About Alpha v | 0.1.6.0.0.0

Hey, Parasites!
I’m finally happy to share this update with you. I think it turned out to be quite a packed one.

For those who haven’t heard yet, the game now has its own launcher ⚠️

The launcher does more than just start the game: when updating, it downloads only the data blocks that have changed instead of the entire build. This will reduce download sizes, especially for smaller patches, so you won’t have to download the whole game every time.

The way the game is distributed will stay the same. The launcher won’t stop you from playing a version you’ve already downloaded after your subscription expires. A subscription is only needed to get new updates.

This will be the launcher’s first large-scale stress test, so some issues may pop up. Just in case, I’ll keep the usual download options available for this update too.

Enjoy testing! As for me, I need to take a little breather before moving on to the last update of the year. That one will also have plenty of nice things that I hope you’ll enjoy.

Hugs to you all, and as always, thank you for your patience and support ❤️

Now, let’s get into the main changes and fixes. The list is long, but even it doesn’t include every fix:

ADDED / IMPROVED:

Content and clothing

I’ve made significant progress in reducing clothing clipping when different pieces of clothing intersect or poke through one another. This has opened up many more outfit combinations that previously didn’t look right because of these issues.

Work on combining various items of clothing in different contexts and with different accessories is still ongoing ⚠️
The new clothing items have incorrect names and icons; I forgot to fix that.

• Added tunnel zones that adjust lighting to keep tunnels dark.

• Restored the dialogue system.

• Added bone armor.

• Added a rag clothing set: gloves, top, skirt, and shoes.

• Added a choker.

• Added a bone-cross necklace.

• Added wolf gloves.

• Added bear boots.

• Improved the appearance of some clothing.

• Changed body physics for the chest, buttocks, hips, and arms.

• Reworked the male Bound's textures and added three new texture sets.

• Added tattered clothing for the Bound.

• Added armor made from human remains for the Bound.

• Added a new anomaly.

• Added random background screams.

Movement, swimming, and flight

• Added mouse-controlled flight.

• Adjusted the flight camera.

• During flight, upward movement now slows by up to 20%, while downward movement accelerates by up to 60%.

• Added smooth pelvic height adjustment when crouching on uneven surfaces to reduce knees clipping into the ground.

• Movement speed now gradually decreases as water depth increases.

• Entering and exiting swimming now depend on water depth, with the transition occurring at approximately chest level.

• Smoothed the character model’s position when returning to shore.

• Adjusted buoyancy when entering the water normally.

• Movement, rolls, and dodges have been adjusted. You will no longer stumble or fall over every little bump or change in the terrain this is especially true when you have a high running skill level.

• Reworked the damage system. Getting stuck in objects or encountering collision issues during a fall should no longer cause small amounts of damage to accumulate rapidly and kill the character.

Horses

• Added inertia for the mounted rider.

• The rider now leans and tilts on slopes (beta).

• The horse's head now reacts to the character.

• Added gentle rocking on waves while the horse is swimming.

• Reduced the horse's swimming speed.

• Refined the horse swimming system.

• Horse movement speed now changes on slopes.

• Camera smoothing has been added for horseback riding, ensuring that slight changes in the horse's height while moving do not cause the camera to shift position abruptly.

• Added a horse container.

AI

• NPCs will no longer crowd against walls or stand staring at you if they cannot find a way to reach you; instead, they will scatter and seek cover.

• Improved pathfinding behavior. NPCs are better at finding their way to you and are more adept at climbing, jumping over obstacles, and dropping down from ledges.

• Animals now retain their selected target more consistently instead of switching between enemies on every perception update.

• Dead animals are now correctly excluded from potential targets.

• Animals now remember multiple nearby threats while fleeing and take them into account when choosing an escape route.

• Improved idle roaming behavior, with longer pauses after reaching a destination to reduce unnecessary action switching.

Inventory, crafting, and optimization

The inventory system’s core has been heavily reworked. Many parts of the system have been expanded, and some old limitations have been removed, allowing for improvements that make the inventory more convenient to use.

Such a major rework may introduce new bugs. To help with this, I’ve added a recovery tool designed to resolve most inventory issues you might encounter with a single button press. It also captures a diagnostic snapshot of the issue that you can share with me, helping me track down the cause and make the game more stable over time.

This should also greatly reduce the need to roll back to an older save when inventory problems affect your current one.

• The Vicinity container now supports most inventory actions, including opening clothing pockets, stacking and splitting items, and using items directly from the ground etc.

• Trading has been significantly expanded. The trader now has item preferences and varying levels of interest in different goods. Prices depend on an item's condition and how much of it the trader already has in stock. The trader's stock now refreshes as well.

• Added a Scene Capture-based system for dynamic weapon icons. Inventory icons now reflect the weapon’s current appearance, including any installed attachments.

• Equipping attachments on a weapon now affects its dimensions.

• The durability of clothing now directly affects its capacity.

• Added localized messages explaining when a container is full, contains an incompatible liquid, or cannot be filled, and when no suitable container or water source is available.

• Optimized some systems by switching to soft references and asynchronous loading.

• Removed residual hard dependencies from optimized systems, allowing soft references to work as intended.

• The open container window now displays the current and maximum weight.

• Improved recovery of inventory data that could otherwise leave items missing from view or block container slots.

• Improved handling of deeply nested containers and fixed a reproduced crash involving deeply nested item interfaces.

• Optimized opening heavily filled world containers by creating the item interface for closed pockets only when needed.

• Improved item searches and updates inside closed pockets while preserving their contents and total weight.

• Improved reliability when equipping and unequipping items containing other items.

• Reduced memory usage during long sessions by releasing unused loot container interfaces after closing them. Items remain stored and the interface is restored when reopened.

• Added equipment swapping by dragging an item onto an occupied equipment slot.

• Crafting now uses materials from your inventory, the currently open container, and accessible items on the ground nearby.

• Added crafting material counts by source, showing how much is available in your inventory, in the open container, and nearby, along with the quantity the recipe produces.

Weather and radiation

• Improved radiation effect smoothness and removed unnecessary updates after leaving a zone.

• Rebalanced weather temperatures for a permanent late-autumn climate, with colder nights and occasional warm spells or severe cold snaps.

• Made cooling from wet clothing gradual instead of changing abruptly.

• Improved body temperature recovery to prevent overshooting its normal level.

• Made wetness and snow changes while in water consistent across different frame rates.

Graphics and settings

• Added Global (default) and Detail Lumen tracing options.

• Added SMAA anti-aliasing and removed unsupported MSAA.

• Improved the hair shader so hair no longer glows under light sources at low and medium shadow settings.

• Added DLSS quality selection.

• Added NVIDIA Frame Generation modes: Off, Auto, 2×–6×, and Dynamic, with support checks and an adjustable Dynamic target frame rate.

• Added an AMD FSR sharpness setting.

• Added separate FPS limits for menus and inactive game windows.

• Added a volumetric fog quality setting.

• Added an anisotropic filtering setting.

• Improved the shader for the blood and dirt covering the character's body.

• Updated NVIDIA DLSS to 4.5 and AMD FSR to 4.1.1.

• Added AMD Frame Generation and upscaling/frame generation algorithm selection.

• Added toggles for chromatic aberration, film grain, and depth of field.

• Improved skin rendering at a distance: skin transmission now fades out smoothly, preventing distant characters from appearing to glow.

BUG FIXES:

Inventory and equipment

• Fixed an issue where loading a magazine in a container near its weight limit could make the loaded rounds unusable for firing or unloading and incorrectly reduce inventory weight.

• Fixed outdated items remaining visible and removed-item weight still being counted after loading or refreshing the inventory. Leftover weight after a container refresh no longer prevents new items from being added.

• Fixed incorrect handling of items inside nested containers when restoring the inventory.

• Removed unnecessary repeated checks during inventory initialization, which may improve inventory opening speed.

• Fixed weight-limit checks when moving, splitting, and merging stacks, including items stored inside clothing and other containers.

• Fixed moving items within the same container hierarchy incorrectly counting their weight twice.

• Fixed quick transfers targeting disabled containers or stopping at full stacks instead of finding another valid destination.

• Fixed invalid stack merges and transfers exceeding stack capacity.

• Added safeguards against item duplication, incorrect item selection, and conflicting item IDs during transfers.

• Fixed outdated stack-splitting windows allowing players to split more items than were available.

• Fixed empty item stacks remaining in the inventory and blocking slots after being fully consumed.

• Fixed incorrect slot occupancy after item swaps. Invalid swaps now leave both containers unchanged.

• Fixed item placement and slot tracking when expanding containers, rotating items, or placing them near inventory boundaries.

• Fixed interface creation failures potentially removing or dropping items.

• Fixed the hands section disappearing from the inventory and dropping held items onto the ground. Drawing and holstering a weapon is no longer needed to restore it.

• Fixed Anna's equipped gear and loot disappearing after quitting and reloading the game.

• Fixed item weight being deducted twice when removing an item, which could cause the container’s weight to become negative.

• Fixed weight limits being bypassed when picking up items from the ground.

• Prevented splitting stacks with zero or negative quantities.

• Fixed network broadcasting of stack split updates.

• Fixed container item quantities and weights being modified despite the option to skip those changes being enabled.

• Fixed the returned quantity after setting a stack to its maximum size.

• Fixed an issue that allowed players to exceed the hands weight limit by placing items inside clothing held in their hands.

• Fixed items being incorrectly blocked from moving into clothing within the same container when its total weight would remain unchanged.

• Fixed weight checks for nested containers to respect both the clothing’s own weight limit and the limits of all parent containers whose weight increases.

• Fixed the player's inventory closing when moving away from a corpse after switching from the corpse's inventory to their own.

• Fixed nested pocket windows opening behind their parent windows.

• Fixed the cursor remaining active after cancelling a quantity-selection popup, preventing normal camera control.

• Fixed the jeans' internal belt and its stored items dropping onto the ground when unrelated clothing, such as a jacket or backpack, was unequipped.

Crafting and interactions

• Fixed coal transferred with Ctrl+click getting stuck in the Horne smelter without being used as fuel.

• Fixed fuel processing for multiple coal stacks and incorrect fuel gauge values.

• Fixed crafting ingredient searches incorrectly accepting an incomplete set of required materials.

• Fixed an issue where partially filled bottles could refuse to refill.

• Fixed purified water not being consumed from a pot when filling a glass bottle.

• Fixed nonexistent cube objects dropping when removing a building blueprint.

• Fixed some items not being returned when removing a building blueprint.

• Fixed the Rubik's Cube not working.

• Fixed meat taken from the drying rack not contributing to weight.

• Fixed alcohol used to clean wounds failing to return an empty bottle when consumed.

• Fixed browsing hairstyle previews consuming scissors durability.

• Fixed pots not appearing on fire pits after loading a save.

• Fixed lockpicking ending after one stack of lockpicks was exhausted despite more lockpicks being available in the inventory.

AI

• Fixed erratic enemy spinning, especially among shooters, which could make sneaking up on them nearly impossible.

• Fixed jerky animal movement, with animals repeatedly starting to run, stopping briefly, and starting again.

• Fixed cases where animals could get stuck while moving, especially near NavMesh boundaries and on complex paths.

• Improved animal movement along curved and zigzag paths. Fixed sudden turns, incorrect movement directions, and path recalculation issues.

• Animals now more accurately determine whether a selected path is actually traversable, rather than simply relying on the existence of an alternative route.

• Fixed cases where animals could prematurely stop chasing or lose their target when recalculating their path.

• Fixed conflicts between old and new movement commands that could cause animals to continue following a previous task.

• Fixed random incorrect turns while animals were standing still.

• Fixed an issue where aggression values could be incorrectly shared between different animals. Aggression is now calculated independently for each animal.

• Animals no longer continue following their previous path when certain animations begin.

• Improved fleeing behavior: animals should no longer randomly turn back toward the threat they are escaping from.

• Fixed shooters aiming in a different direction from their shots when attacking other NPCs, such as dogs.

Movement and horses

• Fixed stamina draining faster at higher frame rates.

• Fixed vertical flight controls failing above 60 FPS.

• Fixed crouching characters continuing to walk along the bottom in excessively deep water.

• Fixed characters being unable to exit the water onto walkable slopes.

• Fixed characters being pushed slightly upward when exiting the water.

• Fixed the horse spline solver twisting or buckling on slopes and ledges.

• Fixed the broken horse swimming system.

• Fixed significant FPS drops when mounting or dismounting a horse.

• Fixed moving backward on horseback requiring two presses.

• Fixed glitches with the horse's collision capsule causing jerky movement when stepping off ledges, jumping, or landing.

• Fixed recovery from an unintended ragdoll state leaving the character suspended in mid-air or spinning.

• Fixed incorrect saddle textures on wounded horses.

Survival, weather, and radiation

• Fixed radiation effect fluctuations and flickering in overlapping zones.

• Fixed the effect incorrectly turning off when leaving one radiation zone while still inside another.

• Fixed incorrect Geiger counter readings in overlapping zones with the same radiation strength.

• Fixed excessive temperature drops during rain and other weather conditions.

• Fixed campfire warmth not being included in cave temperature calculations.

• Fixed incorrect cold-resistance calculations.

• Fixed an issue where sickness could unintentionally reduce cooling.

• Fixed blizzards not increasing snow buildup on the character.

• Fixed snow drying too quickly in freezing conditions.

• Fixed the Screamer's black-and-white screen effect sometimes remaining after its death, particularly after getting close enough to trigger it.

• Fixed weather becoming stuck.

• Fixed removing a bandage after the wound-healed message causing bleeding to restart and healing progress to reset.

• Fixed dirty bandages restarting completed wound healing when no infection was present.

• Fixed sepsis developing prematurely.

• Fixed diseases and disease phases ending too early.

• Fixed remaining diseases temporarily losing their stat limits when another disease ended.

• Fixed stomach fullness incorrectly increasing belly size after repeated updates.

• Fixed temporary stomach fullness affecting permanent body fat.

• Fixed body fat changes not being restored correctly after loading a save.

• Fixed body and breast size continuing to change after reaching their limits.

• Fixed starvation-related fat loss depending on random dialogue and combat state.

Graphics, settings, and stability

• Fixed clothing textures displaying incorrectly after equipping another item with a different material.

• Fixed the BP vest appearing too dark in shadow.

• Fixed several settings failing to save or apply after restarting the game or changing levels.

• Fixed FPS limit persistence and issues with applying resolution and window mode changes.

• Fixed Motion Blur values using a comma instead of a decimal point.

• Fixed the selected audio device being saved before a successful switch was confirmed.

• Fixed inconsistent availability of DLSS, FSR, and anti-aliasing options when opening the menu or switching settings.

• Fixed NVIDIA Frame Generation being selectable in unsupported editor modes and added explanations for disabled options.

• Fixed cancellation of pending Frame Generation activation and cleanup when ending a game session.

• Added a workaround for identified crashes and performed stability testing.

• Fixed unsafe access to the game world and incorrect graphics API detection.

• Fixed dependent menu controls not updating after deferred settings changes were applied.

• Fixed the missing G channel used for the damage mask on upper_body_00.

• Fixed some clothing damage masks not updating when items were equipped or unequipped.

• Fixed Anna's tattoo appearing in the character editor when no tattoo was selected.

• Fixed deleted character-preset names remaining unavailable for reuse.

• Fixed fullscreen resolution resetting after F11 or Alt+Enter.

• Fixed a crash involving NVIDIA Frame Generation when changing resolution or window mode.

• Fixed clothing layers remaining hidden after holes formed in the outer layer. Underlying layers now appear immediately instead of requiring additional damage.

• Fixed the sand-underfoot effect glowing in the dark.

• Fixed skin glowing with shadow quality below High.

• Fixed the keyboard-layout panel not updating after keybinding changes.

Saves, loot, and world

• Fixed the closed gate at the Rab-Bit site.

• Fixed a floating luggage case in Dry Valley, south of the trader.

• Fixed bridges unloading from memory too quickly.

• Fixed map defects.

• Fixed cars inside tunnels playing rain-on-roof sounds during bad weather.

• Fixed the last item taken from a loot spawn reappearing after loading a save.

• Fixed items duplicating or disappearing from tracking when a loot spawner reinitialized.

• Fixed loot failing to respawn after subsequent train passes. Respawn chances remain unchanged.

• Fixed invalid item references getting loot spawning stuck.

• Fixed pending loot spawns continuing after leaving the game or loading a save.

• Fixed turtle shells not dropping.

• Fixed previously open beach containers becoming closed.

• Fixed a crash during merchant dialogue.

• Fixed excessive loot around mushroom people.

• Fixed Totem abilities resetting when opening the save screen without saving.

• Fixed the day counter sometimes resetting when saving.

• Fixed the save counter sometimes resetting when saving.

• Fixed playtime showing the overall total instead of the individual save's playtime.

• Fixed Anna repeatedly saying “I don't think I can do it now” when saving or sleeping through a shelter.

If you read to the very end, you’re a hero-parasite...