State of Decay Releases Second Update on XBLA

Xbox Live Arcade’s massively successful zombie apocalypse hit State of Decay, while a tremendous amount of fun, has also been plagued by technical issues. A new title update rolling out on XBLA aims to correct some of the more problematic glitches as well as alter some of the more annoying quirks of the game design.

The update includes all of the fixes from the flawed first title update and also addresses a host of other issues. It enables V-sync in an attempt to cut down on some of the game’s infamous screen tearing issues, and shortens a number of durations of in-game actions from real world days to minutes or hours.

The update also helps solve one of the most frustrating early game issues, where zombie infestations miles away from the player’s safe house would still trigger the “Too many infestations!” morale problem, and fixes a number of pathing and AI problems. The complete list of fixes follows.

• NEW: Fixed story getting blocked if you refuse Quentin’s request to talk to the sheriff.
• NEW: Fixed soldier and zombie pathing in “The Armory” mission.
• NEW: Fixed character getting stuck in passenger seat if hit by a zombie right when you enter the vehicle.
• NEW: Corrected displayed weapon type for Hockey Stick.
• UPDATED: It is no longer possible to establish an Outpost or relocate your Home while on a mission.
• NEW: Enabled V-sync to eliminate screen tearing.
• Find Missing Survivor mission opportunity timeouts increased from 30 to 60 minutes.
• All mission opportunity timeouts pause while not playing.
• Fixed Leaderboard crashing for profiles with a large number of friends on the SoD Leaderboards.
• Fixed incorrect camera angle in final mission.
• Reduced frequency of “I brought you a pony…” line.
• Fixed rucksacks falling through floor and being unrecoverable. Rucksacks are now moved to an easily accessible location within the same building.
• You can now manufacture homemade painkillers in the Medical Lab.
• Stockpiles that are over the maximum storage provided by your current Facilities (the “cap”) will no longer drain while you are not playing. Instead, Stockpiles that exceed the cap will drain -every five minutes of play at the following rate: 2 if you’re 100% over, 1.5 if you’re 50% over, and 1 if you’re 15% over.
• Improved awareness of Stockpiles that are over the cap. The Assets page now displays both the current amount and cap for each Stockpile. Stockpile amounts that are over the cap will be displayed in yellow, both in the Assets page and the Home Status panel.
• Influence in excess of Fame no longer drains while you are not playing. Influence in excess of Fame drains for every five minutes of play at the following rate: 2 if you’re 100% over, 1.5 if you’re 50% over, and 1 if you’re 15% over.
• The rate at which Stockpiles are consumed no longer factors in the number of missions played during the current day. It was causing Stockpile consumption to be too high.
• Fixed a bug that caused some characters to be given 100 ammo.
• The “Too many infestations!” to-do item is now properly cleared if you relocate your Home to a site with fewer than two infestations within 500m.
• Fixed several areas on the map where the player can get stuck.
• Fixed several pockets of deep water.
• Fixed a bug that could cause unexpectedly large numbers of zombies to spawn near the Mt. Tanner cabins.
• Fixed a bug that caused games with large communities to fail to load.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to get stuck in the abandoned farm house north of Marshall.
• Removed several sections of fencing around warehouse near fairgrounds to improve navigation for missions in the area.
• Made it easier to navigate fairgrounds in vehicles.
• Adjusted draw distance of dynamically generated vehicles to match pre-placed vehicles.
• Fixed a bug that caused character to become stuck in a falling state when dropping from a ladder into a group of zombies.
• Fixed a bug that prevented weapon durability from being reduced by certain combat moves.
• Made it easier to execute “Double Kill” move.
• Fixed a bug that caused a Feral zombie to react incorrectly if you dodged while he was leaping.
• Fixed a bug that briefly displayed debug text in the main menu after selecting a storage device.
• Made major adjustments to Facility action times to make Facilities more useful during the current play session:
• Globally changed Want delays from 1 real-time day to 4 real-time hours.
• Duration of Fitness Regimen, Combat Training, Big Meal, Feast, and Firearms Practice changed from 3 real-time days to 2 game-time hours (where “game time” means time playing the game, not counting time that elapses while you are paused or logged out) so you get the full benefit of the bonus while you are actually playing the game.
• Cooldown on Big Meal and Feast changed from 22 real-time hours to 3 game-time hours. This means your community is “full” for 1 game-time hour after the effects of Big Meal and Feast wear off before the Facility actions can be used again.
• Trade Opportunity action time changed from 1 real-time day to 90 real-time minutes.
• Train Outsiders action time changed from 1 real-time day to 90 real-time minutes.
• Preservation Attempt action time changed from 3 real-time days to 90 real-time minutes.
• Create Biodiesel action time changed from 3 real-time days to 90 real-time minutes.
• All Library research actions changed from 2 real-time days to 4 real-time hours.
• You now receive a Stockpile bonus upon claiming a new Home site. Each site comes with a specific number of Stockpiles, based on the size and number of Facility sockets in the site.
• Fixed a pathing bug that caused zombies to get stuck in the floor during a “Besieged” mission.
• Added a “Stick Sensitivity” option.
• The game will now repair saves affected by a bug fixed in TU1 that could cause Lily to be killed by the simulation.
• Characters selected for Mercy Shot mission can no longer recover from their injuries.
• Mercy Shot missions can no longer select playable characters.
• Moved “Horde Alerted!” banner higher on the screen and reduced size to avoid interfering with driving.
• If you move your Home site when a Trade Opportunity mission opportunity is active, the mission opportunity now relocates to the new Home site.
• Lily no longer reminds you to come to the final mission site. It was annoying during sandbox play after winning final mission.
• Edged weapons are now effective against Feral zombies.
• Fixed bug relating to Juggernaut reactions to incendiaries.
• Fixed a bug that notified you of simulation events affecting NPCs that are not in your community.
• Searching for Stockpiles with the radio is now more reliable.
• Fixed bug causing stimulants to have permanent effect. Stimulants such as coffee and energy drinks now properly wear off over time.
• Improved music track selection logic.