1. The Long Dark Difficulty Modes Full
2. The Long Dark Difficulty Modest
3. The Long Dark Survival Mode Update

RUGGED SENTINEL Update Now Live on Steam. Hello community, We’ve just updated The Long Dark on STEAM, introducing our first major update to Survival Mode since we launched WINTERMUTE on August 1st.

Game Modes are selections the player can make to change different aspects of gameplay. They may alter many aspects of the game such as difficulty, density of resources, altering the survival elements, effects of cold and heat, animal respawn rates, harder enemies, etc.

Once a Difficulty Mode has been selected at the start of a New Game, it is irreversible and cannot be changed without the use of mods. There are two changeable modes in the menu that are optional, they include Allow Building Destruction and Tree Regrowing Mode.

• 1Difficulty Modes
• 2Additional Interchangeable Modes
• 3Hidden Game Modes
• 4Outdated/Replaced Modes

There are currently five difficulty modes or 'difficulties' that can be accessed without the use of commands:

• Peaceful
• Normal
• Hard
• Hard Survival
• Creative - Unlocked at the completion of the game
• MOD (no idea what this mode is)

Changes Between Difficulties[editedit source]

Peaceful Mode[editedit source]

Peaceful mode will result in having the surface world free of any cannibals and mutants. The mode will not disable hostile fauna and visual gore content like mutilated dead bodies, blood, and cannibal effigies.

Peaceful mode was added in the v0.03 update of The Forest, and is the game's 'easy mode'. When it was first added, it was under the name of unlockable 'veganmode' by code/cheat on main title screen. Since the v0.49 update, Vegan Mode has been implemented as an 'official' game difficulty mode and can be enabled by choosing the 'Peaceful' option whilst starting a New Game.

Update History[editedit source]

Normal Mode[editedit source]

Normal mode is the standard game mode and can only be chosen thus far at the beginning of a new game.

It is the recommended game mode.

Update History[editedit source]

Hard Mode[editedit source]

The Hard mode is a game difficulty added by v0.49 update of The Forest, it must be selected when starting the game and cannot be disabled as of yet.

For more information, see the Changes in Difficulty chart.

Current V1.11 effects of Hard Mode vs Normal Mode:

• More mutants and creepies will spawn on the surface.
• Enemies will deal more damage and will be more resistant.
• Opening inventory no longer pauses time.
• Increased health of pale skinnies and leaders.
• Reduced chance of enemies being knocked down from heavy attacks.
• Enemies fire damage ratio 50% of normal.
• Mutants fire damage 35% of normal.
• Increased chance of encountering fire mutants.
• Thrown firebombs from fire mutants travel faster.
• Player fire damage x2 than base normal.
• Land animals spawn 66% of base normal.
• Fish spawn amount 66% of base normal.
• Fish respawn delay is five in-game days.
• Polluted water damage x20 of base normal.
• Polluted water thirst replenishment 50% of base normal.
• Frost speed x3 of base normal.
• Frost damage x3 of base normal.
• Defrost speed 50% of base normal.
• Health regeneration after using meds or eating is 10% or 0.5hp/s of base normal.

Hard Survival Mode[editedit source]

Hard Survival Mode is a game mode that was added to The Forest in v0.69.

This mode will cause less animals and fish to appear in world, and with a longer respawn after killing them. Greater & faster cold penalties. Fire has been made more dangerous to the player. More food required per meal to fill stomach. Thirst comes faster. Slower respawn on gathered herbs. Meat spoils faster. It’s easier to get sick or infected and there are greater penalties from sickness and infection. A rebalancing of poisonous food, drinking bad water and eating out of date food. Along with this there is a much lower amount of spawned suitcases.

For more information view the Changes in Difficulty chart.

Current V1.11 effects of Hard Survival Mode:

• Eating dried meat gives 20% thirst
• Animals including fish, turtles, and birds will appear less, and with a longer respawn time after killing them
• Greater and faster cold penalties
• Fire has been made more dangerous to the player
• Halved hydration gain from berries, only Blueberries provide thirst
• Slower respawn on gathered herbs, including Aloe, Coneflower, Chicory, and Marigold
• It is easier to get sick or infected and there are greater penalties from them.
• Re-balancing of poisonous food, drinking polluted water and eating spoiled food. Poisonous food includes Snowberries, Twinberries, Amanita Mushrooms & Jack Mushrooms
• Suitcases have a lower spawn amount

These effects are in Hard Mode, they are also included in Hard Survival Mode:

• Accessing the inventory will not pause the game (same as hard mode).
• More cannibals and mutants will spawn on surface (same as hard mode).
• Enemies will deal more damage and will be more resistant (same as hard mode).
• Increased health of pale skinnies and cannibal leaders (same as hard mode).
• Reduced chance of enemies being knocked down from heavy attacks (same as hard mode).
• Enemies fire damage ratio 50% of normal (same as hard mode).
• Mutants fire damage 35% of normal (same as hard mode).
• Increased chance of seeing fire mutants (same as hard mode).
• Thrown firebombs from fire mutants travel faster (same as hard mode).
• Health regeneration after using meds or eating is 0.5hp/s (same as hard mode, 5hp/s in normal difficulty).

Creative Mode[editedit source]

'Creative Mode' refers to a world type that has no enemies, 'static'/ unchanging stats, and no need for resources when building. It can be unlocked by completing the game.

A guide on unlocking Creative Mode very quickly:

Update History[editedit source]

These modes can be changed during the game at any time, with the exception of dedicated servers. They will need to be restarted.

Tree Regrow Mode[editedit source]

The Regrow Mode is a cheat/alternative game mode to the normal game mode, added by v0.42 update of The Forest.

It can be enabled by selecting 'on' Regrowing Trees at the gameplay settings. To disable the mode, just select 'off' again.

When enabled, 10% of cut down trees and small trees will grow back each time the player sleeps. The mode can be combined with the Vegan, Vegetarian,Raw Meat and Iron Forest modes. It can enabled/disabled on existing saves at any stage of the game, in any difficulty. To prevent a tree from regrowing, the player must remove the stump.

The mode can be used in multiplayer, but requires to be enabled by the host to have an effect on game. Although breaking realism, this mode is a nice alternative for players who wants to build a large base or many structures more easily as the regrowing trees will provide almost infinite source of logs, and alternatively avoid the proximity of the base to become a stump field by keeping a lush forest.

'Sleep enough times without cutting down any trees and eventually the entire forest will be repopulated !' - Developer's patch note.

Allow Building Destruction Mode[editedit source]

Allow Building Destruction is an interchangeable mode that can be access in the options game play menu at any time. It allows the player to make their structures invunrable which can make the game easier if the player wants a more peaceful game. It was originally called Iron Forest Mode and it had to be unlocked in the main menu screen though it has since been changed to an interchangeable game option.

When enabled, once a construction is complete, it will remain indestructible and will not be damaged by the cannibals, the mutants or by the player. If the player wants to remove a structure, they must disable the mode in the game menu screen first and reload the current game save.

The mode can be used in multiplayer but requires to be enabled by the host. It can be useful to prevent unwanted damages from malicious players.

(Much of this needs to be updated)In The Forest, the player can press some key combinations while at the main menu screen to activate or deactivate different alternate game modes.

You are to type these codes on the main menu, where you find the title screen. There is no console, you merely type and watch the logo change if you have done it right.

There are currently 3 alternate game modes (with one extra code to return the game to normal):

• Vegan Mode : No enemies in world.
• Vegetarian Mode : Enemies only come out at night.

• Raw Meat Mode : Enable permanent death.
• Meat Mode : Return game to normal mode.

In order to activate these modes, the player must type :

veganmode

vegetarianmode

rawmeatmode

meatmode

After the successful activation of a code, the game's logo will change to something different in each case:

The Long Dark Difficulty Modes Full

• veganmode : changes the font style to white camel-case and adds the line 'An open world adventure'.
• vegetarianmode : changes the font color to red. 'The Forest' is otherwise written using the default style (all-uppercase).
• meatmode : resets the logo to the default (yellow and all-uppercase).
• rawmeatmode : adds line saying 'bloody' above 'Forest'.

Raw Meat Mode[editedit source]

The Raw Meat Mode is a permadeath game mode added by the v0.40 update of The Forest.

It can be enabled by typing rawmeatmode at the main menu screen, and disabled by typing meatmode in the same way. If successfully enabled, the word 'Bloody' will be added to the title. When enabled, this mode will turn the 'second' or 'true' death in single player into a permadeath. The player is only allowed to save the current game in one unique slot: If the player truly dies, the save will be permanently deleted.

It cannot be combined with Vegetarian mode, but can be used in a Hard Mode, and with the Iron Forest and Regrow modes.

The Raw Meat Mode can be enabled/ disabled on an existing game save, at any stage of the game. However, if the player loads an existing save, they will not be allowed to save his current game in another slot with the mode enabled.

Vegetarian Mode[editedit source]

The Vegetarian Mode is a cheat/ alternative game mode added to the regular mode, added by v0.13 update of The Forest.

It can be enabled by typing vegetarianmode at the main menu screen, to disable type meatmode in the same way. If successfully enabled, the title will turn red. This mode can be enabled/ disabled on all saves at any stage of the game and can be stacked with the Regrow, Iron Forest, and Hard Mode.

The Vegetarian Mode will disable mutants and creepies on the surface world during daytime, though enemies will continue to lurk in caves.

These modes have been replaced the contents here has not been updated.

• Iron Forest Mode has be come Building Destruction Mode in the option menu, changeable at any time.
• Vegan Mode has become peaceful mode, it can access when starting a new game.

Iron Forest Mode[editedit source]

Iron forest mode is now known as Allow Building destruction mode.The Iron Forest mode is a cheat/alternative game mode than the normal game mode in The Forest.

It can be enabled by typing ironforest in the game menu screen. To disable the mode, just type ironmode again. It can be combined with the Vegan, Vegetarian, Raw Meat and Regrow modes. It can also be applied on an existing save at any stage of the game, in any difficulty.

When enabled, once a construction is complete, it will remain indestructible and will not be damaged by the mutants, creepies or by any player. If the player wants to remove a structure, he must disable the mode in the game menu screen first and reload the current game save.

The mode can be used in multiplayer but requires being enabled by the host. It can be useful to prevent unwanted damages from malicious players.

Vegan Mode[editedit source]

Vegan mode is now known as 'Peaceful Mode'.The Vegan Mode is an alternative game mode than the normal game mode, added by v0.03 update of The Forest. Since the v0.49 update, the Vegan Mode has been implemented as an 'official' game mode and can be enabled by choosing the 'Peaceful' option when starting a new game.

It can be enabled by typing veganmode in the main menu screen. When successfully enabled, the words 'An Open World Adventure' will appear below the title. To disable it, type meatmode. It can be combined with the Regrow and Iron Forest modes.

When enabled, the Vegan Mode will result in having the surface world and the caves free of any mutants and creepy mutants. The mode will not disable hostile fauna and visual gore content like mutilated dead bodies, blood, and cannibal effigies.

It can be enabled/disabled on an existing save at any stage of the game. However, choosing 'Peaceful Mode' before starting a new game is irreversible and the saved game will be permanently free of enemies.

It's important to note that if you use the Vegan Mode for too long, mysteriously the enemies will be at the worst hostility level.

• Veganmode title screen indicator as seen during v0.11

• Veganmode title screen indicator as seen during v0.03

Hello community,

We’ve just updated The Long Dark on STEAM, introducing our first major update to Survival Mode since we launched WINTERMUTE on August 1st.

Please check out this update video. Full Release Notes available below:

RUGGED SENTINEL Release Notes

The Long Dark Hotfix to Version 1.21 [33995] Changelist

* [Both] Fixed issue where displaced arm animations could appear for certain harvesting actions.
* [Wintermute] Updated Green Survivor description text; Predators are less deadly in this Experience, but will still attack you when unprovoked. (i.e. Green Survivor does not match Pilgrim settings.)
* [Survival Mode] Fixed issue where items could disappear from the Milton House after breaking down the blanket.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed issue where stored items would be duplicated and could appear in more than one location at once. This affects the following locations: Lake Cabins, Fishing Huts, Jackrabbit House and PV Crossroads House. Please note this fix only applies to games created using Version 1.21 and onward.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed issue where a map icon may automatically appear for specific locations when they are entered (ex. Stone Church in Desolation Point) rather than through Charcoal Mapping, which would result in them not counting towards the Faithful Cartographer achievement.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed issue with the items placed in one location could appear in a different location instead (i.e. we created a teleportation device!). This affects the following locations: Farmhouse, Farmhouse Basement, Dam, Dam Trailers. Note that this fix applies to existing games.

### END OF RELEASE NOTES ###

The Long Dark Difficulty Modest

The Long Dark Hotfix to version 1.19 [33943] on STEAM

Note for GOG Users: GOG has the Update to 1.19 as well, and is performing their own internal QA, which is typical procedure. As soon as they are complete, the Update will be live for you as well. When it is, you will be on full parity with every platform.

Includes the following fixes:

* [Survival] Fixed the Faithful Cartographer achievement. Fixes are retroactive but may require performing one mapping action per region to update the Achievement “checklist”.
* [Survival] Fixed issue with stored loot being reset in the Pleasant Valley Farmhouse. Previous loot should now be restored.
* [Wintermute] Fixed issue where player could end up with second, untreatable “Plane Crash Injuries” due to conflict between manual save and checkpoint.
* [Both] Fixed crash on 32-bit Windows XP systems.
* [Both] Fixed crash when changing resolution on DirectX 9 systems.

###End of Release Notes ###

Version 1.16 [33814]

NOTE: We are still investigating some issues with the Faithful Cartographer achievement; we hope to have it fixed soon and will update shortly.

NEW!
* Added the Moose to all Survival Mode regions.
* Added the Broken Ribs Affliction.
* Added the Moose-Hide Cloak gear item.
* Added the Moose-Hide Satchel gear item.
* Milton is now playable in Survival Mode, as “Mountain Town”, including a full Loot and Wildlife pass.
* New Save System for WINTERMUTE.
* New Experience Modes for WINTERMUTE: Green Survivor, Capable Survivor, Hardened Survivor
* New Custom Experience Toolbox for Survival Mode.
* New Worn Clothing Weight Modifier.
* Added Aurorified Lighting to all regions; these appear when the Aurora is active at night.

ART
* General texture clean-up.
* General art optimizations to improve performance.
* Reduced opacity of nighttime breath effect.
* Additional beautification around Coastal Highway Quonset
* Additional beautification around Pleasant Valley townsite.
* [Wintermute] Added missing texture to chair in cinematic.
* Fixed floating bones in Forlorn Muskeg Bear Den.
* Fixed floating Wood object in Mountain Town.
* Fixed the sun position in all regions to ensure it rises in the East and sets in the West.
* General clean up on “out of bounds” areas.

GAMEPLAY
* [Survival] Fixed inaccessible loot in Turbine Room of Carter Hydro Dam.
* [Survival] Fixed inaccessible loot under bed in the Coastal Highway Quonset.
* [Survival] Fixed inaccessible loot in Cave in Mountain Town.
* [Survival] General loot tuning for Broken Railroad region.
* [Survival] Fixed inactive container item in Hunting Lodge basement.
* [Survival] Fixed missing corpses and containers in Broken Railroad region.
* [Wintermute] Fixed progression blocker related to Wood Bin and Flashlight in the Hunting Lodge.
* [Survival] Milton is now accessible from both Forlorn Muskeg and Mystery Lake regions.
* [Wintermute] Fixed missing translated strings for “Lake Gunshots” side mission.
* [Wintermute] Current episode progress (% Completed) is now displayed as part of Save Game information.
* [Survival] Fixed issue where player could get into a half-buried car on Coastal Highway.
* [Survival] UI updates to clarify Encumbered and “buffed” carrying capacity states.
* [Survival] Loot updates to Pleasant Valley to reflect additional beautifications.
* [Both] Added numbering to Afflictions in the First Aid UI to make it easier to treat when there are multiple instances.
* [Both] Fixed some inconsistencies in UIs that presented “cancel” options where that functionality did not exist.
* [Wintermute] Added some failsafe logic to ensure the Old Bear doesn’t get stuck and prevent completion of the Bear Hunt mission.
* [Both] Reduced Deer carcass quartering time to 60 minutes, to improve balance against Bear and Moose quartering times.
* [Wintermute] Modified aurora appearance timings after the player completes the Bear Hunt mission in Episode Two. Aurorae should appear more frequently now.
* [Both] Controller bumpers can now be used to toggle between Harvesting and Quartering interfaces.
* [Both] Fixed issue where lit Lantern would be dropped during a Struggle, and end up back in the player’s Backpack without being extinguished, thereby using up all the fuel. Lit Lanterns will now be dropped in a Struggle.
* [Wintermute] Fixed issues where items returned from a Trust interaction might not appear correctly in the player’s Backpack.
* [Both] Fixed issue where player camera would be inside the Bear mesh during carcass harvesting.
* [Wintermute] Fixed issue where player would take no damage when standing inside Grey Mother’s fire.
* [Survival] Fixed an issue where a few tunables in Interloper were defaulting to Stalker settings. Interloper should be more challenging now, as a result.
* [Both] Fixed some bugs with the Struggle system which could sometimes result in the player losing control.

AUDIO
* Several UI audio elements fixed.
* [Wintermute] Fixed bug where lit Flare audio could carry into cinematics.
* Moved triggers for “night is coming” gameplay VO to ensure they happen before it gets dark at dusk.
* Modified frequency of exploration music in Timberwolf Mountain region.
* General audio fixes for Grey Mother’s House (Milton). Post Office (Milton), and the Hunting Lodge (Broken Railroad Region)

The Long Dark Survival Mode Update

GENERAL FIXES
* [Both] General navmesh updates.
* [Both] The game will now automatically detect Polish and Italian text based on system language settings.
* [Survival] Added more backer info to Cairns.

NOTE FOR LINUX USERS: Some Linux users may need to manually install SDL2. This can be done by running ‘sudo apt-get install libsdl2-2.0-0’ in your terminal

### End of Release Notes ###