A new patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam!
Today's update brings several balance changes, bug fixes, and other tweaks based on community feedback. We also have a brand new store rotation that ties into a certain festive occasion...
Balance Highlights
We've been continuing to refine balance with the help of our dedicated open testing crew after seeing the most recent changes out in the wild. While still strong, Cryo acid damage has been tuned slightly lower again to give humans half a chance of reacting while still rewarding accurate spitters.
The spread factor for all shotguns has been reworked to be much more consistent, allowing them to hit more reliably. To counteract this, they now have less mid-range damage compared to previously but are still lethal to raptors up close.
As of this patch the rest of the automatic weapons such as commando's rifles and the SMGs have faster damage falloff over distance, to account for the added hit test reliability introduced recently.
If you didn't already know, Flyers can put themselves out if they're on fire in the air by simply diving downwards for a moment. We've made this easier to pull off now, requiring a dive of around 0.6 seconds to remove fire from your Ptera / Tupa, and added a hint reminder for it.
There are several other balance adjustments (and quality of life improvements) in this patch. Check out the full change log further down for more info!
STORE UPDATE:
Thanksgiving Event
Those six foot turkeys are still trying to take over!
To tie in with Thanksgiving, we've got a fresh batch of looks for our favourite feathered fiends today, along with some new styles for the other more plumage-challenged species too.
reverted dilo spit blind durations (back to 5 secs regular and 9 secs charged)
changed spread pattern of shotguns to be more consistent
regular shotgun + spaz: 50% faster damage falloff at midrange due to pellet accuracy
regular shotgun max crit damage reduced from ~400 to 360
tighter spread on double barrel secondary fire
reduced carbine rifle max effective range from 6000 to 5000
carbine damage falloff close range distance reduced from 2400 to 1250
increased burst rifle max effective range from 5000 to 6000
lower damage falloff for burst rifle, increased damage at max range slightly
10% increase to assault rifle effective range
Shortened flyer dive time needed to self-extinguish to 0.65 secs
Added hint when flyers are set on fire in the air that they can dive to put themselves out
VISUAL
fixed spit mask for RGB Assault Rifle skin
fixed overheating effect for molten SMG skin
fixed missing teeth on most of the variant scientist models
fixed scientist pounce recovery animation not playing when rescued
fixed scientist aiming animation in 3rd person not being very noticeable
fixed human hairpieces still being visible in some cinematics
fixed scientist not playing get up animations when rescued from a pounce
added separate 3rd person reload animations for left / right SMGs
some minor dino shader optimizations
added thanksgiving items
MENU / UI
Host Game (Peer 2 Peer listen servers): fixed server host not being able to do damage
in-game chat can now be used during cinematic sequences
scoreboard is now displayed first instead of challenges on endround cinematics
fixed objective icons not hidden in cinematic mode
NEW: an "Equipped" symbol now shows on items that are in your loadout when browsing the inventory / crafting
MAPS
fixed a handful of maps that weren't enabling Cinematic Mode fully when cutscenes begin (caused visible players, crosshairs, nametags, etc.)
players should now be kicked out of menus when a cinematic occurs, to prevent crashes
health corpses now render at long distance by default, so they're always visible to hungry dinos
AI-Renaissance:
fixed an invincibile ledge spot on the rear clifftop
fixed enemy Bruisers repeatedly trying to walk through beach fences
gave more space for Acro to escape the cargo container maze
Main Menu:
fixed scenes not having a fade-in
fixed missing scientist ponytail and pyro fuel tank on human scene
humans now have randomized outfits on their scene
ForgottenOutpost:
attempt at fixing endscreen sequence when in CTE mode
put back a missing corpse in the swamp on CTE mode
fixed dinos being able to enter the human base in CTE mode
DesertionPoint: fixed an unreachable ammo kit
ForestChasm Night: fixed a tree with no collision
Ubase Day/Night: fixed various stuck spots and exploits
Ubase Night: fixed a couple of volumetric light cones that were blocking bullets
Ubase Night: fixed one of the perimeter wall ends being raised slightly too high, blocking bruisers
GTTC-Downpour: remade fuel valve sequence, should now rotate when capture begins
Look forward to further improvements and feature tweaks for winter, with more major additions appearing alongside our upcoming release of the new PlayStation version Primal Carnage: Evolution...
Thanks for playing!
-The Primal Carnage Team
Minor Patch 3.0.6
A new minor patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam, resolving some bugs found in version 3.0.5and making some quick adjustments to spit.
Patch 3.0.6 Changelog:
fixed regular spit splash check radius being too low
reduced cryo acid direct hit max damage from 140 to 130
fixed values being swapped for min/max dilo direct hit spit damage (extra 5 points on charged)
updated spit splat decals with more unique looks for dilo and cryo to set them apart
spit decals are now thicker and fill more space to more accurately reflect their radius
fixed spit decals vanishing instantly early instead of smoothly fading
additional collision fixes on Verdant map to prevent human exploits
fixed an invisble wall blocking Tyrants on Waterlogged map
fixed a propeller pedestal that was spinning the wrong way on Waterlogged map
fixed rooftop billboards not rendering at long range on U-Base Day map
added custom SMG 3rd person fire and reload animations
We hope this patch smooths things out a little!
Thanks for playing, -The Primal Carnage Team
Patch 3.0.5
A new patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam, featuring balance adjustments and fixes for bugs reported after Version 3.0, along with some extra additions.
Patch Highlights
Three more community maps have been re-added with today's game patch. In most cases these have not received as extensive overhauls as the remastered maps which were added in Version 3.0, but they have still seen a number of fixes, tweaks and optimizations.
PC-Waterlogged has the most noticeable changes, such as a new direct route between the antenna tower exterior and the main interior, along with an upper secret passageway that connects the two. There are new details, extra pieces of cover, and a LOT of collision improvements.
FR-Seasons now has extra visual tweaks such as wet effects when in the rain zone, sandy and snowy buildings / rocks, and an (experimental) ball that is back to play with.
Aside from returning maps, there have been many fixes and tweaks to those already in the previous build and various extra improvements you can find in the full changelog further down.
Balance Highlights
A few balance changes have been made this patch based on community suggestions. On the dinosaur side, the main changes are to do with spit - some of which are technically bug fixes.
Cryo charged spit previously dealt the same damage as regular spit on direct hit, this is now fixed, So regular spit hits are 65 damage, but charged Cryo spit now does 140 damage on direct hit.
Dilophosaurus spit now has lower max damage (both direct hits and splash). Additionally, un-charged Dilo spit used to have the same impact radius as charged spit, this too has been fixed.
Spitters now get stamina back when killing with spit (two spits worth), since stamina is a precious resource for them. Similarly, Novaraptor frenzy slashes now drain less stamina, to allow them to get more attacks in before being unable to escape.
Roar Refresh is now even more valuable - ALL dinosaurs now get stamina back when roaring - roughly equivalent to two special attacks (this is in addition to any pre-existing stamina boosts).
Managing stamina is central to dino gameplay, so it seemed fair to allow a global way to instantly restore some in a fight. This should keep battles going longer and gives dinosaurs a minor leg up to help offset the new viability of the human team since weapon hit detection was tweaked.
For humans, the assault rifle has been tuned further with better mid-range damage compared to last patch but still mostly retains its high spread and low damage at max distance.
The SMGs and Burst Rifle have increased spread and damage falloff this patch. Both kick a bit more than before and are a little less lethal over long range, but these changes are smaller scale than what the AR initially received.
STORE: Autumn Leaves
Halloween is over - say goodbye to your skeletons as today is the start of the Autumn Leaves rotation! We've got a brand new set of looks you're sure to FALL for...
Check out all the latest items on Trello, including several free drops! We'll be back with another patch and another fresh rotation just in time for Turkey Day..,
Patch 3.0.5
Full Change Log:
BALANCE
WEAPONS
assault rifle ~50% more effective at midrange compared to previous build
reduced assault rifle minimum spread
increased spread of SMGs
faster damage falloff for burst rifle and SMG over distance
DINOSAURS
reduced stamina drain when slashing during Novaraptor frenzy
roaring now restores two special attacks worth of stamina for all dinosaurs
SPIT
fixed impact damage blast radius on regular spit projectiles being way too wide, which was previously causing uncharged hits to damage multiple players
adjusted collision on spit projectile to make landing direct hits slightly easier
fixed max cryo acid direct hit damage being the same as minimum (65) and bumped max to 140
increased cryo acid direct hit crit multiplier from 1.2x to 1.29x
increased max cryo explosion splash damage from 55 to 70, minimum is still 35
reduced cryo spit explosion splash blind time from 0.6 secs to 0.45 secs
increased max radius of cryo acid pool by 70%
cryo acid pools now have lower "health" so they are burned away faster by fire
reduced max radius of dilo venom pool by ~30%
reduced dilo spit explosion max damage from 35 to 25, minimum from 20 to 10
reduced dilo spit minimum direct hit damage from 25 to 15
reduced min dilo spit overlay direct hit duration from 5 secs to 4 secs
reduced dilo spit explosion splash blind time from 6 to 4 secs
killing with spit now restores two standard spits worth of stamina
reconfigured layout of specimen processing, split area in two with a new entryway for easily going from central area through to outdoor antenna zone
extended "secret passage" upper route from central to antenna zone as well
added deadly underwater fan to outflow area of canals
added extra cover objects to main areas, removed a Tyrant blocker
added two more mosa NPCs to autopsy room
numerous optimizations to meshes, shaders and lighting
many collision improvements and exploit fixes
Seasons:
added character weather fx when in rain zone
added sandy props to the desert zone, snowy building to snow zone
(experimental) re-added ball to low gravity zone
fixed easter egg control panel material breaking when activated
various mesh, shader and lighting optimizations
fixed a few stuck spots
Island:
slightly higher quality dynamic lighting
optimized shaders, meshes and ocean
Sandstorm Valley:
added new spawn points to the second half of the map
placed additional health + ammo pickups around
added more rocks and trees to block long sightlines
can no longer open easter egg area outside of Freeroam
fixed some exploit locations
Forgotten Outpost:
fixed stuck spots and exploits, general collision improvements
added extra boulders and trees for cover in some areas
spaced out two corpses that were close to eachother
added more Brachis to migration sequence and gave them all sounds
moved map boundaries a little further inwards
fixed customization characters floating
tweaked lighting, increased fog
Additional Map Fixes:
added WIP ending screen sequences to remaining TDM maps
added smooth fade to ending scenes before changing maps
fixed some animated level sequences not starting on level load
enabled 3D water simulation on pools in newly added maps
added dynamic clutter props to some community maps
Transfer, UBase, Marsh, Borealis: fixed various stuck spots
ForestChasm: fixed a tree's oversized collision that was blocking flyers
DesertionPoint: fixed rock and fence floating slightly off the ground
Snowbound: improved collision on fallen logs
TheFalls: fixed misaligned section of river
TheFalls: fixed human exploit spot in the minidome
Transfer: improved interior collision of acid pits
Volcano: fixed humans clipping through a building gate
Redwoods: rebuilt lighting with higher dynamic shadow distance
GTTC-Docks: added exception for Pachy to bruiser blockers
Borealis: set higher chance of snowfall, added CTE fog
UtilityBase: fixed CTE fog not showing
fixed humans climbing where they shouldn't on DesertionPoint, Docks, Ubase
fixed tyrants climbing where they shouldn't on TransferNight
reverted to normal basic testing and frontend
OTHER
tweaked flyer idle hover animation
added injured sprinting animations for tyrants
much smoother slope alignment for tyrants
reduced volume of robo tyrant steps to be more in line with regular steps
new pathfinder 3rd person pistol equip animation
new burst rifle 3rd person firing animation
increased max concurrent playcount on all 3rd person weapon sounds
increased max concurrent playcount of looping 1st person weapon sounds
adjusted armour hit UI sound to be quieter and shorter
potential fix for speed lines sometimes getting stuck onscreen
updated gift descriptions, fixed missing rewards list on some older gifts
fixed no kill icon for net impact damage
fixed edges of Shrine Cryo skin icon
ended Halloween event, removed skeleton skins from default inventory
Special thanks to our community contributors, who continue to create new content for PCE ranging from skins and mutations to new animations!
Look forward to further improvements and feature tweaks for winter, with more major additions appearing alongside our upcoming release of the new PlayStation version Primal Carnage: Evolution...
Thanks for playing!
-The Primal Carnage Team
Patch 3.0.4
A new patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam, fixing additional bugs reported after Version 3.0 and bringing extra improvements.
Patch Highlights
Five more maps have been re-added with today's game patch, including 4 community maps. These have not received as extensive overhauls as the maps already included in Version 3.0, but they have still seen a number of fixes, tweaks and optimizations.
Assault rifle balance is a focus this time, after the recent hit detection improvements. It now has higher spread when fired full auto and damage falls off quicker over distance, to compensate for increased chance of shots landing on target.
The AR is the first of several weapons that will be re-adjusted based on community feedback, so you can expect more refinements in next week's patch. We've also made more fixes to flight, but will be fine tuning things further with deeper code optimizations coming up.
Patch 3.0.4
Full Change Log:
GENERAL
Assault Rifle:
more rapid damage falloff (around 2x quicker dropoff over distance)
reduced damage levels at medium range and long range respectively
increased spread and recoil
slightly wider Tupa divebomb impact radius
lower height requirement for Tupa divebomb max damage
applied engine patch to fix most of the odd animation behaviour that occurred while flying
fixed nova frenzy attack playing at the wrong speed when seen by other players
NOTE! PC-Pandoria map filename changed to FR-Pandoria
NOTE! PC-Volcano map filename changed to FR-Volcano
Sandstorm Valley:
entire map is now used in TDM mode
adjusted map layout slightly, with extra routes into the human compound
added more water puddles to the second half of the map
fixed a bunch of stuck spots and prevented humans from climbing many rocks
updated NPCs outside the map, say hi to Desert Stegos
optimized foliage, sky and cargo containers
fixed corpse blood decals rendering incorrectly during sandstorm event
ForgottenOutpost:
added more rock arches, boulders and foliage to address long sightlines
fixed human base not opening up in Freeroam mode
updated lighting, fog and colour grading
replaced static river with interactive water
updated Brachi migration sequence
placed more varieties of flowers
other various details and background updates
optimized foliage, sky and cargo containers
Volcano:
now officially a Freeroam-only map (server hosts can still choose whatever mode they please)
removed blocker that prevented access to upper geyser area
fixed missing physics volume under one of the upper lava flows
replaced brushwork with static meshes for performance
optimized sky and cargo containers
Other Maps:
optimizations to lighting, shaders and textures on Pandoria and ForgottenWorld
UtilityBase: fixed dino side CTE team blockers not changing state properly
PC-Docks / PC-Airbase: enabled new ending doors cinematic when round completes (WIP)
DesertionPoint: fixed humans being able to climb on top of log piles
DesertionPoint: stopped dinos jittering when near back wall of hillside building interior
Marsh: removed a problematic fog sphere that was causing the sky to render in G-Major (spooky!)
VISUAL / UI
updated flamethrower overpressure effect
updated flaregun projectile effect, fixed it vanishing on low graphics
fixed Pyro's hair staying gloopy forever when spat on
refined image sharpen shader effect
fixed image breakup occuring when Sharpen option is enabled on lower resolutions
fixed barrel glow for RGB Pistol
improved blending between head and body of Lava Rex skin
fixed missing info text for 2023 Winter Gift
additional fine tuning of crit crosshair scaling
Thanks for playing!
-The Primal Carnage Team
Patch 3.0.3
A new minor patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam, addressing a few more bugs discovered by the community and adding some extra improvements.
fixed weapon sanity check spawning extra particles and causing double healing with dartgun
reduced expansion amount for crosshair when hovering over crit spots
fixed crosshair expanding when looking at Pachy / Cerato strongpoints
weapons now have various custom sounds when grabbing resupply pickups
Transfer / TransferNight: fixed a forklift not blocking humans
gave pathfinder the commando's 3rd person pistol equip for now since it was missing one
fixed machete 3rd person animations not being visible, equip animation being cancelled early
added custom 3rd person reload and fire animations for assault cannon + poison dart rifle
updated 3rd person equip anims for Pathfinder and Trapper
added 3rd person shotgun reload loop animation
fixed candycane assault rifle skin
fixed some RGB weapon skins reacting badly when overheating
fixed seams on Iguidensis Acro mutation model
Thankyou for your patience as we work to resolve the last few issues with Version 3.0.
Our next patch will be out soon. We are still fine-tuning flight and will be making some small balance adjustments soon after observing how 3.0's gameplay has fared out in the wild the first week.
Patch 3.0.2
A new patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam. This latest patch addresses bugs discovered by the community and adds a few extra minor improvements.
Tupa Tuning
The new height-based damage for the Tupandactlyus divebomb attack should now be working 100%.
After doing some additional testing we've refined the damage dealt and blast radius further. The maximum force dealt by divebomb direct hit is 150 damage, which falls off rapdily. If you initiate a dive at low altitude it will deal significantly less damage as of today's patch.
Flyer Movement
One of the big problems we've been tackling lately is a regression in flight movement on servers.
We still haven't quite got to the bottom of it, but today's patch improves things a great deal. Instead of jittering all the time and feeling like they're rubberbanding, Flyers now only have rotational stutter when angling up and down. We're aiming to fix this last visual bug with flight in our next patch.
Cerato Cooldowns
We're investigating what seems to be a problem with attack cooldowns having additional delay on Ceratosaurus currently. For exploit prevention they are no longer allowed to essentially bite and tailwhip at near the exact same time, however it seems like the prevention period lasts longer than is actually specified by the code. A fix for this will hopefully be in our next patch.
Patch 3.0.2 Changelog:
servers now skip non-available maps to prevent crashes when they are still on the map rotation list
possible fix for server crash when multiple game modes are specified in the map rotation list
Flyers have more accurate movement replication - should fix them feeling "laggy" but is still WIP
fixed a "fake" bracing indicator showing when Tyrants are eating people (it is not possible to brace while eating so the indicator was misleading, added a new hint for this)
added a "dryfire" sound when Spitters try to spit without enough stamina
fixed missing EXP bonus text for Cryo melting resupply items
fixed pounce ready-up animations not being visible to other players
improved 3rd person machete animations
prevented humans climbing the cliffs inside the GTTC-Falls atrium
transparency fix for FR-Valley when on low health as dinosaurs
Transfer: improved barrel collision, fixed human exploits and made things smoother for Tyrants
another fix for CTE blockers being shootable in TDM ForestChasm
fixed the rusty metal tanks having incorrect specular maps on DesertionPoint
fixed Supernova Assault cannon having barrel glow applied to entire gun
fixed up icons for Pharaoh Spino and Iceberg Spino and a few others
set a longer timeout for connecting to economy on startup
fixed carousel on main menu showing both cards when backgrounded, now fades instead of slides
Thankyou for your patience as we work to resolve the last few issues with 3.0, our next patch will be out later this coming week.
Autumn Screenshot Contest WINNERS
We're happy to announce the winners of The Autumn Screenshot Contest today!
Intrepid nature photographers have been taking snapshots all around Primal Carnage: Extinction (although it certainly seems like DesertionPoint was a favored spot) and came back with some truly stunning images.
Unfortunately, there can only be three winners, some Honorable Mentions are below...
"Water Hazard" by Shamroknroll
"Autumn Squad" by BadPlague
"Stampede" by Gatorboots
You can view all of the entries in our FB gallery. It was hard narrowing them down, but after much deliberation the final three winners were determined..
Winning Entries
3rd Place: OMNIA with "Charging Sunflower"
2nd Place: SPINORAPTYREX with "River Fishing"
1st Place: VINELANTIS with "Fall Faceoff"
The winning entrants will be receiving a selection of spooky in-game goodies of their choice.
Thanks again to everyone who took part!
We'll be running more of these in future, including screenshot competitions for Primal Carnage: Evolution once it's released on PlayStation! Keep an eye on The Official Discord Serverfor future contests...
Patches In Testing
Additional fixes are being readied right now for release. Expect another patch within the next 24 hours to address bugs such as charged pounce animations not being visible to others and flyers experiencing lag in the air. At least one more hotfix patch will arrive next week as we resolve lingering bugs reported by the community since the launch of Version 3.0.
Weeklong Deal
If you'd been holding off on grabbing some of the DLC packs, or want to get a few friends into PCE, we've got a great deal for you this week!
Get 75% OFF Primal Carnage: Extinction, 50% OFF the PCE 4-pack + ALL DLC until November 4th!
HALLOWEEN HORRORS 2024
There’s a chill in the air - Halloween Horrors has returned to Primal Carnage: Extinction...
Special Event starts NOW!
Our annual spookfest features a range of nightmarish new looks made by the Primal Carnage community! We have some deviously delightful new mutations for several dinosaur classes, alongside some malevolent mercenary styles and a selection of horrific hardware!
We’ve also got a range of spine-tinglingnew FREE items available, with Spooky Drops enabled today... from the terrifying Tarasqus Rex mutation, to the mortifying Magma Crusher Pachy, or the Ghoulish Sweets assault rifle, expect something scary for your next drop!
Alongside the Halloween event, we have a collection of additional fixes for issues found by the community after the recent release of Version 3.0
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Visuals
If you find the game appearing too dark, please reset your brightness to default in the graphics menu. Mostly this is for players who had lowered their brightness settings prior to update 3.0 -pretty much all maps now have more naturalistic sunlight intensity. Previously, it was over three times as intense.
Settings
When opening the settings menu, you may see [Example Text] showing instead of some of the options. This is an Unreal 3 bug that happens sometimes when we add new options to the UI, particularly if you've already played the game and changed any settings.
If you encounter this, navigate to Steamapps / Common / PrimalCarnageExtinction / PrimalCarnageGame and delete the Config folder. Then right click Primal Carnage: Extinction in your Steam library, go to Properties > Installed Files and verify integrity to redownload a clean uncorrupted version.
Flight
Toggle Crouch now also applies in flight, so if you have that option enabled you just need to tap the "crouch" key to dive instead of holding it. Flyers will automatically un-crouch on landing, so you don't need to tap it again when you hit the ground.
Flyers currently jitter or lag in flight - this is a new server replication bug that we've been working hard to resolve. Unfortunately we weren't able to get a fix into this patch, but we are actively investigating a solution for another patch this week.
FULL CHANGELOG:
Fixed heavy melee failing to properly stagger small dinosaurs on dedicated server
Reduced heavy melee stamina cost fom 75 to 50
Tupa: improved damage calculation algorithm for height-based divebomb damage
widened Tupa divebomb blast zone a bit further
fixed Tupa divebomb screen effect sometimes getting stuck onscreen after landing
slightly longer cooldown on ptera grab attack
Increased crush damage for Pachy from 20 to 30
fixed Cryo not receiving bonus EXP for melting resupply items
added option to toggle Film Grain effect on/off
fixed a couple of burst rifle skins applying barrel glow to the whole gun
fixed a shader error on 1-sided materials causing some objects to appear blue
fixed stungun lens effect which was using Contingency blast visuals (sorry for the eyestrain!)
more gradual blend time for dino floor alignment to be less jerky
ForestChasm: improvements to rock bridges
ForestChasm Night: fixed missing pine trees
Dead Tide: fixed some background actors not animating
TheFalls: possible fix for CCTV cameras detaching from walls
DesertionPoint: fixed a health pickup floating way too high
GTTC-Ruthless: fixed green completion light on antenna for objective 3 triggering early
GTTC-Downpour: added an extra team blocker to the first roof entrance as a backup measure to stop dinos getting inside after capture
fixed a handful of CTE blockers being shootable outside of CTE
fixed several collision exploits in TDM and GTTC reported by the community
fixed a floating compy on the main menu
added Docks Night to default TDM map rotation list
Host Game should no longer display maps that don't exist in the current build
added Pilot Radio volume slider
optimizations to footstep sound system
reduced audible radius on a bunch of smaller sound cues to free up audio memory
volume rebalancing pass on new human voice lines
tweaks to human footstep sounds
reduced volume of shotgun and sniper rifle firing sounds and thunder
added tyrant mud footstep effects
added trapper agent alternate arm colours
custom arms for swimsuit scientist variants
fixed enforcer burst rifle having barrel glow turned on by default
fixed Libratus Rex crashing if combined with certain cosmetic attachments
enabled spooky basic testing and halloween main menu
enabled skeleton skins in default inventory for halloween
enabled new Halloween cosmetics
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
We hope you enjoy our annual frightfest!
As we get more feedback on the numerous changes introduced this October, we'll continue to deploy additional fixes and quality of life improvements going into November.
3.0 is just the beginning...
Many major updates are still to come, with remastered snow maps back this winter and features such as Skillshots, Sandbox, the expanded Soundtrack and MORE arriving close to Primal Carnage: Evolution's release on PlayStation or shortly after.
A new MAJOR update is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam, this is the initial release of Version 3.0!
This major update brings many refinements to the game including over 20 remastered maps, numerous gameplay and visual upgrades plus enhanced sound design.
There are so many big and small changes in this update it would be difficult to list them all. For a deep dive into some of the major reworks arriving today, check out our blog post series ”The Road to 3.0”...
Here's a rundown of just some of the many changes included with 3.0...
GENERAL
Remastered the majority of the game's maps with layout, visual and collision improvements
NEW: nighttime variants of the following TDM maps: ForestChasm, Docks, Transfer, U-Base
NEW community map: FR-Redwoods
Game-wide optimizations, shader overhauls and texture refinements
NEW: weapon "sanity check" - spread and impact calculations are now tested twice for better lag compensation, which should mean humans hit more of their shots
NEW: client-side hit detection for machete
increased effective range of burst rifle
fixed Land Mines dealing excessive damage to Bruisers when "stacked"
reduced thrown Speedgreed energy drink buff duration from 15 to 10 seconds
increased thrown ammokits lifespan from 30 to 45 secs
NEW: added low health animations for all Tyrants
NEW: automatic shoulder camera swap for tyrants / bruisers, viewing angle no longer limited
bracing Tyrants will not receive critical damage and are impervious to darts
armoured areas on dinosaurs now block darts
Bruiser charge collision rework to fix dealing knockback through solid objects
increased Spino claw swipe damage from 110 to 125
modest speedboost for Acro
Fixed attack speed not being boosted when Pachy roars in multiplayer
Cerato now has exploit prevention check - can no longe interrupt bite with tail swipe and vice versa
Tweaked Cerato attack cooldown timers
Raptors are now staggered if they run out of stamina while pouncing someone
Added more bones to small dino gore archetypes for better "crit detection"
large dinos (Pachy and bigger) can now "Goomba Stomp" the humans
fixed some rivers not extinguishing dinos that are on fire
SPITTER CHANGES
Cryo / Dilo now do a spit explosion if headshotted while charging spit
Cryo / Dilo now drop a spit puddle when killed
Cryo can now melt more types of throwables - Medkits, Ammokits, Energy Drinks
Fixed some throwable utilities still being usable after they are hit with acid
POUNCE OVERHAUL
Added a form of "lag compensation" for pounce - raptors who fail to pounce their target but land close enough are now allowed to begin mauling.
Added entirely new pounce velocity calculation algorithm, allowing pounces at angles that would not be possible before and for charged pounce to be a similar speed to quick pounce
Pounce arc trajectory rewrite - fixed ridiculously high (and slow) jumps when aiming near to you
Charged Pounce indicator now more accurately shows where you will land, instantly swaps between red / green for valid jump locations
added raptor pounce "ready up" animations when aiming
HEAVY MELEE OVERHAUL
NEW: heavy melee dash - closes the gap to a dino if you melee when they are nearby
heavy melee now staggers Raptors and Spitters briefly to stop them moving or attacking
doing a heavy melee attack now uses over 70% of your stamina if you miss
FLYERS
Tupa groundpound now has variable damage for low height and high altitude dives
Tupa groundpound can now deliver more massive damage on direct hit (if diving from high up)
Reduced tupa divebomb radius
Tupa air ram deals more damage now
Better behaviour while holding "crouch" to land, so that you don't get stuck in crouch mode on impact
MAPS
NEW: weather effects on characters when playing rainy maps
fixed collision exploits and stuck spots on all maps
added interactive physics props such as boxes, traffic cones, paint cans, mugs, etc.
added more corpses and corpse variety to many maps
All GTTC maps now have consistent starting times on the clock (6 minutes)
prevented players from camping inside the GTTC chopper
fixed ending cinematics getting cut off in GTTC
fixed Flyers being able to grab sentry turrets in GTTC
DeadTide: fixed the background Stegosaurs being set to hidden in-game, added more NPC variety
GTTC-Falls: fixed the earlier objectives not adding round time when captured
GTTC-Ruthless: added windows to the first capture point
GTTC-PhantomCave: set longer capture times for control points
fixed Alpha Raptor boss AI shows as a normal raptor
fixed AI dinos don't show randomized skins
SOUND
Re-voiced the Commando, Scientist, Pyro and Pathfinder (with much more additional dialogue to be added later)
NEW radio dialogue for chopper pilot on all GTTC primary objectives (Also includes final objective idle dialogue if not captured with 60 seconds left)
NEW weapon sound design with more punch and depth
NEW customizer sounds for selecting loadout items
NEW sprint breaths that get louder as stamina is drained for humans
made new sounds for scoping, reloading and equipping multiple guns
added sounds to inspect and melee animations that were missing them
Improved foley sounds, with more variety for movement effects between classes (WIP)
death sounds for dinos you kill are now more "present" in the audio mix when faraway
VISUALS / OTHER
implemented hot barrel glow for all guns
interactive water now uses 3D tesselation
generated static environment reflections for water puddles
added new floor slope alignment system for dinosaurs going up and down hills
NEW more optimized molotov firepool effect
Overhauled all muzzle flash effects
Updated colour grading and screen fx
Fixed a dozen or more missing kill feed icons
Crosshair centre dot now grows or shrinks depending on if targeting weak or strong points
fixed missing 3rd person human animations for holstering and melee attacks
Fixed spectator "death cam" failing to work after a few deaths and getting stuck on the floor
Gamepad rumble effect updates for weapons, roars and much more
HUD fixes and improvements for CTE mode
added gold interactive object highlight when close enough to use something
fixed camera on customization / class select not activating correctly after map load
This is just part one of the Evolution Update, which ushers in a new era for PCE on PC!
Several major new features are still in the pipeline, such as the new Sandbox Mode, Dialogue System, Expanded OST and more. They will be arriving over the next couple of months alongside the release of Primal Carnage: Evolution on PlayStation.
This winter will see the remaining snow maps remastered, along with all the other levels not currently in the game receiving overhauls big and small.
Having said all that, today's update is amongst the largest we’ve ever done for PCE on PC, so please bear with us if there are any teething problems. We’ll be keeping an eye out for any major issues and will have a few extra fixes and improvements with the Halloween patch in a couple of days.
NEXT: Special Event
Our annual Halloween Horrors event is right around the corner! Be ready for a monstrous amount of nightmarish new looks at the end of October...
Scare you soon!
-The Primal Carnage Team
Sandbox Preview
Previously, we've looked at Gameplay, Visuals and Sound in our deep dive series about how PCE is evolving. This time the focus is on how Freeroam is getting a bit of a makeover.
What's in a Name?
Sandbox Mode is the upcoming replacement for Freeroam - it is a much more user-friendly and customizable mode. The new name ties into this rework, with the notion of it being a creative and easy place to mess around in.
The FR gametype was included as a bit of an afterthought originally in PCE, because we wanted to prevent the odd “friendly” dinosaurs that would disrupt deathmatches in the first game. It’s never been the main focus of Primal Carnage, but there are many players who love to just chill. Aside from that, it's a good place to experiment with and get used to the game's mechanics.
We’ve also heard a lot of confused PlayStation players over the years wondering why they can’t drive a dirtbike as a Novaraptor! To that end, we've been working on a slightly more robust experience...
The Sandbox Quickmenu
Previously, most all of the fun features in Freeroam would need to be accessed through the developer console window (which obviously doesn't exist on PS4). Features such as vehicles and item summoning would require typing out long awkward strings of text or hacking in keybinds to trigger events.
Not anymore! A new and easy to use Sandbox quick menu will now let you do this hassle-free...
In normal gameplay, hold the Use key for half a second to activate the Sandbox quick menu. Tapping right into one of the main categories shows options to choose from. Tap left to go back, and keep tapping left to exit the Sandbox menu completely. Your character can continue moving around and even attacking while interacting with the Sandbox options.
Quick Menu Features
Enter Cheats
Finding cheat codes will add them to the Sandbox cheats list, where you can quickly activate them. These range from Change Size to Godmode, and are found by entering random button sequences when playing Custom matches on PlayStation.
Summoning
This offers multiple categories to choose from such as Vehicles, AI bots (both human and dino), and soon in-game items (health kits, ammo kits, etc.). We are still prototyping these features currently, so there may be differences between PS4 and PC. The number of spawnable items / AI will be limited to prevent server crashes.
Passive Mode
Going passive means that you won’t receive damage, but while active you cannot deal damage to others either. This is useful for when you want to go AFK, or if you don’t want to run a fully no-damage server.
Change Map / Vote Map
For server owners / admins, a change map list will be available from the Sandbox menu. If voting is enabled on the server, the option to vote for a new map appears in place of this.
Subject to Change!
We’re still developing Sandbox Mode and some of these features may change or be removed, particularly on PS4. For example, testing in the beta will determine how many AI are safe to spawn on console, and certain vehicles may be prohibited on PS4 due to their unpredictability.
Outside of the quick menu, an additional option when selecting someone on the scoreboard in Sandbox will let you to teleport to that player's location.
Expanded Class Selection
When playing Sandbox, there will now be additional playable classes listed on the spawn menu. These include several former “NPCs” that have been given a little extra TLC for Sandbox Mode!
From the humble little Compy to the mighty Iguanodon, a new range of Sandbox-only dinos will be playable soon. Iguanodon actually has a completely new model, as it was only ever a corpse before. Sandbox dinos support all the usual playable features such as shoulder cam and have their own roars.
The playable Iggy / Stego / Para are omnivorous - able to heal by both grazing and eating corpses. Aside from the Iggy glow up, other former NPCs like Compy, Stego and Para have received texture / model adjustments and bonus animations.
Iguanodon has its own thumb spike attack, but for the most part Sandbox dinos repurpose existing dino abilities. Tail swiping is popular among both Parasaurolophus and Stego, although the little baby "Steglings" cannot defend themselves. Adult stegosaurs also have a familiar stomp attack...
Each of the Sandbox classes will have several default skins to select from at launch, and we're looking at proper Workshop support for them in future.
They also come with new internal skeletons for being electrocuted or melted (and halloween)!
Other bonus playable creatures are already in the works for future updates to Sandbox, such as Kaprosuchus, Baby Brachi, The Veteran, and Dog.
Don't get too hyped up at the mention of baby Stego, we are notgoing to do anything like growth for dinosaurs (it's simply a class to select) and there are NO arduous "survival" mechanics planned currently. We do have emotes for drinking, which is something that might refill your stamina in future, but we'd rather not waste people's time unneccessarily.
Looking Ahead:
CUSTOM MATCHES
Currently the bonus classes are confined to Sandbox mode. However, we’re in the planning phases of adding Custom gametype variants of other modes like TDM. These allow PlayStation players to modify options not previously available outside of the Steam game, while adding a bunch of new ones too.
Custom matches will be added sometime after 3.0, with advanced tweak options including individual class limit adjustments, tweaking respawn timers, toggling spawn waves, allowing cheats, and yes - enabling Sandbox dinos in other game modes.
Running a Custom match will disable EXP gain, but allow a lot of flexibility for those who want to experiment with mechanics and are more interested in fun than progression. Want to play a match that has an infinite time limit with all Iguanodons versus all Pyros and low gravity? Knock yourselves out.
Coming Soon…ish
Sandbox Mode will debut first on PlayStation with Primal Carnage: Evolution when it launches, it's quite a large overhaul and we're developing it on the console platform first. This means that for our PC players, you’ll have to wait just a tiny bit longer for it to be ported across. Sorry!
We’re looking forward to road testing the new playables in the closed beta on PS4 as we close in on a release date. The final wave of beta invites will be going out soon, so if you’re on PlayStation and haven’t signed up... what are you waiting for?
Getting in the Spooky Spirit!
The annual Halloween Horrors event for PCE on PC arrives at the tail end of October, and you can expect the initial 3.0 overhaul shortly before we start the spooktivities!
Some features from Primal Carnage: Evolution will not be there on day one of 3.0, as we have mentioned in the past. New elements like the Announcer, Skillshot System & Expanded OST will debut first on console, likewise the expanded lore documents and deeper dialogue system will arrive on PC after Evolution has launched on PlayStation.
For the initial 3.0 update on PC, there will be a reduced number of playable maps - however, new nighttime variants will be available to play for the first time. More remastered maps will be added over the next couple months, with snow levels returning this winter.
We're excited to finally bring this first big chunk of PCE's new era to Steam this October with 3.0, it's definitely been a long road! We do not have an official date for Evolution's release on console just yet, but we plan to finalize the game's content going into November.
