DECEMBER UPDATE NOW LIVE | New Cow Breed, Breeding, Milking Machine and more!
Hello ranchers,
The December update is now live and available to download!
In our roadmap, we teased that a new cow breed was coming. We are here to announce that the breed is a beef cow and bull! These animals can breed with one another to produce calves. We've also introduced a dairy bull, whose purpose is to breed with the existing dairy cows.
The dairy cows will produce more milk, but less meat. Whereas the beef cows will produce more meat when fattened and slaughtered, but will provide less milk.
The much requested milking machine is also being introduced. This will speed up the milking process by automating it. You'll still need to lead a dairy or beef cow to the machine and attach and remove the suction cups, but the milk goes straight into the milk can - ready for selling or turning into cheese.
It's time to get festive! We have some temporary Christmas and Winter themed in-game surprises, including snowy weather effects, and a Christmas tree that once decorated will give you a gift each in-game day! There's also fireworks temporarily available to purchase from the hardware store, so gather your friends together and have a blast!
Full Patch Notes
New - New dairy bull, beef bull and beef cow breeds - Dairy cows can now breed and will produce a calf (dairy) - Beef cows can breed and will produce a calf (beef) - Updated glossary addition for cows - Added automated milking machine - Added fireworks - Added pregnancy indicator on the animals UI - In the character customiser: added a Christmas hat with two colour choices, added two types of winter jackets with three colour choices each
Temporary - these will be removed on 13th January 2022 - Temporary winter theme featuring snow and blizzards - Added Christmas radio station - You can build a Christmas tree from the blueprints booklet (up to 3 can exist in a single save) - Christmas tree decorations can be purchased from the hardware store, when placed on a Christmas tree, a present will appear underneath every in-game day that you can open!
Fixes - Fixed an issue where players were unable to join another's game after loading - Fixed an instance of the game crashing when using screen capture software - Removed nightmare wolves from the previous temporary update - Fixed the lights previously not switching on in the retro farmhouse - When selling milk in the milk can, the unit is now detected and displayed correctly
What's to Come
There's still more exciting new content on the way for Ranch Simulator. Check out our current Early Access roadmap if you haven't already:
Vote for Ranch Sim in the Steam Awards!
Hey ranchers,
We hope you're enjoying Ranch Sim and that your ranching endeavours are paying off! We're incredibly grateful for all of your support so far, and we really do mean it when we say we couldn't do it without you.
We'd love it if you'd consider voting for us in the Steam Awards. To nominate Ranch Sim for the Better With Friends award, you can simply click on the widget above - to nominate the game for other categories, just head to the store page and look for the Steam Awards banner.
The team is still working away on the December update, so keep an eye out for news!
End of Halloween event
Hello ranchers!
We hope you have had a great Halloween this year. With the end of the spooky season, comes the end of our in-game event. The atmospheric map, nightmare wolves and ability to purchase pumpkins are removed in this update. Don't worry though, any pumpkins you have purchased up to this point you can of course keep.
We also have a few bug fixes in this update, listed below:
Fixes: - Removed Oculus OpenXR plugin to prevent crashes - Fixed entering certain keys into the session password swapping the menu tabs
Happy ranching!
PATCH FOR OCTOBER UPDATE | Fatal Error on Load fixed
Hello Ranchers!
Our biggest apologies for the issues since yesterday afternoon's patch.
It seems that a bug slipped through our testing that caused a crash when loading the game for some players. We have reverted to the previous version of the October update (0.581) and the game should no longer generate a Fatal Error on load. There is no difference in content between these versions.
For those that use Streamlabs OBS
When launching this version of the game, please select the second option 'Ranch Simulator, DirectX 11 for OBS' as if you launch the game with DirectX 12 it is likely to crash when you switch scenes whilst streaming.
Was it working fine for you before?
We have branched off the most recent version, that went live yesterday (0.582) onto the unstable branch. So if you weren't experiencing any crashes, feel free to swap over to the unstable branch:
You can access the Unstable Branch by doing the following:
- Load up steam and head to your library - Right click on Ranch Simulator and then select "Properties" - Head to the Beta tab and in the drop down select "unstable_branch" (no password needed)
What's the difference between the 2 builds?
When testing version 0.581, we received reports that a streaming with OBS was causing a crash, this is related to using DirectX 12, we have since discovered that running DirectX 11 doesn't cause this issue. We patched this issue, and an issue where the game would crash on exit sometimes (which doesn't have any negative effect on your save or anything). Unfortunately this seems to have caused a separate issue where the game now crashes on load for some players, therefore we have decided to revert the main build back to the previous one.
Happy Halloween! ~The Ranch Sim Team.
OCTOBER UPDATE NOW LIVE | Private MP Games, Save Slots, Name Animals and More!
Hello ranchers,
The October update is now live and available for download! We've introduced some much requested features: password-protected multiplayer games, multiple save slots and the ability to name your animals.
We also couldn't resist joining in on the Halloween fun, so we've made a number of temporary changes to the game. You'll notice that the world has been altered to better fit the spooky season, and that something is a little... off with the wolves.
New -Halloween map style (dead trees and grass, the weather is more likely to be foggy - this is temporary during the spooky season) -Nightmare wolves added (temporary during the spooky season) -Ability to rename animals using tags -Naming tags and pumpkin lantern available to purchase from the hardware store (Pumpkins purchased during the spooky season will remain in your save, but once the season ends you won't be able to buy any more) -Pumpkin light colour can be changed using paint (available to purchase from hardware store) -Multiple save slots with the ability to backup/duplicate saves in the main menu -The ability to join multiplayer games using a password or session code -DLSS support and new AA settings (AA settings for disabling ghosting) -Switched the backend to Unreal Engine multiplayer services
PLEASE NOTE: Halloween content will be removed on 4 November.
What's to Come
There's still plenty of exciting new content on the way for Ranch Simulator. Check out our latest Early Access roadmap if you haven't already:
Ranch Sim October Update Teaser: Halloween Items! 🎃
Hey ranchers,
It's almost time for the October update! Today we're happy to announce that the update will launch on 28 October, delivering private multiplayer games, multiple save slots and the ability to name your animals.
But we also have some surprises which we wanted to reveal today! The update will also introduce some temporary changes to the game to mark this spooky season.
We're updating the map to be a tad more creepy for the time being.
Look closely and you'll notice a slightly disturbing change of appearance for wolves.
Finally, we've added pumpkin lanterns for you to buy. The best part? You can customise their colours using paint!
We hope you enjoyed this look at the October update. Make sure to return on 28 October when it launches!
Thanks, The Ranch Sim team 🎃🎃🎃
Note: This update will not reset any progress.
October 2021 - February 2022 Roadmap Revealed
Hello ranchers,
Thank you for your support, feedback and bug reports so far. Your suggestions are why we are developing the game in Early Access. Since launch, we've added meat and cheese production, pig breeding, completely updated the game world, and added highly requested features like a free-form building system and horses. You have all helped us make the game better!
Today, we're excited to reveal the next six months of Ranch Simulator's Early Access development!
October 2021 - February 2022 Roadmap
End of October: Private multiplayer games Multiple save-slots Name your animals
Many of you have asked for more privacy options for multiplayer game sessions. This is a significant technical change and has required us to change how we manage multiplayer games (while multiplayer will remain player hosted sessions, we are switching the backend to Unreal Engine multiplayer services). This transition will be completed for the end of October and will give you more options to secure your Ranch experience from unwanted players.
Another feature that you have all asked for from day 1 is the ability to create multiple saves. Again, you asked and we listened and have brought this forward in development.
Last but not least is the option to name your animals - making your ranch and livestock that bit more personalised.
End of December: Additional cow breed Fattening and breeding of new cow breed Automatic milking machine
We know that you're eager for more animal breeds, so we'll be adding a new cow breed in the December update - as well as the option for fattening and breeding that new type of cow.
For the more advanced ranchers out there, the December update will also see the addition of an automatic milking machine.
End of February: Quests from hunters and neighbouring ranches Hunting rifle
While some of you are happy developing and tending to your ranch, others have asked for other activities. From February we will start developing a quest system, which will add optional missions from hunters and neighbouring ranches, adding specific goals and revenue for those who want them.
We know how much many of you like hunting, and know that the revolver is not ideal. So from February we will be adding a hunting rifle.
We also know there are many other features that you are all passionate about like horse breeding, fishing and crops, and over the coming months we will be looking into these too, as well as continuing to fix bugs and listen to your feedback. You can always join us on Discord and share your thoughts, plus you may get a few first looks at updates and new features!
Thank you for joining us on this journey, The Ranch Sim Team
HORSES UPDATE NOW LIVE | Horses, Training, Bidding, New Hats and More!
Hello ranchers!
We've just launched the August update, which adds a much requested animal: horses!
You can now pop to the bus stop near your ranch and interact with the sign in order to travel to the auction house. Here, you'll have to outbid your competitors to buy horses!
Horses are a great new form of transport, but they're also able to be trained up.
Horses have different stats: stamina, speed, handling, and health. The higher these stats, the more the horse is worth. These stats also affect the abilities of the horse, allowing it to run faster for a longer duration and even turn sharper.
The more you ride your horse, the more it gets trained.
You can also build a training pad where you can do a circular run to increase its experience, or perform successful jumps over the jump gates.
Ranch Sim has come a long way since it launched in Early Access, and we have put together a new trailer that better reflects the game as it stands today.
Check it out:
https://youtu.be/jHs2PWknVVQ
Full Patch Notes
New - Added hat category to the character editor, which contains 3 cowboy hats - Added "William's livestock auction" where you can purchase/sell horses - Added a sign by the bus stops that will take you to the auction house for $50 - Added horses with 4 different types of stats: stamina, speed, handling and health - Added a whistle key (H) - to call your horse. Aim the cursor at it and press H to whistle. It will then follow you around - Added a training paddock for horses. This can be found and built via the blueprint book. - Added ability to train horses by riding, performing successful jumps over jump gates, and running the inner circular run inside the training paddock - Added glossary entries for horse and horse training. See these for tutorial tips. - Added option in the video settings to change horse mane to advanced (NOTE: this uses a new hair system in UE4 that hasn't been optimised by them, so it is therefore of course not optimised in the game. We expect Unreal to optimise this feature in version 4.27 which we plan to transfer onto soon)
Fixes and changes - Fixed the spawning of grass in the main menu
This update marks the end of our current roadmap! Within the coming weeks we'll be announcing the next Early Access roadmap, which will lay out our vision for the next group of exciting updates.
Keep an eye out ranchers!
🐥🐤🐣 Ranch Sim Stream - Gamescom 2021
Hello all,
Gamescom 2021 is here, so we're rebroadcasting a Ranch Sim stream from our friend Marijchu. This is your chance to watch if you missed out when it was first streamed!
Enjoy!
🐥🐤🐣 Ranch Sim Stream - Gamescom 2021
Hello all,
Gamescom 2021 is here, so we're rebroadcasting a Ranch Sim stream from our friend Marijchu. This is your chance to watch if you missed out when it was first streamed!
