixed being able to cut trees with a beehive or hanged man attached causing the attached item to stay in the air after the tree falls.
• Fixed body parts not fading when camera gets close to back of Sophia's head.
• Removed visible sphere volume at 711 and a radio tower.
• Fixed textures not rendering on the log stacks in the lumber yard.
• Removed web browser plugin causing crashes in some instances on EPIC Game Store builds of the game
• Fixed Survivor Camp quests, where not all Xiles would spawn causing the quest to be uncompletable.
• Removed tents at Lake Garnett camp, allowing player to loot continuously

Known issues & outstanding changes

• Game is missing left-handed support.
• 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.
• NPCs can have ‘black beams’ coming out of their eyes when running the game using FXAA
• Various performance related issues
• Steel Arrows do not show in vicinity search like common arrows do.
• Sleeping ends one hour earlier than listed. Attempting to sleep for just one hour does not advance the clock at all.
• Pressing keys to type on the Bug Report screen also controls the game behind it. UI needs to have sole focus on the player's inputs.
• Baseball bat was three times the size after swapping from an p90 to the baseball bat while running from the Infected.
• Player.sav file can grow quite large (up to 8Mb) at which point the game stops loading, or can load in with an older version of the inventory present.

Halloween Hotfix 0.4.2.3a - NOW LIVE

• Fixed Night time speed multiplier
• Fixed collision zone showing on firepit/campfire
• Tentative fix for save file bloating. This will cause previous saves not to work correctly
• Something is affecting weapon accuracy with the current patch.
• On-screen hit marks now persist slightly longer
• Hedges no longer block projectiles
• Burning nests now gives player integrity points
• Birds are now killable again and do not play the same animations