Northern Journey news & patch notes

People are getting better gpu's over time, so very high fps are starting to create some issues. I've decided to still keep the framerate free by default. But the game then has no fps-breakes, other than 100% the gpu. This can affect the physics systems, and perhaps some other issues as well. Granite Gash and Hypothermia waste will display a info message if >280 fps. The message is telling what to do if movement bugs out, due to limits of the Unreal 4 physics engine. Realisticly, this probably happens at >500 fps. The start menu will also give a similar message if > 280 fps is detected. The start screen will also display the current fps in the corner. It should inform the player to clamp the framerate if the value is way over what the monitor can display. In the settings menu, the most common fix for graphical and mouse allignement issues are permanently displayed as a tips. Moved a blocking volume in Ravenfen. It was possible to get stuck behind it. The doppelganger will return to origin location if it should fall through the landscape. This is extremely unlikely, but it was good to include it in this update.

The bow now buffers the shoot-mouseclick, so if you shoot just before reload is finished, the shot will be executed. The return-sign from Drowned veins had the old stand-in name 'Riverhill'. Has been fixed to 'Deadwell'. Two exploits where you could, by some acrobatics, reach places you shouldn't, has been blocked. I'm sure there were other fixes as well, but I cannot remember what they were this moment; )

The sling has been altered a bit. Now it will automatically reload after a throw, and start swinging again. If you want to lower it, just rightclick mouse, and it will be lowered after reload. This was done to make it a bit faster, and to always keep it loaded.

The flying witch in Sourwood has reduced some health, and the plank labyrinth have become wider and without un-neccesary gaps. Too many people felt frustrated about falling into the water. The witch in Deadwell has reduced some health. She isn't very hard with an ideal strat, but she could be a big speed-bump for people. The white ghosts in Deadwell also has reduced health, and the lightning can't reach as far now. As an early boss, too many people saw her as a bit too hard for that part of the game. The troll-spider in Granite Gash displayed wrong amount of health. The weapon menu displayed the wrong mouse buttons for shooting and lowering. Pressing '+' will toggle displaying some simple stats. For debugging and such.

If the player had three empty weapons in the slots, and the fourth was spear - emptying those as well and then scrolling several times could create an infinite loop (game freeze). Fixed! Main game menu + settings + pausemenu has been reworked. This was done to better fit a 16:10 menu format. Also, the settings-menu had become a bit cluttered after a lot of additions

If saving while jumping, it could happen that the player experienced 'fall death'. A value was being wrongly modified. This was very rare. Has been fixed. When exiting from Under Nokkpond, the lifting-out-of-water system could skip past the player. This was also very rare. That system has been replaced by a spline-system, which should be solid. In Fallcrush, the player could spam jump while climbing the line up the steep hill. Eventually, the player would exit the system and fall to death. Jumping has been disabled while using this. In Darktroath there was a gap in the drowning plane under the maelstrom. Now it is fixed, and there is also a bit more generous safe space when reaching for the flask post. In Primordial Abyss the player character would not face the correct direction when loading. It was rotated by a value in the level, and this was added to the saved value. Many of these bugs was discovered by a speedrunner. For making it more comfortable, the Bear Crossbow is given to the player in Granite Gash if it isn't picked up earlier. Many enemies there are made to be killed most effectively by this weapon, so not having it is a big annoyance.

In Ravefen, the message near the exit has been reworded to 'Have I found a Bow and a Shield here in Ravenfen?' The previous message could be a bit confusing. The spider-spawners in Granite Gash has reduced health and a bit slower moving speed. The jumping spiders in Forest path had an issue, which could make them spin or jerk. It was caused by some of them having a rotation in the x and y axis, while movement was restricted for the same axis during movement. The big trapdoor spider in Granite Gash has been health-nerfed by a little value.

The game is made for 120fov, but there has been added a 105fov mode available in main menu settings. All weapon sights has been adjusted to also be accurate in this mode. Added two signs in Nokkpond pointing to each side of the pond. The pickup-hitboxes for items are a bit larger now. Renamed the Note sheet to Music note sheet. Added message Under Nokkpond that is available. Added a message for the bridge in Granite Gash, saying it can't be pushed down. This should lessen the confusion when later prompted 'a ladder has fallen down' Fixed an area that allowed the player to walk 'under the river' in Granite Gash. Added more torches in Marebog, and added wider hitbox for the logs over water areas here. Fixed (hopefully) the possibility of an undead bandit getting stuck while rushing out from the Greenslit fortress. In Drowned Veins I have removed two rune crystals. Only the one in the spider depths is still there. I realized it just added a lot of unneccessary backtracking. Added two permhealth items in place instead, making the total amount for the game 77.

Found a way the previous fix could cause a problem, so just patched that part

Changed the way the key is registered in Granite Gash. It will now hardset, instead of modifying the Key register.

A little modification on the last fix for the Marebog-door. It would be a problem if: The player did run into the cabin, while the door opened, and saved. If loading, the player would be inside the cabin, but the door still shut. Sorry about this, that door has a quite complicated game logic. Hopefully, this is the last failure mode patched for it.

In Marebog, if you saved before when the door had opened, and then reloaded afterwards, you could open it again. This would lead to the Key being registered as 'whitdrawn' twice. This could lead to a softlock later in Granite Gash, since the Mountain Key would not be registered properly, due to the inherited wrong value in the register. Fixed 'Darkthroath' to 'Darkthroat'

Changed text-method for the zipline. The textprompt to use it will now immediately dissappear when out of the trigger volume. Added a danger sign in Trollhole, telling the player about minecart danger. Fixed rolling boulders potentially getting each other stuck in Sourwood. Reduced the confirmation time for graphical settings down to 3 seconds. Selecting a 'bad' resolution should now revert much quicker back to default. Fixed a grammar error in Sourwood.

There were a problem in Trilobite cave a long time ago. I thought I had fixed it, but turns out the same issue could be encountered another way. Hopefully fixed totally now! Since it could result in a softlock, I updated it asap.

I was made aware of a faulty switch in Sourwood. It could be used even after leaving it. This has been fixed now. Since it could softlock players, I decided to update the game immediately.

The chain trigger in Trilobite Tomb could be re-activated if returning there. This would cause the no-save to be activated, but nothing else happening. Two quests would not dissappear from the journal when complete, if not talking to the wolf in Darkthroath. Some static meshes had capsule collisions that could get the player character stuck. Have been replaced by box collisions. The final boss could get zero speed when the difficulty slider was lowest. The lighthouse in Deadwell has a rotating switch that could be re-triggered, resulting in strange behavior of the bridge it controlled. Happy summer vacation!

There was a missing drowning volume in Darkthroath, leading to infinite falling. Has been added. Trollhole tweaks: Added two more small messages, telling the player the Save function will be available in a few seconds (The enemy needs to deactivate) Added some health for better waypointing. The bait function will give the player a bit more time. Shooting the guardian at the lower waters will make it deactivate a bit longer. Added some more health and weapons by the white ghost in Deadwell.

In Sourwood, save could be made possible while fighting the flying witch, which would softlock the game. In The Forest Path, the water-monster arms could break out from the water. They now have a max allowed distance from origin.

The 'back to game' buttons did not correctly display custom keys. The raven statues marking entrances to gravemounds in Ravenfen has been moved to be more visible. There was the possibility for out-of-bounds in Nokkpond that is now fixed.

There were a couple of issues related to the last update. Normally, I would have checked it really good before uploading, but I was kind of doing it by proxy. This should hopefully do it!

Added a fov slider (experimental) that is enabled on s-widescreen. The weapon sights might not align properly.

Changed the message type in Nokkpond, so the player can not avoid an important message. Fixed a text in the start menu that was not anchored properly. Hopefully 21:9 should work ok. Please give feedback if it misbehaves, as it was done by emulating a widescreen on 16:9!

When entering the raft in Greenslit, and then jumping back once it starts moving, the player would still get the npc-talk. This has been made more 'secure' by a blocking actor spawning once on the raft. Some of the raftgirl-code has been updated, to make it more robust. Did the same to the moss-scorpion code.

The witchlings in Sourwood could be killed by an exploit. Hopefully fixed! The Ballista pickup in Drowned Veins would still be present after picking it up, and reloading the game. Now, it is included in the savegame-system (Warning: If your save is in Drowned Veins, the Ballista pickup will dissappear, due to it not being found in the savegamefile) Fixed a note text where it stood 'wolf on top'. Now it sayes 'Note'. It was possible to move during the descent into Nokkpond. The player could get out-of bounds. Has been fixed. The Nokk will not activate before leaving the Bathysphere after re-appearing from the pond.

Now, in the main menu settings, there is an option to Reduce grain. This will reduce the perceived grain effect by 2/3. I understand many prefer a more 'quiet' image. In Fallcrush there was a hole the player could fall down and get stuck in. Has been covered up. Fixed a little issue related to the Village Idiot

The Summoners could be killed without them aggroing properly at distance. Also, they sometimes appeared as lying on the ground, instead of popping up from the ground. The trollboss has a certain chance to break an exploitable pattern. Getting crushed by the mine-wagons could sometime not correctly trigger the death-menu.

The Summoners could be killed without them aggroing properly at distance. Also, they sometimes appeared as lying on the ground, instead of popping up from the ground. The trollboss has a certain chance to break an exploitable pattern. Getting crushed by the mine-wagons could sometime not correctly trigger the death-menu.

When fighting the doppelganger in Haunted Glacier, it was possible to stun him backwards and behind the icewalls. This has been fixed with a linetrace for walls before adding any backward-force. The catapult trolls in Granite Gash could shoot through rocks that was very near them. This has been fixed, and they will wait to fire when there is a rock just in front of them. The Bear Crossbow bolts has gotten bigger pickup-boxes

I have replaced all capsule collision for the trees in the game with box collisions. This is due to the player getting stuck against trees in certain high fps systems. Hopefully fixes it! Should not be noticable for the majority of players. Has made going on top of the mounds in Ravenfen a bit easier with better collision. Added both a health and arrow pickup near the door in Nokkpond hiding the Goat lever. Made the switch material be animated for the door in Nokkpond for better visibility. Further reduced the amount of souls required for the two last gates.