[p]NOTE: Multiplayer games are NOT backward-compatible with the last patch (v2.0.1c), so you CANNOT play with those who have that version (and they cannot play with you).[/p][p]Game saves ARE backward compatible with v2.0.1c, so if you switch back to that version, you can continue playing any saves made in this beta.[/p][p][/p]
WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition
Public Beta for v2.0.1d
[p]NOTE: Multiplayer games are NOT backward-compatible with the last patch (v2.0.1c), so you CANNOT play with those who have that version (and they cannot play with you).[/p][p]Game saves ARE backward compatible with v2.0.1c, so if you switch back to that version, you can continue playing any saves made in this beta.[/p][p][/p]
New WolfQuest Game Trailer!
Patch v2.0.1c Released!
v2.0.1c - Released 17 June 2025
[p][/p]NEW:
[p]* Players can now travel between Yellowstone maps and Lost River (DLC) map. (The usual restrictions apply.) (While we still like the idea of Lost River being isolated from the realworld game maps, with the Saga and especially Pack Succession, it can be extremely limiting to be restricted to one map, so we decided to enable map-moving to/from Lost River.)[/p][p]* Game Settings: Gameplay: New option to show/hide HUD in screenshots.[/p][p]* Added toggle in Account: Friends tab that allows player to accept pack invites only from friends.[/p]IMPROVEMENTS:
[p]* Increased mortality odds for very old NPC wolves.[/p][p]* Tweaked the Eating AI to refine movement and behavior around carcasses (but more tweaks to come).[/p][p]* Limit number of coyotes at a carcass based on player pack size.[/p][p]* Refinements to crowding issues around carcasses.[/p]BUGS FIXED:
[p]* If a wolf save file is corrupted, game breaks on startup (multiple wolves, unclickable buttons). [/p][p]* Pups seemingly "not following" on home site moves (occurs after very brief, probably unintentional, hunting trip by the player and the mate which can leave the pups in the "mate sent you inside" mode if the parents are back before they make it inside.)[/p][p]* Can get "Takeout" achievement outside of homesite quests.[/p][p]* Multiplayer: Client player got incorrect notification about pup being too sick to eat.[/p][p]* Multiplayer: Health can sometimes get out of sync between host and client.[/p][p]* Multiplayer: Players who disconnected while away are still marked as away after reconnecting.[/p][p]* Multiplayer: Client can target former packmate who left the pack after courtship.[/p][p]* Multiplayer: Game gets broken if a disconnection happens while loading into a multiplayer game.[/p][p]* Player-wolf rotates in place if reloading multiplayer save when wolf was near-death.[/p][p]* "Pup Returned After Dispersing" notification not popping up.[/p][p]* Placeholder "\[pupnames]" can appear in "Pups have dispersed" notification.[/p][p]* Known Wolves: Dead yearling listed as sole member of player pack.[/p][p]* Known Wolves: Some offspring no longer bolded after selecting mate as pack heir.[/p][p]* Known Wolves: Mate listed after upgrading pre-Saga save to Saga. [/p][p]* Known Wolves: Wolf killed by players is marked as dead for host but not for client players. [/p][p]* Known Wolves: Unspawned known wolves no longer updating on multiplayer clients.[/p][p]* Animals walk very slowly, running into each other.[/p][p]* NPC pathfinding issue in tricky terrain.[/p][p]* Packmate standing on top of food.[/p][p]* In some older game saves, rival wolves still have 0 xp and weight.[/p][p]* Rival wolf progression (XP, weight etc.) not applied when simulating time away on map revisit.[/p][p]* Wolves lie down in shallow water.[/p][p]* Hostile wolves stop fighting midway through a hex invasion but fight is still technically active (and so it prevents sleeping).[/p][p]* In certain situations, no home hex dot on map during homesite quests.[/p][p]* Eagle stuck flying in place. [/p][p]* Packmates get stuck when multiple are trying to eat a meat chunk.[/p][p]* Lost River-Classic: Some errors because game expects a Find Den quest.[/p][p]* Minor grass fixes and refinements.[/p][p]* Occasional glitches with grass rendering and movement when changing quality settings.[/p] Public Beta for Patch v2.0.1c
2.0.1c Public Beta
[p][/p]BETA 1
[p][/p]NEW:
[p]* Players can now travel between Yellowstone maps and Lost River (DLC) map. (The usual restrictions apply.) (While we still like the idea of Lost River being isolated from the realworld game maps, with the Saga and especially Pack Succession, it can be extremely limiting to be restricted to one map, so we decided to enable map-moving to/from Lost River.)[/p][p]* Game Settings: Gameplay: New option to show/hide HUD in screenshots.[/p][p][/p]IMPROVEMENTS:
[p]* Increased mortality odds for very old NPC wolves.[/p][p][/p]BUGS FIXED:
[p]* If a wolf save file is corrupted, game breaks on startup (multiple wolves, unclickable buttons). [/p][p]* Pups seemingly "not following" on home site moves (occurs after very brief, probably unintentional, hunting trip by the player and the mate which can leave the pups in the "mate sent you inside" mode if the parents are back before they make it inside.)[/p][p]* Can get "Takeout" achievement outside of homesite quests.[/p][p]* "Pup Returned After Dispersing" notification not popping up.[/p][p]* Placeholder "\[pupnames]" can appear in "Pups have dispersed" notification.[/p][p]* Known Wolves: Dead yearling listed as sole member of player pack.[/p][p]* Known Wolves: Some offspring no longer bolded after selecting mate as pack heir.[/p][p]* Known Wolves: Mate listed after upgrading pre-Saga save to Saga. [/p][p]* Known Wolves: Wolf killed by players is marked as dead for host but not for client players. [/p][p]* Known Wolves: Unspawned known wolves no longer updating on multiplayer clients.[/p][p]* Animals walk very slowly, running into each other.[/p][p]* Packmate standing on top of food.[/p][p]* In some older game saves, rival wolves still have 0 xp and weight.[/p][p]* Rival wolf progression (XP, weight etc.) not applied when simulating time away on map revisit.[/p][p]* Wolves lie down in shallow water.[/p][p]* Hostile wolves stop fighting midway through a hex invasion but fight is still technically active (and so it prevents sleeping).[/p][p]* In certain situations, no home hex dot on map during homesite quests.[/p][p]* Eagle stuck flying in place. [/p][p]* Packmates get stuck when multiple are trying to eat a meat chunk.[/p][p]* Lost River-Classic: Some errors because game expects a Find Den quest.[/p][p][/p]TO GET THE BETA BUILD
[p]1) In the Steam app, go to your Library, then right-click on the WolfQuest: AE name in the left column and choose Properties. [/p][p]2) Then go to the Betas tab and select the WQ current Beta option in the pulldown. No password is necessary. Steam should then start downloading it. Later you can switch back to the public version in that Betas tab, by selecting NONE in that pulldown.[/p] Patch v2.0.1b Released!
v2.0.1b - Released 7 June 2025
IMPROVEMENTS:
[p]* Added animations for adult wolves dying in all laying-down poses.* Tweaks to Carmella notification and triggering.
* Moved controller icons (zoom and pan) down a bit in World Map
* Allow NPC Courtship music to play during "Find New Mate" subquest.
* If the player barks at packmates, packmates will now prioritize following the player-wolf rather than responding with a social emote.
* Upon finding a lost pup, pup will stop and look at you for longer (15-20 seconds now, vs 7-10 seconds before), giving you more time to bark at them so they'll follow you back to the homesite.
* When playing Pup Raid music for traveling fights, consider if the player is with young pups.
* Known Wolves: Changed "Moved Away with Parents" status to be more inclusive of various outcomes.
* Made Pack Rally Success music cue in the Interface category so it will play even if Music volume is at zero.[/p][p][/p]
BUGS FIXED:
[p]* After following the player-wolf on a move, if the player stops, the pups simply stop and stand around, waiting to follow the player-wolf rather than choosing another activity.* When loading very old saved games, some pups may be incorrectly despawned.
* When player moves back to a map they had been in previously, carcasses of rival and dispersal wolves who died during their absence are stacked up in one spot. (Also fixed: similar issue if multiple NPC wolves die on the same day.)
* In rare circumstances, player is unable to squeak a pup out of tall grass.
* In 2-Player Full Saga, one player can get stuck on Perks panel if any panel of tab menu is opened when birthday is triggered.
* Known Wolves: Offspring are not boldfaced if succeeding as mate heir after loading older Saga saves.
* NPC Courtship music gets stuck playing.
* Wolf fight music plays when another group from the player pack is fighting wolves.
* Multiplayer: Problems when birthday starts and Tab Menu panel is already opened.
* Multiplayer: Wwhen NPC wolf dies, clients don't get the update on Known Wolves panel.
* Game saving error because player group somehow ends up in wrong list.
* Game saving error after moving maps, due to issue withmap-based achievements.
* Grass issues.
_______________________________
See all patch notes at: https://support.wolfquest.org
[/p]
Public Beta for v2.0.1b
v2.0.1b - Public Beta
NOTE: Game saves ARE backward compatible with the last released patch, v2.0.1a, so if you switch back to that version, any saves made in this beta are still playable. Multiplayer games are also backward-compatible, so you can play with those who have that version.
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Added animations for adult wolves dying in all laying-down poses.
* Tweaks to Carmella notification and triggering.
* Moved controller icons (zoom and pan) down a bit in World Map
* Allow NPC Courtship music to play during "Find New Mate" subquest.
* If the player barks at packmates, packmates will now prioritize following the player-wolf rather than responding with a social emote.
* Upon finding a lost pup, pup will stop and look at you for longer (15-20 seconds now, vs 7-10 seconds before), giving you more time to bark at them so they'll follow you back to the homesite.
BUGS FIXED:
* After following the player-wolf on a move, if the player stops, the pups simply stop and stand around, waiting to follow the player-wolf rather than choosing another activity.
* When loading very old saved games, some pups may be incorrectly despawned.
* When player moves back to a map they had been in previously, carcasses of rival and dispersal wolves who died during their absence are stacked up in one spot. (Also fixed: similar issue if multiple NPC wolves die on the same day.)
* In rare circumstances, player is unable to squeak a pup out of tall grass.
* In 2-Player Full Saga, one player can get stuck on Perks panel if any panel of tab menu is opened when birthday is triggered.
______________________________
v2.0.1a Hotfix Released
v2.0.1a - Released 3 Jun 2025
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Reduced frequency of coyotes finding a carcass.
BUGS FIXED:
* In certain circumstances, packmates disappear without a reason.
Update v2.0.1 Released!
v2.0.1 - Released 3 June 2025
NEW - GENERAL
* New option in Game Settings: Allow Classic Coats on NPCs.
* New option in Game Settings: Graphic Settings to disable lightning flashes (during thunderstorms).
* When an Ironwolf or Elder Wolf dies, new "Decide Later" button to the Death panel; choosing this option creates a special save with a tombstone icon, so the player can open it later and choose their heir.
* Added genetics for inherited eye color.
* Added Presets for Graphics Quality settings.
NEW - MULTIPLAYER
New Saga game modes:
Saga Year (5 players): Play through one year as a pack, from Establish Territory to Young Hunters.
* From 2 to 5 players.
* All maps except Lost River Classic.
* Public, Private, or Pack games.
* Players can come and go over the course of the game.
* At least two players must be in the game to have pups after choosing a den.
Full Saga (2 players): Play the entire Saga with one other player, as mates and leaders of your pack! Raise each litter together, year after year, until one of your wolves dies as an Elder Wolf.
* Two players, no more or fewer.
* All maps except Lost River Classic.
* Friends only, no public games.
* Each player must use the same wolf for entire game.
* Both players must be in the game to have pups after choosing a den.
* Player-wolves can age up (or choose not to).
* Family Tree is generated as in single-player, with pups who become playable, and when one player dies as an Elder Wolf, the host can continue the story of this pack by starting a new game with one of the pups in the Family Tree. (The other player will be an unrelated wolf as usual.)
* Unlockable coats can now be unlocked in 2-Player Full Saga.
Plus nine new Multiplayer Saga achievements!
NEW - VEGETATION
* Upgraded the vegetation rendering system to allow denser grasses on high quality levels and interaction (grasses and plants bend when animals move through them.) Performance should be similar (a bit better in some places, a bit worse in others, but overall very similar). On "Grasses and Bushes" setting (in Game Settings:Graphics), Enhanced and Maximum options enable denser grass and interaction.
* New wildflower: Yarrow.
* Improved the Arrowleaf Balsamroot model and added it to other Yellowstone maps (was only on Hellroaring).
* Added late summer vegetation (Huckleberry and Snowberry bushes have berries) on all maps (was only on SC until now) and adjusted timing to they first appear in July rather than August.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - WOLVES
* Enabled pups to get scarred coats from Life is Rough packs (but not until they are yearlings).
* Enabled pups to get more body injury modifications (half tail, corneal edema, etc.) when they are yearlings, and shifted odds for other mods from GP pup to yearling age.
* Many improvements of wolf movements when at homesite/hanging out, to make packmates look less hyperactive (walking instead of trotting when near others, slower acceleration unless starting urgent action, slow down when approach object to eat or pick up, etc.)
* Made packmates look at nearby animals and objects more often when hanging out with the pack.
* Several new "looking around" animations when wolf is idle.
* Several refinements to crowding when pack eats a carcass.
* Made young hunters better at staying to the edges of a fight when "staying safe."
* Rival wolf packs: Limit the number wolves that can disperse per day per pack.
* Added NPC behavior to kill hidden calves. (Was in there in the old AI, but was lost.)
* Increased chances for pups to disperse with one or two siblings.
* Made packmates weave back and forth less when running in a group.
* Refactored Departed Wolves tracking and UI sorting.
* Removed pup raid icon when fighting in NPC territory during a home site move.
* Prevent rival packs from taking the last several unclaimed hexes on a map.
* Wolf Customization: Switching coats on an existing wolf will now regenerate coat genome.
* Packmates are now guaranteed to join a hunting trip once they drop to 35% food/hunger (previously was 30%).
* At start of Growing Pups quest, enforce the time-jump to early August, to ensure consistent duration for that quest in all modes.
* If player is away from homesite and does secondary howl, hungry (under 35% food) packmates will come to you. If you howl repeatedly, they'll all come -- but if Affinity is below the threshold, you'll get the notification about the pups being in danger.
* Made all player-hexes along the map border count when bringing pups around the territory in Young Hunters.
* Re-enabled the Run Alongside movement when chasing prey.
* Wolf body snaps to different pose when dying while sleeping.
* Extended time that dead pup lays on ground before disappearing (so packmates can finish mourning).
* Known Wolves sometimes not updated when wolf dies by natural pack progression.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - MULTIPLAYER
* Several improvements to pup fondness and favorite parent, should help to prevent annoyances.
* Ignore spaces at the start or end of a wolf's name when whispering.
* Refinements to NPCs when players are AFK-Limbo, to avoid or minimize weird issues.
* Mouse movement now counts as player activity when determining if a player is AFK.
* Set pup hunger rates to be the same as in SP.
* Added new Multiplayer section to Game Help, with info about new MP modes.
* Pack Info: Don't show pencil icon if the pack member can't be renamed.
* Increased injury healing time by 33%.
* Reduced dispersal frequency in all MP modes.
* Added Affinity penalty for needlessly putting pups in den.
* Changed MP collection achievement texts to say "home site" instead of "den."
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - ANIMALS
* Increased swimming speed for all animals and increased stamina drain on wolf when swimming.
* Prevent hostiles from targeting a pup that's staying safe, unless it's a pup raid.
* Adjust number of coyotes in pup raid based on number of babysitters at the homesite.
* Increased maximum size of coyote packs from 4 to 7.
* Coyotes will now flee once all of their Flee meters are at maximum, without requiring players to chase them away.
* Improved how NPCs target the player, so it'll simply target the closest player.
* Increased rival pack hex decay in HM and LRAE, and reduced their hex gain rate, so these now match AM and SC.
* Cancel pup raids that are active when player is selecting a den.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - INTERFACE
* Improved handling of the Pup RNG Death option: When starting a new game, it uses the setting in Game Settings on the main menu. But when running a game, it now uses the Game Settings selection from that game save.
* Setup New Game: hide "Show Only Dead Wolves" toggle, because we are hiding "Show Dead Wolves" toggle.
* Setup New Game: refactored code that handles Start Button states and messages.
* Setup New Game: Re-ordered maps listing.
* In Save/Load panels, input field filtering now also works for packname.
* Prevent the notification about making a scent post when doing pack rally or right after rally is completed.
* The "no packmates joining" notification appears when secondary howling during no-homesite quests.
* Added alternate "Pup sick" notification (saying pup will recover) to appear when RNG Sickness Death is disabled.
* Adjust volume when many wolves in the player-pack howl together.
* Allow apostrophe in home sites and pack names.
* Made notification for Out of Disk Space more reliable.
* Controller: Many navigation improvements on Pack Info panel
* Controller: Improved access to Chat options panel and Known Wolves delete buttons
* Allow mouse cursor when notification appears in loading screens in MP.
* Refactored code that handles joystick assignment to player.
* On Wolf Customization, prevent randomization from changing elder wolf stats.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - OTHER
* Reduced memory footprint in each scene some.
* Added "Exploration Woods" track from WQ Legacy/Classic.
* Known Wolves: Refactor and improved some parts of code.
* Family Tree: Made it update automatically when non-offspring packmate disperse.
* Refinements to Hellroaring and Slough Creek water, and made SC spring flooding water muddier.
* Oil Lamp collectible glows if picked up.
* Periodically clear out sticks and bones, and branches around the homesite, and beaver branches elsewhere.
* Hellroaring: Moved one elk herd's summer position from northeast area to central. (The herds are pretty well distributed already, except that one was unlikely to be found. NB Hellroaring has the same number of elk herds as Lost River DLC map.)
* Improved analyis of duplicate Family Tree files, to choose the correct one to use.
* Improvements to quest logic when player joins a rival pack, fixing issues where game would skip ahead too far in time.
* Extra checks to prevent File Sync process from duplicating wolf save files (which can cause weirdness with Family Trees).
__________________________
BUGS FIXED - WOLVES
* Young Hunter pups won't engage in Pack Rally while near prey.
* Wrong pup shown on pup naming screen (because a sleepy packmate went into den during the fade-out at the end of Find Den quest).
* When the player does a secondary howl, babysitter leaves the den when the den is flooded.
* If NPCs are all hungry, they all join at once, even when invited by a secondary howl.
* Jerky transition when wolf lays down to some poses.
* Elder Wolf Cause of Death Always 'Kicked by Elk'
* In some cases, pup age is incorrect in some displays or calculations.
* Pup raid icon appears when the pups are nowhere nearby.
* Animals are only aware of the pivot point on carcasses, leading to odd or confusing situations because the pivot is sometimes at the base of the carcass's feet.
* NPCs sometimes get stuck when pathfinding due to very bad luck in obstacle avoidance paths.
* Wolf gets stuck navigating next to a deep water contour
* NPCs reserve food that they won't be able to eat in the animation time left.
* Dispersing aunts and uncles are playable after successive heir switching to sibling then offspring
* Rival wolves won't catch up if they fall behind while chasing you.
* Rival packs can have the same name.
* Too many pack leaders in a rival pack.
* Lost pup who wanders back home is still considered lost.
* Packmate goes back and forth between a meat object and the player.
* "Soulmates" achievement can be unlocked even if your mate has already died when you reach age 8.
* Yearlings not counted when considering if the player pack is too big to be raided by a particular raider group (like coyotes).
* Keeping affinity up is hard if in trial with a mate candidate while having pups.
* Exception due to trying to die twice when dying of old age.
* Airplane ears are distorted on GP and YH pups.
* Aging discrepancy notification appears in SP when it should only be in MP.
* Birthday panel is missing the age readouts.
* If Unknown Fate fails to complete as you wake up, it remains lingering and kills another pup later, even if it's no longer necessary.
* Game doesn't check for pups left out when a player joins another player's hunting trip (possibly being the last babysitter).
* Packmates ignore a carcass obviously close to the main group.
* Packmates can get stuck behind border.
* When finding a unknown fate pup that survived, notification about Family Tree update appears even if current player wolf is not one of the parents.
* Packmates don't trigger fighting behavior if the only enemies nearby are young hunters.
* Pups can wander far off while being babysat.
* NPCs don't use all sleeping poses
* Non-compliant packmates don't stay close to client players.
* Pups won't come out of grass (and likely other issues as well).
* Non-playable siblings grouped with playable siblings when dispersing.
* Bloodline achievement can be triggered with incorrect wolves.
* Player offspring are no longer considered as raised by player if player switches to play as heir with widowed mate.
* Snow sometimes persists on animals after season change.
* In Family Tree, parents are not displayed for player-wolf after pack succession. (Not retroactive.)
* Wolf rotates in particular circumstances after doing two pack successions in one game session.
* A rival pack, all of whose members are killed, continues to be active.
BUGS FIXED - ANIMALS
* Eagle raid can occur soon after player leaves homesite.
* Eagle doesn't start attack if players leave the den while it's circling.
* Land predators don't start attacking if client player is last to leave the homesite on a hunting trip.
* Grizzly gets stuck right next to an impassable contour.
* "Raiders flee" notification appears, then pup dies right afterwards.
* Coyote and feral dog "Raid ends" notifications can appear before raid begins.
* Cougar fails to eat pup properly.
* Coyotes ignore wolverines, to their detriment.
BUGS FIXED - MULTIPLAYER
* Fun Parent perk on client wolf is not counted.
* In Story/Saga games, removed requirement for multiple player-wolves to participate when creating and reinforcing a marking post.
* Client wolves stepping back after regurgitating isn't properly processed on the host and pups are unable to reach the regurgitant until the player manually moves away.
* Quest icon was displayed in Episode Intro UI panel.
* Affinity decay is messed up, and decays way too fast in no-homesite quests. (Should also decay a bit slower now in homesite quests.)
* When applying filters in My Wolves panel, "Show Only Playable Pups" and "Hide Playable Pups" were not giving complementary results.
* Character controller switching between QuickHeal and Rest multiple times during healing.
BUGS FIXED - INTERFACE
* Error when current window queued is closed because it is not in context anymore.
* "Achievement Error" notification displays right after game load.
* Find Mate countdown clock stalls after map moving.
* The "no packmates joining" notification appears when secondary howling during no-homesite quests.
* Saved Game panels: Error when filtering save names by input field if the save file is older than when we started serializing pack name.
* "Family Playful" track wasn't playing since a code refactor.
* Notification reappears about not being able to report an achievement right after successfully reporting an achievement to the server.
* File Sync: If downloading header from server fails, game assumes there are no files on server. Now a notification will be shown.
* Wolf Customization: Changing pup coat tint in wolf customization regenerates coat genome coat.
* Hellroaring: Rancher blamed for shooting wolf when it should be hunter.
* On birthday when aging up to Elder Wolf, health bar fill exceeds background in specific circumstance.
BUGS FIXED - OTHER
* Issues with wolf fighting music.
* "Family Playful" track wasn't playing since a code refactor.
* Snow tracks become misaligned after animals slide sideways down a slope.
* Tweaked sky color at dusk and dawn.
* Error that causes saved game to fail to load on saves that run code to fix missing wolf parents data.
* Error that causes old saved game to fail to load due to change in ID scheme.
* Removed Buffalo Creek as pack name in Hellroaring (was duplicate of pack name in SC).
* Quest music can repeat when played from Roam music (with some luck) and give the impression it is on loop.
* Hellroaring: Player-wolf can get too close to some cliff edges above boulder fields.
* Lost River DLC: Blades Peak natural landmark won't unlock in early spring.
* Lost River DLC: Buildings can glitch out briefly when switching to run around as Carmella.
* Sorting error with collectible objects.
* File Sync: Remove any possible duplicates when adding new Wolf save or Family Tree files.
_______________________________
See all patch notes at: https://support.wolfquest.org
Public Beta for v2.0.1!
The main new feature is Saga multiplayer, with two new modes:
1) Saga Year. This expands the existing "Story" mode to last through a full year, from Establish Territory to the end of Young Hunter in the following winter. You can have up to five players, all acting as members of a family pack. When playing in this mode, the game ends upon completion of the Young Hunters quest, before the next litter of pups is born.
2) Full Saga, with two players. This is, as much as we can make it, just like single-player, except you can play with a friend all the way through until you're Elder Wolves. This mode has some restrictions: two players, only in a private game, and using the same wolf throughout the entire game. We intend this mode to be for friends who have the time and commitment to devote many hours playing through to the end. As in SP, the game generates a Family Tree with each year's litter. You can't do pack succession or switch to play as a dispersing pup, but you can go to the Family Tree and start a new game with one of your grown pups. And you can get unlockable coats from your pups.
We know that some players would like to have more players in the Full Saga mode, but this just isn't feasible. WolfQuest is an unusual game -- the way the player's wolf pack grows and changes from year to year, spending part of each year at the homesite (where it can split into subgroups) and part of the year nomadic, when the whole pack sticks together. It's complicated enough to manage this in single-player mode, but there at least they're the only one, so they are at the center of the universe and everything revolves around them. Adding just one more player means there are now two centers of the universe for the game to track and manage. That's been a big challenge, but at least we have the premise that they are the two pack leaders who will head up the pack for the entire game. Adding subordinate players, who don't have that leadership role and responsibility, yet still need to in some ways be the center of the universe for those players becomes extremely problematic -- not only in design and coding, but making it clear to each player what's going on, who's doing what, what's allowed and what's not allowed at any given point in the game-year. So the Full Saga mode is limited to two players.
There is much more in this update: the new grass rendering system with new and improved vegetation, and many new quality-of-life features, plus dozens of bug fixes.
See the build notes for the v2.0.1 public beta, with instructions on how to access it on Steam.
v2.0.1 Public Beta Build Notes - Beta 75
_____________________
TO GET THE BETA BUILD
1) In the Steam app, go to your Library, then right-click on the WolfQuest: AE name in the left column and choose Properties.
2) Then go to the Betas tab and select the WQ current Beta option in the pulldown. No password is necessary. Steam should then start downloading it. Later you can switch back to the public version in that Betas tab, by selecting NONE in that pulldown.
_____________________
NEW - GENERAL
* New option in Game Settings: Allow Classic Coats on NPCs.
* New option in Game Settings: Graphic Settings to disable lightning flashes (during thunderstorms).
* When an Ironwolf or Elder Wolf dies, new "Decide Later" button to the Death panel; choosing this option creates a special save with a tombstone icon, so the player can open it later and choose their heir.
* Added genetics for inherited eye color.
* Added Presets for Graphics Quality settings.
NEW - MULTIPLAYER
New Saga game modes:
Saga Year (5 players): Play through one year as a pack, from Establish Territory to Young Hunters.
* From 2 to 5 players.
* All maps except Lost River Classic.
* Public, Private, or Pack games.
* Players can come and go over the course of the game.
* At least two players must be in the game to have pups after choosing a den.
Full Saga (2 players): Play the entire Saga with one other player, as mates and leaders of your pack! Raise each litter together, year after year, until one of your wolves dies as an Elder Wolf.
* Two players, no more or fewer.
* All maps except Lost River Classic.
* Friends only, no public games.
* Each player must use the same wolf for entire game.
* Both players must be in the game to have pups after choosing a den.
* Player-wolves can age up (or choose not to).
* Family Tree is generated as in single-player, with pups who become playable, and when one player dies as an Elder Wolf, the host can continue the story of this pack by starting a new game with one of the pups in the Family Tree. (The other player will be an unrelated wolf as usual.)
NEW - VEGETATION
* Upgraded the vegetation rendering system to allow denser grasses on high quality levels and interaction (grasses and plants bend when animals move through them.) Performance should be similar (a bit better in some places, a bit worse in others, but overall very similar). On Grass Variety pulldown, High and Very High options enable denser grass and interaction.
* New wildflower: Yarrow.
* Added Arrowleaf Balsomroot to all maps (was only on Hellroaring).
* Added late summer vegetation (Huckleberry and Snowberry bushes have berries) on all maps (was only on SC until now) and adjusted timing to they first appear in July rather than August.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - WOLVES
* Enabled pups to get scarred coats from Life is Rough packs (but not until they are yearlings).
* Enabled pups to get more body injury modifications (half tail, corneal edema, etc.) when they are yearlings, and shifted odds for other mods from GP pup to yearling age.
* Many improvements of wolf movements when at homesite/hanging out, to make packmates look less hyperactive (walking instead of trotting when near others, slower acceleration unless starting urgent action, slow down when approach object to eat or pick up, etc.)
* Made packmates look at nearby animals and objects more often when hanging out with the pack.
* Several new "looking around" animations when wolf is idle.
* Several refinements to crowding when pack eats a carcass.
* Made young hunters better at staying to the edges of a fight when "staying safe."
* Rival wolf packs: Limit the number wolves that can disperse per day per pack.
* Added NPC behaviour to kill hidden calves. (Was in there in the old AI, but was lost.)
* Increased chances for pups to disperse with one or two siblings.
* Made packmates weave back and forth less when running in a group.
* Refactored Departed Wolves tracking and UI sorting.
* Removed pup raid icon when fighting in NPC territory during a home site move.
* Prevent rival packs from taking the last several unclaimed hexes on a map.
* Wolf Customization: Switching coats on an existing wolf will now regenerate coat genome.
* Packmates are now guaranteed to join a hunting trip once they drop to 35% food/hunger (previously was 30%).
* At start of Growing Pups quest, enforce the time-jump to early August, to ensure consistent duration for that quest in all modes.
* If player is away from homesite and does secondary howl, hungry (under 35% food) packmates will come to you. If you howl repeatedly, they'll all come -- but if Affinity is below the threshold, you'll get the notification about the pups being in danger.
* Made all player-hexes along the map border count when bringing pups around the territory in Young Hunters.
* Re-enabled the Run Alongside movement when chasing prey.
* Wolf body snaps to different pose when dying while sleeping.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - MULTIPLAYER
* Several improvements to pup fondness and favorite parent, should help to prevent annoyances.
* Ignore spaces at the start or end of a wolf's name when whispering.
* Refinements to NPCs when players are AFK-Limbo, to avoid or minimize weird issues.
* Mouse movement now counts as player activity when determining if a player is AFK.
* Set pup hunger rates to be the same as in SP.
* Added new Multiplayer section to Game Help, with info about new MP modes.
* Pack Info: Don't show pencil icon if the pack member can't be renamed.
* Increased injury healing time by 33%.
* Reduced dispersal frequency in all MP modes.
* Added Affinity penalty for needlessly putting pups in den.
* Changed MP collection achievement texts to say "home site" instead of "den."
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - ANIMALS
* Increased swimming speed for all animals and increased stamina drain on wolf when swimming.
* Prevent hostiles from targeting a pup that's staying safe, unless it's a pup raid.
* Adjust number of coyotes in pup raid based on number of babysitters at the homesite.
* Increased maximum size of coyote packs from 4 to 7.
* Coyotes will now flee once all of their Flee meters are at maximum, without requiring players to chase them away.
* Improved how NPCs target the player, so it'll simply target the closest player.
* Increased rival pack hex decay in HM and LRAE, and reduced their hex gain rate, so these now match AM and SC.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - INTERFACE
* Improved handling of the Pup RNG Death option: When starting a new game, it uses the setting in Game Settings on the main menu. But when running a game, it now uses the Game Settings selection from that game save.
* Setup New Game: hide "Show Only Dead Wolves" toggle, because we are hiding "Show Dead Wolves" toggle.
* Setup New Game: refactored code that handles Start Button states and messages.
* Setup New Game: Re-ordered maps listing.
* In Save/Load panels, input field filtering now also works for packname.
* Prevent the notification about making a scent post when doing pack rally or right after rally is completed.
* The "no packmates joining" notification appears when secondary howling during no-homesite quests.
* Added alternate "Pup sick" notification (saying pup will recover) to appear when RNG Sickness Death is disabled.
* Family Tree: Made it update automatically when non-offspring packmate disperse.
* Adjust volume when many wolves in the player-pack howl together.
* Allow apostrophe in home sites and pack names.
* Made notification for Out of Disk Space more reliable.
* Controller: Many navigation improvements on Pack Info panel
* Controller: Improved access to Chat options panel and Known Wolves delete buttons
* Allow mouse cursor when notification appears in loading screens in MP.
* Refactored code that handles joystick assignment to player.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS - OTHER
* Reduced memory footprint in each scene some.
* Added "Exploration Woods" track from WQ Legacy/Classic.
* Known Wolves: Refactor and improved some parts of code.
* Family Tree: Made it update automatically when non-offspring packmate disperse.
* Refinements to Hellroaring and Slough Creek water, and made SC spring flooding water muddier.
* Oil Lamp collectible glows if picked up.
* Periodically clear out sticks and bones, and branches around the homesite, and beaver branches elsewhere.
BUGS FIXED - WOLVES
* Young Hunter pups won't engage in Pack Rally while near prey.
* Wrong pup shown on pup naming screen (because a sleepy packmate went into den during the fade-out at the end of Find Den quest).
* When the player does a secondary howl, babysitter leaves the den when the den is flooded.
* If NPCs are all hungry, they all join at once, even when invited by a secondary howl.
* Jerky transition when wolf lays down to some poses.
* Elder Wolf Cause of Death Always 'Kicked by Elk'
* In some cases, pup age is incorrect in some displays or calculations.
* Pup raid icon appears when the pups are nowhere nearby.
* Animals are only aware of the pivot point on carcasses, leading to odd or confusing situations because the pivot is sometimes at the base of the carcass's feet.
* NPCs sometimes get stuck when pathfinding due to very bad luck in obstacle avoidance paths.
* Wolf gets stuck navigating next to a deep water contour
* NPCs reserve food that they won't be able to eat in the animation time left.
* Dispersing aunts and uncles are playable after successive heir switching to sibling then offspring
* Rival wolves won't catch up if they fall behind while chasing you.
* Rival packs can have the same name.
* Too many pack leaders in a rival pack.
* Lost pup who wanders back home is still considered lost.
* Packmate goes back and forth between a meat object and the player.
* "Soulmates" achievement can be unlocked even if your mate has already died when you reach age 8.
* Yearlings not counted when considering if the player pack is too big to be raided by a particular raider group (like coyotes).
* Keeping affinity up is hard if in trial with a mate candidate while having pups.
* Exception due to trying to die twice when dying of old age.
* Airplane ears are distorted on GP and YH pups.
* Aging discrepancy notification appears in SP when it should only be in MP.
* Birthday panel is missing the age readouts.
* If Unknown Fate fails to complete as you wake up, it remains lingering and kills another pup later, even if it's no longer necessary.
* Game doesn't check for pups left out when a player joins another player's hunting trip (possibly being the last babysitter).
* Packmates ignore a carcass obviously close to the main group.
* Packmates can get stuck behind border.
* When finding a unknown fate pup that survived, notification about Family Tree update appears even if current player wolf is not one of the parents.
* Packmates don't triggering fighting behaviour if the only enemies nearby are young hunters.
* Pups can wander far off while being babysat.
* NPCs don't use all sleeping poses
* Uncompliant packmates don't stay close to client players.
* Pups won't coming out of grass (and likely other issues as well).
* Non-playable siblings grouped with playable siblings when dispersing.
* Bloodline achievement can be triggered with incorrect wolves.
BUGS FIXED - ANIMALS
* Eagle raid can occur soon after player leaves homesite.
* Eagle doesn't start attack if players leave the den while it's circling.
* Land predators don't start attacking if client player is last to leave the homesite on a hunting trip.
* Grizzly gets stuck right next to an impassable contour.
* "Raiders flee" notification appears, then pup dies right afterwards.
* Coyote and feral dog "Raid ends" notifications can appear before raid begins.
* In Family Tree, parents are not displayed for player-wolf after pack succession. (Not retroactive.)
BUGS FIXED - MULTIPLAYER:
* Fun Parent perk on client wolf is not counted.
* In Story/Saga games, removed requirement for multiple player-wolves to participate when creating and reinforcing a marking post.
* Client wolves stepping back after regurgitating isn't properly processed on the host and pups are unable to reach the regurgitant until the player manually moves away.
* Quest icon was displayed in Episode Intro UI panel.
* Affinity decay is messed up, and decays way too fast in no-homesite quests. (Should also decay a bit slower now in homesite quests.)
* When applying filters in My Wolves panel, "Show Only Playable Pups" and "Hide Playable Pups" were not giving complementary results.
* Character controller switching between QuickHeal and Rest multiple times during healing.
BUGS FIXED - INTERFACE
* Error when current window queued is closed because it is not in context anymore.
* "Achievement Error" notification displays right after game load.
* Find Mate countdown clock stalls after map moving.
* The "no packmates joining" notification appears when secondary howling during no-homesite quests.
* Saved Game panels: Error when filtering save names by input field if the save file is older than when we started serializing pack name.
* "Family Playful" track wasn't playing since a code refactor.
* Notification reappears about not being able to report an achievement right after successfully reporting an achievement to the server.
* File Sync: If downloading header from server fails, game assumes there are no files on server. Now a notification will be shown.
* Wolf Customization: Changing pup coat tint in wolf customization regenerates coat genome coat.
* Hellroaring: Rancher blamed for shooting wolf when it should be hunter.
* On birthday when aging up to Elder Wolf, health bar fill exceeds background in specific circumstance.
BUGS FIXED - OTHER
* Issues with wolf fighting music.
* "Family Playful" track wasn't playing since a code refactor.
* Snow tracks become misaligned after animals slide sideways down a slope.
* Error that causes saved game to fail to load on saves that run code to fix missing wolf parents data.
* Error that causes old saved game to fail to load due to change in ID scheme.
* Removed Buffalo Creek as pack name in Hellroaring (was duplicate of pack name in SC).
* Quest music can repeat when played from Roam music (with some luck) and give the impression it is on loop.
* Hellroaring: Player-wolf can get too close to some cliff edges above boulder fields.
* Sorting error with collectible objects.
* File Sync: Remove any possible duplicates when adding new Wolf save or Family Tree files.