The Origin Theory - Episode One news & patch notes

- Removed annoying fixed rotation from exit crane control functions and player now exits facing the direction they where facing when exit was called. - Added few dozed more interaction prompts to objects still missing them. - Moved a wooden plank on Sandbox level hydro electric plant that went through the elevator floor while elevator was rising up. - Train station magnet crane gave "Exit crane" interaction prompt after objective was completed. Changed this to "Examine". - Start level beginning room cryo station fuse box was interactive and gave player the "Missing fuse" objective while it should of been static object. This is now fixed and the missing fuse objective is now correctly given to player few rooms later on the same level. - Start level director office projector globe was interactive and gave player some prompts while it should of been static object. This is now fixed and the only interactive globe is located elsewhere on the same level. - Gun shop "Buy" switch gave player "Not in use" prompt. This is now changed to "Buy selected weapon". - Lab level lower platform had a buggy spider web material which has now been changed. - Lab level pumproom bot firmware upload room where bots are hanging in loading station had some misaligned meshes which have now been moved into correct places. - Corrected a typo in biohazard detector blueprint.

- If player loaded autosave immediately after encoding elevator panel in Sandbox level hydro electric plant, encoded panel disappeared both from docking station and inventory. Also if player saved game after inserting panel into encoding docking station and saved and loaded game this also caused panel to disappear from docking station and inventory. These are now fixed. - Fixed a bug in Sandbox level where ambassador toilet booth animation could be opened multiple times simultaneously causing audio overlap. - Fixed couple of more trigger boxes that had collision settings enabled that caused bullets to fly in not so straight line if fired through them. Most of these didn't effect gameplay because of their placement, but fixed them anyway. - Fixed ammo shop bug where NATO and shotgun bullets where sold under wrong button selections. - Security robots alert other nearby security robots of player sightings. - Security robots move faster. - Exploding security robots cause damage to player. - Added health warning that flashes red in HUD for ten seconds if health drops to 15 or under. - Fixed an interaction bug on Train Station level magnet crane controls. - Added interaction info to couple of objects that were missing it. - Added footstep sound effects to both ends of teleporting ladder blueprint.

- Fixed security robot body and head damage from shotgun blast to correct levels. - Activated one main objective at the start of Sandbox level and another once player reached hydro electric plant. - Interacting with deactivated biohazard detectors on Sandbox level now gives player the current count of deactivated detectors in the grid. - Reassembling broken Bulb in Factory level now gives objective completed notification only once Bulb is fully assembled and not from each limb separately. - Made red flashing color indicating player taking damage in HUD more visible. - Adjusted one streaming volume on Nest level that caused landing pad railing to disappear from view. - There is now a 75% chance instead of previous 50% chance that zombies die from a single shotgun blast to body.

- Fixed a small bug on first level projector globe desk interface when player was using pad controls. - Forklift exit controls trigger box visibility collision was incorrectly active by default and reacted on bullets. Now it activates when player controls forklift and deactivates on exit. - Activated one objective at the start of Train station level and another once player reached top level with elevator to give player better sense of... well objectives.

- Fixed buggy drone canopy and landing pad canopy animations on Nest level. - Fixed a bud where Nest level collapsing staircase status didn't save. - Ambient music state now properly saves and starts playing after reloading a save game. - Made key labels yellow. - Menu that displays active objectives on HUD now closes if inventory is opened on top of it. - Fixed a bug that jammed the first level exit elevator if player pressed the button for the top floor. - Fixed a bug where Bulb sitting on first level sofa rotated toward player after loading a game. - Removed moving loudspeakers animation from first level sofa. - Fixed a bug where first level U-Boat poster speech could be activated multiple times simultaneously. - At first level crematorium player was able to burn a box not containing a dead zombie and get the objective completed message. Fixed this by making all other boxes in the level static. - Added missing puncture and leaking effects for exploding gas cylinders. Known bugs: - TAB button opens inventory, but refuses to close it afterwards. - ESC button won't close menus.

- Fixed a bug where first encounter dead zombie spawned standing up after loading the game instead of fallen dead on the floor. - Hydro electric plant elevator did not show inserted coded interface panel after load. This is now fixed. - Extended workshop streaming volume on Sandbox level to cover dark corners of the workshop. - Extended streaming volume on Sandbox barracks area where level streamed out before kill trigger performed its duty if the player chose to jump to off the draw bridge to their death. - New objective popup info headline is now in yellow and completed objective popup info headline is in white for clarity. - Extended trigger box around forklift so that exit controls works better when player is standing on top of cargo and fork is extended to full height. - Increased damage to boathouse water so swimming to hydro electric plant is no longer an option. - Extended kill trigger on top of dam to snuff player jumping over the dam should they land on solid ground and not only when they land on water. - Inventory objective list now shows automatically the info of the top objective from the list instead of an empty document. - Increased fall damage to a more realistic level. - Exit from crane in Source level is now possible without looking directly at crane controls. - Increased the size of the note in cabinet on Source level for better readability. - Increased lighting in Nest level. - Exit from statue crown rotator controls in first level is now possible without looking directly at machine. - Fixed a weapon bug where silencer sounds where not active after load even if silencer mod was equipped. - Added a main objective to Nest level that guides the player towards final confrontation. - Fixed a bug that enabled elevator leading down to the cave to be reactivated after reload. - Fixed collapsing staircase on Nest level that reset it self on level streaming. - Locked down the cable car control building on Nest level because it had no real function in the game. - Modified two streaming volume setups on start of lab level. - Made enemies little tougher to kill to balance out larger ammo count found in the game world. - Now that enemies are harder, removed second unit from the first encounter with security robots in Factory level. - Fixed a bug that respawned collected mods to mod cases after loading a save game.

- Remove "Text block" text from empty journal. - Removed false "Replace missing fuse" prompt from first level fuse box after replacing fuse. - Added main objective to first level that is visible from start. - One unusable door was unlocked on Lab level that is now locked. - Fixed pistol blueprint model that had graphics issues in examine view because nanite was not activated on the model. - Adjusted streaming level for exit elevator on first level to get rid of it popping up. - Blocked a hole that enable player to climb the pipes into the lab on the first level. - Player can now exit forklift controls without looking straight at forklift model. - Rockface at the end of the platform was missing collision. - Added use vent blueprint to pumproom vent to ease vent access. - Added few kill triggers to Sandbox level to places where player can fall and die. - Removed "Home" button from main menu because it had no real use. - Added spark sound to broken autopsy robot. - Added helper indicator to crematorium key pickup item after zombie is burned. - Removed "Drop" button from inventory because it had no use in the game. - Load in main menu and pause menu works now straight from slot buttons without clicking a separate load button which I removed. - Gunshop switch now lights up after player select a weapon to buy to clarify interaction with the machine. - Journal order has been inverted so that latest collected journal is now on top. - After player picks up the gun for the first time info pops up that telling which key is used for reloading. - New objectives popup info now stays on screen for 10s instead of the old 5s. - Fixed Sandbox level drawbridge where key card didn't work if player had saved and loaded the game after picking up the key card, but before using it on the drawbridge gate. Also fixed drawbridge handle so that bridge can't be lowered if level 3 key card is not in inventory. - Added a reminder to 3D printer for unlocking blueprint and finding key card if neither action has been completed before trying to use printer for the first time. - Added names for collected mods in the mod menu. - First vent in the game had a guide showing crouch button for five seconds. Changed it to stay on screen as long as player leaves vent proximity. - Zombies that lost sight of player started walking in place instead of going into idle before returning to roaming mode. This is now fixed. - Fixed gunshop bug that didn't show sold out image on screen if player already had selected gun on inventory. - Fixed bug that player inventory journal list didn't update immediately after load. Just in case made the update function for objectives as well. - Replaced fire mode button with show active objectives button in hud to gamepad left arrow as default, because it most likely has more use for most players. - Fixed bug on Sandbox level biohazard detector that didn't properly detect enemy spawners that had not yet spawned enemies.

- Free to play - Player character completely rebuild to replace marketplace based blueprint - Inventory and item system completely rebuild - Optimized lighting - MegaLights lighting system utilized - Major clean up and optimization of materials and textures - Switch to substrate materials - Common UI plugin activated and all menus rebuild for better gamepad support - Removed DLSS supports and replaced it with Unreal Engine build in resolution scale setting - More consistent use of yellow as colour for objects with interaction - Activated Electra plugin for better media playback support MAGNITUDE OF THESE CHANGES WILL RESULT THE SAVE GAME FILES OF THE OLDER VERSION OF THE GAME TO STOP WORKING. Known bugs. - Weapons mod popup widget can not be closed with the same pad right arrow key it opens with when any mods have been collected. For some fantastic reason the pad arrow key is disabled after a child actor is added to the mod menu. Use the gamepad back button to close the mod menu. - Use of Oxford commas is not consistent throughout the text files in the game.

- Small texture update. - Fix for side objective door that wasted a key from inventory and left the door unlocked if key was used before door was unblocked.

Due to lack of interest from players THE ORIGIN THEORY - EPISODE ONE will be leaving steam shortly.

- Updated to Unreal Engine 5.4.4 - Added constraints to spine bending while carrying physics actors. This prevents held objects from colliding with character which usually caused physics engine to go ballistic. - Fixed a bug where pressing aim while carrying physics actor caused physics engine to go ballistic. - Disabled jump function while carrying physics actors to prevent any surprises caused by the physics engine. - Fixed a bug which caused journal open/close key functionality to occasionally malfunction. - Made the "Ambassador Booth" door yellow on Sandbox level, so people would not miss it so easily.

- Exit sequence from magnetic crane controls on Train Station level was a little sluggish. Made it smoother and quicker. - Added missing collision to church wall on Nest level. - Fixed a few typos.

- Some level streaming optimizations. - Closed church balcony doors on Nest level. - Fixed a bug where storage door that was locked from inside on Source level cave could be opened from the outside. - Made church side doors unbreakable on Nest level so player can't shoot his way in. - Made one door unbreakable on Source level that was not meant to be accessed even by breaking it. - Added texture to flashlight cone and improved functionality regarding brightness. - Disabled saving during movement inside rail office on Source level.

- Divided some oversized streaming levels into smaller pieces to optimize level streaming and smooth out some loading bumbs along the way. - Resized and relocated some level streaming volumes to further optimize level streaming. - Added missing audio to battle rifle equipped with silencer.

- Fixed a bug in the brightness setting. - Added a missing collision surface to the back corner of the dam on the Sandbox level.

- Fixed a bug on the factory elevator on Sandbox level. Player could travel to the top floor by clicking on the top of the interface panel before installing the interface module required for top floor access. - Added a "MAIN MENU" button to the pause menu. - Added a note to the Sandbox level cable car tower platform broken freight elevator guiding the player to use the ladder on side instead that was little bit hard to spot otherwise. - Removed yellow colour from anything else than objects that are used for interaction apart from few large overhead cranes to add some colour to the scene. - Increased multiplier on the brightness to make the setting more effective. - Added two second delay on the autosave function after completing the train station level forklift lifting objective. Autosave activated while player was still on crane controls which caused a glitch in the save. - Replaced an interactive electric box on the train station workshop wall with a non interactive one as intended. - Fixed a bug where train station objective "Access Storage" (door 19) remained active even after storage was accessed.

- Upgraded game to Unreal Engine 5.4 - Fixed problem that caused virtual texture pool to reset every few seconds, which in turn caused hickups in framerates. - Level streaming still causes small drops in framerates occasionally, but the impack is minimal when game is installed on SSD. - Simplified lighting solution all around to boost performance. - HUD crosshair now changes shape to a circle when pointed to a interactable object. - Simplified room puzzle at the very beginning of the game in order to make the start more user friendly.

- Fixed a bug in the safe widget on LAB level which caused the texts to change along with the numbers. - Removed interaction from unusable freight elevator on LAB level boilerroom. - Resized one level streaming volume on LAB level. - Maybe fixed a bug on LAB level which caused swimming mode to stay on if player dipped in the flooded elevator pit on basement and exited it without using the ladder to clim out. (Could not confirm because it's really hard to climb out from there without using the ladder). - Disabled interaction prompt on few items that did not have any relevant function attached to it.

- Disabled door 11 on LAB level that led to nowhere. - Added pricetags on items in gunshop and ammoshop. - Fixed button sounds on gunshop.

- Small changes to LAB level RTG crane controls. - Fixed bug on RTG crane security gate functionality.

- Fixed a bug where attack sounds on dead zombies stayed on after the zombie died. - A painting in HUB level was on a wrong streaming level and streamed out too early.